No Man's Sky - Interceptor

[Davros sock drawer]

13 minutes ago, martingee said:

Admittedly the worlds I've landed on don't seem to be vastly different to each other, I've only actually been on one that has any grass for example.

 

I've had grassy worlds coming out of my ears one minute, and then nothing but barren wastelands the next. My current system is a Blue Star - nothing but rocky wastelands.

[Gorf King]

59 minutes ago, patters2.0 said:

It's actually quite brilliant in nothing more than they've created something that people both love and hate, with not much in between. That's art

 

See, there we go again: I don't think they've done that at all. I don't think you have to 'love' or 'hate' it. I think this polarisation is self-fulfilling, and that's what makes the game difficult to discuss, even though it's actually quite an easy game to discuss because it has no real nuance to it - there's nothing you're going to miss, or miss the point of, that might cause misunderstanding or fevered debate. I think the fans and detractors, rather than the title, have polarised the debate themselves by resorting to hyperbole on both sides.

 

I strongly suspect that the majority of people who've played it fairly extensively think it's a game with great atmosphere and (an initial) sense of mystery, that has very basic, overly-simplisitic and relatively unrewarding gameplay mechanics, and no meaningful sense of narrative or payoff for progression, but which provides some very atmospheric experiences along the way. In other words, it's that book cover generator with barely a game strapped on. As such, personally, I think people probably rate it with both negative and positive marks, and many will end up giving it middling ones overall. I think it's a great world simulator (with some increasingly obvious limitations and nowhere near enough extremes) but with a tiresome set of almost perfunctory resource management mechanics and some tacked-on 'story' elements to disguise the fact that it really is a book cover generator. It's a great and interesting piece of tech that'll keep you interested for as long as you keep being interested in the next planet you discover, which will vary from person to person. But overall, that 'art' brief is all there is to it. Without that procedural RNG to the planet and animal design it'd be a truly awful game. After a few hours, once you've sussed out the bare mechanics, there's basically nothing to talk about or experience other than the way planet x is lush and y is barren, or the way species a is a lot bigger than species b, and/or has a head more like species c, or the colour of this grass as opposed to that grass. 

 

I expect it'll get something like an Edge 6. The 6 will be for the way a lot of the game looks. There's nothing much else to give points for. I doubt it'll get a 10 or a 1, or a 9 or a 2 though - though are the marmite scores that you'd expect for something truly weird and groundbreaking and misunderstood by many. I don't think this is that - I think it's a pretty and atmospheric title with barely any game behind the most basic of busywork to get your teeth into. And I do number myself among those who don't regret buying it, even having said that. I just think it's very deeply flawed and underdeveloped, and leaves a lot that sticks out as a missed opportunity. It could be much, much better, but it did provide some memorable experiences in the worlds it threw up. The art's art, for sure, and the game brief is basically the art design brief, and the clever technology services that visual novelty.

 

The 'game' itself is rubbish though. Overall, it feels mediocre at best, as a game. Funnily enough, it really is like one of those pulp 70s sci-fi paperbacks that you pick up because the cover is the most exciting thing you've ever seen, and you immediately feel drawn into it, and you want to live in the world on that cover in your imagination. Which turns out to be better than the writer's, because after getting home and reading through a few chapters you increasingly realise that the actual novella is a load of crap and doesn't match the cover at all, and when you get to the end you find the last few pages are blank, so after shrugging off the shock of realising you'll never finish the poor story you go back to staring at the cover again and making your own ending up, and then your own story altogether, because you love that cover so much. The cover was totally worth it. The cover deserved better. If only they'd put an actual book in there, it could have been something really special. But you have at least got a really special book cover.

[patters2.0]

I don't disagree with any of that. I suspect that the tech will push things forward, and that someone else will execute the gameplay side of a procedural universe better, but I have enjoyed playing and I've had more enjoyable playtime out of it already than I derive from most games, so for that I'm happy.

