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Homeworld?

sicaesicae Registered User regular
edited April 2008 in Games and Technology
I remember Homeworld back from when i was still big on pc gaming. A lot of articles about how great it is, a revolution in the 3d rts genre.

Now my question for the good fans of PA.. How is Homeworld really??

Did it live up to the expectations? How was the sequel?

And wow, i just checked up on the guy who supposedly designed it and was this great game designing genius.. he went on to do nothing!! he founded a company that developed an advanced parking system.. so sad..

sicae

sicae on
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Posts

  • HadjiQuestHadjiQuest Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Homeworld 1 was great.

    The expansion was good, too.

    Homeworld 2's AI could see your units durring the game, and so the difficulty level was incredibly high to the point that few made it past the initial levels.

    Sins of a Solar Empire is similar, but not similar, and just came out recently.

    HadjiQuest on
  • noluitnoluit Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I've never actually played the original Homeworld, but I have played both the expansion, Cataclysm, and Homeworld 2. They're both worth playing, if you're into RTS games, or even to just zoom in on the pretty pretty ships.

    Homeworld 2 got unreasonably hard toward the end though :x

    noluit on
  • AsherAsher Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I loved Homeworld. I thought it was a damn fine game, with a wonderful visual style and good story. It managed to have a unique "feel" and carried it off well.
    I didn't like the sequel nearly as much though. Frankly, it was my dislike of the new interface and the grouping of Strike Craft into squadrons. Petty I know, but it just didn't feel right.

    Asher on
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  • noluitnoluit Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    HadjiQuest wrote: »
    Homeworld 2's AI could see your units durring the game, and so the difficulty level was incredibly high to the point that few made it past the initial levels.

    Though this could easily be circumvented by scuttling all of your ships at the end of each mission.

    noluit on
  • AsherAsher Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    A system where you have to destroy your own armada in order to trick a cheating AI seems inherently flawed.

    Asher on
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  • noluitnoluit Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    But... but - it looked so pretty!

    noluit on
  • powersurgepowersurge Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I snagged up a lonely pair of Homeworld 1 and 2 a few days ago at a local mom and pop pc shop for a couple of bucks (desktop is down for repairs/maybe rebuild due to dead PSU so all I got is my laptop with a 9200 32mb card) and I'm just now getting to the 5th or so mission of Homeworld 2 (tried both out and I prefered HW2's controls a lot more so I started with it and I really dig it. Probably should of started with the 1st one though.

    I really wish I had of played these gems when they first came out and I'm not exactly sure how I ended up missing them (lack of money too much EQ and shooters I guess). Now I'm going to have to hunt down the HW1 expansion pack.

    Between Homeworld, a friend, and the forums I've been talked into ordering Sins of a Solar Empire (amazon still has the CE with soundtrack zomg) so I can't wait to get my desktop up and running again. Not to mention I really wanna give the Battlestar Homeworld mod a try but I doubt it would run smoothly on my laptop like the original games do (P-M 1.3ghz 512mb of ram 9200 32mb).

    powersurge on
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    For fans of Homeworld (which should include everyone), Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (on Steam!) seems like it's as close to a worthy successor as we're going to get in a good while. Sins of a Solar empire does not count. It is a completely different game and the only relation between the two are spaceships.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    2 is superior to 1 in every way.

    And 2 is not hard at all. Dont let people tell you otherwise. Its just challenging, never unfair. The infamous mission 4 is apparently rock solid and I did it first time pre-patch which lowers the difficulty immensely.

    The_Scarab on
  • bongibongi regular
    edited March 2008
    scarab you're way off base

    homeworld's plot is so much better than the sequel's it's untrue

    bongi on
  • Iceman.USAFIceman.USAF Major East CoastRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    noluit wrote: »
    I've never actually played the original Homeworld, but I have played both the expansion, Cataclysm, and Homeworld 2. They're both worth playing, if you're into RTS games, or even to just zoom in on the pretty pretty ships.

    Homeworld 2 got unreasonably hard toward the end though :x

    What expansion are you talking about. I've never heard of one.

