Well, after finally getting some "games" in today, I was thoroughly depressed that the program is...well, leaving a LOT to be desired. As someone who was very supportive of the concept of a Pokemon Online, I am very disappointed to see that this "program" is the end result.
People have been vocal about their discontent involving it being a Flash based program, and I somewhat shrugged it off, acknowledging that while it would have been better NOT being on Flash, that it well, couldn't offer THAT many issues, could it?
Well, until I actually tried to use it for any extended period of time. The lag issues are disgusting, to the point where I cannot finish any remotely close game. Unless its a slaughter, good luck finishing a game. Especially with any sort of slower deck at all. Not just the Reuniclus issue, but any deck that has to try to come back, or doesn't start taking prizes in the first few turns.
The program slows, and locks up worse and worse the longer each game goes, and has proven fairly unresponsive to my inputs especially in the latter half of the game, and this is on the lowest settings possible.
Now, this is likely with the game having a lower traffic then in the long run, especially if it ever tries to host any sort of larger tournaments. Even if the issues get greatly reduced, they will still be bad enough to ruin the experience of a longer tournament because the issues will STILL screw up peoples games.
I played one game tonight, "managed" to get in 7 turns in say...15 minutes because of its moderate lag, and then well, I needed 2 attacks off in 5 minutes in a pretty safe win and...it lagged and froze up so bad ( with no other programs or windows open besides AIM ) that I accomplished 1 move in those 5 minutes. I was having issues prior to this, but none that bad at all, and it really infuriated me that a program thats gone as far as Open Beta can run so poorly.
I'd much rather have a downloadable client that WORKS then some flash game used on a browser, especially since, for stability's sake, if they hope to attach this game to any sort of tournament structure. Browsers offer far too many issues, and while this approach may make it easier for random people to pick up and play, for those of us who have invested a good deal into the cards ( I input 550 codes myself ) the program doesn't seem to be built to safely run the things we are looking for it to do.
I don't seem to understand how a programming company such as Nintendo, with such a good track record in the past, cannot seem to replicate a concept/program thats been functioning smoothly for about a decade now ( Magic Online ) I guess I had expected better from them, since, as I said, the company's foundation is in video gaming. This isn't a small or newer company trying to throw a program together.
Having blindly put my faith in this project by investing hundreds of dollars into the codes, I'll admit I feel a bit betrayed that the program isn't better.
