Eagle3
05-21-03, 01:53 PM
Depressed with Freelancer and every alleged "open-ended" space sim since Elite (which I consider an evolution point in computer gaming) I am more than a bit anxious to check this title out.
This preview/interview is a bit lengthy but worth the read if you appreciate the freedom of open-ended sims that allow you to chart out your own path and deal with a subplot only when you want to. If X2 accomplishes what they claim in this preview then I'm going to be playing this a LOT.
X2 Preview and Interview
Reviewed by: Bryan Pizzuti [03.18.03]
Developer: Egosoft
Publisher: TBA
It seems like space combat simulators are starting to become popular again, after a long hiatus. One of the favorites was a game released way back in the DOS days called Wing Commander: Privateer. It offered the player the opportunity to be their own boss, and become a pirate, assassin, or merchant as they saw fit. Also, the plot in the game was considered optional, which was unique for the time.
Privateer was actually based on a game even further back in history, called Elite, which was basically the same thing only without any plot at all. Back in the days of Elite and Privateer (especially Elite) however, things were still primitive. Graphics were 2D or primitive versions of software 3D rendering, universes basically had to be pre-scripted. This limited how worlds could be constructed and evolved, but it was the best we had at the time. I still dig up a DOS machine to play Privateer on occasion, or an emulator to play Elite; that's how good they were (and are).
Privateer actually had a sequel released around 1995, but it was still a DOS game (And Privateer 2 didn’t go over so well anyway). Trading/Fighting/Elite style games didn't reach Windows for a while after that. The first two likely candidates were Tachyon: The Fringe, which didn't offer nearly as much freedom as Privateer, but had entertaining voiceovers by Bill Campbell. X: Beyond the Frontier was Egosoft's first release and had a bit more freedom. As a matter of fact, it starts pretty close to being like Privateer, where you have to start with simple trading missions to upgrade your ship and so on. But in here you were stuck with one ship, though you could do a lot of upgrading. You could also build your own factories, something you couldn't do in Privateer. There were also no non-plot missions, unlike Privateer, and progress was slow due to the large amount of cargo shipping and trading necessary to make money, so it had its problems too (especially in forcing a prospective mercenary to do trading).
The recent release of Freelancer had high hopes for many, but while fundamentally a great and enjoyable game, falls short to recapture the depth of Privateer. In Freelancer you have a choice of being a hitman who does odd jobs and sells junk left behind by enemies, or a pirate who sells junk left behind by ships you've just attacked. You can also do some trading, but you can only own one ship at a time, so you'll have to give up your fighter for a freighter. More in this in our forthcoming review.
Let's not revisit Battlecruiser Millennium, which was also billed as an attempt to be a similar game, and just go into a summary of the latest of the "Elite" style games: X2 - The Threat.
First of all, it's based on the same ideas, all the way back to Elite. Obviously, its space combat, and it involves trading, upgrading, and so on. They claim you can become a trader, bounty hunter, pirate, miner, et cetera. Typical Privateer/Elite fare, which is rare enough, so we'll certainly take it. One of the pieces of information is obviously (and welcome) compensation for only being able to pilot one craft in the original X. In X2, there will be over 70 craft that the player can pilot, which might be OVERcompensation, but we'll happily take it nonetheless. Apparently, some of these will be capital-ship class, which sparks even more interest.
The "living universe" concept is alive and well here in X2 as well. Apparently, this game will have other "freelancers" and privateers that you must actually compete with for jobs, and AI scripts that can run factories and other ships for you. Also, the trading is supposed to involve a dynamic economy, with prices rising and falling based on supply and demand.
We had a chance to talk with the guys over at Egosoft about X2, and get some of our questions answered, especially about the interesting buzzwords like "dynamic economy" and "living universe." And we also had to know a bit about those 70 ships, of course. It's apparent that Egosoft is very excited about releasing this game. In fact, they’re so stoked about it that they tended to get a bit long-winded in their answers. It's worth the read though, since they give out quite a bit of information about this upcoming game, and explain it quite well. They also sent us a few screenshots, which we've put in for you to check out as well.
Interview with Bernd Lehahn – Head of Egosoft and Darren Astles – Fiction Co-Author.
HCW: How have you addressed some of the issued raised with the original game being too limited, and forcing the player into having to do trading missions to advance?
Egosoft: We have given the player a better starting position, a ship that comes with some of the expected equipment from the start. This is woven into the plot, but with the game being freeform the player can at any time, right at the outset, decide on a career path that suits them. Of course they can then sample each lifestyle at will, be it trader, mercenary, pirate, miner and so on.
They will be able to go and begin plundering the space lanes immediately as long as they pick their targets carefully, or trade in for a ship more suited to their chosen style of game play.
HCW: What advantages and limitations do you experience by using the "Elite" model of game?
