Messages posted by: Metroid Tamer

psherman wrote:List of all adventures needing review. If yours is not on here, please let me know and I will add it.

[other pending reviews]

Metroid Tamer wrote:
This time, I'd like a review for my new adventure, Special Interests. It's a sequel to Galactic Punishment, which was previously reviewed here (and updated since to fix a lot of the issues), and which is a sequel to Biological Disaster itself.

Play Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment before this!"

Sporepedia link to adventure: http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=sast-500816538180
Preferred reviewer: Anyone who's willing to take it; I'm not sure if Hanging (who reviewed Galactic Punishment) has the time. Just please play through Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment first, painful as they may be. It'll help you understand everything better.
Why we should review this adventure: There is probably nothing unique; that's why I am requesting a review in the first place.

Again, the person who decides to review this should play through Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment, so it'll make sense. A big problem with Galactic Punishment's first version was that it was difficult to tell it was a sequel, so a lot didn't make sense (if you didn't play the original), and Hanging outlined that in his review. This is easily remedied if you play through the following adventures FIRST before tackling Special Interests:

Biological Disaster

Galactic Punishment

I do not, however, expect either of those two to be reviewed; just Special Interests.

[other pending reviews]

CloudyVision said he was going to do arec's and StheT's.

I am going to be doing xorn101's, emperormiguel's, and Puffington's.

Xenopologist said he was going to be doing Seth1's and DemonofJustice's.

@DarkStar8070: I will probably be reviewing your series as well, however it might be a while. Please be patient while we get these reviews out of the way and then I can focus on a series. Also cbf, your reviews for your series will be out later too, most likely before Dakstar's as you submitted them before he did.

@KC11: I will probably be reviewing your adventure as well, unless someone else does before I get to it, which would be really nice.

Also, I need someone to review Metroid Tamer's and IsaktheWriter's adventures too.

Okay, let's get Aspect back on track!

The link to the adventure in this post is broken, because I have since updated the adventure and deleted the old version (to my knowledge, there is no method to just update a particular entry, or at least Spore does not want me to think so).

You have probably just used this as a result of quoting cbfstudios's list of pending reviews, which he posted before I updated the adventure. (Understandable, for convenience's sake) Please, so that the reviewer, whomever it may end up being, can reach my adventure with ease, quote my request post (which I have updated with the correct link) and use that edited post to replace the current entry in the list, therefore fixing the broken link. Thanks.

<hr>

EDIT: Actually, I'll just post the updated post here. You can copy it. This way, you won't have to claw through the old pages yourself.

Metroid Tamer wrote:Hey, guys. Remember me? It's "Metroid". Little account mix-up: back in 2008, Spore made you make a separate account for the Sporum, but they apparently changed that later. If I log into the site first then use the site to access the Sporum, it makes me my second-made account, simply named "Metroid". But not if I log directly into the Sporum.

This time, I'd like a review for my new adventure, Special Interests. It's a sequel to Galactic Punishment, which was previously reviewed here (and updated since to fix a lot of the issues), and which is a sequel to Biological Disaster itself.

The Description:

"After you saved Zykor from a biological disaster, the Galactic Council has taken an odd interest in you. You have been called down to council planet Gyutan.
You can explore ALL of Gyutan! Play Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment before this!"

Sporepedia link to adventure: http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=usr-Metroid%2520Tamer|2269565858%3Asast-500822006556
Preferred reviewer: Anyone who's willing to take it; I'm not sure if Hanging (who reviewed Galactic Punishment) has the time. Just please play through Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment first, painful as they may be. It'll help you understand everything better.
Why we should review this adventure: There is probably nothing unique; that's why I am requesting a review in the first place.

Biological Disaster, though bad, was unarguably my best adventure for a long time. Then, I made the sequel, Galactic Punishment, a few months ago, which reintroduced Ektoro. Galactic Punishment was, I believe, an improvement over Biological Disaster. For one, Galactic Punishment actually constrained you strictly to areas you'd need to travel (as opposed to its predecessor, which allowed full access to the planet, even though anything interesting was only restrained to a small area). Galactic Punishment featured a more... interesting plot, I think. But it had its issues, as HangingDeath pointed out in his review.

