FTL: Advanced Edition

Adding another review this late in the game (so to speak) is probably not going to influence too many people. Unfortunately, I was influenced by the fall sale and the high ratings for this game. Man, what a turd. Nothing is more frustrating and illogical than random encounters. The first three times I played this game, one or more of my crew were slaughtered at the first jump beacon when some random boarding attack event took place. I never made it past the first jump on my second time when all of my crew were wiped out. So I start playing on easy, and I manage to make agonizing progress. After probably putting in 10-12 hours into the game, I finally get to the boss battle and I was completely wiped out in seconds. So, I thought I would try again and save scum. I managed to get to the final boss with what I thought was a pretty awesome ship (complete with the FTL shield boost to level 5 that I got from another random event.) I was wiped out again pretty easily. So I tried another tactic where I attacked the weapons and causing fires to kill the crew. That seemed to work great and when I landed the final shot ... the boss teleported away ... After giving chase, the boss was fully healed minus one gun. However, it somehow magically got drones and I got toasted by the 5 attacking my ship. To add insult to injury, an invasion drone punched holes into my hull to suck the O2 out. I only had 5 crew members, who didn't stand a chance. Naturally, after losing that battle, I deleted the game and now I'm writing this rage quit review. The most fun I had with this game was deleting it and emptying my trash folder. That's probably the best way to defeat the final boss.

I've spent over 100 hours unlocking every ship on classic, but the enhanced edition breaks balance quite badly. A lot of the battles, especially early on, are unwinnable, especially with the very niche ships like mantis. Hacking drones, mind contro, and cloning labs especially are overpowered on AI ships that care not for how many drones they spend or how many skills points are lost through deaths. Combined with Zoltan shields, you end up in scenarios where at the beginning of battle the AI can control one of your units, teleport 4 attackers onto your ship, and teleport bombs into your ship within the first 10 seconds. Their zoltan shield prevents you from doing the same to them, so you die before you can even get to warp. This is very badly designed.

This rogue-lite is both incredibly fun and incredibly frustrating. To get it out of the way, yes, the RNG in this game can be quite brutal. Sometimes you travel to a new planet and you have a challenging but fair battle, other times you travel to a new planet and your crewmembers randomly die with no way to save them. Realistically what makes the RNG as brutal as it is is a) information isn't properly provided most of the time, and b) circumstances and responses in one run may not necessarily translate to another. It at first seems that unless you have equipment/crew members specifically designed for a situation (such as an advanced medbay for medical disasters) that there really is a random chance of the situation either going well or going belly up, but really this is also true even in circumstances in which you have the proper equipment, so there's little in the way of consistancy. All that being said, this is a great game to just plug in and play. Runs are usually pretty quick (for better or for worse), gameplay is simple yet deep, and assuming that the RNG at least doesn't devestate you there is a plethora of strategies to emply, each one surprisingly in depth and very rewarding. The game is also incredibly mod-friendly, with some fantastic mods that expand the scope of the game even further (Captain's Edition is probably the most known one) 4/5, would definitely reccomend. It can be incredibly frustrating to be sure, but when it all works it is incredibly fun

I love the start of the game, the complexity of the gameplay, and the customizing options. That being said, after ten playthroughs it's a little masochistic. Despite the risks and rewards, you'll always come up short...even on "easy". It seems no matter what good fortune or upgrades you make, the AI gets to scale up so it can beat you down. A glance at search results show that the game *can* be conquered. I strongly suggest you review some of these before actually playing... the tutorial is of little use. What's that unwinnable scenario from a certain sci-fi franchise? That's what it feels like to me so far. Nonetheless, I'm not giving up on it yet.

FTL is a unique blend. It's action. It's strategy. It's roguelike. It's casual. However, none of those over-arching titles actually capture FTL's vibe. Perhaps "Jean-Luc Picard Flees the Borg Simulator" best gets the point across. The strength of this seemingly simple game is its surprising level of depth. As a playthrough progresses, you have full control over the customization of the ship's various systems and upgrades. You're not likely to max out every category (or even a couple, for that matter), so you'll have to customize the ship around your play-style and your play-style around the RNGesus loot generator in order to see success. FTL does cater to different play-styles: one could focus on offensive abilities or defensive abilities. Thankfully, the game is deep in terms of customization, resulting in branching upgrade paths for both O and D. For example, one may choose to focus on dodge instead of shielding, or boarding parties instead of heavy weaponry. The choice is yours... sort-of. Allow me to elaborate. First, accept that diplomacy is non-existent. Talking one's way out of a dispute rarely an option, so arm the photon torpedoes and report to battle stations! Second, acknowledge that it is unwise to start a new game of FTL with a certain strategy in mind, and then command your ship with upgrade tunnel vision. The game is based around entirely random encounters; adaptation is a virtue. To all those who like to plan ahead, this game flips you the bird! Sure you can have an overall goal in mind, but the game is random: you get what you get. Work with what you can scrounge up and/or to die trying! Commanding the crew and diverting power to ship systems RTS-style works great! Crew members gain proficiency in various ship-stations and... Continued on Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/headinfortrouble Steam Curator https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41231829/ Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/headinfortroublereviews