I enjoyed the quick-look even if it did look a tad bit slow at times, im a action rpg junkie so im on the fence with this one as the reviews haven't been stellar but it also looks quite different. How much harder or more frantic dose it get?

I'd be curious to know too. The pacing in the quick look, was, to be completely honest, god awfully slow. But, I want loot.

I'd be interesting to know how the late game looks. Diabo 2 is boring as shit to watch for the first few hours, but near the end there's a lot going on (relatively).

Im currently crogenitor level 18 in levels 6-1. 6-4..  It speed up a little with the catalyst you use in your toons later on (basically on the run enchant balls you can switch during missions)..  The game is definitely kind of dull in the first levels, but IMO less dull than say Torchlight.
After levels 4-1 4-6 the difficulty increase significantly. You are more forced into using squad abilities, switching your pokemons to take advantage of their elemental class also helps a lot. Using for example a fire toon against bio (plants) enemies helps a lot.  For some elite and main bosses sticking to a role helps,  the usual DPS - TANK - Healer combo. 

Said so as more multi player games playing with friends or good players  makes day or night.  I think most people trashing it is mainly because its gameplay  somewhat a niche market by now.  There is indeed some deep to the combat, but You need to unlock more pokemons to experience new abilities. You unlock a pokemon each time your level up as pokemon trainer (crogenitor). Something remarkable is that each pokemon has 4 unique abilities. The 4th abilitie is shareable for you whole squad, This open venues of experimentation for squad arrangement.

It feels like an easy going MMorpg, I'm liking it because its like going into WoW dungeons without the bullshit in between, But well Dungeon and Raids was the only thing i actually liked about WoW.

Ah well, decided to buy it... Will be a few hours before its downloaded though. I really like how varied and different all the guys look and the fact they all seem to have unique abilitys will make it a very deep game i think if the difficulty picks up and the loot gets good. Will post some thoughts after i play it. 

The main reason it looked so slow & dull is because he was playing solo. This is a game meant for co-op, and it shows. If you have a proper four-man group going, you will of course be fighting four times as many enemies with four times as much crazy fireballs and shit all over the screen and things get way more hectic and fun. I guess the other thing is that the first hour or so of the game is quite easy as it eases you into the game, unlocking your abilities and such, but the pace goes way up from there. Death becomes a real possibilty even by the 3rd world if you're not careful or the wrong type of enemy spawns in, and as DonPixel said, each world ramps up the difficulty pretty signficantly from there on. 

If the game looked mostly solid to you, but you're just worried about the pace, have no fears. Definitely pick it up. If you want to check out some of the later gameplay & co-op, check out this video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w37d_49QbLY That guy has like the first several hours of the game if you want to take a look.

Game is just crazy fun. Also gets crazy hard...fast. There is a surprising amount of depth to uncover after you clear the first few stages.

This has been the sleeper hit of the year for me, and I can't see me stop playing it anytime soon.

"  It speed up a little with the catalyst you use in your toons later on (basically on the run enchant balls you can switch during missions).."

Torchlight 2 and Diablo III are right around the corner, just saying...

" Torchlight 2 and Diablo III are right around the corner, just saying... "

" @KaosAngel said:

" Torchlight 2 and Diablo III are right around the corner, just saying... "

Diablo III will not be out soon, I can tell you that much. Torchlight 2 is doubtful as well "

" Torchlight 2 and Diablo III are right around the corner, just saying... "

Its not like these are mmo's or something anyways you can play more then one at a time.

" Its not like these are mmo's or something anyways you can play more then one at a time. "

" Its not like these are mmo's or something anyways you can play more then one at a time. "

the short answer is YES, definitely. It's an amazing Action RPG experience with its own face and style, even if it's a tad generic at times. Contradictory and yet it is so.

So i just played it for 3 hours and i really like it so far, i love how easy and quick the match making seems to be and unlocking new heroes is a blast. Also i gotta say the game looks and runs great, im up to 2-2 or something and some of the jungle levels really are pretty. Think my favorite part so far is how nice and easy the game handles loot though, The rolls just happen by there selves and it keeps the action going. Glad i picked it up.

Wait till the price drops to $20. Or a wait for a sale on the EA store or Steam.

Glad you're having fun!

