RCT3 a Step Back?

ya know Batwing, my girlfriend has been nagging me about her solitaire games not running in the last week or so. About a week ago, i visited the Atari site and got a warning, something about my firewall... i'm no 'puter guru (i know more from reading here than i ever got from friends, thanks crew).
Now i'm really wondering....

Wrong. This site didn't serve you anything. If you got spyware or something else, that's your own damn fault.

Ya know, Jeff, the milk in my fridge went sour and I can't find my wallet, oddly enough all while I was viewing the site. ;)

I must say that I agree with everyone, especially you one sided soldier. I was so excited after I bought RCT3 the other day. Got home and put it in and was like wait, "This is the Sims." Horribly disappointed. The worst part about the game: the wooden rollercoaster! Ugh awful! So choppy and looks like it stands on steel supports. The game is indeed a digression in the sense that RCT1 & 2 seemed more "real to me." RCT3 is too caricaturistic for me. Everything seems so exaggerated, not real at all. Like why can't the rocking ship look like a rocking ship. Why does it have to make creeking noises and look like its been beat and bruised up. Why can't it look like a real pirate ship at any given amusement park. Seems to me it would be easier to make it look "real" than to exaggerate its features. Don't get me wrong, I think RCT3 is a good game and I still play it. I, however, see more digression in the game than advancement. I would rather have had them keep the game in 2-D and simply add more features and coasters rather than them attempt at turning the game into 3-D. Another feature I wish RCT3 would have is I wish you could view the game in 2-D, rather than being forced to keep it in 3-D all the time. I guess I'm so used to No Limits where the POV is unlimited because when I play RCT3 I get annoyed by the restricted POV and get fed up and just turn the game off. Oh yeah, anyone else annoyed by the fact that the peeps disappear when they walk into eachother?

POV is unlimited in RCT3. Just start up the coastercam and use the mouse to change the perspective to anything imaginable.

Or am I missing what you're saying?

I think that rct made the jump to 3 dimensional for two reasons:
1)The public has been asking for this.
2)There wasn't enough of a difference between rct1 and rct 2 other than theming and banking.

I think if they had made another 2-d game, everyone would be griping and complaining that was too much like the others.

Very true, most of the loyal fans of RCT and RCT2 really wanted it to be 3D with lots of features and they virtually answered our question. Now, its not it was cracked up to be and all. I'm just happy its in 3d, really there is no differance except 3d and new features, fireworks, and coaster cam. I don't complain too much! LOL! :)

I've been reading all the negativity around here for the last few months, and while most of it is deserved, I feel a bit differently than what seems to be the consensus.

I really agree with the "miniature toy set" analogy at the beginning of this thread, however:

I am still very in awe of the game, I must admit. Yes, the scenarios are MUCH too easy, and the ability to theme isn't what it was in the earlier versions. But, my jaw still drops when I'm in CoasterCam and I see the rest of my custom-built park all around me. Though Atari did a lot of stuff wrong, I'm really enjoying the things they did right.

Oh don't get us wrong, or at least me, Its still RCT3 and I am in shock 2 when you can see your own custom coaster. Custom parks are cool to see when you can flip the camera almost anywhere and can see it all over. I do agree they did a good job. Most of us are complaining because of flaws that rct3 had that rct2 and 1 didn't. some of these are quite important to enjoy reenactment of a coaster, or everyday park enviroment. The flaws are what got us. Its still the same great game though.

I run RCT3 on a brand new Dell XPS Laptop and it freezes almost every other time I play the game. It's not my computer because I can run Half Life and Doom fine but yet RCT3 has problems. I'm sorry but they rushed the game and didn't include the ease of play that the original had. I'm not addicted like I was to the orginal. It's a good game but not nearly as good as the old game. I hope that with a new expansion maybe it will be easier but when it takes me 25 minutes to place trees down in a custom scenario it's just not fun. I don't understand why they didnt bring over that multi tree thing... Maybe it's my error but I haven't been able to place down more than 1 tree at a time.

Oddly enough, i haven't had a single problem running the game.

I'm only using a Athlon 1.2, with a lowly 256Mb RAM (my previous system died unexpectedly so i had to replace components very swiftly, using the small contents of my wallet for payment!), and a 64Mb Nvidia card.

I agree with the comments about the caricature look to the game - i think it would be nice to see some re-worked rides in the next update, with a 'realistic' version added to the design schemes for the ride - that way the cartoony look can stay for those parks where it suits, and the realistic one can be used for the others.

At least they got the fireworks working!

*sarcasm off* :)

I was having problems with fps and choppy sound but that was just a driver motherboard issue and agp driver issue, lol! now i play in peace....! :)

Well here is what i think! I do like the onride cam, 3D is ok, Different guests are good, the ride selection is not that bad, the fireworks is the best part. As far as the system requirements are nuts! I just bought a brand new computer and it runs the game slow and I don't think many computer will run it good unless you put what the game needs like the Video card they mention which is made by who maybe atari lol greedy people i swear! then you have how the people don't really ride any of the rides! The rides ratings start off with a good rating then end up with a low rating which i noticed only happens with my favorite coasters to build and the Giga coaster is a flop because is isn't realistic at all no 80 degree drop. they need to make a few of the coaster more realistic! As far as the Downloads to fix some of the problems they need to make it normal downloads so people know what they are doing! I mean does anyone have any common sense in the world anymore! and did they even test the game before they put it on sale! with all the hype you would think it would be the more awsome game ever and yet I don't think i have ever bought a game with this many problems! Dissapointing is the only word to explain it! hopefully it will be fixed some day! good luck to all the people out there with your copy of this game because i quit playing it long ago because nothing goes right with it! want a good time go to CP instead of your PC!

