If FD had followed through on the DDF NPC Proposal and given us a game with proper persistent AI that could be injected as part of a customisable mission system, this part of the storyline could have played out in every instance of every mode simultaneously and everyone could have "played their own way."
Instead we had a rush to release and further development effort concentrated on CQC and Powerplay (neither in the DDA) rather than core features, leading to limited non-persistent AI and a mission system that's not versatile enough to accept manual additions.
The end result was FD staff having to act like NPCs, thus forcing people into a single mode in order to have a limited chance of interacting with them, and a desperate eleventh hour appropriation of the inadequate CG mechanism in order to publish information in the most confusing way imaginable. What an utter shambles.
Just think about that first part for a second. This is a game whose core is so underdeveloped that staff members have to log in and play the role of non-player agents just to drive the plot forward. How tragic is that?
Only this morning I was praising the folks over on the Canonn thread for their tenacity in trying to unravel the seeds of this unfolding drama, and hoping that whatever transpired would be worthy of their efforts. From what I've read here and elsewhere the whole thing has been a major disappointment, notable only for highlighting -- yet again -- the ridiculous lack of consequence for indiscriminate murder in Open Play. I now feel sorry for anyone who dedicated significant time and effort to this mess, except SDC who seem to have got out of it exactly what they aimed for.
I know I run hot and cold on this game, and I try not to be too cynical, Lord knows I try. But FD are making it increasingly difficult. Their PR machine is writing cheques their software can't cash, and as the divide widens between where they want the story to go and what the game is capable of delivering, I worry that it can only get worse.
All of their corner-cutting chickens are now coming home to roost, and they're covering everything in a lovely thick layer of chicken manure.
Instead we had a rush to release and further development effort concentrated on CQC and Powerplay (neither in the DDA) rather than core features, leading to limited non-persistent AI and a mission system that's not versatile enough to accept manual additions.
The end result was FD staff having to act like NPCs, thus forcing people into a single mode in order to have a limited chance of interacting with them, and a desperate eleventh hour appropriation of the inadequate CG mechanism in order to publish information in the most confusing way imaginable. What an utter shambles.
Just think about that first part for a second. This is a game whose core is so underdeveloped that staff members have to log in and play the role of non-player agents just to drive the plot forward. How tragic is that?
Only this morning I was praising the folks over on the Canonn thread for their tenacity in trying to unravel the seeds of this unfolding drama, and hoping that whatever transpired would be worthy of their efforts. From what I've read here and elsewhere the whole thing has been a major disappointment, notable only for highlighting -- yet again -- the ridiculous lack of consequence for indiscriminate murder in Open Play. I now feel sorry for anyone who dedicated significant time and effort to this mess, except SDC who seem to have got out of it exactly what they aimed for.
I know I run hot and cold on this game, and I try not to be too cynical, Lord knows I try. But FD are making it increasingly difficult. Their PR machine is writing cheques their software can't cash, and as the divide widens between where they want the story to go and what the game is capable of delivering, I worry that it can only get worse.
All of their corner-cutting chickens are now coming home to roost, and they're covering everything in a lovely thick layer of chicken manure.