Falling in love with space again

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

Falling in love with space again

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> Falling in love with space again

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Falling in love with space again - 6/17/2010 5:50:05 AM

Lord Thag

Posts: 4
Joined: 6/17/2010
Status: offline

Long, long ago, in the Time of Bad Garage Bands and Grunge Music, I had a game called Master of Orion. It was permanently etched into the hard drive of my trusty 486. I played it for several years until I managed to cobble together a rickety pentium 90mhz from extra parts(held together with duct tape, and spray painted black no less) so I could play it's sequel, Master of Orion 2. Between the two, and a little known Windows 4x game known as Stars!, I happily crushed all life in the galaxy under my iron fist, in a nice, friendly, 'I'm sorry, was that your planet?' kind of way. Life was good.

And then, the Powers that Be fell of their collective toilets one morning, and hit their collective eggheads on their collective grungy sinks, and forgot completely how to make a good 4x game. Not that they didn't try, of course. They made galaxy spanning economic simulations that were as fun as watching paint dry (lookin' at you GalCiv), and RTS style games that tried to fake real depth, and spreadsheets with nice graphics that required micromanaging to the point they made accounting seem fun(Space Empires). And don't even get me started on the Galactic Mega-Turd that was MOO3. I'd hate to be THOSE guys when the Antarians show up. Yikes.

And so I plum forgot all about a genre I once truly loved.

Until two days ago. Dunno why I bought Distant Worlds. I've hated everything since Stars! and Moo2. But I did. For some reason. Something about it ... just looked right. Found it by accident after buying the Operation Art of War last week.

It was like falling in love again. The music was right. The graphics looked exactly how they should with none of that camera-rotating 3d BS. It had it all. Ship design (finally!), freakin' huge galaxies full of interesting stuff, tens of thousands of worlds to explore, and all of it is superbly managed so that all you have to do is concentrate on what's really fun: exploring, designing, and then conquering everything you see. All of the annoying economic BS is automated too, thank gods. And it had some genius too. The empire management screen thingy. Clicky click and you colonize, build ships, mines and everything, and then get right back to exploring. Finally, someone GETS it.

So I was sitting there, playing, and I got this feeling I remembered from a long time ago. It's the kind of thing that once made me sit up until 5:00am for 'just one more turn.' The kind of feeling that only a few legendary games have given me.

So here it is. Distant Worlds is one of the best games I've played on the PC in a decade. Hell, I stopped even playing PC games about 5 years back.

Nice to know that at least one developer still gets what once made PC gaming so much better, and a tip of the hat to Matrix games for publishing it.

For now the galaxy will tremble again at the sound of my approaching battleships. And life, is once again good. Well, maybe not for the squid-y looking alien blighters on the third moon of Cygnus 12. They're kinda fun to pop from orbit.

Welldone Codeforce.

< Message edited by Lord Thag -- 6/17/2010 5:53:23 AM >

Post #: 1

RE: Falling in love with space again - 6/17/2010 6:10:18 AM

lordxorn

Posts: 768
Joined: 12/6/2009
Status: offline

Welcome back to the fold of us fanatic MOO worshippers, well written preview that I agree with 100% every word you so eloquently expressed.

Cheers!

_____________________________

Distant Worlds Star Wars Mod

(in reply to Lord Thag)

Post #: 2

RE: Falling in love with space again - 6/18/2010 8:31:16 AM

Rebel Yell

Posts: 470
Joined: 6/21/2003
From: The Woodlands, TX USA
Status: offline

You have been assimilated.

_____________________________

I used to enjoy these forums. So many people that need the green dot now.

(in reply to lordxorn)

Post #: 3

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 12:11:02 PM

Data

Posts: 3909
Joined: 1/3/2011
Status: offline

so many months later and after the expansion the same holds true
no bug or imbalance could derail this and once these will be fixed and improved upon this game will be mister 4x, king of the jungle, master of the domain

a big fat THANK YOU from me also....Elliot and Matrix, live long and prosper

_____________________________

...Igniting stellar cores....Recharging reactors...Recalibrating hyperdrives....

