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[David Ricardo]

I hope I'm not going to be flamed for this but I really don't know "what you do"!

In the presentation, the guy engaged in non-consequential space battle, flew to a random planet, blew up some rocks, shot up a robot and happened upon a beastie. Now if that's pretty much all there is to it, then that's fine. It sounds relaxing and interesting. But is there some sort of goal, are there objectives or a way to win? It's fine if there is and it's fine if there isn't.

The goal in this game is going to the center of the galaxy. What for? I guess we'll know when we get there.

I'm going to get a little crazy now, but this are my personal believes:
To atheists, there is no god. At least not a guy with a beard and angels flying around or a bald fat guy smiling peacefully or anything like that. God is science. Science is the origin and explanation of everything that happens in the universe. So, if it appears that there was a big bang that originated the universe we live in, whatever caused that explosion is, in a way, god. So, if we could get to the center of the galaxy, to the place were it all began, the place were all gravitational forces join together, making all the planets and stars dance around it, maybe we could find the answer to everything, maybe we could find god.

There is a lot of potential in this idea of going to the center of the galaxy. hello games could literally put anything there and it would be amazing. They can put an alien civilization, or maybe a supercomputer, the monolith from 2001 a space oddisey, the god of one of he majoritary religions, all of the gods of the majority religions sitting around a round table... Possibilities are infinite.

 

[Jacksinthe]

I really don't understand why the concept of this game is lost on so many people.

Freedom isn't something many games give these days. Everything is carefully plotted from start to finish to continuously drag the character with a carrot on a stick.

Throw a bunch of carrots on a bunch of sticks and tell the player they can go to any one of them and they will lose their shit in confusion and frustration.

Conditioning. Nothing more. (Most) Games do not leave you to your own devices any longer.

 

[Amir0x]

Is it really the same person in the same No Man's Sky asking the same question 'ruining the thread' or is it some imaginary person that you've combined every skeptic into?

Sometimes it is the same people leveling the exact same criticism - that they have somehow not adequately explained what you do - and sometimes it is brand new people who can't even be arsed to read the goddamn OPs in topics or do even the most basic cursory research into the product they're trying to criticize for no good goddamn reason.

 

[Xiraiya]

I think the problem is that people can't identify how random planet sentinels, space fights and resource mining all coalesce into something that assists you with traveling toward the center of the Galaxy, which, being the ultimate objective, also prompts many to ask, "Why am I traveling there to begin with?"

That might have been explained already but it isnt resonating with people.

The answer is because you can, and if that's not good enough, the answer can be because no one goddamn knows what's at the centre of everything.
They have pointed it out, there is a lore to this game, but you have to find it.

Pretty simple to me.

Don't want to do that? Don't then, go mine some shit, find some sort of market to sell materials, make a planet your home, start up an organization and fight other players or something, it's a sandbox that continuously generates new things for you.

Freedom isn't something many games give these days. Everything is carefully plotted from start to finish to continuously drag the character with a carrot on a stick.
Throw a bunch of carrots on a bunch of sticks and tell the player they can go to any one of them and they will lose their shit in confusion and frustration.
Conditioning. Nothing more. (Most) Games do not leave you to your own devices any longer.

I don't know, last I checked you could load up an Elder Scrolls game and do whatever you want in it, last I checked in Sims you could do anything you wanted in that, there are so many games out there new and old that give you enough freedom that NMS SHOULD NOT be a goddamn foreign concept to players.

But you pointing this out explains to me a lot of my frustration with games today.

 

[renegade_dewitt]

I really don't understand why the concept of this game is lost on so many people.

Looks like gamers today have lost that sense of adventure and investigative spirit and the appreciation and wonder that comes with exploring the unknown.....


In short, those GAFers who don't understand this game don't know how to be a curious human being. This game basically personifies what it means to be a human being: exploring the unknown, getting enjoyment in trying to understand the mysteries of the universe.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I really like the description of what happened when they started to leave one of the planets. There was a group of traders in the area, and as they went to orbit, a fleet of raiders warped in and started fighting the trade ships. One of them had its cargo hold blown open, scattering goods and resources into space. A short time later the traders realized they had lost and warped out of the system. Before the raid ships could pick up the loot that was strewn about, the player swooped in and scooped up a bunch of the floating cargo.

