Topic: The TRUTH about TALDREN and SFC3 (Read 24821 times)

ThatGuy · « **on:** August 13, 2003, 01:14:36 am »

This is my first post and it may get me banned, actually I expect it. But if one person reads this, then I'll be happy. Please remember that this is just an OPINION, but if you feel the need to censor, then do your worst, mods! Just remember that I bought this game, played it, and loved it! But the bugs kill it! Really, I DO love this game, and I wish that it wasn't released the way it was.

Ahhhh, SFC3, Taldren's afterthought of a product. SFC3 is a crashing, hanging, progression breaking, and overall buggy mess of a game. I read posts by countless users like "Why is my game crashing? Should I reinstall? Format Windows? Update drivers? etc etc etc". This is the solution to all of your problems. STOP PLAYING THIS GAME. Go play a real product that is programmed competently and does not crash every 5 seconds.

The funniest thing about these people is that SOMEHOW they have been TRICKED into thinking that their machine is to blame for these problems. IT IS NOT YOUR MACHINE. It is the GAME! These people are playing SFC3 w/ Windows9x/XP/2K/ME, 512 MB ram, Geforce 4's, and other uber equipment. Others are playing with lesser machines. THE BUGS PREVAIL, NO MATTER WHAT CONFIG THEY HAVE. And then these poor people post on this board asking for help, and the local FANBOYS tell them to "Reinstall", Install DX9b, Install older vid card drivers, and other POINTLESS suggestions; which just send these poor suckers on another wild goose chase. To the few of you that can play SFC3 without problems, KUDOS. You are a lucky few.

One more thing, don't go on about the state of SFC3 being activision's fault. Ultimately the state of the game is the responsibility of the developer, NOT THE PUBLISHER. Also, why do you think Taldren has bounced around between different publishers for its games? Ask the fanboys, and its because the publishers sucked. Ask anyone that knows anything about the industry, and they will tell you that its because Taldren's PRODUCTS ARE NOT UP TO PAR. And where has that landed them? With a second rate publisher like Majesco. Admit it, it's true.

In closing, my words may hurt, but they are true.

Flame on, fanboys, and Taldren, Good Luck with Black9, I PRAY that you prove me wrong with a solid demo!

ActiveX · « **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2003, 01:20:21 am »

Actually Interplay went out of business...so Taldren had little choice...

ThatGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2003, 01:28:56 am »

Ahhh, I stand (somewhat) corrected on that point, but keep in mind, they are now employed by MAJESCO (bleahh). And alas, SFC3 still crashes and locks people out of dynaverse play due to a CDKEY error, which is a BUG. Agreed?

ActiveX · « **Reply #3 on:** August 13, 2003, 01:35:30 am »

You present valid points...

SFC2 is just now getting the long awaited patch...

SFC Bennie · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2003, 02:17:47 am »

Quote:

One more thing, don't go on about the state of SFC3 being activision's fault. Ultimately the state of the game is the responsibility of the developer, NOT THE PUBLISHER.

Absolutely incorrect. Ultimately, the buck stops at the top, and the top is the publisher, not the developer; they're the people who set the deadlines and sign the cheques. They supervise the project at all stages, which is *especially * true of Activision, who by all accounts had a much larger creative and supervisory role on the project than is normal for the industry.

Scott Bennie

Tremok · « **Reply #6 on:** August 13, 2003, 08:20:01 am »

Relatively speaking, SFC3 is not a buggy game.

jimmi7769 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 13, 2003, 09:56:16 am »

And I just have to say this. While I bought the game and played it al the way through and have played it plenty online, I do prefer SFC2/OP to 3. # is a fine game and I never had any of the problems you list. Never once got locked out of D3 due to some CDkey error and have had relatively few bug problems or lock ups or crashes. I do believe a lot of the problems are due to instabilities on the machine the game is running on which are brought out by the game code. I try to keep my PC as clean as possible and rarely have all of the lock ups and crashes others seem to have.

If your solution to the problem is to quit playing then so be it. I'm not playing it at the moment either, but will probably play it again at a later date once I get tired of Freelancer again.

