Starbound is great but...

Yes, like my Floran ssssoup kitchen. Can you believe the Apex just leave all these tasty treats laying around?

But seriously, concerning racial abilities: both sides' argument really just comes down to "this is how I would prefer it to be", regardless of how many sentences they use. The racial armors are the Dev's way of trying to please both camps without getting too much vitriol spewed their way

EDIT: Although I do still think my way is best (obviously), by giving everyone their racial abilities for free, then making the armors able to give the abilities to other races

 

That's actually a good compromise. It lets each race be unique, while letting all characters eventually have all abilities.

Or why not a genetic engineering lab, where those abilities could be unlocked permanently by collecting items from the other races? It gives one more thing to collect (always fun in games like this), gives race more impact, and still lets players have all the abilities eventually.

Personally, I like race to be more than just a cosmetic choice. It gives that choice more meaning, and distinguishes characters from one another.

 

First of all , I want to apologize for my English , as I write through Google translator .
Just want to note , I understand that the game is deeply in beta, and probably most of my remarks is at the developers " have to do " list. But anyway , here's my wish list and comments .
1- I do not know who you have created a unique type of construction in prison, but they are just amazing ! ... and empty. Exact same prison , add back at least a couple of diaries with entries about what happened, was already not so boring . That is, the scenery there, but forgot to invite actors . If you enter at least three scenarios such as: 1 - Prison as it is presented now, just add entries to the protection of the revolt ; 2 - Prison which is still running, but once inside the entrance player revolt begins in his eyes ; 3 - Prison empty .. . Once the blood everywhere , and the terrible graffiti , and in its depths waiting for special and very nasty monster .
Let them be random, and thanks to this already , the player will not pass another prison.
2 - Speaking of mobs . The idea with the random generation of course interesting, but they are easily bored . Need to add new actions that others upon and mechanics, rather than the visual part . And the " deep space " , so do not just have thicker skin creatures , much smarter and harder their features. Such as invisibility, teleportation, mind trick , etc.
3 - Weapon ... Well, I think the developers here 're all well aware . While with the balance all very sad. Personally, I was particularly depressing lack of communication between the efficiency and appearance of weapons. Why mallet powerful than the sword of the Sith ? By the way , one of the most exciting moments for me , was the attempt to find the "legendary weapons " on the planet level 10 , and it's a given that I myself have only just opened the sector X ( do not laugh, I did not know about the generation of random loot ) . So, I dug underground passages to the very chest , sometimes risking walking on the surface of dying , cursing , but with a new passion trying again , because at the end waiting for me ( as I thought lol) prize! I think it should have to touch up some reflections .

Now personally myself . In games such a plan , I'm more fond of construction. And here have nothing to say , thank you so much for everything so convenient , and just so much. There are certainly flaws (such as poorly functioning system connections , the same sound Nope doors , etc. But I understand that this is a beta , yes ) , but now I've spent about 60 hours to build, and it has already paid the money spent
Returning to the wishes , I'm from the category of builders who do not like to build just what would happen , each room in my opinion should carry functional , and why it needs to be . NPCs in this case are very helpful , since for them it is possible and necessary to create unique homes , rooms , halls and so on. But while I grieve two things - their idiocy , and search eerie spavner . But as I read, do you plan to be finalized.

Summarizing . Firstly , thank you very much for the game. Even if that's all you now abandoned, personally for me, the game is already paid off.
You have beautiful scenery , but they are empty , I hope you fill them .
Sincerely Jegnum.

 

It's not contraditory. Once again, since you can't change a NPC's class/job, you have to make the decisions about which one to use in your party. Then you'll have to adapt your strategy to your team's characteristics and the situation, instead of changing the team characteristics to suit your tactic. The other way around, it's true that you make decisions, but you can change at anytime. You don't have to live with the consequences of your decisions. That does not encourage you to think differently or play different styles.

 

About the power-up capsules:
What I do is I activate it and instantly run to a safe but very close distance, recognize the color, and decide to dive in the mist.

What should happen: The capsule will open up, and just have some awesome loot in it. OBJECTS.
Only a few consumables, varying chances of weapons/armor tier.

