Lower your Expectations for ED

Nobody here (on these forums) has found a better space sim than Elite, if they had they wouldn't be wasting their time here gassing but playing said game.
Well, to be brutally honest (won't win me any points with the ED fans), there are several space sims I prefer to ED including EVE, NMS, X4 and SC. Unfortunately, SC is going through one of those phases where it burns to the ground and everyone runs out of the building screaming (because it isn't even a real game yet... after like 12 centuries of development), and I've played enough EVE, NMS, and X4 over the past couple of years that I kinda needed a change.

Don't get me wrong. I like this game a lot, but it isn't my precious baby. It's just the game I'm playing right now.
 
The ex-boyfriends like to tell everyone else here how much better their current romance is...

We both know this.
I rather like that current signature: "X4 Foundations". Simple, straight to the point, not subtle. It makes sure automatically that the message is sent in every post.
 
So if you don't mind me asking why are you here then?
I'm a citizen of this country (Elite Dangerous), having paid my "taxes" multiple times over, and thus I have a voice just like anyone else. Just because I don't support the current regime and the direction this "country" is heading doesn't mean you can lock me up and surround yourself with only patriotic voices like some other fellow who has been in the news lately.

are they paying you a recruitment bonus? 🤷‍♂️
No more than Frontier is paying you to defend them in every single thread.
 
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I rather like that current signature: "X4 Foundations". Simple, straight to the point, not subtle. It makes sure automatically that the message is sent in every post.
It sends the message that it's the game he's playing at the moment.

I'm a citizen of this country (Elite Dangerous), having paid my "taxes" multiple times over, and thus I have a voice just like anyone else.
I never understood why people who play games treat those games as though they were a faction you belong to. I mean... you can play and enjoy more than one game at the same time. I'm playing ED right now, but last night I was rummaging around in Project Zomboid. Does that make me some sort of traitor to Elite Dangerous?

"You've betrayed your duties! How dare you make a cup of tea and abandon your post for a charming isometric survival simulator! Your opinions shall carry no weight!"
 
Shhh don't tell anyone this morning i was a Dwarf with a pick-axe shooting bugs 😜
This one's on the house. ;)

images


And mainly being distracted by a very attractive blonde...

Life is hard...
You poor guy. 😄
 
It sends the message that it's the game he's playing at the moment.
The reality is I was in the middle of changing my signature when I got interrupted, but I needed something to replace the borked signature that was currently active, so I typed the first thing that came to mind that was quick and simple to replace the previous signature. I haven't even thought about it since, but I really should go back and replace it with a more "neutral" signature, or at least a more nuanced one.

Speaking of interruptions, gotta go! I'll resume defending my honor later, LOL.
 
But I don't think a game needs to be a carbon-copy clone of Elite in order to compare it and even call it a competitor. If I were to buy Odyssey, it would not be for the FPS gameplay, but rather the exploration aspect, particularly walking around planets on foot, which Space Engineers allows me to do, albeit with just a small number of planets. The small number of planets doesn't bother me personally, because I can easily spend WEEKS on a single planet in SE and not discover all there is to see and explore on it, especially in multiplayer mode.

The fallacy of "a game must offer EVERYTHING Elite does in order to be considered a competitor" is a claim I take issue with. Even the oft-referenced Star Citizen fails to pass this test, by a long margin! On the other hand, if an individual person says, "No other space games offers XYZ, and thus Elite is the only space game for me personally." then of course I have no issue with that at all. Just don't make that a blanket, universal statement, because many people have found and are currently playing alternatives to Elite (raises hand), including Elite itself!

Disclaimer - I didn't join this thread to promote other space games over ED. I only started my crusade when a couple other posters implied that Elite Dangerous is the only viable space game out there, bar none. That's just patently false. --v

That’s the thing, though.

When I go looking competitor (i.e. a replacement) for Elite Dangerous, I’m not looking for just any old space game, which is a rather broad genre. It includes space combat games (X-Wing, Wing Commander, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw), Space Trading/Management Games (Space Bucks, EVE online, X-Series), Space Flight Simulators (Kerbal Space Program, MS Space Simulator, Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager), Space Role Playing Games (Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, Starfield), Space Survival/Exploration (Space Engineers, Empyrion Galactic Survival, No Man’s Sky), or even just another Space Sim (Elite 1-3, Privateer, Freelancer).

What I’m looking for as a replacement for Elite Dangerous is a Space Sim MMO. That MMO bit is important to me. I may typically play MMOs as a lone wolf, but I still want the potential that large numbers of other players can bring to a game. I don't care if its a PvP or a PvPvE MMO, though I'm not yet desperate enough for a PvP MMO. I just want a better Space Sim MMO than Elite Dangerous. Because in many ways, it's a pretty bad MMO, and I’m not talking about player density.

