Very Poor Review From OXM :mad:

[Seece]

:mad: I was so mad when I learnt OXM gave VP:TIP a 65!!!!! if you read the review you can tell they have barely given the game 5 minutes.

http://www.oxmonline.com/article/reviews/xbox-360/s-z/viva-pipntildepata-trouble-paradise

I emailed a complaint to them:

I would just like to let you know that your review of VP:TIP is very poor ... I doubt you got past the first level as you didn't even mention the new landscapes in which to capture new pinatas.

Oh the pinatas sometimes refuse to do things because they are unhappy ... you would have known that if you gave the game a chance.

There are more than a "Few dozen ""ANIMALS??"" to lure back old gamers, new environments, easier swifter navigation, better mini games, the ability to have as much in your garden as you want.

also you state " newcomers are bound to wonder why life on the island is so needlessly difficult."

Old gardeners of the first will love the fact its more challenging, and for the new gamers? there is a mode called just for fun where practically everything is unlocked... did you even SEE that mode?

Official xbox magazine? shouldn't you actually give first party games decent in depth reviews?

[jimmcq]

Two of the three screenshots they show are of sick pinatas or a garden overrun with weeds. Looks like they don't even know how to take of anything. No wonder they didn't like it.

... and he has no clue why "the Vision cam often turns on/off while you play". Apparently someone has never even heard of Pinata Vision.

[Stardos]

being a games reviewer they must have to play loads of games in a short amount of time? i dont think VP is one of those games you can just play for a short amout of time, its a really indepth game and takes hours and hours of playing to get good at it and get into what makes this an excellent game. yeh the cursor dosnt work as well as the previous game but thats the only problem with a very very good game.

[Srikandi]

A GOOD game reviewer doesn't write a review till they've finished the game, or at least seen most of it.

Lotta bad reviewers out there though :)

[theultimateend]

Viva Pinata 2 and VP 1 are two of my favorite games of all times but I do have a few questions or confusions.

Why the limits? What is the desire to add in unnecessary limits in games lately. Population caps, limits on size, limits on customization, it just seems to me these things only hinder the infinite possibilities that games provide.

The garden should of been 4 times the size of the current one, or at least you should of had the option of creating an 'ecosphere' where you don't bring in new guys but you have a huge garden to watch your pinatas interact and play. 7 Limocerous can create a wall of crushing death in these gardens, its unfortunate. This game has SO much potential.

The tool for the shovel to flatten and dig is genius. I wanted that so bad the first time. But why stop there? Why not jack paintbrush features like the fill and shapes? Also why the limitation on the pond? I don't think anyone minds the momentary lag of turning an entire garden into water (it wouldn't last more than 30 seconds).

Fertilizing is a hoot and all but why not have you be able to just grow things at full size once you've managed to perfectly grow them? Or allow you to just fertilize three times the moment its planted? I enjoyed the challenge the first time...9 gardens later its not that big of a hoot.

The seed and fertilizer bags were and still are AWESOME! But why not just make all shops optionally like that? Frankly I love shopping but I hate that I have to decide with shopping and having sound on voices off or not shopping at all (If I had to hear that seedy joke one more time...I swear to god).

A delete crate option in the shipping area? I feel bad that I just spam friends with traps I don't want or empty ones. It just seems silly that I can't do that without going through the trouble of opening them one by one in my garden.

Having items look EXACTLY like they do when they are placed when you are placing. The island of booty shows JUST an island with a chest, if you place it it adds water around it. Place that sucker at the edge of your base and you now have water you cannot remove from the edge period. You get left with a brown spot forever.

The give feature is great, but why can't that option be on ALL npcs? Instead of just pester and his ladies. Plus why (again) limit the bonus on people to 300 coins? I have 4 slots open for depositing into these diggers but it appears that 9999 coins gives the same bonus as 300 coins O.o...

Perhaps a toggle for auto eating? I'd LOVE for my pets to auto eat fruit and crud that is sitting around, why is it the only thing they auto eat is stuff that causes them to poop acid and shiver with heroine withdrawals?

A little more variety in the mini games, believe it or not 3 is the best minimum to go with. I've yet to see a game with 3 additional minigames that people complained had too few. 2 just feels wierd, you feel like you'll unlock a third. It sounds stupid but trust me. Heck watching my little guy competing at a game of cards would of been good enough ;).

Having pets that know tricks teach them to other pets spontaneously, that would of been a HOOT! Heh...hoot...like an owl.

