Elite Dangerous - Yay or Nay?

[MadMaxHellfire]

no wonder the latest expansion is a travesty.

 

[Razor]

So. No ship interiors I take it?

The main thing the feet crowd wanted and they fail to provide.

Also what about wreck salvage- are there new objects peeps have seen? Can you enter wrecks? There are some interesting opportunities in theory like derelict mega/generation ships on moons but that would require imagination and a focused team.

 

[Fedora Master]

The only thing the space legs retards achieved is the total destruction of the planetary generation system.

 

[Stokowski]

I haven't logged in to Elite for a while, but, good old Frontier were kind enough to email me with a roundup of the forums:

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Works on Braben's machine

At this point I'm 90% sure the entire industry just has this post templated and whips it out whenever something goes wrong. Its such an empty PR response.
"Yes we know we sold you a box of garbage but if you give us 2-3 years we promise the smell will eventually go away and you can enjoy your garbage in peace"
The icing on the cake is "it works for me I didn't see any bugs".

As with No Man's Sky this only happens because gamers are easily pleased retards. They all enjoy the narrative that No Man's Sky is "redeemed" but can't be bothered to actually play the game and find out it's still just as shallow and hollow as before. But with more grind islands. The same will happen here. As it will with Cyberpunk. ED Dads a year from now will shout from the rafters that Odyssey is "fixed" because they added "content" which I guarantee will be some form of engineer grind or some other tedious bullshit. We still won't get ship interiors, nor VR support. The fundamental problems with ED won't be fixed. But ED Dads will be satisfied like the starving and pathetic dogs they are.

 

[Fedora Master]

Either that or they'll abandon it like they did the Arena or Powerplay.

 

[Fedora Master]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/359320/discussions/0/3112530528178714659/?ctp=6#c3112530528185747484

Is it worth it? Absolutely not. In its current state Odyssey breaks more than it fixes and when it does fix some things it leaves other things broken instead. The problem here is that you could be putting in effort into your gameplay only to end up with either nothing, fines, lost stuff without anything in return and thus in the end pure frustration.

I'm not even talking about the disconnects and the GUI issues, nor am I talkign about the bad performance and the change in the way planets look. I'm merely talking about game mechanics.

Ground stations / settlements have become more important within Odyssey. So add some to your bookmarks and you'll never find 'm again. For some reason Odyssey adds bookmarked planetary outposts / settlements into the systems category so that you won't be able to see them unless you edit your bookmarks.

Using synthesis to create items or enhance others is an important mechanic. For example, you can boost your FSD to make a bigger jump. Not in Odyssey of course, it'll happily take your materials, claim for 3 seconds that your FSD is 'boosted' and then things return to normal.

Are you hunting for earth like planets? Get ready to discover them all over again because they are no longer called "earth like" within the system map nor will you be able to recognize them in said map because they're no longer blue but brownish. For that extra sense of realism, you know. Of course... once you're in the system and you have targetted said planet then it will be called "earth like" as usual. FDev have only enhanced the system map, not the in-flight controls.

FDev supports the war on drugs, and therefor we were no longer able to select any drug related commodity in the galaxy map, not even if a passenger asked us about it. After all, drugs are only for the engineers, not for the plebs. Yah, there was a small side effect though which also disallowed us from looking up any other commodity as well but yeah... details, accidents happen (this has been fixed but... meh, couldn't resist).

Do you enjoy the quick - to the point - navigation within Horizons? For example.. having the ability to add and remove a planet to your bookmarks using one click while using the system map? Well, look no further because this has been enhanced! To prevent accidental removals FDev have made sure that in order to remove something you'll have to do at least 3 clicks before you'll be able to remove anyting. You can never be too careful!

Do you enjoy outfitting your ship? Yah, we all know that was waay too easy. You just couldn't shop for you rmodules in a relaxed fashion, nor could you look for modules you wouldn't ever need anyway. So please say hi to the new and improved outfitting menu where the motto is: "Buy first, worry about outfitting later". Commanders have too much credits anyway so... why not!

The stores never go out of modules in Odyssey! See, in Horizons you were sometimes confronted with "doesn't sell this module" error messages, that's no good. So to make things more friendly this has been replaced so that the shop will now also show you all the modules you already have! No, not one, all of the same category. Looking for an extra burst laser? Then we'll make sure to show you all the burst lasers you already own so that you won't notice that the station you're at doesn't even sell any burst lasers to begin with. Confusing? Absolutely not, this way we'll protect the feelings of the stations engineer for when you don't open the burst laser section. It's not their fault that the station has no burst lasers you know.. who are you to complain?

But wait! There's more! To make shopping even more exciting FDev have also made sure to show you only what you already have vs. what's available, even if the station does sell stuff. So... you have 3 multi cannons and you're looking for more? Then the shopping screen will show you '3' in the overview as if the station doesn't have any multicannons for sale. Surprise!, it actually does! Aren't you happy now?

