Space combat...good or bad?

[CharagonIGN]

I remember my VERY first game on CDROM, it was Star Wars game (forgot the rest of the name) and it was exactly same thing like TOR space combat. I mean, space combat on rails. I bet someone in Lucasarts dug that up from archives

 

Yes, I'm sure it was that specific game that inspired it and not any of the multiple other on-rails Star Wars games out there... or the dozens of other on-rails shooters that have been making the rounds in the gaming industry for the last twenty years.

[ShadowMasterRP]

I love the concept behind the space combat, but it is SO TERRIBLY CHEAP.

 

There are not nearly enough sound effects, the graphics are terrible quality, the engine is terrible, the controls are ridiculously simplistic, etc.

 

Basically, the idea had huuuge potential for providing a very awesome experience, what with huge battleships dropping out of hyperspace right in the midst of a battle in front of you, needing to dodge debris, etc. etc. etc.

 

But the potential was totally botched with really, really cheap realization, which turned it into a tiny mini-game latched onto SWTOR.

[hammarus]

Face it. The space combat is crap!

 

With the old 90s X-wing etc to use as a template it could have been much more.

 

All you posters with the "it could've been" and "for what it is" are trying to put lipstick on a pig. I would rather not have it at all and get space combat as an expansion than a pos that they are going to try and make better by painting what they gave us with more lipstick.

[Dianoia]

I think it's a pretty fun minigame.

 

I'd definitely rather have it as a time diversion than Pokemon.

[Felodiir]

i like it, but if it was like rogue squadron, it'd be perfect

[Bgiffo]

Face it. The space combat is crap!

 

With the old 90s X-wing etc to use as a template it could have been much more.

 

All you posters with the "it could've been" and "for what it is" are trying to put lipstick on a pig. I would rather not have it at all and get space combat as an expansion than a pos that they are going to try and make better by painting what they gave us with more lipstick.

 

I'd bet every penny I own that if they hadn't put it in at all, you'd whine and say "You could have at least given us SOMETHING!!!!!111".

[Amanzuul]

Two thumbs up from me. Played all kinds of space combat games and while free roaming and a lot of other suggestions sound great, too much more control by the player and people would be flying off and saying they can't find their objective and then fail the mission. Where is the fun in that?

 

Even the PVE PVP part would likely suck when all the ships start colliding. It is one thing to pilot a ship flying in space, another when you really don't have peripheral vision to see before you turn if you are going to hit something. I can see it now, republic and imp ships head towards each other and 3/4 of the ships on both sides are taken out as they crash into each other because they go the same direction when they turn, boy wouldn't that be fun to watch........frustrating to play but funny to see.

[MoffJordan]

I like Space Combat in the spirit of how Bioware intended it, to attempt to mimic the feeling of the space battles we saw in the Star Wars movies. We saw them, for the most part, from the inside of Luke's cockpit, or from the Falcon, or inside Obi-Wan's fighter. In other words, pretty much the kinds of ships we're flying now, small, maneuverable craft with somewhat weak weapons pitted against both fighters, frigates and capital ships.

 

As it stands, Space Combat in this manner does it's job. It doesn't do it brilliantly or exceptionally well by any stretch of the imagination, but it does the job. As an earlier poster mentioned, it deserves a C grade. Not bad, but not great.

 

If Bioware were to change Space Combat, I hope they would keep this implementation as a particular type of mission. I realize it's difficult to switch playing styles sometimes, but these really do well for trench-run type or climatic battles. Makes me think of The Force Unleashed, how boss battles were fixed camera, forcing the player to change how they controlled their character. In a similar manner, these types of missions could be the epic battles, while off-rails combat could exist in other forms.

 

It would be prudent to be realistic, however. This game is not Star Wars: Galaxies. It is not a make your own fun kind of game like EVE is, or partially how SWG was. It is a story-driven game, and as such, missions need to have some kind of story behind them. Everything Bioware does, from the maps they design to the missions they write, has a purpose. Maps don't contain many extraneous elements, the rooms in gigantic manors are shut and barred but for those we need to clear out or interact with. We play in a very guided world. Having free-form space combat, and especially free-form space travel and auxiliary missions, would be contrary to the design ethos that Bioware uses for its games and against the tone that this game has already set.

 

If you don't believe me, put in your old copy (or pick it up for cheap from Steam) of Knights of the Old Republic, or Dragon Age: Origins or Mass Effect and remind yourself what the style of Bioware is. It's not free-form, it's not go where you want/do what you want kind of game play. It's not Skyrim or X3 or Eve Online. It's guided storytelling with purpose-driven maps and action.

 

With that in mind, Space Combat as it is makes perfect sense. Does it still want for improvement? Oh yes! Is it going to go away, however? Probably not.

Edited December 27, 2011 by MoffJordan

[JediSuave]

its star fox what is not to like??

[Mamono]

its star fox what is not to like??

 

Do a barrel roll.

/barrelroll

[Fubbik]

Some of you people are astoundingly stupid. Contrary to popular belief, it's not that simple to "give you control" and turn an on-rails shooter into a free-range shooter. They are two COMPLETELY different animals.

 

On-rails shooters are, by definition, extremely scripted. Those interceptors that keep coming up behind you. They don't exist until they start shooting at you and if you don't take them out before they fly away, they don't just keep flying around. They vanish back to the digital void they come from.

 

If you had the ability to free roam in the missions, fat lot of good it's going to do you. You'll be floating around empty space for the most part because all the action is, by design, going to be where you should be on the rails.

