Homeworld: Cataclysm - The Real Sequel

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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Homeworld: Cataclysm - The Real Sequel

Homeworld: Cataclysm offers a smaller story and a smaller war but uses them as the framework for great things and big successes.

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TheSYLOH

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Feb 5, 2010
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I'll repeat what I said in the Homeworld 2 review
Cataclysm was the only Homeworld game with a coherent narrative.
Sure Homeworld 1 was a journey, but it really never felt like a continous story.
If you reshuffled half of the missions nobody would notice, they're just episodes in a sitcom.
For example what would be changed if the kadesh arc happened later? The supernova,asteroids blasting and ghost ship missions can be placed anywhere.

Cataclysms Commandship was on a journey, both in the metaphysical and literal sense
With every mission fleet command becomes more sure of it self, takes less shit from the other kiths and bolts on a new beast slaying tool to the commandship. You see the character of the ship evolving.
Where at the start command identifies itself as a mining ship and is the Navy's *****, by the end command identifies itself as a warship and is actually putting pressure on the Bentusi.

Game play aside I love Cataclysm more than the original.
And at least they give justification why you're not stealing every ship in sight.
 

cpukill

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Feb 26, 2011
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Hit the nail on the head Stew. Cataclysm by and large improved Homeworld as a series. Not having to constantly worry about fuel for my fighters and corvettes was a big change that I REALLY liked. Narratively, and even in the voice acting, it definitely blew Homeworld 2 out of the water.

And Cataclysm also made the Bentusi sacrificing themselves cool before Homeworld 2. Hell, in one mission, the Bentusi are actually the bad guys for part of it! You have to throw everything you have at them just to make a dent, nevermind actuallly killing them. And whoever they got to do the voice of Command really put his heart into making the Bentusi feel like shit for slaughtering your fighters and capital ships once they stopped. Never forget that part of the game.

Overall, really sad that Cataclysm will never see a remaster.

Great job so far, really looking forward to reading the followup next time.
 

Abomination

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cpukill said:
And Cataclysm also made the Bentusi sacrificing themselves cool before Homeworld 2. Hell, in one mission, the Bentusi are actually the bad guys for part of it! You have to throw everything you have at them just to make a dent, nevermind actuallly killing them. And whoever they got to do the voice of Command really put his heart into making the Bentusi feel like shit for slaughtering your fighters and capital ships once they stopped. Never forget that part of the game.
You're worse than the beast! At least the beast doesn't pretend to be righteous!
Cataclysm is one of the best stories for a RTS ever. It was a situation where mechanics and story meshed so completely you were engrossed in the experience. Few games can match it in the synergy it managed to obtain.

Every 2 or 3 years I dust it off and give it another spin.
 

cpukill

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Abomination said:
You're worse than the beast! At least the beast doesn't pretend to be righteous!
Cataclysm is one of the best stories for a RTS ever. It was a situation where mechanics and story meshed so completely you were engrossed in the experience. Few games can match it in the synergy it managed to obtain.

Every 2 or 3 years I dust it off and give it another spin.
Oh god, that line....just sent chills up my spine. Fuck it, time to go kill some Beast again.
 

Xeorm

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Apr 13, 2010
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cpukill said:
Oh god, that line....just sent chills up my spine. Fuck it, time to go kill some Beast again.
Yea, think I might as well, if I can find my old cd and get it working. I can't say that I found the game to be the best mechanically. Issues like the fighters and corvettes becoming useless are spot on. But just the story and journey were great.

Never got into homeworld 2, by comparison. Silly story, mainly.
 

Dirkie

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Feb 3, 2009
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Homeworld 1 and 2 also missed some of the more fun parts that Cataclism had, the Ramming Frigate (including crash-helmet description and "YeeeeHaw" sounds) and the Siege Cannon that operated on the sensor scale, not the more commonly used ship-interaction scale.

And both are awesome.
 

Azhrarn-101

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One small counter-point to the fighters becoming useless, all the way at the end, the Bentusi give you a rather impressive upgrade for your fighters, turning them into miniature multi-beam assault craft, that pack FAR more punch than you'd give them credit for.

Sure, technically they're now Bentusi fighter craft, but Super-Acolytes are probably the most overpowered thing in that game. You only get them for 1 or 2 missions, but they'll massacre anything in seconds.

Also, the death of Bentus... "We will not be bound!" sends chills down my spine every time, so much emotion in that one line. Definite props to the voice actor for that one.
 

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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Azhrarn-101 said:
One small counter-point to the fighters becoming useless, all the way at the end, the Bentusi give you a rather impressive upgrade for your fighters, turning them into miniature multi-beam assault craft, that pack FAR more punch than you'd give them credit for.

Sure, technically they're now Bentusi fighter craft, but Super-Acolytes are probably the most overpowered thing in that game. You only get them for 1 or 2 missions, but they'll massacre anything in seconds.

Also, the death of Bentus... "We will not be bound!" sends chills down my spine every time, so much emotion in that one line. Definite props to the voice actor for that one.
You get them in the final mission and indeed they are awesome. :)
 

TrevHead

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I'd say Cataclysm is my fave of the 3 gameplay wise, it's unit types are more quirky and where remastered / HW2 simplifies fighter combat HW:C is the other way around requiring more micro control due to all the upgrades and sub weapons (EMP for the win).

Some of it's missions are quite difficult to beat too, especially that one where you have to infiltrate a sensor net on a Taidani planet.
 

Gorrath

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Feb 22, 2013
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Cataclysm is hands down my favorite in the series. Best story by far, best use of ship improvements like the locking mechanism of the fighters, best voice acting, as everyone has mentioned. Having the command ship come over the comm and finally describe itself as a warship was just fantastic. Those little miners went from trying to scrape by to having serious swagger. Also, "We will not be bound!"