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[epmode]

Cataclysm had a cockpit view mode. It was glorious, the closest you can get to a Freespace experience. A Homeworld/Freespace hibrid is my dream game.

Did you see the clip I linked? Because Enemy Starfighter is almost exactly that. I don't think there's going to be much of a story but everything else screams Homeworld + space sim.

Cockpit view mode was also in the original Homeworld, BTW. Unfortunately, its framerate is limited to ~15 FPS since that's how slowly the ships update their position in the simulation.

 

[Baalzebup]

I will buy this, yeeeessshhh. And I will also mourn the lack of Cataclysm, the superlative Homeworld entry.

Music was/is a really strong element in all 3 games and I couldn't name favourite between the 3 in this sense, but many gameplay elements were easily at their best in Cataclysm. I also preferred that particular narrative, mission structure and the general mood presented in Cata.

I do still laugh at the re-appearance of the Caal-Shto (or something) with the creepy beast-voice and the crew of Kuun-Laan somehow being completely obvious to it.

I noted a few posts glorifying the Bentusi Super-Acolytes. While they certainly were a nice addition to the arsenal, the best offensive element of Cataclysm was easily the Siege Cannon. Some of the crazy shit you could pull of with that thing beggars belief. SP AND MP.

 

[Unbound By Death]

No cataclysm?

Still, what an amazing series. One of the reasons i had lower grades at school.

 

[j_k_redtail]

37 minutes of gameplay with a developer panel discussion in glorious HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtqy0CGur4

 

[DBT85]

Gearbox: "Want a New Homeworld? Buy this Re-release!"

Honestly it's more like "want to play one of the best series ever made that wasn't released 3 years ago? Buy this remaster".

 

[ashecitism]

37 minutes of gameplay with a developer panel discussion in glorious HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtqy0CGur4

Thanks, put that in OP.

 

[twobear]

I have to say I'm not entirely sold on their visual remaster. I had always thought that the flatter look of the games was deliberate, and matched the artstyle of the cutscenes.

There's obviously a lot of care behind the visuals here, I just think they took it in a direction I wouldn't personally have gone.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

37 minutes of gameplay with a developer panel discussion in glorious HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtqy0CGur4

Mother of god.

 

[Savitar]

I enjoyed Sins but a lack of campaign just left me feeling a bit bored. I like campaigns.

A campaign would have been great I admit but I liked the nature of the game itself and how open it was once you began a match. Playing on the biggest maps with tons of enemies was always a blast and you never knew if you'd get lucky or have three or four different factions at your throat. Making giant ships and weapons was fun.

 

[CarbonFire]

No cataclysm?

Still, what an amazing series. One of the reasons i had lower grades at school.

Cataclysm is in intellectual property rights hell, Gearbox doesn't have the rights to it. There's also a question of whether anyone even has the original source code for the game, since both the developer (Barking Dog/Rockstar Vancouver) and publisher (Sierra) no longer exist.

 

[funkypie]

was interested in but no way paying £22 for this old ass game (as good as it is).

 

[epmode]

was interested in but no way paying £22 for this old ass game (as good as it is).

I might even agree if it wasn't for the fact that there simply isn't anything else like Homeworld.

(Dismissing something as an "old-ass game" is a pretty lousy criticism though. Especially something as beautiful as this. Controls are still excellent as well.)

 

[CosmicQueso]

was interested in but no way paying £22 for this old ass game (as good as it is).

Blarf.

Sure doesn't look "old ass" and it sure isn't playing that way either.

 

[vazel]

was interested in but no way paying £22 for this old ass game (as good as it is).

Of all the remastered games you're going to complain about the value of this one? They put a lot of work into upgrading the visuals, remastering the audio, and Karan's VO got rerecorded for Homeworld 2.

 

[Gormenghast]

Sadly, looking at the screenshots and videos, looks like they upgraded the engine but entirely gutted the palette the game was using with its azure and orange colors.

That's a rather big downside to the look & feel.

