What is a good one?

[Anonymous]

Hmm..

I'm trying to find a particular kind of space sim, so I hope someone can find something..

Anyways, i'm looking for one that is 3D either first or third person, and has trading, missions and plot missions like EVN for example, but I wanna fly around in first/third person, heh.

So far, I havent been able to find a good one. There are a few for download online but they were either really clunky and hard to figure out or just total combat or just dumb.

People have mentioned Freespace 2, I tried it but all it seemed to be was combat mission after combat mission (kill, then back to base)?

Privateer looked like what i'm looking for (I have the first one), but I cant get it to run.

 

[Deathy]

People have been talking about Hardwar around here. Never really grabbed me, but it may fit the bill for you. It is availible on The Underdogs for download.

You could look into some of the really old ones, such as the early Elite series.

Freelancer is an option also, although it is something that I don't recommend.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Freespace 1 and 2.

And no, your opinion doesn't count because you downloaded a fucking Rip.

 

[Spazmo]

Yeah, but he's looking for a space trader type game, which Freespace, for all its utter awesomeness, isn't.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Well, there's always X2, but that blew goats.

I'd recommend I-War II but besides a whole lot of piracy, good storyline and combat, there's not much 'space trader'-esque stuff. Still, space piracy rocks.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I'm not sure on the sales figures of Freelancer, but given the size of the fansites and how many servers there were running when I checked a month or so ago, it couldn't have done that badly. I'm rather surprised that they didn't go with an expansion pack to it to actually improve the game to the point it should have been released at. I'd love a space trader similar to Freelancer only done right, with the same controls and so forth.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Freelancer needed nonlinearity and better quests. It also needed subplots and better direction for the main plot.

I didn't like Freelancer because it was basically like this:
1) Do linear mission and complete it
2) Return to 'base'
3) Go do a bunch of fedex/kill errands and get enough money to buy a ship.
4) The chick calls you up and tells you to do the next linear mission.

Rinse and repeat.

I-War II is essentially a lot better than Freelancer because of its somewhat open-endedness and little subquests. Though the story is linear, it doesn't feel forced on you. The acquisition of new technology for your ships is also very nice, especially because you get to do a lot of 'new' shit as you progress through the game instead of simply upgrading your ship for more damage. For instance, you get to attach turrets to your ship controlled by other characters, and they can even detach from your ship to provide assistance as wingmen. As you progress further you even get to own an armada.

Freelancer felt like a poor man's Starlancer, only with better flight controls and targetting (the mouse targetting was awesome).

I'd kill to play a Starlancer with Freelancer's controls. That game had much better direction with its art, dynamic storyline, non-linearity and overall quality. Most importantly, the capital ships looked and felt like capital ships.

The small capital ships in Freelancer were definitely disconcerting. It was weird how you could destroy a Battlecruiser with your little fighter.

 

[Section8]

X:Tension v2.x isn't too bad, but has a few downfalls.

Pros:

There's nothing linear about it. You do what you want when you want, with the occasional mission thrown in. Provided you have some solid goals in mind, you'll always have something to strive toward. In addition to trading and combat, there's also an empire building aspect, where you can set up factories and space stations of your own.

Cons:

It's essentially vanilla sandbox play. The only thing that will keep you at it are your own personal goals. Most ship classes have a clearly superior model, so the choice of ship isn't particularly interesting. Combat isn't anywhere close to space combat games such as Freespace. Trade goods aren't particularly well balanced, meaning you'll be running the same trade routes with the same goods over and over again. The missions are almost entirely cookie cut, with very little variation.

But hey, there's not much competition out there, so if you can get a copy on the cheap, then it might be worth a go.

 

[Lemon]

I'm not sure on the sales figures of Freelancer

MS Freelancer Microsoft CD Win 95 3/2003 Games 66,293 .3% $3,172,827
that figure is dated to 06/23/03

Digital Anvil is working on a sequel, likely for the Xbox 2. Crimson Skies was a far more successful console title and I suppose they'd try the same here.

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

I'd stick with hardwar. Its a slow paced game if your into really building a powerbase but with the later patches the terminal interface allows you to hir other pilots and you can manufacture weapons, drugs, and componenets in your own hangar and sell them to the public. You lose the videos in the ripped version but i never went near the central plot anyway.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Beta Blocker is looking for some beta testers, Pat. You could always try that. The author's posted here a few times as well about it.

 

[dunduks]

Crimson Skies was a far more successful console title and I suppose they'd try the same here.

I hate M$ for what they did to Crimson Skies - it was on of the best and funniest sim around (ok it was not exactly a sim, but it was a fun game non the less), why did they make it into X-Box exclusive, damn bastards