really, loading screens? Sounds terrible.
On the other hand SC has planets to land on,something you´re not going to see in Ed in a long time.One year after release,more likely 18 months after release, expecting Q3 2016
- Status
really, loading screens? Sounds terrible.
On the other hand SC has planets to land on,something you´re not going to see in Ed in a long time.One year after release,more likely 18 months after release, expecting Q3 2016
SC doesn't have planets yet. It will sometime in the future.
You seem to have got your timing confused.
Wouldnt that still technically be BEFORE Star Citizen is formally released to retail...
<confused>
Frontier: Elite 2 also already did this back in the late 80s/early 90s... Sorry to be a pain
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...and these SC planets won't exactly be to scale
who cares the questions is which one has interesting things to do.I don´t want to wander around a random generated surface "to scale"., Could as well fire up SpaceEngine for that.Scale is nonsense in gaming if the scale itself has no point.Remember that "Fuel" racing game?Biggest game world ever,procedurally generated.Guess what, it was boring trash! So let´s wait and see what actually matters at the end of the day.
Hmmm...
If you are talking about this :
Then yeah, SC won't have those. Still, ED is planning to have SEAMLESS planetary landings on full scale planets. CR himself said that was a pipe dream for SC to have that. That's PG and the cobra engine for you.
What you will have in SC is something akin to a cut scene, produced in engine, where you will be able to move around your ship but without control of the ship. Also, you will have to follow a corridor to be automatically landed on a small area on the planet. It will be the same every time you land.
Words can not express how indifferent I am if I have to read my book while I am in supercruise, or during the loading screen.
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What happened to the "Immersion blah blah" and "Realism blah blah" mantra that many SC backers keep going on about, whilst they're willing to accept such corner cuts as Lilliputian planets?
I suppose someone should tell Josh Parnell that he's wasting his time as well, then?
If you have not done that in months, like myself, I doubt there will be any major changes. I could be wrong but will see.
I really hope they tweaked the Flight Model a lot.
I believed that as well but according to the latest news on that front. You will actually be able to walk around your ship/move around as it takes off/lands. Basically, the ship will auto land/take off for you, a load screen if you want to call it that, but you will be able to move around in the ship.
Remains to be seen if they are able to do this. That was from one of the newest 10FTC 2 months back or so.
But to be honest why are people talking about immersion breaking in a space ships game?
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What happened to the "Immersion blah blah" and "Realism blah blah" mantra that many SC backers keep going on about, whilst they're willing to accept such corner cuts as Lilliputian planets?
I suppose someone should tell Josh Parnell that he's wasting his time as well, then?
you'll enjoy a virtual 14 month realtime hike over an empty to scale moon surface?
I'm less into simulation, WC/Freelancer type gameplay was perfectly fine for me.
More of that in SC and I won't complain.
For watching some planet simulation, Space Engine does it already.
Installed the free trial and finally got it working.
First observation was how long it took to actually get into the game. I7 4770 with GTX760 so not a bad system.
Had one of my lads looking over my shoulder when I finally got into the hanger and tried to work out what key accomplished "use" to get the helmet on - finally deduced it was "F". His first comments were, "this is awful - worse than Elite - I am going to bed." I thought the hanger looked quite nice graphically and was certainly functional. Although my character felt rather ponderous.
I persevered and got on board the ship - very nice graphically although I loathe the design. It reminded me of a Junkers 88 at the front.
Cue more long waiting time.
Finally managed to choose free flight. cue more beautiful graphics. Mouse control of movement was silky smooth. However within 15 seconds of looking around using the mouse I felt sick. To be fair here, I have some sight issues and the type of lenses I have are capable of making me sick in certain situations when walking about. This is the first time in a game so this is probably me rather than the game itself.
Looked down and saw my pc temps had risen several degrees above where I have ever seen them so the game is obviously stressing my hardware.
I really appreciate CIGS generous offer to try this out, at least now I know why so many of the SC fans rave about it. It is undeniably pretty. I was looking for a reason to buy because I am not a great fan of the ship designs. I didn't expect to immediately feel sick and that is obviously a game breaker for me.
I shall keep an eye on the game and may try again in the future. Hopefully by the time the PU happens things might suit be a bit more.
