Distant Worlds: Universe - space 4x done right - May 23 Release

[Cyborg]

I just have to say, I bought Universe, and I'm excited to play as soon as it shows up on steam.


Modifying this incredibly angry post to say, get the product on steam if at all possible instead of their website. You'll be glad you did.


 

[chemical_art]

Just so you know, I took a gamble on _all_ of you when I bought this for $50. We shall see how it goes.

The reviews claim this is the best of 4x there is...I pray you are right. I want to wreck some ****.

So I load a tutorial, and holy snikes, the game fights me to zoom in!


This is not good! Someone described this as the dwarf fortress of 4X. Holy snapes, I didn't expect that to be literal!

Arcen, make your 4X already! "Good" 4X's are not friendly to "old timers" of the genre, I don't know how to attract new players with this model. In other words, if I have to fight the tutorials, how can I fight your game...?

[Cyborg]

Just so you know, I took a gamble on _all_ of you when I bought this for $50. We shall see how it goes.

The reviews claim this is the best of 4x there is...I pray you are right. I want to wreck some ****.

So I load a tutorial, and holy sspecific thing on your foot brands, the game fights me to zoom in!


This is not good! Someone described this as the dwarf fortress of 4X. Holy snapes, I didn't expect that to be literal!

Arcen, make your 4X already! "Good" 4X's are not friendly to "old timers" of the genre, I don't know how to attract new players with this model. In other words, if I have to fight the tutorials, how can I fight your game...?

You need to increase the resolution and use the zoom presets.

[Shrugging Khan]

[Shameless advertising] 

And do they still have one race of *women*, who's main purpose is to dance, cook, wear makeup, host parties for the male races and carry giant cleavages to the stars?

[tbrass]

If you buy it on their site, you get a steam key in addition to the DRM-free installer (except for a serial verification, and I think that it's a local check anyway). A few hoops to jump through, but evidently the dev earns more money.

In either case, I hope that you enjoy it!

@Shrugging Kahn - I don't really know how to respond except to say -- it's not advertising if I have no financial stake, right? I mean, I "advertise" TLF to the same extent elsewhere. I think I'm more shamelessly plugging a few products that I enjoy and think others might enjoy. What's with the cleavage query?

[Shrugging Khan]

Disregard the advertising thing, 'twas in jest.

The cleavage thing refers to the time I played DW (looong ago, must've been at least three years), and I got the unavoidable impression that the devs, or at least whoever did their writing and artwork, were hopeless virgins, locked in a tower, who'd never seen or conversed with an actual woman. Or hardcore old-school Star Trek fans, which probably comes down the same thing.

I can't believe I'm actually going to do research on this, but here we go:
http://distant-worlds.wikispot.org/Securan

...yeah. Maybe I just don't get the game's sense of humour.

[Mick]

Strange, says nothing about it being a race of women. Why would you assume that? Maybe you should check your own biases.

[Ucchedavada]

Indeed, there is nothing to suggest that it is a female only race. In fact, the text does refer to males specimens.

They just happen to be a race of (sexy) aliens who excels at "performance art, especially singing and dancing" as well as cooking, theater, and throwing parties for their guests, who happen have a lot of sex, and who are represented by a scantly clad female specimen.


I guess they are a fitting foil to the "Captain Kirk" humans of DW.

[Wingflier]

Good lord this is like a Feminist's worst nightmare. I hope this game can stay under the radar enough to avoid the attention of those Nazis.

[Cyborg]

In this day and age of political correctness, it is a bit of an anachronism.

[Ucchedavada]

It is rather strange to see Feminism equated with an ideology that is as decidedly anti-Feminist as Nazism. One should probably also think twice before using the label "Nazis" as a smear against one's (political) opponents, considering the extent to which the Third Reich themselves actively engaged in such tactics in order to dehumanize their victims and to justify their atrocities. It is certainly an example worth not following.

[Cyborg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

[Shrugging Khan]

I guess they are a fitting foil to the "Captain Kirk" humans of DW.

That's pretty much the only non-insulting explanation I have for them.
I really can't get myself to touch DW. It feels to me that I'd be somehow sullied by playing it.

And mind you, I'm certainly no feminist...I just can't get over how bad the race characterisations are.

[Wingflier]

So all gender stereotyping and politically correctness aside, how is the game? What are your first impressions?

[tbrass]

I am enjoying it immensely. I had already played hundreds of hours with a previous expansion, and the added ancient world storyline & ability to play as a pirate... well, I find it delightful. Definitely the most replayable 4x I have encountered.

Now that I have had a chance to think about the scantly clad Securans, I absolutely agree that the (male) Humans ought to be more objectified in order to balance the potential for titillation/offense.  Perhaps I will suggest that the DW:Extended mod include a race modeled after these pictures: http://kirksnakedchest.tumblr.com/

So, initial impressions:
Definitely smoother running than the previous version. Far less noticeable late-game slowdown. The ancient galaxy storyline is really, really tough. Somehow I played 8hrs straight last night and am a little slow today ;-)

It lives up to my expectations.

Recommended, especially as Matrix is planning on maintaining their pricing structure, so the 10% off release price (+discounts if you own other DW titles and purchase through Matrix) is the lowest price you're likely to see for a while and you may never see a 50% off discount.