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![]() Hmm, what's this? ![]() No, no, this isn't really ringing any bells for me, I'm afraid. I'll need a little more... ![]() Oh, OH! War on the FRONTIER! Gotcha. Also, check out the intro for some kickin'-rad tunes. This space-exploration-sci-fi-drama game was released in '93 by Tsunami Media. It was supposed to be a sequel to the Starflight games - which I've not played myself - but that deal fell through, and so an original I.P. was born. This game encorporates a whole bunch of space exploration, venturing into the unknown, managing your vessel and seeking ways to finance your mission, either through peaceful trade or ruthless piracy; all in the meantime having to deal with an engaging plot involving saving humanity as we know it using diplomatic tact to help generate an alliance between drastically different alien species to unite against a common foe. In addition, you can form your own crew of rag-tag misfits, discover a wide and rich world created by the developers of this game and even shape it yourself, by discovering and naming new planets and species. Is this game good? poo poo no, it's as boring as hell. BUT it had potential. It did things that Bioware tried to do years later; limited sometimes only by the technology of the age. It has some beautiful art work. And it also has a soft spot in my heart when I was naught but a wee stripling who was easily enthralled with bright flashing lights and sound effects. With your help, I'd like to be able to take you through this flawed gem of a game and - while we're at it - save humanity from the scum of the universe! Updates Part I - Welcome to Thule Sector Part II - The most important place in the galaxy Part III - A journey of a thousand light-years begins with a single step Part IV - Call her Ishmael Part V - GET THOSE NERDS! Part VI - To quote A. Schwarzenegger: You are one, ugly, motherfucker Part VII - Trying the diplomatic route Part VIII - Something, something a joke about the Maersk Alabama hijacking. Part IX - Why can't we be friends? Part X - The Great(ing) Escape or; I'm sure we've broken the Geneva Convention with this strategy. Part XI - Thank you, sentients of Thule, for your support; you've been about as much use as a marzipan dildo. Part XII - Somehow worse than a QTE boss or; Coulrophobes beware! Samovar fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jul 18, 2015 |
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# ? Jan 16, 2021 09:33 |
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Part I - Welcome to Thule Sector![]() Here at the very beginning we start out at the Biotech services - it's not immediately obvious what the bleedin' hell is going on, but that's not important just now. First and foremost, our name: ![]() And after we press enter, we get immediately moved to the following scene: ![]() It's no scrolling text exposition, but eh; it'll do. The camera shifts downward, revealing a space station. And heading towards that space station... ![]() Who else but yours truly? Immediately we get pushed to some kind of a intercom, and get a call from one Director Hawking. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Ach c'mon... You managed to accidentally start ONE pan-galactic war resulting in the deaths of billions and suddenly YOU'RE seen as the bad guy? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Well, that's what you get by voting Tories. Nowt but self-centred liberals and quasi-facist Randroids ready to just jump ship at the chance of making a profit any way they can. Quislings, the lot of 'em. ![]() ![]() Oh great. So now I'm a goddamned hired agent for this Weyland-Yutani-wannabe corporation? Just wonderful. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I have a feeling I'm gonna be needing all the luck I can get here... ![]() ![]() Well, now that we FINALLY have all that exposition out of the way, welcome to Garriod! This is one of three outposts maintained by Newfront in the Thule Sector that have been established for interstellar trade - they're the safe havens of this game. Currently they're packed with humans primarily; but there are a few other peoples around the place that we can bump into. As you can see, there are six things we can do from this entrance lobby. We can access the Newfront com-terminal in the centre of the room, and see what announcements are available as well as drop a line to Director Hawking to give funds and declare findings. Keep in mind, we DO need to supply funds to the guy. You can lose the game if you don't keep him well supplied. The open door on the immediate left is the lounge - a good place to rest a wee bit before heading on our grand adventure. To the far left is the exchange centre. Any goods we manage to pick up from planetary exploration (or by other means...) can be sold there for credits. Available to buy from this locale is the most important resource in the whole game - the fuel source for our ship, called Stabilium. Hey, at least it's better than bleedin' Unobtainium, alright? Right and to the back is the Biotech services. If any of our crew has come a cropper, we can get them stitched back into a semi-morphous shape with this facility. Also found behind this door is this game's encyclopedia, detailing the biology of all known aliens in this sector. This'll get updated as new life-forms are found in this game. Closest door on the right is Frontier Craft - the mechanical services available for us to upgrade our ship's shield, fields, engines, weapon systems, etc. etc. Very valuable, but as of right now, we cannae really afford anything. So we'll have to just wait before getting anything from there. Finally, the last thing we can do is leave the station and get onto our ship. Let's do that, shall we? ![]() FINALLY. To be able to stretch the legs (metaphorically speaking, anyway), time to get a good look around Thule... ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Oh good. Remind me to send him a thank you pipe-bomb next time we meet. ![]() ![]() ![]() Basically, this is the way the game performs copy protection. However, it's actually pretty crappy. It asks you to identify a government type of one of the sentient species in the game. There's only six possible answers, and if you did a bit of background reading at the Biotech station, you'd be able to make educated guesses as to the correct answers. After giving the correct answer to whatever the question is, ABE disengages security locks to the ship. Moving swiftly on... ![]() This is what the immediate system looks like on the vid-display of our ship. In the centre is Garriod station, and currently there's nowt else. Other places will have more than just one thing in them, though. You get star systems with various planets, and every so often you get fellow space travellers; some good, some neutral and some... less generously inclined. But to get an idea of exactly how much stuff there is to explore, I think I had better pull up the Nav system and show the Thule sector in its entirety... ![]() That's right. There's over fifty different noted locations to go to in this game. Three outposts, four home systems (those are the really shiny stars) and a crapload of stars; and orbiting each star is a variety of planets, with the potential of a variety of different life-forms, some known, others unknown. The ship itself has six different stations, Biotech, Science, Navigation, Engineering, Contact and Tactical. I'll get into exactly what each of these stations do at the relevant times when we first use them. With your help, goons, I'd like to try and get the ship upgraded ASAFP before tackling the major mission, but with you guys influences and decisions. That being said; Who would you like to visit first? The Ghebraant, the Vantu or the Deresta? The Kaynik will be left later, for reasons that will become apparent if we ever bump into any of them. To help you make your decision, here's the Biotech's brief on each of the quartet. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() So... to whom should we start out diplomatic outreach to?
