[Krsqk]

Pretty much all of the roleplaying happens in the text

This, to me, sums it all up. The quality of the RP experience in EVN is all-dependent on the language skills of the author. The stock storylines (I did enjoy having six major storylines to choose from/encounter plus eight or ten minor ones) are well-written--you teeter on the edge of insanity with Ory'hara or struggle with betraying the Rebels as a Vell-os. (To be fair, the Pirate storyline was a little harder to get into for me--possibly because I hadn't read the Pirate preamble section yet.) It's more like reading a story--more interactive than the "choose-your-own-adventure" types, since both your choices and how well you act them out affect the story. Most of the mods I've seen, including the highly rated Unity mods, were lacking--I couldn't become immersed in them, so I modded a super Version of the Polaron Multi-torp (100 submunitions @ 360 degrees ) and went around taking my frustrations out on the Feds.

Modding is the second area where I was frustrated, even with a perpetually open copy of the modding guide. The resources are incredibly interconnected, but connected resources aren't stored in any predictable manner. It took me ages to remember that outfit and weapon definitions were in Data 4.rez, while their descriptions were in Data 3.rez and their pictures were in Graphics 1.rez. All of these had to be opened to mod any given outfit--either for direct replacement or simply to consult the original settings before making my changes to a plugin, which was loaded in the fourth loaded instance of EVNEW. :roll: I thought SF files were a pain; these were a dozen times worse.

Both games are enjoyable, but they appeal to a different side. If I want to forge my own path, I play SF. If I want to become an actor in someone else's drama, I fire up EVN. IMO, both are worth the money.