VlaudTheImpaler
tl;dr
lol, Had to go over that with my wife for a minute (She is a journalist) and she believes that the reviewer was paraphrasing.
par·a·phrase said:
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
No Man's Sky Review Thread: The Scores Have Arrived (read OP)
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
lol, Had to go over that with my wife for a minute (She is a journalist) and she believes that the reviewer was paraphrasing.
I just looked it up and it's from an article by The Atlantic. Everything Sean Murray is quoted as saying seems in line with what the game is. Not sure if the author just decided to get dramatic or what, but either way it should have been addressed after it was published. Maybe it was, I don't know.
You should check it out. It's neat, but reading it is a bummer. Now that the initial shock of no multiplayer is dying down I keep seeing posts discussing all the other promises that were left unfulfilled. I didn't follow NMS before launch but clearly the raised expectations didn't come from nowhere
MiamiWesker
Member
But when they are basically all the same thing repeated exploration means nothing. yes resource availablilty changes from planet to planet but that's all it's doing. You are just hitting a random number generator into what you want pops up.
After seeing a ton of samey looking planets and animals, I'm not sure NMS even is a technological achievement. I'm sure Hello Games worked their fucking asses off for years trying to perfect their algorithms, but the end result is not impressive. As a computer scientist, I can certainly relate. Sometimes you just can't salvage a project no matter how hard or long you work at it, short of starting over from scratch, which usually isn't feasible.
I can see NMS eventually becoming a more enjoyable experience through improving the general mechanics and flow of the game via patches, but I don't think the planets will ever become interesting in the way a good open-world or RPG world is interesting. That requires artful creativity, and we still aren't at the point where computers are good at being artfully creative.
If Hello Games had succeeded, it would've been a technological game-changer for sure, so props to them for trying.
TimeEffect
Member
I still hope to see a compiled list of promises. I know Ive forgotten some, but I do recall getting very excited with some of the promises
orthodoxy1095
Banned
It's definitely a paraphrase. There's no way the journalist would just make that stuff up and then there's no way Sean would allow them to publish stuff that was made up.
Raven117
Member
I'm just unsure what everyone was really expecting. Though I didn't follow every announcement, I followed development a bit, and it seems the game fits with how he sold it.
I really like the game actually. I LOVE how lonely it can feel. It's strikes a feeling I haven't really felt in a game before.
Maybe I like it because I had low expectations. That's not an excuse for it being not as promised or not or whatever. But I love it.
I really like the game actually. I LOVE how lonely it can feel. It's strikes a feeling I haven't really felt in a game before.
Maybe I like it because I had low expectations. That's not an excuse for it being not as promised or not or whatever. But I love it.
evilromero
Member
I mean, it looks like Subnautica and all its ilk. After watching an hour of Markiplier's playthrough I feel this game may have been inappropriately marketed to a console audience. From what I could tell it seems pretty standard for these kind of crafting survival games, so I'm betting PC gamers will be more receptive.
Sounds like there's about 8 hours worth of interesting content before thing start to feel samey and repetitive. I'll check it out when it's cheap.
*looks at Steam reviews*
Yeah, about that.
*looks at Steam reviews*
Yeah, about that.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
I felt bored with NMS and looked into Subnautica and it looked exponentially more interesting tbh.
travisbickle
Member
Yeah. And I think Hello Games fucked up pandering to the console base. I've heard players say they don't want to walk for 2 minutes ... why would you buy a game with planet-sized planets if you don't want to even navigate a 500 metre surface area?
I think Hello Games should have gone for the hardcore survival crowd. Planets have gravity that can make you literally stand on the spot without upgrading your suit, planet storms can fuck up your ship, sentinels can ground your ship when alerted, landing incorrectly can break your landing equipment. Even when you answer incorrectly and take damage by an NPC/Monolith should be instal-death instead. Space is fucked up.
