Mister Argent
Full Member
Neuro-Computer "Con-Human", Serial №. DSAL 500150
Posts: 161
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Post by Mister Argent on Nov 6, 2015 21:35:11 GMT -5
It's november, and you know what that means: Twin Ion Engine fighters! Truly the first thing that comes to mind when anyone thinks of fall, these fighters are an autumn staple in many parts of the galaxy - including Coruscant and even Kessel! With that in mind, we'll be playing Star Wars: TIE Fighter this month. Get your flight suits on, your ion cannons ready, and prepare to put the kibosh on some rebel scum, because we're seeing things from the Galactic Empire's point of view! If you need a copy, one can be procured from GOG!  PRO TIPPZ:- Be sure to submit anything you've got, because we'll make you read the Jedi Prince books if you don't.
[/i] let you know if a led shot will hit by turning the targeting reticle brighter green, though it's obviously not as intuitive as it could be. Plus, once you're actively firing, the reticle will stop lighting up until you stop shooting again.[/quote] Previous 3 GC9X Threads:[/a] Episode #47: Daikatana (GBC)Episode #46: Syndicate[/ul] [/ul] |
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Post by moran on Nov 7, 2015 1:12:30 GMT -5
Yes! I hope my lap top can handle it. As a gigantic Star Wars fan I'm ashamed to say that I never played the old PC titles.
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Post by Weevil on Nov 7, 2015 14:50:10 GMT -5
Maybe I will add this to my Extra Life Stream! I can't remember the rule, but I did play this game about 3 years ago.
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Post by sabbacc108 on Nov 9, 2015 4:59:42 GMT -5
Yes! This game is amazing. In fact, it's so amazing that dug through my storage unit to find my copy of "The Stele Chronicles," the 95-page novella/manual that came with the game back in '94. Th writing's nothing amazing, but as a kid, it totally blew me away (and really got me pumped to blast some rebel scum to space dust); I must have read through it dozens of times.
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Post by Weasel on Nov 9, 2015 13:34:09 GMT -5
Yes! This game is amazing. In fact, it's so amazing that dug through my storage unit to find my copy of "The Stele Chronicles," the 95-page novella/manual that came with the game back in '94. Th writing's nothing amazing, but as a kid, it totally blew me away (and really got me pumped to blast some rebel scum to space dust); I must have read through it dozens of times. I wonder if they just didn't include that on the Enhanced CD-ROM release? I own the boxed version of that, and it's...surprisingly light on the print. The thickest book in the box is the copy of LucasArts' "Adventures!" catalog, which of course is hyping up the then-upcoming Outlaws and that educational game, Mortimer. |
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Post by sabbacc108 on Nov 9, 2015 20:16:36 GMT -5
Yes! This game is amazing. In fact, it's so amazing that dug through my storage unit to find my copy of "The Stele Chronicles," the 95-page novella/manual that came with the game back in '94. Th writing's nothing amazing, but as a kid, it totally blew me away (and really got me pumped to blast some rebel scum to space dust); I must have read through it dozens of times. I wonder if they just didn't include that on the Enhanced CD-ROM release? I own the boxed version of that, and it's...surprisingly light on the print. The thickest book in the box is the copy of LucasArts' "Adventures!" catalog, which of course is hyping up the then-upcoming Outlaws and that educational game, Mortimer. I'm actually not sure! I owned both the floppy and CD-ROM versions, so I might be forgetting which version it originally came with. The copyright in the book says 1994, but that doesn't mean anything. It's a bit funny, because the book also acts as backdoor advertisement for the Prima Official Strategy Guide for the game---the manual was written by the Prima people, and ends with a " to be continued...in the strategy guide!" message; cheeky. |
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Post by zerker on Nov 13, 2015 19:17:50 GMT -5
So, anyone playing this? The thread has been light on the discussion so far. I picked this up yesterday and have been getting used to it so far. Having played the Freespace games but not the Tie Fighter/X-Wing series, it's amazing just how much of a Tie Fighter love-letter those games are. From the menu interface, to the briefings, to the targetting controls, to the power level adjustments and overall mission feel... there's a huge crossover. Of course, the Freespace games added the target lead prediction indicator, which is pretty handy. It definately takes some getting used to in order to judge distance while leading shots in Tie Fighter. Also, I'm kinda disappointed that the Dos versions have no throttle support. If you're playing with a Joystick and picked the game up from GOG, you'll have all three versions. I'd recommend the Windows version if only for the (somewhat) improved Joystick support. Dosbox joystick glitchyness on higher frame counts isn't helping the situation either. And of course, if you're starting the game, go into the Combat Chamber. That has a number of fake mission designs, four per craft type, which are quite enjoyable, if easy. I would skip the Training Simulator; that's just some boring fly around the tube and shoot target-type thing. Not quite what we're here for  Also, the game has quite a few keyboard commands, so I'd recommend either printing the keyboard page of the reference guide, or pressing 'K' periodically to remind yourself what your keys are. |
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Post by sabbacc108 on Nov 14, 2015 2:55:24 GMT -5
Tie Fighter does let you know if a led shot will hit by turning the targeting reticle brighter green, though it's obviously not as intuitive as it could be. Plus, once you're actively firing, the reticle will stop lighting up until you stop shooting again.
