No Man's Sky - Interceptor

[Kryptonian]

11 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

 

I don't know if that is reasonable. Seems like a pretty over-entitled viewpoint to me.

 

Its hard to say though, as I don't think I've ever seen a game (one I was interested in anyway) come under quite this level of microscopic scrutiny. Surely game features change all through development? Maybe they just changed their minds? Maybe they tried, and couldn't get it to work? I mean, I could go through each one of the points mentioned in that list and discuss it, but surely each one falls under the usual disclaimer of "Game still in development. May not reflect final product"?

 

Its such a weird mood around this game. So many people talking about what the game is/isn't, the hype, the reaction to it. I'd much rather just talk about what's actually in the game, and what could change in future.

 

I don't get the over entitled angle at all, where would you draw the line?

 

Some of the things alledgedly cut could impact the game a lot and it certainly isn't only this game that has been pulled up on it. The difference seems to be something like Destiny has a huge company putting out controlled info whereas this didn't.

 

Personally I saw nothing of the game from the initially announcement to playing it on release so I had no expectations at all really but as I said before, if someone was following it and wanted to be able to do a bunch of things he said were in the game and now they aren't, it doesn't seem like a case of being entitled if they were told it was in and I have no issue with them being disappointed.

[K]

The game is a bit of a mess of genius and shoddiness, but I'd say that's probably less due to big problems in development and more due to the size of the team and the scope of the game. Having stuff missing from the trailers is more significant when it's, say, Destiny or Colonial Marines, where you've got a AAA developer with a big budget who are working on a game that's right within their area of speciality, as opposed to the 15 guys who made Joe Danger trying to simulate an entire universe. That just suggests they had to scale things back a bit. 

[Paulando]

Everyone has seen this, right? Fucking hell, the sound made me piss 

 

 

[jonamok]

I love how some people clearly hate how much some other people love this game.

[Frosty]

The price point certainly didn't help temper people's expectations.

 

They also intentionally prevented people getting to preview the game - closing down streams and not releasing review copies early.

 

They had their reasons, they decided that the fun of the game hinged on things being a surprise (though I always thought this contradicted the idea of a shared universe), and it would have been a fine thing to do if the product was good.  But it isn't and a lot of people are left with a £40+ game that at best is going to get better at some indeterminate point in the future.  Which would also be fine but it should have been sold as such.  It didn't do Minecraft or Don't Starve any harm.

 

[Monkeyboy]

10 minutes ago, Captain LeChuck said:

Hmmm, I sold a couple of Atlas Stones early on, so wound up with only 8 for the end of the Atlas path (you need 10). I hope I haven't fucked it.

 

Out of interest, once the Atlas path ends, is it then just a case of following the yellow path to the centre? I have 5 Atlas Stones so far. Luckily, I haven't sold any.

[SqueakyG]

This thread moves too fast to read it all, sorry.

 

I'd like some advice about which general direction I should take, without any spoilers if possible. I've been following the Atlas path -- I've been to three or four of those systems now -- and when asked, I choose to continue the Atlas path each time. I guess I'm afraid that if I choose 'no' the Atlas path might just stop forever.

 

However, this is getting boring and I'd like to try a new direction (I have the second warp drive upgrade and I'd like to make use of it). I also have a path to a black hole on the map, but I'm worried that if I use black hole the Atlas story will be abandoned forever. My question: if I go through a few black holes and get closer to the center of the galaxy, will the game somehow give me another chance to visit a nearby Atlas system? Or must I visit the precise Atlas system currently set as a waypoint, for the Atlas story to continue?

[ph0rce]

7 minutes ago, Monkeyboy said:

 

Out of interest, once the Atlas path ends, is it then just a case of following the yellow path to the centre? I have 5 Atlas Stones so far. Luckily, I haven't sold any.

 

Not that I'm on the Atlas path, but shouldn't these two posts be in spoiler tags?