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The Vantu seem cool. If they aren't ready to join an alliance, maybe they can at least offer advice.
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The Vantu seem pacifist and enlightened, so of course they're gonna be the smuggest assholes and send you on a quest spanning half of the game. Better to get this off our heads early, set course for Vantu system/s.
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Recruit some goons
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Ghebraant The giant space bugs have a hive mind so clearly we can save time in either endearing ourselves to them or pissing them off all at once. Also they appear to have the most annoying to type name of the selections, so there is that.
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The Vantu seem cool, but I want to see what kind of place Boobolla is: to the Deresta!
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Hippie aliens.
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The Lone Badger posted:Recruit some goons Yes, I too vote for the Deresta. I mean, they're piggy goons who live on Boobola, what's not to like?
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Part II - The most important place in the galaxy Before we go off to do the mission, I'm wanting to go through a bit of basic navigation and conversation options in this game - that way I won't be dropping you all in the deep end come actually interacting with the aliens, like. First off, announcements from the Newfront com-terminal: ![]() ![]() ![]() That's the main reason why in my current state I'll be trying to avoid contact with the Kaynik (or indeed anyone potentially dangerous). Our ship cannae take more than a light exposure to UV-light from a star fifteen parsecs away before it explodes, so until we manage to upgrade our ship's defensive systems and engines before we can start taking the fight to them. And finally, most importantly of all... ![]() And with those important notices out of the way; it's time to go back on the ship and get travelling. But first I think I could use a bit more, i.e. better, context for who we are and what exactly we are doing here, in the Thule sector and how our ship actually works, so before we go anywhere, let's call in with ABE for a wee second. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Wow; we've got self-confidence in abundance here. ![]() ![]() Now here is how the game handles interacting with people; you have three options - you can choose a selection of topics to talk about - some subjects are unique to certain characters, and each species have unique responses to certain topics which change over time. ![]() Alternatively you can choose to try and butter the other person up - an entirely futile thing to do; since it rarely makes things turn out better, there are more sure-fire ways to get people to like you and it can occasionally make things worse (more on those two later when they become relevant). Hey, at least it isn't... quite... as creepy as Mass Effect could be. And occasionally it has some amusing responses. Finally you can choose what type of a farewell you leave people with. But we called up ABE to get a vague idea of how FTL is handled in this game, as well as a bit more explanation of what Protostar is, so... ![]() ![]() And there we have why we are going to invest in engines ASAFP. The current engine model this ship has, Level I, is poo poo. REALLY poo poo. You move like poo poo in ship encounters, you use up more fuel travelling from star system to star system, it takes ages to traverse INSIDE star systems and stabilium is one of the most expensive resources in the entire game. Engines are what you need most of all. Then it become much easier to get everything else. ![]() ![]() ![]() Oh goody. PMCs are what defend mankind from the alien menace. ![]() ![]() ![]() Very funny, ABE ![]() ![]() So, no pressure eh? ![]() ![]() ![]() After you talk about three subjects, most people will brush you off, and you have to wait a while before you can talk with them again, e.g. jumping from one star system to another and letting time pass. This is irritating if you are wanting to speak about certain topics but everyone (of the same species) in the vicinity tells you to gently caress off (effectively). With that in mind, since I went through the topics of conversation that ABE can talk about, you guys can tell me what you'd like to hear from ABE, or indeed anyone, in bold, and I'll include it in the next update. Now that that's all over we need, I repeat, NEED to upgrade our engines to the highest grade ASAP. At the same time, I'll be showing off how planet-landing etc. works before heading off to the first species the thread wants. With that in mind, there are a couple of places I'll be heading to. ![]() We'll be heading to this star system. Now, you see how going even that relatively short distance takes up 34.7m3 of stabilium? You start out with 100 m3 of it. 1m3 costs 100 credits, and we start out with 15000 credits. That may sound a lot, at the beginning, but considering that a Level III engine costs 25000 (and is, in fact the most expensive thing in the game you HAVE to buy if you want to complete the game; there's no other way you can acquire one), we need to make savings. So - you might reasonably ask - why this star system? Well, pipe down already! Jesus, I was getting to that! ![]() And if any of you start saying 'are we there yet?' I'll kick you out of the goddamned airlock. ![]() So, here's how a typical star system looks; you'll have a central star with a collection of planets (or in some cases, none at all) that don't orbit around the star - they're all static. Each planet is colour-coded with respect to its size. Smallest planets are grey. Next up is turquoise , then pink, blue and purple roughly. I say those last three roughly, because our landing craft has a maximum gravity threshold. Any planets with a G-value of ~8 or more, if memory serves; you cannae land on. But there's one planet in particular that we are interested in, the left-most one. ![]() We have GOT to get some better engines on this ship. ![]() So, when you enter a planet's orbit, you get treated to this