|
Post by Mathius on Sept 14, 2018 1:06:32 GMT -5
I looked everywhere and could not find a thread for this article (published 9/11/18), so if I missed it please merge this thread into the official one. Thank you, Kurt, for finally writing a full piece on this amazing series. I had a 3DO back in the mid-90s and Star Control 2 was by far my favorite game on the system. I really enjoyed reading the article! But I had a few issues with it, though minor. Part of the allure of this series (especially "2") is the story. No other video game story has ever drawn me in like Star Control 2's. There are a few parts in the story that have much greater impact if you're going in blind. The Slylandro probe mystery being a biggie. I won't berate you for mentioning the mystery reveal in the article but I would ask that you mark the article as containing spoilers. The other thing is that you mention that in the 3DO version of SC2 that the Ship and Captain Naming features have been removed from the game. This isn't true. It's entirely possible to do so within the interface. Just select the "ship" and "captain" options. Even the default names given aren't figured into the story or voice acting so it's not game breaking to choose what you like.
|
|
|
Post by teroknor on Sept 14, 2018 3:08:42 GMT -5
I also have some nitpicks.
The reference to "Computer Space and its many offshoots" should probably be to Spacewar! instead? That is the game that was copied a million times, with Computer Space being only one of those copies. Also, Computer Space (unlike Spacewar!) isn't one-on-one but one-on-two, at least in its original single-player version.
And I'm pretty sure Reiche and Ford had nothing to do with the Starflight games. Reiche gets a "special thanks" credit on both games, but that's all.
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Sept 14, 2018 6:44:03 GMT -5
Reiche had a "consulting" role on the original, but the article does overstate his involvement and Ford had none.
|
|
|
Post by Discoalucard on Sept 14, 2018 12:46:19 GMT -5
The other thing is that you mention that in the 3DO version of SC2 that the Ship and Captain Naming features have been removed from the game. This isn't true. It's entirely possible to do so within the interface. Just select the "ship" and "captain" options. Even the default names given aren't figured into the story or voice acting so it's not game breaking to choose what you like. I can't check right now, but are you sure about this? Now that I think about it, the customizeable names may only mentioned in the dialogue of the main character, which isn't spoken aloud, but at the same time, I don't remember there being any interface where you can type things in, since you just used the keyboard in the PC version. They may have added it to the Ur-Quan Masters version, though. The Sylandro bit is not all that important to the main story and is probably one of the first things the player will solve. If we put spoiler warnings on this, we'd have to put spoiler warnings on every single article that gave away minor plot details.
|
|
|
Post by condroid on Sept 14, 2018 13:39:15 GMT -5
Good to see an article covering this series! Something that might be worth mentioning (unless I somehow missed it) is the pretty obvious connection to Paul Reiche III's earlier titles Archon and Mail Order Monsters which are built around the same concept: asymmetric opponents, a strategic layer, and action battles. Archon is even referenced in the title: St - ARCON - trol.
|
|
|
Post by Mathius on Sept 14, 2018 18:54:45 GMT -5
The other thing is that you mention that in the 3DO version of SC2 that the Ship and Captain Naming features have been removed from the game. This isn't true. It's entirely possible to do so within the interface. Just select the "ship" and "captain" options. Even the default names given aren't figured into the story or voice acting so it's not game breaking to choose what you like. I can't check right now, but are you sure about this? Now that I think about it, the customizeable names may only mentioned in the dialogue of the main character, which isn't spoken aloud, but at the same time, I don't remember there being any interface where you can type things in, since you just used the keyboard in the PC version. They may have added it to the Ur-Quan Masters version, though. Yes absolutely positive that you can rename the ship and captain in the 3DO version. Under "Settings" you'll see the options to do so. It's a very crude form of text entry so that's why it probably doesn't stick out. It's used nowhere else in the game.
|
|
|
Post by Discoalucard on Sept 14, 2018 19:44:37 GMT -5
Good to see an article covering this series! Something that might be worth mentioning (unless I somehow missed it) is the pretty obvious connection to Paul Reiche III's earlier titles Archon and Mail Order Monsters which are built around the same concept: asymmetric opponents, a strategic layer, and action battles. Archon is even referenced in the title: St - ARCON - trol. Oh yeah good point. I only really became familiar with Archon earlier this year when I was putting together the site article. Archon Ultra in particular really makes the parallels clear, it even has the same "multi-step" view scaling that Star Control has. I'll have to add that in.
|
|
|
Post by JoeQ on Sept 15, 2018 14:33:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the articles and for SC3 getting a fair treatment. Sure, it's the worse game, but far from unplayable. Nitpicking: Small correction: they find starship factory, not a starship and it takes them twenty years to build the ship. This is not true. The Melnorme are vital, because they're the only way to get upgrades for you main ship and lander. The hints and backstory are only secondary. They can also sell you fuel if you run out in hyperspace. By 'galaxies' you surely mean stars here.
|
|
|
Post by Discoalucard on Sept 18, 2018 9:06:30 GMT -5
Thanks all, the articles have been updated. It's not technically complete either - I did want also to write about the (really bad) spinoff book, plus the canceled games and upcoming (maybe?) sequels. I'd also written profiles on all of the races and their ships, that I never quite finished, but those should be up someday.
|
|
|
Post by JoeQ on Sept 22, 2018 14:20:29 GMT -5
Looking forward to it. I hope you will also cover the legal case once all the dust settles down.
|
|