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Kotaku: Three Weeks Later, DriveClub Still Doesn't Work Properly
- Thread starter maxcriden
- Start date
Willy Wanka
my god this avatar owns
It's a hugely embarrassing situation for Evolution, especially since the game was already delayed for an entire year. Hopefully they can sort out the online side of things asap.
The game is a blast when the connectivity is there. I've been lucky to be connected during a couple tour mode races and a couple multiplayer matches. I really like the driving too.
It really is unfortunate how fucked the launch has been. I'm beginning to think Evolution is cursed (remember Motorstorm Apocalypse's launch?).
It really is unfortunate how fucked the launch has been. I'm beginning to think Evolution is cursed (remember Motorstorm Apocalypse's launch?).
GribbleGrunger
Dreams in Digital
The ironic thing is that Driveclub sold quite well, is getting attention on a daily basis and, when fixed, will get even more attention for another three or four weeks. I think it's going to work out OK in the end for Driveclub.
What gap? Evolution's WRC games were awesome, Motorstorms were great and even DriveClub is an extremely competent racing game that is only marred by the online fuck-up. Once they get those problems out of the way, it'll be a really fun racing game with all the face-offs, custom challenges and club action. And contrary to Kotaku's article (which is probably because of the 2.0 update which has fucked every other online multiplayer today as well and not just DriveClub still being as shit as it was during launch week), the online aspect has taken great strides forward. It's still not perfect, but I've at least connected to the servers everytime I've launched the game (I haven't gotten the error message in the Kotaku article in more than a week), all the fame & progress in accolades upload to my club, online face-offs during races load most of the time (I'd say over 80% of the time), leaderboards work a lot more than they are down etc. This is vastly better than me never getting connected to the servers, no leaderboards ever loading or uploading, no club progress ever being uploaded and all the other problems that the game suffered from earlier.
NullPointer
Member
They sure as hell aren't lucky.
NoMoreTrolls
Banned
This sums up my thoughts.
How could they have known the servers were broken if there was no one to play on them?
aaronwt
Member
I don't even know how I could get a refund. With the stupid $150 wallet limit Sony has, I'm already within $20 of the limit Since I have over $130 in my Sony wallet. But I paid $70 or $75 for DC and the season pass. So they wouldn't be able to credit me the full amount I paid for the game.
I really wish they would get rid of the $150 limit. At one point I had over $1k in my MS account when I got a bunch of stuff on sale. They had no issue with it. But I can't do that with Sony and I hate having any of those cards lying around. I like to get a bunch when they are on sale and I like to redeem them right away.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
So does this fiasco mean that famousmortimer's account will be reinstated?
Because with a 10 month delay and still having these issues it doesn't seem controversial now to say that the project was troubled.
Because with a 10 month delay and still having these issues it doesn't seem controversial now to say that the project was troubled.
Caayn
Member
Then what was the beta for?
Mugatu
Member
I feel really stupid because the PS+ version is part of the reason I bought a PS4 in the first place. There are not many PS4 exclusives coming that I care about in the near future. I could have held off. Oh well, I did the same thing with GT Mobile and the PSP so I guess I'm just stupid but still, there'll come a day when I don't fall for Sony's BS.
The beta tested well, apparently.
Think about this...
They said that weather will always be different when you play it, due to their simulation algorithms. So how in the world are they going to 100% sync weather in online races, once the patch is out? They can't even sync leaderboards!
The weather would have to be processed on the servers due to the fact even if the starting variables are the same, one player's weather instance could be totally different from another player's (see "chaos theory" or "butterfly effect"), therefore producing different road conditions.
And most likely their inept servers cannot handle this, unless Evolution hard-codes weather patterns into the online races, keeping the processing client-side and predictable. This will go against their true dynamic weather simulation philosophy:
Alex Perkins: "You can expect every one of those and you can expect it to change dynamically and unpredictably while you race because weve designed it to be just like real weather systems. Spots of rain can become torrential downpours or transition into blizzards, quickly or slowly, and when the clouds clear up the tracks will dry out too."