So, I updated it immensely, fixing a multitude of the issues Hanging highlighted. I also took that opportunity to tune the game up and add in some backstory for people to look at and encourage exploration.

Since then, I've developed Special Interests, which makes the entire planet accessible as Biological Disaster did. But here's the thing: I outfitted the planet massively. I put in terraformations, bays, islands, forests. I put in ecosystems sporting predator-prey relationships, I put in backstory scrolls... and you can explore the entire planet.

But it's not an exploration adventure. The exploration is just there to keep people occupied. There's a primary story in Special Interests, and I think it'll make a bit more sense to those lost, because this time, the story doesn't rely on some sort of biological disaster or anything involving an unidentified alien race.

In other words: I don't think my adventure is "original" or "unique", or at least I don't think it is, but I think it's an improvement over everything I've made in the past.

Again, the person who decides to review this should play through Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment, so it'll make sense. A big problem with Galactic Punishment's first version was that it was difficult to tell it was a sequel, so a lot didn't make sense (if you didn't play the original), and Hanging outlined that in his review. This is easily remedied if you play through the following adventures FIRST before tackling Special Interests:

Biological Disaster

Galactic Punishment

I do not, however, expect either of those two to be reviewed; just Special Interests.

Thank you for your time, gentlemen.

This is a really good adventure, but I cannot get past a certain point. In the tunnels, I have broken the wall but cannot get into the hatch. I've found the screwdriver and unlocked the warehouse door... but I can't get past the door. I just keep getting stuck. Am I missing something?

EDIT BEFORE POST: Looks like Drew980 is having the same issue.

[EDIT: I do not know how I did not see your most recent post noting that you're going to fix the door, but I did not. I am sorry for posting something this irrelevant.]

Apollo9898 wrote:

Metroid Tamer wrote:

Ektoro does not help you with the final boss, even though he should. I specifically programmed him to attack the final boss and nothing else once act 8 begins, but when the final act initiates, he just stands there. Further, any enemy troops are supposed to die at the beginning of this act, but one instance of this enemy stays alive and completely goes against what I freaking told it to do. Even worse: you can't target it because it's supposed to be "dead". I have remedied this to an extent by giving the enemy a ridiculously low attack rating for that particular act, but they can still stun you (lightning blade).

With this particular bug (the soldiers not dying one) I suggest to try making them disappear at the beginning of that act. And have an entirely different creature used for the dead soldier. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. It also helps to set them to stand still in the beginning of the act, I've found that sometimes makes them "stay dead".

Actually, I have three separate measures for them to follow. I told them to die, I told them to disappear, and I told them to move to another location. I have tried all of those individually and combined, with no luck. I even told them to ignore me and to flee.

In truth, simply telling them to die worked... for all of them except one particular instance. And that one won't do any of the things his sibling instances are happy to. It's always the same one, too.

But he's just a little fly buzzing about you. The true problem is that Ektoro simply will not attack the final boss. As a result, you're left to do it yourself, and energy doesn't respawn like I told it to, so it will take you at least a minute and a half, maybe, to kill the final boss. Most of that time will be waiting for your energy to rack back up.

Thank you for the suggestion, and I appreciate the help. I'm just saying that it didn't work...

I suppose I should give a fair warning to whomever decides to review Special Interests.

It is... erm, quite difficult. Not exactly along the lines of puzzles that will make you want to tear your hair out, but more along the lines of overpowered vehicles.

There are three types of vehicles in Special Interests. One of them is completely harmless and is supposed to act as a "scout" and researching vessel all in one. But the other two are overpowered as all hell.

