Master of Orion Preview - Back to the Future
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Curse on my own obsessions I feel like I should preorder this because I like looking at The Mrrshan.
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On the other hand I don't see much excitement in getting the Terran. They kind of remind me of why I ignored that space FPS game that had 4 different versions of human. I think it was tied to Eve Online or whatever it was.
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On the other hand I don't see much excitement in getting the Terran. They kind of remind me of why I ignored that space FPS game that had 4 different versions of human. I think it was tied to Eve Online or whatever it was.
Somehow, looking at those screenshots, it doesn't look like this will be a worthy sequel, and we shall be disappointed, yet again.
Also, movement only through wormholes? The two Orions that did not suck allowed ships to move towards any star system within range.
Also, movement only through wormholes? The two Orions that did not suck allowed ships to move towards any star system within range.
It looks like it went back to a tech tree style of technology advancement, that is a little sad. Also, I can't help but feel the game looks very sterile and soulless. This is a problem of a lot of newer 4X games.
I agree that newer 4x games are missing a feeling of life and depth. But from what we played of MOO, I can't help but assure you that it is far from sterile and soulless. Every race has a plethora of custom animations and voice-overs, making them jump from the screen with life. The news segments were hysterical and even the filler cut-scenes for when you do things like colonize a planet were beautiful and engaging.Clive Howlitzer said:
Yeah, it is hard to tell from the screens. Trust me, I'd love for the game to be awesome. However, it has a very high bar to try and reach with Master of Orion 2. Also, I assume the game moves away from the interesting turn based combat of MoO 2 to the more generic rock paper scissors combat of other 4X games. Which is sad.s0osleepie said:
I don't know how I feel about the CE giving you access to another race that the other does not... but that being said... I DO love the shit out of MOO.
I currently scratch that itch by playing Sins of the Solar Empire with the MOO2 soundtrack playing on my music player.
I currently scratch that itch by playing Sins of the Solar Empire with the MOO2 soundtrack playing on my music player.
As much as I loved the races added in Moo2, it was Moo the first that stole my heart.AndreiCC said:
Don't get me wrong, I want all the races from the classic and the sequel in the game, but just seeing a handful and change of the originals so well rendered and everything else looking right...
I'm excited.
Genuinely excited.
If any race doesn't get in the initial release, I'll be there clamoring for them to be added immediately though.
Even the gnolam.
Honestly, if this is just a bug free and updated MOO2, I will buy it. They don't even have to add too much for me to get interested, the updated graphics have already done that for me.
Hopefully they'll have it set up like Galactic Civilizations III where you can add custom races to the AI player list.
The Elerians were kind of garbage. Saying that, I used them all the time because of this. Once you got really good at MOO2 half the fun was using the crap picks and trying strange tactics to win. I'll actually miss the Gnolems more from a character design point of view.AndreiCC said:
Hopefully they'll have it set up like Galactic Civilizations III where you can add custom races to the AI player list.
My first experience with the series was MoO3 when I was a teen.
It was neat conceptually, and I really liked the races/idea behind it...but the gameplay was crap.
So, a good version of that? Color me interested. Also, cat people.
I'm down for cat people.
It was neat conceptually, and I really liked the races/idea behind it...but the gameplay was crap.
So, a good version of that? Color me interested. Also, cat people.
I'm down for cat people.
Starlanes and the Mrrshan ambassador using terms like "Cat on a hot tin roof" and comparing themselves to cats... NO. Just no. This is like if we were comparing ourselves to some alien monkey on another planet. Sure, there may be similarities there and the other races may refer to us as monkeys in a derogatory manner, The Mrrshan always struck me as a noble/honor based race that would be very offended and disrespected by being referred to as a human cat.
These types of decisions do not look well for the series - but I'm hopeful that they're just trying to make the diplomacy look more cartoonish in order to relate it more to the civilization series.
I could go on for a few paragraphs about why starlanes are a bad idea for the series.
These types of decisions do not look well for the series - but I'm hopeful that they're just trying to make the diplomacy look more cartoonish in order to relate it more to the civilization series.
I could go on for a few paragraphs about why starlanes are a bad idea for the series.
Well, my excitement upon starting this article quickly died when I realized how empty and unfocused it was. Even for a preview article, this was extremely heavy on the filler and light on any real details! Nearly half the article, is dedicated to background info, personal anecdotes, and such. Mr. Vanderwall, if "there's entirely too much to go into detail with every one of the game's systems and mechanics," why would the areas you really focus on be worker placement production queue UI and management? Especially as what you've described is, essentially, the same mechanics as MOO2 with a few modernizing refinements. Why not focus on some of the changes or truly new additions?
I really hope the new MOO turns out well, but man, the sloppiness of this article is forcing me to look elsewhere for information.
I really hope the new MOO turns out well, but man, the sloppiness of this article is forcing me to look elsewhere for information.
It's one of THOSE kinds of previews; HEY look how awesome this game could be! Yeah...chiatt said:
WTF is this even:
Your production queue can hold up to five total projects, including the one currently in production.
That's less than you could stack up in Moo2. Late game when you colonize a world there were a TON of things to build. It was helpful to queue up a lot of things to get the foundations of industry and farming going and then set the auto governor to take over. Yet another thing that this game can't do as well as Moo2.
