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

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quick question

I like 65 Days, however I'm not going to get the game for a while.

Should I listen to the OST, or would that kinda burn me out when I play the game and I hear the same music?
 
MrCompletely said:
I love the idea of exploring, as I'm playing Starbound, I'm wondering if NMS has similar types of locations, or dungeons to find.

For example, in Starbound on a hostile jungle planet I've found an overrun penal colony, where I had to fight through the convicts residing there to collect some nice loot. On a desert planet, I discovered an abandoned underground lab where thought experiments had been conducted on the Apex (the humanoid ape species in the game).. and had gone horribly wrong. The lab stretched several levels below the surface and was a ton of fun to explore.

Are there locations like these to discover in NMS, where you get a story through the environment?
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Is Starbound procedurally generated or were all locations hand crafted?
 
Orca said:
So I fixed my ship and instead of taking off into space like I was prompted, I flew around a bit to find something I'd seen in the distance while gathering materials. Got there and landed, explored it (turned out to be nothing really) and then went to take off...out of fuel.

I spent two hours searching the area, scanning, etc...can't find plutonium.
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This sounds like a game breaking scenario they never considered in their starter-planet-selector algorithm...
 
Zombie James said:
Austin Walker (Vice): 'No Man's Sky' Is the Stress Reliever I Didn't Know I Needed
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Yep. It's one of the reasons I was looking forward to it so much. I instantly got swallowed whole by the atmosphere of the first planet... and then I got out into space.

agtmbomg.gif
 
TheLostBigBoss said:
He's complaining about not being able to ride an animal, even though that was never mentioned ever as a possible feature.

So....
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Well the game would probably be more fun if you could.

It's just another example of its shallowness.

Looks like there's very little to the game so far. I'm sure that will improve assuming the devs continue to support it.

At the moment it looks like there's very little to offer even next to something like Subnautica and certainly nowhere near as in-depth as Elite: Dangerous.
 
Incendiary said:
I feel like this game is going to be a lot like Minecraft - either you get it or you don't. And playing it will be infinitely more likely to addict you than hearing about it or watching videos of it.

"So what do you do?"
"You explore planets and stuff."
"That's it?"
"You can gather minerals and craft stuff!"
"That sounds boring. There's no goal or anything?"
"No but I t's really fun to explore!"

Etc. etc. I was never on the hype train because I felt like people were hyping up the early preview too much and were setting the expectation bar too high. I'm just expecting Minecraft with a space exploration feel and I feel like I should be satisfied.
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My younger brother played it for three hours or so then he just couldn't play anymore from boredom, and he gets Minecraft unlike myself.

In any case the price tag for this game in no way is justifiable, it looks like it's gonna be a skip for me from what I heard about it.
 
Just watched Sterling's video and a lot of times I happen to agree with the guy on games in general. While I have yet to play this game for myself, what he showed her and talked about didn't exactly fill me with joy. He talked how the novelty of certain things wear off quite quickly, he talked about the things you do in the game. So far for him no incredibly densely populated planets and he felt like there weren't any true surprises left for him. I guess it remains to be seen what other reviewers say but it's starting to sound like a game where it's uniqueness will wear off after a while. Which wouldn't surprise me, it's been my biggest "worry" since they announced it.

I absolutely love exploring in big open world games and discovering new things. I loved in the days of Oblivion that I was exploring around, discovering caves and dungeons, getting new quests from npcs and such. But not exploration for the sake of exploration, but to indeed stroll upon cool new things. Hoping reviews will prove him wrong and that it turns out there is actually plenty to discover and do.

But based on what I have now seen I understand Sterling's impressions from that video.
 
Was excited about this game, but looking at video reviews has lowered my steam significantly. The game looks like a marginally fleshed out version of material farming in Mass Effect, without anything else to go with it.
 
Z3M0G said:
Is Starbound procedurally generated or were all locations hand crafted?
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Starbound's universe is procedurally generated, and to my understanding, the random dungeons are based on themes, such as the lab, the penal colony, (and others I havent seen), and each theme has a set of room shapes and tile sets that are also procedurally constructed, across planets and star systems.

There's also a large set of hand built dungeons that are a part of the main questline, which have a metroid-vania feel to them.


I'm just loving Starbound right now, it strangely seems very similar to NMS (although it's 2D, similar look/feel to Terraria).

The one thing I get from Starbound, which seems on the opposite side of the spectrum from NMS, is that it's densely populated with NPCs, you regularly will find villages with NPCs who give you procedurally generated side quests. The quests are not deep, but the loot/reward draw drives it pretty nicely. You can recruit NPCs as crew members on your ship, but I'm not sure what benefit that serves. SB is also multiplayer, supporting as many players as the server hardware can support, so you can co-op literally everything in the game.
 
Valonquar said:
Was excited about this game, but looking at video reviews has lowered my steam significantly. The game looks like a marginally fleshed out version of material farming in Mass Effect, without anything else to go with it.
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What kind of shallow video reviews are you watching? There's way more to the game than gathering materials.
 
