FTL: Advanced Edition

Aaaargh... No game in recent history caused me to curse so much as this game. And yet I keep coming back for more. I mean, the game is HARD. Even on easy setting, you will lose many many times, before you actually beat the game. Lack of save games raises the stakes while event randomisation and, dare I say, balancing issues, are stakes of a different kind - whacking you on the head and piercing your heart. Aaaargh! Seriously, I've closed this game mid-way so many times, when my poor little ship was torn to pieces by half a dozen crazed space station attackers that I could nothing about. Or one of the other random oh-$hit! experience. And yet I keep coming back... Seriously, this could be a great game, but due to balancing issues it's merely a good game. I'm hoping the developers will do something about it.

FTL ( faster than light) is a cult classic among indie titles. As a strategic simulation of interstellar ships fights, FTL sits on top of its competitors, almost defining the genre for years to come. Gameplay, the difficulty curve is high and will keep you playing again and again while trying to master this game. Furthermore, the variety of ships, techs and aliens, while not enormous, manages to diversify and stimulates new strategy in order to achieve victory. The game greatly flexibility and planning ahead, which are pivotal for this game. Speaking of the other aspects, graphics and soundtracks are enjoyable while story, albeit simple, serves its purpose. So an all round yes buy it! for an indie gamer, this is a pillar of the genre that must be try it out at least once in you life.

Too difficult, too unbalanced,.. bla. I've spent dozens of hours in this game and can tell, that it's really not that unbalanced. Yeah sure, luck greatly changes the difficulty. Still, it's far more about tactics, while bad luck or higher difficulties simply reduce the tolerance for mistakes. Also you could pause any time, so you don't have to decide quickly. Player ships are another opportunity to adjust difficulty and of course modify your tactics. What else to say: You have to manage your space ship and fight other space ships or stations in real time battles (with pause function). Along the way you upgrade your ship, unlock new ships and deal with text events. You also discover a universe with different species, that are not super complex but still interesting. Sound and music are very good, even though there could be more songs. Graphics are okay but I forgot about it, quite fast. Finally there are several mods and a still active modding community. If you're not sure, buy on discount. This is definitely worth a look.

From its simple look and graphic, I thought FTL was not worth trying, or even buying. But I was terribly wrong. The game has amazing music (man, I really love the music) and great gameplay. Now the game is one of my favorite game. I can't stop playing it, even though I got a hard time playing it, like my ship got destroyed, my crew died of random event, my crew betrayed me, I got terrible armament and found no store selling good weapon, out of fuel and scraps, dangerous environment, and many many more tragedy. It was all just part of the fun. Now I understand why many people like FTL. The game is a legendary game, that I believe, has inspire many games like it. I feel no regret buying this game, like at all.

Some think this game is too hard... well it can be, but the more you play, the more you should see the way to captain your crew, use the right equipment and get the best out your ship in battle. A lot of winning it goes down to timing... (For e.g.) 1: Recharge the all the weapons. 2: Fire the lasers. 3: Then when the shields are down for a few seconds, use a energy beam across the ship. Or... Open a few of the air locks if you see the other ship is prepairing to board you and force the attacker to either suffocate or fight you in the sick bay so your crew will get the advantage of being healed during the battle. There are lots of different things you can do and many will all work well in different ways.