"Gamestar" Interview with Bernd

[vahadar]

My excuse is I don't speak German and the button for "turn to page two" could be anything when you can't read it

You could still edit your post to put the full translation i put on page 2 At least since your post is on page 1 most people will read it instead of going page 2 that most will probably skip for sure

[ezra-r]

We also get a lot of positive feedback, it is unfortunately overshadowed by many technical problems, but there are also many people play this game and are happy with.

This bit made me laugh.

Some of us are enjoying the vision and the things we get to see in-game, the detail and the imagination they have put inside the game, that's true, but the state is in? Nobody is happy with the game as it is right now, Bernd! It needs fixing! Get a grip darn it!

[vargata]

Dude still thinks trading is less boring now.

Pretty much everything is boring now. Most of the time is spend flying around and hunting small icons.

Worst part is performance is abysmal too, otherwise might actually bother playing it on my laptop while watching tv...

I think football manager and Fifa are boring games. I should post crap all over their forums about how I don't like the games! Fifa is missing features, such as combat, spikey balls and F1 cars. I demand a refund!

was fifa advertised with combat, spikey balls and F1 cars? If yes, they owe you with a refund...anyway, if you like rebirth so much WTF u do here? go and explore

[Llothlian]

Dude still thinks trading is less boring now.

Pretty much everything is boring now. Most of the time is spend flying around and hunting small icons.

Worst part is performance is abysmal too, otherwise might actually bother playing it on my laptop while watching tv...

I think football manager and Fifa are boring games. I should post crap all over their forums about how I don't like the games! Fifa is missing features, such as combat, spikey balls and F1 cars. I demand a refund!

was fifa advertised with combat, spikey balls and F1 cars? If yes, they owe you with a refund...anyway, if you like rebirth so much WTF u do here? go and explore

The only thing I can think of that was advertise which failed to materialise was Yisha piloting your ship when you fly drones. So it turns out that no, it doesn't have to be advertised for the "screamers" to demand it.

I am not playing Rebirth because I am away with work and my laptop doesn't run it.

[laminblake]

I swear this guy is almost as bad as Sergey Titov and is in complete denial. He blames the bugs on rushing out features in the game.... IT HAS BEEN IN DEVELOPMENT FOR 7 YEARS!!!! How do you "rush" out features in your last year of development?????

Also he blames not having enough testers as the reason for many of the bugs and performance issues. While i could understand performance being an issue stemming from not enough testing the issues with trade and construction not working AT ALL has nothing to do with the number of testers as 1 tester could have pointed out those glaring issues.

[desiriel]

Someone give Bernd a reality check. At release there were 15000 people connected on Steam playing XR. Now there're less than 3000/2000/1000.
This is a little detail he forgot to mention with the interviewer.
So losing 80% of your playing base in a matter of days is now a "success" enjoyd by a great majority of happy customers ?
He goes on explaining the design concept of trading in XR when Trading at large and of all of econometrics in the game are totally broken ?
Really, I was indeed trying to give this game another chance but reading this guys' delusions I've the feeling this is hopeless by now.

[chikatilo]

[quote="Llothlian"]I am not playing Rebirth because I am away with work and my laptop doesn't run it.[/quote]
So you're defending a game you haven't played then? That makes you a troll and you're in for a treat when you get home, it's by far the worst AAA title I have played since I sold my commodore 64.

[MordantJake]

Dude still thinks trading is less boring now.

Pretty much everything is boring now. Most of the time is spend flying around and hunting small icons.

Worst part is performance is abysmal too, otherwise might actually bother playing it on my laptop while watching tv...

I think football manager and Fifa are boring games. I should post crap all over their forums about how I don't like the games! Fifa is missing features, such as combat, spikey balls and F1 cars. I demand a refund!

was fifa advertised with combat, spikey balls and F1 cars? If yes, they owe you with a refund...anyway, if you like rebirth so much WTF u do here? go and explore

The only thing I can think of that was advertise which failed to materialise was Yisha piloting your ship when you fly drones. So it turns out that no, it doesn't have to be advertised for the "screamers" to demand it.

I am not playing Rebirth because I am away with work and my laptop doesn't run it.

Actually, there were several other things. They've been glossed over. One pretty important example was Bernd's assertion that every ship you encountered would be "real"- that is, have a function in the galaxy, part of a living world. Think this is true?

[jocan2003]

It is scary that he doesn't seem to comprehend that the ONLY reason he sold so many copies of the game is that people BELIEVED it would be an actual playable game that they longed to play.

Do you think he will understand when their NEXT title completely falls flat because they have lost the trust of their fanbase?

Sad thing is that i feel bern abandoned the veteran community, those who played and enjoyed previous X games, where he went with the IP and the potential the game had and the openess of the game on all point, be it editor, modding, or simply the game scale and scope.

When we heard about Rebirth and possible feature, we all assumed it would be ON-TOP of what we previously paid, got exited, hyped, spoke about the game left and right, hell we fragging built a good chunk of Rebirth hype all around the globe also helped in advertising by speaking about *how rebirth* will be awesome and such, but sadly.... it fell off the wagon.... on all point.