(in reply to Rebel Yell)

Post #: 4

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 2:23:28 PM

gmot

Posts: 123
Joined: 11/22/2010
Status: offline

One thing I love is how solid and well-thought this game is. No major design flaws, hardly any glitches, no crashes - it just all works.

A big contrast with the other game I'm playing right now - Elemental from Stardock. A game with great potential and I'm enjoying it - but has some serious work that needs to be done on it (which Stardock freely admits).

(in reply to Data)

Post #: 5

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 3:29:28 PM

Shark7

Posts: 7937
Joined: 7/24/2007
From: The Big Nowhere
Status: offline

Exactly...someone finally understood what a game should be again.

DW is so close to my 'Dream Game' that its like Elliot read my mind and put it into code. No overly fancy graphics...but still good looking and very functional. The gameplay is what counts, and DW has that 100% correct.

_____________________________

Distant Worlds Fan

'When in doubt...attack!'

(in reply to gmot)

Post #: 6

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 4:02:42 PM

J HG T

Posts: 1093
Joined: 5/14/2010
From: Kiadia Prime
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shark7

...No overly fancy graphics...but still good looking and very functional.

It's never about the sharpness or the resolution of the graphs, It's the style. DW has lots of unique style if you ask me. This is the reason why 2D games will always be great looking. They don't age in the same way as 3D games. Many really old games (amiga and fellas) look great still, even if they are nearly 20 years old!

Oh, and on the topic: DW = WIN!

_____________________________

Nothing is impossible, not if you can imagine it!
"And they hurled themselves into the void of space with no fear."

(in reply to Shark7)

Post #: 7

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 4:19:31 PM

gmot

Posts: 123
Joined: 11/22/2010
Status: offline

This thread is turning into a big love in. Somebody please throw in some snarky net nerd comment to bring it back to earth!

(in reply to J HG T)

Post #: 8

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 4:24:13 PM

J HG T

Posts: 1093
Joined: 5/14/2010
From: Kiadia Prime
Status: offline

"I'm afraid I can't do that gmot."

_____________________________

Nothing is impossible, not if you can imagine it!
"And they hurled themselves into the void of space with no fear."

(in reply to gmot)

Post #: 9

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 4:30:33 PM

Shark7

Posts: 7937
Joined: 7/24/2007
From: The Big Nowhere
Status: offline

"Open the pod bay door Hal."

_____________________________

Distant Worlds Fan

'When in doubt...attack!'

(in reply to J HG T)

Post #: 10

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/7/2011 4:56:42 PM

nammafia

Posts: 102
Joined: 3/5/2010
Status: offline

This is the only game I'm playing right now. I just wonder how well the game is selling so that Elliot and Erik can keep making update and expansion for the game. I wish them well, of course. DW >>>> GalCiv2.

(in reply to Shark7)

Post #: 11

RE: Falling in love with space again - 1/8/2011 2:20:38 AM

Sabin Stargem

Posts: 140
Joined: 12/29/2010
Status: offline

Distant Worlds isn't quite there for me yet. I think that Galactic Civilizations III, Distant Worlds II, and hopefully a MOO2 remake would hit mark. I think GalCiv2 came pretty close, but I hated the lack of an in-depth ship creation system (MOO2), and I find that it requires a bit much micro-management due to how planets and facilities work. I really liked how MOO2 only required you to build a facility, with no thought to where to place it, and how defenses appeared over time once the correct facilities existed.

Hm. I like Distant Worlds for how it reduces micro-management by having an AI eco-system that can take care of itself, but I often find that some aspects are not yet developed enough. For example, I would like the AI to handle troop management so that my regular troops are automatically replaced by Clone Troopers once the facilities are installed. Performance is also lacking, but I think that most of my issues would be removed when Distant Worlds II is made, simply because the developer would have more experience.

EDIT: I also liked Stars!, and it is a real shame that Stars! Supernova never got finished. :(

< Message edited by Sabin Stargem -- 1/8/2011 2:37:17 AM >

(in reply to nammafia)

Post #: 12