The big GamesCom interview with Bernd - Comments

[Aragosnat]

The only problems I'm going to have with this game. Besides gun based weapons having no ammo. Is that that we cannot mix and match weapons types and are forced to switch even if the switching was at a decent pace. It still feels a bit lame. But, looking at what the dink of the ship looks like right now does explain why they went that route.

Our dink of a ship cannot kill the biggest ship around without cap help. Does seem a bit realistic. But, at the same time if one plans ahead and destroys each sub-system. A lone ship that goes back and gets resupplied I feel should be able to destroy the biggest and badest ship given enough time. Given enough monkeys and enough time. One will write a play good enough to be compaired to Shakespeer.

Question:
Is it possible to replace the co-pilot and throw them through the cargo door?

Bernd:
No, no, you wouldn’t even want to!

And to this. @Bernd: Never say never. I can already think of several RP reasons (including phobias) to throw her out the airlock without a suit at the start of the game and I have yet to hear the voice actress speaking.

But, on the whole. I can see why they are dumbing it down (at least feels like it) at the start of the game. I know they need new customers and not us old farts (well most of us are just old) to help put food on the table. Hopefully the game will be come more complex as we progress the plot or at least if DLC. Which I also hope some of which will be made availbe for free.

[Ilintar]

Regarding the DLC thing: I believe the attitude of many huge publishers has somehow made the term "DLC" ring a warning bell in the minds of many players, but personally, I believe that adding an honest amount of DLCs to Rebirth would be both perfectly fine and in line with previous company policy. After all, what are Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude other than DLCs to X3:R? They use the same engine, they just revamp some stuff and add new content. "DLC" does not have to mean "totally worthless add-on for which the publisher wants to milk a few $$$ from desperate fans".

[Ilintar]

Also, regarding freedom of choice: I really, really doubt that Egosoft will want to alienate the majority of their fans by forcing them to replay a plot every time they want to try out something new. I think that in the end they'll do it a bit like they currently do: a default start that will feature the plot and will give the player everything via the plot and various "expert" starts that will allow one to simply pick up anywhere in a sandbox world. The focus might shift a bit in that the sandbox modes will be some sort of "expert" mode instead of being one of the default starts available and might require turning on some options / going through a number of Windows' style checkboxes asking "are you sure you want to miss out on the wonderful experience and pick a plotless start?" and so on, but I'm pretty sure it'll be there in the end, one way or another.

[Sibilantae]

Which games has EA screwed up?

Let's just start with the whole C&C series. And then all the other games too.

The other guy's response was much more considered.

The C&C series, to my knowledge, was highly successful until C&C4, which was long after EA took over. Just because you didn't like the first games to come out post-Westwood doesn't mean they were screwed up. Generals, C&C3, RA3 were all successful games.

[Oldman]

Regarding the DLC thing: I believe the attitude of many huge publishers has somehow made the term "DLC" ring a warning bell in the minds of many players, but personally, I believe that adding an honest amount of DLCs to Rebirth would be both perfectly fine and in line with previous company policy. After all, what are Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude other than DLCs to X3:R? They use the same engine, they just revamp some stuff and add new content. "DLC" does not have to mean "totally worthless add-on for which the publisher wants to milk a few $$$ from desperate fans".

I'm in agreement here, and just to put it in perspective....

One cup of tea at Westminster Cathederal £2 x 3
One Muffin £2 x 3 plus entrance fee....

One (small) beef Lasagne and a small piece of garlic bread £12.50 at a Cambridge Pizza restaurant.

2 Pints of bitter and a Lemon & lime at my Local pub £7, and home made steak & kidney pie, chips, and mushy peas for two, £10. (the meals excellent btw. )

If the download content price don't make me choke on me chips & pint I'm happy.

Oldman

[Shootist]

And a year later we get some good info!

Yay!

Looking forward to September 2013.

But yes I see Bernd is looking for an end too. Also it seems like there is a TON of things in Rebirth. It's gotta be a lot to program.

Also I felt a huge box being formed on Egosoft with a lot of the stuff being put in the game... I mean, a game feature being dictated by a publisher.... that's scary for an X game, also how EA probably kills most games.

I say let the developers and the people with real passion on the game say what features are there, NOT the publisher who is only concerned with money.

Sorry for the rant. But I needed to vent a bit...

oh and, yes thanks for the post! I have transcribed many many recordings before and know that's a ton of work!

