BFett wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2018 5:07 pm
As someone who is probably here for more of the dynamic parts of Limit Theory (such as cause and affect of actions) I'm curious how Freelancer is defined, and how Limit Theory will be paralleling that experience. Basically, what sets Freelancer apart from other space games such as the X, and Elite series? What does LT need to have to become a worthy successor of Freelancer?
Asked by a guy who understands the open world of Planetside2 and the fun space battles of X-wing Alliance.
I'd say that Freelancer's greatest virtue mechanically is its control scheme and feel. It's a click-and-drag arrangement, which means you just go the way you point the mouse, but only when you're holding the mouse button, so while there are hotkeys for all the other windows and menus, you can still just click their icons on-screen. it requires very little explanation, and provided you're not on a multiplayer server and need to use the chat, you could very easily get through the whole game with just your mouse and WASD, Shift, and Tab. There are other flight and camera controls, which raise the skill ceiling for multiplayer combat, but don't simultaneously raise the skill floor for anyone who just wants to play the singleplayer campaign.
Turning response is very good. It never feels like you have to wait for your ship to catch up with your cursor, and the camera moves with the ship, tilting and rolling to make the movement on screen more fluid. Even when you're in wide-open empty space without asteroids or stations as points of reference, you can see the effects of strafing or adjusting your thrust speed in the engine exhausts and contrails. It's subtle, but the visual feedback is important for knowing your ship.
You can also re-map just about any control you want (although getting anything to play nicely with a controller requires finagling).
There are other positives to the Freelancer experience, but all the promises of content are already part of the LT dream -- it's the feel of the game at your fingers that's really the biggest variable. Even the lightest and fastest ships in Elite Dangerous feel sluggish and ungainly compared to anything in Freelancer.
Edit: Well, sluggish and ungainly compared to anything in Freelancer until you mod in player access to transports and capital ships. Vanilla Freelancer only avails fighters and freighters to players.