The land vehicle, called the "Double Kill", will make quick work of you, killing you in two to three shots. However, only about five in the entire game are hostile and instructed to kill you (the others are on the enemy team, but do not attack). There is a point when you might think you have to pass through the starting location to return to a previous objective, but do not do it; the massive swarms of respawning troops and the (non-respawning but overpowered) Double Kill tanks that inhabit the area will kill you in a matter of seconds. However, this situation is intentional, as you are supposed to find a way to bypass the area unscathed. (NOTE: Ektoro is supposed to offer information about this, but due to an odd bug, he does not)

The other vehicle, Exstinctor Fiduciae (not misspelled; the name is Latin), which is an air vehicle/space ship, is not very common to run into if you're careful enough. However, if you do run into one, you are guaranteed death. The death will not be immediate, but their beam will whittle your health away at an alarming rate, and they will not stop to kill some other target. It doesn't help that you are required to battle one of these ships later on (there is a workaround that usually works, but isn't guaranteed and isn't completely obvious).

The game is going to be difficult your first time any way you look at it, considering you are free to explore the entire planet basically from the beginning, and a few objectives are hidden away for you to find on your own. But these vehicles are incredibly overpowered.

Further, there are a few more bugs I cannot explain. For example, after Act 2, Ektoro is supposed to follow you. But he doesn't. (He actually does in the editor, but on the release he just moves back to his original position) This bug isn't quite game-breaking, but it does screw up the story; he's meant to follow you to the Galactic Council base so that a) one line of dialogue makes more sense, and b) it explains HOW he ends up in military custody in a later act. The story makes much less sense any other way.

Another bug is that he is supposed to offer a "click me" dialogue explaining what you should do to get past the aforementioned military area, but instead he just has a "hovering" dialogue constantly informing you that he has a suggestion to get past it (but no elaborate details are given). This is probably me failing to pick up the pieces after a little screw-up in the "hovering" and "click me" dialogue involving accidentally hitting "chain act actions" too early. I mostly fixed it, but this may be a lingering mistake.

Lastly, though this is not necessarily a bug, there is a point in which you talk to the councilor, and a teleporter appears behind you as per the act that just initiated at that moment. If you step into that teleporter right away without talking to the councilor again, you just broke the game, as there is no way to return to talk to him without completing that act entirely and talking to him is required for that.

Wow, I feel like I'm reviewing my own adventure.

Anyway, I listed these here so that the reviewer is aware of them. I am going into the game immediately following posting this message so that I can work out the kinks and bugs, and to make the game a bit less cheaply difficult, but in case the reviewer hops onto this review before I have the chance to re-submit, this post is here. I don't expect a review of my adventure to pop out that suddenly and quickly, but stranger things have happened, and it is simply better to be safe.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: All right, I have finished the updates. The adventure is much more playable now, at least from what I gathered from my tests.

This also means that the link to the adventure has changed. Please update it to this: http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=usr-Metroid%2520Tamer|2269565858%3Asast-500822006556

(I've edited my request post to use that link as well, but just in case you pick this up from, say, cbf's listing of all the request posts)

I have bumped your health up to almost 1,000, and lowered the offensive prowess of the vehicles. They're actually possible to defeat now, but they will drain your health pretty badly.

I have also added a few more terraformations, mostly for extra aesthetic effect, but some of which is to improve the game's playability.

There are still a few bugs that simply will not cooperate with me. For instance, Ektoro telling you to use Emergency Hill in act 3 through a "click me" dialogue still does not work, even though I have checked and done things to the best of my ability.

Ektoro does not help you with the final boss, even though he should. I specifically programmed him to attack the final boss and nothing else once act 8 begins, but when the final act initiates, he just stands there. Further, any enemy troops are supposed to die at the beginning of this act, but one instance of this enemy stays alive and completely goes against what I freaking told it to do. Even worse: you can't target it because it's supposed to be "dead". I have remedied this to an extent by giving the enemy a ridiculously low attack rating for that particular act, but they can still stun you (lightning blade).

I have spent at least an hour simply trying to fix the bugs mentioned in this edit, but they simply will not budge. I am terribly sorry to the reviewer.

