Tendo City

From Planet Gamecube:

Quote:According to Gamers.com, the online extension of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the next issue of EGM will feature the first-ever information on Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III, Factor 5's newest game. LucasArts will be the publisher, of course. The website offers no further information except that the game will debut at E3 in May.

We'll know more when the new issue of EGM arrives...

I was hoping for a more original game, but with some huge updates a new Rogue Squadron game could be pretty fun.

:stupid:

I didn't see that, besides this news needs it's own thread.

Here here!

I think Factor 5 would really push the envelope by including multiplayer, even if it's only cooperative. It's such a small feature, but wow, if the graphics stayed sharp it'd be amazing.

Here's what else they mention in EGM, from their "next month" preview:

"Rogue Squadron III lets you relive more of the finest moments from the classic trilogy. All we'll say right now is that the Ewok-infested forests of Endor haven't been explored at the near light-speed since the Super Niontendo side-scrollers, and there are other ways to drop an imperial Walker when you can't lasso it's legs..."

Sweet! Perhaps that means that there will be more than just ship-flying parts, and we'll get to ride speeder bikes through the forest moon of Endor! Also, back when RL came out the RL head designer responded to IGN's (or whomever's) comments about the Hoth level and how faithfully it recreated ESB by saying that if it were just like ESB you'd be able to jump out of the speeder, climb up into the the walker and blow it up like Luke did, which might happen in RS3 by the looks of that EGM comment. Now how could would that be??

Sounds great... and it looks like it will have a ground part. I hope its like Battle for Naboo... Clone Wars had good ground combat too but that style might not work as well in a RS game...

Oh, and one way to kill AT-ATs is (at least in some places...) shooting it with missiles... X-Wings can take out AT-ATs, at least in the books (and, I think, in RS).

I think they were alluding to something cooler. And since Julian Eggerbrecth (sp) mentioned that before, it may happen. Who knows?

I'd love to see some missions from the books. Would a big spaceship battle against Thrawn be too far away from the RL formula? Or how about one of the many Wedge Antilles missions from the Rogue Squadron books?

The final mission of RS (on Mon Cal with the world devastators) is, I believe, from one of the comic books... but I haven't read the Star Wars comics so I don't know for sure. I'd love to read the Dark Empire ones (the one where Luke falls to the dark side... I'm pretty sure its also the one with the V-Wings and World Devastators), but I don't know... it just seems the books are a better use of my money. And its hard to keep up on Star Wars books even if you don't get the hardcover ones (just too expensive!). Oh well.

As for the game... hmm, on foot parts. It could work, but we will have to see... it'd better be WAY better than the on-foot parts in Clone Wars!

Yeah I know about those levels, but I'd like to see something more interesting than that.

Ahh! Ground missions have no place in a Rogue Leader game! Battle for Naboo, in my opinion, was lackluster in every way--I think that something as cool was riding a speeder through Endor has potential, but not in a Rogue Leader game.

The ground missions were just fine... sure when you got the choice of air or ground vehicles I chose air almost every time, but still the ground wasn't that awful... it was just easier to stay in the air. But they could easily improve on that, or make the levels without a air option... like the a few levels in BFN.

Oh, and a true 3d Endor Speeder Bike level would be awesome!

It would be incredible. Nobody has done that successfully in 3-D yet. There was that SW Arcade game, but you had no control over the bikes.

Here's the changes that I would like to see in RS3:

-Less arcadey controls. Make it control a little less like Toy Fighter and a little more like TIE Fighter. Give the crafts some weight, for cripes sake! I always felt like I was controlling styrofoam spaceships in the RS games.

-As Darunia mentioned, better music. No more midi-sounding crap, even if most of the music in RL did sound like real orchestrated stuff.

-Better recreations of the movies. I want to fly through the asteroid field, find a giant asteroid to hide in, and try to escape from the monster's mouth before I die. More stuff like that!

-Bigger ships. The Star Destroyers should be a lot bigger than they were in RL.

-Bigger levels. Especially for the big space battles.

-Online multiplayer support.

-Better voice acting. If Lucasarts could get Mark Hamill and Billy Dee Williams to do voicework for their games, so should Factor 5!

