Wow. I didn't realize there were game police that were gonna knock down my door and beat me up for not playing a game "correctly". I don't really care what you think, I'm having fun. I don't see why you care either or how circumventing permadeath on my game screws up your fun on your game.

Unfortunately game fascists are always watching, ready to tell people how they should have fun. Yet for all their "Play as I say!" spiels they strangely dont offer to buy the game for people they want to tell the "proper" way to play.

Speaking of which, how does circumventing perma death and blatantly cheating in a single player game affect someone elses enjoyment of their own single player game?

Hardcore masochist gamers can so tiring, always whining how games today suck because they are way too easy or how most gamers these days shouldn't be allowed to game because they dont share the same ideals. Its actually quite sad at the close mindedness prevalent in many 'uber doods' that doesn't allow for people to have fun the way they want.

He didn't make any "gamer police statement" but he is correct. Playing any game in a way that circumvents some of its features will usually result in a less fun experience. FTL isn't one of those "ridiculously fake difficulty" games. The "try again" approach is part of the game design. Playing it without it is like playing minesweeper with a quicksave button.

If it isn't your kind of game, then fine. But not even trying to play the game the way it was intended does make your opinion of the game invalid.

Really the better way to say it is feel free to buy it and save to remove permadeath. If that's fun for you, then why not. However, it will lose a large amount of what makes this (and all rogue-likes) fun. It's the threat of possibly dying, sometimes in hugely unfair ways, that makes you judge how to build your craft. Sometimes the game is just unfair. Sometimes it was a stupid mistake you made. With permadeath, it really makes the choices meaningful as you try to figure out how to maximise your odds of winning. Initially you are just trying to get to the end, and it seems like there's only one way. But after spending a lot of time with the game, you slowly figure out how to win it - then you get to go through and try self-imposed challenges. Knowing that completing it often is due to really mastering the game; a viscious, nasty game that will wipe you out at a moments notice.

So for people who like rogue-likes, the permadeath is large part of what makes it fun. So removing that element would weaken the game's intended design. But no-one can say how to play the game, so if you feel this is the game for you, but you need to cheat - feel free. You might find it kinda quick playing and shallow after a few games, though. Then again, you might have a ball.

Well at least there is a hardcore gamer that isnt a game fascist. Though still misguided in the idea the intended design is fun, as a point of fact (Its an opinion).

Still, Personally I dont care how anyone else plays this game or any, if you enjoy perma death and bad design (also an opinion), then cool beans. Knock yourself out.

My problem is the people who blatantly tell other people what fun is and how they are playing wrong, and instant of adapting the game to their tastes should not play at all, completely blind to the fact everyone is different. Thats the epitome of Game Fascist right there.

I wouldn't say this has a roguelike feel. I personally love roguelikes -- ADOM still being my favourite after all these years, next Incursion, and I'm trying to get into Crawl but haven't had the time for it lately. I'm far more ambivalent about FTL.

Where roguelikes try to maintain an "even difficulty, learn by doing, there's always an out" motif that punishes bad decisions, this is really more of a "random difficulty, easy to learn, impossible to master" motif. Part of what improved the enjoyment for me is the understanding that the game gives you no advantages that the enemy doesn't also have. If you get the sensor upgrade (which I recommend doing so you can see that the enemy doesn't cheat), you can start to appreciate the fact that it's a level playing field. This means that the game is more about actual luck than skill -- which, given the back story, actually makes sense. If I divest myself from the "hardcore" viewpoint and think of it more like "I'm not getting there except with a song and a prayer" viewpoint, it becomes a little more entertaining to see how fortune can smile on you, or how you can overcome adversity.

For those who think I hate the game because of the difficulty, I will say that on my second playthrough I made it all the way to the end before being heavily outclassed by every rebel in sector 8, and having all three repair docks spawn on the far side of the fleet, so my attempt to get free repairs wound up costing me the game. I have yet to repeat getting to sector 8 again, however, although I've unlocked a couple more ships to play around with.

You all misunderstood me. I was saying you shouldn't circumvent the permadeath you horrible people. I was saying if you do so you'll find the game less fun and will get bored quickly with it. It's like modding first person shooters to not have hitpoints. You might have fun for a while, all but all the challenge is gone and the fun too.

As for game nazis, what about insisting that one of my favorite game designs is "bad design" and that I apparently shouldn't be allowed to have a game of that style as a result? Yeah, pot, kettle, black.

People keep saying the game will be boring if I save, but I have yet to find that to be the case. Yes, I have played it with permadeath. Yes, that was actually fun for the first few times but then I got frustrated and tried it my way. It has become a much better experience for me. No, I haven't beaten the game yet - if you don't build your ship correctly you will still die regardless of how much you save because enemies become so much stronger. There's tons to do - like unlocking all the ships and grabbing achievements to unlock alternate specs.

And when I'm done with all that and have beaten the game on easy - I'll go ahead and try normal :). Then when I'm done with that I'll go for the ironman permadeath mode. In case you haven't guessed I'm a horrible tactician. :p

As for the game - I believe it is well designed. It goes for a certain niche and does it very well. I certainly would not fault anyone for not designing a game around someone who couldn't strategize his way out of a paper bag. I just believe if they put in a save mode it would appeal to a larger audience. Imagine if Diablo 2 had only ironman mode for example - would it be anywhere near as popular?

Do note: I generally only save to avoid bad luck negative events. I don't religiously save and reload. If I die because of poor planning - I accept it and move on. This tends to happen to me a lot :)

I should note that the game didn't originally have any sort of save ability at all. That was added relatively late in it's development cycle.

Reminds me of the old style of arcade console games I used to play as a kid.

If you are looking for a game with an open long adventure, this is not the game for you. It's an excellent game, but if you are expecting a long term adventure you will be disappointed. I've beat it twice and failed at least 7-8 times, and I'm no where near being done with it. Each game feels different, so it is quite replayable. I would love the type of fame you discribe though. Space Rangers gives a much longer experience, but there is no crew - much different feel.

I wasn't sure about it myself, but after watching a few gameplay videos I decided to try it. This was partly due to the fun I've had with Dungeons of Dredmor, the only other rogue like style game I've played. Success or failure the game is quick, but you still can enjoy each crew and purpose them for their role on your ship.

3 fire bombs picked up in one playthough... screw this randomizer. Also, my Kestrel lost its 3 humans of crew, leaving only 2 mantis we picked up in sector Z-Z-9-plural-Z-alpha... You won't believe how slow those assholes are at repairing the most basic gear.
Which brings me to 2 points
1) The game badly needs fast-forward, because watching oxygen refill or mantis repairs is about as exciting as re-watching a video of paint drying.
2) Crew movement controls need clear sounds for when I make a selection and click in an illegal area for movement. I lost most of the crew, because I thought, I told them to move to sickbay, but apparently the game didn't think so. It's also a nice touch that the game warns you about low crew HP with a sound cue, but doesn't autopause in this obviously critical situation.

The general idea is nice, but I fell like I'm playing a less streamlined SAIS, so that it takes me 20 minutes to realize that I won't get any good loot, instead of finishing the entire adventure in 20 minutes. FTL is not "coffee break" unless you're unemployed.