Game Discussions Star Citizen Discussion Thread v12

[Darkfyre99]

Despite the fact of there being 0 Hollywood actors in Star Citizen, and the only real hint of a Hollywood actor being in Squadron is a character in the trailers that vaguely resembles Mark Hamill. But let's be real, no new player that goes to the RSI Website for SC will probably even know about Squadron apart from it being brought up in forum convos or if they've heard of SC from the very beginning and were checking in to see what's going on.

That's a fair point. As an original Kickstarter, I keep forgetting that Squadron 42 being a part of Star Citizen, that one could drop in and out of as you liked, and even play co-op with other players from the "'verse" was one of the many promises Chris Roberts eventually renegged on.

Not to mention that him using backer money to direct the motion cap A-list stars (rather than just have them do just the voice acting) is in the past.

You see, I think you missed the big "Alpha" inscription on their website, playability is not the focus!

And this is something I call bovine excrement on. The whole point of a Playable Alpha/Early Access (PA/EA) game is to get as many players as possible, with as wide assortment of hardware/software/drivers as possible, for as long as possible, to find and fix as many bugs as possible pre-release. Not to mention finding and fixing as many exploits, loopholes, and balance issues as possible. As well as get feedback from players as well.

None of this is possible if players can't play the game as much as they want, as long as they want.

Every PA/EA game I've ever played (and yes, I use the word played in this case, not tested... though I did file bug reports as well) has been very playable, because they always followed this pattern:

1. update or add a new game mechanic
2. quickly fix the game breaking bugs
3. fix rare bugs as they're reported
4. go to step 1

Every PA/EA game I've ever played had their core systems already in place before players got access to the game. They might tweak a few things here and there, but not go back to the drawing board for a complete rewrite. Only one PA/EA game I've ever played went back to rework a core system, and that game was a little indy game called Stonehearth.

This rewrite was not due to a failure of planning and preparation on their part, but they had vastly underestimated how creative their player base would be, and said player base requested that the AI's building scaffolding routines be reworked to accommodate the extremely complex structures the AI then had to build without leaving scaffolding and "hearthlings" to starve to death from being stranded on roofs or sealed behind walls once it was completed.

And also, if you think that "playability is not the focus," kindly inform CIG's marketing juggernaut of this fact. They're the one that keep informing prospective customers that it's "playable now!!!"

Spoiler

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFQPMieUaBs&ab_channel=StarCitizen

 

[WhiteHaulerMan]

Despite the fact of there being 0 Hollywood actors in Star Citizen, and the only real hint of a Hollywood actor being in Squadron is a character in the trailers that vaguely resembles Mark Hamill.

So.. we're not counting the various bits and bobs where we've seen the various bits of either in-engine stuff or behind the scenes stuff? Because I'm sure I've seen Gary Oldman, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, Gillian Anderson and John Rhys-Davies in various bits of Squadron 42 media?

There's plenty to pick at with the issues surrounding this game and squadron 42 and to tar/feather Roberts over, but pretending that Mark Hamil is the only hint of a 'hollywood actor' in the cast of Squadron 42 isn't one of them.

Squadron 42 (Video Game 2026) - Full cast & crew - IMDb

Squadron 42 (Video Game 2026) - Cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.

www.imdb.com

 

[StuartGT]

TIL that Superman isn't played by a Hollywood actor

 

[VR Golgot]

and the only real hint of a Hollywood actor being in Squadron is a character in the trailers that vaguely resembles Mark Hamill

lol

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VppjX4to9s4&t=1m44s

 

[WhiteHaulerMan]

Yeah, been playing Elite fairly consistently since gamma, so 7 years give or take. I think i'll still be playing in another 3 years, depending on what FD do in that time of course.

Neverwinter Nights 2 held my attention fairly well for about 10 years.

Medieval 2 Total War (2006) - well, i still like to fire it up on occasion, although haven't done a campaign in a couple of years... hmm... maybe time for some total war again!!

But yeah, 10 years is a damn long time in gaming, its rare for a game to hold my attention more than a few years... or months.