[Tezcatlipoca]

3 hours ago, dood said:

You mentioned Elite earlier too - you should really check Elite Dangerous out, you know.  

 

3 hours ago, patters2.0 said:

As for Elite Dangerous, well I have been looking. I still remember the aching grind just to get better lasers and the thrill of finally getting the military lasers. But I was 12 years old then and had shit loads of spare time. I'm scared of the time commitment of a modern Elite. Destiny had quite a hold on me for a while last year and I'm not sure it was healthy

 

It's a time sink, but it's brilliant. Give it a go...

[McCoy]

36 minutes ago, Gorf King said:

 

The 'game' itself is rubbish though. Overall, it feels mediocre at best, as a game. Funnily enough, it really is like one of those pulp 70s sci-fi paperbacks that you pick up because the cover is the most exciting thing you've ever seen, and you immediately feel drawn into it, and you want to live in the world in that cover in your imagination. Which turns out to be better than the writer's, because after getting some and reading through a few chapters you increasingly realise that the actual novella is a load of crap and doesn't match the cover at all, and when you get to the end you find the last few pages are blank, so you go back to staring at the cover again and making your own ending up, and then your own story altogether, because you love that cover so much. The cover was totally worth it. If only they'd put an actual book in there, it could have been something really special. But you have at least got a really special book cover.

 

It would be great if the technology behind the game could be licensed out.  The nuts and bolts seem genuinely impressive but the scope for several game types to succeed if using this technology is what gets me really excited.  Imagine giving the tech to a developer who then put in a few years developing the space combat/factions and a galactic storyline to power the game.  I think that then would be seriously impressive. 

[JPickford]

You could make the first ever good Doctor Who game with this,

[Davros sock drawer]

Every quarry procedurally generated...

[robdood]

I'm not actually that impressed with the tech, seeing as it's basically just all done from some very simple templates / variables (from what I've seen while modding).  

 

I'd be more impressed if factors like equators / poles, distance to the star, atmospheric composition were used more to dictate the planetary make up and dictate the kinds of creatures you find.   As it is, it's just all a bit haphazardly randomised and stuck together.   Every planet uses the same set of min/max values for things like how close the buildings are, what sizes the creatures are, etc.  That's why it all feels so samey! (except for Davros, obviously)

 

I'd be even more impressed if they managed to place some interesting NPC interactions across the galaxy, and a more believable economy. 

 

 

[Darwock]

Has the 100% fauna uploading problem been sorted yet? I'm stuck on one planet with 9/10 species, can't find the last, but don't want to go to another planet if it's going to waste the effort I put in finding those 9.

[Davros sock drawer]

The uploading is fixed, but I'm semi-convinced that the final species thing is a bug. I only try to 100% planets that I like (such as the weird frozen world I spent yesterday evening on) but rarely am I able to find all the animals. There's always one that never seems to appear, or alternatively you find all of them pretty quickly. 

 

 

[robdood]

I don't think the last creature thing is a bug, I think it is literally just the randomised nature of it all. 

[patters2.0]

20 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

The uploading is fixed, but I'm semi-convinced that the final species thing is a bug. I only try to 100% planets that I like (such as the weird frozen world I spent yesterday evening on) but rarely am I able to find all the animals. There's always one that never seems to appear, or alternatively you find all of them pretty quickly. 

 

 

I read on Reddit that the species list is ordered by the height of their habitat on the planet. So this gives you clues as to where to search. e.g. if the missing one is last in the list it's likely to be an aquatic animal, first a flying one.

[Davros sock drawer]

Yes, so I've read. In this case it's last on the list. But the planet only has very shallow pools, no deep water, and no amount of scanning has revealed that elusive final red dot...