I think that the Battle of Endor in RL was the greates flight simulationg level ever---it was so vast, and there was so much action and so many ships and all---they did it so well! I don't know just what the boundaries ARE for the GC and a game, but I'd like to think that they could' made it better still. I think that, as OB1 said, the ships should be bigger...and there of course should be more of them...rudimentary things, really.

Quote:-Less arcadey controls. Make it control a little less like Toy Fighter and a little more like TIE Fighter. Give the crafts some weight, for cripes sake! I always felt like I was controlling styrofoam spaceships in the RS games.

Yes! That'd be great! I love sim-style Star Wars controls... the only problem is that the Rogue Squadron game style wouldn't work as well in a sim-style environment -- it would mean a lot slower paced game if they put in the power control system (lazer/beam weapon power, shield area modification, power management, etc) and power control system (lazers with power drain and control systems (4 at once/ 2 at a time / 1 at a time toggle) like the system game, or missiles like the sims (ie make all missiles and bombs homing (in the sims there are no non-homing missiles or torpedoes...) and limit numbers to the small numbers those ships should have). Those changes, or even just some of them, would not be welcomed by all... a lot of people liked the extreme simplicity of Rogue Squadron... but it'd be great if they could make some kind of cross of gametypes that implemented some stuff from each. Because I for one love the sim games...

Of course Rogue Squadron has other MAJOR diffrences from the sims -- you fly on what is essentially a flat (well, very thin) plane, not in a real 3d world (even in space!) like the sims... it'd also be cool if it let you fly in all directions in space levels (as opposed to auto-levelling and centering and the very limited range of movement like it has), though.

Oh, and a even better (and truly useful) inside cockpit view would be great...

Quote:-As Darunia mentioned, better music. No more midi-sounding crap, even if most of the music in RL did sound like real orchestrated stuff.

I thought RS2 had good music...

Quote:-Better recreations of the movies. I want to fly through the asteroid field, find a giant asteroid to hide in, and try to escape from the monster's mouth before I die. More stuff like that!

Definitely. Though just the addition of ground levels sure will help a lot...

Quote:-Bigger ships. The Star Destroyers should be a lot bigger than they were in RL.

They may not be as big as they are supposed to be, but they seem to be about the same scale as they were in the sim games... though it WOULD be good if they didn't make it so insanely easy to kill Star Destroyers. In a even remotely realistic world one X-Wing should NOT have any kind of a chance of doing that... like the sims! Though its not that hard in those games too, its not easy and requires a lot of missiles... or LOTS of patience and great luck to not be hit with turbolaser fire if you keep going in and out attacking parts of the ship...

Quote:-Bigger levels. Especially for the big space battles.

I thought they were alright, but they could have been a bit bigger I guess.

Quote:-Online multiplayer support.

YES!!! Though its VERY doubtful, given how the series never has even had a multiplayer mode... and the NGC has no X-Box Live to make it cheap and easy...

Quote: I think that the Battle of Endor in RL was the greates flight simulationg level ever

Yes, it was a great action-flight game level... but it is in no way a 'simulation game' level. Not even remotely in any sense of the word... you'd know that if you'd played any space sims...

Quote:it was so vast, and there was so much action and so many ships and all

Vast? Yeah, it was great to see it... I just wish that they would make a X-Wing game with a level like that! I'd LOVE to see a realistic version of that level... it was great, but I just like the realistic style of games better, for space levels especiallly... its so easy to kill things in RS's arcade style. Fun? Yes, great fun... and nice and simple... but I like the sim-style games' complexity too. And the difficulty... though I doubt sims would EVER work on consoles. Why? 1) No Joystick! Sims don't work on gamepads... and 2) not many buttons -- gamepads have 8 to 12 buttons, while for example TIE Fighter has dozens... no, arcade-controls (or arcadish sim style controls) are needed.

So. What do I wish the game had for controls? Well, the gamepad setup from RS2 is good for the controller... but I'd LOVE to see some elements of sim added, like more realistic flight controls, a more open world (adding true 3d to the space levels), and maybe some more realistic flight combat too... and (well done) realistic levels too.

