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

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2blackcats said:
Wow, there's a lot of negativity in this thread.

Definitely my game of the year so far. (sorry DOOM)

I still wouldn't recommend it to someone unless I knew that they were into survival games and/or old school sci-fi books.

Out of curiosity is anyone that's bashing the game an Asimov fan? That's the tone I get from the game.

Roll on the reviews, I'm expecting everything from a 2 to a 9 /10
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How long have you been playing?
 
I'm having an alright time just flying around and finding resources while a podcast plays in the background, but yeah, there isn't really much to it

I can see where the reception is coming from. HG needs to patch in some type of quest system ASAP.
 
2blackcats said:
Wow, there's a lot of negativity in this thread.

Definitely my game of the year so far. (sorry DOOM)

I still wouldn't recommend it to someone unless I knew that they were into survival games and/or old school sci-fi books.

Out of curiosity is anyone that's bashing the game an Asimov fan? That's the tone I get from the game.

Roll on the reviews, I'm expecting everything from a 2 to a 9 /10
Click to expand...

If anybody is buying NMS for the survival elements then theyre doing it wrong because it clearly offers nothing to set it apart from much better cheaper survival games. All thats holding this up is the exploration element.
 
2blackcats said:
Wow, there's a lot of negativity in this thread.

Definitely my game of the year so far. (sorry DOOM)

I still wouldn't recommend it to someone unless I knew that they were into survival games and/or old school sci-fi books.

Out of curiosity is anyone that's bashing the game an Asimov fan? That's the tone I get from the game.

Roll on the reviews, I'm expecting everything from a 2 to a 9 /10
Click to expand...

I've only read the foundation series (not all of it, no spoilers pls). How does it remind you of Asimov's works and any in particular?
 
The real irony, in my mind, is that if they had never gone the hype route with Sony and just released this on Steam Early Access for $20 like every other indie survival game, the reception would've been much more favorable. Best of all, they would've been able to turn it into something truly great over the next few years, ala Starbound.

I hope Hello keeps supporting it, because it does seem like there's some diamonds in the 18 quintillion planet rough, but this is certainly one to wait for a sale and some substantial overhauls.
 
I really don't think an elaborate quest system is what's needed here. I don't think that would fit well with the essence of the game. The complaints I've read seem to mostly agree on there being a lack of consequence to your actions. Maybe they can address that.
 
Emperor_Uriel said:
The real irony, in my mind, is that if they had never gone the hype route with Sony and just released this on Steam Early Access for $20 like every other indie survival game, the reception would've been much more favorable. Best of all, they would've been able to turn it into something truly great over the next few years, ala Starbound.

I hope Hello keeps supporting it, because it does seem like there's some diamonds in the 18 quintillion planet rough, but this is certainly one to wait for a sale and some substantial overhauls.
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I don't know it it would've been received favorably by critics if that happened. It would have more likely been lost in the ever-growing trash heap that is that genre.
 
2blackcats said:
Out of curiosity is anyone that's bashing the game an Asimov fan? That's the tone I get from the game.
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Asimov will warp out of his grave and gets you. :)

SF in Asimov's style has always been not only about fiction but also based on SCIENCE. NMS is a fantasy game with fantasy physics not based on the real world. The planets trajectories, planets, creatures etc. are pure fantasy.
 
Emperor_Uriel said:
The real irony, in my mind, is that if they had never gone the hype route with Sony and just released this on Steam Early Access for $20 like every other indie survival game, the reception would've been much more favorable. Best of all, they would've been able to turn it into something truly great over the next few years, ala Starbound.

I hope Hello keeps supporting it, because it does seem like there's some diamonds in the 18 quintillion planet rough, but this is certainly one to wait for a sale and some substantial overhauls.
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If they cared about reception I don't think they'd hype the game to the heights it grew to. They care about sales.

I'm not usually this cynical about this sort of stuff, but I can't help myself thinking this is the case.