kind of a screen, you see the mass, the gravity, the orbit from the sun and the name of the planet in question. Performing a subjective scan through Science station, you get a bit more information. ![]() ![]() Now, the most important piece of information - that is, if you're wanting to get as much money as you possibly can, is the Lithosphere section, particularly 'Generous materials'. You see, to get money in this game (non-violently) you need to harvest materials. These materials can be either metals/elements. You want to be able to get the most stuff in the least amount of time, so you want to find a place that has a LOT of stuff to mine. The second most important piece of information from the analysis was under Atmosphere, particularly 'Non-habitable'. This doesn't mean that a planet will be uninhabited, of course. You can get people wandering around the planets on ships, etc. A habitable atmosphere will give you an indication of a chance of unknown life on the planet's surface. Right now, though, if we perform a bioscan of Galothia, we get the following screen: ![]() So, we can see from the start that there'll be some humans on this planet. Since we're not at war with ourselves, there's no risk if we jump down there for a little bit of freelance mining, as it were. ![]() ![]() From this screen we can choose where on the planet we can land on. Though, I cannot think any reason why you need to make this decision. You can't tell from this screen where the largest deposits of minerals are; you can't find a ship of the inhabitants of the planet you land on from this screen, all you can do is decide whether you want the surrounding scenery to be mountainous, hilly or oceanic. So, without further ado... ![]() ![]() Here we are in a Newfront Explorer-class landing craft. Now to how to actually move around in this game. The purple, nine-boxed grid in the centre of the screen with the 'M' on it is the directional pad. You click on it, and you start moving around with a turning speed dictated by how fast your engines are. Engine speed is indicated by the little, three-tier vertical bar to the left of the directional pad, just right to the radar. Right now, since we only have Level I engines, we only have the ability to put one section into that bar. Or take one out, and stop completely. Hooray. FINALLY, to the bottom left of the screen is the radar. Four things can be detected by the radar. Minerals are indicated by a grey 'X', life-forms are indicated by a grey, inverted 'Y', cities by a grey, inverted 'u' and other landing craft, which are indicated by a bright green dot. As you can see, South-South East of us is a mineral. So, without further ado, let's get this ship to it and try and pick it up. ![]() Oh yeah, did I forget to mention we'll need to buy a Level III engine for both THIS ship and our space-ship? No? I could have sworn I had. Also, in that .gif, you'll notice my cursor changing to some kind of yellow symbol. That is the device used to extract minerals from a planet's surface. Is there any type of indication in the game, or by talking to people that that is how you get minerals from a planet's surface? Pfft - what did you want, a game for babies? ![]() But THIS is the reason I'm at this particular planet right now. This is THE only planet in the ENTIRE system which has stabilium as a native mineral. You can save so much money if you know about this place, especially at the beginning when you need to make as much money as you can at the start. ![]() Yeah, if you're playing this game? Get used to that animation. And THIS is what I mean by the game being boring; you think there could be some more stuff to planetary exploration than just this, but there really isn't. It is very, very repetitive. And considering that it is accompanied by THIS music, ALL the time... well, let's just say as a kid I must have had a very high threshold for being bored. ![]() Hello there; who's this? Anytime you encounter a ship you don't know, you can perform a simple Science and Biotech Scan: ![]() ![]() And while we're here; might as well see what the Newfront's finest are like - intiating contact! ![]() Our reputation proceeds us! Somehow. Let's be reciprocal in our greeting: ![]() ![]() Uh... OK? ![]() In that list, there is one special option - 'Trade'; that's not really useful with humans, but it will come into serious play later. In the meantime, let's ask a few general questions before we get out of this place and get some faster engines. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Uhh... ![]() And here we have a small failing in the dialogue options. People'll say the same things all the time, despite location. This is one of the more amusing... bugs? As it were? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And off he pops, leaving us on our lonesome. (spoiler: We'll never see him again. Though we'll encounter a vast number of his identical siblings through this trip. I wonder why?) And so, now I have to go over this god-forsaken planet at a snail's-pace to get enough money so as to buy a Type III engine. This will take a very long time for me but for you, lucky readers, it will require for you guys to flit your eyes to the next update. Thank God for Radio 4's history programmes is all I'm saying. Also, Biotech has information on two more species at the very start - the last two who's home-systems we cannot visit in this game, namely humans: ![]() ![]() Hmmm. I get the distinct feeling we're being mocked somehow. And finally, our primary antagonists for this game, the Skeetch: ![]() ![]() Charming-looking fellows, they are. But believe you me, they are NOT the ugliest thing to be seen in this game. Not by a long shot. Next update we'll be getting new engines, and starting our mission proper.
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Darn, it's a tie between Deresta and the Vantu for first contact; unless more votes come in by tomorrow at my end I'll have to flip a coin for the decision.
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Samovar posted:Darn, it's a tie between Deresta and the Vantu for first contact; unless more votes come in by tomorrow at my end I'll have to flip a coin for the decision. I'll vote for the space goons, I guess.
