Recent reviews by FlashXAron ☕ (Alex)

... not fun anymore, that you have to min/max your chars and buff them to the max before every fight or you will loose (hundred of Level and stat drainers as enemies ... even here with that supposed low level group at normal play level)
NOT FUN ANYMORE

Even I normal don't like games , where dead enemies respawn, when you die and game sequences, where you have to jump 20x times to evade traps or you die. But this game has such good immersion, that you have to try it and look yourself , if you are ready to try some sectors over and over. Good is, that at the easiest setting, even normal players could enjoy it, not like that stupid souls games !

... as the progress in the story depends , if you have the correct skill and nothing will help , if you haven't it at the correct level, the game forces you to play it in a proper sequence and you have to skill your character also that way. That isn't fun for me to find that sequence to finish the game or read it in the forum in advance. It doesn't give you enough freedom to try it and fail and come later to succeed. If you have coosen the wrong way , you have to restart the game. So it is a linear game, with very few freedom to play it. Not the game type, which I enjoy.
So be warned , if you like open world crpg , with much freedom , how to play it, this isn't the game for you.

Okay it is really for a single playthrough as Federation and even there are very few decisions ... tech tree is boring af . like gun a -> gun a + 1 dps and so on ... all planets are the same after the 5th. So after a short time it is only DUPLICATE it , from 5 to 50 ! Hhhm so near the end , Klingons have a laughable 30 000 fleets , mine are 300 000 , but only because I stopped to continue the grind. First Borg showed up with a 1900 cube, you got the idea what has happened to him ? But at forum they say they will come with 200 000 endless waves, so we will see. Don't have hope for the others in the galaxy LOL
So yes it is too simple , you know what to do after 5h and after that copy it , over and over ... will see what the Borgs have to offer ! :-)
Worth 10.- as DLC for the last Stellaris , it is really too simple ... but okay, if you love Star Trek, you get some hours of fun out of it, as the Mod for Stellaris is too chaotic (not complex) ...
still Thumbs down , but it is with Paradox, so prepare for the next 20 DLCs for 20.- each ! LOL
Ahh and the original included original music is from terrible quality , but first mod already here to exchange it , also what a joke !

Alone for the arrogance that Devs shows about how fantastic their game is and all the players are morons, that game is not near as fun as they want you to believe it is. Patches are a joke
That is not how developers should communicate with their players ! The game isn't more than average ! So THUMBS DOWN
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Okay, once again ... PR tells more as the game is and we know that Ted Howard is one of the biggest liars , apart Trump :-) and cheated us gamers always. So NO this game isn't a 100% accurate scifi space sim and with that old game engine, it was clear it would never be. So graphics are 10 years old , even a little bit enhanced and lipsync (german) is terrible. If you play it straight , how the devs expected you will behave, there is no problem, but if you try a fancy solution, BE READY TO SAVE often and rollback to your backup . (vanished items, unresolved quests and quest givers , who still wait for solutions, even it already has been solved) That outpost building is very cluncky and with time , it is easier to just buy the resources, but it works. That is the ONLY PART , where NMS feels better.
Anything else , feels more interesting for me and NMS could never offer.
Even had already two very thrilling quest lines, with "Alien like feeling" as unexpected things happen, even, when you skill your char correct, he is already OP af after a short time. Kill with your Lev 10 guy, that lev 30+ monsters etc. Shipfight is more a "buy the big guns" and "shield" matter, but really never expected to have a Elite, X4 or Star Citizen approach here and even wouldn't want it. So battles have improved to that clunky Fallout 4 system, and it is still easy af !
If you want to have some interesting and fun time, you have to let it happen and even have to search for it, BUT THE STORIES are there and if you don't mind about the old graphic, you will even find some oh nice moments. WITH THAT GAME ENGINE, nothing more was possible.
My only real complain is, price tags for 100.- and 80.- is too much , but I got the early access for 75.- ... sp 50.- for the standard editon should be enough.
But much to find in the world , if you know, where to look ! And don't let you distract from , what you want to do or it is a chaotic mess ... LOL already have over 30 open quests and only have been in 3 !!! systems from 1000 (but most of them will be the same)

... because there are too MANY SCRIPTING BUGS at the moment ... I already lost 3 quest lines ( 5-8h playtime each) before I found out , when I do it in that sequence the NPC is missing or the game think I have done other quests different .
Even have now a quest, which couldn't be finished , but the reason, why that npc is missing, chased him away, was before 40h !!! when I entered chapter 2 ... for sure I will not reload that save (even I have one)
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Game still needs over 1 year to smash that SCRIPTING QUEST BUGS , so wait or be ready to rolback your game at some point, IF YOU HAVE A PROPER SAVE, where this script hasn't triggered !
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No console commands or save editor available , so you are screwed or play hours again !
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without that, game would be great

Okay the AI is A LITTLE BIT BETTER , as it was in their previouse games. From blind to it sees "shadows"
Anyway the great fun are the campaignes with the scripted events and after taht you could continue in Sandbox mode, which is as boring as usual.
Still a unique gameplay and economy , where you could just play with your own set goals.
When you are able to deal with that and have a hang to micromanage systems, you could get fun out of that !
At least buy it to support the small dev team, so that they don't start to dumb down their games, just for profit to sell more, like paradox does it !

No ... that is too simple and never felt like a sim/strategy game, more like working with business excel sheets in 1990 ... better buy Distant World 2

No that is too simple that battle system ... played without rng , but only 3 possibilities to hit (0-50-100%) is too few. No weapon, range, status, weather, armor, buffs NOTHING has any influence, how you hit WTF dumbed down game play, any mobile game would have been proud of that !
Even that good sfx effects and graphics didn't help as that gameplay is too simple and more of a puzzle game and never felt like a strategy / CRPG too few from everything else, a shame !

UPDATE after finishing the game:
as the AI is dumb IT DOESN'T MATTER , that the enemies are bullet sponges LOL
You have your fun with some strange stories and searching for the best weapons,
which all your chars have after mid game.
Game was okay , cheating doesn't matter or better say, worse balance ,
as your chars get OP
But that was also the case in all 1990 action hero movies :-)

If you like to find strange stories and be the hero, in a rts/roundbased hybrid strategy game, with "light" rpg elements and min/max micromanage your char
BUY it , you will have your fun with nice graphics ...

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no, not again ... even the game has some "nice graphics, gameplay, side quests and fun conversations and strange "fitting" chars" EVERYTHING is ruined with some dumbed down routines and a terrible cheating AI , which ALSO uses a different ruleset (more movement points, AP and HP (bullet sponges - you have to make up to 3 or more headshots to kill some guys) AND all that at NORMAL settings. Technical beware it is one of that games , which overheats your GPU at some points very fast, so set your graphic card fans (better all) to 100% and 30-60 FPS !
Seems once again, waiting for patches, patches and MODS ... else you will have a good chance to rage quit :-) ... even I will try to continue, maybe till I meet the boss with 1000 HEAD HP LOL