LookAtMeGo
Member
Dont be. Its the most fun Ive had with a game in years.
No Man's Sky - Early Impressions/Reviews-in-progress Thread
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I love the notion that if someone is unhappy then they've simply had expectations too high, or wanted an experience that the game was never pitched as.
The issues for me are the core gameplay mechanics are not fun, and the variety is not as vast as promised, and ironically I'm not feeling the need to keep exploring.
The controls don't feel good to me, aiming is really "janky", and the experience so far screams repetition. Now every game if you break it down is repeating the same thing over and over again, what normally keeps you going is the variety of environments, the story or lore, or the core gameplay mechanics.
Okay, maybe I'm a bit too harsh now, but what exactly is impressive about the procedural generated stuff? I nearly wrote "environments" instead of "stuff", but actually, the latter fits better, and that's the problem.
If they were procedurally generated, believable ecosystems, yes, that would have been impressive. But they aren't. All parameters of planet, creature and plant generation seem to be largely independent of each other. The most complex random function you'd need for what is apparently in the game is that for terrain generation, and that isn't rocket science really.
Cob32
Member
The first thing no, not that exact one. Touched plenty of monoliths with choices though.
The second one is a trading post. Most planets have them.
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
Maybe he/she just likes how the planets and species were presented? It's not a bad thing to say something positive
Sort of felt the same way early on. You are supposed to learn as you go, and you are where I was initially. There are on and off-planet locations to sell things, and you'll quickly learn the basics of refueling and what materials matter more for survival vs trade vs building. Your early ship is essentially garbage, as is your suit and weapon. Once you progress further, you'll have chances to upgrade all of them, including more space for things. It is tough starting out, as I believe they intend, but with work, you can be in much better shape. My current ship is still garbage, but I have seen some for sale with 4 to 5 times the space, and I have bought a gun that had 4 times the spots for upgrades and such.
Keep at it, you'll get the hang of the basics and learn what to expect. You'll keep encountering different things as well, but the core mechanics will stay roughly the same. I'd focus on getting everything up and running and then exploring to find upgrades and materials that trade well, selling them, and buying a better ship.
Reckless Onion
Member
If you like the game, hey ,more power to you. I just ment that there will be a LOT of people (not necessarily on these forums) expecting something a whole lot more/ different from a 60 dollar game.
Fresh review?
http://www.heypoorplayer.com/2016/08/10/no-mans-sky-review/
3.5/5
The second point is spot on.
http://www.heypoorplayer.com/2016/08/10/no-mans-sky-review/
3.5/5
The second point is spot on.
It boggles my mind some people don't find the game repetitive. Then again, I don't understand how someone can spend up to 6 hours on the same planet. Can't they see it's meaningless? Are they really having fun mining endlessly? I guess they have way much free time than I do.
J
JeremyEtcetera
Unconfirmed Member
I think they should have been straightforward and advertised the game to everyone in a manner that makes it comparable to these games:
With a small dash of this:
When I saw NMS the top two titles I posted are what I expected from it. However, I can see why people expected much more with the vague marketing issues.
With a small dash of this:
When I saw NMS the top two titles I posted are what I expected from it. However, I can see why people expected much more with the vague marketing issues.
Gotcha, good to know. I've also found plenty of the generic monoliths, the one I described was very different.
Nameless
Member
Some complaints are fair, but I can't agree with the lack variety in worlds. I've been to some vastly different planets and seen plenty of narly stuff that hasnt repeated itself yet in my 15-20 hours of play. Experience vary, though, as you'd expect with a game of this nature.
Or they legit like that stuff and spend their time with that instead of game Y?
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
See I hate posts like this it's 100% cool of you don't like it but what's with the sly lil stupid shots "I guess they have more free time than I do" no they find it fun. People like different things shocker
Shambalakan
Member
People have different tastes?!
This is an inherent design problem then, having a good exploring experience with a game that pretty hinges on exploring determined by luck is a problem.
I paid the same as you, why should my experience be lacking in diversity while yours isn't?
I get the fact that it's a skinner box, in that the pull is that there might be something good round the corner, but when you've spent hours and hours pooling resources to get to another planet only to be met with the same old stuff as the one you were just on, it gets a bit tiresome.