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Fake Edit: Damnit ^^^^^^
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Part III - A journey of a thousand light-years begins with a single step First things first... ![]() ![]() Quickly! To GWS! ![]() Well, thanks to a bit of off-screen mining, I've managed to rustle up funds of over 50K from the exchange market - enough for two sets of Level III engines for both the ships. NOW we can go pay the Vantu a visit with relative ease. So; without further ado - Let's get through to Frontier Craft and get our ride upgraded. Alas, no paint job options. ![]() ![]() Well... I... uh... can't help but notice that... well, that you're not human. ![]() If you paid attention to the earlier Biotech briefs, you'd probably be able to identify Jimmy here as a Kaynik. But that earlier announcement said that the Kaynik were currently raiding ships throughout the sector. How comes blue and fuzzy here to Garriod station? ![]() ![]() This kinda sums up the Kaynik as a whole (when they're not channelling Dick Turpin); brusque and not keen on pretence. Let's see if if we cannae get a bit more out of tall, dark and handsome here. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Hmm. I'm sure that won't become relevant any time in the near future! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But therein we get the first idea that trying to ally with the Kaynik is going to be a pretty hard thing to do; they have no centralized representation - their government is listed as Anarchy - and most of the time you see 'em you'll be running into gangs of romantic business men with itchy feet and even itchier trigger fingers. You cannae sweet-talk yer way with the Kaynik. What's that? An idea that you might be able to initiate contact with a bunch of Kaynik who are more likely to listen and talk than what is typical and from that form an alliance? Don't be ridiculous! Who ever heard of a sci-fi setting having members of a different species actually having DIFFERENT personality traits from each other? ![]() And with that, we're back to the main FC screen. To get the new engines installed, we first have to transfer the old engine systems out of our ships; sell them; then buy and install the new engines into our ships. ![]() As you can see, ship systems are worth quite a bit of money; and the higher the Type of system, the more money you can get out of it. This raises a hint as to a much more fun way of obtaining funds than just through mining - but I'll get into that when we come to it. In the meantime, out with the old and in with the new! ![]() Well, after that I could do with a wee drink before we skedaddle. To the lounge! ![]() Oh - it appears that we have someone at our table. Or we chose to sit at an occupied table. Actually, I'm surprised to find this guy here - I didn't think you could find him around so soon. Let's see what our fellow drinker looks like! ![]() Oh. Oh dear. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Gee, I wonder why. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Oh boy, here we go. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yikes, he doesn't seem to like NF that much. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() What, not Ahab? Not Quint? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Dodel here is around in any Outpost lounge that doesn't have music playing in it. He acts as the grizzled veteran to our idealistic greenhorn - the Jimmy Malone to our Eliot Ness, the Abbé Faria to our Edmond Dantès, the Boss to our Big Boss as it were. He gives pretty good briefs about almost everything in the game, and he's a pretty cool character overall. While it is usually good to talk with him in any case, I'll leave the conversation options on display and get back to starting the mission. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I hope you managed to take a record of that on paper or something. An in-game journal? Pfft, who ever heard of something like that? Anyway, we at least have yet ANOTHER thing to keep in mind in addition to everything we're supposed to be doing. But first... ![]() ![]() Say hello to the second choice for the thread title. ![]() Pfft, lightweight. And with that, we're kicked out of the lounge and into the main hall. Back on the ship... ![]() By upgrading our engines; we've managed to cut down fuel costs by a third as well as flight time. NOW we can make some serious headway! First things first, where to find the Vantu? Well, I know their homeworld called Tavantal, but which of the four star systems is it? Well, they don't ACTUALLY tell you in this, game. You have to find out for yourself - but thankfully, such trial and error is not necessary, since I know the planet's location; viz - here: ![]() So, without any further ado - let's get going. ![]() Here's the star system of the Vantu - we've got three planets, which, in order from closest to sun to furthest are: Attanuat, Tavantal and Vutunt. However, what is probably most notable are those two green blips on the screen. Now, these blips represent other ships, and these blips can do one of three things: 1) Stay in position 2) Move away from you 3) Move towards you And as it so happens, one is moving towards us. Well, I've put off meeting with the Vantu long enough (and I'd be kinda hosed if it was a hostile force), so we're gonna pull the ol' well-established tactical practice of a rapid strategic withdrawal ![]() Finally, loving finally, we get to our destination - the Vantu homeworld! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Now, THERE'S an interesting last picture. Those three 'unknown' listings means that there's three indigenous lifeforms on this planet not known to Humanity. If you manage to discover the species before anyone else, you get to name the species as you see fit. What's that? There's an established, sentient species who'd probably have named these creatures in the first place and to overlook that would be considered pretty drat patronising? gently caress THAT! We'll name these goddamn animals whatever the hell WE wanna name them and to HELL with anyone else! Carl Linnaeus, eat yer heart out. ![]() Upon arriving on Tavantal, we see the following immediately: ![]() Let's get a bit more info on what it is we're seeing here: ![]() ![]() All alien species have their individual atmospheric craft as well as interstellar craft; and each species usually carry around some of the animals they have on their planet as cargo - meaning if you are quick off the bat, you might be able to find some new species without ever having to land on the planet. But where's the sense of exploration with that? Anyway, we've put this off long enough. Time to initiate contact, and channel the spirit of James T. Kirk! ![]() ![]() Or... maybe not. Thankfully, this game doesn't ever try to go down the 'Asari' route for any of the alien species. Each and every one of them are particularly... unique-looking, to say the least. I'll say this much; the Vantu are probably the best-looking of the bunch, i.e., do not make you jump back in horror the instant you see them. However, they do have a particular type of personality, which seems to come through with their very first words - they're pretty drat self-important; and this'll only get more apparent the more we speak with them. Oh well; if we want to make a good impression, you can always go with flattery! ![]() ![]() Oh my God. ![]() Well if there are any particular subjects you guys'd like me to ask the Vantu, just let me know in bold. In the meantime; let's break the ice by asking what this guy has to say about themselves, their species and humans - why not. ![]() ![]() ... Oh my God. ... OK, so maybe he has an inflated view of the Vantu aristocracy - what about if we ask him about himself? