You don't think that SQ42 - which personally I'm looking forward the most - will be Wing Commander-like enough to be cool? Because even though I have some hesitation if the Vanduul make an equally good enemy as the Kilrathi, I do have high hopes for SQ42.
Sigh... ok, I really don't want to talk too much about this. Honestly, I feel bad for the fact that I have no interest in Star Citizen. It sure seems like I should. I mean, it is Chris Roberts and all that. I suppose to some degree, it may be psychology talking - because my incomes have been very low in the past year, I simply could not afford to contribute to the fundraising campaign, and it may be that my subconscious is now being petty ("can't afford it? Well, fine, we never wanted it in the first place, my precious!").
Anyway, I know how excited everyone else is, and so I really don't want to spoil the fun by talking about the negatives. But, since you asked, I'll say a little bit [post-writing edit: whew, I guess it's not really a
little bit].
Firstly, a major personal reason - as time goes by, I've come to realise that I'm simply not a fan of space sims in general. I utterly love Wing Commander, I'm also to some degree a fan of the Star Wars games, but the reason I like these is the story. Not even the universe (honestly, does anyone care about all the pointless background nonsese of the Star Wars universe?). The story. In Wing Commander, I loved the emphasis on the personal, the way each character had a story, the way it was all a great big allegory for WWII in space. Ultimately, Wing Commander was the best WWII game ever - it was still WWII air combat with a dash of Top Gun on the side, only (unlike the real war) you didn't know whether the bad guys would lose in the end, and the characters was far more exciting (this, of course, is just a big niche waiting to be filled - real WWII air combat games are frequently dull precisely because nobody ever wants to add a character-driven story. I've been harping about it for years, I
make these games, and yet no one ever wants to spend the extra money on a proper story). Over time, I did get very much into the WC universe for its own sake (which didn't happen with Star Wars), and I'm now very much invested in the universe, to the point where I have an interest in the various groups and places that are a part of the universe. But really getting into a universe is a great big time investment, and these days, I do not want to make this investment again. Retaining interest in Wing Commander is a low-cost investment - doesn't take much effort on my part
. Getting into a new universe? Well, someone would really have to do a good job to persuade me that it's worth it - good luck with that, given how thinly my time is already spread between family, work, and personal interests.
Secondly, a... dare I say it... lack of confidence in Chris Roberts. I'm angry with the guy! I loved his games for the story, the cinematic feel. I even gave him the benefit of the doubt to play the story-driven Freelancer. I got really excited about the original SQ42 trailer, it was all there (not to mention that the trailer went through so much effort to suggest that this might be Wing Commander - which, I'm told, could well have ended up being the case). But then that great big conference/presentation thing came along, and... ugh. The guy I've been waiting to blow me away with a great new cinematic game announces that actually, all he ever wanted was to make a great big persistent universe where the player could do whatever he wanted. Worse still, instead of talking about how cool and awesome character interaction will be in the game, instead of talking about the amazing cutscenes he wants to make, he goes and spends ten minutes talking about the physics. The physics? Seriously? When did Wing Commander fans care about physics? Hate to point this out, but having sophisticated physics didn't save Vega Strike from sucking. The whole game was just squarely aimed at... you know, not me. I still get the newsletter for Star Citizen, but I just can't be bothered even looking it over. And any time Star Citizen news somehow leaks over into the Chatzone here, I'm confirmed in my disinterest - all these people excited about
ships? Hey, yeah, I like various ships in the WC universe. I love some of them. But ships don't fly themselves. Even in the WC universe... well, oddly enough, my favourite ships are the ones that the characters in the games talked about, argued about. Like, I fell in love with the Scimitar not because it was a great-looking ship, but because Iceman's complaints about it made me want to appreciate the machine just to prove him wrong. In short, Star Citizen is people getting excited about technology, and that just leaves me cold. You know, I'm genuinely happy that so many people are excited about Star Citizen. I'm amazed about the fundraising efforts. But so far, all the material released for Star Citizen seems to be intent on telling me that this is not a game I will enjoy. Which is fine, you know. Chris Roberts wants to make this game, lots of people want to play it - and, for what it's worth, when I finally can afford it, I will certainly drop some money just to show my support.
To be clear - I'm not a lost cause. I'm not the "bah, I hate Star Citizen and that's final!" guy. Maybe in subsequent months, the marketing efforts will reveal some of the stuff I'm interested in that seems to be missing so far. I'd definitely like to find something I like in this game, and I'll be more than happy to give it a try when it comes out. But in all likelihood, it won't be the "oh, I've got to get my hands on this" experience, but rather "hey, someone I like made this game, I should take a look".
Well, that's that, those are the reasons I don't much care about Star Citizen. There is one last thing, though. Like... where is everybody? I know, I know, the WC community has been in decline for years. No amount of new DVD releases is enough to distract us from the lack of big new games. But - have you noticed all the tumbleweeds rolling through town since Star Citizen was announced? Today is a good day, there must have been like
half a dozen posts at the forums. Is this a sign of the future? Will Star Citizen ultimately kill off Wing Commander by inheriting its community? I guess it could well be, and I suppose there's no logical reason to get upset about it - it's just media products. It's all right if people lose interests in an old product in favour of a new one. Be that as it may, as a Wing Commander fan, as I watch everyone race for Star Citizen, I don't find myself thinking "hey, wait for me!", but rather "hey, come back here!". In all honesty, while lack of time is one thing, this is one of the reasons why I just can't push myself to finish off that UE update, or for that matter to make that final game update for Standoff. It's hard to motivate yourself when the people you worked for have gone off elsewhere. But maybe (this is a genuine question, not sarcasm) I'm just jealous that nobody cares about our obsolete mods any more, when they've got the "real thing"? Could be, I guess - certainly, producing Wing Commander content for more than a decade has given me a different outlook on things. I'm attached to the work I've made, I still occasionally wish I could do something new for WC, and - well, there goes my audience
.
But hey, we're not dead yet. The fact that something as exotic as converting a 3d ship from an 18-year-old game to a 2d ship in a 20-year-old game still has the power to excite at least a few people is a good sign. Hopefully there's more of that to come...
Ok, and now that I've gone and spoiled the mood for everyone, it's time for me to shut up
. For what it's worth, sorry to be the party-pooper, guys...
