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No Man's Sky previews (03-03-2016)

Can't wait to encounter weird life like this

DMDGFq4.png

Oh man. Can you imagine seeing that under water once you really upgrade your oxycene tanks. Get right down near the bottom. Inside a cave lit up only 10 ft in front of you. Then that thing is immediately in front of you.

I want moments like that.
 

amnesiac

Member
I remember reading in one of the many new preview articles that Hello has changed them back into "real" elements, which I was a bit disappointed at. I feel like using real elements creates too many expectations and gives the imagination less liberty to fill in the banks (for instance, you now collect Silicon to make tech stuff, as if someone with a hyperdrive would still be using silicon... here in reality there's already research into replacing it due to its limits).

Link? I just looked through all of the articles in the OP and none of them mentioned this. A bit disappointing if true.

edit:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/no-mans-sky-just-got-even-cooler-now-that-weve-seen-it-1762270587
No Man’s Sky has its own periodic table, which includes elements you’ve heard of, as well as new ones. Sulfur, Carbon, Silicon and Plutonium are just a few examples we found (see above).

There are still new elements.
 
I wonder if certain traders will have home planets and/or systems?

It would be weird if you see and interact with sophisticated tech but it doesn't actually come from anywhere. Like planets only have simple to sophisticated animal life but you see no history or evidence that the folks flying around in space are from anywhere.
 

Unicorn

Member
I'm sad there's no gas giants only because that means no moon planets with a beautiful sky with a looming gas giant above.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I'm sad there's no gas giants only because that means no moon planets with a beautiful sky with a looming gas giant above.

That's a bit of an irony. They said they're going to have planets unrealistically close so you can get that 70's sci-fi cover landscape with the giant planet looming in the background, but in real life that's probably what the sky looks like on the moons of gas giants. You can see skies like this in Mass Effect 1, Elite Dangerous Horizons, and Space Engine.

But I guess they also decided you should be able to do something on the surface of every planet. Maybe they could have put Bespin-like stations in the upper atmospheres of gas giants, or let you mine helium-3.
 

legacyzero

Banned
Crosspost:

Just did up a check list and putting it in Youtube form as well in the next hour. Until then, am I forgetting anything? Let's keep it live:

Survival Aspect:

  • Atmospheric dangers like Toxic, Radiation, and extreme temperatures.
  • Suit shield made to temporarily protect against atmosphere.
  • Affects Health if depleted
  • Temperature indicator
  • Game is “quite challenging” for survival.
  • Suit shield is recharged using resources mined from planets.

NPC Races:

  • Various Races in galaxy.
  • All speak different languages.
  • Monoliths are primary way to decipher languages.
  • Build relationships or make enemies.
  • Trading and tasks for resources to earn loot.
  • Conversations are “decision tree” based”.
  • Races have relations or conflicts with each other.
  • Befriending certain Races give boosts to certain categories like discovery, or crafting.
  • Relationship benefits include cheaper pricing, and better loot/gear.
  • Alien outposts

Inventory/ Loot:


  • Blueprints/Mods can be scavenged from downed ships.
  • Used for upgrades to Multi-tool, ship, and suit.
  • Deep crafting system (Grenades, EMP, etc.)

Gameplay Mechanics:

  • Binoculars available with multiple zoom levels
  • Can be used to tag key objects.
  • Solar systems can feature many planets.
  • Some planets are very far away from the sun. Can take an extended amount of time to reach.
  • Planetary distance calculation and arrival time.
  • Can “hack” alien equipment for various uses.
  • Can disarm alarms to eliminate Wanted Level
  • Only one chances to disarm, or alarm is locked.
  • Dependant on language knowledge.
  • No mini map available. Only compass.
  • Fully destructible environment.
  • Can find cave networks to explore and hide.
  • Trial and error learning. No explanation of mechanics.
  • No Wanted Level for killing those who attack you first.
  • Sentinels investigate violent acts proactively.
  • Game gets progressively harder, getting closer to center of galaxy.
  • Trading economy encourages buying low, and selling high.
  • First few hours spent trying to get off of your first planet.
  • “Gameplay Loop” focuses on staying alive long enough to press on forward.
  • Hack doors, or blow them open for a Wanted Level.
  • No game pause for crafting.
  • Planet flora and fauna can become more aggressive at night time.
  • So can temperatures.
  • Progress is saved at beacons, space stations.
  • Insignificant events are not saved universally. Only for you.
  • Water is not static. Will flow into holes blown under the surface.
  • Cannot turn off HUD, as it is crucial for survival.
  • We know a very little amount of information about total game mechanics holistically.
  • Portals are not simply usable. Must unlock by way of solving a puzzle.
  • Can see your PSN friends’ location on the Galactic Map.
  • Jump Drive: Once you’ve discovered a planet, you can warp back to it.

