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No Man's Sky

edited August 2016 in Video Games
Started playing NMS this past weekend. I named my first planet Lichen which is a marshy wetland world. No hostile creatures and pleasant atmosphere. So far the experience has been very laid back and chill. Even the space drones are easily dealt with. Overall it feels like baby first space exploration game. Even still I'm enjoying the game. Video explains in better detail what this game is about. Also inventory management can be tedious at times. I wouldn't mind having the option of having the game auto charge and fuel my suit and ship so long as I have the resources. I'm about 7 hours in and have spent a lot of those hours just walking around Planet Lichen. And without really trying I've managed to get my FTL drive up and running. So I'm about ready to leave Terrible Danger star system but I still need one more planet in the system to explore before I head out.

Post edited by Josh Bytes on

Comments

  • This game isn't great, but I like it late at night as a zen garden almost experience.
  • So it's basically space proteus.
  • It's not fantastic - it's about a mile wide, but a grand total of an inch deep, and a lot of the systems feel very half-baked. It's also real bad at explaining some basic mechanics, and the flight model is pretty wonky.

    Also feels kind of weird to be showing up on various planets that clearly already have occupants, names, and histories, then just going "Well, it's now planet fartsniffer, god rest all who land upon her." A little too old-world colonial for my taste, but maybe the game is making a commentary on it that I haven't figured out yet, who knows.

    But, on the whole, still quite enjoyable! Just right for those times you want to just kind of sit back, take in something relaxing, chill out a bit. Walk around some planets, take some photos of wierd creatures, shoot laser beams at rocks.
  • Pretty much. That and the most common complaint I've seen lobbed at the game is that it doesn't deserve it's 60 dollar price tag.
  • How's it compare to El Dangeroso?
  • edited August 2016
    Starfox said:

    How's it compare to El Dangeroso?

    It's like a very simplified version of it but more emphasis on planet exploration than space exploration. In fact there's basically no reason to explore space at all.

    I don't know why, but I sort of have this experience with elite dangerous too where like I just get so much anxiety flying through space. I think it's because I find it hard to orient myself wherever I am and I'm very intimidated by coming out of hyper drive and just seeing a giant planet there. I know I'm not gonna crash but I still feel that anxiey of "oh god I'm gonna crash!"

    So it's basically space proteus.

    This is actually pretty accurate. If proteus also had some light combat and mining elements.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • edited August 2016
    MATATAT said:

    I don't know why, but I sort of have this experience with elite dangerous too where like I just get so much anxiety flying through space. I think it's because I find it hard to orient myself wherever I am and I'm very intimidated by coming out of hyper drive and just seeing a giant planet there. I know I'm not gonna crash but I still feel that anxiey of "oh god I'm gonna crash!"

    I used to get that, now what I do is throttle all the way down while I'm in witchspace(or even when it's counting down to jump), so that when I arrive, it never accelerates beyond the 30 klicks a second that's essentially zero in supercruise. Though, I think having a HOTAS helped, because I have the throttle right there under my hand, rather than on a button, I KNOW the throttle is zero, I KNOW I can't crash because I'm not moving.

    Plus, a lot of fuel scooping helped. Get close! Not too close! Not too long! No no, closer! Oh shit overheating!
    Starfox said:

    How's it compare to El Dangeroso?

    Hard comparison, and I don't think it's a fair one. ED is a far more mature game, developed by a much larger team, for a longer period. They're both similar at their base(enormous game universe, exploration, trading, spaceflight, etc) but they've got a very different focus - NMS, space is a place you travel through to get between the planets you visit, in Elite, Planets are places you go that are in the space you travel in, if that makes sense.

    Plus, in terms of gameplay - NMS is a first-person walking-around-looking-around game with spaceflight, and ED is a straight up Space sim, so they've got very different styles to consider. Even the Planet-bound SRV is much more "piloting a ship with wheels" than "walking around."

    A lot of ED's underlying systems are much more polished and developed - but again, more mature game, with far more time to polish all that stuff, NMS is barely out a week, if that.

