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For the Un-hyped, A Wonderful Exploratory Experience - No Man's Sky Review

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  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    edited August 2016
    ..
    As a gamer, I want to love this game. ....
    I feel compelled to ask the question.

    Why

    why when there are currently much more exciting projects that are doing nearly the same thing is this a game you 'want to love'.

    I am not trying to be difficult I just believe that there are better projects out there that are similar and deserve more credit then this game does


    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • PhaserlightPhaserlight Member EpicPosts: 3,078
    SEANMCAD said:
    ..
    As a gamer, I want to love this game. ....
    I feel compelled to ask the question.

    Why

    why when there are currently much more exciting projects that are doing nearly the same thing is this a game you 'want to love'.

    I am not trying to be difficult I just believe that there are better projects out there that are similar and deserve more credit then this game does


    I don't know.  Maybe it's the color palette.

    The art style.  The presentation.  It riffs with me.  That's partly why I'm vibing in some serious uncanny valley territory.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Not really the point of my post, though.  SM has made some serious gaffes, and although his fans are pulling hard for him, dare I say doing their best to cover it up, it doesn't make Hello Games seem like sharp business entity.  That's all I really have to say for the time being.

    "The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
    Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance

  • rpmcmurphyrpmcmurphy Member EpicPosts: 3,502
    edited August 2016
    Kotaku just released a great piece about Hello Games' PR up-to-and-including release, and the current state of No Man's Sky:

    http://kotaku.com/the-no-mans-sky-hype-dilemma-1785416931

    As a gamer, I want to love this game.  As a businessperson, Hello Games is an object lesson of what not to do.  I don't mean in terms of immediate profit, as right now NMS is on Steam's top ten most played list.  If this is Hello Games' one hoorah, then so be it.  Long term though, the situation looks bleak unless something radical changes.  They are putting all their credibility into this one title, leaving behind a track record of severely misleading PR, and with every passing day my faith in their ability to deliver a cogent customer-relations message dwindles.

    ...they are a small team, so I'm ready to give them the benefit of the doubt, but... in the world of PR you have to get on these things quick.  What if they just... didn't say anything?

    One thing I've been taught by my business mentors is that trading credibility for profit is a losing gambit in most industries.

    Don't know if this has been posted already but RPS did a similar piece titled "The broken promises of NMS and why it matters."

    https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/08/17/broken-promises-of-no-mans-sky


    Edit: Re. The Kotaku piece, I think it's interesting that Murray hasn't responded to their questions, you'd think he would atleast offer a cursory non-apology, or an acknowledgement of the situation and how they're addressing it. Anything to be honest.
    The silent treatment does not endear him to anyone at all.
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    SEANMCAD said:
    ..
    As a gamer, I want to love this game. ....
    I feel compelled to ask the question.

    Why

    why when there are currently much more exciting projects that are doing nearly the same thing is this a game you 'want to love'.

    I am not trying to be difficult I just believe that there are better projects out there that are similar and deserve more credit then this game does


    I don't know.  Maybe it's the color palette.

    The art style.  The presentation.  It riffs with me.  That's partly why I'm vibing in some serious uncanny valley territory.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Not really the point of my post, though.  SM has made some serious gaffes, and although his fans are pulling hard for him, dare I say doing their best to cover it up, it doesn't make Hello Games seem like sharp business entity.  That's all I really have to say for the time being.
    fair enough. Just one last observation because you mentioned the art style. They seem to elude that this is an art style of older games but having lived during the time they are refering to I do not recall such art forms in games at that time or maybe I just dont understand what was said in that respect

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • maybebakedmaybebaked Member UncommonPosts: 305
    The art is the only good thing about this game.
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    The art is the only good thing about this game.
    and speaking personally I think the art is actually rather distracting and annoying. I dont get why people like it (this art specifically)

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • immodiumimmodium Member RarePosts: 2,610
    edited August 2016
    SEANMCAD said:

    fair enough. Just one last observation because you mentioned the art style. They seem to elude that this is an art style of older games but having lived during the time they are refering to I do not recall such art forms in games at that time or maybe I just dont understand what was said in that respect
    I've heard/read somewhere the inspiration for the art style came from the front covers of old science fiction novels.

