No Man's Sky

Retr0gamer

Thepoet85 wrote: »

One thing I've taken from this experience: I'll never pre order a game I'm unsure of in the future.

Plenty on here advised against it, however I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Won't happen again.

What's the benefit of pre-ordering though? There's very few games that actually sell out and the ones that do are mostly extremely limited releases of niche games, not Triple A games with millions of copies available on release? It's even crazier with Digital.

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Not really.

It was when a gamer got their hands on the game early and was giving their impression I thought their might be trouble. Then review copies not being sent out to game outlets was a big red flag.

Doom had review copies sent out late. Ended up being far and way the best game of the year so far. It made sense though for No Man's Sky since there was a massive release day patch that drastically changed the game (but not drastically enough).

Zillah

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

A quick question regarding the hype, interviews, youtube videos etc in the build up the game release, did they actually put anyone else off buying the game?

When I initially came across No Mans Sky a year ago, I thought it looked interesting and kept an eye on it, it's something I would normally pick up so I kept tabs on it and really watched a fair amount of videos in the last 3 - 6 months on the game and this is actually when I lost interest in it, the question of what I'd actually do in the game became massive and was never answered, it became clearer and clearer with every interview and video promo that the game had no depth to it and was going to be a huge disappointment.

I was prepared for the gameplay elements to be a little bit shallow, relying on a lot of procedural content to create everything the player interacts with. What I wasn't prepared for was the gameplay mechanics that we did get to be so unbearably repetitive and downright stupid in design. Inventory-based gameplay, constant pestering from your suit to feed it, largely meaningless environmental hazards and therefore irrelevant environmental defenses, identical ship design, upgrades and storage competing for space, mine-athon resourcing, useless 'galactic hub', planets ten miles from each other, auto-pilot making flying the ship an utter chore...just so much stuff that was horrible for no reason other than they made bad decisions and didn't seem to get people to actually test it and see if it was fun - that's what caught me by surprise.

Going Strong

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

A quick question regarding the hype, interviews, youtube videos etc in the build up the game release, did they actually put anyone else off buying the game?

When I initially came across No Mans Sky a year ago, I thought it looked interesting and kept an eye on it, it's something I would normally pick up so I kept tabs on it and really watched a fair amount of videos in the last 3 - 6 months on the game and this is actually when I lost interest in it, the question of what I'd actually do in the game became massive and was never answered, it became clearer and clearer with every interview and video promo that the game had no depth to it and was going to be a huge disappointment.

I never buy games the second they come out. I much prefer to wait three to six months and get it nice and cheap with most of the bugs sorted. That said, I like the look of NMS and am interested in the planet-generating algorithm etc so it's been on my "Watch List" for some time. After reading this thread, and others elsewhere, I'm definitely cooling on the game though. I'll wait and see what updates/improvements come along before picking it up.

Cuddlesworth

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Doom had review copies sent out late. Ended up being far and way the best game of the year so far..

I'm pretty sure that the publishers thought it was going to get lambasted by the critics and players because it wasn't a COD clone.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

What's the benefit of pre-ordering though? There's very few games that actually sell out and the ones that do are mostly extremely limited releases of niche games, not Triple A games with millions of copies available on release? It's even crazier with Digital.



Doom had review copies sent out late. Ended up being far and way the best game of the year so far. It made sense though for No Man's Sky since there was a massive release day patch that drastically changed the game (but not drastically enough).

I'd blame Bethesda for slipping up by releasing the multiplayer beta which ended up giving consumers a false impression on what the main game was all about.
And yes Doom is game of the year so far

Gingervitis

I pre-orderd Deus Ex Mankind Divided.

Mainly because:
1. It was 25% off on GMG
2. The review embargo had lifted and the reviews were good.
3. I'd been looking forward to it for a while, and there's nothing else coming out this year that interests me to the same degree (except South Park, and I probably won't pre order that)

LLMMLL

I think people should accept their own part in overhyping this game.

I haven't really been following this game as it's not my thing but was aware of it from the all the hypey coverage. From when it was first announced, before there were any real details, the comments sections were full of "wouldn't it be cool if it had......", "I can't wait to go to the same planet with my friends", "this is the game I'm most excited about" etc etc

Now maybe this Sean guy lied or over speculated about features, but people's expectations were ridiculous right from the start.

TBH, people should be angry at themselves for getting caught in the modern hype machine which was far more community driven than anything else.

Riesen_Meal

I am really enjoying my time with the game, I'm not sure how long more I will play it to be fair but I feel like I have got exactly what I expected from it - exploration!