Quote:Yes! That'd be great! I love sim-style Star Wars controls... the only problem is that the Rogue Squadron game style wouldn't work as well in a sim-style environment -- it would mean a lot slower paced game if they put in the power control system (lazer/beam weapon power, shield area modification, power management, etc) and power control system (lazers with power drain and control systems (4 at once/ 2 at a time / 1 at a time toggle) like the system game, or missiles like the sims (ie make all missiles and bombs homing (in the sims there are no non-homing missiles or torpedoes...) and limit numbers to the small numbers those ships should have). Those changes, or even just some of them, would not be welcomed by all... a lot of people liked the extreme simplicity of Rogue Squadron... but it'd be great if they could make some kind of cross of gametypes that implemented some stuff from each. Because I for one love the sim games...

Of course Rogue Squadron has other MAJOR diffrences from the sims -- you fly on what is essentially a flat (well, very thin) plane, not in a real 3d world (even in space!) like the sims... it'd also be cool if it let you fly in all directions in space levels (as opposed to auto-levelling and centering and the very limited range of movement like it has), though.

Oh, and a even better (and truly useful) inside cockpit view would be great...

Oh no, I didn't mean that sim-like. I just don't want the ships to control like paper airplanes any more. Laser/shield management would detract from the gameplay.

Quote:I thought RS2 had good music...

The actual sound quality was amazing, but there was a lot of midi-sounding stuff in there.

Quote:They may not be as big as they are supposed to be, but they seem to be about the same scale as they were in the sim games... though it WOULD be good if they didn't make it so insanely easy to kill Star Destroyers. In a even remotely realistic world one X-Wing should NOT have any kind of a chance of doing that... like the sims! Though its not that hard in those games too, its not easy and requires a lot of missiles... or LOTS of patience and great luck to not be hit with turbolaser fire if you keep going in and out attacking parts of the ship...

The reason why they're so small is because of graphical limitations. But those Factor 5 guys can do just about anything...

Quote:Yes, it was a great action-flight game level... but it is in no way a 'simulation game' level. Not even remotely in any sense of the word... you'd know that if you'd played any space sims...

It was great in that it felt like you were really there in the movie, which no previous SW space sim has done as effectively before, but I'd like the actual air space to be larger.

Quote:Oh no, I didn't mean that sim-like. I just don't want the ships to control like paper airplanes any more. Laser/shield management would detract from the gameplay.

I agreed with you later...

Quote:Vast? Yeah, it was great to see it... I just wish that they would make a X-Wing game with a level like that! I'd LOVE to see a realistic version of that level... it was great, but I just like the realistic style of games better, for space levels especiallly... its so easy to kill things in RS's arcade style. Fun? Yes, great fun... and nice and simple... but I like the sim-style games' complexity too. And the difficulty... though I doubt sims would EVER work on consoles. Why? 1) No Joystick! Sims don't work on gamepads... and 2) not many buttons -- gamepads have 8 to 12 buttons, while for example TIE Fighter has dozens... no, arcade-controls (or arcadish sim style controls) are needed.

So. What do I wish the game had for controls? Well, the gamepad setup from RS2 is good for the controller... but I'd LOVE to see some elements of sim added, like more realistic flight controls, a more open world (adding true 3d to the space levels), and maybe some more realistic flight combat too... and (well done) realistic levels too.

Quote:The reason why they're so small is because of graphical limitations. But those Factor 5 guys can do just about anything...

I don't know... they could have made them bigger, but they chose that size. Yes, probably originally (in X-Wing, which came out in the early '90s...) it was a technical issue, but maybe they want to keep it the same (and use that as an excuse to not have to make a full-size Star Destroyer). I'd love to see real fullsize Star Destroyers (and all the other ships too of course), but after so many games with undersized ones I don't know...

Oh! Wasn't the Star Destroyer you fought early on in the game Rebel Assualt a lot bigger than these ones?

Quote:It was great in that it felt like you were really there in the movie, which no previous SW space sim has done as effectively before, but I'd like the actual air space to be larger.

Yes. I want the space levels to work like the sims -- real open space! Not the 'stuck in a certain area of space' thing like BFN and RS2... it'd be great to see real open space and better use of the possibilities that 3d offers.

