Feel like I'm out $40

Is there a satisfaction guarantee?

from Sins Forums
I bought this game from Best Buy. They won't allow me to return it. I can't trade it either because registering this game means its mine for good because it told me it can't transfer.

Is there a satisfaction guarantee from the developer?

Anyone want to buy this game from me? I'll give my user/pass and I'd sell it for $30. I just opened it a few days ago and just can't get into it. I just read the BS around the patch problems and just don't want to deal with it.

What pisses me off the most, I think, is the really crappy tutorial that tells me that I can do things, but really leaves out how. Or maybe its the lack of a campaign mode to allow me to familiarize myself with how to start things up . . . Or perhaps its that a game takes 4 hours to play.

What really amazes me is that the ship animations are worse than Homeworld's was and Homeworld was YEARS ago. In Homeworld, turrets moved on ships. Hell, space was moveable in 3d. The battles were so much more action packed. For the most part, battles in this game are "Team 1 approaches team 2, Both teams stare at each other and fire. When one ship gets to 50% health, it flies away."

I kinda wish they put "Really Long Games" and "No Campaign" on the box.

I really hate when reviewers all band together to puff the ratings of a video game just because the developer is small. IMO, this game really doesn't deserve its high praise from the reviewers. 
62,409 views 69 replies
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Don't think you can.
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Nah.
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What? What are you disputing? That I can't transfer the game to another user? Did your game come with a campaign? Did you figure out some way to make the games not last a ridiculously long time without ship spamming? Did your ships just spawn turrets and start moving in battle and have their animations catch up with a game from 5 years ago? Did you figure out how to keep your ships in a formation? Change formations? Did you get some sort of mod that allows you to monitor pirate bidding without staring at a view killing dialog?

Oh wait . . .

Nah.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I just get very frustrated when I buy a game that I can't return or transfer but I really will likely never play it again. I just realized the "Nah" was in my response to whether or not there's a satisfaction guarantee. Sorry about that.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Hey guys! I bought Call of Duty 4 expecting an exciting puzzle game, and it's not even like Bejeweled! Can I make veiled uninformed attacks of the game on the forums because I didn't read the box, the return policy for Best Buy, or any number of reviews of the game while simultaneously expecting someone to reward me by buying the game from me?
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
I really hate when reviewers all band together to puff the ratings of a video game just because the developer is small.
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You don't know much about the game industry, do you.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Hmm, maybe, you know, you should have looked at the reviews, rather than just looking at the score, and seen that this game isn't designed with your tastes in mind? Maybe?
I mean, I haven't read a single review that doesn't say the games take a long time. Its not exactly a secret.

Also you can move in the Z axis, although there isn't much point usually.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
You don't know much about the game industry, do you.
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In a smoke filled back room full of top reviewers and briefcases overflowing with millions..err..dozens of dollars, the game reviewing conspiracy continues.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
nah
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Hell, space was moveable in 3d
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You can move up and down in Sins of a Solar Empire, the lack of knowing which leads me to believe you didn't even bother looking in the key bindings.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
Hey guys! I bought Call of Duty 4 expecting an exciting puzzle game, and it's not even like Bejeweled! Can I make veiled uninformed attacks of the game on the forums because I didn't read the box, the return policy for Best Buy, or any number of reviews of the game while simultaneously expecting someone to reward me by buying the game from me?
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Wow . . . feel better?

I don't think my attacks were veiled.

I expected this to be a strategy game, and it is . . . so ummmm.

The box doesn't say anything about not having a campaign.

Whatever. The game is crap. It did inspire me to start playing Homeworld 2 again though.

I'm sorry to have offended you, captain Fanboi.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
Can I make veiled uninformed attacks of the game on the forums...
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I don't know about 'veiled'. They seemed pretty obvious to me.

Anyway, it's a shame you don't enjoy the game and naturally, it's not going to be for everyone but as has been said, the things that you've been griping about aren't exactly hidden features. All of the reviews that I read were rather specific on those points.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
Hell, space was moveable in 3dYou can move up and down in Sins of a Solar Empire, the lack of knowing which leads me to believe you didn't even bother looking in the key bindings.
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No. I did look at the massive list of keybindings. I just didn't notice the up and down piece. More experienced game developers usually put a quick index of them on a piece of paper that I can look at in front of my monitor instead of having to switch menus every time I want to look back at key bindings.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
Yes. Every single game reviewer banded together and guess what. You listened to them... I know it sucks man but there really isn't much you can do. :/
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
Can I make veiled uninformed attacks of the game on the forums...I don't know about 'veiled'. They seemed pretty obvious to me.Anyway, it's a shame you don't enjoy the game and naturally, it's not going to be for everyone but as has been said, the things that you've been griping about aren't exactly hidden features. All of the reviews that I read were rather specific on those points.
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I do agree that they said these things but unfortunately, I all I got to look at was the average Gamerankings score and the box. I was in Best Buy, the guy there told me he's read a lot of good things about the game, and then he showed me the gamerankings score.

