Comments on: Space Siege: Impressions, Cautious Defence

By: Adjudicator

Adjudicator — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:12:16 +0000

“Or rather there is, but it’s impressively streamlined into a simple currency/upgrade system that means your mind is on the game, not the OCD loot collection/comparison.”

I’m beginning to think that you, like Chris Taylor, don’t really understand what makes certain games fun. The “OCD” loot collection is not some incidental side project that gets in the way of some imagined gameplay purity- its an integral part of it, and a huge part of what makes games like this fun. Focus on the “real” game? Focus on what? Right clicking on utterly generic enemies repeatedly for 10 hours? Is that somehow more pure and meaningful? Thats not to say its impossible to make an action RPG without copying Diablos loot system- but this certainly isn’t it. They ditched the loot system more out of laziness than anything, because they certainly didn’t put any effort into replacing it with something else that would be compelling.

By: Geldonyetich

Geldonyetich — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:06 +0000

“This isnt an RPG, its basically an adventure game where choices mean nothing, story doesnt matter, characters dont make sense, and…your only joy in life is collecting alien parts that you can somehow craft into so-so items? Give me a break.”

I feel that way about nearly all computer RPGs. Replace the “collecting alien parts” with another flavor of grind, and try to name 5 CRPGs released in the last 5 years that haven’t done this.

By: Meh

Meh — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:41:29 +0000

What a worthless game. I understand your gripes about controls sucking etc etc. Who cares, the game is so bad, that even if the controls were great, it would still be crap. This isnt an RPG, its basically an adventure game where choices mean nothing, story doesnt matter, characters dont make sense, and…your only joy in life is collecting alien parts that you can somehow craft into so-so items? Give me a break. Your only joy will be in never playing this game again. And seriously…bargain bin? Anything $4 bucks and takes more than 6 hours to beat aint worth your time with games like this. This is a time waster, you’re better off playing a board game with some friends.

By: Neuro

Neuro — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:10:01 +0000

In a comparison to DS2 I was sorely dissapointed with this as a followup. My main reason being that the control system is woefully flawed. Not impossible to fathom, just clumsy. No sign of a possibilty to redefine any keys, and as has been mentioned, it really doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

I Loved DS2 and I still play Titan Quest IT, and just about every aspect of it still shines better than this. The graphics, physics, inventory abillities, skilltree…..everything. At best I can call this game a step back in the genre. It feels like it was a half-assed clone of shadowgrounds that has been dumbed down for kiddies.

But hey, it kills time. We all have that until we die. (or at least until Diablo 3 comes out)

By: Rufus T. Firefly

Rufus T. Firefly — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:31:12 +0000

I ended up installing and playing both the Space Siege and Supreme Commander demos on Wednesday. (Must have been on a Gas Powered Games kick or something…) While people screaming at me to do something in Supreme Commander mostly felt like they were trying to help me, for some reason in Space Siege, it just felt like nagging.

I was reminded of the commentary in Half-Life 2: Episode One, I think it was, where they mentioned that the more that Alyx nagged the player, the more irritated their playtesters became and the more they disliked her. I’m trying to blow up aliens, dude, quit bitching at me that I need to install cybernetic legs.

Also, is replacing your legs really a choice you make just out of the blue one day? “Hey I guess I’ll lop my arm off and replace it. No worries.”)

Neither demo really puts its best face forward, plus the BUY NOW screens at the end don’t help their cause.

By: geldonyetich

geldonyetich — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:27:18 +0000

My brother hated the demo – mostly for the movement related reasons you mentioned – but personally I thought it was very impressive. The feel of mowing down lots of aliens is excellent, with only awkwardness of having to sit immobile as you do it.

The “dodge” key is bound to E. Once you get used to it, dodging shots isn’t hard. It does, however, require you take the crosshair off the enemy for a moment and maybe this is unforgivable to some.

It seems that the interface most people want for this game will be like Crimsonland or the PC-equivilent of Smash TV – WASD movement with mouse firing. That would be really intuitive, sure, but it lacks of a certain realistic feel that comes with having to sit still while firing a big weapon.

I do not believe that there will be “inventory tetris.” Looking at the weapon upgrade interface (you’ll find this at save points) what happens instead is all weapons found are permanently available like a first person shooter. You find parts which are used to directly upgrade the weapons you find or to upgrade your character directly (including your armor).

It’s actually a very well-thought-out, streamlined approach that works well. Lets face it, Diablo inventory Tetris sucks – it’s a constant struggle keeping things straight. You might enjoy Diablo, but it wasn’t because your inventory created a challenge.

Apparently the arm and leg upgrades allow you to use certain weapons you otherwise can’t. Other cybernetic upgrades directly boost your power in certain ways. I didn’t find a leg upgrade in the demo, but I did find an arm upgrade and a chaingun I couldn’t use due to not having the neccessary leg upgrade.

Oddly enough, after I finished the demo once I couldn’t start it again. It seems to be corrupted now. That bodes poorly.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:20:59 +0000

Once you remove the inventory management bits of Dungeon Siege/Diablo/etc, then this is what’s left. Bugger all.

Amply displayed by the Space Siege demo.

By: Flint

Flint — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:49:02 +0000

I’m a lefty myself actually but I use the mouse with my right hand and keyboard with the left so I guess I’m just a weirdo, haha :D.

As for the actual topic, I’m vaguely interested in trying the demo (especially seeing as demos are such a rare thing these days) but I don’t know if I can be arsed with a 1gig file for a very small amount of gameplay. Although I guess I have to be glad that it’s only 1gig instead of the ridiculousamountsbytes most demos these days are.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:31:29 +0000

Flint, i’m a lefty, so i’m guilty of arrows too as it’s easier for my right hand, so just pretend it’s WASD.. :P

By: Flint

Flint — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:28:15 +0000

This topic makes me feel alone in my use of the arrow buttons instead of WASD.

By: NuZZ

NuZZ — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:20:59 +0000

NO WASD. NO GAME.

This game is just going to fail so hard and all because of the control scheme. :(. I wanted a game to play! People seems to think that WASD will not get into the game because the interface/engine is so messed up. GUI also sucks… It is… Flash?

By: Requiem

Requiem — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:20:49 +0000

I played DS II most of this morning, while I only lasted an hour or so before switching on the Dungeon Siege 1 style attack options I felt the control scheme worked suited DS II better than Space Siege.

Why? Maybe because DS II is more slower paced, making it the point and click more managable or maybe it’s because Space Siege is so reminiscient of games like Shadowgrounds that it feels like it should be played the same way? What ever the reason the hold down the right mouse button to attack just feels unnatural.