Star Control II is a game packed with so many memories that have stuck with us for DECADES. That's how outstanding they were. I can't remember half the games I've played this YEAR, let alone 20 years ago... but Star Control II somehow managed to pack in memorable moments that just won't fade. When Kotaku (the big video game website) did a MASSIVE, crowdsourced list of The Best PC Games of All Time, they weren't planning on crowning any "winner". It should have been just a big list in no particular order. But they put out a shocked followup article about how ONE game came out as more beloved than all the rest... in history. (Source: http://kotaku.com/the-game-that-won-our-classic-pc-games-list-if-it-ha-1349952997)
Here's an excerpt:
"Despite the fact that thousands of readers submitted and commented on hundreds of games, a few games emerged as favorites. And as time went on, I kept hearing about one game in particular. Every day or so, someone would mention how they loved it; someone would fondly remember it; someone would post a screenshot or soundtrack clip or memory from Star Control II."
It's a list made by real people, no reviewers or games writers, and Star Control II lives on in the hearts of more of their readers than any other PC game that's ever existed - citing people constantly bringing up their fond memories of play. I think we see that kind of excitement here on these forums.
So I wanted to start a thread about everyone's favorite ONE SINGLE MOMENT during their role as commander of a Precursor vessel, attempting to stop the Urquan. You can only pick one! So let's start...
So, my buddy Nick and I had heard a rumor (maybe from the Melnorme, or from another race we'd encountered) that there was some anomaly near the Circini constellation that only appears during the 17th to 19th of each month...
After I'd gotten a bigger fuel tank and enough confidence to go that far out, we made our way in that direction. We sat. We waited.
Lo and behold! The incredible happened! A portal opened up that took you to... another UNIVERSE altogether!!! It was amazing, I don't remember ever being so excited about something in a game!! And not just any universe, but a universe where fuel didn't MATTER! You could fly around Quasispace at your leisure, wherever you wanted, and no fuel was consumed. Far up in the right corner, a giant... whatever it was... just existed there, a place outside of space and time... a place where old friends had been waiting a millennium for their beloved humans to find!
The Arilou Homeworld! And they were SO happy to see their little proteges. So happy that they immediately installed a portal-spawner into our precursor vessel so that we could dip in and out of spacetime whenever we wanted!
Suddenly, the other side of the galaxy didn't seem so far away! This discovery innately changed the game and how it played. We mapped out by hand, the coordinates and general areas that each of the mini portals lead to, and used that paper map whenever we wanted to stop by the Druuge for some shady dealings... or the Utwig to save them from their despair... the Mycon to trick them into getting obliterated... or the Pkunk to convince them it was a TERRIBLE idea to merge with the Yehat.
It was grand. It was intriguing. It was a mystery discovered. It was game-changing. It was beautiful.
How about everyone else? Any ONE memory that sticks out in your mind, even 20+ years later? Let's give these developers some ammo to create a game that will stick with us for the NEXT 20 years.
I was really giddy when I saw this on the screen:
And this gave me Kreygasm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPpYAUmNzY8
Too many to mention but i will reply in a somewhat different fashion, The one on one combat was addicting and it was fun exploring the local star system,but when i actually clicked on the word Starmap
i was in total Awe when what before me was a map of the Universe, immediately giving me a sense of the vastness of space and the ever so intriguing planets and intelligence, treasures, technology that i know will be out there ! !
Provided, i am prepared and that i could in Realtime (not like rts click and point) But in Real time control my ship to any star system on the map and exploring the awe of each planet entering a system, what an adventure ! and experiencing anything along the way that i might have to encounter or overcome. Fuel shortages, aliens, probes... nice screenshots cuorebrave i also liked the analysis of the planet showing me the conditions i would be facing scanning the planet.
It really gave a sense of realism, it felt like i was really out in space at any given planet deep in space probing it's conditions and actually being there knowing i might send down a ship to explore it after pondering the conditions and the reward factor and just out of pure curiosity to know what the planet looks like on the surface and what i would be experiencing there ! !
The dare, the sense of exploration and excitement ! Just as exciting as traveling to outer space to unknown star systems and unknown regions !
Here in addition to your pictures, i would add the starmap, a picture of any star system with the planets orbiting it's star.
One on One combat and of course Hyperspace travel.
a few years ago, i read about the russian Venera 9 probe that was sent to Venus by the russians, and reading about it anticipating what the lander had to "feel" as it went through the different stages of the planets atmosphere and then actually landed and take pictures, what an accomplishment for the human race, that inspiration is taken to the extreme with Star Control where you actually get to explore the Planets in the whole universe and the diverse kinds of planets you get is mind blowing !
Look at for example this latest amazing discovery : http://phys.org/news/2015-10-vista-component-milky.html
A strange planet one of many called Cepheids which varies in size and brightness at a given timespan, then you get magnetars, quasars, double star systems, different ring formations, and of course black holes and their astronomical effects, just to name a few.