I've said it before, I am sure if you've got hours and hours of gaming time available to pour into this, I am sure your experience will be much more fulfilling than someone who has limited time available.
DJSharpeCheddar
Banned
This has been an absolute master class in How Not To Market Your Game. I really hope these guys and specifically Sean Murray take some lessons away from this other than a shrug emote. It's honestly nobody's fault but their own.
SmoothBrain
Member
I've played roughly 10 hours now and I'm still on my first 2 planets (+1 moon), swapped my omnitool quite a few times and have my third ship. I'd like to share my opinion so far and will start with what I don't like:
what I do like:
My general impression is rather positive, but I do feel like NMS is more of an investment. I actually expect Hello Games to expand the game, as it seems that a hugh chunk of the 60$ is more of a way to sell DLC to everyone. Recent hints about bigger ships and base building point in that direction. NMS will be around for a while. I honestly hope that the game sells great, because I want Hello Games to build on the foundation they laid out with NMS and for me - personally - online coop has to be a big part of it.
- NPCs are rare and only offer very small - if at all - player interaction
- planets have a very limited number of animals (so far my maximum was 12)
- as far as I can tell no visible difference in extreme climate changes on planets
- ancient ruins have little variety (altough they are easier to spot with that)
- managing the inventory and upgrades is brutal and could've been cleaned up
what I do like:
- discovering words to actually understand aliens
- discovering a story behind an alien race and how their society works (helps with riddles at ancient ruins)
- flying around a planet, searching for anything of interest, while trying to not get killed or stranded
My general impression is rather positive, but I do feel like NMS is more of an investment. I actually expect Hello Games to expand the game, as it seems that a hugh chunk of the 60$ is more of a way to sell DLC to everyone. Recent hints about bigger ships and base building point in that direction. NMS will be around for a while. I honestly hope that the game sells great, because I want Hello Games to build on the foundation they laid out with NMS and for me - personally - online coop has to be a big part of it.
Raven77
Member
This is one of the best games I've played in years and probably my favorite game of the generation so far. Let me detail some things below:
WHAT I EXPECTED:
- An exploration game first and foremost.
- Survival - light (as in, not very hardcore)
- A game that would allow me to progressively get better, faster, stronger as I explored interesting planets.
- For the space combat to be an afterthought and probably kind of lame.
- No story at all
- For creatures to be interesting and planets to be varied.
WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED:
- It is most definitely an exploration game. My starting planet was full of life. It was a snowy planet with red rock and snow covered trees like you would see in the upper north arctic areas. I found forests, plains, caves, etc. and it was all incredibly rewarding.
- My starting planet was hostile, temperatures in the day were -66 C and at night dropped to -75+. I would frequently have to watch my temperature gauge on my suit and have to find caves (they were numerous) to warm up. It was very fun as I made many discoveries while trying to survive.
- The story seems interesting, I like the narrative approach to things and learning words is satisfying. It's also fun trying to figure out the right answer to the questions. I decided to trust an alien NPC by GIVING him my multi-tool. To my surprise instead of him breaking it and losing an upgrade or something he provided me with a new and much better one!
- After leaving this planet I went to one of it's moons. The moon was VERY similar to Tatooine in it's look but received less sunlight. It had a thin atmosphere and blowing sand and high winds were constant. However...this planet was covered in giant round GOLD nuggets that suck out about every half mile or so. I found a shelter and have been mining / running back and forth for a while trying to build up credits.
- The creatures, in general, are very interesting as I had hoped and love discovering them.
Sorry for the above being kind of long. I am really sad to see the hate this game drums up. Maybe Sean didn't market this well or explain it well but even so, the videos alone led me to my expectations prior to playing above. What Hello Games has crafted could pave the way for incredible experiences going into the future. Not just for their game but for others to take up this style of game and make it even better. I already love the game but can think of tons of ways it could be even more incredible and can't wait to see how it evolves.
WHAT I EXPECTED:
- An exploration game first and foremost.
- Survival - light (as in, not very hardcore)
- A game that would allow me to progressively get better, faster, stronger as I explored interesting planets.
