Author Topic: No Man's Sky  (Read 29175 times)

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Offline Luis Dias

  • 211
Yeah. I kind of am in that bracket where I think I got what the game was all about 3 years ago, but am still in awe on how Sean and his people mismanaged everyone into thinking crazy ****. I do agree that they deserve every single backlash. I'm just sad about the thing because NMS is a different game than most games and I kind of wanted them bumped and ready to keep going where this was headed. I don't think the motivation is there any more though.

I'll try to make my points clearer.

NMS is a different game than, say, Mass Effect, not just because it doesn't really have a compelling story, voice acting, etc., but because of how its systems work. If Bioware wants to revamp its game, they have to write a new story, create one or two new weapons, new characters, create a new landscape or setting, and create whole new levels. Then they release a DLC with two plus hours of gameplay.

NMS isn't that. It works like Minecraft or, even, Civilization. If they change stuff in the game, they are changing the systems that change the systems that are creating the game itself. IOW, with the same amount of effort that Bioware puts into crafting two plus hours of story, they can change their entire game. So I kind of believe that NMS could still become a really great game, within say, 3 years time. Perhaps I'll buy it then, who knows? Clearly, they released it far too soon and fooled everyone into thinking that this game already contained what they were still daydreaming of including in.

There are decisions that can still be "included" in, like say, actual factions, actual great battles, sidekick ships, better progression in terms of weaponry and ****, nerfing a bit the constant survival crap, making planets better, etc.

But there are those decisions that are already "honed in", that seem to be part of NMS' vision. And these suck balls. First, planets don't rotate. I can totally see why: going into and out of a planet would be dizzy otherwise. But the problem is that now "day" and "night" is completely non physical. There is no "sunrise" nor "sunset". That sucks balls. I don't see any DLC going to "fix" this issue though, for it seems to be part of the design now. Another stupid decision: planets are all the same once you see a small patch you've seen it all. Stupid decision. But I don't think it was a technical issue, I actually think it was a design decision (because of some things Sean said regarding this). It completely devalues the "finding a new whole planet" for you to discover.

Planets that would have different biomes and them having a logic regarding temperature and solar exposure and whatnot would be pretty cool. Planets that would be mostly deserts but then at the poles you'd find ice. That would be cool. Etc. This could still be redesigned (and again, it just requires work on the systems that build systems, doesn't require actual hard work of designing one planet after the other), I just don't think they will do so.

But these aren't my biggest gripe against NMS. My biggest problem comes with the "exploration game" that it pretends to be. It's not. It's stupid. Every planet is inhabited by hundreds, if not thousands of loners down there sitting at some desk within small colony bases that are equally spread out in these balls. If you make the maths, that's like a thousand quintillion aliens out there with the same habitats and clothes. IOW, it's a completely inhabited universe. But it's a weirdly sparse universe, without any cities or anything and where all of these aliens are "travellers". You almost think that all of these are as much of an adventurous sort as you are. But then, if the universe is filled with these, what are you exactly doing photographing all of the creatures everywhere? Surely these creatures are already known to everyone else? (Clearly they know, for they already know how *many* of them are you to find on each planet) Why are you getting money out of this?

So there struck me a metaphor: it's like visiting a zoo. A big giant ****ing zoo. There are mechanical watchers everywhere that will ZAP you if you try to destroy that damned plant that tried to eat you just now, the architecture is all the same, you get to see all the animals out there, and you get some kind of cards that you collect for every animal that you pay attention to and be rewarded by your attentive posture.

All the "adventure" and "exploration" is utterly lost. There's no planet where you don't find these sentinels and you can blow it up to smithereens if you wanted to. There's loneliness but you always feel there's a hut somewhere, there's a habitat, there's a station, there's this uplink to the galactic whatever.

These problems are more than things that are lacking in the systems. These were design choices. And I disagree with them wholeheartedly.