Another idea that i would like to see being implemented in star control is upon entering the planet system it should slightly rotate ie the planets around the sun, and of course you want to see the planets rotate as well. This a fine touch to make it seem ever more realistic, and one has to actually catch up to a planet while it is moving in it's orbit around it's star like the real universe. There should be some stars that is difficult to get in orbit about as well, the reward when actually catching up with the planet discovering what the planet holds in store would be interesting and adventurous.
above post edited.
edited again.(final edit)
Just one? You ask the impossible!
Perhaps it's because so much of the play time is spent piloting through Hyperspace, but that would probably be my answer. I had purchased the "Role Playing Resource Guide" (or strategy guide, as we'd refer to it now) by Paul and Fred along with the game back in 1993 and it came with a very large and detailed foldout map that marked locations of interest. Such a thing may be outdated by today's standards, but I spent a lot of time carefully examining it while my ship was on autopilot to plan where I'd go next, trying to think a few steps ahead to optimize both time and fuel. I'm curious whether there's some modern analog of this idea that could be adapted; perhaps an in-game star chart to help the player decide where to travel based on the basic knowledge provided, prompting you to keep exploring further.
I've posted here about the Hyperspace travel element of the game being one I'd love to see expanded on. It was nice to have autopilot available just to be able to listen to the Hyperspace theme and not have to worry about maneuvering the ship, but I think it's also an area where the game fell short because it slowed the pace of player involvement and could be a bit unengaging at times. I loved the little artistic details like the shooting stars that would pierce the fabric of Hyperspace and then instantly disappear again like entering a puddle and presumably ending up in some other dimension. There's great opportunity to make some astounding visuals like that for the new game.
I'd love to see Stardock make the process of faster than light travel a lot more dramatic. Anyone who's seen the shot of the Millennium Falcon going to hyperspace in the latest Force Awakens trailer knows what I'm talking about. The warp effect from the most recent Star Trek movie was pretty cool too, where the engines rumbled to life with white light and left a pair of blue contrails behind, as if they were cosmic burnt rubber. There should be a sense of theater as you accelerate to incredible speeds to travel between stars. I feel like a lot of games involving space travel casually overlook just how amazing such an experience would be and take it completely for granted and I'd like to really feel the emotion of the speed and power involved.
Forgive the brief hijack but I've personally imagined a more ideal perspective for Hyperspace would be more of a command view from the top rear of our ship looking forward out to the distant horizon (yes I know there technically isn't one in space) and as we hit these incredible speeds, the view distorts and stretches with the classic "dolly zoom" effect as we watch the stars and nebula we're used to seeing in a fixed position flying past us as though we were on a bullet train!
Something a bit like this...
Just one? Well, that'll cut the thread posts down for sure! Hmm...just one. Just one....
It would have to be when I figured out that the Rainbow Worlds made an arrow to the galactic core. My original poster map was marked up with tape and post-it notes, and had stickers for the Rainbow World locations. After so much searching, and a few game restarts, I found the last few ones. When I discovered them, it all came together on the included star map. A FREAK'N arrow to the galactic core! Its then when the game ended I was put in eternal (ahem) torture. What the heck was at the galactic core??? I needed more story...that I never really got.
Rainbow worlds...brilliant idea for adding to the mystery of the Precursors.
ugh. Just one?
I loved playing Melee / SuperMelee with friends. Back before the Internet, we had to play while sharing a keyboard. It was a great bonding experience.
Fast forward to today... One of my co-workers is doing an Extra Life 24-hour game-a-thon for the Children's Miracle Network this Saturday. Because I was one of the first people to donate, I get to choose what he plays for an hour. I'm going to introduce him to SuperMelee. We're going to be playing SC2 for charity! How awesome is that?
This is like, the best thing I've ever heard!
Here's an update...
My co-worker did his Extra Life broadcast. I was slotted in the morning to come in and play SC2/UQM SuperMelee. What I didn't realize, though, was how much of a fan my co-worker was for local multi-player games. Not only did we spend the hour playing SuperMelee, he went back to it later on in the evening and showed it to his friends. I got him hooked! ("When did this game come out?" "1992" "Wow! It held up well!")
One stellar moment: One of his friends pulled off a 5-reincarnation run of the Pkunk against him. They were cracking up. "That's so cheap!" "You're such a button masher." Hahaha
This is what I want to see come from the reboot. I want a bunch of friends sitting around a monitor or TV, trash talking, while playing SuperMelee.
Picking a singular memory to present is super difficult but my knee jerk reaction was... the Melnorme's bridge turning purple.
My favorite moment has to be when my best friend showed me the game for the first time. He came over and helped me install the Ur-Quan Masters and subtly guided me through some of the tougher puzzles. He got me hooked. I got really involved in the fledgling community at the time and even got to work with the creators of Ur-Quan Masters: Project 6014 as a voice actor. I don't think one video game has left quite as profound an impact on me as Star Control II. It'll forever be one of my favorites.
