Zero Punctuation: FTL: Faster Than Light - Exploding Spaceships

[Terminal Blue]

It's kind of interesting that he complained its too long, because actually an hour or two per game is generally nothing in roguelike terms.

However, because most roguelikes are so much longer the chances of just having an unlucky game are greatly diminished. Sure, maybe one game you'll find a +5 sword of awesome and in another you'll be stuck with a mere +3 sword of mediocrity but the game is long enough that the odds are you'll be able to get something. The player can be reasonably sure that they will get enough equipment/money/whatever to theoretically prepare for any challenge, it's just a question of how long it takes them to get impatient or to overestimate their own strength or just stand in the wrong tile or whatever it is that finally finishes them off.

This is in my opinion the strength and weakness of FTL when compared to other roguelikes. On one hand, it's much more exciting. It isn't just hours and hours of careful grinding through only to see it taken away because you made a mistake, on the other hand the randomness is much more in your face, and it's possible to play well (concentrating for an hour is not difficult) and still lose to numbers.

But hey.. that's a pretty interesting tradeoff, and I respect games which go either direction.

 

[Objectable]

Does the fruit machine dispence regular badgers or honey badgers? If they're honey badgers, I'm staying away.

 

[lithiumvocals]

I have a hard time playing FTL. Not because I dislike it, but because if I start playing I won't stop until long, long after I should have.

Damn fun game, even if I've only ever beaten it once. On easy. >_>

 

[Holythirteen]

I'm an easy beater too...

Great video Yahtzee, but just not as good as your poem.

I have to find somebody to play for me while I give them orders though, that does seem like fun.

 

[EvilRoy]

I think I've watched all of Yahtzee's reviews here... is it me, or do these "reviews" become more weird and have less actual reviewing content than they used to?

Obviously I don't take them seriously or use them for actual reviews that help me decide whether or not a game might be interesting, it's entertainment after all, but apart from mentioning the update he didn't say anything about it, or the large amount of mods you can get for it (which would be relevant since he seems to be mostly a PC gamer).

Just to further disclaim and avoid useless comments; I get that you can glean whether or not he likes something and he does bring up the occasional point, but I'm curious to whether anyone else thinks this has gone a bit too far to the whack side of things.

The actual review content seems to vary in relation to how bad he hated/loved the game, plus how likely it is everyone on earth has already heard about/purchased/played the game before his review comes out. It seems to me that it gets really obvious when he wants to make a point (good or bad) about industry practice or has nothing new to say on a game (because its sequel XX or like this game, just an update), but swings the other way to in depth review analysis when he finds a game that he pops a massive hate/love boner for.

Personally I tend to use most of his reviews to inform my choices. If I can listen to him ***** about a game for 5 mins and I still think I might like it, the game will probably be a winner for me. If he gushes about a game for 5 mins and it does nothing to quell the bunging staff of my dislike, then I wasn't going to enjoy the game no matter what.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

and here i am, foaming my mouth over the fact steam somehow screwed their own cloud save thingy and now i lost 1 month of work in that game


that being said, yes FTL is that amazing, SOMETIMES luck can screw you over but the avdanced edition content and balance changes make sure that happens WAY less often than it used to

now most deaths are your fault and your fault alone, sure losing over a mistake you made 30 minutes ago that you were unable to recover from might sound harsh, but i can get behind it, its fair and it means you must think very carefully your decisions because their consequenses can ruin you 1 hour down the line

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

This game was a huge waste! And Yatzhee said the critical line, but like every other indie lover, glanced over it. Its a game meant to be replayed over and over, but two hours is a lot of investment. YES! Why is no one angry about that?! Why is it a free-to-play game that's designed to be slow and painful is considered the lowest of the low in programming, but a indie game designed to be slow and painful is 'all about the journey' and 'you just don't get it'.
Same damn problem I had with Papers Please. I'm tired of people saying 'Its not about the game or having fun, its about the etc...'
Its a game. Its supposed to be fun.
FTL is not fun.
And I just checked my Steam. I've played FTL for 17 hours. And I've beat the game once and I've never unlocked something. Ever.
What a waste of my time.

try it now that the advanced edition is released, im sure itll change your opinion, for starters, unlocking ships is now way way easier

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I've owned this game since just a bit post-release and no matter what I do I've never once beat the flagship. So many small things added up to my ship getting trounced at the end. I am not downing on the game, it is a lot of fun but its really annoying the difficulty spike at the end, and the game seeming to punish you for not using x-ship modification.