    Iceman.USAF on
  • mantidormantidor Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Homeworld along with thief are my top PC games. I love every single aspect of it and I couldn't be more sad about the small chances of a sequel being made in the near or even distant future. I like the three games almost equally with homeworld/cataclysm tied for first place and homeworld 2 a close second. The history as has been said is its biggest flaw, but the amazing music and presentation kind of made up for it.

    mantidor on
  • bongibongi regular
    edited March 2008
    mantidor wrote: »
    Homeworld along with thief are my top PC games. I love every single aspect of it and I couldn't be more sad about the small chances of a sequel being made in the near or even distant future. I like the three games almost equally with homeworld/cataclysm tied for first place and homeworld 2 a close second. The history as has been said is its biggest flaw, but the amazing music and presentation kind of made up for it.

    uhhh, actually, relic have the homeworld license back now, and they definitely have the manpower to be working on both dawn of war 2 and homeworld 3

    bongi on
  • TaminTamin Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    noluit wrote: »
    I've never actually played the original Homeworld, but I have played both the expansion (Cataclysm) and Homeworld 2. They're both worth playing, if you're into RTS games, or even to just zoom in on the pretty pretty ships.

    Homeworld 2 got unreasonably hard toward the end though :x

    What expansion are you talking about. I've never heard of one.

    Standalone, really. Homeworld: Cataclysm.

    Tamin on
  • mantidormantidor Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    bongi wrote: »
    mantidor wrote: »
    Homeworld along with thief are my top PC games. I love every single aspect of it and I couldn't be more sad about the small chances of a sequel being made in the near or even distant future. I like the three games almost equally with homeworld/cataclysm tied for first place and homeworld 2 a close second. The history as has been said is its biggest flaw, but the amazing music and presentation kind of made up for it.

    uhhh, actually, relic have the homeworld license back now, and they definitely have the manpower to be working on both dawn of war 2 and homeworld 3

    really!? thats great news! I've been out of the PC gaming scene for quite a while. Very few new games caught my attention, my old PC probably couldn't run any of them, Homeworld 2 made me upgrade my hardware and if what you tell is true a Homeworld 3 would be the one to make upgrade again.

    mantidor on
  • augustaugust where you come from is gone Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I guess HW3 has to be on the way at some point or Relic wouldn't have spent the time and money getting the IP.

    august on
  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    For fans of Homeworld (which should include everyone), Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (on Steam!) seems like it's as close to a worthy successor as we're going to get in a good while. Sins of a Solar empire does not count. It is a completely different game and the only relation between the two are spaceships.

    Wasn't Nexus the capital ship game? I think it was based more on micromanaging a handful of large ships. Not really similar to a gather-and-build RTS like Homeworld, and closer in spirit to a strategy sim like Rules of Engagement or Harpoon.

    Orogogus on
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Orogogus wrote: »
    For fans of Homeworld (which should include everyone), Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (on Steam!) seems like it's as close to a worthy successor as we're going to get in a good while. Sins of a Solar empire does not count. It is a completely different game and the only relation between the two are spaceships.

    Wasn't Nexus the capital ship game? I think it was based more on micromanaging a handful of large ships. Not really similar to a gather-and-build RTS like Homeworld, and closer in spirit to a strategy sim like Rules of Engagement or Harpoon.

    Yeah but it's a close to fleet battles as you can get really.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • rvcontre78rvcontre78 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    bongi wrote: »
    scarab you're way off base

    homeworld's plot is so much better than the sequel's it's untrue

    I think the Scarab likes to play the uber-gamer role sometimes.

    Classic is always better than Contemporary
    Impossible isn't impossible if you're good.
    yadda, yadda, yadda.

    rvcontre78 on
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  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm with scarab here on difficulty. I played through HW2 as soon as I got it and didn't even realize there was any controversy over it's difficulty system until I checked the internet after already having beaten it. Yes, it was challenging, as was HW1 and HW:C, but there weren't any parts that were impossible or far and away harder than the rest.

    The idea you need to scuttle your ships before certain missions is just silly, I ended every mission with virtually every possible ship I could have built, built.

    I have a feeling that what happened is in the space between HW1 and HW2 too many RTS players got so used to ZOMG ZERGRUSH KEKEKEKE that some of the more subtle strategy from the HW game was forgotten.

    Anyway, story-wise, I wouldn't say either is better. HW1 is probably more fulfilling personally, but I don't really look at them as individual stories, I take them together, so I just view it as THE story and it's great.

    And while I'd kill for a HW3, after the ending of HW2 I have a really hard time seeing where they'd go with it, story-wise.

    The Dude With Herpes on
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  • SilpheedSilpheed Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I disliked HW2's story since it felt so damn disjointed and rushed at times. I actually had more fun playing Cataclysm instead, since the story was more interesting for me, despite all the Sci-Fi story tropes they used.

    Silpheed on
  • sicaesicae Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    cool!!
    thanks for the many replies. guess it basically comes down to me having to play all the homeworld games.. 1, expansion and 2.. :P

    for some reason i expect i won't mind too much... :)

    sicae

    sicae on
  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Cataclysm isn't really an expansion btw.

