Space combat: An endangered genre?
- Thread starter Player Two
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Yep. I of course meant turn based strategy games. Not necessarily 4X, because 4X is doing quite alright. Plus its a genre itself, ie. there are turn based 4X games and real time as well. Im talking games similar to Warlords or Steel Panthers.The Madman said:
Western RPGs are doing ok, but not cRPGs. Last major cRPG was Dragon Age. Seems like DA2 wont follow his daddy and is going more into action oriented gameplay.
Fallout 2, Baldurs Gate series, NWN series, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale. These were the games of the golden age of cRPG.
Gamer's Gate has a lot of niche titles, including space simulators, though you have to be prepared to look around a bit to find them.
Of interest:
Precursors [http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-PREC/precursors] is a not-very-polished RPG/space game that's, as far as I can tell, Mass Effect meets Freelancer.
Starpoint Gemini [http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SPG/starpoint-gemini]... all I know about it is that it's a space game.
Star Wolves [http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-SW123/star-wolves-1-3-bundle-bundle] is a sort of a tactical strategy game - think Homeworld without the story and with added RPG parts.
Spaceforce [http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SFRU/spaceforce-rogue-universe] is a relatively old game, and relatively mediocre in reviews... but it's cheap, and may be new.
There are still some things being released; I wouldn't argue that it's not currently a viable commercial genre, but... neither was the adventure game, up until 2007 or thereabouts. It'll come back. I see signs of the shifting tide in Halo: Reach and the Mass Effect series. Before long there will be commercial space simulators again, and all will be well.
Of interest:
Precursors [http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-PREC/precursors] is a not-very-polished RPG/space game that's, as far as I can tell, Mass Effect meets Freelancer.
Starpoint Gemini [http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SPG/starpoint-gemini]... all I know about it is that it's a space game.
Star Wolves [http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-SW123/star-wolves-1-3-bundle-bundle] is a sort of a tactical strategy game - think Homeworld without the story and with added RPG parts.
Spaceforce [http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SFRU/spaceforce-rogue-universe] is a relatively old game, and relatively mediocre in reviews... but it's cheap, and may be new.
There are still some things being released; I wouldn't argue that it's not currently a viable commercial genre, but... neither was the adventure game, up until 2007 or thereabouts. It'll come back. I see signs of the shifting tide in Halo: Reach and the Mass Effect series. Before long there will be commercial space simulators again, and all will be well.
I would argue against that simply based on the fact that these games all came from the same family of developers(most are by the same developer in fact). Each of those games was a Dragon Age: Origins of its time (in terms of cRPG prevalence, not quality). The golden age would have to be the years that spawned the classic series, such as Ultima, Wizadry, the AD&D Gold Box games, The Bard's Tale and more.Dana22 said:
The Infinity Engine games were, much like today's Action RPGs, an attempt to make it in a genre that had been growing financially cold. The golden age was already over in 1998. Baldur's Gate's "Real Time with Pause" was a fairly large departure from the mostly turn based cRPGs that had come before it. Just look at the first game on your list for a comparison. There were likely just as many people then bemoaning the loss of turn based cRPGs (which briefly came back in the form of Arcanum and Temple of Elemental Evil) as there are today decrying the rise of the Action RPG.
You know, I would never make a claim that Freespace 2 is a bad game (it is excellent, in fact), I would personally be hesitant to call any space combat game that controls like an arcade terrestrial dogfighting game the best that ever was. It has it's strong points and weak points, just like other games do. The highest praise I can give it (and it's a big one) is that the developers released the source, and that source has been well taken advantage of.RicoADF said:
I still prefer spacecraft to handle like they were in space.
Fair enough. I just viewed them (then and now) more as beacons in the darkness rather than merely the best among their peers (one has to have peers in competition to be the best).Dana22 said:
Thanks for getting me all worked up about space flight simulators again guys
Havn't played one since Freelancer. Really like them though, a freedom or scale no other game can replicate. I remember the first one I played, Xenocracy. Any of you remember it? You could do missions for either Mercury, Venus, Earth or Mars, usually to wreck some of the other factions stuff. Or attack pirates. Then came the alien invasion
Never got past the first mission against them. They really kicked my ass.
Havn't played one since Freelancer. Really like them though, a freedom or scale no other game can replicate. I remember the first one I played, Xenocracy. Any of you remember it? You could do missions for either Mercury, Venus, Earth or Mars, usually to wreck some of the other factions stuff. Or attack pirates. Then came the alien invasion
Never got past the first mission against them. They really kicked my ass.
Haha, same! Me and my friends use every little sub-genre and genre that 90% of people haven't heard about or found a reason to really latch onto, but we're kind of OCD about that and sort of sorting everything in a way....in our minds....?The Madman said:
This. Starwars Starfighter was one game that consumed so many days of my childhood.Palademon said:
Recent ones? None that spring to mind. I think they are just less poplar then your COD's ME's AC's and other games. Nothing against space combat myself, if done well it can be fantastic, but at the moment games are focused on everything but space combat it seems.