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And off he fucks. Yeah. The Vantu! Not the most... gregarious of people in the galaxy. To make people open up, you have to get an idea of how to get them to warm to you. Sometimes this involves a bit of flattery, an excessive amount of flattery and occasionally something else as well. These guys have some seriously swollen heads. If we want to get them to warm to humans, well, we're gonna hafta kiss some rear end. As annoying as that may be. So! Onto to Tavantal! It's chock-a-block full of Boron, Molybdenum and Tin - pretty valuable materials and always worth a check-up. As well as... ![]() That's what a life-from looks like on a planet's surface. You get a simple diagram of the basic appearance of the creature. And a chance to name it by doing a Biotech scan on it when it's in yer cargo. ![]() They also get individual animations for when you scoop them up into yer ship. There's one last thing you can find on planets with 'abundant' amounts of sentient life-forms; cities: ![]() These are essentially wee commercial hubs you can find on the planets which allow you to trade with the particular species. One sure-fire way you can make friends with aliens is to sell/buy things with an attitude most similar to them as well as selling/buying things from them at a loss. If you try and make a profit through haggling; people can become very shirty with you very quickly. Let's land and see if we can't paint this town red, eh? ![]() Oh. Well, I guess he's already started it, eh? Each species gets a distinct city screen with their own music and aesthetic. It's all pretty cool Every time you start bartering with anybody, you get to try and adopt a particular personality. It's best to go with the personality that matches the species in question: ![]() And it is pretty drat clear from the start which personality we should adopt for the Vantu. ![]() Offering to sell goods puts you through to this screen - if you have anything in your cargo that people want. Usually everyone wants stabilium, but occasionally you'll get some people who declare that you have nothing that they want. We can get rid of the Molybdenum at least. ![]() ![]() ![]() Remember when I said the speech in some of this game can get a bit silly? ...yeah. After selling the Molybdenum, we've got nowt else to sell - so let's try buttering this guy up a bit. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() OK, that's as much bullshit as I can take. I'm gonna ask him about the Vantu aristocracy and then I'm gonna piss off. I did NOT travel god-knows how many light years so as to meet up with the an alien species modelled after the bleedin' House of Lords. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Well... that's... certainly a unique way to end a caste system. Anyway, we've got all we're going to get from these boys for now, so we're gonna shift it, try and get a few more minerals before heading to an Outpost to unload our goods, speak to Hawking, and then see about that location Dodel was on about. ![]() Hey, at least they're actually, y'know, TALKING to us... ![]() ![]() But I think I'd best wrap up this update for now. But NOT before going through the life-form discovery process. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() After each briefing we are given an option to name the newly identified creatures. Over time, the computer will discover unknown species (and planets). I'll be trying to find them before this happens. In the meantime... what would you want to name these new species (Names in bold, and keeping in mind max. length is 12 letters)? Samovar fucked around with this message at 07:24 on May 12, 2015 |
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The spined oozing slimy thing is a Hedgeslug. The bouncing hopper that goes for low-hanging fruit (!) is a Ballsnapper. The tree-climber with a grappling hook is a Bat-Orang.
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This game feels like a bizarro universe Star Control 2, with a more obtuse GUI and slower gameplay. The writing isn't quite as snappy either, but I can't help but be interested. ![]() There's two typos in the previous update: 'When I discovered their true objectives, I tired to get out.' and 'It's all pretty [url=cool[/url]' Conversation-wise, can we ask ABE about Siege, Automatons, and Yourself, and the Vantu about Skeetch, Pirates, and Deresta? And finally name-wise, Lurker for the eel-slimy thing, seconding Ballsnapper, and no opinion on the batty thing.
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StrixNebulosa posted:There's two typos in the previous update: 'When I discovered their true objectives, I tired to get out.' and 'It's all pretty [url=cool[/url]' ...to coin a nifty phrase: 'Oops'. Thanks for the heads-up.
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Given the attitude of the locals, the eel thing should be called a Suckup, agree with Ballsnapper and Bat'Orang (use the apostrophe for maximum alien language coolness though!).
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Part IV - Call her Ishmael Hello there! Sorry about the delay in the update. When we last left our hero, we had just gotten around to naming the native fauna of Tavantal; ![]() Unfortunately, there's no option to add non-letter character's in the names, besides from a space. Which I never knew, because I had no imagination as a child. Before we go off-world and investigate a few things, a few things have come up which we might want to ask ABE about... ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And then he buggers off. For something that's supposed to help us, it's pretty brusque. Guess ABE's acclimatising us for the inhabitants of Thule. ![]() It'll be a while before the Vantu will talk to us; in the meantime, we'll do a bit of buying and selling, report our findings and funding to Hawking, see that star system Dodel mentioned and then start making trails to Boobolla. Heh. 'Boob' ![]() First off, since we're damned close to the actual location - the last known co-ordinates of the Human ship. ![]() Any time you go to a location without a star on it; you'll invariably see this scene; except with even less stuff in it. Let's see if there's anyone else alive out there. ![]() ![]() Wow. These guys have been put through the proverbial wringer. Here's hoping the last person is still able to answer the intercom. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Well, at least you've got your goals nice and clearly defined... ![]() ![]() ![]() She's all right, this 'un. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Quick aside - we really, really will be trying to avoid them as much as possible, actually. ![]() And so we have our newest crew member, Cassi. She's the first (and easiest) one you can get after ABE, and you can assign crew to particular stations that you think they are best assigned to. Since it is pretty much smashed right into our face at the beginning, Cassi is best suited to being placed into the Navigation station. You can find other crew members throughout the galaxy; one for each station plus one more.... However, adding people to each station means that you now have to allocate a salary to the guys working for you. Since you can actually do their jobs FOR them, there's absolutely no reason gameplay wise why you should do this. However, since it wouldn't make a very good story if I didn't try and get the most rag-tag group of can-do mavericks, I'm going to get everyone. ![]() Lemme know which subjects - if any - you wanna talk about with Cassi. Oh yes, and how I act with each crew member - professional, complimentary or... and I am loath to give this option... over-the-top? Oh yeah, before we go... ![]() That's right, we can take slag constituents for our own profit. Hope you don't mind us grave-robbing your old crew-members, Cassi! ![]() That's our automated probe going to snatch up the remaining material. This is a particularly hard thing to do in the middle of a space battle, as you need to be able to stay close to the wreckage and not get blown to smithereens yourself. Anyway - to a new location! We need to sell what cargo we have to pick up some funds and some fuel; so I think we'll make trails to the 'Southern-most' outpost. But before we go all the way there; we could do with picking up some extra resources... Let's try this star system for absolutely no reason whatsoever! ![]() ![]() And would you look at that, a solitary planet by the name of Ballont. And why, what on Earth (or off of it) is on Ballont, but... ![]() Yeah, yeah, I cheated a bit here - but mainly because this planet's life gets discovered ASAP, and I wouldn't want to deprive you guys of the chance of the joys of naming it yourself, and not having to deal with the game's dumb-as-hell name suggestions. ![]() ![]() ![]() With those guys out of the way, it's time to go to the Outpost I alluded to earlier; namely... ![]() This is an entirely new Outpost, and it has a unique lobby design. Without further ado, let's get on-station! ![]() See what I mean? It's very pretty. After a quick selling session, we make off with a pretty 30580 credits. 5000 of that goes to buying some extra stabilium. As for the remainder, well... ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Ah, how fickle democracy is! ![]() ![]() And herein is the reason you have to keep checking in with Director Hawking. You have to supply Gaea Sector on a regular basis. If you don't the situation deteriorates, and you'll eventually lose the game (I am not sure, however, what the time-line for that is). In the meantime, let's just give Esteban a good, round 10000 creds ![]() ![]() And there he goes. As for the Announcements section... ![]() Hey! That's us! Newfront announcements will make a record of when and where you found new life-forms, to make it all the easier for illegal poaching and unregistered vivisections to occur. On a non-joking aside, it also can act as a beacon for certain planets containing life that you haven't found. The computer won't find all three life-forms on a planet immediately. ![]() So yeah, not much else is new. Before I leave this place for good; there's a little something I want to try in the immediate region of this station, and besides, I think I've left it long enough... ![]() Oh! Well, I didn't need to go far, at all! Right now we're under attack by a fleet of three pirate vessels. They occur more commonly at Freehaven, but I wasn't expecting them AT the Outpost. At full capacity, these guys aren't a bother, but as we are right now; I'm not sure how we'll do. Let's try initiating contact! Maybe they'll take mercy? ![]() ![]() So what is space combat like? Well, it goes a little something like this... Sorry about the music dropping out like that. Strangely enough, the game can't handle multiple sound effects simultaneously, like that. If you are lucky, you'll get only one enemy ship, but we were not so lucky. Now, during encounters, we have to turn on our defences and weapons, and then afterwards turn them off. This is because any neutral forces will become hostile if you approach them with your weapons turned on. This means, in turn, that EVERY enemy will get at least one shot on you. In these encounters, you want to do what I just did, i.e. get behind the enemy vessel, match its speed and blast the fuckery out of it. If you dinnae dodge and weave, the enemy can in turn blast you and yer ship will take damage, there are two kinds of damage that can occur, either to the stations of your ship (represented by the aquamarine bar) or the people manning the ship (represented by the orange bar). Auto-healing for both station and personnel will occur if you don't get hit, but you can direct repairs to specific areas/people if they are in exceptional trouble. Obviously, we don't want to lose anything. Now, our vessel only has three kinds of weapons, the particle guns (the rapid fire weapon), the accel cannon (the slow moving, blue sphere) and pursuit pods, which are homing missiles which pursue the nearest target and cause the most damage out of all the weapons in the game except one... So, why don't we use that? ![]() Did you see what changed there? Yep, using the Pursuit pod costs ten units of stabilium, EVERY time it is used. Thankfully in this screen, you don't use ANY stabilium when flying. Otherwise, this game would be very short. Now, we've been causing most damage to the grey vessel, and we'll be concentrating our fire on it. You'll have noticed when I was blasting the drat thing, systems started going red all over it. This reflects the system damage we are doing; the darker the colour, the more damage we cause, up until it turns black. Now, we want this to happen. Because if we blow up their engines, we can take them to pieces at our leisure. After a short interlude (where ANOTHER enemy vessel got called in), I managed to drive off all but one enemy vessel, which couldn't flee because I've blown the engines. ![]() Now, you remember how bioscans can tell you how many people are alive on a ship? Well, we can also BOARD enemy vessels, but only when EVERYONE ONBOARD IS DEAD. What's that, ask for their surrender? What do you think we are, privateers? Hell no! Murderers or nothing! ![]() Like so. Now, with everyone dead, you can board the vessel and make off with THEIR booty. That's right, you can pirate pirates! And it is exceptionally profitable! And much less boring then scanning and mining planets for absolutely ages. ![]() From here, we just direct their cargo hold to ours. As it so happens, our booty consisted of ~ 50m3 of stabilium and... ![]() That's right; we get our greasy mitts on the ship systems of the guys we just killed, and if those other guys hadn't pissed off, we would have gotten theirs too. The money you can get from pirating pirates is actually quite high. AND it is much more fun then simply exploring a planet with elevator music in the background while you fight the urge to jam a pair of tweezers into your ears and eyes from boredom. And when we've taken all their stuff, we blow up their vessel and take the remaining aluminium and titanium. Well! That was an invigorating session! (especially when my game bugged out and the blown up pirate ship started shooting at me) I think we best get back to Freehaven with out ill-gotten gains; but first... ![]() ![]() Yeah, I'm not surprised THAT thing is asexual. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ...So, any suggestions about what THIS horrid menagerie should be called? Samovar fucked around with this message at 10:37 on May 17, 2015 |
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A screamy slinky, a snakevine, and a dungadillo.