First observation was how long it took to actually get into the game. I7 4770 with GTX760 so not a bad system.
Had one of my lads looking over my shoulder when I finally got into the hanger and tried to work out what key accomplished "use" to get the helmet on - finally deduced it was "F". His first comments were, "this is awful - worse than Elite - I am going to bed." I thought the hanger looked quite nice graphically and was certainly functional. Although my character felt rather ponderous.
I persevered and got on board the ship - very nice graphically although I loathe the design. It reminded me of a Junkers 88 at the front.
Cue more long waiting time.
Finally managed to choose free flight. cue more beautiful graphics. Mouse control of movement was silky smooth. However within 15 seconds of looking around using the mouse I felt sick. To be fair here, I have some sight issues and the type of lenses I have are capable of making me sick in certain situations when walking about. This is the first time in a game so this is probably me rather than the game itself.
Looked down and saw my pc temps had risen several degrees above where I have ever seen them so the game is obviously stressing my hardware.
I really appreciate CIGS generous offer to try this out, at least now I know why so many of the SC fans rave about it. It is undeniably pretty. I was looking for a reason to buy because I am not a great fan of the ship designs. I didn't expect to immediately feel sick and that is obviously a game breaker for me.
I shall keep an eye on the game and may try again in the future. Hopefully by the time the PU happens things might suit be a bit more.
Mr.Nowak said:
My question would be does the camera switch to 3rd person at any point? That is immersion breaking. In ED I can move the ship right up until the 5 second count down, which I need to lock on target before the engine engages - flight all completely in law. Has anyone tried cancelling he jump at that point?
Anyway, once you are in the jump you can look around at stuff too, so you do still retain some level of control. The swirling image which you can view from different angles is not pre rendered in anyway, it would simply be too large (Michael said so somewhere). It is in engine generated during the jump.
Wait hang on, this might cover it for star citizen:
Helfix said:
So, you played AC and wrote a review about it, but without the actual gameplay and then concluded you didn't like it ?
Firemonkey
Banned
What a mess this thread as become.
1st things 1st:
If your friend wants something "new and different" you shouldn't really recommend ED since the flying is not that "different" from flying in atmosphere, aka planes in space.
AC controls maybe be strange and unnatural at the first glance, but theres a lot of depth in it and the Physics are much more accurate with what "should" happen in space.
But hey i understand that is uneasy for the so called "expert pilots" with their fancy hotas system to feel so out of depth. Guess the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." has some truth in it.
You need to understand the state in wich the project is atm, and also have some vision to know what basic fundamentals were built so that you can glimpse where it can be taken and where they want to take it.
ED is comming out in 3 months and its dealing with much less graphic and data processing and more pcg than crafted and yet they cant hold more than 16x16 multiplayer battles, so i cant imagine how SC is going for 50x50 even if in 2/3 years, i just cant see the technology advancing that much.
2 days Since AC went FREE to Play 10k people joined, 5k joining each day. For everyone not liking it there will be people that like it.
If you check RSI foruns or r/starcitizen youll find multiple posts of newbies joining in and giving good feedback such as:
"So thanks to that guy who posted the code for the free trial I have been enjoying the arena commander vandul swarm for the past couple of days, Super hyped for this game the fact that this pre alpha snippet can be so enjoyable already is a great sign, can't wait!"
So, hey everyone, my friend just introduced me to this game yesterday, and I've been in awe of how amazing this is, of course with the idea that this is still in alpha and I'm paying for a game that is yet to be released, and having played the demo, I've fallen in love.
When I first heard of Star Citizen I was really excited but decided to wait before signing for a pledge, now that I've had the chance to try it (the dragon code) I am more excited than ever but I realized (as I thought) that I need a new computer in order to fully enjoy the game.
Anyway, played for 15 minutes and loved it.
A ton more in RSI New Recruits Forum and much more incoming after the FREE days expire.
As i said before, ive spent 60$ on the game and i dont plan to spend more, and my commitment and eagerness for seing it develop is stil increasing, can i turn your theory arround and assume that you've spent much more on ED and are having doubts/regrets about your investment?
And so with all that jiberish said and done lets get down to brass tacks.