Has it really only been 7 years? I don't know why but it felt longer!

I love Medieval and did a recent replay through whilst I was last away, but well this'll sound daft... I get a sad on because compared with the current state of TW games it seems like they've took steps backwards.

 

[Intrepid3D]

lol

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VppjX4to9s4&t=1m44s

Ignore the time coded URL. Right from the beginning just about every scene has a named actor. Its like a Hollywood who's who...

 

[VR Golgot]

Ignore the time coded URL. Right from the beginning just about every scene has a named actor. Its like a Hollywood who's who...

Yeah that's just the start of a particularly dense segment

 

[cigwatch]

I wish you luck in your time travelling endeavours

Need to ask Tyler how he does it.

 

[Intrepid3D]

These are the people in that ^^^ video.

Gary Oldman as Admiral Ernst Bishop
Mark Hamill as Lieutenant Commander Steve "Old Man" Cotton
Mark Strong as Captain Thomas Wade
John Rhys-Davies as Randall Graves
Liam Cunningham as Captain Noah White
Gillian Anderson as Captain Rachel MacLaren
Andy Serkis as Thul'Oqquray
Jack Huston as Cal Mason
Sophie Wu as Cara "Web" Webster
Ben Mendelsohn as Julian Wexler
Ian Duncan as the Player character

There are more in SQ42 but they were not supposed to be public knowledge until the games release, Henry Cavill was one of them.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

That's a fair point. As an original Kickstarter, I keep forgetting that Squadron 42 being a part of Star Citizen, that one could drop in and out of as you liked, and even play co-op with other players from the "'verse" was one of the many promises Chris Roberts eventually renegged on.

Not to mention that him using backer money to direct the motion cap A-list stars (rather than just have them do just the voice acting) is in the past.

And this is something I call bovine excrement on. The whole point of a Playable Alpha/Early Access (PA/EA) game is to get as many players as possible, with as wide assortment of hardware/software/drivers as possible, for as long as possible, to find and fix as many bugs as possible pre-release. Not to mention finding and fixing as many exploits, loopholes, and balance issues as possible. As well as get feedback from players as well.

None of this is possible if players can't play the game as much as they want, as long as they want.

Every PA/EA game I've ever played (and yes, I use the word played in this case, not tested... though I did file bug reports as well) has been very playable, because they always followed this pattern:

1. update or add a new game mechanic
2. quickly fix the game breaking bugs
3. fix rare bugs as they're reported
4. go to step 1

Every PA/EA game I've ever played had their core systems already in place before players got access to the game. They might tweak a few things here and there, but not go back to the drawing board for a complete rewrite. Only one PA/EA game I've ever played went back to rework a core system, and that game was a little indy game called Stonehearth.

This rewrite was not due to a failure of planning and preparation on their part, but they had vastly underestimated how creative their player base would be, and said player base requested that the AI's building scaffolding routines be reworked to accommodate the extremely complex structures the AI then had to build without leaving scaffolding and "hearthlings" to starve to death from being stranded on roofs or sealed behind walls once it was completed.

And also, if you think that "playability is not the focus," kindly inform CIG's marketing juggernaut of this fact. They're the one that keep informing prospective customers that it's "playable now!!!"

Spoiler

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFQPMieUaBs&ab_channel=StarCitizen

Well the core system all right. But you can't scrape much meat off a skeleton and a number of EAs have gone to the happy place since I started buying games online on Steam. The good ones are kinda like you describe. And then there is the ones that kinda fail juggling bugs and new content / mechanics and then they stall and are gone with the wind.

Some you think: "Shame, t'was such a good idea" - but none of the EAs and projects I saw ever dialled the promises to 11, beyond the ridiculous. None that I experienced - can't say much about Molyneux hype trains. I usually play the games when they can be played - not before that.
Though there was a U-Boat demo not long ago on Steam - for free and I had a look at it and it was full of the nollocks, too. Just a showroom with a type VIIC (whitebox) and some unrelated and related assets. A room that linked to a wad of YT vids what they all "gonna implement" and nice blueprints and pland and original copies of real U-Boat docs.

