Why StarLancer just isn't right....

Mav23

Mav23

Swabbie
Banned
I just figured it out. I'm replaying it for what must be my fifth time now, and I finally understand why although entertaining, it doesn't come close to any WC game. You're a nobody. The only time you even feel like you're in the game is when you get a medal or when you screw up and get yelled at. The rest of the time, you're just a fly on the wall. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A NAME! Anybody else think this?
 
the lack of bombers your only allowed dogfighting

lack of MODDING support to the game itself

your mission parameters changes 5 times before you even managed to leave the flight deck...

your not allowed to fly as the bad guys

there wont be a sequel
 
well in war ur normally a nobody. Its more realism to the fact that ur treated as any soldier and the whole game/story doesn't revolve around ur charactor... just like in WC.

But I guess Freelancer will expand an any faults!
 
For me bombers and torpedoes were good thing in the game. inflight cinematics were sometimes irritating (when you fly same mission for 10th time). But for me the worst thing was lack of logic in space battles: why they are sending carriers into `close quarters` battle only to have them lost - you can send bombers or cruisers - carrier is supposed to be the most precious element of the fleet; and the second thing - carriers are flying alone - without escorts, and the concept of using carriers from their beginning was to deploy them with strong, fast escort ships (the same problem is in some games of WC series as well).
 
One good thing that I did like about the game is, while you didn't really have a "character" (And I agree that sucked terribly.) you did have the chance to see you advance in rank/decorations because of great things you did. I thought that gave me a better feeling of overall achievement, but not for the character-for me.

I would have liked to have had some sort of character to attach that with however. You don't necessarily have to be "the best pilot ever" (although once you get atop the killboard like that, you damn well should be!) but some character would have been great.

I did like how they gave credit to your squad, instead of just one person though...I just wish the squad did have the damn work!
 
Yeah, I don't need for my character to be the big hero I suppose, I just want someone that people talk to and refer to other than "Lieutenant" and "You".
 
Two main things that I didn't like about the game -

The later missions tend to be fairly scripted, and if you don't follow them exactly, you lose the mission in short order (things such as the cloaked wing of bombers that only appears if you don't take out the fighter wing in 30 seconds and engage the enemy carrier type of affairs).

And I never did finish the last mission.
 
It took me hours (literally) to figure out that cloaking could be useful in that mission. And I`ve managed to save Steiner only the first time I`ve finished the game - I`ve tried many times later but sadly:D each time he was killed.
 
The problem with StarLancer is mission design. It sucks.

They mimicked the bad parts of X-wing and accentuated them. The result is a bizarre adventure/puzzle game with a space theme. You are not supposed to be a good pilot, just to do the mission in the exact way the designer wants you to.

Compare it with any WC game. On WC, when you find yourself on any give situation, you are free to do as you want, as long as the mission objectives are accomplished. So you can go escort the bombers, go after the fighters, the enemy turrets, the enemy bombers or even hunt down some incoming torpedoes. On SL, you must to those things on a specific pre-determined order. If you do it in a different way, even if you are successful, you'll arbitrarily lose the mission.
 
Well - imagine pilots in real life doing what they want as long as objectives are completed:D But for real - there must be some balance - you have to follow a plan (outlined in briefing) and still have some freedom in executing it (but still not too much freedom - you are a soldier and have to follow orders) - that is perfect mission design in my opinion.
 
Originally posted by Dominator
Well - imagine pilots in real life doing what they want as long as objectives are completed:D But for real - there must be some balance - you have to follow a plan (outlined in briefing) and still have some freedom in executing it (but still not too much freedom - you are a soldier and have to follow orders) - that is perfect mission design in my opinion.
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Starlancer tended to push the boundaries, however. The later missions would tend to "handwalk" you through the mission, and if you varied even the slightest in the course that was set, you'd lose - not because of anything that was on the battlefield. Rather, new elements (such as the infamous uncloaking bomber squadron - an enemy bomber squadron that would only appear if you didn't follow the exact mission time table, would uncloak practically right on top of your carrier, and would instantly sink it. Said bomber squadron would only appear if you weren't following the mission timetable exactly.).

If directives came in that you needed to be on the other side of the battlefield (a very frequent occurence), then you couldn't take a few more seconds to polish off the last damaged fighter in the squadron you were dealing with. You had to disengage immediately, hope your tail didn't get too badly shot up by the fighters you didn't have time to kill, and hightail it across the battlefield, or the bad guys would get a deus ex machina event that would automatically cause you to lose your carrier.
And the worst of it was that it was never anything that you had any way of affecting that did the job. It was always a scripted cut scene, often involving elements that hadn't even existed on the battlefield up until the cut scene kicked in.
 
Yes - it was very irritating indeed. Personaly I think that best mission design was in some of TIE fighter missions, but not in the whole game - there were many missions that required `handwalk`, and another downside was that the goals of the missions were not dynamic. Some missions in UE are also very well designed.
 
When I first played Starlancer through, I absolutely loved it. The second time pretty good....but now I really can tell that there's really no good story...no interaction (the most interaction you can do is feed the fish on the Yamato). The engine was great and blew me away at the time. But it really is just a compilation of missions. But that opening sequence is almost as good to me as the opening in WCIV. I just can't wait for Freelance in March.
 
I just quit for a few days out of anger. I just did everything I was suppossed to do and it won't register or something. It wouldn't let me finish the mission. When I get pissed off at games I have to cool off before I go back to it :)
 
Yeah.....if there's a level that I've played 20 times and still can't beat it, I come back a week later and usually beat it first try.
 
The problem with Starlancer is that it's no fun to keep losing to the "cloaked bombers" until you guess and memorize the "secret" sequence of stupid and boring things you must do to win. It's a "beat the system" game.

StarLancer is to Wing Commander what Hitman is to Deus Ex.
 
Originally posted by Delance
The problem with Starlancer is that it's no fun to keep losing to the "cloaked bombers" until you guess and memorize the "secret" sequence of stupid and boring things you must do to win. It's a "beat the system" game.
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Strange. You all have to have quite a different mind then me. I never had the feeling I was to follow an exact path in SL. Seems I think more like the programmers want us to ;) It just felt a bit hollow compared to WC.
Tachyon OTOH had that feeling a couple of times that I had to hit trigger A, then trigger B....
 
Originally posted by cff
Strange. You all have to have quite a different mind then me. I never had the feeling I was to follow an exact path in SL.
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Have you never enconter the coaked bomber wing that punishes you for not guessing what the programmers want?
 
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