This day as a CR interview about customization (Ships & Character) is released, a monthly report from CGI is released with info from 7 teams with juicy info from the Persistent Universe, Squadrom 42, Arena Commander and FPS ranging from Art to Programming, Cinematics, Animation, Desing, Audio and Platform/Publishing.
What you discuss is loading times? Seriously [removed]?
I know nothing about the specificics into that kind of game design but how the hell is my PC gonna play a MMORPG without loading stuff, is it gonna load all of the NPCS and info straight away before logging in? Do i need to join the game in the morning, go to work and in the afternoon will be ready?
Dont be foolish people, ofc every massive game needs loading times!
If it takes time (2 secs ou 2 minutes), if its hidden loading or what not its CR problem to solve (if theres any)!
HE STATED : "No immersion breaking loadbars, will be a seamless transition from state "X" to state "Y".
Your game will have this, my game as this na na na...
Lets wait and see how he apllies it, geezz, whats the fuss?
1st things 1st:
If your friend wants something "new and different" you shouldn't really recommend ED since the flying is not that "different" from flying in atmosphere, aka planes in space.
AC controls maybe be strange and unnatural at the first glance, but theres a lot of depth in it and the Physics are much more accurate with what "should" happen in space.
But hey i understand that is uneasy for the so called "expert pilots" with their fancy hotas system to feel so out of depth. Guess the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." has some truth in it.
You need to understand the state in wich the project is atm, and also have some vision to know what basic fundamentals were built so that you can glimpse where it can be taken and where they want to take it.
Also, good luck with all those calculations in a 50v50 multiplayer game.
ED is comming out in 3 months and its dealing with much less graphic and data processing and more pcg than crafted and yet they cant hold more than 16x16 multiplayer battles, so i cant imagine how SC is going for 50x50 even if in 2/3 years, i just cant see the technology advancing that much.
ykza5; said:Yeah to me it was a bad desition releasing a public "demo" before v0.9 which supposed to have better flight controls. Now I'm certain to be playing alone if the PU ever comes out. Thank you CR
2 days Since AC went FREE to Play 10k people joined, 5k joining each day. For everyone not liking it there will be people that like it.
If you check RSI foruns or r/starcitizen youll find multiple posts of newbies joining in and giving good feedback such as:
"So thanks to that guy who posted the code for the free trial I have been enjoying the arena commander vandul swarm for the past couple of days, Super hyped for this game the fact that this pre alpha snippet can be so enjoyable already is a great sign, can't wait!"
So, hey everyone, my friend just introduced me to this game yesterday, and I've been in awe of how amazing this is, of course with the idea that this is still in alpha and I'm paying for a game that is yet to be released, and having played the demo, I've fallen in love.
When I first heard of Star Citizen I was really excited but decided to wait before signing for a pledge, now that I've had the chance to try it (the dragon code) I am more excited than ever but I realized (as I thought) that I need a new computer in order to fully enjoy the game.
Anyway, played for 15 minutes and loved it.
A ton more in RSI New Recruits Forum and much more incoming after the FREE days expire.
As i said before, ive spent 60$ on the game and i dont plan to spend more, and my commitment and eagerness for seing it develop is stil increasing, can i turn your theory arround and assume that you've spent much more on ED and are having doubts/regrets about your investment?
And so with all that jiberish said and done lets get down to brass tacks.
This day as a CR interview about customization (Ships & Character) is released, a monthly report from CGI is released with info from 7 teams with juicy info from the Persistent Universe, Squadrom 42, Arena Commander and FPS ranging from Art to Programming, Cinematics, Animation, Desing, Audio and Platform/Publishing.
What you discuss is loading times? Seriously [removed]?
I know nothing about the specificics into that kind of game design but how the hell is my PC gonna play a MMORPG without loading stuff, is it gonna load all of the NPCS and info straight away before logging in? Do i need to join the game in the morning, go to work and in the afternoon will be ready?
Dont be foolish people, ofc every massive game needs loading times!
If it takes time (2 secs ou 2 minutes), if its hidden loading or what not its CR problem to solve (if theres any)!
HE STATED : "No immersion breaking loadbars, will be a seamless transition from state "X" to state "Y".
