How complete is the game? Will it ever be more than a shell?

[snotface]

I am happy with the game as it is, minus 2 small things.

Most people were not even born when Elite first came out, and so they have no idea about how basic computers really were 30-40 years ago. yes they have seen them in books and laughed about the ZX80 or ZX81, but they forget what actually came before that. Elite was an amazing game when it was first released because it wasn't a pixel game on a 2D platform. It brought shape to a game. It was probably the first flight simulator game. Yes it had its floors and there were 3 different versions of the same game, and it defiantly wasn't complete.

I am more than happy flying around killing stuff, and if they make big changes to the game then thats their choice. I just hope that they do not go down the route of WOW and make people have to pay for every update that just isn't up to scratch.

Planet landing for the win, Different Galactic maps, and more ships.

 

[Kadaeux]

I just stumbled across an interesting post here. Unfortunately a moderator closed the thread. Some trolls / fanboys deliberately derailed the discussion in order to get a critical thread closed. Anyway, I just wanted to productively reply to the content of that topic. See my reply below the quote:

Rose tinted glasses



I enjoy the game also, but only because I have not yet reached enough credits. The game is indeed too "shallow" to be played longer.

WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT IS NOT BIG HYPE FEATURES BUT THE SMALL GAMEPLAY DETAILS.

The DDF talks of many things, but what is needed is a kind of "updated roadmap" and a talk about the small detailed gameplay elements. Multi stage missions, NPC interaction, Bounty hunting (not just fishing), crewmembers, a kind of interactive procedural narrative. I'd love to get more info on that. Many reviewers have mentioned this also that the game is more like a "shell".

What is the plan for the future?

Restarting a closed thread thinly veiled as a new one is considered to be a massive online faux pas.




However, I couldn't disagree with the post more.

 

[Ydiss]

The question might be loaded, but it's still an unanswered one. The mission pool we have is worse than WoW in the beginning. REALLY BORING. Other elements of the game make up for it but I doubt the game will retain players for long in the current state. Even if you add features and content now, there is no guarantee that "too little too late" will get players back. You could add planetary landings and walking around but the game might still be a "shell". I think the best way would be to talk about the planned features and addition to gameplay.

FD never talked about how missions would look like. Imho they should be the bread and butter of the game. At least being worthwhile, interesting, and ideally creating an interactive narrative. Currently they are not.

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I was thinking yesterday that it would be really nice if an NPC with elite status would be nearly impossible to kill on an even basis. So that even an elite sidewinder is a huge threat to your cobra or asp. Currently NPCs are just pushovers.

Again, comparing ED to a game funded by one of the biggest design studios on the planet is pointless. Blizzard were able to release wow on the back of a gigantic budget.

I didn't play wow but I'm pretty sure the kill 10 rats quests were much more engaging than what we have in ED.

The difference between wow and ED at launch is they're totally different games. One was a 70 level RPG with dungeons and loot and raids. The other isn't.

If FD had made an RPG, it still couldn't possibly be as big as wow was. Ed was crowd funded to the tune of just over 1m.

So many neglect to consider that.

It's incomplete but will continue to develop over time. No one knows the full extent of how far, not even FD. But if the difference between the game we have now and when I started, only a couple months ago, is anything to go by, then the game has a very bright future.

I've made my guess based on that. I didn't need to ask anyone else.

It's fun now. It'll get more fun.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

I utterly disagree that it being released when it was "has done permanent damage to the game as a whole." Quite the opposite infact, I think its release has shown that FD are capable of achieving what they set out to do.

Theres some stuff missing, no one will say otherwise but the actual release and subsequent support from FD on that release has been good (borderline unique). The manner in which its been received by both the press and public must rile those who venomously hoped its release would be a disaster and I cant read the above OP quote as anything other than a self entitled whiney rant that only states the obvious whilst failing to mask the writers desire to see ED fail.

I totally understand why it was originally closed as it offers not one shred of objective criticism.

