Hellgate: London Demo Released in the Wild!

[RainOfTerror]

Hellgate: London is an RPG set in the immersive first-person perspective. With a completely randomized world that offers a unique experience every time you play, Hellgate: London introduces a demon-ridden place where the last survivors of the human race must meld science and magic to survive.

EA has released a 1.4GB playable demo, allowing you to try out the Blademaster and Marksman classes, and part of Act 1 of the game.

Download Mirrors :

WorthPlaying (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=46876)
Fileshack (http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/11298/Hellgate:+London+Demo)

[Shjinta]

Wonder if my Mouse Vista problem will happen which is stopping me from playing the Beta

[Goronmon]

Actually, H:L is set in first or third person depending on the class.

[sprankton]

Only blademaster and marksman? Shit, I'll just re-load the off my beta account.

[ÜberJumper]

Oh FFS, I didn't open up my firewall so I could start the download from home.

[KNOTE]

Is this good? How say the mobs?

[Smoof]

Is it DX10? If so, I've finally found a DX10 game to challenge my PC with...

[Grifter]

Is it DX10? If so, I've finally found a DX10 game to challenge my PC with...

I don't know if it will challenge your PC but it might give it a quick rubdown. I don't have a DX10 rig but under DX9 the beta runs incredibly well (30+fps) with everything turned up at 1920x1200 (no aa) so if you have a DX10 card it will probably eat this game for breakfast.

Aside from a few glaring/unforgivable bugs I am loving the beta and can't wait to get a little single player action.

[sprankton]

Is it DX10? If so, I've finally found a DX10 game to challenge my PC with...

I am playing with DX10 in the beta and honestly there isn't a good enough reason to switch, due to the hard hit you take in frames.

[lockwoodx]

Let me know if the seperate EA EULA is in the demo. That will let me know if they intend to go through with the in game advertisments.


Is this good? How say the mobs?

The mobs could be mistaken for aliens(not demons) at times they are so conry. It feels like a cheesy console shooter for the most part.


Is it DX10? If so, I've finally found a DX10 game to challenge my PC with...


I'm running windows vista 32bit with an 8800 GTS.
If you turn DX10 on expect to crash every 10 minutes and your frame rate takes a left turn to shitty town. They just don't have it optomized yet. DX9 the game runs smooth as silk frame wise EXCEPT in the stations where other players are (including stations with only 1 other person than yourself)....despite other neumerous bugs and crashes that also plague the build.

The HGL london beta is the only program for me so far that windows accually had to preform a scndsk itself to clean up the corrupted files before it would run. Better pray they released a better version for the demo.

[GrinR]

This is going to be good.

[lockwoodx]

This is going to be good.

The demo changed your mind? Dam do I have to DL it now?

[Ancalagon]

Minimum System Requirements: # OS: Windows XP with SP2 or Windows Vista # CPU: 1.8 GHz or faster (2.4 GHz for Vista) # RAM: 1 GB (2GB for Vista) or more # Disc Drive: DVD drive # Hard Drive: 7.0 GB or more free space # Video Device: Directx 9.0c/10 compatible # Sound: DirectX 9.0c/10 compatible # Input: Compatible Keyboard and mouse Video card with 128 MB or more memory, Pixel Shader 2.0, and one of these chipsets is required: # ATI Radeon 9000 or greater # NVIDIA GeForce 6200 or greater # NVIDIA GeForce 8800 recommended for DirectX 10

Look at the difference between the XP and Vista specs. I know Vista is bad, but its not that bad. Recent benchies show that performance gains with vista, thanks to recent drivers, are negligable at best. Someone clearly didnt do a lot of work on the Vista side of things.

Hello? EA? Can you send these guys some more money so they can hire, I dunno, a programmer? Double their staff?

[GrinR]

The demo changed your mind? Dam do I have to DL it now?


Sorry I wasnt' clear. I'm saying watching the tital wave of disappointment is going to be good.

On the flip side, maybe I'm on crack and it's a great game, in which case yay I have a good game to play.

Win-win.

[Azrael]

Hmm it will be interesting to read some first impressions of this game. Its been hyped up so much for so long its not funny. Somehow i dont think my machine will be good enough to run it properly think i may have to go round my mates and give this game a whirl

[PopoWRX]

Sorry I wasnt' clear. I'm saying watching the tital wave of disappointment is going to be good.

On the flip side, maybe I'm on crack and it's a great game, in which case yay I have a good game to play.

Win-win.

Eiwwww...deja vu....coulda sworn I've seen this post before!

Anyway, I'll download it and try it, I had high hopes at the start but it seems to be slowly fading atm.

[walkstheplanes]

I just got a Beta invite. wtf.

[Dibbler]

I just got the e-mail an hour ago letting me know I've been selected for the beta. So is everyone in now? Wow, I don't feel so special now.

[Lima Beans]

Ive been replaying diablo2 in anticipation of this game.

I hope against hope that GrinR is full of shit.

/crosses fingers

[Shjinta]

Wow that demo is fucking short.. too short for the 1.4gb download. And my mouse works fine, its the beta thats fucked up

[Winterwolves]

Ive been replaying diablo2 in anticipation of this game.

I hope against hope that GrinR is full of shit.

/crosses fingers

Well I think he is. Just try to form your own opinion & try not to let what anyone says effect your perspective.

[lockwoodx]

Wow that demo is fucking short.. too short for the 1.4gb download. And my mouse works fine, its the beta thats fucked up

Ding Ding Ding!! Winnah!!

[GrinR]

Ive been replaying diablo2 in anticipation of this game.

I hope against hope that GrinR is full of shit.

/crosses fingers

The game might find people who enjoy it, as winterwoof has indicated, but if you've been replaying Diablo 2 in anticipation boy oh boy are you in for a freefall disappointment.

[UnderHero5]

Demo downloaded. I went to install it and it says it's corrupt.
Bah...

[Hagetaka]

I got an email saying I was selected for the Beta as well. Now there is a Demo? Color me confused.

[lockwoodx]

Demo downloaded. I went to install it and it says it's corrupt.
Bah...

Don't feel bad it's not you. The beta was corrupted to hell too.

[walkstheplanes]

I got an email saying I was selected for the Beta as well. Now there is a Demo? Color me confused.

It's a bit weird. Well, at least we get to play the rest of the classes before the game is released.

[lockwoodx]

The test lost all but the most hardcore of fanboi beta players. I loged in the other day and it felt like a ghost town. I don't blame them for sending out more invites.

