Reddit thinks FTL is too 'random'.

[Restless]

http://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/comments/2y4mfn/how_much_random_is_too_random_for_you/

So this thread happened, where people flocked in droves to list FTL as one of the games they couldn't finish/play because it was "too random". Even after some other posters pointed out that people have gone 28-0 on Hard Mode, they were met with disbelief and a hackusation. Maybe if people spent less time blaming luck and more time learning the game they wouldn't be so negative.

What exactly IS random in this game?
The map and jump plots are randomly generated.
Event locations and outcomes are randomly generated.
Enemies are randomly generated, and their targets for abilities are randomly chosen (Mind Control, Hacking).
Store locations and inventories are random.
There is some probability involved with attacks, but that is present in any game with miss/hit ratings.

Personally, I think all the things listed above allow for unique playthroughs, and the levels of random are healthy to keep even veteran players interested and engaged. Any 'bad' RNG can be overcome by fleeing a battle (ie when your Weapons gets hacked). You can always prepare by plotting your jumps through a sector, and since the flagship does not change, you always know how much you need to prepare for the final boss. If you risk a crew member to giant alien spiders, that is your own choice and your own fault if they should die, not because the game was "too random". You can sit there and demand that a shop give you the weapon you want, and then cry about it in Sector 8 when you haven't seen it yet, or you can take what the shops give you and make a viable strategy out of that.

What are some things you feel are 'too random'? Personally FTL does not qualify as overly random to me, it is just a very well designed game that baffles people who expect walks in the park.

[obliviondoll]

There are places on the Steam forums that are full of idiots. Same goes for Reddit, and most other communities online. For that matter, most offline communities also have a little clique for the stupid people who band together to pick unnecessary fights they have no hope of winning.

As for FTL, "I love games like x-com and the Binding of Issac where you have to roll the dice and deal with the hand you got" - that sums up what I love about FTL. Even though I often lose, it's because I usually play while doing other things. Distractions lead to mistakes, mistakes lead to death. I can't quite ALWAYS identify what I did wrong, where I failed my run, or why I died, but I'm pretty close to it. Every time I sit down and pay attention - barring that one time where I got all the bad hit rolls and the enemy never missed me with 45% evade - I reach the flagship at the very least.

XCOM (And X-Com before it) is more random than FTL. Particularly true with the older games, where starting stats and stat progression are partly randomised, so if you get bad luck, you can start with guys who have lower health, lower accuracy with all their attacks, who keep not improving with every rank they earn, and when you psi-train them, they suck at that too.

[-ETU-Daedalus]

Twinge a écrit :

it is difficult to understand *why* you fail

I don't think so. But people got used to the "right in your face"-reason so they forgot to actually think and learn. And: In most games it is irrelevant to really "know" since they're so easy it's enough to try again.

As for the topic, of course there's a lot of randomness in this game. But it's possible to deal with it. Some runs will be easier, some tougher and some might be impossible. But it's everything about odds. About maximize your odds. Depending on your ship's/crew's status you don't explore wildly around, you simply don't trust the Slugs, you don't just use auto-fire and wait for enemies to be destory (for enemies with higher shield and depending on your gear, you'll need exact timing).

FTL is like chess. Easy to pick up once you learned the basics but difficult to master or beat. And sometimes your defeat was already marked 10 turns ago where you wouldn't have known it.

[Skinny Pete]

SirDanFortesque a écrit :

As for the topic, of course there's a lot of randomness in this game. But it's possible to deal with it. Some runs will be easier, some tougher and some might be impossible.

And the games vary in toughness, I would guess along something like a standard distribution, ranging from a super easy milk run where the RNG showers you with weapons, augmentations, and scrap, to a nightmare where you get hit with ship after ship tailored to your exact weaknesses, miss all the time, constantly get hit even with high evasion, never find weapons or shops, etc.

A very, very bad player with literally no skills (think just randomly hitting buttons) would never win any games.

A new and relatively player might encounter an outlier in the super easy category from time to time and win. As your skill increases, more and more of the random distribution falls into the "games you can beat" category, because you figure out how to beat (or avoid) those things that were "unwinnable" to you earlier.

At the far reaches of skill, the "game too tough to beat" still exists, but it is far off to the right of the distribution and much rarer than a newer (or lazier) player might think. The scenario where you almost never hit and nearly always get hit, never get anything that can break down layer 3 shields, as in no weapons, no hacking, and not even any way to escape to the next encounter, etc.

But for the most skilled players (which I am not), those are rare occurrences. Not quite "astronomically low odds" but certainly in the low single digit percentages.

[Dormammu]

obliviondoll a écrit :

There are places on the Steam forums that are full of idiots. Same goes for Reddit, and most other communities online. For that matter, most offline communities also have a little clique for the stupid people who band together to pick unnecessary fights they have no hope of winning.