    It's a bit (tiny) of a departure from the style and atmosphere of the first HW, but it's still good.

    As far as how it "fits in" to the universe, well it doesn't. When asked how the events of Cataclysm fit into HW2, Relics response was something like "Well, it happened, that's all." and they chose not to even vaguely mention it.

    Also, it was done by a different dev house than HW/HW2.

    The Dude With Herpes on
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  • mantidormantidor Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I'm with scarab here on difficulty. I played through HW2 as soon as I got it and didn't even realize there was any controversy over it's difficulty system until I checked the internet after already having beaten it. Yes, it was challenging, as was HW1 and HW:C, but there weren't any parts that were impossible or far and away harder than the rest.

    The idea you need to scuttle your ships before certain missions is just silly, I ended every mission with virtually every possible ship I could have built, built.

    I felt the same, and I'm not that good, I died a lot but I never felt the game was cheating on me. I actually found HW3 easier than the previous two.

    mantidor on
  • Last SonLast Son Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    mantidor wrote: »
    I'm with scarab here on difficulty. I played through HW2 as soon as I got it and didn't even realize there was any controversy over it's difficulty system until I checked the internet after already having beaten it. Yes, it was challenging, as was HW1 and HW:C, but there weren't any parts that were impossible or far and away harder than the rest.

    The idea you need to scuttle your ships before certain missions is just silly, I ended every mission with virtually every possible ship I could have built, built.

    I felt the same, and I'm not that good, I died a lot but I never felt the game was cheating on me. I actually found HW3 easier than the previous two.

    Wait, what?!

    Last Son on
  • VytaeVytae Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    HW2 was on order much higher difficulty for the average gamer then HW1. I also finished mission 4 pre-patch. But i remeber thinking,wow i actually have to work at this rather then play it like a cinematic and try to get awesome pilotview screenshots from my capitals.

    And HW1 was better then 2 IMO because it was damn original and had extreme style and atmosphere for a starting game. HW was a fun game,but wouldve been better called a expansion then anything else.

    HW cataclysm is also a blast and had alot of polish. Unless your a lore-nazi in which case you will hate it because its not 'Canon'.

    And people,quit saying sins of a solar empire is like homeworld. ITS NOT, THE ONLY THING THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS SPACE AND A Z-AXIS GOD DAMMIT. HEGAMONIA AND ORB AND CONQUEST HAD THESE TOO,BUT THEY WERENT CALLED HOMEWORLD WERE THEY?

    Sins of a solar empire is to homeworld like warcraft3 style is to supreme commander style.
    found HW3 easier

    Wait, what?!

    I concur. Where the fuck did you get a copy of a game that dosent exist,and more importantly. Where can i get mine?

    Vytae on
  • FrazFraz Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Homeworld is a fantastic game.

    1 and 2 are on GameTap.

    Fraz on
  • JebuJebu Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I've only played Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm, and they're both dear favorites of mine. Homeworld 1 especially was just such a cinematic experience, and there are many points in the story I remember vividly, like
    when the empire obliterates your home planet and you have to save the cryo-stacks to save what's left of your people, or when you meet the exiles in the nebula, and they freak out and attack you when you tell them the empire is after you.

    The music was especially gorgeous. I should really try to track down the soundtrack one of these days.

    Jebu on
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Sins of A Solar Empire is the successor to the Homeworld franchise. Homeworld 1 and 2 were excellent games and I hope to see more strategy games in a similar vein.

    Zombiemambo on
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  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I'm with scarab here on difficulty. I played through HW2 as soon as I got it and didn't even realize there was any controversy over it's difficulty system until I checked the internet after already having beaten it. Yes, it was challenging, as was HW1 and HW:C, but there weren't any parts that were impossible or far and away harder than the rest.

    The idea you need to scuttle your ships before certain missions is just silly, I ended every mission with virtually every possible ship I could have built, built.

    I've not yet completed it, but this was my experience as well. I've played through a majority of the missions, and never found the difficulty to be particularly absurd. And I never felt the need to scuttle my fleet, either...though yes, you generally did have to try to either (A) have an extremely balanced fleet or (B) be willing to throw some ships away on suicide runs to re-align your forces. Usually B, for me at least.

    Plus, any difficulty introduced by the AI is more than offset by the fact that you can pause the game to look around and give orders. At any time. For as long as you feel like. Which, at least among RTS's I've played, is pretty unusual.

    mcdermott on
  • mantidormantidor Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Last Son wrote: »
    mantidor wrote: »
    I'm with scarab here on difficulty. I played through HW2 as soon as I got it and didn't even realize there was any controversy over it's difficulty system until I checked the internet after already having beaten it. Yes, it was challenging, as was HW1 and HW:C, but there weren't any parts that were impossible or far and away harder than the rest.