Your game will have this, my game as this na na na...
Lets wait and see how he apllies it, geezz, whats the fuss?
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rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
I have been peeking at this thread from time to time and since I downloaded the free SC demo I thought I'll share my opinions.
Firstly, note that I am not biased against Star Citizen. I wish Chris R. & Co. all the best and I hope when the game is finally released it will rock! From what I've read and seen here and other places on internet, I think that ED and SC are different games aimed at different public and I will not compare them, apart from maybe aesthetic aspect. Another note: I do realise this isn't even alpha stage of the game and everything will be polished and improved in due course. But I also realise that ETA on this polish is unknown (or is it?).
Now, time for my feedback, hopefully this will be helpful for someone.
A side note: with SC minimised, my system performance is quite low! I experience lag when moving Chrome window on my secondary screen. Whoa, never seen that before with ANY other game :S
Hangar Module
First thoughts, right after launching the game: FPP steering is really bad. It reminds me of some really badly executed games of early 2000s. It's clunky, it stutters and it doesn't feel very natural at all. The blur when rotating the view is nice though, but I've seen it in many games before (Witcher 2 comes to mind).
The hangar itself is... boring. I could interact with a pilot's gear locker, it showed me some clothing. I could bring one display up, it showed SHIPS, WEAPONS and AMMO sections, all empty. And that's it really.
Is this what the Hangar module is all about at the moment? I hoped for something more really... They could at least implement more interactive stuff.
Running the game on highest quality preset, my FPS was between 30 and 50. Pretty low, sadly. For reference, my system spec can be seen here. I hope this is just lack of optimisation, as the graphics are surely nice, but nowhere near justifying such a low FPS in a closed space!
External ship design
Not a huge fan. Looks weird, not really appealing to my taste. But that's a very subjective matter, so let's leave it at that.
Interior ship design
A side note, at this point I Alt Tabbed back to SC to take another look at the ship interior and the game froze. Had to restart.
So, interior ship design: seems very steel-like, grey, cold and raw. No fireworks at all. Comparing to ED (I think it's fair to compare both games in this particular aspect) it's VERY poor. ED ships feel cosy and complete. They make sense. Star Citizen... Just meh. Like I was sitting inside a metal cage with glass walls. On both sides there are come flickering screens with reversed letters (like they should be visible from outside). There are cables running alongside the cockpit, some parts of cockpit windows are clear, some are matte. Everything is grey and dull.
Oh, I have also crawled into the rear part of the ship. My pilot lay down and just seemed to be chilling out. Not sure what that's for.
Generally Star Citizen starter ship feels like old 80's cheap car (Fiat 126p, google it!) and Elite's Sidewinder feels like a posh 2000s Mercedes in comparison
Not impressed at all must say.
Ok, so my pilot sits down and then... presses some invisible buttons. Riiiight. OK, maybe the two weird frames on both sides are placeholders for some screens that will be useful later in game. The menu appears in front of me, so let's try this:
Drone Sim - Free Flight
Note: This is going to be quite chaotic. I alt tab and type as I play and observe or when stuff comes to my mind, so apologies for that.
First thought straight away: loading screen feel very weird! I am used to Elite seamless gameplay and I was expecting the hangar door opening and me flying out! OK, it's a Drone Sim after all
So, the flight model feel arcade-ish. Maybe I'm just used to Elite, but SC flight model doesn't really appeal to me. It feels too fast, too rapid and just weird. Huge yaw rate is quite bad, I couldn't get used to it.
Visibility is quite bad, I can't see much as there seems to be too much stuff blocking my view form the cockpit. The frame, the 2 side screens, the upper holograms... There's just too much stuff cramped in there. It all looks quite chaotic. Speaking of the holo displays, they're not intuitive at all, I didn't have a clue what I'm looking at I realise that it's probably described somewhere on SC forums and there are some guides on internet, but I didn't have time to look for them. I do like the free look zoom and DoF though, it's very cool effect indeed! The shadows are really bad on the other hand, ouch.
External cameras: YES! Nice! Then I see my ship again and... meh. Not my style, looks like a metal box in space. Back to cockpit! Fly some more and... that's it really.