A tinkering machine or a quick means to getting to tinker, I don't care if it costs me a small fortune it would of been neat. That's what is nice about harvest moon, i like churning my own milk into cheese with the cheese machine thing. It's a small thing, heck I'd even hire the tinkerer to work with the machine everyday...be a slave like my miners ;D.

Terraforming? I'd love to have hills in my place, but that kind of goes a long with the 4 times space which would again work great with spontaneous eating and such.

I could probably think of a handful of other stuff. But it's just something that has bothered me, these games have SO much potential but it seems like there is such a rush to get stuff on the floor.

I still love this game dearly but I am fearing that the people throwing ideas at game companies aren't the most imaginative group. Then again I'd love to meet the person who thought up the pinatas on an island. It just seems like one of the best things to happen to kids since...well...sesame street from way back when (I liked old sesame street better than new...I also loved muppets). It's definately better than anything else I see on these days.

These glaring mistakes are probably why people get so defensive, plus there are a lot of really fickle people. That's why I like to note I will still play this game, I just think things like unnecessary limits and extraneous penalties (20 times a half hour pester for instance) just seem to take away from a creative and fun environment that has so much to give.

[Bjorn]

It has a score of 83 out of 100 on Metacritic.com (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/vivapinatatroubleinparadise).

[Srikandi]

"Why the limits?" That one's easy to answer: hardware, and the memory/performance tradeoff. VP loads everything in a garden at once, so the more stuff that is in there the more memory it takes and the more demands on the graphics system it places, which affects framerate.

This is completely typical of console games, btw... it's a hardware thing :(

I don't know of ANY games that have worlds the player can modify in game that don't load by lot. (Premade worlds can be large and continuous even on consoles -- as in Morrowind and Oblivion -- because the designers can control how much data is in a given viewable area, which makes it possible to keep the player experience under control.)

Sims 3 for PC (theoretically coming out in Feb) will be the first game I know of that allows this, and it's PC only; I'll be interested to see how that works.

I like the rest of your ideas though :) Terraforming I think would probly be too demanding to pull off (pathing on arbitrary non-horizontal surfaces is a computational nightmare, you should see the Sims try to cope) but I appreciate the other suggestions.

Not sure about Pester; it's a balance issue really, in the original game you get to a plateau where there are no more threats at all, dunno if that's good or bad but it's definitely easier.

[Pretztail4eva]

what! the xbox magazine crew clearly can't be bothered to put any care into this game!

sure the cursor is a little hard to control, but you do get used to it (I did very quickly) and once you do, there's nothing wrong with it!

of course that's just my opinion, but i'm sure alot of other people have the same

I dont care that your garden isn't the size of the island! 98% for me!

[vinsonbar]

I agree w/ that review about most of what he had to say. the weed thing is terrible. professor pester and his minions show up way to often you barely get a chance to do **** w/ out having to be interupted to attend to them. they do have the ice an desert things but you can't build on them. you can only place traps. instead you have to go back to your garden and use the snow/sand packets to get the desired look. it does really feel more like an expansion pack then anything. hell most of the phrases in the shops and such are exactly the same. all the developers did was take the old game keep all the older pinatas. add a dozen or so new ones. added the traps on the ice and sand things and a few new fetures. I mean really this is like releaseing a madden every year except for this took longer then a year for some odd reason. don't get me wrong I still love the game and will continue to play it until everything is done just like the first game but seriously it's a good thing this game was only $40 or my copy would still be sitting on the shelf. I mean the next one there going to have to do something totally different. there running out of animals. it would also of been nice to be able to connect to your old game save and transfer pinatas that way once you were at the right level for them. or even send money from your last game to this one. I dunno. it's still a decent game.

[tigerous]

I agree w/ that review about most of what he had to say. the weed thing is terrible. professor pester and his minions show up way to often you barely get a chance to do **** w/ out having to be interupted to attend to them. they do have the ice an desert things but you can't build on them. you can only place traps. instead you have to go back to your garden and use the snow/sand packets to get the desired look. it does really feel more like an expansion pack then anything. hell most of the phrases in the shops and such are exactly the same. all the developers did was take the old game keep all the older pinatas. add a dozen or so new ones. added the traps on the ice and sand things and a few new fetures. I mean really this is like releaseing a madden every year except for this took longer then a year for some odd reason. don't get me wrong I still love the game and will continue to play it until everything is done just like the first game but seriously it's a good thing this game was only $40 or my copy would still be sitting on the shelf. I mean the next one there going to have to do something totally different. there running out of animals. it would also of been nice to be able to connect to your old game save and transfer pinatas that way once you were at the right level for them. or even send money from your last game to this one. I dunno. it's still a decent game.

