No Man's Sky - For anyone still wondering what this game is.

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

It's a survival game. You gather resources to stay alive, and craft things that allow you more efficiently gather more resources for staying alive and crafting. The gimmick is that you're hopping between planets in a practically infinite procedurally generated universe. In more detail...

When I started I spawned on the planet O Doofer, in the Sigma Doof system. First thing I had to do was repair my scanning and analysis systems, so I could scan for minerals and identify plant and animal lifeforms. Analysing flora and fauna and uploading them to the database gets you credits. Scanning for minerals is essential for the next step, which is repairing and refueling the starship. I needed to craft a few sheets of metal, and find fuel for the launch thrusters.

That was easy. O Doofer is a peaceful planet, populated with peaceful Y Doofers and I Doofers, so named for the shape of their heads. There were shitty little crab things that attacked me a couple times, but nothing too bad. The atmosphere was fine too, so there was no strain on my life support systems. While the planets are procedurally generated, the environment is uniform across each planet's surface, as is the spread of minerals and lifeforms (in my experience so far at least). So you can land anywhere and find just about anything that planet has to offer within a few minutes walking distance. Which sounds a bit disappointing, but if you landed somewhere your thrusters had no fuel, and the nearest source of fuel was on the next continent, it would be a shit experience. That's videogame convenience creeping into the exploration aspect. I don't mind it.

So once my launch thrusters were ready I took off and headed for O Doofer's moon, O Doofer Minor C. Which had no animal life and very little plant life, and much harsher atmosphere. I had to replenish my life support with plutonium fairly often, but there was plutonium everywhere so it wasn't a big deal. I explored the moon for longer than I explored the planet, finding little outposts and scanning for stuff. Met a few aliens, learned a few words of their language.

My next step is build a warp engine so I can warp to another star system and explore some more, and get more inventory slots, get a better ship, and so on. I believe there is a story you can follow, but I deliberately chose to ignore that because from what I've read it's a bit broken at the moment.

There's a lot of controversy surrounding it over whether or not it was falsely advertised, the devs promising shit that wasn't delivered, etc. Particularly in regards to whether the game actually has multiplayer or not. There's certainly no party system, but I guess implication from the devs over the years is that it's possible for players to meet at random, and even that is thought to be false now. So yeah, the people who were following the game closely and getting really hyped for it appear to be generally disappointed. But I bought it based on the reviews and post-release footage, and I like it.

Butter Bomb Posts : 646 Joined : 2012-03-26

To put in context about what they promise and what happened with those ideas, this reddit post does it better than I could describe it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/4y1h9i/wheres_the_no_mans_sky_we_were_sold_on_a_big_list/

(This is not the original poster, just someone who found the list on the No Man Sky subreddit as the original poster delete his account because ironically, not from death threats, but from praises because he called out Hello Games and he didn't want to be part of it).

Here is a video with more sources and edited together interviews with the crews of their promises and hype of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8P2CZg3sJQ

Personally, I have extremely mixed reactions.

For one thing, I have nothing but respects for the ambition of this game from a 15 man crew and all the ideas that came out of the game. Infinite generating worlds, space battles, plant exploration, survival, and other misc stuff to almost a level of depth I haven't seen in a long time. Add mechs and you made one of my dream video games. So for a indy company essentially to do something like that is great. I rather have inspired indy kids who wants to make new original ideas and new IPs before I even allow another generic FPS out on the market.

However with lies on part with Peter Monyleux and Todd Howard, overhyped promises, a full 60 dollar price tag for essentially a tech demo, a broken PC port (I mean not even working at all.), and mostly generic survival game that has maybe a 20 hour appeal at most.

This is the 8th console generation's Spore.

However like Spores and maybe Fable, the ideas of NMS that it promised shouldn't be ignored. They should be used by someone out their that could utilize these ideas. They are called glorified tech demos for a reason. Someone needs to use those ideas for something much grander.

Imagine if a company like Rockstar made NMS?

The hype got too big for the small crew and the ideas were just too much for them to handle. (Granted, I also blame Sony for helping hype the game beyond expectations).

I wish NMS did have these features/was a better game, but sadly it wasn't meant to be.

Wasn't shocked either, I had this feeling I was expecting a disappointing game and the reaction to it.