- For the space combat to be an afterthought and probably kind of lame.
- No story at all
- For creatures to be interesting and planets to be varied.
WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED:
- It is most definitely an exploration game. My starting planet was full of life. It was a snowy planet with red rock and snow covered trees like you would see in the upper north arctic areas. I found forests, plains, caves, etc. and it was all incredibly rewarding.
- My starting planet was hostile, temperatures in the day were -66 C and at night dropped to -75+. I would frequently have to watch my temperature gauge on my suit and have to find caves (they were numerous) to warm up. It was very fun as I made many discoveries while trying to survive.
- The story seems interesting, I like the narrative approach to things and learning words is satisfying. It's also fun trying to figure out the right answer to the questions. I decided to trust an alien NPC by GIVING him my multi-tool. To my surprise instead of him breaking it and losing an upgrade or something he provided me with a new and much better one!
- After leaving this planet I went to one of it's moons. The moon was VERY similar to Tatooine in it's look but received less sunlight. It had a thin atmosphere and blowing sand and high winds were constant. However...this planet was covered in giant round GOLD nuggets that suck out about every half mile or so. I found a shelter and have been mining / running back and forth for a while trying to build up credits.
- The creatures, in general, are very interesting as I had hoped and love discovering them.
Sorry for the above being kind of long. I am really sad to see the hate this game drums up. Maybe Sean didn't market this well or explain it well but even so, the videos alone led me to my expectations prior to playing above. What Hello Games has crafted could pave the way for incredible experiences going into the future. Not just for their game but for others to take up this style of game and make it even better. I already love the game but can think of tons of ways it could be even more incredible and can't wait to see how it evolves.
Reckheim
Member
Elite Dangerous doesn't have any alien races yet, just humans. You would expect all the architecture to look the same. Elite is going for realism; space is empty, hence it feels so empty unless you're in a station or a planetary outpost. NMS and elite are going for different things; they shouldn't be compared to each other beyond both being played in space.
Sure, you can not like any game. However my first sentence implies the statement is directed at people who didn't have their expectations met (ie. over hyped guy), and based on your response, you. I'm not here to defend the game on any particular point, but just confused at some of the toxicity by some people.
Re the "Janky" controls, I suspect that's something they could clean up in a patch if they felt the need. Again, this is a small indie team, which to my knowledge has never done a first person game. Expecting tight controls there at launch was probably a little optimistic. Many devs with experience in FPS end up needing to tweak that as they go.
It's even things like having sprint assigned to R3. That design choice is not down to them being a small team.
I expect a lot of reviews in this range, 7-8ish.
After 12 hours I'm pretty much done/bored, but it's the GOAT podcast game.
More_Badass
Member
I don't really how that's a design problem. You just started in a bad place in the galaxy. It's not like the game rolls differently for every player; it's the same seed. That's akin to saying "I paid the same as you for this roguelike; why should I get a shitty run while you had a great one?"
Or having the ability to remap your controls to your preference may have made it at launch, if they weren't a small indie team.
Perhaps, but I'd still love to know what the thought process was behind the decision.
I don't doubt that the size of the studio played a part in certain things, and it might have been more polished with a bigger team and budget, but I think the core of the game that we've gotten was Sean's vision. It just turns out it's maybe not as interesting as he had hoped.
It's a design problem in the sense that their randomization and procedural generation algorithms should include some sort of 'minimum amount of cool stuff' or 'guaranteed big monsters every half hour' system.
That's what a lot of other games with randomization have; it's not fully random, there's no way to roll a zero every time, ten times in a row. You have to guarantee that something fun or exciting happens within a timeframe. Moments of cooldown and escalation to create an enjoyable gameplay loop.
It's definitely poor design on their part if they didn't work in some sort of system like this, especially to support longer playtimes.
Because with a roguelike you just start another run, the games are designed for multiple playthroughs, and your skill and actions also affect how a run goes, not just the design of the game, if a roguelike game deliberately put in shitty runs I am sure it would get called out for it?.