The mining isn't really my cup of tea to be honest but I won't get to the next few planets without it in most cases...

I knew people were hyping it up to be the next coming of Christ but I think I kept my expectations of the game fairly low and was pleasantly surprised...

I'm also yet to find one of them rarity filled planets, when I do I will be a billionaire I tells ya...

Zillah

LLMMLL wrote: »

I think people should accept their own part in overhyping this game.

I haven't really been following this game as it's not my thing but was aware of it from the all the hypey coverage. From when it was first announced, before there were any real details, the comments sections were full of "wouldn't it be cool if it had......", "I can't wait to go to the same planet with my friends", "this is the game I'm most excited about" etc etc

Now maybe this Sean guy lied or over speculated about features, but people's expectations were ridiculous right from the start.

TBH, people should be angry at themselves for getting caught in the modern hype machine which was far more community driven than anything else.

Frankly I think this reaction is total bullshit, and I've seen similar posted a few times now.

I did not get carried away, I didn't use my imagination, I didn't buy into any hype: I listened to what the developer said the game would have, I watched the trailers with fabricated gameplay that never made it into the product; I (apparently foolishly) believed what the developer said their game would be like.

It was very different, and much worse, than described, presented, and marketed. That's why I am disappointed. No one here has been stomping their feet complaining about not being able to build the deathstar, become an emeril merchant and an intergalactic bounty hunter - we've a bunch of totally legitimate complaints and I don't think it's fair to dismiss those as the entitled whining of hype-victims.

Thepoet85

Retr0gamer wrote:

What's the benefit of pre-ordering though? There's very few games that actually sell out and the ones that do are mostly extremely limited releases of niche games, not Triple A games with millions of copies available on release? It's even crazier with Digital.

Like I said, lesson learned. Don't need a lecture on the matter :pac:

Encrypted Pigeon

I bought this on release day knowing full well what it involved, I even previewed it by watching some streams. I genuinely thought I would enjoy this, no hyped expectations, just buzzing around and exploring and going my own way, and I did, but after 6 or so hours that has quickly wore off and now I cant find myself wanting to go back to it. I ended up watching manvsgames stream last night on twitch where he is making a genuine attempt to just get to the center (to prove a point) and there is no way I would have the patience to a get a fraction of the distance he managed to make so far. I feel the only way I'm going back to this is if they release some interesting content and even at that I don't know.

I'm glad people are enjoying this, but for me the fun is not there anymore.

Glico Man

I lost all my upgrades and my ship due to being a greedy bastard trying to steal resources from a downed ship and dying to 'frenzied' sentinels. Up until that point I was enjoying the planet hopping and vista capturing, but now I'm not sure whether I can go back to the element/material grind so I can continue the Atlas route or the journey to the centre.

Damn greed.

CiDeRmAn

Anyone that preorders or buys a game on day one has bought into the hype, be that generated by the publisher, developer or online commentator.
And this is acutely true of a new IP.
Why else would you pay €60 for a game you know nothing about barring what the previews and trailers have shown, and having watched gameplay demonstrations.
And, in this case, you don't even have a demo to try first.
One might say "I based my decision to buy not on hype but on the facts as laid before me" but those facts were based around carefully tailored presentations, and you bought into the vision of the game and the promise it held.
A sensible move would have been wait a week, or even a day, and listen to the feedback of your peers.
But people, myself included, bought into the vision and, to a certain extent, have been disappointed.
But we are culpable in this, as well as the developer and publisher, as well as the non stop media assault for the past 2 years and the speculation by online content producers.
A game being a disappointment isn't a new phenomenon, and I've had many returns that reflects this.
And waiting a while before investing has served me well over the decades, and I've avoided buying some truly terrible AAA titles.
But in this case, I jumped in.
So did many others,
There was a risk.
We took it.
We were burned, some to a larger degree than others.
But it was our fault, thinking that Sony or Steam give a monkeys about anything other than our money.
Sean and Hello Games have had a heavy blow dealt to their reputation as a result of the distress the games unfinished state has made.
Studios have closed over less.
But I would hope that some of us can give them a chance to bring their vision to fruition.
And thats why I'm not trading it in, I'm hanging in there, assuming that there is better to come, and I can acknowledge that the game, as it is, has plenty to offer.

LLMMLL

Zillah wrote: »

Frankly I think this reaction is total bullshit, and I've seen similar posted a few times now.

I did not get carried away, I didn't use my imagination, I didn't buy into any hype: I listened to what the developer said the game would have, I watched the trailers with fabricated gameplay that never made it into the product; I (apparently foolishly) believed what the developer said their game would be like.

