Archive: 29 posts

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He complains that it has too steep a learning curve. He admits, however, to have never tried creating anything before this point, and he did not play the single player or view any of the tutorials. Here's the full article, followed by the source link: At this point, I've seen and heard enough about LittleBigPlanet that I feel as though the game isn?t even real and that it's never actually coming out. Thankfully, Sony brought along their first-party titles for us New Yorkers to try out and I can confirm that the game does in fact exist and will be coming out this fall. But after finally getting my hands on it, I think I?m going to have to turn down my hype meter just a bit. When I got my hands on the controller and got booted up to the LittleBigPlanet title screen, the first thing I wanted to do was to make stuff. I think I've seen enough the gameplay from finished levels to know how it?ll work when it's put together, but I felt since I didn?t have a whole lot of time, I wanted to dig deeper in the creation tools. Without any real tutorial of the controls, I just started messing around. The first thing I popped in the environment was a sombrero. OK, easy. But the Sony rep and I decided we wanted to give the sombrero wheels and drive it off a ramp. Now this is when things started to get a little harder. I think something that?s being overlooked with this game is the learning curve. I found it to be very overwhelming. If you wanted to build a sombrero car, you have to attach it to a piece of wood (or something flat). But since the sombrero is two blocks long in width, you have to make sure your surface is just as long or it won?t let you do it. And if you?re not completely familiar with the system like I was, it's easy to get stuck and frustrated when something doesn?t work. So we finally got the hat on the piece of wood and I put some wheels on. But then since the hat is light, we had to make sure it's glued down or it will blow off. Then we had to add two motors (one for each wheel) and manually go in and alter the settings to adjust the speed of the car. I don't know how long it took for me to build that sombrero car, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would, and it didn?t even look like something I wanted to save and share with my friends. We never did get a chance to drive it off a ramp both because I had to go, and the ramp itself wasn?t even done. We also tried to attach one wheel to a can of tuna, which was dubbed the ?Tuna Cycle,? but it didn?t work. Granted, this was my first time with the game, but isn?t this supposed to be accessible? I had an easier time with SOCOM from earlier in the day. The Sony rep did mention there would be a full tutorial of the controls in the final version, which is probably the one feature I?m most excited about. Source: Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/5033986/dont-let-sackboys-cute-face-fool-you-lbp-is-hard) Now, remember, this is one man's opinion, and he doesn't even work for Kotaku full-time(like I said, he's an intern). The rest of the Kotaku guys who got the chance to play it had starkly contrasting opinions, so don't take it as Kotaku's official view on the game. Also, I've played it, and I can say I disagree wholeheartedly.

2008-08-06 22:52:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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1 Man vs. Millions Of Men. I'll take the latter to believe.

2008-08-06 23:07:00 Author: LittleBigMan Posts: 326

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I don't see the point he wants to make. Like he said, he'd never played the levels and he'd never saw a tutorial or something like that. IN the EDGE Online preview they say: LBP is broken into three discrete modes: Play, Create and Share. Initially, you?ll have to unlock Create by playing through the first few pre-made levels of Play (there are 50 in total). So he just didn't play at all. This is where I think that he hasn't any right to say something about the learningcurve of this game. He said that the movies he'd watched before was enough to just make a Sombrero-car. The 50 levels you first have to play to even get to the Create-side of the game, IS the learningcurve. Obviously, complex mechanisms and stuff like that is for the hardcore-creaters and isn't that easy, I think. I think that we have to forget this guy as fast as possible, because he talks about things where he just simply hasn't the right to give a opinion on it.

2008-08-06 23:09:00 Author: OverZee Posts: 245

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So he just didn't play at all. This is where I think that he hasn't any right to say something about the learningcurve of this game. He said that the movies he'd watched before was enough to just make a Sombrero-car. The 50 levels you first have to play to even get to the Create-side of the game, IS the learningcurve. Obviously, complex mechanisms and stuff like that is for the hardcore-creaters and isn't that easy, I think. I think that we have to forget this guy as fast as possible, because he talks about things where he just simply hasn't the right to give a opinion on it. Very, very well worded. You basically proved my point.

2008-08-06 23:18:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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Yeah, seeing as he had a limited time on it and everything.. If you think about it, there's nothing wrong with what he had to do, it's just like in real life, but more simple. If you stick a hat on a fast car of course it's gonna blow off.

2008-08-06 23:20:00 Author: DrunkMiffy Posts: 2758

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Very, very well worded. You basically proved my point. Thank you Cartman In general, I'm getting angry when people are complaining about things when when they only have seen a small part of the big image.

2008-08-06 23:26:00 Author: OverZee Posts: 245

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If you think about it, there's nothing wrong with what he had to do, it's just like in real life, but more simple. If you stick a hat on a fast car of course it's gonna blow off. As I was reading, that's exactly what I was thinking. You have to take into account that this guy may suck at physics-based games. I've always understood them, but that's because I understand physics pretty easily. He might look at it and think, "Why didn't it do what I wanted?" He just doesn't understand that you have to take everything into account, physics-wise.

