Frontier: First Encounters

aka: Elite 3, FFE
Moby ID: 351

Description official description

Frontier: First Encounters is the third part of Elite series. You are a space pirate and you fly around through the universe in your space craft to fulfill different missions. You can also earn money by trading cargo with other races.

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Credits (DOS version)

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 73% (based on 16 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 30 ratings with 7 reviews)

Somewhat Horrendous Irritating Trash

The Good
It's big. Once patched several times, it worked. Sort of. The planned Amiga version was never released, so they weren't ripped off - I dread to imagine how incomplete, bugged and irritating that would've been

The Bad
Basing it on the initial shop release (the one you paid good money to take home, and the one you'd be stuck with for a while if you didn't have a modem (not many did at the time, there isn't a word in the dictionary to describe how bad this is. Bugs permeate constantly, making almost all the features virtually useless. As said elsewhere, the graphics are awful and many gameplay features, especially the combat, where badly designed. David Braben had a very high opinion of himself, but he should've sat back and thought "is this going to be fun to play?"

The Bottom Line
A shoddy, badly designed and rush-released fiasco

DOS · by Martin Smith (61) · 2003

An Elite Fan from the Beginning

The Good
The immense universe, realistic, hand coded missions, alot of different of ships to pilot, Actually have to work to get somewhere in it., Millions of stars to explore., Can do what you want to (open ended). be a Pirate, Trader, Military, Bounty Hunter Etc., great graphics (for when it was made.) JJFFE (Google it.) Lets it run in windows with direct X support., Jades FFE Page (Google this one also.)

I've spent many evenings exploring the galaxy in this huge universe in my Imperial Explorer (my favorite ship) and I worked at it from the bottom up getting killed many times in my smaller ships, while learning the ropes for controlling and fighting the bad guys, learning the trade lanes and seeing what could be done. I've followed the missions from the beginning and until Jade's came around never finished them. With Jade's aid finally finished the missions (woooo hoo) and am working towards elite status. This is one of those games that has basically never left my hard drive since I installed it. Along with Doom, Civilization II, Total Annihilation, Master of Orion 2, Homeworld.

 If you expect to jump into the ship here and own the universe don't bother, but if you like a challenge and working towards an end in a HUGE game universe worth the effort in gaming fun.

The map and manuals are great and come with quite a bit of good imaginative fiction and are well worth the read.

See you on the Frontier, Stim

The Bad
I found Frontier and First Encounters by accident in a bargain bin and I've been an elite fan from the beginning the no advertising part stunk, not letting your fans know it's out there doesn't help.

 Initial release of the title was very buggy, but I called Gametek and was immediately sent the 1.06 remastered version which is alot more stable, so no complaints. It's still a bit buggy some of the hand coded missions still don't work right or you have to do them a particular way, basically what could've been an awesome release was killed by rushing the developer with the product out the door.

The station personnel videos are cool at first but get on your nerves after awhile .....

The Bottom Line
Open ended space simulation, be a trader, pirate, assassin, military officer. Realistic controls and space physics. Lots of different ships to own and pilot; from the lowly Saker Mark 1 to the Thargoid Warship if you can find it! Can be frustrating at first but if you learn it loads of fun.

DOS · by StimuL8 (1) · 2005

Good but flawed, 33rd century space action as you partake the role of an interstellar mercenary.

The Good
Many of my friends who have seen this game alwys ask me questions like, how many levels does first encounters have and how do you complete it? I then tell them that there is no set goals or end to the game, which i believe is one of the games most appealing features. You can play the game any way you like, such as completing the missions to find the insect thargoids, or you can just cruise around space reliving the moon landings or trying to land on Pluto. The point being, there is no linear game structure, you can pretty much do what you like (barring leaving your ship, which is a pity.). This is not the only good point of FFE. Others include contacting the Thargoids (They were not present in Frontier.), completing both military and the set missions which are provided, which can include nuking reserch bases of the enemy militia, assassinating high ranking figures and even smuggling spies from one planet to the other. Finally the graphics of the game are on the whole improved from Frontier with texture mapped planets and more exotic space ports and orbital space ports.

The Bad
One of the most irritating issues to this game is the amounts of bugs present. Some of these remain even after the patch disks later released by Gametek, after the first unplayable version of the game was released. These bugs include the joystick going crazy, and certain problems with the set missions ( wont give away too much so as not to spoil the game for those who havent done them.), and some ships (such as a gun turret being placed behind the hull, which registers as a hit on your ship if you fire this gun. Very annoying.). The graphics can also be a bit dodgy at times, with problems such as cities appearing to "hover" on the planets surface and when you land sometimes your ship appears to sink beneath ground level producing graphical glitches. The auto pilot can also crash you rather than land you in a space port. But on the whole, the game is playable and enjoyable once you get into it.

The Bottom Line
So to sum up, if you liked Frontier, missed the Thargoids and enjoy a long running complex space sim, you could do worse than get a copy of First Encounters. But if youre in to blasting everything in sight and easily pick up and play games, then I wouldnt reccomend this title. But overall FFE is a pretty descent space sim which you can play to your own rules without following a set game plan.

DOS · by Stuart Stocks (6) · 2001

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

Credits

David Braben and Ian Bell were the original authors of the first Elite back in the 80s. Braben made this third game without giving Bell credit or royalties for the space ships and other ideas he created that were reused. Bell had to sue Braben for payment.

Development

Frontier: First Encounters was originally intended to be an add-on disk for the second game, Frontier: Elite II. However, because they rushed that game, its engine could not handle expansion disks effectively. The engine was rewritten and the game was released standalone. Unfortunately, it was also rushed and filled with numerous bugs that made its initial release unplayable.

Awards

  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/1996 - Most Annoying Bugs in 1995

Information also contributed by woods01 .

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Related Sites +

  • Frontier: First Encounters FAQ
    First Encounters Frequently Asked Questions (Answers from David Braben)
  • JJFFE Central
    A conversion of the game for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, which additionally includes minor improvements and bug fixes.
  • Space: The Final Frontier
    An elite fansite covering everything elite.
  • The Elite Club
    Where you can download Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, now released as shareware

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 351
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by robotriot.

Additional contributors: Brian Hirt, Cravo, Rebound Boy, Longwalker, Indra was here, Crawly, Patrick Bregger.

Game added November 1, 1999. Last modified December 4, 2023.