PlayStation Plus Not Required for No Man's Sky

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PlayStation Plus Not Required for No Man's Sky

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1338/1338303.jpgYou won't need PlayStation Plus for No Man's Sky, Hello Games says.

If you were worried about having to subscribe to PlayStation Plus to play No Man's Sky, you can relax. Hello Games has confirmed that the game will not require you to be subscribed to Sony's online service.

In fact, the chance of you meeting up with a friend is so remote that both Sony [http://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/] have the game listed as a single-player title. Taking that into account, it makes sense why Sony chose not to require PS Plus for this one.

A Hello Games representative told Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/07/25/no-mans-sky-will-not-require-playstation-plus.aspx] that "PS Plus won't be a requirement to play online, however you will need to connected to the internet for your discoveries to register with the universal atlas." The atlas is basically the NMS leaderboard, and also functions as the repository of all the information that all players have discovered in the game.

No Man's Sky is coming to PC and PS4 on August 9.

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[Neurotic Void Melody]

*Rubs goatee in contemplation* Hmm...So there is a database building a map of the entire universe or just a list of discoveries and attached discoverers? Also, I wonder if they have done any QA testing for people interacting online, or if they're just assuming it will never occur and if it does, the game will sink into a self-induced coma.

 

[MCerberus]

sink into a self-induced coma.

This is the generally-advised course of action for any online interaction these days, whether you're a dev, player, or have a twitter account and unpopular opinion.

OT- I wasn't aware that anyone thought it would be required. Always looked like a chill SP game. Still waiting for reviews. Have prime so I have 2 weeks to see how those settle while getting the usual discount

 

[fix-the-spade]

or if they're just assuming it will never occur and if it does, the game will sink into a self-induced coma.

We shall see, but it looks like Sony really want this game to succeed.

Suspect it'll be like Elite is, meeting other players will be a somewhat imprecise art as you try to account for lag while you interact, with the chaos being barely noticeable around 1 or 2, but all but unplayable once it becomes dozens or hundreds.

I bet players will start butting heads on release day, humans are too trollish not to attack each other.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

We shall see, but it looks like Sony really want this game to succeed.

Suspect it'll be like Elite is, meeting other players will be a somewhat imprecise art as you try to account for lag while you interact, with the chaos being barely noticeable around 1 or 2, but all but unplayable once it becomes dozens or hundreds.

I bet players will start butting heads on release day, humans are too trollish not to attack each other.

Didn't the developers mention that they intend to add a more traditional multiplayer in a future update?

Hell, even a co-op mode would be great.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Didn't the developers mention that they intend to add a more traditional multiplayer in a future update?

Hell, even a co-op mode would be great.

Devs say a lot of things, until it's actually released I tend to ignore them when they promise things.

 

[Naldan]

I'll wait for reviews/videos. If unfavourable from my point of view, I'll wait for some years for massive discount.



I still don't get the appeal. It comes across like Spore with less player-induced creativity regarding the space stage. And regarding space stuff, aside from planets that have (seemingly?) no purpouse like quests or whatever, what does this make better than X3?

 

[Raioken18]

I'll wait for reviews/videos. If unfavourable from my point of view, I'll wait for some years for massive discount.

I still don't get the appeal. It comes across like Spore with less player-induced creativity regarding the space stage. And regarding space stuff, aside from planets that have (seemingly?) no purpouse like quests or whatever, what does this make better than X3?

Hopefully it is a bit easier to use. Not requiring hours of reading before even beginning to play the game, trying to remember everything you learnt. It seemed like the dog fighting was a little easier as opposed to some of the X3 games where you had to jump into a 1 vs 3 fight where your enemies had the same or better ships than you, and you really had to out fly them to beat like tutorial stages. The beginning of those games were the hardest part, once you upgraded your ship the whole thing became a very slow cake walk.

It seems like the planets will serve as a resource collection point, replacing asteroid mining in a more entertaining way and containing trading hubs and localised quests (Investigating crash sites at least appears to be a quest). They've already said that some planets will have strongholds and underground caves, both being hard to explore but containing some rewards beyond normal resources.

I think I would get it straight away but I won't have my computer for the first 2 weeks it's out so I will just have to wait regardless.

 

[Raioken18]

or if they're just assuming it will never occur and if it does, the game will sink into a self-induced coma.

We shall see, but it looks like Sony really want this game to succeed.