One final note to the reviewer: If your captain cannot jump, be very careful where you walk and where you fall. Since you can explore the entire planet, there are dips in the ground that a captain without the jump ability cannot escape. Everything in the adventure is accessible to all captains, but those who cannot jump need to be careful.

Hey, guys. Remember me? It's "Metroid". Little account mix-up: back in 2008, Spore made you make a separate account for the Sporum, but they apparently changed that later. If I log into the site first then use the site to access the Sporum, it makes me my second-made account, simply named "Metroid". But not if I log directly into the Sporum.

This time, I'd like a review for my new adventure, Special Interests. It's a sequel to Galactic Punishment, which was previously reviewed here (and updated since to fix a lot of the issues), and which is a sequel to Biological Disaster itself.

The Description:

"After you saved Zykor from a biological disaster, the Galactic Council has taken an odd interest in you. You have been called down to council planet Gyutan.
You can explore ALL of Gyutan! Play Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment before this!"

Sporepedia link to adventure: http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=usr-Metroid%2520Tamer|2269565858%3Asast-500822006556
Preferred reviewer: Anyone who's willing to take it; I'm not sure if Hanging (who reviewed Galactic Punishment) has the time. Just please play through Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment first, painful as they may be. It'll help you understand everything better.
Why we should review this adventure: There is probably nothing unique; that's why I am requesting a review in the first place.

Biological Disaster, though bad, was unarguably my best adventure for a long time. Then, I made the sequel, Galactic Punishment, a few months ago, which reintroduced Ektoro. Galactic Punishment was, I believe, an improvement over Biological Disaster. For one, Galactic Punishment actually constrained you strictly to areas you'd need to travel (as opposed to its predecessor, which allowed full access to the planet, even though anything interesting was only restrained to a small area). Galactic Punishment featured a more... interesting plot, I think. But it had its issues, as HangingDeath pointed out in his review.

So, I updated it immensely, fixing a multitude of the issues Hanging highlighted. I also took that opportunity to tune the game up and add in some backstory for people to look at and encourage exploration.

Since then, I've developed Special Interests, which makes the entire planet accessible as Biological Disaster did. But here's the thing: I outfitted the planet massively. I put in terraformations, bays, islands, forests. I put in ecosystems sporting predator-prey relationships, I put in backstory scrolls... and you can explore the entire planet.

But it's not an exploration adventure. The exploration is just there to keep people occupied. There's a primary story in Special Interests, and I think it'll make a bit more sense to those lost, because this time, the story doesn't rely on some sort of biological disaster or anything involving an unidentified alien race.

In other words: I don't think my adventure is "original" or "unique", or at least I don't think it is, but I think it's an improvement over everything I've made in the past.

Again, the person who decides to review this should play through Biological Disaster and Galactic Punishment, so it'll make sense. A big problem with Galactic Punishment's first version was that it was difficult to tell it was a sequel, so a lot didn't make sense (if you didn't play the original), and Hanging outlined that in his review. This is easily remedied if you play through the following adventures FIRST before tackling Special Interests:

Biological Disaster

Galactic Punishment

I do not, however, expect either of those two to be reviewed; just Special Interests.

Thank you for your time, gentlemen.

Quick note: I am the user Metroid. I have no idea why my email and password logged me into Metroid instead of my current username. So, I really joined in 2008 and actually managed to snag the name "Metroid" before anyone else!

But at least now you all should be free of any potential suspicion that some dude named Metroid, who only has a few creations under his belt, is claiming the work of another guy, Metroid Tamer, who has considerably more creations under his belt.

Anyway, I managed to play some of cbf's "Uvii" adventure (only got to look around a bit before I went to sleep) as well as two out of the "Words of" series (Wasteland and Condemned) in their entirety, and barely got anywhere with the other (Forsaken) due to an apparent bug at the beginning involving the item I have to grab being stuck in an invisible wall. I only managed to download a few of the Darkness Falls series when I fell asleep (it was really late after I finished making massive changes to Galactic Punishment).

From what I've played, however, the adventures were excellent.

I might get it re-reviewed formally here sometime, but maybe not right now, since that may be too soon.