This has been my attitude about the game. I got home from work yesterday and played it for 8 hours straight, most of it on the planet I woke up on. It's definitely not a game for everyone, but I enjoyed my time with it so far and that's what matters to me.
No Man's Sky - Early Impressions/Reviews-in-progress Thread
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Freeman76
Member
This is a prime reason for the polarising opinions. It was clearly going to be a resource/inventory managment game. I really dont fully understand why anyone who isnt keen on that type of game would be drawn to buy it.
In all honesty, I do think it needs a bit of balancing as even though I enjoy the resource management and find it relaxing, I do find it frustrating to be out of slots so often. Resources need to be gathered as and when rather than hoarded, so maybe if we had a Store Droid like a little R2D2 that popped in the back of our ship it would alleviate some of that.
Bloodporne
Member
Many people with negative feedback stated why they found the exploration in itself unsatisfactory along with their impressions, your condescension is baseless.
Teuoxton
Member
From what I've seen so far all the planets have land, some have static oceans/seas and some varying vegetation and mineral types. They have a decent variation in size, but I haven't found any gas giants or planets with little to no atmosphere.
Our own solar system has more variation :/
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
Reading Jim's review and seeing the exact same interaction screen with the exact same words coming from maybe a slightly different alien despite a QUINTILLION number of different planets is an absolutely gutting peak behind the facade I did not want.
The biggest problem I am seeing with NMS is that the game was being hyped itself on being a deep and expansive universe but the actual game mechanics itself are very shallow.
The sense of scale in NMS is amazing, from the size of the planets, to flying in space, to the entire universe in the game. But after 5-6 hours in, it seems like so far all im doing is discovering things, collecting items to keep exploring, and farming items to sell at space stations for more inventory space.
For me atleast, the game seems to be lacking in the mechanics department.
I wont say that NMS is a bad game but rather that it feels somewhat unfinished.
The sense of scale in NMS is amazing, from the size of the planets, to flying in space, to the entire universe in the game. But after 5-6 hours in, it seems like so far all im doing is discovering things, collecting items to keep exploring, and farming items to sell at space stations for more inventory space.
For me atleast, the game seems to be lacking in the mechanics department.
I wont say that NMS is a bad game but rather that it feels somewhat unfinished.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
There are just as many people complaining that they think exploration is pointless because there are not cool things to collect. And that is fine.
Freeman76
Member
I thought the same man, anyone saying its a one trick pony clearly just didnt play it enough as that statement is just straight up false.
Zombie James
Banned
Haven't run into any severe storms on the planets I've been to yet but there's definitely weather. It rained quite a bit on the first planet I was on.
More_Badass
Member
Ideally, that's how people should be about every entertainment medium. Of course, everyone would prefer the stuff they like to be remembered fondly, but I'm not going to go crazy because someone doesn't like something I do. That's just human nature
Stirling's review more or less confirmed my expectations for this game and pushed me into pass mode. The combat, survival, and trading stuff all looked pretty...bland in the trailers, with the exploration really being the key. But it sounds like the survival gets in the way of the exploration, and the exploration itself doesn't really break the trappings of procedural generation in a sufficient way to make up for it.
I do hope it does well enough to keep the team going though. They went ambitious and shouldn't be chided if they didn't live up to expectations for a lot of people.
I do hope it does well enough to keep the team going though. They went ambitious and shouldn't be chided if they didn't live up to expectations for a lot of people.
Coffee Dog
Banned
Can I ask a question here?
What does "exploration" mean? What gameplay elements does that entail?
Is it just wandering around marveling at the procedural generation and going "wow that's a cool lookin thing"? Is that exploration?
Freeman76
Member
If only all gamers had the same common sense, these threads would be so much more readable.
travisbickle
Member
This has not happened to me? I've had everything from being asked to help save a crashed ship to being asked to put a slug up my nose.
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
it IS possible to like the game and find it beautiful and worth exploring while also finding the mechanics a bit too thin and the inventory management broken, you know.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Yeah, hmmm
Yes. It was the same for U4 for many people. Many found just walking around looking at the environment satisfactory. It's sounds crazy I know.
Primethius
Banned
Of course, that's what it comes down to. But that's why I said it was an empty crticism the way he posited it.
The core game play loop in a game is always repetitive, even more so when you look at multiplayer titles. You have to analyze the games several elements, the way the come together and make a determination whether that repetition is fun out not.