Freighter:??????
  • Can own your own freighter.
  • Very large (10x larger than your own ship)
  • Can hold a ton more cargo.
  • Will come at the cost of paying for fuel for it to travel with you.

Editions / Platforms:

  • Basic Standard Edition
  • PS4 Limited Edition
  • PC Limited Edition
 
I'm sad there's no gas giants only because that means no moon planets with a beautiful sky with a looming gas giant above.

You'll still get that view, just that the planets won't be gas giants. Sean said he wanted every planet to be able to be landed on and that he didn't want people who knew less about planets to just fly into one and wonder where the land is at.
 
Besides the attacking wildlife, sentinels, pirates in space and ships from rival factions, do we know of any other enemies? Like more humanoid weapon-wielding enemies to fight on planets?
 

Unicorn

Member
You'll still get that view, just that the planets won't be gas giants. Sean said he wanted every planet to be able to be landed on and that he didn't want people who knew less about planets to just fly into one and wonder where the land is at.
Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but I remember in Spore my starting planet was next to a gas giant and looking up and seeing the moving clouds of a nearby gas giant was breathtaking.


Edit:
Yup, it happened
https://youtu.be/xgL5-yswlOw
 
Crosspost:

Just did up a check list and putting it in Youtube form as well in the next hour. Until then, am I forgetting anything? Let's keep it live:

I just watched the "four questions" Giantbomb interview with Sean, which was actually one of the most interesting of the new interviews I've seen. In there Sean was talking about the NPCs and said that NPCs are mostly like shopkeepers, but they don't seem to be using canned dialogue trees a la Mass Effect. Sean says that though they're simplistic, he mentioned "bot code running in the background" so you can say a word you've learned and see how the NPC reacts. Another thing I hadn't heard before is that the NPCs will reference the type of environment of the planet they're on, and might request resources or items related to that biome, which is a nice touch.
 

VARIA

Member
Crosspost:

Just did up a check list and putting it in Youtube form as well in the next hour. Until then, am I forgetting anything? Let's keep it live:

Just wow, I didn't even expect this much and I was already excited. This just screams polish. Love it.
 

androvsky

Member
Crosspost:

Just did up a check list and putting it in Youtube form as well in the next hour. Until then, am I forgetting anything? Let's keep it live:

I can't find the original quote, but I got the impression the freighter replaced your ship and wasn't a companion to it.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
We've seen a ram like creature attack our character for no apparent reason and we've just seen someone collecting berries ... I'm wondering if you can feed the animals to placate them or even tame them.
 
This 24 minute PlayStation Access video should be added to the OP. It goes quite in depth about his demo session. And I can now answer one of my own questions: yes, planets do orbit stars "properly" and spin on their own axes, and this creates the day/night cycles. I assume from this that we can also see moons and stars arc in the sky realistically.
 
This 24 minute PlayStation Access video should be added to the OP. It goes quite in depth about his demo session. And I can now answer one of my own questions: yes, planets do orbit stars "properly" and spin on their own axes, and this creates the day/night cycles. I assume from this that we can also see moons and stars arc in the sky realistically.
Yeah, Sean had said that in an earlier interview
“Our day to night cycle is happening because the planet is rotating on its axis as it spins around the sun. There is real physics to that. We have people that will fly down from a space station onto a planet and when they fly back up, the station isn't there anymore; the planet has rotated. People have filed that as a bug.”
 
We've seen a ram like creature attack our character for no apparent reason and we've just seen someone collecting berries ... I'm wondering if you can feed the animals to placate them or even tame them.

I'm pretty sure when that guy plucked the berry that the actual thing you retrieve is silicon as a resource, not actual berries. But that would be awesome if you could tame them somehow.
 

geomon

Member
I would've wanted to see gas giants just so I can see videos of people flying into them and insta-dying from the crushing gravity and atmosphere.
 

Trouble

Banned
I would've wanted to see gas giants just so I can see videos of people flying into them and insta-dying from the crushing gravity and atmosphere.

Yeah, I understand the gameplay reason for them not being, but I still wish they were.
 
Yeah, I understand the gameplay reason for them not being, but I still wish they were.

Well I mean they're creating their own universe. What about a cloud city type thing. That's how they could have approached a gas planet. Floating islands/buildings to find, with a solid core or something. Would have been unique to find.
 
Well I mean they're creating their own universe. What about a cloud city type thing. That's how they could have approached a gas planet. Floating islands/buildings to find, with a solid core or something. Would have been unique to find.

That's exactly what I always think every time the gas giant thing comes up. There would be ways to give it a gameplay purpose. Landing on floating landmasses, getting resources from the dense clouds, and anything else you could think up really. It'd be cool to find a faction who has headquarters hidden deep in a gas giant in the form of a large hovering ship that just moves around the planet.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
I want to see Aqua planets.