Thought I would point out a few things for you. First, you can get things that will keep the ruffians and professor pestor out of your garden or slow them down. A captain cutlass in your garden completely prevents all ruffians from showing up. If you get a mine and have diggerlings unearth a dragonache egg, the dragonache will keep professor from doing harm even while it's still a baby. Also, mallowolfs will help chase out ruffians as well. Additionally, you always have the option to pay the ruffians and pestor to leave your garden alone. As for there not being much added, I disagree. They added more depth to the romancing mini-game, they added multiplayer, there are a number of mini-games I don't even remember seeing in the first game at all. There are also challenges to complete whenever you want. The first game did have challenges, but they popped up randomly and there weren't nearly as many opportunities to complete them as there is in here. Also, they added new hardware functionality by adding the pinata vision. If all they added were new pinatas, two new places to catch them, a few new plants, and items, then sure it would basically be a glorified expansion pack. Adding entirely new modes, improving navigation, adding new hardware functionality with the pinata vision, in addition to updates that would have been included in an expansion pack make this more than that. Those features are what makes the game worthy of a second installment.

[kirbypalua]

These people are tards. Seriously.

They barely know anything. New players will LOVE the challenge, and young players can get used to the game playing different modes. These people obiously need to learn that this is a great game.

[theultimateend]

"Why the limits?" That one's easy to answer: hardware, and the memory/performance tradeoff. VP loads everything in a garden at once, so the more stuff that is in there the more memory it takes and the more demands on the graphics system it places, which affects framerate.


Loading everything has nothing to do with the limits I noted. I didn't say I want 40 million things in my garden I was just saying that limits on things like terraforming is silly because the lag is momentary and completely reasonable. :)

Thought I would point out a few things for you. First, you can get things that will keep the ruffians and professor pestor out of your garden or slow them down.

If you use a dragonache he has a random chance of running through any building but the mine (I've never seen him break it).

you COULD put a limocerous in instead but now you have a HUGE creature in what might not be a proper garden (if you theme them).

or you could pay him every 5 minutes 500 coins.

The issue is not what you could do its what you shouldn't have to do once you've put in 60 hours or so into the game. The first game had the option of turning him off without placing yourself in 'no achievement' land. I think they should of kept that.

Unnecessary annoyances are in no way improvements to any game. Just like games that force you to find savepoints, if a game won't allow you to save anywhere it wasn't made correctly :P.

VP Does however and it gets extra points for that :D.

I love this game but really, there should be a college course on the rules of good game making. People seem to think that annoyances are the way of the future. If patches can edit anything in the game I think they could easily bring this game from a B/B+ to an A. I hope they do because its amazingly good for such a simple concept.

Certain toggles would of been great, like auto eating fruits and stuff. Would of made the game so natural.

[PINATAcast]

Your really taking the words of these guys?

http://www.oxmonline.com/files/u9/Ryanjan08.jpg http://www.oxmonline.com/files/u12/danwebheadshot.jpg

dear oxm:

First and foremost, I would just like to say WOW. Up to this point I have subscribed to your magazine, podcasts and reviews for years, blindly. I thought that in this time and age with life being so busy, one could rely on a true unbiased opinion of OXM to lead gamers in the right direction when it comes to game reviews and news. Granted, if we all had the time and money, we would gamefly or blockbuster loads of games and build our own opinions, but unfortunately we all don’t .

After reading your four and a half paragraph, poorly reviewed article on Viva Piñata: TIP, I am ashamed of myself for putting my faith in your opinions. I have come to the conclusion that you only rate games 8 to 10 if they meet the Mainstream Xbox, FPS… Blood.. Gore… Violence genre.

Please, Don’t insult my integrity by stating that they are GROUND BREAKING, with new, NEVER SEEN before videogame features…

You say VP:TIP is an expansion of VP Classic. But yet you dare not say anything to the contrary when it comes to Halo 2 or 3?

Viva Piñata and Rare have been through a lot together, catching a lot of slack and doing poorly overall the last 2 year in sales, part due to reviews such as yours:

Viva Piñata is a sandbox game in the vein of "The Sims" and "Zoo Tycoon". There's no real way to "win". Your reward for playing is increasing your level, unlocking new content, and, of course, earning achievements. [Jan. 2007, p.80]

With those words, you have told the mainstream gamer that VP is a child like game. Possibly pointless, since there is no true “finish line”, and probably an easy 1000 points to boost their gamer score.

Today you have rated VP: TIP just as badly or worse. Now thousands of gamers that read you magazine and follow you blindly will never give VP the chance it deserves.