I didn't try dogfighting, as it's quite late and I've got work tomorrow.
Ah, a word on graphics. It looks very nice and detailed, but nothing outstanding I'd say - and I've read many many posts praising the graphic design of SC on internet. Really? Isn't this just "fanboyism"? Nothing really wow'd me here.
Conclusion
Overall my first impressions aren't so great, however I do realise this are bare bones of the future alpha version of the game and things will get better. At the moment the demo I played left me with "whatever man, nothing to see here, move along" feeling. Frankly, I don't really understand at all why RSI decided to let people download this demo version of pre alpha... It seems like a bad decision from promotional point of view to me. :S
It certainly doesn't leave a very good impression for someone that only followed the project very vaguely and in my particular case it just made me not want to follow Star Citizen development for the next insert random number of months/years here, until the game is actually at more playable stage, with some universe to explore, some ships to buy (for in game money), some trading to do and maybe some simple missions... Until then - good bye SC, lets not waste my hard drive space!
Why people are praising that... concept so much? (It's hard to even call it a 'demo', let alone a 'game' IMHO). Sure, I understand that some of you are emotionally (and/or financially ) tied to SC and Chris R., just like many people that purchased ED are tied to David and Elite, but I've read so many posts just claiming this is going to be the best space sim and so on, that even now this game (what?) is awesome etc. etc. etc. Really? All I could see - and let me reiterate: I am not biased against SC, I am just trying to be objective - was just a concept of a future game and a concept that doesn't leave particularly great first impression for someone that didn't know much about the project.
As a final thought: Looking at KS, the game reached it's funding goal in the last Q of 2012. So, in nearly 2 years RSI got LOADS of extra money and all they managed to come up with is this? One word: MEH.
Firstly, note that I am not biased against Star Citizen. I wish Chris R. & Co. all the best and I hope when the game is finally released it will rock! From what I've read and seen here and other places on internet, I think that ED and SC are different games aimed at different public and I will not compare them, apart from maybe aesthetic aspect. Another note: I do realise this isn't even alpha stage of the game and everything will be polished and improved in due course. But I also realise that ETA on this polish is unknown (or is it?).
Now, time for my feedback, hopefully this will be helpful for someone.
A side note: with SC minimised, my system performance is quite low! I experience lag when moving Chrome window on my secondary screen. Whoa, never seen that before with ANY other game :S
Hangar Module
First thoughts, right after launching the game: FPP steering is really bad. It reminds me of some really badly executed games of early 2000s. It's clunky, it stutters and it doesn't feel very natural at all. The blur when rotating the view is nice though, but I've seen it in many games before (Witcher 2 comes to mind).
The hangar itself is... boring. I could interact with a pilot's gear locker, it showed me some clothing. I could bring one display up, it showed SHIPS, WEAPONS and AMMO sections, all empty. And that's it really.
Is this what the Hangar module is all about at the moment? I hoped for something more really... They could at least implement more interactive stuff.
Running the game on highest quality preset, my FPS was between 30 and 50. Pretty low, sadly. For reference, my system spec can be seen here. I hope this is just lack of optimisation, as the graphics are surely nice, but nowhere near justifying such a low FPS in a closed space!
External ship design
Not a huge fan. Looks weird, not really appealing to my taste. But that's a very subjective matter, so let's leave it at that.
Interior ship design
A side note, at this point I Alt Tabbed back to SC to take another look at the ship interior and the game froze. Had to restart.
So, interior ship design: seems very steel-like, grey, cold and raw. No fireworks at all. Comparing to ED (I think it's fair to compare both games in this particular aspect) it's VERY poor. ED ships feel cosy and complete. They make sense. Star Citizen... Just meh. Like I was sitting inside a metal cage with glass walls. On both sides there are come flickering screens with reversed letters (like they should be visible from outside). There are cables running alongside the cockpit, some parts of cockpit windows are clear, some are matte. Everything is grey and dull.
Oh, I have also crawled into the rear part of the ship. My pilot lay down and just seemed to be chilling out. Not sure what that's for.
Generally Star Citizen starter ship feels like old 80's cheap car (Fiat 126p, google it!) and Elite's Sidewinder feels like a posh 2000s Mercedes in comparison
Not impressed at all must say.
