Starpoint Gemini 2

[DefJam101]

I'll check this one out first thing tomorrow.

 

[Thane Solus]

its pretty bad, bad control, mobile ui interface, terrible voice overs(text is better), interesting concept (free lancer vs eve online), but no game designers were around when this project was developed. Its good for a laugh, i laughed pretty hard the first 10 minutes(must check the intro!!!), then i checked out the credits and saw that it wasn't 2 man indie game, also the very positive votes on steam are ... either paid or steam it transformed into apple store, which is not far from the true...

If you are willing to pass the awkward control mix between freelancer, eve online and starfleet command, might get some value from the world interaction(trade, factions and so on).

 

[Zarniwoop]

... either paid or steam it transformed into apple store, which is not far from the true...

I knew it. As soon as this Curator, follow, Twitter bullshit started, It was the end of trusting Steam recommendations.

 

[Hobo Elf]

My initial impression is that it looks to be deep enough while still being intuitive and easy to get into. Problem is that each time I save the game it crashes. Needless to say I haven't gotten very far because of this problem.

 

[DefJam101]

Darth Roxor DraQ

So I've played the game for thirty minutes or so and it seems... solid, actually. Controls well, runs well and looks nice. Color me surprised.

Interface and pacing-wise the game feels highly reminiscent of Space Rangers, as does the basic gameplay of fly around, shoot stuff, buy/sell modules, trade goods, upgrade little space ship. The game's combat mechanics are simple yet effective, I'd say. You can change your ship's power distribution between weapons/shields/engines on the fly, weapons have limited transverse arcs, shields are directional, so you can maneuver your ship to present your strongest facing to the enemy, etc. Nothing amazing or terribly innovative, but definitely functional.

I am concerned that NPC ship engines seem to lack the same warp speed (for lack of a better term) ability as the player's, which might trivialize the entire game unless later enemies develop some way to disable it. Also, I jumped straight into freelance mode so it's entirely possible the campaign is godawful. Given the scope of the game — there's literally something like 30 NPC factions listed on the in-game reputation panel — I'll need to play more to determine whether that content is actually any good. I won't have time to play more until later tonight, though.

For anyone struggling with the controls: try playing in 'turret view' instead of the default view. Steer the ship with the WASDQE keys and aim with your mouse, switching between combat / non-combat mode with the space bar. I think the game controls quite well like this.

... either paid or steam it transformed into apple store, which is not far from the true...

I knew it. As soon as this Curator, follow, Twitter bullshit started, It was the end of trusting Steam recommendations.

Yeah, it's probably better to take what one RPGCodex poster says at face value.

 

[Thane Solus]

Darth RoxorDraQ

So I've played the game for thirty minutes or so and it seems... solid, actually. Controls well, runs well and looks nice. Color me surprised.

Interface and pacing-wise the game feels highly reminiscent of Space Rangers, as does the basic gameplay of fly around, shoot stuff, buy/sell modules, trade goods, upgrade little space ship. The game's combat mechanics are simple yet effective, I'd say. You can change your ship's power distribution between weapons/shields/engines on the fly, weapons have limited transverse arcs, shields are directional, so you can maneuver your ship to present your strongest facing to the enemy, etc. Nothing amazing or terribly innovative, but definitely functional.

I am concerned that NPC ship engines seem to lack the same warp speed (for lack of a better term) ability as the player's, which might trivialize the entire game unless later enemies develop some way to disable it. Also, I jumped straight into freelance mode so it's entirely possible the campaign is godawful. Given the scope of the game — there's literally something like 30 NPC factions listed on the in-game reputation panel — I'll need to play more to determine whether that content is actually any good. I won't have time to play more until later tonight, though.

For anyone struggling with the controls: try playing in 'turret view' instead of the default view. Steer the ship with the WASDQE keys and aim with your mouse, switching between combat / non-combat mode with the space bar. I think the game controls quite well like this.

... either paid or steam it transformed into apple store, which is not far from the true...

I knew it. As soon as this Curator, follow, Twitter bullshit started, It was the end of trusting Steam recommendations.

Yeah, it's probably better to take what one RPGCodex poster says at face value.

You sound so impressed.... "Nothing amazing or terribly innovative, but definitely functional." Wow, i wish i had such low standards too.

