Official UT3 complaint thread

[R.Flagg]

Any game that ships with 9 or 10 weapons, alt fire for all those weapons, even more complicated weapon firing modes for some of them (rocket launcher), a translocator, a hoverboard, etc.... its just begging to not be embraced by the majority of the "dumbed down" gaming playerbase right now.

Perhaps, but unfortunately they tried to make it so, by putting the user manual right into the game (all the instructions on how to play that constantly flash in your face, etc). So the folks who are able to get into such a game, feel like the game is talking down to them.

I think they would have been much better off with the old way of just having a few different models and 100 different skins, textures, etc.

Amen.

Finally, you have the technical issues which are a huge deal, in my opinion. 1) Lack of a linux support at launch (especially big deal for servers). 2) 0 percent mod support - you can't even MAKE a mod for UT3 yet... it doesn't support it. Not at all! For a game which has historically been carried by the mod community, this is a big BIG deal. 3) Horrible interface, game finder, stat tracking, etc.

I recently watched a dev diary from one of the guys at Epic... who said something about the "theory of thirds" where he talked about development with the idea that:

1) You keep 1/3rd of things the same that are the core of your game.
2) You introduce 1/3rd of things that are brand new.
3) You improve or tweak 1/3rd of the things that were already there.

It just seems to me that Epic got this all wrong and really wasn't in touch with its player/fanbase.

Yup, yup. Agreed 100%. And it's why I firmly believe that actual changes in the crew down there are required before we'll see what's needed.

My suggestions for Epic moving forward?

1) Get rid of the ego and realize that UT has had a good run. That being said, maybe its time to evolve UT as well.

That's true.

3) Epic pioneered the modding scene

That's actually not true. They did not pioneer the mod scene. There were certainly a lot of mods for the UT series, but they do not deserve any type of credit for 'pioneering' such a thing. Hell, our mod is older than Unreal.

In the end... the UT universe needs a makeover. It needs to embrace the new generation of PC gamers (what is left of them). In my opinion, it feels like Epic made UT3 a "transition to console gaming" game.

Well, maybe not embrace the "new generation of PC gamers". Maybe they need to say screw them, and keep making the game that got them here. Or... say screw the old fans and go a new Console route. But make up their mind. Same thing as the whole concept of the 'tournament'. Either bring that back, or change the darn name of the game. Just like Hourences said before the big forum crash..., UT needs to decide who the hell it is (or something to that effect, made sense when he said it).

What concerns me surprises me is the number of folks who are willing _yet again_ to blame the publisher (or even worse, the 'community'), instead of holding Epic responsible for dropping the ball. That's not going to get us better games. Though it would seem this time around those folks are not the majority, thankfully. Sometimes the truth has to hurt, in order for there to be progress.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

That's actually not true. They did not pioneer the mod scene. There were certainly a lot of mods for the UT series, but they do not deserve any type of credit for 'pioneering' such a thing. Hell, our mod is older than Unreal.

A better term may be "spearheaded", because, let's be honest, modding BEFORE Unreal was a terrible pain and not any fun.

 

[JohnDoe641]

A better term may be "spearheaded", because, let's be honest, modding BEFORE Unreal was a terrible pain and not any fun.

That is..... until Narf Bladder Arena came to town.

 

[R.Flagg]

Yeah, in my current mindset of bumming about UT3's direction, I often forget to say the positive. They did make a game that was friendly to modding. I think they could have done worlds better in dealing with those in their modding 'community', but the game itself delivered. It's unfortunate though that they've strayed from that path.

And again, I feel much like what others have said. Some form whining is not unexpected, and for long time fans is not even something to complain about in my opinion. Some folks have devoted so much of their energy into this series over the years, that if they want to whine a bit now, I want to let them. People are human (and the reasonable ones can be won over again if you work at it).

I recognize that this type of passion is what a game developer should dream for. People actually caring enough to get emotional about what they have created. And if the emotion is going sour, then suck it up, learn from it, get over yourself, and do better.