You can get a sense for the kind of sandbox No Man's Sky is from that situation. You could defend the trade ships, which I've read would reward you for doing so. You could join the raiders, and potentially share in the booty. Or do what they did and stay neutral, then swoop in and grab some spoils from the battle. That is right in line with how NMS has been described, with various systems creating emergent situations, which we decide how (and if) to engage. If that is at all indicative of how NMS play, it's going to be a lot of fun.

 

[Servbot24]

Someone on Reddit explained it pretty well:

Finally. This is all we wanted. Just an explanation of what happens in the game. Thank you. I don't know why people have been so desperate to dance around the mechanics.

 

[RandomExpletive]

He is wrong. They've already said you can run into other players, you just likely won't know it.

Sounds like we'll all be crouch-spamming anytime we spot someone on a planet.

Not sure what we'd do in our spaceship...

 

[msdstc]

He traveled through space, shot some spaceships, gave an overview of where he was in relation to the universe, said the goal is to reach the center of the universe, landed on a random planet, showed off that planets are destructible, scanned some lifeforms, and uploaded his findings.

I don't understand how anyone can be confused about what you can do in this game.

It's really as simple as this, the game is dull. Minecraft is a good example because if you watched people play you might ask... Yeah but what do you do? "You build stuff"... Why? Its obvious what you do in this game, however is clearly more meant to be a niche game. Somehow it got picked up as the next big thing and people are left confused what the big deal is.

 

[Kei-]

I think you can find your friends, you just have to work towards the same star system. I don't think it will be as hard as people think once you start upgrading your warp drives, you'll be able to warp across great distances instantly. And once you meet your friends, you'll just stay together on the same planets, or only travel to systems that you can all get to with your drive.

 

[Amir0x]

Finally. This is all we wanted. Just an explanation of what happens in the game. Thank you. I don't know why people are so desperate to dance around the mechanics.

NOBODY HAS DANCED AROUND THE MECHANICS

Literally in every No Man's Sky topic for the last eight months someone has to post a fucking massive explanatory post way larger than even that Reddit one to shut these ignorant people up. Once again, literally we have known what you do in this game down to some of its most agonizing details for like almost a year now.

 

[Veritigo_X]

I honestly think the answer has to be no. How would it work? There is unlikely to be a server that is hosting a persistent world for each planet or player JUST to make the inifitesmal chance that you run into somebody possible. It would be overkill for an event that very few would ever experience.

They don't need to host each player's world in a server for multiplayer to work. If each player is at the same spot they are generating the same exact planet on their own. The server just has to handle "matchmaking" and user data. It could probably even be done P2P.

 

[GhaleonEB]

NOBODY HAS DANCED AROUND THE MECHANICS

Literally in every No Man's Sky topic for the last eight months someone has to post a fucking massive explanatory post way larger than even that Reddit one to shut these ignorant people up. Once again, literally we have known what you do in this game down to some of its most agonizing details for like almost a year now.

And to be clear, there was nothing new in that Reddit post. It summarized information that has been available and discussed at length for months.

Let's move on from the meta discussion, please. (Not aimed at you, just in general.) This thread was about a specific video, and I'm starting to get the impression I'm one of very few who watched it and want to discuss it. :\

 

[Charles Brandon]

The goal in this game is going to the center of the galaxy. What for? I guess we'll know when we get there.

I'm going to get a little crazy now, but this are my personal believes:
To atheists, there is no god. At least not a guy with a beard and angels flying around or a bald fat guy smiling peacefully or anything like that. God is science. Science is the origin and explanation of everything that happens in the universe. So, if it appears that there was a big bang that originated the universe we live in, whatever caused that explosion is, in a way, god. So, if we could get to the center of the galaxy, to the place were it all began, the place were all gravitational forces join together, making all the planets and stars dance around it, maybe we could find the answer to everything, maybe we could find god.

