No Man's Sky - Early Impressions/Reviews-in-progress Thread

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My only question to this game is if you can revisit a planet you've discovered no matter how far away you are from it. Seeing it's part randomly generated, I am still not sure about this. Otherwise you just get an endless open space with planets popping out that nobody else would see (read visit), cause they aren't there for them.

It sure looks like a very interesting game, just flying around and exploring. Hoping to get to play the PC version soon enough.
 
Paasei said:
My only question to this game is if you can revisit a planet you've discovered no matter how far away you are from it. Seeing it's part randomly generated, I am still not sure about this. Otherwise you just get an endless open space with planets popping out that nobody else would see (read visit), cause they aren't there for them.

It sure looks like a very interesting game, just flying around and exploring. Hoping to get to play the PC version soon enough.
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Its not randomly generated and yes you can go back to the planets you have visited. And other planets that others have discovered. You will see the same planet they did.
 
Paasei said:
My only question to this game is if you can revisit a planet you've discovered no matter how far away you are from it. Seeing it's part randomly generated, I am still not sure about this. Otherwise you just get an endless open space with planets popping out that nobody else would see (read visit), cause they aren't there for them.
Click to expand...

If someone visits planet that you have discovered, they will see that you have been there by the records in the galactic library stuff. The planets are fixed and same to everyone, down to the pebbles. It's just a matter of someone getting to that position in space.
 
Paasei said:
My only question to this game is if you can revisit a planet you've discovered no matter how far away you are from it. Seeing it's part randomly generated, I am still not sure about this. Otherwise you just get an endless open space with planets popping out that nobody else would see (read visit), cause they aren't there for them.

It sure looks like a very interesting game, just flying around and exploring. Hoping to get to play the PC version soon enough.
Click to expand...

I believe the "universe" is created using formulas based off a "seed" value. Its not random at all. The formula determines the layout of the universe, planets, types of planets, etc. So if you run across a solar system and want to revisit it - it'll still be there. Well, it'll be where it moved to since I believe the universe works like our own where planets revolve around a sun, the solar systems travel within a galaxy, galaxies travel within the universe.
 
Vincent Grayson said:
100% agreed. I know some people hate "modern gaming" for a number of reasons, but the ability for developers to keep adding to the game and fixing issues sure as shit shouldn't be one of them.
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Yeah. The other argument they'll make is that it allows developers to be "lazy" or "incompetent" because they have see updates and patches as crutches.

Which is completely bullshit. Not when your creative vision is on the line, and likely your job stability.
 
WoolyNinja said:
I believe the "universe" is created using formulas based off a "seed" value. Its not random at all. The formula determines the layout of the universe, planets, types of planets, etc. So if you run across a solar system and want to revisit it - it'll still be there. Well, it'll be where it moved to since I believe the universe works like our own where planets revolve around a sun, the solar systems travel within a galaxy, galaxies travel within the universe.
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Isn't the seed one of the dev's phone number?

edit:
One generator is used to create the universe, plotting the position of the stars and their stellar classification, using the phone number of one of the Hello Games' developers as the founding seed
Click to expand...
 
WoolyNinja said:
I believe the "universe" is created using formulas based off a "seed" value. Its not random at all. The formula determines the layout of the universe, planets, types of planets, etc. So if you run across a solar system and want to revisit it - it'll still be there. Well, it'll be where it moved to since I believe the universe works like our own where planets revolve around a sun, the solar systems travel within a galaxy, galaxies travel within the universe.
Click to expand...

That covers it up perfectly, just like the other replies above. Thank you. It really did confuse me for quite a while.
 
I'm officially skeptical about NMS, but after reading those patch notes, yeah there's no way I'm going to trust any review that's coming from the pre-patch version. That's potentially pretty huge.
 
mokeyjoe said:
I don't mind some of the creature similarity, you'd expect that - convergent evolution and all. But that jumping pineapple seems to be all over the universe. Seen it on 3 separate streams now, lol.
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I haven't seen it :(

Seen quite a lot of deer and dinosaur variations though.

It's fucking amazing when you find a really unique creature. I found a giant 40 foot bird bear thing. Walked totally upright. It was like a bear version of Trico. Docile herbivore too.

So good
 
eizarus said:
Wait, are you guys telling me that the entire planet is (theoretically) explorable?????? Whaaaaaat?
I haven't kept up with this games development
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That planet. And the millions other planets in the game. Or was it billions.

Fascinating, but still not convinced there's enough variety or that those algorithms can generate interesting and recognisable enough landscapes to make exploring the surface of each planet worthwhile; size means nothing if the planet doesn't have a few remarkable vistas here and there and landmarks to orientate.
We'll see though
 
I'm of the opinion that pre-patch reviews should not be included here, but if they are, every review should have a clear notation that they are reviewing the 'incomplete' game.

Y2Kev said:
I think there's some argument that in 20 years when the servers are down the game will revert to its original, prepatched state. I think this is a real concern of mine.
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This worries me as well. Part of the reason I bought the physical version of NMS is that some years down the road I could pop the disc into my PS6, and even if Sony decided to remove all support on PSN for prior-gen games, I could still play the game in some form. But a massive Day-1 update means that in this scenario I'd be playing something that is not Hello's vision for the Day 1 experience, and not something which I played on Day-1, either.
 
eso76 said:
That planet. And the millions other planets in the game. Or was it billions.

