Dark Faction - question

[Freyr_O]

I've noticed lots of negative reviews, saying there are bugs galore, etc. Have there been any patches released addressing the criticism?

[Taelyn]

Hello,

We addressed many issues since the launch already.
We have more fixes & changes coming very soon

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Freyr_O:

I've noticed lots of negative reviews, saying there are bugs galore, etc. Have there been any patches released addressing the criticism?

There have been a several updates (last one dated last month (time of writing)) and well... while I am well aware of some bugs and glitches I can also honestly say that it's not as if those render the DLC impossible to play. Far from it.

Another thing.. but this is just my own personal opinion (!) but I think some players are kinda petty when it comes to negative reviews, if not plain out wrong. One negative review claims that you can't play in co-op mode and accuses Eleon of "breaking a mod". I guess some players don't realize that game updates tend to have effects on mods? Not to mention that I easily play co-op with my gf (on my own customized LAN server). Maybe not officially supported (but then again, why would there be an official Dark Faction scenario included in the server? ;)) but it works for us.

Not gonna lie: I don't play Dark Factions as heavily as the base game. And it's definitely not perfect! But I still pour hours into it and in the overall I'm having a good time. Sure, sometimes it can be a little frustrating, but what game isn't at times?

I'd also like to mention the potential of adding DF assets into your custom games, but that involves actually editing and customizing scenarios yourself.

Hope this can give you some ideas.

[Taelyn]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

I'd also like to mention the potential of adding DF assets into your custom games, but that involves actually editing and customizing scenarios yourself.

Thats not true, when you own the DLC and you start the base game, you will get a question if you want to add parts of the DLC to your Vanilla SaveGame. No modding required.
Just a simple Yes or No question

[Amrak]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Another thing.. but this is just my own personal opinion (!) but I think some players are kinda petty when it comes to negative reviews, if not plain out wrong. One negative review claims that you can't play in co-op mode and accuses Eleon of "breaking a mod". I guess some players don't realize that game updates tend to have effects on mods? Not to mention that I easily play co-op with my gf (on my own customized LAN server). Maybe not officially supported (but then again, why would there be an official Dark Faction scenario included in the server? ;)) but it works for us.

I disagree, some of the negative reviews do have merit. While I do not have these issues because I play offline, many do and have had them for years.
Here are just 2 threads discussing it, there are more in the search, these are the threads connected to the DLC;

https://steamcommunity.com/app/383120/discussions/0/8059829384738451565/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/383120/discussions/0/4363502241744237135/#c4363502351653364310

I will not get into the other reasons that there were many negative reviews. That can be searched and you will find that much of that has merit as well. Just to be clear, I defended EGS during that time and took some nasty heat for it. Now I eat crow and am sadly very disappointed with the current progress/direction of the game. I do not review bomb because I do not read reviews to decide if I am buying a game. I watch videos and see for myself. So after 7+ years playing EGS and enjoying every minute up to the DLC and the mess it created, I now wait and watch to see if they are ever going to go back to being the devs I know and trusted by working/finishing the base game.
As it is now I will never play the DLC again and really do not play vanilla either. Workshop scenarios are much better. JMHO

add: If you want more on the subject just search the bugs report forum. Also many are very disappointed that while the only improvements to the base game is some deco lamps and such, the storyline has not been updated in well over a year. I will say that needleship(dev) has done some great work on the stand alone tutorial.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Taelyn:

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

I'd also like to mention the potential of adding DF assets into your custom games, but that involves actually editing and customizing scenarios yourself.

Thats not true, when you own the DLC and you start the base game, you will get a question if you want to add parts of the DLC to your Vanilla SaveGame. No modding required.

I said custom games, but I do agree that I should have been a bit more clearer on this. For example: your approach doesn't work with a creative game, nor servers (which I was also hinting at).

[mystikmind2005]

Personally, i would have jumped at the chance to buy the completion of the vanilla campaign as a DLC over and above buying Dark avatar.