[Fragland]

Mirror @ Fragland:
http://www.fragland.net/downloads.php?id=15928

[Axiom]

I thought the demo was too short. I kept looking around for more quests or areas. I definitely feel the Diablo game mechanic behind it all, almost too much in my opinion. My initial impression is cautiously positive. I'll buy the game hoping the single player storyline is good. From the demo, I can't really tell much beyond the look and the game mechanics.

[51|RandoM]

The demo feels like Tabula Rasa without the fun.

The environments are terrible. Low rez textures on everything, every area is just a cube or rectangle with either a skybox or ceiling on it. I've played console games with better graphics. Comparing Resistance's London to this one, I'll stick with Resistance.

I played the marksman and upgraded my rifle so that every so often it would fire exploding bullets. Thing is, the explosion was centered on me, not on wherever my bullets were hitting. Bug or feature? I can't tell.

Game balance is terrible in the demo area too. You've either got melee mobs that are slower than you(so you never get hit), or you have melee+ranged mobs where the ranged attacks are very slow, easily dodged projectiles(so you never get hit). The only time you'll take damage is when you fight one of the boss mobs that are faster than you are.

Quest density is pretty poor too, at least in comparison to similar games. Probably around 10-15 NPCs in the demo and less than 10 quests. Of course the quests are all step&fetch it or kill X of mob Y.

If you find yourself running around at level 4 wondering why the areas don't repop, don't sweat it. Just exit to the menu and go back in to your character, the areas will be repopulated.

[Heretic Machine]

Mine is corrupted, and I don't have enough interest in this game to redownload it. Money lost.

[Sophism]

I think it's fun, but I would really like it if there was a way to rebind the two attack keys. I can get the console to come up, I can type slash commands, can't figure out the syntax to do what I want to do.

[Winterwolves]

The game might find people who enjoy it, as winterwoof has indicated, but if you've been replaying Diablo 2 in anticipation boy oh boy are you in for a freefall disappointment.

Well I played D2 for about 6 months straight before beta.. so to each his own.

[randir14]

I liked the demo but I dont think I could stand playing the game over and over online without getting bored in a week.

[jpublic]

I'm liking the game, but the one thing I really dislike is the Diablo-esque save feature. Look, I'm offline, I should be able to freaking save whenever the hell I want. I hate this whole town-centric save scheme.

[Ten19]

The demo feels like Tabula Rasa without the fun.

Wow. So it's basically in the negatives in terms of fun, eh? Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Though I also did get a beta invite today out of the blue, same day this demo was announced. This would appear to reinforce how hard up they are for people to play.

[Axiom]

Though I also did get a beta invite today out of the blue, same day this demo was announced. This would appear to reinforce how hard up they are for people to play.

Or they could be trying to stress test their servers before the launch.

[gawaintheblind]

This is going to be good.

heh. It's going to be something anyway.

[lockwoodx]

I played the marksman and upgraded my rifle so that every so often it would fire exploding bullets. Thing is, the explosion was centered on me, not on wherever my bullets were hitting. Bug or feature? I can't tell.

That's a feature, and a lame one for marksmen. It's suppose to benefit the guardian tanks who want mobs swamping them in melee except they have no concept of where bonuses should go on items. Half the time you find items with skills your class can't even use.

[tenchiker]

The demo feels like Tabula Rasa without the fun.



Is that a double negative? Somehow it seems Tabula Rasa without the fun=fun? Anyway on to the demo impressions. I'm shocked by this demo. After all the hype and looking forward to this for ages, this is what they deliver? First off the graphics are shit, there were games that came out in 2004-2005 that looked better then this. The animation and AI are fucking horrible. The textures are ugly and the monster design is amateur at best. I can see where they were going with it and there are hints of fun in the demo for rpgers but this game is clearly still in an Alpha like state. Steer way fucking clear.

[GrinR]

Well I played D2 for about 6 months straight before beta.. so to each his own.

Well to be fair, your support of the game is unqualified. You simply like it and that's that.

[GrinR]

The demo feels like Tabula Rasa without the fun.

This is so funny because I tried playing TaRa specifically because I wanted a future MOG shooter and Hellgate had utterly failed me. It was like sleeping with the last fatty in the bar after last call because I'd failed to secure anything better.

[Grifter]

This game reminds me of Fantasy Star online more than anything else...

While I find the game to be average but fun and am looking forward to playing through the single player portion I really hope the multi-player fails miserably, there is no way this game is worth a monthly fee even $5 would be too much. It pisses me off that this game is so unpolished, limited in scope as well as level design and even suffers from some of the same issues as other MMOs yet has none of the benefits. LoTRO and WoW have HUGE!! worlds with weeks and weeks of gameplay just in exploration alone this has a few tunnels that all look the same, randomly generated or not this isn't 1998 we need more detail in our levels than a different turn here or a courtyard there. For $49.99 and no monthly fee this game would be fun for a few months especially with friends but having to purchase features that should be in the game by default is inexcusable.

This game needs better animations with more variety (remember all the cool death animations in Diablo?), better collision detection,more melee(SP?) moves, better more detailed character models (the freakin mouths don't even move when they talk) and custom built levels along side the randomly generated ones before the developers can even think about charging a monthly fee.

The single player barely seems finished enough for release. I'm still trying to figure out what took them so long to get to this point...

[Ancalagon]

Well I've nearly got it downloaded. I want to see it with my own eyes.

Damnit, its so hard going in there wanting to like it. Now I want to bash it and make fun of it.

Curse the honesty of the beta testers!

[Telefrog]

The single player barely seems finished enough for release. I'm still trying to figure out what took them so long to get to this point...

It takes a while to get in-game ads looking good.

[GrinR]

It takes a while to get in-game ads looking good.

ohsnap !

[Sophism]

This game reminds me of Fantasy Star online more than anything else...

It is a testament to the influence of video games on the mind that I immediately thought "Nice misspelling" and then sadly realized that I consider Phantasy to be the proper spelling of that word now.

[sprankton]

I see a lot of people saying the graphics suck and I have my issues with the game, but the graphics are not bad for an RPG. i will agree it is nothing mind blowing, but to say it is old and dated looking is silly.

[tenchiker]

I see a lot of people saying the graphics suck and I have my issues with the game, but the graphics are not bad for an RPG. i will agree it is nothing mind blowing, but to say it is old and dated looking is silly.

You may want to go to the eye doctor for a new prescription. Just because it is an RPG doesn't mean it has to look like games that came out 3 years ago. It is old and dated looking. It would be silly to say it's not.

