From The Outside Looking In
Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 1:21 pm
Anyone that has been following my posts know that I've not played a space exploration/combat game in longer than most of you have been playing anything. I even had to have explained to me what a 4X game is and where to find the sandbox. While gaming since the early 70's not much of it has been in space for the past couple of decades.
So, from an outsiders view point this is how I see DW.
I've only spent enough time to see how the game functions. Being aware that there are economic issues that have already been patched. I've not played with the new patch in place yet.
Here is what I see from the outside looking in.
Graphics while not stunning are very good. They are very functional and visually appealing.
Tutorial is LONG. You can't go backwards to find anything you missed or want to view again without starting over. If you can I've not found a way to do it. For most gamers that's not a big issue but I have a new crop of gamers I'm growing with DW. They range from 14 to 9. They don't always get every concept the first time around and it would be nice to be able to back up a frame or two to explain things better. That's what tutorials are for. For more experienced gamers the tutorial is pretty basic and very comprehensive.
The balance between the systems seems to be good. It will take months before the consensus is in on just how balanced the game is. With multiple systems in the game it's hard to sometimes tell the interaction between all of them. The economy was broke and it's already been fixed. That fact alone is tremendously in favor of DW. This game is very well supported.
As a newbie, to this gaming genre of late, I was glad to see just how many of the details could be automated/semi-automated/manually controlled. I put everything on semi-auto and off we went. It didn't take long before I was manually sending ships on Pirate hunts though. The AI does a good job in helping you run the empire from what I can see.
The great part of the game for me is the diversity of the galaxy and the races. There are plenty of things to see and do here. You meet some really nice beings along the way too. Other races that want to trade, Independent Business Beings that want to offer insurance and protection from the cold dangers of space (Pirates), relics, ships, creatures under every rock (Space Monsters, even some great pyrotechnics with exploding old ship wrecks (Ships booby trapped as bombs). What a place!
The game is BUSY. I like that most of all. I game to do things. Not drive across open spaces or spend time getting from Point A to Point B using time compression to cut the tedious part. You will find none of that in DW.
So while I've been on the outside for awhile I'm glad I came back in here at DW. Looks to be a long and interesting ride. Just the kind of ride to raise a new crop of gamers on.
Thanks for that.
Good Hunting.
MR
So, from an outsiders view point this is how I see DW.
I've only spent enough time to see how the game functions. Being aware that there are economic issues that have already been patched. I've not played with the new patch in place yet.
Here is what I see from the outside looking in.
Graphics while not stunning are very good. They are very functional and visually appealing.
Tutorial is LONG. You can't go backwards to find anything you missed or want to view again without starting over. If you can I've not found a way to do it. For most gamers that's not a big issue but I have a new crop of gamers I'm growing with DW. They range from 14 to 9. They don't always get every concept the first time around and it would be nice to be able to back up a frame or two to explain things better. That's what tutorials are for. For more experienced gamers the tutorial is pretty basic and very comprehensive.
The balance between the systems seems to be good. It will take months before the consensus is in on just how balanced the game is. With multiple systems in the game it's hard to sometimes tell the interaction between all of them. The economy was broke and it's already been fixed. That fact alone is tremendously in favor of DW. This game is very well supported.
As a newbie, to this gaming genre of late, I was glad to see just how many of the details could be automated/semi-automated/manually controlled. I put everything on semi-auto and off we went. It didn't take long before I was manually sending ships on Pirate hunts though. The AI does a good job in helping you run the empire from what I can see.
The great part of the game for me is the diversity of the galaxy and the races. There are plenty of things to see and do here. You meet some really nice beings along the way too. Other races that want to trade, Independent Business Beings that want to offer insurance and protection from the cold dangers of space (Pirates), relics, ships, creatures under every rock (Space Monsters, even some great pyrotechnics with exploding old ship wrecks (Ships booby trapped as bombs). What a place!
The game is BUSY. I like that most of all. I game to do things. Not drive across open spaces or spend time getting from Point A to Point B using time compression to cut the tedious part. You will find none of that in DW.
So while I've been on the outside for awhile I'm glad I came back in here at DW. Looks to be a long and interesting ride. Just the kind of ride to raise a new crop of gamers on.
Thanks for that.
Good Hunting.
MR