[Gorf King]

Somewhere on the other side of the world there'll be a mountain, and under this mountain there'll be a deep, flooded cave. Your quarry, a single freshwater shrimp with the head of a tiny eaglet and a thousand legs cribbed badly from the millipede, a mess of grotesque spasms, will be hiding inside a rusty can at the bottom of the subterranean tarn. Just ashamed of the way he's been made, of the disgusting way he looks. He's an obscenity in the face of God. Fuck you if you think you're taking his photo. Fuck you Sean Murray. Fuck you all.

[Davros sock drawer]

 

How long did that take you to find again GK?

 

[Gorf King]

Bout three days.

[Davros sock drawer]

I think I'll head off...

[Not Thread Owner]

1 hour ago, patters2.0 said:

I read on Reddit that the species list is ordered by the height of their habitat on the planet. So this gives you clues as to where to search. e.g. if the missing one is last in the list it's likely to be an aquatic animal, first a flying one.

 

Yeah, but this is clearly bollocks as I've had flying ones last, aquatic ones near the top, and groups of different ones on the same set of plains scattered all over the list.

 

I tend to find all bar one in about 5 minutes, then if I've not found the last one after another hour, I've been giving up and putting it down to a bug. I did, however, find them all on a planet last night in about 45 minutes, although there was another update installed (1.08?) before I started playing.

[Not Thread Owner]

1 hour ago, dood said:

I don't think the last creature thing is a bug, I think it is literally just the randomised nature of it all. 

 

It's just randomly broken on every planet. It wasn't when I started playing, and wasn't last night, but was broken for the 40+ hours between two updates.

[Davros sock drawer]

I dunno deKay. It definitely feels bugged, but I did finally find one last creature after hours of looking a week or so ago. It actually ran up and attacked me from behind.

 

As Gorf says, it's probably just too ashamed to show itself.

[macosx]

I mailed them some feedback at the below

"... then on future free updates which will improve, expand and build on the No Man’s Sky universe.

This is a labour of love for us, and it’s just the beginning."

feedback@hellogames.co.uk

[robdood]

12 minutes ago, macosx said:

I mailed them some feedback at the below

"... then on future free updates which will improve, expand and build on the No Man’s Sky universe.

This is a labour of love for us, and it’s just the beginning."

feedback@hellogames.co.uk

Eh? Game's only been out a month, what are you expecting, exactly?

[Not Thread Owner]

46 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

I dunno deKay. It definitely feels bugged, but I did finally find one last creature after hours of looking a week or so ago. It actually ran up and attacked me from behind.

 

As Gorf says, it's probably just too ashamed to show itself.

 

It'd be nice if there was an upgrade for the scanner that gave you likely locations for fauna.

[macosx]

10 minutes ago, dood said:

Eh? Game's only been out a month, what are you expecting, exactly?

what are you on about? they are asking for feedback.

[Davros sock drawer]

I was going to say, he's just telling us about the Feedback email address, right @macosx?

[macosx]

7 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

I was going to say, he's just telling us about the Feedback email address, right @macosx?

yeah. dood you bell.

[robdood]

Sorry! It wasn't the most eloqunelty put post by you!

 

I thought you were saying "I've emailed them to 'feedback' about this thing they said  "

[Bazjam]

I've been playing this for about 30 hours plus (and loved every minute), but I've now started getting game crashes almost every time I play. This happens mainly when I'm away from my ship mining. Up till this point I'd only had one crash in 30 odd hours play. Anyone else getting this?

[Broker]

1 hour ago, deKay said:

 

It's just randomly broken on every planet. It wasn't when I started playing, and wasn't last night, but was broken for the 40+ hours between two updates.

 

I hundred percented at least two planets between those two patches.

[gospvg]

3 hours ago, Bazjam said:

I've been playing this for about 30 hours plus (and loved every minute), but I've now started getting game crashes almost every time I play. This happens mainly when I'm away from my ship mining. Up till this point I'd only had one crash in 30 odd hours play. Anyone else getting this?

 

Yep that latest patch is causing the game to crash more for me on the PS4,