They said that weather will always be different when you play it, due to their simulation algorithms. So how in the world are they going to 100% sync weather in online races, once the patch is out? They can't even sync leaderboards!
The weather would have to be processed on the servers due to the fact even if the starting variables are the same, one player's weather instance could be totally different from another player's (see "chaos theory" or "butterfly effect"), therefore producing different road conditions.
And most likely their inept servers cannot handle this, unless Evolution hard-codes weather patterns into the online races, keeping the processing client-side and predictable. This will go against their true dynamic weather simulation philosophy:
Alex Perkins: "You can expect every one of those and you can expect it to change dynamically and unpredictably while you race because weve designed it to be just like real weather systems. Spots of rain can become torrential downpours or transition into blizzards, quickly or slowly, and when the clouds clear up the tracks will dry out too."
Fortinbras
Member
I requested a refund two weeks ago and still haven't gotten my money back. I've heard of the terrible customer service of Sony Europe but never expected it to be that bad.
I got a few replies, one asking me for my date of birth and my online ID, another one with a survey about the customer servce and an empty email. I never got an answer for my question. There is no support chat.
Microsoft on the other hand issued a refund for the Destiny expansion pass within 10 minutes after contacting them. The German support didn't have any problem with the fact that I bought the pass on the US Xbox One store.
I got a few replies, one asking me for my date of birth and my online ID, another one with a survey about the customer servce and an empty email. I never got an answer for my question. There is no support chat.
Microsoft on the other hand issued a refund for the Destiny expansion pass within 10 minutes after contacting them. The German support didn't have any problem with the fact that I bought the pass on the US Xbox One store.
NullPointer
Member
Or... the system is deterministic and can sync when provided a shared seed value. No server processing needed.
Was there the same load in the beta as release?
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I had a supervisor who was in the same situation and the guy was fucking up. Everyone was happy to pick up the slack because they felt for him, (And seriously you'd have to be a sociopath to stay focused in that situation.) but it didn't change the fact that he was fucking up.
Caayn
Member
Of course not. Do you think that all DC servers where up and running during that period? If evolution had proper testcases this entire thing wouldn't have ended up this bad.
Melchiah
Member
It's biggest selling point to me was arcadeish track racing, and it delivers that in near perfect fashion. As for the lack of online multiplayer, let's take WipEout HD as an example; I've played that game for six years, and I've tried the MP side only few times. The lack of split screen mode in DC is a bigger minus, as far as I'm concerned.
Wipeout HD had so much content that it would make Driveclub look really short and bare... let alone the Fury dlc stuff too
You're overthinking things. In a MP race everyone exists in the same game session and same race instance. You don't have to do any additional "weather syncing" outside of the normal syncing of a MP race. The same thing already happens with the weather that's in the game now (cloud cover/wind) without any problems.
Ok...but the poster stated they shouldn't have released the game. All things the same....they had no idea this could've happened until release.
I'm in no way defending them though. It's a mess and I've about completely left this behind with some other titles I want coming next month.
This whole situation really sucks. The core game is great and online too when everything works...which unfortunately is still quite rare. Just today I managed some nice online racing but the problems are still there...which makes the experience quite frustrating.
I really hope one day it works like it should.
I really hope one day it works like it should.
Use the live chat. I just did it and worked right away, despite the lady telling me it was a "gesture of good will from Sony since all sales are final".
I asked her how is that a favor if the product I bought refuses the work properly, and she was quiet and politely asked me if there was anything she could do for me.
I was promised a refund in 3-5 days. Hopefully everything will be alright.
CambriaRising
Member
The beta tested well, and advance copies didn't have any online issues.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Maybe he was apologizing because he didn't know the circumstances and wouldn't have said anything if he did. Maybe he was apologizing for passing on hearsay. (Which would be silly because a lot of the best leaks are hearsay.) Maybe he was just trying to save his own ass. I don't know.