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So ABE's appended priority is "classified"? Well, I'm sure that this can't possibly come back to bite us later on in any way. Maybe his creator was a fan of Robocop. Let's be complimentary to our new genocidal navigator lady. I'm guessing they've probably shoehorned in a few lines of romance subplot, so we may as well see just how badly written it gets. How over-the-top is over-the-top? Are we talking obsequious flattery, bombastic heroism, Shatner impressions? Bobbin Threadbare posted:A screamy slinky, a snakevine, and a dungadillo. Seconded. That first one can only be a slinky.
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inflatablefish posted:
If I remember correctly, one of the lines is: 'You're the most impressive beings I've ever seen'. Yeah. They don't change the compliments from situation-to-situation. Edit: Whoops, just realised I double-posted a gif in that update... which is odd, becasue I remember specifically changing that in my test post. Samovar fucked around with this message at 10:36 on May 17, 2015 |
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Complimentary to the lone survivor. I vote to be over-the-top to whatever is the ugliest alien crewmate we meet, as determined by Samovar.
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my dad posted:Complimentary to the lone survivor. And since I also lack any sort of imagination ![]() Bobbin Threadbare posted:A screamy slinky, a snakevine, and a dungadillo.
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Oh cool, it's basically a Lasher vine from Metroid Prime, a Hermit Crab in Space, and....oh dear God what the gently caress 15-foot long thermal vent worm space Slinky what the gently caress is that thing Jesus
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Holy poo poo a Protostar lets play. I played the poo poo out of this game when I was like 7. Never quite managed to finish it. Hopefully you visit the Deresta soon, I love those bastards.
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Part V - GET THOSE NERDS! Here's the new names for the animals discovered last update; alas there wasn't enough room for the name decided for the slinky-beast, so I had to improvise... ![]() When we last left our heroes they were currently just outside Freehaven having been rudely ambushed by a gang of wanna-be heavies who made the Pirates of Penzance look like the bleedin' SAS. After said barney, we headed back to Freehaven to sell our now-redundant ship systems at Frontier Craft for a profit. ![]() ![]() Well, glad to help you out of said repair bay. Now before, I sell all my stuff to him, I'm gonna ask him for the lore explanation of the weapons we just used against the pirates. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() That gif doesn't really convey how fast he shifts his hat around. It's quite hypnotic. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Looks like I got the two mixed up in the last update. Whoops! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() So, enough chit-chat. We can get rid of all our old Type I systems and the Type II engines the pirates had, leaving us with a very tidy sum of 19500 credits - as I said, pirate hunting is fun AND profitable! Nice doing business with you, Frontier Craft! Now to head off to the Deresta... ![]() You know, when you catch him mid-fidget, he looks rather fey... ...or, as fey as a weird, blue-furred space-gremlin could look. ![]() ![]() ...Interesting... ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And with that, we've managed to pick up yet ANOTHER crew member! As you have no doubt guessed, Yikkak is our tactical officer, having picked up all the required skills at F.C. Giving notice? No, I've never heard of that exactly - why is it important? Oh. Well, I think now's a good time to shift it off this station - but there's just enough time to see what's happening in the lounge... ![]() Dodel! What a surprise! No, I really mean that; I was genuinely expecting the band to be on by now - this is the longest I've ever gone in the game without seeing the band. How are ya, you old space-pirate? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() While Dodel's in the neighbourhood, let's see what we can't squeeze from him running a ship. After all, this ol' space-dog had hands-on experience in running one! Right up until the point at which he had them blown off. No, wait, that came out wrong. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yes, I'm beginning to see that. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jesus Christ, man, did you not pay attention to the last update? I covered pretty much all of that already! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() After a suitable amount of time pickling our internal organs with space-whisky, let's get outta this dump, assign Yikkak to Tactical and go to the next stage of our mission. ![]() Here is where we'll find Boobolla and the Deresta people. As with the Vantu, we'll check out the solar system, land on the home planet, steal some local wild-life and terrorize the locals; see if we can't find out a few things. ![]() A pic that conveniently shows the four planets of the Deresta home system (heading out from the sun, Oboee, Boobolla, Darnot and Harbyne) On the way to Boobolla, however... ![]() Hey! A friendly face. Well, a Human face, anyway. Let's see what they're up to. Open a channel! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() While we're here, let's see what the general human impression is for the local alien races in the sector. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Oh good. They're essentially Tyranids. Except peaceful. I don't know if that makes them more or less horrifying. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Guys... I'm getting the faintest idea that working with the Kaynik MIGHT be slightly harder than all the other species... ![]() ![]() ![]() Ah, sunny Boobolla! With majestic, glacier-ridden oceans! Vast, snow-ridden tundra wastelands! A freezing, arctic thermal atmosphere! M... m... mild weather? OK. OK, sure. Whatever, let's just get to the planet's surface. ![]() ... I'm not sure how on earth that ship works. Like, at all. In any way shape or form. The more astute of you may have noticed that the Deresta vessel is trying to flee from us. However, the Deresta vessel has level one engines and is could be out-run on foot. It could be out-run by driving a Mako. It, for lack of a better word, sucks. ![]() Well, enough pussy-footing. Let's see what our Ice-hog friends look up close! ![]() That's a face only a mother could love. If said mother was Hellen Keller. Let's put on the charm offensive to these dorks. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Wow. As is plainly clear, the Deresta are supposed to be the first race you encounter. I wasn't even TRYING to get the quest-line to get them to join the alliance and it pretty much just dropped slap-bang onto my lap; understandable, seeing as they are the closest and most docile of all the aliens in this game. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yep. That's what the Deresta are like. Dweebs to the bone. Goony through-and-through. But still, we need their help, and so... Let's get started. ![]() ![]() No, no, your prices don't. But believe you me, your music does. Adopting a naive approach, we manage to pick up some extra fuel, sell some resources at a loss, then get to chatting. ![]() ![]() Oh golly gee. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Bless yer heart, ya big palooka. ![]() ![]() ![]() Don't you worry, little guy! I'll get right on that! ... ![]() ![]() ![]() ...right after I finish doing this. You don't mind, do you? Oh good. So, as you may have gathered, if we want the Deresta on our team, we have to help find these missing scientists - yes, to get species on your side, you first have to make them like you, then you have to find the right piece of dialogue to get the quest activated, THEN you can get them to join you. As it so happens, this is THE easiest quest in the game, again, fitting in with making it seem like the Deresta are actually supposed to be the first species you initiate contact with. Anyways, we'll see about solving these guy's problems as we make our way to the final of the friendly species, the Ghebraant. Oh boy are you guys going to like the look of them! But before we do so, there's still one last thing to do! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Inverted hibernation?! What the bloody hell is THAT supposed to mean?! Also, hang on... Wikipedia posted:Arachnids is a class (Arachnida) of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. All arachnids have eight legs... That thing is NOT an arachnid. ![]() Mammalian FLATWORM?! ![]() As a biologist, this poor use of classification insults me. Well, at least it is... kinda... cute? Maybe? So, any suggestions for these bad boys? Also, if you want any particular topics discussed, just let me know in bold and I'll ask the moment I can get a chance to in the game.
