Elite / Frontier E7 - Milk us please

[critic]

Why are we not being milked by Frontier as any sensible developer with a AAA concept would have done by now? It's been 25 years and DB is still getting awards for the original Elite. I mean, it has come to a point that E4 will never be released if only because DBs standards are so high, he can't release anything close to what is expected regardless of how much money or time is invested.

The alternative that seems to have faded years ago would have been to release a new Elite every year or two, why not, I wouldn't mind being milked while the game gets to a state where it's what it's meant to be.

On the other hand, I don't think a single player Elite will keep us entertained for more than a few months, maybe a year. So yes the only sensible thing would be to make E4 a MMO and hopefully release it on PC

 

[SuperG]

So? Does a game have to keep je busy for months?
I dont think so.
In the FPS genre Single player are in total a few 4 to 10nhours long.
So effectivly play 5 hours for 20 days. Is a good bargin.

Open world like
Fallout3
Rpg like masseffect
Offer plenty of game hours.
lineair tory driven games tend to be on the short side.
but can be much more epic of nature.

MMO is based often on fee. So you cant compare that to single player.

So to me it totaly make no sense to make a Single player IP a MMO.
But DB is aiming for a MMO.


MMO isn't the wonder soluton, it does a good job agains piracy. That why it so populair in this industry.

But often it bite the dev back.

But 2 teams or studios that make around 2 years with production time span of 4 games lot of sequels. Thats how COD does it.
This game is so sucses because of the competive Mplay.
If it was pure SP it would be far behind.

But a free roam space game like Elite or Xseries keep gamers busy for a realy long time. Pay once and have fun full season or several more. And that with single player.

 

[critic]

Yes, I was aware of all that you said before your post. The main reason for making it MMO is to give it longevity, look at eve, 10 years down the line and still they are improving the game and I want to be able to play Elite 10 years down the line.

Also it would give Frontier a steady income, I really don't mind paying half a games worth every month to play it. I doubt you would fire up X3 today after you have already become a billionaire a month after it was released, I wouldn't.

What I'm saying is that with DBs reputation and Elite's legacy, we would buy any Elite type game, regardless, they could have made millions of the franchise by releasing just about anything.

 

[Alien]

Also it would give Frontier a steady income, I really don't mind paying half a games worth every month to play it. I doubt you would fire up X3 today after you have already become a billionaire a month after it was released, I wouldn't.

"paying half a games worth every month"? I would mind, and will not pay.

"I doubt you would fire up X3 today..." I do and so do many many others.

and as for DB's reputation and Friontier's legacy ... need I repeat what I think of that?

 

[SuperG]

Longlivaty without a cash ifuse is this.
A competing online mplay mode where gamers offcouse compete and get rewarded by leveling unlocking.
Cod series as example is not a MMO. But gamers play it for many Years.

If they want to extend SP single player game.
Give it co-op Mplay
And or a competive MPlay mode
This falls under pay once.
Then there are DLC Wich cost a bit but are optional

For pure SP COD:BO is expensive not that I care got PC version just for only the SP.
But Play It Still Since Release.
MW2 Played online on PS3 Till CoD:BO came Out.

Occational Played a SP game out in between.

What Cod use to addict player is what RPG and Mmo do for a long time.
That is addictive gameplay wich leads to grinding to just level up. That realy where the longlivaty comes from. Human nature to have a advantage over your oponents.
And grinding keeps kannon fudder gamers stay for the killstreak reward junkies.
I am average gamer so more in the middle.

Is addictive gameplay good gamedesign? I don't think so.

 

[tvrobyn]

It would have to be single player with multi player access for me.
Make your own fortune BUT occasionally have wingmen for base assaults and other fleet actions. Even for fighting off the police vipers!

 

[critic]

and as for DB's reputation and Friontier's legacy ... need I repeat what I think of that?

So why are you on these forums, grieving purposes only?

A competing online mplay mode where gamers offcouse compete and get rewarded by leveling unlocking.

You can't really stick in 10 years worth of unlocks in a SP game, also the engine will be obsolete in a year or two. With a MMO, you can expect constant upgrades of both content and the engine.

Make your own fortune BUT occasionally have wingmen for base assaults and other fleet actions. Even for fighting off the police vipers!

I think it's much more fun doing everything as a team in a living universe than having an occasional multi-player battle. Don't know if you tried eve, but it's better than any single player space game out there.

 

[Spacegamer]

What would an Elite MMO offer over any other MMO game out there.

Probably just as expensive to make an MMO as a single player game, with less chance of success.

 

[tvrobyn]

What would an Elite MMO offer over any other MMO game out there.

Probably just as expensive to make an MMO as a single player game, with less chance of success.

I wouldn't want E4 to be a MMO only, Elite has been first and foremost about managing your time and resources to aggrandize yourself, and furthering yourself in careers with various military entities.
YES, the multiplayer side would be great, BUT if it was a mmo only I wouldn't buy it.