Fluff, basically. Nice, but not gameplay at all.

The only gameplay was a real ey AA sim when even Space Invaders or Asteroids was more enjoyable. It was bad, really bad. OK, there was a diesel motor startup and shutdown model in one of the rooms.

Imo, full of dreams too. In that state you wouldn't take something to market. Only hc nerds would think this is a good project. Or idiots. I'm not nerd enough and I played subsims since Silent Service. Heck earlier! I grew up with Das Boot and coded me own subsim on programmable calculator. You can't really be to nerdy to not see hot air.

 

[Viajero]

You see, I think you missed the big "Alpha" inscription on their website, playability is not the focus!

Chris Roberts seems to disagree with you:

Letter from the Chairman - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and merch, as well as all the community tools used by our fans.

robertsspaceindustries.com

The single biggest takeaway for 2020 is that as we shifted towards a “Playable Now” narrative...

... it’s a focus for us now, as we walk the tightrope of ensuring the game is playable and performant enough for ongoing playing and testing while also introducing new features, content, and tech (which unfortunately always introduces new bugs and issues...

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Actually they do provide a disclaimer of it being a concept ship and not coming anytime soon and so on. But I cannot find a ship thats not in the game that they currently sell in the pledge store so we'll need to wait for the next sale.

They do that about all concept ships. My bet was they don't say it won't be delivered until after SC is released... and SC's "release" is becoming more and more an ephemeral concept anyway. A hard release no longer looks on the cards. So... we are to assume the Endeavour will never come?

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Has it really only been 7 years? I don't know why but it felt longer!

I love Medieval and did a recent replay through whilst I was last away, but well this'll sound daft... I get a sad on because compared with the current state of TW games it seems like they've took steps backwards.

I just can't get into newer TW games. Feels like they lost the magic.

And yeah, 7 long years. Its probably all the waiting for content patches that makes it feel so long

 

[Agony_Aunt]

These are the people in that ^^^ video.

Gary Oldman as Admiral Ernst Bishop
Mark Hamill as Lieutenant Commander Steve "Old Man" Cotton
Mark Strong as Captain Thomas Wade
John Rhys-Davies as Randall Graves
Liam Cunningham as Captain Noah White
Gillian Anderson as Captain Rachel MacLaren
Andy Serkis as Thul'Oqquray
Jack Huston as Cal Mason
Sophie Wu as Cara "Web" Webster
Ben Mendelsohn as Julian Wexler
Ian Duncan as the Player character

There are more in SQ42 but they were not supposed to be public knowledge until the games release, Henry Cavill was one of them.

One has to wonder how many millions went on all that voice acting and mo-cap...

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Has it really only been 7 years? I don't know why but it felt longer!

I love Medieval and did a recent replay through whilst I was last away, but well this'll sound daft... I get a sad on because compared with the current state of TW games it seems like they've took steps backwards.

Medieval 2 was pretty good, but Shogun 2 took the cake. Especially with the FotS expansion. I like that akronym: FotS. Is never often you get to throw around native insults and cusses like that. "Fall of the Samurai" though. Boshin War and you get ironclads! Cranky machine guns! Field artillery and rifles. Then you stomp over feudal blockheads who didn't get the message that the modern warfare is there for a reason. One of the best Total Wars ever. And the presentation, muzic, artwork and production quality is impeccable, too.

 

[cigwatch]

Medieval 2 was pretty good, but Shogun 2 took the cake. Especially with the FotS expansion. I like that akronym: FotS.

FotS and prayers!

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I just can't get into newer TW games. Feels like they lost the magic.

And yeah, 7 long years. Its probably all the waiting for content patches that makes it feel so long

Hahaha, Total Warhammer 2 doesn't lose the magic - it actually brings more to the table.

