Elite Dangerous - Yay or Nay?

[Yosharian]

Ah ED...

It's potentially the best game I won't ever recommend to anyone. I have a personal love and hate relationship with it.

Exactly what you just said. I have about 700 hours logged and near-zero desire to play it again.

I will say that if you do get into the Engineer grind, at least the Engineering system itself gives you a reason to actually obtain materials that exist in the game, mining, surface mining, etc.

But there are so many shitty, un-fun mechanics still in the game that, as you say, I can barely recommend it to anyone.

 

[Suchy]

nay.. this game is not optimized for virtual reality.

lolwut? There's probably no other game where VR adds as much, can't imagine playing it on a monitor. The only issue is with keyboard shortcuts, because you can't really see the keyboard, so a voice recognition software is a must (I'm using VoiceAttack).

 

[Yosharian]

nay.. this game is not optimized for virtual reality.

lolwut? There's probably no other game where VR adds as much, can't imagine playing it on a monitor. The only issue is with keyboard shortcuts, because you can't really see the keyboard, so a voice recognition software is a must (I'm using VoiceAttack).

The game is extremely poorly designed when it comes to VR, and he's absolutely right, it's not optimized well at all.

 

[J_C]

nay.. this game is not optimized for virtual reality.

lolwut? There's probably no other game where VR adds as much, can't imagine playing it on a monitor. The only issue is with keyboard shortcuts, because you can't really see the keyboard, so a voice recognition software is a must (I'm using VoiceAttack).

The game is extremely poorly designed when it comes to VR, and he's absolutely right, it's not optimized well at all.

What are you missing from the game exactly, regarding the VR?

 

[anvi]

A USB virtual vagina?

 

[Yosharian]

nay.. this game is not optimized for virtual reality.

lolwut? There's probably no other game where VR adds as much, can't imagine playing it on a monitor. The only issue is with keyboard shortcuts, because you can't really see the keyboard, so a voice recognition software is a must (I'm using VoiceAttack).

The game is extremely poorly designed when it comes to VR, and he's absolutely right, it's not optimized well at all.

What are you missing from the game exactly, regarding the VR?

To play this game anywhere near optimally, you need access to third-party websites. You can't do that while wearing a VR headset. Plus, the galaxy map is an abomination in VR mode. Driving around in the SRV is awful in VR, as well. The outfitting menus don't work properly. Not to mention that the stuff you could spend the majority of your time doing in Elite, such as wandering about in supercruise, performing endless hyperspace jumps, or doing any monotonous crap like trading, VR is crap for stuff like that.

The only thing VR is halfway decent for is dog-fighting. The rest of the time, it's a complete waste of time.

 

[Suchy]

nay.. this game is not optimized for virtual reality.

lolwut? There's probably no other game where VR adds as much, can't imagine playing it on a monitor. The only issue is with keyboard shortcuts, because you can't really see the keyboard, so a voice recognition software is a must (I'm using VoiceAttack).

The game is extremely poorly designed when it comes to VR, and he's absolutely right, it's not optimized well at all.

What are you missing from the game exactly, regarding the VR?

To play this game anywhere near optimally, you need access to third-party websites. You can't do that while wearing a VR headset. Plus, the galaxy map is an abomination in VR mode. Driving around in the SRV is awful in VR, as well. The outfitting menus don't work properly. Not to mention that the stuff you could spend the majority of your time doing in Elite, such as wandering about in supercruise, performing endless hyperspace jumps, or doing any monotonous crap like trading, VR is crap for stuff like that.

The only thing VR is halfway decent for is dog-fighting. The rest of the time, it's a complete waste of time.

Ok, I can agree on third party websites - though I rarely need to do any switching... like taking the headset off once an hour to plan the next route, while sitting in a base, is not that much of a problem. And yeah, galaxy map is shit, but easy enough to get used to. Partially agree with supercruise, for that i've mapped galnet under voice commands, or listen to some podcasts. I don't feel the need to watch youtube or whatever while travelling. Still it's very much possible to use a VR overlay app, where you can play vids or whatever - tried that, but got bored and got back to podcasts.
SRV in VR is fucking awesome, and absolutely no problem with any menus.

 

[Fedora Master]

SRVs are godawful crap even without VR so vOv

 

[anvi]

Stevie Ray Vaughan plays in VR?

 

[Jacob]

This thread is hilarious. Even more hilarious is the existence of the Elite-style space sim. It's an incredibly niche genre. Codexian's standard of "fun game" doesn't even apply to most of the well-liked ones. Yet more often it bait naive mainstream gamer into trying it, for the obvious reason that space is cool and flying spaceships even more so. Then predictably they got butthurt about the genre's incredibly tedious gameplay. And usually for good reasons, too.

