Since the original topic is a bit brief, I will expand on it in my point-of-view: Don't worry about others being dissapointed...this a common side effect of a new game being released, I have seen it with Morrowind, Mafia, and many other games, and will 100% expect to see it in MoO3 and some upcoming games in the next few months. Here is what happens:
1. Many of the initial vets and n00bs will come and start praising the game, noting all they love about it
2. Then LOADS of new people (whether they are people who have been following the game for months and have been too lazy to create an account, or just people who just heard the game) will create Forum accounts just to write a few messages on why they find the game dissapointing (and in this case, they are mostly pirates who get free games every day, but several demo users found it dissapointing too) due to the fact that thought that this would be Elite IV, Privateer 3, Morrowind: In space, Independence War 3, or Freespace 3...and end up doing apples-and-oranges comparisions to those games.
3. Several forum vets will either be influenced by the people of #2, or will start nitpicking at the little things (such as the bug of scanning ship transports). And will return the game for silly little stuff.
4. Then the vets and n00bs who dislike the game get tired of arguing their points. They will eventually leave, and the main Freelancer forum will be back the way it was with a mix of the n00bs and the old that love the game.
5. Patch or expansion pack will be released: Repeat
So how do you tell if a game is a flaw, or is just simply not your type of game? Look at screenshots, ask around, read the game description, then check on a lot of reviews. If a game tends to get bad scores on gaming sites, due to being buggy, horrible graphics, bad sounds, bad story, simply don't get it. It amazes me on why people will buy a bad game, then complain about it when pretty much EVERY review on the internet says it is a bad game, please do some research!
http://www.gamerankings.com and
http://www.pcgr.com are great places to start. Also just like in RPGs where you get a mix of linear Final Fantasy games, non-linear Baldur's Gate games, open ended Morrowind games, and hack-and-slash Diablo II games. You will have different genres in space sims...know your genres.
My opinion is that if you want to try an open-ended space genre, get Freelancer...from my experiences with the demo and all, the game is a sure winner. If you already know the games in this genre and don't like it...dont buy the game, you probably will be already biased and still wont like it. If you are a vet in this genre, playing games such as Elite II, Privateer, etc...don't expect a sequal that will blow those away. As I said above, this is not Privateer 3, Elite IV, etc...
Well that's my point of view.
EDIT: "Dissapointed" is one of those in the #2 catagory. I must ask you to refrain from calling people "a-holes", fanbois, etc...This is a community atmosphere and just because somebody doesn't agree with you doesn't mean you should shout vulgeraties at them.
I pity da foo, thug, o villian that trys takin' over da world, then comes home cryin' to his mamma!
-Mr. T
Edited by - CGDreamerX on 23-02-2003 23:34:41
Sun Feb 23, 2003 10:16 pm 
Only a few other times that things don't actually happen in the bars, and then its the equipment dealer or the flight deck 