[Monkeyboy]

I daren't click the spoiler.  Think I'll just push forward, see what happens.

[TehStu]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

The post-mortem on the code has begun:

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1263009

 

 

Are there space battles?  I've seen groups of ships zipping around freighters shooting off lasers indefinitely is that it?

 

Interesting, us the shader compilation issue related to PC performance?

 

Otherwise, I'm not sure what you're expecting to draw from it. Big_space_battles.txt? Perhaps we'll see them later. What are your expectations? 400 player Eve battles?

[BruceBruce]

You have to get 10 atlas stones? That you have to keep on your person until the end of the game?  That's shit.. my inventory isn't even 48 slots yet.

[ph0rce]

11 minutes ago, Captain LeChuck said:

That's one option. If you really want to know...

  Reveal hidden contents

You need 10 to birth a new star.  This starts you over again, but with your ship (albeit crashed and in need of repair).  Apparently the 65DOS tune alone is worth birthing a new star,

 

Usually, I'd say yes. In this case, no. I really wish I knew not to sell them early on.

 

There were two for sale in the shop at the last space station I visited if that gives you any hope, 5.5 million each, or thereabouts. 

 

[Kryptonian]

Oh and here's a f'ing ocean:

 

[TehStu]

2 hours ago, RubberJohnny said:

Big list of stuff missing from trailers, implies something went wrong in development with all those delays because some of them were being demonstrated a few months ago.

It's funny though, I kept up with development, although don't remember the specifics like this. Are games typically analyzed like this? It sucks the life out of gaming for me, but I appreciate some people take it more seriously.

 

If you know anything about software development, you'd know what a team of this size are capable of. One of them was seemingly perpetually swanning about. 

 

The other thing is that I'm not sure what was supposed to be day 1, versus features over time. Sadly, it would have been better had Sony not promoted the hell out of, because it's contributed to this level of expectation.

 

However, given this list, how anyone could claim they didn't know what this game was about is beyond me. Evidently, it was all there in videos.

 

On my phone so not possible for a thorough analysis, yet.

[Gorf King]

20 minutes ago, BruceBruce said:

You have to get 10 atlas stones? That you have to keep on your person until the end of the game?  That's shit.. my inventory isn't even 48 slots yet.

 

Guys. Could you start spoilering some of this stuff, please? I don't want to know how many of these things you need to get in order to achieve something which is easy to work out from all your in-the-open text is an end-game situation, even though I've avoided any spoilers. This game doesn't seem to have much of a storyline or finite set of outcomes (to me, yet), but of what little there is I'd rather not think 'ah, only two stones away now!' at some point.

[JPickford]

I read a spoiler about what the Atlas stones are for.   Not interested so I sold them.

[Davros sock drawer]

44 minutes ago, Kryptonian said:

I have no issue with them being disappointed.

 

Disappointed, fine. As in "Man, it's a shame this didn't make it into the game".

 

Drawing up a huge detailed list as if to hold Sean Murray to account? Not so sure about that. And definitely not some of the abusive/demanding tweets he's been getting.

[hereticboy]

29 minutes ago, Captain LeChuck said:

That's one option. If you really want to know...

  Reveal hidden contents

You need 10 to birth a new star.  This starts you over again, but with your ship (albeit crashed and in need of repair).  Apparently the 65DOS tune alone is worth birthing a new star,

 

Having finished the Atlas path today, this isn't QUITE right.

 

 

You use 10 Atlas stones to birth the new star, but the new star is just one added to the edge of the galaxy. You consider that someone else might start their journey on a planet around that star, and then continue as you were. I'm slowly plodding along to the centre of the galaxy now, observing and enjoying the things I see along the way.

 

Personally, I found the Atlas stuff super interesting. And indeed how it relates to the Nada and Polo stuff, and the search for knowledge of the centre of the galaxy etc.