The way i see it, there is allot of content in the vanilla campaign, so i got my monies worth out of it.... this is why i would accept the finish of that campaign as DLC.... but i get it, the devs did not round off the end point very well at all.... whereas they should have done it like a movie ending (Lord of the rings) that leaves the story open for the sequels (which will be DLC)

[BraveCat]

I just personally don't like the way they executed it. Its a pretty cool idea, in fact it could work pretty well. Besides the bugs, the story isnt very captivating, doesn't explain much, and just feels rushed. They really need to do better with the missions and expand on what the game already has.

for example when you [spoilers] go back to your 'home' world to start conducting research, there should have been some dialogue with the 'scientists' giving some clues as to how the infestation works, primarily the part about it disrupting your systems and making every piece of tech you have way less efficient inside the electrostatic anomalies. Further warning that some dark sector planets will suck your ship in and you will not beable to get back to orbit unless you are prepared.

Before sending you off back to the dark sector to get your ass wiped, the game should have done a mission to a zirax research facility also researching the infestation which would provide blueprints to some of the necessary ship components you would need to actually tackle these planets, and give you more information about how they work.

After playing RE I just can't stand the dialogue and missions in vanilla, they have no personality or context.

[Amrak]

Originally posted by BraveCat:

I just personally don't like the way they executed it. Its a pretty cool idea, in fact it could work pretty well. Besides the bugs, the story isnt very captivating, doesn't explain much, and just feels rushed. They really need to do better with the missions and expand on what the game already has.

for example when you [spoilers] go back to your 'home' world to start conducting research, there should have been some dialogue with the 'scientists' giving some clues as to how the infestation works, primarily the part about it disrupting your systems and making every piece of tech you have way less efficient inside the electrostatic anomalies. Further warning that some dark sector planets will suck your ship in and you will not beable to get back to orbit unless you are prepared.

Before sending you off back to the dark sector to get your ass wiped, the game should have done a mission to a zirax research facility also researching the infestation which would provide blueprints to some of the necessary ship components you would need to actually tackle these planets, and give you more information about how they work.

After playing RE I just can't stand the dialogue and missions in vanilla, they have no personality or context.

Sadly back when I bought the game, it had a lot of lore and the storyline was much richer. For whatever reason they removed, I would say, 1/3 to 1/2 of the lore from the storyline. You learned a lot about the commander and his fiance Alex. Now it feels monotone without much connection or background. The storyline in RE is much richer as are the side quests/missions you can stumble upon.

[Maya]

I have over 8000 hours in unfinished game and many other players have several thousand hours as well.
So what would be a finished game? Maybe 200 - 400 hours?
I am absolutely not interested in the lore storyline.
I want to play and not read a wall of text. But I like quests.
Empyrion from the beginning had no story. If I wanted to play RPG then I would choose other game.
However, I agree that the base game should be fixed.
It has become a trend in the AAA games to fix inadequate basegames with DLC. But these AAA games have millions of fans.

Eleon had released DLC that no one wanted or is interested in.
But if the devs release DLC that fixes the base game, I would like to buy regardless of the price.

And these updates that, for example, make water better or sand that looks finer, mean nothing if the base game is not sufficient.

In conclusion Empyrion is unique, there is no other game that has all that content together. That's why it's still on the market regardless of its flaws.
And that's why I've played it for so long.

[japp_02]

Originally posted by Maya:

...
In conclusion Empyrion is unique, there is no other game that has all that content together. That's why it's still on the market regardless of its flaws.
And that's why I've played it for so long.

I fully agree, I'm playing EGS since v.1.1 and I didn't find any space game with survival elements that has FPS and space mechanics all in one. Maybe Spacebourne II is another recent example. But in both games a multitude of malfunctioning features have to be corrected. And my feeling about this is, as I said more above, that a 15$ game has its limits about what can be added free and worth for the devs to be added. I guess they will continue to best correct stuff like NPC Ai and the collision system but the progress we see in - say - 2 years will be slim IMO.

[Midas]

Originally posted by Freyr_O:

I've noticed lots of negative reviews, saying there are bugs galore, etc. Have there been any patches released addressing the criticism?

They've addressed some of the most crippling issues, but honestly this is an incredibly low bar to set, since the DLC launched in a state that was borderline unplayable. Now it's sorta-playable, but it's still a terrible scenario bereft of any real substance, and filled with innumerable missed opportunities to do something great.

I still do not recommend it, even after fixes.