IceBladeTSW

First Impression Pre-Patch: 2/10 The gameplay is so terrible. I started out as a marine and i walked through the base that was next to me, literally through the wall. And it didn't end there, every time i went through things my char would go into crawl mode. Space mode is pretty solid, it takes some getting used to but its good. Post-Patch: 8/10 Ground Gameplay: needs some work still. There are a couple of problems, like your NPC troops walking on AIR, and crawling up building faces. But its not too bad. I wish there was some sort of particle affect shown on the char when you shoot at them so you know that your shots hit. Space Gameplay: This is the most solid aspect of the game. I don't see any flaws with this. I do wish there were some more shortcut tabs, since its a little hard to remember all of the commands in the heat of battle. Graphics: yeah... they are a little dated. Its very noticable in space. After playing EVE, Freelancer, and X2, the graphics can't hold up. The ground combat graphics are about Quake 3 caliber graphcis, thats acceptable, but i could really go for some particle hit effects, so i know my shots are landing. Sound: I love the sound. It fits the theme perfectly, it keeps the tempo up and the player aware. AI: not stupid, i love that. In space they are actually a challenge and don't just roll over. Overall its a pretty good game, its not quite what i hoped for, but it is definetly wetting my appetite.

lol, i opened my box for Universal COmbat, and there was a flyer from Dreamcatcher. On it i see "November 2003, $39.99", you'd think they would have removed the flyer before they shipped it considering the pricing issues.

I couldn't take it anymore, i can't stand senseless bashing, so i reponeded to everybody, except the last three people because i was still writing, lol.

The date change for the various online stores does not have a coralation to the publishers. Last week Amazon changed the shipping date to 1/30/04, and this was before the DC issue accured. I think DC realizes they are screwed cause all of there "big games" want to wait until Q1 04 to release (so they'll have a better game) but because of this they are a bad position, and i think unluckily Derek happened to be the last one to notifiy them (as he said Painkiller had already announced that they wouldn't be releasing in time) theat his game would have to be delayed. Personally i voted for ship now, but that was only when i assumed we would get a full version, and then derek would send out the patch after he returned from vactaion. Not that DC would release a DRM version. I don't understand why they wouldn't wait until Q1 04, i mean, its after christmas, people ahve money from kids getting it at christmas, to adults getting a christmas bonus, that would be a good time to release. I don't know what they are thinking, now they are just going to be held up even more, and have an unhappy repour.

The date change for the various online stores does not have a coralation to the publishers. Last week Amazon changed the shipping date to 1/30/04, and this was before the DC issue accured. I think DC realizes they are screwed cause all of there "big games" want to wait until Q1 04 to release (so they'll have a better game) but because of this they are a bad position, and i think unluckily Derek happened to be the last one to notifiy them (as he said Painkiller had already announced that they wouldn't be releasing in time) theat his game would have to be delayed. Personally i voted for ship now, but that was only when i assumed we would get a full version, and then derek would send out the patch after he returned from vactaion. Not that DC would release a DRM version. I don't understand why they wouldn't wait until Q1 04, i mean, its after christmas, people ahve money from kids getting it at christmas, to adults getting a christmas bonus, that would be a good time to release. I don't know what they are thinking, now they are just going to be held up even more, and have an unhappy repour.

Derek, that sucks, outright. But would the TRO be able to stop them? since if they send it off for duplication isn't it out of there hands. This bites, i don't want to see UC wrapped up in courts, i guess we either will see the game with no support ever, or we won't see UC for a long time. This is a shame, but its more then understandable why u went for a TRO. -Good Luck to you Derek-

Derek, that sucks, outright. But would the TRO be able to stop them? since if they send it off for duplication isn't it out of there hands. This bites, i don't want to see UC wrapped up in courts, i guess we either will see the game with no support ever, or we won't see UC for a long time. This is a shame, but its more then understandable why u went for a TRO. -Good Luck to you Derek-

I hope that the sequel won't have everyone as trent. That was so stupid in multiplayer.

people, people, stop voicing your opinion. Didn't you here what Derek said. DC said they are shipping the game today, with or without the RC2 patch. Theres no more discussion to be made.

people, people, stop voicing your opinion. Didn't you here what Derek said. DC said they are shipping the game today, with or without the RC2 patch. Theres no more discussion to be made.

See itÔÇÖs very tough. Based on the few bugs that are left, instinctively i would say release it, and work on a patch. Living with Dumb AI, and non crash detection for ground vehicles is more than livable until Late January. But by the same token, since it wouldn't make it to shelves by Christmas i could see why you want to wait. As always the final decision is yours Derek, but consider that in the RC listing you already stated that the 4th and 5th problem was going to be sent in a post release patch, so thatÔÇÖs not going to go into the CD if it were fixed. Also, the 2nd "bug" is only an annoyance, its not like it has a real effect on game play. And the 3rd bug eventually corrects it self, seeing as how it is not a forever loop of NPCs walking into trees, I don't see it causing a big problem. The 1st bug, sure itÔÇÖs a problem, but since the player isn't prevented from re-entering the server, itÔÇÖs not something that needs to be redone before going GM. I hope our comments help your decision

See itÔÇÖs very tough. Based on the few bugs that are left, instinctively i would say release it, and work on a patch. Living with Dumb AI, and non crash detection for ground vehicles is more than livable until Late January. But by the same token, since it wouldn't make it to shelves by Christmas i could see why you want to wait. As always the final decision is yours Derek, but consider that in the RC listing you already stated that the 4th and 5th problem was going to be sent in a post release patch, so thatÔÇÖs not going to go into the CD if it were fixed. Also, the 2nd "bug" is only an annoyance, its not like it has a real effect on game play. And the 3rd bug eventually corrects it self, seeing as how it is not a forever loop of NPCs walking into trees, I don't see it causing a big problem. The 1st bug, sure itÔÇÖs a problem, but since the player isn't prevented from re-entering the server, itÔÇÖs not something that needs to be redone before going GM. I hope our comments help your decision

