I played it many more years ago than that. My first introduction to that world was called "Riftspace," and it was a pretty simple jump-to-jump action game. I was just a kid back then, playing on a woefully under-powered PC barely capable of running anything more complicated than Half-Life. I'm definitely aware of how long the creator's been at it, which is a big part of the reason I admire his work.
Do we still see ED as being THE space game in 12 months?
Yeah, Riftspace was a ton of fun! It was the sole game of the series to have that name, and sat between the Star Wraith and Evochron names.
What else is reasonably poised to release in that timeframe that hits all the major aspects here?
Flight model
Visual Presentation
Multiplayer
(Some level of) Economic simulation
Large scale free roaming
Sandbox(ish)
I'm not aware of anything really.
Flight model
Visual Presentation
Multiplayer
(Some level of) Economic simulation
Large scale free roaming
Sandbox(ish)
I'm not aware of anything really.
Wow, I didn't know about this. Bethesda is one of the very few companies with the resources and appetite to put 5 years into a game before release, and often they don't even mention anything until it's most of the way done. That means they're one of very few companies that could launch a game that's up there with Elite. And they often (eventually) add VR support. You're right - they could be the overlooked 800-pound-gorilla here.
(It looks like they haven't said enough about it for us to even know if it's similar in genre, but if it is, it will be something to watch for sure. (And if it isn't, I'll still be curious to check it out))
While possible, I think Starfield will be 2020 at the earliest. Unlike the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series it needs completely new assets creating (no previous iterations), and considerable overhaul of the engine for their undoubted planet-to-planet gameplay. Fallout 76 is a tangential multiplayer game to tide over fans of the studio's games in the meantime. Looking forward to playing both
We still have no idea what Starfield actually is but I don't think it will be an Elite competitor.
Bethesda do their thing and they do it very well. I expect it to be their Star Wars type future-sci-fantasy franchise with their same game engine.
I think it'll focus around first person RPGing with automated (via cutscene) travel between stations and planets, not much different to fast travelling between locations on their current maps. They may have some sort of ability to stop at pre-defined scan points like Mass Effects style of space ship travel but I'll be very surprised if its an actual space ship simulator like Elite.
Agreed.
I have no clue what Bethesda's thinking, other than to capitalize on the space-game frenzy, but I can pretty much guarantee that it won't be a space sim of any substance. I don't think they've got the chops or the mindset.
Really excited about Rebel Galaxy Outlaw for a bit of pew pew, and it's hard to resist a Bethesda SF open world RPG. I'm sure I'll dump a hundred hours into that and experiment with modding it. But those are two totally different itches, Elite will be enjoyed off and on for another decade I expect. It's the benchmark for a VR space sim and I love seeing it slowly develop, looking forward to mucking with the 3.3 beta and then seeing what the big 2019 move will be.
Great that they all go in different directions, I mean you want to take advantage of your strengths. Expecting Bethesda not to do a huge open world moddable action RPG, spaceship drag or no, would be ridiculous. I'm not much into managing spreadsheets, but I know tons of folks love that X series gameplay.
And everybody loves laughing at Chris Roberts, so win/win.
Great that they all go in different directions, I mean you want to take advantage of your strengths. Expecting Bethesda not to do a huge open world moddable action RPG, spaceship drag or no, would be ridiculous. I'm not much into managing spreadsheets, but I know tons of folks love that X series gameplay.
And everybody loves laughing at Chris Roberts, so win/win.
I feel bad for him. Ok, it sounds like maybe he's a bit of an... difficult person... who has made life worse for various people and brought a lot of problems on himself, and he likely has more money than I'll ever earn, but the thought of being in his situation; chasing your dream, having all the stars align and all the funding comes and it's really really happening and you're on cloud nine and people are excited and it's amazing... and then screwing up until you're trapped in a never-ending nightmare where the dream is no-longer possible but you have to keep laboring on its corpse anyway, keep hyping it to everyone, doing anything you can to keep people believing in you, giving it your everything knowing all the while that perhaps the best you can hope for is that your life will be miserably stressful for years to come and if you work hard then the blowback might be limited to your name merely becoming mud and a lot of people despising you forever (as in, equal to the population of a small country!)
