Mixed reviews on Steam

Mmmm really. You don't pay much attention to these forums do you? Not noticed any of the very vocal criticism, or just choosing to ignore reality in an attempt to impose your own biases on the facts? People writing reviews after an hour to say 'me no like, game hard, bad game' are laughable. Who the hell writes a review of any game after such a short period and expects credibility? Then again Steam, and the gaming world, is awash with entitled mankiddies who can't do anything unless somebody draws them instructions in crayon.

I think you're also just choosing to ignore reality in an attempt to impose your own biases on the facts. Just because someone doesn't like the game doesn't mean he's a "mankiddies who can't do anything unless somebody draws them instructions in crayon.". Some of you guys are so self righteous with your opinion of the game it's ridiculous. It's almost as if you think that liking ED actually makes you a superior human being.
 
I like that the overall rating on Steam is "Mostly Positive" - that seems hugely fitting.

Mostly positive, is that the steam version of mostly harmless. :)

the fact is, not everyone will be prepared to put the effort required and not everyone will like the game. It should also be remembered that by and large the happy players are so busy enjoying themselves they don't bother writing reviews. Judging by the sales ranking more people than not are really enjoying the game and that's what's important
 
Look,

Elite Dangerous is not a perfect game, but it perfectly fits some people.

Even in 1985, Elite had it's share of detractors. It garnered great reviews from the publications, but a lot of C64 gamer's out there were more interested in Donkey Kong, Lode Runner, and Choplifter.

Elite was truly ground breaking in it's day and it required the player to create their own story. The game engine just provided the setting, you provided the context.

The same holds true 30 years later. I suppose those of us who blindly accepted yellow globes that wandered neon blue hallways eating dots and avoiding multi-colored mop heads, were able to easily create any backstory we needed to make the game work.

A simple triangle surrounded by polygons became a ship in an asteroid field. An "H" in a maze became a Tank on a battle ground, and a Rotating Dodecohedran became a space station.

But I do agree with one thing. The default keyboard and mouse mappings are pretty poor. Most games are pretty intuitive for keyboard and mouse assignments. Not so much with Elite. I've had to put more than just a little time programming my joystick and keyboard to get the keyboard layout I wanted.

For the crowd who's used to jumping into a game stealing cars, busting caps and killing es within 60 minutes, I can see why they might not give Elite a glowing review. And if you think I'm just being tough on GTA V, I have it on pre-order....
 
Meh. I bought a hotas set up for this game alone. Never used one before. Took an hour to set up, mostly because of software problems and usb 3.0.

Installed and loaded the game up, no problems, played through the tutorials in about 30 - 40 mins. Hotas set up worked a dream... mostly. But no real dramas.

Bounced off the station walls a couple of times which was just funny as hell.

Got straight into the game once id completed the tutorials. It really isnt hard. I only started looking at the forums once I had an idea of what I wanted to do (exploration mostly).

I still tweak my hotas set up every now and then to fine tune it to my playstyle. I still bounce off walls occassionaly but have never blown up.

Really, really dont understand why people have so much of a problem. The tutorials are adequate enough. You have to learn to fly no amount of hand holding tutorials can get that for you.

I took my time, was quite methodical and approached things with this will probably get me blown up so lets be cautious.

Im not a l33t gamer but I am am older gamer who remembers Jet Set Willy. I did play Eve online for a few years and that certainly prepares you for the long haul. The only other online game I played for a long time is Neverwinter Nights. Lots of games require some google fu to learn different classes and builds for various activities. Wether it be spaceships or fantasy realms. So blaming the 'lack' of tutorials and omg I have to use google I feel is a rather moot point.

Ive found the only games that dont require any google fu are CoD BF CS l4d etc. Dont get me wrong I love these games too and have played them to death.

Elite is definately not one of these games. So maybe the marketing is all wrong because just like Eve online... the videos look waaaaay more exciting than the game.

Maybe we should be looking at the gamers who are more into Arma, Elder Scrolls, Eve online, Minecraft, Gratuitous Space Battles, Yes-Euro Truck Simulator, MS Flight Sims, DCS. Now these gamers have thriving communities that work with the developers into producing better game content. Seems to me like all the twitch shooters and hardcore pvpers thrive on anarchy, chaos and abuse.

So it goes without saying that we dont want anything to do with the omgwtfbbq my ship keeps crashing into the station wall and its all this stupid games fault brigade.

(Not having a dig at pvp or pvpers. I like my pvp, my opinion of Elite is that it is not pvp centric and there is no denying that most fps multiplayer environment are vitriolic at best and I myswlf have been of the worst of them).

Anyone remember the German kid on youtube losing it and trashing his keyboard... Yeah, no thanks.
 
I would love to give this game really good review but I have to wait until Steam sees that I own the game. I am just waiting to activate this game in Steam. Cheers.
 
hah @ cmdr Dahak, well spotted.