There is a lot of potential in this idea of going to the center of the galaxy. hello games could literally put anything there and it would be amazing. They can put an alien civilization, or maybe a supercomputer, the monolith from 2001 a space oddisey, the god of one of he majoritary religions, all of the gods of the majority religions sitting around a round table... Possibilities are infinite.

I like this. But as always, the joy is in the journey...

 

[Zombie James]

I think the problem is that people can't identify how random planet sentinels, space fights and resource mining all coalesce into something that assists you with traveling toward the center of the Galaxy, which, being the ultimate objective, also prompts many to ask, "Why am I traveling there to begin with?"

That might have been explained already but it isnt resonating with people.

If people have to ask why they're traveling to center of the galaxy in a space exploration game then it really isn't for them. This game is about exploration and the sense of discovery, and what greater discovery could there be than finding out what's at the center of the galaxy?

 

[Primus]

And they'd still fucking ask what it is you do.

I sincerely hope that when the OT is started, its title is:

No Man's Sky [OT] - So exactly what do you do?

 

[KiraXD]

i for one welcome the mystery behind what this game offers. when we're constantly force fed info for a game 10 years before it comes out... i often find myself apathetic to new AAA... feeling like i played the whole thing before even playing it.

What do i do in No mans Sky? I will find out when i play it. its mysterious, its adventurous, theres a sense of wonder going into a game you dont know much about.

what a fucking awesome feeling which is so rare these days.

 

[Jacksinthe]

The answer is because you can, and if that's not good enough, the answer can be because no one goddamn knows what's at the centre of everything.
They have pointed it out, there is a lore to this game, but you have to find it.

Pretty simple to me.

Don't want to do that? Don't then, go mine some shit, find some sort of market to sell materials, make a planet your home, start up an organization and fight other players or something, it's a sandbox that continuously generates new things for you.


I don't know, last I checked you could load up an Elder Scrolls game and do whatever you want in it, last I checked in Sims you could do anything you wanted in that, there are so many games out there new and old that give you enough freedom that NMS SHOULD NOT be a goddamn foreign concept to players.

But you pointing this out explains to me a lot of my frustration with games today.

I never said "all" - I said most. Most games that DO give you more control do it in a very controlled way. Elder Scrolls isn't a very good case as the things you can do are extremely tailored, quests, etc.

NMS is "explore" and, well, I don't know if there are "quests" or tasks to pick up but it doesn't seem as if there are quest givers, interactive NPCs to explain away mechanics - its just there and that's it, from what I have seen. More control still isn't freedom.

 

[Charles Brandon]

Sometimes it is the same people leveling the exact same criticism - that they have somehow not adequately explained what you do - and sometimes it is brand new people who can't even be arsed to read the goddamn OPs in topics or do even the most basic cursory research into the product they're trying to criticize for no good goddamn reason.

Personally speaking, I'm not criticizing. Just curious.

 

[KCroxtonJr]

It's really as simple as this, the game is dull. Minecraft is a good example because if you watched people play you might ask... Yeah but what do you do? "You build stuff"... Why? Its obvious what you do in this game, however is clearly more meant to be a niche game. Somehow it got picked up as the next big thing and people are left confused what the big deal is.

Somehow?

Show me a current game where everything is procedural, and not only can you fly around an entire galaxy, but everything is actually real, to the point where you can land on a planet and fully explore it. A planet, not a space station, a full planet that possibly has life and other things on it that nobody has ever seen. And that's not even everything.

But yea, somehow that's not a big deal huh.

edit:i may have misread what was said, but whatever lol

 

[Ollie Pooch]

I really don't understand why the concept of this game is lost on so many people.

I can't help but think it's wilful ignorance at this point - it's been explained countless times what the gameplay elements in this game are. I think it's a veiled way of saying 'what's all the fuss about?' rather than not understanding it.

I get that people might be skeptical that the game will maintain interest, but to claim they don't understand the basic concepts is just ridiculous. I guess as others have said, the appeal is the sense of curiosity and adventure. Maybe that's not for everyone.

 

[Amir0x]

Minecraft is a good example because if you watched people play you might ask... Yeah but what do you do? "You build stuff"... Why? Its obvious what you do in this game, however is clearly more meant to be a niche game. Somehow it got picked up as the next big thing and people are left confused what the big deal is.

