Why have there been no decent space combat/trading games since Privateer?

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Treadstone71

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#1 Treadstone71
Member since 2002 • 169 Posts

So I'm playing Dark Star One - bought it on a whim - trying to relive the glory days of the space combat trading simulation.  And while it's ok, it's just not great.  Not like Priv was.

I don't understand how a fifteen year old game that can't offer anything better than two-dimensional sprites throughout the entire game can be so freakin' awsome and have more depth in its game play than all of the full on 3-D space combat sims put together since its release.

Dark Star One and it's not far removed brother Freelancer just seem so flat and two dimensional to me.  I've been reflecting on this as I play and I've come to the conclusion that it's because you never really get to see your ship.  I just loved in Privateer that first time you upgraded from your Tarsus and you went into the equipment dealer and there was your brand new Centurion sitting there.  And when you bought Torpedo launchers - bingo! - they showed up mounted just under your wings right up next to the body.  And when you landed or took off - there was your ship sitting there on the landing pad.

Freelancer sort of did this but I found the whole "Ship Hovering On Discs of Light" thing to be very annoying.  It made it more like your ship was being displayed in some futuristic museum instead of it being serviced on a space dock.  Why not just have landing gear like everybody else?  And the menuing systems in Dark Star and the X series - makes your whole world seem relegated to interfacing it through a computer.  Not to mention the inability to land on planets.  At least Freelancer gave you that.

And finally, in Privateer you could actually look around the inside of your ship.  For me that just pumped the immersion factor right up to the max - especially in the Orion when you could look left and see the co-pilot's console and look back and see the door into the cabin.

Give me some frame work.  When I look left or right, I want to see a window sill at least - and a wing with a weapon mounted on it or something.  Not just empty space flying by like I'm sitting at a computer playing a video game.

Freelancer, Dark Star One, and X have amazing graphics - but the interaction with the world is so flat and two-dimensional.  I don't feel like a mercenary star pilot when I play them - I feel like a guy playing a video game with some cool eye candy. :|

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godofratz

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#2 godofratz
Member since 2005 • 398 Posts
Sometimes the publisher/developer doesn't see a market for it, just like the lack of decent Adventure games. Right now MMOs and FPS are hot, I hope that changes because i'm getting tired of the same old thing.


Give me a Tie Fighter 2 and Mechwarrior 5 please!
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1Lonehawk

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#3 1Lonehawk
Member since 2005 • 873 Posts
I totally agree with you on your point Treadstone. I liked the SFC series games for similar reasons. Seeing the ship really helps get into a space sim if you ask me.

I'm playing Darkstar One right now too and I agree this game would be tons better if you could visually get into your ship more.

I'm not trying to sell this or anything, but it sounds like you would probably like EVE-online. It's a pay MMO, but you see your ship/s and some of the upgrades, it has great ecomony/trade/exploring/etc. stuff and has a great look and feel to it. I played it for a year but quit cause I got tired of the skill training system, which is the game's biggest downside/flaw in my opinion. It basically means you will never catch up to anyone playing longer than you have and it seems every new patch or "expansion" is designed to make it take longer for your character to get anywhere. If that doesn't bother you, then you might just love EVE. Keep your eye on Infintiy: The Quest for Earth, this game looks like it has the potential to be the best space sim (even tho it's probably gonna be an MMO) in a long time.
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ben2000

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#4 ben2000
Member since 2004 • 264 Posts
Yep if you're after a space combat trading game, and you are not scared of getting into an MMO (and paying the monthly fee), then I also recommend EVE online.   The game is over 3 years old, but it has since been updated regularly with expansions and the graphics are still nothing to sneeze at by today's standards.  The fact that it is a MMO makes it much more interesting than a single-player game IMO.   One thing you might not like is that you don't see things from a cockpit point-of-view (you see your spaceship from outside).  But there are a literally dozens of ships to choose from and things to do - including trading, missions, player-vs-player wars, mining, pirating, bounty hunting, manufacturing & research, etc.  There is a free 14-day trial on the website so you mayaswell check it out...
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duhman02

