A revolution??

[Inimbrium]

I was just reading a post about bringing the station interiors back, and it got me thinking...

For starters, I agree, bring them back. But not for all stations, only the ones that make sense to have them, like the larger stations including the Trading Stations.

I'm going to suggest some changes to the game, but not to X3, maybe to the X3 addon and/or the next game in the series.

The problem with this game, like all it's predecesors, is that it's too dry, and there is no human interaction, we are humans and we enjoy talking to people. If this game is ever going to be more popular and more than just for the very devoted ie. little more than the people on this board, then some massive changes are required. It hurts to see endless second hand copies of X2 and X3 in Gamestation becuase people bought it, had a go, had no idea what to do or didn't enjoy the dryness, and moved on, thus missing out on the excellent plot.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this game a lot, and I've played all of them since XBTF. I can see that it hasn't really changed a lot, if at all. I think it has massive deficiencys and I KNOW this game could be so much more, and it's a big shame. Yes, redesigning the ships and stations is a good step forward, but it's not enough.

Look at Freelancer, an average game, with an average plot, but it sold well because it was more 'playable' and more accessible.

I'm no game designer, and you don't have to agree with my opinions, but I think some of you will. I want to see if anyboy out there does agree with me.

The polt is fantastic, but a longer storyline would be good, talking to people in person, not on some commlink, but be able to truly board the stations, walk up to someone and talk to them, because frankly I cant imagine sitting in a cockpit for months at a time, so when you dock you should have the option to trade from the cockpit via the computer, or board the station to talk to people for missions, and have this alongside the existing BBS system. Sometimes when I look at the grogeous stations I think of a bustling metropolyses in space, and sometimes I don't, simply because everytime I dock, I can't go in and see all that stuff so the experience breaks and all I see then is a big polygon model. The game should complement the book Farnham's Legend, not ignore it. Imagine how cool it would be if the interior of the stations were like in the book.

Putting the cockpits back would be a good idea and I think it would improve the game experioence. People don't care that some programmer somewhere thinks that it's better not to put them in because he or she can't be bothered to draw them properly, or that it's difficult to merge them with the ship. That's not how good games are made, problems are overcome, not overlooked.

Landing on planets, Elite style, how cool would that be? Landing at a remote outpost in the middle of a desert, or in a massive city. Yet another attention to detail that would help make this game the great success that it's capable of.

THEN this game will really kick off. And then this game might be ready to join the MMORPG community, otherwise it will be stuck in this state or nothing really changing. Adding a few new systems and better graphics isn't everything. As I've already said, the plot is fantastic, and if the game was more accessible and more 'realistic', more people would play it, enjoy it, and we would be on course for the best MMORPG ever.

PS. Please don't ban me for this.

[Player.]

I belive that once we will be able to land on planets we would be able to talk to people too

PS. Please don't ban me for this

You didnt flame or anything what reason they have to?

[Andy-M]

I think its all down to a person's taste.

I bought X2, then Freelancer, Then X3.

Freelancer in my opinion is a good game, but X2 &X3 are good enough for me to keep playing. I got a little bored with Freelancer after a while.
I'll still play it after it's sat on the desk long enough for me to forget what it was like, then I'll have another go but X3 i'll play all the time. The only reason I don't play X2 is cuz I have X3.

Some people like apples & some people like pairs. It's as simple as that.

[Inimbrium]

I think its all down to a person's taste...
...Some people like apples & some people like pairs. It's as simple as that.

I completly agree, and I'm not saying that the integrity of the game should be lost.

I'm not sugesting changing the game to something else, I think that what I sugest will enhance the game, and make it a better expericnce. It will add to it, not change it.

I belive that once we will be able to land on planets we would be able to talk to people too

That would make a lot of sense. I think that both are something that this game really needs. A game called Privateer tried doing that, and for it's time, the game was amazing, but I think nowadays we have the computers that can handle more complex game dynamics, such as a city, and walking around, weather, etc.

I see that this topic is getting a lot of views, and I stress that if you agree, or have your own ideas, post. If you don't show that you agree, or if you don't tell people about your ideas, they will never know.

[rizzo420]

Personally, I like the dryness and lack of people. I can just turn down the sound, put on some music and drink a beer. I hate people...

Maybe cause I'm a support tech....

[Inimbrium]

Personally, I like the dryness and lack of people. I can just turn down the sound, put on some music and drink a beer. I hate people...

Maybe cause I'm a support tech....

