IGN 6.6 Review

[thorfrog]

Wow, that sounds good. I just might have to giv GalCiv2 another look.

[Fyron]

That sounds like it would make stories that are dry and uninspired. How can an "epic generator" possibly compare to actual writing? Sure, you can give each type of event some flowery text, but after a point, all stories would just be pretty much the same text in different ordering...

[AAshbery76]

Stardock have more or less canned the epic story generator.

[Artaud]

AstralWanderer said:
Rather than a lack of "focus" I would suggest that SE has rather a "generic" feel to it, due to lacking a strong background story and atmosphere. The likes of Imperium Galactica, Haegemonia, Homeworld and Galactic Civilizations all had a background with a campaign to complete which provided players with a good introduction to the game.

I prefer the lack of a background story and the lack of a campaign. Me, I want to create my empire and rule it, without my game play shoehorned into someone else's idea of a story.

For me, the "sandbox" style is infinitely preferable to the scenario or campaign approach. I prefer to be the one to decide when I've won.

IMHO, far too many games today are oriented toward people whose only goal is to "beat" the game and move on.

For me, the purpose of a strategy game like SEIV (I don't own SEV) is to create my own little sci-fi fantasy to do with as I please.

[President_Elect_Shang]

Artaud said:
...I want to create my empire and rule it, without my game play shoehorned into someone else's idea of a story.

For me, the "sandbox" style is infinitely preferable to the scenario or campaign approach. I prefer to be the one to decide when I've won.

Bravo, well said!

As I said, they are main stream dumbed down generic games. SE5; in no way shape or form, can be called generic by that understanding. Now I stand by what I said!

[Raapys]

Sandbox games would be infinitely much more fun if games actually had an AI that sort of fitted the '..intelligence' description, though. That's much less of a problem with scripted games, as one can just set up the actual scenario to be hard, instead of relying on the AI itself to be challenging.

[frightlever]

President_Elect_Shang said:
The lack of background, the completely open script is what makes SE so darn powerful. Anyone of us ANY-ONE-OF-US can step in take this game and recreate it in any style or fashion we want! In fact we need not keep it as a space based game. With the right pics and some work you could make this an island adventure. Now how the heck does that qualify as “generic”?

That's actually such an accurate definition of generic I should go paste it into the Wiktionary. Seriously, you should look these words up first before getting all indignant and wotnot.

The GalCiv2 campaign was PAINFUL. Basically play a map rinse and repeat, duplicating most of your research effort with each map. Then they patched it so the campaign was virtually impossible. Haven't looked at it since though I've pre-ordered the expansion for the hell of it. Slick game all the same.

If the reviewers think the game could do with some hand-holding options then why doesn't someone knock up a simplified mod that could be used as a newbies' mode. Simplified research tree and fewer ship options that sort of thing. Compared to what some of you guys are working on this would be a doddle. Getting it included in the stock game might be harder though.

[President_Elect_Shang]

Getting a dumbed down mod built is as simple as posting here and getting support for it. One of us modders would build it (I’m sure) if they thought it was worth it. As for your comment about the definition of generic I think you should check again. The game market is not built around open ended games with little or no scripting and background. Thus far the examples sighted have been limited to a pinch of 4X and a few others. The market is overwhelmed with scripted games. I can go to the local Wal*Mart and the majority of the shelves are filled with games which have oodles of official mumbo-jumbo, gaggles of pre-scripted events, and what-not amounts of money sucking charge by the month on-line play. As I have already said SE is not scripted, not burdened by an official background story and by that definition is most certainly NOT your run of the mill, spit out by a mega-corp, shallow GENERIC game. Now the next time you want to jump in a conversation at least take the time to first read what has been said. And you see I am putting the little smiley here so you don’t think I am attacking you Frightlever.

President_Elect_Shang said:

Bravo, well said!

As I said, they are main stream dumbed down generic games. SE5; in no way shape or form, can be called generic by that understanding. Now I stand by what I said!

I don’t use Wiki, I use M-W:
Generic: relating to or characteristic of a whole group or class.

[AstralWanderer]

Artaud said:
I prefer the lack of a background story and the lack of a campaign. Me, I want to create my empire and rule it, without my game play shoehorned into someone else's idea of a story.

Whoever says that a campaign or background means shoehorning? You can still have free-form play and the ability to create your own empire/race/ideology - but having a background with real in-game consequences makes it more compelling and believable.

To take another example, Alpha Centauri is a 4X where the background benefits the game (dealing with the lifeforms on Planet and the option to win the game via the Transcendence path) and the factions differ in diplomacy as well as gameplay.

With SEV, there is virtually no difference in diplomacy - all the races have the same responses (even though they have different files) and none of the racial history has any impact. Dealing with the Eee while allied with the Drushocka? No problem! Developing energy weapons also? "Hey the Drushocka ate our people with those, but we don't mind you using them... eeek!!". Indeed the only difference between SEV aliens seems to be with ship designs and weapon types.

Aside from the not-too-different aliens, you have the random events and ruins in SEV. The events are simple and could be improved upon by even basic scripting (for example having a renegade group of your own people forming a pirate base in a nearby nebula, resulting in a random loss of resources until it is destroyed). Ruins could similarly offer more than a tech grab-bag (artifacts allowing communication or limited, ultra-speed travel, access to new quadrants if researched properly or ability to contact/ influence outside races, like the Dread Lords or Antarans from other games).

Saying that imagination can cover this is a cop-out - you can dispense with SEV (and computers generally) if you choose to rely on imagination enough. Adding atmosphere (in terms of gameplay, not just the breathable stuff) can create a new dimension to SEV making it a more believable (and less antiseptic) experience. Some has been done in terms of the racial backgrounds, but this needs to be built upon further for best effect. Mods can certainly cover a lot of the ground - but the stock game needs some toning up too (after the bugfixes, UI improvements, AI enhancements, etc).