rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
Disclaimer - below is just my opinion. It's perfectly fine for you to have a different one
The first Interstellar Initiative, Bridging the Gap, resulted in a massive criticism from the community. I have also posted quote an exhaustive feedback and there really weren't many things that I praised. BTG was hands down one of the worst experiences I've had in Elite since the release date.Frontier then responded to our feedback saying that they take it on board and will try to make the next II better. I will admit that after what's happened with BTG I was very sceptical towards Enclave. I set my expectations bar very low and kind of waited for a disaster to happen.
Disaster didn't happen however. The tables were turned and what we got was one of the BEST experiences I've had in Elite in a very long time! I can honestly say that FDEV indeed took the feedback on board and acted on it BIG TIME!
Don't get me wrong - it wasn't 100% perfect, there were little bugs and annoyances, but because Enclave as a whole was such a great experience and so much fun to me personally, the bugs didn't really bother me. Quite the opposite to BTG, where on top of how bad it was, there were some bugs that deteriorate the experience even further. This is a living proof that you can get away with some stuff being broken if the overall experience is fun enough.
Alas, let's get into details
NARRATIVE - THE GOOD
Chapeau bas and please more of such an amazing content in Elite!
The first Interstellar Initiative, Bridging the Gap, resulted in a massive criticism from the community. I have also posted quote an exhaustive feedback and there really weren't many things that I praised. BTG was hands down one of the worst experiences I've had in Elite since the release date.Frontier then responded to our feedback saying that they take it on board and will try to make the next II better. I will admit that after what's happened with BTG I was very sceptical towards Enclave. I set my expectations bar very low and kind of waited for a disaster to happen.
Disaster didn't happen however. The tables were turned and what we got was one of the BEST experiences I've had in Elite in a very long time! I can honestly say that FDEV indeed took the feedback on board and acted on it BIG TIME!
Don't get me wrong - it wasn't 100% perfect, there were little bugs and annoyances, but because Enclave as a whole was such a great experience and so much fun to me personally, the bugs didn't really bother me. Quite the opposite to BTG, where on top of how bad it was, there were some bugs that deteriorate the experience even further. This is a living proof that you can get away with some stuff being broken if the overall experience is fun enough.
Alas, let's get into details
NARRATIVE - THE GOOD
- The main story line progressed. This is something I was waiting for for YEARS!
- The story was interesting and engaging:
- It changed dynamically and had a couple of surprising plot twists.
- It involved entities that are foundations of Elite lore (3 superpowers + Thargoids), rather than bland, generic and out of the blue corporations like BTG.
- It was about something important from game world point of view. It was make or break for humanity presence in Witch Head. We've established a foothold near the alleged Thargoid core systems (Col 70)!
- Plot twists were unexpected. Almost bold. The attack on Palin and his laboratory being shut down with real-time Thargoids attack resulted in one of the best narratives with actual in-game representation of events EVER in this game. Absolutely LOVED IT!
- Then the attack in Witch Head - another twist, maybe not as unexpected as Palin, but still good!
- The Galnet articles combined with forum posts by CM team were higher quality than the ones for BTG and provided a good insight into what's going on without spoiling too much either. Well balanced!
- I can't think of anything. Honestly, from narrative point of view - everything was great to me! If anything - please be even MORE bold in the future. Let Thargoids attack some Engineers in the Bubble. Or disable Shinrarta. Don't be afraid to go bold, Frontier. Players love it!
- Real time Thargoid attacks - that was amazing piece of gameplay!
- Throughout the whole Initiative we were able to try a few different gameplay styles - exploration, AX fighting, material gathering, long-haul transports... It was good to see varied gameplay styles being included in the story.
- Player actions had a real and everlasting effect on the galaxy. It was balanced and reasonably made. Everything was lore friendly.
- The effect of our actions MATTERED for the main storyline. It was IMPORTANT, therefore it was ENGAGING. I personally CARED about the outcome of Enclave. (In fact, I'm still in Witch Head, having just unlocked the bobblehead on a live stream yesterday ).
- The bugs were fixed very promptly once they've been reported.
- First of all - yes, there were a few issues, but they were fairly minor and as I've said before - because the overall experience was so good, those little bugs didn't really bother me that much.
- For the exploration CG - Alliance CG starport was A LOT farther away than Fed and Imp ones. This created an unbalanced situation. While I appreciate the realism (in-game context) of that situation - because it involved somewhat of a competition it wasn't fair for everybody.
- No Fire Zone issue - Palin's Research Centre issued fines to players defending it from Thargoids.
- New Engineer, free decal, free bobblehead... I mean - what's not to love?!
- I find the new Engineer's level raising with players using her services (akin to Colonia Engineers) a good thing. It requires an effort on our side. It's not just "here you go".
- Free decal required only docking at one of a few stations. No effort whatsoever. I'm sure this was welcomed by many players that complain about grind in Elite (I'm not one of them for the record).
- Expanded colonisation of WH - nice gesture!
- Introducing a shipyard in WH as a reward for great efforts in fighting Thargoids - again really good.
- Finishing off with an unexpected bonus - the Thargoid Interceptor Bobblehead AND it being available at Tech Broker rather than at store to buy for RL money - amazing! The fact that it's not exactly "free" (requires materials and some effort) is also great.
- It wasn't very clear when the free decal would be available until. I am still not sure of that. Can people still get it? No info.
- As mention - this was one of the best experiences I've had in Elite for a loooong time!
- It made me play more and it made me interested in the Thargoids story again.
- IMPORTANT! Pigeon's John Nest (I see you what did there @Adam Woods !) is one of the BEST locations in game. Do you know why? Because it's a landable outpost located next to an installation and it's all treated as a single location. I've starports and installations about 50km apart from each other, but these are right next to each other, like they're part of the same location. It looks great! PLEASE MORE OF SUCH LOCATIONS IN GAME FDEV!
- Real time attacks by Thargoids are amazing.
- Main story line progression is VERY welcomed.
- According to Engineers screen, I've found out about Chloe from... Marco Qwent. Considering she was Palin's apprentice, shouldn't Palin be the one telling us about her? How the hell Qwent is involved in all this? Just a little discrepancy there.
- I wold prefer a Commander Chronicles type of intro movie instead of out-of-character intro by Will. Sorry Will, nothing personal there, I just prefer to keep thing in-lore and in-character.
- Please pay just a little bit more attention to small details when planning these things. They complete the experience and if not for those little things, Enclave would have been PERFECT:
- Alliance starport distance
- Engineer info discrepancy
- No Fire Zone issue
Chapeau bas and please more of such an amazing content in Elite!
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