Hehe that's fair enough, and I never said that this quality of the game should be removed. The BBS should be kept. But some people do like people, and the option to walk onto the station and talk to people should be there for those who like it, and I think a lot do.

What do you think of landing on planets, at an ouptpost or city, say. There you do many things, repairing your ship, finding secret containers or packages, talking to people, or just go to a terminal to get to the BBS. Of course the point of the game is space, and that shoun't be forgotten.

[Bunny]

Personally, I like the dryness and lack of people. I can just turn down the sound, put on some music and drink a beer. I hate people...

Maybe cause I'm a support tech....

The chicken and the egg question

[Andy-M]

If you mean you get out of your ship & walk around to the BBS missions & other traders, then that's just like Freelancer.

It would be a bonus feature I guess, but it was one of the things I disliked about freelancer.
I'm just a one man killing machine & all I want to do is pick fights with people in ships bigger than mine. I'll cap if I can, take their cargo if I can't. I look for XI & assasination missions. Having to wait through a cut scene of my ship landing on a planet only to find after walking to the BBS board that there wasn't any BBS mission worth landing for would get on my nerves. Ditto for traders. To start off, we would all appreciate the wonderfull graphics but X3 is a long term game & it would tick people off.

I ain't sayihg you are wrong or anything, everyones tastes & prefferences are different. What I am saying though is true for me & I suspect would be true for others who play the game like I do i.e. primarily for combat.

[funkybadger]

Being the geek i am, i would enjoy being able to get out my ship and walk around stations, or go down to planets and mix with the locals. Maybe even pull a couple plasma rifles out my back pocket and go on a rampage down there then fly off back into space, dropping a couple missiles as i zoom off. See, the real world is boring. work all day, get moaned at by the wife in the evening, maybe occasionally go get drunk...oh joy! why not have a game that immerses you into another world where you can do so many different things. This is why i am really looking to Oblivion, i absolutly love open ended games where i can go about doing as i please. X3 offers that, although not to the degree i would like.

The X3 world does seem a little dull and lifeless at times, things only happen if YOU go out and make them happen. But with the addition of some of the scripts people have made, that can be helped a little. Now i get messages asking me to do missions or go fight in an arena, and the race response script is great.

[Andy-M]

Actualy, I suppose I would like it if it were possible to make off with someone elses ship.
I guess I'm just a pirate at heart !

[Player.]

I would really like to catch Miria in a bar and........

[PowerTrip]

I think its all down to a person's taste...
...Some people like apples & some people like pairs. It's as simple as that.

I completly agree, and I'm not saying that the integrity of the game should be lost.

I'm not sugesting changing the game to something else, I think that what I sugest will enhance the game, and make it a better expericnce. It will add to it, not change it.

I belive that once we will be able to land on planets we would be able to talk to people too

That would make a lot of sense. I think that both are something that this game really needs. A game called Privateer tried doing that, and for it's time, the game was amazing, but I think nowadays we have the computers that can handle more complex game dynamics, such as a city, and walking around, weather, etc.

I see that this topic is getting a lot of views, and I stress that if you agree, or have your own ideas, post. If you don't show that you agree, or if you don't tell people about your ideas, they will never know.

ditto. though I for my sely believe that the plot should be broader and deeper.

I too have played freelancer and in truth it was one of my all time favorites but it got boring. X2 got boring after a while but ,I played X2 at least a thousand more hours than I played Freelancer not because of the plot (freelancer was better) but because of the ability to build a thriving economic empire from nothing to epic proportions. Now that I have done that with X2 I expected more from X3 and I got more (of the same thing) to my dissapointment. But, in hindsight I think its like an addiction that cannot be satisfied. The more you get the more you want better than you got at first. I could say more but I dont want to ramble. X3 is a good game but I want more and better. OH MY a new slogan............X2 the gateway game. This is your brain..This is your brain on X-series.. any questions.

[Jolly_Roger_uk]

Did'nt that game "BattleCruiser Millenium" try to add a FPS perspective to its space game perspective, but fail miserably.

You'd have to add or rewrite X3's game engine if you wanted to be able to run around and shoot guns at people.

In theory it would be excellent, But in reality, I suspect it would look and play like crap, Personally I thought of this idea myself when X-BTF came out, It was a good idea, But it would'nt have worked as we'd expect it to work, if it was implemented into X3.

[funkybadger]

indeed fps elements in the game would probably be utter rubbish at the moment. but technology is moving fast, there is no reason why someday we can't have the best of both worlds.