[GrinR]

I see a lot of people saying the graphics suck and I have my issues with the game, but the graphics are not bad for an RPG. i will agree it is nothing mind blowing, but to say it is old and dated looking is silly.

Hellgate's graphics aren't as good as Deus Ex: Invisible War (which I recently loaded up on modern tech and looks surprisingly good) which is about a million years old.

The basic problem is the art direction is all over the place. Some textures are high-res and right next to them are super-low res textures. The fire effects were better in Blood - a DOS game - and there are little or no atmospheric effects (smoke, fog, shadows, etc.) so it has a very primitive feel to it. The animations are also all over the place. When you pick your character they are very nice, but when you play they are positively arthritic. Nobody mentions it, but the sound environment is a big part of the look and feel and the sound is either not there, or mediocre.

Play Diablo without the sound and you lose half the character. RAKADISHU! See? Half of you saw the little kobold freaks from Diablo 2. I can't remember a single sound effect from Hellgate except for the guy who gave me a quest but sounded like Guybrush Threepwood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guybrush_Threepwood) trying to be haaard.

[Ancalagon]

RAKADISHU!

hello? Its RakaNishu.

the other guys name is Bishibosh

(yes I have even released a mod for diablo 2, I have spent many an hour with my precious)

[GrinR]

hello? Its RakaNishu.

the other guys name is Bishibosh

(yes I have even released a mod for diablo 2, I have spent many an hour with my precious)

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/5842/diablo5fqwn7.gif

[sprankton]

You may want to go to the eye doctor for a new prescription. Just because it is an RPG doesn't mean it has to look like games that came out 3 years ago. It is old and dated looking. It would be silly to say it's not.

I am not saying that, I am saying it is not that bad. As an MMO/RPG type game it is better than most out there.

Again, there is a lot that needs to be put into Hellgate and needs to be fixed, but I don't think it looks that bad. The case i would present is the Museum mission (for those who have the beta).

I still think the game needs another 6 months of development just for polish.

[GrinR]

I still think the game needs another 6 months of development just for polish.

I agree. There is a good game there, but right now it's like putting baby clothes on a fetus.

[Grifter]

The graphics really don't bug me that much and I thought the sound and music were good...when they were audible. It seems that the sounds are randomly generated as well or their 5.1 is buggy. I know there seems to be a lot of negative feedback here but I do think the game is fun and a couple single player play throughs are probably worth it with different characters but thats about it. It just doesn't have the personality or atmosphere that Diablo had to warrant any more play time. If they built some of the levels by hand and made them bigger in scope (not necessarily longer just more expansive and detailed) I think it would go a long way in improving my overall opinion of the game.

[icronic]

I'm not sure how words can even describe how terrible that was. All in all it kind of surprises me. Sure often hyped up games fail to meet the hype that's piled onto them, but very rarely are they actually bad games. Even Fable didn't manage to dissapoint like this has.

[Wyrm]

After reading everything, it looks like we prematurely placed our trust in a group of developers that simply weren't up to the task of creating a game on their own without Blizzard's high standard of game creation to back them up.

I'm going to reserve judgement until I play the retail release (but I won't be rushing out to buy it anymore). I'm actually shocked, because I expected that there would be haters, but I honestly thought this title would get pushed back to next year. Apparently, it needs it BAD.

[GrinR]

After reading everything, it looks like we prematurely placed our trust in a group of developers that simply weren't up to the task of creating a game on their own without Blizzard's high standard of game creation to back them up.

I'm going to reserve judgement until I play the retail release (but I won't be rushing out to buy it anymore). I'm actually shocked, because I expected that there would be haters, but I honestly thought this title would get pushed back to next year. Apparently, it needs it BAD.

I would strongly recommend trying it for yourself before you make purchasing decisions. Play the demo, it's free!

[Winterwolves]

Well to be fair, your support of the game is unqualified. You simply like it and that's that.

Well to be fair, your lack of support of the game is unqualified. You simply don't like it and that's that.

[Wyrm]

I would strongly recommend trying it for yourself before you make purchasing decisions. Play the demo, it's free!

Oh I'm not going to buy it until I try it, fear not. I don't have the patience to deal with shitty games anymore, even games I've been looking forward to since the day they were announced.

[Grifter]

Well to be fair, your lack of support of the game is unqualified. You simply don't like it and that's that.

Have you even read this thread? While the opinions may differ slightly I think everyone agrees that this game still needs a lot more work and is not even in the same league much yet ballpark of being worth a monthly subscription. With your unwavering defense of this game I am starting to think that you are either on the dev team or you are related to someone who is.

[Ancalagon]

Well to be fair, your lack of support of the game is unqualified. You simply don't like it and that's that.

Frankly, your overzealous support of this game leads me to question exactly why you are so quick to defend it. Why do you get so offended when someone says they were in the beta, and either got shut up in the forums or played it and didnt like it or hate it? What part of their opinion dont you like? Did they not play in the same beta?

I have played the demo for about 40 mins. Not enough time yes, but I need my sleep.

My initial thoughts - I'm not paying money for that. I will give it another o, but frankly right now its roughshod at best.

The biggest problem I have with it are the monsters. I can understand a lifeless and grey london. dreary yes, but hey, I get the atmosphere. Then we have the monsters. Although my brain is close to shutting down in trying to describe how awful they are, I shall persevere.

So, the monsters. Little... demonic men, with blackened skin. Impossible to see any detail, and they rush at you like stick puppets. limbs flailing in an unrealistic manner, screaming something that evokes neither pity for the tortured soul nor fear of the horrid beast. they look much shorter than you, but it doesnt look like they werent intended to. Dont know how to explain it, they just look to short.

I had only one gun, but its firing mechanics were unconvincing. Didnt really bother me, I realize this isnt a true FPS. But the sound direction is horrible. Bad sound effects, and no musical score.

then there is the voice acting. Didnt hear much of it, despite a 1.45 GB download. And, in the year 2007, when last year we had Oblivion, we have this game teling us it is better newer - with no facial animation at all. None. the NPCs may as well be made of stone. Or quake 2 models. Even half life 1 had facial animation. So does GTA3. There is no excuse. None.

then I find myself lacking a quest. With no idea what to do and no way to find out.

I... dont have high hopes for this game. I dont think they can fix it in 2 weeks, sorry. More playtesting may help, but some of the things that I have described above, I dont think they will improve with age.

[CrashCart]

That's a feature, and a lame one for marksmen. It's suppose to benefit the guardian tanks who want mobs swamping them in melee except they have no concept of where bonuses should go on items. Half the time you find items with skills your class can't even use.