[Tailfly]

38 minutes ago, Captain LeChuck said:

Hmmm, I sold a couple of Atlas Stones early on, so wound up with only 8 for the end of the Atlas path (you need 10). I hope I haven't fucked it.

 

I had 9 and think I've now fucked it. It may un-fuck but it's not happened for me so far...

 

21 minutes ago, BruceBruce said:

You have to get 10 atlas stones? That you have to keep on your person until the end of the game?  That's shit.. my inventory isn't even 48 slots yet.

 

It's a lot quicker to achieve then you'd think.

[Gorf King]

Fucking hell. Do you guys ever post in film or book threads? Let me know which ones, and I'll avoid them.

[Kryptonian]

Yeah, come on guys, poor form

[TehStu]

8 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

 

Disappointed, fine. As in "Man, it's a shame this didn't make it into the game".

 

Drawing up a huge detailed list as if to hold Sean Murray to account? Not so sure about that. And definitely not some of the abusive/demanding tweets he's been getting.

 

If it was someone who liked the concept, was aware of the absurd hype, and now feels like bits are missing, yeah, $59.99 probably stings, assuming this stuff doesn't get added over time.

 

I'm not sure of the motive of some of the criticise, though. HG are at fault for some that, Sony absolutely are. The players are, too. Just as this thread is a circle jerk*, I think there are threads out there that wanted this ambitious title fail. Sorting through the outliers to reach the reasonable feedback is difficult.

 

 

 

* It's so tedious seeing positive opinion rained on for the sake of it. It frequently gets labeled the hive mind, or some other dismissive nonsense. People are just enthusing about what they like, you don't have to agree. They loads do isn't some coordinated thing.

[hereticboy]

Regarding the 'cut' stuff, I'm not really sure what to think. I've loved my time with the game so far, despite it clearly being a bit shit and shallow in places. It's clearly a consequence of a small team trying to make such a massive thing, but there are some things I'm disappointed not to see that did seem to be more or less promised to be in there. Things like factions and space battles are basically not there at all. 

 

It looks like Hello Games had a vision they couldn't quite bring to fruition, really. Hopefully it's partly a case of not having things finished by the time release rolled round, and features and stuff can be added with updates and the like. Given the dodginess of the game now (crashes, UI problems, bugs, shallowness, etc), I can't imagine what we'd have got if the game had come out in June.

 

Despite all its problems though, I've played it every day for HOURS AND HOURS and have loved my experience with it so far. So let this post prove that there exist people who aren't on either extreme and who have enjoyed the game while noting that it isn't perfect or beyond reproach.

[hereticboy]

Anyway, some screenshots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit NSFW...

 

ATLAS SPOILER. Some of the Atlas stuff looks incredible, frankly.

 

 

 

 

[Gorf King]

47 minutes ago, hereticboy said:

Regarding the 'cut' stuff, I'm not really sure what to think. I've loved my time with the game so far, despite it clearly being a bit shit and shallow in places. It's clearly a consequence of a small team trying to make such a massive thing, but there are some things I'm disappointed not to see that did seem to be more or less promised to be in there. Things like factions and space battles are basically not there at all. 

 

It looks like Hello Games had a vision they couldn't quite bring to fruition, really. Hopefully it's partly a case of not having things finished by the time release rolled round, and features and stuff can be added with updates and the like. Given the dodginess of the game now (crashes, UI problems, bugs, shallowness, etc), I can't imagine what we'd have got if the game had come out in June.

 

Despite all its problems though, I've played it every day for HOURS AND HOURS and have loved my experience with it so far. So let this post prove that there exist people who aren't on either extreme and who have enjoyed the game while noting that it isn't perfect or beyond reproach.

 

You don't need to prove anything. There's been healthy scepticism written throughout this thread like the word Blackpool in a stick of Blackpool rock. Anyone criticising it for being a circle jerk of criticism-intolerant fawning simply hasn't bothered reading it, so, you know, I think it's maybe they who should do the critical appraisal training course. (Spoiler: It involves reading things and understanding what's been written.)

