Quote:
Originally written by Spidweb: You can't win an argument with a customer.
Having to win an argument with a customer is usually a pretty sound sign you're doing something wrong, isn't it?
I've played and thoroughly enjoyed every Exile title, still love Blades of Exile, and thought Nethergate was magnificent. I appreciated the idea behind A1, because E1 was certainly showing its age at that point.
I speak for a significant section of your customers - a section, I have noticed, which is a little old (both in maturity and in terms of better things to do) to send emails to gamemakers - when I say that I don't get Geneforge. The way you manage semi-real-time gameplay is inelegant and ugly, and I played A4 only very briefly before having bile rise in my gorge - not only on the plot, which you clearly phoned in (there are a dozen people, plenty of them moderators at your forums, who probably would have furnished better ideas for free), but at the stream from something I like (Avernum, ultimately derived from Exile - some of my favorite games of all time) being crossed with that of something I don't (Geneforge).
I resent, and I believe the section I speak for resents, the periodic efforts to dumb down your games. The market isn't even pushing towards dumb any more; I don't get why you're doing it. I don't mean dumb in terms of plot; that's at least understandable, because you've had other things on your mind and I don't expect every one to be a winner there. I mean the continual, incomprehensible slide into mediocrity in terms of game mechanics.
Exile had hundreds of spells, dozens of weapon types [from three inherent weapon classes], and a dozen trainable and modifiable statistics. People are still finding new things to do with BoE (even though it allows very little access to game mechanics!). A4 plays like a lazy fantasy throwaway by a big, heartless developer.
Note earlier that I said a significant section of your customers. I'm not just a random curmugeon: I'm personally responsible for a couple hundred dollars of your revenue. I would buy a sequel to Nethergate; in fact, I would buy three damn copies. I'd buy an Exile 4. I'd buy another version of Blades. I'd buy something entirely different. I like your games, but the ones I like best - the ones I love - came before you got the idea your target demographic was 10 and under, and swearing and moral ambiguity and having more ways to kill a monster than you could count to using your toes were no-nos.
Yeah, I'm sure you get letters that say 'Avernum 4 is the best ever'. I'm sure you also get letters thanking you for Homeland: Stone of Night. Not everyone has the time or the inclination to send you email, sir, and just because some of us don't doesn't mean you shouldn't discount us as customers.
For one thing, we aren't spending our parents' money.