No Mans Sky is, Still ALive

[sXeth]

Our own Escapist folk have it noted here https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2...sky-horror-update-dr-disrespects-future-more/


No Mans Sky has an odd distinction of having gone from the pinnacle of AAA (although it was always kind of AA, despite the price tag) BS... to somehow being the exemplar counterpoint to said BS.


While the exact financials are not entirely public, and certainly the people who actually tried and succeeded to get their refund in the drama are probably not as numerous as might be expected. The game certainly probably didn't earn ludicrous amounts of profits compared with some AAA cornerstones.


Despite this, the game has continued to release regular updates, full blown expansions, now running a full four years. While Hello Games has largely eschewed roadmaps (And pre-hype, this update literally news dropped as it was actually released live), again out-of-step with its industry colleagues, its also one of, if not a lone instance of actually having doen the "we'll add these features over time" succesfully (the much contested multiplayer component having evolved from dark souls esque visitor orbs, to 4 person co-op, to 32 player space raids, and the most recent one adds cross-play as well).


It does beg the question, how does NMS have this more or less succesful redemption arc, while your FO76s, Anthems, Destinys, and others all seem to have a series of faceflops over and over, despite their extra monetization streams.

 

[Houseman]

Either their initial release brought in tons of money that allowed them to continue development, or Sony bankrolled them.

But I'll never buy NMS because they lied about the game and never apologized for lying. Before anyone links it, yes, I've seen that "engoodening" video by Internet Historian, which was largely sympathetic towards Sean Murray as he lied on camera and on twitter, even after the game was released.

But, you might say "look at all this free DLC! They added multiplayer and even VR support! Surely that makes up for it!"
It's like an abusive spouse who tries to make it up to you by buying a new car. You can't buy me back into your good graces with expensive gifts. I just want an apology. An admission of wrongdoing. An acknowledgement of the pain you've caused. Not just deeds alone, words AND deeds in combination, to show that you've truly changed.

So until that happens, I'll never buy NMS.

If they ever develop a new game, I'll give them a second chance, however.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I'm not going to congratulate Hello Games for taking more than two years after release to finally deliver what they promised. And unfortunately the base gameplay loop hasn't changed in the slightest: Utterly boring hunts for resources.

 

[Worgen]

It was pretty neat when I got it a year ago and I kinda wish it was the type of game I could get into. I'm just not big on the base building survival games, the most I got into one was Terraria and that was mainly because the bosses gave it a definite goal, once I beat them all I moved onto something else.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've been playing it a fair bit these past few months (Platinum'd it and all) and have enjoyed it as a chill podcast-in-the-background timesink. What was the big deal with the game when it came out? Was it the lack of multiplayer?

 

[laggyteabag]

I've been playing it a fair bit these past few months (Platinum'd it and all) and have enjoyed it as a chill podcast-in-the-background timesink. What was the big deal with the game when it came out? Was it the lack of multiplayer?

I think the lack of multiplayer was the big one, but other than that, It was pretty much the lack of... everything else.

Trailers, demonstrations, interviews - all of these things massively promised features that would never actually appear in the game, and at no point was any effort made to make that clear to consumers, so it was just up to the players to figure out by themselves what actually made it into the game or not, and quite a lot didn't.

The state that No Man's Sky is in today is really impressive, with a lot of the previously cut features making a return, on top of all of the stuff that is brand-new, but I don't think anyone can really be blamed for still being salty over the state that the game initially came out in.

Overall though, the game looks like it has made a massive comeback, but im still not really interested, as the basic gameplay loop just doesn't look incredibly fun, to me. Maybe one day - who knows.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I have a soft spot for games that start out as absolute shit but eventually crawl their way to becoming good. Mainly because they usually go for so cheap, it's like buying a game at launch with constant updates except you paid less than 5 bucks for it.

Still not my kind of game, but at least its there for people who would like it.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Can't help but think of this with the thread title, and it's oddly appropriate in places.

I never had anything against No Man's Sky to begin with. This is because I followed the game's development and thus recognized that what we got on release was pretty close to what we were promised. An infinitely large galaxy... running around exploring that galaxy... scanning creatures... a bit of space and ground combat here and there... we got it all. The big thing everybody complained about was multiplayer, as if that was a feature Hello Games actually promised.

Newsflash: They didn't. They said that it was extremely unlikely to even encounter another player, and even if you did all you could do is stand there and stare at each other. That's not multiplayer. People used the "THEY PROMISED THIS!!!" and "THEY PROMISED THAT!!!" as an excuse to give their demands for features that THEY wanted more weight, not because those things were actually promised.

Since then Hello Games have bent over backwards to add feature after feature. I commend them for this, and I hope it's not because of the NMS haters that they did this but simply because they wanted to give value to the game.

 

[Aegix Drakan]

I have just one single question.

Is there a way to automate the refilling of the survival meter stuff? Or a way to do that more efficiently? Or a mod for that? Or a way to drop the difficulty mid-game?

Because as nifty as the game is, and as much as the new content looks really neat, what made me put the game down was that having to open the menu every 60 seconds to drag more Sodium or whatever into the survival meter was immersion jarring and the Quick Menu actually takes longer to recharge the meter than just using the inventory screen. And I don't wanna restart, because I love the little space goblin crew I have on my Capital ship. XD

 

[Xprimentyl]

The big thing everybody complained about was multiplayer, as if that was a feature Hello Games actually promised.

