Quick and honest review of 3.9
I've only had about an hour so far to play Beta 3.9, but I had to get on and give a quick, perhaps a little biased, but honest review.
First, Great job on the new startup menus, they look great, polished and professional, like I'd expect from a released game.
Login was far faster than it's been in beta til this point. Getting from clicking Play to sitting in the cockpit took a matter of less than a minute, closer to 20 seconds, where before it could take 2 or more minutes for me.
The sidewinder's graphics look great, more worn and used than it used to be. the hud is crisper, still got the orbit lines, but that's ok, it never bothered me.
The right panel looks great, the new reputation setup looks great, and if you scroll through, left to right (can't remember if it was q/e or a/d, rather than scrolling through the menus, you see more financial information, like what you've spent on fuel, and it even shows your insurance percentage. There's alot more, but that's just a bit of what I looked at before I had to logout for dinner.
Addition: I forgot to mention the Galaxy map, absolutely wonderful, I love how it looks. Far better than before, as well as the outfitter's screen, I didn't spend much time on it, but it's got far more information than before. I haven't been to the shipyard yet, but a friend tells me it's also revamped and great, I'll trust her judgement on that until I get to see it myself.
I had to reset all my controls and HOTAS settings, everything was back to defaults. There are a few more controls that need to be setup, FSD has now been split into 3 functions, including Hyperspace and Supercruise being bindable to different keys.
I honestly think, if the Gamma and release are equal or better than this, the game would even WOW, and perhaps change the minds of, those that are currently discontented and leaving Elite. That is not meant in any way to rub salt into any wounds, it's truly my personal opinion that it'll turn heads and give pause for reevaluation.
Keep up the good work FD, you've definitely outdone yourselves. I now wish more than even that I could be at the launch party, but alas I can't afford to come to the UK, nor do I have a passport

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Eek, Sorry, meant this to be a new thread
