My thoughts exactly. While I can't attest to Freespace- Tachyon: The Fringe was the end all for space combat in my eyes (and not only for the fantastic voice work).Deviate said:
A Space Fighter Versus the World
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
Yep, no stick support or cockpit POV and it's a no buy for me. Without both it's not a sim and shouldn't sell itself as one.Scars Unseen said:
Sounds to me that he is pretty much sacrificing the genre to promote it. I understand it is hard, but if I read between the lines, it sounds very arcade. There is nothing wrong with arcade, it is just not a space sim.
Also, the two games mentioned failed because they were bad games, not because of disinterest imo. I personally would kill for a simple reboot of the x-wing vs Tie-Fighter series...
Also, the two games mentioned failed because they were bad games, not because of disinterest imo. I personally would kill for a simple reboot of the x-wing vs Tie-Fighter series...
Freelancer, so much better than X3 because it wasn't stupid complicated. I loved X3 so much, but I just couldn't be arsed with it after a while.
Does this mean we might see Fun Space Game: The Game after all?
Anyway, flying around space shooting at things... why not? I'm sure they'll figure out a way to make future space battles gritty, brown, and possibly even cover-based.
Anyway, flying around space shooting at things... why not? I'm sure they'll figure out a way to make future space battles gritty, brown, and possibly even cover-based.
Glad to see I'm not alone in missing the days when you sat down in a darkened room with the Top-Gun Soundtrack CD blaring in the background as you skimmed over the surfaces of kilometer long battleships, spinning to blow the hell out of that annoying prat on your tail.
If you want a space themed twitch shooter that allows your choice of mouse/keyboard/joystick, and runs under Mac/Win/Linux, then check out Vendetta Online [http://www.vendetta-online.com]. It's a twitch shooter space combat MMO with mining and trading between stations.
dunno if the fighter genre is the comeback i want. I'll probably buy sol just to prove this genre can be successful, and of that the kick in the pants lucasarts need to remake x-wing so be it(funny how it always comes back to x-winf TIE fighter).
THe game i want has been banging around in my head for awhile now. THe release of halo anniversary brought back memories of the only part of that game i liked; the very first level. The one where you are awakened for hypersleep and sent through the ruined decks of the pillar of autumn, fighting boarding parties and doing CPR on ensign kenny yelling,"MEDIC! DON'T YOU DIE ON ME KENNY, DON'T YOU DO IT!" then getting aboard the bridge and then the thrilling dash to the last escape pods, feeling the ship shudder under yet another bomber run. I could do a whole game of that. well a whole game of that and captaining/piloting a ship.
Like the way it would work is you're in command of a battleship/cruiser/whatever, and you take it out on missions. you take the ship into battles and you can either remain captain and do a stately ship to ship battle with space manouvers, broadsides, and fighterscreen. And boardings. if you're ship gets boarded you can quantum leap into the body of a crewman or ship security and repel the boarding action. and the reverse is true too, if you have succesful boarding parties you can quantum leap into the body of your marines and either sabotage or capture the ship.
thats the game and genre i want.
THe game i want has been banging around in my head for awhile now. THe release of halo anniversary brought back memories of the only part of that game i liked; the very first level. The one where you are awakened for hypersleep and sent through the ruined decks of the pillar of autumn, fighting boarding parties and doing CPR on ensign kenny yelling,"MEDIC! DON'T YOU DIE ON ME KENNY, DON'T YOU DO IT!" then getting aboard the bridge and then the thrilling dash to the last escape pods, feeling the ship shudder under yet another bomber run. I could do a whole game of that. well a whole game of that and captaining/piloting a ship.
Like the way it would work is you're in command of a battleship/cruiser/whatever, and you take it out on missions. you take the ship into battles and you can either remain captain and do a stately ship to ship battle with space manouvers, broadsides, and fighterscreen. And boardings. if you're ship gets boarded you can quantum leap into the body of a crewman or ship security and repel the boarding action. and the reverse is true too, if you have succesful boarding parties you can quantum leap into the body of your marines and either sabotage or capture the ship.
thats the game and genre i want.
I'm eagerly awaiting the day that space flight sims (and mech sims, for that matter) make a comeback, but I completely agree that the space sims of old had big time accessibility problems.
I remember Freespace 2. It was one of the most awesome games I'd ever played, but it was just. So. HARD!!!
Probably half the missions I played in that game, out of multiple wings of fighters that my side fielded, I would frequently be the only pilot left, completely out of ordinance, outnumbered 20-to-1, and having to blow up a small cruiser on my own. And this was on medium difficulty! I can't even imagine how good you'd have to be to play that game on maximum difficulty.
I fully admit that I probably just didn't 'get' how to play the game (I had similar problems with the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games, mind). Perhaps it was because I hadn't cut my teeth on Jane's combat simulators like some of the adult gamers, but for me the hardcore space sims of yesteryear will most likely be forever beyond my ken.