You're not going to please someone who buys a game the size of a universe then wants to get to the centre of a galaxy in a few hours play so they can see the ending.
Saucycarpdog
Member
That's because you can interact with the environment and wildlife in a much more meaningful way in Subnautica.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
It helps that there seems to be more of a "purpose" if you will to resource gathering.
Fredrik
Member
Cool! Didn't think there could be robots. Big creatures definitely exist though, don't have to be walkers either, I saw some huge flying worms with dragonfly wings last night which got a wow out of me, reminded me of some Flow creatures in their movements, gracefully swimming through the skies.
Do you think that Hello Games chose to make a mechanically shallow game to pander to a specific audience? what was that meeting like?
Dev 1: "guys I have a lot of great ideas about how to make this game deep and interesting, and they won't be difficult to implement at all."
Dev 2-14: "nah mate, just cut that shit right out. we're making a randomly generated walking sim here for the console crowd."
The game as it is now is the most they were able to do. That's why more features are still coming (basebuilding, freighters, etc).
orthodoxy1095
Banned
The problem isn't walking two minutes mate.
I'll happily walk ten minutes if there's something interesting to see and do along the way and at the end of my walk. But there isn't, and that's the problem.
I'm glad I didn't listen to reviews and first impressions. I originally had no intention to play it until my friends gave me their feedback.
Most of my friends said, it was good, exactly what they expected, but they knew not to believe the hype. I decided to just go ahead and buy it.
Bought it yesterday around 6pm. It's almost 11 PM today and I can say I'm hooked. Roughly 12-14 hours in so far.
Definitely not for everyone, gameplay is rather repetitive, but the game's atmosphere, the concept and the new creatures/planets/plant life definitely have me coming back for more.
I feel like every sitting I end up with a new weapon, new ship or some new objective I'm excited to get accomplished on my next play session.
Most of my friends said, it was good, exactly what they expected, but they knew not to believe the hype. I decided to just go ahead and buy it.
Bought it yesterday around 6pm. It's almost 11 PM today and I can say I'm hooked. Roughly 12-14 hours in so far.
Definitely not for everyone, gameplay is rather repetitive, but the game's atmosphere, the concept and the new creatures/planets/plant life definitely have me coming back for more.
I feel like every sitting I end up with a new weapon, new ship or some new objective I'm excited to get accomplished on my next play session.
If anyone likes the language system, contact with new aliens, resource gathering, inventory management, and wants something with a bit of challenge, without all the tedious bullshit of NMS, then get 'Out There' on mobile.
It's like NMS, but actually a better game.
Edit : original post was overtly harsh.
It's like NMS, but actually a better game.
Edit : original post was overtly harsh.
Fredrik
Member
Have they actually said that they plan to add basebuilding?? Like a homebase? That would be great. I don't care if it's simplistic, just having a "home" on a nice planet with some crates or whatever where I can stash my mining materials and trading goods would be a really nice addition to the game.
1.03 patch notes on their website mentioned they were planning on adding basebuilding
this shitposting is out of control
wumster3000
Member
Shit man!
Or just buy any other better survival game for less unless you really only want the spectacle of space to be the basis of your purchase and not actual gameplay.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
I think so? Sorry I can't provide a source for that. Honestly at this point it's hard to tell what is just fever dream conjecture and reality with this thing.
GravityInsanity
Member
This game is starting to get boring for me. It feels like I'm doing the same thing over and over. Also, this game not having multiplayer is a miss opportunity. It pisses me off that Sean lied about this. In my opinion, this game is no worth $60. Wait for a price drop to like $30.
Yeah, planets are too similar, i think that's what bugs me the most. I wanted an exploration and after a few planets I noticed that issue. Where are things like the moon? With no atmosphere and low gravity. Where are mountains, waterfalls, deserts, canyons? They are just large chunks of land, sometimes having water. I'd like planets that are just water or gas giants, planets with a variety of things like earth, planets with civilizations or old ruins of one. The game needs interesting things worth exploration but it really doesn't.