It's a game about the boundless possibilities of human exploration of limitless space, about the emergent mysteries inherent in our universe. It's one of the inate qualities of being human.

If such a concept is "niche", I don't know what isn't niche. Not only is No Man's Sky consistently one of the most buzzed about games every time it's shown based on tweets and industry talk and fan reactions and polls done, but it is easily one of the most anticipated indie games in development anywhere.

It may not be good, it may be good. But the concept of open freedom with a critical core focus on exploration is not inherently "dull". It may be dull for you, but nothing about what the concept has been shown to be is dull for a vast number of the rest of us because we have known precisely what the game is about for ages - exploration is just as fundamental as building - and know that provided the systems are adequately in place, it will be entertaining.

Edit: Roger Ghaleon, signing off.

 

[Icyflamez96]

Ok i'm doing my own little "what do you do" write up for me to have handy in the future. I'll post it here when i'm done.

 

[ichtyander]

Here's a transcript of some of the interesting bits from that video:

It is a real video game.

Basically kind of plays like Minecraft. In that you start off, don't have many resources. You have, like, a gun that can shoot the most basic structure and pull resources from it. And then you take that resource and then you decide to either use it to combine it with another resource, and you can sell that and get more money or you can use it to upgrade your ship, or upgrade your gun, get a better gun, upgrade your suit and then use those abilities to explore.

You get money for everything in this game. You get money for exploring, finding planets, when you get down to the planet for scanning the wildlife and adding that to Atlas, which is like the global database which everyone pulls from. So if you find enough stuff on a planet then you can rename that planet and that will be the same for everyone else playing the game.

But it's not Elite, it's not a game where you'll be running into other players. Like you never run into other players. Even if you went to the same spot, as far as I know, it's all just feeding into this central database which then everyone else if pulling from.

While talking about the purposefully hidden narrative, mentions:

Yeah, so I think they've been intentionally obfuscating exactly what the narrative is, in the same way that they're not saying "oh, you can make this many guns". Actually, you can make probably millions because of all the different components you can use.

...And then I handed the controls to Andy and he shot all of them (animals) and then the space cops turned up.

Space cops?

Yeah, so there's this thing, like... Lots of the planets that have wildlife on them have these Sentinels which are basically robots that will turn up if you start messing with the planet. I think that's probably something in the narrative we don't know about. And the interesting thing about those is that it works like GTA, you basically have a five-star system at the top right of the UI. The more you do, the bigger Sentinels come. You can shoot those Sentinels and then use their, you know, carcasses for trade as well. You can just go down to a planet and just intentionally stir up shit.

And another thing that happened to me actually when we took off from that planet was that there were some traders, I saw them when we were going in, but when we were leaving the planet's atmosphere there were some traders going past and a bunch of, I guess raiders or whatever warped in and started attacking the traders. On one of them the cargo hold blew open and a bunch of cargo went out and then after a while the trader realized "oh we can't win this fight" and just warped out. And before the raiders got the cargo, Sean like swooped and picked up a bunch of cargo.

It's that type of game. It's beautiful, it's moment to moment. I think people's expectations need to be brought down a little bit in terms of, like, this isn't a AAA game. This is a super well made indie game. It looks incredible, it looks really good. It looks better I think in the space stuff. The stuff on the planet looks a little bit rough around the edges. Obviously they're not releasing it for a long time yet. But I think it's going to be a really interesting game. I think that people who stick with this and enjoy it will keep playing it.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

i for one welcome the mystery behind what this game offers. when we're constantly force fed info for a game 10 years before it comes out... i often find myself apathetic to new AAA... feeling like i played the whole thing before even playing it.

What do i do in No mans Sky? I will find out when i play it. its mysterious, its adventurous, theres a sense of wonder going into a game you dont know much about.

what a fucking awesome feeling which is so rare these days.

Seriously. All I really needed to know was "we built a huge fucking universe full of stuff, go explore it!"