Suspect it'll be like Elite is, meeting other players will be a somewhat imprecise art as you try to account for lag while you interact, with the chaos being barely noticeable around 1 or 2, but all but unplayable once it becomes dozens or hundreds.

I bet players will start butting heads on release day, humans are too trollish not to attack each other.

Good point... considering they said that the multiplayer interaction would be like Dark Souls I can see certain players taking to curb stomping noobs...

 

[coates32]

It's not surprising to me that PS Plus will not be required to play the game since it's up for pre-order on GOG. But I have to ask, will the multiplayer aspect require PS Plus?

 

[NLS]

This further empathizes the notion that multiplayer barely exists or even works. So much of this game has been left unexplained or just answered with "billions of star systems, no one will ever be able to explore everything or see another player". I want to explore the galaxy with a friend, to feel like there's something more to see and experience than just the endless amounts of procedurally generated content. I just want to look at the horizon on a foreign planet and say "woah" to a friend standing next to me, I don't need PvP for it to qualify as MP.

Elite: Dangerous managed to keep a somewhat alive and manouverable galaxy despite featuring about 4 billion star systems. Most of the populated and interesting locations can be found in the habitable zone, which is a relatively small part of the galaxy compared to the rest. Most of the gameplay related to trading, factions, bounty hunting, ship upgrades and such were oriented around here, as well as being the starting point for most new players. Many of these systems were even hand crafted and based on known systems such as the Sol system and nearby ones. This made it somewhat easy to team up with a friend or random dude and go out on an adventure, either staying in the habitable space, or venturing out into uncharted space and leave your name on undiscovered systems. I rarely even made it out of habitable space, keeping my ship busy working and exploring nearby systems.

If you didn't fancy the thought of PvP possibly taking place in your neighborhood, you could simply play in your own private instance alone, or create/join a group instance where people knew each other or disallowed it.

Meanwhile, word on multiplayer in No Mans Sky is always just hushed away with the promise of such a large galaxy you'll never even see another person, or defended by players who don't want to risk a PvP or trolling shitfest. There's got to be a middle ground, and it's fully possible if they committed themselves to doing it properly. If and when someone randomly stumbles on another player, how will the game even handle it? Will it be balanced? How will it handle griefing or trolling? Disconnects during player sessions? Is there a bounty system set on PvP players? I'm just afraid that "first contact" in NMS is going to be an unpleasant experience until they've properly went out and supported MP.

I want NMS to be a great experience, but I'm reluctant to drop full AAA priced cash on a title where so many questions have been left unanswered for such a long time.

 

[weirdee]

*Rubs goatee in contemplation* Hmm...So there is a database building a map of the entire universe or just a list of discoveries and attached discoverers? Also, I wonder if they have done any QA testing for people interacting online, or if they're just assuming it will never occur and if it does, the game will sink into a self-induced coma.

I mean, it would be easier and cheaper to do it the Minecraft way: it just comes up with what's there when you go to it.

Of course, this does mean that the closer you get to the center, the smaller the area gets, so the people who get there the fastest will probably have their names immortalized, if the universe doesn't get wiped regularly.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

It's not surprising to me that PS Plus will not be required to play the game since it's up for pre-order on GOG. But I have to ask, will the multiplayer aspect require PS Plus?

PS+ is not system required, its opt-in by the dev/publisher. So if NMS is flagged as not needing PS+, then it doesn't need it period.

 

[Janichsan]

.So there is a database building a map of the entire universe or just a list of discoveries and attached discoverers?

The latter. The magic of procedural generation is that you only need a (comparatively small) seed number and a rule set to come up with a homungous world that is the same for every player. The universe has not to be generated on the fly and then saved in an increasingly bloated database.

 

[Hyena200]

I bet players will start butting heads on release day, humans are too trollish not to attack each other.

I think you're grossly underestimating the size of the game. The chances of meeting another player are infinitesimally small. You'd have to be on the same planet at the same spot at the same time, or in the exact same sector of space at the same time. Players are separated from each other by hundreds of light years at the start of the game with no way to know where each other are, other than actually talking to each other in real life about it, and even then finding each other would be next to impossible as this isn't a game like Dark Souls where you can say, meet me at the start of Blighttown. In No Man's Sky it'll be like...

Player 1: Ok, I'm on this big red planet thats the 4th one out in its system. I've named it Zpekal. I'm standing next to some big rock that looks like a turnip, there's a lake behind me. Oh hang on, there's about 20,000 lakes on this planet and 4 million rocks. Errr.. I'm somewhere near the equatorial zone of the planet, I think.