    The idea you need to scuttle your ships before certain missions is just silly, I ended every mission with virtually every possible ship I could have built, built.

    I felt the same, and I'm not that good, I died a lot but I never felt the game was cheating on me. I actually found HW3 easier than the previous two.

    Wait, what?!

    Well it wasn't a breeze to go through, but I had to restart more in the first two games and I based my strategies knowing what was coming. HW2 "surprises" didn't got me as unprepared as the other ones. Levels like Karos Graveyard were horrible for me, there was nothing close to it in HW2.

    mantidor on
  • Last SonLast Son Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    mantidor wrote: »
    Last Son wrote: »
    mantidor wrote: »
    I'm with scarab here on difficulty. I played through HW2 as soon as I got it and didn't even realize there was any controversy over it's difficulty system until I checked the internet after already having beaten it. Yes, it was challenging, as was HW1 and HW:C, but there weren't any parts that were impossible or far and away harder than the rest.

    The idea you need to scuttle your ships before certain missions is just silly, I ended every mission with virtually every possible ship I could have built, built.

    I felt the same, and I'm not that good, I died a lot but I never felt the game was cheating on me. I actually found HW3 easier than the previous two.

    Wait, what?!

    Well it wasn't a breeze to go through, but I had to restart more in the first two games and I based my strategies knowing what was coming. HW2 "surprises" didn't got me as unprepared as the other ones. Levels like Karos Graveyard were horrible for me, there was nothing close to it in HW2.

    I was more referring to the fact that, ya know, homeworld 3 doesn't exist.

    Last Son on
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    There is no HW3

    Zombiemambo on
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  • ArikadoArikado Southern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I loved HW1 but HW2 just wasn't fun after the first few levels. I toiled week after week barely passing missions until I just gave up. It's gathering dust in my gameshelf and I've installed/uninstalled it like 5 times over the last 3 years.

    It had spectacular graphics, though.

    Arikado on
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  • OremLKOremLK Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Homeworld is great, Homeworld: Cataclysm is even better. Don't know about the sequel.

    OremLK on
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  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    They never fixed the problem with Marine frigates in HW2. Marine frigates can capture any unit but their defenseless. The AI in the first game let you steal a few ships but it was impossible in the sequel - as soon as your frigate attached itself to a ship you wanted, all enemy units focused on it. Worse, your own ships would fire on the ship you're trying to capture even if a marine frigate was attached. You had to manually tell your own units to stop firing or else you lost both ships. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

    emnmnme on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    emnmnme wrote: »
    They never fixed the problem with Marine frigates in HW2. Marine frigates can capture any unit but their defenseless. The AI in the first game let you steal a few ships but it was impossible in the sequel - as soon as your frigate attached itself to a ship you wanted, all enemy units focused on it. Worse, your own ships would fire on the ship you're trying to capture even if a marine frigate was attached. You had to manually tell your own units to stop firing or else you lost both ships. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

    This is true. Marine frigates were absolutely useless.

    mcdermott on
  • BakerIsBoredBakerIsBored Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I loved HomeWorld. It comes in right at 2nd behind StarCraft for me... :) (in terms of RTS)

    BakerIsBored on
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  • KiithKiith Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Homeworld 1 is one of my most memorable games, ever. I rarely wanted to kill someone as badly as i wanted to kill the emperor. And mixed in with the music (Barbers Adagio for Strings if you were wondering), it is an amazing experience. The first true 3d RTS, and it will remain as my favourite.

    Cataclysm was very good as well, but not as good as 1. Homeworld 2 was good, but they runied some of it. Plus, they changed the entire story a few months before release, which totally bolloxed the game, and removed the planned mega ship/structures that were supposed to be in it. Plus, that bitch Karan S'jet scuttled the mothership? I mean wtf? She was great till that moment.

    Sins of a Solar Empire is nothing like Homeworld tbh. Its much more Galactic Civilistaions then Homeworld. Micromanagement is bollox. Give us Homeworld 3!!

    Kiith on
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  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I love the atmospheric music in the HW games, it sets the mood perfectly.

    Adagio for Strings is only in the launch scene and nowhere else, btw.

    Anyway, about Marine Frigates, you know you could use the things you said were why it was worthless, to your advantage? You could use it as an effective aggro decoy.

    Plus, they actually were good for capturing capital ships, but yes, they required you to basically destroy the entire enemy fleet, or at least the fighters/bombers, before capturing any ships.

    The Dude With Herpes on
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