Disappointing so far

[Ohio9]

Well I'm 14 hours into the game, and it's kind of been a let-down. I like the basic set-up, but the balance of the game is terrible.

It just seems like all the early-game ships are crap. Until you can afford a Coyote, basically every enemy ship you go up against other than Jackrabbits are more powerful than you are. Not a problem in solo encounters, but when you go against large group, they just missile spam you into oblivion. There hardly seems any point to getting an ECM, since they just endlessly launch missiles until by sheer law of averages they will connect. Basically your only hope of survival seems to be spamming your own missiles and just hoping enough of them hit before you run out.

It takes way too long to kill enemies with guns. Even high quality guns are insufficient because you can't track a target long enough to get in enough hits before his buddies shred you. It seems like the only time you can use guns is when there's just one enemy left, or you have some other ships in the area helping you out.

Basically it seems like the optimal way to play the game is to just get all the upgrades needed for a good mining vessel and then safely mine asteroids until you get enough cash for a Coyote fighter. That or just stay in the Texas system and grind low risk missions where the only enemies you fight are jackrabbits.

It just seems like combat is still way too hard this late in the game. Or is there something I'm doing wrong?

[Tilen]

This is exactly how I remember Freelancer feeling. You're in a 3D space with little to no cover. Yup, it's a ♥♥♥♥♥. :D

[BigHairyMan]

Yeah I went the mining route but loved the game when I had a good ship. I also played with a joystick when I feel is a must for this.

[Ohio9]

Originally posted by BigHairyMan:

Yeah I went the mining route but loved the game when I had a good ship. I also played with a joystick when I feel is a must for this.

Same here. I also play Sim difficulty, because I feel auto-aim makes combat boring. Maybe that's why the game is so hard for me, but if you need auto aim to win in combat, I would argue that proves the game is flawed.

[Det.Bullock]

Originally posted by Ohio9:

Originally posted by BigHairyMan:

Yeah I went the mining route but loved the game when I had a good ship. I also played with a joystick when I feel is a must for this.

Same here. I also play Sim difficulty, because I feel auto-aim makes combat boring. Maybe that's why the game is so hard for me, but if you need auto aim to win in combat, I would argue that proves the game is flawed.

You very much don't, I only played it at old school and never had any issues.

[cylentstorm]

RGO is fun, but flawed. I love blowing ♥♥♥♥ up. I love the tunes. I also love the old-school simplicity, but this game is even more bare-bones than the original in terms of features. (Aside from the ridiculously powerful paint/livery editor and limited but cool minigames.) Balancing and progression are not its strong points.

We REALLY need the modkit that was announced, but never released. Let us create our own ships/missions/locations/etc. Unfortunately, that may never happen. DDG seems to have gone dark.

Mining or grinding missions for credits is dull at best, frustrating at worst, and trading is barely functional. Only a few ships are feasible across most combat situations, and the dedicated transports haul very little cargo. Energy management is a mess, and playing Rambo in space (you vs. entire fleets) is (usually) a futile exercise.

Personal tips: I play with a DS4 because RGO was designed for a gamepad. Use autofollow (because this is an action game--not a sim) but don't rely on it too much. Buy a Foxbat because its heavier hull and turret mount make it far superior in terms of survivability in comparison to the glass cannon known as the Coyote. If you like launchers, then go for the Dingo--but stay mobile. Switch targets, call buddies, or use missiles often to force the quirky AI to stop draining your shields for a few seconds. Consider long-range engagement or stick to kinetic weapons if you like to get in close. Otherwise, prepare for constant hit-and-run maneuvers that cause fights to drag on forever. Finally: use frequent breaks to avoid burnout and remember to not take it seriously. ;)

[Det.Bullock]

Originally posted by cylentstorm:

RGO is fun, but flawed. I love blowing ♥♥♥♥ up. I love the tunes. I also love the old-school simplicity, but this game is even more bare-bones than the original in terms of features. (Aside from the ridiculously powerful paint/livery editor and limited but cool minigames.) Balancing and progression are not its strong points.

We REALLY need the modkit that was announced, but never released. Let us create our own ships/missions/locations/etc. Unfortunately, that may never happen. DDG seems to have gone dark.

Mining or grinding missions for credits is dull at best, frustrating at worst, and trading is barely functional. Only a few ships are feasible across most combat situations, and the dedicated transports haul very little cargo. Energy management is a mess, and playing Rambo in space (you vs. entire fleets) is (usually) a futile exercise.

Personal tips: I play with a DS4 because RGO was designed for a gamepad. Use autofollow (because this is an action game--not a sim) but don't rely on it too much. Buy a Foxbat because its heavier hull and turret mount make it far superior in terms of survivability in comparison to the glass cannon known as the Coyote. If you like launchers, then go for the Dingo--but stay mobile. Switch targets, call buddies, or use missiles often to force the quirky AI to stop draining your shields for a few seconds. Consider long-range engagement or stick to kinetic weapons if you like to get in close. Otherwise, prepare for constant hit-and-run maneuvers that cause fights to drag on forever. Finally: use frequent breaks to avoid burnout and remember to not take it seriously. ;)

Never needed autofollow. I'm the kind of guy that gets blasted to giblets in 0.1 nanoseconds in any multiplayer FPS so I'm not exactly a hardcore gamer.

Methinks most people just aren't used to this kind of gameplay because for the love of sanity I never had such problems while dogfighting in this apart from when some really extreme missions got in the same location (which is sort of a staple of the kind of game really).

Like, the Durston can actually fight well enough to deal with all ambushes and about three quarters of combat missions.

