Zero Punctuation: FTL: Faster Than Light - Exploding Spaceships

Yahtzee Croshaw

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FTL: Faster Than Light - Exploding Spaceships

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews FTL: Faster Than Light.

Watch Video
 

Evonisia

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Jun 24, 2013
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It kinda gives me an XCOM: Enemy Unknown vibe (except the random chance seems to be more hated on than praised in this video), albeit in a different genre. Also, two retro reviews and it's only May, 2014 must be dry right now!
 
Jan 12, 2012
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Faster Than Light: Yeah, It's Alright.

I never got into roguelikes (a bad Dwarf Fortress incident soured me on them), but FTL always seemed like the kind of game that might bring me into the fold. If this content patch is worth it, I might pick it up on steam.
 

Bindal

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May 14, 2012
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Evonisia said:
It kinda gives me an XCOM: Enemy Unknown vibe (except the random chance seems to be more hated on than praised in this video). Also, two retro reviews and it's only May, 2014 must be dry right now!
Well, he reviewed it as Advanced Edition, which is only two months old...

Thunderous Cacophony said:
Faster Than Light: Yeah, It's Alright.

I never got into roguelikes (a bad Dwarf Fortress incident soured me on them), but FTL always seemed like the kind of game that might bring me into the fold. If this content patch is worth it, I might pick it up on steam.
Totally. It almost doubles the content in most areas, gives you an addional ship to play with (total of 10 now), adds a third layout to all, adds a new alien race, rebalanced the entire thing (including easier ways to unlock the ships).
All for free, too.
 

Mosesj

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Sep 19, 2010
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Aww, I was wondering if he was going to mention how certain combos in the game are far far better then the rest of the game mechanics (for example, boarding the weapon rooms on the final enemy, but none of the other combos come to mind atm)
 

evilnancyreagan

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May 1, 2014
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Thunderous Cacophony said:
Faster Than Light: Yeah, It's Alright.

I never got into roguelikes (a bad Dwarf Fortress incident soured me on them), but FTL always seemed like the kind of game that might bring me into the fold. If this content patch is worth it, I might pick it up on steam.
All Dwarf Fortress experiences end "badly"

But remember, losing is fun!?
 

GabeZhul

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Mar 8, 2012
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Two Words: Captain's Edition!
It's a modpack for FTL that adds a ton of new weapons, modules, the ability to socialize with your crew and/or construct items at nodes that would be normally empty and a ton of other things, including special ship abilities (like being able to disrupt the enemy's weapon systems, weaken (or outright disable) their shields or even poison their air before battle) and a truly staggering amount of new content, including new zones, mini-bosses and even a sort-of alternative pacifist ending (it sadly doesn't work too well because the destruction of the Rebel Flagship is hard-coded and the game doesn't actually end otherwise, but it's still a nice touch.) Oh, and did I mention that, despite all these additions, the game is still balanced?

Seriously, if you liked the game, give it a try. It's glorious.
 

Hutzpah Chicken

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Mar 13, 2012
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I've considered picking this one up, but my stingy patience will wait until I can get it for $1. If I got Sanctum for $1, this'll be easy.
 

Tireseas_v1legacy

Plop plop plop
Sep 28, 2009
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Thunderous Cacophony said:
Faster Than Light: Yeah, It's Alright.

I never got into roguelikes (a bad Dwarf Fortress incident soured me on them), but FTL always seemed like the kind of game that might bring me into the fold. If this content patch is worth it, I might pick it up on steam.
My recommendation: chuck it on your wishlist, then wait for it to go on sale until you can buy it for less than a pint. That's what I did and I almost regret not paying full price.

Almost...

But, yeah, this game manages to hit the sweet spot of a good many points. Easy to learn, well-paced difficulty curve, and a real sense of accomplishment if your ass manages to make it to the final sector (before your ass is handed to you by the rebel flagship).

If there's one thing that drove me nuts, it's the new ship progression system. There's no mystery anymore in unlocking ships through sheer random luck.

OT: Why do I get the feeling this was written originally when it came out?
 

Bindal

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Hutzpah Chicken said:
I've considered picking this one up, but my stingy patience will wait until I can get it for $1. If I got Sanctum for $1, this'll be easy.
Nope. 75% off is the maximum on this one.
 

Ickabod

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May 29, 2008
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Fun game, but just remember that FTL doesn't stand for Faster than Light.

