Mixed Reviews?

[Bridgeburner]

Hey DW community,

I am looking to scratch my sci-fi itch and was wondering what the state of the game is. I see there is DLC being sold, so is it safe to assume most of the issues plaguing the game last year have been fixed or is this a cart before the horse situation? I am still a little on the fence considering the reviews are still pretty mixed.

I was wanting something with some depth that is fleshed out and (I know you ar eprobably sick of the comparison) I am between Stellaris and this. There is a starter pack on sale for Stellaris and I am not sure which direction to go.

Any input is appreciated.

[I Throw Spears.]

Both.

Honestly they are different enough not to be readily comparable.

DW2 has far better granularity. COMPLETELY automate everything... or automate nothing at all. Combat is real time on a 2D plane. Its a great deal better than Stellaris'.


Stellaris has a far, far, far better grasp on story events and nuance. Combat is sort of just an autobatter: the ships just kind of bonk into eachother and some numbers are crunched.


So for depth, DW2 wins hands down.

So for fleshed out, Stellaris wins hands down.


Buy them both ya miser.

[Bridgeburner]

Originally posted by I Throw Spears.:

Both.

Honestly they are different enough not to be readily comparable.

DW2 has far better granularity. COMPLETELY automate everything... or automate nothing at all. Combat is real time on a 2D plane. Its a great deal better than Stellaris'.


Stellaris has a far, far, far better grasp on story events and nuance. Combat is sort of just an autobatter: the ships just kind of bonk into eachother and some numbers are crunched.


So for depth, DW2 wins hands down.

So for fleshed out, Stellaris wins hands down.


Buy them both ya miser.

Haha thank you for the input. Whcih game would you consider to have better in game interactions? As in, which game has better diplomacy and interaction with ai characters?

[TheMac]

This is a game that takes a very long time to learn. A better question is how much time are you looking to invest in a game?

I've bought all the Stellaris DLC, but I really haven't been back since this game began to develop further. So much challenge in this game if you're a manual player like myself.

I played Stellaris for years and thought it was the best title out there. The combat in this game is far more exciting, if that's your thing. It's certainly mine, and perhaps one of the reasons I enjoy the game so much.

Here's a good stream if you want to see what the game is about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHUv36aDk-I

Stellaris is far more polished in terms of things working as they should, though the devs for DW2 expanded the team early on and they're working to deliver a higher quality product over time. Pretty good right now, especially compared to the quality at launch. Lots of growing room, but playable for sure.

[TheMac]

Originally posted by Bridgeburner:

Originally posted by I Throw Spears.:

Both.

Honestly they are different enough not to be readily comparable.

DW2 has far better granularity. COMPLETELY automate everything... or automate nothing at all. Combat is real time on a 2D plane. Its a great deal better than Stellaris'.


Stellaris has a far, far, far better grasp on story events and nuance. Combat is sort of just an autobatter: the ships just kind of bonk into eachother and some numbers are crunched.


So for depth, DW2 wins hands down.

So for fleshed out, Stellaris wins hands down.


Buy them both ya miser.

Haha thank you for the input. Whcih game would you consider to have better in game interactions? As in, which game has better diplomacy and interaction with ai characters?

I'll jump in here quickly. There's a lot of room for growth in terms of diplomacy in DW2, while Stellaris could be called "Diplomacy in space."

Edit: This is not a game that deserves mixed reviews at this point in the development. It's a one-of-a-kind title that improves on a monthly basis. I personally won't buy a title with mixed reviews, and my guess is that some people purchased it expecting an easy ride and were confused by the depth and complexity.

[Bridgeburner]

Originally posted by TheMac:

Originally posted by Bridgeburner:

Haha thank you for the input. Whcih game would you consider to have better in game interactions? As in, which game has better diplomacy and interaction with ai characters?

I'll jump in here quickly. There's a lot of room for growth in terms of diplomacy in DW2, while Stellaris could be called "Diplomacy in space."

Thank you for the info! I definitely don't mind a steep learning curve as I want something to really sink my teeth into for a while. I will definitely check out the stream you linked to.

[TheMac]

Originally posted by Bridgeburner:

Originally posted by TheMac:

I'll jump in here quickly. There's a lot of room for growth in terms of diplomacy in DW2, while Stellaris could be called "Diplomacy in space."

Thank you for the info! I definitely don't mind a steep learning curve as I want something to really sink my teeth into for a while. I will definitely check out the stream you linked to.

Best of luck! Steam tells me I'm a little over 1400 hours. Some of that is with the game paused while working or submitting a bug report, so likely 800 hours. Well worth the investment. YT videos sure help any player understand the mechanics, and also some real heavy-hitters on the forum.

[Bridgeburner]

Originally posted by TheMac:

Originally posted by Bridgeburner:

Thank you for the info! I definitely don't mind a steep learning curve as I want something to really sink my teeth into for a while. I will definitely check out the stream you linked to.

Best of luck! Steam tells me I'm a little over 1400 hours. Some of that is with the game paused while working or submitting a bug report, so likely 800 hours. Well worth the investment. YT videos sure help any player understand the mechanics, and also some real heavy-hitters on the forum.