Of course that would mean imprioving the radar... or giving some longrange radar option or something... but that wouldn't be that hard I imagine.

Quote:I don't know... they could have made them bigger, but they chose that size. Yes, probably originally (in X-Wing, which came out in the early '90s...) it was a technical issue, but maybe they want to keep it the same (and use that as an excuse to not have to make a full-size Star Destroyer). I'd love to see real fullsize Star Destroyers (and all the other ships too of course), but after so many games with undersized ones I don't know...

Oh! Wasn't the Star Destroyer you fought early on in the game Rebel Assualt a lot bigger than these ones?

It may have been a design choice, but I still hope they make them to scale in the next game.

And weren't those shitty Rebel Assault games 100% sprite-based and FMV?

Quote:Yes. I want the space levels to work like the sims -- real open space! Not the 'stuck in a certain area of space' thing like BFN and RS2... it'd be great to see real open space and better use of the possibilities that 3d offers.

Right.

I don't remember if Rebel Assualt was spritebased or not... it probably was. And remember, its mostly a railed shooter... so its easy to make a big star destroyer when you can draw it and only need to make the part that works in that level's path of movement... but still it may have been bigger.

Anyway, for me a bigger problem than their somewhat small size is the fact that they are so ridiculously easy to kill in the game...

Yeah, they were. That's why I'd love to take control of a Calamari Cruiser and have a big battle with the Destroyers. That would kick so much ass.

And both RA games were sprite-based.

I liked both of them... they were simple (and the first one was REALLY HARD too... I never even got halfway through it! The second one was thankfully easier... I did beat that one...), but fun for when they came out. Not exactly some of the best Star Wars games but not bad...

Oh, and so they were spritebased... so? RA2 could have made the Star Destroyers bigger, but they chose that size... I very much doubt that it was a technical thing that kept them that size. I do wish they'd made them full size, but making them actually threatening like Star Destroyers should be (ie bigger and more powerful and way harder to kill, if killable at all by a single fighter) should really be done.

I hated them. So very limiting. FMV games are like that. FMV action games are even worse.

Rebel Assualt wasn't a FMV game... the second game kinda was, but I don't know about the first one... they had FMV between levels, and were half railshooters and half obstacle avoidance (like those tunnel levels in the first one... where you flew the ship around things and shot some enemies), but yes it all was in a forced path. But I enjoyed them... railshooters aren't that bad, and neither are games where you move forward dodging stuff and shooting other stuff. My only problem with it was that the first game was WAY too hard and only gave you a password after every 4 levels -- making it 10 times harder! Some levels were really hard... I never beat the one in the asteroid field (not the training level, the full level...). I know, I should have beaten it... I've had it since very early in 1995 (when we got a new computer that January, it came with Rebel Assualt, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle, and a cheap joystick)... but it was just too tough for me especially with that bad joystick. I remember playing Rebel Assualt 2 with a new joystick and noticing that suddenly it seemed a LOT easier...

It wasn't 100% FMV, but there was a lot in it and I hated the game.

Both Rebel Assaults were tedious and unimaginative...neither was fun, and the play was too straight-forward. Such is the way will all railshooters...it seems too arcade, too.

Simple? Yes... and they did have not a lot of variety... but it wasn't like the whole games were just railshooting... there were the levels where you flew ships around (while moving forward) too... are they still good? Well, they definitely have lost a lot with age, thats for sure... but at the time they were good. Now, they're only decent... and that's only if you like either Star Wars games or simplistic shooters... :)

Dear Factor 5

If it were to take place in any other time, it couldn't be a Rogue Squadron title, as that orgaization only exists in the time ov the Galactic Civil War and a little afterward.

I agree with him too... a NJO game would be so awesome!

Hey Totally Games... after you finish that World War II flight sim, how about going back to Star Wars and making X-Wing: New Jedi Order? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! It'd be cool to have to fight the Vong... the tactics are so different for them... :)

Oh, and Rogue Squadron is still around in the NJO... as you'd know if you read the books... Wedge of course isn't in charge (he's a general), but its still there.