How to fix it? Dunno. I see two games in here: in one of them, the idea of exploring a deserted universe where ancient stones tell you of a grand civilization once gone, and where nature is thriving once again and you get to catalog it. In this game you could even maintain the idea of sentinels, as these kinds of relics that are still trying to maintain the planets of a foregone civilization, and you have to deal with. The other game, a spacefaring game where you are part of a thriving civilization, filled with ships everywhere, trading posts and habitats, where you get to speak with all of these people if you want to and be part of its economy.

They built both of those games into one. And it just doesn't make any sense. Unless it's a zoo. And that's ****ing hilariously sad.

 
I am as ever a fan of two youtube channels in particular, so... here we go!

 

Offline Luis Dias

  • 211
Patch 1.3 was released.

They're still working hard on it, despite everything, and they learned to stop talking too much. I can respect that.

Slowly, the game is becoming what was initially promised. The whole ingame universe is a complete contradiction in itself still, but hey, I approve of these improvements.


 

Offline karajorma

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That doesn't help much with the big question though. Is it worth it yet?
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

[ Diaspora ] - [ Seeds Of Rebellion ] - [ Mind Games ]

 

Offline Mikes

  • 29
That doesn't help much with the big question though. Is it worth it yet?

Going by the original trailers on kick starter ... i'd say they are about 5% there and making at least 1% progress each month.

Somewhere around 50% it may even start to become fun to play!

Kidding aside ... I'm so glad i refunded in time and every update and video I have seen so far has made me even more content with this decision.


As far as ambition and promises (not kept) I would say No Man's Sky is right up there with Star Citizen. Except they made the mistake of releasing the game. Huge mistake that.  :lol:

 

Offline Luis Dias

  • 211
I cannot say. I'm not playing it for the time being. I still have problems with its inherent world they built, which has too many inconsistencies for my brain to like it.

 

Offline karajorma

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I don't think they're actually inconsistencies. I suspect the ending (which I'm very happy to have largely spoiled for myself) explains them away. It makes them dreadful story choices, but not actual plot holes.
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

[ Diaspora ] - [ Seeds Of Rebellion ] - [ Mind Games ]

 

Offline Turambar

  • Determined to inflict his entire social circle on us
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I saw a guy streaming, but all he was doing was walking around some base, extracting improbable amounts of roots from plants.
10:55:48   TurambarBlade: i've been selecting my generals based on how much i like their hats
10:55:55   HerraTohtori: me too!
10:56:01   HerraTohtori: :D

 

Offline Luis Dias

  • 211

I came back to this game since NEXT, and I gotta say, I've been having a lotsa fun. Now, they're going to include sea stuff in. This game has already pulled me back in, and it's trying hard to make me stay. I'm not bothered by this at all!!

 

Offline jr2

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No Man's Sky: The Subnautica Update

 
 

Offline jr2

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Oh I didn't say it was a bad thing.  It' actually seems like an HD patch for the bases at least.

 

Offline Luis Dias

  • 211
Hey remember when some people insisted that this game was exactly like Star Citizen? I do.


 

Offline Novachen

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Well, it is more correct to say, that Star Citizen want to be like No Man's Sky   :D
Female FreeSpace 2 pilot since 1999.
Former Global moderator in the German FreeSpace Galaxy Forum.
Developer of NTP - A Multi-Language Translation Library Interface, which allows to play FreeSpace in YOUR Language.

Is one of my releases broken or not working? Please send a PM here, on Discord at @novachen or on Twitter @NovachenFS2, a public tweet or write a reply in my own release threads here on HLP, because these are the only threads i am still participating in.

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Beyond is a legit update and the VR is pretty dang great. I know what I'm doing this weekend.
Cutscene Upgrade Project - Mainhall Remakes - Between the Ashes
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Between the Ashes is looking for committed testers, PM me for details.
Freespace Upgrade Project See what's happening.

 

Offline Turambar

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I just assumed that what they were promising at launch was impossible to deliver, and after their mess of a launch they'd crash and burn and we'd never hear from them again.

So I was wrong on that account.
10:55:48   TurambarBlade: i've been selecting my generals based on how much i like their hats
10:55:55   HerraTohtori: me too!
10:56:01   HerraTohtori: :D