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Topic: My take on Stardock (Read 192118 times)
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Death 999
Global Moderator
Enlightened
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We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
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But they COULD have stopped Fred and Paul. They chose not to.
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Zelnik
Zebranky food
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Posts: 16
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No they couldn't. They own the rights to everything but the title, do you think Activision would allow them to release TUQM otherwise?
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Mormont
*Smell* controller
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Posts: 253
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
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Yes, Reiche owns it and that's why UQM was able to happen. However, I've read that Stardock's portion of the rights may have allowed them to use the SC2 lore on license or something similar if they really wanted to. If this is correct, Reiche couldn't say no if he received royalties and wasn't doing anything with the IP (which in 2013 they weren't). Split IP rights are always messy and confusing, and my guess is that the fine-print legalities of this are complicated enough that both sides could make arguments if it came to a fight. We can be glad it didn't.
Anyway, I think the announcement of Ghosts will help Origins' sales more than it hurts and vice versa. They're not coming out close together, they're in different universes, and both games will raise interest in Star Control-style space adventures in general.
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« Last Edit: November 09, 2017, 06:49:27 pm by Mormont »
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Frogboy
*Many bubbles*
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Posts: 231
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BTW, he got blocked because he acted the same on the Star Control forum as he has here.
Given that I was the one who posted here the news about Ghosts (http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?topic=6968.0) my feelings on the continuation of that universe should be self-evident.
We would love to have had Paul and Fred work on the new Star Control game and asked them to. Unfortunately, Activision, at the time, would not allow that as they were pretty busy with Skylanders (this is back in 2013 time frame).
My take on the Ur-Quan universe is that it is complex. It isn't just "dark" or "campy". It's varied. That's what I think makes it so compelling.
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Kaiser
Zebranky food
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Posts: 39
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
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While I'm not exactly in favor of the art style that SCO is going for, it works. As they're also releasing the tools required to create our own universes through their engine, I'll gladly overlook such minor reservations. I know Frogboy is a huge Star Control fan. I have no doubt he'll do everything in his power to be a responsible steward for the Star Control name.
I wouldn't have purchased Founder status if I thought otherwise.
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Stardrake
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Posts: 35
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Finally, I don't like your tone, Zelnik. It comes over as extremely aggressive.
This has not been called for, and is not helpful in your argumentation.
And what you've been screaming around actually made me slightly more curious about the upcoming Origins. Because now I want to play it to see how your rant fits with the game, and to make my own personal opinion.
(SC2 is a "Humanity-fuck yeah!" game too. And our speed of development may indeed be a real concern for others. Especially when you look at how we achieve it (through lack of respect for nun-Human requirements (e.g. tipping the current equilibrium of Earth's nature to be very unfavourable for many species))
In fact, it's pushed me to take that extra step and take the plunge myself, since I think that Stardock has been treating the franchise (and the original creators) with respect and that deserves support.
There's a certain amount of "it's changed so it sucks" whenever a franchise changes hands... and sometimes even when it DOESN'T, and the original creators experimented with something different. Stardock picked up the title at a time when FF and PR3 were not going to in the foreseeable future and where, if they didn't make a game, the franchise would remain fallow as it has since Kessari Quadrant. However, instead of stepping on the toes of the original creators, they chose to make a SC2-style game in an entirely different universe, leaving the original universe to FF and PR3 as and when they chose to do that (as they have recently announced that they will be).
It seems that you don't like the tone and plot of that universe. You are entitled to your opinion, but when Stardock has practically bent over backwards to keep space open for FF and PR3 to make Ghosts of the Precursors when another company might not have... I'm not going to condemn them if the story they DO tell makes use of different themes to SC2.
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Kwayne
*Many bubbles*
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SC:O looks a bit Disney to me. But I wouldn't say one can't write a Star Control story with Disney-looking characters.
I'm on the opinion that every race in SC2 has a dark/disturbing quality to them in some way or another, and their interactions create puzzles to solve, mysteries to uncover, which is basically how a Star Control like setting is formed. What matters in regards of looks is being careful in regards of aesthetic diversity. In SC2 this meant not only using different tropes with comm screen graphics but different art styles, different ways of presentation. My worry regarding SC:O's looks is that it may not be able to recreate the variety of how SC2 races were presented, because it is already somewhat limited by 3D.
But I'm glad I saw nearly nothing about the story/conversations of SC:O so I couldn't say it sucks beforehand. I'm also too old to get worked up because it may have been made differently than I imagined.
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Zelnik
Zebranky food
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Posts: 16
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Welp looks like we had another example of stardock lying to us. Check out the Fred and Paul blog. Looks like stardock did some stuff they shouldn't have done and things weren't so idyllic.
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Krulle
Enlightened
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*Hurghi*! Krulle is *spitting* again!
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That's already under discussion starting here. 
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Pyro411
Zebranky food
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Posts: 15
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Honestly I could say it'd hold it's own and be a great game be it from Stardock or from Fred & Paul...
The problem is with such a beloved game that hasn't been touched in close to 30 years, no matter who makes it, it will fail to meet expectations if the fan community attempts to elevate it to saintly status without even having a good run at the game(s)
If you follow both games casually and buy both games when they come out "even if it's dirt cheap on a steam sale" odds are you will enjoy them. Now if you try to hold it to the same levels as say what happened with Duke Nukem fans and critics alike will be deeply disappointed. This wouldn't be because the game is bad, but because the game doesn't reach your level of expectation, which would be true even if they spent hundreds of millions of dollars in having everything flawlessly render on the fly while having every line of text voiced along with the optional VR & touch components allowing you to feel your hand get swatted after attempting to feel a Syreen's boob/butt.
My suggestion, don't be so militant on opinions, but do be casually vocal with proper feedback on items in the proper places...
IE:
Improper
HFS the artwork in your game sucks, my 5 year old could do better!
Proper
Honestly I think with the background of the race I'm looking at it should be drawn a little more like X, Y, Z.
As for the legal fight between Paul/Fred and Stardock, at this point we're just all observers and the lawyers are going to have to hash it out in the thunder dome.
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Zelnik
Zebranky food
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Posts: 16
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Their posterboys and spokespeople have lied to us and performed some really dodgy business practices all in an effort to make a buck. They even tried to deflect by saying they would send royalties to P and F.
Sorry. They are right up there with Blizzard and EA. Corrupt and backstabbing.
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