Something equivalent to Neptune, which is largely comprised of Water / Ice and Nitrogen, Methane and Helium. At least that is what it's theorized to be comprised of scientifically.

Just as giant mass of water with scant icy core.

I mean Starbound had Gas Giants and you couldn't land on them., but they were kind of neat to look at when they loomed over head while on a habitable planet.

Of course No Man's Sky being 3D, the presence of having large Planet overhead visible from the surface has an appeal.

I really want to shake the hand of the guy who is responsible behind this games art direction. Everything is so vibrant and colorful. It's also has the allure of being mysterious and alien. Something I want out of a space adventure.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
I had no idea this game turned into a full fledged $60 retail title. Cool.
Want to read how the multiplayer works, any good articles for that?
 

geomon

Member
I had no idea this game turned into a full fledged $60 retail title. Cool.
Want to read how the multiplayer works, any good articles for that?

There's a 1% chance you might run into another human being someday playing the game. That's pretty much it for now.
 
From last year: https://youtu.be/vKkzLs2I98o?t=2033
Sean Murray informs us of our in-game suit's limitations. It'll have various stats, one of which shows how long we'll be able to survive underwater. But on one occasion, he received a random beacon that was telling him to go to the bottom of an enormous ocean. Ultimately he was unable to reach the bottom of the sea and died on the way. It also became far too dark for him to see anything. Creepy.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Ok guys, treat Dash Kappei nicely.

lol

But I didn't see anything in the op linking specifically to in-depth articles about mp!

Or is it a crime that I didn't know a 4 persons team like Hello Games churned out a $60 title with a physical release?

I do agree tho, you guys should always treat that Dash Kappei dude nicely! :p


There's a 1% chance you might run into another human being someday playing the game. That's pretty much it for now.

Oh. Makes sense but I thought that among all the other things they might have also expanded on that and maybe using coordinates for co-op play, considering you discover planets and space traveling-wise there's FTL tech. Too bad.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
This 24 minute PlayStation Access video should be added to the OP. It goes quite in depth about his demo session. And I can now answer one of my own questions: yes, planets do orbit stars "properly" and spin on their own axes, and this creates the day/night cycles. I assume from this that we can also see moons and stars arc in the sky realistically.

Another interesting tidbit, the video reveals that there will indeed be supercruise like in Elite. You'll have normal flight which is probably going to be for gameplay in an atmosphere and in the near vicinity of planets. This will still have to be really fast to let you get around planet-sized planets (a lot faster than Elite's normal flight). But in the video the guy said he went into a mode that burned more fuel but shortened the flight time to a distant planet from 4 hours to like 40 seconds, that sounds like supercruise. That also implies that many planets in NMS will indeed have somewhat realistic distances between them. I'm still wondering if you'll get multiple systems -- stars closely orbiting each other, each with their own planetary systems.
 

kingkenny76

Member
For now almost all the previews I read mentionned the PS4 struggling with framerate or render distance.

On a very good pc it was 60 fps and as of now on Ps4 30 fps tending to drop.


The game still has 3 months until release I really hope these problems won't stay.

I can't wait to play this game.

Shit what previews mentioned this? I've read the previews in the OP and none of them mentioned it struggling on the ps4. I was hoping it got delayed to iron out performance issues.
 
Shit what previews mentioned this? I've read the previews in the OP and none of them mentioned it struggling on the ps4. I was hoping it got delayed to iron out performance issues.
A couple of them did. They still have plenty of time to optimize though and they are working closely with sony. I'm pretty worried about the pc port to be honest
 
Yeah, Sean had said that in an earlier interview

Interesting, thanks. To be fair to the player, a vanished station being a bug depends on if the space stations are supposed to be in geostationary orbit though. :p I guess they're not!

I would've wanted to see gas giants just so I can see videos of people flying into them and insta-dying from the crushing gravity and atmosphere.

Or skimming the surface of the atmosphere with your ship to collect elements, like that terrible Stargate spinoff series. It would have been cool to see them, I agree.

A couple of them did. They still have plenty of time to optimize though and they are working closely with sony. I'm pretty worried about the pc port to be honest

I haven't seen/read any previews that say the PS4 build was in poor shape. They ones I've read said that there are some framerate dips and minor glitches, nothing that is too worrisome for a beta build three months out. I mean if you compare the new footage to the PS4 trailer from last year, the pop-in is definitely less noticeable and the framerate seems higher.

Oh. Makes sense but I thought that among all the other things they might have also expanded on that and maybe using coordinates for co-op play, considering you discover planets and space traveling-wise there's FTL tech. Too bad.