Didn't Diablo 2 also have that problem with items that had skills that were useless on them?

[Lint of Death]

I have the demo, but the .exe's process never goes beyond 7,512K so I can't install the bloody thing.

[GrinR]

Well to be fair, your lack of support of the game is unqualified. You simply don't like it and that's that.

I think I have qualified my opinion with the facts of my experience in the game, nor have I belittled anyone else for having a contrary experience. So far, all I've seen is your disputing my opinion flatly - thus, unqualified support.

[sprankton]

I agree. There is a good game there, but right now it's like putting baby clothes on a fetus.

It's true. For example I am lvl 17 in the BEtA with my summoner. I have been playing it along with my friend and the last time we played I told that it felt like I have beat the game already. It seemed like I have experienced the the whole game already.

[Ancalagon]

I almost wonder if we should have a rule that any member of a company related to the development, production, marketing and/or publishing of a piece of software must disclose their status as such publicly when discussing said software.

[CrashT]

Not a terrible demo, but really doesn't feel finished. Stick it back in the oven Flagship, and I'll see you in a few months.

[Winterwolves]

I think I have qualified my opinion with the facts of my experience in the game, nor have I belittled anyone else for having a contrary experience. So far, all I've seen is your disputing my opinion flatly - thus, unqualified support.

You just said that the graphics & gameplay quests etc... are terrible. Those aren't facts for your information...

I never said the game was perfect in fact I never said that I even like it. I just can't stand people that think they have the end all be all opinion that the vast majority must surely share.

Get the fuck over yourself. You had a bad experience, I did not. To say that your opinion is any more valid than mine is just being conceited.

[Keldi]

I've been in the beta since the preorder invites went out, and I honestly do enjoy the game. I got a group of friends together to try it out on my beta account (not kosher to the NDA, but whatever) and they then went out to preorder it to play some more. I'll definitely agree it needs more development time and polish; particularly most of the quests, which are too silly in tone.

That aside, my friends and I have had a good deal of fun playing HG:L; I prefer it to Diablo 2 in terms of gameplay (but not plot). A couple of the people who started playing with me seriously hated Diablo/D2, but they're enjoying the beta as well.

It really sucks that their marketing locked them into the Halloween release date. They could use another 4-6 months to polish things up. That aside, I'm not canceling my preorder; their plan to offer paid content means that the aforementioned 6 months of polish will eventually be applied, not just forgotten once release hits like some other games.

It is disappointing that their standards of release quality aren't up to Old Blizzard's standards, but Old Blizzard doesn't really exist anymore. Sort of like Looking Glass, although Irrational did a better job of living up to its "parent" than Flagship has.

[jpublic]

It goes to show how out of touch I am that I really didn't see a lot of the complaints that were in this coming.

To me in the beta it was: "Hmm. This looks/feels like a D2 clone in full 3D. Alright, good enough, the drones will love this game."

I found it to be more or less my experience with D2. Engaging, fun, but not particularly great.


Given, I played a Marksman mostly. But still, it's fun, and I'll probably pick it up to finish the single-player.

[Azrael]

hmm not sounding so promising so far. I still remember the first video to get released for this game. had a guy and a chick in armour using swords and guns... was really cool. Pity the demo dosnt seem to be as good as the trailer!

[GrinR]

You just said that the graphics & gameplay quests etc... are terrible. Those aren't facts for your information...

I never said the game was perfect in fact I never said that I even like it. I just can't stand people that think they have the end all be all opinion that the vast majority must surely share.

Get the fuck over yourself. You had a bad experience, I did not. To say that your opinion is any more valid than mine is just being conceited.

Relax, my friend. You're not being attacked.

I would recommend reading my posts more carefully. I said the "facts of my experience", not some sort of divine truth. I never once said everyone must share my experience, but I did say that I fully expected many to come to my same conclusions. I also never said my opinion is more valid than yours, but rather more qualified: (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/qualified)

1 a: fitted (as by training or experience) for a given purpose : competent b: having complied with the specific requirements or precedent conditions (as for an office or employment) : eligible
2: limited or modified in some way <qualified approval>

I'm using the second definition.

As for getting over myself, your cursing me out is hardly an incentive.

[lockwoodx]

and there are little or no atmospheric effects (smoke, fog, shadows, etc.) so it has a very primitive feel to it. The animations are also all over the place.

There is fog with DX10 on... too bad you crash pretty soon.

Didn't Diablo 2 also have that problem with items that had skills that were useless on them?

Even the Unique weapons have mismatched skills. Diablo never got that bad.

[Winterwolves]

Relax, my friend. You're not being attacked.
I also never said my opinion is more valid than yours, but rather more qualified: (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/qualified)


Fair enough. Since I am not trying to break the NDA I am not as qualified as you to speak about the beta test.

I have just finished the download of the single player demo & I will offer my accurate impressions (good or bad). After I have had some time with it.

[Wyrm]

So I just finished the demo. It's pretty much what I was expecting, though I have some complaints.

The NPCs say some really, really, really stupid shit. It's fine that their dialog comes up in a window I have to read, but was it really necessary for all of them to tell really stupid fucking jokes?

The animations are spotty, but they didn't bug me. It looks cool to beat the shit out of stuff with a sword and it feels right. The quests are so cut and dry, that will get old quick, as will killing the same few enemies over and over, but this is pretty much a 3D Diablo in a different setting. I didn't find anything to be really wrong with the loot system, so I'm not sure what the complaints are there.

The game isn't going to win any awards for graphics, but I'm running it on an older machine (amd 4000+, 2 gigs of ram, 6800 ultra) and it looked good enough.

The gameplay is the only thing I'm really concerned about (that and a skill tree that is way too fucking busy), as there seems to be very little variety. I think the environments, while not particularly varied, do look pretty good for the setting. There isn't much to them, but if they are truly randomly generated, then I'm fine with that.

Buy or not? Don't know yet. I need more time with it, so I'll probably play through the demo again as the other class and see how I fair.

Certainly not a bad game, just not the AAA title I was expecting to grip me from the moment it began.

[jpublic]

Well said Wyrm, and better than I could. It's good. Not great.

[Exodus]

I've been in the beta since the preorder invites went out, and I honestly do enjoy the game. I got a group of friends together to try it out on my beta account (not kosher to the NDA, but whatever) and they then went out to preorder it to play some more. I'll definitely agree it needs more development time and polish; particularly most of the quests, which are too silly in tone.

That aside, my friends and I have had a good deal of fun playing HG:L; I prefer it to Diablo 2 in terms of gameplay (but not plot). A couple of the people who started playing with me seriously hated Diablo/D2, but they're enjoying the beta as well.

