well after seeing how well they are interacting with the community in the PS2 beta i voted yes... I know PS2 is not a sandbox game but the company has a drive to make good games and are willing to listen..

I think a lot has changed at SOE.. as lnog as they use their own IP and not an IP they dont have control over i think they could pull it off.

Originally posted by Caldrin

well after seeing how well they are interacting with the community in the PS2 beta i voted yes... I know PS2 is not a sandbox game but the company has a drive to make good games and are willing to listen..

 

I think a lot has changed at SOE.. as lnog as they use their own IP and not an IP they dont have control over i think they could pull it off.

I'm not so sure, PS2 will have quite a few elements from EVE online check out the link to another thread :

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/364299/page/1

Trusted, as in I have confidence that the game will be released in good condition without major flaws in either game design or payment model?  No that's a stretch I cannot make.

Do I think there's a chance that they could produce a winner that's worth playing?  Possibly.

In fairness, I do trust them far more than any EA owned / driven studio.

Why don't we just judge the game by its merits rather than what its developer might or might not have done in the past, hmm?

I expect most of the players who will pick this game up don't know or don't care about Vanguard, SWG or any other dusty relic SOE might have been involved with.

Originally posted by Quirhid

Why don't we just judge the game by its merits rather than what its developer might or might not have done in the past, hmm?

I expect most of the players who will pick this game up don't know or don't care about Vanguard, SWG or any other dusty relic SOE might have been involved with.

Normally that would be applicable in most other genre of games, but as you know MMO's are a different kind of dynamic beast with the regular patching, updating & newer builds implemented, MMOers want to invest their time and money into there favorite MMO knowing its not a board meeting away from patch/build: verison "1.5.NGE-The QQ & heart break is back" if you get my drift just my 2 cents  =)

Originally posted by dustyhayes

Originally posted by Quirhid

Why don't we just judge the game by its merits rather than what its developer might or might not have done in the past, hmm?

I expect most of the players who will pick this game up don't know or don't care about Vanguard, SWG or any other dusty relic SOE might have been involved with.

Normally that would be applicable in most other genre of games, but as you know MMO's are a different kind of dynamic beast with the regular patching, updating & newer builds implemented, MMOers want to invest their time and money into there favorite MMO knowing its not a board meeting away from patch/build: verison "1.5.NGE-The QQ & heart break is back" if you get my drift just my 2 cents  =)

Well, if you ant an analogy, somebody who is into Napalm Death music is not gonna even bother checking the latest Justin Bieber album. Ok, it's an exageration, but I guess you get the point.

When a company has disappointed you a few times already... are you going to trust it again?

Originally posted by Quirhid

Why don't we just judge the game by its merits rather than what its developer might or might not have done in the past, hmm?

I expect most of the players who will pick this game up don't know or don't care about Vanguard, SWG or any other dusty relic SOE might have been involved with.

A good example of that is Steve Snow.

Producer - Horizons / Artifact

Sr Producer - Gods and Heroes / Perpetual

Producer - Auto Assault / NCSoft

Producer -    League of Legends / Riot

I am sure they can do it, but I fear they will have some suits high up in the chain who will make them tack themepark features onto it, in an attempt to grab a slice of the WoW-player crowd.

True sandbox games are more likely to come from smaller companies.

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by Quirhid

Why don't we just judge the game by its merits rather than what its developer might or might not have done in the past, hmm?

I expect most of the players who will pick this game up don't know or don't care about Vanguard, SWG or any other dusty relic SOE might have been involved with.

A good example of that is Steve Snow.

Producer - Horizons / Artifact

Sr Producer - Gods and Heroes / Perpetual

Producer - Auto Assault / NCSoft

Producer -    League of Legends / Riot

 

 

What are you two talking about? We weren't talking about any one particular game, but it seems you two are? What game?

Originally posted by Fadedbomb

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by Quirhid

Why don't we just judge the game by its merits rather than what its developer might or might not have done in the past, hmm?

I expect most of the players who will pick this game up don't know or don't care about Vanguard, SWG or any other dusty relic SOE might have been involved with.

A good example of that is Steve Snow.

Producer - Horizons / Artifact

Sr Producer - Gods and Heroes / Perpetual

Producer - Auto Assault / NCSoft

Producer -    League of Legends / Riot

What are you two talking about? We weren't talking about any one particular game, but it seems you two are? What game?

SOE's next game naturally: PS2.

Originally posted by gordiflu

Originally posted by dustyhayes

Originally posted by Quirhid

Why don't we just judge the game by its merits rather than what its developer might or might not have done in the past, hmm?

I expect most of the players who will pick this game up don't know or don't care about Vanguard, SWG or any other dusty relic SOE might have been involved with.

Normally that would be applicable in most other genre of games, but as you know MMO's are a different kind of dynamic beast with the regular patching, updating & newer builds implemented, MMOers want to invest their time and money into there favorite MMO knowing its not a board meeting away from patch/build: verison "1.5.NGE-The QQ & heart break is back" if you get my drift just my 2 cents  =)

Well, if you ant an analogy, somebody who is into Napalm Death music is not gonna even bother checking the latest Justin Bieber album. Ok, it's an exageration, but I guess you get the point.

When a company has disappointed you a few times already... are you going to trust it again?

 

In a perfect World ...NO.

In THIS MMO market? What choice do you havce if you want a sandbox (oops emergent gameplay) game? 

To take your analogy a step further- Lets assume you like Napalm Death but the only music made (at all) is either Pop or Country. There is some napalm Death availible but its recorded on an 8 Track and by people who can barely play instruments.

Finally after years a record company (who is shady is hell) is going to start releasing the Music you like and in a "quality" way. You are so starved for good Music you would at least give them the chance- I would/will.

No. I do not trust $OE- But at this point I would play a freaking Gpotato game if it was really sandboxy and made with quality.

Its better (IMHO) than throwing money at amature , deathmatch games that claim to be sandboxes like DF and MO. Basically I am willing to overlook the any company trying to bring a "world" top play in instead of the shit we have gotten for years.

Will I get burned? Probably. But I have been burned on every "sandbox" game for the last 5 years... Whats one more?

Originally posted by Zekiah
No. Just no.

How Come :')?

Op your post is flawed..  First you say "their track record is filled with nothing but themeparks".  Then you note that that they made SWG.....   How does that make any sense?    I know what they did to SWG, but still.   It started out as a sandbox. 

My answer to your question / title:       They've made a good sandbox in the past.  It's possible that they could make another.   There isn't that many sandbox choices out there.  So.. If they can pull it off while sticking to their guns, not remaking the game after release combined with continued development, I think they will do just fine.   Eve Online kind of fine.

As far as them pulling another sandbox to themepark conversion.  It won't happen.   I have no doubt Smedley and others regret doing what they did to that game at this point.  Even if they don't want to admit it.  How many old and potentially new customers did that scare off over the years? 

Originally posted by Leoghan
They've made quality sandboxes, the problem was no one played them. Everyone decries what happened to SWG, but no one seems to admit to having jump ship before the drastic overhaul of the game. But the reality is too many people jumped ship and that's why the overhaul came. 

Untrue sir.  Many people jumped ship because there were other issues in the game present from launch. No one asked for the NGE. What "we" wanted was to address issues with the current game. The combat upgrade moved some of this in the right direction but the success of WoW was creating massive pressure to move the game toward a level based game even at the time of the combat upgrade. 

Combat upgrade mechanics without the move toward level based theme park is the direction it should have gone. If the had held to entirely skill based without levels and fixed the massive amounts of bugs and tweaked their rewards for theme park quests (rage of the wookies) we would be having a very different conversation right now.