shrekfan246 said:
Cowabungaa said:
I never figured this game being a big mainstream title anyway.
I keep seeing this being brought up by people who defend the game, and I think it's a real good explanation for why we're seeing so much push-back to the concept of
No Man's Sky - the game has been getting the
hype of a mainstream title, without actually having the functional backend to be
presented as a mainstream title.
To be clear, I'm not saying that the developers themselves have been generating this hype (because that's another thing that constantly gets shouted back at me, that they've been really humble and straight-forward so where is all this hype that you're talking about coming from guys geez), but the talk surrounding the game in the gaming community has been building it up more and more, and exciting people who thought there would be more to it that "explore for the sake of exploring", and now that it seems like that's basically going to be the game, that excitement is deflating like so much air escaping out a balloon.
EDIT: That having been said, it also bears wondering what one considers to be "mainstream" in the first place. As mentioned, both
Minecraft and
Garry's Mod have been hugely popular, and functionally they wouldn't be too terribly different from what
No Man's Sky appears to be. (Though I do question how popular the aforementioned titles would've been without Youtube.)
I've actually kind of wondered whether going the route of E3, the partnership with Sony, etc, is going to do the game more good or ill in the long run, from a PR point of view. (Personally, the partnership means I get to get a physical copy, so that's a win for me! xP)
On the one hand, the E3 stage time and spotlight are going to help keep what's otherwise a small, indie space title from getting swallowed up by the hype for an established IP like Elite: Dangerous, or the famous/infamous Star Citizen. Bottom line, it got a lot of eyeballs on this game. But that meant it got eyeballs from folks who just wouldn't be interested in this sort of title, and presumably got sick of seeing/hearing about it, especially when it was presented with a similar level of prominence as major AAA titles that follow a more traditional structure. I also think sony's got a biiiit of a hand on the wheel when it comes to the marketing and presentation of the game, as Sean Murray once said (at least half jokingly) that he'd been advised not to use the word 'boring,' with regards to the fact that the game would obviously have a quieter pace, and likely stretches that aren't exciting in the traditional sense. I'm somewhat concerned the hype, coupled with a AAA publisher 'partner's' reluctance to show the game as the quieter, long-term time sink it's likely to be will ultimately derail it.
As for the concept of mainstream, I think it can be tricky to say what's a guaranteed success/failure until it's after the fact. I mean, we can draw probabilities, make educated guesses, but... well, from a technical standpoint, Minecraft (especially the earliest versions,) wasn't a complex game. Pretty much anyone with even a little talent could have created it pretty easily, probably a fair while before it was finally made, but they didn't because nobody thought it would turn into this colossal success. For Notch, it was just something to tinker with.
I'm not saying No Man's Sky is going that same direction, i.e. super massive success, just that Minecraft's massive popularity wasn't anticipated until years after its initial inception. And its sources of inspiration were games that ranged from solidly popular- Rollarcoaster Tycoon, Dungeon Keeper, etc- to truly obscure stuff like Infiniminer and Dwarf Fortress. There was nothing in its pedigree to indicate how big it would become.
And that ultimately boils down to user engagement; titles that some consider brilliant, dazzling, intoxicating, etc, others would label pedestrian, uninspired, utter trash even. Even Minecraft isn't safe from this, I know people who literally don't 'get' Minecraft, and think it's stupid and doesn't deserve its success. It's how The Last of Us can simultaneously have a metric boatload of perfect reviews, but also a fairly solid group of people who insist it's the most boring thing ever. It's why I can't be bothered to play any kind of racing game that isn't Mario Kart, because I consider it the second most boring genre on the planet, the first being sports games. xP Every game is going to engage some, and fail to engage others.
