Connectivity

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Connectivity

The space-buggy sections in Mass Effect 2 may have been annoying, but at least they were there.

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[Suskie]

I actually somewhat agree about ME2 lacking "bigness," and it's why I can't decide whether the game's lack of Mako is a good or bad thing. The game's a definite improvement in my mind, but then rather than tossing the vehicle thing away altogether, I wish they'd just worked on improving it, because you're right, it really gave ME1 a sense of scale. The upcoming hovertank DLC seems to indicate they're willing to experiment with the idea still, so maybe they'll be bringing it back in the third one. Especially given the criticism they've received for the mining stuff in ME2.

 

[Outright Villainy]

This reminds me of wind waker, to be honest; a lot of people complained about boring sailing sections, but really, it helped me believe I was travelling across the vast ocean. I liked the change of pace at any rate. Immersion is something I go for a lot in games, and a little tedium here and there wouldn't really bother me if it strengthens that.

 

[Meggiepants]

I don't think simply having an airlock would have been the magic trick for me. I would much rather have explored more of the cities, even if there wasn't anything in particular to interact with in these places. The Citadel has rapid transit for no reason now. You can walk up a flight of stairs to get where the rapid transit will take you. It feels small because it is small. Giving me an airlock won't fix that.

On the other hand, it was nice they changed up the environments for the side quests. The side quests were much meatier this game, as opposed to dropping underground to a two room bunker. On a side (slightly related) note - although these places seemed repetitive in ME, it actually made sense to me that all these places looked the same. If you were trying to create a standardized outpost that could be set up in a flash, it probably would look like the space version of a Dilbert Cubicle.

At least in ME2 they brought you to actual planets to do these side quests, instead of those generic outposts.

 

[Swaki]

i think you brought this up in your oblivion review, how its teleportation fast travel made the huge game world seem small compared to wow where you could see the world and areas change below you, i had the same problem with asscreed 2, the instant travel made it seem like i was just jumping from one training area to the next (i know thats what was happening, but still).

but in some games you can fight that, for instance i never used the fast travel in fallout 3, crawling around the wasteland hiding from the enemies made the game that much more immersive.

 

[Juan Regular]

I too need a good space sim.
No one can tell me a mixture of Freelancer and Mass Effect wouldn't be the most amazing game ever.

 

[CyricZ]

Hey, just so long as Hole makes a cameo appearance, I'll be satisfied with your game, Yahtzee.

 

[JEBWrench]

I too need a good space sim.
No one can tell me a mixture of Freelancer and Mass Effect wouldn't be the most amazing game ever.

Wait, why do you need to mix something with Freelancer again?

 

[Little Duck]

Basically, the consensus seems to be we want the mako backm but we want the planets to have plants fauna and flora (did I spell fauna right?) and for the mako to be able to go from point A to place 2 comfortably.

 

[Olikunmissile]

I look forward with great interest to the game you're making. Sounds like a good idea.

I'd love another epic space sim one of these days, haven't played a good one for many years.

 

[PS2MAN]

This space game of yours you could make into a Starfox esq game without any fighting, kinda like its training level where you have to fly through rings. Just make it so its not Rings (aliens, asteroids, etc) and it sounds promising.

Only problem is, your the dev xD

 

[ldwater]

You make a good point. Considering the game in rich in story and dialog to add to immersion it then gives the 'press B to complete mission' button which then breaks the said immersion.

Bioware have definatly tried to go for the FPS style game with ME2 and even though its stripped away some of the bad stuff its also taken out some of the stuff that makes the game feel 'right'.

I'm actually quite surprised you didn't mention anything about the sence of urgency in the game - since it starts off saying "Oh no! Aliens are taking humans, you are the only one who can stop them! (Sound familiar? )". Then the game allows you to take as many side quests and optional missions as you like without consequence. I could imagine the colinists and collectors on Horizon just waiting for you to finish off what you were doing before commencing the human harvest.

In total I think there is only about 3 missions that actually involve the 'big bad collectors' and the rest of the content is side quests that serve no real purpose (of moving the story along) other than grant xp and artificially lengthen the game.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

I never thought of it until now, but that walk from the galaxy map to the airlock would make a great deal of difference, especially if it segued from there to the loading screen involving the airlock itself.

Yahtzee's Frontier experience is one I had with a game called Privateer. I wasted so many hours flying from one system to another just to trade commodities because I was in space.

This was probably the first sign of how incredibly dull I am.

 

[TheBlackKnight]

so, we get the "destroy the beam cannons of the Satanas" mission of Freespace 2 with a Descent-like control scheme? *uhhhh shiny*

On Topic: My guess they deemed it unnecessary and "boring" to show the transition between ship and "warehouse"; I think I would like it, when they would reimplement that, possible with the option to disable said transition in the options.

 

[s_glasgow99]

Hey Yahtzee,
It sounds to me like what you're looking to build here is a more open world, wider version of Descent.
There's a classic cross genre. Space shooter / FPS. The controls took a long time to get used to, but it was a fun game when you did, and it's multiplayer was like Quake with Zero G and Jetpacks!
Just food for thought, and maybe a for a touch of insperation.

Scott Glasgow

 

[Therumancer]

Actually I think there is more overlap between the "space sim" and RPG crowd than you give credit for. While you blasted it, look at say EVE Online. Also while it underperformed I saw a lot of potential in the old game "Earth and Beyond" which struck me as something that would have worked well as an addition to another game.

Not to mention the amount of time *I* put into games like "Trade Wars", "Yankee Trader", "Terra Firma", and "Galactic Warzone" on old BBS systems before I ever got onto The Internet.

At any rate, I do agree that they could do more with Mass Effect, and I also think that the "buggy" sections were a good idea, but hideously implemented. I think they really could have made the Mako fun if they had decided to work at it rather than scrapping the whole thing.

Good luck with the space game. I don't know how many people played your "Fantabulus Space" game but I thought it was fun, so I look forward to your next effort.

Incidently your freeware game design efforts are one of the reasons why I have so much respect for you, and your opinion, even when I disagree with you.

 

[CheckD3]

I haven't played ME2, but from the sound of it, was it just a linear game with the advertising saying it was a sandbox like game? And instead of true sandbox or open-worldness, was it a linear game with optional sidequests?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I am Commander Shepard, the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me!
kekekekekekekeke

 

[WafflesToo]

THANK YOU!

My feelings precisely.

...of course it didn't stop me from racking up three playthroughs but I still prefered the immersion of the first game. Second game invites you into it then throws you back out with a splash screen every few seconds. I guess I'm one of the few freaks that actually missed the elevators.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I haven't played ME2 (though I did enjoy the review), so this is purely about your game:
I am looking forward to your design, considering the absence of any worthwhile space sim in the past 5 years. As for the controls, how about something similar to Freelancer? It's easy and intuitive to use, and possibly not too difficult to implement.