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No Man’s Sky One Year Later

shamusyoung.com

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Re: No Man’s Sky One Year Later

#4

Because they've focused on a different set of priorities from the ones he wants, thus they're incompetent and sadistic? Ok.

Actually, his most basic, underlying thesis is that it's impossible to determine what their priorities are. To the author, the game is incoherent. If you cleave to that view, then it's impossible to understand why the developers changed what they changed.

His example of Dark Souls is a perfect one. He acknowledges that, while the game isn't his thing, he can at least intellectually grok why Dark Souls is a good game, and how it has been optimized and refined for the specific play style they aimed at.

The author claims the same can't be said for No Man's Sky.

So, no, it's not that it's a different set of priorities. It's that it appears to be an incomprehensible set of priorities. And that's a real problem, if you believe in the thesis (which, I assume, will be explored in subsequent installments).

Re: No Man’s Sky One Year Later

#5

Because they've focused on a different set of priorities from the ones he wants, thus they're incompetent and sadistic? Ok.

"Actually, his most basic, underlying thesis is that it's impossible to determine what their priorities are" - zzalpha (someone who read the article)

Re: No Man’s Sky One Year Later

#6
post #2

Counter opinion: https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/18/16164520/no-mans-sky-one-...

Honestly - I loved the first iteration and have jumped in to play it again this time round. I love it still (again).

It's changed a lot. It's upgraded again there is a tonne of stuff to do, lots to see and explore and plenty of "hooks" to give you the excuse to see them.

NMS gets a lot of hate and I don't think it's deserved but hey if the author doesn't want to play it, then it's no skin off my nose.

They can do what they want.

Re: No Man’s Sky One Year Later

#7
Open world games are notoriously disappointing. "What is this game supposed to be?" is a great question. Are you trying to explore? collect resources and upgrade grind? build things? combat (ground or space)? By being all these things, they became nothing. All encompassing space games (for example EVE) take years to build, usually in the form of updates after release.

As for the UI. It looks like its designed so the PC and consoles have similar UIs. Also they are inspired by context menus, which sacrifice UX for flexibility. (Pretend the inventory is a file system).

Re: No Man’s Sky One Year Later

#8
Ugh NMS. Didn't get superhyped but bought it at launch, listened to that soundtrack by 65daysofstatic for a few weeks, played the game for about 30 minutes. It was just so boring. They had the tech to make universes but made the core gameplay so boring you didn't care. How is that possible?

The game is now what it could have been, but it makes me uncomfortable even enjoying the game because I remember the dev lying on the day of release about multiplayer. That breaks some kind of contract between producer and consumer. Oh, and the FOV on the PS4 version is horrific, interesting way of extending a consoles lifespan.

I think NMS is a glimpse of the future, but hopefully someone else will take their formula mainstream.

Re: No Man’s Sky One Year Later

#9
post #6
post #2

Counter opinion: https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/18/16164520/no-mans-sky-one-...

Honestly - I loved the first iteration and have jumped in to play it again this time round. I love it still (again). It's changed a lot. It's upgraded again there is a tonne of stuff to do, lots to see and explore and plenty of "hooks" to give you the excuse to see them. NMS gets a lot of hate and I don't think it's deserved but hey if the author doesn't want to play it, then it's no skin off my nose. They can do wha…

So what's your personal take on the posted article?

The post article would suggest NMS is being pulled in a lot of different directions... it has a single player quest, but it's not a great quest-based game. It has sandbox elements, but no obvious gameplay loop to make the sandbox compelling. It doesn't speak to the multiplayer elements, and I don't have personal experience with them, so I don't know how well they fit.

The Verge seems a fair bit more charitable regarding the changes, while acknowledging that the game is still flawed. They seem to like the additional quest components, and feel the overall engine improvements have been well done. But it still doesn't seem to address the core issue this article is focused on, which is that they feel NMS is a jack of all trades but a master of none.

So what's your take?

Re: No Man’s Sky One Year Later

#10
post #6
post #2

Counter opinion: https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/18/16164520/no-mans-sky-one-...

Honestly - I loved the first iteration and have jumped in to play it again this time round. I love it still (again). It's changed a lot. It's upgraded again there is a tonne of stuff to do, lots to see and explore and plenty of "hooks" to give you the excuse to see them. NMS gets a lot of hate and I don't think it's deserved but hey if the author doesn't want to play it, then it's no skin off my nose. They can do wha…

>NMS gets a lot of hate and I don't think it's deserved

Should we just ignore all of the hype and promises made by the developer/publisher which were never delivered on? That's where the hate comes from. They promised something much more than what they delivered.

Yes, they've made improvements, and that's great, but it still doesn't contain some of the biggest features promised while the game was still in dev. The marketing of this game was very deceptive, and they deserve what they got for that.

Besides... most find the game pretty boring.

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