Fascinating, but still not convinced there's enough variety or that those algorithms can generate interesting and recognisable enough landscapes to make exploring the surface of each planet worthwhile; size means nothing if the planet doesn't have a few remarkable vistas here and there and landmarks to orientate.
We'll see though
Click to expand...

I need to see things like highest peaks and lowest valleys. Like, can I be on some peak so high that the bottom is too far for the draw distance?

Can I go deep in the ocean and find huge ocean creatures?

I somewhat was hoping for this game to have super rare structural things like weird totems, or mysterious handmade things that could be a bunch of easter eggs to get the community to put together hunts and theories, etc.

I think a huge part of the fun would be some players finding something so ultra rare that it becomes a myth and legend to discover some kind of mystery.

Things like that would make me so happy.
 
eyeball_kid said:
I'm of the opinion that pre-patch reviews should not be included here, but if they are, every review should have a clear notation that they are reviewing the 'incomplete' game.



This worries me as well. Part of the reason I bought the physical version of NMS is that some years down the road I could pop the disc into my PS6, and even if Sony decided to remove all support on PSN for prior-gen games, I could still play the game in some form. But a massive Day-1 update means that in this scenario I'd be playing something that is not Hello's vision for the Day 1 experience, and not something which I played on Day-1, either.
Click to expand...

What if they include a newer build on later disc presses? That would work I guess.
 
Maybe they should have the updates stored somewhere in cyberspace so that anytime in the future you could grab any updates a game has. I dunno. There is an argument to be made about not being able to play the best version of NMS with just the base disc in 20 years but the same argument can be made for any game that receives updates and patches and DLC which is pretty much every game made these days.

Thats like a whole other topic.
 
eyeball_kid said:
I'm of the opinion that pre-patch reviews should not be included here, but if they are, every review should have a clear notation that they are reviewing the 'incomplete' game.



This worries me as well. Part of the reason I bought the physical version of NMS is that some years down the road I could pop the disc into my PS6, and even if Sony decided to remove all support on PSN for prior-gen games, I could still play the game in some form. But a massive Day-1 update means that in this scenario I'd be playing something that is not Hello's vision for the Day 1 experience, and not something which I played on Day-1, either.
Click to expand...

That's not just a problem with NMS... think of all the updates a LOT of games have had this gen.
 
eso76 said:
That planet. And the millions other planets in the game. Or was it billions.

Fascinating, but still not convinced there's enough variety or that those algorithms can generate interesting and recognisable enough landscapes to make exploring the surface of each planet worthwhile; size means nothing if the planet doesn't have a few remarkable vistas here and there and landmarks to orientate.
We'll see though
Click to expand...

Landscapes are definitely unique enough - most planets have their own distinct vibe - although actual memorable natural landmarks are tougher. You tend to see maybe two or their really memorable landscapes in s couple of hours on a planet.

However, they have done a phenomenal job of making every planet memorable through the locations and events that happen on-planet. Eg sentient and native aliens you meet, as well as their settlements. Unique choose-your-own adventure events are built into each.

I'll always remember the place where I blundered into
getting engaged
to a female alien
, got chased into a drop pod by a giant tiger, or befriended an alien who gave me exactly the part I needed for my ship.
 
hypotc said:
What if they include a newer build on later disc presses? That would work I guess.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess that would suffice.

LookAtMeGo said:
Maybe they should have the updates stored somewhere in cyberspace so that anytime in the future you could grab any updates a game has. I dunno. There is an argument to be made about not being able to play the best version of NMS with just the base disc in 20 years but the same argument can be made for any game that receives updates and patches and DLC which is pretty much every game made these days.
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This is not about future updates or the "best" version, this is about the Day-1 update being what Sean considers the 1.0 release version. Effectively what's on the retail disc is a pre-release build. Updates hosted somewhere is fine for a PC copy, but not so much for consoles. But yes, it's a separate topic to the reviews, and yes this is becoming a common problem. I suppose NMS is just the first game this gen I could see myself dipping back into in a few years.
 
DieH@rd said:
This is nothing so far. GAF review thread post count:

Witcher 3 - 4.5K
MGSV - 6K
Order 1886 - 9.6K
TLOU - 10.2K
Destiny - 12.5K
Skyward Sword - 16.6K [this one is so old that it probably used old gaf rules, so it should not count]

IMO, there is no chance that NMS will get |OT2|
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TLG, FFXV and Zelda BotW are the next mega review threads I think.
 
SomTervo said:
Landscapes are definitely unique enough - most planets have their own distinct vibe - although actual memorable natural landmarks are tougher. You tend to see maybe two or their really memorable landscapes in s couple of hours on a planet.

However, they have done a phenomenal job of making every planet memorable through the locations and events that happen on-planet. Eg sentient and native aliens you meet, as well as their settlements. Unique choose-your-own adventure events are built into each.