    Link

    image
  • DeivosDeivos Member EpicPosts: 3,692
    You mean bright yellows and reds everywhere with some purple and blue and stuff mixed in for accents and contrast?

    Feel like Flash Gordon already ends up being a direct example of where they sourced that. Then there's games like Commander Keen that had quite a bit of that going on too.

    "The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay

    "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin

  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    immodium said:
    SEANMCAD said:

    fair enough. Just one last observation because you mentioned the art style. They seem to elude that this is an art style of older games but having lived during the time they are refering to I do not recall such art forms in games at that time or maybe I just dont understand what was said in that respect
    I've heard/read somewhere the inspiration for the art style came from the front covers of old science fiction novels.

    Link
    gotcha ok well with those pictures in the articles it makes sense. I didnt recall the use of color back then from my dads comics but fair enough.

    maybe I just dont like 'art' in my game world so I see it with biased eyes i can concede to that 

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • TealaTeala Member RarePosts: 7,627
    SEANMCAD said:
    everytime I see NMS and Elite Dangerous side by side I think NMS is a game for childern
    I love ED, but ED needs to add what NMS has - planets with flora and fauna, and we need to be able to get out and explore them - WITH OUR AVATARS.  ED also needs to add more variations of the ships they have in game.  As I said, I love ED, was an original backer of the project but they need to get on the ball and add avatar game play.  I love that I can get out and walk around on the planets in NMS and discover stuff.  I guess it is the explorer in me - always wanting to see whats over the next hill.



    If I had a game that married NMS, ED, SC with a dash of aliens from Star Wars into one game - well, ::sigh:: if only...
  • TealaTeala Member RarePosts: 7,627
    psiic said:
    I think what people seem to me overlooking is the sheer brilliance of the engine and coding.. A seamless nearly infinite universe in less than 6 GBs people!! That fact they have created something so expansive and massive in such a tiny package of code is the real success here. Stop and consider for a moment where these tools could lead. Seamless TRUE worlds to explore for traditional MMO's, picture this universe with Mass Effect story telling and graphics. You are not giving these guys credit for the sheer brilliance of the coding and that is the real story here.
    This - 100% this...that is the real story here.  If they flesh this game out a little more...what an amazing thing it would be.  They have shown the tech works.  Imagine an entire world(round world) that you might explore in an MMORPG - one with millions of square miles. 
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    edited August 2016
    Teala said:
    psiic said:
    I think what people seem to me overlooking is the sheer brilliance of the engine and coding.. A seamless nearly infinite universe in less than 6 GBs people!! That fact they have created something so expansive and massive in such a tiny package of code is the real success here. Stop and consider for a moment where these tools could lead. Seamless TRUE worlds to explore for traditional MMO's, picture this universe with Mass Effect story telling and graphics. You are not giving these guys credit for the sheer brilliance of the coding and that is the real story here.
    This - 100% this...that is the real story here.  If they flesh this game out a little more...what an amazing thing it would be.  They have shown the tech works.  Imagine an entire world(round world) that you might explore in an MMORPG - one with millions of square miles. 
    the thing is though that is not actually that innovative. There are plenty of games that are creating infinitely large procedurally generated game spaces of high detail and little code size. In fact I know of one game in which a developer team of one did that

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • GladDogGladDog Member RarePosts: 1,097
    Sounds like a game for grandpa. All cosied up with his plaid blanket and flask of tea playing NMS while nodding off at regular intervals.

    Nice to see devs catering for a new type of gamer.

    You do know that not everyone is an adrenaline junkie, right?  A lot of player like the exploration aspect of games, this one just makes that the focus.  I like PvP, PvE, FPS, RTS, RPG, etc.  And I like crafting and exploring.  While I am old enough to be a grandpa, I always liked the exploration aspect of games, even back in the 80s.

    If you were just poking fun, then haha, sorry for being a grumpy never-grandpa.


    The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!