What? waste of time? Not being able to tell what is actually being sold? How rude! Stop being lazy and just open up all the categories to check for yourself. Realism!

 

[Fishy]

I'm still enjoying this a lot. I know I'll get bored, but that's the best time I've had with Elite in years. The performance on the ground is shocking though, they're doomed if they don't fix that.

 

[Razor]

We still won't get ship interiors, nor VR support.

tsevo?

VR was working fine in Horizons about three weeks ago when I last logged in. Is it broken with odyssey?

 

[Kao]

We still won't get ship interiors, nor VR support.

tsevo?

VR was working fine in Horizons about three weeks ago when I last logged in. Is it broken with odyssey?

It's not even broken, just isn't available. If you get out of your ship while using Odyssey in VR the game switches to a virtual TV screen 2d window mode - there's no way to play the on foot part of the game (ie Odyssey itself) in 3d with head tracking.

 

[Razor]

Oh FFS

 

[ADL]

Odyssey's planetary gameplay is already damn near unplayable on desktops. You wouldn't want to play it in VR

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[Mortmal]

Odyssey's planetary gameplay is already damn near unplayable on desktops. You wouldn't want to play it in VR

Not unplayable on my rig,also VR is not making me sick ever . But its a big letdown. A primitive shooter, riddled with microtransactions, in randomly generated bases, with very little variation. It doesnt look bad but why would someone grind for that.

 

[Fedora Master]

It doesnt look bad but why would someone grind for that.

That could be asked of the game in general.

 

[DDZ]

I know it does, that's probably a good 100 hours of it.

I got myself from 0 to Cutter twice, and I love flying around and seeing the sights, and I am not ashamed of it either.

Now I have 270 hours in No Mans Sky, that's much worse, especially since I can't remember a single moment I really enjoyed the game.

But, I just really enjoy laid back games these days. just listen to music or some podcasts and play something not too involved.

I admire your abundance of freetime!

So do I, but all of those games I play while doing other things with my free time too, listen to podcasts, music and watch movies/films.

That's why I hardly play any games that make me focus on a story, because it is shit anyway, and I'd rather be doing two things.

 

[.Pixote.]

What I hate about this game is the grind was deliberately designed into the mechanics because fundamentally the developers are lazy cunts.

 

[Gammer]

Nay

 

[Burning Bridges]

Yeah, especially if you can play with said friend. It's worth the investment. Steam has me clocked in at just under 100 hours, which is a lot more than most games I bought at around 12€.

My life has me clocked even at over 1000 hours vacuuming and dishwashing, but that doesn't make it a meaningful experience either.

All games are essentially pointless, but the thing about games like Elite is that you spend your precious spare time with things that are not only pointless but repetitive and boring as fuck.

 

[anvi]

jk lol

 

[Inconceivable]

All games are essentially pointless...

That is an interesting philosophical subject. What is the point of anything, what is the purpose of life, and how should we spend our time?

First of all it's important to realize that there is low quality shit and high quality stuff everywhere. Some stuff can be outright detrimental while other stuff can enhance your personal development. This applies to everything, books, movies, friendships, outdoor experiences and games.
Obviously, you should aim for the high quality stuff when deciding how to spend your time.

Having gotten that out of the way, I think video games are better than their reputation. Games have traditionally a bad rep as useless time wasters. I think this is hypocritical and bias against the "new thing". People are always prejudiced against new technology, like they thought trains were bad for you when the steam engine was invented, because the human body wasn't made for that acceleration and it would squash your brains...
I need someone who regards gaming as useless time wasting to explain to me, how reading a book, visiting a museum of fine art or going to the theater is better than gaming. All of the aforementioned activities are frequently considered to be worthwhile and illustrious, much superior to gaming. But I see no factual basis for such a judgement - a well crafted game is a combined work of art of hundred of individual artists which allows something that any other art form lacks, namely interactivity, thereby in a way transcending all other art forms.

Gaming also holds up well not just compared to other art forms, but also to experiences. Many people say life is not about things, but about experiences, and I tend to agree. But due to the interactivity and immersion, a good game is also an experience. Maybe this is different for some people, but thinking back to real-life experiences I had, they occupy the same "memory space" as all my hours sitting in a TIE Fighter, being immersed in the world of the Witcher or in the wild west of Red Dead Redemption. All of these are real experiences in my head that shaped who I am.

A video game is not a complete replacement for real-life experiences, and I do think it is important to also go out there and have real experiences, to stay in touch with the world. But it is the next best thing. And in many ways allows to have experiences and explore worlds that are impossible in the real world.
Games can also be a great teaching tool, since play is the natural way for mammals to learn. I got my interest in history, geography and cultures from playing Civilization, and I owe my career as a software developer out of the desire to create my own games, which motivated me to learn about computers and programming.

