# Anyone getting Spore? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 4, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015 "2008-09-04T16:51:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/141 "2008-09-15T16:13:33Z")
I played through to the Space age, then started a new species and played through it again, paying more attention to what I was doing. I like all of the first four stages well. I’m still trying to figure out what to do in the Space phase. It’s a little overwhelming. Anyone know how to make a Sporecast? I created (an empty) one, but couldn’t figure out how to actually add anything to it. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/142 "2008-09-15T16:16:19Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > If it’s “too easy,” play it on hard. I do agree that there should be a setting past hard, one where you have to make absolutely no mistakes and get kind of lucky to win. I found tribal and civ and space all rather challenging on “hard.” I haven’t played Space on hard but I disagree. Everything in this game is easy (well cell stage on hard was a pain sadly the most challenge I’ve had in this game) even on hard I never died on creature, lost a battle on tribal or lost a city on civ. The only other trouble I’ve run into was on the space stage when I didn’t really understand what was going on at first when it came to fighting. Now armed with a mega-blaster and a shield I can tear through homeworlds like paper and the only worries I have is if I bought enough energy packs. I don’t even bother getting allies to come along half the time. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/143 "2008-09-15T16:29:50Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Your stuff, Maxis’ stuff, and anyone anyone else’s stuff that you let in. Yeah, mostly all I see is Maxis crap or my own stuff. Occassionaly it will load someone else’s stuff, but rarely. All the setting seem ok for connecting to the internet so I’m not sure what the deal is. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/144 "2008-09-15T16:35:07Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Yeah, mostly all I see is Maxis crap or my own stuff. Occassionaly it will load someone else’s stuff, but rarely. > > All the setting seem ok for connecting to the internet so I’m not sure what the deal is. Have you added us as your buddies? I see a lot of stuff from my buddies. ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/145 "2008-09-15T16:38:14Z")
My brother-in-law gave me a cracked copy to try out, I’m up to the Civilization stage now. Runs fine on my computer at medium detail if I turn the resolution down to 1024x768. First impressions - it’s fun, but unless the space stage is a lot better than all before, I can’t see it holding my attention long. I got all the way up to the civilization stage in about 2 hours of play. Creature design is interesting aesthetically, but I ended up trying to fit a lot of parts on my creature that didn’t really fit my idea of what it should look like just to get the bonuses. I ended up with all kinds of odd bits just so I could convince other creatures to join my pack. Once I could, there was very little challenge (I played on Normal difficulty, maybe next time I’ll try a harder settings) - actually, very little challenge anywhere in the game yet once you learn how the stage plays. The tribal stage was probably the quickest, once I had beaten two villages and had all three instruments I was able to ally with all the others in about 5 minutes - give gift, play music two times, all in one visit. I haven’t got far into the civilization phase, but so far it’s pretty uninteresting. I do like being able to make your own anthem, and I spent a lot of time making some cool looking buildings and vehicles for my empire, but it’s a little off-putting that it’s best to stick weapons at all angles all over your vehicle just to build up it’s stats because their orientation and location has no effect in the game, and the weapon effects are very generic. It seems that most of the time in the game is spent designing the aesthetics of your creature/civilization, and the actual gameplay is just something you grind through quickly to get to the next stage. I do want to try higher difficulties, but I can’t imagine them making the game much more fun - I think if it was harder to kill/convert enemy villages/cities, it would just be more boring. I’m going to give it another shot once I get through the space stage trying some different strategies on creature building, but as of now I’m pretty glad I didn’t buy it, as it’s probably going to be uninstalled in a couple of days. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/146 "2008-09-15T17:01:42Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Have you added us as your buddies? I see a lot of stuff from my buddies. Do you have to add “buddies”? I thought it just pulled random crap down on it’s own. ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/147 "2008-09-15T17:13:14Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Do you have to add “buddies”? I thought it just pulled random crap down on it’s own. If you add buddies, it will pull more proportionally from them than from random contributors. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/148 "2008-09-15T17:41:07Z")
There is a setting somewhere (I’m at work so I can’t look) that tells it to only pull content from people in your buddy list. It will still use anything that it has already downloaded (so you will still see some Maxis and other random stuff) but the option dramatically increases the amount of buddy content you see. Almost everything I get now is from my buddy list. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/149 "2008-09-15T20:37:29Z")