Egosoft: It’s a freeform game with a rich plot running through it. Because we give the player as much freedom as possible, they can experience a much deeper game and play for a longer period than you would with some other types of games. We have taken a lot of praise for our dynamic trading system, but it’s not just the trade. The whole game Universe is dynamic. If you can see it, there is a good chance you can acquire it and you can almost certainly blow it up, if you play in that style.
This of course brings payback from the offended side and we attempt to bring a balance to this. Then of course, this brings its own problems with the plot. If you destroy a particular installation that is pivotal to the plot, we have to decide how we can respawn it in a believable way, if at all. That said, it is unlikely that a player will have the amassed firepower to destroy such structures early in the game.
HCW: Just for the destructive types out there whose attention was drawn by the “if you can see it, you can blow it up” statement, does this include things like planets? What does it include that might not be obvious at the outset?
Egosoft: Planets? The “player” cannot destroy planets or moons, no; there are no weapons available to the player that are strong enough to cause this amount of devastation. They are real objects though, not just painted backgrounds, you can fly around them or even into them. As for other items, then yes. Space stations, jump gates, any ship and asteroids. Anything really, but firing your small fighters’ lasers and a few missiles at a shipyard is only going to result in you becoming the hunted. You will need big ships and/or a large fleet before you start re-arranging the Universe.
HCW: How dynamic is the universe? Generally, what can and can’t be affected, and to what degree?
Egosoft: A few examples will probably help to visualize the dynamics. Firstly, the X-Universe and all its inhabitants are self-sufficient. They don’t need you to be involved. Factories make goods, cargo ships transport them to where they are required and patrol ships attack pirates or enemies. Shipyards will create lost ships and send them back on patrol (including capital ships). It’s not scripted. It’s alive!
So what could you do? Blend in. Go hauling legal goods for small profits. Keep to the inner sectors where the capital ships roam and offer protection. Take on easy missions, build up a reputation and save for that Bliss farm on the outer rings of Preachers Refuge.
Or you could take the pirate life, dangerous, but rewarding. Have bigger ships with bigger missions and the fast life. Always looking over your shoulder and scanning the radar, carrying seeker missiles instead of Chelt skins.
Let me give you some detailed examples. I was sitting in one race’s sector, minding my own business (well actually, I was taking a keen interest in the traffic with my newly purchased freight scanner) when I noticed a Boron cargo ship exit the gate. Now normally, this wouldn’t raise so much as an eyebrow, but I was in Paranid space and people familiar with the fiction surrounding the X-Universe will know, Boron and Paranid aren’t the best of friends. You can read about all of this in the fiction that ships with the game.
The Boron ship appeared to be heading all the way through the sector, but before it had reached half way, the local patrol ships had destroyed it. So what did this tell me? Firstly, a required resource for a factory somewhere in Boron space had temporarily run dry. So the factory requiring it had sent its vessel on a long and ultimately, deadly voyage.
Now, this means that the Boron shipyard will, in time, deliver another trading vessel to replace the one lost by the factory. The factory still needs the resource and will have a major delay now in getting it. What does that factory make? Do you see the potential knock on effect?
Then me? I’ve just seen, simply by watching, a gap in the market. I could haul that resource myself and they’d pay top dollar for it, until the “outage” settled down again or even better, I could go and deploy my own factory making that resource. I could position it right next to the factories that require it if I like or in a dense nebulae or asteroid field.
All because I saw one ship meet its maker.
Want to start a war? Go and take out one of the capital ships patrolling distant sectors. Watch that race build another one at the nearest shipyard. If its journey back to its patrol area takes it through an enemy controlled sector….
Want to corner the market in Computer Components? Build factories, out-price your competitors, go and buy up all their stock, set up a blockade on a gate or just destroy their factories and order your fleet to wipe out their cargo ships, or do it yourself.
You see it is possible to affect the X-Universe in many ways. I know players in previous games who have removed a whole race and replaced it with their own empire or become the sole proprietor of a particular product.
You don’t have to do any of it though and that’s the key. Become the master of the Universe or spend your days picking up bounty-hunter missions and everything in-between.
HCW: In some of the materials released, it’s stated that the player can go and discover new societies. How does this work, and what rewards are there for the player in this?
Egosoft: The player will start off in one area of space, controlled by one of the races. As they explore, either on their own or by following the plot, they will enter areas that are home to the other inhabitants. They might have enough reputation to trade straight away (can’t trade, can’t dock) or they might have to “impress” them by helping out with the local pirate problem.
Once you have docking rights, you have access to all the unique products, ships, factories and weapons that are unique to that race. Some missions are unique to certain races and you need a certain level of reputation before they are offered. Meeting a new race for the first time is quite an experience.
