Too Cool for Too Human
August 20th, 2008There are times when the gaming community kind of annoys me. This is one of those times.
Look, I know that Too Human had a somewhat disastrous showing at E3 2006 which turned a lot of people off from the game. No matter how the game turned out, this, unfortunately, would probably keep some people away from the game no matter what. I’m also quite aware that some people didn’t like the demo that was released for the game. Certainly, the game has its share of issues, which I’ve also acknowledged. And if the sort of Diablo-esque loot and skill system doesn’t appeal to you, well, that’s fine too. I get that the game is not for everyone.
But the game has inspired a sort of vitriol among the community that just saddens me. It’s not because I love the game and just wish everyone would play it (since the full game doesn’t come out until tomorrow I haven’t even played the full version yet). I expect I’ll like the game despite its flaws, but I honestly don’t care if anyone else does or not (except that, perhaps, it do well enough for them to finish the trilogy if I like it). The thing that saddens me is how the gaming community can fixate on something and just repeatedly keep whipping away at it for no other reason except that it had a bad showing once, and the developer has the audacity to try and promote its own game after that. While Too Human has been a whipping post ever since 2006, with its imminent release, some of the criticism borders on ridiculous.
For instance, this Destructoid post title mocks Denis Dyack for making a pretty obvious claim:
Dyack: Too Human is so big one person can’t possibly get all the in-game loot
Colette Bennett doesn’t like the game, but I honestly read that post and couldn’t figure out what Denis had said wrong there. What exactly is the problem with saying that all the loot in the game is probably not possible to get in a game who’s loot system most closely resembles Diablo? Perhaps Colette never played Diablo, or maybe Colette had no problem sinking what would likely have to be hundreds if not thousands of hours into the game to collect “all the loot” in that game. I’m not really sure, but this particular quote that Colette highlighted here to make fun of didn’t seem particularly controversial to me.
Yesterday, Destructoid also criticized some potentially poorly worded promotional words from Denis Dyack:
“What we’re also seeing is for the people who don’t like it, generally just don’t get it.” explains Dyack, kindly telling me why I hated the demo. “And it’s because we’ve created something so innovative and different. It’s ironic, it just shows that human nature of if you don’t understand something, you immediately attack it. It’s pretty interesting in that regard.
Yes, this perhaps is not the greatest way to describe why some people don’t like the game, but at the same time, it’s not the worst thing in the world here. I think what people are attaching to here is the word “innovative”, which we typically associate with something good or at least something that advances the genre forward. Well, Too Human plays differently than every other 3rd person action game out there by moving all the action into the secondary analog stick. Dyack, who, god forbid, would like to promote his game, considers that an “innovation”. A lot of people don’t like it, so don’t consider it innovative, so I suppose these are the people who “don’t get it” in Dyack’s opinion. So perhaps what he really should’ve said is something like “The game plays a lot differently than other games in similar genres. Most people who give it a chance really like it, but some people just don’t.” So yeah, maybe this wasn’t the best thing Dyack could say since he sort of blames players for not liking the game, but he is promoting his game, and trying to explain why some people don’t like it is sort of a difficult question to answer without referring to something ABOUT those people.
Then late last night, Kotaku, noting that Too Human’s reviews have been mixed, lightly mocked this Microsoft quote explaining the trilogy nature of Too Human:
Microsoft Game Studios and Silicon Knights are committed to finishing the first instalment, but Too Human is an overarching epic with a rich and vast game universe that cannot be told in one instalment.
This game will begin the saga of the god Baldur in the narrative tradition of classic trilogies, such as Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings. We will talk about the full trilogy and we are very excited about its potential.
Wow, how dare they promote their own game by comparing the beginning of (what should be) an epic trilogy with other well-known epic trilogies. Does the audacity of Microsoft know no bounds?
I suppose this is what happens when well-hyped games sort of fall on their faces, but I feel like Too Human is somewhat of a special case. For whatever reason, a lot of people just want this game to fail solely because it was hyped up before a disastrous E3 showing 2 years ago. Based on what I’ve played in the demo, the game is still flawed, yes. But I’m not convinced that it deserves as much scrutiny as it’s received. Some people have likened the game to the trajectory of Lair, but at least the review copies of Too Human didn’t ship with a “reviewer’s guide” (to my knowledge, anyway).
Posted in Industry, Jeff, Journalism, Personalities, Xbox 360 |
August 20th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I don’t think you understand why people are annoyed with Dyack. His comments are incredibly egotistical. People who don’t like his game must just not get it! They can’t handle all the innovation we jammed in there! No one could possibly simply not like it, no, the only possible way someone could dislike his game is if they don’t understand his pure, tortured artist’s soul. Oh, the humanity! It has nothing to do with the game’s initial poor showing, although people are engaging in a bit of schadenfreude over it because of Dyack’s attitude.
As for Colette Bennett’s comments, how exactly can a game be “too big” to collect all the loot? I promise you, there will always be someone with more free time than you thought possible. The only ways it could ever be impossible to get all the loot alone are to (a) require teamwork to get it, in which case Dyack’s comment isn’t very insightful, or (b) have an infinite amount of loot, in which case Dyack’s comment isn’t particularly meaningful or accurate.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Rob-
I think I mention that Dyack’s words are fairly poorly chosen. It’s not right for him to blame gamers for not liking his game (although on some level, this is always true… Some people will like it, some people don’t, and the difference obviously lies within the gamer).