I remember looking for a FAQ on TIE Fighter on the Internet, and happening upon a graphic of how you're supposed to evade a concussion missile. It looked like it had been drawn with a Spirograph. As Oscar Wilde was once incorrectly paraphrased by Yahtzee as having said, "No chance, you unreasonable dicks."
I remember Freespace 2. It was one of the most awesome games I'd ever played, but it was just. So. HARD!!!
Probably half the missions I played in that game, out of multiple wings of fighters that my side fielded, I would frequently be the only pilot left, completely out of ordinance, outnumbered 20-to-1, and having to blow up a small cruiser on my own. And this was on medium difficulty! I can't even imagine how good you'd have to be to play that game on maximum difficulty.
I fully admit that I probably just didn't 'get' how to play the game (I had similar problems with the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games, mind). Perhaps it was because I hadn't cut my teeth on Jane's combat simulators like some of the adult gamers, but for me the hardcore space sims of yesteryear will most likely be forever beyond my ken.
I remember looking for a FAQ on TIE Fighter on the Internet, and happening upon a graphic of how you're supposed to evade a concussion missile. It looked like it had been drawn with a Spirograph. As Oscar Wilde was once incorrectly paraphrased by Yahtzee as having said, "No chance, you unreasonable dicks."
Much in the way of the X-Wing franchise love, though I did think that X-Wing's original interface so far as mission failure was abysmal. "You have failed your mission. You have died, so that means you get to start over! Completely!"
TIE Fighter improved on that and gave some great updates - the Assault Gunboat, Missile Boat, and TIE Defender were a lot of fun, and we got a good, original storyline that brought in elements of the EU and expanded them.
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter was I think almost too early - if it had been made now, with broadband and networked consoles I imagine it would succeed.
I would love to see Freelancer ported onto XBLA. But we're not likely to see Freelancer 2 anytime soon, given the folding of Digital Anvil due to the studio head embezzling profits from Microsoft...
TIE Fighter improved on that and gave some great updates - the Assault Gunboat, Missile Boat, and TIE Defender were a lot of fun, and we got a good, original storyline that brought in elements of the EU and expanded them.
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter was I think almost too early - if it had been made now, with broadband and networked consoles I imagine it would succeed.
I would love to see Freelancer ported onto XBLA. But we're not likely to see Freelancer 2 anytime soon, given the folding of Digital Anvil due to the studio head embezzling profits from Microsoft...
Here's my personal request to anyone that wanted to make a mission based space combat game(rather than the free roaming trading games that are more common these days): capital ships need to be a setting, not a target. They need to be huge, floating, city sized monsters that make single pilot fighters seem like flies. Battles involving them should revolve either around the player trying to place bombs at strategic points while trying not to get shot down by defending fighters or as a battle between two giants as the fighters fight between(and try not to get caught up in the barrage). Capital ships should be interesting set pieces that provide opportunities for fun battles(see the Death Star trench run).
Other possibilities for great battles would be around(and inside) orbital colonies, factories, etc. and large fleet battles in low planetary(or even star) orbit.
Other possibilities for great battles would be around(and inside) orbital colonies, factories, etc. and large fleet battles in low planetary(or even star) orbit.
Personally, the mouse control with Freelancer ruined the experience for me. Pointing and clicking at a target on screen had none of the thrills I associate with other space sims in controlling a space fighter. While the joystick is ideal you don't actually need it, the same functionality can be had with an analogue stick or keyboard arrow keys (though the latter isn't ideal). It's not like racing games are broken if you don't have a steering wheel.Hoplon said:
Actually the funnest I ever had with a flight sim type game was with a PSone controller. Unfortunately it was only a demo game which had it's NA release canceled, Macross VFX. Closer to an Ace Combat game in that it used 3rd person view, but the real innovation was the non-fixed camera. Most flight sim combat games you spend a lot of times chasing arrows on the edge of the screen until the target comes into view, but in this game the camera would angle itself to put your target in view at all times. Similarly, when they got a lock on you and launched missiles the camera would shift to the back so you could see them coming and dodge appropriately.
Probably made it a little disorientating to watch but it was a blast to play once you got the hang of it.
Having owned one of thsoe games (Rebel Assault II) for the PC, I can sympathize with everyone's love for the genre, and I really hope this does sell well.
And so what if joysticks don't fit the game perfectly? I know a lot of people that complain that the arcade stick is infinitely better for playing fight games like Tekken and Mortal Kombat with, yet I know a lot of people that still use the controller for playing those games. It's all in how you've started and how you adapt to the game's controls.
And so what if joysticks don't fit the game perfectly? I know a lot of people that complain that the arcade stick is infinitely better for playing fight games like Tekken and Mortal Kombat with, yet I know a lot of people that still use the controller for playing those games. It's all in how you've started and how you adapt to the game's controls.