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

Geo Da Sponge

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May 14, 2008
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It's also worth mentioning that success is a lot less reliant on luck now, as the Advanced Edition adds easier ways to unlock ships and roughly doubles the available gear in stores. Now the only way you can get totally screwed by chance is if you're playing a really specialist ship type and you run up against its perfect counter (eg. being one of the pure-boarding Mantis ships and encountering an unmanned drone or a Lanius ship).
 

deth2munkies

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Jan 28, 2009
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MarsAtlas said:
I guess he's finally covering it now that it has Advanced Edition. I know he had made that ode to it back in 2012, so it seemed weird that it didn't show up on his top 5 list.

To anybody who takes issue with the "too roguelike" part of the game, I recommend either turning off the advancing rebel fleet (lots of data files out there that you can download that do that) or what I recommend even more strongly, download the Captain's Edition mod[footnote]Link to said mod: http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=15663[/footnote] with infinite mod attached to it.

Evonisia said:
It kinda gives me an XCOM: Enemy Unknown vibe (except the random chance seems to be more hated on than praised in this video), albeit in a different genre.
You know how he keeps going on about the Rebel Flagship fucking your shit up? Yeah, that thing is OP as fuck. I know plenty of people who have never beaten the game without some sort of modification because the Rebel Flag-fuck-your-shit-up-ship is OP as hell.
The patch made it slightly harder, because if they hack your weapons and you can't board them you're done, but it's still entirely possible. I killed it with clever use of Cloak and Boarding drones plus a good ole Halbard Beam.
 

deserteagleeye

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Sep 8, 2010
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Is it weird that I thought about how much this game sounds like The Consuming Shadow (Yahtzee's game) when I should've thought it the other way around? I think I answered my own question but I can definitely see the influence it's had on Yahtzee.
 

Amaror

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Apr 15, 2011
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Mosesj said:
Aww, I was wondering if he was going to mention how certain combos in the game are far far better then the rest of the game mechanics (for example, boarding the weapon rooms on the final enemy, but none of the other combos come to mind atm)
That really depends. Boarding is really powerfull in the last fight for the first 2 iterations, but if you can't take the zoltan shield down fast enough on the last iteration, you can only watch with tears in your eyes as your ship gets blown to pieces.
 

KDR_11k

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Feb 10, 2009
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Amaror said:
Mosesj said:
Aww, I was wondering if he was going to mention how certain combos in the game are far far better then the rest of the game mechanics (for example, boarding the weapon rooms on the final enemy, but none of the other combos come to mind atm)
That really depends. Boarding is really powerfull in the last fight for the first 2 iterations, but if you can't take the zoltan shield down fast enough on the last iteration, you can only watch with tears in your eyes as your ship gets blown to pieces.
Zoltan shields and unmanned enemies will trip you up before then if you don't have at least some weapon you can fling at enemies. The Crystal B may be the unstoppable king of boarding but you still need a gun to deal with those things. Though boarding also has the distinct advantage of giving better loot so you'll likely have an array of death rays by the time you reach the boss.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Aug 3, 2011
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Evonisia said:
It kinda gives me an XCOM: Enemy Unknown vibe (except the random chance seems to be more hated on than praised in this video), albeit in a different genre. Also, two retro reviews and it's only May, 2014 must be dry right now!
The whole random chance annoyed me in the new xcom. Especially when you missed an alien with a shotgun from one square away. That stuff is just bullshit and leaves you open to be killed. Wasnt an issue in the original as you could surprise attack aliens if you found them first. Chance is fine, but it should be based on the skills you have eg a shotgun should hit from one square away 100%. In the end you just feel your losing because the computer decides it and your skills have nothing to do with it. Just unbalanced yet they sell it as this random unbalanced gameplay is a good thing. Loads of people love it though so i guess its just preference. Overall though, its great these types of games are out their giving new experiences.
 

Mosesj

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Sep 19, 2010
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Amaror said:
Mosesj said:
Aww, I was wondering if he was going to mention how certain combos in the game are far far better then the rest of the game mechanics (for example, boarding the weapon rooms on the final enemy, but none of the other combos come to mind atm)
That really depends. Boarding is really powerfull in the last fight for the first 2 iterations, but if you can't take the zoltan shield down fast enough on the last iteration, you can only watch with tears in your eyes as your ship gets blown to pieces.

You can get a zoltan bypass shield, and one of the combinations I remembered. Hacking drone on their pilot and then pegasus missle their shield so your beam can get in