 

[jwk94]

I think one of the problems with this game (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's just you in this universe. There are other ships, sure, but nothing to really connect you to them. There's no backstory, no struggle that you're REALLY gonna have to side with, nothing that would make you want to fight for one team or think about the consequences later on. From what I've read, purchasing stuff is all done thorugh menus too? There aren't NPCs to interact with who may or may not strike up conversation or give you quests? If that's true, then imo, that'really bad. It's like someone made this universe, then left it to the animals and robots and said "peace out."

I was watching the reveal with my girlfriend and we were both like "yeah, that looks awesome." But then an hour later she told me that while the scope looks cool, it seems like the game would get boring after a while and I think I agree with her. Without something beyond "travel to the center of the universe" to keep me coming back, it just seems pointless, like I'm chasing a treasure that may or may not exist (which kinda sounds cool, but potentially disappointing too.)

For instance, I went back to Destiny for the story and the interactions with monsters. Other games keep me hooked for the story, and that sense of progressions. Both elements are very important to me. Sense of progression might be there for NMS, but there doesn't seem to be an actual narrative to it.

 

[msdstc]

It's a game about the boundless possibilities of human exploration of limitless space, about the emergent mysteries inherent in our universe. It's one of the inate qualities of being human.

If such a concept is "niche", I don't know what isn't niche. Not only is No Man's Sky consistently one of the most buzzed about games every time it's shown based on tweets and industry talk and fan reactions and polls done, but it is easily one of the most anticipated indie games in development anywhere.

It may not be good, it may be good. But the concept of open freedom with a critical core focus on exploration is not inherently "dull". It may be dull for you, but nothing about what the concept has been shown to be is dull for a vast number of the rest of us because we have known precisely what the game is about for ages - exploration is just as fundamental as building - and know that provided the systems are adequately in place, it will be entertaining.

Edit: Roger Ghaleon, signing off.

Somehow?

Show me a current game where everything is procedural, and not only can you fly around an entire galaxy, but everything is actually real, to the point where you can land on a planet and fully explore it. A planet, not a space station, a full planet that possibly has life and other things on it that nobody has ever seen. And that's not even everything.

But yea, somehow that's not a big deal huh.

edit:i may have misread what was said, but whatever lol

I made it pretty clear in multiple posts, I have no problem with the game. Its a cool concept despite the limitations of procedural generation and im skeptical stuff will vary enough to stay interesting but I'll definitely give it a shot. However no, its common sense why people are responding to this game the way it has been pumped up. When the goal of the game is and exploration simulator of a made up universe, well to me that's the very definition of niche... In no way would that have mainstream appeal.

 

[Beloved]

I can't help but think it's wilful ignorance at this point - it's been explained countless times what the gameplay elements in this game are. I think it's a veiled way of saying 'what's all the fuss about?' rather than not understanding it.

I get that people might be skeptical that the game will maintain interest, but to claim they don't understand the basic concepts is just ridiculous. I guess as others have said, the appeal is the sense of curiosity and adventure. Maybe that's not for everyone.

Yeah I mean, nothing is for everyone. There's always going to be people that aren't a fan of a particular concept, which is perfectly fine. But you know...just SAY that you don't think it's your kind of thing.

 

[Handy Fake]

I think one of the problems with this game (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's just you in this universe. There are other ships, sure, but nothing to really connect you to them. There's no backstory, no struggle that you're REALLY gonna have to side with, nothing that would make you want to fight for one team or think about the consequences later on. From what I've read, purchasing stuff is all done thorugh menus too? There aren't NPCs to interact with who may or may not strike up conversation or give you quests? If that's true, then imo, that'really bad. It's like someone made this universe, then left it to the animals and robots and said "peace out."

I was watching the reveal with my girlfriend and we were both like "yeah, that looks awesome." But then an hour later she told me that while the scope looks cool, it seems like the game would get boring after a while and I think I agree with her. Without something beyond "travel to the center of the universe" to keep me coming back, it just seems pointless, like I'm chasing a treasure that may or may not exist (which kinda sounds cool, but potentially disappointing too.)

For instance, I went back to Destiny for the story and the interactions with monsters. Other games keep me hooked for the story, and that sense of progressions. Both elements are very important to me. Sense of progression might be there for NMS, but there doesn't seem to be an actual narrative to it.