Out of interest, which games have EA, as a publisher, not a developer, killed recently?

Mass Effect 3 single player. The game released was not the game promised.

[DaMuncha]

I still dont like being trapped in one ugly ass ship.

I dont like being forced to play the main quest again to unlock the game If I play a second time.

I dont like the new weapon upgrade system.

When he says "The ship you start out with witll be defiantely not the same ship you have in the end" is a lie. Only the nubmers change. The ship its self doesnt change at all.

But everything else is yet to be seen.

In X3TC I like having lots of cargo space on my player ship, so that I can refit salvaged ships on the fly, and set them up so that theyre semi capable of defending them selves from a mosquito while they fly back to the docks to be sold (id also have a cargo ship at the docks to unload any gear I put on the ship to be salvaged).

Realy, I just want X3 with new features and a new engine. I dont like all the other crap theyre dumbing down for the kiddies. And from what I've read, XR will be realy realy dumbed down.

[BigBANGtheory]

Regarding the DLC thing: I believe the attitude of many huge publishers has somehow made the term "DLC" ring a warning bell in the minds of many players, but personally, I believe that adding an honest amount of DLCs to Rebirth would be both perfectly fine and in line with previous company policy. After all, what are Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude other than DLCs to X3:R? They use the same engine, they just revamp some stuff and add new content. "DLC" does not have to mean "totally worthless add-on for which the publisher wants to milk a few $$$ from desperate fans".

I'm in agreement here, and just to put it in perspective....

One cup of tea at Westminster Cathederal £2 x 3
One Muffin £2 x 3 plus entrance fee....

One (small) beef Lasagne and a small piece of garlic bread £12.50 at a Cambridge Pizza restaurant.

2 Pints of bitter and a Lemon & lime at my Local pub £7, and home made steak & kidney pie, chips, and mushy peas for two, £10. (the meals excellent btw. )

If the download content price don't make me choke on me chips & pint I'm happy.

Oldman

Yes I think we're on the same page and accept that good quality expansions and updates come with a value and a price.

If there was DLC to enable a feature to land on some planets that would be an example of something that a portion of the community has requested and would have a legitimate value to many.

If though DLC was bundled with features that 'fix' problem areas of the game or simply ignore community requests and plough on regardless that would be a little unsporting. Egosoft's track record doesn't suggest this is likely though so I'm not too worried about that as long as the publisher understands common sense.

[Sibilantae]

I still dont like being trapped in one ugly ass ship.

I dont like being forced to play the main quest again to unlock the game If I play a second time.

I dont like the new weapon upgrade system.

When he says "The ship you start out with witll be defiantely not the same ship you have in the end" is a lie. Only the nubmers change. The ship its self doesnt change at all.

But everything else is yet to be seen.

In X3TC I like having lots of cargo space on my player ship, so that I can refit salvaged ships on the fly, and set them up so that theyre semi capable of defending them selves from a mosquito while they fly back to the docks to be sold (id also have a cargo ship at the docks to unload any gear I put on the ship to be salvaged).

Realy, I just want X3 with new features and a new engine. I dont like all the other crap theyre dumbing down for the kiddies. And from what I've read, XR will be realy realy dumbed down.

Do you not know that XR is not a sequel? X3 with a new engine and features is, from the very beginning, not what they said they were going to do. It's a reboot of the series. You've been misinformed if you think it's a sequel, or that the team is trying to *make* it a sequel.

Dumbing down? I guess we'll see. That's how it is with so many things. The fact is, it doesn't really work to say "they changed X from previous games", because no - they didn't *change* anything, they rebuilt everything. If we wish to judge on the game's features before release, let's try and judge them on their own terms, instead of on the previous games - simply because since the game's entirely reconstructed, we don't know how it's going to play.

I'm not saying the game's going to be perfect, and there are things I don't like either. I'm just saying that seeing this game's features in light of X3 et al is a mistake, at least until it's released.

[Sibilantae]

Regarding the DLC thing: I believe the attitude of many huge publishers has somehow made the term "DLC" ring a warning bell in the minds of many players, but personally, I believe that adding an honest amount of DLCs to Rebirth would be both perfectly fine and in line with previous company policy. After all, what are Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude other than DLCs to X3:R? They use the same engine, they just revamp some stuff and add new content. "DLC" does not have to mean "totally worthless add-on for which the publisher wants to milk a few $$$ from desperate fans".