I get worked up about it sometimes because I've spent 99% of my gaming time over the last several years playing and modding and thinking about this one series. It's the series I was hoping to 'retire into'. Ya know, play for fun until my eyes and fingers got so old I couldn't do it anymore. But the route UT3 has taken, and the entire vibe coming from Epic, has tarnished that rose-colored retirement vision. Sure, maybe it was a pipe-dream to begin with, that any one game series could satisfy anyone for that long, but I was enjoying that pipe-dream. I want it back.

And BTW - I'm still among the few you can find online. Guess old habits die hard.

 

[h.pocus]

UT3 is the best AND worst game in the series!

a feat no one thought Epic could actually pull off. making the game play better than any other UT and then killing it off at the same time - wtf

Your logic is awe-inspiring.

 

[i_hax]

Well, I love the game (regardless of its flaws)

BUT

You have to admit, it's pretty sad when theres 2 servers for every 1 player... ughh.

 

[h.pocus]

Well, I love the game (regardless of its flaws)

BUT

You have to admit, it's pretty sad when theres 2 servers for every 1 player... ughh.

yeah i wonder, what the people paying for those servers are thinking right now. its closer to 3 server per player right now. i say move them back to 2k4 or cod4.

 

[[USSR] dunnie!]

DEAD GAME

 

[FuLLBLeeD]

Please refer to my custom title.

And theres no way I'm going back to 2k4...UT3 has issues, sure, but the gameplay certainly isn't one of them. Bouncing around TAM servers shooting kids with shock/lg is only entertaining for so long. Its nice to have the real "UT" feel back to the series.

 

[hal]

DEAD GAME

No trolling.

 

[[TT]BrundleFly]

The people at Epic have been making games for decades. They've studied game mechanics in-depth for years.

Decades? I doubt it. Maybe the company has been around for decades but I doubt there are many 20 year employees. And if that was true the current product is pretty crap for decade old developers...

If Epic would have been truthful right from the start it wouldn't have gotten so many peoples expectations up so high. They should have said "PC gamers suck balls we are making this game for console fairies". Instead they said "This game is gonna be just so excellent for PC owners blah blah lie lie bull farts ad nauseum

"

Creeps...

Epic Staff --->

 

[evilmrfrank]

Alright I usually keep my tongue when I hear people crying about the game but seriously, if you guys don't know wtf your talking about don't talk! First of all UT3 is not entirely crap. It has some pretty amazing art in it and overall it is really polished except for a few bugs. Every game has bugs, so get over it. Epic wasn't lying about their plans for UT3 because at the time the things they were saying likely were in their plans. Gameplay changes during development all the time. Things are added, and things are taken away. It doesn't make them liars it makes them smart. They put stuff in the game if they think it's fun and they take it out if its not fun. Every game company does this and always will do this. If your ambitions for the game were ruined by getting over excited that is your problem. A big reason I think people hate UT3 so much is that they have been expecting too much out of the game so when it was released they had a good game instead of an impossibly amazing game so they think its crap only because its a bit worse than what they thought it would be. The game is not made only for consoles and it does in no way feel like it was dumbed down for consoles. The game is too fast to be a console game. The console version of the game IS slower. If you think Epic is full of a bunch of people who don't know wtf they are doing I'd like to see you come up with something better. Pretty ignorant of people to troll about something they couldn't even start themselves. I'm sorry for this rant but I'm really getting sick of people posting crap about Epic and what a bad job they did when they don't know what they are talking about. Sure UT3 has some issues thats why Epic is creating patches for it.

 

[[TT]BrundleFly]

Alright I usually keep my tongue when I hear people crying about the game but seriously, if you guys don't know wtf your talking about don't talk!

I will talk if I please, I call it as I see it and I don't need your permission OR approval... and your sure read a lot of crap into my post that isn't there. "If you think you can do better than wah wah", sh1t man grow up... Do you watch sports? I don't but every fat slob with a beer can is an armchair critic...

I'm sorry for this rant but I'm really getting sick of people posting crap about Epic and what a bad job they did when they don't know what they are talking about.

If you are referring to me I didn't mention a bad job. I said they were/are less than honest.