 

[bananafactory]

I think one of the problems with this game (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's just you in this universe. There are other ships, sure, but nothing to really connect you to them. There's no backstory, no struggle that you're REALLY gonna have to side with, nothing that would make you want to fight for one team or think about the consequences later on. From what I've read, purchasing stuff is all done thorugh menus too? There aren't NPCs to interact with who may or may not strike up conversation or give you quests? If that's true, then imo, that'really bad. It's like someone made this universe, then left it to the animals and robots and said "peace out."

I was watching the reveal with my girlfriend and we were both like "yeah, that looks awesome." But then an hour later she told me that while the scope looks cool, it seems like the game would get boring after a while and I think I agree with her. Without something beyond "travel to the center of the universe" to keep me coming back, it just seems pointless, like I'm chasing a treasure that may or may not exist (which kinda sounds cool, but potentially disappointing too.)

For instance, I went back to Destiny for the story and the interactions with monsters. Other games keep me hooked for the story, and that sense of progressions. Both elements are very important to me. Sense of progression might be there for NMS, but there doesn't seem to be an actual narrative to it.

That's a valid opinion and I'm sure shared by many, but the case is that this game is simply not going to be for everyone.

The "hook" of the game is the size of the universe and uniqueness of all of it. The narrative is what happens to you on your journey. It's unpredictable and wild. I could play the whole game just flying and exploring and taking photos if the game let me, I don't really care about mining or shooting stuff.

 

[QuikNez]

I'll probably buy the game, but outside of exploration of the "purpose" that's noted, but unknown, the game looks neat.

If feels hit or miss.

I was pretty turned off by the fact that you won't run into anyone and sounds overall empty.

 

[Charles Brandon]

I can't help but think it's wilful ignorance at this point - it's been explained countless times what the gameplay elements in this game are. I think it's a veiled way of saying 'what's all the fuss about?' rather than not understanding it.

I get that people might be skeptical that the game will maintain interest, but to claim they don't understand the basic concepts is just ridiculous. I guess as others have said, the appeal is the sense of curiosity and adventure. Maybe that's not for everyone.

or perhaps they just discovered it exists and were simply curious as to what it entails. Most games you can look at them for five seconds and you know what's what. This is different, it's less obvious, less formulaic and therefore harder to know, hence questions.

 

[Amir0x]

I think one of the problems with this game (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's just you in this universe. There are other ships, sure, but nothing to really connect you to them. There's no backstory, no struggle that you're REALLY gonna have to side with, nothing that would make you want to fight for one team or think about the consequences later on. From what I've read, purchasing stuff is all done thorugh menus too? There aren't NPCs to interact with who may or may not strike up conversation or give you quests? If that's true, then imo, that'really bad. It's like someone made this universe, then left it to the animals and robots and said "peace out."

There is tons of backstory. You have to find out what it is by finding certain artifacts aand analyzing them on planets. You learn as much about the universe, those that exist within it and the overall plot as the effort you put into the game.

My god games really do need to spoon feed gamers today... it's so depressing.

Metroid Prime had a brilliantly isolating atmosphere, where story was almost uniformly told through scanning certain objects and your interaction with things was mostly in the form of monsters you fought. The narrative was vastly more captivating because you explored and built it piece by piece, it was a discovery. You earned it.

There are many ways to tell a narrative in a game. Not every title needs obnoxiously written cutscenes with NPCs and over-the-top action. Some games can utilize different, minimalist methods of storytelling and be just as effective. Shadow of the Colossus is more effective a story than the majority of games, and it did that with very few moments of dialogue and mostly visual art.

When the goal of the game is and exploration simulator of a made up universe, well to me that's the very definition of niche... In no way would that have mainstream appeal.

Once again, exploration is a fundamental human quality. It is as "niche" as a concept for most human beings as breathing air. It has a genetic basis as well. Read this article about human exploration and what drives us to move ever onward.

No Man's Sky attempts to encapsulate this most essential human drive in game form, by giving you the endless freedom we'll probably never get to live long enough to see in our lives. That's not niche. That's dream fulfillment.

Whether it accomplishes those goals well in the end is another story.