It really sucks that their marketing locked them into the Halloween release date. They could use another 4-6 months to polish things up. That aside, I'm not canceling my preorder; their plan to offer paid content means that the aforementioned 6 months of polish will eventually be applied, not just forgotten once release hits like some other games.

It is disappointing that their standards of release quality aren't up to Old Blizzard's standards, but Old Blizzard doesn't really exist anymore. Sort of like Looking Glass, although Irrational did a better job of living up to its "parent" than Flagship has.

I completely agree and I also have a friend who only played wow hardcore, it's casual, it's fun and fast paced. The levels seem to be pretty um.. boring after a while. . but I'm going to see if there's more

[Phanto]

Is it DX10? If so, I've finally found a DX10 game to challenge my PC with...

This is the first game that have been released for DX10 that recommend that you use more than 2GB for better gameplay e.c.t, even Crysis don't ask you more than 2GB.

[Mashidar]

I've been in the beta. Won't say much but I'm kinda let down at the moment. I pre-ordered it so I will get the game and give it a month or two before I forget the game altogether. But so far I do hope to see alot of the bugs worked out and some of the issues resolved.

[bean19]

I had a lot of fun with the demo.

The blademaster is a lot of fun to play against normal mobs, but the marksman can kite bosses like nobody's business. The demo ends on a really weird note as your last quest is a fetch-and-carry but this opens up two more zones you can explore without any quests.

[Exodus]

I had a lot of fun with the demo.

The blademaster is a lot of fun to play against normal mobs, but the marksman can kite bosses like nobody's business. The demo ends on a really weird note as your last quest is a fetch-and-carry but this opens up two more zones you can explore without any quests.

I actually prefer the guardian over the blademaster, the blademaster is just too... weak? and can't really go toe to toe with the heavier hitting bosses and if you get spectralled/stunned/poisoned it can get fairly bad unless you go balls out with the resistance consumeables

[VictorVonViolence]

I was going to post this as front page news but alas I don't really want to stir shit up before the game is actually out

anyways I read this

http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=81996

found it a bit alarming

and we may share that aggregate data with our third party service providers

specifically that. Don't get me wrong I thought hellgate was decent, but... I'm really wary of stuff like this

[Chainblast]

^^ Yeah I read the same thing. I was already not planning to buy the game because of the subscription fee scheme and the possibility of in-game advertising, but this 3rd strike just makes me laugh. How can one company have so many bad ideas.

[DubiousQuality]

You just said that the graphics & gameplay quests etc... are terrible. Those aren't facts for your information...

I never said the game was perfect in fact I never said that I even like it. I just can't stand people that think they have the end all be all opinion that the vast majority must surely share.

Get the fuck over yourself. You had a bad experience, I did not. To say that your opinion is any more valid than mine is just being conceited.

For someone who says he's not a H:L fanboi, you sure do sound like one.

Tried the short demo, shitty graphics, skills that make no sense add in the advertising in game, and the gall to try and milk subscriptions out of people. PASS PASS PASS.

[Exodus]

For someone who says he's not a H:L fanboi, you sure do sound like one.

Tried the short demo, shitty graphics, skills that make no sense add in the advertising in game, and the gall to try and milk subscriptions out of people. PASS PASS PASS.

the most fucked up thing is... they expect us to pay for some minor things that any usual game eg. diablo would offers for free, but for content we have no fucking clue is what exactly..

someone said it best.. it's like some stranger comes up to you and wants to sell you what's in his magic box.. and he won't tell you what's in it of course..

so it's just a big mystery as to what kind of content you're paying for exactly, I mean gw offers content weekly freely.. this it's like.. okay pay us a subscription fee and we won't tell you what service you're paying for exactly... -_-

[lockwoodx]

This is the first game that have been released for DX10 that recommend that you use more than 2GB for better gameplay e.c.t, even Crysis don't ask you more than 2GB.

I have 2 gigs of good corshair dominator ram, an athalon 64x2 6000, an 8800GTS, and ran it in DX10. Here is how it played between crashes every 4-6 minutes.

1600x1200 max settings settings: Insane mouse cursor lag, you can barely turn around or take a step forward.

1600x1200 max textures, turned off DX10 smoke, shadows on medium, view distance on medium. Same results as above.

1280x1024 max settings. Same results as above

1280x1024 medium settings, DX10 smoke off, dynamic lights off. Same results as above....

On and on till I got down to 1024x768 medium to low settings on most everything, DX10 Smoke off, dynamic lighting off, all filtering off, anti ailising off and the game finally fucking ran smoothish but the loading screens were still buggy, and there was tearing with V-Sync off.

Loged out of game. They let you access the options before logging in so I switched back to Dx9 and cranked the settings up to max except for Anti Ailiasing on medium, shadows on medium, and view distance on high instead of very high because those three things are not that important to me.

Game ran smooth as silk with 0 mouse cursor lag. It still lagged in a weird buggy way in stations with other players, but in the game solo it was flawless and looked shitty compared to when DX10 was on. DX10 when everything was maxxed looked incredible. Some effects I've never seen before in games period and I was impressed even if all i could do is stand still without a total slide show of video lag.

One of these days they will get off their asses and optomize for DX10 so they can live up to the hype they preach.

[Lint of Death]

I found playing as a Marksman to be thrilling. I got a fair adrenaline boost whenever enemies - especially ones I did not notice at first - got too close. I find this odd, because normally I go crazy for melee classes and avoid ranged ones. The opposite happened here, and I found the blademaster (admittedly played it after marksman) to be boring.

Some things were sadly glitchy and messed up, like the crazy little wall-climbing monsters in one of the later areas. Hopefully the included graphics aren't the actual max, because I find they look terrible. Way too smudgy for a "very high" setting. EDIT: Some things seem pathetically crude, like how they implemented the 'bulk' augmentation for player characters.

Blah blah blah, I'm tired. I know it's shallow, but I'd consider the game if the art direction were better. The Marksman was fun to play. OK, OK, the mechanics could be tweaked a bit here and there. Grenades are fun, though.

[bean19]

For someone who says he's not a H:L fanboi, you sure do sound like one.

Tried the short demo, shitty graphics, skills that make no sense add in the advertising in game, and the gall to try and milk subscriptions out of people. PASS PASS PASS.

Look everybody, we have a new crop of asshole ready for harvest! ;)

Honestly, I didn't track the flames back to see who is being a jerk here, and this post isn't bad because it does have substantive negative feedback about the game.

