Starflight

Just got back from Disneyworld and went on my favorite ride, Space Mountain. Thats the one ride in DW i actually enjoy waiting in line for. The music and atmosphere is awesome and gets my imagination running wild. Now, I'm on a space kick. I want an exploration game and this game sounds awesome. I remember messing around with it back in the day but never bothered to truly get in to it.

Was thinking about picking it up and just wanted to see how it held up.

Starflight is a very involved game. The graphics and music were never all that impressive, it's the gameplay detail and extreme amount of strategy required to get anywhere that makes the game great. I wish I had made the time to play the near complete copy I picked up a few years back. It seems like Starflight is the type of game that can only be played in a marathon fashion.

I think it holds up fairly well. Obviously graphics are dated, and it won't have the nuances of some of the newer huge space empire type games... But it it still a decent game as far as gameplay goes.

I wouldn't agree you can only do it in marathon runs, but you certainly can't take too much time between sessions or else you will just be lost in what you were trying to do.

I personally loved it. A lot of the early stages of the game require tedious mining, but once you get your ship advanced enough to explore the game really takes off. There are just so many little touches. I would recommend playing with a pen and paper and writing down all the coordinates you are told when communicating with aliens. The fun I had with it wasn't nostalgic either since I just picked it up last year, so to me it holds up great today.

Ive been playing a bit on my phone and it gets addictive. I heard the manual gives a lot of detail about the game. Its been a bit rough playing without it. I do see where bioware got a lot if inspiration from this game for Mass Effect

It's more like a book than a manual for this game.

The game is excessively redundant. A friend and I got hooked on it about seven years ago. We played it every day for about a week until one day we looked at each other and said, "What the fuck are we playing this for." All you do is explore; gather; purchase; repeat. After a while you realize you aren't even doing anything. It's vast fields can only satisfy you for so long.

Once the honeymoon is over, you'll regret you married it.

Starfight was a great idea in the 80's, but the gameplay isn't that desireable.

Is it just me, or did Bioware pay homage to this game, by having you mine stuff on the planet surfaces in Mass Effect?

Starflight is a...

Great game because its enormous, the gameplay is RPGish where you gotta decide many things,
there's the ability to invest in languages so you can talk to alien species, there's mechanics so you can repair stuff,
there's medicine so you can heal your crew, etc etc. combine this with an enormous galaxy to explore and you got
an enormous game ahead of you.

Bad game because not only are the graphics very simple the game just becomes incredibly boring after about an hour of playing,
all you do is mine and mine and make trips back to the station to sell said mined stuff.
and when you do finally get advanced enough to travel further you encounter hostile aliens, so you gotta invest in a better ship
with better weapons/shields, which means you need money, which means mining and mining and mining.

There is a (simple) story hidden in the game, but ultimately you end up not caring.

Starflight is a game that looks very promising at first, you're all like "meh I don't care about simple graphics, I am a true gamer!"
Until... you learn that this is not really a game, but more like a job.

a boring.. repetitive.. job.

I'm saving this for a special occasion myself. I don't mind the marathon aspect to playing it; that is to be expected. The one question I want to ask you guys is:

Does it have an ending? Or is it pretty much like Pirates! Gold, where you can go on and on until you retire?

No it has an ending :) I disagree with most people. I don't really think the mining parts are that bad. They can even be addictive. I also enjoyed the story. It just gives you the framework and you kind of make up your own tale based on how you explore and what aliens you piss off. Also, I didn't see the ending coming. It is sort of a twist.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to playing it.

i thoroughly enjoyed it. like an old school pc game though, the manual is totally part of the experience.

It's a good game but I agree that their is too much mining. I would have preferred a lot more diversity.

I much prefer Star Control. The emphasis is on combat but it does have some exploration and ship building, too. It's a good game for two players because it has both turn-based strategy and simultaneous action.

Sweet! A thread about a game I actually have!

I think it holds up pretty well considering that it is a port of a game that originally came out in 1987 for the PC (or equivalent in those days). Actually, many regard the Genesis version to be the best version of the game.

For a (slightly) more modern take on a similar game check out Star Control 2 (PC) or the freeware version The Ur-Quan Masters. Personally, I think Star Control 2 holds up better today than Starflight.