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Colossal Waste of Time and Money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I've played these games and they were so much fun I decided to purchase copies for my home computer.

This is my third purchase of various iterations of this game. I purchased it as "Spellforce 2" & "Spellforce 2 Dragon Wars" by the original distributors, and now "Spellforce Universe" by DreamCatchers.

I have yet to find a version that installs and works. I'm not inexperienced at these kinds of problems and tried various workarounds and fixes from the internet forums and publishing companies.

Nada.

At this point, my disappointment has turned into disgust. If you wish to spend a lot of money on an excellent game that doesn't work, then this is the game for you.

Good Luck. You'll need it. (Review of Spellforce Universe)

Warning to potential customers:

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: June 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

While I've greatly enjoyed the Spellforce games, it's important to note that some of the Spellforce Universe copies (perhaps all of them, though I'm uncertain) have a corrupted installation for Spellforce 2. Specifically, the file sf2_base05.pak is installed improperly. On trying to play the campaign for either Spellforce 2 or its expansion, the game simply crashes with an error message before loading.

To make matters worse, the company - despite shipping the game (or at least half of it) quite literally unplayable - has apparently abandoned its product, as it seems no patch is forthcoming.

Fortunately, a few gamers in the community have provided workable solutions, but it's a bit of a headache to fix, and not something that should ever have passed quality assurance.

For those crashing when trying to start a game of Spellforce 2, you have two solutions: search a torrent network to download a ~550 megabyte .pak file to replace the version that's installed with this compilation, or visit http://www.spellforce2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50534&highlight=Universe

The second solution only requires a 14 megabyte download, but does involve some hex editing - a complete walkthrough is provided for those unfamiliar with the process.

Great Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is really fun for those who, like me, are into RTS and RPG games. (I also like FPS and think they should have added that one little Detail!)

You will have to overcome a few problems, there was a CD-Key issue, the latest patch fixed it. then there was a CD Not recognized issue (don't ask how i resolved it ;) My system is pretty powerful, so I maxed out all the settings, which included setting the Video to 1280x1024. every time i close the game and launch it again it says video not supported. so I have to manually edit the config file change a 5 to a 1, then relaunch the game and change the video back to 1280. I'm sure it is the intro videos that are making it pop.

All that aside, the game rocks! I am only 75% through the first campaign there is three in this 'Universe' plus the Version 2 campaigns.
I have spent 3 weeks or so. (I am a turtle when it comes to RTS)

My overall opinion, Great buy, Great game, just mail a boot to the programmers and ask them to kick themselves for you.
5/5 Story
5/5 Graphics
4/5 Controls (let me bind keys!)
5/5 RTS
4/5 RPG (I want First person, and right-clicking on spells toggles auto fire)

So far 4.6
:)

spell force universe

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I love the game .order of dawn got me started breath of winter real good played about half of phoenix stone. the game froze could not get it to start again. So decided to play shadow wars could not get it to load so Isen t itto dream catchers, along with a check for $8.00 as of today Ihave not heard from them.Iunstalled all spell force games.looks like Iwill not be able to finish rune warrers or try shadow wars and dragon
storm .

Solveable issues

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Both Spellforce and Spellforce 2 are wonderful RTS games in a fantasty setting (e.g., elven archers and dwarven catapults instead of traditional soldiers and cannons), with enough quest dialog, scenario sequencing, character skill advancement, and magic weapon/armor bonuses to qualify as an RPG. The units you control are your avatar (main character), a few companion heroes (high-level characters whose advancement and equipment you also choose), and on most levels the typical RTS units and buildings to gather resources and produce fighting forces. Playing single-player through the main story line brings out all of these elements and is worth playing multiple times as different character classes. There's also a "Free Mode" which is pretty much a whole new story line, with a main quest to complete and many optional side quests. Then the multi-player mode (only up to 3 players) is one of the best cooperative games available at any price.

As advertised, Spellforce Universe is a package containing the original Spellforce game, the Spellforce 2 game, and all the expansions for both. It's a much better value than buying the pieces separately. Because the expansions are included, the two games install as "Spellforce Platinum" and "Spellforce 2 Gold" to follow the names of the two separate bundles. Conveniently, the Universe package also includes all the patches you otherwise would have to download. All of the software runs under both Windows XP and Windows Vista, and it works equally well on nVidea and ATI video cards (I personally tested multiple environments).