[Inimbrium]

indeed fps elements in the game would probably be utter rubbish at the moment. but technology is moving fast, there is no reason why someday we can't have the best of both worlds.

It doesn't even have to be a first person view. X2 can do 3rd person, so they know how to do it. This can be applied to X3 and used to walk around in a station. It really isn't that complex.

As for entering a planet's atmosphere, that can be done by entering as you do now, but at the point where one would die now, a loading screen would come up, load the planet, unload everything else to free up the memory, and then you descend like the space shuttle: at first it's very shaky and dangerous with lots of fire, and if you dont fly carefully you burn up (such as entering at too steep angle or turning sharply), then as you descend, you slow down and glide to wherever you want to go, your nav computer will also change its state, now it will be in planet mode, showing you where the landing zones are. It's not rocket science....or is it??? hehe sorry.

Wing Commander did it, sort of, and Elite did it before that. Surely it can be done nowadays!!!!

[phiend]

Probably the easiest first step would be to improve the interaction between you and the variety of other pilots in the universe. The standard 4 questions that you can ask are not only usually pointless (while they are getting attacked I'm not going to ask them for the nearest shipyard..DOH!)
but relatively limited in generating any real interaction with the species.

If AI pilots had more scripted lines we would be getting somewhere towards getting more involved and surely its pretty simple in relation to allowing travel to planets. I would have also thought that this would have made the species a bit more distinct and add real character to the universe.

What does anyone else think?

[Aiten]

Few ideas I laid out in this thread (about 1/2 way down page)

I completely agree, X needs to be more human, and allow more potential routes in 'life'.

... Now the complex bits, which is why I say this is for Next Gen ‘X’.

Real AI:
Elder Scrolls IV uses a system called Radiant AI that allows NPC’s to decide what they need to do / want to do, themselves, even conversations. So how does this move to X4?

Why pay full price if you can bargain for a discount?
If you tell a ship to surrender, why not give your reasons and let the AI decide?
Caught with illegal goods? Plead your case
Want some information, talk it out of the informant or bribe it out?
Someone on your turf selling Energy Cells, intimidate them, bribe them, befriend them?

With AI built on what is possible today, think what can be achieved in the X universes?


Be a person:
Probably the oldest wish in the book, but since the visuals do not need improve, nor do the economics, why not add an extra dimension. So why? Here are a few examples.

First things first, it will bring the world to life.
Trade face to face, using the AI, get a discount, intimidate the competition etc.
***Assaulting a freighter? Why not send yourself and an assault team over? Imagine knowing you have a fleet outside taking care of any escorts. You transport in, direct the squad through the ship, defeating the guards, seeing their bodies going limp, and fighting your way up to the control room where you take the captain prisoner. (Then sell him off as a slave for making the capture so difficult). Key locations could be targeted such as the engines, from inside leaving the ship stranded ***
In the same vain, protecting your ship from boarding pirates.


This leads to …

Recruitment:
Got a ship that needs piloting, hire someone on their qualifications and pay them a salary (or cut). Need cannon fodder for an assault team, or traders to get the best prices for products you sell from your station?

[rizzo420]

Honestly, it would probably be a better game with all these additions.
In theory.

In reality, it'd take 5 years to put all of it in and do it RIGHT. Sure, there are some small gripes and bugs people can complain about now(lack of AI interaction, lack of a 'real' economic model, etc...), but imagine if Ego had to stick to the same timetable it had before PLUS adding another whole games worth of content. Man, it would be so buggy and crap ridden that EVERYONE would complain and nobody would make money.

What I'm saying is sure, if MS or Square made X3 it might be able to incorporate these things, but do you really want Julian to be an anime freak?

Actually, what I'm saying is if MS or SE made it, you could add all of these things and make them work on a deadline, but ES is small, and the game would suck with all of those extras, most probably...

[ajw2255]

My prediction is that within 20 years, The X engine will be merged with the upcoming Oblivion engine and Generals Engine, for different parts of the game, to create the MASTER GAME to rule them all.

Each planet will have a different them a la Star Trek. Dont like the Medieval planet, go to the Cowboy planet, or the Nazi planet.

All the whil possible managing an interglactic empire, and controlling RTS strategies.

One can dream...

[apricotslice]

Actually the thing I miss the most is rescuing the girl and going back to her place for a "reward"

Was done well in Privateer 2, although a little squeeky clean for my liking