That is it, right there. But that's ED in a nutshell: so much potential, and it's all wasted and untapped.
Just like the hangars and elevators: It's nice for the first couple of times, after that's really just a nuisance.
What would you pay for ship interiors?
- Thread starter Aerendyl
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- ship interiors
Is it really only me that still goes down into the bar and looks out at the settlement and the planets from the giant window? That is gobsmacked by the sheer spectacle of the size of a Corvette or a Type 9 every time I run up to board in the hangar? I would not at all mind a travelator to make transitions quicker but the feeling of owning and piloting incredible machines is one of the things I love most about Elite, even if it's just a feeling without any gameplay.
That's be really nice to get on consoles!
On "next gen" systems at least and in some form, however limited is "necessary" on "last gen" systems!!
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I definitely do it. I think theres a few types of players in elite.. the goal activity types, and the rp types. See from the moment i started concluded that the hamster wheel activity dispenser elite provides is so woefully bad and under developed that i found it very hard to be convinced by it. The only reason i played for thousands of hours was first pretending to be in space. You can't even say elite is bad, they simply didn't build the goal feedback experiences nearly every other game intends and provides. Or there's a whole middle part of the experience that's been left out.
The first 5 times, it's a WHOAH and AHHHHH moment. After that it becomes rather MEH to me.
Very good point. I got over 4500 hours in ED myself (currently on Hiatus due to lots of other games), and same: The quest for wealth was a big driver for me, to put my names on some planets was another. Elite itself isn't bad, the concept is great. But there are the other bits and pieces that speak against it, like the lack of engaging gameplay, that doesn't feel like a grind, the grind itself, bad RNG design and since Odyssey, the lighting and the flat planets.
In the end if they choose to put interiors in - they will get an income stream from it . With SC already providing them - and Starfield about to in some fashion , ED will remain behind the curve on this . It would be nice if Braben would finish off this masterpiece of a game with interiors , but if he / Frontier don't - I'll just have to get my Interior kicks elsewhere which is sad - I'd really prefer to stay entirely in the ED universe .
It's certainly not me. First couple of times, sure, I'm all like ooh and ahh. After that, it's just running to the elevators, or sprinting between mission givers. If there's no gameplay to be had in those spaces, no choices to make that might affect the outcome, there's really not much point in lingering. Give me the possibility that a corporate agent might be listening in on my conversation with the representative of the local brave freedom fighters? I'll be sure to pay attention to my surroundings. If mission givers are nothing but gussied up kiosks? Not much point in it.
Maybe 25 years ago, when I had time to spare? Sure. But when I have to carefully plan my evening just to have an hour to play a game, and I still get interrupted during that time? I don't have time for that kind of thing. My favorite definition of middle age: when you have to deal with your teenage children and your aging parents at the same time.
After more than 2300 hours in ED I managed to do a lot in game. I don’t have a specific goal anymore. Now I mostly play it to chill out, relax and RP.
I used to hate the hangar and the run to the elevators (especially from a Corvette) but I don’t anymore.
I slowed down my gameplay and believe me even after 2300+ hours I still notice some new details and things that i haven’t seen before.
Ship interiors would be a great addition IMO, even without added gameplay.
Maybe FDev could keep the current boarding/disembarking blue circle for the impatient and get proper interiors for others.
I used to hate the hangar and the run to the elevators (especially from a Corvette) but I don’t anymore.
I slowed down my gameplay and believe me even after 2300+ hours I still notice some new details and things that i haven’t seen before.
Ship interiors would be a great addition IMO, even without added gameplay.
Maybe FDev could keep the current boarding/disembarking blue circle for the impatient and get proper interiors for others.
That is totally out of the question as long as ED is a live service game. You can not have mods to the game itself, while it's live service, period. Players connecting with altered code base would potentially harm the stability of the game big time. So we won't see anything beyond what already exists, like EDHM for example. But none of the existing mods alter any gamefiles at all. Should ED become offline single player at the end of it's lifetime, then yes, mods are on the table, but not as long as it's an online game.
