EVE Frontier: Cycle 6 - Defeated By The Tutorial

On Friday I spent about 3 hours trying to play Cycle 6 of EVE Frontier. When I say "try" I did not experience any technical issues. I was defeated by a combination of the controls and the tutorial.

For anyone wondering about the controls, players do not move around by clicking on objects or points in space like in EVE Online. Instead the controls are a little more complicated. So much so that the first part of the tutorial doesn't let players continue if they have not performed certain tasks. Below are the nine key keys from the tutorial.

W - Pitch up
S - Pitch down
A - Yaw left
D - Yaw right
E - Increase throttle
Q - Decrease throttle
F - Open or scoop cargo
C - Toggle camera alignment
V - Toggle ship camera

I took a screenshot to make sure I would have a list of the commands. Of course, I didn't realize the letters were being replaced with check marks until I was half-way through the list.

I spawned into the game in an interior "room" called The Creche. Probably the safest area in the game and one players can't depart unless they learn to pilot their ship well enough to reach open space. The Creche even has materials in the location since that is also a player's default respawn point. All in all, I could have used some more lighting but the concept is sound.

Everything was taking a lot longer than in other cycles but that's because of the issues I had with the controls. My biggest problem was not being able to tell which direction my ship was pointed in. I would start going in the wrong direction so often. 

When I fought NPCs I wound up either sitting motionless in space or moving very slowly in a straight line. I started having more success when I could see where my cutting beam was landing. Before I thought the cross-hairs in the UI were what I was supposed to use to shoot the NPCs. Nope. Needed to pay attention to make sure the beam actually hit the opponents hull. The concept was kind of cool but I'm getting too old for that type of gameplay. Give me either the EVE Online style of combat or tab-targeting like in Final Fantasy XIV.

A big change I really liked was manufacturing and refining in ships. One of the biggest logistical items is making sure fuel is always available. Go to one of the locations furthest away from the sun in a system where comets reside. Mining the comet provides all the raw materials to make basic D1 fuel. Easy.

But where I lost was when I needed to find a type of asteroid called Slag. The rock is found in the inner sites in a system closer to the sun. I only had one problem. No inner sites. I probably could have spent a few more hours looking for the materials except for two things. First, moving my ship around was so awkward. The other? I had already spent nearly 3 hours with the game. Time was up.

Because ships remain in the universe even upon logging off, I did the logical thing. I biomassed my character. I wasn't able to make a refuge to put my ship in to protect against roving NPCs because I couldn't find any Slag. If I was going to have to restart anyway, I might as well start from the beginning and get a refresher course by following the tutorial again. So at the end of the day I didn't even have a character with which to log into the game.

Honestly I don't have a big urge to log back into the game. Cycle 7 is coming in September so I may wait until then to download the game again. I do have things to take care of in other games that feel more comfortable to play. If anything things the control scheme may keep me from playing Frontier, I'd say there is a good chance that's true.