I apologize if the content didn't jive with your expectations, but previews on The Escapist are typically more about our experience with the game than a bullet point list of the game's mechanics. I included a ton of information where it was relevant to the hands-on experience, but detailing every system in the game would have doubled the length of the article. I try to provide background so readers are immediately aware of my mindset and inherent bias on the subject. The anecdotes were largely to differentiate this demo from typical guided press demos, which is of great significance my actual takeaway, as well as the enthusiasm of the team for the game and franchise, which I think is critical to creating a genuinely good reboot.chiatt said:
To be sure, I was told the dev team more or less started with MOO2 code as a foundation, and built it out from there. I wanted to give newcomers a bit of info on important details, but didn't want to bog down veterans with information that is no different from the MOO2 experience. There aren't that many changes. That's one of the things I liked most about what I saw. The biggest changes were the interface/UI, graphics updates, and wormhole pathways, each of which I made a point to cover.
This is absolutely one of those articles. I made a point to make my love of the franchise apparent at the outset to avoid any deference to my opinion without a critical eye. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience, and expressing our enthusiasm for what we love is a big part of what we set out to do here.SmugFrog said:
I mentioned that accessibility was important to the team with the reboot, and I don't personally see any issue with a 5-item production queue. I mentioned it so you could form the opinion stated here, and so others could come to their own conclusion. Sorry if you didn't enjoy the read, but this comment indicates that I was successful in not just conveying my experience, but offering information so critical gamers like you can decide for themselves!
In any case, I do appreciate the feedback on both accounts. We'll have more information-focused articles and news as we see and hear more about the game, which I hope you'll find more helpful!
Firstly, I want to say thank you for coming back to reply! It means a lot to me as a reader of various articles when the author comes back to participate in the discussion about the article. I hate when an author posts something and disappears leaving the questions (or angry feedback) lingering and never resolved.Encaen said:
It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the article. I'm actually quite happy with it as written. It was your feedback from getting a taste of the game; and from the intro it sounds like you are a Master of Orion fan too. My comment about it being "one of those previews" is based upon it being a short taste of the game. Here's some things you can do in it and how it operates, but not much beyond that. Perhaps chiatt was looking for more of a review type look at it; and who wouldn't want to see that, really? However I can't think of a game that was a disaster on release that while it was in a preview article was bashed by the author. Usually you guys are thankful for getting to preview a game, and if you get the reputation as someone who writes high criticism, you're not likely to be invited back. I understand that, and I think you presented it in a well written manner.
My problem stems not from your writing, or presentation, but in the direction they're proceeding with this game and I just don't like it. From the awful writing and dialogue the ambassadors use, to the starlanes (worm holes between planets) forcing paths of movement, to the 5 item production queue - these are steps BACKWARDS from the series, not progression. This is sounding like Master of Orion LITE so the casual audience can have a 4X game. In dreaming of the things that Master of Orion III could've been (or what IV could be), I had higher hopes. They're taking a game that's popular, Civilization, and trying to shoehorn in elements of that. Will it work? Possibly. I just fear that it won't end up scratching that itch I have for the ultimate space empire game. I have no intention of preordering until I see the reviews for this thing.
Perhaps my skepticism is brought on by years of being disappointed by so many 4X games that, while wonderful in their own way, just couldn't match some of the things that Master of Orion II had introduced in 1996. I love Galactic Civilizations ship building. Endless Space has beautiful graphics and music. Sins of a Solar Empire (yeah, RTS, not fair really) has beautiful and well done combat. When playing each of those games though, I always want to do things that aren't programmed into the game - and it's a shame that this old game has actions that trump the newer games. Unique tech trees, espionage and sabotage, blockades, ground invasions, manual combat, rampant customization of ships (with miniaturization; a reason to keep researching to make components in your ships smaller). Each 4X game since has drawn on bits and pieces but none in my opinion have been able to bake that perfect pie with all of the right ingredients.
My WTF about the 5 item queue is just a frustration akin to "well that's one more thing removed - what else has been removed?" Did you never play a late game huge galaxy with all of the techs and queue up 20-30 items for each new colonization? It was very tedious and time consuming. Perhaps the auto governor will do a better job, but I don't see how cutting back on things serves the game better.
Honestly, I remain hopeful for this game. I want it to succeed and bring back the magic. With every article/video/preview that's posted that angers the old fanbase, it just seems like one more nail in the coffin. What keeps me hopeful is that the developers are actually working on making the gameplay fun. There are times when a developer makes changes to the formula that causes an outcry of anger from the fanbase, but the changes actually make the game more fun. I really hope that is the case.
One last thing - I can't get to what I wrote on Steam about the dialogue (from a work computer) - but this from another source sums it up. A lot of us feel like whoever is doing the writing didn't really think out the interactions and dialogue:
Mikko_M:
Personally I find it to be quite lazy and unimaginative writing to just search every cat, bird, bear, lizard, ant, Roswell alien, robot joke and phrase in the English language and cram them all into the in-game dialogue. In my opinion the right way to come up with the things that the aliens would say is to first take a look at the culture that you have created for them and their intended physical appearance and then start to think about what kind of language this particular alien species might use.
And since this is a game about galactic domination and probably its target audience isn`t 5 to 10 year-olds at least I would appreciate if the ambassadors weren`t highlighting the fact that they are for example cats all the time (like the Mrsshan representative seemed to be doing in the video). Most of us players can already see that the Mrrshans for example are cat based aliens so they don`t have to keep bringing that up all the time, and they can focus on more important in-game matters when they speak.