[The Spirit of Jazz]

The game isn't balanced around stand up fights. It's balanced around kill somebody, run away, recharge shields, come back, repeat until all enemies are defeated. Yes, it takes ages. Is it boring? Completely subjective, you might love it, you might not.

If you're coming into this expecting Freelancer, you'll be disappointed on pretty much all fronts, but then Freelancer still runs on Windows 10 and is available as abandonware afaik, so if you want Freelancer, play Freelancer.

The overall game balance is borked imo. You can be in one of, if not the best ship in the game within about ten hours and the number of available ships to fly is very limited for the type of game this is. I would say the game is a disappointment overall, but that's just my opinion.

[Ohio9]

Originally posted by The Spirit of Jazz:

The game isn't balanced around stand up fights. It's balanced around kill somebody, run away, recharge shields, come back, repeat until all enemies are defeated. Yes, it takes ages. Is it boring? Completely subjective, you might love it, you might not.

If you're coming into this expecting Freelancer, you'll be disappointed on pretty much all fronts, but then Freelancer still runs on Windows 10 and is available as abandonware afaik, so if you want Freelancer, play Freelancer.

The overall game balance is borked imo. You can be in one of, if not the best ship in the game within about ten hours and the number of available ships to fly is very limited for the type of game this is. I would say the game is a disappointment overall, but that's just my opinion.

I consider Wing Commander Privateer to be the gold standard for games like this. I remember actually being pretty disappointed in Freelancer back when it came out.

I find running from combat isn't very practical, at least not in the early-game ships, since most of them are lumbering freighters with really low speed, even while using the afterburners.

[Tilen]

I find having surplus energy to often dump into shields very, very useful.

[Det.Bullock]

Originally posted by Ohio9:

Originally posted by The Spirit of Jazz:

The game isn't balanced around stand up fights. It's balanced around kill somebody, run away, recharge shields, come back, repeat until all enemies are defeated. Yes, it takes ages. Is it boring? Completely subjective, you might love it, you might not.

If you're coming into this expecting Freelancer, you'll be disappointed on pretty much all fronts, but then Freelancer still runs on Windows 10 and is available as abandonware afaik, so if you want Freelancer, play Freelancer.

The overall game balance is borked imo. You can be in one of, if not the best ship in the game within about ten hours and the number of available ships to fly is very limited for the type of game this is. I would say the game is a disappointment overall, but that's just my opinion.

I consider Wing Commander Privateer to be the gold standard for games like this. I remember actually being pretty disappointed in Freelancer back when it came out.

I find running from combat isn't very practical, at least not in the early-game ships, since most of them are lumbering freighters with really low speed, even while using the afterburners.

Have you tried giving more energy to the engines before using the afterburner?
I remember it was usually enough to flee from most battles.

[Johnny Hazard]

I play with mouse+keyboard, so I have to use auto-follow a lot, since the mouse aim is terribly wobbly. (I also play Everspace 2, and I don't have any issues with mouse+keyboard in it.)
It is my experience in this game, that if you put pips to engines and often use "dump energy to shields", the game is very playable in 1 vs many dogfights.
To avoid missiles, you need an ECM, and since the ECM ammo is infinite, you can spam it while boosting, and avoid most missiles.
If you then add tracers and auto-cannons to your weaponry, you have a whole bar of energy to manage between shields and boost.
Get a sandhawk, pips to engines, and speed up.

[Pickle Bath]

I played the entire game on Old School difficulty with just the keyboard, because I grew up with Privateer and wanted to replicate the experience. Just get used to splitting up combats, retreating when needed, and finishing targets faster. Not sure why people compare this game to Freelancer, it's drastically different in fundamental ways.

[japp_02]

There is a playthrough video made by the developer, expressly saying that at the start you should avoid encounters with multiple enemies, if you do you can still evade by boosting or use the fast speed with ] key. With better shields or if you use power distribution in the CTRL menu then maybe you can deal with lots of enemies, but it's a hit-or-miss situation.
Overall I like the difficulty in the game, it adapts in relation of what you are doing, also the different star systems show different difficulties which you can see in the map, so you are warned in advance. That's all ok for me, I was able to start the game fine.
The video which is helpful at game start is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYYoKlWzyAQ

[Noobiecanoobie]

Originally posted by Will Robinson:

2. Space Sim, at this time, with no proper support to HOTAS??? o.0, really???

This is the most common misunderstanding. It really isn't a space sim. It's an action game that will give you 20-30hrs first time play through. Best played with game pad or mouse.
It has HOTAS support but really shouldn't. That would be like playing Mario Kart with a driving sim pit.

[Noobiecanoobie]

Originally posted by Will Robinson:

For some reason I knew some one wouldn't resist my comment and would bring a pointless argument.

I thought about clarifying but didn't. I will now (because my comment was not intended to be an argument or personal attack):

I don't blame you in the slightest for the misunderstanding that the game is either not a sim, or has really bad sim characteristics. I'm glad you got a refund because the game was not what you thought you were buying.

Again, a great many people in the forum and negative reviews demonstrate they thought they were buying a sim of sorts, perhaps a bit like Elite, Star Citizen, (without quite that expectation), or retro classic like Wing Commander. The game description even states HOTAS support. It's also not reasonable that buyers for a cheap/medium price game are expected to spend hours researching, which they may when purchasing some expensive game or product.

Instead, I blame the marketers of this game. Clearly there is an impression that the game can be enjoyed as a space simulator or as a larger game with meta-game play elements. What it is, is a very simple action game, best played with auto-pursue (semi auto/aim) for combat, with super light trading and enough story to motivate.