 

[SpaceGhost]

Big fat nay. It's kind of cool for the first 10 hours or so, but by that point you've smoked all your weed so you realize the game isn't actually fun.

 

[DDZ]

Cuntbag.

Still love it.

 

[Morkar Left]

Cuntbag.

Still love it.

FYI Steam counts the time the launcher is running.

I mean I really hope that's what I'm seeing here...

 

[DDZ]

Cuntbag.

Still love it.

FYI Steam counts the time the launcher is running.

I mean I really hope that's what I'm seeing here...

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.

 

[Morkar Left]

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!

 

[Burning Bridges]

I have only 346 hours and even that was approximately 300 too much.

I recently uninstalled the shit because I needed a few terabyte space for flightsm scenery.

 

[CaffeineConquistador]

A few terabytes? I’m legit curious, what sim are you playing?

 

[Burning Bridges]

X-Plane 11 with Ortho4XP terrain

Basically you cram 1/2m resolution aerial imagery onto your harddisks and double the electricity bill by running the converter overnight.
I filled half a 4TB drive in 1 week

Spoiler

 

[AN4RCHID]

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

That's how I played MS Flight Sim X, just relax with a beer and put on a podcast. I tried the same with E:D in VR but the mentioned useability issues eventually got to me, and I didn't want to switch back to a monitor because it looks and feels so much better in VR. If they could fix the VR interface it would be a great background game.

 

[McPlusle]

What about the first three Elite games? It seems as if those were rather obscure here in the states, and nowadays there are several ways to play all three through sourceports or DOS or what have you

 

[Morkar Left]

What about the first three Elite games? It seems as if those were rather obscure here in the states, and nowadays there are several ways to play all three through sourceports or DOS or what have you

Instead of the original Elite I recommend a fully modded Oolite. You can download and install mods right from the game menu. Make sure to get these gfx upgrade mods.

For Elite First Encounters there are some modded versions too with improved graphics. Look for FFE d3d AndyJ version.

 

[anvi]

They are all stupid and boring. You either trade virtual goods like a loser, do fedex quests, or you engage in the worst most pointless combat. It is amazing that the games industry is so bad, it can turn being a space pilot into something so boring and low tech.

 

[Burning Bridges]

You really need to have played Elite in the mid/late 1980s to understand how good it was. 8-bit Elite gameplay was as much ahead of its time as IV is behind.

It was like stepping into a time machine that took you at least 10 years forward. You had probably played nothing in your life but 2d jump&runs in which you steer crude animals over the road so they dont get squashed by much too fast cars. And suddenly you were in a PC-like scifi simulator with 3d graphics and real economics. neither the 3d graphics nor the economics look like much today but oh boy were they a step into the future in 1986. The fact that the game was hard as fuck (considering you probably pirated it and had no manual) made it even more rewarding when you finally started making money. It felt like you EARNED it like a businessman and not just by jumping left and right.

It seriously puzzles me though how Braben could have been part in this. He either completely stuck his head in arse for 30 years or is untalented as a game designer. To think he went with this arcadish b/s while some Croatian nobodies come up with something like Hellion, it's ridiculous.

 

[anvi]

I played it in the mid 80s, but it still disappointed me. I liked playing around in a virtual universe, felt immersed, tried to trade some drugs or something, got chased by cops, etc. It was cool. But I got quickly bored because there just isn't much substance there. For early 80s it was fair enough, but in all these years and with a bunch of sequels, they still haven't developed it into something bigger. It is mostly still the same game each time, just with updated graphics. At least the X series tries to let you own your own corporation with your own fleets of ships and some intergalactic war and whatnot. They always make a mess of it, but at least they try

Space Rangers 2 is still the only time I really loved a space game, because the combat is interesting enough that even with 1000 battles, I don't get bored. Also the trading is dull in every game, but at least in space rangers I can trade from one station to another in about 1 minute. Also I loved the Dominators, they were untouchable for a long time, had to be scared of them and flee if you even see them. Then eventually I was strong enough to sneak into an area and pick a few of them off before escaping. And then late game you can take them all on. That sense of progression was awesome.

 

[Fishy]

I absolutely loved FE2/FFE. The scope of it was awesome for me, and having all those systems generated with each planet/moon with its own orbit and rotation was great, not to mention going down in gas giant atmospheres to refuel, landing on any solid planetery body. Plus, as a single player game, it came with time compression, making those long trips quickish irl but taking days/weeks igt, which gave an actual sense of scale to the universe. Sure it was rather lifeless and combat could certainly have been done better (although 99% of people complaining about FE2/FFE combat being jousting never found the 'engine off' button to start manoeuvering relative to the enemy ship), but it was a magnificent feat and I spent a lot of time in there.

I was really hoping for an Elite 4 taking that concept further with better graphics and a better populated world, instead of going full retard multiplayer and point-blank-ww2-in-space flight model.