Wed Jun 11, 2003 9:46 pm
Freelancer vs EVE-Online vs Earth and Beyond vs ????
Ok, I love Freelancer but there are a few fundamental flaws imho - I'm not out to slate the game, it's just stuff I don't like about it:
1. Missions aren't varied enough.
2. Despite trying to give the illusion of flexibility, the gameplay is actually pretty constrained and you essentiially run out of stuff to do after playing online for a while.
3. There's little in ships, equipment not any way of influencing (with any degree of permanence) what equipment, ships etc are available so there's little variation; most of the experienced players are flying the same Eagle or Sabres with the same level 10 hardware.
4. The universe isn't *actually* that big.. even compared to Elite! The later is well over 15 years old, ran on equipment which had less processing power than a modern watch, fit in less than 32KB yet was *bigger* and more varied! Behind the cosmetics (as wonderful as they are) and a few nice touches on top of the theme, Freelancer is essentially a smaller version of a game designed TWO DECADES AGO!
5. MP experience ins't particularly rich - you don't *need* to interact with other players to progress and a PvP encounter is often boils down to little more than a demonstration of who has the biggest guns.
6. There's no real "danger" or penalty. Unless you're just starting out and spent ALL your money on cargo, dieing normally means nothing more than losing a few 000$ and five minutes of flight time.
Essentially, I'd like something more "involved"; not necessarily more complex, but a richer, more dymanic multiplayer experience with genuine incentives and rewards for player co-operation and a real tension when encounters become adverserial. Something where the factions mean something more than who you happened to of shot most/least of recently and having to fork out a few $$$ before someone will sell you their hardware!
I've heard of the games in the subject, but not played any of them. Have any of the Freelancer players tried them, or anything similar, and offer any recommendations where to go next, now FL is losing it's appeal?
--
>bRydeR<
1. Missions aren't varied enough.
2. Despite trying to give the illusion of flexibility, the gameplay is actually pretty constrained and you essentiially run out of stuff to do after playing online for a while.
3. There's little in ships, equipment not any way of influencing (with any degree of permanence) what equipment, ships etc are available so there's little variation; most of the experienced players are flying the same Eagle or Sabres with the same level 10 hardware.
4. The universe isn't *actually* that big.. even compared to Elite! The later is well over 15 years old, ran on equipment which had less processing power than a modern watch, fit in less than 32KB yet was *bigger* and more varied! Behind the cosmetics (as wonderful as they are) and a few nice touches on top of the theme, Freelancer is essentially a smaller version of a game designed TWO DECADES AGO!
5. MP experience ins't particularly rich - you don't *need* to interact with other players to progress and a PvP encounter is often boils down to little more than a demonstration of who has the biggest guns.
6. There's no real "danger" or penalty. Unless you're just starting out and spent ALL your money on cargo, dieing normally means nothing more than losing a few 000$ and five minutes of flight time.
Essentially, I'd like something more "involved"; not necessarily more complex, but a richer, more dymanic multiplayer experience with genuine incentives and rewards for player co-operation and a real tension when encounters become adverserial. Something where the factions mean something more than who you happened to of shot most/least of recently and having to fork out a few $$$ before someone will sell you their hardware!
I've heard of the games in the subject, but not played any of them. Have any of the Freelancer players tried them, or anything similar, and offer any recommendations where to go next, now FL is losing it's appeal?
--
>bRydeR<