Dont get me wrong, the game has potential, the engine is decent for modding purposes but i prefered the modding system in X series. Tehcnology wise, could be better as it is locked to a DX getting older by the day, and well being poorly optimized for high end machine.

What i have read, i really do hope im wrong or i misinterpreted the interview since i am french and its in english being google translated from german, but i feel like he just spitted in my face clearly saying its not X4 live with it, i made big money. I will fix the game, add some feature here and there.

Either im disapointed because i had too big expectation, or because the game is really a let down for the veteran. Any quicky who want a quick fix of space game will love it, thats for sure, but for us, the real veteran of the X3 series i think we really do feel abandoned to a degree about this title.

I could be wrong about the generalisation of the veteran, i know some of them enjoy the game, hell i do enjoy the game, but its not what i was exepting on any point, i feel like taking a dip in a fisher price kid pond when i was used to olympic swimming pool ( about the lack of dept of the stated feature ).

I really love egosoft and what they did in the past, i really want to loe the game, i currently love the potential the game has, but as long i wont find the dept of previous X games in this one wich might never happen after reading the interview ( thats what my french mind deduced and i REALLY want to be proven wrong ) might never happen and will need to wait a few years to see X4.

TLDR: Love egosoft, but right now i feel like i have been abandoned as a veteran to the X series.

[chikatilo]

-One single tester (my cat for example) doing only the tutorial would have noticed :

> 30% of the main plot you don't get instructions or waypoints, mission manager says "empty" you have to guess where to go and what to do

> 90% of the games features are untouched in the tutorial, the other 10% is repeated until sick comes out

> at no point during the campaign were you in any danger because nothing shoots you and everything has r******* and obvious weak spots. the only things that attack you are swarms of drones which are like mosquito's, they are annoying, there's a lot of them, but they don't really do anything.

> the only main plot mission in omycron lyrae is to guard a freighter through the entire system but nothing ever attacks it, you just fly really slow for half an hour

> the final mission is supposed to be an epic battle but nothing attacks you, not one bullet is fired in your direction

game if full of old ladies because it was probably made by one.

[yoyolll]

I know Bernd apologized before, but I think it was not enough. That may sound a little harsh, but the state of the game is inexcusable. It's been nearly three weeks and still unplayable for many. He is angering people by saying it's a success while his customers are reading this interview instead of playing because their game will not work.

He's trying to shift attention to the people complaining about how it's not X4, but the real issue is just the state of the game. Considering how difficult it is for people to get a refund, at this point he should be posting an apology at least once a week until the game is fixed.

[Lone Jedi]

More lies to cover lies.

XR is an epic failure, so is the CEO of Egosoft.

[winscale]

I am really puzzled by people who swear they hate the game and are still posting about it up till now.

If I hate the game, I wouldn't even waste time posting anymore once I had my say - I would be off to another game and come back in the future when it all may have been fixed or write it off as unrecoverable. But, I suppose people really are butt hurt about it... a failure of getting too emotionally involved and putting too much faith in Egosoft.

[MartinSGill]

It's interesting what some people are reading into this interview.

I took away something very different. It leaves me disappointed, but I now have a different view of Egosoft and Rebirth than I did before, and it tells me that Egosoft are no longer going to be producing the games I want them to produce.

Two things jump out at me... the first is that at the beginning of 2013 they added the ability to walk around stations. This was, and I don't think it's a coincidence, the point where Start Citizen and Elite : Dangerous were both successfully funded on Kickstarter.

Then there's the later comment by Bernd about how (and I'm paraphrasing from the German) "Ideally I'd like to offer those that expect a Wing Commander to get a Wing Commander and later show them the vastness of the universe." (page 3).

I think Egosoft (consciously or otherwise) was afraid of being an "also ran". Suddenly they were no longer alone in the Space Sim market and the big names were coming back. Egosoft added the ability to walk around stations, by Bernd's own admission, around the time Chris Roberts (and even David Brabben) said they were hoping to offer that type of feature in their games (even if only at a later date, in Elite's case).

So they tried to create a game to compete and cash in on the renewed enthusiasm.

What frightens me though is that Bernd thinks we's offering a "Wing Commander" experience.

Wing Commander, had radar. It had external views, it had acting that wouldn't get you thrown out of an acting class, it had memorable characters (Mavrick, Angel, Jazz), allowed you to select different weapons, ships, etc. Hell my Broadsword even had a turret! I could target ships with a single key-press, it worked with my joystick, and all of that was in the early '90s.

I died regularly and going up against a capital ship was frankly terrifying, I couldn't just fly into the flight bay and nibble it to pieces with my mining laser.

I can't seem to shake the feeling that when Chris and David returned to the genre Egosoft panicked.

EDIT: I'm not saying this was conscious. It might have been, or it might just have been an unconscious thought at the back of everyone's mind when it came to making design decisions.

[Alee Enn]

I am really puzzled by people who swear they hate the game and are still posting about it up till now.

