Worst Ever Amstrad CPC Games

[khisanth]

Thats fair enough, but some people were saying it was a crap game , not that they simply didnt like it etc. 

[dcdrac]

And now thanks to a poster here I have Elite working on a 6128 plus I will be happily terrorising the space lanes again

[Carnivius]

Thats fair enough, but some people were saying it was a crap game , not that they simply didnt like it etc. 

So we can't call something crap if we don't like it?  So I can't call some teen boyband's song crap just because I don't like it when lots of people liked it enough to make it number 1 in the charts?   Hmm...

[khisanth]

No you misunderstand.


Saying you do or dont like something is fine, but to say something is crap when to the majority it isnt that is wrong. Opinions are one thing, but a fact can be wrong. If you can't recognise that Elite was a great leap forward in terms of design, scope, size and gameplay you are very short sited.


It's like saying "oh i dont like this new Ferrari ,therefore it's a crap sportscar" ,  a new Ferrari is very very very unlikely to be a crap sportscar. Another example, I dont particular like the actress Meryl Streep, but I dont then say she is a crap actress!

[khisanth]

As for boy bands, it might be hard to admit that maybe they ARE good which is why they sell so many records! Dont have to agree with it though

[dcdrac]

although they are wonderfully engineered I have always thought Ferraris to be ugly.

[khisanth]

There you go!  I think that generally they are good looking, but every so often an ugly one comes along.

[Carnivius]

I can understand Elite was something different and inspirational to some people but to me it wasn't even remotely enjoyable which is all I want from a game.   Therefore to me Elite is a crap game because it failed in it's task to entertain me at all and doesn't feel like much of a game at all.   It's attempts at 'gameplay' feel far too much like chores to me.   So I should call it a great game even though it bores me to death?   Hell no...

And I don't care what the 'majority' says about anything.  I like to try things out for myself.  Opinion based reviews are pointless.  They always have been since for the most part they are all about how the individual experiencing it perceives it.   We do not all like or rate the same things and we shouldn't feel forced to agree with whatever the majority decides as fact without experiencing it ourselves within reason.

You like Elite.  Good for you.  Go enjoy it.   I'm not stopping you.  To some of us though it's utterly worthless as a game...   I love Pacman.  It's a classic and as important as Elite, probably even moreso.   You'll get plenty people today calling it prehistoric crap (going by a lot of comments I see on websites about modern consoles having 'retro' games).  So what?  Doesn't affect my enjoyment of it and I don't try to change their minds because people are allowed to think what they like.   

[khisanth]

Okay two questions:


1) Did you play this back in the day when it was released or near enough?
2) Do you not recognise the technical merits of the game and its scope? (ignoring the fact it didnt make you interested)

[Carnivius]

I've already mentioned that I owned it and (for some stupid reason I can't seem to recall) still own Fronter - Elite II on Amiga despite finding it equally as tedious so yes I did play it when it first came out and despite repeated attempts to 'get it' since I still just find it a total waste of time. 

I already said I could understand technically what it did or led to.  Still was boring to play and looked ugly though.

I'm finding you a bit weird now that you can't accept that some of us regard Elite as crap as a game.  Why can't you understand that some people just don't rate it at all?   One man's big ol' golden chalice is another man's toilet and so on.   Jeez...

[khisanth]

I already said I have no issue with anyone's opinion on the game!  I only find issue with people who say the game has no merit and say its crap, nothing more!
I can see how some people would find it boring and tedious, slow paced deep games are not for everyone.

[Carnivius]

Yeah but that's just it.   This all sounds like nobody is allowed to call anything crap anymore.   Pretty much everything is liked by somebody but you're saying whatever is liked by the majority is great and what is liked by a minority is crap?  Is that it? 

When it comes to things like creative things like art, games, movies and music I just don't think there is such a thing as a fact.  It's all subjective and down the individual experiencing it.   There are plenty of those things that got mostly bad reviews yet I enjoy them immensely so am I supposed to regard the thing I like as total crap because the majority says it is?  Screw that.   I love those things but I'm not telling people they can't call it crap.   Cos life's too damn short and I want to fill it up with enjoying the things that I personally enjoy and love rather than go along with what the crowd thinks is good or bad.

I can see how some people would find it boring and tedious, slow paced deep games are not for everyone.

