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No Man's Sky Review Thread: The Scores Have Arrived (read OP)

Jobbs

Banned
I'm frankly baffled by how high many of the scores are. This is a $60 game and it has almost nothing to do. It's crazy.

I simply don't get it
 

Paz

Member
Not sure what's your point either. So, they are extremely well made games you would score 3/10 in a review because you personally don't enjoy them? Sounds like the video game media should sign you right up.

Yes I would rate things I don't enjoy with a low score regardless of how well made those things are.

I don't mean to be a prick but it seems to me you haven't thought through your concept of review scores at all.

Edit - The goal of a review is not to hit as close to the eventual metacritic average as possible, that doesn't make you any more or less 'right' than any other review. A game I made was once reviewed ~5 months apart by two reviewers but for the same site (second platform release but identical core game experience and price etc) and the difference was massive with scores of 2.5/5 and 4/5 respectively. Both reviews were as legitimate as each other.
 

FStop7

Banned
Scores aren't really all that surprising after playing it. A procedurally generated survival game with FTL/OutThere elements was always going to be a hard sell as an AAA title.

Real talk, as someone who put over 100 hours into FTL: FTL has far, far more depth than NMS.
 
I mean, the game elements of No Man's aren't why anyone enjoys the game, unless you're about to start defending the poor shooting, space combat, clunky survival elements, etc. The reason people like No Man's is because they can ignore the interactive bits and just wander around open worlds.

I don't think it's a stretch to call No Man's a poorly playing video game. It just has positives despite that.

Precisely.
 

DMTripper

Member
Yeah I've cancelled my steam preorder and going to wait for a sale. I think I would buy at £20 not £40. Seems to me reading a few reviews that nothing is done fantastically well such as the combat/crafting but the space exploration looks decent enough.

I saw a poster recommended subnatica so I may well try that for £14.99 instead.
 

Skii

Member
Absolutely awful. I was looking forward to this game but was smart enough not to preorder considering we really had no idea what we were getting into. Just a shambles all round.
 

Ducktail

Member
This game is tottally my cuo of tea

- I loved the exploration of both Xenoblade
- I have over 120hrs on both Endless Ocean

Is there anything that I might not like with this one?

Maybe the grinding, some people find that quite boring. I'm being 100 % honest here, the lastest Xenoblade put me to sleep, literally. I couldn't play it for more than 20 minutes wihtout dozing off, while my sessions of NM'S usually end up with I looking at the clock and saying: "Holy shite, it's been 5 hours since I started playing".
 
Imo this game is the ultimate example quantity over quality. A game can have infinite amount of "open world" but if the gameplay is not there / not fun (imo) then your video game is trash, which this game is(imo). I do praise hello games for the technological achievements. I hope others can use this technology to make a better game. Also once again I am happy to see gameplay is still king in video games. That's why games like overwatch or sfv still played very actively while games like this will be forgotten in a month. If the gameplay is not there then your game will be trash imo.
 

Elios83

Member
Not surprised at the scores.
Personally I've never been interested in the game because I find the concept of exploring procedurally generated worlds to be boring.
But there are definitely fans of these things out there and those will definitely enjoy it.
 

SwolBro

Banned
the last paragraph of Jimquisitions review is pure gold-a parody of Bladerunner's monologue 'tears in the rain'


I’ve seen things you people would easily believe. I’ve not seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched no C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. There are no moments to lose in time like tears in procedurally generated rain.

Time to Sky.
 
I own Subnautica, 7Days2die, Project Zomboid, The Forest, The Long Dark, Frozen State, Starbound, Minecraft, Teraria, H1Z1, Stranded Deep, Don't Starve, Sheltered, This War of Mine, Hurtworld, Neo Scavenger, and probably a few others I'm missing.

Of those I think Starbound, Frozen State, Teraria, Minecraft, war of mine, and Neo Scavenger are out of early access....

Just seems like a trend for this genre... :(


Sounds like it had a foundation but needs more content/gameplay depth.


Edit: rim world also but that could be called done tomorrow and I'd feel that it's accurate.
 

killroy87

Member
I mean, the game elements of No Man's aren't why anyone enjoys the game, unless you're about to start defending the poor shooting, space combat, clunky survival elements, etc. The reason people like No Man's is because they can ignore the interactive bits and just wander around open worlds.