I was really looking forward to this game for a long time, the UT series being the only game I play online. I upgraded my gaming rig specifically for it. But the fact the hardly anyone is playing it speaks volumes and now I am sitting here wondering if it is really salvagable, patches not withstanding. I fear first impressions may have soured people and it will be too little too late...

I really hope I am wrong...

And it you don't like my opinion well that's your problem... Who are you anyway???

 

[evilmrfrank]

My post wasn't to only you, it was to everyone who is constantly complaining about the game....

 

[T2A`]

BBurkart, what would you say if I told you that the game was developed with consoles in mind and the whole thing was simply sped up via time dilation for the PC version? Just because something is fast doesn't mean it's for PC. If every design decision came down to how it would work on the consoles then it's a console game even if in the end they jacked the speed up 20%.

You mentioned art in reference to the maps, and I think that's a very big problem with UT3. The maps look fantastic but gameplay is lacking on almost every single one. Even with something as simple as DM many of the maps are full of problems that remove strategy and flow. I had a feeling UT3 would be full of maps like this and I was right.

 

[Alhanalem]

The maps look fantastic but gameplay is lacking on almost every single one.

That really couldnt be farther from the truth. There are plenty of good maps gameplay-wise. I'm sure you'd disagree with every one if I made a list (as its largely subjective anyway) but I really dont think this is one of the games flaws.

 

[evilmrfrank]

Seriously compared to UT2004 the maps are far better. A lot of the maps in UT2004 really sucked gameplay wise. One of the few good ones was DM-Rankin. UT3 is very strong gameplay wise. And about the gameplay being geared towards consoles I really don't know where your getting this info from.... UT3 was designed for both consoles and PC's

 

[Jordan L]

Carbon Fire, Diesel, Fearless, and a couple of others, well they all have their own design but same general look and small corridors gets really irritating when theres around 12+players on the server (which most of the time there always is). Then it turns into half or more of the players running around with the impact hammer. In the end maps like this with that many players, just turns into a pointless spam fest with no skill involved what so ever.

Those maps are great for low player count, but most servers are high in player count in the first place, for now theres an average of 2 servers that are populated for me, and both stay in the 12-24 populated player count. Just some random whine I wanted to add. Nothing serious, just adding to the thread.

 

[Grobut]

You know, my biggest gripe with UT3 is not even the game, for all the bad UI, broken server browser, and lacking features, though annoying they may be, are nothing compared to the lack of support from Epic.

Its been 3 months now? there about? 2 and a ½? and in that time i have played probably a grand total of 3 houers of UT3, with the remainder of the time beeing spend crashing to the desktop.. it started out fine though, i could play a full 20 mintue match no problem, then the game would crash after 15 minutes or so, then it was 10, then 5, then 2, then seconds after starting a round, and now, it dies the very moment it is done loading a map! the game is absolutely broken now.

And i am far from alone, stuff like this is happening to alot of people, though for some the whole system locks up requiering a hard reboot, for others it freezes and requires a Ctrl+Alt+Del and a manual termination, but the issue is certainly not an isolated incident by any means.

And then there's all the issues with Creative sound cards, especially the Audigy series, and X-FI's with X-RAM.


And all Epic has to offer is deafening silence, or failing that, they have actually deleted threads about thease issues in Troubleshooting, there used to be quite alot of them but only a few remain, all recently created, and still all of them go unanswered.
And now the announcement of the second patch is here, and not one single mention of fixing any of thease issues.. well thats just special isen't it.

It took us 3 months to get here, so will it take another 3 for them to release a patch that actually lets me play the game? will i really have to wait half a year to see my 60 Bucks come alive on my screen? hell, will they ever fix it?


Gah, i feel like a broken record sometimes, as this is really all i can say about UT3, its all i have actually experianced, this is all UT3 has given me.
If it where any other game, i would have said "stuff it" and moved on by now, but i do love UT..

 

[ambershee]

A better term may be "spearheaded", because, let's be honest, modding BEFORE Unreal was a terrible pain and not any fun.

Quake was a pleasure to mod.