Subset Games Forum

To abate some of the inevitable flaming I'm going to get from this post: I love FTL. I sadly missed the Kickstarter for this game, but I bought it the second it was available and played it hard ever since.

Now to my point: it seems like the game begins to wear very thin in the long term. Everything I loved about it when i bought it; The challenge, the randomness, the sheer hardness of the game, has just come to irritate me. Instead of shrugging my shoulders and soldiering on when i encounter the third ship in a row with three missile launchers that starts with guys boarding through my zoltan shields, I roll my eyes and quit. all the challenge seems to have boiled down to just a defeated sense of resignment, particularly when playing on normal.

"Oh look, another automated ship bristling with weapons that eradicate my shields to open me up for the two beam drones it's also running somehow." Is something I find myself saying more often.

Does this happen to anyone else? I won't back down on my loving of the game, I think it's one of the best games to come out in a VERY long time. But this constant sense of low-lying frustration, combined with the sheer ridiculousness behind trying to pin down a crystal ship, has really worn down my enthusiasm for the game.

Is it just a case of needing to uninstall and come back to it later? Or does anyone else think there could be another solution?

I got jaded pretty badly trying to beat the game without shields, and i have felt the pain of several emeny ships in a row with the exact damn weapon loadout that i'm most vulnerable to...

Maybe the ship has sailed, maybe the fun comes back if you take a break. I never play to win anymore and never care about the result. I do get a boner when i survive the insurvivable and delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

It's not the addictive game it once was, and some of the charm is gone, but i do love it and never play with mods (except when making my own) and still find it appealing and fun. Just not as much as when it was new, but that's normall i guess.

cuthawolf wrote: Now to my point: it seems like the game begins to wear very thin in the long term. Everything I loved about it when i bought it; The challenge, the randomness, the sheer hardness of the game, has just come to irritate me.

Is it just a case of needing to uninstall and come back to it later? Or does anyone else think there could be another solution?

I think you bring up valid points that should be considered when the expansion and/or sequel is being designed. FTL has some really interesting new mechanics, and it also has some warts. Hopefully the warts will get removed and the interesting mechanics expanded upon in the next iteration of the series.

In the meantime take a break, no point in playing if it's frustrating.

It's very rare to find a game that you can play forever, you probably need to take a break and enjoy something else for a while or at least try some mods.

I think this game provides good value for the money in terms of playtime, but if there is ever an expansion to give us even more I'm all for it.

I personally think the game mode is the result of a distinct long-term appeal. Every game needs a sandbox mode. I too love FTL, and the game mode (run for your life to the end boss) is pretty neat, but it can't stand by itself. A trading mode or a war-type conquest mode is needed to stand with it. Working your way up through ranks, upgrading to new ships (in a linear fashion, from small frigates to larger ships) trading, making endless amounts of money, etc. I think the current game mode should not be too hard to expand to a trading game, much like many space traders already available (like star trader for iphone / android)

That's my personal opinion... Other than that I wouldn't change much about FTL, aside from how mod-able it is.