No Man's Sky - Part 2 - 1 thread down, 17,999,999,999,999,999,999 to go

[RobBrown4PM]

The only real lesson is don't give a small studio the type of marketing you would give a huge one.

If you are told "we will market the game for you" are you really supposed to turn it down? A lot of blame should be laid at Sony's feet for thinking that marketing the game the way they did was a good idea.

They tried to cash in on the fact that so many indie games get cult status but they didn't bother asking themselves how and why they get there.

Hello Games were swept up by the craze of the industry. They didn't handle it well but there is so much more to this debacle than Hello Games.

Hello games had a duty to market their game appropriately, and they failed on every level.

If you're going to outright lie to your customer base about your product, then expect serious backlash from them and critics when they find out you sold them an easy bake oven instead of the 5,000 dollar Samsung model they paid for.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Hello games had a duty to market their game appropriately, and they failed on every level.

If you're going to outright lie to your customer base about your product, then expect serious backlash from them and critics when they find out you sold them an easy bake oven instead of the 5,000 dollar Samsung model they paid for.

It makes me hard to feel sorry for people who feel they got screwed over when they make over-the-top generalizations like this.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Hello games had a duty to market their game appropriately, and they failed on every level.

If you're going to outright lie to your customer base about your product, then expect serious backlash from them and critics when they find out you sold them an easy bake oven instead of the 5,000 dollar Samsung model they paid for.

The marketing was Sony.

I mean, yes it was Sean Murray on stage during those presentations but the whole marketing push was Sony, not Hello Games.

Sony should have thought that marketing a game made by a very small team in the same way you market a real AAA game was a bad idea. They aren't getting enough heat.

NMS is a debacle and Hello Games have a major hand in what happened. But the debacle is also a good example of how out-of-touch execs can get.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

The marketing was Sony.

I mean, yes it was Sean Murray on stage during those presentations but the whole marketing push was Sony, not Hello Games.

Sony should have thought that marketing a game made by a very small team in the same way you market a real AAA game was a bad idea. They aren't getting enough heat.

NMS is a debacle and Hello Games have a major hand in what happened. But the debacle is also a good example of how out-of-touch execs can get.

Murray wasn't being held at gun point when he said everything he did. He chose to say what he did.

 

[Kestrel]

Murray wasn't being held at gun point when he said everything he did. He chose to say what he did.

He's not excusing Murray - you seem to be missing the point.

 

[Ceremony]

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Litterally lol'ed

 

[XX]

These *******s still haven't said a word about really anything post release.

 

[Bones Malone]

These *******s still haven't said a word about really anything post release.

Oh come on, they said plenty about getting their twitter hacked

 

[PeteWorrell]

These *******s still haven't said a word about really anything post release.

Their inaction really says all i need to know about them.

 

[Osprey]

I started this late, after all of the outrage and knowing what I was getting into, and I'm really surprised at how much I've been playing it. I'm not sure if I'm "enjoying" it, but I keep coming back to it to continue the grind. It's odd. It's weirdly addictive and I can't stop playing so long as I haven't gotten to the center yet.

That said, it has lots of issues. As I implied, it's not really "fun" and feels like work, though it's somewhat rewarding work. I also read about the (lack of) end-game and that definitely kills a lot of the purpose behind the journey. There are also way too many rocky planets that lack flora and fauna. That's more realistic, but I'd rather have unrealistic variety and visuals. My very first planet was a snow planet and it took me at least 30 more hours and 30 more planets to see only my second snow planet, which is a bit nuts. I've also seen a couple of planets that come close to what we expected the game to be full of (lush and teeming with life), but only a couple. Finding those planets makes everything interesting again, but they're so few and far between.

Despite those issues, I keep playing. I just want to get to the center so that I can call it quits and stop sinking hours into grinding. I could quit now, but I can't bring myself to stop short of journey completion, even though I know that there's nothing to experience at the end.

Anyways, if anyone is reading this and starts a game, here are a few tips:

* Follow the Atlas path at least until you acquire/build an Atlas Pass v1. Then, in every space station that you enter, enter the door that requires that item (on the opposite end of the hangar to the door going to the trade terminal) and buy an Exosuit slot upgrade. Increasing your inventory capacity is so important. For some reason, I've never gotten a v2 or v3, so I don't know what's on the other sides of those doors, but v1 is well worth it for the suit upgrade slots that you get in space stations. EDIT: It sounds like the v1.1 "Foundation Update" removed the suit upgrade pods, so this may no longer be applicable.

* Similarly, when you're on planets and find those transmission things sending the orange light upwards, use them to search for Shelters. Often, the shelter that it'll spot for you will be a drop pod, where you can buy another Exosuit slot upgrade. Also, you can search for extra transmissions if you have extra bypass chips, and you'll get extra markers, so you can mark both a drop pod and an outpost, for example, before leaving to knock them both out. EDIT: If I'm reading the v1.1 "Foundation Update" patch notes correctly, those transmission things have been removed from planets because you can now upgrade your suit with tech to scan for drop pods, yourself.

* When you're mining on planets with harsh conditions and your cold/radiation/toxicity resistance is dropping, cut a deep hole (a cave) into the resource that you're mining and go as far inside of it as you can, until you see the blue "stabilizing" message and your resistance goes back up to 100%. You can also continue to mine from inside of that hole, staying safe while you do so.

