As is my custom with every new build release I started a fresh, clean, brand-new SP game to put things through their paces, see what works, look for what doesn't work, and get a general feel for the game. The primary focus is on the story missions, as this is the backbone of SP. Here's what I've found: With only two exceptions, the story chapters can be completed without breaking the storyline at any point. The only time I ran into any trouble, and the trouble was of my own making, was on the Ilmarinen (I would have to be looking to give the exact point where I was able to break the story mode), during the segment where you're supposed to fix malfunctions to gain access to the cargo area. There are a number of switches that have to be flipped, at the correct stage in the story, however it is possible to flip one or more of them out of sequence, thus halting your ability to proceed further. This is something that is probably easily corrected. The second breakable point is when meeting with an agent who requests certain data. It is possible to meet this agent ahead of the point in the story where you're meant to hand over the data, to hand over the data, and not complete this part of the story, as there are other tasks to complete first. It is possible to acquire this data from a vendor, if there is one available, and this will complete this story arc, but being able to complete this step out of sequence could potentially break this arc for others and lead to frustration. I particularly like how the story pushes us into more and more distant areas of the galaxy - the map is immense, so it's good that we're making more and more use of it. However... it can become a little difficult to remember or keep track of where certain elements are - though we are given a little help in this aspect, as certain key systems and planets are either labeled in their naming, or in their descriptions, so that's a help. I'd rather we had a visible marker on the galaxy map though to indicate systems of interest or note that we don't have to add for ourselves. This would create a more "natural" flow, and may allow for some further variety in missions, such as those requesting the collection of certain items, which might be able to be collected from any number of planets, rather than very specific planets - not that there's anything wrong with needing to collect a specific item from a specific location, but having the option to collect any widget from any location to meet the requirements of a mission gives more options, and options are usually a good thing. One thing I did notice, and I must assume it to be a bug: For the sake of simplicity, I set my backpack to not dump when I died, and certain items, notable keycard items, duplicated in my inventory, some times to the point of filling my inventory. While it's an easy enough matter to simply trash these, I'm not sure this was the intended outcome. I also noted a few grammatical mishaps in the story text, a minor issue, as well as a few very awkwardly-worded bits, again, very minor at this stage. I am hoping, as the story missions continue, that we will wind up in all the various faction territories, but for now "To be Continued." Overall, I find things to be quite satisfying and have enjoyed seeing things progressing as they have.
Nice Review. If you happen to find Typos or awkward-worded bits - send it to @Hummel-o-War so they can be corrected.
So noted. Being less important than functionality, I've only noted them so far, but I'll send them along now that I've reached the end of the storyline for now.