Honestly, this is one of the best TWs, too. Though the hc nerds among you now might want to stone me alive. This, too, is impeccable production quality and you can tell from a number of DLC that they must have had actually fun developing it - light-hearted, humourous and full on tho the overal idea. A number of stuff they introduced to mix things up. The ever perpetual war on the ever perpetual map - it does get old - but with WH2 TW, it takes a couple hundred hours before it does.

We've had quite poor TWs, Empire e.g., maybe WH1TW. Rome2 and the latest come to mind. The one in the Chinese kingdoms thing. Wow, that was super-polished and production execution it was a really well-made product. But the gameplay didn't click with it. I'm fine with magic nonsense in WH2TW (where it belongs) but non of that cripe in my history battles. Legendary generals my arfe. They didn't even use half of the map. Which was so beautifully detailed. Shame. Or pitty. Pick one,

 

[Darkfyre99]

Well the core system all right. But you can't scrape much meat off a skeleton and a number of EAs have gone to the happy place since I started buying games online on Steam. The good ones are kinda like you describe. And then there is the ones that kinda fail juggling bugs and new content / mechanics and then they stall and are gone with the wind.

Some you think: "Shame, t'was such a good idea" - but none of the EAs and projects I saw ever dialled the promises to 11, beyond the ridiculous. None that I experienced - can't say much about Molyneux hype trains. I usually play the games when they can be played - not before that.
Though there was a U-Boat demo not long ago on Steam - for free and I had a look at it and it was full of the nollocks, too. Just a showroom with a type VIIC (whitebox) and some unrelated and related assets. A room that linked to a wad of YT vids what they all "gonna implement" and nice blueprints and pland and original copies of real U-Boat docs.

Fluff, basically. Nice, but not gameplay at all.

The only gameplay was a real ey AA sim when even Space Invaders or Asteroids was more enjoyable. It was bad, really bad. OK, there was a diesel motor startup and shutdown model in one of the rooms.

Imo, full of dreams too. In that state you wouldn't take something to market. Only hc nerds would think this is a good project. Or idiots. I'm not nerd enough and I played subsims since Silent Service. Heck earlier! I grew up with Das Boot and coded me own subsim on programmable calculator. You can't really be to nerdy to not see hot air.

Hmm... I think I've been rather lucky when it comes to my taste in PA/EA games then. But then again, I've generally got a good idea what a game is like long before I actually put money down... the five games I've Kickstarted being notable exceptions. I've got a couple of Lets Players I follow that mostly have the same taste of games that I do.

Probably explains how I've managed to avoid running afoul of Sturgeon's Law most of the time. Emphasis on most.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Hahaha, Total Warhammer 2 doesn't lose the magic - it actually brings more to the table.

Honestly, this is one of the best TWs, too. Though the hc nerds among you now might want to stone me alive. This, too, is impeccable production quality and you can tell from a number of DLC that they must have had actually fun developing it - light-hearted, humourous and full on tho the overal idea. A number of stuff they introduced to mix things up. The ever perpetual war on the ever perpetual map - it does get old - but with WH2 TW, it takes a couple hundred hours before it does.

We've had quite poor TWs, Empire e.g., maybe WH1TW. Rome2 and the latest come to mind. The one in the Chinese kingdoms thing. Wow, that was super-polished and production execution it was a really well-made product. But the gameplay didn't click with it. I'm fine with magic nonsense in WH2TW (where it belongs) but non of that cripe in my history battles. Legendary generals my arfe. They didn't even use half of the map. Which was so beautifully detailed. Shame. Or pitty. Pick one,

And just to bring a number of topics together (Henry Cavil in SQ42, Total War Warhammer, and FD making the next WH40k game)

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Hmm... I think I've been rather lucky when it comes to my taste in PA/EA games then. But then again, I've generally got a good idea what a game is like long before I actually put money down... the five games I've Kickstarted being notable exceptions. I've got a couple of Lets Players I follow that mostly have the same taste of games that I do.

Probably explains how I've managed to avoid running afoul of Sturgeon's Law most of the time. Emphasis on most.

I think I tend to still limit my EAs, but they have taken a bigger share of my expenditures for games.