  • TealaTeala Member RarePosts: 7,627
    Good article, pretty much how I feel.  I wasn't really following this game when it was first announced.  Saw a couple of videos on Youtube...but I was more into other games like ED and SC at the time.  So going into this game I really didn't have any expectations.  A friend had it on his PS4, watched him play it and I was like - this is so cool...why can't ED and SC be like this.  Then they announced the PC release and I was like - cool I'll get the PC version.  40+ hrs later and I'm still having a blast.  :)
  • TillerTiller Member LegendaryPosts: 11,485
    This will be a great game to get on sale in a few years for $7.99
    SWG Bloodfin vet
    Elder Jedi/Elder Bounty Hunter
     
  • rpmcmurphyrpmcmurphy Member EpicPosts: 3,502
    GladDog said:
    Sounds like a game for grandpa. All cosied up with his plaid blanket and flask of tea playing NMS while nodding off at regular intervals.

    Nice to see devs catering for a new type of gamer.

    You do know that not everyone is an adrenaline junkie, right?  A lot of player like the exploration aspect of games, this one just makes that the focus.  I like PvP, PvE, FPS, RTS, RPG, etc.  And I like crafting and exploring.  While I am old enough to be a grandpa, I always liked the exploration aspect of games, even back in the 80s.

    If you were just poking fun, then haha, sorry for being a grumpy never-grandpa.

    Yup just poking fun because everyone goes on about how chill it is.

  • BurntvetBurntvet Member RarePosts: 3,465
    orbitxo said:

    bestever said:


    psiic said:

    Not a bad review but I find your rating pretty low, the game is every bit of what it promised it would be. The problem is the players that hyped this game into something it never claimed to be. I personally would have held the rating until after Monday's patch.


    Yep it was the players :o





     

    and yes- it was the 'non-players'. who do most of the negative posts since 99.9% are actually playing the game.- another day in the gaming community.
    Then please explain the 55% positive rating on Steam, where it is required to have a copy registered with Steam before doing a review.


  • rpmcmurphyrpmcmurphy Member EpicPosts: 3,502
    Teala said:
    SEANMCAD said:
    everytime I see NMS and Elite Dangerous side by side I think NMS is a game for childern
    I love ED, but ED needs to add what NMS has - planets with flora and fauna, and we need to be able to get out and explore them - WITH OUR AVATARS.  ED also needs to add more variations of the ships they have in game.  As I said, I love ED, was an original backer of the project but they need to get on the ball and add avatar game play.  I love that I can get out and walk around on the planets in NMS and discover stuff.  I guess it is the explorer in me - always wanting to see whats over the next hill.



    If I had a game that married NMS, ED, SC with a dash of aliens from Star Wars into one game - well, ::sigh:: if only...

    I do agree that it would be fantastic if Elite had life sustaining worlds, ambulation and everything that goes with it but it's a big task, they've done a lot in 3 1/2 years but I think we're going to have to wait a bit longer. My guess is that Frontier simply want to build from the macro to the micro, clearly that's not going to please everybody.

  • PerjurePerjure Member UncommonPosts: 250
    I would probably give NMS a 7.5 - 8 overall. My enjoyment factor is a 10 however. Did not expect to be playing for what I thought might have been an hour to find out it had been 3 or more. No other game has done that for me in a couple years. Also the first game I did not pre-order in the past 3-4 years and now I wish i had :) The first time I clicked on a new animal and I got an option to feed it was pretty cool - not expected at all.

    Sorry to everyone that feels the game is not or will not be what they wanted. I had no expectations really and am very happy with my purchase.
  • psiicpsiic Member RarePosts: 1,642
    immodium said:
    SEANMCAD said:

    fair enough. Just one last observation because you mentioned the art style. They seem to elude that this is an art style of older games but having lived during the time they are refering to I do not recall such art forms in games at that time or maybe I just dont understand what was said in that respect
    I've heard/read somewhere the inspiration for the art style came from the front covers of old science fiction novels.

    Link
    Considering all the titles and achievements are all titles of old Sci Fi writers books that makes a lot of sense.
  • JyiigaJyiiga Member UncommonPosts: 1,187
    I have trouble with you calling the game "repetitive" under gameplay and then giving it a nine in longevity. While some are playing the game for a long time, the average buyer has been burning out rather quickly. Typically before reaching 20 hours. All of the user reviews on various sites and steam reflect this.
  • DeivosDeivos Member EpicPosts: 3,692
    edited August 2016
    Burntvet said:
    orbitxo said:
    and yes- it was the 'non-players'. who do most of the negative posts since 99.9% are actually playing the game.- another day in the gaming community.
    Then please explain the 55% positive rating on Steam, where it is required to have a copy registered with Steam before doing a review.
    Well, you can look at the play time of most those reviews. Time played on most of them is rather insignificant as of when they posted, with some of the more popular negative reviews being ones which oddly are still going up in the amount of hours played in spite of the reviewer apparently calling it a bad game.