As for FTL, "I love games like x-com and the Binding of Issac where you have to roll the dice and deal with the hand you got" - that sums up what I love about FTL. Even though I often lose, it's because I usually play while doing other things. Distractions lead to mistakes, mistakes lead to death. I can't quite ALWAYS identify what I did wrong, where I failed my run, or why I died, but I'm pretty close to it. Every time I sit down and pay attention - barring that one time where I got all the bad hit rolls and the enemy never missed me with 45% evade - I reach the flagship at the very least.

XCOM (And X-Com before it) is more random than FTL. Particularly true with the older games, where starting stats and stat progression are partly randomised, so if you get bad luck, you can start with guys who have lower health, lower accuracy with all their attacks, who keep not improving with every rank they earn, and when you psi-train them, they suck at that too.

So, Steam is full of game snobs, Reddit has horrible people, and 4chan has the... huh, I don't think there is a better way of putting it that "scum of the universe."

[Employee 427]

slappy_d0 a écrit :

Employee 427 a écrit :

Actually, mostly because of how ridiculous his statement is.

Please go find a different game to play. ANYTHING. Let another forum deal with you. I hear Fallout: New Vegas is pretty sweet! Go check it out.

How mature of you.

[Neithan]

Employee 427 a écrit :

slappy_d0 a écrit :

Please go find a different game to play. ANYTHING. Let another forum deal with you. I hear Fallout: New Vegas is pretty sweet! Go check it out.

How mature of you.

How mature is deleting your posts in a discussion? (probably after realizing how immature it made you look)

If his statement was so ridiculous, then how about you actually argue and put some points against it, instead of just behaving like a spoiled brat? Oh I know, if you would actually engage in discussion with him, you then would moan about him "not getting off your case".

OT: totally agree with OP's conclusion.

[Dormammu]

GuruNeithan a écrit :

Employee 427 a écrit :

How mature of you.

How mature is deleting your posts in a discussion? (probably after realizing how immature it made you look)

If his statement was so ridiculous, then how about you actually argue and put some points against it, instead of just behaving like a spoiled brat? Oh I know, if you would actually engage in discussion with him, you then would moan about him "not getting off your case".

When did he delete posts?

[Neithan]

He was getting mad at Twinge, you can still read the line in another quote (actually your own, you should have noticed ;))

LBPrime2324 a écrit :

Employee 427 a écrit :

Oh boy, here comes Twinge to cure cancer.

Since I can't hear your tone when saying that, I'm going to assume you meant that as an insult. Ignore the rest of this if it isn't.

Aren't you the same person who told him to "get off your case?" Yet here you are, insulting him even though he just spoke.

Once again, ignore this if that isn't how you meant it.

[Dormammu]

GuruNeithan a écrit :

He was getting mad at Twinge, you can still read the line in another quote (actually your own, you should have noticed ;))

LBPrime2324 a écrit :

Since I can't hear your tone when saying that, I'm going to assume you meant that as an insult. Ignore the rest of this if it isn't.

Aren't you the same person who told him to "get off your case?" Yet here you are, insulting him even though he just spoke.

Once again, ignore this if that isn't how you meant it.

How did I not see that?!

[Neithan]

I love how the quote function keeps track of things even after the original post got deleted :)

[slappy_d0]

LBPrime2324 a écrit :

GuruNeithan a écrit :

He was getting mad at Twinge, you can still read the line in another quote (actually your own, you should have noticed ;))

How did I not see that?!

There is a long pattern here. Of stupidity or trolling I do not know. I try to help and engage, but there are limits.

[a razor named qualia]

TrueGaming is your standard "Artful" gaming site that talks about ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, don't listen to them.

[Dormammu]

Variant a écrit :

TrueGaming is your standard "Artful" gaming site that talks about ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, don't listen to them.

Rather ironic for a site called True Gaming.

[a razor named qualia]

It's also amazingly pretentious.

In a word, it promotes casual play, artful games, and things of the like. Avoid it, it's cancer.

[Lewellyn]

.... because it IS too random (too is subjective). Every single encounter and loot drop is a dice roll, every sector map, every store inventory, and ultimately every playthrough.

The game's combat is lackluster with the micromanaging of repairs + stations being closer to just simply foreplay, so you either pass and destroy the enemy ship or you don't. The ship vs ship combat is itself just an inspection of whether or not your ship is up to par for the difficulty of the sector. If you leave the battle, there's a good chance that your ship is not capable of fighting another enemy in that sector unless you get a decent upgrade.

The weapons, augments, and other upgrades are tools that you can use to minimize the randomness but never truly diminish it a lot. The long range scanner comes to mind, where it will tell you if there is a ship on a beacon, but not what class.

It gives the game an extreme amount of replayability, but they aren't wrong about it being random, and taste is subjective anyways.