 

[Kosmas]

Agree in principle

I do agree with the thread but I am expecting Frontier to work on that. Tbh I really haven't noticed as I am exploring and bounty hunting. However, some very simple live dialogue from pirates when demanding or attacking/running would go a long way to build immersion. Same for when you have docking request. The response should match your rep status. E.g. If you had max rating they may say, 'welcome commander your presence honours us, I will inform our leaders of your stay'
if rep was on 'unfriendly' then dialogue could be 'docking granted but security has been informed of your presence outsider'

either way the game has been out 2 weeks so I think we can give a little dev time

 

[Ydiss]

I utterly disagree that it being released when it was "has done permanent damage to the game as a whole." Quite the opposite infact, I think its release has shown that FD are capable of achieving what they set out to do.

Theres some stuff missing, no one will say otherwise but the actual release and subsequent support from FD on that release has been good (borderline unique). The manner in which its been received by both the press and public must rile those who venomously hoped its release would be a disaster and I cant read the above OP quote as anything other than a self entitled whiney rant that only states the obvious whilst failing to mask the writers desire to see ED fail.

I totally understand why it was originally closed as it offers not one shred of objective criticism.

Agreed.

At least before launch, the sky-is-falling threads had a hope of substantiation but now it's just beating a dead horse.

It's no secret the game has a way to go. It's not a major failing either. It's how it is. You're either on board with it or you think it could have been done better.

The disadvantage of being the latter is there's no evidence to support it. FD had a tiny budget to work with, compared to the other games being thrown about this thread, yet they've delivered a stable, playable, fun game. And it'll keep getting better.

I'm much happier being on board with that. I never expect more than is reasonable. But I've been pleasantly surprised by how good the game has become in such a short time.

Wings next. Can't wait. Then more to come.

 

[Tyler-Rid]

Agreed.

At least before launch, the sky-is-falling threads had a hope of substantiation but now it's just beating a dead horse.

And now we have a plethora of "the-sky-is-empty" threads.. six months from now you'll be posting

Agreed.

At least just after launch, the-sky-is-empty threads had a hope of substantiation but now it's just beating a dead horse.

There's nothing in this thread that we haven't seen at least once a day since the 16th.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Personally if I felt that it was so shallow it ruined it for me, to the point where I really felt it should have been delayed then I would just park it until it became something acceptable. Crying and stating the obvious on a public forum isnt going to hurry things up.

I also have difficulty getting on board criticism of game mechanics that start "Everything i have read makes me scared to even try", which several of the OP's quoted post do. You can't offer criticism on something you have never done/tried/experienced. Even then criticism only becomes objective when you have an understanding of the concept and can offer up alternative solutions. Less emotive rubbish and more clear solutions go a long way.

 

[LawHunter]

There is a lot going for Elite. Lot more than many "complete" games.
Gave Alien Isolation and the Evil Within a shot lately. Usual stuff, by the numbers, came back to Elite.
Every multiplayer FPS shooter is just some 15 maps played over and over.

 

[ArcAngelSlayer]

I agree with this and the original post.

I feel the game from beta was promising, the fact that it feels light on features is not an illusion. The basic mechanics are there just not well fleshed out.

Many aspects need improving, I haven't experienced all the issues, but what I have experienced has left me a little bored of grinding the same thing repeatedly.

• Assassination missions need variety, spawn different ships in different locations, moving around one of the systems to be interdicted. A better way of tracking maybe. So far I've just seen Anaconda's in USS's.
• Bounty System seems to work but I can't see any actual changes to my rep with different factions, I'm presuming at some point it will pop up Hostile, a little more info would help maybe a rating from 10 to -10.
• Mining (While in my opinion is extremely lucrative) Just give us tools, they don't even have to be quicker. They can be as slow as mining 1 peace at a time to find the ore, just make it interesting so we don't have to mine each rock. I believe the 3300 century must have improved things so I can use a scanner instead.