KratosEnergyDrink said:
Asimov will warp out of his grave and gets you. :)

SF in Asimov's style has always been not only about fiction but also based on SCIENCE. NMS is a fantasy game with fantasy physics not based on the real world. The planets trajectories, planets, creatures etc. are pure fantasy.
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Yeah, the bit I have read on asimov it's really not not man's sky from what I can see. I mean, I just don't see it even slightly. But I haven't read all or even most of his work.
 
2blackcats said:
Wow, there's a lot of negativity in this thread.

Definitely my game of the year so far. (sorry DOOM)

I still wouldn't recommend it to someone unless I knew that they were into survival games and/or old school sci-fi books.

Out of curiosity is anyone that's bashing the game an Asimov fan? That's the tone I get from the game.

Roll on the reviews, I'm expecting everything from a 2 to a 9 /10
Click to expand...

How long have you played it and what's the connection with Asimov, because I just don't see it.
 
gregor7777 said:
Im calling the game bad because the people reviewing it are calling it a joyless slog. Read that IGN review. We have a bad game on our hands here. These reviews aren't leaving much room for interpretation
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There have been like three lol

The IGN review sums up a lot of my feelings right now about hour 10 or so, but it doesn't say it's a bad game, and further it's not even a final review.

Just seems strange to take such a hardline stance on something based on so little info.
 
Window said:
I really don't think an elaborate quest system is what's needed here. I don't think that would fit well with the essence of the game. The complaints I've read seem to mostly agree on there being a lack of consequence to your actions. Maybe they can address that.
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I get what you're saying but people are getting a point after a few hours of playing and asking themselves "why am I doing this stuff?" which is never good. There needs to be something else that drives players to explore and continue on other than mining and upgrading. A quest system would definitely help but isn't the ultimate solution to the games problems IMO.
 
randomengine said:
By gamers who clearly do not like these kinds of games. For gamers like me, who actually own the game and have played it for multiple hours, and initially wanted this exact experience of explore/discover and cataloging, surviving and resource collecting - it is an absolute blast.
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Ugh - that's a really quite unfair and irritating comment.

Generally I love games like this, looting and crafting is my thing. If the loop is good and I feel I'm progressing it can be insanely addictive. IMO NMS is just a joyless, dull chore and it's incredibly frustrating and disappointing. It's a game about the vastness of space travel and the wonders of new environments which lacks any sense of discovery and they don't let you do anything in any of them of any note. I can't remember a single game with such a wonderful first impression and a precipitous dropoff into reality.

I'm going to unload a bit here, because I've been thinking about this game a lot while not playing it and it's starting to annoy me. Lol.

There's no stuff like waterfalls or any motion/activity on the planets. The animals all act the same, all the tiny POI's look the same on a planet, there are none of the weather systems that you'd expect on such varied planets. I've been on snow planets with no snowfall, lush ones with zero rainfall, haven't seen a single storm with any visual effect yet. As you do a slow flight over the planet's surface, which can feel quite cool at first, everything dissolves in and out of view so you can't even see the elements you might need. Every outpost is just a shed, a save point, some busted machinery and sometimes a light on a stick you can turn on and off for some reason, surrounded by nothing. I haven't seen one single interesting outpost or structure. Not one. It's lonely, and not in an isolated, Metroid Prime way - more in a miserable, sterile, stuck in a computer lonely.

Nothing has any real consequence at all. Nightfall doesn't bring any dangers except lower temperature (just hit a button and dump some element into your suit and it negates any 'extreme temperature' effects. There are no local quests beyond finding an alien trashcan thing that teaches you a word. ALL the space stations have the same spartan layout, the same office, some lonely alien and the same faceless 'trade hole' that you have to walk up some stairs and go down a hallway to use. It feels so unfinished - and I'd wager it probably is - so robotic and sterile. It's a fictional universe FFS. Where's the creativity and imagination?

A comparison to a much stronger, similar game I'd make is Subnautica, which has its own frustrations but you at least feel like you're being rewarded with progression / new items, and not constantly fighting the very game itself. It's also a quarter of the price.

This just isn't very good once you've played a few hours of it. The scope and scale and giddy PR completely obfuscate the very, very simple game mechanics that never seem to change. This is as shallow as it gets.

