New interview

[Alci]

Umm, just a quick question. Which developer ever made changes once he had customer's money?

Egosoft? They've already added more ships before. And I remind you people were not in such negative mood as you are BEFORE X:BtF came out

Many indie developers create communities and support their games after release. It's the way for them to build name. And many of those games are created as passion and share a dream (in just a little hope for money. See mods).

Even Bioware made big changes for NWN1.

And to be honest, we told Egosoft how stupid the one ship only idea is when they first announced the game two years ago. And they did nothing.

false. They asked us to wait and see and judge after we try it this way. You are not even willing to do that. And you want them listen to YOU? Me, me, me, mine, mine, mine?

What makes you think they will do something now?

because so far they did? There is place for customers wishes. But there is also place for designers vision. You don't respect that and blame them instead for their creativity? They had time to think over it. They have testing versions. But you know it better? Something is wrong in that.

I can wait for that one feature how it goes. I think I'll like other things in Rebirth much more then disliking this one. But I want to see what THEIR vision is. It's new.

[Teleth]

The notion that X:Rebirth isn't X4, simply is not the case. The re-branding of the name is a thinly-veiled attempt to escape the wrath of core fans on the major changes in order to break into mainstream gaming, possibly an attempt to distance itself from the previous series stigma.
There's nothing wrong with doing that, or just changing name without adding a number to it for any reason at all, but using it as a defense that X:Rebirth is immune to criticisms from the past series is not terribly sound logic.

Unfortunately patching things for free after-the-fact is becoming a less prevalent, while creating DLC 'patches' more so. Not to say Egosoft won't add more things after release, they have little room to pull the tricks that bigger developers do and I'd like to think they're still very much good guy developers.

[Mightysword]

Well the other problem is that they have announced alot of the changes in XR AFTER I had pre-purchased the game. So I'm not too happy about those features being left out. Yes we've known about the One Ship To Rule Them All for a couple of years now, but other things about the management of trading and property have been changed since I purchased the game. The information which has now been divulged is contrary to the misleading information we were given in earlier trailers.

Key-word: pre-purchased. If you don't like what you're hearing now there is nothing to stop you from canceling your pre-order no so I'm not sure what's the problem here, it's not like it's already after the fact.

Also can you enlighten me on what management and trading element were changed because I can't recall any. Unless by change you mean things that doesn't make it to 1.0 due to time constraint.

[Mightysword]

Umm, just a quick question. Which developer ever made changes once he had customer's money?

Egosoft?

Or Taleworld, Stardock, Ironcladgames ...etc... in fact in my experience most studio that are not under a big publisher umbrella (i.e EA, Activision) are usually pretty responsive to the community, and sometime even big name like Bethesda is pretty good on that front ... within reason of course. The reason for that last bit was because I know while a few people has this "either they listen to every single thing I say, or it means they didn't listen at all" mindset.

And to be honest, we told Egosoft how stupid the one ship only idea is when they first announced the game two years ago. And they did nothing.

"We" are pretty subjective. While I'm sure no-one here jumped with joy at the news of one flyable-ship, not all of us treat it as a capital offense. You might think that all the X veteran would love nothing more than another X with a new skin, but I believe there are many other veteran believe it's about time the series get a facelift. Piloting many ship are definitely one of the bright point of the series but it's not the only reason to play it. More ship is something that can be added later, but the broken use of SETA, the lifeless universe by most account, the horrible pathfinding ...etc... are something that wouldn't be possible to change unless the series willing to take on a new direction. A lot of us is just riding on the bet right now to see if the give and take is worth it. TBH, if Rebirth's universe is immerse enough, I would consider piloting a single ship maybe a good price to pay ... for the time being. Of course there is always a chance that I will consider it's not worth it, but that's a judgement for after playing the game, not before.

What makes you think they will do something now?

Well if you play egosoft game long enough ... I would say they have a pretty good track record on the matter no?

