I can't agree that the foundation is solid. That's the problem with the game for me. The gameplay loop is dull. I loved it for my first few hours, but by day 2 i realised I'm doing the same thing over and over, the planets are all virtually the same give, give or take the colour schemes and attributes. Even then, the difference between a hot planet and a cold planet is an icon. Visually they look identical.
The game world is huge, but totally barren and it takes away any motivation I have to explore. I've seen about 15 planets now, and there are no distinguishing features I can recall to tell them apart. It's beginning to feel like I've seen it all already. The outposts look the same, the transmission towers look the same, and the monoliths look the same. For all the talk of discovery, there is very little to discover that you won't have seen in the first handful of systems you visit.
I don't think I've ever gone from loving a game to thinking its distinctly average, at best, as quickly as I have with this one. The multiplayer uproar is irrelevant to me. I just think NMS is just a really shallow experience once you see past the smoke and mirrors.
I disagree. You find the gameplay loop dull. That's subjective opinion, not objective fact. That's the whole thing. We both have subjective opinions about the game, and our final outcome is different. I don't find the game world barren, because the planets I've visited have had interesting architecture. The only knock I can give it in that regard is that the ruins and the facilities all have the same look. But at least the blueprints and words I can find at those places are unique, which drives me to explore them more. I'm always on the lookout for learning new words, and finding new blueprints that can help me. But that's also my subjective opinion and play goals.
I disagree with planets looking the same as well. I created the screenshot thread for that very reason, and the photos posted in there show incredible variety. I've only been to four planets in my two days and 7 hours playing the game, and I've yet to come across anything that looks like the planets posted in that screenshot thread.
The way we approach planets is different too, it seems. And that's fine. The first thing I do when I land on a new planet or moon is go to the Discoveries tab and see if there are creatures to discover on the planet. If "Yes," then I will hunt those creatures down and scan them, while taking in the sites of the planets. While doing that, I'll be on the lookout for monoliths so I can learn new words, and any blueprints or exosuit upgrades I run across. Once that creature checklist is done, I'll leave the planet for the next one. I'm not going to scour every nook and cranny after that's done. If "No," then I'll just hunt for word monoliths for a little bit, suit upgrades and blueprints, and then leave for the next planet.
Murray has mentioned that the design is focused on getting you moving from planet to planet every 2-3 hours. I can imagine it'd be disappointing if you kept coming across the same type of planet in terms of style over and over again. I've been lucky in that my first four planets/moons (including the system that has 5 planets where I've only seen 1) have been wildly different in terms of atmosphere, geography, and creatures. My new Star system has 5 planets, so by the end of this week, I'll have gotten to see 8 different locations. Part of the excitement for me is not knowing what those other four planets will be like. Again, the photo thread has shown me wildly different locations and creatures, so I can't say with any amount of certainty that the next four planets I visit will be the same.
But hey, different strokes for different folks. Some people will like the gameplay loop. Some people will find it dull. I actually don't like Minecraft. I've played it a ton, mainly with my wife, who loves it to death, and it doesn't do it for me. On the flip side, I fucking love Terraria, and Starbound to a lesser extent. I didn't find the gameplay loop or visual aesthetic of Minecraft to my liking, but I did with Terraria, Starbound, and No Man's Sky (although No Man's Sky doesn't have as much in common with those three games, it shares some elements here and there). Like Bloodborne and Dark Souls. I love Dark Souls to death, but I love Bloodborne more, because the setting, visual design, and combat appealed to me more.
No Man's Sky isn't the be all end all of gaming. I never thought it would be, so that expectation was never a concern. I'm a fan of what the game is currently. I find it engaging. You don't have to agree, and there's nothing wrong with that. Sean Murray has said that he thinks the game will be divisive. After having played it for two days, I can agree. I don't like everything they've done with the game, but overall, I'm more than satisfied and relieved that the whole thing has worked out as advertised in the first place. When this game was announced, and when I learned how small Hello Games was, and their scope for the game, I was convinced it would end up vaporware. That it was one of those games with a lot of promise, but would never be realized. Stage 1 is done: the game is complete and in our hands. What's here is good, and yes, it's a solid foundation. I've worked in the gaming industry for over 10 years, and I've seen projects blossom and die, because the foundation was weak. NMS has a canvas that can be expanded on in a lot of ways. I think it's going to be a very different game in, success permitting, a year from now.
Some people may not want to jump in now, and that's fine, and probably a good idea if what the game currently is isn't doing it for you, but who knows, it may be transformed like Driveclub post launch, and some other games that ended up better after more updates. At the very least, as least Sean Murray and Hello Games have already built that kind of iterative update blueprint into the game design. I worked on this one game that, for some inexplicable reason, the developers had it coded where no new content beyond palette swaps could be added to the game. No new features or functionality, just palette swaps for the characters. We tried to warn them about it, but they didn't listen.
I'm glad it doesn't seem like that's the case with NMS, as the day 1 update seems to imply.
