Star Control: Origins

I'd like this to be about the discussion of the game, and avoid discussion of the legal battle behind the title.

If you aren't buying the game in protest then this thread isn't for you... since you aren't playing the game.

So here is my take after a few hours of play time. Some procedural spoilers will follow. That is to say, part of the fun of this game for many is figuring out the way the game works, trial and error, and fun finds. Some of my writing will might include finds or pointers that are unwelcome to people looking to figure this stuff out for themselves.

Pros:

* The game is, for all intents and purposes, a modern port of Star Control 2. The game mechanics are mostly familiar to those who played SC2

* The humor is good, and the quests so far are pretty straight forward.

* Lander game-play is more varied, and what you can find on planets is nicely varied.

* New races are neat, and have interesting psychologies and running gags.

Cons:

* Well, I guess can be bad that it is pretty much Star Control 2..

* The economy is "broken" such that you eventually learn that landing and resource gathering should be relegated to mostly servicing quests only. Quests are by far the easiest way to earn money.

* Space combat, like resource gathering, is only useful in service of the quests, but not worth it as a money making scheme.


ProCon:

* It plays like an old school game. You'll need a notebook and pen as you play to take notes of points of interest...


Some things I have learned:

* Don't land on a planet unless it is safe and the resources are sufficiently lucrative... that is to say: Almost never. If there is 30 units of a rare mineral that sells for 25RU per unit, that is a potential of 750 RU earned.. but if you risk losing a lander (500RU to replace) then better to take note of the rare minerals in case they are needed for a quest.

* At the start of the game, a full cargo of uncommon minerals will net you 10,000RU, but takes hours to accumulate, while mundane quests can land you 5,000-6,000RU each. Lesson: Service quests. There may be a need for grinding out resource collection at some point in the game, but I haven't found it yet.

* None of that should keep you from exploring and scanning worlds. ALWAYS land on planets with unknown objects to explore, as they can give you lucrative quests, give you a ship that you can't normally acquire, and give you extremely expensive ship components for free. At this point I have greatly improved my ship entirely on discovered tech.



My conclusion: I am really enjoying the game for the nostalgia. I think there is a lot of room for improvement, but this is pretty much the game I have wanted for the last 20 years.

Never even heard of it.

jmotivator said:

I'd like this to be about the discussion of the game, and avoid discussion of the legal battle behind the title.

If you aren't buying the game in protest then this thread isn't for you... since you aren't playing the game.

Click to expand...

Oh so you wrote this specifically to shut me out, eh...

I'll just ask this- are the races from SC1 and 2 included in it?

PoS said:

Oh so you wrote this specifically to shut me out, eh...

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Well, not exactly. This isn't the only forum I frequent, and I read game review sites, and I get tired of all the people who want to discuss the legalities rather than the game.

I tend to post here and not those other places, though, so when I posted here I added the boilerplate I would use on Rock, Paper, Shotgun or a few other gaming sites.

I'll just ask this- are the races from SC1 and 2 included in it?

Click to expand...

No.

jmotivator said:

No.

Click to expand...

OK, well Im definitely not gonna buy it then.

PoS said:

OK, well Im definitely not gonna buy it then.

Click to expand...

There are many games that don't include Start Control 1&2 characters. Your decision seems.. limiting.

jmotivator said:

There are many games that don't include Start Control 1&2 characters. Your decision seems.. limiting.

Click to expand...

If it doesnt have the same alien races as the first two games of the series, then it isnt really Star Control.

PoS said:

If it doesnt have the same alien races as the first two games of the series, then it isnt really Star Control.

Click to expand...

but it can still be a good game...

You really are intent on screwing up this thread, aren't you?

jmotivator said:

but it can still be a good game...

You really are intent on screwing up this thread, aren't you?

Click to expand...

I'm just stating my opinion, bud. People do have the right to know that this game is Star Control in name only.

So I am fairly far along in the main campaign and I am completely impressed.

I found that early in the game I was starting to get fairly bored with the game mechanics, and thought that maybe this recreation of SC2 was just showing that the game design had aged more poorly than I wanted to admit. I even found myself breaking my cardinal rule and writing suggestions to the devs on how to improve game mechanics...

Then the story of the campaign began to unfold in ways I never expected, and they made me feel.. naive, both as a player, and as an in-game avatar? I had been following the story in the usual fashion, doing what I'm expected to do, and then a few conversations with alien races, a few events, and a huge mistake proved to me that this game isn't really the sum of its mechanics. While the story was busy writing witty dialogue with aliens calling me dumb and child like, it turns out that maybe I actually was. The game had given me ample opportunity to be different, and I wasn't.

Now, game plots are a tricky thing, and I don't know exactly how different the story might have developed had I behaved differently, but when my story went pear shaped I took a break and went to Twitch to find other people playing the game to see how they were fairing with the plot twitsts, and I found that it appeared they were playing an entirely different campaign. Alien interrelations, conversations, and map were significantly different.

I have to assume everyone eventually gets to the same pear shaped "Oh poop" moment -- and if they don't I'm ready to rocket this game to the top of my best-of list -- but it is VERY rare that I ever feel real emotions about anything game related, but this game succeeded.

Good job!


Ps: Someone tell PoS that he would probably thoroughly enjoy the themes of the campaign.