That reaching-for-the-stars-and-touching-your-dream-only-to-see-it-transforming-into-inescapable-nightmare, consuming your future with no way to walk away, that seems like a special kind of hell to me.
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You seriously are asking this a few weeks away from serious chunks of new and reworked content specifically aimed at satisfying players requests, engine and graphical overhaul, and new deeper mechanics?
Wowza- talk about timing.
The next 5 livestreams and upcoming beta will greatly help Elite in the short term, and news of the new era that will follow later should interest a lot of people
Does this imply you were given news of what will be following on after Beyond?
Is the next expansion going to be titled 'Beyond the horizon'?
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Absolutely yes, despite Elites short comings and issues I dont see any other game coming even close to how ED presents space adventures.
As far as competition goes I dont believe SC is a legitimate game project anymore, X-4 is still ahead of us, it shows great potential but it wont be as big as Elite. NMS is my second favorite here and I can see great future if HG keeps what they are doing but lets be honest its a little but different type if space game than ED not focused on flying the space ship.
As far as competition goes I dont believe SC is a legitimate game project anymore, X-4 is still ahead of us, it shows great potential but it wont be as big as Elite. NMS is my second favorite here and I can see great future if HG keeps what they are doing but lets be honest its a little but different type if space game than ED not focused on flying the space ship.
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Personally I dont think ED will retain its crown for long. Its been stalled for a while and others have caught up. If dual universe ever becomes a thing I can see that being my next time invested game.
Sometimes the freedom to get (or make) a tool for the job regading EVA is what I think would still be missing. For example in SE if you think running 20km is a slog to carry some parts/cargo. Make a cargo rover, or a cargo ship. Fly/drive it to what you need to do, build ship/base etc.
Dual universe *should* offer this sort of thing along with the space flying, planets/asteroids.. extensive trading and fighting over resources and from what I understand voxel destruction - which is a cool thing which has largely been forgotten since red faction.
Seems perfect but its another one of the kickstarter projects.
X4 offers more than ED with for now less shiny graphics and im sure the sound will not be as good too. Whether they will attempt to add MP onto the game remains to be seen, but as a base game its got a lot of features and replayability. (Lets be honest ED is quite the solo/optional game right now with MP shoehorned in)
SC is for the 1% with more money than sense - not even sure if it will ever be finished to a playable point (feels like a scam at this point).
I fear it is too little too late for ED to be top dog. But lets see what they pull out - its their game to lose at the moment. It feels embarrasing seeing small developers release some impressive stuff while we wait with the same grind loop veil. I don't think everyone will be waiting forever for ED to be what it should be though, there may be a few - much like the die hard never criticize SC crowd.
Short answer: No
Sometimes the freedom to get (or make) a tool for the job regading EVA is what I think would still be missing. For example in SE if you think running 20km is a slog to carry some parts/cargo. Make a cargo rover, or a cargo ship. Fly/drive it to what you need to do, build ship/base etc.
Dual universe *should* offer this sort of thing along with the space flying, planets/asteroids.. extensive trading and fighting over resources and from what I understand voxel destruction - which is a cool thing which has largely been forgotten since red faction.
Seems perfect but its another one of the kickstarter projects.
X4 offers more than ED with for now less shiny graphics and im sure the sound will not be as good too. Whether they will attempt to add MP onto the game remains to be seen, but as a base game its got a lot of features and replayability. (Lets be honest ED is quite the solo/optional game right now with MP shoehorned in)
SC is for the 1% with more money than sense - not even sure if it will ever be finished to a playable point (feels like a scam at this point).
I fear it is too little too late for ED to be top dog. But lets see what they pull out - its their game to lose at the moment. It feels embarrasing seeing small developers release some impressive stuff while we wait with the same grind loop veil. I don't think everyone will be waiting forever for ED to be what it should be though, there may be a few - much like the die hard never criticize SC crowd.
Short answer: No
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Pretty sure that X4 won't offer the "in cockpit" flight-lite experience we get in ED...which is ALL I play ED for...no interest in a pseudo RTS/4X experience to replace elite...
Not that I don't like Strategy Games...I LOVE them...it's just I'm ALREADY playing strategy games alongside Elite...
Not that I don't like Strategy Games...I LOVE them...it's just I'm ALREADY playing strategy games alongside Elite...
