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Not happy with what I've seen with ES2

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8 years ago
Oct 8, 2016, 10:03:42 AM
If the ES battle system bored you, I can only imagine what the ES2 "battle system" does to you.  It literally has as much depth and scope as a rock/papers/scissors game.  You have a choice of just three very boring and unimaginative combat stances....long range, med range and short range. The ES card system was WAY more interesting and deep.  At least you could even research NEW cards.  Don't think of them as "cards", they represented the SKILLS your ship crew had and could use in combat. The amount of effort they seem to have put in to the cinematic battle scenes is a complete waste of time.  As mentioned, after watching a few (could have just watched a few Youtube promos to get the kick), you never watch them again.  It is curious to see they seem to think that keeping stats on your "stance" choices from previous battles is in any way meaningful :/.  May as well of just made it all random and stop deluding the players that their pre-battle choices should be based on any intelligence or tactical cunning.  Player influence is minimal let alone important.


I started up the game again and I still just feels alien to me.  It is not clear what is driving/affecting what and how I can make a difference.  It all just seems like smoke and mirrors.


Even understanding how the FIDS are calculated seems too convoluted or how population grows/affects things.  It seems that you can't influence the FIDS production by assigning population to different tasks.


They we have population and the different types.  I'm playing as Cravers and there are those stupid Ewok rip off type of guys the Kalgeros (seriously dressing anthropomorphic looking aliens in human clothes is an immersion killer). I have no idea why they are there or how they effect things.  I colonised another planet in my system and then tried to move population to the new planet.  I had no idea if I did that but my population disappeared :/


A pet annoyance:  When you send a ship to a new system, that stupid animation that looks like it travels too far in to the system and does a u-turn and then parks itself in orbit.  What is all that about? It's annoying because it is the same thing that happens when they ship leaves a system so watching it just confuses you as to what is really happening...is it staying or is it leaving?  A pointless and confusing animation.
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8 years ago
Oct 8, 2016, 9:42:15 AM

Far as I can tell the look and feel of the game is very much in line with Amplitude's earlier games. I do feel that the layout of especially the information overlays on some screens isn't particularly clear or intuitive, but I don't see any reason to assume that it has anything to do with Sega's involvement. I'm sure Amplitude is perfectly capable of creating sub-optimal UI/UX solutions all on their own. 


In general I'm happy with the current state of the game though. Much of it of course still needs a great deal of work, but it has the makings of a very fun and engaging game.


The battle system is just fine the way it is now. Micromanaging battles is always a huge timesink, especially in the mid to late stages of 4x games, and I never found it appealing. It also just makes sense that as the leadership of the faction you set the strategy that the fleets then execute instead of micromanaging every ship. So far in ES2 I haven't watched a single battle animation, and I don't intend to either as they're just extraneous fluff and having to sit through them was a part of ES1 that I found the most annoying.

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8 years ago
Oct 8, 2016, 9:26:37 AM

I don’t really agree. The development of ES2 started two years ago which means way before the SEGA take over. It is more than possible that a lot of the decisions related to the general look, the characters design and the UI were made at the early stages of the game. So I don’t think that SEGA has something to do with it.


Now the fact that you don’t like the new design, that is something different and I can’t really argue with your preferences. But for me ES2 feels like an upgrade from ES1. Even if the design of the factions and the characters have changed, it is still the same spirit. Amplitude managed to keep their unique style and in the same time display it in a more modern way.


As for the UI, I never found it intuitive at the beginning in any Amplitude game. It always took me some time to have it “in my hands”. But then after some practice it becomes a really powerful tool. So yeah, right now, I’m a little bit lost in ES2. But I know it’s only a matter of hours before I tame the interface. I mean endless games are complex, it’s normal that I have to put a little bit of efforts into it.

Updated 8 years ago.
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8 years ago
Oct 8, 2016, 9:05:50 AM

I have a different opinion and feeling on many of the points you stated out.


I have to say that the UI is much more clearer than it was in ES, especially the system view and the resource deposits. It’s slim and tidy now.


The battle system in ES always bored me, the battle cards destroyed the science fiction feeling. I always saw the battles as a necessary part of the game but not in regard to player interaction and cinematic experience. I watched my first few battles but later on I skipped them. They are cool to watch but for me it hinders my gameplay.


That said I have to note that my mentioned points here are my personal, subjective point of view.

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