But good lord, the internet destroyed this game

The main issue with the game is how limited the exploration aspect is.

You wind up seeing the same old small handful of assets reused again and again on each planet in every system, and genuine new discoveries are far and few in-between as you go about this long journey. It's more about letting yourself get swept away by the atmosphere of whatever planet you're landing on than truly exploring and finding new things. That isn't too bad, and it is what keeps me invested, but it would have been nice to actually feel like I'm being rewarded for finding things on the planets themselves and not just being wowed at the world's design for a short while. It's especially disappointing later on when blueprint pick ups turn out to be ones you already have. You run all the way to some spot to learn a new thing and the game goes "DIS IS A BLUEPRINT YOU ALREADY HAVE." Even the waypoint beacons like to rub your face into shit by placing a marker to a spot you already visited sometimes.

At least they're planning free updates to add some meat to the experience, though. I enjoy the game enough, because my fake French artsy-fartsy ass gets immersed in the atmospheres of these worlds very easily, but it does need more. I don't think the devs are scam artists, though. Their little team just aimed really, really, really, really high and got burnt for it.

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

From what I've read, there are different classes of star system which require more advanced hyperdrives to travel too, and as they go up in class the variety of environments and lifeforms increases.

the biggest problem with this game isn't the game itself, it's how it was marketed.

the way they handled it, with the minor details we got about what the game actually entails is what's the big issue, and all the hype and "this has never been done before" and all that crap made people believe it was something grander than what the developer intended, so they were doomed from the start with the way it was marketed.

you can't make such a huge game and have tons of shit to do with a 15-man team, and people were led to believe that that's what they were going to get.

I do kind of enjoy it though, although I've had some bad luck. my first planet, I had to walk 15 minutes towards an heridium deposit, and 15 minutes back just so I could fix my ship.

Then when I went into outerspace and all that, you get this "mission" to get a hyperdrive, so I fly to the next planet, I see a beacon so I land there before I go checkout the distress call that gives you the "quest" for the hyperdrive. But turns out I don't have anymore plutonium, and there's none around anywhere close. So i had to take a 25 minute hike to where the distress call is so I can get my hyperdrive... and now I'm at the point where i need to take the 25 minute hike back.

Got plenty of plutonium on the way though. Discovered most animals and lots of waypoints so it's all good.

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

If you find little column with lights all over it at an outpost, you can use it to call your ship to you. Outposts with landing pads can do the same to, with the little computer terminal next to the pad. Don't know if it works when your ship is out of fuel though.

I had a similar issues with Heridium when repairing my ship. 10 minute round walk. Except then I realised there was another Heridium depisot right behind the ship that I didn't see.

I almost thought I would have to restart, since when I left the first planet I went all over exploring, and didn't notice the hyperdrive tutorial. I was wandering around fir a day expecting to find one by luck without knowing there was a specific place I had to go. Luckily the mission waypoints are highlighted slightly so you can tell exactly which little red dot is the right one.

Got my hyperdrive and warped to my second system. Luckily, in the time spent exploring Sigma Doof, I found the recipe for Suspension Fluid, which is the only part of the Warp Cell crafting chain not handed to you by the tutorial. So I can already build warp cells to fuel my Hyperdrive whenever I want.

Found a ship with an extra slot, and a better multi-tool as well.

The amount of hype for this game was ridiculous, and i really cant believe it was pushed so hard it was never ever going to do all the things that they claimed. I think we should remember the BS that this guy was going on about he would have known there was no chance in hell he could ever do it. So getting as many sales as possible on hype alone and reviews being released late is pretty crap and putting another nail in the coffin of how pointless preorders are.

Butter Bomb Posts : 646 Joined : 2012-03-26

You know your game truly sucked in the gaming community when even Steam is saying "No matter how many hours you played, you can get a full refund."

The only other game on Steam as far as I am concerned did that was Batman Arkham Knight..............

Yeah..................

That is bad

That sounds outright disastrous i'll pay it if it get a complete edition in the future i have literally zero interst in playing it with the mess it apparently is.

Butter Bomb Posts : 646 Joined : 2012-03-26

All of sudden, they reverse that decision and said it back to the normal 2 hour maximum. (even though 2 hours IMHO isn't enough to get a feel of the game.)

Butter Bomb Posts : 646 Joined : 2012-03-26

Also what "complete edition"

As far I am concerned they said the game would have no DLC (most likely patches).