What am I to do, just keep starting again until I find a good set of planets?, this is the same shtick as saying the game gets good after 20hrs, it might do if you're lucky, it might not, are you going to jump through all the hoops of resource gathering and crafting to find out?, I'm not, how long do you give it, 20hrs?, 40hrs?, the fact that someone could spend 100hrs with the game and still find a complete lack of diversity IS a design problem.
I get that the paragraph above might appeal to a huge swathe of people, but I expected more diversity in planets and animals/plants than I've seen, it sucked any of the fun of exploring out of it for me.
Bloodporne
Member
And if Colonial Marines hadn't had disastrous development, it would've been a great game. If, if, if. How should this remotely factor into a consumer's assessment of the final product? On top of this, there is no 'warning: small indie developer, you're expecting too much if you think basic mechanics should feel good' sticker on the box, instead the $60 price tag implies the opposite.
And please, before anyone gets upset, I am obviously not saying NMS is of Colonial Marines (lack of) quality.
You are missing my point. It isn't a comparison but rather how both of them will feel empty and worthless in the end.
And you can justify Elite Dangerous' emptiness by stating it's going for realism but it doesn't have to be that way.
Space is empty but it is also full of things, things we don't know anything about. Which is where the creativity comes in, just because we believe currently that we are alone in this universe does not mean a game that aims for realism cannot have other civilization. If I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to FTL travel then it hold true for aliens. They don't even have to look like aliens and it does not have to have Star Trek level of density but having absolutely zero other civilization makes for a pretty boring idea because all you are left to do with is mining rocks.
"All of this will be ignored" as if people are purposefully ignoring evidence. (and of course I am not ignoring anything) That attitude.
Yet again, for the last time, this is the size what people are referring, when they say sightings don't seem to exist.
This is not from me, but looks pretty large.
Ulysses 31
Member
This game might need a lifeforms screenshot thread >.>
Huggers
Member
I've had such a positive almost magical experience with this game it's been strange to read so much hate/frustration for it. Maybe because I wasn't fully invested beforehand and only half followed development etc. I've just had such a great time. I'm sure it will get tired after a while but the sense of wonder hasn't left me yet.
I'm beginning to think that in Sean's mind the rarity would add to the Wow factor. If you don't see something often it has more of an effect.
But I think the game design has gone too far in that direction, people want to feel engaged, they want a reason to explore, when people are putting 10 hours into a game and still not come across anything of rarity they start to lose interest, when I'd wager that Sean might have assumed this would promote an even greater sense of exploration.
The fact that certain points of interest are pretty much identical on every planet is really not helping the feeling of "I've seen it all before".
Audioboxer
Member
This is not from me, but looks pretty large.
Eh, fairly big, but still not on the scope of those massive "Horizon" like disc headed beasts.
Also that picture is the epitome of when random generation goes wrong
Not as bad as crack Pikachu though lol.More_Badass
Member
I felt this post was a good one over in the OT
New quests with specific discoveries and encounters with dialogue options, bounty hunting, larger more complex ruins ans structures, more complex language/lore-related puzzles, etc.
Progression introduces more things as you play
Mephisto40
Member
I'm starting to notice more and more people mentioning the variety isn't very good, and then literally the next sentence saying they've spent 15 hours on the game and haven't even left the first system
This is not from me, but looks pretty large.
Looks like a deer sized creature to me
not exactly what people are looking for.
Raven117
Member
Interesting. I have very limited time and I love it. Log in after a long day of work then seeing the girlfriend. About an hour to relax, mine some stuff, fly around..:: it's nice when tackled this way
This is not from me, but looks pretty large.
Lol..dog-got-dinosaur thing with 4 hind legs, all paired on the opposite side.
Again, it gets good (possibly) after X amount of hours.
I get that I am pretty much a lone voice shouting at a wall.
Eh, fairly big, but still not on the scope of those massive "Horizon" like disc headed beasts.
Also that picture is the epitome of when random generation goes wrong
Yeah, it looks strange for sure. Not sure how they could possibly hope to program in procedural generation of creatures and include constraints preventing this sort of thing, without compromising diversity. They'd have to make thousands, tens of thousands I think, of base creature templates and then constrain certain generation to occur on certain parts and not mixing when other parts exist adjacent.. can this even be done on a scale as massive as the one this game presents? For every combo that looks realistic to our eyes, there must be thousands that don't.