Anyway, I've not had a chance to delve too deep as I'm busy in rl, but I'm a little disappointed from where we were in the beta to now. I believe if people don't express what it is that they don't like, developers in general can't listen. Criticism is a good thing. This game is great, wanting it to be better isn't a crime. When I write a program, I'd rather people complain that it doesn't do this or that, when I hand it in to my supervisor I want it to do everything he can think of.

Though I love the game and hope it becomes more than it is now. I can't see it keeping everyone's interest.

 

[CMNDRMK]

Game is about 90% finished because they have nailed the core element. That is the feeling and immersion of flying around in a space ship. NAILED IT.

Would prefer personally if most of the content is dynamic, a living breathing universe that goes on independently of me as a player, but something my culmative actions can effect to a varying degree. More interesting missions would be nice but ultimately are no more than window dressing as the amount of scripted missions etc can only be finite. I want the world to give me purpose in and off it self, for player intent to be emergent, not be spoon fed it off a bulletin board, or some other artifice.

 

[Muthax]

Restarting a closed thread thinly veiled as a new one is considered to be a massive online faux pas.




However, I couldn't disagree with the post more.

It's also a breach of the forum rules

 

[CMDR Cheknov]

Honestly EVERYONE needs to give ED a break look what they did with just over a million $ and gave you a decent game with lots more to come, what more could you ask for? or did you want this to be like the Star Citizen scam which has over 60 Mill $ now and nly produced tiny parts of the game and are soaking every penny out of it befor release "IF RELEASE EVEN HAPPENS" ED game you an awsome game "which is not perfect of course"-no game is and idk even know what else to say aside from that i made a post about people getting tired of other ppl complaining and this post from the OP fits in.

 

[Dejay]

I do agree with the thread but I am expecting Frontier to work on that. Tbh I really haven't noticed as I am exploring and bounty hunting. However, some very simple live dialogue from pirates when demanding or attacking/running would go a long way to build immersion. Same for when you have docking request. The response should match your rep status. E.g. If you had max rating they may say, 'welcome commander your presence honours us, I will inform our leaders of your stay'
if rep was on 'unfriendly' then dialogue could be 'docking granted but security has been informed of your presence outsider'

Well that is actually in the game haha. But hard to notice. Still they kill you for loitering.

I agree though it would really go a long way if you could "talk" to the pirates / NPCs. I believe these kind of "text adventure" features like more complex missions are much more simple to implement than adding new graphic features. So they should focus on that for a while. And not "chase the dragon" by rushing to add walking around.

Would prefer personally if most of the content is dynamic, a living breathing universe that goes on independently of me as a player, but something my culmative actions can effect to a varying degree. More interesting missions would be nice but ultimately are no more than window dressing as the amount of scripted missions etc can only be finite. I want the world to give me purpose in and off it self, for player intent to be emergent, not be spoon fed it off a bulletin board, or some other artifice.

About scripting missions: I think you could make them almost infinite with the right "text adventure" system. Just like the procedurally generate a whole universe, they could generate the missions a bit more complex than they do now. Of course complexity grows exponentially but there is also an exponential reward. If NPCs recognize you, give you missions, have a backstory etc there could be just as much interactive narrative in the game than there are stars.

Of course this would be "abstract" and text only without voice over, but an interactive story and dynamic universe is the great advantage of a PG game.

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It's also a breach of the forum rules

I don't think I breached any forum rules. If you think so, report it but don't discuss it in this thread. Or PM me. Please keep it civil and on topic.

 

[darkcyd]

You have a point, but please name one online game that isn't a shell at first?

I can name many which within the first few days had this patch or that patch because the game was unstable or the equipment they were using wasn't up to scratch.

As with any new project there will always be issues which will need to be fixed and expanded. Personally I would like to see more ships, on the lines of what is/was in old Elite games, For example Cobra Mk I.

How many days has the game been released? not many, plus you have had the Christmas break so nothing will be done until everybody is back at work.