It's clear a lot of work and passion went into creating this project, but I honestly feel they got so caught up in the hype of the planetary network and the geeky 'procedural' programming elements of it, they forgot (or, possibly - ran out of time) to create an actual game around it.

I'm done. I keep firing this game up hoping it'll show me something interesting but it just doesn't. I'm really fucking annoyed at myself for dropping the full price on this one, and digitally to boot.
 
letmetrythisname said:
I don't know it it would've been received favorably by critics if that happened. It would have more likely been lost in the ever-growing trash heap that is that genre.
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Starbound did okay because of it. Then there's ARK, which is pretty huge, albeit at least partly because of the multiplayer components. Maybe Subnautica is the closest comparison... although that has base building.

Or maybe you're right and the end result, sadly, is that none of the dozen or so things this game does are actually fun or satisfying. Sure does suck to imagine that's the case, but here we are.
 
The good news is they can make this game great.

Will people care by that point is the real question.

Once word of mouth starts spreading and the "professional" reviews hit the damage might be critical.

I'll still have my (digital) copy so I'll be willing to give it another chance. Just give me more to do on each planet.
 
After watching some of the numerous streams when the game was leaked one of the first thoughts that came to my mind was, "Why wasn't this game placed in Early Access?" I think that was a harsh reaction at the time, but after playing it for about three hours last night I believe that would have been a better direction to go. Hello Games would have been able to receive feedback from the community over the course of the games development, while the community would have been able to gradually adjust their expectations. Charging nearly $70 (CAD) for what boils down to a tech demo for procedural generation just isn't going to fly with the gaming community at large.
 
gregor7777 said:
Im calling the game bad because the people reviewing it are calling it a joyless slog. Read that IGN review. We have a bad game on our hands here. These reviews aren't leaving much room for interpretation
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See that's the thing with reviews. A review, be it on this forum or from the mouth of your best friend or written on IGN or on someone's personal blog, is just that individual person's opinion of something, through the facets of their likes, dislikes, and the context of their life experience and preferences. It's not a assessment of quality or value. It's just someone telling you why they liked something and why they didn't, what they felt worked and what didn't

A review/score is a representation of someone's enjoyment of a game, not the quality of a game.
 
People also overhyped the kind of games that Hello Games can do. They made Joe Danger, which is good, but their idea of NMS was on a completely different level. A lot of people were treating Hello Games like Nintendo and Sean like a Miyamoto on his prime. The game is probably mediocre, but since there was so much hype everyone will bury it as just plain bad.
 
What exactly is inspired by or relating to asimov in this game? I feel like I've heard this claim a hundred times by this and other developers, like it's almost becoming a buzzword for sci-fi games and media.

Like I said in an earlier post, I've only read part of the foundation series. That describes a galaxy of inhabited and developed planets, under the dominion of a galactic empire that is spiraling out of control and thus the entire galaxy falling into a dark age.

No man's sky just doesn't seem to fit my perception of asimov, which is based in science, sociology, psychology, politics, religion, war of different types...

So I am honestly curious, how asimov inspired or related to the game? Someone said it was asimov themed?
 
This is the type of game that is greatly benefitted from the hype of a review embargo, given that all the wows and surprises are in the first few hours. The press' reactions are unfolding with the audiences, as opposed to dictating them (like a well crafted hype train).
 
Mobius and pet octopus said:
What exactly is inspired by or relating to asimov in this game? I feel like I've heard this claim a hundred times by this and other developers, like it's almost becoming a buzzword for sci-fi games and media.

Like I said in an earlier post, I've only read part of the foundation series. That describes a galaxy of inhabited and developed planets, under the dominion of a galactic empire that is spiraling out of control and thus the entire galaxy falling into a dark age.

No man's sky just doesn't seem to fit my perception of asimov, which is based in science, sociology, psychology, politics, religion, war of different types...
Click to expand...

Isn't Alpha Centauri one of the only games to truly take inspiration from Asimov?
 