I understand that you have many games per week to play and review, which unfortunately doesn’t allow you enough time to fully submerge in the game, allowing things to get overlooked.

First off let me touch on the images in your review. Your garden is sick, covered with weeds. This intern makes your piñatas pissed, which is why they don’t “listen” to you.
Just like “The Sims” if you have pissed off your AI, they wont do what you want until you take care of their needs first.

Same goes for your workers. Thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation, those “workers” are workers, and not slaves. If you want them to work hard, and do their job, hit the B button and give them an honest day’s wage! You’ll get a sun over their head, and a whistle in their walk.

Second, let me touch on the vision camera. If you haven’t heard, Rare created a Brand new, never seen before feature which allows the Vision Cam to work like a checkout lines barcode reader. This major add-on along with a pipeline to vivapiata.com is a feature comparable to Halo’s stat feature on bungie.net. The reason why it turns on and off is that it is always scanning for a card to read. If you do not want this popup window annoying you, just put the camera under a pillow, face a wall or unplug the thing. This is a simple resolve, not something that needs to be added to the major negative list on your review.

Finally, I want to talk about the “difficulty level”. Once again, I point back to your lack of time to fully play this game and your need to experience everything so that you can meet a deadline. Stop and read all the tutorial pop-ups. Believe it our not, they tell you everything you need to do to play at your current level. If that doesn’t help they have added system link and Xbox Live coop ability so that you can get friend to come in and help.

In my opinion, VP and VP:TIP is a breath of fresh air when it comes to video gaming. VP:TIP not only is a sequel, it is everything VP: Classic should had been and more. Plot, Coop, AI, Great music score, wonderful graphics and the best ergonomic and intuitive user interface I have seen in a videogame yet. Due to Rare’s love for hiding features in games (aka Easter eggs) Viva Piñata players will be tied up with playing this game for Many months, possibly years to come.

Unfortunately you saw this many multilayered interwoven “onion”, sniffed it and said “Eww, smells like that other onion 2 years ago” and didn’t take the time to peel away layers to find dinosaur bones, hidden artwork, piñata breaking fun in the credits and lord knows what else we haven’t stumbled across yet.

Please take more time to play the games you review, because you have lost the faith of a lot of OXM fanboys due to this horrible review.

Sincerely,

Dave Rosowski, aka PINATAcast
(The guy who proposed to his now wife using Viva Piñata, September 2007)

P.S. to whom ever played VP:TIP to get information for the review, Try the game again, but this time click on “JUST FOR FUN”, its probably more your speed. Its ok, some people really need the ally bumpers when they bowl. =)

[Pretztail_Luv0R]

Your really taking the words of these guys?

http://www.oxmonline.com/files/u9/Ryanjan08.jpg http://www.oxmonline.com/files/u12/danwebheadshot.jpg

dear oxm:

First and foremost, I would just like to say WOW. Up to this point I have subscribed to your magazine, podcasts and reviews for years, blindly. I thought that in this time and age with life being so busy, one could rely on a true unbiased opinion of OXM to lead gamers in the right direction when it comes to game reviews and news. Granted, if we all had the time and money, we would gamefly or blockbuster loads of games and build our own opinions, but unfortunately we all don’t .

After reading your four and a half paragraph, poorly reviewed article on Viva Piñata: TIP, I am ashamed of myself for putting my faith in your opinions. I have come to the conclusion that you only rate games 8 to 10 if they meet the Mainstream Xbox, FPS… Blood.. Gore… Violence genre.

Please, Don’t insult my integrity by stating that they are GROUND BREAKING, with new, NEVER SEEN before videogame features…

You say VP:TIP is an expansion of VP Classic. But yet you dare not say anything to the contrary when it comes to Halo 2 or 3?

Viva Piñata and Rare have been through a lot together, catching a lot of slack and doing poorly overall the last 2 year in sales, part due to reviews such as yours:

Viva Piñata is a sandbox game in the vein of "The Sims" and "Zoo Tycoon". There's no real way to "win". Your reward for playing is increasing your level, unlocking new content, and, of course, earning achievements. [Jan. 2007, p.80]

With those words, you have told the mainstream gamer that VP is a child like game. Possibly pointless, since there is no true “finish line”, and probably an easy 1000 points to boost their gamer score.

Today you have rated VP: TIP just as badly or worse. Now thousands of gamers that read you magazine and follow you blindly will never give VP the chance it deserves.

I understand that you have many games per week to play and review, which unfortunately doesn’t allow you enough time to fully submerge in the game, allowing things to get overlooked.