Some would describe Chess as that and yet I've enjoyed many a game over the years. 

[Axelay]

I already said I have no issue with anyone's opinion on the game!  I only find issue with people who say the game has no merit and say its crap, nothing more!
I can see how some people would find it boring and tedious, slow paced deep games are not for everyone.

The problem is the significance of the game is still your opinion.  It doesn't matter how many people might share an opinion, it doesnt become fact.  Elite was the single most disappointing and over hyped game I've ever played.  It probably is the case that it is not the worst CPC game ever, but there was a vast gulf between what I read about Elite and what I played on my CPC.  The brilliant sounding concept behind the game is irrelevant to me when what I found after playing the game for a few weeks was something with an abysmal frame rate, a capricious and unrewarding trading system, and a vast galaxy to explore that did not once reveal anything worth discovering.  That to me is not depth.  You are obviously entitled to your own opinion, but I am certainly not going to regard the game highly simply because a lot of other people do, or because it had a great idea behind it.

[khisanth]

Okay if we take chess as an example. If I were to say "chess is a crap game" how would you react to that?


I am making a sweeping generalisation and saying that chess is simply no good.   Doesnt that sound daft to you?

[Carnivius]

Okay if we take chess as an example. If I were to say "chess is a crap game" how would you react to that?


I am making a sweeping generalisation and saying that chess is simply no good.   Doesnt that sound daft to you?

Nope.  I wouldn't care.   That's my point.  I'd rather just go and play it and enjoy it rather than waste my time trying convince you it's good.   That's what I'm finding so damn bizarre about this whole thing.  Why is it so important to you to insist that people can't say Elite is a crap game?   Just deal with it and move on.  After the whole speedball thing I've come to realise there's just no use arguing anymore.

Anyways I've gotta go.  Friend's picking me and we're off to do something for Sport Relief but she hasn't told me what yet... I'm fit enough for anything though.  I hope.

[khisanth]

lol I am passionate about Elite , thats all

[dcdrac]

when I played Elite I filled in the gaps with my imagination, used to create stories based around the missions, by the time Origin put out Privateer and the Wing Commander series the games had caught up

[khisanth]

I liked the fact you could play it how you wanted. Mine asteroids, be a pirate or trade. I liked the trading side of things, but eventually got tired of it. The amstrad version seemed to be missing a few things, I never saw any Thargoids or got any missions

[dcdrac]

I came across the thargoids a couple of times and had to transport a secret device

[steve]

@Carnivac, the problem is using the word crap when what you mean is boring, no one can argue with you if you say you found the game boring.
For the word crap to carry any weight, it should be reserved for the worst of the worst games, i.e games liked by fewer people than the number of people involved in the games' creation.
A similar situation may apply to "serious software" like word processors etc, mini office 2 may be called crap compared to MS office, but is it really crap? can it still do what you need it to do? (OK, printers may be a problem, but perhaps it just needs another program to drive the printer).
Modern software suffers from "rampant featuritis", it has thousands of features, most of which the user is unaware of and will never use, so maybe the modern software is crap for wasting time and memory with features no one uses?

[khisanth]

I came across the thargoids a couple of times and had to transport a secret device

did you have to do anything to get the mission? I had 2 or 3 right on commander messages but nothing more happened

[redbox]

I agree that reviews are largely personal viewpoints and hence subjective - that's their nature and of course everyone is totally free to form their own opinion.

But if there is enough reviews and you combine them together you come up with a consensus.

And the consensus is that Elite definitely was not crap.

[dcdrac]

did you have to do anything to get the mission? I had 2 or 3 right on commander messages but nothing more happened

I would dock somewhere it was when I had reach dangerous level jump  into hyperspace then by surrounded by thargoids or see something in the trading lsit that looked a bit odd buy it and it was a mission

[tastefulmrship]

I thought the CPC version of Elite was crap... ... when compared to the BBC original.

[Gryzor]

On one hand, I myself don't care much about general consensus. Much like Carnivac, I don't care what most people say to formulate an opinion.


On the other hand, one thing is "I don't like it" and another "this is crap". I find myself not liking things that others like quite often, but I recognise the quality in them. Two totally different things.


Axelay, OTOH, has actually given a valid review for it being crap