I agree with this tho "Yeah, it's probably better to take what one RPGCodex poster says at face value." , the rest is subjective as my post:

 

[DefJam101]

You sound so impressed.... "Nothing amazing or terribly innovative, but definitely functional." Wow, i wish i had such low standards too.

I was attempting to answer the unspoken question of "Is it shovelware?" which is pretty pertinent considering Starpoint Gemini 1 was military surplus potatoland trash.

edit:

http://www.inter-corona.com/

Starpoint Gemini 2 is supported by the Ministry of entrepreneurship and crafts of the Republic of Croatia.

 

[Thane Solus]

You sound so impressed.... "Nothing amazing or terribly innovative, but definitely functional." Wow, i wish i had such low standards too.

I was attempting to answer the unspoken question of "Is it shovelware?" which is pretty pertinent considering Starpoint Gemini 1 was military surplus potatoland trash.

edit:

http://www.inter-corona.com/

Starpoint Gemini 2 is supported by the Ministry of entrepreneurship and crafts of the Republic of Croatia.

fair enough.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Darth RoxorDraQ

So I've played the game for thirty minutes or so and it seems... solid, actually. Controls well, runs well and looks nice. Color me surprised.

Interface and pacing-wise the game feels highly reminiscent of Space Rangers, as does the basic gameplay of fly around, shoot stuff, buy/sell modules, trade goods, upgrade little space ship. The game's combat mechanics are simple yet effective, I'd say. You can change your ship's power distribution between weapons/shields/engines on the fly, weapons have limited transverse arcs, shields are directional, so you can maneuver your ship to present your strongest facing to the enemy, etc. Nothing amazing or terribly innovative, but definitely functional.

I am concerned that NPC ship engines seem to lack the same warp speed (for lack of a better term) ability as the player's, which might trivialize the entire game unless later enemies develop some way to disable it. Also, I jumped straight into freelance mode so it's entirely possible the campaign is godawful. Given the scope of the game — there's literally something like 30 NPC factions listed on the in-game reputation panel — I'll need to play more to determine whether that content is actually any good. I won't have time to play more until later tonight, though.

For anyone struggling with the controls: try playing in 'turret view' instead of the default view. Steer the ship with the WASDQE keys and aim with your mouse, switching between combat / non-combat mode with the space bar. I think the game controls quite well like this.

... either paid or steam it transformed into apple store, which is not far from the true...

I knew it. As soon as this Curator, follow, Twitter bullshit started, It was the end of trusting Steam recommendations.

Yeah, it's probably better to take what one RPGCodex poster says at face value.

You sound so impressed.... "Nothing amazing or terribly innovative, but definitely functional." Wow, i wish i had such low standards too.

How is this not a valid statement? All it implies is that it sets out to do something that's not entirely new and accomplishes it well enough while not being irritatingly obscure like some of these games can be. Not every game needs to try to push for innovation as long as they can deliver a solid experience.

 

[flabbyjack]

This game is apparently really good for a space-sim. Sort of a mix between Eve Online and Freelancer. Let's get KKK (Kodex Kool Koncensus) on this before I
my $40

 

[Trash]

Was this that space game that seemed to have been set on a 2d plane?

 

[Severian Silk]

Is this game anything like Start Wolves or Homeworld?

 

[flabbyjack]

It's more like Freelancer (One of my personal faves) mixed with Eve Online. It's single player open world sandbox. Starpoint Gemini 1 was crap, but this is apparently p good.

I'm wondering if the Space Pirate life is worth leading... lots of games claim 'oh yeah you can be a pirate' but never deliver on anything feasible.

 

[SuicideBunny]

Was this that space game that seemed to have been set on a 2d plane?

the first one was, this one isn't.