Personally, I think people who are interested in this should play the demo. It's a 3D Diablo-clone with some neat concepts. I found the graphics to be quite good though many of the mob character animations were poor, it still felt like a demon-filled London. The sound of getting hit and the neat black-and-white blurring effect you get when you are hit really scared the crap out of me when something would get at me from behind (or from above). At level 4, I can't only talk about a handful of starter skills that were quite good and fun to use.

Like Diablo, you have special equipment, and some of it is slottable with upgrade items (like jewels in Diablo). Drop rates for cool stuff are really low, but then it is the level 4 game. My blademaster was lucky and had one legendary item (a grappler, so it wasn't that sick) but both characters had 2 or 3 green "enhanced" items. You can buy enhanced and the better (and more expensive) "rare" items in the store. Legendary items require outstanding luck. One big pet peeve of mine is that legendary items are colored orange and so are quest items. I don't want to get excited because I found another fuel capacitor (1 of 8 that I need to get a guy to open a door). Color them white and make them glow or give them a special quest item color, but not the color of cool gear.

Quests were actually pretty well told (especially the one with Wart), as though the NPCs did not voice-act everything, they would give you flavor voice that denoted their character (old lunatic, sweet crippled boy, dumb shop owner, etc.) and that brought their text to life. They were all kill X, go to X, or fetch X quests though. The lack of cognitive challenge means that the game will be as mindless as Diablo (perhaps it will have a small number of puzzles like Diablo, but none were shown in the demo). Also, the demo doesn't set up the world at all. . . if this is where the game begins then they better have a killer intro video.

As I said before, the combat was really fun. The marksman was excellent in all fights but highly repetitive, and the blademaster was great fun to play against normal mobs, but was a piece of crap against boss mobs. In Diablo, you were expected to kite mobs unless you played a warrior that, of course, had fantastic armor. You can avoid nearly all damage as a blademaster until you run into a boss. . . at that point, you better have some heal packs.

Sorry if I rambled here. Insomnia.

[Deadend]

I enjoyed playing the Blademaster, I stuck the regen ability to left click so I could almost always be regen, right click for slam attack, and E would do the 3 hit combo, I could have bound Q to the grapple gun for more coolness.

I found it to be fun in the diablo-ish way. Even though the atmosphere was lacking. At least the game ran great on my PC, which is nice as even regular HL2 runs slower.

I have trouble recomending it to people, as it does not feel perfect, but I can easily see it having a cult following, as it is fun.

My big question is if Mythos is included with it, as that game is Diabloicous.

[Buddha Lotus]

Yikes...

This is REALLY not what I wanted to hear about this game.

I guess Ill pass..

Major FUCKINg dissapointment BTW

[Qoz]

Hmm.. I played the Marksman, and was a little disappointed.
I just didn't feel an atmosphere and the action was bland. I just shot everything and stuff was collected. The inventory management was annoying as well. You need the better items to progress, so you need to do the constant comparing. You have the illusion of choice. I guess this will be better later on, where you choose between different styles. I just don't like wasting time re-arranging my stuff. I like this in RPG's but not in a "shooter".

Full speech is missing - those stupid quest messages are too old school and boooring. I just skipped through it quickly. I acknowledge how hard it must be, to maintain both a multiplayer and singleplayer environment regarding quests. I think they should have made the singleplayer a bit different (balance, content). Blizzard has always made great singleplayer content and you have a positive feel about the game before you try multiplayer.

The graphics are ok I guess, but the texturing (especially on some monsters) are kinda bland. The faces of the NPCs should have some life - like lipsyncing and such (if there was speech). I think HalfLife2 (and the episodes) set the bar really high regarding NPC emotion and speech delivery. Valve made a stellar job making the people believeable. I was very impressed with Alyx and her father in episode 2. Non-talking and face-static NPC's is not enough anymore. Plus the fact that quests need to be more engrossing than "kill x number of y monsters".

[Jaded Fool]

Yikes...

This is REALLY not what I wanted to hear about this game.

I guess Ill pass..

Major FUCKINg dissapointment BTW

Just heard, or did you give the demo a go? :P

I have to say I was really worried about the levels of negativity around this game, been looking forward to it for ages. After a bit of coaxing with Mario and Zelda, Diablo 2 is the game I used to get my girlfriend into gaming, and it's still her favourite.

I've finished playing about an hour with both classes and I'm really enjoying it. I'll agree on a few things people say: graphics are meh, and the shit the people say annoys the fuck out of me.

But damn, slaughtering left and right with loot flying all over the place ... exactly what I wanted. And if the graphics are shit, they're better than D2 ... good enough for me ;)

I wouldn't say its D3, or even D2.5 ... it's an enhancement of an already great formula, from a different perspective.

[Ancalagon]

I'd mostly agree with Jaded Fool. Its not terrible. But its not great. Its not going to revolutionize either the FPS or RPG genre.

Its no classic, but, given a bit of polish and some understanding players, it could be good fun.

Only problem is, I wont buy it anyway because I dont support EA. Next.

[drakkarim]

my demo impressions; I can't believe this is all they could come up with after all these years and all this talent that they had to work with.

dry and repetitive environments, you could just smell the copy/past in those level designs, well, wait, they're supposed to be random levels right? i guess then the problem is the tileset is extremely limited.

i liked the monsters and the graphics weren't that bad, but the atmosphere was just dry and empty, reminded me of that RPG that came out a couple years back, where all homes had no furniture, anyway, this is an extreme disappointment.

and add that adware sucking service they're installing.... please.

i won't be playing this even for free.

[51|RandoM]

I see a lot of people saying the graphics suck and I have my issues with the game, but the graphics are not bad for an RPG. i will agree it is nothing mind blowing, but to say it is old and dated looking is silly.
It looks worse than any RPG I have played in the last 5 years. There are RPGs that had technically lesser graphics yet infinitely better art direction.

The problems I have with graphics aren't things that get fixed late in the game. You're not going to fix ancient gaming square box connected to square box connected to square box geometry. Find a map element(not model) in the demo that isn't a flat plane or a 90 degree angle where two planes meet. I didn't notice any except for the curiously linear rubble fields in basements and deadend alleys...

It reminds me a lot of the first amateur single-player mods to be created on the original Unreal engine.

I am not saying that, I am saying it is not that bad. As an MMO/RPG type game it is better than most out there.

I might have missed something but the demo that I played was singleplayer. You don't get to use MMORPG excuses for a singleplayer demo, sorry, especially not on a PC. Even console games feature better graphics in singleplayer mode than they do in multiplayer mode, quite often nowadays.

