Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gameplay

General discussion about the game.
Coactum
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:47 am

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby Coactum » Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:01 pm

1. Hard

I'm really pleased with the difficulty level. I love the hours of time I've put in to learning how everything works to the point where I respond to situations without even putting much thought into it, and when I look back to my first couple of playthroughs I realised just how tough it was and reflect on how much I've learned about the game and how it works. The exploration side of a game isn't just restrained to what you find as you jump around sectors - There's the mechanics to take into account as well, and the feeling you get when you discover a new little tactic (I never bothered with boarding parties for ages and when I realised how good they were that felt so good). The longer you play the better it seems to feel as you tend to become more "streamlined" with your approaches to different situations.

2. Random

That said, the game still keeps you on your feet. Every time you feel like you're in your comfort zone, every time you relax a little and assume you've got this playthrough in the bag, something really unforgiving happens and it pulls you back out of your OP dreamland and you have to start rethinking. I really love that.

3. Saving / Loading

The game is designed to be 30-90 minutes per playthrough. People are forgetting you CAN save - You can save when you leave to go do something else. It's the perfect kind of save. You don't get a checkpoint to refine your mistakes so your mistakes matter, and when your mistakes matter you get more involved. Look at DayZ as a prime example - The very fact that you'd lose EVERYTHING if you screwed up made so much more of an impact to your experience, take a quick look at their forums for the most vivid gameplay stories you could ever imagine. Maybe that isn't for everyone, but it's for this game. It's not a save you can abuse, its a pause.




Games rarely punish you any more, they rarely make you work. The fact of the matter is, games over the years have changed from a "challenge" to a "cinematic experience". This year has been awesome for games being released with a change in perspective when it comes to how you should approach them. It takes me back to digging into a room on Dungeon Keeper full of level 10 samurais, or losing a full squad of full augmented operatives on Syndicate. I'm aware they both had saves, but whatever. I always forgot to use them.

Maybe I'm showing my age, but this is far more to my liking. I'm bored of hiding behind rocks waiting for my shields to recharge and tapping F5 or replaying a 1 minute window 17 times to get through a checkpoint. The way FTL works means that what you do matters, and when what you do matters, it makes it far more memorable.
gulegule
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:46 pm

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby gulegule » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:02 pm

Soloun wrote:I like the game but find the short duration disappointing, I think the developers are sitting on a gold mine if only this game was open ended and you could upgrade your ship and crew over a longer period. I can live without a normal save and death being permanent and understand why they did it for how the game is atm. However I think the short duration really hurts what would otherwise be an amazing game, as it stands it good fun, for a short while, but I've only played since I bought it last Friday, I'm no expert just IMO.


Yes, a longer would be better. I think if the players had more sectors to work through before the final fight, it would also ameliorate some of the complaints re: randomness. More trials mean a smaller likelihood that you'll only see bad (or good) encounter outcomes.
RoyGordon
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:59 pm

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby RoyGordon » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:24 pm

I think the main issue is that people are not playing the game the right way. They are still playing it like a traditional game where you can save at any point and if things go wrong you can then load up the save game and try again.
You have to think outside of the box with this game. When things go wrong they go wrong big time and your likely going to lose that ship and crew. I realised my mistake after a few hours of play was not to fight out to the bitter end every encounter battle. Its often better to jump out once your jump engines have come on-line than to stay and get blown to bits. I also forget to check the seemingly empty rooms that have been hit by missiles and beam fire during combat to make sure no holes have been blasted through the hull, I've lost several crews to lack of oxygen that way.
You also have to juggle what to use the scrap on, do you upgrade your on-board systems or do you save it up to buy upgrades at stores etc?
And be prepared to make mistakes even when it appears your flying a battleship! Over confidence did for me last night when My ober-kitted out Kestrel (excellent missile weapon, excellent beam weapon, Cloak, Drone system, Shield Boost, Defence drone, Anti-Ship Drone, Repair Drone, excellent power grid, 3 shields, sensors upgraded, scanners upgraded and with eight, yes eight crew members, five of which had maxed out their particular area of expertise i.e. Pilot, gunner, engineer etc) encountered a ship in an asteroid belt. Turned out to be a Cruiser that sent over four of its crew as a boarding party and then poured death and destruction on my ship and like a fool instead of jumping out when the jump drive came on line I stayed and got blown to smitereens. Oh well, there is always tomorrow night!
Vigilant
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:24 pm

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby Vigilant » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:31 pm

That´s true so far.

But what about to address a larger group of potential players to make the art of game play more customizable, eg. with more different difficulties. One thing is the art of game play, the other side is the economical view, to ensure a large circle of customers.
RoyGordon
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:59 pm

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby RoyGordon » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:37 pm

Vigilant wrote:That´s true so far.

But what about to address a larger group of potential players to make the art of game play more customizable, eg. with more different difficulties. One thing is the art of game play, the other side is the economical view, to ensure a large circle of customers.


What were people expecting from a game that only costs nine dollars? Come on, whilst FTL does have its faults, you get a hell of a lot of bang for your buck with this game. If the devs had more money and time to play with then yes, you may have had a game featuring save games, sandbox mode etc but they have done wonders within the budget and time table they were given.
Yaerav
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:16 am

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby Yaerav » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:42 pm

O, I can imagine why people might froth at the mouth from sheer rage, after playing this game for 20 hours, it's delightfully frustrating, after all. Haven't been this angry at a game since Nethack. Love it! :lol:
2quidy
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:05 am

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby 2quidy » Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:19 pm

Coactum wrote:Games rarely punish you any more, they rarely make you work. The fact of the matter is, games over the years have changed from a "challenge" to a "cinematic experience". This year has been awesome for games being released with a change in perspective when it comes to how you should approach them.

The way FTL works means that what you do matters, and when what you do matters, it makes it far more memorable.


You said it way better than me. /kudos
Reaver027
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:23 am

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby Reaver027 » Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:33 pm

Sometimes the randomness is annoying.

Just for example my last playthrough.
I started with the Kestral B and everything went really smooth cept i did not find any weapons for the first few sectors.
No big problem there is still enough time to get the cool stuff you need.
Then i found the Stasis Pod and was able to open it as well and there were still two more red sectors on my way. Still everything fine cept i only found 1 beam weapon (and some heal bombs) so far.
So at the end neither did i find the rock homeworld nor any more weapons.

I don't mind the ramdomness but stuff like this is so annyoing. If the game had given me either some weapons or the rock homeworld i would have been very happy with this playthrough. Now i am just sitting here frustrated because there was nothing i could do.
Warhawx
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:50 pm

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby Warhawx » Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:38 pm

I would like to add that Load/Saving is possible through backing up FasterThanLight folder in My Games. However, I think being able to save/load defies the purpose of this game, so I just use it for synching save file across multiple devices.
Vigilant
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:24 pm

Re: Don't understand why some people don't like FTL's gamepl

Postby Vigilant » Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:12 pm

RoyGordon wrote:
Vigilant wrote:That´s true so far.

But what about to address a larger group of potential players to make the art of game play more customizable, eg. with more different difficulties. One thing is the art of game play, the other side is the economical view, to ensure a large circle of customers.


What were people expecting from a game that only costs nine dollars? Come on, whilst FTL does have its faults, you get a hell of a lot of bang for your buck with this game. If the devs had more money and time to play with then yes, you may have had a game featuring save games, sandbox mode etc but they have done wonders within the budget and time table they were given.


Don´t get me wrong. I never want to depreciate FTL´s great performance. It is just a view on possibilities. Beside this i´m very grateful for this really brilliant little game that provides more fun than some million dollar game design graves out there.