[Teleth]

"We" are pretty subjective. While I'm sure no-one here jumped with joy at the news of one flyable-ship, not all of us treat it as a capital offense. You might think that all the X veteran would love nothing more than another X with a new skin, but I believe there are many other veteran believe it's about time the series get a facelift. Piloting many ship are definitely one of the bright point of the series but it's not the only reason to play it. More ship is something that can be added later, but the broken use of SETA, the lifeless universe by most account, the horrible pathfinding ...etc... are something that wouldn't be possible to change unless the series willing to take on a new direction. A lot of us is just riding on the bet right now to see if the give and take is worth it. TBH, if Rebirth's universe is immerse enough, I would consider piloting a single ship maybe a good price to pay ... for the time being. Of course there is always a chance that I will consider it's not worth it, but that's a judgement for after playing the game, not before.

You've written a good summary there, and I would agree most would be banking on X:Rebirth being something great, much greater than any iteration of X before it.

Here's hoping that it doesn't inherit the terrible plague of bugs that every X has suffered before it.. maybe *that* is just wishful thinking

[Bobucles]

In that case I have a news for you. From what I have read, 90% or even more NPC you meet will be humans/argons. So much for aliens...

A great deal of effort is going into station design, their internal environments, and the people that run them. Every new alien faction means an entirely new set of stations, areas, high detail models, potential voice actors, and so forth. I would not doubt that including these factions with the desired detail simply wasn't in the budget.

In truth, bits and remnants of the other factions should still exist in Rebirth. Extraterrestrial ships, traders, and ambassadors would have been cut off, stranded by the sudden collapse of the gate network. They would be extremely rare however, and their fates would be equally uncertain as the human factions struggled to figure out what to do with them. Perhaps they have their own private reservations, picked up unusual roles, or were simply hunted down by isolationists.

[Captain Lemmiwinks]

In that case I have a news for you. From what I have read, 90% or even more NPC you meet will be humans/argons. So much for aliens...

A great deal of effort is going into station design, their internal environments, and the people that run them. Every new alien faction means an entirely new set of stations, areas, high detail models, potential voice actors, and so forth. I would not doubt that including these factions with the desired detail simply wasn't in the budget.

In truth, bits and remnants of the other factions should still exist in Rebirth. Extraterrestrial ships, traders, and ambassadors would have been cut off, stranded by the sudden collapse of the gate network. They would be extremely rare however, and their fates would be equally uncertain as the human factions struggled to figure out what to do with them. Perhaps they have their own private reservations, picked up unusual roles, or were simply hunted down by isolationists.

theres a point nobody has hit on yet.

what if its all been down to budget ?

what if everything removed/not included etc was down to budget ?,they can remove all the races simply by saying the gates were destroyed.

that one little thing would remove most of the development costs,and that theory would cover the single ship,automated stuff,and everything else not bothered with.

leaving you in one ship and letting the scripting cover everything.
then hoping the modders put in the rest of the work for free.

ps..would also explain the atrocious npc models and station interiors

[Gupster]

I have pre-paid my money. I expect to be provided with a great game that meets the standards set by the previous games in the X series.

That seems odd, why did you pre-pay for the game when you have told everyone here that the things (you) want in the game are not included? why not just wait until the features you want in the game are maybe put in via patches/updates in the future, if i was so vocal on a game forum about how the features i want in the game are not there and i had the courage of my convictions i would not buy it, you already know from Ego-soft themselves what is and is not in the game on release.

[Gupster]

I have pre-paid my money. I expect to be provided with a great game that meets the standards set by the previous games in the X series.

No offense...But by giving Egosoft your money, you basically agreed that you were willing to accept the game in its current state. It's a little late to have second thoughts now.

On the other hand, you have every right to be critical of the game's aspects (yes Shootist, I'm looking at you). But perhaps, you would be more successful if your comments were more... constructive, or waited until such time as Egosoft was willing to take advice from its fan base. I think at this point, everyone is really really sick of hearing about having only one player ship. If you've bought the game, great, welcome to the club. Let's just be excited about X Rebirth for a while. When it comes out and you're unsatisfied, THEN complain on the forums about it. In fact, I encourage you to raise Hell. That's how you get the Dev's to pay attention and make changes. But right now... you're just getting people grumpy.

Umm, just a quick question. Which developer ever made changes once he had customer's money? Especially such a huge gameplay changes? And to be honest, we told Egosoft how stupid the one ship only idea is when they first announced the game two years ago. And they did nothing. What makes you think they will do something now? But I agree with you on the part that preordering a product I do not like and hoping it will be changed in the future is strange to say at least.