Ultimately I just don't see any reason to play this game instead of Tabula Rasa. All I have is one of the worst demos to cross my PC in a decade to base my opinion on, but there you have it.

[roboninja]

Well, I have the demo downloaded, so we will see what all the stink is about this weeked:)

[TheBigL]

Sad to hear this things about the game.

I didn't see it coming.

[Telefrog]

I can't believe how bad the animations are in this game. The worst things in the demo are the rat demons that literally float over to you on a horizontal plane rather than leaping at you, which is what they should be doing. It's like there's an invisible hand picking them up and dropping them on top of you.

Shockingly bad.

[NeuroMan42]

Meh... Visually it is nice, but damn if the guys that made Diablo are not "one-trick ponies" this game is just Diablo with a fresh coat of paint. EVERYTHING in this game is just copied/stolen/ripped off of the Diablo series. Hell, even some of the unimpressive NPCs are just carbon copies of the one we all knew from the Diablo series. Geeze... I expected more from those guys not just leave Blizzard and remake the same damn game. To top it off they want some folks to pay for this crap?!?!

Click-fest with new paint should have been the title. ;)

[Ancalagon]

I can't believe how bad the animations are in this game. The worst things in the demo are the rat demons that literally float over to you on a horizontal plane rather than leaping at you, which is what they should be doing. It's like there's an invisible hand picking them up and dropping them on top of you.

Shockingly bad.

The animations are what break the game for me, they are just too bad. Dont mind the textures, no issues other than I cant enable DX10 on my Vista 8800GTS machine (demon only limitation?).

but the animations just ruin it.

[Gedd]

I tried the demo despite my EA boycott. Needless to say I will continue to be boycotting.

I've seen noone else bitch about this, so I will :p The control setup is bullshit. Not everyone on the planet uses WASD. You people will probably think i'm fucking strange, but I prefer movement on the mouse; r. click forward, l. click backwards, thumb button for use item/interact, extra #5 button for etc. Just how I learned mouselook when Quake came out all those years ago, been comfy with it since. It just pisses me off to no end when a game forces keybinds. /rant off

[GrinR]

Comparing this game with Diablo is more criticizing Diablo than praising Hellgate.

[Smoof]

The game I'm playing which is CERTAINLY NOT HG:L is fairly fun. It has some issues, like this game WHICH IS NOT HG:L runs like shit in DX10 on my rig, which is asinine. It also has the occasional studder in DX9 in XP, which is also ridiculous. This game I've been playing, WHICH ISN'T HG:L is worth about $40 I'd say excluding any subscription options which since it ISN'T HG:L it may or may not include.

[tenchiker]

The beta NDA has been lifted.

[drakkarim]

I've seen noone else bitch about this, so I will :p The control setup is bullshit. Not everyone on the planet uses WASD. You people will probably think i'm fucking strange, but I prefer movement on the mouse; r. click forward, l. click backwards, thumb button for use item/interact, extra #5 button for etc. Just how I learned mouselook when Quake came out all those years ago, been comfy with it since. It just pisses me off to no end when a game forces keybinds. /rant off

you're fucking strange
;)

but i'm all for options, so won't diminish your preferances.

[UWCrash]

I just got done playing through the demo as Marksman this morning, and I'll probably go pre-order the game later today or tomorrow. Whenever I play a demo I try and focus more on whether or not the gameplay is solid and something that I'll like, and as a FPS Diablo-close (yes, it's also 3rd person, but I'd still consider Gears of War a FPS) it's there for me. Unless they are really REALLY jarring, I make allowances for visual aspects, especially texture quality. 1.4GB is pretty big for something of this length, but I'm sure they did what they could to reduce the size of that package.

[ÜberJumper]

I enjoyed playing the blademaster last night. I think I'll play through again.

What made this awesome for me was that you can disassemble ANY item you find into base components.

I do agree though, the environments were quite bland, with monsters seemingly standing about. I think that's the change from 2d isometric to 3d though, with Diablo 2 the monsters were standing about off screen as well, but now in 3d mode you can see them standing about.

But it scratches that loot grabbing itch for me, and there's tons of stuff to upgrade. I think I'm really going to enjoy it at least for the single player.

Hell yeah, I'm going to London.

[Wyrm]

I played through the demo again as the Marksman, and though it plays exactly how I expected it would, it still leaves something to be desired. It is almost identical to how an MMO would approach shooting gameplay, and as such, it's not much fun to stand in one place and shoot at something. Sure, the concept is great, but I found myself extremely bored with the class after only a few minutes of play, and the environments really do look awful through first person. In the first person view, you can see how crappy some of the textures are, and the shitty level design becomes more clear when you have to navigate through it in that viewpoint.

At the same time, I did derive enjoyment from hacking and slashing as a Blademaster, but that will only last so long.

I understand why there are ads in the game. It's hard to fund a game these days, especially when you're a budding company, but I fail to see what could possibly make a subscription fee worthwhile. There had better be a whole lot more to this game than we're currently seeing from the demo, because right now, it appears as though it's an extremely average title.

[The Bashar]

I don't know if the D2 formula works well in 3d. I mean when I think about it both games are very similar. In terms of graphic quality and gameplay. Diablo 2 just feels better. I know I don't have the full game yet, but it's the same game in 3d with a different setting and it doesn't feel as fun. The blademaster was interesting to play but some of the weapon collision was off. Playing as the Marksman was a joke. It was so easy to kill everything. I never once felt threatened at all.

[Ancalagon]

Well, I gave the demo some more time.

And, I think it will have a steady following, it will be popular, even quite addictive.

But, it is not a polished game. It doesnt deserve more than 80%, it might not even deserve 70%. I think it will become one of those with a steady niche following - those that play it, love it, everyone else, hates it.

I think, in this day and age, its simply not acceptable to have a game look this bland. The levels feel so huge compared to you and the monsters (in terms of scale) and everything is empty. the graphics arent as good as Doom 3, a 3 year old game, and they could easily be. Other than that, the monsters are animated like shit, the weapons fire is unconvincing, there is almost a total lack of physics, no music to speak of, almost no voice acting whatsoever.

I think it could be quite fun, addictive, and time absorbing, and I could see myself buying it from the bargain bin. But £30 is too much. Or, I'll buy it second hand, so that EA doesnt get my money! The thing is, this game was hyped to death, and the game itself is sorely mediocre. If you had told me it was made by university students from Chile, I would have said good job. but this is the so called spiritual successor to D2, and as such, its not nearly as good.