I'll always remember the place where I blundered into
getting engaged
to a female alien
, got chased into a drop pod by a giant tiger, or befriended an alien who gave me exactly the part I needed for my ship.
Click to expand...
Haha seriously? Glad that the interaction isn't very minimal.
 
this thread shortly

872FDBm.gif
 
pswii60 said:
What reviews ever do include a day one update? I don't see why NMS should be treated any differently. If HG were that concerned the pre-update version was poor then they should have waited.
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Weird statement. Do you see HG protesting somewhere? They're certainly not in this thread.
 
Purkake4 said:
Could you explain how please?
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Besides the fact that the two procedural systems are DESIGNED, as in hand crafted, by two totally different developers for different purposes /gameplay:

Minecraft has biomes, NMS doesn't. NMS has day/night based on planetary rotation, minecraft doesn't. NMS has dynamic weather and storms, NMS doesn't. MC has blocks instead of voxels - voxels allowing NMS to have far more interesting and detailed and intricate planet styles and shapes. Minecraft has a handful of preset resources and creatures and places (mostly), NMS's are procedurally created (it's possible for the devs to see resources they never designed). NMS procedurally creates a food chain - it's possible to see one procedurally created creature hunt another then be hunted by an even bigger creature (I saw this happen today), where minecraft creatures never hunt reach other. NMS has procedurally generated NPCs and space ships which fly across systems and land on planets to dynamically buy and sell resources (minecraft has no economy).

Perhaps most importantly, NMS has thousands of pages of actual hand-written story content with narratives and a lore. Exploring the world is compelling because finding aliens -who are each procedurally styled to look unique unlike minecraft's one-note pig men- unlocks story for you which is almost like a choose your own adventure novel.

These outposts and places have an actual pre-set place in the world - so sometimes you'll get a beacon which will point through the ground and say "a settlement is two days walk in this direction". (Two days as in 24 real time hours of your life). Again, minecraft isn't designed to be aware of what is tens of thousands of blocks away.

Along with hundreds of other details I can't be bothered going into.

I adore minecraft and I'm loving NMS but you have no fucking idea what you're talking about here

eizarus said:
Haha seriously? Glad that the interaction isn't very minimal.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Haven't had the
marriage call yet though...

FWIW the interaction itself IS very simple but the are loads of variations and moments of greater depth are inserted throughout, impacting on other elements of the galactic sandbox.
 
Pestilence11 said:
Does it though? People keep saying it's fixed and the same on every planet/moon. Unless all planets currently rotate at the exact same speed.
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You know I was just thinking about it after I wrote that. I'm looking at a planet and if doesn't seem like it's moving - and I have noticed that the cycle seems to take roughly the same time on every planet.

But in the patch notes Sean wrote that people aren't understanding planetary rotation right?
 
SomTervo said:
You know I was just thinking about it after I wrote that. I'm looking at a planet and if doesn't seem like it's moving - and I have noticed that the cycle seems to take roughly the same time on every planet.

But in the patch notes Sean wrote that people aren't understanding planetary rotation right?
Click to expand...

During testing people were flying down to planets then returning to space confused because the station wasn't where they left it, concluding it was a bug. That's the only mention of problems when they were talking about realistic planet rotation and day/night cycles. By the sounds of the patch they're just slowing down what's currently there.
 
SomTervo said:
MC has blocks instead of voxels - voxels allowing NMS to have far more interesting and detailed and intricate planet styles and shapes.
Click to expand...

Mm, both use voxels afaik, it's just that Minecraft uses the voxels as the actual terrain, whereas NMS uses voxels purely as an abstract representation from which the polygonal terrain is generated.

From what I've read/seen in those talks, NMS's procedural algorithms for terrain gen are just a magnitude more complex than what Minecraft uses.

SomTervo said:
These outposts and places have an actual pre-set place in the world - so sometimes you'll get a beacon which will point through the ground and say "a settlement is two days walk in this direction". (Two days as in 24 real time hours of your life).
Click to expand...

It's strange that there are missions that require a two-day walk, and yet the day/night cycle is 12 minutes. The super-short day/night cycle, and having every planet using the same cycle, is baffling to me.

Odrion said:
I wish NMS's planets could have biomes.

Like they would be incredibly rare, but still out there.
Click to expand...

Most of the famous sci-fi planets are single-biome – Tatooine (desert), Hoth (ice), the desert planet in Dune. Multiple biomes could be cool, but probably would've made their proc gen algorithms way more complicated.
 
SomTervo said:
NMS procedurally creates a food chain - it's possible to see one procedurally created creature hunt another then be hunted by an even bigger creature (I saw this happen today), where minecraft creatures never hunt reach other.
Click to expand...

Wolves go after sheep in Minecraft. Who is wearing the smarty trousers now? ;)
 
I've never been convinced that this game will end up being great just based on the 40 billion planets etc etc hype. In my experience procedually generated terrain/content has never been as compelling as handcrafted content, and it doesn't matter how varied the cosmetic elements of a game are--at the end of the day it's about gameplay (for me anyway).

That being said I do hope it is a great game because I would love to be addicted to this for the next month or so.
 
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