FTL

For all those games that happen to not be BrikWars

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Re: FTL

Post by Quantumsurfer » Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:32 pm

One day, I'll give this a try.

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Re: FTL

Post by Quantumsurfer » Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:54 pm

I have now given this a try. I have an addicted/hate relationship with this game and I suck balls at it.

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Re: FTL

Post by Zupponn » Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:49 pm

Quantumsurfer wrote:I have now given this a try. I have an addicted/hate relationship with this game and I suck balls at it.
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Re: FTL

Post by Quantumsurfer » Tue Apr 22, 2014 9:51 pm

*Blows fucking brains out.*

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Re: FTL

Post by Zupponn » Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:57 pm

Well, I for one enjoy the difficulty.
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Re: FTL

Post by Maverick » Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:11 am

Quantumsurfer wrote:*Blows fucking brains out.*
Why would your brains be fucking?

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Re: FTL

Post by Quantumsurfer » Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:25 pm

Why wouldn't they be?

I don't know that it's all that difficult, actually, upon further examination. Especially to start, there seems to be only a small number of legitimate options when faced with any particular obstacle. In tabletop games, I call this the "path to power." I'm sure there is an actual name for it somewhere in the game design world. There is usually an obvious best choice for taking advantage of the system with the goal of winning in mind. Or creating the most powerful character at the table, in the case of RPGs. Sometimes the choice is over-obvious, even, and can be discovered on the read through. Though, most games at least have the decency to spoof you into playing a couple of times before you discover it. The best games, of course, do their damndest to eliminate or discourage the path to power, ensuring actual challenge and equally fun times for all players. In a general sense, anyway.

Video games operate a little differently because their systems are hidden behind a UI. You can't really take advantage of them most times in the same way. But paths to power still exist. The way this game gets around that is by forcing you to grind until you unlock something new. The something new has a new path to power to discover. Naturally, it's not a super significant change. That would require more designer chops than are displayed here. Not that they're needed anyway because this game is just good enough to satisfy for its purposes. But it is enough of a change to make you want to play just a teensy bit more to see how this newfangled bit works in practice. Hence the addiction factor. It's like playing Diablo and trying to discover better and better equipment in a destructive downward spiral of mostly-the-sameness.

I think it'd be a much more interesting game if it didn't throw randomly powered enemies at you. There are times when no amount of strategy or quickness will save you from defeat. Thus the challenge is not in manipulating the available systems present in within the game but rather in continuing to play the game itself. Or, put a better way, the challenge is in remaining conscious and standing after banging your head into the wall repeatedly and with great force.

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Re: FTL

Post by Silverdream » Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:41 pm

I think the problem might be that you're playing on Normal.
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Re: FTL

Post by Quantumsurfer » Wed Apr 23, 2014 3:14 pm

Mm, too true. I dislike Ironmanning games. Frustration is not generally my idea of a good time. Still, with this game, a higher difficulty level might be in order. I wonder if it will still suffer from randomness robbing the experience. I suspect it will. Also, consider that these early opinions are based on playing at the entry level, without very much unlocked.

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Re: FTL

Post by stubby » Wed Apr 23, 2014 4:34 pm

Quantumsurfer wrote:Especially to start, there seems to be only a small number of legitimate options when faced with any particular obstacle. In tabletop games, I call this the "path to power." I'm sure there is an actual name for it somewhere in the game design world.
The official term is "dominant strategy."

I find that the variety in this game is at the strategic level, and the tactical game is just about mechanically executing whatever dominant option you locked in with your strategic choices. Figuring out the optimum path through a sector to harvest the most resources and give yourself the widest range of purchasing options at the stores, and then best outfitting your ship according to whatever randomized selections you're offered, is where the game is won and lost.
Quantumsurfer wrote:I think it'd be a much more interesting game if it didn't throw randomly powered enemies at you. There are times when no amount of strategy or quickness will save you from defeat. Thus the challenge is not in manipulating the available systems present in within the game but rather in continuing to play the game itself. Or, put a better way, the challenge is in remaining conscious and standing after banging your head into the wall repeatedly and with great force.
I disagree. The enemies' power level is tied pretty strictly to your sector number and type, and don't seem to vary much within a given sector as far as I've seen. I may be a lot more optimized against one enemy type than another, but their basic power level tends to be about the same, and when I lose against an enemy in sector 5 I usually know it's because I didn't exploit sector 4 well enough.
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Re: FTL

Post by Zupponn » Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:58 pm

Most modern Rogue-likes are all about gathering as many useful resources as possible before the death window closes.

This is true for some of the most popular recent ones like FTL, Spelunky, and Risk of Rain.

Other older Rogue-likes were more about gathering as much as you can and leveling up while knowing when and where to run away from or avoid a battle.

Recent exampes of this style include Rogue Legacy and Hammerwatch, while the original Diablo game is often considered one of, if not the best, of the genre.
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Re: FTL

Post by stubby » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:26 pm

The best of the genre is Nethack. It's not really up for debate; Nethack is the ultimate evolution of Rogue.

It's not obvious until you've played a couple times, but Nethack's death window turns out to be hunger. There are a limited number of things to eat in each level, and if you don't progress at a sufficient pace then you starve.
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Re: FTL

Post by Quantumsurfer » Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:25 pm

stubby wrote:The official term is "dominant strategy."
Thank you. I should have known that. Seems obvious in retrospect.
stubby wrote:I disagree. The enemies' power level is tied pretty strictly to your sector number and type, and don't seem to vary much within a given sector as far as I've seen. I may be a lot more optimized against one enemy type than another, but their basic power level tends to be about the same, and when I lose against an enemy in sector 5 I usually know it's because I didn't exploit sector 4 well enough.
Zupponn wrote:Most modern Rogue-likes are all about gathering as many useful resources as possible before the death window closes.
That's interesting. Perhaps its just my early perspective. I'll pay a little more attention and risk a little more per sector and see how the next few games play out for me.

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Re: FTL

Post by Silverdream » Fri Jun 27, 2014 10:12 pm

So I got this on steam and I've started playing it again. I remember really liking the Engi and Zoltan ships, but now I don't like either of them as much as the Red Tail (which I've finally unlocked). My favourite thing to do is suffocate enemies close to the airlocks and board people, which is part of why I don't like those ships as much as I used to. Otherwise it's the same fun experience.
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Re: FTL

Post by Vami IV » Tue Jul 01, 2014 4:34 am

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