I don't understand why people that don't like or dig or have any interest in this game seems to be pretty angry at it, like... it's ok, go and play whatever you want, nobody is stopping you, no one is forcing you to like this game and it's ok to not understand why people like it, it won't change the industry in a way that no other types of games will be made.
 
KooopaKid said:
The whole premise of the game has always been flawed to me. The game is mainly about exploration, but exploration needs to be rewarding to be compelling. I just don't see the reward or the draw here. The landscapes you discover are not even beautiful to look at. The game isn't really pretty and the generated planets are very dull and samey looking to me, very few screenshots or videos have captured my imagination. Why should I care to go to the next dull and empty planet?
The whole immersion factor just isn't working, all I see is randomly generated terrain with the same elements assembled slightly differently or with a new color, not actual and interesting places.
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That's what turned me off about this game completely after following the streams. I love exploration but there was just nothing compelling to see from what I saw and continue to see. If exploration is seeing slightly different version of the same enemy type, a different flower and a differently colored 'random barren rock landscape', it's absolutely not enough for me.

It's a shame that this is what it appears to be in practice as I think it sounds utterly fantastic in theory and on paper. I hope that it inspires some future devs to make an actual micro-cosmic handcrafted version of this idea with creatively exciting content to discover.
 
After about 3.5 hours I think it's safe to say I love this game. I'm sure at some point the planets will maybe start to feel less exciting and new, but at what point can you say you've gotten your money's worth? I'm sure that will vary from person to person. If I get 30-40
hours I will be happy.

I've only spent about 10 minutes in space so far. It feels incredible and vast. The 2 planets I've been on were really cool and felt compelled to check out everything. When I started flying above the planet you want to stop at every landmark I see. The only reason I left the first one was so I could get into space before I had to quit.

I didn't even really spend that much time in the menu, but it always felt like I was doing something to improve my gear or just manage my stock a bit. I do wish there was more space. I wish I could install every bit of tech I find, but alas, there are only so many slots.

It's true this game is not for everyone, but I think for the people that can enjoy the survival, exploration, and resource management, there's an incredible experience to be had here.
 
MegaSackman said:
I don't understand why people that don't like or dig or have any interest in this game seems to be pretty angry at it, like... it's ok, go and play whatever you want, nobody is stopping you, no one is forcing you to like this game and it's ok to not understand why people like it, it won't change the industry in a way that no other types of games will be made.
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It's a review/impressions thread for a game that has been out for less than a day. This is basically "Conformation Bias-The Thread". People are determining whether a game is good or bad based on other people's opinions. I wouldn't read much into it or take much from it.
 
moggio said:
Well the game would probably be more fun if you could.

It's just another example of its shallowness.

Looks like there's very little to the game so far. I'm sure that will improve assuming the devs continue to support it.

At the moment it looks like there's very little to offer even next to something like Subnautica and certainly nowhere near as in-depth as Elite: Dangerous.
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Yea, when I played Halo Reach I was really disappointed when I couldn't fall in love with one of the girls I found in the first mission huddled in the corner of the settlement. Like, it would have really made the game more enjoyable instead of just a shallow shooter.
 
Am so glad I fell off the hype train I was this close from pre-ordering it. The reason I changed my mind about this game is I actually listened to the negative impressions objectively instead of brushing them as usual shit journalism and click bait articles.
You will be surprised how wrong you could be when you are being blind by the game hype.
I am not saying this is a bad game it's just not for me and won't meet my expectations.
 
MegaSackman said:
I don't understand why people that don't like or dig or have any interest in this game seems to be pretty angry at it, like... it's ok, go and play whatever you want, nobody is stopping you, no one is forcing you to like this game and it's ok to not understand why people like it, it won't change the industry in a way that no other types of games will be made.
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I'll never get it either.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
It's a review/impressions thread for a game that has been out for less than a day. This is basically "Conformation Bias-The Thread". People are determining whether a game is good or bad based on other people's opinions. I wouldn't read much into it or take much from it.
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No no, it's ok to have an opinion and share it but... it's weird that I sense some anger in some comments, like if they were scammed or something, or like they think people are being deceived into thinking this is a good game and they can't show them the "truth".
 
TheLostBigBoss said:
Yea, when I played Halo Reach I was really disappointed when I couldn't fall in love with one of the girls I found in the first mission huddled in the corner of the settlement. Like, it would have really made the game more enjoyable instead of just a shallow shooter.
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Probably would have. I didn't enjoy Halo Reach either.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
It's a review/impressions thread for a game that has been out for less than a day. This is basically "Conformation Bias-The Thread". People are determining whether a game is good or bad based on other people's opinions. I wouldn't read much into it or take much from it.
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Ironically, well said and so true.

Aikidoka said:
I'm disappointed that the worlds don't seem to have a physics engine. Can you be killed by dinosaurs or do they just clip through you no matter what?
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Yes creatures can and will damage/kill you.
 
I'm disappointed that the worlds don't seem to have a physics engine. Can you be killed by dinosaurs or do they just clip through you no matter what?
 
AtlantiC_CodeX said:
My younger brother played it for three hours or so then he just couldn't play anymore from boredom, and he gets Minecraft unlike myself.