So, back to the original statement, are all games essentially pointless? Well, games can be pointless time wasters, especially dopamine-powered, addiction inducing mobile games like candy crush. But a high quality game is among the greatest artistic and technical achievements that human culture can currently accomplish, so you could do worse with your time that spending it with such.

 

[Inconceivable]

And what high quality games can you name?

I named a few in my post.
The Witcher 1, 2 and of course 3, tell as good a story as any book and include a few life lessons to boot, while featuring beautifully crafted world building, art and music. Same thing can be said of Red Dead Redemption 2.
The Civilization series is a playful way to learn about cultures, history and technology.
TIE Fighter is just an excellent, deep space combat sim, giving an experience that is obviously unattainable in the real world.

Then there's also Minecraft, that has probably taught a million kids about Java programming, computer graphics, 3D modelling and animation, due to the engaged modding community. Also the redstone systems playfully teaches about circuitry, an I know kids who have become very interested in minerals and geology thanks to Minecraft. Others have been motivated to explore nature and survival and go on hiking and camping trips thanks to Minecraft. The best games for kids and young people are the likes of Civilization and Minecraft, that playfully introduce them into a wide range of topics and thereby raise new interests in the real world. Another great example of such a game would probably also be Kerbal Space Program.

I'm mentioning the cream of the crop here, with a focus on edutainment, but like Witcher or RDR, I think games that have a good story to tell are also worthwhile of anyone's time. Even some mainstream action-oriented games like Assassins Creed (e.g. 1 & 2) tell a great story while introducing the player to cultures, cities and landmarks of the corresponding age. There are a lot of high quality games.

What is a low-quality or even detrimental game? Well, as mentioned, a lot of mobile games, a la candy-crush, with simple puzzles to solve or regular upkeep to reap some rewards and get a dopamine kick, that is the equivalent of a "friend" that you just hang out with to smoke weed while chilling on the couch. A lot of multiplayer shooters, like Counter Strike, Call of Duty, etc. are probably also not the most worthwhile things to spend your time on.

 

[Burning Bridges]

All games are essentially pointless...

That is an interesting philosophical subject. What is the point of anything, what is the purpose of life, and how should we spend our time?

First of all it's important to realize that there is low quality shit and high quality stuff everywhere. Some stuff can be outright detrimental while other stuff can enhance your personal development. This applies to everything, books, movies, friendships, outdoor experiences and games.
Obviously, you should aim for the high quality stuff when deciding how to spend your time.

Having gotten that out of the way, I think video games are better than their reputation. Games have traditionally a bad rep as useless time wasters. I think this is hypocritical and bias against the "new thing". People are always prejudiced against new technology, like they thought trains were bad for you when the steam engine was invented, because the human body wasn't made for that acceleration and it would squash your brains...
I need someone who regards gaming as useless time wasting to explain to me, how reading a book, visiting a museum of fine art or going to the theater is better than gaming. All of the aforementioned activities are frequently considered to be worthwhile and illustrious, much superior to gaming. But I see no factual basis for such a judgement - a well crafted game is a combined work of art of hundred of individual artists which allows something that any other art form lacks, namely interactivity, thereby in a way transcending all other art forms.

Gaming also holds up well not just compared to other art forms, but also to experiences. Many people say life is not about things, but about experiences, and I tend to agree. But due to the interactivity and immersion, a good game is also an experience. Maybe this is different for some people, but thinking back to real-life experiences I had, they occupy the same "memory space" as all my hours sitting in a TIE Fighter, being immersed in the world of the Witcher or in the wild west of Red Dead Redemption. All of these are real experiences in my head that shaped who I am.

A video game is not a complete replacement for real-life experiences, and I do think it is important to also go out there and have real experiences, to stay in touch with the world. But it is the next best thing. And in many ways allows to have experiences and explore worlds that are impossible in the real world.
Games can also be a great teaching tool, since play is the natural way for mammals to learn. I got my interest in history, geography and cultures from playing Civilization, and I owe my career as a software developer out of the desire to create my own games, which motivated me to learn about computers and programming.

So, back to the original statement, are all games essentially pointless? Well, games can be pointless time wasters, especially dopamine-powered, addiction inducing mobile games like candy crush. But a high quality game is among the greatest artistic and technical achievements that human culture can currently accomplish, so you could do worse with your time that spending it with such.

I spent over 30 years of my life playing games instead of having a family or inventing something groundbreaking. Who the hell do think you need to make the wall of text for.

Games are fucking pointless but so is everything in life. The best you can achieve in life is to be satisfied with yourself and what you are doing and in that regard playing games instead of competing with others over stupid things is a way of finding great freedom. Unless it makes you a depressed, lonely and hateful asshole as it does with half the gamers. So don't think you can get away with anything either young man.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Only a complete moron would begin a list of quality top games with Witcher 1,2,3.

 

[anvi]

And what high quality games can you name?

Minecraft
Assassins Creed (e.g. 1 & 2)