Player 2: OK.. I'm 600 light years away so will need to buy four million litres of fuel then it'll take me about 3 weeks to jump to that planets system, if I can find it on the galaxy map. Then it'll take me 6 hours or so to fly round the whole equator of the planet to see if I can spot you, I hope you are near the equator cause otherwise it'll take me a few weeks to search the entire planet. Thats provided you don't move while I'm looking for you and if I'm actually even on the right planet. Can you hang on until I get there?

 

[wulfy42]

Actually, the chances are not nearly as small as you think, especially as time goes on, and most especially if people actively work to end up in areas near each other.

Yes, the NMS universe is HUGE and the chances of randomly starting in the same area as another player, even if 1 billion players start playing the game is small, but you have to account for a few things.

First you are randomly placed in the universe when you start, and you are NOT placed too near the center of the universe (One of the goals is to head inward towards the center of the universe, although it's not currently known how far towards the center you travel, or if people will eventually meet up in the middle eventually).

This does mean that only a certain percentage of the universe will be starting points for humans. It also means that you can start new games in order to start in a new place.

Now, if everyone got together and said (lets all just create new games till we end up in the lower west quadrant, for instance (perhaps requiring you to restart between 1-100 times on average), that would instantly make everyone start in an area 1/50th of the size of possible starting points.

Next, from that starting point, you have a point/area that everyone travels towards (although you may need to travel towards the center as a game goal, nothing stops you from heading in the other direction).

A set point in the middle of that area, means you effectively halve the size of the area for everyone to meet up (more for some), since at most a person on the edge of the area would need to travel halfway through it to reach the meet up point).

Now...the initial number of planets is about 18 quintillion...which is a ton. But if you initially start with say only 50% of the universe being available as a starting point...that drops it to 9 quintillion, then you have people re-start till they end up in a set area...and you have a meet up point in the middle that divides the number by 100....to 90 quadrillion. If you say there are 10 planets on average per system...that drops it to 9 quadrillion.

Now you need to divide that by the number of players who actually play the game and roll to start in the same area. While at first that number might be small, but if as a community it becomes a thing...you could eventually have most players doing this. So lets say conservatively that 100 million people eventually do this. That STILL leaves a 1 in 7 million chance of STARTING in the same system as someone else.

It then comes down to how far and fast you can actually travel in the game. If you actively work towards increasing the player density of an area in the game, it's quite possible that you could eventually get a decent number of people in the same areas of the game...all working towards getting closer to even more people. As time goes on, if this is a consistent goal of most players, you could have more and more people converging.

It would take time, work and coordination but eventually....it could be quite common to find other people in the NMS universe....just not when the game first starts.

 

[Hyena200]

First you are randomly placed in the universe when you start, and you are NOT placed too near the center of the universe

Every player starts on the edge of the starting galaxy, not randomly throughout the universe. The goal is to get to the centre of the galaxy, from the edge. Imagine a ball, when you start the game we're all sitting on the surface scattered all the way round the whole of that sphere and then heading into it.

(One of the goals is to head inward towards the center of the universe, although it's not currently known how far towards the center you travel, or if people will eventually meet up in the middle eventually).

This is true, we have no idea whats at the centre, or how big it will be, so those saying this will be the place we can meet aren't basing that on known facts. Its optimistic speculation at this stage.

This does mean that only a certain percentage of the universe will be starting points for humans. It also means that you can start new games in order to start in a new place.

See above, we all start on the outskirts of the galaxy.

Now, if everyone got together and said (lets all just create new games till we end up in the lower west quadrant, for instance (perhaps requiring you to restart between 1-100 times on average), that would instantly make everyone start in an area 1/50th of the size of possible starting points.

Thats if creating a new game will start you in a different point each time, which we don't yet know. Even if it did it could take 1,000's of restarts for all we know to end up in the same place as a collection of known people. This game is universe sized. Its something I think people are not clearly envisaging.

Next, from that starting point, you have a point/area that everyone travels towards (although you may need to travel towards the center as a game goal, nothing stops you from heading in the other direction).

A set point in the middle of that area, means you effectively halve the size of the area for everyone to meet up (more for some), since at most a person on the edge of the area would need to travel halfway through it to reach the meet up point).

Again, the area you're talking about is very very very very very big. It could take weeks to travel through it. The average time for an Elite Dangerous player to fly across the galaxy (one way) is 3-6 months. Then there's the journey back. No Man's Sky is bigger than Elite Dangerous.