When you say "And to be honest, we told Egosoft how stupid the one ship only idea is when they first announced the game two years ago." who exactly is "WE" ? please don't make a huge generalization like that, there are plenty of people on this forum that DON'T want more than one ship to fly and i am one of them, if they put that feature in later then fine, but i wont be losing any sleep over the fact we can fly one ship or if in the future we can fly more than one.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Iam the second guy who likes the "one player ship" thingy.

With just one playership, I can focus on playing the game, instead of deciding which ship is better for playing that game.

Plus I can upgrade it. And it´s powerful. It´s fast. It looks neat to my eyes. It´s designed to deph. It has crew. I can walk around it. It´s my ship.

[Nanook]

He actually has a point, as shown in the poll numbers in the previous thread about single vs multiple ships. Nearly two thirds of respondents preferred multiple ships.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=309030

And I highly doubt that there are 'plenty of people that don't want more than one ship to fly'. It's more that most of those voting that way simply don't mind only having one ship. And if you browse through the linked thread above, you'll find that's the case. I also believe that those who really don't want more than one ship are a tiny minority, at least among those who've posted their opinions.

[Gupster]

He actually has a point, as shown in the poll numbers in the previous thread about single vs multiple ships. Nearly two thirds of respondents preferred multiple ships.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=309030

And I highly doubt that there are 'plenty of people that don't want more than one ship to fly'. It's more that most of those voting that way simply don't mind only having one ship. And if you browse through the linked thread above, you'll find that's the case. I also believe that those who really don't want more than one ship are a tiny minority, at least among those who've posted their opinions.

He was using a huge generalization, if i want other people to include me in their opinions about anything i will ask them but until then i have my own opinions and don't want to be linked to someone else s.

[Djindaar]

I am one of those that like the Skunk, don't mind having one ship, but yes, would be nice to have access and be able to pilot other ships first hand.

Like piloting the mining barge/transporter, sending out drones to chew up those currency converters we call asteroids. now and again for the heck of it. While dreaming about upgrades and my next station module I will be able to afford when the rock is finally converted to cash. Should I make it back >.<

[Gupster]

I am one of those that like the Skunk, don't mind having one ship, but yes, would be nice to have access and be able to pilot other ships first hand.

Like piloting the mining barge/transporter, sending out drones to chew up those currency converters we call asteroids. now and again for the heck of it. While dreaming about upgrades and my next station module I will be able to afford when the rock is finally converted to cash. Should I make it back >.<

If Ego-soft include more ships to fly in first person cockpit view i will be happy for those that would like to be able to do that.

[Nanook]

He actually has a point, as shown in the poll numbers in the previous thread about single vs multiple ships. Nearly two thirds of respondents preferred multiple ships.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=309030

And I highly doubt that there are 'plenty of people that don't want more than one ship to fly'. It's more that most of those voting that way simply don't mind only having one ship. And if you browse through the linked thread above, you'll find that's the case. I also believe that those who really don't want more than one ship are a tiny minority, at least among those who've posted their opinions.

He was using a huge generalization, if i want other people to include me in their opinions about anything i will ask them but until then i have my own opinions and don't want to be linked to someone else s.

Using the word 'we' does not imply 'everyone'. It implies the group of like-minded individuals, which are, in this instance, seemingly the majority. So no, he wasn't including you in the 'we' at all.

Now, once again, can we get back to discussing the topic and not each other.

[Gupster]

He actually has a point, as shown in the poll numbers in the previous thread about single vs multiple ships. Nearly two thirds of respondents preferred multiple ships.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=309030

And I highly doubt that there are 'plenty of people that don't want more than one ship to fly'. It's more that most of those voting that way simply don't mind only having one ship. And if you browse through the linked thread above, you'll find that's the case. I also believe that those who really don't want more than one ship are a tiny minority, at least among those who've posted their opinions.

He was using a huge generalization, if i want other people to include me in their opinions about anything i will ask them but until then i have my own opinions and don't want to be linked to someone else s.