This game is apparently really good for a space-sim. Sort of a mix between Eve Online and Freelancer. Let's get KKK (Kodex Kool Koncensus) on this before I
my $40

i've been playing the beta, and personally i'd say it's more of a mix between the extremely derpy darkstar one and freelancer with added fleet mechanics, without getting the exploration of freelancer right. it has some cool features, like boarding, but most of it just looks cool at first glance and once you spend some time with it, you realize that it's all superficial without much substance. like the rep system, which sounds amazing at first, but then you see that it's just one friggin karma/alignment value and nothing more.
it's the same with ship systems. everything but weapons is actually part of the ship and only changeable in minor ways. you can't save your hard earned money for a better drive or that cloak gen, at most you can drive someplace that sells a shiptype that comes with a cloak, buy that, and then slap a mod on it that makes you a tiny bit harder to detect or the component a bit more resistant. it's really sad, because with only some marginal additional effort (making reps unique, making systems their own things independent of the fucking ship) this could have been really great.
the only good thing in the game is the fact that it's very modable, so you can just make almost any starship you want to.

 

[Raapys]

First one was shit and the sequel is shit too.

 

[a bear named spigot]

i should have put that $27.99 to the $30 ambrosia still insists on charging for escape velocity: nova

i had to stop the campaign after the horrific loss of ur father and the awful voiced dialogue between ur dickhead self and that old guy. freeroam needs more flavour to make it interesting. missions are just 'go kill/capture this guy here', 'take this guy from x to y', 'scan this anomaly which will disappear when ur done', selected from the map with no info or background. no interaction with other ships or stations.

performance isn't great, either

 

[Hobo Elf]

I finally managed to figure out a way around the save crashes. Saving when docked near the beginner planet crashes my game, but I went a bit further and found a shipyard and I could save the game just fine there. So, just don't save in the general area of where you begin the game and you seem to be fine, in case anyone else reading this is having the same problem as me.

 

[a bear named spigot]

i didn't have any problems with save causing crashes, but i did find saving when u have the trader open fucks that up and u can't buy anything or scroll, have to dock and re-anchor.

handful of other bugs that i've already forgotten 'cause i don't care, it may be properly released now but i think it still needs work

 

[Hobo Elf]

It's a fun game so far. but I'm not too sure about some of these skills. Can't speak for the Gunner and Commander (or w/e the first one was called) since I haven't looked at them yet, but some of these Engineer skills make me scratch my head. I like how the skill system works and how they are "modular", but some of them range from not all that interesting to flat out lame, like having a 5% chance to do something truly devastating to the enemy, and every skill point spent on it increases it by 1%. Not really exciting and not all that reliable. Takes forever to invest all your points into making it reliable but then you are missing out on everything else and you become a one trick pony. Some of the skills seem quite powerful like draining X% of the enemy ships energy each second, but I can't seem to notice anything happening. Some of these skills lack visual feedback imo. Also, while I'm focusing on the Hacking skill right now, the 4th skill seems to be the most useful one since it can buff your attacks damage by a considerable amount. I zap enemy ships quite fast when I have it activated and I haven't invested any skill points in it either. I suppose my problem with this skill is that the Gunner was advertised as a class with gun buffing abilities, yet the Engineer, the "trickster", has one such ability and is seemingly the most powerful ability out of his 4 skills.

Edit: The game also seems to have level scaling. Lame.

 

[PosledniKovboj]

It´s meh. The combat isn´t shit, there does seem to be a lot of kill-loot-trade cycle, but jesus christ, the "quests" are fucking boring, they´re basically just a way to level up and get some $$$ quickly enough so that you can buy something else than the shitty starter starship, after that, it's... more quests? Campaign is terribad, I couldn't give a flying fuck about Adrian Faulkner or whatever that pendejo's name is.

On the plus side, the devs seem quite active (nothing else to do in potatoland I assume) and they said they MIGHT implement some of the "advanced" stuff that the community is suggesting, like building stations, taking over sectors etc. Right now though, the game is pretty much X3 cut down on features and visual/audio.

 

[Hobo Elf]

This game has some shit tier level scaling. I'm level 16 and it's getting to the point where I need to run away from most encounters. I've upgraded all my ship parts, but it's not enough. I haven't enough cash to upgrade into a better ship either. It's really bad that each level you get brings you only a teeny tiny marginal upgrade into one of your skills, but the enemies get bigger ships and with badder guns and shit. Starting to lose interest in the game because of this.

 

[flabbyjack]

($#( this. Replaying Freelancer with the Crossfire mod.

There are no good single player mods, they all turned into gay multiplayer mods. There are mods that add weapons, ships, etc tho.