* If you're following the Atlas path (which is considered the casual way to complete the game), keep all of the Atlas Stones that you receive at the Atlas Interfaces. Resist the temptation to sell them, even though they're worth 70K credits each. You'll need 10 of them to complete the Atlas path and any that you sell you'll have to buy for a whopping 2.5M credits each.

* If you're on PC, there's a mod called Fast Actions which removes the need to hold down the interact key (until the white circle completes). Interactions become instantaneous. Also, there's a LowFlight mod which makes it possible to fly low and that people swear by, but I found it really frustrating to land with, so I eventually removed it. Finally, there's a "LaunchCost" mod that lets you disable or reduce the thruster launch cost if you like to land and take off frequently and are tired of being penalized for doing so and having to recharge thrusters so often.

 

[Osprey]

When I bumped this the other day, I almost asked if anyone was still playing it, but didn't because of course some people were still playing it. I guess that no one is. RIP, No Man's Sky.

I think that I may be done playing, myself. I realized today that even using the "shortcuts," black holes, to get to the center of the galaxy was getting me only 1,500 light years closer each time. Considering that I'm 175,000 light years away, that means that I would have to locate and then travel through over 100 (one... hundred) black holes or "shortcuts" just to complete this game. Forget that! How is that even an option to complete the game?

The only realistic way to complete the game appears to be the Atlas path, and I could get back on it, but, at this point, I'd have to grind for days to get the 15M credits to buy back all of the Atlas Stones that I sold before I realized that you needed to hang onto them. How colossally have you screwed up development when a game gets less fun the closer to the end that you get and players would rather just quit than subject themselves to the tedious grind to finish? I seriously wonder if anyone at Hello Games had ever designed a game before. It seems like they have a team of talented designers that really knows how to make a fantastic tech demo and no one who really has any idea how to make a true game out of it. I had a lot of fun with it as a tech demo, make no mistake. It's just a shame that it's not worth completing.

 

[XX]

There is no completion or end. The 'ending' is a giant **** you as well, Osprey.

 

[18Hossa]

http://www.no-mans-sky.com/foundation-update/

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Another settlement needs your help.

 

[XX]

http://www.no-mans-sky.com/foundation-update/

Problem is there's still no compelling reason to do any of this. It's a sandbox with no story or point to playing.

 

[Osprey]

http://www.no-mans-sky.com/foundation-update/

There seem to be a lot of good fixes in there. Some of the ones that stood out to me:

* You can now stack items up to 5x on starships (and the new freighters).
* You can now buy a freighter to hold cargo that you don't want to carry on your ship.
* Scanning planets from space will apparently reveal the mineral types that they have.
* Scanned "primary" resources now show exactly what they are, rather than just what type they are. For example, Plutonium is marked by "Pu" and Thamium 9 by "Th" instead of both being marked by a lightning bolt.
* You can now scan for suit upgrades (drop pods, I think) directly from your suit.
* There's now a quick inventory menu where you can quickly recharge your main components that frequently need it (mining beam, life support, etc.).
* There are many different tweaks to algorithms and colors to produce planets with a bit more variety and visual interest.

There are lots more, but those are the ones that caught my attention. They don't sound like they drastically change the game or really fix the core complaints, particularly the journey, but they sound like they make the sandbox a little better and the grind a little easier. I'm not sure how many people will go back to the game for the changes--maybe the base building, just to try it out--but they might make it a bit easier for those playing the game for the first time.

 

[misterchainsaw]

I mean, the destination was never really the point of the game. It would have been nice if there was a deeper lore and the way to the center was more clear (and shorter for the non atlas path), but ultimately it's a game about finding cool procedurally generated ****.

I'll probably throw it in and try the survival mode. I really don't care whatsoever about bases, because I'll never stay in one place in a game like this for more than a couple of play sessions (and that's at a max) anyway.

I stand by what I said after it had been out for a couple weeks. It's an ambitious but ultimately flawed game. I agree with both gamespot's and game informer's reviews putting it between a 6 and a 7. I got a solid 60 hours out of it, and I don't regret the purchase whatsoever.

 

[Timeless Winter]

The new update is frickin awesome.

 

[sobrien]

I popped it back in and didn't notice much of a difference, but I only played for about 30 mins.

This is what I held onto the game for though, massive updates and hopefully, eventually a new experience.

 

[McDNicks17]

New patch looks pretty good.

This is basically what I was expecting with this game. If it had of released at an indie price with less hype and then added patches like this along the way, I think the public opinion would be the opposite of what it is now.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

This patch needs to be the first of many

This is still salvageable in terms of content and they ought to focus on that

Who cares about nameless NeoGAFers foaming at the mouth?

 

[Butchered]

I've always been a champion of what this game could become.

I enjoyed the original game, too. I had no intention of attempting to finish, just wanted to explore and gather stuff. I'm pretty excited about what they can do with this game.

 

[Commander Clueless]

New patch looks pretty good.

This is basically what I was expecting with this game. If it had of released at an indie price with less hype and then added patches like this along the way, I think the public opinion would be the opposite of what it is now.

Absolutely.

But they didn't.



Still, if/when this game hits the $20 or less mark with a few patches down the road, I'll probably look it up again.


The concept remains intriguing.

 

[misterchainsaw]

Been super busy, so I haven't gotten to the update yet (it's downloaded but I'm on a Heroes 3/Civ VI binge), but apparently there's evidence of vehicles in the data files of the update. Not necessarily that they are implemented yet, but something that could be coming in a later update.