What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

I cannot believe what an AWFUL, AWFUL game this is!!! I have been an avid player of Space Empires IV for YEARS, and as such I was expecting REALLY good things from this game...I even pre-ordered it TWO MONTHS before-hand...now, in hindsight, I wish I'd saved my £30! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

For a start, the game has a 2D play field - whaaaat??!!?
Even the most BASIC game of this kind, even those available waaay before the millenium allowed 3D movement - even ELITE did, for God's sake!!
Secondly, as this wasn't bad enough, the ship GUI is so small (even in 1024 res) you have to virtually have your nose against the monitor to be able to see ANYTHING, particularly the system minimap which is completely unreadable.
The explosions and weapon effects are mediocre at best, the sound effects are uninspiring, even the music is tedious - christ, I could go on until the death knell of the world..

Personally, I think Malfador should have stuck to what they do best - good, solid 4X4 Empire building strategy - and left the 3D Privateer/Elite/Freelancer games arena to the big boys, cuz frankly they are EONS behind.

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

Actually SFC, which is a favorite of mine, is 2D movement (in a 3D engine) as well.

Sorry that the game was not what you were looking for.

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

Why are you surprised about a flat map?
SE has used 2-D maps since the beginning!

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From here, the status panel takes up 20% of the screen...
If you really wanted to, you could mod it bigger, but there are already mods out to make it smaller so you can see more of the actual view.

If you're stuck with a 14" monitor or something, then yeah, you may need it bigger I suppose. Can be done, no prob.

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The "minimap" radar screen is not intended for what you're trying to use it for. Use the full screen, zoomable scrollable, fully rendered map for gritty details, searching for stuff and planning routes.
Press R to get into a full radar mode around your ship, and you'll see the important things like the pirate ship behind you and the missiles heading towards your aft hull.

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What is so wrong with the effects and sound?
Seems quite reasonable, to me...
You got your whine and PSORCH of beams, POomf of torpedoes and Boomf, crack-blam of hits.

For a REAL space sounds realism mod?
- Unplug your speakers.
For pop culture space sounds?
- Record some and replace the existing sound files.

Someone with a digital camera can take some pictures of fireballs and smoke with a lighter and some miscellaneous chemicals if you want superrealistic images...

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Basically, it sounds to me like you're in this for the wrong reasons.
If you want a pretty, poofy game that looks like a babylon 5 movie, there are games for you elsewhere that cost a couple million dollars to make.
If you want Space Empires: Up Close and Personal, then you've come to the right place.

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Take some deep breaths, play a round of SE 3, and then sell your copy on Ebay for a profit if you still want to.

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

If you've played SEIV for years, you should realize that MM has always traded off "state-of-the-art" graphics and other bells and whistles for modability. Yes, Starfury is not as multi-dimensional and pretty as Freelancer, say. But I triple-dog-dare you to try to mod Freelancer. For the amount of effort you'd have to sink into that project, you could come up with 2-3 Starfury mods that include totally new sectors, weapons, graphics, etc. MM's trademark has always been a good basic game engine, with modability that puts the rest of the game's development in the players' hands.

I guess Starfury, like SEIV, is another niche game. Well, that's fine with me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

Maybe its just me, but maybe we've been spoiled in the past, expecting the very best from a small company. I like it as is. And the moddability is indeed one of the jewels of any MM game.

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Freelancer is not hard to mod really, just more mathematical. Been there done all that. In fact it is a lot of fun modding that game too and I actually had the motivation to write a complete tutorial on hardpoints modding myself. Starfury is so much easier to mod because it sacrifies game play.

[ October 10, 2003, 06:55: Message edited by: CW ]

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

AHEM
AHEM
AHEM

Lets see here...

Freelancer - Has lots and lots of money for dev. and has a dev team
Starfury - Very little money, and a one person team

So how would anyone expect Aaron to make SF anywhere near as good as the likes of Freelancer or even any 3D game for that fact

Most games ppl use as an example tend to have huge support from big companies
Granted SF might not be as good as ppl expected, but give it sometime and a few patches before you go on a ramage

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

Before this discussion gets too hot, please let me make it clear that I do not like the topic title of this thread and I do not mean offense to Aaron or anbody else, I'm only interested in stating the facts.

DeadZone,

Lets see here...

Freelancer - $29.99 on Gamestop.com
Starfury - $34.95

As a humble average consumer, shouldn't I expect more from Starfury?

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You hit it right on the head. Perhaps Malfador should concentrate on something that does not rely so much on manpower-intensive and expensive 3D graphics. SEIV was a success because Malfador concentrated rightly on game play.

[ October 10, 2003, 10:42: Message edited by: CW ]

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

However (correct me if Im wrong)
When Freelancer came out wasnt it about $40 but it has been out quite a while so the price has dropped

Re: What is this piece of CRAP.....!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's the point. You can get Freelancer for less money at this very moment. Even Freelancer itself is being considered as old already.

[ October 10, 2003, 11:52: Message edited by: CW ]