I don't think it's a stretch to call No Man's a poorly playing video game. It just has positives despite that.

The problem is that the crappy game elements do their best to get in the way of the chill exploration every chance they get. If I could ignore half of the games mechanics (which is a hilarious qualification to have to make to enjoy a game), I would.
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
Yes I would rate things I don't enjoy with a low score regardless of how well made those things are.

I don't mean to be a prick but it seems to me you haven't thought through your concept of review scores at all.

But if you do recognise that a game is "extremely well done", even if you do not enjoy it for some reson, what's the point of giving it a 3/10?

Reviews and scores are subjective cause people have different opinions and experiences based up on their minds, lifestyle, traumas, and whatever, but an score still needs to make sense to be worth mentioning.

It's not because you decided you don't like a game you should score it with such low value if you recognise it's qualities.

Anyway, that's what I don't like about scores, they are hardly fair when even the people giving it are not sure how to use it.
 

hemo memo

Member
Scores aren't really all that surprising after playing it. A procedurally generated survival game with FTL/OutThere elements was always going to be a hard sell as an AAA title.

This is the main problem here. If we remove the big marketing that pushed it to full price AAA title the game would have sold less but got more postive reviews becuase it was expected for it to be a small fairly priced indie title.
 

Kieli

Member
With continual support by the team (if they warrant it profitable enough), then it may eventually become what people hyped it to be.

As it is now, it merely reflects the size and manpower of the small team of 10+.

Not to say one-man wrecking balls can't make amazing games, but those are the exceptions.
 
wow - the scores are all over the freaking place.

Nobody has any idea how to review a game like this.

You either love it or hate it and it's based almost completely on your own personal expectations.
 
I own Subnautica, 7Days2die, Project Zomboid, The Forest, The Long Dark, Frozen State, Starbound, Minecraft, Teraria, H1Z1, Stranded Deep, Don't Starve, Sheltered, This War of Mine, Hurtworld, Neo Scavenger, and probably a few others I'm missing.

Of those I think Starbound, Frozen State, Teraria, Minecraft, war of mine, and Neo Scavenger are out of early access....

Just seems like a trend for this genre... :(


Sounds like it had a foundation but needs more content/gameplay depth.


Edit: rim world also but that could be called done tomorrow and I'd feel that it's accurate.

Zomboid is getting that big 3d animation up date tho!
 

Paz

Member
But if you do recognise that a game is "extremely well done", even if you do not enjoy it for some reson, what's the point of giving it a 3/10?

Reviews and scores are subjective cause people have different opinions and experiences based up on their minds, lifestyle, traumas, and whatever, but an score still needs to make sense to be worth mentioning.

It's not because you decided you don't like a game you should score it with such low value if you recognise it's qualities.

Anyway, that's what I don't like about scores, they are hardly fair when even the people giving it are not sure how to use it.

Katy Perry makes extremely well produced music that I hate listening to.

As a game developer I can tell when something is well produced but the experience itself is far more important to me than the production qualities in terms of personal enjoyment.

My 3/10 mention was an indicator of what I would review the games as if someone asked me to use a 10 point scale, which I normally wouldn't do. I think numbers are not a great way to condense your views on a thing.
 

The Lamp

Member
The game is exactly what I feared. Procedurally generated environments with generic, shallow game mechanics are not the kinds of levels or games or stories I like to invest my time in.

I have respect for the creator and what he made but it appears it's just not my thing. I need something with more attention crafted into its levels and mechanics.

18 quintillion planets doesn't automatically make something fun for me.

I hope it does well so he can make a sequel with more polish and depth.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
why did sony decide to back this game i dont get it

They saw it got a lot of excitement after the VGA debut and realized they could use it to push themselves as the indie console of choice.

The actual final product doesn't really matter from that perspective, because they got a lot of the perception/sales benefit out of having it already.

It's like the whole GTA DLC thing for Xbox 360 last generation.
 

Aters

Member
"No man's Sky fails at a fundamental level."

Gets 6/10.