 

I haven't a problem with things being cut from a game. Especially with a team this small, reaching so high. But I have been, and remain, critical about the way they've presented some things. I still think if it turns out you can't actually meet another person - that there's no character model at all, for example - then Sean's been quite disingenuous, not by saying you could at some point during development, but by not correcting a false impression before launch day. I'm still not convinced it's not actually in though, and I think the problem might be to do with his vagueness about how you'd do it more than anything else. (It's clearly not just about finding the right co-ordinates.) I suspect I'm being generous to him there, but if I am I hope it's well spent.

 

I agree that they clearly couldn't get what they wanted to achieve to fruition. I said to a party member on the first night that the game is clearly unfinished. They could have worked at it for another year, and it still would be. With a team their size it's an amazing achievement that they've got what this is working like it does. But even though I'm sure they'll iron out bugs in time, and add features in time, if someone's disappointed with either the content or the polish of a title they've paid full price for on release, I think that's absolutely fair enough. I can completely understand why anyone would feel that way.

 

It's an odd game though. Because as much as there are many obvious flaws and omissions, there's a core to it that keeps dragging me back. It's to do with it being a very unusual title - certainly for a 'AAA' game. And the reason is, it isn't, of course. It's an indie game made by a tiny team with a massive vision. It's hugely flawed and incomplete. I agree with (I think it was) Frosty when he said it might be fully developed in a year's time. But even now, in the meantime, there are moments and sensations in this game you don't get with 99% of stuff out there, however great it is. And those moments and sensations do largely hark back to some of the feelings you used to get exploring a far less well-developed universe in titles like Mercenary. Something about it catching the imagination. Plus something about each journey being essentially your own and no-one else's, which those titles of course did not have. It feels genuinely unique.

 

It's shoddy in some places and broken in others, of course. But it feels vital in an odd kind of way. Not only different, but full of spirit. I'm still liking it and being slightly tired of some of its mechanics in equal measure, as well as getting pissed off from time to time about some of its shonkiness. Yet I can't quite stop playing it. Not yet. And moreover, in that year's time, I really do hope it's come on as far as I think it might. Because if it 'did a Destiny' in terms of turning round initial hostility to its unfinishedness and missing content, it would become a special game indeed. Right now, though, it's a fascinating and flawed curiosity.

[TehStu]

I should just wait for Gorf to post, that's much better.

[p1nseeker]

How the fuck do I get a better multitool? Every one I find at trading posts (or whatever they are called are always shit). I'm still running around with a 10 slot sack of shit. 

[Hello Goaty ♥]

When you start the various consoles and get a multiple choice question as to what frequency to try for a distress signal etc.. is there an actual  way to get it right 1st time?  -I save just beforehand and root if I get it wrong

[Dimahoo]

14 minutes ago, p1nseeker said:

How the fuck do I get a better multitool? Every one I find at trading posts (or whatever they are called are always shit). I'm still running around with a 10 slot sack of shit. 

 

When you encounter certain alien spieces in bases on planets (the warrior types i think) they'll offer them to you. Oddly the ones that do usually also have tools on their walls as well (but you pay for them). If you choose to take the new Multitool, you'll get it for free.

 

Before changing guns, ensure you have some free slots turn all your mods back to elements. Then you can get some of them back for the new gun.

[Gorf King]

14 minutes ago, Hello Goaty ♥ said:

When you start the various consoles and get a multiple choice question as to what frequency to try for a distress signal etc.. is there an actual  way to get it right 1st time?  -I save just beforehand and root if I get it wrong

 

Don't? Why should you get them right every time? You're supposed to learn enough of the languages over time to understand the substance of it. You're not supposed to get them all 100% correct right from the start. Although you can intuit or simply guess enough to get a lot right even without the vocabulary.