Works quite well for Nomans Sky.
You can have your game modded yet still enjoy the live service game.
So that bit renders your argument invalid.
How does NMS ensure stability while allowing mods?
And of course, there are few RP types: the play-actors, and the in-characters. The play actors need to have sets, and wardrobes, and props to act out their fantasies. The in-characters need to have meaningful choices in a game, so that they can make those choices in character.
I'm the latter type of RPer. I'm certainly not goal oriented, and quite frankly what I imagine my character is doing in universe is far better than what can be portrayed in the game, but as Frontier chipped away at the depth of this game, and thus the meaningful choices I have to make, my interest in playing also waned. I wanted to play a struggling Imperial Commander, fighting a private war with the Evil Galactic Federation. I wanted meaningful decisions to make: financial, technical, legal, and moral. Instead, I'm playing a wealthy dilettante, who's most meaningful decisions in the game are on the order of what she want's for supper.
Even BGS play is one dimensional these days. It used to be that manipulating the BGS was a matter of trading personal reputation and/or faction influence for particular faction states, especially in busy systems with lots of neutral players. These days, BGS play is a straight on, head to head influence grind, because heaven forbid there is nuance in gameplay.
I don’t need to walk up to the bartender in the game to imagine my character would spend time in that bar, watching traffic, as she waits for her cargo to load. She’d actually spend that time in a bar in one of the rings, if they exist, star gazing. I do need there to be a meaningful difference between missions, especially if fulfilling those missions may have detrimental effects on a faction, to make an in-character decision between them.
I don’t need to meet a contact in a bar in the game to imagine my character doing so. I do need credits to be sufficiently rare, and to have more than one type of bar to meet in, to make a decision between meeting a contact at an expensive bar that provides privacy for its customers and guarantee a mission remains covert, and meeting that contact in a seedy dive which all but guarantees every faction knows what’s going on.
But in this scenario players are not losing anything but Frontier are losing players. It is not very smart move except if they are planning to slowly and gradually shut down the game.
Losing players doesn't directly cost Frontier anything, though. They've already paid for the game, there's no subscription, the average player probably spends far less on ARX than they did on the initial purchase. Spending millions on a failed attempt to get them back - remember Odyssey? - costs Frontier rather a lot.
The game is still profitable - new account purchases and ARX bring in ~50% more than the development and maintenance costs. So if they can keep it in that sort of very slowly and gradually phase for another decade, they'll be quite happy, I would think.
Are they going to gamble a seven-figure sum on hoping that walking around inside the ship is going to be significantly more popular than walking around outside it has been? Doesn't seem likely. That seems the sort of thing that would end up going from "slow and gradual" to "fast and sudden".
Frontier could try giving the next expansion a fighting chance by not releasing it in a state that takes a year+ to fix. Odyssey crashed because it was so poorly implemented.
Yes and no.
You are right, they have already shelled out the money for the game, and there is no sub fee.
But a player that leaves is harder to get back.
If they have picked up the game for free or a discount for $10, there isn't much money in that. They make the most by selling Arx and the DLC. A player that left will not be buying either of that.
The bad part is however, a player that is disgruntled due to a poor release is rather unlikely to come back, let alone spend money on Arx, even more so if the cosmetics are of rather poor quality.
If a player is gone, they are gone, disgruntled or not.
Shame that some of the ones who are 'gone' insist on staying on the forum.
Shame that some of the ones who are 'gone' insist on staying on the forum.
You didn't read my response properly. I said the total opposite of "copying what SC does". Elite is a simulation as well as a game, and it's rightly proud of its ship physics. No point making it arcadey and alienating the fan base.
It would be nice to have an option. To skip or not. I am grateful I don't have to walk the length of a ship just to get out of it.
But you fly a Corvette, so you do? I've been playing with a Type 9 for the first time and I quite like that it has the magical blue boarding circle at the back!