Due to this, it will become much rarer.

 

There is no part of that which is actually correct.

Let's busssst it down:

First Note: You need to choose which party members to have and adjust your strategy in character based games.

Nope. You just pick the party members that fit your strategy and level them up. If Amarant in FF9 doesn't fit into your play style you just. . . don't use him.

In a class-based system you often need to move through classes that you don't desire to get to the ones you do, or don't have access to certain classes until later in the game. Or have to dip into classes you don't necessarily like to unlock abilities you want eventually. This means you ACTUALLY need to use characters that work significantly differently than your chosen play style, and must adjust around this.

In DQ8, for instance, I'd have not used an unarmed brawling style if not for the fact that it let me get some really good abilities that synergized well with swords for my hero. I used a class I didn't particularly like a lot with a lot of disadvantages (no weapons = lower attack for quite awhile), in order to unlock abilities for the class I wanted to use in the final.

Second note: You aren't stuck with your decision in a classed system.

Nope. In pretty much every classed system I've played from FF5 to FFT to DragonQuest 8 to Ogrebattle games. . . your character levels through the class, and usually levels a base level as well. The base level gets different bonuses at each level depending on class (for instance, in FFT leveling as a black mage (or maybe summoner, little foggy) gets you the best M. Atk per base level, so the best meta is to get as many base levels as possible as Black Mage and then going calculator for a caster). The class level unlocks abilities.

Switching your class requires you to basically start over as a character who is both underleveled and poorly built for your new class. In some of them you can't even do that. When you class change into dark knight in Ogre Battle you don't get to choose a different class for that character. If you don't like Dark Knight you're starting from scratch on a new fighter type once you can find one. And Ogre Battle isn't exactly grind friendly to fix this. You entirely have to live with the consequences.

Meanwhile, in your character based system there's no consequences because there can be no consequences when you make no choices.

Third note: Classed systems do not encourage you to think differently or play differently.

Again wrong. These games will often throw at you 'special classes' or lock more powerful but entirely different play styles behind barriers that require leveling through various other classes. Meanwhile in your 'character' model your fighter is always a fighter. Your mage is always a mage. You never have to take your black mage, make them a white mage, then make them a summoner, then make them a time mage, going through attack, heals, buffs, and area nukes, to get to calculator. You never have to level as both a knight and a samurai. You never have to go through every class in the game on a single character to get mime. Etc.

Further, many people unlock a meta in character based games--which is often much shallower than in class based games--and just roll with the party that works best with that meta every time they play. Such as setting up a group with auto-hastes, dark absorb, auto-reflect, and Vivi with reflect boosting and casting reflect off the entire party. There's no reason to not do this every single game. You don't have to go out of your way or make Vivi into a healer for 10 levels to accomplish this. You just slowly ramp up his magical power more and more until he's a doom machine, using nothing but him for nearly the entire game.

What it comes down to is that you're saying 'Increased Mechanical Depth and Consequences in Choices is Better When I Say It's Better but Worse When I Say It's Worse'.

It's silliness the way it was presented, as you being the final arbitrator of what is good and right in gaming and it is such across all mediums and genre.

 

I am for racial abilities. If anything, the armor as well, but with stacking. ie. avian with avian armor can fly twice as long as human with avian armor.
If cosmetics are such a big deal, why not push for complete cosmetic customization with the loom.

 

This is so disrespectful it make me sick. That basically negates his/her right to have a point of view and to express it.

 

^ This

 

If you really want them use the mod that provides them. And use the search button

 

It's still in beta.. Give them some time

 

I haven't given up hope yet, so I'll give them time. How does 5 hours sound?

 

Why don't you want to choose? What's so terrible about making a decision?