However, if they refuse to use the NJO, I still prefer the classic universe as a setting to the prequel trilogy one.

Oh, and the NJO only has so much time... the book series will end in the next year or two... I wonder how it will end? Its a great series... I'll be very interested to see how it ends (and what they do next for books)...

I already posted that strip in the other thread... and you said nothing.

Where? I don't remember seeing that one before...

Uh... *searches*... that's weird. I'm positive that I posted it here...

I don't think so...

I even remember copying the url for the comic...

Well, it isn't there.

Anyway... back to the topic? Any opinion, or do you agree to it all?

I think that idea would be strange and hard to embrace as easily as the original trilogy. It'd be strange and different; but nevertheless, I have no doubt that it'd still be fun...and there seems to be little alternative now. They can only remake the trilogy so many times.

Have you read any of the books? They're great!

Says someone who quit the series after a couple of books?

:)

Anyway, yeah, the NJO series is really great...

I did not! I've read plenty of them, but I could not keep up with the ten-books-per-month NJO line. I'd have to read almost all of them to get a good grasp on the story. That is why I'm looking forward to the NJO's end, so that they can go back to stand-alone novels and mini-series.

Well you've just got to buy them all... I do anyway... :)

Well I eventually get them all... I wait for the hardcovers to come out in paperback, so I don't have Destiny's Way or the new New Republic-era book (set right after Truce at Bakura) Tattoice Ghost... I think there's one more book I don't have as well. Other than the 5 movie novelizations, which I don't have.

Unless there was a new book released in the last week or two...

I don't have time to read all of those books. I'm definitely going to buy Tatooine Ghost though. I love it how it connects the prequels, sequels, and EU all in one book.

You wouldn't have that problem if you'd been reading them for the past few years... :p

I started reading the books around six years ago. But at the time we lived in Croatia and imported books were very expensive.

Whats this Tatooine Ghost and whats it about...?

It takes place shortly after Return of the Jedi and is about Leia going back to Tatooine to find out about her father and her grandmother, Shmi Skywalker. She also meets up with Kitster, that dark-haired kid from Phantom Menace.

Now the one really huge plotline that the EU will have to deal with is how/when/if Luke and Leia will find out about their mother... if they put it in some new ROTJ it'd be too bad in many ways because it'd kill off a MAJOR plotline in a bunch of the books... so far the only real thing that the movies have changed from the books was Boba Fett -- Ep.2 changed his origin story as it had been told in Tales of the Bounty Hunters quite dramatically.

Yeah but that was later fixed by saying that that was just a rumor to hide his true identity. Actually it was always a rumor.

And they don't touch upon the Luke/Leia/Padme relationship in Tatooine Ghost. I don't think the writers are allowed to touch that until Episode 3 comes out. Remember, Lucas has to approve all major EU plotlines.

I would like them to find out who their parent are somehow, but the only way they can do it without really disrupting pretty severely the EU would be to do it either in the last part of the NJO or in some book set after the NJO... and remember by now Luke and Leia are in their fifties, I'm pretty sure.

Why would that disrupt the EU?

The sales of Rogue Leader pulled alot of weight in the choice Factor 5 made to create another sequel. That's obvious, but i'm worried about is that Rogue Leader owes most of it's sales to being a launch title, I hope it repeats the numbers but I doubt it.

The one thing I want to see in RS3 is NO MORE GOD DAMN DEATH STAR MISSIONS AND THE SAME FUCKING STORY OVER AND OVER ahem. Let's throw in a story that is based mostly on the books so we can see and try new things, like playing on foot with a diverse fighting engine and quick time events like Shenmue or Splinter Cell-esque hunting and sneaking... along with flying missions of course. Maybe even throw in some events like controlling an army and get some RTS gameplay in there. I dont want to see X-Wings blow up the Death Star, I dont want to shoot down Ties over Luke's homeworld and I sure as hell dont want to find myself protecting a train on a prison planet.

What about that planet where Strom Troopers are trained, it's supposed to be hell there so let's see it!

Hehe, I agree with you (except for the RTS part). They shouldn't re-do any of the levels that they already did in RL. But I sure would like to see an Endor bike part.