I am very happy to fly around the universe killing other ships until extra content is added. As long as thing game does not go down the same route as World of Warcraft I will be happy

I am just curious, what route did world of warcraft go down that made you so unhappy? World of Warcraft WAS complete at launch. The tolerance given there was it also had a budget almost 50 times as large.

Warcraft has 10 million subscribers and a couple fold that in individual sales. This game I don't think is over 100k so although you can't directly compare apples to oranges, that orange is a few hundred times bigger than your apple.

 

[Mikey2305]

Will only be finished for me when it actually fires me into space in a giant rocket thingy...

 

[TeeWee]

It's near-complete for its core flight and combat mechanics: they seem to have done that right or to a standard that may need a tweak or two, but not much else.

On additional features, the stuff that makes a game great, however, it's very far from complete. Some things seem to be less than fleshed out: non-fatal fail states (e.g. thrusters dead) make for frustration (it's like badly designed text adventures, where doing something wrong in the first 10% of the game would make something impossible to do at 75%. That's not challenging, that's frustrating). The fact that FDEV seems to have a mechanic like space walk and repair planned points to the fact that such a fail state is not the planned goal, but something that should be avoidable.

Also, missions and the dynamic universe is not super compelling yet. For a game which claims that the shared universe is the unique key feature, that universe is not very compelling yet. The only thing I'm seeing that hints at a shared dynamic universe is some news items in GalNet and clocks that keep on ticking when I'm not playing, and commodity markets changing while I'm not playing. That's simply not compelling enough for something that's being presented as one of the core featuers.

As for mutliplayer: I've now only had one interaction with a fellow CMDR, a friendly chat outside a station. And that was in 78 Ursae Majoris, where I knew there would be people. From the place where I started (Hemaki) to here, I only briefly saw one CMDR on my journey that was not hanging around in 78 Ursae Majoris. The shared experience doesn't work yet as the MMO-aspect really isn't working. And while it isn't a MMO in feel and maybe we shouldn't expect it to feel like one, to use DB's words, "Technically, it has always been an MMO" so it should behave like one in the most fundamental way: social communications.

And I know it isn't complete, but it's been released. And I frankly do not like that games are released in unfinished states with big features missing. It's just an excuse to allow a developer to get away with a half finished product. If the game has been released, it doesn't matter if the developer will fix things in due time: it shouldn't have been in need of fixing in the first place! And I'm not for the strawman counterpart: a frozen, never to be patched game either. But I'd like developers to actually aim for a feature complete and well play tested game on release, needing only a few tweaks where necessary. The released game should be compelling in its own right. And new major features should then be released as expansions that are not compulsory to get a full, satisfying experience, but enhance the experience like the extra cherry on top. This model at least forces a developer to release the game with a mature feature set. Otherwise, it just makes me feel like a tester of a game in development.

As it stands, the game is fairly good though: about 7 out of 10 I think: above average, definately something that I'll keep playing for now because I like space trucking, but very far from the perfect game. I am expecting that it may rise to a good 8 or 9 points if FDEV make good on what I think are missing features and content to actually make their case of a shared living universe and to plug some holes in the game.

 

[Remiel]

Games like this are never complete. The important thing was that it wasn't released broken like X-Afterbirth. That puts it a cut above many other games right from the word go.

 

[schuesseled]

There are definitely a whole bunch of simple and not so simple stuff that would improve the base game but I certainly wouldn't describe it as a shell. NPC voice actors, would be great. As would a campaign mode/missions. (Imagine a slowly released campaign, where we the players dictate its direction by our actions) The federation and empire engage in all out war, thargians (or what they are called) are discovered, war for survival commences. The game five years from now could be a completely different beast. Humans enslaved, peaceful co existence, human sole living creatures in the universe...etc etc

 

[Remiel]

Also, I see this thread for every new release game I've ever played. EVERY ONE OF THEM. There will always be that small group who can never be satisfied with anything, so I don't see why anyone, especially FD who have had THE least problematic game launch I've experienced in almost a decade of gaming, should try to satisfy you.