Its not going to happen. You heard the EB games head. He stated that "its not true" I mean, they probably will drop a number of games from the not well bought groups, like the Endless Ages game, i mean I've seen it(multiple copies) rot on the shelves of my local Software Etc (owned by GameStop) for half a year now. And its true, when the big wig games come out it always boosts these sales. The actuality is that they will probably reduce shelf size, but eliminating all is just a joke. With Games like Doom 3, Half Life 2, and World of Warcraft coming out in 03, thats crazy to think. Alot of their business has come from PC games being released, Command and Conquer, Warcraft, StarCraft, Everquest, Ultima Online. I mean its a laugh riot, them eliminating PC games from there stores.

It's been done. I played pod racer at an auto expo a few years back, and they had a head tracking system. So you put on the helmet, and where u turned your head u looked, and that was independant from where your vehicle was going. Its just something that hasn't really been toyed around with. Possibly because Monitor manufactures don't want anyone to, lol.

BabaBooey: they are making an online X2, right now its being called Online Universe, or X2OL, you can check out more about it here Epsilon 5: sorry I'm having spelling issues lately, lol.

I've played Freelancer, i have the X2 rolling demo, have Homeworld, etc. Only problem is, there is no real difinative game that has immersion on a massive scope[in my opinion]. Freelancer Pro: Great graphics, multiplayer was flawless with never ending random missions, and being able to roam the universe. Con: you couldn't leave your ship, and everyone was trent when u played online, lol X2 - The Treat Pros: Possibly the best graphcis in a space sim yet. Massive universe, including underwater and everywhere. Cons: only one player, how massive can something be with one player. Universal Combat (from how it looks) Pros: Massive world, multiplayer, a combination of what most gamers are looking for. Cons: GFX are looking aged, they need an over hall to keep up with more current games like, Freelancer and games running on the Unreal Engine. of course, thats just my opinion. I'm really looking forward to BC Online, I'm hoping the graphics get a complete over hall. I think that that would be the best bet for a truely immersive space game(thats not out, lol). My Space Game Picks: Massive Scale (Mult Players): Freelancer, Homeworld, UC* For Single Players: X2 - The Treat, UC* * = after release, lol

as far as i know, release date is now 12/3, but u really have to play it by ear. It all comes down to when Derek feels that the game is ready to go gold (all the bugs are out and wip are in the game).

thats awesome SC, that is a big selling point. I know that that was one of the concerns i had, with that little feature, it makes UC even better.

thank you Jaguar for clearing up this miscommunication. Thats what i assumed from what DS had said earlier, but i wanted to make sure i wasn't hallucinating .

ok, I'm a little confused here. Maybe someone can help me out here. I read over at Amazon under Universal Combat, "Persistent server support on dedicated server. This allows server to save player and world state on that server." BTW, it says above this statement From the Manufacturer But as i remember SC stated that unless sales/customers showed that they wanted it, this feature would not be put in (on release anyway). Has this changed? Will saving stats be available out of the box?

Terran Marine: i think people feel it looks a little distorted because its in a non screen size. For example, the latest mvoie was 600 x 400, i think. And since that isn't a normal screen size 640 x 480, 1024 x 768 etc, it looks a little weird. Its shown in the text, but i don't think its really a big problem either.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Yeah, VirtualDub turned out pretty good As for why I used WMM, had I not used it, I would have had to go through hoops (with VDub plugins) to put in the movie titles. In WMM its a snap to do. oh yeah! I neglected that part . but anyway, just to reiterate, if you need my help for anything with vids, for a trailer, muisc video, whatever, I'm there (for free! lol). Watched the vids: the game looks great, i think the extra time has been well well worth the wait.

SC: I'm glad the programs i listed helped. If you ever need my help with vids, or actually doing them (I'd be more than happy to) please just tell me. You didn't need to import into Windows Movie Maker, you could have used Windows Media Encoder, but whatever floats your boat. Downloading the vids as we speak.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: quote:Originally posted by Marvin: Then you can do a long one like this: Yep, I was right. This thread was such a bad idea. heh quote:Originally posted by IceBladeTSW: DS: You could as you said export from UC at 800 x 600, then use Virtual Dub to grab the shots you want and compress them. Then Re-assemble them all in Virtual Edit Lite and add music. To cut down the size even more, using TMPG you can convert to mpeg, so that its a very small file type (I've converted some 24min stuff to roughly 240mb files with it). If you wanted to compress it still more, using Windows Media Encoder it could be cut down to a few mb(3min Muisc Video, roughly, 7mb). If you want some links I'd be more than happy to oblige. Right. I'm glad that at least someone thinks I'm going through all that crap; with the limited time I have on my hands. I could help if u want since you don't have alot of time to do it

quote: Just as I suspected. The usual unrealistic requests. Even a 1 min movie at 800x600 (the lowest supported by UC), could be close to 500MB. Let alone one that shows all the game's capabilities and which could span an hour or more. DS: You could as you said export from UC at 800 x 600, then use Virtual Dub to grab the shots you want and compress them. Then Re-assemble them all in Virtual Edit Lite and add music. To cut down the size even more, using TMPG you can convert to mpeg, so that its a very small file type (I've converted some 24min stuff to roughly 240mb files with it). If you wanted to compress it still more, using Windows Media Encoder it could be cut down to a few mb(3min Muisc Video, roughly, 7mb). If you want some links I'd be more than happy to oblige.