More (http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-140-1.htm)
X2's Homepage (http://www.egosoft.com/x2/) Lots of screenshots and FAQ
This preview/interview is a bit lengthy but worth the read if you appreciate the freedom of open-ended sims that allow you to chart out your own path and deal with a subplot only when you want to. If X2 accomplishes what they claim in this preview then I'm going to be playing this a LOT.
X2 Preview and Interview
Reviewed by: Bryan Pizzuti [03.18.03]
Developer: Egosoft
Publisher: TBA
It seems like space combat simulators are starting to become popular again, after a long hiatus. One of the favorites was a game released way back in the DOS days called Wing Commander: Privateer. It offered the player the opportunity to be their own boss, and become a pirate, assassin, or merchant as they saw fit. Also, the plot in the game was considered optional, which was unique for the time.
Privateer was actually based on a game even further back in history, called Elite, which was basically the same thing only without any plot at all. Back in the days of Elite and Privateer (especially Elite) however, things were still primitive. Graphics were 2D or primitive versions of software 3D rendering, universes basically had to be pre-scripted. This limited how worlds could be constructed and evolved, but it was the best we had at the time. I still dig up a DOS machine to play Privateer on occasion, or an emulator to play Elite; that's how good they were (and are).
Privateer actually had a sequel released around 1995, but it was still a DOS game (And Privateer 2 didn’t go over so well anyway). Trading/Fighting/Elite style games didn't reach Windows for a while after that. The first two likely candidates were Tachyon: The Fringe, which didn't offer nearly as much freedom as Privateer, but had entertaining voiceovers by Bill Campbell. X: Beyond the Frontier was Egosoft's first release and had a bit more freedom. As a matter of fact, it starts pretty close to being like Privateer, where you have to start with simple trading missions to upgrade your ship and so on. But in here you were stuck with one ship, though you could do a lot of upgrading. You could also build your own factories, something you couldn't do in Privateer. There were also no non-plot missions, unlike Privateer, and progress was slow due to the large amount of cargo shipping and trading necessary to make money, so it had its problems too (especially in forcing a prospective mercenary to do trading).
The recent release of Freelancer had high hopes for many, but while fundamentally a great and enjoyable game, falls short to recapture the depth of Privateer. In Freelancer you have a choice of being a hitman who does odd jobs and sells junk left behind by enemies, or a pirate who sells junk left behind by ships you've just attacked. You can also do some trading, but you can only own one ship at a time, so you'll have to give up your fighter for a freighter. More in this in our forthcoming review.
Let's not revisit Battlecruiser Millennium, which was also billed as an attempt to be a similar game, and just go into a summary of the latest of the "Elite" style games: X2 - The Threat.
First of all, it's based on the same ideas, all the way back to Elite. Obviously, its space combat, and it involves trading, upgrading, and so on. They claim you can become a trader, bounty hunter, pirate, miner, et cetera. Typical Privateer/Elite fare, which is rare enough, so we'll certainly take it. One of the pieces of information is obviously (and welcome) compensation for only being able to pilot one craft in the original X. In X2, there will be over 70 craft that the player can pilot, which might be OVERcompensation, but we'll happily take it nonetheless. Apparently, some of these will be capital-ship class, which sparks even more interest.
The "living universe" concept is alive and well here in X2 as well. Apparently, this game will have other "freelancers" and privateers that you must actually compete with for jobs, and AI scripts that can run factories and other ships for you. Also, the trading is supposed to involve a dynamic economy, with prices rising and falling based on supply and demand.
We had a chance to talk with the guys over at Egosoft about X2, and get some of our questions answered, especially about the interesting buzzwords like "dynamic economy" and "living universe." And we also had to know a bit about those 70 ships, of course. It's apparent that Egosoft is very excited about releasing this game. In fact, they’re so stoked about it that they tended to get a bit long-winded in their answers. It's worth the read though, since they give out quite a bit of information about this upcoming game, and explain it quite well. They also sent us a few screenshots, which we've put in for you to check out as well.
Interview with Bernd Lehahn – Head of Egosoft and Darren Astles – Fiction Co-Author.
HCW: How have you addressed some of the issued raised with the original game being too limited, and forcing the player into having to do trading missions to advance?
Egosoft: We have given the player a better starting position, a ship that comes with some of the expected equipment from the start. This is woven into the plot, but with the game being freeform the player can at any time, right at the outset, decide on a career path that suits them. Of course they can then sample each lifestyle at will, be it trader, mercenary, pirate, miner and so on.
They will be able to go and begin plundering the space lanes immediately as long as they pick their targets carefully, or trade in for a ship more suited to their chosen style of game play.
HCW: What advantages and limitations do you experience by using the "Elite" model of game?