 

Yeah, I mean they are already going to add the traits via armor regardless (and as someone that plays single player, this isn't really going to help me choose different abilities by trading with other players, it's only going to make me wait until I can make my first suit of racial armor to get my benefits), so you're going to be getting a benefit based on your choice. If what makes you enjoy making characters is going off of backstory and looks, but you would choose an in-game benefit over your character preference, then that means that you put backstory and whatnot below actually playing the game. If what you really enjoyed was immersion in your character (and what gave you that immersion was it's appearance and backstory), then abilities wouldn't matter. In other games, like Skyrim for example, race choice has a HUGE impact on gameplay; if you pick an orc, not only are you getting various bonuses to skills that help you play a particular way, you also get a ridiculous daily power that can help you slaughter enemies far stronger than yourself. Or in D&D (note I'm commenting on 3.5/Pathfinder, not 4E as I haven't played 4E), where you are really hampering yourself if you want to play a wizard but don't pick a race that increases intelligence. In those games, I still make subpar choices for background/appearance reasons, and I don't find myself having any less fun doing it. If I die, I just laugh it off and roll up a new character. In starbound, you get something that you'll probably forget about once you get a good tech. Furthermore, maybe an ability might make a race you previously weren't interested in seem worth playing, and as a result you may start looking into their backstory and find yourself enjoying the experience. Being able to explore the oceans might even make a floran ssssuch as mysssself want to try out playing as a dirty fish-face (because remember, I play single player)

TL;DR - To sum up, I think you (kilozombie), might be overstating your argument by saying that getting a small bonus based on race is mitigating your choices

 

You tell me? Armor traits offer MORE choices. It doesn't force things on you. That's the point. Since hylotl seem to be the biggest focus on this issue, being able to breathe underwater would be a HUGE advantage once ocean planets come out for example. Why limit it to one race?

All tying traits to race would do is force people that want a trait to have to pick a race they might not have wanted to. Where as armor traits allow people that want to stay true to their race's "ability" to do that. This is Starbound, not D&D. More choices, both cosmetic and practicality wise is a good thing.

 

How does that force anyone to do anything? The choice of race is still a free choice. Nobody holds a gun to your head and "forces" you to pick the race you don't want to play. Your choice may be more difficult because it now has meaning, but there's no coercion involved.

You're playing a video game, not getting mugged. Calm down.

 

It's forcing you because you have to choose between cosmetics or the trait you want. If someone really wants or needs water breathing but hates hylotl, they are forced to drop the look or trait they want. It's easy for people that are happy with a certain combination to want racials but not everyone likes the proposed trait for the race they enjoy playing.

What's the downside to armor traits? That you have to spend a few minutes gathering your materials before you can use it? There's nothing stopping role players from sticking to the traits they feel is for their race.

 

Every time I hear "no racial traits" I try to apply it to myself to see if maybe I'm missing something:

"I want to be a monkey and I don't want fishies to swim better than me."

Yeah, see, for me, this whole egalitarian argument is just not flying (HA!, Get it?). Which, oddly enough, is the same argument that won't let birdies fly better than monkeys.

 

Every time I see a post saying they don't want racial traits, it always brings the image of my nephew pouting at the dinner table after being told he can't have dessert until he eats his vegetables. (keep in mind, I'm talking about the people who are opposed to even the racial armor traits)

I just don't see how having no bonuses would be better than have a choice between bonuses. I could see the argument if the bonuses also gave penalties, but that's not what they're doing

 

@Kriminal:
Who says other races wouldn't get water breathing? Hylotl could easily have it as an innate ability and other races would need to create a diving suit.
Avians glide? Other races would need to build a glider to achieve that.
Florans heal/energize in the sun? Other races would need to build a solar panel to achieve that.
Humans run faster? Other races would need to make sprinting shoes to achieve that.
Just tossing in examples here.

Anyway, this way every race has a benefit but can also get their hands on other races' benefits later in the game, although a race's innate ability could be made stronger than an artificial ability.
Hylotl could, for example, swim faster than races with diving suits and humans could still run faster, even when your apex is wearing expensive Nikes.

Also, really, what is the problem with choosing the race you want and accept the ability it comes with? If Avians would have the ability to take a dump on a toilet while all the other races would run 50% faster, I'd still go for the avian. And I don't believe anyone has said that traits should be massively unbalanced anyway.

There are so many games out there that 'force' you to pick a character with a certain trait. Not just RPG games. I don't get what the problem is here, really.