That Gamespot video answered a lot of my questions....I'm very excited now. Planets...the size of planets. Ship combat, ground combat, a clear goal for those who want it, upgrades....sounds like it won't just be a larger version of Proteus and that's all I was worried about,
2 big things stuck out for me though. If there isn't a way to link up with your friends on the other side of the universe temporarily, it would be a disappointment I feel. Exploring alone is fun, but it's another experience altogether with friends, especially when neither of you know what you might find. I hope you aren't stranded from your friends if you are spawned too far apart. It would be a missed opportunity,
The other thing that I'm not sure about is that planets reset after you leave them. I understand entirely why this needs to happen, especially as the game can be played offline. And it seems like there's no way around it. But it is a little disappointing, it would be nice to set up a "home base" on a planet. Or like other people have wished for, come across populated cities. The exploration may feel diminished if there is no way to "save" a planet you come across for future reference. Either through photographs, the ability to save coordinates so you can work your way back one day, or even some form of fast travel (maybe not too accurate or it would kill the exploration feel). But something that could at least get you within 30 minutes or something of where you want to go? I'm not sure. But exploring isn't as fun when the things you discover are lost forever if you forget about them. And the universe sounds too big to "stumble across" planets you hadn't seen in a long time,
I had a related problem in Minecraft before they added beds which allowed you to change your spawn points. Before that, you could journey for hours until you found the most beautiful place you wanted to build your home in. But if you died, you would be put back hours away from your home...exploring was pointless, since it was impossible to rediscover your home if you wandered too far away from spawn. The map in Minecraft is incredibly huge. But there wasn't any point to its potential size when death set you back.
This isn't the same as what I'm worried about with No Mans Sky. I know death probably won't be a big deal in that game and almost certainly wouldn't set you back too far. But it's more related because I think it shows how a large world isn't enough to encourage exploration....tools that allow you to record your journey, preserve memories and access them again later (either by revisiting the planet, or looking back on pictures or something) are just as crucial for encouraging exploration. If I come across a planet-sized-planet while playing, and I think it's the most fascinating one I've ever seen...with diverse wildlife and environments etc....I would want to explore it fully one day. And it would be frustrating to me as a player to think that once I took off in my spaceship and flew far away to see other places, I would never be able to get back to that planet.
So that's my concern. But I have a feeling it will be addressed when the game releases. I'm very excited though. I hope the game gets a physical release, because it seems like something I'll want to go back to for years and years to come if it turns out like I hope. Decades, if it truly lives up to what I'm hoping.