More_Badass said:
See that's the thing with reviews. A review, be it on this forum or from the mouth of your best friend or written on IGN or on someone's personal blog, is just that individual person's opinion of something, through the facets of their likes, dislikes, and the context of their life experience and preferences. It's not a assessment of quality or value. It's just someone telling you why they liked something and why they didn't, what they felt worked and what didn't

A review/score is a representation of someone's enjoyment of a game, not the quality of a game.
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So what, are we going with some postmodern vision where we can't ever call a game bad or good?
 
Generalpsyduck said:
Well after waiting years for this game the critical reception is kinda depressing. I dont even know if im gonna pick it up at this point.
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What reaction?

Genuinely asking, I'm actively looking for reviews on this game (preferably final reviews, more than anything in really curious about the endgame).
 
I'm having a good time and I found a planet that I want to stay on for awhile but I know I have to get back out there in space.

One feeling I have that is strong is that of being overwhelmed.

The instructions of what I need to do are not clear.
 
More_Badass said:
See that's the thing with reviews. A review, be it on this forum or from the mouth of your best friend or written on IGN or on someone's personal blog, is just that individual person's opinion of something, through the facets of their likes, dislikes, and the context of their life experience and preferences. It's not a assessment of quality or value. It's just someone telling you why they liked something and why they didn't, what they felt worked and what didn't

A review/score is a representation of someone's enjoyment of a game, not the quality of a game.
Click to expand...

Needs to be at the top of every page in review threads.
 
Mobius and pet octopus said:
What exactly is inspired by or relating to asimov in this game? I feel like I've heard this claim a hundred times by this and other developers, like it's almost becoming a buzzword for sci-fi games and media.

Like I said in an earlier post, I've only read part of the foundation series. That describes a galaxy of inhabited and developed planets, under the dominion of a galactic empire that is spiraling out of control and thus the entire galaxy falling into a dark age.

No man's sky just doesn't seem to fit my perception of asimov, which is based in science, sociology, psychology, politics, religion, war of different types...

So I am honestly curious, how asimov inspired or related to the game? Someone said it was asimov themed?
Click to expand...
lol nothing that has been shown is remotely similar to the themes of asimov's sci fi work.
orthodoxy1095 said:
So what, are we going with some postmodern vision where we can't ever call a game bad or good?
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only for certain games. big publisher non-indie games can of course be garbage.
 
What the hell happened in this thread? Just a day ago everyone was positive and now everyone is super negative. I'm waiting for the Steam release, and now I don't know if I wanna spend my money on it.
 
orthodoxy1095 said:
So what, are we going with some postmodern vision where we can't ever call a game bad or good?
Click to expand...
I mean, that's always been the case - all art, despite individual facets that may be objective - has always been subjective. There are no "good" or "bad" games, just games that each have different receptions by the community that interacts with them.

A "bad game" (which is not an accurate descriptor given the above) is one that just is received negatively by a majority of a community. I was just pushing back against that definitive label despite not even loving it given that most of the community has just started playing if at all, and we don't have many reviews.
 
Downhome said:
This "review" entertained me greatly...

https://youtu.be/hd6Ed_MULvI
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The crazy thing is, it's literally the easiest thing in the world to see what the right direction for Hello to go with NMS would have been.

Dude wastes time mining shit... gets attacked by dumb robots for mining shit... flies into space and goes to a boring station... lands on another planet... GETS ATTACKED BY A FUCKING HUGE SPACE T-REX WITH A PUMPKIN HEAD... gets stuck in a rock... dies... quits after being told to do more boring shit.

How did they not just make this a space game about hunting freaking crazy space monsters? That was the sole minute of awesome excitement in what was probably 2+ hours of monotonous nonsense.

I bet the fucking giant sandworms aren't even in this anymore. Don't even care that Sean said they were.

johnnydrama said:
What the hell happened in this thread? Just a day ago everyone was positive and now everyone is super negative. I'm waiting for the Steam release, and now I don't know if I wanna spent my money on it.
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We were all Homer Simpson watching the roast pig fly, yelling "It's still good! It's still good!" as all the evidence pointed to the contrary. Now the mysteries are disappearing from the game and the shittiness has stuck around.
 
The game's main draw is space exploration which itself is boring after a few hours. As for resource gathering and survival, there are much better games out there.
 
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