Out of Pod Experience

Wondering if anyone here used to play Escape Velocity: Nova back in the day?

It's a PvE space adventure game with some of the best writing and storytelling of any game I've played before. Although it's an ancient title by today's standards, the art direction is superb and the combat/gameplay is quite challenging.

As I play EvE I can't help but notice so many similarities between the two, and remember how back then we dreamed of having an online version of EVN. It's universe much like EvEs in the respect that it's comprised of star systems which you must jump in-between and navigate through as you play the game.

The setting, like EvE's, is a dystopian imagination of humanity comprising of three warring factions: The Federation (very much like the Gallente/Caldari, though rotten to the core), The Aurorah (akin to the Minmatar culturally and previously oppressed by The Federation) and the Polaris (playable Jove :D, the mysterious, isolated yet technologically superior group). Other smaller factions include The Rebellion, two very different Pirate cartels and a few mercenary groups.

In EV: Nova the aim of the game is to complete each one of the storylines, or 'threads' attributed to each faction in the game (not just the main factions - almost every one has it's own). Whilst each one is unique, the different stories intertwine with each other through a meta-story that binds the whole game together, and completing a storyline will provide a different outcome to the meta story.

Again, the writing is a joy and this was my favourite aspect of the game, and something I personally feel EvE lacks in-game (the EvElopedia chronicles on the other hand are awesome).

There are some sandbox-y elements such as retribution for shooting merchant/police ships in empire space, standings going up or down depending on who you fight for, as well as some economic gameplay mechanics involving hauling from station to station and asteroid mining. Credits are required to buy ships and fittings and therefore you'll see a bit of this too.

The combat is arrow keys to move and space bar/ctrl to shoot, but there's also quite a deep fitting/inventory system and a plethora of different ships to choose from (again, with each faction having it's own line of vessels). As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this game is by no means an easy feat. It's just as ruthless as EvE, even more so perhaps, since if you lose your ship and pod, that's it, you're starting again!

The game also still has a very active community who create plug-ins and 'total conversions' for EV: Nova using tools provided by the designers that let you modify almost every aspect of the game. Some of the player-produced TCs and mods are incredible feats and give EV: Nova extended play-life.

Anyway, enough text. Hoping some of you out there see this and feel nostalgic, and that others might be interested in playing; I strongly suggest you try it if you'd like a break from EvE or are finding PLEX prices too high right now :)

Also I'd love it if a dev could respond to this thread, I'm sure that some of the inspiration for EvE must have been taken from EVN or from it's two predecessors.

Shed

TL;DR Old school space adventure game very similar to EvE, give it a try if you want a challenge and some great storytelling. Check out some of the artwork/screenshots here: http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/

Also the CSM. They are awesome. They make the game so much fun.

Speaking of EVE community, moving this from General Discussion to Out of Pod Experience.