First off let me touch on the images in your review. Your garden is sick, covered with weeds. This intern makes your piñatas pissed, which is why they don’t “listen” to you.
Just like “The Sims” if you have pissed off your AI, they wont do what you want until you take care of their needs first.

Same goes for your workers. Thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation, those “workers” are workers, and not slaves. If you want them to work hard, and do their job, hit the B button and give them an honest day’s wage! You’ll get a sun over their head, and a whistle in their walk.

Second, let me touch on the vision camera. If you haven’t heard, Rare created a Brand new, never seen before feature which allows the Vision Cam to work like a checkout lines barcode reader. This major add-on along with a pipeline to vivapiata.com is a feature comparable to Halo’s stat feature on bungie.net. The reason why it turns on and off is that it is always scanning for a card to read. If you do not want this popup window annoying you, just put the camera under a pillow, face a wall or unplug the thing. This is a simple resolve, not something that needs to be added to the major negative list on your review.

Finally, I want to talk about the “difficulty level”. Once again, I point back to your lack of time to fully play this game and your need to experience everything so that you can meet a deadline. Stop and read all the tutorial pop-ups. Believe it our not, they tell you everything you need to do to play at your current level. If that doesn’t help they have added system link and Xbox Live coop ability so that you can get friend to come in and help.

In my opinion, VP and VP:TIP is a breath of fresh air when it comes to video gaming. VP:TIP not only is a sequel, it is everything VP: Classic should had been and more. Plot, Coop, AI, Great music score, wonderful graphics and the best ergonomic and intuitive user interface I have seen in a videogame yet. Due to Rare’s love for hiding features in games (aka Easter eggs) Viva Piñata players will be tied up with playing this game for Many months, possibly years to come.

Unfortunately you saw this many multilayered interwoven “onion”, sniffed it and said “Eww, smells like that other onion 2 years ago” and didn’t take the time to peel away layers to find dinosaur bones, hidden artwork, piñata breaking fun in the credits and lord knows what else we haven’t stumbled across yet.

Please take more time to play the games you review, because you have lost the faith of a lot of OXM fanboys due to this horrible review.

Sincerely,

Dave Rosowski, aka PINATAcast
(The guy who proposed to his now wife using Viva Piñata, September 2007)

P.S. to whom ever played VP:TIP to get information for the review, Try the game again, but this time click on “JUST FOR FUN”, its probably more your speed. Its ok, some people really need the ally bumpers when they bowl. =)

I think your letter will most likely change thier opinions about the game.

[PINATAcast]

Voice your opinion on this topic, email the Editor of OXM.

francesca@officialxboxmagazine.com

Please be cordial and polite if you write them, hopefully they will take a 2nd look and re-rate the game before it goes to print.

[boomheadshot45]

Thats pretty stupid. But thats just one, most reviewers have been giving it 8.5's and TXB (Team Xbox) gave it a 9 :D

[theultimateend]

The best way to voice your opinion is to send a complaint and then get the entire internet to stop reading their articles.

I stopped caring what they said once I knew they rated this game a bit after it came out, even an early copy is not long enough.

I wish someone would pay me to do reviews, I'd actually give a crap.

[Yosh]

C'mon guys, it's just an opinion. I mean who really cares?

Personally, I don't think this game is as good as it could have been, but I'm still enjoying it because it's Viva Pinata and there's nothing else out there like it. I DO think Rare could have done better though. However, I would rate the game certainly higher than a 6.5.

Probably a 7.5 and that's if I'm being objective because I am a Viva Pinata fan. However, I take issue with the hemlock weeds which is a harsh punishment for first time players and makes the game less accessible. I believe that ALL pinatas you acquired in the first game should have been available to players. I mean you did all that work in the first game to get pinatas and for what? Nothing, Rare makes you do it all over again. So they lose points for that as well.

Also, lots of bugs and glitches in the game and the whole one dinosaur per game thing is ridiculous. I'm not a fan of this permanently tied to your gamertag thing and I absolutely do not want to see other games doing this as well. Also, the vision cam achievements are stupid. Essentially, Rare is SELLING achievements now, which goes against the point of the achievement system, which is accomplishing challenges, not putting more money into people's pockets.