 

[gridsleep]

There's that music again! Where the hell is that coming from?! The Capcha widget? WTF eh? And then it just stops. I'm going to strangle something when I find out what's causing this.
Anyway, I was going to write that if I had a van I'd put KNOB DRAGON on it myself just to shock the hell out of everyone in town. But my ire is kind of wasted now on that mystery music.

 

[Shim3d]

Zero Punctuation is always much more enjoyable when they're on something Yahtzee's passionate about; either games he really likes or games he really hates.
Lately there's been a lot of mediocrity and it makes his reviews seem rather weary.

So what I'm trying to say is that, to me this is the most enjoyable review of his in a while.

Also the Friedrich Nietzsche joke was pure gold.

 

[gridsleep]

Its a game. Its supposed to be fun.
FTL is not fun.

Myself and thousands of others would disagree.

That should be I and thousands of others. Do you go around saying Myself would disagree? People would stare at you.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

I'm not the biggest fan of indie games. But FTL is the exception to that rule. I love it. I've played at least 100 hours so far, and with new content I'll be playing it for even longer.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

I've owned this game since just a bit post-release and no matter what I do I've never once beat the flagship. So many small things added up to my ship getting trounced at the end. I am not downing on the game, it is a lot of fun but its really annoying the difficulty spike at the end, and the game seeming to punish you for not using x-ship modification.

right now the game doesnt punishes you for not having x-ship modification, it punishes you for not having x, y OR z ship modification, there are many ways to tackle the same problem

you can kill the crew with bombs, mind control, fire boarding crew or anti-bio beams, you can bypass shields with missiles, flak cannons, boarding drones or hacking modules, to destroy a ship you can overwhelm then with laser fire, attack drones and beams

you will need certain equipment to face certain situations but the options in equipment are so much better now


have you trying looking up some guides for defeating the flagship?

 

[AuronFtw]

Its a game. Its supposed to be fun.
FTL is not fun.

Myself and thousands of others would disagree.

That should be I and thousands of others. Do you go around saying Myself would disagree? People would stare at you.

Myself would disagree.

OT: I definitely liked FTL, but color me in the dirty casual crowd. I play with a cheat engine on so I can fuck around giving myself unlimited missiles or drones or what have you, since I'm not the type of person who would play a game for 19 losses just for that 20th win. Props to the people dedicated enough to win legit, especially on normal/hard, but I personally enjoy the game more treating it like a roguelike sandbox via cheats.

Also love that you can rename crew now, +1 good change.

 

[Bindal]

try it now that the advanced edition is released, im sure itll change your opinion, for starters, unlocking ships is now way way easier

he claims he never unlocked anything AND that he finished the game.
Those are two contradicting statements as you unlock two ships for finishing the game (Engi for reaching Sector 5, Federation for finishing) so he obviously never played beyond the first four sectors.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

And I just checked my Steam. I've played FTL for 17 hours. And I've beat the game once and I've never unlocked something. Ever.
What a waste of my time.

Wait what?

Just getting halfway to the last sector will unlock a ship and winning will unlock another, if you were complaining about the crystal cruiser then you might have a point. [small]Seriously, screw that ship.[/small]

Its a game. Its supposed to be fun.
FTL is not fun.

Then I'm guessing by your logic the Dark Souls series isn't classified as 'games' either?

The definition of 'fun' can be very subjective, some people like a challenge or a well told tale/world and obviously you're not one of them.

 

[jdarksun]

Already love FTL, but just wanted to say that your review was extra amusing today. Nicely done!

 

[axlryder]

Fun game, but just remember that FTL doesn't stand for Faster than Light.

It means For The Loss, you will die, a lot.

I kinda prefer Fuck The Lannisters.

 

[red255]

Yeah, I'm not sure if Mr crosshairs needs recommendations on things to do for reviews when schedule is slow.

Steam had a recent sale on shadowrun returns this weekend brought that to mind, but any kickstarted game that was in people's minds when it was kickstarted should get a slot IMO.

 

[karamazovnew]

Awesome episode. Great job, Yahtzee!