I have several favorite moments, but one of the ones that sticks out in my mind the most (not necessarily my favorite moment, but the most shocking) was when the Kohr-Ah came through Yehat and Pkunk space and killed my two favorite races in the game, after that I attempted to search their planets in vain trying to find any signs of life. I remember that after that I returned to SOL to make my final stand, with my ship and my crew versus the entire Kohr-Ah fleet, we took many of those sickly black vessels down with us, but we eventually were overran and I fell back to earth and defended my planet against the relentless waves of Kohr-Ah. Eventually we lost but nothing more was more awesome than ripping through dozens of Kohr-Ah vessels with Hellborne cannons defending your home planet. I would love it if in the new Star Control they found some way that you could effectively defend earth from this kind of attack directly, recreating the total badassery that I felt on that day.
Going to trade with the Druuge and having them fill all my fuel tanks when they are nearly empty and hearing what he calls me.
Druuge: Aieee! I am ruined! You have sucked my full tanks until they are dry! Cruel Monster! Bloated Villain! Slicer of innocent throats! What shall I tell the Manager?! My spouse?!
I feel tempted to one day go with a flagship that has nothing but high efficiency fuel tanks.
Tricking the Ilwrath that you are their gods and the things you can make them do is also hilarious.
My favorite SCII memory of playing was scoring perfect hits with diagonal shots. Somehow, my friends never got wise to that.
My favorite SCII memory was getting into astronomy and recognizing the constellations and star names.
Back when I was working as a designer, in 1999, one of the programmers came into the break room one morning and mentioned that PC Gamer was going to have a list of the Top 100 games of the century in their next issue. My immediate reaction was "I bet Star Control II doesn't even make the list, and I would put it at #1". I was the only person in the office who had ever heard of Star Control II and spent the next week hearing comments about how I thought some "obscure game only you remember is the best game ever made".
Then the issue came out and, for very different reasons, both I and everyone else in the office was shocked to see Star Control II at #6 on the list. I thought it had to be a better list than I was thinking it would be, and everyone else had a new-found respect for me and remembered why they had hired me to begin with
Picking only one is TOUGH.
I'd have to say...flying into Androsynth/Orz space for the first time, and landing on that creepy planet! The mystery of their disappearance was bad enough, but then the only real clue left behind is a floating *happy camper* fish race that I can't understand!
That was frustratingly mysterious in the BEST possible way.
To this day, I personally think solving the mystery of the Androsynth and Orz is the far bigger plot of the whole of SC2. I wish they would have made that the overarching story, even surpassing the Ur-Quan storyline.
For me, picking out a singular experience that I loved the most in Star Control II, because it is such a vast and vibrant world, and to me picking out one point is selling short the entire all-encompassing experience. However, if I was to pick a single moment that stands out the most, or had the biggest impact, it would be the Kohr-Ah genocide sweep. When I first saw them moving my instinct was "Oh, that cannot be good", then the Ur-Quan cries of terror solidified that fact. I flew to the Yehat and Pkunk, my best-est allies to warn them of the impeding danger, but I was too late, all that was left was the smoldering remains of their once great cities. Eventually I flew back to Sol and made my last stand around Earth, defeating dozens of fleets of Kohr-Ah Marauders with my souped-up Vindicator. I inevitably went down, but it was a good run and I took as many of those murderers down with me! Huzzah!
"... we shall TEAR THE QUEEN FROM HER THRONE!The two-thousand year reign of the Veep-Neep Queens is OVER!THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN!!!"Goosebumps everytime.
3DO ending, hands down.
Was an amazing reward.
Wow. I've NEVER seen that before. I guess my four 1.44mb floppy disks couldn't hold such an incredible CG video!
When you explore the 3rd Androsynth ruin... wow.
There's alot of not so serious dialogs... and then that hits you... Reading that combined with parts of the Arilou and Orz dialog is some pretty *heavy* stuff. (tee hee)
Also Juffo-Wup....My friends and I used to debate what was more powerful. The great potato from the Dinosaur TV show, or Juffo-Wup.
My biggest Star Control 2 memory? Hyperspace music.
Several times after school, I would sit outside the school yard as the sun sets and the stars begin to show themselves. I notice Venus... the moon... Then I whistle the hyperspace theme. It always gives me goosebumps, even now.
^ Glad to see this on here again.
(video credit is mine, btw)
This is actually my second favorite memory - I've spent countless hours wondering... OHMYGOD what ACTUALLY happened to the Androsynth?? Something discovered them, just because the androsynth were looking? And what did it DO to them? Where did they GO?!?! Are they dead? Are they somewhere *else*? Did it hurt?
It equal-parts fascinating and terrifying. Certainly the biggest and best mystery in a video game.
Rivaled only by "The Book of Durin's Truth" in Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Anyone who's played that game knows what I mean... glorious game-making.
Stardock should look at both of those for inspiration.
I don't know if this has been shared here, but I always found this guy's blind playthrough of SC2 interesting (though it was frustrating at times). It makes me so proud to see his curiosity turn into deep admiration as he went deeper into the story. He eventually did a video in retrospect, digging deep into the psyche of the different aliens in the game - but none more compelling than the Ur-Quan.
I thought this video is quite relevant now that SC: Origins is on the way - a reminder of the huge shoes it has to fill.
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