That said, the new content is nice, some improvements have been made and the game is still charming, addicting and unique. Really wish Rare would give us some fish though. I'm in shock that I STILL can't have a fish pond

[jono wilko]

I believe that ALL pinatas you acquired in the first game should have been available to players. I mean you did all that work in the first game to get pinatas and for what? Nothing, Rare makes you do it all over again. So they lose points for that as well.

imnot trying to start a argument yosh but surely this bit you say, it would of just basicaly been a expansion disk, i mean i did the first one and i think its good you have to start anew i mean i was abit rusty anyway.
and plus you'd miss out on all the other new starting pinatas i.e the bispotti.

my above post probably made no sense, i am sorry

[Yosh]

imnot trying to start a argument yosh but surely this bit you say, it would of just basicaly been a expansion disk, i mean i did the first one and i think its good you have to start anew i mean i was abit rusty anyway.
and plus you'd miss out on all the other new starting pinatas i.e the bispotti.

my above post probably made no sense, i am sorry

No arguments here, this is just discussion. I don't mind someone disagreeing with me. The thing is, to me this game IS an expansion. I mean the bulk of the game's pinatas and plants are the same as the first. You spend the majority of your time re-acquiring the same pinatas/plants from the first game and re-acquiring the same upgrades and abilities.

Personally, I did not like that. Usually, an expansion lets you carry stuff over but this game doesn't. If Rare ever makes another VP game, I'm not coming back if I have to jump through the same hoops again for the same pinatas. Now, getting the new pinatas. That I enjoy. Personally, instead of making us get the same pinatas from the first game again. Why didn't they just put in more new ones? Like fish for example.

Deeper ponds, lots of fish pinata and maybe a fishing mini-game. That would have been brilliant. How about more wild cats like cougars or panthers. Why do we have toads in both games, but no frogs? If they didn't want us to carry over everything from the first game, they could have at least put in a ton more new animals instead of having us get the same ones all over again. It's just redundant

Let me just say that I really enjoy this game and have put hours into it already, but it hasn't quite won me over the way the original did. I just feel that there is more that could have been done with this game. I also hate the romancing mini-game and they actually made that more annoying in this installment. I'm glad I can just pay the hunter to get me 7 pinatas for master romancer and just skip the mini-game entirely. I'm not that obsessed over getting wild cards or twins beyond getting the achievements that require you to get at least one of each

[jono wilko]

i nearly fully agree with your above post yosh, ive probably contridicted myself from my previous post though lol.
i must say though this game has me hooked like a fish (you like that? lol)
can i just ask though why are you so obsessed with fish?
But overall i am really glad i got this game.
theres is so much to do, its seems like its brought people alot closer together with trading, co-op ect.
i mean i love joining people's game and trying to help them, ive even help my first person on these forum :D

[VPplaya]

That review was way toooooo harsh. See this is the problem right here. Most game reviewers only care about extreme racing games or FPS games, and when they have to play something like TiP so they could review it, they always pick out and egsadurate (sorry for spelling) all of the bad things about it because they dont want to play it. I mean Im a fan of FPS games but these reviewers are obsessed with them. They think a Sci Fi FPS is "original" (Which theyre not!) if you shoot things while going down cliffs like in Dark Void! But they miss the fact that VP has pinatas!!! PINATAS! That is much much more original then that! They think "this game stinks because there isnt any blood in it" or, "no guns? This game stinks". I cant stand it anymore! E3 was a complete washout because of (well obviously nintendo), The lack of any original games being revealed or played for the first time, and stupid, unoriginal, FPS's. By the way all of you indie FPS designers: Halo took the spot for Sci Fi FPS. NO sci Fi FPS will ever take its place! STOP TRYING TO MAKE THE NEXT BEST SHOOTER SERIES! IT WILL NEVER WORK!!! THINK OF SOMETHING ORIGINAL INSTEAD LIKE VP INSTEAD OF CRAP LIKE DARK VOID!!!!!! Phew.....Im done *Passes out*

[KeithSkud]

They say that the diffuculty ruins the gameplay, which i disagree, because as much as i love the cute and cuddly thigns, i love the act of getting them better then actually romancing them.

For example i was going NUTS to get the 5 doenuts and 5 zumbugs to get the Roario, i spent a day or so romancing and catching. Even though my xbox got the 3 red lights right as my roario was at 2/2 doenuts and 1/2 zumbugs, i can't wait to get my xbox back from repairs and get that damn lion ;D


but i agree with the hopless helpers. They blow bigtime. Most of the time they say they dont have work to do when i have a tree or two, fully fruited, spitting out fruit like it was sunflower seeds. But i do like the new Gatherling option screen, where you can choose what you want it to pick up.

If anything they should fix the helpers for an update/sequel.

[VPplaya]

To make a worker start working better, make them happy and direct them to your problem. Plus in one of the pictures it shows a garden covered in thistles. THISTLES! They replant themselves much more slowly then all other weeds. Did the reviewers just turn the game on, play for like 5 minutes, shut the TV off with the game still playing, turn it backon, take 3 pictures, write a stupid review and submit it!!?!?