It was very different, and much worse, than described, presented, and marketed. That's why I am disappointed. No one here has been stomping their feet complaining about not being able to build the deathstar, become an emeril merchant and an intergalactic bounty hunter - we've a bunch of totally legitimate complaints and I don't think it's fair to dismiss those as the entitled whining of hype-victims.

To an extent that's fair enough. I do see legitimate complaints that its not a great game, in terms of inventory management and flight control etc.

But people's reactions to this is not a normal - oh I was looking forward to this game and it wasn't very good. Its hyper-emotional with woe-is-me stuff about being "lied to" etc. This kind of overreaction is a direct result of hype.

Now you can say "Oh I wasn't hyped", and maybe thats true, I don't know you or how you perceived and reacted to this game, but you can't just take yourself as the typical reaction. Look at any comment section on any NMS article or forum thread and it was full of speculation and "I hope they put in this feature", and "just take my money" style comments. Go read the first few pages of this thread. To claim there wasn't a LOT of hype is just false.

Take the multiplayer aspect which SOME people are hyperventialting over. I don't know if he lied about this, I don't know why those two people who went to the same planet couldn't see each other. But, even only vaguely following this game, I was aware that it had been said multiple times that it was statistically unlikely to run into another player. This was not sold as a multiplayer game. If someone bought this game thinking they could turn it into one and it turns out they can't, its hardly a missold game.

I think people have to start realising how the demands of internet news sites to publish constantly, and their own reaction to this ends up shaping their reactions to games. The only site I read is IGN but there seem to be endless sites with the same model (Kotaku etc.). Whenever a trailer for a game/movie is released, they go through each frame, analysing all the "clues". There'll be interviews with directors,"how did your love of zombie-movies influence your upcoming game", analysis analysis analysis, and people eat it all up, become progressively more hyped until the final product has no chance of living up to expectations.

These emotional reactions to disappointment are not normal. Now if you're a bit disappointed that the game wasn't that good that's fine. That's how normal non-internet people react to things. But if you're "furious" about being "lied to" and "I spent 60 euro on this" then you've been influenced by hype, whether you can admit to it or not.

Retr0gamer

LLMMLL wrote: »

But, even only vaguely following this game, I was aware that it had been said multiple times that it was statistically unlikely to run into another player. This was not sold as a multiplayer game. If someone bought this game thinking they could turn it into one and it turns out they can't, its hardly a missold game.

Statistically unlike means it can happen, it's just not very likely. It's statistically unlikely you will win the Lotto means you can win the lotto not you'll never win the lotto. What was sold was no multiplayer full stop. For some people multiplayer kind of is a big deal. I've heard a lot of people say they won't buy a game unless there is multiplayer.

I do think the backlash against the game is well overblown but even more baffling are the people just brushing these issues under the table. 'I enjoyed the game so what the hell are you moaning for?' or 'It didn't effect me so why are you getting so hung up on it?' are just strawman arguments.

EoinHef

Anybody arrived at the end of the atlas path and been missing one of the requirements?

Cant finish as far as i can see

LLMMLL

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Statistically unlike means it can happen, it's just not very likely. It's statistically unlikely you will win the Lotto means you can win the lotto not you'll never win the lotto. What was sold was no multiplayer full stop. For some people multiplayer kind of is a big deal. I've heard a lot of people say they won't buy a game unless there is multiplayer.

I do think the backlash against the game is well overblown but even more baffling are the people just brushing these issues under the table. 'I enjoyed the game so what the hell are you moaning for?' or 'It didn't effect me so why are you getting so hung up on it?' are just strawman arguments.

Yeah but would you claim you've been lied to if ou bought a lotto ticket and didn't win. If someone needs multiplayer in a game then frankly they were deeply stupid to purchase this one.

My comments are not about brushing off a games faults. I'm highlighting the ridiculous over emotional responses to being disappointed in a game or movie. It's possible to say "oh this games not very good" without feeling betrayed or some other ridiculous overreaction. It doesn't have to be all praise or all criticism. Also I'm not accusing people who have given measured responses like yourself of being over emotional.

Drexel

LLMMLL wrote: »

Yeah but would you claim you've been lied to if ou bought a lotto ticket and didn't win. If someone needs multiplayer in a game then frankly they were deeply stupid to purchase this one.

My comments are not about brushing off a games faults. I'm highlighting the ridiculous over emotional responses to being disappointed in a game or movie. It's possible to say "oh this games not very good" without feeling betrayed or some other ridiculous overreaction. It doesn't have to be all praise or all criticism. Also I'm not accusing people who have given measured responses like yourself of being over emotional.

