Unjustified refusal.

[G'Kyl]

Since I have recently dusted off my W3O:SE copy, I thought to share some thoughts of mine concerning the game.

After having played WO2097 (on PC at first) and WO1 (also PC before changing my default WO-platform :) ) excessively for years, I finally laid my hands on W3O - and was utterly dissapointed. There was almost nothing left from the coolness and sci-finess from WOXL (in fact, I mean 2097, but XL is easier to type :) ). Then the game mechanics had been changed - wall scraping had become difficult to master and the resulting boost when getting fully back into track was annoying. Or so I thought. Last but not least, both graphics and music had been so heavily toned down (in comparison to WOXL again) that it felt more like driving in an urban go-kart race environment than the far and exciting future. And so - I didn't like the then new package. But continued to play since, after all, it WAS still Wipeout.

Some three or so years later I still find myself playing W3O (that is, W3O:SE now) more or less regularily and can't help admitting that the game has grown on me considerably. For all I find bad about W3O, I really have to say that it's the somewhat smoothest part of the first three. I don't know how else to describe what I mean. Even though the overall experience is still much more exciting in WOXL, mastering the crafts and courses in W3O is actually a bit more satisfying. I even have to admit that the music, which I didn't think was any good at first, fits the generally more fluent feel of the game. And finally, switching from W3O to W3O:SE and so replaying the courses from part 1 and 2 really taught my a thing or two about there being much more to W3O than met my eye in the beginning.

Am I the only one who made that kind of experience or is there anybody else? (Don't leave me here like that, please! ;) )


Well, sorry for wasting your time. I just had to give that some thought and tell anyone about it. No one I know in person does even have an idea of what AG racing is, so I HAD to bring this before you people. *g*

Ben


P.S.: Although riding the quake wave in WOXL still has NO comparison in ANY game.
SCNR! :)

[Lance]

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since WO3 was my first version, i had nothing to compare it to other than non-WO games. but since that time i've played WO1 and WO2 on computer and WO2 on console. it's hard for me to judge the original because it only worked for 3 weeks, but WO3 is clearly a more complex and more varied game than the earlier versions. it does look a little more bland, more like a real near term future. this gives a greater feeling of reality, which either disappoints us or makes it feel more immersive and real, depending on your own character. the smoother, and apparently higher-resolution graphics give it a more polished feel. but all this does not necessarily mean that it is a better game in terms of how much fun it is or how satisfying it is. things are more complex than that. sometimes greater simplicity is more fun.

i am coming to find as i gain more familiarity with the console version of WO2 that it is just as much of a blast to play as WO3, but they really feel different from each other. which is pretty amazing when you think about it, how something based on an earlier version can be so similar, and yet be such a different experience. and both experiences are so good. i feel so lucky to have both of them. if i ever get the console version of WO1 so i have a fuller experience of it, it will be an interesting comparison, and i am sure that i will like the game, but suspect that i won't like it as much as its immediate successor.

to address your topic's subject line, yes, your immediate disappointment was unjustified. it's great that you gave WO3 a chance so you could find how great and worthy a successor it is. since you stayed with it for a while, you now have so much more to enjoy
.

[G'Kyl]

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if i ever get the console version of WO1 so i have a fuller experience of it, it will be an interesting comparison, and i am sure that i will like the game, but suspect that i won't like it as much as its immediate successor.
.

Personally, I found it very difficult adepting to Wo1 after I had played XL for months. It's just that wall sliding is not an option. They pretty much changed the whole experience with bringing this feature into XL and the other WOs, which makes WO1 darn difficult to master if you're not used to it. At least that's how it was for me.



.
to address your topic's subject line, yes, your immediate disappointment was unjustified. it's great that you gave WO3 a chance so you could find how great and worthy a successor it is. since you stayed with it for a while, you now have so much more to enjoy
.

I do. If only I hadn't lost that last memory card and so have to play through all of W3O again. Hmpf. ;)


Ben

[Lance]

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there is an instance of WO2's wall behaviour mimicing that of WO1, and that is when during a start i try experimenting with a different line to slip around the other ships and manage to botch it by hitting the sidewall before getting into the clear portion beyond the checkerboard. when i hit one of those checkered walls, the nose of the ship seems to stick and the ship's tail keeps coming around in the direction of racing.. you have to back off the accelerator and turn hard toward the clear to bump your way off. well, you would if you hadn't done it before and got into the habit of immediately hitting the start button to re-do the race. ;)
.

[yuusen]

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g'kyl,

i agree almost entirely with your perspective on wip3out as a sequel. i too felt like i hadnt bought a complete package when i first booted the disc. my previous experience was with the neon colours and bold, chunky graphics of 2097 and the change to the new, muted, understated, less-is-more style wasnt easy. today, wip3out is the top half of the only two games i play. the other half being breath of fire iv (fantastic rpg, look it up!).

the music, however, clung to me like a magnet from the very second i heard it although i am seriously into that style of music outside my gaming life and had anticipated a few of the tracks already.

-

with yours and the few other reports (including my own) on the changes between successive editions in the wipEout series in mind, and considering the generally poor reception of fusion, i start to wonder whether it is the game or the gamer that is aging badly. with fusion displaying blatantly sheeplike adherance to mainstream culture (or should i say a mainstream bastardisation of a pseudo underground culture), which seems to be a logical progression along the line away from sci-fi that you observed, i wonder if the next version of wipEout will take it too far for the hardcore gamers' collective palette.

in retrospect, the original wipEout was as much a cultural statement as fusion. however, the difference between the two is massive. wipEout embraced an underground fleet of subcultured pilots while fusion picked the pockets of those who saw what was going on and wanted it, with a nike sticker on the side.

with games becoming increasingly commercial, i hope the developers of the next wipEout catch wind of what is happening and take not only the gameplay back to it roots, as reported by many online gaming journalists, but also give a shout and a nod to those who created the financial foundation for the continuation of the series and bring back the authentic cultural statement that is wipEout.
–
¥

[G'Kyl]

with yours and the few other reports (including my own) on the changes between successive editions in the wipEout series in mind, and considering the generally poor reception of fusion, i start to wonder whether it is the game or the gamer that is aging badly.


I think it's both of them, actually.

in almost every case I've seen, players of a certain game seem to have had difficulties adepting to it's sequel, because all they often want is more of the same, and all they get is something that adds some more or less significant difference to what came before.

And since games do become, as you already said, more and more commercial, publishers always aim for a game that's just a bit more mainstream than the original so they would attract additional audience with their new installment.

Having said that, the only reason Sony would allow the next WO to be once again more like the original, would be if Fusion were received so badly by the general public (not the hardcore gamers, mind you) that they will at least try to hold the core of their fanbase together by giving them more of what these people want than what they thought (with Fusion) the rest of the gamers needed. That's what _I_ think, anyway.

Ben

[yuusen]

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yes, its a double edged sword. if you dont appeal to the masses how do you even get the funds to make the next game? let alone hire a team of people to do some proper research into what the hardcore fanbase want from their next edition of wipEout.
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¥