[gabirules54]

I jus started today (on this forum and on VP2) i loved VP1 though i didnt play it loads because i got it a lot later than its realese (had a wii...saw the light so i turned green :) ) so i didnt get 2 the deepest part of the games,(i got 2 lvl 44 i think) but when i put in VP2 this morning i didnt feel the same excitement, there was still some excitement but i didnt like how the starting level was pretty much a garden done 4 u and i only played 2 hours (mybe 3) and i had already loads of pinatas, thts great but it had been 2 easy, in VP1 u really had to wait for each species to come first the whirlms then the sparrowmints, i had already sold my sparrowmints after about 30minutes.

onm the plus notes, i have started raising a family of sweetie and there the cutest things i hav ever seen.

To conclude i love the game i think the simalarity isnt a so much of a bad thing since thts wat i loved about the first game but i do think there are other wrongs, of course im almost in the case of the reviewer, since i have yet to play it 2 its full but i do hope its get better coz i love this game so much!

[Amaroq]

<snipped>

TESTIFY! YOU ROCK MAN! SHOW THEM WHOS BOSS! YEAH! In other words, awesome statment. You have inspired me to email them too. Good job!

[Yosh]

i nearly fully agree with your above post yosh, ive probably contridicted myself from my previous post though lol.
i must say though this game has me hooked like a fish (you like that? lol)
can i just ask though why are you so obsessed with fish?
But overall i am really glad i got this game.
theres is so much to do, its seems like its brought people alot closer together with trading, co-op ect.
i mean i love joining people's game and trying to help them, ive even help my first person on these forum :D

It is a nice game and I wouldn't want anyone to think that I don't like it just because I have some complaints. The community aspect of it is nice too although it's not something I have much experience with. I only have a Silver Account and pretty much play it solo. The trading is nice though. A nice person on this forum sent me a famous pinata so I could get the achievement and then I sent it back so that other people could get it too.

I had a fish pond once, a very big one. It was relaxing to see the fish swim around when I put some food in the water. I'm a Pisces too, so there there could be some connection there. LOL. I just think it's strange that there are no fish in the game because I know that fish ponds are a common thing in landscaping and gardens. Plus, fish are such a common thing. For a series that has so many creatures from all across the animal kingdom including mythical things like unicorns, dragons and dinosaurs to not have fish in it seems odd.

[BIGsheep]

Also, the vision cam achievements are stupid. Essentially, Rare is SELLING achievements now, which goes against the point of the achievement system, which is accomplishing challenges, not putting more money into people's pockets.I take issue with this.

We have tried to do something cool with an accessory that was available to us. If you don't want to buy a camera or don't have access to a camera, then that's cool, but are you also suggesting that we don't include online co-op for those who don't want to subscribe to Live, take out single box co-op for those who don't want to buy a second pad and remove trading for those who don't want to pay for an internet connection? What about those who don't want to pay for an Xbox and yearn for Achievements?

If we'd have wanted to make money from this game we'd have turned it into Pinatas of War where everyone goes around being burly and spouting generic profanities. Or maybe Dead or Alive Extreme Pinata where a series of artifically enhanced pinatas flounce around the garden in skimpy attire.

Trust me, we have beaten away the marketing men from the camera hook. That is why the cards are free - because we wanted as many people as possible to use it.

At the end of the day, we put PV in because we liked it and thought it would add to the game. Full stop.

[jono wilko]

At the end of the day, we put PV in because we liked it and thought it would add to the game. Full stop.

I ike at and it does add to the game i mean hey how else would i of gotta my ninja pinatas lol, i brought a cam when they first came out and to be honest its just been sat there collecting dust until now :)

[xenocidic]

OXM is garbage, they used to have a role to play back before demos were available from the XBLM

The magazine was always just a useless husk, used to protect the disc during transit.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20070718.jpg

[theultimateend]

I take issue with this.

We have tried to do something cool with an accessory that was available to us. If you don't want to buy a camera or don't have access to a camera, then that's cool, but are you also suggesting that we don't include online co-op for those who don't want to subscribe to Live, take out single box co-op for those who don't want to buy a second pad and remove trading for those who don't want to pay for an internet connection? What about those who don't want to pay for an Xbox and yearn for Achievements?

If we'd have wanted to make money from this game we'd have turned it into Pinatas of War where everyone goes around being burly and spouting generic profanities. Or maybe Dead or Alive Extreme Pinata where a series of artifically enhanced pinatas flounce around the garden in skimpy attire.