I'm not going to say that Sean lied about anything. But I'm with you. I'm quite bored of this game about 7 hours in. Regret buying it. Feels more like a $25-30 game.
I love how many people are shocked by 2 things.
1. The lack of depth. It's been pretty apparent from day 1 that there wasn't much meaningful gameplay. The appeal was supposed to come from the sense of exploration. The fact that people were so mad about "so what do you do" were angry about people not understanding what the purpose was. Ironically the way I see it that they were failing to understand why a good chunk of people were like... Yeah so this doesn't seem like much of a game. This leads into the next point
2. What did you realistically expect out of procedural generation? One problem I always had with this game in regards to the exploration argument was that you were exploring a bunch of randomly generated planets, which ultimately were only going to have surface level differences. Procedural generation has been around forever. Give me meaningful carefully crafted experiences any over that. Procedural generation is nothing more than cosmetic imo.
1. The lack of depth. It's been pretty apparent from day 1 that there wasn't much meaningful gameplay. The appeal was supposed to come from the sense of exploration. The fact that people were so mad about "so what do you do" were angry about people not understanding what the purpose was. Ironically the way I see it that they were failing to understand why a good chunk of people were like... Yeah so this doesn't seem like much of a game. This leads into the next point
2. What did you realistically expect out of procedural generation? One problem I always had with this game in regards to the exploration argument was that you were exploring a bunch of randomly generated planets, which ultimately were only going to have surface level differences. Procedural generation has been around forever. Give me meaningful carefully crafted experiences any over that. Procedural generation is nothing more than cosmetic imo.
Semantics, just depends on if your definition of game includes "Fun" or not.
I agree with your second point, but the reality is you can't blame people for thinking the game was something different when it's all based on waht Sean has been saying for years. It's not like he was slyly avoiding saying things, he was flat out lying about things.
At the end of the day, procedural generation isn't going to produce a quadrillion different environments that all feel meaningful, it's going to produce exactly what is put into it, with a bit of fringe variety laid on top based on some variables. Like, procedural generation isn't going to dynamically invent new ways for plants to form or entire new types of plants, it's going to produce variations of animals and plants within certain parameters where the various sliders are effectively random. Games based on this sort of thing can absolutely be a load of fun, but basically every other survival sim out there relies on either basebuilding, multiplayer, or a bit more guided of an experience (Terraria style). When you make it completely flat, it's going to get boring.
I mean, imagine Terraria without building, without the enemy variety, without the weapon variety, and without a single boss or event or anything. That's NMS. Randomly generated worlds that you can plink around and walk around in.
It's not shitposting (at least, it wasn't my intention), have you played out there?.
Sound familiar?
NMS is as barebones as it comes, I am trying to highlight that some of the mechanics are no better than a mobile game, I just don't think that's acceptable for a triple A release.
I edited my original post to make is less harsh.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
Completely true.
I think what those other games allow for is some kind of meaningful freedom and creativity. NMS can talk a big game about exploration and 18 bajillion million planets, but that doesn't mean much when the gameplay loop feels like it's fundamentally hemming me into a rote set of chores that have to be done.
Like if I want to fart around and build some stupid looking castle in Minecraft, I can. If I want to build neat redstone contraptions instead, I can. If I want to ensure my health and waste all my time building some elaborate greenhouse, I can. If I want to set up a server with friends and establish factions or community builds, I can.
In No Man's Sky, I land on a planet, harvest the resources to move on, check a few POI, read some shitty dialogue/lore from some shitty unmoving NPC, get some crappy tech and leave for the next star system. There's nothing "free" about my experience except the freedom to go see that fairly uninteresting procedurally generated landmass/lifeform over the next hill.
