Wedge009
Rogue Leader
Maybe Maniac should have been the Colonel...?
Save Game systems... thinking out loud.
- Thread starter AD
- Start date
Flashpoint
Rear Admiral
The thing you have to consider is that in most games, you don't know how long the level is going to be or where it is going to end.
WC (and games like it) are unique in that you get a detailed briefing and know that when you are early/mid/late in the 'level'. That makes it easier to get through, because if you get shot to pieces at Nav 1, and have 2 more Navs to go, you know you are going to have to fly differently if you want to survive. If anything (for me) this makes for a MUCH more exciting level. There's nothing more fun than getting shot up early and then just powering on and (especially in wing 1) watching for the rest of the mission as your screens go wrong and your systems get damaged and you lose weapons and every time you get shot at you wonder if you're going to make it back.
The feeling of achievement and relief after surviving a mission like that is what WC is all about IMO
WC (and games like it) are unique in that you get a detailed briefing and know that when you are early/mid/late in the 'level'. That makes it easier to get through, because if you get shot to pieces at Nav 1, and have 2 more Navs to go, you know you are going to have to fly differently if you want to survive. If anything (for me) this makes for a MUCH more exciting level. There's nothing more fun than getting shot up early and then just powering on and (especially in wing 1) watching for the rest of the mission as your screens go wrong and your systems get damaged and you lose weapons and every time you get shot at you wonder if you're going to make it back.
The feeling of achievement and relief after surviving a mission like that is what WC is all about IMO
Dundradal
Frog Blast the Vent Core!
I agree completely. There are a few missions throughout the series (perhaps a high ratio in Standoff) where when you hit the flight deck, you feel truly satisfied at your accomplishment. (if not maybe a little outright relieved you don't have to go through it again!
)We dont' really remember the easy missions but everybody remembers those ones that push you to the limit and we all have stories how we survived them as well.
Flashpoint
Rear Admiral
Totally. EVERYBODY remembers the first time the Ralari pulls into formation with the 'claw and when they send the last of the Rapiers (SM1) spinning to their deaths
Farbourne
Rear Admiral
Excellent point. My most memorable experience playing WC was a scenario exactly like this...Jotunheim 2 in SM I think? I think I had to take on the last wave of fighters with a single operating mass driver, a damaged ion driver, and essentially no computers, and had to try to five minutes to get clearance to land afterwords because my comm system was so heavily damaged. Mid-mission saves or respawinging would destroy memorable moments like this.
AD
Finder of things, Doer of stuff
This is all well and good as long as the mission design is tight enough and difficulty settings variable enough to make the game challenging and not a chore for all levels of players. If the game is play tested appropriately that's all well and good, until the mission designers want to change up the variety...
So you get a detailed briefing, but then before you land you get a comm from your carrier that you can chose to go help out another wing, or there's an urgent situation that requires you not landing... so much for your mission briefing predicting where the mission is headed. If the mission is designed so that the first part is really easy then I guess that's alright but having a more fluid feel to the gameflow kind of throws the old standbys out the window.
While we're more than happy with days long past, do you really think the average game player (and face it, for a new WC game to be successful it has to appeal to the average modern gamer) will be content with that level of mission design?
This sort of verges on why almost all new space games follow the Privateer model and not the classic scripted mission based WC design.
You could record missions in X-Wing, but I don't remember ever being able to jump back in.
Actually, X-Wing did have this. If your ejection system was damaged (or sometimes for other reasons) it might not work, and you would die. Other times, it would work fine and you would get a cutscene of being rescued and healing up in the medical facility. And sometimes it would work, but you would be captured by the Empire. If you were killed or captured, you could revive your pilot, but you would lose all your points and your rank. That sucked, but it was easy to get around by backing up your pilot file after every mission. And since everyone figured this out and it was annoying quitting the game after every mission to back up your pilot, TIE Fighter had the same system, but you could back up your pilot in-game (and even set it to automatically back up and restore your pilot, making the whole thing totally pointless).
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter also did that, even in the single player, and I thought it was terrible and totally ruined the feeling of immersion.
ELTEE
Vice Admiral
In single player, I completely agree with you - although I understand why it was thought to be necessary in the game you mention. Flying a TIE Fighter with no shields would certainly have the potential of being frustrating for a player, especially when combatting well protected Alliance craft. The Empire's counter was always superiority in numbers, so I suppose that was really the only way to ensure players were able to exploit that (though I am well aware the same took place for the Alliance in that game.)
My goal would be to keep it more intimate - if you're playing a co-op campaign with a buddy, let's say your flight is 4 ships. I could see the case for allowing each player the option of jumping to their AI counterpart once if they are destroyed.
Eh, I'm not sure we've found the right formula yet anyhow. My personal opinion is that when you die, you should eject and sit out until the next mission - maybe you get to watch the battle to see if your buddies can still salvage the win without you. The penalty could be you don't gain as many points for promotions or something.
Unfortunately, I know that today's players don't have that kind of patience though and would never want to remain idle for any length of time.
Dundradal
Frog Blast the Vent Core!
I think that might be part of the reason the developers changed the formula somewhat from Battlestations Midway to BS Pacific. In the original once you lost your last unit you were out of the game unless someone "gave" you one of their units. In the new game you can continue to crank units out until your bases are destroyed. It's ok on some levels, but I really enjoyed the set piece battles of BSM.