I'm in agreement here, and just to put it in perspective....

One cup of tea at Westminster Cathederal £2 x 3
One Muffin £2 x 3 plus entrance fee....

One (small) beef Lasagne and a small piece of garlic bread £12.50 at a Cambridge Pizza restaurant.

2 Pints of bitter and a Lemon & lime at my Local pub £7, and home made steak & kidney pie, chips, and mushy peas for two, £10. (the meals excellent btw. )

If the download content price don't make me choke on me chips & pint I'm happy.

Oldman

Reading this made me sigh with happiness =D We don't see steak & kidney pies over where I live though, just regular steak, steak & onion, steak & mushroom, most of the time. I think we're too snooty about kidneys =P and mushy peas!

[Rabiator der II.]

Dumbing down? I guess we'll see. That's how it is with so many things. The fact is, it doesn't really work to say "they changed X from previous games", because no - they didn't *change* anything, they rebuilt everything. If we wish to judge on the game's features before release, let's try and judge them on their own terms, instead of on the previous games - simply because since the game's entirely reconstructed, we don't know how it's going to play.

I'm not saying the game's going to be perfect, and there are things I don't like either. I'm just saying that seeing this game's features in light of X3 et al is a mistake, at least until it's released.

I agree about the "wait and see". Overall it looks like the engine will be an improvement over X³ and unless it is locked down to prevent modding, I guess we will eventually get something more in line with X³ gameplay via a mod.

So I guess the modding capabilities will make or break this one for me, because I don't like the picture that's emerging for the standard gameplay in Rebirth.

[kilerkg]

The more I hear about rebirth the more I get worried.

[shea]

So no word of release date or did i miss it?

[bluenog143]

So no word of release date or did i miss it?

No release date has been announced.

[shea]

So no word of release date or did i miss it?

No release date has been announced.

Thanks for the quick responce m8

[THE_TrashMan]

Can't say I like some of the thing I'm hearing.

No ammo-dependant primaries?

Skunk can become 50 times more powerfull??? Really?

Just.... meh.

We'll have to wait and see. I hope it isn't what I think it will be.[/u]

[ThommoHawk]

......big snip..... Do you not know that XR is not a sequel? ....snipped more ....

^This has been my impression too... that XR is not a sequel, and that it is not an 'X 4' game ... and this is a problem if true, because the title as we know it is 'X Rebirth'. It make for better understanding perhaps if the game dropped the 'X' factor completely, and was titled something like 'Adventures of the Albion Skunk' - Join us in our brand new adventures in the post apocalyptic X Universe. But 'Albion Prelude' must indicate a prelude to what? Not a sequel. But a prelude to a brand new expereince....
Despite this interveiw we still know so little about the game it is not worth tying ourselves into knots over it...
Anyhow thats my impressions regarding this and I make some observations and comments:
1. DLC is fine with me, as I support Egosoft anyway by getting every game they have put out so far... so nothing really changes there... (By DLC I don't mean patches or fixes mind you, just Bonus Packs and Added Content etc..)

2. Ship weapon options is fine if limited, ie one of the reasons I started X3TC as a Terran gamestart was becuase of the discipline required by their limited choice of weapons.

3. Requirement for 4 core CPUs is no surprise, (minimum of 2 for the game itself and one for graphics iirc) and hopefully can be implemented effectively, as I understand it has become a huge issue for many Developers trying to really make a go of multicore processors.

4. We all know about the female copilot now, but i wonder if this is the only choice there will be. Could there be an option to select a male copilot at all? (eg; thinking as in M.E. where your main charecter could be either).

5. The going around looking for weapons and the linear plot start looks to be a 'mandatory' initial experience, and sounds like it will emphasise exploration, which is one of the key atmospheric gems of the earlier X games... so no problem there. Except I think it is possible to have the game recognise if you have already done this once, and perhaps in a new gamestart it may not be necessary to redo from scratch (as some here have pointed out may be the case...)

6.The single ship thing: no big deal if Egosoft intends to increase this in its future games or in DLC (as happened in the current X-Series). And the modders don't even really know what can be done yet as far as I know...