 

[critic]

What would an Elite MMO offer over any other MMO game out there.

The same question can be asked for single player...

There is really no competition in the MMO space genre, we have eve and that is it, I don't think the market will be hard to access. The game will need to be solid, but even a SP approach requires the same.

Being an MMO means it will be updated and maintained, it won't be just another box on the shelf. If done properly we'll have years worth of gaming in a universe that we like (with our friends) and Frontier would have a steady income.

Elite has been first and foremost about managing your time and resources to aggrandize yourself, and furthering yourself in careers with various military entities.

And you can't do this in a MMO?

 

[turwhitt]

MMOs are a much more epxensive proposition, as an entire team has to be dedicated to supporting it for the forseeable future after release.

Of course with monthly subs this can pay off but it is a bigger risk.

 

[tvrobyn]

If we didn't have to pay to play online,apart from the xbox live sub, and we could modify/ customize ships as we pleased I could accept that.
in this so called age of austerity big companies like EA are beginning to leave out game content so you HAVE to go online and download it.
This sucks and is wrong.
If DB releases E4 it HAS TO BE COMPLETE AND PLAY straight from purchase WITHOUT the extra content having to be downloaded.
If frontier did what EA do they would be finished.

 

[Geraldine]

Another old favourite of this forum, the MMO question.

Certainly it could mean a regular income for Frontier,..................but, how would you get around the issue of using the stardreamer?

Elite 2 and 3 had realistic sized solar systems. Somehow (without changing the core gameplay elements), players would have to be synced to the same timeframe. On the other hand, they could just change the gameplay to make it more like Elite 1, as in, unrealistic sized solar systems just like many other spacesims out there today. But I ask, would this be a step in the right direction or would it remove the gameplay elements that many fans of the older games love?

As I have said before, the legacy of the older games can be a strength, but also a weakness at the same time.

 

[tvrobyn]

StarDreamer workarounds

they could always let players pick hyperspace entry and exit points, allowing for gravity wells, thereby getting around the spacetime distortion?
OR let us plot hyperspace courses in the z-axis above the ecliptic plane of systems with waypoints for multiple entry/exit points to drop us further into a system.
If Elite 4 was set further into the future and not a reboot, maybe that could be an automated upgrade.

 

[rgmarett]

Personally I think E4 would do well as an MMO as long as you could still fly the ship from the cockpit and it wasn't based solely around combat (like the truly awful Star Trek Online is).

If I could meet up with friends on a space station and go off and discover an unexplored region of space together, I think that'd be great.

Another note about E4 and it's viability as something that'd sell, I have friends that play WoW, CoD, Forza, Battlefield and the RPGs Dragon Age & Mass Effect and everyone of them would buy E4, and E4 would be the only game they had in common.

Getting back to the MMO discussion, the downside to an MMO would be that I couldn't run the game on my console (unless Microsoft sort out their licencing deal) - which means I'd have to play E4 in my home office rather than the comfort of my living room on my big ole TV.

(off topic - I'd still like to see Frontier: Elite II on XBLA, maybe we could get a petition started to that effect? - you never know, we might persuade them yet)

 

[Spacegamer]

The same question can be asked for single player...

Well for me, it the grand epic scope of the game which has been lost in all the modern ones.

There is really no competition in the MMO space genre, we have eve and that is it, I don't think the market will be hard to access. The game will need to be solid, but even a SP approach requires the same.

Do you mean apart from Eve and
Jump gate
Black Prophecy
StarTrek Online
Starwars
Vendetta Online
Taikodom

Then their smaller games no one ever heard of like Shores of Hazeron.

Loads of browser based games like Battlestar Galactica more Star trek ect.

Ones being worked on.
Infinity well named, as it taking as long.
Miner Wars 2081
And smart at it again with not one but two MMO.


Are we flogging that dead horse again

 

[critic]

I wouldn't put those games in the same box as eve or elite.

 

[turwhitt]

Another old favourite of this forum, the MMO question.

but, how would you get around the issue of using the stardreamer?

As suggested before, it would have to be a "semi-persistant" world. You join with other players for limited scope missions, and rather than share a clock/calendar you share a mission timer. The designated group leader would be in charge of the stardreamer for the whole group.
In this way players' clock/calendars can be completely independant of one another but they can still join up for missions.

This of course would mean that the main galactic game would not be multiplayer-enabled, but TBH who wants to be ambushed by 50 lol-kiddie pirates shouting "i pwn joo" every time you exit hyperspace?

 

[Spacegamer]

Interview with BD http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...r-Gives-Thumbs-Down-to-Big-Budget-Development

Note the cost.

 

[turwhitt]

Dear me, he seems to have lost his way a bit. Product placement in games? Perish the thought!

And $50mil for a game? Yes, ones with loads of cut scenes, cutting edge graphics, pro voiceovers and so on, perhaps. But That's not what Elite is (was?) about. It was about a solid and expandable idea, well executed. Games don't have to be flash as long as the gameplay and concept is good.