Or hell I wouldn't be shocked if they lied about too.

Also can the apologist can do all us a favor and shove their entitlement card down their throats. Its not entitlement when the developers themselves promise these feature and failed to deliver, that is developer incompetence.

Empirewild wrote:: Also what "complete edition"

As far I am concerned they said the game would have no DLC (most likely patches).

Or hell I wouldn't be shocked if they lied about too.

Also can the apologist can do all us a favor and shove their entitlement card down their throats. Its not entitlement when the developers themselves promise these feature and failed to deliver, that is developer incompetence.

From what i read when this was released they said features would be added with patches and DLC both free and paid for, I guess we can't take anything as accurate or honest at this point though.

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

I was just watching an extended gameplay/interview video with Sean Murray from April of this year, and even though the game he's playing looks like the game we got, some of the stuff he says is just wrong. Apparently as late as April they still had proper solar system simulation, since he said the day/night cycle was due the planet rotating on it's axis. Which isn't true of the final game. The planets are completely stationary and the sun is just part of a skybox that surrouns the whole star system.

He also talks about the alien races and how you can ally with them, which is sort of technically true. The game still has "standing", which increases with each race as you interact with them. But it does fuck all. There's zero beneift or punishment for being closer with one race than another.

But generally I'm still having a good time with the game. Seems like each system I visit is more varied and interesting than the last. Just entered a new system and the first planet I landed on has green grass everywhere, constant rain, frequent cold storms, and a lot of wildlife.

The criticisms are completely valid though. Each planet is pretty much functionally identical, just as each alien race is functionally identical. Whatever planet you land it, it'll have Plutonium, Iron, Heridium, Carbon, and Titanium (from Sentinels) in abundance, along with the same 4 or 5 plants that give you certain things. They all have the same buildings which all operate in the same way.

There are some rarer elements. Some planets have lots of gold, come have lots of copper. If you're crafting a better warp drive and you need 1000 Gold and 1000 Emeril it might take a little while to find. Then there's things like Vortex Cubes which might only be required for one or two blueprints, but are very rare. I've only seen them on one planet so far. And every time you pick one up Sentinels appear (though they're piss weak).

But really, at heart, the game is a sight seeing tour. A "Look at the pretty environment" simulator spanning a whole galaxy of planets. It just has shallow survival, crafting, and combat elements bolted on to it.

Butter Bomb Posts : 646 Joined : 2012-03-26

Its good you're enjoying Nonny, but I had this feeling this game would be nothing but a shallow disappointment.

But yeah, this type of shit needs to start going to someone with a budget, a team, and a passion and we can see the REAL No Man's Sky or something even better.

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:: The criticisms are completely valid though.

I'd say that the criticisms towards THE GAME itself are valid. The overall attitude of everyone and how they're reacting to the whole situation isn't very appropriate, though. It's fair to express one's disappointment with a severely underwhelming title, but it's pretty deplorable how melodramatic everyone is being about Hello Games themselves. Everyone is twisting it into some big conspiracy and going on about how it was all a big scam from the start, completely unaware of what actually occurred in the background during development. Sometimes people just screw up and fail, with things steering off the course they intended.

What is it about people being so simple minded and trying to make the worst out of every situation, desperate to demonize the people that failed them because they NEED a target to lash out against? Even when I'm very critical towards the likes of Spike and other consistently disappointing devs, I don't actually treat the people themselves as garbage or go on about how they're intentionally trying to hurt people. Hello Games isn't entirely without innocence, since it was their job to follow through with what they promised, but it's not like they were intentionally out to deceive people and "steal" their money. It's a damn indie studio that spent years on this passion project. Obviously, things just didn't go the right way for them. This gutted final version of NMS isn't the product of some fiendish scheme like everyone deludes themselves into thinking. It's just a screw up, that's all. Another failed game brought about by an amalgamation of issues beyond the comprehension of gamers.