Now...the initial number of planets is about 18 quintillion...which is a ton.

Its more than a ton. Its 18,000,000,000,000,000,000. To be honest, and this is definitely not meant in a derogatory way, I don't think our brains can actually envisage just how many that is.

But if you initially start with say only 50% of the universe being available as a starting point...that drops it to 9 quintillion, then you have people re-start till they end up in a set area...and you have a meet up point in the middle that divides the number by 100....to 90 quadrillion. If you say there are 10 planets on average per system...that drops it to 9 quadrillion.

9 quadrillion... that doesn't make it any easier to find someone. That still makes the chances so small it's unlikely to ever happen. Ever. 9 quadrillion written out is 9,000,000,000,000,000

Now you need to divide that by the number of players who actually play the game and roll to start in the same area. While at first that number might be small, but if as a community it becomes a thing...you could eventually have most players doing this. So lets say conservatively that 100 million people eventually do this. That STILL leaves a 1 in 7 million chance of STARTING in the same system as someone else.

We have no way of knowing how many people will play it, but even a 1 in 7 million chance is again so incredibly microscopic that its also incredibly unlikely that it will ever happen.

It then comes down to how far and fast you can actually travel in the game. If you actively work towards increasing the player density of an area in the game, it's quite possible that you could eventually get a decent number of people in the same areas of the game...all working towards getting closer to even more people. As time goes on, if this is a consistent goal of most players, you could have more and more people converging.

It would take time, work and coordination but eventually....it could be quite common to find other people in the NMS universe....just not when the game first starts.

I've no doubt people will try it. Its a great goal to attempt and I think will also be a popular one. But I don't think anyone yet can comprehend what it will take. At least thats the impression I get from whats been presented so far. It would indeed require a monumental act of effort, co-ordination and patience. Its more likely two players will meet by a random stroke of luck and may not even see each other. One could be taking off as the other one lands. All of this highlights very well though how people are still grossly underestimating the size of it. To think players will be butting heads from day one or killing noobs 'Dark Souls' style is really innaccurate when its applied to No Man's Sky. And none of the stats above convince me it'll be anything other than next to impossible to actually meet. More chance of winning the lottery in some countries actually. Time will tell though, only a couple of weeks left.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I think you're grossly underestimating the size of the game.

I think two things.

1) The Dev's claims are inflated.

2) They underestimate their soon to be player base.

We saw this in Elite: Dangerous. That has a map size 100'000 Light years across (roughly), and 400 billion possible destinations (400'000'000'000), yet players still find each other in deep space without a problem. Granted Elite's structure is a bit different in that all players start in the 'bubble' of inhabited space, but even deep space no-lifes like me can easily find other players and route plan out in the abyss beyond Sagittarius A.

NMS has an online map, it has players making charts, it will be days if not hours before players figure out a way to accurately gauge and communicate their position to other players. Depending on how fast they can cover ground (space?) I expect groups and clans to establish themselves extremely quickly.

If they can't and No Man's Sky is truly fly by yourself forever and all time I expect it to die pretty quickly in that way procedural games tend to.

 

[Hyena200]

I think you're grossly underestimating the size of the game.

I think two things.

1) The Dev's claims are inflated.

2) They underestimate their soon to be player base.

We saw this in Elite: Dangerous. That has a map size 100'000 Light years across (roughly), and 400 billion possible destinations (400'000'000'000), yet players still find each other in deep space without a problem. Granted Elite's structure is a bit different in that all players start in the 'bubble' of inhabited space, but even deep space no-lifes like me can easily find other players and route plan out in the abyss beyond Sagittarius A.

NMS has an online map, it has players making charts, it will be days if not hours before players figure out a way to accurately gauge and communicate their position to other players. Depending on how fast they can cover ground (space?) I expect groups and clans to establish themselves extremely quickly.

If they can't and No Man's Sky is truly fly by yourself forever and all time I expect it to die pretty quickly in that way procedural games tend to.

Whilst I expect the complete opposite to you and expect it to be far more popular than anyone here realises its going to be, as the single player game it was always intended to be. Also there's been no talk of any chart making functionality and from what we've seen of the galaxy map so far its impossible to tell how easy it will be to make charts out of, if anyone will even be arsed to do that. We do know that we can upload our planetary discoveries to the Atlas but thats all thats been said so far.

 

[Madmatty]

Yes I can play this game on ps4 without compromising my boycott I'm buying this game on ps4 first day it comes out