Wort aspect of this game

[starbuck]

I just started playing the game and bought it yesterday, so I like the game overall, but not being able to save makes me hate the game now. I'm so tired of having to restart.

I went back and installed the free version just to use the "copy" feature... but that's rather limited.

I've never played an offline RPG game before that didn't allow at least the option to save your progress and resume from that point if you die.

Now that I realize about the features that need unlocking, I get that the game is meant for "lots of reply", but that isn't my style. Anyway, it's so frustrating, I'm just not playing anymore.

From what I read, I'm guessing most of you will not agree with me, but this is not meant for a flame war. Just my reason I can't give it 5 stars.

[fallen]

starbuck - thanks for joining the forum to give the feedback, even if you aren't happy. The continuous nature of Star Traders (no load/save) runs through all of our games, and was a design decision made very early in our process for each game. It also strongly supports the capability to have perma-death.

Since this really bugs you, I would suggest that you focus your efforts on the "copy" feature in the following manner: start a new captain in the free RPG version on the difficulty you want. Work hard to get a good starting game. Restart a few times and play the first sizeable chunk of turns and see which captain comes out the best. Then, stop playing the captain at a certain point and choose your winner. From then on, Copy that captain into Elite and use it as a starting. This can help you get a leg up in Elite repetitively, and also avoid a lot of the early game play if you don't like it.

Hope you enjoy the rest of Star Traders, and I suggest you try Templar Assault which is more level based (and also, meant for level replay).

[Cory Trese]

send me an e-mail if you want a refund, if you feel like you haven't extracted $2 worth of value from the game.

I don't like games that let you save, just a personal preference and something I felt was missing from the market. 9 out of 10 people who left a review agree.

Thanks for the post!

[slayernz]

Also, if you just want to have a game for recreational purposes, play "Basic" or "Normal" difficulty. You can't die in either of those difficulties, and once you get a character up and running, they pretty much become "fun" because you don't have to worry about being exact with the rumors and the fuel and the combat.

Recently I took out a Basic captain, equipped him with a stock-standard shuttle, and took on any enemy ship that I could find. I stopped counting after defeating the 50th ship without taking a single hit in return. What relevance has this got for you? It pretty much means you don't have to worry about the unlocks. You don't need them at Basic/Normal difficulty. You can rule the game with what you start out with, so long as you develop your character appropriately.

There are a ton of guides in the forum, each outlining the best approach to take, but in a nutshell:
1) Be friends with a couple of factions and to hell with the rest of them
2) If you can, check out the rumors and look for shortages. Buy/Sell accordingly
3) Focus on Pilot then Stealth then Tactics, then other stats (based on your style of play)

There are lots of other hints out there, but they're for if you really care about finessing the game more.

[Cory Trese]

That's a great post slayernz

[Eldreden]

Will pilot compensate for low intimidate when traveling?

[Cory Trese]

It can. Pilot can substitute for low intimidate, but it works less effectively in deep space.

Pilot = Best for Green
Intimidate = Best for Red

[starbuck]

Jan 17, 2012 0:23:58 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

send me an e-mail if you want a refund, if you feel like you haven't extracted $2 worth of value from the game.

I don't like games that let you save, just a personal preference and something I felt was missing from the market. 9 out of 10 people who left a review agree.

Thanks for the post!

Thanks for the reply, and for the refund offer. It wasn't about the money. Overall, I think it's a great game, just not for me.

I certainly can understand that most people here enjoy the no-save aspect. I think it's really just a mind-set. I know many people love to replay games and base their opinion on how good the replayability is... and this is certainly true for me on games like Civ. But for me, not so with RPG games. Even with games like Oblivion, I pretty much just play my character one time through...

As I see it, not being able to save doesn't make it more "hard core", just increases the replay requirement. It just means how far back you have to go to replay.

Anyway, good game. Unfortunately, it is the difference between me giving great reviews and uninstalling, out of frustration.

Thanks for the game! I wish there were more good quality games like this on the market.

[blackgauntlet]

Ah... we were having the same discussion here.

Hey, at least you registered on the forum. ;D

[alienfodder]

I love* the fact that in STRPG "Game Over" means just that.
It helps you concentrate next time you run into an alien mothership.

* For several minutes after death this usually becomes hate.

Though it is frustrating having to start from scratch, the sense of achievement ultimately wins.

[slayernz]

Ah .. actually I get it now ... it's more than just a "no permanent death" thing, Starbuck actually wanted the ability to "Save" so that if he did something bad, he could go back to the saved game. It's different to not being able to die.

For example, in Basic or Normal, you might have a great ship, but if a fight goes badly, your ship gets huge battle damage and you find yourself in desperate need of repairs, miles from a friendly star port. It'd be nice, in that situation, to be able to go back to a previously saved game where your ship still has the new-car smell and no after-market torpedo holes.

Save games could be something that is available for Basic/Normal. It is too powerful once you have permadeath though.

[blackgauntlet]

Jan 17, 2012 16:50:29 GMT -5 slayernz said:

Ah .. actually I get it now ... it's more than just a "no permanent death" thing, Starbuck actually wanted the ability to "Save" so that if he did something bad, he could go back to the saved game. It's different to not being able to die.

For example, in Basic or Normal, you might have a great ship, but if a fight goes badly, your ship gets huge battle damage and you find yourself in desperate need of repairs, miles from a friendly star port. It'd be nice, in that situation, to be able to go back to a previously saved game where your ship still has the new-car smell and no after-market torpedo holes.

Save games could be something that is available for Basic/Normal. It is too powerful once you have permadeath though.

Totally agreed on that.

But I remember playing a Rogue-like game that will destroy all saved games with the same Character signature if the player meets with Permadeath though. If that could be implemented here, I guess it will relieve a lot of grief. Not all, but enough... ;D

[starbuck]

Looking back at my post, I realize I was not really very clear about what I'd like to see...

My vote (if there was such a thing), would be to have a SINGLE save. Basically, it would just allow a stop-gap on how far back you have to replay if/when you die.

The single save option would work just the same as Fallen's suggestion to start a character in the basic version and use the copy to Elite. Same thing. Not only does this option "work" with the currently game model, but you guys use it as a selling feature! So clearly it's targeted to more than just the 1/10 of us who would like to be able to save.

And as BlackGaunlet suggests, it could still work with a Perma Death idea. Also, the game could track how many times a character dies/reloads as part of the character statistics.

And a final note to all those who think this gives a free ride: not so. Back to Fallen's suggestion, that is what I had ALREADY done before I even posted! I was replaying from my copied game. Apparently, I stopped just at the right point in the basic game because, sometimes I can't even go 2 spaces from that position without dying in space combat. So I'm still replaying a lot but at least I'm not having to start a new character each time.

[Cory Trese]

there are no less than 50 threads about this where i have explained the situation.

i defer to one of my previous posts

[Cory Trese]

wow i have 4,500 posts =)