2008-08-06 23:29:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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Yeah, I'm a bit of both really. I'd probably forget to glue the hat down first of all, but then I'd instantly think "I should glue that down", and there's nothing wrong with having to adjust how fast you want it to go! I'm glad there's the option to adjust the speed personally!

2008-08-06 23:32:00 Author: DrunkMiffy Posts: 2758

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Yeah, I'm a bit of both really. I'd probably forget to glue the hat down first of all, but then I'd instantly think "I should glue that down", and there's nothing wrong with having to adjust how fast you want it to go! I'm glad there's the option to adjust the speed personally! Too many options weighs people down if they don't understand the basic concepts. It's the same thing as trying to teach algebra to someone who hasn't yet grasped the concept of fractions; there's no way they'd fully understand it until they've gone back and learned the basics.

2008-08-06 23:41:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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when I would build something like that, when if fails because I forgot to stick some glue on it, then I think of myself that I'm just so stupid to forget that

2008-08-06 23:43:00 Author: OverZee Posts: 245

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Err right, i have to break this down a bit.... Without any real tutorial of the controls, I just started messing around. The first thing I popped in the environment was a sombrero. OK, easy. But the Sony rep and I decided we wanted to give the sombrero wheels and drive it off a ramp. Now this is when things started to get a little harder. I think something that?s being overlooked with this game is the learning curve. I found it to be very overwhelming. If you wanted to build a sombrero car, you have to attach it to a piece of wood (or something flat). But since the sombrero is two blocks long in width, you have to make sure your surface is just as long or it won?t let you do it. And if you?re not completely familiar with the system like I was, it's easy to get stuck and frustrated when something doesn?t work. So we finally got the hat on the piece of wood and I put some wheels on. But then since the hat is light, we had to make sure it's glued down or it will blow off. Then we had to add two motors (one for each wheel) and manually go in and alter the settings to adjust the speed of the car. Okay - this is ridiculous. First off, he mentions the learning curve was overwhelming. As Overzee basically said, he hasn't played the game at all, and hasn't experienced the game yet; which is part of the learning. Additionally, there are tutorials in the game which you go through to learn this. This will probably eliminate the overwhelming feeling of creating. And then that final paragraph just made me think this guy was uneducated. Everything he mentions is something which would obviously be needed. If i plonked a sumbrero on wood, i may not want it to stick. Ofcourse the glue is needed. And yes, you need a motor to make things move. And i definatly want to be able to control the speed of it - otherwise so many things wouldn't work! (for example - a catapult). If it didn't work - the guy just doesn't get basic physics (by that i mean how things work - not the subject!) I don't know how long it took for me to build that sombrero car, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would, and it didn?t even look like something I wanted to save and share with my friends. We never did get a chance to drive it off a ramp both because I had to go, and the ramp itself wasn?t even done. We also tried to attach one wheel to a can of tuna, which was dubbed the ?Tuna Cycle,? but it didn?t work. Granted, this was my first time with the game, but isn?t this supposed to be accessible? This game is very accessible. No, i haven't played it, but literally every other person has said it is. And if it didn't look like something you wanted to share - that's his own bad building skills. I saw one video where they made a tank real quickly. I had an easier time with SOCOM from earlier in the day Comparing Socom and LBP together? Doh! *slaps forhead* Oh well.

2008-08-06 23:46:00 Author: ryryryan Posts: 3767

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I think we just have to stop complaining about this guy, because we know much better then he does. Like you said ryryan, if you just lay down an sombrero had on wood and put some wheels on it, it's almost certain that the hat will fly off.

2008-08-06 23:52:00 Author: OverZee Posts: 245

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The 50 levels you first have to play to even get to the Create-side of the game, IS the learningcurve. You don't have to play 50 levels, there are 50 single player levels in total. You only have to play the first few of them before you get a change to go to create mode. I agree this guys is a little bit hasty. It didn't sound like he had long to play the game at all, so of course it's not going to be easy to make something too complicated, especially if he was rushing. Also, I think the reason he found it difficult was because he expected to be able to attatch the wheels straight on the sombrero. From what I've seen of the game, the sombrero will act like a real sombrero, and be a bit floppy. In real life, you can't attach wheels to something like that without putting it on a backing first, and the gluing just makes sense. This must mean you can only attatch wheels to items you construct out of materials e.g. wood, metal etc. and not to premade objects such as sombreros and tuna. This doesn't suprise me at all.

2008-08-07 01:52:00 Author: Dropbear Posts: 272

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Wow...This is just irresponsible...grr We give him too much validation even having this posted on this forum... Hes lucky were civilized LBP fans... what if he had the same response to MGS4 or even worse Halo fans... caaarazyyyyy!:eek:

2008-08-07 03:05:00 Author: Noonian Posts: 523

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No way, that guy just doesn't get the concept of learning creation platforms. I mean once you get used to it it's much easier to maneuver and you'll even be able to create your "sombrero car" in a faster rate.