Lepton1 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 13, 2003, 10:41:04 am »

I have the most piece of crap machine possible. 500 mhz PIII, 256mb ram (and that's only P133 speed ram, hehe), Rage Xpert128 graphics card with only 16 mb and I never had any of these problems described above. I dont even think I meet the minimum requirements for the game. I just had to turn down all the graphic sliders and take out all the sparkly stuff and the game was perfectly playable. So yes, it is your system. I suggest you see how much space you have on your hard drive. You should have soemthing like 700 megs clear on it to run correctly in my experience.

quircus · « **Reply #12 on:** August 13, 2003, 01:52:47 pm »

PC133 RAM? Lucky. I have decent add-ons to my machine, but because it is alsmot 3 years old, the RAM works at PC100 even though I have 512MB of it. I have a 64MB video card, and a 700MHz Athlon. Game runs fine...except teh odd exception error...but it takes SOOO LONG to load with MODs.

Also, my new ATA133 Hard Drive is being forced to run at ATA66 speed because of motherboard limitations. I need a new motherboard....

Mike H · « **Reply #14 on:** August 13, 2003, 04:35:44 pm »

I have visited the Taldren boards for many years. I have seen many pointless threads in the forums. This thread you started is one of them.

All SFC games have had bugs in them. There is virtually no such thing as a 100% bug-free product anymore. The complexity of modern computer games and the computer game business dictate that bugs are no longer an "if" thing, but more realistically "how many?" and "how bad". If that is unacceptable to you as a consumer, remember that your disposable income is your strongest voice to the game companies. If you think the product is crap, buy something else! Read the game reviews, talk to other players. Be a SMART gamer! There is lots and lots of crap out there on the game shelves all around the world. It is a very satisfying thing when you find that you got a great game for your hard-earned money. I have yet to be dissatisfied with any of my Taldren-designed SFC games, and I think Taldren should be proud of their work and their customer relations.

I would say few SFC bugs have been major show-stoppers. Yes, there is a small percentage of people like you who appear to be having some compatibility issues, but you need to look at the big picture: There are thousands of people playing SFC who aren't having these problems. So does that mean that Taldren and their game(s) is worthless? I think not. Do you have absolutely ZERO problems with all other games on your system? I would be very skeptical if you said yes to this.

Most of the squawking I have seen on these forums relate to game design choices, not bad software. I have played computer games for about 20 years now, and as far as game developers go, I feel Taldren is above average when it comes to maintaining a dialogue with their customers (until people started getting rather nasty to them on here) and I feel they support their products reasonably well, with SFC3 being the black sheep.

I think getting in bed with Activision to make SFC3 was a poor decision on Taldren's part, but hindsight is 20-20. I have never been impressed with Activision's handling of the Star Trek license; their anal retentive posture towards game patching and their after-the-sale customer satisfaction is a sad example of poor public relations. If you compare the post-retail patching history of SFC1, SFC2, and SFCOP to the handling of SFC3, it is hard to point the finger at Taldren. Heck, they just released another fine patch for Orion Pirates, a game whose shelf life has long since passed! I appreciate that. Compare that to the SFC3 situation: Activision has 100% control on when and if a patch will be released. Although Activision officially denies that a "one patch policy" exists, that indeed appears to be the case with a great many recent games they have released. Clearly that is not only a purely profit-driven decision, but also an insult to real customer service. Personally, I would be delighted to see Activision be relieved of the Trek license; they have been NO savior of the ST game franchise. The down side to this, of course, is what will happen to the future of Trek games?

Mike

Deviak · « **Reply #15 on:** August 13, 2003, 04:53:03 pm »

Just to..ummm..give you an example of not being the dev's fault but the whole thing really stops at the publisher....Galaxy Andromeda formerly known as Imperium Galactica 3. Mithis Games had almost completed the game..just a few MP codes and stability issues to plug in..CDV decided to cancel it. Nuff said.

3dot14 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 13, 2003, 05:29:18 pm »

Well it just isn't an SFC game without a post like this. (ISPEAKTHETRUTH, anyone?).

But beyond that, I have no comment on this thread one way or another... (I hope I won't fuel more flames)

SFC Bennie · « **Reply #19 on:** August 13, 2003, 05:48:09 pm »

Probably.

I just wish people wouldn't misspell "TROLLTH" as "TRUTH" so damn often. I know they have similar sounds, but the use of upper caps is a dead giveaway.

Scott Bennie

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Topic: The TRUTH about TALDREN and SFC3 (Read 24821 times) var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

ThatGuy

ActiveX

ThatGuy

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SFC Bennie

Reptor7

Tremok

jimmi7769

Mantis

Lepton1

Reptor7

Mantis

quircus

MarianoDT

Mike H

Deviak

Reptor7

Jwest

3dot14

SFC Bennie

Topic: The TRUTH about TALDREN and SFC3 (Read 24821 times)