The Old Elite IV speculation thread
Sure... make it multiplayer... but just dont force us to pay a monthly fee. I really loved Elite and Frontier, and Elite IV is the only game I really been waiting for the last 15 years. But I wont play it if there is a monthly fee. And I know quite a few other people that think in the same terms...
I think this game is going to blow peoples minds when it's finally released. Set a whole new benchmark in gaming.
I've X's 1, 2 and 3, eve, freelancer.....Everything that has claimed to be the "Best space sim since elite" but the truth is, despite it's age all of these pale in comparrison to FE2.
As long as I get to see, play on and get to the rank of "Elite" in Elite IV before I die i'll be happy.
Frontier are up to something. This thing is going to be big...............
I've X's 1, 2 and 3, eve, freelancer.....Everything that has claimed to be the "Best space sim since elite" but the truth is, despite it's age all of these pale in comparrison to FE2.
As long as I get to see, play on and get to the rank of "Elite" in Elite IV before I die i'll be happy.
Frontier are up to something. This thing is going to be big...............
Commander Jameson said:
I agree. I think Frontier speaks to our astronomy interest. We travel around in a real universe with real physics, and visits stars that really exist. I have played X2 and got bored after an hour, planets in the middle of space without meaning or purpose. Traveling around in a system that does not exist takes away the fun of exploring it. I did like Freelancer though, but only because of the atmosphere, but if felt more like flying around in another dimension than flying around in space. Space felt like Las Vegas at midnight, I hope space won’t be so colorful in E4, I like it real. Don't get me wrong I want the planets to be oasis of colors.
Stian Beinset
-Prycon
So true, I've played many titles trying to satiate a need to explore, to wander about a simulated cosmos where around every star is something interesting, or even familiar if you've been there many times before. Where everything seems to fit and doesn't seem "Placed". I swear I could scream if I see another "Space Sim" with a planet that is nothing more than background art, to either never be able to reach/land upon, or can only be accessed through some transitory cut scene, and limited to some tiny box-like area, that is pervasive throught the game in general. Sure things have gotten a lot better looking, and certain depth/style has been added to the games but I keep going back to the Elite series... there's no comparison that can stand the test of time.Commander Jameson said:
I loved the little pack in FE2 with the map, the stories from the frontier and the huge map of the galaxy you got with it. Hope you get something like that with elite IV and not just one of these crappy DVD cases you get these days with a "Quick guide" manual included that isn't worth the effort and the rest on PDF on the disk. I never bother. I used to like reading the games manauls while I was on the toilet......But thats another story!
It was from the outer art of the box, the materials inside and the game itself such an amazing, beautiful and engaging game nothing has ever come near it as far as am concerned. It enticed you into it's universe and then never let you go!
It was from the outer art of the box, the materials inside and the game itself such an amazing, beautiful and engaging game nothing has ever come near it as far as am concerned. It enticed you into it's universe and then never let you go!
It was pure magic in a box. Got mine in the post via Special Reserve, took it to work that day and kept sneaking off to my locker to gloat over my precioussss. Still got all my original box sets and manuals from Acornsoft and Firebird too. Who knows, maybe E4 will generate a whole slew of books, gazetteers, histories, legends and lore and wotnot 3rd party paraphernalia...
Bounder said:
I hope so. I don't want to have access the gazetteer as a PDF.
I still think the Elite club could also provide a means for players to access other such material not included in the game. For example, you could go there and download a set of furry dice to add to your ship, a Jjagged Banner MP3 collection, etc.
There is potential for merchandising to be a huge revenue earner, although Frontier may not want to deviate from their core business
JamesF
Commander Jameson said:I loved the little pack in FE2 with the map, the stories from the frontier and the huge map of the galaxy you got with it. Hope you get something like that with elite IV and not just one of these crappy DVD cases you get these days with a "Quick guide" manual included that isn't worth the effort and the rest on PDF on the disk....
It was from the outer art of the box, the materials inside and the game itself such an amazing, beautiful and engaging game nothing has ever come near it as far as am concerned. It enticed you into it's universe and then never let you go!
I AGREE!
