But the one idea I would like to see nailed down is why SFC2 didn't do as well as SFC1. I am simply not persuaded that people did not buy SFC2 because they found SFC1 concept too complex and unplayable.
There is a general rule that sequels don't do as well as originals. However, I think this is usually the fault of the sequel simply trying to be a "redo" of an idea that's already been done without adding enough to be a truly fresh product. If you've already got the original, why do you need the copy?
SFC2 seemed prepared to break this genral rule. The D2 was a fantastic addition and made SFC2 a fresh and distinct product from SFC1. The problem was....... it didn't work.
I bought SFC2 before it went on the store shelves -- I actually made the stock boy go in the back and open a crate to get it for me -- without reading any reviews. But when I found that the D2 didn't work, the box sat on my shelf and gathered dust for several months.
Without the D2, SFC2 didn't really have anythng new to add to the game. Two new races and some nifty new sparkly lights, but that's hardly enough to make it *new*, and I already knew from SFB that the two new races weren't really ones I wanted to spend that much time playing. I'd already *done* single player campaigns. I'd already done mplay. I could still do both in the old game. I could still get online with my old SFB friends and play with SFC1. What was in this new box to get me excited? This made SFC2 an expansion rather than a sequel, which is fine!, but expansions never sell as well as new product.
When the D2 got sorted out I came back to SFC2 and became a fanatic until the present. However, I imagine many others didn't buy at first because the game didn't work as advertised. Unlike me, they didn't buy a non-working copy and leave it on the shelf until it worked. Their "purchase moment" passed and they simply never came back.
The same thing happened with OP. Nothing new was added to the game except a few weapons and more racial slots. These things were greatly appreciated by me, but they don't fundamentally expand the game. The D2 was exactly the same as the old D2, except it had even more bugs and a pirate layer that *still* doesn't really work. (Though it is infinitely better now than it was, for which I am grateful.) This made OP and expansion rather than a sequel, which is fine!, but expansions will never sell as many copies as new games.
I still hope for SFC4. (You know, someday.....). However I hope it goes much further than simply adding Andros and Tholians. It needs to increase the ability of the admin to control production ques in his dyna, edit his database, edit his D2 mission pack, affect economy and alliances through player actions, and add new funcionality like scouts, variable overlaoads, mix and match drones, and supply raids.
Oh, yes, and single internals.
The fact that it needs to remain faithful to SFB goes without saying!
But I'd still like to see actual figures for sales, excluding the copies of SFC1 that were given away for free with a purchase of SFC2. Once working, SFC2 is a vastly better game than SFC1.
-S'Cipio
Topic: Paramount hath spoken (Read 66459 times)