    If I had to boil it down to a line, I'd say that Elite is 90% of the game NMS aspires to be, and NMS is basically a stand-alone demo for the features Elite aspires to include eventually.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • edited August 2016
    If they combined the planetary exploration model with the sort of stellar modelling of Space Engine, I could be interested in the game. As it is, I have plenty of fun in Space Engine tooling around actual size, accurately defined solar systems and having it tell me just how extremely badly I'm breaking the speed of light when I decide I want to get even from a system's star to one of the nearer planets and I realize I'm doing something like 50x C. It just goes to show how fuck-off huge it is out there.

    From what I'm seeing in No Man's Sky, well, none of that is really part of it? It's just a lot of planets? Meh. I was assuming it would at least have, if not accurately scaled at least somewhat accurate looking solar systems where each planet has a stellar host or two you can visit, and maybe some gas giants and other cool stuff you can go visit. I'd love to skim a gas giant for resources or hang out on a moon orbiting a big ass planet with rings and shit. But from watching about 10 minutes of gameplay in NMS I don't think what's actually in the game is what I'm after.

    Actually, tonight's Steven Universe episode is kindof a perfectly timed commentary on NMS.
    Post edited by SWATrous on
  • I like that review, Churba.

    Tangentially, in ED you can fuel scoop without moving, if you want to. I.e. park your ship right inside the fuel scoop zone and stop. No heats. I still like flying around because I'm piloting a spaceship dammit, not trying to minmax my risk per exploration point or something.
  • edited August 2016
    Starfox said:

    I like that review, Churba.

    Tangentially, in ED you can fuel scoop without moving, if you want to. I.e. park your ship right inside the fuel scoop zone and stop. No heats. I still like flying around because I'm piloting a spaceship dammit, not trying to minmax my risk per exploration point or something.

    Whaaaaaat. I throttle up and skim the surface, keeping the orbit line just above the line of my console, then turn out and away once I've filled my tank. I'll usually pop a heatsink if I have to fill more than a quarter-tank, since the Asp's heat management isn't stellar(heh). That makes things a great deal easier, thanks for the tip!

    Post edited by Churba on
  • No Man's Sky is the epitome of a podcast game.
  • Nukerjsr said:

    No Man's Sky is the epitome of a podcast game.

    Does it beat out European Truck Simulator in that respect?
  • My copy of the game still crashes before the menu even loads.
  • GreyHuge said:

    Nukerjsr said:

    No Man's Sky is the epitome of a podcast game.

    Does it beat out European Truck Simulator in that respect?
    I thought American Truck simulator was the winner.
  • Receiving so much mixed press and that there's a centralized online component, I've got to think they're going to rework unpopular parts of the game.

    My own impressions, I find it relaxing. It reminds me of the planetary exploration in the first Mass Effect, only with proper scale. My laptop has a shitty video card from 2011, so it runs poorly, but it's made me want to rebuild my desktop into something that can play modern games.

    I didn't have high expectations for the game, but then I never got into Minecraft. So it's sort of scratching that itch for me.
  • I had the same feeling, a bit of Minecraft, a bit of Mass Effect (in fact, when I play, sometimes I announce "Probe Launched"). It's a good start; my hope is that, like Minecraft, it develops more depth over time.
  • If anyone is (still) playing on PC. Mouse and Keyboard for dogfighitng in space is garbage. I replayed a (plot driven) encounter in space and it was a lot easier with a controller.
  • Raithnor said:

    If anyone is (still) playing on PC. Mouse and Keyboard for dogfighitng in space is garbage. I replayed a (plot driven) encounter in space and it was a lot easier with a controller.

    Yeah, from time to time. When I want to play something calm and chilled out, I'll throw it on.
  • Space fights are annoying. I just load up a prior save if my ship gets destroyed.
  • edited November 2016
    NMS got an update. There is now survival and creative mode. You can make your own base and command a freighter. Played around in creative mode last night. Made some domes and a launch pad didn't get much farther than that. I was pleasantly surprised when an alien landed on the launch pad. And I was able to upgrade my ship at no cost.
    Post edited by Josh Bytes on
  • I'm unironically excited about being able to play a freighter.
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