Hard to judge perspective.. to me it looks T-rex size ;p
Audioboxer
Member
I guess at the end of the day that is the least of their worries. Some of the crazier random stuff can just be laughed at.
I spent another 6 hours with the game last night, obviously I'm enjoying it!
But I still think the core exploration cycle needs some heavy tweaking:
But I still think the core exploration cycle needs some heavy tweaking:
I can't believe it costs so much energy for the jet thrusters just to take off. This actually penalizes stopping to investigate settlements. When I see a (?) icon or a formation with my naked eye, I have to decide whether I think it will be worth 25% of my energy, often I just shrug and fly on. It's neat that landing on launch pads saves this energy however.
The game appears to be hurrying me along to warp to distant stars, but I'm not actually in a hurry yet. Worst though, I'm pretty sure if I leave this system (which is pretty rich in materials and alien traders), I'll never be able to find it again. Again, this penalizes exploration. (Not to mention the cost of warp materials). It feels like a one-way trip.
I don't feel any desire to scan creatures or upload discoveries. The payoff isn't enough. If I just want money, I'll mine this gigantic gold boulder for 2 minutes instead. I definitely don't feel the inclination to rename anything. Partially because who-cares, partially because I'll never be here again.
Nothing has the weight of permanence. I can piss off sentinels and it doesn't matter, as soon as they lose sight of me it's back to normal. I got a warning alert that pirates were after me, I just sped off. The alien monuments are interesting, but I know they aren't unique so if I don't learn the Gek word for "trader" now, I will later.
The game appears to be hurrying me along to warp to distant stars, but I'm not actually in a hurry yet. Worst though, I'm pretty sure if I leave this system (which is pretty rich in materials and alien traders), I'll never be able to find it again. Again, this penalizes exploration. (Not to mention the cost of warp materials). It feels like a one-way trip.
I don't feel any desire to scan creatures or upload discoveries. The payoff isn't enough. If I just want money, I'll mine this gigantic gold boulder for 2 minutes instead. I definitely don't feel the inclination to rename anything. Partially because who-cares, partially because I'll never be here again.
Nothing has the weight of permanence. I can piss off sentinels and it doesn't matter, as soon as they lose sight of me it's back to normal. I got a warning alert that pirates were after me, I just sped off. The alien monuments are interesting, but I know they aren't unique so if I don't learn the Gek word for "trader" now, I will later.
Terrorblot
Member
Lookins like I can squeeze some enjoyment out of this one. I think I'll pick it up when my paycheck hits.
NervousXtian
Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
I'm still surprised how ugly this game is... times it looks great, but most of the time it's looks like shoveware you'd find someone toss together with Unity assets and sell on Steam for 4.99.
I think they should have been straightforward and advertised the game to everyone in a manner that makes it comparable to these games:
Doesn't Endless Ocean have quite a bit of curated and mission-driven fully designed level-type content, though? I haven't played it but that was my sense.
More_Badass
Member
Saw this in a stream"All of this will be ignored" as if people are purposefully ignoring evidence. (and of course I am not ignoring anything) That attitude.
Yet again, for the last time, this is the size what people are referring, when they say sightings don't seem to exist.
I really don't consider that a problem. The FF example is different, because they put you on this frustratingly linear tutorial section for hours before the game opened up.
In a game where your goal is to continually upgrade your gear and forward progress, I don't see how "it gets good after X hours" is bad. Actually that phrase is a bad one. "It opens up after X hours" or "You have more options after X hours" are better. You start with shitty gear in Minecraft, take a few hours until you have a solid home, good weapons and armor, and enough supplies and tools that you can venture out and focus on exploring and such rather than the early grind of gathering resources and mining. You play Crusader Kings, and your first hours are a mess of tutorials and menus and learning what numbers ans systems do. I bashed my head against Crusader Kings 2 for six hours before it finally clicked and I gained a solid understand of its mechanics.
"It gets better after X hours" is completely valid, and is something that hinges on a game-by-game basis. It's certainly not a "schtick" that should be dismissed off hand
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