No Single Player offline Mode then?
- Thread starter Brandon31
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Said no Comcast customer ever. In all seriousness, though, they have perfectly valid reasons and there are members of this community that have been extremely unreasonable about it. Frontier is not EA, they are not Ubisoft. They have consistently under-promised and over-delivered. They took the time to explain to us as a community that offline is not a valid option while retaining their vision of the game, and yet we still see this constant bashing of the men and women who worked to turn this honestly, fantastic game into a reality.
Does this mean that the studio is also writing off the promise that the devs would make sure the game would remain playable the day the servers shut down?
I understand people asking for a refund because they won't be able to play due to their lack of internet access, but on a more selfish note, my concern is mainly for the future. I love this game, I've invested a lot a time and interest (and some money too) in it, so I (and many other it seems, going by this thread) need some insurance that we'll be able to play the game we bought in many years, like we can play the original Elite today, even if it is a "reduced" version that doesn't contain dynamic markets and events. I don't want that "Start" button to remain red forever after ED's had its time...
It doesn't have to be NOW, I understand you don't want the game's secrets spilled by making server data available to everyone. But surely in a few months/years those secrets will have been uncovered, first person to stumble upon one will share it with the world. So given enough time, this point will become moot.
Totally unacceptable this no-offline 'feature'. Simcity was already FUBARed because of their online crap , now Elite is going the same way : crap game mechanics to cater to online play.
Only reason I paid 120euro to support this was for the prospect of offline play.
Hope we don't have to wait yet another 30 years for a remake, although... 2044 graphics will be awesome!
Only reason I paid 120euro to support this was for the prospect of offline play.
Hope we don't have to wait yet another 30 years for a remake, although... 2044 graphics will be awesome!
That's exactly what I think happened.
In regards to my point it is indeed related. My point with that comment was that things change while being developed...as I pointed out.
I do agree fully with others that this change could have been communicated a lot earlier though...
I also think that Pioneer also will be alive and kicking - long after ED have been put down.
http://pioneerspacesim.net
two things. (all IMHO, to me, my perspective only)
1) The above quote confirms that you did not intend for the game to be offline at some point in the distant past, long before Newsletter #49. You knew you were not pursuing this Kickstarter promise, likely for more than a year. As such, all you've demonstrated by keeping this decision private are deceptive business practices, at best. There is no possible path, other than early disclosure, where what you've done would have gone well. It's frankly astonishing you didn't know this, given the experience of the team/company.
2) All the other games in the Elite franchise are/were single player offline. Clearly, as you've done it in the past, you could have done it in the present. There is no feature currently in E|D that couldn't be done in a completely offline version. You have not justified, nor can you ever technically justify the lack of offline mode. All these developers that are your customers? We actually know what offline games can have in them, especially prior to 2001. They can be, and ARE/WERE dynamic, in every sense of the word, revolving around a single player. It has been done, and it can be done. It's insulting to tell your paying customers otherwise.
How about you stop the politician-speak and tell us the real reason for cutting offline mode, and exactly when that decision was really made?
Oh, and an apology for cutting this feature? That would show a better attitude than what has been demonstrated thus far, by you and your company.
It's not that it isn't "possible" - it's not "practical".
Whatever that means - maybe we should be told what exactly is constraining this non-delivery of offline (ever, not for launch)?
It's only bad behaviour morally if they intended to deceive from the start and I've seen no evidence of that.
As for the legal ramifications I'll leave that to the lawyers - who knows perhaps an ambulance chaser will appear - assuming they haven't already..
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If you look up Michael's post history, he actually does explain this in straight talk. They were still hoping for a solution for quite a while, kept trying to figure it out, but had to cut it.
I'm not defending the lack of communication, or trying to defray negative posts - it's deserved saying it this late. Just saying that he's being pretty straight on the matter in this thread.
I've actually been playing pioneer quite a bit instead of beta 3. Which i find kind of sad in itself but I struggle to see the game in beta 3. I was holding out hope that there was a lot more to come in gamma/release. That hope has been badly shaken now.
All this talk of a rich evolving universe just doesn't match anything I've seen to date in ED. If its there then its functionally the same as a much simpler random generation system. It shows no depth, NPCs are just randomly flying around, you can't talk to them.. I mean... I don't know, there is nothing that couldn't be done easily offline (and done 100 times better) in beta 3. Maybe there is some incredible server side stuff that's just not been turned on yet. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
But for sure if you were a fan of Frontier (the game) or FFE check out pioneer as a nice updated version.
I can accept that, i believe many of us can.
Lucky for me, this change of course isn't something that affects me, but maybe anotherone in the future will...irrelevant right now.
The one thing i'm left wondering about is....would there have been a game WITHOUT the money from people who specifically backed ED because of the offline mode ?
See, i don't like the thought that i can play a game made possible by people who can't.
No worries, it's just a rethorical question, no need to dig up the numbers or anything, no answer required either.
Keep at it.
The devs have explained, there are good reasons why this is happening. And yes, you're entitled to a refund if you justly believe you are deserved one.
So thanks for the large font and boldness, that's a real game changer.
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He said in giant bold letters and a failure to understand how forums work...
No, I'll be busy playing this excellent game. See you in space though
I highly doubt that.
The point is, Mr. Brookes, is that by cutting single player offline you *have* compromised the game that was envisioned. Just look at the sadness of the forum! It was one of *the* selling points that drew many people, such as myself, to the title.
If you state as fact that offline is not possible then Frontier has failed at realizing their game.
With sadness I will join the crowd and refund this, I can no longer use it the way it had been promised.
As a very sad thought...I can play X-rebirth without an internet connection.
The removal of an online option, for most players, resolves to a really rather good game. No doubt about it.
I find I can't even touch anything to do with the previous games now. ED has turned me off all things Braben and FD.
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