Elite mixed with Freelancer

[Aussiedroid]

Loved Freelancer, was still playing it up to a few years ago. Oh the memories

There were some things i really like and would love to see meld into Elite Universe.

- The larger story arcs, reasons to travel to places and go on adventures etc. For ED it doesn't have to be as tailored but some more things to explore in the lore, character side of things would be nice.

- The thick, thick foggy atmospheres in some systems. Like exploring in a misty swamp. I would love to see some areas like this in ED. Could even be used to hide etc .. some places that have more unique feel to them as such.

- Radiation or other natural hazards to avoid or navigate around.

- Unique items from abandoned ships. Not ones that pop up on USS but ones you actually have to explore and find.

- Personality in the factions.

- More intense musical score for those pivotal times in combat or dangerous locations.

- Finding hidden stations, pirate networks to get access to, shortcuts or ways to move more hidden between systems.

- Busy feeling of key systems, populations in motion etc

- Maybe similar to FL, more internal areas of the stations to visit, bars, traders etc .. bring the world more to life in the interim before walk on stations.

All I can think of at the moment.

 

[SpiralRazor]

I hate to say it, but X3:Albion preludes with some of the *PLAYER* created mods is still the best space game out there. I mean..its really really good with all the fire controls, AI that fufilled its roles, stations, traders, economy....Alas..no multiplayer component so I couldnt get my friends into my universe and start carving out our own Space Kingdom.

Ship balance was also really well done, thanks again to the players. The Mistral and Springblossums were good, but not the best...there was no absolute best.

There is no game Ive seen yet that can actually match the sheer Majesty of Capitol Ship battles in that game.....Missile Frigates, Carriers, Battleships and Dreadnoughts hammering each other whilst swarms of fighters and defence battery stations etc are going off....glorious.... I may even reinstall it just to see what the latest mods are!



If egosoft wasnt totally stupid they would have just made X4: Multiplayer and made a mint.

 

[mossfoot]

I hate to say it, but X3:Albion preludes with some of the *PLAYER* created mods is still the best space game out there. I mean..its really really good with all the fire controls, AI that fufilled its roles, stations, traders, economy....Alas..no multiplayer component so I couldnt get my friends into my universe and start carving out our own Space Kingdom.

Ship balance was also really well done, thanks again to the players. The Mistral and Springblossums were good, but not the best...there was no absolute best.

There is no game Ive seen yet that can actually match the sheer Majesty of Capitol Ship battles in that game.....Missile Frigates, Carriers, Battleships and Dreadnoughts hammering each other whilst swarms of fighters and defence battery stations etc are going off....glorious.... I may even reinstall it just to see what the latest mods are!



If egosoft wasnt totally stupid they would have just made X4: Multiplayer and made a mint.

There's truth in them thar words.

I admit I played Freelancer all the way though but did not care for it that much. Being able to kill fifty pirates in the first half hour of gameplay in the most basic unupgraded ship did nothing for the immersion factor (someone mentioned the superhero element earlier). But it did do a lot of things right, I admit. I played it through, after all. I just had no desire to keep playing after I got to the end of the story.

The X-series came closer to capturing the Elite experience for me. I was never into the stations element much. Not my bag, though I did have a small company made up of automated traders going from world to world making me money. I played IronMan to make the single player experience more intense. Nothing quite like being pursued by a pirate in a vastly superior ship and trying to leg it all alone to the next jump gate. Or ejecting during a furball and desperately trying to reach a station in your space suit while your wing fights off the baddies (and hope to hell you don't get noticed in the meantime) while a replacement ship comes from several sectors away to meet up with you there.

 

[Aussiedroid]

@mossfoot - I agree with you on the combat element in FL. It was arcade, and rather easy. Certainly wouldn't want ED dumbed down to it. FL had its place in that regards though. Saying that, there are a lot of things FL did get right which could enhance ED without necessarily changing what ED is (if that makes sense).

X series I really struggled with. Mind you I didn't have a joystick etc at the time, but found it all so complicated. Elite still has that to a degree but found it more approachable. I do recall reading a lot into the mechanics of X and I think they did some really neat things!

 

[mossfoot]

@mossfoot - I agree with you on the combat element in FL. It was arcade, and rather easy. Certainly wouldn't want ED dumbed down to it. FL had its place in that regards though. Saying that, there are a lot of things FL did get right which could enhance ED without necessarily changing what ED is (if that makes sense).

X series I really struggled with. Mind you I didn't have a joystick etc at the time, but found it all so complicated. Elite still has that to a degree but found it more approachable. I do recall reading a lot into the mechanics of X and I think they did some really neat things!

One of the great things about X (and yes, you needed a HOTAS for max enjoyment) were the mods out there. You could really customize the game the way you wanted in it, even completely rework it in some cases. So I was able to create the sandbox I most closely desired before going in.

Mind you I think ED is doing a fine job so far and since it will only keep improving over the years there will always be a reason to come back.

 

[SpiralRazor]

Commander Trent,

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. In fact, you could probably get into a Titan faster than 30hrs if you smuggled or, since MP was fixed by several mods, you could get a loan from someone and have it now and then payback with the higher earning potential of a Very Heavy Fighter or modest trade ship.

There were also a great range of trade ships to move in to as you increased your net worth. I found that after about 24 hrs of hard trading (quick dock FTW) you could have yourself a tanker. With that ship you could pretty much buy and equip any fighter you wanted in short time (a little more time if you wanted to by Codeweapons from your neighborly arms dearler). However, that didn't mean you'd found the limit of the game. Saving up for capital ships and some of the special features added by Disco mod required heavy cash investments. Also, you could use that wealth of money to foster a player faction, kitting your new recruits so they could do some real damage right away. Elite has an issue with pacing and variety, imo. Whereas the FL pace was clear and fast with lots of variety in the Universe. However, I think ED will fill in quite nicely over time.

The game wasn't without its issues though...even on a rules based RP server, I still got ganked/griefed/whatever way more than I have in Elite Dangerous in Open (ZERO incidents). Granted, such players were reported and reprimanded but it would always leave me sour. Also, mining is comically easy and reminds me that Frontier's choice to leave out tractor beams is a good one.

I still hop on the Disco RP server...trade my way up to something that gets me into Omicron space and pew pew some Nomads with others. Ofcourse, I've let billions of credits lapse on the server...oops, I really should have given that stuff away.

X3:AP's solution of mining drones is perfect....yes, you still have to wait and use the refinery BUT, you dont have to do all the seriously stupid back and forth cargo scoop movement. The drones would simply dump stuff to your scoop and they work until they ran low on fuel and then come home. Would be internal modules so you would have to trade cargo space for them and of course, destructible by other players(ignored by npcs though)

 

[kogt]

I have to be honest and say I hated Freelancer.

It really really bugged me that I was attacked EVERY 3-4 minutes no matter what I'm doing or where I was. It was incredibly irritating and put me off the game in the end.

the fun thing here is... when you got to the point, where your ship was big enuf in FL, the bad guys would see that, and back off...