In any case the price tag for this game in no way is justifiable, it looks like it's gonna be a skip for me from what I heard about it.
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I always felt that hype and Sony were to blame for this being a $60 title.

It is an indy game developed by a small team... it could have been a $20-30 title and settled better with people, I suspect.
 
Darkologia said:
Am so glad I fell off the hype train I was this close pre-ordering it. The reason I changed my mind about this game is I actually listened to the negative impressions objectively instead of brushing them as usual shit journalism and click bait articles.
You will be surprised how wrong you could be when you are being blind by the game hype.
I am not saying this is a bad game it's just not for me and won't meet my expectations.
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What is this heresy? Don't you understand that No Mans Sky is the greatest game of the generation?

tumblr_inline_mv38rbiFr21qbhqgf.jpg
 
Z3M0G said:
I always felt that hype and Sony were to blame for this being a $60 title.

It is an indy game developed by a small team... it could have been a $20-30 title and settled better with people, I suspect.
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This is complete bullshit. Sony did not make this a 60 dollar game nor did the hype (this is extra fucking stupid). It's 60 dollars because that is what hello games thought it was worth. And many agree.
 
I've always disliked procedural content in games...but still on the fence about getting this. I'd like to see what people tell me about what they're doing twenty hours into the game, because while I would probably enjoy wandering from planet to planet for a bit, knowing that no human had put any direct thought into any of these worlds will very quickly turn me off of it.

That soundtrack though.
 
prwxv3 said:
This is complete bullshit. Sony did not make this a 60 dollar game nor did the hype (this is extra fucking stupid). It's 60 dollars because that is what hello games thought it was worth. And many agree.
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Hello Games decided for sure? They are publishing it themselves?
 
Lemondish said:
Hmm, that's an awful lot to say about a massive game you haven't played yet.
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No Man's Sky seems to be "people taking sides in a battlefield without having touched the game". Can't wait for more people to get their hands on it and see the fireworks fly.

I myself predict a high likelyhood of the following:
- Most people will find it disappointingly shallow and devoid of meaningful content even compared to their tempered expectations.
- Diehard defenders will rationalize their previous positions and keep defending and playing it because of cognitive inertia.
- The truth will slowly and inexorably sink in that the game is simply not that good or capable of holding anyone's attention for too long, and even diehard fans will silently drop it.

See also Titanfall, Evolve, Watchdogs, Spore, every Molyneux game this century, etc, etc. I'd love to be proven wrong and have a game of this scope actualñy succeed; we'll see.
 
Kabuki Waq said:
does this feel like a full price AAA title? or you guys think it would have been better served with Indie game pricing?
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I did not want to leave my first planet and I'll just leave it there. Here is the actual scale of it from space after I left:

13962774_1149238411806591_6152654454790632891_n.jpg


And yes you can go all around planets and land anywhere.
 
Feep said:
I've always disliked procedural content in games...but still on the fence about getting this. I'd like to see what people tell me about what they're doing twenty hours into the game, because while I would probably enjoy wandering from planet to planet for a bit, knowing that no human had put any direct thought into any of these worlds will very quickly turn me off of it.

That soundtrack though.
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I think that's kind of inaccurate. The art director described it as having a team of hundreds of thousands of artists working for him. There is human thought, in the layers of rules and constraints, in the color theory system, in the quests and interactive fiction aspects, etc. All that is designed by people. Without that human touch and careful control, the world would look like a mess of stuff.

You sound like you have the same fears and mindset that the NMS art director and other artists had about procedural art.

"Procedural art is a big pile of shit"
"Randomess can never lead to good art"
"Takes control away from artists"
"Endless boring terrain"

How I Learned to Love Procedural Art
 
NMS has more content than many retail AAA games. Wether that content appeals to you is a different story. Wait for a price drop if you don't want to pay 60 bucks it's that simple.
 
Feep said:
I've always disliked procedural content in games...but still on the fence about getting this. I'd like to see what people tell me about what they're doing twenty hours into the game, because while I would probably enjoy wandering from planet to planet for a bit, knowing that no human had put any direct thought into any of these worlds will very quickly turn me off of it.

That soundtrack though.
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The developers put a lot of thought into it.

There's also a lot of handcrafted content, mostly in choose-your-own-adventure style choices.
 
Complicated said:
Should've been $20-30 and on early access months ago. Probably would've helped them out a lot in terms of PR and managing expectations.
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Much rather pay $60 for the game now than $30 for EA 3 months ago. Also they already made a crap tonne of money so it doesnt matter if some people find it boring.

Also this is The Witness 2.0 in terms of people saying Indie = Cheap. The Witness was worth the money to me and this looks to be too (although I have to wait for PC to play)
 
Kabuki Waq said:
does this feel like a full price AAA title? or you guys think it would have been better served with Indie game pricing?
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That's too subjective. I had a friend who's played it who's told me personally to wait for a price drop. I'm more interested in waiting just to see what future content update/patches are going to be like for this game. I'd like to see what direction they want to take the game in. What is base building going to be like and what does it mean etc.
 
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