tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post1425013607160938056..comments2023-12-22T08:02:00.933-08:00Comments on Rom's Rants: What failed?Michael Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14404101180817070293noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-65157203719135213982010-03-11T12:43:17.229-08:002010-03-11T12:43:17.229-08:00Worked right away for me. But yeah, RIP Ritual. Lo...Worked right away for me. But yeah, RIP Ritual. Loved the games, though I bought them only recently. Serious downer what with the rest not being made.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02452325864500479125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-54225747568779030392008-03-25T03:06:00.000-07:002008-03-25T03:06:00.000-07:00I completely agree with 'thewilde's gripe ... This...I completely agree with 'thewilde's gripe ... This is possibly a little of topic yet i think valid.<BR/><BR/>If i buy a game with my hard earned money... stick it into my machine with the serial code ready ... and for some reason it doesn't work due to complicated registration, i (a) get hugely angry with the development company causing ill will to further purchases, and (b) will use any third party program to get around the issues.<BR/><BR/>This comment is aimed largely toward stream.Rudi Lotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11674408261584023314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-71738937195255874252007-11-06T20:17:00.000-08:002007-11-06T20:17:00.000-08:00One point- This is the second Steam game I have...One point-<BR/> This is the second Steam game I have bought and neither were able to work due to a long registration process and the impossible customer support. Bought the game, but now reduced to pirating a way around all the road blocks made for actual buyers. Thanks- no wonder Ritual went down.thewildehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08471452725169905122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-65023614125634684682007-03-22T08:53:00.000-07:002007-03-22T08:53:00.000-07:00Looks like Ritual were damned either way when it c...<I>Looks like Ritual were damned either way when it came to presenting any information about their current status. If they spoke, the fans might have been more understanding, yet as you say, business deals would have had a power shift against Ritual.</I><BR/><BR/>Yes, but you have to respect a company that can keep it's internal disputes where they should be - internal to the company. A company that airs out its dirty laundry for all to see says to me the upper management messed up somewhere along the line and is laying the blame somewhere else.<BR/><BR/><I>Maybe there could have been a way for us to help. I'd not have minded buying a second copy of Emergence just to support Ritual. Now it's too late for that, I guess.</I><BR/><BR/>That's like saying you could help out Ford by buying two trucks from them. They made bad business decisions and they had to deal with that. A person can lay the blame on a newer generation of gamers not taking to SiN Emergence but it wasn't all that great, or at least not nearly as good as it could have been. Kids take to Halo like white on rice, for crying out loud. That game has the lamest combat next to Counter-Strike, whereas SiN's was actually damn good. Just the rest of the needed components for a good FPS were missing - ie, the protagonist was mute, storyline was bad, the progression of weapons were terrible, the enemies were all clones of one another, and overal the direction of the game sucked.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-42450141218012850172007-03-15T22:55:00.000-07:002007-03-15T22:55:00.000-07:00I am saddened by the fact that Ritual had to go. S...I am saddened by the fact that Ritual had to go. SIN was a great game and I had a lot fun playing it.<BR/><BR/>On the not of piracy:<BR/>You can't really get rid of it. If someone wants a free game they'll get it. They can download it, borrow from a friend and possibly get a no-cd crack, etc. Just because people were able to get hacked Steam games doesn't mean if it was only on CD they wouldn't be able to get it. I mean heck you can get a movie almost the day it comes out in Theaters. DVD quality even.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08065148127112898332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-81120396680430349322007-02-20T18:09:00.000-08:002007-02-20T18:09:00.000-08:00Very interesting to hear this from you. I bought E...Very interesting to hear this from you. I bought Emergence, it was my first Sin experience, and I was looking forward to another episode.<BR/><BR/>I wish you and the rest of the team the best of luck.Blighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07619327020201656674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-78612794771720293062007-01-29T16:13:00.000-08:002007-01-29T16:13:00.000-08:00Point being I don't think you can "count" on those...<i>Point being I don't think you can "count" on those purchases and therefore I'm not sure if the game could really be consrdired a success if it didn't cover those 25 people.</i><br /><br />Except those other 25 were never intended to be covered. <i>Emergence</i> paid for itself, and should therefore be considered a success. Failings of Ritual in other areas shouldn't tarnish <i>Emergence</i>'s reputation.<br /><br /><i>I never quite understood the decision to make an episodic Sin sequel. Ritual was already at a disadvantage by trying to get people to buy into a new style of game delivery, but they were also following up, let's be honest, an unpopular game.</i><br /><br />This may have had something to do with the self-funding; they were able to fund enough manhours to complete <i>Emergence</i>. But from the sound of things, they didn't have the capital to self-fund a "full" game.