Using the word 'we' does not imply 'everyone'. It implies the group of like-minded individuals, which are, in this instance, seemingly the majority. So no, he wasn't including you in the 'we' at all.

Now, once again, can we get back to discussing the topic and not each other.

A majority can be 20 for and 19 against and on topic i thought that interview was pretty good although the video was stuff most here would have already seen i would imagine.

[Nomadski]

I think what was clear from part of that interview, and mentioned by Bernd himself, is that the existing fanbase, or at least elements of it who are unwilling to change with the game are disposable.

It sounds harsh, and some may get quite precious about that, but I understand where he is coming from, they had to start making a game for Egosoft, not for the hardcore X fan. What I mean by that is they wanted to get a product out there that didnt have a wall of complexity around it stopping the mass market from wanting to have a look.

Its not about turning X into CoD, Im sure Bernd knows the market for any space game is still fairly niche, even given Star Citizen's success. Especially so for one which doesn't rely on multiplayer pew pew or linear Star Wars storylines, where everything is set up for the player and he goes through the motions to the credits.

Everyone knows Egosoft are small, and perhaps the thinking is they wanted to work on something slightly different, that might have a better chance of making a little more money for them to develop themselves as a business and the game itself more in the future.

We are seeing X 'year one' again, its a new foundation for a new series, and they seem to be willing to let a few fans who have expectations beyond what Egosoft can provide at this time be disappointed, in the hope a new group of fans can be interested and invest in the game.

Its a risky venture all round, but then I suppose carrying on releasing marginal products with shinier graphics would be moreso.

And for the record, I too would like to see things that aren't in the game (Im especially 100% with Earth Ultimatum IV on his dream), but maybe we all need to cut back our expectations, this isnt X4, and our criticisms, we haven't played the game yet, and see this new vision plays out, and how it develops as a series.

[Shootist]

Or Taleworld, Stardock, Ironcladgames ...etc... in fact in my experience most studio that are not under a big publisher umbrella (i.e EA, Activision) are usually pretty responsive to the community,

EA/Bioware changed the ending of Mass Effect 3 due to player outrage. It wasn't enough of a change, but the inertia of the corporate bureaucracy was overcome, however briefly.

[spacecoyote99]

EA/Bioware changed the ending of Mass Effect 3 due to player outrage. It wasn't enough of a change, but the inertia of the corporate bureaucracy was overcome, however briefly.

Slightly OT, but I have to say I was never a fan of that decision. Not that I thought the ending of ME3 was great and shouldn't be changed. But if storytellers start changing their stories based on what 'fans' want I don't know if that's a change for the better.

In that sense, kudos to Egosoft for having their own vision. Much as I loved TC/AP it was painfully obvious that it was a bunch of individually good ideas just dumped into a core game that couldn't do them justice. And that often didn't mesh very well with each other or the legacy assets from the older titles. Getting community input is good, but design by community is something I'm very wary of.

[Abraxis86]

Umm, just a quick question. Which developer ever made changes once he had customer's money? Especially such a huge gameplay changes? And to be honest, we told Egosoft how stupid the one ship only idea is when they first announced the game two years ago. And they did nothing. What makes you think they will do something now? But I agree with you on the part that preordering a product I do not like and hoping it will be changed in the future is strange to say at least.

I pre-ordered Elemental: War of Magic, I beta tested it as well. When it came out, it was a complete mess. Brad Wardell not only took the time to apologize to the community, thoroughly and frequently taking complete responsibility for the failure, he even personally apologized to me when I made a fuss about a problem I'd had with an issue related to the development. Dissatisfied with how it turned out, he hired Kael to develop Fallen Enchantress in his place, completely overhauling the game. He then gave all of us that had bought Elemental a free copy.
Apparently still dissatisfied, he made Legendary Heroes, which He then also gave us for free. 4 years of changes after I gave him my money. Is that enough?

If not I have several dozen other examples.

You guys need to stop demonizing developers, people don't develop games to get rich, they do it because it's fun, and they generally make very little money doing so. If you need someone to blame, pick the publishers, they're usually just parasitic patrons leeching off talented folks. Even then you're better not to though, as that's not always the case, and many publishers enable developers to do things they otherwise couldn't achieve. So maybe just... go for a run or something.