[Phoenix1985]

I think the problem here is the demo. It was obviously a very swift drop to make sure they got SOMETHING out before release, but what we got was.. not the best I hear the beta had to offer.

My main gripes were three: Graphics, Sound, AI/Clipping issues. Graphically, the game looks... bad. Really bad. Like something made in the days of Quake 2, where 3D gaming was first being explored. The enviromental and creature sounds were not very varied at all. The AI was not the sharpest tool in the box, and it kept clipping about and jumping off in weird directions (not to mention the times YOU clip badly).

I'd rate it a 6 out of ten before they fix the various bugs, tighten up the skillsystem with some variety, and update sounds and add content. I'm sure the demo would be slightly higher rated if it didn't just stop being playable without any indication of such, making you think the game's mapmaking system is bugged or you missed a turn somewhere, when in truth , there just wasn't anything else there.

[GrinR]

I would strongly recommend anyone who's disappointed with Hellgate to try Tabula Rasa. I realize there's no demo, but I've heard multiple times from people who felt that TaRa gave them what they wanted from Hellgate and didn't get.

[Winterwolves]

I would strongly recommend anyone who's disappointed with Hellgate to try Tabula Rasa. I realize there's no demo, but I've heard multiple times from people who felt that TaRa gave them what they wanted from Hellgate and didn't get.

I would agree with you on this. I thought Tabula Rasa was cool. I played HG:L first & once I got used to the controls, I couldn't go back to daoc play control. But the game appears to have depth & appears to be fun if you can get into it.

Now that the NDA is over I can say whatever I want about hellgate.

First of all I will say that I do enjoy the control scheme & the overall gameplay. The button layout is intuitive & the combat is satisfying (most of the time).

As far as bugs go, I don't have any of the dealbreaking crash-fests that other's obviously have. I am not running it on DX10 either. The game does feel unfinished & rushed to completion.

Honestly though the bugs don't bother me at all though. They are things that can & will be fixed sooner or later. As long as the game runs at a stable framerate & 90% of the game works as it should at launch I am perfectly fine with it.

I played the SP demo & honestly I was disappointed by the fact that is was almost identical to the beta. I had kept hope alive that the final build was something totally separate from the beta & I guess that was naive.

My point is that I spent 3 years waiting & hoping the game would be a diablo killer. In many ways I feel it is. I think that ultimately it could be awesome if they take the giant list of suggestions from the beta & implement them.

I disagree with people that call the game total shit, because I feel that there is alot of good work here & a lot of potential.

I am reminded so much of shadowbane. That game was made of potential back when it was in development. The developers rushed it out at the end & got lazy. Once people start jumping ship from a game it starts to spread like wildfire. At that point the devs had no choice but to give up on it.

I see hellgate in the same light as I did at shadowbane when it launched. Hopefully Flagship won't get discouraged by the backlash & stick to the game. In 6 months or a year the game could really be stellar.

I will still pick it up at launch & play it, I will probably even subscribe for a few months in the hopes that they get things straight.

The game is fun. I suggest that no one write the game off completely.
Unfortunately, if the game had a different publisher this game would be received differently.

If you don't like anything about the game whatsoever, I guess you are just too jaded.

[GrinR]

Winter you should post this in the forum thread about the demo. This thread is basically dead.

[Johan]

Isn't anybody discussing the incredible EULA on this game (I'm not reading this whole thread. I did a search and nothing came up)? WTF is up with that thing?

Link. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=81996)

3. Consent to Use of Data. You agree that EA, its affiliates, and each Related Party may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer, including without limitation your Internet Protocol address, operating system, application software and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online play. EA and/or the Related Parties may also use this information in the aggregate and, in a form which does not personally identify you, to improve our products and services and we may share that aggregate data with our third party service providers.

Who the hell would sign up for that? Count me OUT! Also (not quite as bad, imo):

The Game incorporates technology of Massive Incorporated ("Massive") that enables in-game advertising, and the display of other similar in-game objects, which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and replaced during online game play. As part of this process, Massive may collect your Internet protocol address and other basic anonymous information, and will use this information for the general purposes of transmitting and measuring in-game advertising. Massive does not store or use any of this information for the purpose of discovering your personal identity.

[lockwoodx]

Isn't anybody discussing the incredible EULA on this game (I'm not reading this whole thread. I did a search and nothing came up)? WTF is up with that thing?

Link. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=81996)



Who the hell would sign up for that? Count me OUT! Also (not quite as bad, imo):

I have a huge thread about it in the beta forum is that counts lol. Hmmmm I haven't checked on it in a few hours it's proabbly been erased by the nazi mods there.

including without limitation

This is the part of the EULA that really irks me into not wanting to even give this game hope for the future. With such a vague statement like that which goes beyond blizzard's Warden, or Valve's tech, if EA really wanted to they could continue monitoring you long after hellgate was uninstalled.

[Johan]

including without limitation

This is the part of the EULA that really irks me into not wanting to even give this game hope for the future.

That would freak me out...no way I'm handing EA (or ANY company) the keys to the digital kingdom like that.

[Devilturnip]

I haven't played the demo, just the beta. I will say that, like Diablo, the fun factor of this game is ratcheted way up when you're playing with a friend. They seem to scale up the encounter difficulty with the number of folks in your party quite well. I can see that the single player might be lackluster, but I honestly have no intention of playing that way.

[Ronberk]

Just like many others I was a bit turned off at how dated and unpolished the demo was at first, but I gave it a second playthrough the next day and can see how this could be a really fun co-op game to play with friends.

It's possible that the demo doesn't really highlight the strengths of the game, which I hope is wading through insanely huge masses of enemies and monsters, not the piecemeal trickle stream that is currently present in the demo. Maybe people from the beta can shed further light on this?

If HGL turns out to be something of a Serious Sam + RPG elements, could be a keeper for co-op fun.

[Exodus]

It can get pretty hectic when you have a 2 or more people also, when I first got into an instance with my friend the difficulty ramped up noticeably where we got our asses handed to us, I'd imagine if elite mode is harder grouping will require some serious kiting/tactics/support skills etc. because when you got more than 9 of the black skulls on you and some spectral phases you and you get stunned, it's dirt nap time.

That's why I rolled a guardian, no matter what's thrown at me 80% of the time in a grouped instance, i can take the hits in stride phased or not.

You might think it's an easy game so it's ho hum, but like diablo the more people in your instance, the increasingly harder the mobs generated/difficulty. Sets the pulse to racing. And the boss at the end of the beta was pretty neat. :)