I said calling a game repetitive it empty because it feels so meaningless, especially when a slightly more in-depth analysis provides much more clarity with what the game suffers at or what it does wrong then what amounts to a buzz word.
The draw is the exploration, but when everything is mired in a lot of repetition, that draw gets less and less.
Samey planets, samey buildings (infact most are cookie cutter constructs), samey animals, samey interactions, samey maths puzzles.
I mean, there might be something exciting round the corner (that's a skinner box for you), but I haven't got 20 hours to sink into something when I know there probably isn't (from what I've seen personally, and in streams)
Maybe that is down to the proc-gen nature of the universe, if someone said to me, you are going to see this at 5 hours, this at 10, this at 20 etc etc, then maybe I'd stick with it, but as it stands I could get 100 hours in and still be seeing the same old same old.
I am still hopeful the game comes good (for me) through patches.
MassiveNights
Banned
I've had acid rain, that was cool, especially taking shelter in a cave.
You could hear the drops of rain echo, it was really nice.
Coffee Dog
Banned
Well I mean, other games of that nature like Flower are considerably niche. It shouldn't be surprising that a title with such barebones methods of interaction has issues with remaining appealing for extended periods of time for a lot of people.
I don't know, it can be relaxing just surviving - much like on the original Elite, it was a relaxing game to play, yes there were stressful moments but generally just flying around was very relaxing.
Well sort of, when you listen to the devs they always said 'it'll take ages to finish' - and maybe for the vast majority of players it will. They have plans to add base building and own star cruizers, seems to me eitehr the plan was for a long term game or it was a rushed release.
WoolyNinja
Member
This is so wrong and I don't understand how people are calling this game a grind fest. On the first planet there's a little grind but resources from then on are rather plentiful and easy to get. You can simply follow the story points and just shoot an asteroid or two to get some fuel. Then when you land at a site find some other types of fuel nearby (takes less than a minute). You're then free to do whatever you want. It takes 2 minutes of time every 30 minutes or so. Its not a grind in the least.
Freeman76
Member
I think they are different but cant explain how, wierdly. I was really bored exploring during U4, but something about NMS is captivating me. It must be the sense of scale of the univers because it sure as hell isnt the detailed levels and intricate design, even though U4 had that in spades it is pretty much absent from NMS. I'm wierd
Sadly that kinda attitude shows up every single time around big, hyped up release. People really should get some perspective.
For me it can be as simple as just being in a space. Just soaking it in with no particular or pressing goals. Maybe a little loot hunting or something, but not necessarily "questing" or churning through a game narrative.
I absolutely loved just "being" in the world of Fallout 4 and GTA V. Damn those games had atmosphere.
Zombie James
Banned
I'm five hours in and I haven't had to grind for anything.
It's going to happen when the game is new and it's been happening the whole time the game hasn't been out (honestly, a lot of it started to feel like people trolling because he did state what you do in the game and if you found that boring, then it wasn't the game for you. But people kept pretending that some how they didn't understand what you did even when you quoted long text describing the gameplay).
But, I would expect after the game is not new and things have been sorted out and people have figured out the game isn't for them and moved on, that people coming to talk about it are ones who are playing and enjoying it. Or, alternatively, new to it and wanting to know if they are interested. ANd I can't wait until that happens and we can get over the initial impressions stage. That doesn't mean I'm saying you guys can't talk initial expressions now, just that I can't wait until that part is over and people who don't like it move on (and yes, once the game isn't newish I really do think it's time for those that don't like it to move on and not spam every single NMS thread telling us we are wrong for liking it. I don't go into sports games threads just to tell people I don't like them).
Quote my whole long post to say absolutely nothing. Why don't you "come on". At least discuss where you disagree rather than this trash post.
Yes, but a lot of us want rewarding exploration.
Colbert
Banned
Gives me an access error 403!
Ollie Pooch
In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
I've had the slug nose thing, the same 1221-2112 'puzzle' someone mentioned, plus a crashed ship request. Lol. I think the content will be hugely recycled for most people. I've seen screenshots with the same lore entries.
Nice to hear three are some weather effects, my first planet had acid rain but it wasn't visible - you could hear it and if I went in a cave it would say I was safe from it but that's it. Weird.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
jim2point0
Banned
How are they random? 3 of those games that he gave high scores to are competitive multiplayer games where you are on a team of people shooting at another team of people. So many he likes that sorta thing?