2008-08-07 03:21:00 Author: SACK_HAY Posts: 23

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Maybe you guys are being a little too harsh on the guy. Yeah, his comments make him sound like a total fool and a terrible game writer but, you've gotta admit that LBP isn't gonna appeal to EVERYONE. This guy is obviously a bigger fan of first/third person shooters than he is of side-scrolling platformers. It's not fair to judge a side-scrolling sandbox against blood-thirsty shooters but, whatever. Like you guys said... a million positive hands-on previews to 1 negative take on the experience. It's not gonna bring down my "hype meter" at all.

2008-08-07 03:48:00 Author: 1000101 Posts: 192

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did he just expect to pick up the controller and create a car in 1 minute?? he didnt even do a tutorial... wut was he expecting???!!!

2008-08-07 05:01:00 Author: ea9492 Posts: 444

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Burnnn the witch!!!

2008-08-07 05:09:00 Author: Noonian Posts: 523

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I almost find that intern's opinion a bit laughable. But yeah, he just needs to understand the concept of the game a little better. Claiming it has a steep learning curve, but he didn't physically play it. Sure...

2008-08-07 05:09:00 Author: Alaska_Gamer Posts: 209

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Maybe you guys are being a little too harsh on the guy. Yeah, his comments make him sound like a total fool and a terrible game writer but, you've gotta admit that LBP isn't gonna appeal to EVERYONE. He is a terrible game journalist. That's a lousy article, and points out the reason why actual paper magazines brought a certain standard to journalism, which the Internet is slowly chipping away. Not everyone should be allowed to write up their opinion in a publishing.

2008-08-07 07:21:00 Author: Linque Posts: 607

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You're right Linque. To give your opinion about something, like a said before, when your just experienced a small part of the bigger image, it's not fair to complain about that

2008-08-07 09:06:00 Author: OverZee Posts: 245

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Oh Come on... give the guy a break! He's an intern, so its one of his first review things.. and its his opinion.. If any of us was to do the same, we'd probably agree with him, especialy since kids are supposed to be able to make levels too. He wasnt saying its EXTREMELY difficult or anything, just that it will take a while to get used to, which it will, definitly. And even once you've finished the necessary levels your still going to run into some very trick parts of creating... It'll take a while for you to turn pro, even if you have a PhD in physics or something. And he wasn't comparing the game to SOCOM, just the 'pick-up and play' aspect of each games. And on our side of things, granted, he should have played through some of the story levels first and his opinion would probably have changed a bit...

2008-08-07 09:22:00 Author: Maltay Posts: 2073

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But Maltay, the fact I think that he doesn't understand is the fact that learningcurve is in the pre-made levels that are shiped on the Blu-Ray, he completly ignores that because he thinks that he could just create something without even played it.

2008-08-07 09:40:00 Author: OverZee Posts: 245

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But Maltay, the fact I think that he doesn't understand is the fact that learningcurve is in the pre-made levels that are shiped on the Blu-Ray, he completly ignores that because he thinks that he could just create something without even played it. But he had a dev or guy who new the ropes with him, thats much better then playing the first 3 levels..

2008-08-07 09:44:00 Author: Maltay Posts: 2073

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Everything in that article is just wild speculation (LBP is vaporware, seriously?) and opinions formed after an hour or so of playtime. Also neglecting the single player aspect of the game, saying 'I've seen videos so I know how it plays out' is beyond comprehension. One specific thing really ruins everything he says in the article regarding the learning curve - he fails to give ANY timeframe. He says he didn't have a whole lot of time to test it, yet he fails to tell exactly how long he had. When talking about learning curve, you'd better give at least some timeframe. Did he have 30mins? One hour, four hours? It makes quite a difference. Same thing with the sombrero thing. I can't believe he actually wrote: "I don't know how long it took for me to build that sombrero car, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would". Seriously? He gives no clue to the readers as to how long he thought it would take. Did he think you could make the car in one minute? Five minutes? Fifteen minutes? How long did it really take, 30mins? More? The reader has no way of knowing. Why would you go work as an intern at a publication if you're that poor a writer. Doesn't Kotaku have any QA? You shouldn't give journalists a break. They need to be held accountable for what they publish. Don't argue that you guys would do the same thing, there's different requirements for people interning at a publication and writing on a forum in your teens.

2008-08-07 09:51:00 Author: Linque Posts: 607

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One specific thing really ruins everything he says in the article regarding the learning curve - he fails to give ANY timeframe. "I don't know how long it took for me to build that sombrero car, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would" You're completely right Linque. He can't found is opinion with proper arguments.

2008-08-07 09:58:00 Author: OverZee Posts: 245

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You're completely right Linque. He can't found is opinion with proper arguments. Well I'm grateful for the article.

2008-08-07 10:02:00 Author: Maltay Posts: 2073

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Who is this man and why should his opinion have weight?

2008-08-07 10:17:00 Author: Reshin Posts: 1081

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I don't see this as "big" news. It's rare that a single game would appeal to every single gamer, so the fact that he doesn't care for the create doesn't really matter much. Can't expect everyone to love it or any other type of mode in any type of game.

2008-08-10 04:50:00 Author: Lil_Mermaid_Girl Posts: 5

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