The thread on PC Games has reminded me of my own terrible addiction to this game. For those who don’t know it’s like Freelancer…only you know, deep engaging. Worth playing after you’ve discovered every thing…
You can do practically anything in the world in the game. You can be a lone warrior taking on jobs from the BBS board and capturing pirate vessels (if you’re really good at that you can make tons of money) you can be a trader moving products around the universe in a dynamic economy where supply and demand actually matter. You can be a miner destroying asteroids for fun and profit. And you can also run tons of factories (you can build and control any type of factory in the game except for equipment docks and shipyards) I currently own 47 factories and something like 300 ships. I fly a overpowered Corvette and I’m thinking about buying a Destroyer or maybe saving up just a little more money (ok a godawful amount of money) and getting a carrier and filling it with heavy fighter craft. The options in this game of how to fill your time are limitless.
Just to not be a cheerleader for the game I acknowledge it’s problems.
Learning curve is godawful. The tutorials and manual (I use both terms loosely) are useless. You have to go online just to figure out certain commands! You should have seen my wrath the day I discovered I could hit ‘i’ to see a ship’s stats before I bought it.
People complain the economy is broken. Solar Power Plants (one of the cheapest factories you can buy) make the most money. I think broken is far too strong a word but it is really lame my wheat farm costing 800,000 (not including the ships that buy and sell the goods off of it) doesn’t make near as much money as my SSP costing 300,000.
Fighting is hard. Not b/c AI is smart (it regularly rams into you for no reason) but it’s hard to tell where to aim to hit anything. In fact for me it was nearly impossible without the ‘fighting software’ that lets you lead your shots properly. Oh you have to turn on the software by hitting ‘k’ twice. Another unmentioned thing in the manual.
Crashes. I’ve had very very few (4 in an insane amount of playing time) but I came in after version 1.3 it must have been ungodly before people on the forums still seem bitter about it.
The plot is lame. If you thought the plot of Freelancer was bad this one will send you into fits on the floor. At least it’s brief and you can utterly ignore it playing through it only causes the bad guys to invade sooner (it’s triggered anyway if you play long enough outside the plot) and only opens a special sector that you can’t survive long in unless you’re bringing in an armada to crush it. (most people just play until they get a free 400,000 in a certain mission then ignore it utterly)ly)
I’m playing it - I’m a long time fan of the series. It’s a very flawed classic, full of odd design decisions (you’ve nailed the faults in your list) but a classic all the same.
If you’re an old Elite fan it’s the only game in town really.
It’s one of those games that you can keep playing because it’s so open-ended.
My main disappointment is that the designers seem to have put all their effort into the graphics (except for the hilariously incompetent cut scenes) and neglected to significantly improve the game-play over the sequel or implement a mouseable interface.
But at the bargain price its available for it’s well worth a look.
I’m glad at least someone else is playing this game. I’m amazed it isn’t more popular (esp after all the complaining about how Freelancer wasn’t deep enough) I never played any of the Elite games Freelancer was the first space combat game (I can’t force myself to call it a space sim) I’ve played and even though it was fun after I had an Eagle with Xenon weapons mounted I lost interest in it and never played again.
This game I’ve finished the plot been to every sector yet I feel I’ve only just started.
Do you have a mouse or a joystick? I hear it’s better with a joystick. I wouldn’t know I make due with a mouse.
I’m not sure if it’s really bad physics though. You have to constantly deal with inertia which is more realistic then stopping on a dime you cut too hard left or right you spin past what you’re aiming at. Heh after getting used to controlling my Corvette switching to my scout vessel is impossible I spin out of control constantly.
One complaint I do have though is sometimes buying rudder control makes it too sensitive. Shouldn’t rudder control also be self correcting?
I can’t remember now if the problem was too much inertia or not enough (until I saw your post I thought not enough, or unrealistic). I would put the game back and have another go (maybe the newer specs since it was last installed will make a difference) but my HD is full (UT2004, U2, and tonight - Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorow)
Well if your rudder control is zero you steer like a whale. If your rudder control is maxed (unless you are in a large ship) you spin. Very annoying. I think you should start out spinning and then become self correcting. I keep mine midway and use the auto commands to get to place to place.
One thing that also turned me off is having a multi step docking. Then I found out you could target what you want to dock with hit shift+d then when inside hit esc to instantly dock in a ring then esc again and you’re outside. No need to fly around the damn station. Heh I wonder if anyone has created a manual anywhere online with all the left out key commands.
I think I’ve got this game somewhere. Got it when it came out, played it a little while, put it away. Hugely underwhelmed. This is the first I’ve heard of it having any kind of cult status. Maybe I’ll check it out again.
I know exactly how you feel. I bought it during a game buying frenzy on ebay (damn that site I wish I never had signed up for it) it was one of the first ones I got and I put it aside to play through the other games. After I went back to it though it’s gotten 10 times the playing time of the other games.
Here’s what I got to give you an idea
Tron 2.0 Kinda fun nothing revolutionary though.
Europa Universalis II never got it figured out enough to play. Playing historical I usually got invaded before I knew what was going on playing fantasy I just colonized and colonized and never met another nation.
Space Colony. Wow a could have been fun game ruined by poorly thought out missions. (it’s the sims meet space station management)
Jedi Academy. What was up with this game? Waaayyy too easy and it was just a bunch of the same thing over and over. Even the ‘puzzle’ levels did little to interest me.
Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark. Still haven’t gotten very far it seems fun but I was neverwintered out I guess when I picked it up.
Deus Ex Invisible War. I said in another thread I wasn’t going to buy this game but hell I got it for 15 bucks…it wasn’t worth it. The textures are jagged and ugly (not that graphics are the sole defining part of a game) walking around made me motion sick (a problem I had with the first game as well but it wasn’t as bad) and I just wasn’t having any fun.
heh maybe I should just open a PC general game discussion thread.