Egosoft: It’s a freeform game with a rich plot running through it. Because we give the player as much freedom as possible, they can experience a much deeper game and play for a longer period than you would with some other types of games. We have taken a lot of praise for our dynamic trading system, but it’s not just the trade. The whole game Universe is dynamic. If you can see it, there is a good chance you can acquire it and you can almost certainly blow it up, if you play in that style.
This of course brings payback from the offended side and we attempt to bring a balance to this. Then of course, this brings its own problems with the plot. If you destroy a particular installation that is pivotal to the plot, we have to decide how we can respawn it in a believable way, if at all. That said, it is unlikely that a player will have the amassed firepower to destroy such structures early in the game.
HCW: Just for the destructive types out there whose attention was drawn by the “if you can see it, you can blow it up” statement, does this include things like planets? What does it include that might not be obvious at the outset?
Egosoft: Planets? The “player” cannot destroy planets or moons, no; there are no weapons available to the player that are strong enough to cause this amount of devastation. They are real objects though, not just painted backgrounds, you can fly around them or even into them. As for other items, then yes. Space stations, jump gates, any ship and asteroids. Anything really, but firing your small fighters’ lasers and a few missiles at a shipyard is only going to result in you becoming the hunted. You will need big ships and/or a large fleet before you start re-arranging the Universe.
HCW: How dynamic is the universe? Generally, what can and can’t be affected, and to what degree?
Egosoft: A few examples will probably help to visualize the dynamics. Firstly, the X-Universe and all its inhabitants are self-sufficient. They don’t need you to be involved. Factories make goods, cargo ships transport them to where they are required and patrol ships attack pirates or enemies. Shipyards will create lost ships and send them back on patrol (including capital ships). It’s not scripted. It’s alive!
So what could you do? Blend in. Go hauling legal goods for small profits. Keep to the inner sectors where the capital ships roam and offer protection. Take on easy missions, build up a reputation and save for that Bliss farm on the outer rings of Preachers Refuge.
Or you could take the pirate life, dangerous, but rewarding. Have bigger ships with bigger missions and the fast life. Always looking over your shoulder and scanning the radar, carrying seeker missiles instead of Chelt skins.
Let me give you some detailed examples. I was sitting in one race’s sector, minding my own business (well actually, I was taking a keen interest in the traffic with my newly purchased freight scanner) when I noticed a Boron cargo ship exit the gate. Now normally, this wouldn’t raise so much as an eyebrow, but I was in Paranid space and people familiar with the fiction surrounding the X-Universe will know, Boron and Paranid aren’t the best of friends. You can read about all of this in the fiction that ships with the game.
The Boron ship appeared to be heading all the way through the sector, but before it had reached half way, the local patrol ships had destroyed it. So what did this tell me? Firstly, a required resource for a factory somewhere in Boron space had temporarily run dry. So the factory requiring it had sent its vessel on a long and ultimately, deadly voyage.
Now, this means that the Boron shipyard will, in time, deliver another trading vessel to replace the one lost by the factory. The factory still needs the resource and will have a major delay now in getting it. What does that factory make? Do you see the potential knock on effect?
Then me? I’ve just seen, simply by watching, a gap in the market. I could haul that resource myself and they’d pay top dollar for it, until the “outage” settled down again or even better, I could go and deploy my own factory making that resource. I could position it right next to the factories that require it if I like or in a dense nebulae or asteroid field.
All because I saw one ship meet its maker.
Want to start a war? Go and take out one of the capital ships patrolling distant sectors. Watch that race build another one at the nearest shipyard. If its journey back to its patrol area takes it through an enemy controlled sector….
Want to corner the market in Computer Components? Build factories, out-price your competitors, go and buy up all their stock, set up a blockade on a gate or just destroy their factories and order your fleet to wipe out their cargo ships, or do it yourself.
You see it is possible to affect the X-Universe in many ways. I know players in previous games who have removed a whole race and replaced it with their own empire or become the sole proprietor of a particular product.
You don’t have to do any of it though and that’s the key. Become the master of the Universe or spend your days picking up bounty-hunter missions and everything in-between.
HCW: In some of the materials released, it’s stated that the player can go and discover new societies. How does this work, and what rewards are there for the player in this?
Egosoft: The player will start off in one area of space, controlled by one of the races. As they explore, either on their own or by following the plot, they will enter areas that are home to the other inhabitants. They might have enough reputation to trade straight away (can’t trade, can’t dock) or they might have to “impress” them by helping out with the local pirate problem.
Once you have docking rights, you have access to all the unique products, ships, factories and weapons that are unique to that race. Some missions are unique to certain races and you need a certain level of reputation before they are offered. Meeting a new race for the first time is quite an experience.
More (http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-140-1.htm)
X2's Homepage (http://www.egosoft.com/x2/) Lots of screenshots and FAQ