Also, people really, really, really need to shut the hell up about the whole "they should have admitted they couldn't finish and include everything before release" thing. Not only is that poor PR and insanely bad for business, but it really wouldn't change much of anything. These monkeys would still bitch and moan like there's no tomorrow. I know this for a fact because I'm actually witnessing this right now with a certain other video game. The director behind Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 actually does bother to connect with the fanbase and explain what is and isn't going to be included in the game, and whenever they admit something isn't in it, people immediately go on about how incompetent and scummy they are. And the content revealed to be not included are often dumb things like certain forms of transformable characters NO ONE ever uses and such. It's a little unfortunate that they're not in, but Dimps doesn't really doesn't deserve such vitriol. Now imagine that same sort of PR with NMS, except switch out anime nerds with a lot dudebros. You'd essentially have a hot mess on your hands. Hardly anything would be different. People only say they should have come out and admitted the truth earlier now because they're trying to put themselves on top of some sort of moral high ground to justify their juvenile behavior and vile words, when it really is just childish thinking.

People need to grow up. It's pretty bad when someone as bitter, stupid, and uncultured as me is far more capable of rationalizing things and actually having a shred of basic human decency. This toxicity of the gaming world has to stop.

Butter Bomb Posts : 646 Joined : 2012-03-26

I won't lie and say the entire reaction to No Man's Sky was warrant, god knows what type of shit some of the more insane members have done or said to Hello Games.

Its not just No Man's Sky I think also, this is just another disappointment in a console generation with nothing but lackluster disappointments and gamers reaching boiling points of how much they can tolerate it.

Damn nice comment Sora.

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

I spent most of my time in the last two systems grinding out ships, so I now have max inventory. Now that I have max space in the my ship I can start properly upgrading it. I've avoided combat so far, and if I got attacked I just let myself die because spcae fights were a hassle. But not any more. Only been to yellow and red stars so far too, so it's time to upgrade the Hyperdrive and visit some green and blue stars.

I'm finding the exotic elements for the first time too. Current system has just 2 planets, and one of those 2 moons. One moon was scorched; extreme heat, frequent storms, and no plants or animals. But it had Iridium, Gold, and Radnox all over the place. The other moon is lush. Very mild atmosphere, occasional rain, lots of plants and trees, a few animals, and Murrine everywhere. Still haven't found any Omegon in the whole game, and I need that the most. I never even see traders selling it, which is where I had been getting Radnox from until now.

Can animals attack you if so can you defend yourself?

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

Carnivores attack you. The mining laser is very powerful when it's fully upgraded, and you can also have grenades. You can kill anything in seconds.

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

Version 1.1, the Foundation Update. Looks pretty good. You can designate a home planet to build a base on, and teleport back there from space stations. You can also own a freighter that functions as a base that can be summoned to any system you're in. You can build save points and stuff, and there's two new games modes.

Spoiler:

Live Free or Don't Posts : 22124 Joined : 2008-08-01

Well it's added a bit more structure to the game, and more stuff to upgrade, which is all I ever thought it needed. It used to be that every plant you destroyed gave you carbon, but now a lot of plants give you new, unique resources, and certain plants only grow in certain environments.

So I started building my base, just to see how it worked. It's not going to be my base for long, I just want to get to grips with it. Then I'll find the perfect planet and build a real base. First of all, you have to find a base that can be claimed. The little machines that you used to scan for buildings are gone, and in their place is another machine that does the same thing, except you have to craft it. The bonus is you can craft it anywhere, so you don't have to walk around looking for one. You can also craft save points anywhere now, which is nice.

The resource requirements for basic rooms and corridors are pretty low, but you have to build terminals and then staff those terminals with aliens from space stations. It used to be that if you walked into a space station there would just be one alien sat there, doing nothing except waiting for you to talk to it. Now there's 4 of them, all specialists, waiting to be recruited. First terminal you need is a construction terminal, and then you have to find an engineer so you can research construction projects. I did that, and my engineer researched me a science terminal. But to build that, I need a specific resource which he tells me only comes from cactuses that grow in desert biomes. So I need to search the galaxy for a planet like that, then teleport back to base to expand it.

All I really want for now is more storage space, so once I can build that I'll be stockpiling goodies until I can afford a frieghter.

Can you teleport between bases or planets as it seems sucky if you have to leave a hard built base behind.

Butter Bomb Posts : 646 Joined : 2012-03-26

Kind reminds me of Fallout 4 a bit. Building such a hard built settlement, but then you want to start a new game or something

Welp, sorry, your settlement can't come with you.

Unless you use the Cell Ripper mod, but that can be very.....hell.

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