24.3 hours played
Written 1 year and 9 months ago
[h3][i]'Seek nothingness of mind, and find peace. Pursue your whirling thoughts, and find ruin. Knowing this, what else do you wish to know?'[/i]
[i]Exquivan monk people[/i][/h3]
Star Control 3 is a black sheep to StarCon series as much as Heroes 4 was to a HoMM series.
To fully enjoy what SC3 has on offer you're clearly need to achieve 'nothingness of mind' that those exquivans were talking about non stop, i.e. don't have any expectations, go in with an open mind.
[b]A quick overview:[/b]
Highlights
- ship to ship combat encounters
- simplicity, non demanding gameplay, relaxed chill atmosphere
- negotiations with other races and solving their tasks
- it's like 1996 all over again
Lowlights
- sometimes the hints on what to do next are extremely vague or even non existent; easy chance to stuck somewhere in the middle of the game without a guide;
- the universe is a static place; every event you see is scripted and non dynamic;
[b]Jumping into more details:[/b]
- I first played it somewhere in 1997, but was never able to figure out how to actually play the damn thing properly.
Now I finally found a time to amend that and was surprised at how the game slowly unveils itself and that it's just a simple fun. Especially when you don't have much time for games, SC3 is not demanding, quite relaxing and is easy to pick up and play in short bursts.
- arguably SC3 has the best hyper melee mode ever implemented for StarCon series. This is where SC3 shines the most, and it probably worth buying just for this mode alone.
it's very precise in ship rotation angles and their damage boxes, and provide lots of tactics to explore. Pretty much every ship has its own unique ways of dealing with an enemy, with its own advantages/disadvantages.
Lot of things to consider when choosing your fighter ship: flying speed, crew number, charge regeneration speed, fire range and damage per shot, alternative fire mode (drones, shields, mines, crew regeneration, etc).
Some fun facts
- Mycon podships fire a convenient auto-homing charges, but you can catch your own shot if you fly around carelessly.
- to recharge a Spathi ship shot you have to make the ship crew to cuss using the ALT fire button
- Vux ship is probably the slowest of all but it can launch bio limpets which slow down the enemy ship when attached.
- Syreen ships really seem to be the weakest of all for some reason (no firepower, not really a good ALT fire mode).
- Clairconctlar ship is a slow flying fortress, but it can leave a teleporter beacon behind which makes it extremely dangerous when it can teleport right beside your ship and discharge all of its firepower
- every ship requires lots of resources and time to be poured into it, it really adds a bit more weight and meaning to each one of them.
I really like the pseudo 3D perspective for hyper melee, it adds a bit of depth to the combat, and give a cool isometric view on the ships.
If you feel lost in it, just hit F6 to enable a plane grid, it will be much easier. If you're still don't like it then hit F5 and it'll give you a classic strict top-down view.
- it plays very much like an adventure game set in a StarCon universe. It's like a narration machine. you do some exploration, resource management, discover ancient artifacts, battle it out in melee encounters and then unlock more story pieces and scenarios as you go.
- the planet resource gathering mini-game as well as hyperspace traveling sections and all the slow transitions b/w systems and planets were left behind and replaced with planet colonies and resource management system, and automated traveling.
And it's for good, IMO. Because, let's be honest, those mini-games maybe be fun at first, but later on become quite repetitive and simply tedious.
Now it's all automated so you can focus on race negotiations, exploration, quests and melee combat.
Overall it's more like a mini strategy game + fleet battles than a hands-on arcade-adventure game that SC2 was. Which makes it closer to SC1.
- searching for ancient precursor artifacts is quite intriguing. Most of them will make possible to upgrade your battle fleet.
- the mid 90's style visuals here are cool and underrated IMO. From the rotating planets and worm holes, colony management screen with all the different looking buildings and terrain types, to a classic hyper melee mode representation, and then FMV puppets scenes that give it an early sci-fi movies look - all of it has been done in such a stylish and cohesive manner you don't really see these days.
Some indie folks could learn a thing from this game on how to make it visually striking, clean and memorable and yet not cartoony (for a change). SC:Origins visuals for example are extremely dull and childish in comparison.
- the music score is nice and pleasant at some parts of it and it can become threatening and disturbing at other parts when needed. Nothing really outstanding but it fits the theme and narrative exceptionally well. I also find it very nostalgic.
[b]About the plot:[/b]
- the plot itself is entertaining enough and keeps you on the edge of a seat wanting to find out more
- there's a leitmotif through out the game that everything is expendable: resources, costy ships, and even planet systems and races - all serve just one purpose of moving the storyline forward. All in the name of saving current galactic quadrant.
- the Ur-Quan story is probably the coolest one and somewhat tragic even. You really get to know the story behind them and why they used to be so mean to other races in the first place.
- the final Precursors twist is funny but very clever one
- overall the plot is quirky and quite imaginative, and even thought provoking at some points, it respects player's intellect.
On the contrast if you look at some modern games the plot usually tends to be on the dumb side, treating players as if they are some sort of morons only capable of pushing the ABXY buttons and can only choose from one line dialog options
[b]Overall:[/b]
If you're a retro gaming enthusiast and you're on a binge for some mid 90's stuff, I recommended it, give it a go. It's a unique game representing its time.
It's no secret that the game was released in a rough state, particularly in how it unfolds the storyline and gives you tasks to do. having a short guide on the side helps with that.
[b]Some tips for newcomers:[/b]
- make sure to understand how to play it, don't go in there blindly or you won't have any fun at all. Hit F1 on each game screen and read the descriptions on what does what, read up on the manual, or simply look up some YT videos to get a grasp on basic mechanics, it helps a lot.
- the narrative and the game itself will slowly open up as you progress and will become much more interesting. Don't expect amazing things right away at the start or some silly annoying character that will entertain you, providing some sort of an entry point for a newbie, and then describe every little detail that you could have missed.
- make sure you have enough fuel stations in different parts of the world so you won't suddenly find yourself stuck with no fuel in the middle of nowhere
- in general, if you stuck and ICOM doesn't provide any clue, and even no timed events pop up as days go by, consider looking up the guide or you'll spend lots of hours just poking around galaxy for solution. Even just to know where the certain race is really helps. Once the story will pick up it will become easier to progress further without a guide, but in SC3 it's not a smooth enough process. It may kill the pace for some people.
- make lots of separate saves as you progress, name them accordingly.
- change 'cycles=max' param in dosboxSC3.conf to fit your machine (something around 60k should be good)