I’ve gotten in arguments about this here before, but I’ll just share my opinion: the Starflight UI, particularly in the parts of the game where you’re in the Space station - which is the first bit you’re exposed to - doesn’t hold up at all. Way too clunky.
=) Quick question.
- Did you have to look those up?
Yeah, sadly they don’t, but if one can get past that, the feeling of awe at exploring the universe is undeniable.
Well yeah, I was poking around the site I linked to and saw they had a huge page on alien communications. :P
What’s the difference between Starflight and Star Control? I always get them confused, since I didn’t play them back in the day.
Star Control 1 combines an action-based Spacewar!-like combat system (two starships fighting each other in top-down perspective around a gravity well) with a turn-bases strategic campaign mode to conquer (or liberate) the galaxy.
Starflight, Starflight 2 and Star Control 2 (and I guess the ill-received SC3 as well) are all Star-Trek-like space exploration games with starship combat, resource gathering and multiple-choice dialogues with alien species. SC2 keeps its predecessor’s combat system and setting, but little else, replacing the strategy elements with adventure ones. The Starflight games by comparison have bit more of an RPG-vibe to them. You only control a single starship rather than a small fleet, but get to manage its crew-members (each with different skills) and not just its systems. Also, trading is a viable pursuit. Finally, the Star Control games are slightly more recent have nicer graphics and interfaces.
Am I the only one that hated the combat in SC2? It was a totally immersive game for me, until the clickfest battles. I never finished it for that reason.
Very well said. :)
You’re likely in the minority, yes, since you’re actually the first person I’ve encountered to have played SC2 and dislike the combat. I do understand though, they could seem out of place compared with the rest of the game, especially if you hadn’t played the first Star Control.
You’re not the only one. I have two older brothers who played the game around launch like I did. One of them was like me, who loved the combat, and even after we were done with the adventure, we played Super-Melee mode against each other for months, always trying to find the right combination of space ships to one-up each other. But then there was my other brother, who didn’t want to bother with the combat, and he quickly built up his main ship as fast as possible so that he wouldn’t have to do anything but trivial fighting and kick everything’s ass. In fact, often times he even gave up his own ship’s control over to AI so that it would kick ass for him.
The game worked for all 3 of us, though the two of us who enjoyed combat enjoyed the game for a lot longer than my brother who didn’t care for it.
I’m the reverse. I only ever played Super Melee. Didn’t have the patience to even realize there was more to the game. /hides
gasps
I wouldn’t say that I hated it, but I’m definitely not a big fan either. However, I found that with the right modules for your flagship (early on: thrusters to avoid/run away from most fights, later: triple cannons and auto-targeting systems to end most fights before they’ve begun) I could manage and would definitely recommend that you give the game another try. Also, I seem to remember that Ur-Quan Masters also contained a “cyborg” mode that automated space battles, even though I never used it.
If your first exposure to the combat was playing the campaign, then I’m not surprised you disliked it. Fighting those crystal Lightning dudes early in the campaign is super annoying.
But I was already hooked from SC1 melee against friends.
Tony
Yeah, same here. And even though I was a veteran of the combat system, I still found those lightning probes to be a really hard enemy to fight. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for someone who starts the game not knowing the combat system.
But my brother said that the cyborg AI worked great for him, especially once he got his main ship upgraded. This was back in '92 btw, not just the re-released Ur-Quan Masters for modern systems.
Super melee had an elaborate Rock, Paper, Scissors thing going on. The campaign was poorly designed to put you up against an enemy before you had an interesting counter to it. Early campaign the best you could come up with was a stalemate, and then learn to game the AI.
Tony
Dungeon Keeper 2 and Wing Commander 1 and 2 are added to GoG!
Does wing commander 1 & 2 work with a modern game pad?
Getting closer to my dream of Wing Commander Prophecy.
Holy … wow. I think I have to pick up some new GoG titles.
Then again, I really wonder how well WC 1 & 2 hold up after all these years. The graphics will be awful compared to modern space sims (woohoo for VGA!), but the gameplay is what I really wonder about. It also doesn’t say that the expansions are included - does anyone know whether they’re in there or not?
So… I downloaded DK II and got some significant graphically glitches. Granted, I didn’t actually launch the game. And initial load screens may not translate into problems in gameplay but just putting that out there. I’ll see what happens later tonight when I actually boot it up.
Going to download DK2 ASAP.
The original game was definitely buggy, so GOG had their work cut out for them on getting it to play right. But if they can get this fixed and patched, I will be a very happy camper.