About the only thing Frontier got right is the mode system, which is IMO minimizes the worst aspects of a PvPvE MMO. They’ve failed at preserving the depth they created in the face of player criticism. They’ve failed at controlling the power creep that inevitably happens as new gameplay is added. They’ve failed at balancing the in-game economy, an essential component in establishing a player augmented economy. They utterly failed at preserving verisimilitude. Their in-game comms remains atrocious. Their mission timers are annoying and punitive to time-poor players, and now that there’s on-foot action, a lot of things which should be private instances aren’t.

But for all that, Frontier got quite a bit right, as far as the Space Sim genre itself are concerned. Their flight model is top notch. Their Stellar Forge as well. Control options are worthy of a space flight simulation. It’s brilliantly playable in VR. For the average player, their AI is competent enough to be a threat, especially to the reckless.

I’ve got plenty of single-player games that do well at being a Space Sim: a genre that combines the combat of Space Combat games, the economics of Space Trading/Management games, the vastness of Space Exploration games, and feel of Spaceflight Simulator games. I’m hoping that Starfield will check off enough of that list to be a part of this genre, while bringing in something new.

What I don’t have is much to choose from when I look for a Space Sim MMO. There’s Elite Dangerous, two failed attempts making a PvP one, one that toes the line between incompetence and a scam, and two outright NFT scams. Those are some patheticly paltry pickings for a genre of MMO that I would’ve thought would be been pretty popular. Why isn’t there a Star Wars version, for example? Or one set in the Expanse? How About Traveler Online? One set in the Battletech universe?
 
I'm a citizen of this country (Elite Dangerous), having paid my "taxes" multiple times over, and thus I have a voice just like anyone else. Just because I don't support the current regime and the direction this "country" is heading doesn't mean you can lock me up and surround yourself with only patriotic voices like some other fellow who has been in the news lately.
That's cute and all, but behind this facade of free-speech-I-am-a-member-of-this-galaxy your "Space Engineers/X4/whatever-is-currently-hot is that much better a game" schtick really gets old, and you've completely gone ex-boyfriend, I'm afraid. That's your prerogative, of course, but I am getting really, really tired of all those ex-players trying to tell us current players how bad the game we are enjoying really is.

And no, the game doesn't get better if we get to go deer hunting. This is so absurd I can't even get my head around it.
 
I am getting really, really tired of all those ex-players trying to tell us current players how bad the game we are enjoying really is.
I still play this game and I think it's absolutely terrible.

Seriously though, Duck has paid his dues. If he has grievances, he's welcome to air them. If you want, you can always turn to the time-honored Elite Dangerous solution of just blocking everyone you don't want to see. Unfortunately, the forums are "Open only"; no Solo mode here.
 
but I am getting really, really tired of all those ex-players trying to tell us current players how bad the game we are enjoying really is.
It is even better whn one plays EDO exclusively, and is told by one who has never played the expansion, just how poor it is.

Ex-players are permitted to stick around for years after they gave up the game, berating both game and developer, usually. It is unlikely that the forum will be 'cleaned up' any time soon.
 
Seriously though, Duck has paid his dues. If he has grievances, he's welcome to air them. If you want, you can always turn to the time-honored Elite Dangerous solution of just blocking everyone you don't want to see.
Common practise, particularly by the subject of discussion... I have been on their ignore list for years!
 
I've provided that caveat every time I present my argument.

I just looked at Elite's description in Steam, and I can actually see your "both options can be right" in the first two paragraphs. First paragraph:

"Elite Dangerous is the definitive massively multiplayer space epic, bringing gaming’s original open world adventure to the modern generation with a connected galaxy, evolving narrative and the entirety of the Milky Way re-created at its full galactic proportions."

Okay, by the above definition alone, X4 is obviously not a competitor to Elite Dangerous. But when looking at the next paragraph and focusing on gameplay, I continue to argue that it is:

"Starting with only a small starship and a few credits, players do whatever it takes to earn the skill, knowledge, wealth and power to survive in a futuristic cutthroat galaxy and to stand among the ranks of the iconic Elite. In an age of galactic superpowers and interstellar war, every player’s story influences the unique connected gaming experience and handcrafted evolving narrative. Governments fall, battles are lost and won, and humanity’s frontier is reshaped, all by players’ actions."

Here's a slightly edited version to make it X4 compatible:

"Starting with only a small starship and a few credits, the player does whatever it takes to earn the skill, knowledge, wealth and power to survive in a futuristic cutthroat galaxy and to stand among the ranks of the iconic five star pilots. In an age of galactic superpowers and interstellar war, the player’s story influences the unique interconnected gaming experience and handcrafted narratives. Governments fall, battles are lost and won, and humanity’s frontier is reshaped, all by the player's actions and thousands of persistent, active NPC ships and crew."

So yeah, both options can be right, depending on which paragraph is more important to you as a player. For me, it's the second paragraph.
And for me, it’s the first.
 
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