Zero Punctuation: No Man's Sky

[Stu35]

I had to resit my History A-level...

Dunno quite how that affects anything, but mostly No Mans Sky got played for all of about a day before forever finding itself condemned to the oblivion of never being played again. Alongside Oblivion actually (which got considerably more gameplay out of it before I eventually finally got sick to the back teeth of it).

Why is Oblivion relevant you ask? It was a contributing factor to me failing to revise for my first sitting in the final exam.

Good thing the students of today will not have No Man's Sky keeping them from revision, reading up on Clement Atlee's post-war economic policies is practically a rollercoaster of excitement compared to No Man's Sky.

 

[Rituro]

I am honestly shocked that it took this long for me to find a reviewer to make what I thought was the obvious comparison to Spore. Once again, I have wasted my life trusting anyone who doesn't offer their worldview through 2D stop-motion.

But seriously, how has the "NMS = SporeCraft" narrative not become a thing? It was my instant first impression upon learning about the game and I summarily dismissed the concept out of hand. Oh well; at least this review gave me a reason to try out Elite: Dangerous, though if that ends up being EVE-level inaccessible I'll be somewhat disappointed.

 

[K.ur]

Starforge wised me up about being hopeful with that kind of stuff. I'll check it out if it ever gets a full release.

Saw Starforge and it always looked empty. PE has enough minecraft to suck hours out but, i must admit, not enough to not just play minecraft self. Beside the design your own vehicle/weapon/copter. Watch some let's plays, i guess. I got it when it was 10 or 15 bucks (it's 23? now) and got my worth in my opinion.

This is possible http://i.imgur.com/eo7xm2C.jpg

 

[TT Kairen]

The thing is, in every interview, you can see that he's mentally adding the "but" at the end of every statement. Anyone with any kind of talent at reading people can tell he was hedging anytime he said anything.

"Can you play with your friends?"

Slight pause with a "Yeah, but" look on his face. "Yes"

You can tell there was more to it.

More to what? There isn't "more" to a flat out lie. You can't "sort of" play with your friends, or "sort of" interact with other players, you literally cannot see another human in-game. He has that "eeehhhh" look on his face because he knows he's full of shit, but he isn't completely committed to outright lying about his game to sell it.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

This is the part where I would buy Elite Dangerous. But Elite Dangerous isn't on PS4 or Linux. So I'll still have to settle for Rebel Galaxy. That or go back to playing Master Of Orion.

 

[teamcharlie]

I have to cite Angry Joe here too: No Man's Sky is a game I would be really excited to play, warts and all, for $15-$20.

That's the price point where I'll totally buy, "Yeah, it's not that fun. But check out this rad system we designed! And you really CAN explore a huge-ass galaxy from a first person perspective! If we get enough people to buy this thing, we might have the time and resources to add more story too!" as sufficient reason to get a game.

Similar example: Starbound, when it first went into early access, was pretty barebones. But it was like $15 (if I remember correctly. That's what it costs now anyway) and I was happy enough to play it. Three years later? It's basically the 2-D version of exactly what I wanted No Man's Sky to be.

So, I think that I'll pick it up later on when the price comes down on bargain game websites and hope that the devs add some new features in the meantime.

 

[Las7]

Confirming what I thought, I will pass unless modders are able to breed new life into this game.

 

[weirdee]

If you even wanted a baby's first space game, there's a game on Steam called Empyrion that has more features, is actually upfront about its early access state (which, by all means, is still a more complete game than this thing at retail release), actually does multiplayer, been in development for longer (meaning that it ACTUALLY RUNS ON PC), and costs ten bucks on sale and twenty when not, so basically all of this hype, like Destiny, boils down to who can afford media attention/marketing, as opposed to who actually makes worthwhile games that don't cost 60 bucks.

 

[Makabriel]

The thing is, in every interview, you can see that he's mentally adding the "but" at the end of every statement. Anyone with any kind of talent at reading people can tell he was hedging anytime he said anything.

"Can you play with your friends?"

Slight pause with a "Yeah, but" look on his face. "Yes"

You can tell there was more to it.

More to what? There isn't "more" to a flat out lie. You can't "sort of" play with your friends, or "sort of" interact with other players, you literally cannot see another human in-game. He has that "eeehhhh" look on his face because he knows he's full of shit, but he isn't completely committed to outright lying about his game to sell it.

My guess is "Yes, but it's not quite ready for release yet. Probably something that will come in a later content patch"

Not something you want to say with this current generation's gamers. May as well bring the rope to hang yourself with.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The funny thing is that, from what I've heard, it's ridiculously difficult to even go back to where you've been before once you've put a few star systems between you and there. You can't set waypoints and there's no indication for systems you've previously visited; the game's only interest is in shuffling you ever closer to the center of the universe- the conceit seems to be "why would you want to go back to THAT old place when there's so many more places to see for the first time?".

