Early Access is part of development

[VoreDock]

Early access is not a finished product

[Jojoba]

So what? Does that mean you can release a non-working product?

[Tachyon]

It doesn't matter if it's a finished product or not, if the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ servers can't even handle more than 2 or 3 thousand players - and even most of the 3k currently "in-game" are very likely playing the "Let's hit the Login Button" minigame. Stop being such a pathetic apologist! People like you are the very reason Devs get away with releasing utter trash, and then spending the next 4 weeks "fixing things".

[Xolrune]

I've played many early access games. Emphasis on the word 'played'. They were all unfinished but playable.

I have about 1.8 hours of patience before it's refund time.

[Бузяка]

Early access without access

[Peekay]

"Early access is not a finished product"

This is correct, most EA games don't make it to the point of being a finished product before being abandoned

[Tanpopo]

So?

Can a game where you can't even create a character be called a game?
This is an issue that predates Early Access.

[Aliantha]

Originally posted by VoreDock:

Early access is not a finished product

The key word is access and infers that you can get in and be a part of it. EA does not mean "cobble just enough together to get people on line and charge them for it." Early Access should mean it's close to ready to sell.

[Shadex]

Early Access has become such a bastardized, meaningless term these days I just wish people would stop using it. It's paying money to beta test software.

[RaginSam]

People need to get their heads straight about what Early Access is.

It should be a functioning, playable release. How can you test a game if it doesn't work correctly? Minor bugs are one thing, but there's a difference between bugs and not ready for release with half baked ideas.

EA isn't a free for all where anything goes. When you release something into EA, it's considered to be in an Alpha phase. Meaning the prototyping of what the game is supposed to be is done, and most of the major game loops are in place. Those are subject to change by removing or adding new loops.

Betas are for server testing, optimization, to see how balanced things are, and minor tweaks that aren't overhauling game loops. Your game is ready to be released, but needs a little polish before shipping it.

It's never a good sign if a studio releases a game that's not even close to being finished and buggy to a point that it's unplayable. That's NOT what EA is. What it usually means is that the game is being made by a team of inexperienced developers and are probably incapable of delivering the game that's promised.

I haven't played Quinfall, I have only read reviews, so this isn't specifically directed towards these developers, just a general statement to be clear. I'm just tired of people going "it's EA, give it a free pass". That's a ridiculous mentality and complete lack of understanding how game development works. Please stop it.

I've been following this game for a while, so I might end up giving it a shot still, but the reviews are not looking too hot at the moment. However, this can be a good test to see how long it takes to patch some of these major issues. I think when you're trying to sell people on a new game, it should be pretty solid, it's the point in development where they felt confident enough to present the game to the world. So if is a buggy mess that I'm reading about, that's their best offering, it's not going to get much better. Keep that in mind.

[Hexagon]

Love the fact they got a fully working cash shop before anything else.
Pump and dump kind of game

[Menzagitat]

The devs can start making the game better and increase the rating.
Like No Man's Sky did.

[tankanidis]

Game needs to be in a playable state to be called Early Access

If you can't play it, it's not a game, its a concept/design and should not yet be on Steam

[Deadly]

By steams Tos The game has to be in a "Playable" State in order to sell on steam...It is not playable..The End EA or not

[bpskin]

263 / 5 000
you just cry and do nothing. on the game page on steam there is a "report" button. If every dissatisfied person clicks on it, the platform will have questions for the developer. Devs will do something, and not remain silent, allowing only one thousand people to "play".

[MugHug]

Originally posted by VoreDock:

Early access is not a finished product

Best read this from Valve (Owners of Steam):

What Is Early Access?
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess#:~:text=Don't%20launch%20in%20Early,then%20it's%20probably%20too%20early.