 

[Tunesmith]

Bought and am chilling out listening to the old Homeworld Gold soundtrack by Paul. Seriously best ambient soundtrack (and credits song) ever.

 

[DBT85]

Lol, the 37 minute video they talk about the texture sizes. New mothership about 10MB, original mothersihp about 200kb.

Sadly, looking at the screenshots and videos, looks like they upgraded the engine but entirely gutted the palette the game was using with its azure and orange colors.

That's a rather big downside to the look & feel.

I genuinely am not seeing what you are seeing.

 

[Maulik]

So is a gaf clan going to happen so we can stage epic 4v4 no rushing matches? I just need an excuse to throw capital ships at one another.

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

Wish this included Cataclysm, but ah well. Day one.

 

[Maulik]

Also, anyone have a handy list of must install mods for this? I remember complex from back in the day.

 

[Yarbskoo]

37 minutes of gameplay with a developer panel discussion in glorious HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtqy0CGur4

I really like a lot of the things going on here. I especially like the idea of Steam Workshop support, hopefully we can get fun ship and faction mods, and maybe some that tweak the bloom.

Not sure I'm feeling the new collection method for the Homeworld 1 Resource Collectors though.

It just sort of latches on to the side of it like a Salvage Corvette, whereas in the original, it could still fly around the object while it was collecting, and the beam thingy was coming from a different location on the ship.

The texture animation of the asteroid getting harvested is different from the model scaling in the original, but I don't really mind.

 

[Myggen]

Please don't fuck this up, Gearbox. Please don't fuck this up, Gearbox. Please don't fuck this up, Gearbox. Please don't fuck this up, Gearbox.

I hope this is as good as it looks.

 

[Lime]

I really like a lot of the things going on here. I especially like the idea of Steam Workshop support, hopefully we can get fun ship and faction mods, and maybe some that tweak the bloom.

Not sure I'm feeling the new collection method for the Homeworld 1 Resource Collectors though.

It just sort of latches on to the side of it like a Salvage Corvette, whereas in the original, it could still fly around the object while it was collecting, and the beam thingy was coming from a different location on the ship.


The texture animation of the asteroid getting harvested is different from the model scaling in the original, but I don't really mind.

you just made me worry about the possible changes

 

[chrominance]

Cataclysm is in intellectual property rights hell, Gearbox doesn't have the rights to it. There's also a question of whether anyone even has the original source code for the game, since both the developer (Barking Dog/Rockstar Vancouver) and publisher (Sierra) no longer exist.

Was that actually confirmed? Still watching the PAX South panel, but my impression before was that it was a matter of the source code being missing, but that Gearbox owned everything about the Homeworld franchise otherwise.

EDIT: Someone had to do it. Here are the graphics options from the IGN video:

You CAN turn the depth of field effects off, in case that bothered anyone. You can also set it to do DOF during cinematics only, if you were worried about it getting in the way of battle.

 

[DBT85]

Also, anyone have a handy list of must install mods for this? I remember complex from back in the day.

Not yet, but a bunch of the people who made the mods were people who helped out on the remaster, including the Complex mod author.

Gearbox didn't even get any tools for Homeworld so went to the community to use theirs and then build on those.

Praying for BSG mod.

 

[Yarbskoo]

you just made me worry about the possible changes

Well it's possible it's only a placeholder animation for the beta. Even if it isn't, it's possible it could be modded back to the way it used to be.

 

[j_k_redtail]

I really like a lot of the things going on here. I especially like the idea of Steam Workshop support, hopefully we can get fun ship and faction mods, and maybe some that tweak the bloom.

Not sure I'm feeling the new collection method for the Homeworld 1 Resource Collectors though.

It just sort of latches on to the side of it like a Salvage Corvette, whereas in the original, it could still fly around the object while it was collecting, and the beam thingy was coming from a different location on the ship.


The texture animation of the asteroid getting harvested is different from the model scaling in the original, but I don't really mind.

