Path: ...!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-3.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 08 Jan 2025 15:26:58 +0000 From: Spalls Hurgenson Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action Subject: Re: Gamplay "mechanics" you don't like? Date: Wed, 08 Jan 2025 10:26:59 -0500 Message-ID: References: <18b4f5e884cfbee3882bf93e35ec4957318b32ac@i2pn2.org> <2bvfnjhb47c7mq41fj9i7dti4s3dico8db@4ax.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 39 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-jGpIdR43OWSfsyGAmKyY6Y+V/IP4NmKAA8cepGk3PE6C+7BXBM8nlwd4VBMxa1WmY+SiOiUWwFMTM7I!jspHygeOyua8KSk6jQbIMpbm59KSMHnFW0hPS4VeMDfpjLtomVjo9kHdl6P7xgm6Q9KklKtO X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 3009 On Tue, 7 Jan 2025 11:32:17 -0800, Justisaur wrote: >On 1/3/2025 7:24 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote: >> XF5700 Mantis > >Wow, that *is* impressive! a space sim at a time I really liked them* >from a company I really liked, that I never even heard of! In fairness, it was only /published/ by Microprose, and even then it was published under their budget/partner label, "Microplay". The game itself was programmed by Paragon Software, who are perhaps more famously known for their GDW-licensed CRPGs like "MegaTraveller", "Space 1889" and "Twilight 2000". [What, you never heard of those either? Imagine that. It's almost as if Paragon's games just weren't very memorable... or good] Microprose eventually bought the struggling company outright, and they went on to make two half-way decent games, "BloodNet" and "Challenge of the Five Realms". I believe XF5700 was the last game they made independently. The Microplay brand never got much marketing oomph; it's where all the smaller, less-likely-to-be-successful games were banished. Still, I recall seeing "XF5700 Mantis" on store shelves for a good while (probably because the game wasn't selling, but still...). Like many of Paragon's games, it was conceptually interesting, but it wasn't well implemented. It just wasn't a game I -or seemingly most people- enjoyed playing. >* I still like space sims, but I think it's been closer to 50/50 these >days, and the big names seem to disappoint more than the smaller ones. >I didn't care for SW Squadrons or Elite Dangerous for instance, but >loved Everspace and Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.