I think so. FD are still committed to adding content, and even in the future, should those content updates stop, i imagine ill keep playing.
I won't spend a bent copper on Star Citizen until a) I see a proper release and b) its a game that looks like i'll enjoy. The former is probably many years away, the latter is doubtful as it looks like they are trying to make Second Life in space, not what I want.
Regarding X4 - looks like it might be a worthy successor to the franchise, although like some, ill wait for the bugs to be ironed out first. Like the previous X games, it might keep me entertained for a few weeks, at least until i build up a massive trade empire and then get bored of it. Its what normally happens with the X games for me.
Dual Universe looks interesting, but again, i'll wait and see with that one.
NMS is still on my radar. Its kind of what i wanted from the Spore space stage, but at the moment no play time free to consider it. I have 3 games on the go at the moment. Maybe in a year or two ill take a look at it. Perhaps nab it in a sale.
So, as things look, ED remains the space game for me and will likely do so for a long time yet.
EDIT: Someone mentioned Rebel Galaxy Outlaw. Looks quite amazing, but not what i'm looking for in a space game i think. Its more like a space adventure game.
I won't spend a bent copper on Star Citizen until a) I see a proper release and b) its a game that looks like i'll enjoy. The former is probably many years away, the latter is doubtful as it looks like they are trying to make Second Life in space, not what I want.
Regarding X4 - looks like it might be a worthy successor to the franchise, although like some, ill wait for the bugs to be ironed out first. Like the previous X games, it might keep me entertained for a few weeks, at least until i build up a massive trade empire and then get bored of it. Its what normally happens with the X games for me.
Dual Universe looks interesting, but again, i'll wait and see with that one.
NMS is still on my radar. Its kind of what i wanted from the Spore space stage, but at the moment no play time free to consider it. I have 3 games on the go at the moment. Maybe in a year or two ill take a look at it. Perhaps nab it in a sale.
So, as things look, ED remains the space game for me and will likely do so for a long time yet.
EDIT: Someone mentioned Rebel Galaxy Outlaw. Looks quite amazing, but not what i'm looking for in a space game i think. Its more like a space adventure game.
For me ED is IT.
The reason is the fact that ED generates an entire Galaxy as realistically as possible, which is unique and has always attracted me to the Elite series more than to any other spacesim.
The ED galaxy gives you the true space explorer feeling of a real endless galaxy. SC and others only have a few planets and you always know that within the scope of a mere few weeks everybody in the game will have visited and seen everything. There is no "unknown space" in those games at all.
The other thing that I like about ED is the flight model. Unless the SC flightmodel drastically improves I might never really play it. I hate what it currently is.
Of course SC might eventually become a nice game and if it features good solo gameplay I will certainly play it for a while, but as you indicated yourself: it's just a limited demo, a few videos and a lot of expensive jpegs at the moment.
Some demo's, videos and jpegs do not make a game.
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Tell me more about SC's 100+ systems...
I don't know I still don't see it as "The space game" of the moment, for me that will always be Eve even tho I've not played it for a long time, but if someone was ask me to name a game about space and spaceships it would come to mind before ED.
Not trying to disrespect ED, it's an amazing game not that I'm playing this at the moment either, X4 is on my wish list as I own all the others, SC can do whatever it's doing but I do hope ED is still going from strength to strength in 12 months time.
I still dont see anything coming out or that is out doing what ED is trying to do, in the next 12 months unless I missed somthing.
Not trying to disrespect ED, it's an amazing game not that I'm playing this at the moment either, X4 is on my wish list as I own all the others, SC can do whatever it's doing but I do hope ED is still going from strength to strength in 12 months time.
I still dont see anything coming out or that is out doing what ED is trying to do, in the next 12 months unless I missed somthing.
It isn't even the space game right now as far as I'm concerned. It is one of them, and a good one at that, but falls short in many areas, many of them coming from the multiplayer premise. Can't see why much would change in 12 months time though, most of what's enjoyable in ED should still be there. New games being released don't make the previous ones suddenly worse.
This is a big draw for me as well, the realistic galaxy. Nothing else coming out has that. As an explorer, its a big draw. NMS has multiple galaxies, but lacks the realism. SC... well, 100 systems just isn't going to cut it. The whole play area will be fully explored within days of release... hell, before release, as they add content.