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#5 duhman02
Member since 2005 • 123 Posts
I would seriously love to see Mechwarrior 5. I need mech action!
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#6 bogaty
Member since 2003 • 4750 Posts
You might want to give X3 a try. I have it and it's not really my thing but a lot of people like it. I'd say my favourite space sims are Independence War 2 and X-Wing. Anyway, I remember reading on more than a few games sites that no major publisher wants to make space or flight sims anymore as they felt 9and sales bore out) that if a game required a joystick to play properly, it just didn't sell.
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JimmyLuong25

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#7 JimmyLuong25
Member since 2006 • 129 Posts
errr i'm not an really expert in space simulator but an i think space ranger it good expect that it in 2D so i can play it on my laptop 
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Platearmor_6

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#8 Platearmor_6
Member since 2004 • 2817 Posts
I would seriously love to see Mechwarrior 5. I need mech action!duhman02

Mech Warrior has been pretty much perminantly dropped, Dice was working on something similar but then dropped it to start work on BF2.
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sj420

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#9 sj420
Member since 2003 • 626 Posts

let's not forget freespace 1 & 2. (never found 2 - still looking)

and i second the motion for a new tie fighter & mechwarrior

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ChocoKat

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#10 ChocoKat
Member since 2006 • 319 Posts

I am have been playing EVE: Online for nearly two years. If you want immersion, go somewhere else. The ships in EVE move like they are underwater. While you may "see" your ship, there is still no sense of immersion or scale. On the graphics side, please look somewhere else. CCP, which are the makers of the game. Decided to push the DX9/10 graphics overhaul back until late 2007.

Sorry CCP, with better looking and hopefully better playing space MMO's, they may have lost my money.

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Decado_basic

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#11 Decado_basic
Member since 2002 • 4030 Posts
Sometimes the publisher/developer doesn't see a market for it, just like the lack of decent Adventure games. Right now MMOs and FPS are hot, I hope that changes because i'm getting tired of the same old thing.


Give me a Tie Fighter 2 and Mechwarrior 5 please!godofratz
One sub genre the PC *desperately* needs reviving is the mech sim. The Mechwarrior titles were some of my favorites. Friggin' M$ needs to fund a quality MW5 or sell the license. Them and their bloody Xbox. What about Freelancer and the big mod that was made for it? Heard it improved the game a lot.
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1Lonehawk

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#12 1Lonehawk
Member since 2005 • 873 Posts

I am have been playing EVE: Online for nearly two years. If you want immersion, go somewhere else. The ships in EVE move like they are underwater. While you may "see" your ship, there is still no sense of immersion or scale. On the graphics side, please look somewhere else. CCP, which are the makers of the game. Decided to push the DX9/10 graphics overhaul back until late 2007.

Sorry CCP, with better looking and hopefully better playing space MMO's, they may have lost my money.

ChocoKat
I find it interesting that you do NOT recommend EVE yet that very game has held your interest for "nearly 2 YEARS." I played EVE for about a year and ya, there are a LOT of things that CCP did to that game to make me quit, but like i said, I quit after about a year of play. The fact that you've been playing the game 2 years shows that EVE, with all it's flaws, has the ability to be fun and keep someone's interest for some time. It may not be the game to play forever, but I think the OP would enjoy EVE for awhile at least. I'd like to add that I think it's ridiculous that so many people think that Big capital ships like those in EVE or Star Trek etc. should be able to move really fast like they are in some arcade game. When watching any show that has to do with space (Eg. Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, Battlestar Galactica...etc) one sees that most of the time, it's a given the BIG ships move slow. They do this to make it realistic using Naval physics so we have can get into it since we have something to compare to. I agree with this philosophy in space games. Big ships should maneuver slower than smaller fighter-type ships etc. I'm not saying it's "wrong" to want an arcadish type space sim, just that if the space sim is not arcadish, it doesn't make it "less immersive" or "less fun." To each his own but personally, I found the way ships moved in EVE was one of the biggest things that helped me get into the game. It just seemed more "realistic" than any other space sim I'd played.