Abscence of offline mode - official response from Frontier Elite 2 veteran
Hi there, I am Commander Markus.
I am a veteran of Frontier: Elite 2. I actually played it back when it was new and on the actual hardware it was supposed to be on. Albeit I was only 3 or 4 years old. That game still stays with me even today. It's the only game on my PC desktop from beyond 10 years ago, and that I play atleast once a week. It was the first piece of media to fire my imagination, and still does to this day. If my dad hadn't fired up an Amiga emulator and played it when I was around 10 or 11 years old, I probably wouldn't be here saying this, nor absolutely mad about the Elite franchise - or I used to be. Elite: Dangerous is an absolute chalk board scratch of a game to not just play, but moreso WATCH someone play. The thing that drew me to Frontier Elite 2 was the way you lived in a world without server crashes, broadband cut outs, annoying 12 year olds shooting at you as you come out the station, anacondas getting wedged sideways in the scaffolding surrounding station openings, impossible missions, program freezes when buying an item that has been bought by another player (well, we think that's what happened when we tried to buy a better shield generator but took ages discussing pros and cons), hyperspace sequences that resembled slideshows... the list goes on. And that's only the beginning.
What I'm trying to say is this game doesn't have any sense of continuity, EVERYTHING is a dead end. Atleast in Frontier you either lost or won, whether it be trading, bounty hunting, assassinations or anything you could do really. In those days, it was a mild inconvenience only making a few credits profit or not getting a passenger somewhere within a month, you didn't get a million credits fine for not completing a mission that was failed due to bugs. The challenge was genuine - a game made in the times when game makers knew how to make games.
15 years ago my dad came up to my room to tell me about a new page that had appeared on the Frontier Developments website hinting at a new Elite game. Back then, I imagined First Encounters with enhanced graphics. For years my mind wondered what the faces on the bulletin board would look like. One of my main things that I looked forward to when I heard Frontier were seeking funding for this game was the possibility of random 3D faces. My dreams have been shattered by the absence of any attempt to create emotional investment in NPC's in the game. I remember distinctly how when my dad started playing the game again (Elite 2), once you had progressed through the ranks, the NPC's would get increasingly interesting. Now they just resemble a FINE, as you know the mission will be impossible or buggy.
A 2014 version of FE2 was what I expected... Now I am not putting the original Elite down in any way, but I feel that Frontier Dev do not want to entertain the people that are the reason Elite is still alive today. A good portion of Elite: Dangerous players started with Frontier. Frontier was in many respects, the better game (compared with Elite, although I admire the technical leap it involved). It had a warmth to it that helped it to become in my opinion, the best game ever made. Mainly because it didn't need internet. I agree massively with someone else who said the only reason (I think it was on Facebook) Frontier Dev mentioned an offline mode was to get the 40 year old former BBC Micro owners interested in the game. It also got me interested after I went through a period of not being interested because it was going to be all online.
I am sorry if this has been said countless times, but Frontier Elite 2 really was a defining part of my childhood, and that is what I represent. Elite: Dangerous is like giving a 2 year old a piece of paper and crayons, telling it to use Elite and Frontier as artistic inspiration, and getting a completely random scribble, maybe the odd stick man with a circle head with the elite logo as a hat. To top it all off, I felt nauseous/dizzy at some of the things in the game in previous betas, like the system failure where it spins. Wouldn't be surprised if the games source code was written with one of those £9.99 game creator "lite" products PC World sells. Its that plastic and buggy.
Do another Kickstarter this time for a 2014 version of FE2, and I will donate, cos I am relieved as anything I didn't for Elite Dangerous. Although my dad paid £100 for the Beta.
