Support NeoGAF

[Sinatar]

No way. The 3DO version had missing text, had atrocious CGI intro and ending, voice acting, while good for some races, was completely off on others (Orz) and SC2 is much better without the voice acting. The game was to appeal to imagination (with many references to frungy, happy brown Ur-Quans, ancient wars, and so on) that voice acting really mars the experience. Hell, the Dynarri sounds like a Texan with a southern drawl! And the 3DO version missed out on having the credits dialogue which really made the ending above and beyond other video games.

Well the nice thing about Ur-Quan Masters is it lets you choose what version you like to play, PC or 3DO, even lets you mix and match the various components from each version.

 

[PkunkFury]

No way. The 3DO version had missing text, had atrocious CGI intro and ending, voice acting, while good for some races, was completely off on others (Orz) and SC2 is much better without the voice acting. The game was to appeal to imagination (with many references to frungy, happy brown Ur-Quans, ancient wars, and so on) that voice acting really mars the experience. Hell, the Dynarri sounds like a Texan with a southern drawl! And the 3DO version missed out on having the credits dialogue which really made the ending above and beyond other video games.

exactly! The PC version was better, the only reason people assume the 3DO version was better is the voice work, which is completely hit or miss. Some of the aliens sound terrible. Particularly the Orz and the Pkunk!

The other downside to the voice work is it puts the incredibly wonderful soundtrack in a backseat role. Half the fun of talking to the aliens is listening to the kick as music. The music adds much more to the personnality of each race than the voices do. So if you download UM, turn of the voices and turn the music up! It's a very imaginative game, so let your mind give the characters voices. The music will give you the cues, and you'll always be happy with the result. Plus you can play at reading speed

One of the few things I thought SC3 did better than SC2 was the voices. The Orz in SC3 sound awesome. Too bad SC3 music was terrible.

Also does anyone know how the homebrew SC2 port to the DS is going?? Did they ever actually get anything going?? I would love portable SC2, and the dual screens would fit perfectly with the games windowed presentation

 

[nitewulf]

yes, one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[Galactic Fork]

Or alternatively, the PC version of Starflight which came out first. It doesn't have as good graphics or sound as the later Genesis version, but they had to cut out some some stuff to fit the cartridge in the latter version. And once you've played that, its time to play Starflight 2.

I love space adventure games so much that I've been working on a game engine to make your own as a hobby on the side. I'll probably never release it, but its fun making it.

Have you taken a look at the Starflight 3 project? It's a fan made sequel. Looks really interesting! here is the site: http://www.starflightcentral.com/News.aspx

It's going really slow though.

 

[PedroLumpy]

I concur with the voice acting being somewhat of a letdown. I would certainly recommend anyone in their first run through to turn the voicework off. I perferred the voices I had imagined instead of what they came up with.

 

[Shaneus]

The other downside to the voice work is it puts the incredibly wonderful soundtrack in a backseat role. Half the fun of talking to the aliens is listening to the kick as music. The music adds much more to the personnality of each race than the voices do. So if you download UM, turn of the voices and turn the music up! It's a very imaginative game, so let your mind give the characters voices. The music will give you the cues, and you'll always be happy with the result. Plus you can play at reading speed

Completely agree on this point... but make sure if you get UQM you listen to the *original* music and not the remade tracks. The remade ones are good, but lack any of the charm of the original .MOD files. Which is originally how I found out about SC2 in the first place... I was given a 3.5" disk full of music in .MOD format, and one of the songs was the Hyperspace theme. One of my most favourite .MOD files ever.

 

[PkunkFury]

I was given a 3.5" disk full of music in .MOD format, and one of the songs was the Hyperspace theme. One of my most favourite .MOD files ever.

Yup, that's a good one

I also like the .MODs for Arilou, Melnorme, Mycon, Pkunk, Spathi, and Yehat. They're all good but these stand out. In reverse of your experience, I got into .MODs and demo scene music as a result of playing SC2

 

[MBison]

If you loved the Star Control 2 music as I did, search the Internets for "The Precursors".. some peep remixed a lot of the Star Control 2 themes into ambient/trance type stuff. Some of it is brilliant.

 

[Lapsed]

Is Ur-Quan Masters basically the 3DO version, or a version that takes the best from the 3DO and PC versions?

Ur-quan Masters is a mix but you have plenty of options of which to choose. When all is said and done, Ur-Quan Masters is the best version! I don't remember if 3DO version included a starmap with the box or not.

