How does this compare with EV:Nova?

[Din Ahmed]

I'd like to add that after trying the EV:Nova demo recently (thanks St. Patrik), I am impressed with the Tutorial where an old Captain guided you in the ways of the 'trade'. It never crossed my mind until I had to restart my Starfury game after a fresh install recently since I forgot to backup the savegames...

Starfury didn't have that. Infact the starting was just some officer telling me (First Campaign) to get 50,000 credits through Merchant missions in some other system . And there are some really interesting random (methinks) batles that play out without you causing it plus the sight of the fleets clashing was really cool in EV:Nova.

On the downside I have trouble with the inertia controls for EV:Nova, and there are no pilot Stats/Levels. I think the Pilot name you create at the start of the game is only for savegame naming purposes. Pretty much all of the roleplaying happens in the text whereas Starfury has actual character stats and levels. Starfury also has better ship modifications I think and you can customize the ships better. I preffer the combat in Starfury but I don't like the auto-difficulty thing (where when you get better ships, so do the enemies ).

Also the trading seems more a little more normal versus Starfury's Mechant missions (although I understand Aaron's reasons; not having to create mini economy for each outPosts saves a lot effort/attention that can be diverted elsewhere). I think that EV:Nova has some form of either dynamic economy or random effects that look like dynamic economy; where prices change depending on quantity of goods. At least I've had events that say certain prices change due to over supply of certain goods.

Also the navigation system rocks. Simply activating the map, and then click on the system to jump and hitting a button for the jump is wonderfully painless. In Starfury, I haven't been able to select anything in the map mode so I have to manually align the ship and simply wait out the travel (with time accell of course).

A few other niggles here and there but the Starfury has the graphics hands down; and EV:Nova feels odd with the 'standard window popups' at the title screen during saving and loading compared to the nice title screen. It sure feels ported thats for sure. I'm guessing that it was handled differently on the Mac since it was kinda jarring.

#Okay. I think that was long enough for complaining... I guess I'll play both but at the start of the games . I think that EV:Nova is more approachable whereas Starfury requires players to put more effort initially. Also the EV:Nova includes the manual with the demo/shareware and that helps incredibly.

[ November 29, 2003, 12:45: Message edited by: Din Ahmed ]

[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.

[Din Ahmed]

I second that. The writting in EV:Nova is one of the best (probabily the best in this type of games...)

But I can't stand the combat. I keep dying and intertia controlls take a lot of practice... to get competent. Saving & loading is a nuisance.

I wish there was a way of combining the writting from EV:Nova with the Combat/Customisation from Starfury... Also, I preffer the tradding in EV:Nova but the story is why I play it...

I'm not a modder so I don't really understand the benefits of either system though quick search reveals a gazilion on plugins (mods?) for EV:Nova. This could probably due to it deing out longer especially on the Mac.

And I'm having problems getting mods to work on Starfury too. I downloaded the mod for adding a Startrek ship (forgot name) but It doesn't seem to show...

I'm downloading the Battlestar Gallactica mod since my first Campaign is stuck. (I just created another post about it).

[dominictus]

If you are looking for the same type of game with superior graphics, better RP interface and 3D combat system- then play Freelancer. It has what you are looking for.

Dominictus

[Din Ahmed]

Originally posted by dominictus:
If you are looking for the same type of game with superior graphics, better RP interface and 3D combat system- then play Freelancer. It has what you are looking for.

Dominictus

I already played freelancer to death. Kinda waiting for X2 right now. But X2 won't be anywhere as easy to mod as either Freelancer or SF. Freelancer also has very easily modifiable ships and such stored in a text/conf file.

I find the story in Freelancer kinda lacking. A lot of fluff and not enough story. Sure it looks cool (Hey! Look at the fingers animate... wooohooo). I still like Freelancer but the programmer in me is attracted to SF. The sheer amount that can be modded is fantastic. Also I'm partial to supporting these small outfits like Malfador since they're the Last bastion of innovative/decent gameplay on the PC-game market.

[Gruffel]

Ack! Give me the link to that game, I wanna test it

[Alneyan]

If you were talking about EV Nova, the official site can be found right here. I have been quite impressed by the level of writing in Nova, but the game design was far from being impressive in my opinion. A very enjoyable game if you do like stories. If you don't however...