<br /><br />As for <i>Sin</i> being unpopular... *shrug* I enjoyed it. But then, I didn't play it until it came with <i>Emergence</i>. [By contrast, I didn't play the original <i>Half-Life</i> until my roommate introduced me to it in 2003. Call me deprived. ;)]Andrew Timsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10695912397762180933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-60752489683125417002007-01-29T14:31:00.000-08:002007-01-29T14:31:00.000-08:00Piracy sucks, but it's always difficult to know wh...Piracy sucks, but it's always difficult to know whether the people who pirate would have bought the game or just skipped on the purchase if a pirated version was not available. Point being I don't think you can "count" on those purchases and therefore I'm not sure if the game could really be consrdired a success if it didn't cover those 25 people.<br /><br />I never quite understood the decision to make an episodic Sin sequel. Ritual was already at a disadvantage by trying to get people to buy into a new style of game delivery, but they were also following up, let's be honest, an unpopular game.<br /><br />The Half-Life 2 episode sold because it's directly following a recent, popular full game. At any other time it'd just be known as expansion pack. It already had a large, loyal install base entering the market.<br /><br />With Emergence you had a tiny base of Sin fans, but beyond that you had to convince the gaming public that Emergence was: <br />1) a good game (middling reviews destroyed that). <br />2) enjoyable without having played Sin (which is wasn't because Emergence lacked any introductory exposition) <br />3) not a 'risky' proposition - meaning people like to know what the "experience" they're buying into isn't going to be cancelled after one episode leaving them unfulfilled.<br /><br />Sad truth is that Ritual was never an exemplary game studio, they produced some decent but ultimately forgettable action games. If anyone was going to pioneer episodic gaming - it was not going to be them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-55632817159512982942007-01-29T03:43:00.000-08:002007-01-29T03:43:00.000-08:00Peter F. Drucker once said that there are only two...Peter F. Drucker once said that there are only two functions of business: innovation and marketing. When you cut either function, your business will be troubled.Morgan Ramsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06443511696260213125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-51755997313696565912007-01-28T21:11:00.000-08:002007-01-28T21:11:00.000-08:00Many people wondered why I was so harsh on the war...<i>Many people wondered why I was so harsh on the warez monkeys who grabbed illegal copies of the game. Well, if all of the people who pirated the game and contacted Ritual for tech support had actually purchased the game, it would have paid for the burn rate for two additional people from ship to date. That alone may not have changed the tide for "SiN Episodes," but it would have made the landing a lot softer for a few people...myself included.</i><br />I've said it before and I'll say it again: That's what you'll get when you use a system that is notorious for being pirated. I strongly believe that the number of pirated copies would be a lot lesser then the current number if they had decided to ship the game onto a conventional CD/DVD format rather then using Steam.<br /><br />Those same "warez monkeys" have proven that it is far less complicated to 'distribute' a <5MB large program (read: Steam crack) then distributing several 700 MB CD-ROM discs or one 4.7 GB DVD disc . . .Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214168642978792969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-2754635581054386402007-01-28T19:29:00.000-08:002007-01-28T19:29:00.000-08:00As usual, Michael, thanks for sharing this with us...As usual, Michael, thanks for sharing this with us. It's nice to know what happened; companies and franchises normally disappear without a trace. Even if we never hear from Ritual again, at least <i>Sin</i> went down fighting.<br /><br />It's disappointing to see that Ritual was basically the victim of a series of bad breaks. At the same time, though, I'm glad to see that it's not their fault (unless whoever the contract negotiators were deliberately soured the deals)—and I feel somewhat better about the MumboJumbo acquisition.<br /><br />It does bring up the question as to why, if the first episode was self-sustaining, they aren't continuing the development of the games under MumboJumbo. Though the loss of you, Shawn, and others would be felt, it'd certainly help decrease the ill-will that's currently being felt in the community if we could see some sort of closure brought to the arc the first episode began.Andrew Timsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10695912397762180933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-68036227420682335192007-01-28T15:24:00.000-08:002007-01-28T15:24:00.000-08:00If you are trying to sign a development deal, the ...If you are trying to sign a development deal, the last thing you want to do is advertise that you are weak.<br /><br />It moves you from a position of strength to a position of weakness, and for many publishers, will actually drop you off their list because it plants seeds of doubt that you'll be able to finish the project.Michael Russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14404101180817070293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5374017.post-85348128173385557382007-01-28T15:13:00.000-08:002007-01-28T15:13:00.000-08:00What sucks is that all of us fans were pretty much...What sucks is that all of us fans were pretty much in the dark about the troubles at Ritual all through this time. As far as we could tell, things seemed about normal until people started leaving the company not too long ago.<br /><br />Maybe there could have been a way for us to help. I'd not have minded buying a second copy of Emergence just to support Ritual. Now it's too late for that, I guess.<br /><br />Asking your fans got to be a better way than pleading with pirates who don't listen anyway.fdshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13592242745230766428noreply@blogger.com