Installation Issues:
====================
The Universe package is obviously a hasty release of previously published software, but without appropriate quality control. The little things don't prevent gameplay, but lack of quality is apparent immediately. Upon opening the box, you'll find that the two disks have their pictures backwards. One disk contains original Spellforce and its expansions, while the other contains Spellforce 2 plus expansions. However, the picture from Spellforce 2 is on the first disk, while the picture from original Spellforce is on the econd disk. Installing the first disk is normal, but at the end it does not prompt to insert the second disk. When you do insert the second disk, nothing runs or installs. You have to explore the disk to find an installation executable and then run it manually. Again, just a quality issue that doesn't affect the game.

Startup Issues:
===============
I can't say enough good things about the support community, without whom I would never have got the software working. If you have any problems, checkout spellforce.jowood.com and search the forums. My testing on multiple platforms ran into two serious errors getting the game going. I've included forum links for both so everyone else can get the same solutions.

1. Most Vista users will run into a "C++ Runtime" error messaage every time the try to launch Spellforce 2. The only Vista users who won't get this error are the ones who have disbled User Acconut Controls, the annoying security feature that prompts you before performing most system functions. Spellforce 2 doesn't cause the prompt - it just crashes with a "C++ Runtime" error. There are three simple ways to get around this issue:
(A) Disable User Account Controls under Vista, but be aware this is a security feature;
(B) Right-click the Spellforce 2 shortcut and select "Run as administrator" to launch; or
(C) Modify the Spellforce 2 shortcut properties and click the "Advanced" button to select the option that always runs as administrator.

See http://spellforce.jowood.de/forum/showthread.php?t=50564 for a more in-depth discussion of this issue.

2. Another quality control issue is that the Spellforce 2 disk ships with a corrupted buildings file. This causes the game to crash either when loading a map or when constructing a building. The best solution for most users is to download a huge 500+ MB replacement file. You'll also need a utility (like the free "winrar") to uncompress the downloaded file. The alternative solution for advanced users only is to use a hex editor on the corrupted file.

See http://spellforce.jowood.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50534 for the discussion on both methods to fix the corrupt building file, including a link to the correct file for download.

Gameplay Issue:
===============
The discussion forum identifies a common issue known as the "camera bug", but I never ran into the problem on any platform. Saving often is a good precaution for this and any other isses, and the forum provides a permanent solution should you need it.

There is one multi-player issue we can't seem to work around. Some friends and I own Spellforce 2 software purchased before any bundling with the expansion known as "Dragon Storm" (included with Spellforce Gold and Spellforce Universe bundles). Fully patched, our games show as "Spellforce 2 v1.02". We can play multi-player mode between us just fine since we all have the same version. However, Spellforce Universe includes the bundled expansion and, like Spellforce 2 Gold, shows up as "Spellforce 2 v2.01". The Spellforce 2 game from the Gold and Universe bundles play fine with each other, but not with the unbundled Spellforce 2 we already owned. I'm told there is no technical incompatibility between the v1.02 and v2.01. It's just that the multi-player mode will ony "see" other PCs running the identical version number. If the programming team was still together, they could fix this in a single day. However, there is no such patch available nor any solution on the discussion forum.

Conclusions:
============
In the end, the game is so good it's worth all the trouble to work around the issues above. Once the workarounds are in place, you never have to worry about them again. I suppose it's a bit like childbirth, where eventually you forget the initial pain and just enjoy the result.

My only warning is not to buy Spellforce Universe if you are just looking to add to an existing LAN party already running the unbundled Spellforce 2. Because you can't find unbundled Spellforce 2 anymore, you'll instead have to throw away your existing software and buy new bundled versions for everybody.

Great RPG, Adventure, Strategy Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: February 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is an excellent RPG, Adventure, Strategy game. it successfully combines all these game types into one game. i would suggest this game to anyone who enjoyed playing games such as Final Fantasy, or Star Craft, or Neverwinter Nights, or with any other game related to this very popular game titles.

Great set of games for a good price

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

As a big fan of rts games and rpgs, this was a pleasant combination of both. It did a great job of balancing the heros abilities with the rest or your units. And for the price you can't go wrong with this game. It was an easy clean install and after the initial install the game played perfectly. The only complaint I have is with the first spellforce, there is now way to do a skirmish with just the computer so after you finish the campaign there is only online multiplayer and there really isn't any of that. However, skirmish mode has been added to spellforce 2 which is fine since I only played the first one for the campaign.

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