Newsflash: They didn't. They said that it was extremely unlikely to even encounter another player, and even if you did all you could do is stand there and stare at each other.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't "extremely unlikely" imply that multiplayer, however improbable, is an actual feature of the game? I mean, it's "extremely unlikely" I could drink a gallon of sulfuric acid and live, right? I don't think the blow back would have been nearly as huge had Hello come out and said "there's no multiplayer at launch, but it's coming;" like you said, the rest of the game was pretty much as advertised.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't "extremely unlikely" imply that multiplayer, however improbable, is an actual feature of the game? I mean, it's "extremely unlikely" I could drink a gallon of sulfuric acid and live, right? I don't think the blow back would have been nearly as huge had Hello come out and said "there's no multiplayer at launch, but it's coming;" like you said, the rest of the game was pretty much as advertised.

Nope. As advertised players only run into someone else in extremely EXTREMELY unlikely circumstances (As in you're more likely to win the lottery... several times in a row) and even if they did the players can't do anything to each other in game. They can't talk, they can't emote, they can't fight, they can't even pick up resources the other one gathered.

The complete inability to do anything whatsoever to another player is not multiplayer by any stretch of the imagination. People went OOOH MULTIPLAYER off of as demonstrated in interviews and gameplayer videos the demonstrated complete nonexistence of multiplayer in any way shape or form.

 

[Houseman]

Nope. As advertised players only run into someone else in extremely EXTREMELY unlikely circumstances (As in you're more likely to win the lottery... several times in a row) and even if they did the players can't do anything to each other in game. They can't talk, they can't emote, they can't fight, they can't even pick up resources the other one gathered.

The complete inability to do anything whatsoever to another player is not multiplayer by any stretch of the imagination. People went OOOH MULTIPLAYER off of as demonstrated in interviews and gameplayer videos the demonstrated complete nonexistence of multiplayer in any way shape or form.

If you say "The chances of two players meeting is pretty much zero", that implies that it's at least possible.
It wasn't possible. At all. Under any circumstances. Two streamers even met up on the exact same planet on DAY 1 and it was proven that it was impossible.


The chances of any two players meeting up in Super Mario 64 isn't "pretty much zero". It IS zero. It is absolutely zero. Because the game has no online multiplayer functionality at all.

In NMS the chances of any two players meeting in wasn't "pretty much zero". It was absolutely zero. Because there was no such functionality.

He lied. Even after the game came out they continued to lie.

We was asked, ON CAMERA, ON THE COLBERT REPORT "can you run into other people", and he said yes. Lie.

 

[CaitSeith]

In other non-surprising news: Let It Die is still alive.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Is there a way to automate the refilling of the survival meter stuff? Or a way to do that more efficiently? Or a mod for that? Or a way to drop the difficulty mid-game?

I think the X button brings up a contextual menu (galaxy map, summon vehicle, etc.) that will let you recharge technology from there.

 

[Aegix Drakan]

I think the X button brings up a contextual menu (galaxy map, summon vehicle, etc.) that will let you recharge technology from there.

Yeah, that's the quick menu thingy I was talking about. Sadly, it actually takes longer to use that than the actual menu. XD

It's like "I have to hit Z/X, scroll a whole bunch, then input the thing, scroll a bunch, then select the thingy". Wheas with the menu, I can just click and drag, and be done in like 4 seconds. XD

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Yeah, that's the quick menu thingy I was talking about. Sadly, it actually takes longer to use that than the actual menu. XD

Mmmh, yeah. NMS does not exactly excel in the UI department.

 

[BrawlMan]

In other non-surprising news: Let It Die is still alive.

I still have no interest in that game. They got rid of a unique idea for an okayish F2P, Dark Souls clone.


Honestly, I don't know what Grasshopper was thinking. I hate the game, but at least the game was a success for them.

Still no interested in No Man's Lie I mean No Man's Sky.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't "extremely unlikely" imply that multiplayer, however improbable, is an actual feature of the game? I mean, it's "extremely unlikely" I could drink a gallon of sulfuric acid and live, right? I don't think the blow back would have been nearly as huge had Hello come out and said "there's no multiplayer at launch, but it's coming;" like you said, the rest of the game was pretty much as advertised.

Unless the extremely unlikely event that would lead to two players meeting is the game spontaneously developing a multiplayer mode. As developers of cutting edge technology you can never rule out your software gaining sentience and beginning to develop itself, therefore everything Sean Murray said was completely true.

 

[Worgen]

Unless the extremely unlikely event that would lead to two players meeting is the game spontaneously developing a multiplayer mode. As developers of cutting edge technology you can never rule out your software gaining sentience and beginning to develop itself, therefore everything Sean Murray said was completely true.

Was being the operative word since by this point all those early promises have been fulfilled through updates. Still a dick move to launch the game the way it was, but it really has come together.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Was being the operative word since by this point all those early promises have been fulfilled through updates. Still a dick move to launch the game the way it was, but it really has come together.

That's another good point. It's not a lie if it becomes true at a later date because once time compression hits us and all events are squeezed into a single point No Man's Sky will have multiplayer at the same time that Sean Murray told Stephen Colbert it did. You have to account for these sorts of things when developing the intellectual sort of game that NMS is. It's a meta commentary on the universe as a whole, after all.