Sean has said that you can see the location of your PSN friends on the galactic map. But basically for now Hello wants you to focus on exploring by yourself. Sean did seem to leave things open for post-launch content, if there's tons of interest in MP stuff.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
A couple of them did. They still have plenty of time to optimize though and they are working closely with sony. I'm pretty worried about the pc port to be honest

PC is the main development platform at least prior to the Flood all apparent work on this game was implied to be PC, it wasn't until after the 2014 E3 showing of the game part of Sony's Conference did we know it was also being developed for the PS4.

If they can get 60 fps on the PC, but the PS4 is having some difficulties maintaining 30, I don't see how this is an issue to be worried for the PC version because it's not the PC version that is having potential performance issues.
 
Disappointed there's no Gas Giants Not only do they provide a cool backdrop but there's lots of interesting physics for the surrounding planets or moons. They can be like mini solar systems, its simply great to have a Gas Giant in the middle and hop to each planet in its orbit.. You don't have to fill the game with lone meaningless ones.

Our own Jupiter and it's active moons is such a wonder. To not even broadly simulate what it's like to explore these areas is such a missed opportunity.

To me this is like saying we don't have ice worlds or sorry we don't have comets and asteroids.
 
Disappointed there's no Gas Giants Not only do they provide a cool backdrop but there's lots of interesting physics for the surrounding planets or moons. They can be like mini solar systems, its simply great to have a Gas Giant in the middle and hop to each planet in its orbit.. You don't have to fill the game with lone meaningless ones.

Our own Jupiter and it's active moons is such a wonder. To not even broadly simulate what it's like to explore these areas is such a missed opportunity.

To me this is like saying we don't have ice worlds or sorry we don't have comets and asteroids.

Bro.


At some point we have to be realistic about what they can achieve here. I'm quite in awe of what they have already managed. If I had the power of the protagonist in M. Crichtons Sphere I would will the inclusion of supernovas and the gas giants as well
 
Bro.


At some point we have to be realistic about what they can achieve here. I'm quite in awe of what they have already managed. If I had the power of the protagonist in M. Crichtons Sphere I would will the inclusion of supernovas and the gas giants as well

I'm sure he understands that, and that wasn't really the point of his comment. Just saying there could be meaningful gameplay implementations of gas giants, and I agree with him. Of course it's extremely impressive what they are already doing with the game regardless.
 
I just want to be able to tame little alien animals (alienimals) and take them with me, for maximum adventure, but I think I remember reading that it is impossible.
 

-Horizon-

Member
I just want to be able to tame little alien animals (alienimals) and take them with me, for maximum adventure, but I think I remember reading that it is impossible.

Would have been hilarious if you could have brought some with you to another planet just to introduce them as invasive species and have them wreck the ecosystem lol.
 
I'm sure he understands that, and that wasn't really the point of his comment. Just saying there could be meaningful gameplay implementations of gas giants, and I agree with him. Of course it's extremely impressive what they are already doing with the game regardless.

Ha oh sorry I sincerely agree then :)
 

DJ88

Member
Hmm, idk guys, I'm still extremely hyped but cautiously worried about how No Man's Sky is going to turn out upon release. Let me explain.

When people bring up the comparisons to Minecraft, Terraria or Don't Starve, I can only see how they're half right. When in comes to the survival and exploration aspect of the game, No Man's Sky seems to have it down pat. Hello Games couldn't have done a more perfect job in creating a literal universe that looks like it'll have the variety and mystery worth exploring. However, the over very crucial aspect of those games is their scope of crafting and customisation. Those games may not have fully fleshed out NPC's or in-depth quest lines that push the story along, but you can still feel like you're making some progress and having goals to work towards when it comes to what you can or want to build. It's the bevvy of unique or fun items they give you that makes you want to go out and gather resources. And the stuff you can build can range from gameplay enhancing tools or just stuff that lets you dick around. Yes you can upgrade your gun, your suit and your ship in NMS, but from everything I kep reading or seeing so far it's all come across as very basic.

And it's a shame because there's so much potential for it to be more than that. Imagine having the option to craft different vehicles like a speeder bike or submarine to further explore the world, a grappling hook to traverse steep mountain sides and cliffs, different firearms that have adversely different attacks, crafting monuments and leaving messages that could potentially be discovered by other players, building a frigate or cargo ship to store your star fighter and freely customise the interior, or setting up your own buildings and structures as a base of operations in case you find a resource rich planet that you want to mine dry or even settle down on. Even something as basic as changing the appearance of your ship.

No Man's Sky is potentially the largest sandbox game ever, but it could be missing the one key element that makes sandbox games great; the opportunity to screw around like an idiot.

Dude, you put that into words better than I ever could've had. I agree 100%. I've been waiting for this game since the VGX reveal and although I know I'll love the simple exploration aspect of it. I feel like it could be soooo much more, and attract a much larger audience, if it nails those customization options you talked about. It does seem very basic at the moment (which is fine for me) but it would elevate the game to a whole other level if it did offer that crazy variety.
 
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