I am surprised that there isn't a topic for this. It comes out in a months time and is the successor to one of the greatest video games I have ever played. So much so that after five years of not playing anything on my PC I went out and bout another just so I could play this. Had an hour on the Beta last night, you have to pay for the privilege of it. And I wasn't overly impressed. It looks the part, and feels right. But the tutorials need some work. The first tutorial is to take your ship out of the station and land it again. Only there are no attempts at instructions. I paused the game and looked at the controls, still nothing discernible. So in the end I tried random buttons. Managed to fire off a few shots unintentionally and was killed by the station security. In the end google was my friend. They need to work on this before the full release.

The next exercise was shoot some stationary targets, pretty straight forward, I knew how to use my guns. But then I had to take on an active target. It did not go well. I'll update you after I try it again tonight.

I have a friend who is playing this and enjoying it. It was kickstarter funded wasn't it. I may look into it once it goes alpha if my machine can cope.

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"There is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan." - Worth, Cube

Can't see it having the same appeal as the original.
One of the most incredible aspects of Elite was the amount it did with such a small amount of computing power available to it. Now that the graphics are so much better and the world is used to a much higher level of gaming experience, will Elite still be that best of the best?

I like the idea of a true sandbox, which I hope they keep. In the original, yes the game was geared up for basic trading, but you could effectively make a living taking out pirates or even attacking other ships for their cargo (But the space police were a problem then) I've not looked into this too hard but I reckon the game could be improved with some more modern mechanics, not story or plot but the idea of actually being able to look at a list of bounties to work as a bounty hunter and potentially run escort missions for freight carriers, as well as basic trading.

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"There is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan." - Worth, Cube

In the original, I found that once you had achieved a decent rating (yes, I got to being Elite) the piracy side was much more enjoyable to play. The police couldn't really do a great deal once you had better weaponry than them, lol

Yeah, I remember the police being a complete pain until you reached a certain level then I'd just attack a station for the lolz. Of course it was called lolz back then, it was for a laugh, and you stopped when your Mam made you come to the table to eat your dinner. Unless it captures that sort of atmosphere it won't work. But I am still looking forward to this. Didn't get on last night, damn Flash and Elementary taking up near two hours of my night.

And if you were lucky you might be able to use the family phone to call a friend, from the hall - because that is where the only phone was!

Best memories I have of playing Elite was when I was over at a friends house and there were the three of us hunched over the BBC Micro or (whatever my mate had at the time) keyboard all sat side by side with certain control buttons that we were responsible for, because Elite had a ridiculous number of keys to use for the time, and you couldn't possibly remember all of them. So we essentially had a ships crew of three with a captain, weapons officer and navigator. Fantastic immersive fun from a game which was just a collection of simple geometric wireframes on a black backdrop. And an incredibly deep game for a time when the alternatives were the likes Frogger, Donkey Kong and Lombard Rally, also cool games in their own right, but Elite just took it to another level.

Happy memories of the BBC Micro - an elegant machine for a more civilised age

I tried to get my brother to be my keyboard man back in the day, but he only liked Zaxxon and Defender. I offered to let him control the navigation, i.e. the Joystick, but he'd just start blasting at anything and get us killed.

I've just started with the Gamma release.

So far, very Elite.

In that I have crashed into the station 5 times just taking off, am still struggling to get my Joypad sensitivity right to actually manuver and I am needing to write everything down as the keyboard controls and UI are really really complex.

I think I'm in love...........

:P

I might buy this when it is properly released as it sounds like

1, A lot of fun
2, A game that will use all the buttons on my absurd Joystick (Fnarr) So far only Microsoft Flight simulator, Ace Combat and Mechwarrior boast that.

Torn though as I also like the look of Bedlam, but I may start a thread on that.

Also I feel Steam sale season may be very damaging this year.

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"There is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan." - Worth, Cube

Haven't they said you have to play it online, so this isn't like you can save your progress and dip in and out, this sounds more like AAtraders, where you would leave for the day with a massive ship and a whole system full of planets, and wake up the next day with only an escape pod to your name.

I think the idea is for it to be a bit MMO, but presumably your ship is safe wherever you leave it when you log out. Depending on how they set up their PVP system it could make things very off putting if you log on and instantly get killed by a bundle of people who spend 12 hrs a day getting the top gear.

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"There is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan." - Worth, Cube

But that means whenever your ship is being attacked by other players you could just log off and come back the next day when they were gone.

You can opt to play it Solo, but you still need an internet connection active to do so.

But you can pause etc as you try to figure out where the afterburners are , or how to disengage from Jumpspace...

Its caused a bit of controvesy as Complete Solo play was one of the options presente in the initial scope, but Frontiers arguemt is that even with Solo play, much of the game has to be streamed/fed to keep it awesome.

And it is awesome.

Only played two MMOs, and both were very restrictive on when you could PVP.

In STar Trek online all PvP is done within instances and you only get rewards earned when the instance ends. You could log off before you die but you would loose out on any rewards due.

In City of Heroes, PVP was only in certain zones. The log out trick was foiled by having a 10 second wait before disconnecting. Effectively if you were dying you had to stand still for 10 seconds before you actually left. could work for Elite, in a PVP area logging out takes 10 seconds of no activity. Effectively, Sit still and definitely die or make a fight of it.

Anyone playing it online? How does it work

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"There is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan." - Worth, Cube

Andrew, pausing the game in Solo isn't a proper option. I was attacked by an NPC whilst looking for something online. The fact it has launched without a manual is a right pain. It is a great game, difficult, but with a sense of reward. But not having a clue what half the controls are is a pain.

Had the game since Beta but haven't been able to play it very much due to work so hopefully will get to play it a bit more over Xmas. My first thought is that docking is still a pain, now you have to request permission to dock (that took me so-long to find out), once again get through the slot (easier than the original) and then find your landing pad

Sometimes it makes you wonder if designers really don't want the casual gamer to play