Trust me, we have beaten away the marketing men from the camera hook. That is why the cards are free - because we wanted as many people as possible to use it.

At the end of the day, we put PV in because we liked it and thought it would add to the game. Full stop.

Do I get brownie points for saying what you just said about trying to add fun to a boring attachment in a earlier post?

I hope so...

Because I'm part kissass and also part defender of fun.

All I want you guys to make is a Pinata Vision card that completely turns off Professor Pester :) (I don't like having to have a pinata in the garden to remove him, I've got millions of coins...or had...and I couldn't just buy him off permanently :P)

PS. "Or maybe Dead or Alive Extreme Pinata where a series of artifically enhanced pinatas flounce around the garden in skimpy attire."

DO EEET!

Upon further inspection I don't quickly see my comments on that...perhaps it was in a different area...or perhaps I posted it in a dream.

Damn...there goes my brownies.

[Yosh]

I take issue with this.

We have tried to do something cool with an accessory that was available to us. If you don't want to buy a camera or don't have access to a camera, then that's cool, but are you also suggesting that we don't include online co-op for those who don't want to subscribe to Live, take out single box co-op for those who don't want to buy a second pad and remove trading for those who don't want to pay for an internet connection? What about those who don't want to pay for an Xbox and yearn for Achievements?

If we'd have wanted to make money from this game we'd have turned it into Pinatas of War where everyone goes around being burly and spouting generic profanities. Or maybe Dead or Alive Extreme Pinata where a series of artifically enhanced pinatas flounce around the garden in skimpy attire.

Trust me, we have beaten away the marketing men from the camera hook. That is why the cards are free - because we wanted as many people as possible to use it.

At the end of the day, we put PV in because we liked it and thought it would add to the game. Full stop.

I understand what you mean and I respect your stance on this. It's not so much me having an issue with it being an option in the game. I just don't think there should be achievements for it.

I think a problem with the achievement system is that everyone has different ideas about how it should be used. I still think it should represent challenges of some sort. Like I think it would make more sense for there to be achievements for reaching max level, or getting ALL awards, things like that. I know some players are actively pursuing such goals, but there are no achievements for such things.

Just my opinion, it's nice to get a response from a Rare employee. Nice to see you guys keeping in touch with the community. And yeah, I am glad to see games like this being made when so many developers take the easy way out(shooters for example). Not that I haven't enjoyed a shooter or two(I'm playing The Darkness right now). It's just nice to see other types of games out there.

[theultimateend]

I understand what you mean and I respect your stance on this. It's not so much me having an issue with it being an option in the game. I just don't think there should be achievements for it.

I think a problem with the achievement system is that everyone has different ideas about how it should be used. I still think it should represent challenges of some sort. Like I think it would make more sense for there to be achievements for reaching max level, or getting ALL awards, things like that. I know some players are actively pursuing such goals, but there are no achievements for such things.

Just my opinion, it's nice to get a response from a Rare employee. Nice to see you guys keeping in touch with the community. And yeah, I am glad to see games like this being made when so many developers take the easy way out(shooters for example). Not that I haven't enjoyed a shooter or two(I'm playing The Darkness right now). It's just nice to see other types of games out there.

I have to pay just to get the last half dozen achievements on GTA IV.

Everyone requires you to pay (except for viva pinata 1) to get all the achievements. That's why I stopped trying to get them all for everything...which is depressing. But if you are like me and actually have bills and college you can't afford to blow extra cash.

[BIGsheep]

The Achievements for TIP were based around encouraging exploration of the game itself and the additions we have made since the original, which is why they is GamerScore to be earned in the online, camera and subgardens portions.

There is still an awful lot of points to be earned by "completing" the game in one way, by sending all pinatas to parties and completing all Langton's challenges, but this way there is also the ability for those who don't want to play the game through in that manner. Hopefully people find that there is something for everyone in that respect.

[Yosh]

The Achievements for TIP were based around encouraging exploration of the game itself and the additions we have made since the original, which is why they is GamerScore to be earned in the online, camera and subgardens portions.

There is still an awful lot of points to be earned by "completing" the game in one way, by sending all pinatas to parties and completing all Langton's challenges, but this way there is also the ability for those who don't want to play the game through in that manner. Hopefully people find that there is something for everyone in that respect.

Fair enough

I apologize if my first post in this thread came off as a bit rude and rubbed you the wrong way. I'm still enjoying the game. I can be quite critical of the things I like.

[BIGsheep]

No worries, debate it good. With forum posts it can be very hard to guess the tone of the people typing half the time, also everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If we all thought the same then these boards and the world as a whole would be a greyer place.