I've been playing and thinking about this game a bunch. One of the things that kind of bums me out is that every single planet is riddled with points of interest / the same looking outposts with a random alien dude chilling out inside. It kind of takes the sense of discovery out of it when you fly around the planet for 1 minute and spot 20 random outposts. I'm also surprised that they didn't create a proper randomization for the buildings in the game, in terms of looks and layout.
Bruno_Arrais85
Member
There is no shitposting. I played more than 30h and the game is basically a 60 dolars tech demo.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
They should have focused on gameplay and "less" planets imo
Meeting people more easily and having more to do structurally would have went such a long way
Meeting people more easily and having more to do structurally would have went such a long way
Fredrik
Member
Awesome! With just 3 planets and 1 spacestation visited I've already given it more playtime than full playthroughs of many AAA games. With basebuilding added too it feels like this game might never end.
Tomeru
Member
Well, one could argue that after one finishes the main story on games like GTA and SKYRIM, the player just goes around aimless, with no real motive to do anything other than fool around.
It's a video game, right? Some people actually love to grind towards some item/level/skill etc. Grind is a legitimate mechanic in games. Some do it good, some do it bad. It's still legitimate.
Some of these comments are borderline interventions. It's embarrassing. Stop trying to convince people they're not having fun.
Yeah, this is among the things that many of us has questioned since we first heard about it.
I think one of the most significant things to have happened here is that Murray has done an absolutely incredible job of relentlessly filling in the blanks and creating a fantastical narrative that the game couldn't possibly by any means fill by itself. It has been like a dot to dot game where NMS is the dots, and Murray has been the lines between.
If there's one thing Murray should be proud of is that he has been promoting this game like no other could've (other than Molyneux and Howard). Also the facade of being the shy and humble underdog of the people is very effective to make people believe and protect without much questioning what's being said. I'm genuinely fascinated by what Murray/Hello has achieved (and I'm not talking about the game here) and wish him the best of luck of eventually achieving the actual promises, it should be easier now after having pulled in some mighty fine dollars. What's changed though is that no one is going to believe anything anymore until they see something tangible.
I honestly never expected much from this game, didn't seem like my cup of tea right from the start (due to the genericness, I just thought it would be like the MAKO missions from ME1, but less interesting)
I had some spare money at the beginning of the week and was thinking in buying it, but decided against it and used my money for something else, seems i made a good decision
.
If this game is in constant development (alpha/beta, like minecraft was) it does have a possibility of turning into a great game, but I dont think this will be the case
I had some spare money at the beginning of the week and was thinking in buying it, but decided against it and used my money for something else, seems i made a good decision
.If this game is in constant development (alpha/beta, like minecraft was) it does have a possibility of turning into a great game, but I dont think this will be the case
Cthulhu_Steev
Member
Yeah, they should stack - or at least offer an easy mode - can't be doing with inventory juggling, and the early grind is doing my head in.
Paid about $25 for this (I'm in China so purchase from the Chinese store) and if I had paid $60 I would've certainly asked for a refund.
After 5 hours I think I've had enough. I can't be bothered to grind to get a bigger ship to grind to get a better gun to grind to get another bigger ship. The first few hours are a lot of fun in discovering what's out there and what can be done. After you realize it's all a smokescreen for the grindathon, it becomes boring.
After 5 hours I think I've had enough. I can't be bothered to grind to get a bigger ship to grind to get a better gun to grind to get another bigger ship. The first few hours are a lot of fun in discovering what's out there and what can be done. After you realize it's all a smokescreen for the grindathon, it becomes boring.
Good review from one of my favourite reviewers - Gggmanlives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyBVTOiMshA
I agree with basically everything he says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyBVTOiMshA
I agree with basically everything he says
IAmAnAgnostic
Member
Great review, thanks for sharing it!
I am honestly amused by how polarizing everyone's opinions of this game are. I can see why people don't like it, why others do - thankfully for those on PC there is a refund option via Steam. I plan on purchasing and know i'll enjoy the game for what it is, though I'm partially tempted to wait for some more features and patches.