Tue Mar 11, 2003 6:04 am by Bullethead
Although I think the game does what it does very well, and enjoy doing those things, I am really beginning to think that yes, Freelance is only about 1/2 what it could be.
Simply put, this game should be named "Wannabe Bounty Hunter" or "Wannabe Hitman". That's because all you really get to do is run around killing people with prices on their heads, yet you can't even join the organizations that you work for.
As you might have noticed, DA took out the cargo run missions as "redundant", despite what it says on the box. So the only variety you get is mining or trading by risking your own money. And you can't do either of these in a worthwhile manner until you're maybe 1/2way into the SP game at least, when you have the territory to do it in, the capital to invest in a good freighter to make the runs worthwhile, and the firepower needed to defend said freighter effectively.
Also, because your advancement in the game is tied solely to the accumulation of wealth, there's no point at all in just exploring for the Hell of it. Exploring means you'll run into baddies, but you get no experience and extremely little money or loot for killing them. In fact, such encounters are usually a net loss for you, due to ammo and shield batteries you expend.
At the bottom line, at least to start out with, you have no incentive to do anything but be a paid hitman. That's the only way to make money. And in between hits, you avoid fights, even with guys you know you can take, because you know it does you no good to kill them, and they might get in a lucky shot and hurt you bad, so you end up with big repair bills and no income to balance them.
Thus, while the combat is fun standing alone, it gets old after a while because that's all there is. Or at least it's 80% of all there is. Sure, there's this huge universe full of all kinds of things going on, but you need to avoid getting into it unless you've got somebody else footing the bill, or are so rich that you can replace everything you own and not notice the cost.
Certainly, with this huge, dynamic universe, DA could have thought of a few more ways for players to keep themselves occupied. Hell, there have been many suggestions from the players that are kinda obvious. But for whatever reason, DA did a 1/2ass job in this regard, so as a result we have about 1/2 the game we should have.
-Bullethead
In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria
). It also had a big universe like freelancer, not as big though. The biggest difference is E&B was a MMORPG and this is a mainly SP game with multiplayer support too. E&B was cool, but freelancer looks to be better. I say, get freelancer and when youve outplayed this game, get E&B.