Regarding Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 -  I cannot wait for both of these either, but the nice thing about Darkspore is that it is mission based, so you can just hop on for twenty minutes a day and feel like progress has been made. There are other characteristics that make the game feel different enough  from the Diablo franchise which makes me sure the game has some semblance of staying power.

No Steam-achievements? Boo-urns!

And like many other posters here I honestly can't wait for Diablo III. Definatly a game I'll finally upgrade my PC for. Sadly knowing Blizzard I doubt we'll see it in 2011, or even 2012.

'Sadly knowing Blizzard I doubt we'll see it in 2011, or even 2012.' 

 Actually, quite a few signs point to sooner than later.  Console devs are being advertised for, and hired by Blizzard for Diablo 3(console port work to begin soon), the beta is gonna be announced very soon at Blizzcon by all accounts, and by all appearances and what the devs say is 'the homestretch', we could see the game late 2011, but realistically, early spring 2012 is more probable.  And damn, I can't wait either :p.   

On topic, I think this game looks good, and could help hold us over 'till at least Torchlight 2.  Are there options to play point and click, or mouse/keyboard combo?  I think Ryan mentioned clicking mostly when he was playing in the QL. 

The movement and attack is mouse only. The keyboard is only used for hotkey abilities, swapping heroes and a special power meter ability called 'Overdrive'.

Edit - and damn, I had no idea D3 was being ported to consoles. A new era begins for Blizzard, I guess.

" @KaosAngel said:

" Torchlight 2 and Diablo III are right around the corner, just saying... "

IMO Torchlight is pretty dull, at least duller than Darkspore for sure. That game relays in the Diablo 1 nostalgia to much!. For a non Diablo game I think that is pretty lame. 

Diablo 3 is not going out this year, probably next spring if we lucky. 

"

" Ah well, decided to buy it... Will be a few hours before its downloaded though. I really like how varied and different all the guys look and the fact they all seem to have unique abilitys will make it a very deep game i think if the difficulty picks up and the loot gets good. Will post some thoughts after i play it.  "

By no means is it a AAA title but im enjoying it so far, i think like others have said its really a game that shines in co-op. I have lost a hero once or twice and im only on 2-2 or something so i think its picking up, biggest issue i have with it really is the whole tack loot on to your guy thing is kinda lame really, these types of games id rather just have slots and throw it on so i can jump back in the action. Its not like you can really see or like you actually pay attention to how different other peoples guys look.

That would be a good thing for them to patch in. Im sure they understand not everyone cares so much about how their dude looks that they don't want to be able to just equip things midgame. Allow dudes to equip whenever, then deal with how it looks after the level is completed. Give each component a "default spot" it shows up at and if you equip midgame, that's where it goes.

How are the environments in this game?  D2 was neat cause you were constantly traveling through actual geographic regions, so areas were changing but with a common theme.  I don't think I could play DarkSpore if it was just all space platforms.

Been playing a LOT of Darkspore lately, and while it's not the best/deepest game, I find it pretty darn addictive.  I'll try to answer some questions that have been popping up.  
@MordeaniisChaos: There's 3 archetypes/classes (Ravagers, which are agile damage-dealers, Sentinels are your beefy tank/strength types, Tempests are your ranged caster/mage/support types), yeah, but each of the basic 25 heros have unique skillsets, so it's not like they copy each other a lot.  There's a fair bit of variety there.  It does get a lot harder pretty quickly, and the toughness of enemies seems to ramp up as more people are in the game, diablo style.  There were some missions on world 5 that I actually struggled with pretty hard, and we wiped after chaining a couple levels.


@Levio: The level design isn't that exciting, they are pretty linear, but the actual environments differ a bit.  You travel between 6 planets throughout the game, which do look pretty distinct, even if the level construction is pretty similar.  Infinity is an industrial planet (full of Cyber type enemies) as opposed to say Verdanth, which is a lush jungle planet home of mostly Bio type enemies.  


@ryanwho: There's actually a pretty good reason to not allow equipping mid-game.  Your hero levels/stats are based solely on the gear you equip (higher level gear increases your hero's level.  That way you don't have to spend hours on each of 100 heros to level them) so if you could equip mid-mission, you'd be able to power up mid mission.  There's a chain mechanic that gives you bonus rewards for completing levels back-to-back without stopping to equip new items or gear.  The challenge in this is that you are basically unable to level up or change your gear between missions (effectively meaning your level is locked until you decide to stop chaining), while the enemies will be getting stronger as you advance through levels.