Elite / Frontier Whats games should be Elite 4 be like excluding Elite games

tobytyke

T
What games should Elite 4 be like excluding Elite games

I've been an elite fan since the start on the BBC can't wait until the new version if finished and comes out.

But I'm also a little scared, just in case the new version does learn from mistakes of other online games.

With this in mind, I would love Elite 4 to have aspects of the these games:

Earth and Beyond - Combat and trading,
Eve - Size
Freelancer - Missions and ships (Once it been modded).

I really believe that Elite 4 could compete with WOW is its done correctly.
What aspects of other games do you think Elite 4 would benefit from?
 
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Dragonstar

Dragonstar
City of Heroes brought the best of costume customization to MMORPGs. People can create billions (<-- if not more) of unique heroes. That said I would like Elite 4 to include the ability to customize each ship.

For example, you buy a base Asp ship. (generic) You should be able to buy different looking Asp ships and with each add-on you can have several different looks. Such as several different looking 4 MW lasers. They all shoot and act the same way but they all look different.

I know it won't add to gameplay, but it adds "uniqueness" to each player.

BTW. The above should only be in an online or multiplayer version of Elite IV. For single play, it wouldn't matter.
 

tobytyke

T
Good point about CoH, It will be brill to be able to customise your ship. Maybe evening giving the people the chance to sell ships to other people. This could be another system of game play. You could become a ship sales man.
 

turwhitt

turwhitt
This may not be a very popular opinion, but i don't want E4 to be a MMO. Although i love Elite and MMOs, there are too many problems which are caused by the existence of other players, most notably time dilation.

I'd like to see it just like First Encounters, but with better graphics, more ships and equipment and a much more involved hand coded mission series. FE may not have done very well with the critics, but this is because it was released too early, not because it wasn't a good game. It's in my top 10 best games of all time, and i'm sure many people agree with me.

Although i'm sure E4 will attract many newcomers, i think it's safe to say (what with E1, F, FE being so old) that the main enthusiasts will be older players. Older players just don't have as much time to grind as kids do, and as much as MMOs like to make out they don't encourage grinding, there is always an advantage to being able to play for hours on end without having to interact with life/kids/job etc. (unless you go for an EVE-like system which just didn't work, IMO).

If it is a MMO though, i have to agree with the above that customisation is very important. What helped make GW the worst MMO ever was the fact that everyone looked the same.
 

Jetblack

J
turwhitt said:
This may not be a very popular opinion, but i don't want E4 to be a MMO. Although i love Elite and MMOs, there are too many problems which are caused by the existence of other players, most notably time dilation.

I'd like to see it just like First Encounters, but with better graphics, more ships and equipment and a much more involved hand coded mission series. FE may not have done very well with the critics, but this is because it was released too early, not because it wasn't a good game. It's in my top 10 best games of all time, and i'm sure many people agree with me.

Although i'm sure E4 will attract many newcomers, i think it's safe to say (what with E1, F, FE being so old) that the main enthusiasts will be older players. Older players just don't have as much time to grind as kids do, and as much as MMOs like to make out they don't encourage grinding, there is always an advantage to being able to play for hours on end without having to interact with life/kids/job etc. (unless you go for an EVE-like system which just didn't work, IMO).

If it is a MMO though, i have to agree with the above that customisation is very important. What helped make GW the worst MMO ever was the fact that everyone looked the same.
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Its a very popular opinion in my opinion :)

What I think a lot of people dont realise about the Elite series is the wonderful lonliness/desolation of space. The contrast between vast empty space and semi-advanced intelligence such as humanity is a very compelling emotion. Its the same emotion that makes us long for some sort of contact with ET.

I think an online multiplayer Elite would ruin the fundamentals of what made this a smash hit series. All Elite players i have spoken to use the word imagination constantly when describing the pleasure from playing Elie/Frontier/FFE.

As I mentioned before; I'd like to see a Noctis-like database updating feature. So as I or you explore the Elite 4 universe we can update all other game players of new discoveries, events, trade opportunities, and new planetary systems can be mapped out according to pilot.

So for instance if you discover a new system with lots of mineral wealth potential; you can name the planet/planets, and thereafter the update, any players going to that planet to mine or whatever pay a small leasing fee of their earnings on that project. Its deducted from their credits automatically.

The game engine doesnt need to show all this happening in real time, and can randmly generate traffic with bogus names to mimick interest in the new place you discovered.

For instacne if you are Imperial then this new place becomes imperial turf, with BBS missions etc... All this can be updated and logically generated so we dont have to be playing at the same time.

I think this kind of daily updated universe would be way cooler than a online multiplayer Elite. So we can all effect eachothers game without being in eachothers faces. Kind of a daily modded update like they do for Linux kernels etc..

Also it doesnt matter how many players play because if we are talking about a Milky way with genuine 500 billion stars to explore then its never going to become all claimed. Or if there is a danger of that, then Andromeda can be generated and we have a whole new galaxy to explore. Same engine but just a new map. I am salivating already....

This game could go on and on and on.....as most Elite type players want in such a game. Infintie horizons - immortality is what we are all seeking!
 

tobytyke

T
The best fun I had with Elite from explorering the galaxy and then meeting up with my mates in the Pub to compare note. There no reason why this couldn't happen with EIV. I do believe it should be semi-online in that new contact should be mate available, Also having the apply to customise should ship would be great fun. If you take a look at Forza 2 on the 360, the greatest fun is design your own cars and then making the available to other users, this could be incorpated.

I being to agree with everybody in that the only way on having EIV fully online would require jump gates, This is what spoilt Freelancer and Earth and Beyond IMO.

But maybe Mr Braben has other ideas, Lets hope it not too long before here them.
 

Dragonstar

Dragonstar
Remember Mr. Braben plans to release 2 versions of Elite IV.

Quoting from his interview in Nov. 2006.

Braben told us, "There are two project designs that we've got now. One is a multiplayer game, the other is a single-player, still allowing multiplayer, but not massive multiplayer, which we do plan to do and that will follow on from The Outsider and use some of the technologies that that employs. That's the way they fit together."

Braben continued, "Certainly the first Elite incarnation will be a single player game, that supports multiplayer, but we're not talking thousands, we're talking tens of players."

While an Elite MMO still remains the ultimate dream (coincidentally as we argued for recently in our Bring It Back! feature,) Braben is under no illusions that it will be a simple task: "Although I think it's a long way off, one thing I'm wary of is that it's a very difficult game to provide for well. There will be groups of fans who will be very critical of what happens, that's true of every game really, but it's a lot of work to keep that going for a long time."
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