    That said, the reason for the negative responses varies quite a bit between rather unwarranted reflexive reactions to performance issues, to actual gripes that are reasonably substantiated.

    Granted this is already reflective of something I said in a different thread on the matter of how one dude doing some PR getting the entire team in hot water.

    EDIT: For example, as of the time of this post I am/was able to see a "squirrely1337" with a negative review, actually busy playing the game and now accruing 42 hours.

    Or "nucleo" who says he played for 20 hours and is done with the game, but is now sitting at 31.1 hours.

    A better negative review that I feel characterizes things pretty accurately would be the one by "Zombie XII" who's already logged 74.1 hours in the game and gives not only his opinion but links into conversations had elsewhere on the issues with the "cut content".

    So it ranges quite a bit between angry people that seem to not even know/remember if they actually hate it or like it, to genuine responses that give reason. In that sense it probably has a lower score than it deserves and a good chunk of that is from people who don't even have an hour logged in the game.

    Just gots to understand where the line is between random lashing out and real responses.

    EDIT_2: This all said, it's important to note that the average play time of the Mass Effect games for one run from beginning to end, including most of the side quests, was/is around 60 minutes of play. I know No Man's Sky is open world play and more sandboxy, but it's also considerably lighter on depth. 40+ hours of play from the game before it turns bland kind of sounds normal for the game then.

    But that statement does come with it's own caveat. Where there is fundamental interest in the game and the tools it's brought to the table, it needs more content to use those tools with, more things to do with them, and more reason to carry on through the game.

    Warframe for example is a game I love. If you wanted to examine the core of it's long-term gameplay though, it's endless grinding. Why it's managed to remain a game I find fun is because they have tried to continually inject more variety into that experience and have finally gotten into expanding the quest experience and plot of the game more, giving me a reason to log in and do stuff beyond getting a "max" on all my gear.

    While multiplayer was a big hangup for many people, NMS can probably live on fine without that so long as more content offering players an evolving experience and heady reason to play and ramble their way back and forth across all the planets can present itself beyond upgrading things and reaching the center of the galaxy/universe.
    Post edited by Deivos on

    "The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay

    "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin

  • BurntvetBurntvet Member RarePosts: 3,465
    Yeah, no.

    Lot of BS without a coherent reason as to why 45% of players that bought NMS and took the time to do a review, did not like it, and a good many instituted refunds. And gave it a negative review.

    Bottom line is a ton of people do/did not like NMS or think it was worth the $60.

    And saying 99.9% of the people complaining about have never played it, is patently untrue, as directly evidenced by the Steam reviews.
  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 6,057
    Vrika said:
    My opinion is that No Man's Sky is amazing if you approach it like 20$ indy game, but it's just not good enough when compared to other 60$ AAA games.

    The planets themselves are amazing, and would make a fantastic playing field if the game had some good gameplay. But unfortunately the gameplay isn't that fun and doesn't offer that much variety.

    Compared to other 60$ games I'd give No Man's Sky 6 out of 10. It's good for those who really love exploration, but others should stay away until it's in discount.
    I'd say it's a $20 game except for the added server costs of storing those generated worlds.  But $60?  No freaking way.  I'm just watching streams to get my fix as the game doesn't offer enough fun stuff for me.
  • LheiahLheiah Member UncommonPosts: 190
    I haven't bought NMS, but I see it having the same development philosophy as E:D, they just concentrated on different areas to start, but got their game game persistent, instead of wading in development crutches or refusing to have the sack to call their game not launched. I think both will be wonderful games, but will probably take at least another 3 years to be fleshed out.

    I'm on the Legend train right now and see no need to buy an immature game when my gaming interests lie elsewhere. If they were to offer a lifetime pass now I would pick it up for some future play date just as I did with E:D. Otherwise, I'm waiting for a significant sale and the polish that goes along with it.
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