Its more like bought the ticket, got all 6 numbers but no prize. Ive no interest in MP in nms but they flat out lied

LLMMLL

Drexel wrote: »

Its more like bought the ticket, got all 6 numbers but no prize. Ive no interest in MP in nms but they flat out lied

Well really it's more like saying if you get 6 numbers you'll get 5 euro, but they won't have it for another 6 months.

johnny_ultimate

Deleted User wrote: »

I think the range is broader than "minor to 'that's a real shame'"... more like "minor to 'cutting the heart and soul out of the game'". And the "cutting" alone isn't the full problem; it's the cutting, then the blatant hiding of the cutting.

Well... maybe. No Man's Sky is undoubtedly technically brilliant, and I genuinely admire the art direction in the game. However, if that's all I wanted, I would have stuck with YouTube, screenshots, etc.

But I bought it as a game. And that's where it fell down.

I believe this is where we fundamentally but respectfully disagree Wilfinity

For me, the art and the maths and the concept and the way they gel together are the beating heart and soul of the game. The game could introduce deep, complex gameplay systems and I still think what the game would be most noteworthy for is what we have now (more of what we have now would be very nice). Certainly this is a game made for the screenshot button - see the neighbouring thread - but equally something major is lost when you're not playing it and discovering these sights for themselves. No video can capture the sense when you hit upon a particularly strange or vivid scene when you land on a new planet or headed off on a 15 minute hike. Absolutely, those scenes can be rare or fleeting, but it's also part and parcel of the experience, and the relative rarity (disclaimer: not rare enough to be frustrating or boring for me) is what drives me to another warp jump. If the game can do anything to keep me playing beyond the inevitable 'move on' point, it'd be ensuring more variety and surprises are added to that aspect of the game.

I said this before release, but it remains true: if I wanted a systems-heavy space exploration game I'd play Elite: Dangerous. No Man's Sky is not ED (thankfully, IMO), and its appeal to me is perhaps less easily articulated, and almost certainly less obvious than ED (No Man's Sky in its current form is most definitely one of the least mass market games to have received a big AAA launch in a long, long time, for better or worse). But there's a simplicity the game achieves that something like Elite does not, a sort of engrossing casualness that really came to the fore when I started paying less attention to inventory, resources and collecting. I'd maintain - believe me, I know I'm in a minority here :P - that it would almost be better if the game had fewer systems than it currently has - fewer distractions, fewer waypoints, fewer half-baked ideas. A more abstract, experimental experience with a determined focus on aesthetics and mood, ala Proteus on an entirely different sort of scale. It would make the game more divisive, but IMO be purer for it. It's not going to happen, of course, and so I'm cautiously excited to see if Hello can build on the game without losing what it has at the moment.

Anyway, not trying to persuade/dissuade you of anything, just another attempt to express what it is about this game that has me still playing when I'd have drifted off from other, mechanically deeper games a dozen hours ago.

Thargor

I think whats infuriating people the most is you can nearly feel the great game that it could have been before everything was cut to give the most ridiculously repetitive grindfest of recent times, its actually worse then Clash of Clans and Boom Beach and all that other trash, it wouldnt be so bad if it was just some generic game that turned out this badly but you can see the seed of brilliance right there just out of reach. Why didn't they hire a bigger team when Sony came on board? Was it an ego thing saying they did it all with 10 people or whatever? There should have been twice as many people just working on adding customization options and just general stuff to do to the basic framework they have.

The only good thing to come from this is theres probably hundreds of developers out there now who'll be inspired by what could have been here so sometime in the next 5 years we'll probably get to play the game that they promised and didnt deliver.

LLMMLL

Thargor wrote: »

I think whats infuriating people the most is you can nearly feel the great game that it could have been before everything was cut to give the most ridiculously repetitive grindfest of recent times, its actually worse then Clash of Clans and Boom Beach and all that other trash, it wouldnt be so bad if it was just some generic game that turned out this badly but you can see the seed of brilliance right there just out of reach. Why didn't they hire a bigger team when Sony came on board? Was it an ego thing saying they did it all with 10 people or whatever? There should have been twice as many people just working on adding customization options and just general stuff to do to the basic framework they have.

The only good thing to come from this is theres probably hundreds of developers out there now who'll be inspired by what could have been here so sometime in the next 5 years we'll probably get to play the game that they promised and didnt deliver.

Which is kind of proving my point. Basically, you think the game failed in its execution and could have been better.

But instead of being disappointed, you describe it as infuriating, i.e. anger. It just seems a disproportionate response.