I wouldn't be so angry if I could transfer the game to someone. I'd probably sell it for $25 just so I'm not completely out of luck.
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
Yes. Every single game reviewer banded together and guess what. You listened to them... I know it sucks man but there really isn't much you can do. :/
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I wasn't talking like they were conspiring . . . I'm just saying that game reviewers rate games by smaller companies differently than they rate something that EA would give. If a big dev came out with this game, they would have gotten at least 10% lower than what they got now.

Its like when your kid craps for the first time. Everyone says how wonderful it is. But if I take a crap and try to show someone, people are just going to look at me like I'm crazy.
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
Sorry to hear that you did not enjoy the game.. There is no such thing as a game that EVERYONE is going to enjoy.
I do have a suggestion. Take the package and the game and the serial number, wrap it up in some prety paper and give it to someone who you think would enjoy the game..

The feeling you will get will be worth a lot more then $40 and the feeling that you will give that other person will be worth more then $40 to them..
Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top
I really hate when reviewers all band together to puff the ratings of a video game just because the developer is small.
End of quote


WTS clue...

You know.. it pays to actually know what kind of game you buy before you buy it.

For example...

Gran tourismo is generally praised as a great racing game series, but i wouldn't know, because racing games don't mean didly to me!

4X games are by definition 'slow', they are develoment games, they are NOTHING like homeworld (or they shouldn't be atleast), because homeworld is all about small skirmishes and quick action.

The lack of a campaign is simply because in a 4x game, each game IS a campaign, and the 'story' is called lore. This is pretty much THE point of a 4x game...

If you were expecting homeworld 3, then you didn't read your pregnancy test correctly..

Refunds and quality assurance are for when there is something unforeseeably WRONG with your game, not for when you weren't fully informed about what you were buying and bought it anyways.

As for the tutorial... Personally i think it was informative enough for me to get into the game. I played a 1v1 my first game against a hard AI, and i won... so it was informative enough as far as i'm concerned. Of course, it DOES require more effort than watching SG1 while shoveling fried chicken into your mouth, but then interaction is the point of a game isn't it?
Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
Take the package and the game and the serial number, wrap it up in some prety paper and give it to someone who you think would enjoy the game..The feeling you will get will be worth a lot more then $40 and the feeling that you will give that other person will be worth more then $40 to them..
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Aww that's sweet!

You're a real tribute to pink space ponies ;-)

Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top
I don't know about 'veiled'. They seemed pretty obvious to me.
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It is when you're hiding behind "oh! i'm just trying to sell the game!"

Welcome to a capitalist economy. Sometimes, we buy things that we don't like or need. Sometimes we don't take the time to read reviews and go off salespeople's opinions. Usually that doesn't work out so hot. I have a ton of games that I've bought that ended up being crappy, most of them with CD keys that can only be used once online.

When you don't like a product or service, it's not the fault of the developer or publisher if it's fairly marketed (the box, reviews, etc all say it's not a traditional RTS). Blame solely lies with you. Stardock/IC may be able to free the key up, but that doesn't require a vitriolic rant on how much the game sucks in the OP.

EDIT:

I wasn't talking like they were conspiring . . . I'm just saying that game reviewers rate games by smaller companies differently than they rate something that EA would give. If a big dev came out with this game, they would have gotten at least 10% lower than what they got now.
End of quote


No they wouldn't have - you're just attempting to find a rationalization for disagreeing with reviewers. If the game was as bad as you imply, some MAVERICK REVIEWER would have gave it a 70% or something, but across the board it has been getting consistently over 90%.
Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top
Hey guys! I bought Call of Duty 4 expecting an exciting puzzle game, and it's not even like Bejeweled! Can I make veiled uninformed attacks of the game on the forums because I didn't read the box, the return policy for Best Buy, or any number of reviews of the game while simultaneously expecting someone to reward me by buying the game from me?
End of quote



 :LOL: Owned!
Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top
As others have pointed out the only chance you have to return a game is to find someone at the store you purchased it from who is either new or stupid and have them return the game. Although I know the policies regarding game purchases this actually happened to me a few weeks ago after buying Bioshock for PC.

Also, your other choice to get money for the game is to sell it on sites such as Amazon or craigslist... I have a game for sale on craigslist.com now and have purchased quite a few games from both sites.
Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top


My suggestions to you:

a) actually read the reviews instead of just looking at scores.

b) either wait until the demo comes out, or find some other way to play the game before buying it.


I agree that not having a single player campaign sucks but in the end the game has been worth the 40 bucks for me - I've definitely found the game challenging and enjoyable, it's no Warcraft3 or Galactic Civ 2, but it's certainly worth the money.
Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top
You can move up and down in Sins of a Solar Empire, the lack of knowing which leads me to believe you didn't even bother looking in the key bindings.
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While I love the game, this is a pretty dumb fanboy response tbh. In homeworld there were real tactical advantages to moving your ships along the Z axis. Easiest example was jumping your vagyr Battlecruisers below a target to let them fire their missiles directly into the target while the enemy was still repositioning to attack your ships.

Sins has NOTHING like that, it has a very rudimentary z axis movement which honestly just seems to be there so people like you can point to it. It has no purpose in the game at all.

I've been greatly enjoying the epic scope and mesh of 4x with RTS, but the OP is 100% right that homeworld 2 had better space battles. Hopefully Stardock and Ironclad will make enough money off this game to hire enough developers to get the tactical side of the game up to speed in the sequel.