Wow.

^ well said.

How many times do we need to say that age of a computer is just about meaningless when it comes to this?

Also, they *did* make it "normal" downloads, it just depends what you consider normal ;). Most software I use that get updates (virus scanners, anti-spyware, windows, rct3, aol, trillian messaging client, etc) use internal update functions, so that is what I personally would consider normal. This helps avoid the widespread fear of contracting a virus from running ANY external file... especially since windows xp has a million warnings about running .exe files and saying how you can get viruses that way (which is true, but it frightens unknowledgeable users). It also avoids people who aren't computer savvy from downloading the file and then not being able to find it on their hard drive. Finally, it should be noted that there are links to download the patch externally.. you just have to find them.

and for those advanced users that would be: ftp.infogrames.net/patches/rct3 but then again the update function is easier;) but then again here that takes forever on my comp, lol! :) *** Edited 1/17/2005 2:02:28 PM UTC by DC2Beltz3***

Old topic I know... but I can FINALLY add my two cents since I just got the game. I've been hesitant for a long time reading the reviews and things on here, pefectly content with RCT2. This past weekend we finally purchaced the game on my wife's "insistance".

Great 3D look... great graphics as far as riding your coasters. I like the fact that you can assign maintenance, handymen, security invidual blocks rather than a 10 square block area (no over lapping). I like the fact that a single wide path looks WIDE, and not like a very narrow sidewalk. I like the fact that ride entrances and exits do not have to be little buildings. After that, eh... not much.

As some said before, RCT1&2 both looked more solid. Again, as some said, RCT1&2 both reminded me of a little model world. To me RCT1&2 were to real amusement parks what model trains were to real railroads. Sure, they were more "abstract" than RCT3... but it is their abstractness that made them more "real" in my minds eye. Take a ferris wheel for instance. The Ferriswheel in RCT1&2 was just your generic ferriswheel... certainly not the equivalent of Great Adventures Big Wheel. However, because of the look of RCT1&2, the game's wheel could easily double for Great Adventure's wheel. The ferriswheels in RCT3 certainly could not. You can see them in so much detail, you can get so close to them, that there is no way to see them for anything other than what they are.

The people are the same way. The ones in the RCT3 are kind of freakish to me. They move in slow motiong... they look... odd. Sure, there are men, women and children. Sure, there are different ethnicities... but I'm here to build an amusement park, not do a sociology experiment or a census. The little peeps that inhabited RCT1&2 were generic... they could be anyone you wanted them to be. At that scale I never looked at them as individuals, but as the crowd as a whole.

I also like the fact that you did not have to worry about workers getting "bored, bored, bored" in RCT1&2. In the course of building your park and your empire, you simply hired staff... and the staff ran itself. Again, almost like you were not hiring a single maintenace man, but rather you were hiring the maintenance staff that would work one area. Problems with the individuals were delt with on a lower level... not by you as you are dealing with the over all running of the park.

To me... RCT1&2 were like RCT:The Novel. RCT3 is like RCT:The Movie. Like a novel, RCT1&2 showed you alot, but the little details of what things should look like were left up to the "reader". RCT3 is like a movie... it shows everything... If it shows something one way, you HAVE to see it that way. There is no room left for the imagination.

Not sure if I can quite put this into words... but I feelt like I was able to represent "reality" better in RCT1&2 because in their simple little way, they looked a little more realistic than the cool looking (or, considering who RCT3 seems to be market toward... the "kewl" looking) graphics of the new game. Yeah... its 3D, and you can ride your creations. But it looks like a cartoon.

Bottom line... The features of these games that I liked the best were found in RCT2. The only problem I had with that (and its two expansions) was that the scenarios from RCT1 (the original game, not the expansions) were not there (you remember.. Forrest Frontiers, Brumbly Beach, etc). The original RCT1 had my favorite scenarios. RCT2 however had the much needed scenario designer (while perhaps not a true sand box, it was pretty close to it) where I could design the scenario I wanted (this helped to take away the sting that my favorite scenarios form RCT1 were no longer available). I also liked the add ons for RCT2, not so much for their scenarios, but some of the scenery options were great. Only thing that would have made RCT2 better... a bigger variety of flats.

As for RCT3. I am not sure what could make it better. Worse than that, I am not sure I really care. After all of the novelity has worn off of it, it still doesn't have that "fun" factor of the previous two versions.

just my belated two cents.

*** Edited 5/2/2005 4:29:58 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

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SLFAKE said:As for RCT3. I am not sure what could make it better.

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How bout a can of gasoline and a match?

B'dum tschhhhh:) Thank you, I'm here all week lol

-Jimvy!

Wow, SLFAKE. :)

It took 6 months, but I think you just became the first person able to put into words the reasons RCT3 isn't as fun as the first two.

Very nice.