Damn, you sold me! I am just going to dive in headfirst into DW2 to get a leg up before more systems get added. lol

[TheMac]

Originally posted by Bridgeburner:

Originally posted by TheMac:

Best of luck! Steam tells me I'm a little over 1400 hours. Some of that is with the game paused while working or submitting a bug report, so likely 800 hours. Well worth the investment. YT videos sure help any player understand the mechanics, and also some real heavy-hitters on the forum.

Damn, you sold me! I am just going to dive in headfirst into DW2 to get a leg up before more systems get added. lol

LOL! Amazing end-game DLC coming soon. ;) Ask questions here and you'll find the help you need.

[krugg.the.gamer]

you won't regret it, I've put 100's of hours into both and and they're both great. This one though, really simulates it better. I like the civvies flying around, the economy ect. It's a far slower burn than stellaris, but I like to take my time anyway. If there was a way to have the graphical fidelity of stellaris in Dw2, I'd probably never make it back to work.

[Altair1243]

Originally posted by TheMac:

This is a game that takes a very long time to learn. A better question is how much time are you looking to invest in a game?

I've bought all the Stellaris DLC, but I really haven't been back since this game began to develop further. So much challenge in this game if you're a manual player like myself.

I played Stellaris for years and thought it was the best title out there. The combat in this game is far more exciting, if that's your thing. It's certainly mine, and perhaps one of the reasons I enjoy the game so much.

Here's a good stream if you want to see what the game is about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHUv36aDk-I

Stellaris is far more polished in terms of things working as they should, though the devs for DW2 expanded the team early on and they're working to deliver a higher quality product over time. Pretty good right now, especially compared to the quality at launch. Lots of growing room, but playable for sure.

I hear "Stellaris" and "Polished" in the same sentence and my eyebrow raises. Stellaris fleets are just WEIRD with how the meta works and, as has been stated, combat is FAR less satisfying - It's basically just a puzzle game with flashier graphics in that respect.

Granted, yes, Stellaris does a pretty good job of telling a story from beginning to end, though one could argue the framework of Distant Worlds' lore does a similar job just via emergent storytelling rather than "this event happened, deal with it". Both have advantages and disadvantages in that department, because DW lots of little cool things can happen, like maybe half the galaxy goes to war because you stupidly made too many alliances and things deteriorated rapidly

TLDR: I'm against Stellaris. I liked it when I first started playing, but between Paradox being kinda greedy scumbags anymore with questionable DLC's and the general wonkiness of the actual gameplay mechanics I've long since given up on that title. Too many little problems building up the further you dive into Stellaris for my interest

[Sabaithal]

Stellaris, like many PDX games, focus primarily on the political layer to an insane degree. While empire building, military, and management aspects exist beyond this, they are a bit more shallow compared to other grand strategy games. Amazing soundtrack though.

Distant Worlds 2 takes a slightly unconventional approach, which is to say its mostly about logistics (how any given resource reaches where it needs to go). It sounds boring, but it ends up having a unique appeal in how its applied if designing ships is your thing. Aside from that the game is generally more well balanced compared to Stellaris.

Endless Space 2 should also be added to the option list. Its more balanced than both games in all fields, has an amazing soundtrack, and some of the best visuals and space battles I've ever seen. Its only shortcoming is its small scope (even at the largest settings the galaxy is rather small.

[soldier6661111]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Stellaris, like many PDX games, focus primarily on the political layer to an insane degree. While empire building, military, and management aspects exist beyond this, they are a bit more shallow compared to other grand strategy games. Amazing soundtrack though.

Distant Worlds 2 takes a slightly unconventional approach, which is to say its mostly about logistics (how any given resource reaches where it needs to go). It sounds boring, but it ends up having a unique appeal in how its applied if designing ships is your thing. Aside from that the game is generally more well balanced compared to Stellaris.

Endless Space 2 should also be added to the option list. Its more balanced than both games in all fields, has an amazing soundtrack, and some of the best visuals and space battles I've ever seen. Its only shortcoming is its small scope (even at the largest settings the galaxy is rather small.

Makes the name "Endless Space" rather ironic then lol.

Does look good though, and one of the ships looks like a nod to the Goauld motherships from Stargate.

[Tooslow]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Stellaris, like many PDX games, focus primarily on selling DLC

Fixed that for you.

[Brandon]

I know its been a few days but I have enjoyed Distant Worlds 2 better than the Paradox game. Even though I did enjoy Stellaris for a few weekends. Stellaris can be multiplayer though (I think if I remember right) which Distant Worlds 2 is not... So if you want to play multiplayer that might be something to think about.

[jorgen_cab]

I have played Stellaris extensively but not in a few years now. In my opinion Stellaris is not a bad game but it is very different from Distant Worlds series. In my opinion Stellaris is more of a digital board game set in space while Distant Worlds is an actual simulator of a space empire.

Distant Worlds is hands down a better game from a conceptual perspective and ticks all of my boxes from what I want to have in an epic space grand strategy game.

The main drawback or what I don't like about Stellaris is that it is mostly a puzzle game where you need to constantly think about how to spend you magical resource points. To me this is detracting from emergent storytelling and mostly become more work than pleasure. Stellaris is more about short term thinking about how to use the stored resources while in Distant Worlds you have to really plan ahead and will rarely reap the benefit of your decisions until way later in the game.

If I wanted to play more of a digital board game in space that is actually fun I would rather look at the Galactic Civilization series of games today rather than Stellaris. At least that is my opinion on the matter.