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Missed chance

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Richter

Post Fri Apr 25, 2003 11:07 pm

Missed chance

Yeah, I know: it's been said before and have to blame myself I guess:
I expected lot's more of FL. I joined the hype and was set on the wrong foot.

I expected a game that would combine the best of Elite-Frontier, BC3000AD and X-BTF/X-T.
IMHO that would be a the be-all end-all game.

I see traces of all three these games, but it just falls short somehwere and I think I know where:

The SP story/mission are pre-chewed stuff. There's not much left for your own intelligence to sort out: mission waypoints are set for you, people talking to you like you're a retard etc.
Sometimes even had the feeling that if I would do nothing, the mission still would be a success....

Where's the hidden story line you have to stumble upon? Where is the intrigue?
What happened to toal freedom of thinking?

I finished the SP missions and now what?
Very simple: kill or trade, but to what end?
Just buy bigger ships? Explore? Explore what? wreck A,B or C?

No, FL missed a HUGE chance of creating a instant-classic.

I'm now tukcing this one away and eagerly await X2.

Hopefully one day a programmer will rise up and combine the complexity and vastness of BC3000AD (minus the Derek Smart attitude ), the graphics, economy and atmosphere of X and the feeling of freedom, exploration and discovery of Elite Frontier.

Sorry guys, not to offend anyone. FL is very nice and one can see a lot of hard work has gone in there but again a game that misses that crucial ingredient: autonomous discovery.

And yes, I'm 38 and have seen and played them all and wish I could find time to learn myself some serious C++ :-)

R.


Edited by - Richter on 26-04-2003 00:08:49

Edited by - Richter on 26-04-2003 00:09:10

redeye

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 12:13 am

@Richter
In anticipation of the tirade of abuse you're probably gonna get for slagging off Fl on TLR () i'll throw in my .02 and say i do sympathise with you 2 a degree.

I did feel it lacked the freedom promised, and was pretty pissed off that there was little choice in the SP missions. However by the sounds of it you have quite a bit yet to discover. Do some more exploring, cruise around the systems looking for patrol paths that appear to converge in empty space, there is alot to discover after SP. I easily spent more time exploring after SP than i spent completing it. listen to the rumours in the bars etc, there may not be and sub plot as such but i'm guessing you have a fair way to go yet before you have found everything.

How FL compares to the elite series has been debated here alot. There are quite a few threads about it, with many constructive points made. Personally i was weaned on Elite and secretly hope FL would be the big budget Elite 4 that now seems to be a pipe dream. In the end tho, FL has alot that elite didnt. The graphics are far better and the fact that FL has a storyline at all wins it alot of brownie points over Elite/Frontier, the strorylineline in FL is comparible to a film leaving less dev time available for sub plots etc. Lets face it the storyline in First Enc sucked.

I think if you took someone weaned on SL+FL alot of them would say Elite really let them down, it just depends what you want.

Possibly i was just lucky, i stumbled on Fl by chance and missed the hype. O.K. its not Morrowind and its not Frontier but i'd say it is still easily worth the money.

midaro

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 12:47 am

For mine, the problem was that the developers originally tried to make FreeLancer the definitive Space classic. They tried to make it a revolutionary game, when really they should have simply evolved the genre.

I mean if you think about it ,the game we have today probably could have been release in 1999. That is to say, if the game we have today had been what the developers had aimed to produce from the start. Which it wasn't, (go back and look at all the videos that were released during development to see how much the vision changed/was curtailed).

If the game had been released in 1999 - the impovement over previous titles would have been more obvious - it would have made some money - and maybe now we would be playing FreeLAncer 2 or 3.

RK-47

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 5:02 am

go play multiplayer and start a squadron or something. =D quite fun.

Lt Cmdr. Ajim

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 7:49 am

BC3000AD

ok. teach me coz i cant seem to work out those damned too complex stuff

I Don't want To end up in corpse early because YOU were daydreaming.. any bad faction pilot

Richter

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 4:05 pm

Hey Redeye,

It was not my intention to give FL flak. It's a beauty of it's own for sure.
What I tried to say was that I had my personal expectations set too high, resulting in a dissappointment.
So not DA's fault, mea culpa.