Not sure how that's gonna jibe with base-building, should they ever implement it....

 

[Naldan]

Hype-wise, it sure is like Spore. But Spore had much more variety in its creatures and more gameplay even in its space stage alone.

Also, a lie is a lie is a lie. No matter how many balls one is lacking. And also, that such a feature needs a patch to get in with such a price tag from the beginning is "bold".

The price tag for the game is "bold" in general.

That's like stating that you'd need to lie as a dev/pr person in order to sell your games. Yeah, that might even be true.

That's true for anything to sell more. Silly thing that there are laws against that and institutions created specifically for consumer protection.

 

[Atratzu]

No Man Sky seems to have fallen victim of the "over hype bandwagon", over promised, under delivered... A classic unfortunate turn of events for the game.

 

[Makabriel]

The funny thing is that, from what I've heard, it's ridiculously difficult to even go back to where you've been before once you've put a few star systems between you and there. You can't set waypoints and there's no indication for systems you've previously visited; the game's only interest is in shuffling you ever closer to the center of the universe- the conceit seems to be "why would you want to go back to THAT old place when there's so many more places to see for the first time?".

Not sure how that's gonna jibe with base-building, should they ever implement it....

You can set waypoints. I do it all the time. Also, highlighting a galaxy will show that you discovered it.

And yes the objective of the game is to move forward. so it does run counter intuitive to base building. But again, you don't have to move forward. Nothing stopping you from setting up shop in a cluster of galaxies.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Yup, the more I hear about No Man's Sky, the more I think it's apt to compare it to Early-Access Starbound.

...And that game took 3 years to finally have enough content to make it worth it. :s

 

[Darth_Payn]

No Man Sky seems to have fallen victim of the "over hype bandwagon", over promised, under delivered... A classic unfortunate turn of events for the game.

So, nothing we haven't seen from Peter Molyneaux already. TBH, nothing I heard about this game really excited me, and didn't tell me what it's about. Like a sandbox game where you have to make your own fun. Which describes Minecraft, actually. I guess Yahtzee's a busy guy, so that's why he doesn't like games that feel like they take forever to play.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Fuck No Man's Sky, and this heinous ability of the AAA-industry to instantly cause everyone to go berserk with fantard zealotry every time they say the words "GET HYPED!" like it's some kind of magical trigger.

It's beginning to sound more and more like a space equivalent of walking simulators, and it was sold 100% on LIES. Like Aliens: Colonial Marines.

I miss when games had SUBSTANCE.

 

[CaitSeith]

Oh, man! I can't wait for this video to be in Youtube!

 

[CaitSeith]

Came here for the salty tears, but its drier than the Gobi Desert. Guess we're all agreed No Man's Sky is a mess of hot garbage wrapped in the still freshly cut skin of better games.

Seeing how difficult is to access the website, all the tears must have dripped into its innards, and the salt is messing up the machinery.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

With the less than stellar performances of Star Fox Zero, No Man's Sky and MN9 made people uneasy about delays, especially since the 30FPS in the Demo of Breath of the Wild, people are currently targeting Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian as the next hype train-wrecks. To which I will answer, you better jump that bandwagon folk, SquareEnix is going to deliver the Final Fantasy that people always wanted if the trailers are to be believed and they never lied; and Team Ico, what is there to say? It's Team Ico, the guys who made Ico, to which inspired MGS 3: Snake Eater, Twilight Princess and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time; the trailers do look kind of rubbish, but with Shadow of the Colossus and Ico under their belt, they can take as much as benefits of the doubt that they can.

Funny you should mention Final Fantasy XV, because it looks nothing like a Final Fantasy game that I would want. Open world? They always have been. Sidequests? Had that too. Action RPG? Clunky and unresponsive, has no real weight behind it from the two different demos I have played so far. I wouldn't say I 'always wanted it.' It'll be fine, I'm sure, but I'm staying off the Hype train, because Hype has never done any good for any game for me; it's only ever lead to disappointment, especially where Final Fantasy has been concerned for the last several years.

No Man's Sky has lead to some pretty drastic backlash for those who dare to criticize this game from it's dedicated 'fans', I can only imagine what it's going to be like with the Final Fantasy fanboys hobble back out to try and defend FFXV if it turns out to be bad. Given it's development cycle, 'okay' is the best I'm hoping for. I learned with Square Enix a long time ago that you should keep your expectations low.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Came here for the salty tears, but its drier than the Gobi Desert. Guess we're all agreed No Man's Sky is a mess of hot garbage wrapped in the still freshly cut skin of better games.

Seeing how difficult is to access the website, all the tears must have dripped into its innards, and the salt is messing up the machinery.

i was just posting on Jim's website, and they think its a problem on my end that the Escapist is off/on right now.