But yes, I don't know for sure that there was something to the story.
I don't even like mortimer anyway.
Melchiah
Member
Fury was released a year later. There's no Zone mode or guns in DC, but there's a similar amount of different racing modes; race (laps & point-to-point), event, time trial, and drift). Naturally nothing compares to WipEout, but my point was that the lack of online hasn't bothered me since the club points started working. Competitive online play, especially against randoms, isn't everyone's cup of tea. I'd rather play on a split screen mode, with few beers on the side.
Canis lupus
Member
Forget the online, still waiting for the weather patch...
Yes, I was implying that they would have to implement a deterministic approach, but this method goes against an unpredictable weather simulation that they desire.
The initial seed values could be established on each console, but if there are randomized variables to make weather unpredictable, the variables would need to be constantly synced/shared. No way could they do this, so they would have to settle for what current games do with set outcomes for initial seed values.
Was able play online yesterday.... it was a clusterfuck. Getting out of the first corner alive is a matter of luck. Zero skill involved..
And let's not forget little to zero penalty for riding the walls instead of braking...
Shame, as the driving is pretty good and it looks great...
And let's not forget little to zero penalty for riding the walls instead of braking...
Shame, as the driving is pretty good and it looks great...
EatinOlives
Member
What a complete and entire disaster of a launch. I certainly hope Sony/Evo does something to compensate for the paying customers, and probably something (albeit smaller) for the PS+ delay too. There's absolutely zero chance of this being a simple "bug" as they put it. Something about the online infrastructure was so unscalable that we're having issues still 3 weeks into the launch of the product. It's not even a game that expected to have a ton of customers on day 1, certainly not to the scale of something like a WoW expansion would have.
As bad as Destiny as a game might be, they had all their ducks in a row in time for launch. They weren't given nearly as much credit as they deserve for such a gigantic launch going relatively smoothly. This, on the other hand, is a sign of incompetence and I'm glad major outlets like Kotaku are finally calling them out on it.
I like how they apologize for "being silent" about the state of the non-working online, then go right ahead and continue to be completely silent about the PS+ edition. Obviously they're putting priority toward the paying customers, but not even a hint of an acknowledgment or shout-out in this statement about the millions of subscribers who still can't play the PS+ edition. And they pretty much only made this statement because of the Kotaku article. Again, kudos to Kotaku in holding their feet to the fire on this. Clearly Evo and Sony are trying to sweep this under the rug, and if no gaming outlet ever said anything they never would have either.
This is the saddest defense force I've seen in recent memory. Nothing but throwing around buzzwords, "entitled!!! hyperbole!!!" without any substance. Nothing but ad hominem pretending it's the customer's fault for being upset that the product is still not working as it should be 21 days after it has been released.
Do you really Evo would agree with your defense? Nope, they're visibly upset that their own product doesn't work, and they definitely don't think so little of their customers to think that people who are upset are "full of shit" or "spouting hyperbole". If the actual developers of the game admit the launch has been bad, why can't you? And do you really think Sony would agree with your cries that people are "entitled" and "childish" for wanting refund? Nope, because they're actually granting those refunds with little to no fuss. Obviously they see validity in the people demanding refunds because they're actually giving them.
And if you personally don't give a shit about the botched launch and are enjoying the offline modes, fantastic, all the power to you. But learn at least a tiny bit about empathy and realize that not everyone would be satisfied with simply the offline modes. You can't suddenly claim that the online aspect of DC isn't a major component of a game built from ground up specifically with the intent of delivering a connected online experience. Again, if you don't care about this major component that's great for you, but don't pretend like everyone else is wrong for not agreeing.
As bad as Destiny as a game might be, they had all their ducks in a row in time for launch. They weren't given nearly as much credit as they deserve for such a gigantic launch going relatively smoothly. This, on the other hand, is a sign of incompetence and I'm glad major outlets like Kotaku are finally calling them out on it.
