waltc: One of these days a development team with the right stuff will do a modernized remake of Starflight--and have a truly massive, incredible hit on their hands! That was a fantastic Sci-fi deep-space exploration, adventure, strategy, combat and first-contact mystery game, merging all of its elements along the story path! The Starflight universe was huge and varied--Starflight has never been equaled, imo. None of this "procedurally generated" nonsense we see today that tries to substitute number-crunching for a deep story line.
This game, in particular, seems like a game in search of a story, which is unfortunately often true, today--it's like they achieve their programming aims with respect to their game engine, and *then* try and find a "story" they can shoehorn the engine into, but loosely...;) I laugh, but it's really too bad.
Greywolf1: I'm not sure I understand what the point of your post is. To say that The Long Journey Home is not a clone / remake / successor of Starflight? True. It's also not a clone / remake / successor of thousands of other games, and reading the game description, there is no hint of an allusion to Starflight.
To say that you like Starflight? I do, too (despite the clumsy user interface), but why do this on the TLJH forum - say it on the Starflight forum (also on GOG).
To say that TLJH is "no real game"? It would be useful to learn why you think so (except that it falls down when comparing it with Starflight, you don't like procedural generation and miss "a deep story line"), what constitutes a "real game" in your mind.
My impression is that you are criticising TLJH for something it's not trying to be, and doesn't claim to be. You can do that, I respect your personal opinion, but I disagree.
TLJH is about finding your way home (like the title says), exposes you to dangers, opportunities, encounters with NPC's, you have to act, react, make decisions (which change the game flow considerably), you have the chance to improve your environment, to develop your own story, etc. Put simply, it creates a feeling of immersion, of caring for the crew of the ship and also, in a way, for many of the aliens you meet (for me at least) - if you want. Call it a game or not or whatever you want.
I myself like TLJH, and I like Starflight - for different reasons. Why compare apples with pears?
I think my second para sums up my point, really...;) Many games today are just engines being used to fill up/populate a story line which really hardly exists at all. The fact that no one has done a remake/remaster of Starflight to date is just a pet peeve of mine--if any game deserves it, Starflight does. Also, the game is the only real space exploration game I know of--*aside* from fleshing out the genres I originally mentioned. Everything else is just bang-bang, shoot'em up, etc.
I have no problem at all with your liking this game...;) Glad you do, in fact. But in Starflight, the central story is that the the galaxy is set to be destroyed by an alien artifact somewhere and you as the ship's captain have to seek out its location from clues you gather from your galaxy-wide exploration--clues that take you to every corner of the galaxy--where every single solar system is hand made--no procedural stuff going on--every planet is hand made. Initially you start out doing simple mining in order to raise funds to buy and upgrade your ship and terrain vehicles. Your main job is to recommend suitable planets for colonization. It's *along the way* that you start picking up clues in what becomes a galaxy-wide mystery and an imperative to neutralize this device. You have many experiences with aliens--some hostile, some friendly, some utterly neutral. They can help you--or not--as your level of diplomacy dictates as expressed by the questions you ask and your attitudes towards them. There are many wormhole routes that can be charted for you to quickly traverse great distances. You orbit and scan planets, etc. The starmap is vast.
The idea behind TLJH could, indeed, encompass all of those elements. It's a vast concept on top of what is actually a pretty skimpy game. But it doesn't. But really for me, a remaster of Starflight is the Holy Grail of space games, which no one has as of yet approached--including the Mass Effect games--the first ME came the closest, but still fell far short short, the Kotor games (entirely different--RPG's really), EA's "Andromeda" mush, etc. Star Control, imo, doesn't even come close. What a disappointment that was.
My actual lament is that *no* space game published to date manages what Starflight managed, and I don't know why! Is the concept too complex for them in terms of development--I really couldn't guess but I'd say there are many reasons--but the richness of the Starflight story line seems just out of their reach. It's a grand concept--and even grander because it was accomplished in 1986...! Just imagine what could be done with today's technology...! The mind boggles. But no developer steps up to the plate.
So...that's where I am with all space games...;) The comparison for me is inevitable...;)