Heh, I’m beginning to regret using the creator at all, since in my Creature stage I was hunted by an Epic version of one of my own creations. I am Zembo, btw, if anyone would like to add me. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/150 "2008-09-17T04:42:27Z")
I finally got my [Sanix](http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=sast-500077030564) all the way to space last night. I’ve spent some time tonight exploring the galactic neighborhood. Interestingly, a neighboring space empire is an earlier version of the [Sanix](http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=sast-500075744486). I hope the galaxy isn’t going to be like Star Trek, with different versions of the same species. Here’s my profile: [TerminusEst's Public Spore Page](http://www.spore.com/view/profile/TerminusEst) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/151 "2008-09-17T17:23:06Z")
The Space stage is interesting. I’m starting to get the hang of it. I have several colonies and several alien systems begging to be bought-out. Unfortunately, I’m chronically short of cash. I haven’t even purchased all my starship upgrades. BTW, thanks for all the buddy links! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/152 "2008-09-17T17:38:55Z")
I made a small mistake while seeding a newly created T1 last night and ended up putting some trees in orbit. 😃 > [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > I hope the galaxy isn’t going to be like Star Trek, with different versions of the same species. The more variations you create for a species, the greater the chance you’ll see different levels of that species throught the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Dying\_Butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dying\_Butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dying_Butterfly)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/153 "2008-09-17T22:22:59Z")
I was chased down and killed by an Epic Brachiosaurus today. It was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/154 "2008-09-17T22:51:50Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Do you have to add “buddies”? I thought it just pulled random crap down on it’s own. I got a huge number of user created creatures, and once saw the creature I’d made in a previous game. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/155 "2008-09-18T07:42:06Z")
[Yahtzee does Spore](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/218-Spore). Still enjoying the game, though I’m finding the Civ phase baffling and not very interesting. Hope the Space phase has more to it. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/156 "2008-09-18T14:21:39Z")
I came across [this article](http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2008/09/the_creation_simulation.php) that may be of interest to some of you. I haven’t read it yet, but how can an article about Will Wright and Spore not be interesting? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/157 "2008-09-18T17:19:28Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > [Yahtzee does Spore](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/218-Spore). > > Still enjoying the game, though I’m finding the Civ phase baffling and not very interesting. Hope the Space phase has more to it. That was my least favorite stage too. There seems to be virtually no strategic depth to it at all. This was also true of tribal, but at least that was over very quick, had funny animations, and didn’t require spending a lot of time in editors. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/158 "2008-09-19T00:25:01Z")
[http://www.spore.com/patch](http://www.spore.com/patch) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/159 "2008-09-19T06:19:18Z")
Not for the Mac, yet ☹ I had my first session on my Mac Pro dual CPU last night; it was fun, but especially in the tribal phase the game was really, really, slow. Painfully so. I dropped the video settings and it didn’t help at all. A quick search doesn’t show this a as general problem, are other Mac users here seeing this? ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015/160 "2008-09-21T14:56:26Z")
I’m fairly underwhelmed with the game. Does your creature evolve? Yes. Do you follow it from a cellular to a cosmic level? Yes. And yet, there’s something overly childish about it all. The whole game seems to be a Creature Creator with animation. Fairly repetitive gameplay too. I guess I’ll be at it till the novelty of fiddling with body types and accessories wears off. This probably has something to do with my **World of Warcraft** exposure, though. I know it’s not fair expecting the variety of actions that are possible there in Spore too. Will Wright needs to figure out a way to MMO this game. Imagine the possibilities! Even with the limited abilities the critters have, it’s always exciting when you’re up against a human. I want to go charging over a plain with my pack of [Dinofails](http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=sast-500093603151) and be met head on by **Wasabi** helming his Schnozzasaurs! I want world PVP! I want epic battles! I want to moosh **Wasabi** ’s arse, dammit! Instead, I’m plodding around killing creatures with 150 health less than me to get the right goddamn nose to drop. :smack: (Nothing personal, by the way, **Wasabi**! Just that your bloody Schnozzy got epicced in my game and killed all 3 of the Rogues in my pack.) Ah well. While I last in the Sporiverse, I’ve buddied you guys. I’m on as \*\*Aankh \*\* there too. I haven’t really created anything much yet; still getting used to the Creature Creator and the things you can do with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-getting-spore/462015.md?page=9)