I was reacting to your dismissal of the "Nyah Nyah" naysayers. It was an immediate reaction.
You are very clearly in love with the game, and that's dope. I love so much about this game too, but I have issues with it too - just don't see the point in wanting all people who post in this thread to have the same viewpoint.
No ones attacking you for liking it lol.
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
I've seen this exact screen with these exact words -- perhaps a different alien I don't know.
And for proof, major spoiler here:
the author of this message is actually two people, random name and random name, and 'you get a feeling' you'll have to choose between them and the atlas/red orb thing from the beginning of the game.
Like, I'm not saying it's even possible to create a million different stories for people to follow, or even 1000, or even more than a hundred. But seeing that same exact conversation and I'm maybe 5 hours in just kinda gutted me.
I still like the game but I'm just moving the goal posts. The crafting is fine. The inventory management is troublesome but only because I want to make money to expand my inventory through a new ship or whatever, that's fine I guess. The vast difference in potential planets making for a samey sludge of garish hues is fine, sometimes beautiful even. I guess I can't expect for it to have that deep of a story or quest. That's fine.
This is fine.
Freeman76
Member
So damn true!!
Zombie James
Banned
I've seen this exact screen with these exact words -- perhaps a different alien I don't know.
This is a story/tutorial part...
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
(I'm dumb)
That seems...kinda accurate? I could say something like procedural generation is no replacement for actual level design or game design for that matter, but based on what I'm reading it's the survival/inventory management stuff they've added on top of the game's promised space exploration concept that's really souring some people on the experience. I'm starting to think Murray and company never had a good handle on what they wanted this game to be, aside from "go out into space and visit a zillion planets!"
I'm not really saying that. I'm saying for those that are "I told you so" that the thing is we're both right (I've been trying to tell people who keep going, "But what do you do?" it's not the game for them). They don't see gameplay because they don't find that stuff interesting, I do.
semiconscious
Member
um, yeah. no need to feel 'gutted'. there's little enough tutorial there, but this's definitely part of what is. everyone playing the game needs to obtain the hyperdrive...
edit: oh, okay - you got it
...Zombie James
Banned
It's not. I can see where the comparison is coming from, superficially, but this is like comparing a grain of rice to a paella.
GlamFM
Banned
Oh WOW!
Now that you say it....!
I´m still enjoying my time with NMS, I think it´s very much a make your own adventure game and hard to rate.
Like how would you review minecraft?
Super annoyed by all the people who wanted to see NMS crash and burn for months who are filling up all the threads right now.
I wonder if the survival stuff was tacked on later in development as more and more people kept asking "what do you do?". They could've intended for the game to just be about zipping from planet to planet and checking out neat stuff, but as the pressure mounted to have NMS be a $60 AAA game they felt the need to add more gameplay so their game wouldn't be a walking simulator.
I'm still likely going to buy the game, but at this point it will hinge on how the PC port holds up.
If it runs and looks fantastic on PC I'll be in because this is the kinda game I can see myself getting lost in. With that said, if it's a 30 fps capped screen tearing pop-in mess I'll unfortunately have to skip.
Here's hoping the PC port is stellar and not a mess.
If it runs and looks fantastic on PC I'll be in because this is the kinda game I can see myself getting lost in. With that said, if it's a 30 fps capped screen tearing pop-in mess I'll unfortunately have to skip.
Here's hoping the PC port is stellar and not a mess.
I was specifically meantioning the POI aspect in general, not necessarily what that POI was or had to offer. Besides, there are other elements you have to contend with in NMS outside of just walking there. Plus, there are bits of lore you pick up at a lot of those places. Is it as "deep" as what might be offered elsewhere? No, but this isn't really much of a story driven game. It is about the exploration of the world, something I loved in Fallouts prior to 4 and Elder Scrolls.
travisbickle
Member
Between different players they'll be the same storylines/quotes, we're not at the point of procedurally generating storylines / conversations trees, but for an individual player there seems a lot of unique storytelling elements which is probably my favorite part ... I do hope the maths puzzle become a little more difficult.
Also, my weapon has movement-seeking bouncing grenades and laser beams that deflect off inanimate objects ... has no one met any difficult enemies on planets yet?
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