7. Egosoft is at the helm in deciding how to implement the vision they have for this game, and I really hope Egosoft will stick to it's guns, and not pay undue attention to all this 'huff and puff' that goes on here ... 'set lasers to auto aim' focus, track target. No distractions permitted, (or you go out in flames ). All indications so far that I see are that whilst there have been delays in the release dated, work has never stopped on X Rebirth the guys are always busy working on it.

8. In the interview it is mentioned that Bernd has not played AP. Take note here. This emphasises the commitment to X Rebirth. It is obviously still very much TNBT for Egosoft. In the 'recent' past news, Bernd has praised our modders, and encouraged gamers to mod their games, and if anyone wants X4, then it seems obvious that this is the only way to get it. Get over to modding, and download the X game we want...

edited the 'Adventures of the Albion Skunk' line ... (changed it to bold typeface, thats all)

[Noahdilweed]

About the quad core plans: YES!!!! SHAWEEET! I just hope the game will become a benchmark testing game for tomshardware.com ++ on the publicity if it does.

About the radar: Hope for Hiding Behind Asteroids LIVES!!! and no... i wont be too hurt if it doesnt make it.

I really appreciate the Interview Iifrit and others for your hard work.

[Whiskahs]

Can't say I like some of the thing I'm hearing.

No ammo-dependant primaries?

Skunk can become 50 times more powerfull??? Really?

Just.... meh.

We'll have to wait and see. I hope it isn't what I think it will be.[/u]

But still weaker than a capital ship. I think it means that in the beginning you'll pretty much be effectively useless and will use drones for combat while your ship stays at a distance and by the end you'll actually be able to take a few hits and fire back against mid-sized vessels. That sounds about like 50 times to me.

[ConCorDian]

i actually finally got the time to sit down and read through the interveiw (yay for me).... but im taking certain possitive things away from it, but im hearing quite a few things i dont really like the sound of.

Likes:
quad core, sounds like they have this down, but not only have it down now but looking at how it can be expanded to incorporate more and more cores which is brilliant... it says to me that this could be an engine that wont only last for years but potentially thrive for years!!

discounts, interesting, like the idea but i think its the usual, will depend on implementation of it.

ships: im loving the fact that he has said the player alone in the Skunk cannot take down the most powerful ships itself... yeh it was a challenge in the previous X series to pick the big mama ships and see how small a ship you could be in and still kill them. but it always felt like i was cheating, i mean i could have an IQ of 10 and still have beat the AI... now its sounding like the ships regardless of AI will be capible of defending themselves.

but im afraid thats more where my ears stopped perking... im on the fence with a few things...

still on ships, how much the Skunk can be apparently be upgraded, this is a funny one, because 50x more powerful than it was when you started is kind of a matter of prespective. i mean how much more powerful are the big mama ships this time compaired to you when you start off? i mean if its like starting off in an Octopus and ending in a Tiger then no thanks!! but if its not as bad as it sounds then fair do's, just still cant stop thinking Darkstar One when i hear this bit

story line... 2 aspects of this im not sure about...
1. for all there has been a great amount of lore created behind the X series ill admit i didn't think EGO were exactly brilliant storytellers with their plots. this didn't matter before, purely because plots were on a backburner, you did them to get the rewards and as a task to do, sometimes a challenge (how quickly can you finish the Hub plot in TC?)... you never really done it for the story... if the story is a bigger aspect this time then im gonna say EGO's story telling abilities are going to need to improve A LOT or it could become disappointing.
2. its souding like there is more and more of the game dynamics being tied to the plot... yeh this happened before but if you decided to skip the plot and just play yourself all you really missed was a few unique ships etc which was no biggy, its starting to sound like a bit more of a biggy!! that could ruin a lot of the replayability of the game for me!!

DLC, again its an on the fence catagory, for me DLC should be either free or have enough of an impact to constitute paying for it. now if EGO were solely in charge of what is what i would be fine with it, but he is saying that it will be upto the publishers!!! and thats what concerns me, are DS going to start money grabbing!!

but there are 2 things i point blank dont like....

1. the amount of things that are still being "balanced" and are "undecided" makes me think our 2012 release aint happening. im not a programmer, but there sounds to be a bit much still being done.

2. the amount of things Bernd DOESNT know. i dont mean to be cheaky here but isnt he in charge?¿? and by this stage he should be aware of what is and isnt in!! yeh its possible something could be dropped but surely by now that should be a minimal amount of things that could be in the "might be dropped" catagory.