And I didn’t find Bennett’s mocking tone particularly insightful or useful when Dyack’s point is pretty straightforward… There’s a lot of loot. Not only that, I’m not even sure why someone would go through the trouble of finding “all the loot”. It wouldn’t even make sense.
But even so, even if I grant that some person out there is willing to devote the ridiculous hours just to have a “complete set” or something of all the loot (which would be impossible to hold on a single character anyway due to inventory limits), this just doesn’t seem particularly egregious to me… Even the most hardcore of hardcore Too Human players will probably never bother to get “all the loot”, so perhaps his comment doesn’t apply to just a small small handful of people.
For what it’s worth, the creators of Borderlands have over half a million weapons in the game… I didn’t see anyone salivating over trying to collect every single weapon in the game.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I whole heartedly agree. It is utterly beyond me that people will go after this game like it killed their parents or something, because it had a bad showing and has had to come back form that.
It’s silicon knights. i’m willing to take it on faith that i’ll like the game.
And yet you have devs like guerilla, who not only have made some truly terrible games, but also are content to lie about them and peopel salivate ofver them like pavlov’s dog.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
you must have missed those endless tirades and manisfestos from Dyack. Granted, teh community is childish and mindless as ever. The point here is that Dyack chooses to be just in the same mold.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Laesp-
No question, Dyack has a mouth… That said, so does half the industry… CliffyB, Molyneux, Will Wright, that Tecmo guy… Seriously, the only difference, I guess, is that people liked those games more. The similarities, of course, is that they all like their own games and want to promote them.
It can be annoying, yes… and often, it’s pointed out and made fun of… but it’s seemed a lot worse with Too Human.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Jeff,
I think you have a selective memory. People gave Peter Molyneux a whole raft of shit over Fable. Dyack’s mouth is like some kind of foot magnet, and he’s catching flak he rightly deserves. ‘Paz has pretty much hit the nail on the head here.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Rob, your argument seems to be that because Dyack oversells his game, gamers have the right to trash an average product with more bile than they would reserve for the latest copy of Hello Kitty Island Adventure. That doesn’t seem particularly logical.
Dyack’s own foolish comments shouldn’t result in so much anger. Too Human, based on the demo, is nothing special but it’s perfectly serviceable.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Molyneux caught flack for overselling his game, but I don’t remember the game being simultaneously crapped on for over 2 years. It seems the end result was that he oversold a decent game… the same Dyack has maybe done, except in Dyack’s game people seem to have actively wanted it to fail because of a poor E3 showing. Despite having oversold Fable and perhaps even Fable 2 now (the dog was the “big big secret” if you recall), I don’t see Molyneux or Fable 2 receiving nearly as much negative attention.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Jeff is absolutely right.
I honestly don’t care about Too Human at all and have never had a lot of interest in it, but even so, the behavior of the gaming collective in all this actually sickens me.
It’s like sometimes the internet gaming community is a rabid dog pack starving for the next weak moment to pounce on. It’s truly pathetic.
Dislike Too Human, thats fine. Dislike Dyack, thats fine, but good lord, neither warrants the level of bile this guy and his game have gotten.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:44 am
Geoff,
Maybe we’re reading different sites. Most of the vitriol I’ve seen has been for Dyack, not the game.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
@Rob,
Clearly you didn’t read the destructoid comments that were linked. Here, let me assist….
“I hope there’s loot that makes the game better”
“The question is if people will want to play the game long enough to get it all”
“Now all they have to do is make the game fun and they may have something.”
“Who is going to want to play this game long enough to get half the “loot” though?”
“didn’t we cover this story last week, anyhow, game still sucks, epic drops or not.”
“toohuman is boring and grinding levels as well.”
“Prediction: The theme of the first game will be epic fail”
Keep in mind, these are all comments from different individuals. There are plenty more that pounce on the game rather than the man.
But there was a lone voice of reason. Wonder of wonders, it was Leshrac55. Probably THE most mature commenter on dtoid.
“People need to chill out… Is it any wonder that he’s, omg, promoting his own game? ”
This is why I quit reading d’toid a long time ago. The writing/coverage isn’t very unique and comments section is in diapers.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Lol.. Thanks cisco. =)
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
i think you guys need to understand that the community is not homogenous. There’s the mindless fanboyish virgin basement nerds flailing with vitriol [see gamefaq, neogaf, kotaku, dtoid], and then there’s more levelheaded but far-more-honest-than-any-famous-game-journalist who are blunt without poison, caustic without slander, and very critical while maintaining a fair view of the game [for example, us
].
Often the former is always attacking someone unduly. In this case, both the former and latter groups are showing contempt for Dyack.
The man isn’t just overhyping his game. That would be a grave insult to Molyneux, who is legendary for overhype yet does so with an innocent sheen. No, he is going around attacking forums, challenging gamers to “get it”, and claiming he’s revolutionizing Quebec/Canada’s gaming development scene.
It’s kinda sad because he’s made himself and his workers slave away for 4 years of their precious life, only to create a reputedly mediocre game, a legal mudfuck with Epic, contempt from the greater community, and the laughing stock of all developers.
or so i’m told.
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
ah jesus christ…. ^ that’s me :/
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
“he is going around attacking forums”
You mean like referring to them as “mindless fanboyish virgin basement nerds flailing with vitriol”?