BF2S Forums [From Dust]

Looks trippy

Uzique wrote:

artwork reminds me of populus, which was a childhood fave.

Artwork reminds me of this:

I never played black and white or any "god" or "sandbox" games but it seems like it would get boring after an hour or two. I suspect there's quite a bit more than actually designing some island with a crazy volcano in the middle and sweet place to live on one side with an awesome beach. But that's all I see when I watch the video. Like the replay of a games like this is near none. Again though, I must confess I know NOTHING about this genre.

Populous was great fun back in the day. Black and White 2 was also good fun, however after a while it does get a bit repetitive. I like the idea of this game, but they really need to include more features than just building an island...

It is fun enough for $15. More of a puzzle game than a god game. The engine/whatever is really nice though. Really organic terrain deformation and formation, with lava and water flowing like it should. It is really satisfying to finally divert a river or make a wall etc.

Yes, it has Ubi DRM and no advanced graphics options. I guess thats a big deal but it hasnt affected actually playing and enjoying the game which I think gets lost in the omg fuck *publisher* they did *whatever thing*. Obviously if you planned on playing it away from the internet you will need a crack or to not play it.

How are the controls? I've heard that it controls like a controller even with mouse.

Bought a Steam copy a couple days ago, installed yesterday and am just trying to launch it now. Here are some observations:

1) I use Steam a lot, so I'm used to having to have a connection at least for the first launch......not that I'm not annoyed at having to install some sort of directx, visual c or .net framework every time I launch a new game. Among other things, I wish Steam would just have one folder for all that crap and keep whatever redists your games need updated.

2) Thank you, Ubisoft, for making me flounder around for a username/password for a $14 game. You want your birthdate and you'd like to shower my inbox with spam. Belatedly, after my usual username for such things failed, I realized I'd made an account sometime in the past. One password reset later, I thought I had it. But no...

3) Please enter your CD-key. Seriously? I thought we were above that with most games on Steam. It's fond of telling you that a game will ask for your CD key, but I've hardly ever been actually required to enter one. In this case, it asks me at the launcher, so I need to trundle over to the game and manually copy it from there. At least the Ubisoft launcher allows me to paste. Started up the game, and the menu ran fine. Exited.

4) Being that it is ostensibly a "Steam copy," I shut my laptop's wireless down and tried to launch.



As mentioned before,

Ubisoft wrote:

“Due to the recent confusion over the type of DRM used in From Dust, please find the following explanation of the type of DRM used.

‘From Dust’ requires an internet connection when you start the game.

Make sure you are connected to the internet when you attempt to start the game.

After you have signed in and the game is running, you no longer need the internet connection and can disconnect from it if you so wish.”

The game's $14. Why do we need such fancy measures for an indie-priced title? I know some people will pirate everything, but I'm quite willing to imagine that pirates right now are enjoying a hassle-free From Dust experience with a cracked executable. So what exactly does this solve? The plague of people enjoying legitimate video games? I'm all for paying what's due, but nobody owes a game company this kind of unflinching loyalty.

5) Later, Steam decided I needed to see the CD key each time I launched. It's the first time I recall having to check the "do not show this again" box. More annoyingly, the Ubisoft launcher wants to run its own check for updates each time the launcher starts, which can take anywhere from five to twenty seconds on my laptop.

6) The launcher cannot be closed while the game is running. The Ubisoft animation that plays when the game starts is unskippable. There is no fine-tuning of video options to speak of, unless you're satisfied with refresh rate and resolution. This means that if your computer can handle better graphics, you can switch to them, and that if your computer is slightly on the old side, you're shit out of luck. Oh, but you can switch between fullscreen and windowed mode.

7) The cutscenes are unskippable, even after you've already seen them. Tabbing back into this game after alt-tabbing out can take some time.




So yeah. Fuck off, Ubisoft.

e: Why the hell is it synchronizing save games and why does it take so long to do?

After reading all the DRM shit, I'm not buying anymore.

seriously, fuck ubisoft.

sticky my thread.

Maybe half of it, if that. The rest of it is specifically game-related, adding aggravation on top of Steam. And unskippable cutscenes aren't in every game...

Yeah, it looks like it can be fun. It's too bad we have to swallow hot nonsense to enjoy the legitimate version.

(that are in every game ever made btw)

And unskippable cutscenes aren't in every game, unless you were talking about something else somehow.

Are we talking about two different things or what?

Whatever you're saying, you're going to have to clarify for those of us who are 300 IQ points below your level. Not. Every. Game. Forces. You. To. Watch. Cutscenes. And. Intros.

Unless I'm somehow mistaken, this one does, even when the menu or map itself is loaded.

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Got to the map with the flooded 'supervolcano.' Talk about a race to get to the evaporate statue.

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Aside from the things I've mentioned and other things Yahtzee pointed out (retarded pathing and the inability to build a town if there's a 1'x1' puddle of water an inch deep), I'm happy with the gameplay. Been on the thing for hours now, and it's paid for itself.