I forgot about the stories that were included in the frontier game. Those were great. I really got immersed into the universe of Elite. I remember studying the manual and the map to work out what I would do while I was at school. I couldn't wait to get home to play what I had studied.
ranting ftw
I played Elite II extensively when I was young,was just so hooked on it. Got all the way up to Dangerous elite ranking starting from Lave... but still being unable to enter imperial or empire space was a bit of a downfall. if it wasnt for the various bugs that made certain parts of the game impossible i'd probably still be playing it today
Other than that, it was a damned fine game for its time, and even in todays time still has things that current games dont.
but IMO if e4 should be anything, it should be an MMO. a Persistant, Multiplayer game of Elite, with the feel of Elite but continously being supported and expanding would be the work of a dream.
currently the only game striving to be this today is EVE-Online. i originally got it because i thought it'd be the answer to what i was missing, and although i was quickly disappointed its still a fantastic game and the more i played it the more I realised it had its own things that Elite just never had. If one were to combine the great things about Elite and Eve, i would play it. forever.
I imagine a game with:
- Freedom. the ability to go anywhere and do anything (trading, mining, taking missions and contracts, piracy / theft, bounty hunting, industry, production, research, etc)
- Physics. whilst making them as realistic as Frontier may be impossible whilst maintaining a playable multiplayer game, physics would apply wherever possible. major problems arise when trying to implement things like time acceleration, etc, in multiplayer though.
- Planetary Interaction. Seamless transitions from space-planet and ability to interact with the planet in some way, from simply walking around it to using it for mining, construction, etc
- Risk. a good chance of dying in the process of whatever you're doing, differing depending on how secure/hazardous the area you're in is.
- Loss on death. a loss is an actual loss, not a case of "oh so i died, whoopie, res****" but actual assets and credits that you worked to achieve, destroyed and/or plundered by the ebil pirates that killed you.
- Player interaction. those pirates that killed you in the previous point would be real players, etc, when you buy things from stations it'd be people who'd created those items - and the station or base could be player-owned or built
- a strong, thought-out and complicated PVP system. something along the lines of what EVE has, allowing things like roles for specific ships, fleet combat, etc, rather than just "whoever has the better guns/aim/armor wins"
- NOT an rts. you'd still only have direct control over your ship and wouldnt be able to purchase wingmen etc or have fleets under your command- unless they were real players.
- ability for player-driven entities to explore, colonize and conquer space. This could include claiming+naming a previously unexplored system and establishing an outpost there, attacking and capturing the space of others by seizing control of their stations, planetary bases, etc
- a learning curve that isnt nearly impossible to get over, such as with the BCM series, but at the same time not so dumbed down so much that the average WoW player would understand it.
- player-driven economy. prices of various goods required by players (fuel, minerals used in production of ships/etc) would skyrocket during times of limited supply, or plummet if theres too little demand
- natural phenomenom and disasters. blackholes, magnetic storms, solar flares, nebulaes, asteroids, supernovas, etc would spice things up a lot and have an impact on the entire game like empire logistics, market prices, etc which in turn would create new oppurtunities for players to make money (creation of missions/passenger requests/etc and new market demands in the affected areas of crisis - could also apply for interstellar wars)
- Continuously expanding and developing - rather like EVE is at the moment, which has changed dramatically (for the better) over the course of 3 years and continues to do so.
- ZOMG pointlessly detailed character creation, especially if theres going to be walking around on planets, in stations, etc.
- etc etc etc
I could go on forever, but i'll leave it at that. if E4 remains singleplayer,it'l still be great... but it'l only last for so long. in the form of an MMO however, E4 could live on for many decades to come. WoW will get old soon enough, EVE continues to grow... other games are just clones of WoW or failures based on TV shows, and things like X3 do well but after a few years nobody really plays anymore.
E4, if an MMO and modelled off Elite and EVE specifically -would- be breathtaking to fans of both games alike. it wouldn't, however, be for everyone. that is a good thing, and what i'd like E4 to become. im sure people disagree with parts, but at the end of the day one thing is certain: E4 will rock.
I played Elite II extensively when I was young,was just so hooked on it. Got all the way up to Dangerous elite ranking starting from Lave... but still being unable to enter imperial or empire space was a bit of a downfall. if it wasnt for the various bugs that made certain parts of the game impossible i'd probably still be playing it today
Other than that, it was a damned fine game for its time, and even in todays time still has things that current games dont.
but IMO if e4 should be anything, it should be an MMO. a Persistant, Multiplayer game of Elite, with the feel of Elite but continously being supported and expanding would be the work of a dream.
currently the only game striving to be this today is EVE-Online. i originally got it because i thought it'd be the answer to what i was missing, and although i was quickly disappointed its still a fantastic game and the more i played it the more I realised it had its own things that Elite just never had. If one were to combine the great things about Elite and Eve, i would play it. forever.
