In fairness, the griefing thing was in one interview, and he didn't say yes... He just kinda made faces when asked (and furiously scratched his beard). But yeah, they weren't clear until a day before launch about the multiplayer, and after then muddied the water with the 'two players met' tweet.
Fair game on that. What I don't understand is how they can be cognitive of the pressure but refuse to clarify.
Going back to clarify my stance .
I don't feel the scummy part , but i'll agree that they could have worded it better .
Then again , it's the same studio that did a massive day one patch expanding their own galaxy and adding stuff . I , personnaly believe that they had a lot of stuff in the works for their game and plenty couldn't make it in time. And that's the only reason why they couldn't confirm or deny some stuff . And that's why the confirmation of "zero chances of MP" didn't come untill very late.
The theory floating around this thread that they willing said nothing in order to scam or sell more sound very hollow to me.
Now , hello Games certainly could have handled it better , but given "material shown to everyone during the last 5 months prior to the release" , i fail to see the scummy part.
And i'm now out for real.
The materials shown conflict with developer statements. I mean, consumers are going to trust your word at the end of the day, regardless of whether or not you "show" it.
Honestly, at this point, I think it's how much you enjoy the product and how willing you are to be okay with the lack of certain claimed features. I'd love to call people hypocrites on this - because if someone like Ubisoft or EA did this, we'd be seeing a far larger outrage given the public opinion, but here we have shy-indie-developer-who-sold-his-house-for-game - but I do the with developers I like. I gave Capcom a pass with SFV because I really, really enjoy it as a game, despite all the shit that came with it.
So, in essence, I'm no different, and I don't think many gamers/consumers are.
That all being said, when it comes time for discussion, people have every right to talk about it and level criticisms so long as they do so constructively. Lots of people here have done so. That's why when I see comments that say people are getting out their pitchforks and shit, it doesn't help the people who want a better product or the people who have the product already.
Did Sean lie about the multiplayer aspect? He sure did, considering there's no way for MP to exists in the game given what he said. But being called out on a lie isn't exactly the end of the world, and companies get caught all the time. It's what they do after that counts the most, and that's why I have an issue with how HG is handling it. Had they been like "ah shit, sorry, we don't actually have MP in this game anymore because reasons", I'd be like "that's cool". But the silence and willful washiness is irritating.
How you take that is up to you, I guess.
I think it's terrible tbh. Every single planet has life of some sort or has an outpost from an alien civilization. There hasnt been one planet or moon I've visited where there hasnt been life. It removes any feeling of accomplishment for finding worlds with life.
I could see that. The game already has enough problems staving off my boredom that the burst of discovering something neat wouldn't be enough to carry me through the systems.