Elite is arguably one of the most famous and enduring videogames of its era. An open-world pioneer, the game managed to simulate the best damned universe that could be squeezed into 48K of RAM in the early 1980s. People have fond memories of the original which led to an early 90s sequel, and eventually, a kickstarter project to develop a modern version of the game.
That game has been with us for a bit now, and I am slightly obsessed. In the past year, I have spent 150UKP on _hardware _for this one game, never mind the cost of the software. I am surreptiously eyeing this Oculus Rift 2 stuff as well. Tons of time, effort and expense all put into pretending to be a captain of an independent space vessel. Huge candidate for bletch’s “what’s the point” thread.
And yet, I love it. There is a simple joy to flying about the place, and the atmosphere the game evokes is both celebratory and respectful of the environment it simulates. It is hard not to get a huge 2001-style thrill out of the elegant space architecture. It’s markedly different from Earth-based flight sims too. Gravity, or a complete lack thereof, makes all the difference. Most air pilots would never dream of making an inverted run at a landing, largely because fighting huge gravitational and aerodynamic forces makes it far too bloody risky. Makes total sense here, as you can see more of what you’re aiming for, and inertia isn’t quite the influence on your ship that a planet full of mass is.
Would normally try and get off the starting ship as soon as poss, but have kitted this little bugger out a little. She flies nice, like. Don’t know how good she is in a scrap yet though.
I can run it at Full HD (or even triple monitor) on two and a half year old hardware. Mind you, I have got two GFX cards in SLI. (Edit: SLI was disabled when I just checked so it runs fine on one 680GTX too D)
I can run it at Full HD (or even triple monitor) on two and a half year old hardware. Mind you, I have got two GFX cards in SLI. (Edit: SLI was disabled when I just checked so it runs fine on one 680GTX too D)
What sort of GFX card and memory would you recommend oh Pap sir…
I can run it at Full HD (or even triple monitor) on two and a half year old hardware. Mind you, I have got two GFX cards in SLI. (Edit: SLI was disabled when I just checked so it runs fine on one 680GTX too D)
I’m also a bit of a sucker for Elite Dangerous. I’ve got two ships on the go at the moment a Cobra kitted out for combat and an Asp for exploring, mining and space trucking. Despite all of the changes they have made to the game over the last 6 months it still feels like the only way to make any real money in the game is with a good rare goods run.
BTripz I’ve just looked up the performance stats on your graphics card and I would be really surprised if it was capable of running Elite reasonably. Passmark (some videocard benchmarking software) gives your card a rating of just over 1000 which is pretty low these days. One of Paps cards, by way of comparison, has a score of 5500.
I only own an iMac so not sure its up to running this in full glory.
Lived this game as a youngster. Starting off trading between Leesti and Lave. Savibg up for ages to get a docking computer as diocking was such a PITA.
Trying not to annoy the police in their Vipers ( is that right?)
Using the sun scoops to pick up alien artefacts
Graphically people will look back and call it laughable but I was utterly immersed and it was the first real glimpse of what games could be possible of
ZX spectrum, can of quattro and a quickshot 2 joystick
Docking is not the complete chore it used to be. It’s a nice chore with the appropriate equipment. The space stations are a little uniform, so it’s always a thrill when you see something in a new shape. In a nice nod to the original, the cuboctahedron stations are still present, although they look more like Borg cubes up close; the fine detail is very nice. Even better, ye olde wireframe is used in the holographic representation when you target one of them
I’ve not bought one myself but I did have the opportunity to play the game using one at work. It’s absolutely fantastic but for a couple of things, the resolution on the DK2 still isn’t there yet, text is more or less unreadable and it takes a little while before your brain learns to ignore the fact that it feels like looking through a grill door. Also if you are using a mouse and keyboard to play the game there are so many shortcut keys required that you have to take the rift off if you are, for example, trying to hit L to land!
Having said that, flying around a space station wearing the Rift was possibly one of the most immersive game experiences I’ve ever had. Definitely something that you need to try before you buy though.
I’ve not bought one myself but I did have the opportunity to play the game using one at work. It’s absolutely fantastic but for a couple of things, the resolution on the DK2 still isn’t there yet, text is more or less unreadable and it takes a little while before your brain learns to ignore the fact that it feels like looking through a grill door. Also if you are using a mouse and keyboard to play the game there are so many shortcut keys required that you have to take the rift off if you are, for example, trying to hit L to land!
Having said that, flying around a space station wearing the Rift was possibly one of the most immersive game experiences I’ve ever had. Definitely something that you need to try before you buy though.
I’ve had a go myself. You’re right, the resolution isn’t quite there. Text can seem a bit blurry, but not unreadable. I invested in a Saitek X52 awhile back, so I don’t have to take my hands off the controls.
That aside, fucking hell. You look down, and you see “your” legs. Put the throttle on and you’ll see “your” hands. You genuinely feel like you’re there, and stuff that is a complete pain in the arse on a normal screen, like trying to find something quickly, is an absolute doddle.
VR is going to explode if the future experiences are anything like as immersive as this, especially if they can reduce the form factor of the hardware so that you don’t look like a Borg.