The music in Star Control 2 is god-like especially when the game came out. When I played with the voice acting, one thing I realized was that I was missing the awesome alien music. You couldn't hear the music because of all the 'voice acting' going on. Missing out on the music really is missing out on the aliens' uniqueness.

Whenever I meet an independent developer or anyone who wants to make a game, I tell them how Star Control 2 got made (at least, of what I know of it) to inspire them. Star Control 2 was made by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford, just two blokes. I'm not sure of Ford's history, but Reiche had experience from helping make extremely well recieved games such as Archon (which put Electronic Arts on the map) and the later Mail Order Monsters. The designer from Starflight was a friend of Reiche and helped them out (designing a few ships, writing a few dialogues). One of the reasons why Star Control 2 and Starflight are so similiar is because of Starflight's designer working on both. But it was still Reiche and Ford's baby.

Accolade rushed devleopment (and were so confused that the game was winning 'best game of the year' awards that they began slapping 'best sports game' on the box). Even when the game wasn't playable, they still wanted it shipped. Ford and Reiche III spent six months without pay just to finish their game the way they thought it ought to be done. They came up with interesting solutions to some of their problems. For some of the art in the intro and the aliens, they called upon one friend who had experience in porn art (look at what he slipped in at the Umgah race. Notice how one tentacle is touching a 'boob' and the other is rubbing the...?). For alien dialogue, they had various people they knew and others from around the world to help write it. For the ending scene with the grandchildren, Reiche III put in his own son (or was it daughter) into the graphics. For music, they held a contest over the Internet with the mod community. The music from SC II doesn't come from one artist but from many.

As for game design, SC II has lots underneath it. The very first video game ever made was Space War which was two space ships battling around a gravity 'pulling' planet. Many remakes of Space War has been made such as Nolan Bushnel's Computer Space and they continued in the 1980s. It was a good place to start for budding game designers. When they got down the basic Star Control melee, they added a tactical strategy element over it and, viola, you got Star Control I. For Star Control II, the took off the tactical strategy elements and put an adventure/role playing game on top.

One of the clever tricks back then with game design was to combine two game 'modes' to create a more epic adventure. Take Blaster Master. In the tank, the game is a platformer. But in buildings, the game is a futuristic dungeon explorer. Both modes working off each other made the game interesting. Guardian Legend had a mode of space shooter along with a mode of action-adventure. Archon and Adept had a mode of chess-strategy combined with a mode of action-melee. Zelda 2 had RPG mode fused with sidescrolling action mode. Actraiser had action and simulation. Master of Orion had strategy mode and tactics mode (for battles).

From many young ambitious 'indie' game designers I have met, many want to make to make an 'epic' game. They don't find the idea of making flash games or puzzles games interesting. Some stupidly think they can make a huge blockbuster AAA game on a shoestring budget with no people. It is actually common to meet some indie designers who want to make a MMORPG (!). While the desires are good, you aren't going to make an epic 3d game. A solution would be to combine game modes like game designers did in the 80s and early 90s. Take a very simple, but very addictive, gameplay (say Bomberman) and fuse it with another mode (say RPG). In your mind it sounds bad, but it just might play extremely well. Choose any example you want. How about Pong and, say, an adventure game? How would that end up being? It sounds silly but silliness is good! Everyone is tired of genres anyway so this mixing and matching of different genres catches people off guard. But more important, it keeps costs low, and makes it possible for an epic game to be made by even two people... just like Star Control 2.

 

[DyersEve]

What!! wait, are you telling me theres online melee now. How does it work? Do you play with all the shipson your side or are the teams balanced out?

 

[elektrotal]

Starcon 2 is easily one of the greatest games of all time. Fantastic writing, an incredibly detailed universe full of interesting races, and a great combat system. Also, the soundtrack was hella good.

I'd kill for Toys for Bob to make a real sequel to the game, cause even though starcon3 was decent, it doesn't hold a candle to 2.

 

[splattergnome]

Have you taken a look at the Starflight 3 project? It's a fan made sequel. Looks really interesting! here is the site: http://www.starflightcentral.com/News.aspx

It's going really slow though.

Yes, I was actually on board on the project a long while until we suffered a semi-meltdown when several programmers had to leave for personal reasons and then real life begin to infringe on everybody else. The sequel is an officially-sanctioned one by the creators of Starflight - its canon. Actually, I should recontact the current crew and ask if they want me back.

 

[Galactic Fork]

Few things in SC are more satisfying than taking out a Ur-Quan Dreadnaught in a Shofixti Scout. There will be songs about the brave crew of the Busu!