General Category > Off Topic
Endless Space
eRe4s3r:
I think the only way we are ever going to see a good 4x game is from a solo developer (obviously not solo as in 1 person does everything, but only 1 person in charge of design decisions).
One of the primary things that game needs to do is stop avoiding risky design decisions. And there is just no way that's gonna happen with a game like Endless space. Which has one of the silliest combat systems ever. .. I mean, really, magical action cards?
Volatar:
--- Quote from: BobTheJanitor on May 10, 2012, 05:00:27 PM --- I'm also hoping that maybe Starlight Inception will turn out to be amazing. It just baaaaaaaaarely made its Kickstarter goal recently, so we won't see a game out of that for more than a year though.
--- End quote ---
Oh awesome. I spotted that on Kickstarter and hoped it would succeed.
BobTheJanitor:
--- Quote from: eRe4s3r on May 10, 2012, 07:40:55 PM ---One of the primary things that game needs to do is stop avoiding risky design decisions. And there is just no way that's gonna happen with a game like Endless space. Which has one of the silliest combat systems ever. .. I mean, really, magical action cards?
--- End quote ---
The combat is OK. I wouldn't call it the silliest. I mean yes, they're presented as cards, but that's just fluff. You're really just selecting from a series of possible combat styles. I think the way that you have a limited time to think of what you want to use, plus the limited options is a good base to start from. The only problem really right now is that it might as well be rock paper scissors, since you have absolutely no intelligence to base your choice on so it's entirely guesswork. Also the meaning of different combat things isn't explained very well in the first place. So it's double guesswork right now, I suppose.
But if it were expanded to allow you to make interesting tactical choices based on meaningful intel, so you weren't just guessing but actually strategizing, it could be pretty great. I think the main design goal at first was just to make combat quick and simple to allow more time to show off their cinematic combat views. Unfortunately, the AI directing the camera for that is obviously still in need of some work. It likes to alternate between a shot so far out that I can't tell which fleet is which, and shots so close up that I am just staring at bulkheads and nothing else. But the idea is sound, anyway.
But if this isn't a risky design decision per se, it is at least a combat system that is pretty outside the norm for a 4X game, so it's a step in a new direction. Whether a good one or not remains to be seen. (Which sort of does make it a risky design decision after all.)
eRe4s3r:
I meant that the combat system in Endless Space is based on a general consensus and not a "we do this this way because it's the only way the combat can scale from 1 ship to 5 million ships" style decision.
Why is there even a combat view if we don't give any orders in it? 0 point to that, or what do we call it... ah... vanity FLUFF It even boggles the mind why the design this gameplay element when there is no gameplay happening in it. Is it the same idea as in Galciv? Vanity combat playback? Seems pretty pointless. (What I am saying is, why is this in the game, what does the combat view in endless space *achieve* ? What is it trying to achieve? Wouldn't a more abstract view on combat do it better?
Volatar:
--- Quote from: eRe4s3r on May 10, 2012, 08:47:01 PM ---Wouldn't a more abstract view on combat do it better?
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Yes, but it wouldn't sell.
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