Ok, so my pilot sits down and then... presses some invisible buttons. Riiiight. OK, maybe the two weird frames on both sides are placeholders for some screens that will be useful later in game. The menu appears in front of me, so let's try this:
Drone Sim - Free Flight
Note: This is going to be quite chaotic. I alt tab and type as I play and observe or when stuff comes to my mind, so apologies for that.
First thought straight away: loading screen feel very weird! I am used to Elite seamless gameplay and I was expecting the hangar door opening and me flying out! OK, it's a Drone Sim after all
So, the flight model feel arcade-ish. Maybe I'm just used to Elite, but SC flight model doesn't really appeal to me. It feels too fast, too rapid and just weird. Huge yaw rate is quite bad, I couldn't get used to it.
Visibility is quite bad, I can't see much as there seems to be too much stuff blocking my view form the cockpit. The frame, the 2 side screens, the upper holograms... There's just too much stuff cramped in there. It all looks quite chaotic. Speaking of the holo displays, they're not intuitive at all, I didn't have a clue what I'm looking at
I realise that it's probably described somewhere on SC forums and there are some guides on internet, but I didn't have time to look for them. I do like the free look zoom and DoF though, it's very cool effect indeed! The shadows are really bad on the other hand, ouch.External cameras: YES! Nice! Then I see my ship again and... meh. Not my style, looks like a metal box in space. Back to cockpit! Fly some more and... that's it really.
I didn't try dogfighting, as it's quite late and I've got work tomorrow.
Ah, a word on graphics. It looks very nice and detailed, but nothing outstanding I'd say - and I've read many many posts praising the graphic design of SC on internet. Really? Isn't this just "fanboyism"? Nothing really wow'd me here.
Conclusion
Overall my first impressions aren't so great, however I do realise this are bare bones of the future alpha version of the game and things will get better. At the moment the demo I played left me with "whatever man, nothing to see here, move along" feeling. Frankly, I don't really understand at all why RSI decided to let people download this demo version of pre alpha... It seems like a bad decision from promotional point of view to me. :S
It certainly doesn't leave a very good impression for someone that only followed the project very vaguely and in my particular case it just made me not want to follow Star Citizen development for the next insert random number of months/years here, until the game is actually at more playable stage, with some universe to explore, some ships to buy (for in game money), some trading to do and maybe some simple missions... Until then - good bye SC, lets not waste my hard drive space!
Why people are praising that... concept so much? (It's hard to even call it a 'demo', let alone a 'game' IMHO). Sure, I understand that some of you are emotionally (and/or financially
) tied to SC and Chris R., just like many people that purchased ED are tied to David and Elite, but I've read so many posts just claiming this is going to be the best space sim and so on, that even now this game (what?) is awesome etc. etc. etc. Really? All I could see - and let me reiterate: I am not biased against SC, I am just trying to be objective - was just a concept of a future game and a concept that doesn't leave particularly great first impression for someone that didn't know much about the project. As a final thought: Looking at KS, the game reached it's funding goal in the last Q of 2012. So, in nearly 2 years RSI got LOADS of extra money and all they managed to come up with is this? One word: MEH.
I have been peeking at this thread from time to time and since I downloaded the free SC demo I thought I'll share my opinions.
Firstly, note that I am not biased against Star Citizen. I wish Chris R. & Co. all the best and I hope when the game is finally released it will rock! From what I've read and seen here and other places on internet, I think that ED and SC are different games aimed at different public and I will not compare them, apart from maybe aesthetic aspect. Another note: I do realise this isn't even alpha stage of the game and everything will be polished and improved in due course. But I also realise that ETA on this polish is unknown (or is it?).
Now, time for my feedback, hopefully this will be helpful for someone.
A side note: with SC minimised, my system performance is quite low! I experience lag when moving Chrome window on my secondary screen. Whoa, never seen that before with ANY other game :S
Hangar Module
First thoughts, right after launching the game: FPP steering is really bad. It reminds me of some really badly executed games of early 2000s. It's clunky, it stutters and it doesn't feel very natural at all. The blur when rotating the view is nice though, but I've seen it in many games before (Witcher 2 comes to mind).
