This post is a tad tardy perhaps, but it caught my eye as I was wondering whether Yahtzee had done a review on FTL (I remembered him refering to it in a previous video)I was pleased to find this to be the case.
Sooo, here I am to chat about FTL - specifically the luck element. I've read the posts and there seems to be two schools of thought - some think that FTL is too hard because of the luck element, some feel that all it takes is good strategy to win easily.
I find that both veiwpoints sell the game short. First let me say I have every reason to hate the game, I've won only 10 games out of around 300, probably because I've only played on normal since my first victory on easy. So one doesn't need "mad skills" to beat the game on normal, or be a sucker for punishment - and you don't need to just be a lucky son-of-a-***** all the time either...That said, the game IS hard, and you probably will loose most of your games, even an experienced player can make the wrong decisions.
This leads me to why I think those touting their "foolproof" strategies for ensuring victory are somewhat wrong. There is no "beat-it-every-time" strategy. You really can get the short end of the stick in FTL and some runs are just going to be doomed to failure no matter how experienced you are. Trust me, I know. I'm ashamed to admit that I've clocked around 150 hours of this game so I know what I'm talking about. But luck is not the be-all-and-end-all of the gameplay by a long shot and those relating it to slot machines haven't taken the time to learn the game they're playing.
The thing that makes FTL challenging, and it's fairly obvious really, is not luck OR strategy, it's the fact that each bad decision, each setback, each bit of bad luck, stacks on top of the last one, snowballing into a defeat. So while good strategies can buffer you against some bad luck, nothing will make the game more impossible than failing to adapt to what the game throws at you and consistently making bad judgement calls. You make your own luck.
Besides, no-one ever comments about poker being "too luck based" they just play the hand they're dealt. In FTL you don't have to fight every battle, or save every backwater station from fire. As in poker, the skill lies in knowing that sometimes, you have to fold to win.
For all the people that found this game too hard or luck based to be fun. Let me say: it's not too hard, it's just hard enough. Honestly FTLS' charm is that it is difficult. Can anyone that has played this game honestly say they Didn't want to play again just to beat it? With the current games all being "too easy" I for one find it refreshing for a game to truly challenge me.
If a game is going to be difficult then it needs to be replayable and FTL delivers on that. The fact that the same answer to a familiar encounter can have a different outcome is a very good thing. Sure, some might find it frustrating when an answer that always yeilded good results suddenly kills a crew member, but for me it means the sense of tension and the unknown that I had on my first playthrough will be with me untill my last, something I can say for very few, if any, other games...
And finally; some may find this a bit sad but myself and my friend play this game together, making joint decisions along the way. One of us will read out the text to the other, who decides what we should do - it's a pretty good way to really feel the effort put into the narrative and it's good to have someone to council you out of your greed - GIANT ALIEN SPIDERS? JUST SAY "NO".