Also I might give X3 another shot. X3 is insane!

 

[Galdred]

This game has some shit tier level scaling. I'm level 16 and it's getting to the point where I need to run away from most encounters. I've upgraded all my ship parts, but it's not enough. I haven't enough cash to upgrade into a better ship either. It's really bad that each level you get brings you only a teeny tiny marginal upgrade into one of your skills, but the enemies get bigger ships and with badder guns and shit. Starting to lose interest in the game because of this.

Actually, getting XP is a bad thing, given the way level scales (you get paltry benefits from leveling : one improvement to an active skill, and one passive perk every five levels). What counts is your bank account, so in order to max it without getting too much XP, the best is to hijack other ships (board).

Edit :
Concerning boarding, in the beginning, chose the Taurus, get transporter upgrades and + troop strength (trough enhancements or officers + field commander perk at level 5).
You can basically only board Lyra and Shanghai gunships in the beginning, which give paltry money (if they don't, don't resell them, t means they are equipped with good weapons. Make them active, and see if one weapon is worth stripping).
After level 5, get yourself a wolverine corvette : it is lousy (no staying power), but it has good troop capacity, transporter, and cloak. If you are into it, you can go near Empire space and board a Vantage corvette, which has better everything, but no cloak.
It is hard to board a frigate with a corvette (I managed to boad a Neptune, but they make poor boarding ships anyway, so I ended up reselling it), so you'd better stick to corvettes and gunships (corvettes are much better IMO timewise).

The hard part is usually to get home with your captured ship in tow, as PTE will usually break the grapple if you are towing a corvette or larger.

Once you get to level 10, you should either buy a Philadelphia or an Abeja frigate (my preference). Then, you can routinely board some destroyers with low troop capacity for almost 2M each, and you should never have any cash problem anymore.

 

[Galdred]

i've been playing the beta, and personally i'd say it's more of a mix between the extremely derpy darkstar one and freelancer with added fleet mechanics, without getting the exploration of freelancer right. it has some cool features, like boarding, but most of it just looks cool at first glance and once you spend some time with it, you realize that it's all superficial without much substance. like the rep system, which sounds amazing at first, but then you see that it's just one friggin karma/alignment value and nothing more.
it's the same with ship systems. everything but weapons is actually part of the ship and only changeable in minor ways. you can't save your hard earned money for a better drive or that cloak gen, at most you can drive someplace that sells a shiptype that comes with a cloak, buy that, and then slap a mod on it that makes you a tiny bit harder to detect or the component a bit more resistant. it's really sad, because with only some marginal additional effort (making reps unique, making systems their own things independent of the fucking ship) this could have been really great.
the only good thing in the game is the fact that it's very modable, so you can just make almost any starship you want to.

The ship component system is not very interesting indeed, except for the weapons, that you can chose (the mods are OK, but they are pretty generic).
The UI is passable. I ended up always using fire at will, and just helming the ship and launching missiles, taking care of boarding.
There are blueprint to make unique ship mods and weapons, but they take forever to gather.
The main problem I have with this game is that everything is very static (unlike in Mount and Blade for instance) :
You can destroy as many ships from one faction as you want, it won't make any difference, and they will respawn them again.
You can flood a trade station with electronic goods, and they will remain on high demands...
Of course, you cannot destroy/acquire stations.
I wish boarding were a bit more interesting (you grapple enemy ship, disable shields, and damage hull to kill a few soldiers, then board, and send reinforcements until one crew+the opposing ship defence is down to 0), and there were more abilities to use in combat.
But there are not that many games that let you pilot capital ships (X3 has them too, but they fly like slow fighters, Starshatter is cool, but it is no sandbox, Nexus is mission based, and the other are MMO. Of course, there is Universal Combat and BattleCruiser Millenium, but I cannot stand the lack of time compression in these), so I think I have to regret it is one of the better options if you are into flying these in a sandboxy universe.

 

[cw8]

The game is good and is constantly updated by the developers. If you're an X3 enthusiast, but don't really care about Elite: Dangerous or Star Citizen, this game will at least sate the thirst. You can't build an economical empire or have your own fleet fight with you like you can in the X games though. You do however, start small and eventually trade and fight your way to your own battleship, dreadnaught or carrier.