 

More importantly, that's what the game is balanced around. The whole point of the genre is "take out the target before it goes off-screen." That's where the challenge comes from.

 

 

Free-roaming combat missions require a completely different, and significantly more elaborate, type of game design. It's not something you can just crank out over the weekend. Especially for a mini-game.

 

Thank you for pointing this out, too many don't think twice when they argue about this.

 

I like the spacecombat for what it's worth, a mini-game as a break from regular gameplay.

Sure I would have loved if it was as extensive as a new version of Earth & Beyond but that's just not realistic. Hopefully they will keep working on it as we go and make it include more things down the road.

[TsarVadim]

It's crap. Period.

[fro_do_fraggins]

It's a band aid that's good for short diversions. I'm sure they'll beef it up a lot eventually.

[Anomini]

I'm loving the space combat, lots. It's offering me a nice break from the usual mmo running around, and it's tons of fun as far as shooty games go. Enjoying it, thoroughly. Especially the asteroids and the barrel roll! Edited December 27, 2011 by Anomini

[Luewen]

Space combat has been, and always, will be a rail shooter.

 

It was a rail shooter during beta where A LOT OF BETA TESTER SAID THAT IT IS A RAIL SHOOTER.

 

It will continue to be a rail shooter..

 

It is a rail shooter..

 

 

With that being said that it is a rail shooter and it is not going to change.

 

I like it...

 

 

It is a nice little mini/meta game. Nice time waster.

 

And it wont be rail shooter always. There is already mystical space content on development and they have hinter many times that they like to change it to full game in space.

[Luewen]

Bad.

 

It's not fun, it's not immersive, and it's not multiplayer.

 

It is bad.

 

Agreed.

[Luewen]

rail shooters blow goats!

 

Bring back SWG free roaming space, multiplayer ships and pvp.

 

However, as good as SWG space combat was it still didnt havee that one thing to make it special. It missed the awesome capital ship battles X-wing, Tie Fighter or x-wing alliance had.

 

There were so much promises on it but SOE just forgot space content after it was launched.

Where was our epic capital ship assaults in group? All it were, was shooting random ships down and get some loot.

 

It needs more content than just going around in circles shooting ships down. They should have added more things from the previous lucasarts space simulators and it would have been epic.

[Koyi_Aldira]

Rebel Assault was always fun, but Tie Fighter was much more so.

 

Star Fox single player was fun... but the multiplayer so much more so.

 

That's really all that needs to be said. The ability to create your own flight path allows you to interact with the scenery. You can actually crash into things rather than being guided away from them, more effectively avoid the enemy fire, sneak up on the opponent, and actually getting into dogfights with enemy starships.

 

Not saying that the space combat isn't fun, because I can, and have wasted hours on hours just blasting away, but a more involved playing field is just more preferable for me.

[nix_crash]

As a time waster minigame its pretty good, better than most other mmorpg get, its main problem is that it kill a bit of "suspension of disbelief" as it wont evolve with your pg, you get new missions as you level but it still will require you to take the older ones, every day.

imho to make it a bit more story-friendly they should move it to those arcade machine you find in cantinas, so its clearer that its just a simulation (inside a game, inside a...).

[Kurfer]

I think it would be so awesome if friends could walk around in your ship and see the fighting you're doing in a space mission through the windows or maybe even have a first person gunner view.

 

I was really hoping for me interactivity within the ship itself like being able to fly or "hover" within the planet you're on.

[kirkse]

1. I like the space combat a lot. As others have said it is a nice change of pace and at initial launch I think it is very fun

 

2. As this is just the beginning I can see a ton of ways to improve it by doing any or all of the following

 

A. Add more diversity to space combat by making the missions more intricate and difficult.

 

B. Add multi-ship group missions.

 

C. Add functionality for groups within a single single ship like weapons, repair, navigation and command controls. Can you imagine being able to take your group into a space battle and each passenger would have a different role related to their class? Could have multiple gun turrets and allow groupmates to run them.

 

D. Combine space and land based objectives into quests.

E. Add a vehicle upgrade profession.

 

Just a few ideas from me. Like I said, I enjoy space combat now but I see them making great improvements to it in the future. Remember, this is just the beginning. SWTOR will just get better and better as it heads into the future.

[Nemmar]

I love the space combat. It reminds me of the rogue squadron games for the Game cube.

 

Its incredible fun and theres no reason for anyone not to like it, unless they had unrealistic expectations. I never played Star wars galaxies but i heard that space combat just came on one of the expansions... yet it seems its enough to hate something that wasnt trying to be what they wanted it to be.

 

Incredible vistas and space fights. I hope they add more missions, difficulty levels and upgrades in the future. Really awesome stuff.

[Elysith]

While I enjoy single player "piloting car/air/space games" I'm happy they made it as a rail shooter in SWTOR... firstly because I love rail shooter too , and secondly because I think it's a more accessible for the majority of players.

 

It does however feel lonely. I wish they would add multiplayer space missions. From a squad like formation where each player's rail path is about close to each other, to different paths that intersect many times during the mission.

[covu]

Good for what it is trying to do.

 

In the long run it needs to get more depth though for people to continue be interested in it.

 

Surprisingly I personally like it. It offers nice change of pace from questing/flashpoints and I have been doing dailys every day. But like I said, in the long run it needs to have more depth since I bet it will get old at some point.

 

QFT

 

I couldn't put my thoughts about space combat any better

[Inune]

I try to take space combat as what I think it was kind of meant to be: a fun diversion from the traditional MMO foot-based combat. And in that vein, I think it succeeds remarkably.