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Well, one of these is obviously Notanarachnid
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I suppose the weather is bound to be clear skies all day when the atmosphere is too cold to support water vapor. I'd say the three animals are a rainbow hand, a spider leg, and a meerworm.
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With all that lovely mild weather on that frozen iceball, no doubt hockey is the greatest (and only) pastime they have. So, following that theme: the rainbow-bewigged Fandome the keep-it-on-the-ice Hoppy Stick and the adorably disturbing furry Flat Trick
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Rainbow thing is clearly a Punkbeast The arachnoid is Spider-Ham
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Rainbow thing is ![]()
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Our ice-skimming punk friend must clearly be an Eskimohawk. If we can fit 13 characters in (any chance you could check this for future reference?) then the bouncy "spider" is an ArachNoItsNot. The flat curious mammal (and drat, that thing is ridiculously flat!) is a Flatypuss.
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Clearly an arachnoid is not the same as an arachnid. Therefor I agree that Notanarachnid is the most fitting scientific term for the arachnoid.
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Rainbow thing is clearly a Punkbeast inflatablefish posted:The flat curious mammal (and drat, that thing is ridiculously flat!) is a Flatypuss. Seconding these, and the last one should be shortened to Arachnot. Pierzak fucked around with this message at 10:32 on May 21, 2015 |
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Despite the poor points in the design, it does look like they tried to do something cool, and I appreciate they resisted the temptation to make all the aliens humans with funny foreheads and/or blue tits. Can you collect any SENTIENT alien creatures or is the "non-sentient" bit in front of every single one you collect just a formality? Also what if you disable an enemy ship in space combat, but DON'T kill off the entire crew? Boarding actions? Prisoners for the cargo hold? Or can you not collect all their junk until everyone on board is dead?
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PurpleXVI posted:Despite the poor points in the design, it does look like they tried to do something cool, and I appreciate they resisted the temptation to make all the aliens humans with funny foreheads and/or blue tits. I really hope that you can collect sentient aliens. Think about it, you will be flying around the back waters of planets abducting farmers. Maybe make some crop circles while you are there.
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PurpleXVI posted:Despite the poor points in the design, it does look like they tried to do something cool, and I appreciate they resisted the temptation to make all the aliens humans with funny foreheads and/or blue tits. You don't really collect any sentient creatures - not in the way that we collect the non-sentient animals, anyway. No chance of us re-enacting 'Communion', if that's what you're wondering about. If you disable a ship, you can try and communicate with them, but you can't demand their surrender - any enemy commander will just yell at you. You can only surrender to people, annoyingly.
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# ? Jan 16, 2021 09:33 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:This game feels like a bizarro universe Star Control 2, with a more obtuse GUI and slower gameplay. The writing isn't quite as snappy either, but I can't help but be interested. This game was released in '93, a year after Star Control 2 and three years after the original. The color palettes are unmistakably similar, but some of that can be chalked up to the style of the time. The music sounds like a bad remix of the Star Control score, but again it was the early 90s and there's only so much you can do with MIDI. The faux-quirky dialog and presence of various colorful alien species defined by a single wacky personality trait is a little more damning, but Star Control didn't invent that trope either. What really tears it is the gameplay. Explore unlabeled planets, harvest resources, find weird alien critters, talk to aliens, fight different aliens, go back to the starbase for upgrades and advice, do quests, recruit allies, repeat until ready to take on evil aliens conquering galaxy. I've never played Protostar, but I sure as hell have played that game. I mean, it's not all the same. The UI is a bit different and many of the details of gameplay are markedly changed. I kind of like the first person perspective, and I like some of the new features, such as naming animals, but both the planetary exploration and the ship-to-ship battles seem markedly less fun and my tedious than their Star Control equivalents (is that accurate?). There are just enough original ideas (or at least ideas borrowed from games besides Star Control) to argue that this game was just heavily 'inspired" by Star Control rather than a complete rip-off, but this game is still a half-forgotten bit of flotsam riding in the wake of a 90s classic, sort of like the Bush to Star Control's Nirvana. Duckbox fucked around with this message at 00:14 on May 22, 2015 |
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