 

[Falchion]

I'm going to make my own adventure - in the direction of the nearest dinosaur inhabited planet.

 

[_DrMario_]

Not a big fan of these "Sentinels". They sound like Oblivion's all knowing guards.

 

[kiguel182]

It still blows my mind at how many people, including those from press, still don't get NMS. You fly, you fight, you explore. That's your adventure. Why is it so hard to understand? You make your own story.

Most of the people saying "but what do you do?!" have already made their mind about it.

From the first trailer it was pretty obvious what this was. You explore, gather resources and adventure until the center of the galaxy (or not if you want). That's not hard to understand but people still made those remarks. The more and more details they give the more dumb those comments are (and they never made much sense to begin with).

 

[Zomba13]

Not a big fan of these "Sentinels". They sound like Oblivion's all knowing guards.

STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!

Or more likely "BZZZT BEEP BOOP BOOP BZZZZZT" *pew pew pew*

I like the idea of some planets with life having this protective force to prevent people from screwing them up. In some cases I bet it could get annoying but as flavour for the universe I like it. Who put them there? Are the fully automated? Is there a reason they do what they do or are they really there just to protect non sapient life?

 

[Ollie Pooch]

or perhaps they just discovered it exists and were simply curious as to what it entails. Most games you can look at them for five seconds and you know what's what. This is different, it's less obvious, less formulaic and therefore harder to know, hence questions.

Oh, of course - I'm not painting everyone with the same brush But this really seems to be one of those games where there's a timer on the thread before someone comes in going 'I JUST DON'T GET IT' anyway, we've been told to move off this discussion so I will.

 

[Zia]

Can someone explain Tetris to me? You're laying blocks and... ? Like, okay? Is that it? I honestly don't understand what you do.

 

[jwk94]

That's a valid opinion and I'm sure shared by many, but the case is that this game is simply not going to be for everyone.

The "hook" of the game is the size of the universe and uniqueness of all of it. The narrative is what happens to you on your journey. It's unpredictable and wild. I could play the whole game just flying and exploring and taking photos if the game let me, I don't really care about mining or shooting stuff.

Yeah, I'm beginning to think that this might not be for me, no matter how much I would like it to be.

There is tons of backstory. You have to find out what it is by finding certain artifacts aand analyzing them on planets. You learn as much about the universe, those that exist within it and the overall plot as the effort you put into the game.

My god games really do need to spoon feed gamers today... it's so depressing.

Metroid Prime had a brilliantly isolating atmosphere, where story was almost uniformly told through scanning certain objects and your interaction with things was mostly in the form of monsters you fought. The narrative was vastly more captivating because you explored and built it piece by piece, it was a discovery. You earned it.

There are many ways to tell a narrative in a game. Not every title needs obnoxiously written cutscenes with NPCs and over-the-top action. Some games can utilize different, minimalist methods of storytelling and be just as effective. Shadow of the Colossus is more effective a story than the majority of games, and it did that with very few moments of dialogue and mostly visual art.



Once again, exploration is a fundamental human quality. It is as "niche" as a concept for most human beings as breathing air. It has a genetic basis as well. Read this article about human exploration and what drives us to move ever onward.

No Man's Sky attempts to encapsulate this most essential human drive in game form, by giving you the endless freedom we'll probably never get to live long enough to see in our lives. That's not niche. That's dream fulfillment.

Whether it accomplishes those goals well in the end is another story.

Right, but my problem is that there isn't anyone to interact with. Metroid Prime 3 was a fantastic but that's kind of a different situation. You're not given an economy and tools to craft things in MP, but you are in NMS. That kind of stuff usually implies someone behind the counter, someone who I'd personally like to get to know. I enjoy these kinds of things in my games (if they're done correctly).

 

[Pop]

I really don't understand why the concept of this game is lost on so many people.

Newer gamers need markers and be told what to do.

 

[Red Liquorice]

Not a big fan of these "Sentinels". They sound like Oblivion's all knowing guards.

Halt! Galaxy exploring scum!

It sounds like a dream game to me, but the sheer size of the sandbox makes me sceptical that it will be as wildly huge in scope as it seems.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

This game just intrigues me like nothing else has in ages - in my head it's amazing. All I want is to be able to name my own planet and I'll be happy.