I imagine a game with:
- Freedom. the ability to go anywhere and do anything (trading, mining, taking missions and contracts, piracy / theft, bounty hunting, industry, production, research, etc)
- Physics. whilst making them as realistic as Frontier may be impossible whilst maintaining a playable multiplayer game, physics would apply wherever possible. major problems arise when trying to implement things like time acceleration, etc, in multiplayer though.
- Planetary Interaction. Seamless transitions from space-planet and ability to interact with the planet in some way, from simply walking around it to using it for mining, construction, etc
- Risk. a good chance of dying in the process of whatever you're doing, differing depending on how secure/hazardous the area you're in is.
- Loss on death. a loss is an actual loss, not a case of "oh so i died, whoopie, res****" but actual assets and credits that you worked to achieve, destroyed and/or plundered by the ebil pirates that killed you.
- Player interaction. those pirates that killed you in the previous point would be real players, etc, when you buy things from stations it'd be people who'd created those items - and the station or base could be player-owned or built
- a strong, thought-out and complicated PVP system. something along the lines of what EVE has, allowing things like roles for specific ships, fleet combat, etc, rather than just "whoever has the better guns/aim/armor wins"
- NOT an rts. you'd still only have direct control over your ship and wouldnt be able to purchase wingmen etc or have fleets under your command- unless they were real players.
- ability for player-driven entities to explore, colonize and conquer space. This could include claiming+naming a previously unexplored system and establishing an outpost there, attacking and capturing the space of others by seizing control of their stations, planetary bases, etc
- a learning curve that isnt nearly impossible to get over, such as with the BCM series, but at the same time not so dumbed down so much that the average WoW player would understand it.
- player-driven economy. prices of various goods required by players (fuel, minerals used in production of ships/etc) would skyrocket during times of limited supply, or plummet if theres too little demand
- natural phenomenom and disasters. blackholes, magnetic storms, solar flares, nebulaes, asteroids, supernovas, etc would spice things up a lot and have an impact on the entire game like empire logistics, market prices, etc which in turn would create new oppurtunities for players to make money (creation of missions/passenger requests/etc and new market demands in the affected areas of crisis - could also apply for interstellar wars)
- Continuously expanding and developing - rather like EVE is at the moment, which has changed dramatically (for the better) over the course of 3 years and continues to do so.
- ZOMG pointlessly detailed character creation, especially if theres going to be walking around on planets, in stations, etc.
- etc etc etc
I could go on forever, but i'll leave it at that. if E4 remains singleplayer,it'l still be great... but it'l only last for so long. in the form of an MMO however, E4 could live on for many decades to come. WoW will get old soon enough, EVE continues to grow... other games are just clones of WoW or failures based on TV shows, and things like X3 do well but after a few years nobody really plays anymore.
E4, if an MMO and modelled off Elite and EVE specifically -would- be breathtaking to fans of both games alike. it wouldn't, however, be for everyone. that is a good thing, and what i'd like E4 to become. im sure people disagree with parts, but at the end of the day one thing is certain: E4 will rock.
summon_libre said:
As long as there is no sort of "leveling". I never played WoW. But as I understand it, when you level in WoW you can take more hits before you die. I whouldent like this in E4. If you are out walking on/in a planet/spacestation and someone shoot you, you shouldnt be able to take more then a couple of shots, even how high your elite status are. I also think that if you get shot and survive, you will have to find a hospitale (or equal sickbed in a ship or something) or you will bleed to death.
There should ofcourse be bullitprooftvests and personalshields availible to buy so you can protect yourself. And in towns and spacestations there should be AI policeofficers and selfclosing doors. So if you attack someone i a safe system it should be almost impossible to flee.
summon_libre said:
I have to disagree. You should strive to make your EVE-Online better and make a turn to what your dream game would be, instead of Elite4. Eve looks to me extremely beautiful and quite complex, but that's not what I want from E4. I want systems that look realistic without any huge nebulae cluttering up the dark view of space, no dustballs claiming to be nebulae "fog" passing by the ship. This is one thing that have put me off playing Eve.
Another thing is that of multiplayer. Why does everything have to be multiplayer and online interaction with others? I just don't get it. Especially since there already exist games that can do this fairly well, such as Eve. I agree that Eve does have a LOT of nice stuff about it, but I don't want to see Elite4 "just" becoming a fixed version of Eve to suit the Elite fans.
I just don't want to have to risk being shotdown by someone who just happens to have a bad day and decide to shoot at everything he sees. Space is a lonesome vast place -- I want to be alone
But at the same time, do something original while keeping it fun to play; let me download content from fellow explorers reading their exploration reports and whatnot from systems that showed up as "unexplored" until yesterday.
Let's go "Massive singleplayer game", similar to the concept of Spore.