I like how they apologize for "being silent" about the state of the non-working online, then go right ahead and continue to be completely silent about the PS+ edition. Obviously they're putting priority toward the paying customers, but not even a hint of an acknowledgment or shout-out in this statement about the millions of subscribers who still can't play the PS+ edition. And they pretty much only made this statement because of the Kotaku article. Again, kudos to Kotaku in holding their feet to the fire on this. Clearly Evo and Sony are trying to sweep this under the rug, and if no gaming outlet ever said anything they never would have either.
This is the saddest defense force I've seen in recent memory. Nothing but throwing around buzzwords, "entitled!!! hyperbole!!!" without any substance. Nothing but ad hominem pretending it's the customer's fault for being upset that the product is still not working as it should be 21 days after it has been released.
Do you really Evo would agree with your defense? Nope, they're visibly upset that their own product doesn't work, and they definitely don't think so little of their customers to think that people who are upset are "full of shit" or "spouting hyperbole". If the actual developers of the game admit the launch has been bad, why can't you? And do you really think Sony would agree with your cries that people are "entitled" and "childish" for wanting refund? Nope, because they're actually granting those refunds with little to no fuss. Obviously they see validity in the people demanding refunds because they're actually giving them.
And if you personally don't give a shit about the botched launch and are enjoying the offline modes, fantastic, all the power to you. But learn at least a tiny bit about empathy and realize that not everyone would be satisfied with simply the offline modes. You can't suddenly claim that the online aspect of DC isn't a major component of a game built from ground up specifically with the intent of delivering a connected online experience. Again, if you don't care about this major component that's great for you, but don't pretend like everyone else is wrong for not agreeing.
DenogginizerOS
BenjaminBirdie's Thomas Jefferson
I was given a refund from Sony last week with the caveat that the money be credited to my PSN wallet and not my check card. Huge disappointment.
GameSeeker
Member
In hindsight, it's clear that Evolution didn't have the networking expertise in house to make an online, social game like they intended to make.
Which is a shame as Evolution made an outstanding racing engine. The graphics, audio, car handling, environments, car details, etc. are so good they put every other console racing game to shame. But the networking aspect is a failure. Hopefully Sony learns the lesson that you have to really, really stress test any game that is going to heavily online. You can't run a closed beta with several thousand folks and call it good. You need to do an open beta, like Destiny, with millions of folks to really test whether your code is any good.
Evolution may not survive this debacle and live to make a DriveClub 2. A year late and still broken is not a recipe for a successful business. I bought a season pass, so hopefully they make good on that. After that, oh well...
Fortunately, there will be GT7 to look forward to.
Which is a shame as Evolution made an outstanding racing engine. The graphics, audio, car handling, environments, car details, etc. are so good they put every other console racing game to shame. But the networking aspect is a failure. Hopefully Sony learns the lesson that you have to really, really stress test any game that is going to heavily online. You can't run a closed beta with several thousand folks and call it good. You need to do an open beta, like Destiny, with millions of folks to really test whether your code is any good.
Evolution may not survive this debacle and live to make a DriveClub 2. A year late and still broken is not a recipe for a successful business. I bought a season pass, so hopefully they make good on that. After that, oh well...
Fortunately, there will be GT7 to look forward to.
Killing_Joke
Member
They really expected it to get fixed in 3 weeks? I won't expect anything till after holidays if at all. Huge bummer though definitely wanted to try the ps+ version. Just weird Sony was cool with a year long delay and yet no extra cash for servers. But then again their ps+ membership sky rocketed since launch and even more since Destiny.
Have you got any of dem stabil....nevermind
NullPointer
Member
That's the problem though: No reasonable expectations have been set by Sony or Evo, and their messages are all day-to-day, though the latest Facebook posts mentions another patch "this week".
If the fix is something that's going to take months they should set the stage for that kind of wait, otherwise the daily drumbeat of disappointment will just keep gathering steam.
Not a server quantity issue.
WipeoutHD had 8 tracks so 16 with reverse. DC has 55 including reverse. How are you getting this "so much content"?