I'm sort of curious as to what else they changed. For instance, I'm wondering how formations will be implemented, as most of the really cool ones were removed from HW2.

And what about strikecraft (fighter/corvette) behavior? In the original game, fighters were limited by fuel and all strikecraft were controlled as single units; in the sequel strikecraft are built in squads. I personally preferred the sequel in that regard, but I can play either way. In the video, you see HW2 interceptors, scouts, corvettes operate in squads, but I couldn't find any comparable HW1 footage.

 

[Yarbskoo]

EDIT: Someone had to do it. Here are the graphics options from the IGN video:

You CAN turn the depth of field effects off, in case that bothered anyone. You can also set it to do DOF during cinematics only, if you were worried about it getting in the way of battle.

I'll probably have DOF on for cinematics, and turn off bloom if there's no way to just tone it down a bit.

EDIT: What's Depth Bias? Is that to prevent z-fighting?

 

[Maulik]

Any chance of a close to unlimited unit count? I would love to just spawn 15 battleships purely to admire their majesty.

 

[chrominance]

Any chance of a close to unlimited unit count? I would love to just spawn 15 battleships purely to admire their majesty.

In Homeworld 1 you could break the unit cap by capturing enemy vessels. There's a mission where you have to

Spoiler

break through a giant sphere formation of ion cannon frigates guarding some giant structure

, and by that point I'd already become quite familiar with salvage corvettes.

I've never had so much fun breaking a game. It was like sneaking one cookie after another from the kitchen after bedtime while your parents were in the next room watching TV. I reaaaaaaaaaally hope Gearbox didn't "fix" that little issue.

(That said, I'm guessing they're going to keep the same restrictions as before. The talk of mod support makes it likely that someone will remove the unit cap just because they can, though.)

 

[Yarbskoo]

Any chance of a close to unlimited unit count? I would love to just spawn 15 battleships purely to admire their majesty.

I'm not sure. I seem to remember having so many frigates in the original that, in Military Parade Formation, the line of frigates went out of view from the Mothership.

Which reminds me of another question: Do we know if draw distances are larger in the remaster?

 

[DBT85]

While I've not seen anything official to say they are, and I can't remember well enough the draw distances in the original, I'd have to guess yes if only because it's a much updated engine.

Check out the 37 minute video above, loads of game footage in there zipping all over the map.

What sohuld also be added from that video is that a new huge art book is being released (not the one in the CE) as well as the soundtrack.

 

[NeoFaff]

Tempted by the model in the CE but £100 is a high asking price

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

Did a double-take before realizing it's not Homefront.

 

[The Cowboy]

That IGN video is nice, really considering a purchase - just hoping its coded decently to use AMD CPUs, i would suspect it is but really looking forward to some benchmarks.

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

I'm sort of curious as to what else they changed. For instance, I'm wondering how formations will be implemented, as most of the really cool ones were removed from HW2.

And what about strikecraft (fighter/corvette) behavior? In the original game, fighters were limited by fuel and all strikecraft were controlled as single units; in the sequel strikecraft are built in squads. I personally preferred the sequel in that regard, but I can play either way. In the video, you see HW2 interceptors, scouts, corvettes operate in squads, but I couldn't find any comparable HW1 footage.

I'm hoping they fix the balancing especially with HW2. *shakes fist at Balcora Gate*

 

[Maulik]

I'm not sure. I seem to remember having so many frigates in the original that, in Military Parade Formation, the line of frigates went out of view from the Mothership.

Which reminds me of another question: Do we know if draw distances are larger in the remaster?

I do hope so. I'm really hoping the multiplayer community will be large to support interesting match types / mod fights.

 

[mantidor]

Did you see the clip I linked? Because Enemy Starfighter is almost exactly that. I don't think there's going to be much of a story but everything else screams Homeworld + space sim.

Cockpit view mode was also in the original Homeworld, BTW. Unfortunately, its framerate is limited to ~15 FPS since that's how slowly the ships update their position in the simulation.

