Why Is This Forum So Dead, Especially After RCT3's Release???

well this site seems to be targeted more to general amusement park fans. There are several sites that cater solely to the RCT series, such as RCT2.com, which are 'buzzing' with news/info/tips, etc.

Dan

> I thought this forum would be buzzing with
> activity after the release of RCT3. What's going
> on here??? I log onto this forum everyday to see
> what others are saying about RCT3, and to get
> possible hints, tips, etc., only to see "No
> new messages have been posted". With any new
> coaster/park related game release, one would
> think this forum would be flooded with comments
> and opinions about the game.

Well, I was really pleased with the game when I first got it, but I haven't even started to get into the scenarios. All I've used is the tutorial and coaster designer.

In scenarios, the coasters seem much too expensive. In RCT2, you'd typically start a park with a loan of £10,000 and I could build a really good coaster for £4-6,000. Whereas with RCT3, I start with £10,000, yet even the simplest Corkscrew coaster costs that.

I'm not sure if there is an official patch for the UK version yet, but I'm sure I'll get into it when enough patches have been released to make the game really playable.

I hope we can get a community going on here though. I used to love it in the days of RCT1. I was one of the ones involved in the competitions with Aaron, Eric etc. I'm still proud of my Dinky Park/Pokey Park inverted that had higher excitement than eight! :)

Graeme, there is an official patch for the european retail version. It was releases last friday.

It fixes some of the really stupid things such as people avoiding rides and some other cosmetic things.

The game is still in a sad state, considered its enormous potential. There are so many nice ideas but everything is just half-baked and unfinished.

There is so much micro-management to do, that it detracts from the gameplay and it fails to give you the benefits from all the fine tuning.
It so apparent that they released an unfinished game and were cocky enough to dare to release a beta-patch, which forced the customer to become a game tester AFTER he bought the game.

I am not playing any games apart from RCT and I am not familiar with the gaming scene, but this is absolutely disgusting in my eyes.

Its so sad that the first RCT was such a wonderful game with all its details (different coaster types, even suspended- and bobsled coasters with satisfying animations). Now it seems that the designers lost all interest in having a consistent approach to reality. So many things are lacking charme, function or playability (the water rides are especially disgusting).
Even after the patch, a Rotodrop is less amazing than sitting on a park bench!

Instead we can launch coasters into the crowds and watch people be mowed down by the debris. Complete "Beavis and Butthead"-stuff. They took the time to add all this crap, but they forgot the most obvious things such as a user-friendly interface and a playable game.

Anyway, building (and riding) your first dark ride is too funny...

> Graeme, there is an official patch for the
> european retail version. It was releases last
> friday.

Thanks for that, TrickTrack. I assume this is beta, as when I click "Update" on my loading screen, it says my game is already up to date (even though I've never patched it).

To be honest, I haven't played the game enough to notice any bugs as such. It's just the prices that I find a problem. Is this considered an error in the game, and will a patch fix it?

> There is so much micro-management to do, that it
> detracts from the gameplay and it fails to give
> you the benefits from all the fine tuning.

Exactly, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. It's ovewhelming and I really can't be bothered with it. More detail is not always better.

The guests have better graphics, but I actually preferred them in the old game. Now they just stroll around saying things like "this music sucks" and "my boyfriend rocks". Checking guests' thoughts used to be a necessary part of the game. They only ever told you useful and precise things, such as whether a ride was good or bad value.

Sigh, it just doesn't feel like RCT to me. It used to be a charming product made by Chris Sawyer, the master of isometric. I'm just not sure it works in polygons. I'd probably buy a new isometric RCT if it had vastly better graphics and was done by Chris Sawyer.

For me, using RCT2 to play the RCT1 levels (if only I could find them) is about as good as it gets.

I assume this is
> beta, as when I click "Update" on my
> loading screen, it says my game is already up to
> date (even though I've never patched it).

Don´t get me started with the patch-fiasco: First they sell you an unfinished game, then they make you an unpaid beta-tester! There was a Beta patch which was then turned into the official retail patch, one week ago. After two days the euro-retail patch was withdrawn from Atari because it was unfinished also.
The "finished" euro retail patch was finally released two or three days ago and can be found in the link below.

Sadly, you have to un- and re-install the game if $you want to patch it! The auto-update from the start window doesn´t seem to work, as so many other things.

The patch DOES do some good things: People are more likely to go on rides, you can have more than five cars on a B&M train and other cosmetics.

They added as well a group-thought window which is great, but still flawed because you cannot directly locate the problems.

While deleting some of the poblems, they created new ones: The River-Rapids and the Virginia Reel have serious issues now, and are actually useless! All water rides seem really messed up, which is a real shame because they are fun to create and used to be a big money maker in the old games.

There are still messed up ride-stats and all in all the game seems unfinished and not thought out. It COULD be the greates game ever, but the problems can get annoying.

Anyway, you should patch the game. The fixes outweigh the new problems by far.

Oh, and make sure to try some of the cheats!
Name a guest "Jonny Watts" and you get a peep-cam! This is the best feature in the whole game! Of course it is flawed and unfinished, that´s why it is a cheat. If they would have spent their time to polish those things instead of programming snogging peeps, we would have a great game.

Other useful cheats are:

Re-name: Frontier (rides don´t break down. Very helpful).

Re-name: John Wardley (removes hight restrictions)

Re-name: David Braben (unlimited launch and chain speeds)

Oh, and you know that there is as well an option to switch to isometric view?!

retail patch

> Oh, and you know that there is as well an option
> to switch to isometric view?!

No, I didn't, but that should improve the game quite a lot for me. Thanks!

Also, I'm sorry I take so long to reply in this forum, TrickTrack. Obviously I'm online enough to post in the Europe forum (a lot!) It's just that, funny as it may sound, I never seem to get time to play the game or patch it etc!

But I will use that patch now. And thanks for all the cheats too. I didn't know about them and they will ease my game.

I'm sorry everyone. I've been off playing the game and I haven't had time to pop in and say hi.

It'd be really cool to get this forum going like it did before. And Maybe my attention will be drawn back this site.

I like roller coaster tycoon 3 for the ability to add lots of detail, in 3D, to rides and buildings. The coaster cam is cool, but done before. I like the management factor. But it can be really hard.

Scenarios are good. Unlike RCT2 which I wasn't fond of. The Percent complete is cool. So you know how far you've got and it also provides a goal to work for. And there's lots of unlockables. I find building coasters is very expensive and getting money relies on flat rides and shops.

I suggest that we should have some sort of 3D related competition or a community park or something.

A good site for competitions is www.RCTcompetition.com and it has it's own forums, check it out.

~John.