The hangar itself is... boring. I could interact with a pilot's gear locker, it showed me some clothing. I could bring one display up, it showed SHIPS, WEAPONS and AMMO sections, all empty. And that's it really.
Is this what the Hangar module is all about at the moment? I hoped for something more really... They could at least implement more interactive stuff.
Running the game on highest quality preset, my FPS was between 30 and 50. Pretty low, sadly. For reference, my system spec can be seen here. I hope this is just lack of optimisation, as the graphics are surely nice, but nowhere near justifying such a low FPS in a closed space!
External ship design
Not a huge fan. Looks weird, not really appealing to my taste. But that's a very subjective matter, so let's leave it at that.
Interior ship design
A side note, at this point I Alt Tabbed back to SC to take another look at the ship interior and the game froze. Had to restart.
So, interior ship design: seems very steel-like, grey, cold and raw. No fireworks at all. Comparing to ED (I think it's fair to compare both games in this particular aspect) it's VERY poor. ED ships feel cosy and complete. They make sense. Star Citizen... Just meh. Like I was sitting inside a metal cage with glass walls. On both sides there are come flickering screens with reversed letters (like they should be visible from outside). There are cables running alongside the cockpit, some parts of cockpit windows are clear, some are matte. Everything is grey and dull.
Oh, I have also crawled into the rear part of the ship. My pilot lay down and just seemed to be chilling out. Not sure what that's for.
Generally Star Citizen starter ship feels like old 80's cheap car (Fiat 126p, google it!) and Elite's Sidewinder feels like a posh 2000s Mercedes in comparison
Not impressed at all must say.
Ok, so my pilot sits down and then... presses some invisible buttons. Riiiight. OK, maybe the two weird frames on both sides are placeholders for some screens that will be useful later in game. The menu appears in front of me, so let's try this:
Drone Sim - Free Flight
Note: This is going to be quite chaotic. I alt tab and type as I play and observe or when stuff comes to my mind, so apologies for that.
First thought straight away: loading screen feel very weird! I am used to Elite seamless gameplay and I was expecting the hangar door opening and me flying out! OK, it's a Drone Sim after all
So, the flight model feel arcade-ish. Maybe I'm just used to Elite, but SC flight model doesn't really appeal to me. It feels too fast, too rapid and just weird. Huge yaw rate is quite bad, I couldn't get used to it.
Visibility is quite bad, I can't see much as there seems to be too much stuff blocking my view form the cockpit. The frame, the 2 side screens, the upper holograms... There's just too much stuff cramped in there. It all looks quite chaotic. Speaking of the holo displays, they're not intuitive at all, I didn't have a clue what I'm looking at
External cameras: YES! Nice! Then I see my ship again and... meh. Not my style, looks like a metal box in space. Back to cockpit! Fly some more and... that's it really.
I didn't try dogfighting, as it's quite late and I've got work tomorrow.
Ah, a word on graphics. It looks very nice and detailed, but nothing outstanding I'd say - and I've read many many posts praising the graphic design of SC on internet. Really? Isn't this just "fanboyism"? Nothing really wow'd me here.
Conclusion
Overall my first impressions aren't so great, however I do realise this are bare bones of the future alpha version of the game and things will get better. At the moment the demo I played left me with "whatever man, nothing to see here, move along" feeling. Frankly, I don't really understand at all why RSI decided to let people download this demo version of pre alpha... It seems like a bad decision from promotional point of view to me. :S
It certainly doesn't leave a very good impression for someone that only followed the project very vaguely and in my particular case it just made me not want to follow Star Citizen development for the next insert random number of months/years here, until the game is actually at more playable stage, with some universe to explore, some ships to buy (for in game money), some trading to do and maybe some simple missions... Until then - good bye SC, lets not waste my hard drive space!
Why people are praising that... concept so much? (It's hard to even call it a 'demo', let alone a 'game' IMHO). Sure, I understand that some of you are emotionally (and/or financially
As a final thought: Looking at KS, the game reached it's funding goal in the last Q of 2012. So, in nearly 2 years RSI got LOADS of extra money and all they managed to come up with is this? One word: MEH.