If it really fails at a fundamental level, give it a 4/10.
 

zashga

Member
Interesting scores. What I've seen in streams and impressions videos makes me think this one isn't for me. It looks like a very shallow experience, with only basic exploration of random worlds and no meta game beyond generic survival/upgrade tracks and a very vague "go this direction" goal. I kind of still want to give it a shot, but the price is really high for what's on offer.

This game is tottally my cuo of tea

- I loved the exploration of both Xenoblade
- I have over 120hrs on both Endless Ocean

Is there anything that I might not like with this one?

Survival elements. There's a lot of breaking rocks and trees to keep your bars filled.
 
I'm getting some major Destiny vibes about nearly every aspect to this game. Expectations, game's style, development, etc... it's kinda crazy.

With that said, just like Destiny, I am really enjoying this game.
 

krang

Member
wow - the scores are all over the freaking place.

Nobody has any idea how to review a game like this.

You either love it or hate it and it's based almost completely on your own personal expectations.

"People need to be instructed on how to enjoy games".
 

DataGhost

Member
Ouch, so crashes reduced the score.

I hope they rereview after any patches that would resolve most known problems like the crashes.

Sure the game isn't the second coming, but I think it deserves more of a higher score than a lower score because of crashes.

Given the procedural generation resulting in the massive galaxy, they probably couldn't test for everything.
 
wow - the scores are all over the freaking place.

Nobody has any idea how to review a game like this.

You either love it or hate it and it's based almost completely on your own personal expectations.

Yeah, everyone's expectations seem to be playing a big part in the reviews I've read. I've never seen it like this with a game.
 

It's primarily a survival game, with unlimited exploration, a little bit of FPS gameplay, a little bit of space sim gameplay.

The scope is massive, the gameplay is repetitive and your visual experiences are always varied, while also feeling familiar.

You could pour 100s of hours into the game and never get anywhere, which could make you feel like you didn't get your $60 worth.

But yet you felt compelled to pour 100 hours into the game, which means you got your $60 worth and more.

So what do you score the game on? The journey itself, which is limitless or the destination, of which there really is none?

It's a pretty difficult game to review or give a rating to.
 
I personally don't understand how any videogame with such incredibly weak and thin mechanics can even objectively be given a 9/10 for example. I mean, go buckwild but I think it's actually surprising people can overlook something like that to this degree in favor of the complete experience. I have to say I don't even think the mechanics are just objectively bad, especially compared to most games out there that have similar components.
 

Bl@de

Member
I really hope that Hello Games releases new content with patches and offers mod support. The game seems like a great foundation. Would be a shame if the dropped it and moved on. The problem is that it feels like an Early Access title in the first month :/ But on release day....
 
I know we joke about the "but what do you DO" phrase a lot, but I think the worries panned out.

I'm about 10 hours in. Enjoying myself so far, because everything is still new. I have a feeling that might fade soon.

There just doesn't seem to be an objective. At all. You collect materials to get to the next planet so you can collect materials again to get to the next planet.

It's a weird game. 6-7/10 sounds right.
 

Quonny

Member
Glad I rented this.

I was super into it the first 6 or so hours, but slowly the fact that it's incredibly shallow crept up on me and now I don't know if I even want to go back to it.
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
Katy Perry makes extremely well produced music that I hate listening to.

As a game developer I can tell when something is well produced but the experience itself is far more important to me than the production qualities in terms of personal enjoyment.

And I understand that. I don't think that if you do not enjoy a game you should give it highh scores.

If you don't like a game it's because of reasons you may list negatively impacted your experience, reason why it may not score well.

However, if you didn't enjoy but recognise it was an extremely good production you should value that characteristic and give them credit for this. In other words, the game should not deserve an horrible score either.


That's not the case of what has been happening to NMS score though. By what I've been reading reviews and the points given seems fair with one another.
 

Realyn

Member
Yes I would rate things I don't enjoy with a low score regardless of how well made those things are.

I don't mean to be a prick but it seems to me you haven't thought through your concept of review scores at all.

Katy Perry makes extremely well produced music that I hate listening to.

As a game developer I can tell when something is well produced but the experience itself is far more important to me than the production qualities in terms of personal enjoyment.

It's great that you're telling me that I don't know what a review is when you can't differentiate between your personal opinion and the job of a professional review by a journalist.
 
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