You're right. Some people, especially the late generation, will probably detest Frontier due it's graphics alone, but I always found that graphics were hevaily compensated by gameplay.
Amd indeed, everyone has his personal preferences.

True, I have to do some discovering still, but with some millions in the bank flying an Eagle I do see a very repetetive pattern: missions are all mercenary mission, no deliveries, escorts or whatever.
It just get's boring very quickly.

Ok, let me surpress this frustration (which is a bad thing to do )and keep on flying and maybe I will see the Light :-)

Cheers!
R.

Richter

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 4:09 pm

Ajim,

BC3000AD = BattleCruiser 3000AD Millennium

The game that COULD HAVE ended all others, but due to a illustrious (and some times tirranic) developer never made it where it shoud've been: all time classic.
Still, the concept rocks and HAD a lot of potential to satisfy all.
Maybe his new release will. Looks good so far.

X-BTF = X-Beyond The Frontier and X-Tension

One of the best.
Beautifull in graphics, atmosphere and trade/economy.
Lacks in story line, bu keeps you going for months.

The new version (X2) is about toi be released and promises (here we go again) to be super-dupa....

But hey, this is an FL forum so I will shut-up, but now you know.

cheers,
R.

dang8

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 7:59 pm

i don't know why but i managed to completely miss the hype. i only stumbled on the game when i played the demo on a PCGamer DVD. after the demo i bought thegame the next day. SO if i thought first impressions were good i certainly wasn't dissapointed by the main game. I thought that was an achievement by DA and MS for sucking me in to the game by me just playing a demo

10'000 Lemmings can't be wrong

Fear Factor

Post Sat Apr 26, 2003 8:52 pm

FL was intended to make money. Yes, heartbreaking, but like every other game it was. It never promised to beat all the other games. Booohooo. It's a decent game for its price. You're 38 and you fell for the hype? yesshhh. And save your "off for X2 speech" for the Egosoft forum. As I said, FL is intended to make money, and like it or not, they deserve every penny they make from FL. Your underhanded-advertisement is not appreciated here.



Aku. Soku. Zan. (Kill. Evil. Instantly.)

Kusari Pizza Delivery: Whether it's of Blood Dragons, Golden Chrysanthemums, or Pirates - we deliver in under 30 minutes - or we commit seppuku....

JTCurry5

Post Sun Apr 27, 2003 12:24 am

Heres something i did to increase gameplay. Get in a low ping mp server, with a bunch of people, and immediately start looting new york! Its real fun, and it gets better as you get a better ship. Make this game a rpg. Find a bunch of jumpholes, and try to get across sirius using just jumpholes. Now thats a challenge! Attack transports and run away. Thats what im doing, and believe me, nothings funner than finding a convoy of diamonds! Be a smuggler. You may not get the best profit, but its still fun. Try not to get caught or scanned by police when you have a cargo load of cardamine. Change your rep so you can get good different ships. Theres a whole universe to explore...well... maybe not...but theres a whole sirius to explore. Have fun with the game

Richter

Post Sun Apr 27, 2003 12:46 am

To FearFactor.

I'm impressed by your social skills. They will bring you far.
I tried to bring it nicely, without tearing down FL, because it doesn't deserve that. However, you do.

I tried to make the point that (and now READ very carefully) my personal epxectations were set too high. Not yours buddy.
You enjoy it? Fine. So do I.

Advertisement?
Just because I try to put FL in context inside it's genre?
You don't like that? Too bad.

I keep an open mind to all games and do NOT franticly and fanatically defend one over the other without any regard for other options.

You, my friend, should learn form other posters here who kindly gave me advice on how to approach the game and make it more enjoyable.
You on the other hand give forums a bad name.

Your sig says all.
Learn well.

R.






Edited by - Richter on 27-04-2003 01:47:33

Edited by - Richter on 27-04-2003 01:48:26

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