 

[OldRoutes]

I love love love this game. I also love the fact that no one can really understand it, probably because they haven't played it.

You know, we kinda lost this quality about games... Games that would be hard to grasp... You know, what do you do in Street Fighter? You just... fight? Until you're out of money?

But then you play and you're immediately wrapped around in this excitement, this challenge...

Whether it's good or bad, I hope it shows publishers that those games can live alongside corridors shooters and narrative experiences.

 

[zerosum]

It's like they invaded my mind, stole my childhood dreams, and turned it into a game.

Not very common for any game to be day-one for me anymore, but this one absolutely is.

 

[jim2point0]

But.... were they correct in the video when talking about you never running into another player?

What's the point of the big space battles then? Is that all against AI?

It would be a real shame if you never did run into another player even though you're all exploring the "same" universe.

 

[Skyzard]

Hopefully they don't make the same mistake as ED and let you co-op it all from launch.

 

[ichtyander]

Right, but my problem is that there isn't anyone to interact with. Metroid Prime 3 was a fantastic but that's kind of a different situation. You're not given an economy and tools to craft things in MP, but you are in NMS. That kind of stuff usually implies someone behind the counter, someone who I'd personally like to get to know. I enjoy these kinds of things in my games (if they're done correctly).

NMS really is a game of systems and simulations. I think you can get a bit of charm and story out of lifeless spaceships, weird animals and robot guardians, but it's a very different kind of interaction. It's like feeding pigeons, birds changing formations according to the wind or fish swirling around you while scuba diving. They are these "living things" that you can't really communicate with verbally, but you can see them interact between each other and you can influence them in various ways, befriend, scare them away or make them hostile towards you, and you can see the beauty of such interactions and even feel the consequences (get friendly ships to defend you, anger an animal to attack you).

That's why I like to compare what we know about NMS with Don't Starve. In Don't Starve you have the Beefalo, animals that always move in herds, have babies that grow up, act differently depending on nearby players or animals, get scared, angry, horny, the babies can get lost or if their parent dies, they stay at the place of their death etc. It's all a simulated system but you can really feel for these animals and find them cute in how they behave. I think we'll see something similar in NMS.

 

[Soulkay]

Man I can't wait for this game to come out.
Some people are so confused over little stuff like "what do you do blah blah"

The fact that there's so many possibility to play this game make the experience my own, nobody is going to play it like me and I won't play like anybody because there's so many ways to play it.

The video on Gametrailer about this game was wonderful especially the hype of the guy that get to see it behind closed doors, so infectious, the guy felt what an amazing experience it might be, and I want to be a part in it !

 

[Amir0x]

Right, but my problem is that there isn't anyone to interact with. Metroid Prime 3 was a fantastic but that's kind of a different situation. You're not given an economy and tools to craft things in MP, but you are in NMS. That kind of stuff usually implies someone behind the counter, someone who I'd personally like to get to know. I enjoy these kinds of things in my games (if they're done correctly).

It actually doesn't imply or necessitate anything like that. You're foisting your own game design desires onto a game that has very specific goals and takes a minimalist approach to such aspects, so that you get what you put in. If you want to learn a lot of the backstory of the world, you go out and discover it and explore more.

Not every game needs to be a checklist. Games are allowed a varied combination of approaches to telling stories, allowing gameplay, interacting with characters that can be mixed and matched as appropriate. And as we've seen from gaming over these past 30 years, such ingenuity has allowed an amazing breadth of approach to these concepts.

I am not sure why you seem to think there's something inherently wrong with this approach. You may want epic cutscenes and obnoxious NPCs that won't shut the fuck up. I have that in like the majority of games I play, and I am damn glad this one will take a different approach.

But if the approach ends up being done poorly or implemented in a disappointing way, I'd be the first to say so. I have no loyalty to any product. It was amazing exploring the story in Metroid Prime, and I suspect the draw will be similar here (provided the story itself is interesting which... who knows. Story is one of those things developers should definitely minimize the information they give out on, so it can be a surprise to gamers.)