That's actually a pretty good summary to be honest. The only tid bit that I disagree with you on is that last part. You must remember that CIG as a company did not exist 2 years ago. They started as a 10 man team. They probably spent the past 1-2 years just building the studio to make the game. It explains a lot as to why there has been such a lack of progress until recently. They should of done one module at a time to be honest. Concentrate on the core and then add on.
As it stands, being a backer from 2012 and the original promises, I am quite dissapointed so far in the flying and the feel of it. There is no depth to the gameplay let alone skill.
Firemonkey
Banned
I have a lotof respect from this forum Moderators team, especialy Jenner, its the best i've come across. It handles communication well without bans and extreme censorship.
But as i praise your effort and long mini-review from the "unimformed" side. It actually disapoints being that you have an "extra-responsability" being *international moderator* and you give such shallow review. All those "unimpressive" points you mentioned already been explained in this thread, but its normal that their now long and forgotten into the thread. But ill give you that since its all new to you its normal, AC is not ironed out and user friendly at all. That Being sad just a quick recap.
Hangar : its old build, new hangar comming next patch, we hope more optimized, also when you activate the display UP you have to press TAB to activate the cursor and you have to drag your ship to the holo space to interact with it, its not explained so you cant guess , you can skipp all that by just pressing Esc and "Enter Arena Commander" to fly directly.
Ship Handling & Design: Ships = Cars | Aurora = "Ford Escort"
This ship "Aurora" is really intended to look and feel like a old car, its the starter ship, its clunky and handles like a "brick" is the most used word.
Same as the interior and UI that are just greyboxed and not interactive yet, not really fair to compare them with ED (wich are really sleek, cool and plain functional at the same time) that are all much alike, also the game is comming out this year so the cockpits are preety much finished i guess.
Laying down and chilling is a bed so you can log off in space and not wander arround, i guess its the ability live in your ship and not needing to go and log off in a planet / asteroid base somewhere.
Basicaly you got the worst looking and the worst playable ship in terms of handling and design/looks, the mighty Aurora:
But thats on purpose, CGI wouldnt want to spoil you with the:
Hornet:
or the 300i:
No need to explain for the 1000x time why the initial scope was delayed, has been written and discussed here for some lenght now.
If your just interested in playing the game and not much about what it is about or its development youll be winning onthe long run, cause everything will be new to you and youl have better entertainement value, so kudos and thanks for the time/effort of writting about your experience.
But as i praise your effort and long mini-review from the "unimformed" side. It actually disapoints being that you have an "extra-responsability" being *international moderator* and you give such shallow review. All those "unimpressive" points you mentioned already been explained in this thread, but its normal that their now long and forgotten into the thread. But ill give you that since its all new to you its normal, AC is not ironed out and user friendly at all. That Being sad just a quick recap.
Hangar : its old build, new hangar comming next patch, we hope more optimized, also when you activate the display UP you have to press TAB to activate the cursor and you have to drag your ship to the holo space to interact with it, its not explained so you cant guess
, you can skipp all that by just pressing Esc and "Enter Arena Commander" to fly directly.Ship Handling & Design: Ships = Cars | Aurora = "Ford Escort"
This ship "Aurora" is really intended to look and feel like a old car, its the starter ship, its clunky and handles like a "brick" is the most used word.
Same as the interior and UI that are just greyboxed and not interactive yet, not really fair to compare them with ED (wich are really sleek, cool and plain functional at the same time) that are all much alike, also the game is comming out this year so the cockpits are preety much finished i guess.
Laying down and chilling is a bed so you can log off in space and not wander arround, i guess its the ability live in your ship and not needing to go and log off in a planet / asteroid base somewhere.
Basicaly you got the worst looking and the worst playable ship in terms of handling and design/looks, the mighty Aurora:
But thats on purpose, CGI wouldnt want to spoil you with the:
Hornet:
or the 300i:
No need to explain for the 1000x time why the initial scope was delayed, has been written and discussed here for some lenght now.
If your just interested in playing the game and not much about what it is about or its development youll be winning onthe long run, cause everything will be new to you and youl have better entertainement value, so kudos and thanks for the time/effort of writting about your experience.
Well, you are missing the point though. It's his first time playing it and he is giving his impressions of the game.
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