A third reason is that I would never allow myself to pay endlessly for a game that I have bought. I pay for a game, let me play it! No, I don't play *any* online games
I agree with Karl, I have never been interested in MMO. They are adictive and timeconsuming, and I have a sosial life, and I don't like to pay forever. I also would like space to look like space, and not like Las Vegas. As I said in another post, Frontier speaks to at least my astronomic interest, and I want space to be real.
I vote for the "massive singelplayer game"!
Stian Beinset
-Prycon
I vote for the "massive singelplayer game"!
Stian Beinset
-Prycon
Prycon said:I agree with Karl, I have never been interested in MMO. They are adictive and timeconsuming, and I have a sosial life, and I don't like to pay forever. I also would like space to look like space, and not like Las Vegas. As I said in another post, Frontier speaks to at least my astronomic interest, and I want space to be real.
I vote for the "massive singelplayer game"!
Stian Beinset
-Prycon
And I agree with you and Karl.
The only advantage of online gaming is that you don't have to deal with A.I (wich sometimes stands for Artificial Idiocy) of some games.
I don't like to play in a Las Vegas space too, but Elite 4 must have nebulas in background, but not everywhere and of course not in Sol, like some other games shows
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I agree with earlier posts. It dont NEED to be multiplayer, but it would be nice as a choosable feature.
And it HAVE to be realistic, with real existing starsystems, no things in the middle of space that just are there, no "las vegas at night" flying frew space, and real distances between planets and starsystems. And NO planets/things in the background that you cant fly to, everything that you see have to be a part of the game.
One good way to implement multiplaying as a feature is to do like I described in another thread:
"What i would like is single player game with the ability to have a "starsystem creator" so that anyone can install a server and create a starsystem that anyone can fly to if they like to play it as a multiplayer game. In that way you whould be able to both play it as a singleplayer with starssystem created by a AI in the game, and if you are connected you also se everybody elses "homemade" starsystems that you can fly to and communicate/trade/kill other online players in.
Then the only thing Frontier would have to setup is a server that knows what starsystems there are and witch of them that are online (I little like the ICQ server.)."
And it HAVE to be realistic, with real existing starsystems, no things in the middle of space that just are there, no "las vegas at night" flying frew space, and real distances between planets and starsystems. And NO planets/things in the background that you cant fly to, everything that you see have to be a part of the game.
One good way to implement multiplaying as a feature is to do like I described in another thread:
"What i would like is single player game with the ability to have a "starsystem creator" so that anyone can install a server and create a starsystem that anyone can fly to if they like to play it as a multiplayer game. In that way you whould be able to both play it as a singleplayer with starssystem created by a AI in the game, and if you are connected you also se everybody elses "homemade" starsystems that you can fly to and communicate/trade/kill other online players in.
Then the only thing Frontier would have to setup is a server that knows what starsystems there are and witch of them that are online (I little like the ICQ server.)."
I think it has to be an MMO.
A successful MMO can make more money than a single release. Also since people are paying for subs, bug patches are paid for.
I think an MMO is the best way forward to keep the game alive, as a single player game it'll make a bit of a splash but it'll be difficult to get gamers interested in something that was last around before many ever played games. In MMO terms though it'll be big news. The next really big game is going to be Star Trek Online, because it has brand awareness and will actually be different to most fantasy hack and slash games.
Honestly, I think the best way to market Elite is to try and tie it closely around events relating to NASA's moon and mars missions (not to the launches they're way off) but things like press releases, they will get the public interested in space again and maybe just maybe help raise the profile of Space games once more.
A successful MMO can make more money than a single release. Also since people are paying for subs, bug patches are paid for.
I think an MMO is the best way forward to keep the game alive, as a single player game it'll make a bit of a splash but it'll be difficult to get gamers interested in something that was last around before many ever played games. In MMO terms though it'll be big news. The next really big game is going to be Star Trek Online, because it has brand awareness and will actually be different to most fantasy hack and slash games.
Honestly, I think the best way to market Elite is to try and tie it closely around events relating to NASA's moon and mars missions (not to the launches they're way off) but things like press releases, they will get the public interested in space again and maybe just maybe help raise the profile of Space games once more.
Im only interested in a singleplayer game, I have grown tired of multiplayer games. I'm not agaist E4 with multiplayer, but only if it is multiplayer only. I think most of Frontier and Elite players are grownups, I am 28 myself, and I don't think we have time for playing a lot of online games. At lest I don't. And I don't think massive multiplayer would pay off, think about what it would cost to keep a game gooing for like 2 to 5 years online?