I've been playing a bit, and I had honestly forgotten how brutally difficult some of the missions are, particularly later in each "battle." I'm not sure how I got past this stuff as a kid. Then again, when I played the game originally, I never went for the "secret objective for the Emperor" bits, and those tend to be the most obnoxious. The ones that require you to hang around the battlefield after everyone else is already returned to hangar are the most obnoxious, since the game likes to toss craploads of enemies at you once you've got no chance of backup.
Another thing I noticed: turning the game difficulty to "easy" seems to actually make the game harder, since it seems to reduce the AI level of your allies, too; a few missions seem outright impossible at anything but normal difficulty, since allies who are supposed to escort a ship in a different part of the map from you will fail to protect it, resulting in a very quick mission failure on both Easy and Hard. Maybe it's a bug? I know there a few others that are apparently tied to problems with high clockspeeds.
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Post by GamerL on Nov 15, 2015 3:52:40 GMT -5
Whatever happened to Star Wars flight combat games anyway? The last one I can think of is the third Rogue Squadron game and that was 12 years ago.
Seems like now would be the time to make another one.
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Post by bakudon on Nov 15, 2015 3:55:22 GMT -5
I guess that the space fight sim genre in general died is what happened. X-Wing Alliance was the last of those anyway, those Rogue Squadron games were real light shooters in comparison.
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Post by sabbacc108 on Nov 15, 2015 18:16:01 GMT -5
The new Star Wars Battlefront game has "Fighter Squadron" mode, which is just ship battles. It includes the option for first-person cockpit view, but it's pretty limited, and it's clear the game wasn't really built around it. Also, no space battles...
Personally, I would absolutely love a new Star Wars flight sim, but in the current console gaming climate, at least, there's not really a market for one. It would probably sell alright on PC, but it would be a comparatively niche product, and thus nobody wants to risk money on it.
ED:
I just checked the numbers- I couldn't find any budget figures for any of the old Star Wars sims, but Wing Commander IV had a budget of $12 million in 1996 ($18 million in 2015 dollars), which was the highest of any video game to that point, and presumably much higher than any of the Star Wars games. Again, sales figures seem hard to track down, but it seems like (despite being "the best-selling PC game of 1993") X-wing sold fewer than a million copies, and later entries don't seem to have sold any more. Meanwhile, the new Star Wars Battlefront game had a budget of $180 million, and is expected to sell at least 10 million copies before the end of the year. And Elite: Dangerous, one of the more high-profile space sims right now, has sold only about a half a million.
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Post by Feynman on Nov 15, 2015 20:20:36 GMT -5
This game is way harder than I remember it being. I've been spoiled by more modern space sims.
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Post by Weevil on Nov 16, 2015 1:17:18 GMT -5
This game is way harder than I remember it being. I've been spoiled by more modern space sims. Well you ARE flying the squishiest fighter in the Star Wars universe. |
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Post by GamerL on Nov 16, 2015 5:49:17 GMT -5
Personally, I would absolutely love a new Star Wars flight sim, but in the current console gaming climate, at least, there's not really a market for one. It would probably sell alright on PC, but it would be a comparatively niche product, and thus nobody wants to risk money on it. A flight sim would be cool, but I wonder why we can't even get another Rogue Squadron type game at least? |
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Post by sabbacc108 on Nov 17, 2015 3:45:48 GMT -5
This game is way harder than I remember it being. I've been spoiled by more modern space sims. Well you ARE flying the squishiest fighter in the Star Wars universe. ...although, strangely I find the missions with the more advanced fighters to be harder, since the ships with shields are also slower and less maneuverable! Also, shields take a really long time to recharge---much longer than I remembered. I think my favorite ship in the whole game is the TIE Interceptor: fast, well-armed (quad lasers, not dual), looks awesome on a t-shirt. |
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