If I hate the game, I wouldn't even waste time posting anymore once I had my say - I would be off to another game and come back in the future when it all may have been fixed or write it off as unrecoverable. But, I suppose people really are butt hurt about it... a failure of getting too emotionally involved and putting too much faith in Egosoft.

Not that you are referring to me ...
I don't hate Rebirth ... yes, there are parts of it I think need removing and re-doing *cough*walking in stations*cough* ... but I don't hate them.

I post not because I bought the game and feel ripped off (because I didn't buy the game), I post in the hope people at Egosoft read what I post as feedback and use it to make a better product.

[MordantJake]

Myself i think that people are reading too much into what Bernd said. What could he say? If he didn't mention the negative reaction it would be an obvious whitewash, but he can't really come out and say "we made poor deisgn choices, sorry." I think Bernd realized a good while ago that the game wouldn't be ready and hadn't come together as planned, and so the whole *This is NOT X4* defence was born. It means..nothing. This is a space game featuring trading, combat, empire-building and exploration..sounds like an X game to me. Didn't Bernd also state that all the depth of previous games would remain, only more accessible now?

It's just a PR trick that allows them to pretend that those who criticize the game are simply unhappy with the direction the series is taking. We're a bunch of sticks-in-the-mud that can't handle the virtuosity of egosoft's design choices.

As i said, it doesn't bother me. It's just spin. Egosoft aren't the only company to issue disingenuous statements.

[Alee Enn]

<snip>

I think Egosoft (consciously or otherwise) was afraid of being an "also ran". Suddenly they were no longer alone in the Space Sim market and the big names were coming back. Egosoft added the ability to walk around stations, by Bernd's own admission, around the time Chris Roberts (and even David Brabben) said they were hoping to offer that type of feature in their games (even if only at a later date, in Elite's case).

So they tried to create a game to compete and cash in on the renewed enthusiasm.

<snip>

I can't seem to shake the feeling that when Chris and David returned to the genre Egosoft panicked.

I think this is exactly what happened ... but I don't know, only those at Egosoft know for sure.

[laminblake]

<snip>

I think Egosoft (consciously or otherwise) was afraid of being an "also ran". Suddenly they were no longer alone in the Space Sim market and the big names were coming back. Egosoft added the ability to walk around stations, by Bernd's own admission, around the time Chris Roberts (and even David Brabben) said they were hoping to offer that type of feature in their games (even if only at a later date, in Elite's case).

So they tried to create a game to compete and cash in on the renewed enthusiasm.

<snip>

I can't seem to shake the feeling that when Chris and David returned to the genre Egosoft panicked.

I think this is exactly what happened ... but I don't know, only those at Egosoft know for sure.

Which doesn't make sense imo because the X Universe is a space/empire simulator which is different from a space/fps simulator so why would they panic. Sadly this is the case because what we got was a broken space/fps simulator that was rushed out before SC or Elite would be launched. The only thing X:R did was taint the brand of the X series and possibly the genre in general. Such a shame.

[chikatilo]

Makes sense,

"Wow, people are throwing money at those spacesims"

"Lets grab that old failed Xbox game, slap on some similar features, show them off only in a closed environment, release before the others release, people will be blue-balled, easy money"

Professional reviewers have said it rarely happens they get their review copy -AFTER- release, usually only when a game is really shit and the devs want to sell a bunch before word spreads of how bad their game is.

[Gregorovitch]

It was clear from the outset that many hardcore fans would rather have a X4. And maybe we do that , too someday. But we can not reach new customers. Both the entry into the game but especially the pace of the entire gameplay mechanics will always be a difference between these two approaches .

This to me is the heart of the matter - he is saying that as a company they had to reach out to a bigger audience (and that in itself is reasonable) and to do that they had to make a different game, more accessible, faster paced, action oriented etc etc. He is however deluding himself that the "success" of X:R in terms of immediate sales has anything whatever to do with these changes in game play. That "success" is down to the slow but steadily increasing reputation of the previous X games that engendered widespread interest generally and maximum expectation amongst existing fans.

The situation is in many ways similar to that of Bethesda at the end on the 1990's. Daggerfall (1996) was a monstrously large, deep and complex RPG that really defined the Elder Scrolls world from it's beginnings in Arena and had a hard core fan base similar to the X series. It was however too difficult to play and too slow for many and was not a commercial success.

Two years later Bethesda released Redguard, an action/RPG spin off that was designed to do for Bethesda exactly what Bernd says ES were trying to do with X:R. It failed miserably because it was. due to Beth not being particularly expert at doing action games, not very good and because it totally alienated Daggerfall fans.

Fortunately for Bethesda (and for the rest of us) they learned from this and they bet their last dollar on going back to roots of Daggerfall and worked out how to preserve the essence of it at the same time as improving the game play experience. It was their last gasp but they made a masterpiece, Morrowind, and the rest is history.

ES have made their Redguard IMO. What Bernd needs to understand is he now needs to make his Morrowind.