Really? I did not know that about HW1. I was on my phone but I'll check your link now thanks!

37 minutes of gameplay with a developer panel discussion in glorious HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtqy0CGur4

I replayed Homeworld so much I immediately recognized they redid the audio, I hope the originals still have their old audio intact, it was a bit jarring there, I know the garden's cutscene by heart heh.

I know it's just nitpicking but for the first time I'm starting to understand purists

 

[cityhunter]

So is it only available in Amazon UK? I tried the US site and it's unavailable. I really want the collector's edition. Can anyone help me out with this?

 

[Lime]

Did a double-take before realizing it's not Homefront.

comparing a shitty factory-produced fps with a nonsensical premise to one of the greatest RTS games still unsurpassed today is textbook blasphemy

If you like strategy, if you like scifi, if you like stories in games, this game is a must play.

 

[DBT85]

So is it only available in Amazon UK? I tried the US site and it's unavailable. I really want the collector's edition. Can anyone help me out with this?

Order it from Amazon uk?

 

[Maulik]

So after looking at that ign video, is homeworld 1 going to have the UI of homeworld 2? So would building interceptors in homeworld 1 now result in a squad of 3 or will it still be just one single fighter? I kind of prefer how homeworld 2 handled it.

 

[cityhunter]

Order it from Amazon uk?

But can they ship to the US thou? Also would the language be in UK english or will I be able to change to US english?

Since I don't have a UK address, ordering from it might not be possible for me.

 

[DBT85]

But can they ship to the US thou? Also would the language be in UK english or will I be able to change to US english?

Since I don't have a UK address, ordering from it might not be possible for me.

Well its a steam code, so it'll be the same game worldwide with language options.

As for the rest, I have no idea if they'll ship there, though I'm sure some US GAF have ordered form UK Amazon previously.

Failing that you could get it delivered to me or one of the other UK GAFers you might know and get them to forward it.

 

[doctorcdcs]

So is it only available in Amazon UK? I tried the US site and it's unavailable. I really want the collector's edition. Can anyone help me out with this?

It's been sold out for a while now in almost all the regions it was available for.

edit:

they (amazon.co.uk) might ship it to the US.. make an account and enter your address and other info.

you might have to pay quite a bit though in terms of conversion costs and shipping

 

[cityhunter]

Well its a steam code, so it'll be the same game worldwide with language options.

As for the rest, I have no idea if they'll ship there, though I'm sure some US GAF have ordered form UK Amazon previously.

Failing that you could get it delivered to me or one of the other UK GAFers you might know and get them to forward it.

Ah I see~. I just put my order thru, so hopefully I'll get it. Thanks for your help! ^__^)b

It's been sold out for a while now in almost all the regions it was available for.

edit:

they (amazon.co.uk) might ship it to the US.. make an account and enter your address and other info.

you might have to pay quite a bit though in terms of conversion costs and shipping

Yeah, that's what I get for ordering late. :T

 

[mantidor]

So after looking at that ign video, is homeworld 1 going to have the UI of homeworld 2? So would building interceptors in homeworld 1 now result in a squad of 3 or will it still be just one single fighter? I kind of prefer how homeworld 2 handled it.

They mentioned the kuushans and the hiigarans as different races so I don't think HW1 will play like 2. multiplayer is the only point where all races collide. I kind of wished they could have added the Kadesh and the Turanic Raiders as extra races but that could be too much work to get the balance right.

Also I'm thrilled about the original voice actress redoing lines for HW 2.

What the hell, I'm preordering.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Man that PAX video looks awesome. Cant believe this is getting made. And man i cant believe Homeworld 3 might actually happen. So crazy.

 

[Agremont]

Man that PAX video looks awesome. Cant believe this is getting made. And man i cant believe Homeworld 3 might actually happen. So crazy.

We live in a great time!

 

[Acosta]

Right now your only option is eBay or someone selling theirs. It has been sold out a looooong time.

It´s available in Amazon UK.

I'm tempted, but it´s a lot of money...