Retr0gamer

LLMMLL wrote: »

Which is kind of proving my point. Basically, you think the game failed in its execution and could have been better.

But instead of being disappointed, you describe it as infuriating, i.e. anger. It just seems a disproportionate response.

Because hyperbole and exaggeration come across so well on the internet.

If there was real genuine anger here from people it would have descended into name calling and personal insults by now. It's been rather civilised so far.

Dave_The_Sheep

Maybe we're just better than that?

CiDeRmAn

Tell the truth Retr0
NMS is little more than a 5/10 kinda game...

Danonino.

I don't get the anger at people paying €65 quid and feeling they've been robbed if they bought for PS4.

I mean, I bought for €65 and honestly have enjoyed the game, it's ran it's course for me. I got the platinum thropies and seen a lot of planets but hit a wall of progression. I'll be trading it in for €49 tomorrow and will have no reservations buying back at a lower price in the future.

Especially if either changes are made, things are added or discoveries are made that make me want to dive back in. I mean, just today I found a planet of 90% water which I didn't think existed. Just a planet of huge ocean and two big land masses either side, predator shark things that attacked on sight and swarmed around you.

The fact that every ruin was glitched out beneath the seabed was of course telling that the game was rushed. Rushed but an experience I'm glad I had instead of sitting out.

If someone bought a new IP for fill price digital... I really don't know what to say. I guess it's something I would never do as I can remember my absolute and very real excitement coming home with The Last Action Hero for the snes all bright eyed and full of hope for endless hours of fun.

Yeah. Lesson learned.

But €16 to rent No Man's Sky for a week and a half. I have no regrets.

I really don't think Sean M deserves the backlash. I think it will come good in the end. How weird do planets become near the centre, that kind of thing?

CiDeRmAn

I think the buying of the game digitally and having no come back is an important life lesson right there.

DeVore

I've had 31 genuinely enjoyable hours playing it so far, for about 65 euro... that's a little over 2 euro per hour. And yeah, I've enjoyed it ... maybe I'm the kinda person who likes this kinda thing... seems like I am!

So, its a bit frustrating because as someone else said, its so close to being epic, but its hardly theft. Jesus , I went to see AI in the cinema ffs

I'm still not done with it but I found myself last night saying "will watch TV, play a game or will I buzz around in NMS". That's kinda the heart of it.

I bought Deux Ex today an hour before it launched (because 25% off!)... its, very hard and very pretty
(Plus my mate misheard the name as "Jew Sex" which will never not be funny to me for some reason. Ahem.

Danonino.

I think there will be an update that will change the procedural gen to be more, em, creative I guess.

They talked a lot about rivers, sand planets, gas planets and the like but it looks like either they cut them as they were buggy or scaled it back to avoid glitches etc.

The scale of the universe is too big imo. It's needless, the planets being close together was a design choice I understand but not having them orbit the sun/suns feels strange.

I think the fact I played an ungodly amount of hours but only encountered a huge beast once (well two of them on the one mountain so twice) is a bit meh. I was hoping to land on a planet like the ocean one in interstellar, or a barren wasteland that had nothing but active volcanoes. I wanted to fly towards a planet that looked like earth but arrive to find it was nothing but a swirling cloud of hell gas you could fly into but come out the other side with a broken ship after being spat out sideways. To land on a planet that was inhabited by creatures like at the end of The Mist, or the size of the cloverfield monster. BUT that's more of a 'imagine if' rather than what I was expecting.

I think what they have made is a marvel, and when it works it really does make some amazing planets with interesting wildlife, I just think they had to play it safe in some ways, to get the game out with such a small team they had to. The base they have made though is amazing, all they need to do is build on it.

I'd almost bet money on a campaign of sorts being added. Man made content to be accessed through the universe if that makes sense. Set pieces to be activated regardless of what planet your on.

Oh and I found one if those portals from the trailer early in my game. It wasn't a monument or a plaque, it was just there. Steps leading up and a gate but not active. It was just there.

EoinHef

Far as i can see the galatic map and discovery sytem has no clear way of finding your way back to a certain system,i passed up a Atlas stone at one point and now im at the last station and im one short:(

If i could select the system from my list and put a waypoint down and go back i wouldnt mind but dont seem to be able to do it. Unless im missing something very obvious. Map needs work in general too,far too twitchy and camera angle changes are annoying when you change path.

Might jusy hit up one of the space station traders and buy one but they are PRICEY! Like 5mil plus pricey...not sure if finishing the quest will be worth it but id like to see the end anyway