I play EV more because the plugs I'm working on are for EV. But I'm really looking forward to when I get the time to convert them (along with the EV universe ) to EV:O. The engine is significantly better.
I haven't played EV:O in a couple years, so I don't really remember what I liked and didn't like about it. I think the EV graphics are overrated, though. They're too simple -- they're just a bunch of simple geometric solids with OK textures. Plug-ins like Magma really improve on the original graphics. And the plotline, while it does draw upon one of the archetypal conflicts in human society -- the underclass desires freedom while the upper class desires law and order, each being convinced of their own virtue -- is also rather derivative, and the basic idea has been done many times before, and often better.
That said, the game itself is a blast to play. It's just plain fun. I think a big part of that is the way it pokes fun/homages so many classic SF stories... Let's see my list. Ah... Dune, HGTG, LOTR, The Mote in God's Eye, THX-1138 and Star Wars, ST:TNG and DS9, classic bad B-movies like Manos: Hands of Fate ("My name is Torgo. I look after things while the Master is away."), Japanese monster movies, even a offhand reference to Marathon (another great game), and probably a few that I've missed. Little things like that keep you entertained while you're going through the tedious process of building up enough money to buy a ship with which to kick ass. There aren't enough of those in EV:O, as I recall, and I hope that EV:N will have at least some.
(edit)I just noticed one such homage has already been revealed: there's a Navy unit in EV:N called "Raczak's Roughnecks" -- a reference to RAH's Starship Troopers (The book is much better than the movie, in case you were wondering).
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"I am astounded ... at the wonderful power you have developed -- and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever."
-Arthur Sullivan, unknowingly anticipating the Backstreet Boys upon viewing of Edison's talking machine in 1888
(This message has been edited by WickedDyno (edited 09-24-2001).)