Currently, the snag driving me nuts are some of the bugs in the missions that either make into loop-ville or else breaks it entirely. Par for the course, on one mission involving a booby-trapped base and defending a carrier, I find that I've killed more than I can kill, thanks to a loop that keeps spawning enemies. The flipside is that I've learned how to fly better, but nonetheless, I'm sick of killing re-spawns.
Plot is pretty sweet and worth surviving through a mission to see, and there are many clues scattered throughout the strings of missions that hint to the larger picture. At first it's pretty cliche, but the execution and story are well told and makes for a very memorable experience when you finish it.
Or it could just be a bad piloting mistake. :P
For me it was the same case with both I-Wars, game was awesome... but mixing in the aliens really bored me out.
I distinctly remember the 'Xmas tree' alien combined with the flashing red dot aliens of weird gooey pink space which you needed to visit for some oddball errant. So... no, not in key role but they were there. As for that matter neither were they really key issue in I-War 2 either until the very end where they were used as deux ex machina to steamroll the plot to predetermined conclusion (coincidentally similar role, except far grander, as in I-War 1).For me it was the same case with both I-Wars, game was awesome... but mixing in the aliens really bored me out.
I-War 1 really wasn't about aliens.
The reason that I-War has no checkpoints is that it was standard game design to have no checkpoints in space-sims as it was released.
Anyways... I think one should take the release date, as well as the rest of the genre into account when talking about savepoints. It's kinda hard to fault one of the finest, if not the finest, Space-Sim ever made for a lack of savepoints with the rest of the critically acclaimed titles in the genre not having savepoints either. :P
The reason that I-War has no checkpoints is that it was standard game design to have no checkpoints in space-sims as it was released.
Frankly... I don't really consider that complaint as "fair" as you could use it against pretty much the whole genre, including both the Wing Commander and Freespace series.
What mission are you talking about?
It was around 10 years ago so my memory is hazy but it was in the last act near the end where I had to fly to another system and I timed it as taking 10 minutes in real time to get there.
Or it could just be a bad piloting mistake. :P
Nope. It really did take that long to get to the mission.
forcing you to fly a ****ty tug for half the game. Gotta say it was less enjoyable.
I haven't played IWar 1 though. If it had short FS-style missions instead of an open world, it might be a lot more fun.
I quit I-War 2 EoC when I got to Granma's Lucretia's sweet space station and didn't have a clear notion on what to do next to get the plot moving anywhere. It seemed like I was expected to start doing random piracy/raiding operations using the space station as a base, which I really didn't have much interest in.It is IIRC said in dialogue in plain English. Attract attention of some higher-end 'dealers' in the area and get into business.
So, I did nothing, shut off the game, and never played it again.
Curiously... this thread is making me feel old... I mean... back in the day gamers at least took their gaming "seriously" and weren't discouraged from enjoying an absolutely fantastic game by some minor technicalities like a lack of savepoints. Right? ... right? ;) LOL
Gotta ask, has the abundance of savepoints in every munchkin game really so spoilt us so much that we can't even enjoy a true masterpiece anymore simply because it lacks them? From what I remember playing I-War 1 and I-War 2 back in the day lack of savepoints or flight times were really never an issue... granted i played differently then, more careful, thinking about what I may run into, having a backup plan... etc.
... and if i ever did get pasted I just made sure to not get pasted the second time.
Anyways.... you guys are missing out on one of the, if not "the", greatest space-sim franchises ever made... over..... "savepoints" (you wimps ;) ) , just that there is no doubt about that hehe.
Curiously... this thread is making me feel old... I mean... back in the day gamers at least took their gaming "seriously" and weren't discouraged from enjoying an absolutely fantastic game by some minor technicalities like a lack of savepoints. Right? ... right? ;) LOLI think it was just that, back then, we didn't know any better and weren't able to recognize poorly-designed elements like that. :p
Back in the day you probably had a lower (number of games to play)/(free time) ratio. When you have to choose where to dedicate your free time, you quickly focus on well-designed games.
It's not just "convenience," though. I've never played the game myself, but from what people are describing, there were instances where an hour's worth of gameplay could be wiped out by a random occurrence, all because the game didn't bother to save your status at any point along the way. I'm sorry, but that's just a broken design element, and a fairly significant one too. Absolutely nothing kills my immersion in a game faster than having to replay a significant chunk of it because of a cheap death...I play games to escape from the real world and have some fun, not as an alternate job.
CP5670, while I certainly can acknowledge your trouble with having no savepoints... you also must acknowledge that without even having played the first game and with only having played one third of the second (in direct comparison inferior) game, that it's as futile to discuss the game as it would be futile to discuss a book that you haven't even read or where you only read the first third.
That I-War 1 was the pinacle of space-sim design is pretty much without question among those who actually played the whole game ;). It had very much everything that is missing in todays mainstream games: complex well thought out gameplay, world building on par with what you otherwise only find in good sci-fi novels, a complex branching storyline with decision points that really mattered, and... like no other game I have seen in my gaming before or after... it had these truly memorabe "WTF! OMG!" moments that still stand out even years later and back in the day almost made me fall out of my chair laughing because it was just so cool. This game... so much more than any others I played... is really oozing the love and passion that the devs poured into it all over.
Seriously Mikes, do yourself a favour and check out Warhead. I think you'd like it.
Seriously Mikes, do yourself a favour and check out Warhead. I think you'd like it.