I think people are overreacting about negative reviews - plenty of people won't like the game, and that's ok. It is a "niche product" afterall. People who find the game too obtuse, boring or complex are well within their rights to say so. If that warns off players who may be looking for instant action or directed storytelling, it's a good thing in the long run.


Positive recommendations are ~3:1 ahead, hardly a disaster :)

* although, if i had a steam key then I could leave a good review myself. hint hint :rolleyes:
 
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Haven't had a Steam account nor have I patronized Valve since 2004. Not particularly concerned with how it's viewed there. The game will stand or fall on it's own merits, and if it leaves a negative impression on untold multitudes of impatient, incompetent, gamers, so be it. Just as many others seem to like it.

Can't please everyone, and any attempt to try will alienate more.

Easy. Play this game with a friend. Notice you can't trade anything at all, share missions or mission outcomes, share the same prices in the same station and not to mention trying to keep up with each other even in a wing.

You can do all of these things, though the first two are quite limited in scope.

Maybe people are just stupid

No maybe about it.
 
I would definitely review positively on Steam if I was able to, but I can't since I don't have a steam key and I'm not going to pay £40 for the game again. I love elite, and I know that for the game to succeed it needs a big player base. If the steam review ratio gets any worse I think it could be very bad for Elite.

Frontier needs to let us write our reviews, and help their game!
 
This is actually a very important point because labeling ED a simulator adds to the confusion about the nature of the game. FD intentionally designed ED to offer very simplified avionics and an unrealistic, easy to handle flight model for the sake of fun vs. realism. Conversely, a game that would qualify as a space flight sim would be, for example, Orbiter.

The term 'simulator' doesn't really have the same meaning as it did back in the 1990's, especially on sites like 'gog.com' or Steam. And even sites like 'Combatsim' or 'Simhq' seem to be much broader and flexible with terminology. I'd say E: D's avionics and complexity were the same as some of the 90's survey sims.
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Having grown up with such games, I found most of the activities in E: D pretty trivial to, if not master, to at least be competent in. However, I've spent a bit of time today typing a long explanation of docking to a friend who has just got the game, found it impossible to do properly for a few hours, and was going to give up in frustration.
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*EDIT* LOL! Just read one negative review on steam given because the purchaser bought the game and found that there is no single player. They complain that 'the game should have been advertised as an MMO', when the first line of the description on Steam is "Elite Dangerous is the definitive massively multiplayer space epic". Just... wha... erm... nevermind...
 
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I'm a bit indifferent with this "issue".

Sure i'd like more players and more money for the game.
On the other hand i'm not so sure if i want people that obviously are not enjoying the game as it is to come here and try to make it more trivial.

Edit: Even with close friends i'm very careful about to whom i advertise it. Some people just won't like it and never will. No need to pull them to the game.
 
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Griefing level is about to rise exponentially.

I'm a much better pilot than 99.995% of those who can't be bothered to spend two hours researching let alone learning a game. So...not particularly worried.

Let them Sidewinders come, muahaha!

[video=youtube;S06nIz4scvI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06nIz4scvI[/video]

Some people just won't like it and never will. No need to pull them to the game.

Agreed.
 
Right now it says reviews are mostly positive, I think most who play the game for more than a few hours will change their tune, and for those who were expecting an arcade game, they should do more research on their games.
 
Right now it says reviews are mostly positive, I think most who play the game for more than a few hours will change their tune, and for those who were expecting an arcade game, they should do more research on their games.

Reviews are part of the research ;)
 
I think you're also just choosing to ignore reality in an attempt to impose your own biases on the facts. Just because someone doesn't like the game doesn't mean he's a "mankiddies who can't do anything unless somebody draws them instructions in crayon.". Some of you guys are so self righteous with your opinion of the game it's ridiculous. It's almost as if you think that liking ED actually makes you a superior human being.

You see this with a lot of game forums. It's especially ironic in Elite. Once you learn the controls and how to get around, the game is extremely easy. Ultra casual level of difficulty. You don't really need to think or have skills for anything other than pvp. It's really a rather dumbed down experience when you step back and take a look at it. They make it difficult to lose and there's no depth to what you do. It's a very simple, straight forward, risk free game.

It's pretty funny how some people talk about those who don't like the game considering how it's made.
 
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I would like to write my review too, after playing a hundreds of hours, not two.
Game is not fast arcade for casuals, so more experienced players should have a possibility to make their own opinion on Steam.
ED is long-term game, progress is not in minutes, but in days of playing.

First of all, it is not my intention to offend, but what I'm going to say may have that effect anyway.

Elite is an extremely shallow game, precisely catered to "casuals", being primarily nostalgia-striken hardcore fans. I'm tempted to sketch a demographic here, but that will certainly come across as distasteful.
The point is, Elite is more an audiovisual experience than it is a game. And calling it hardcore is just silly. Freespace 2 or even Freelancer have a lot more depth in terms of gameplay options than Elite, even if they are more arcadey (specially the latter). Evochron Chronicles, not as pretty, but infinitely more deep. Eve, different focus, much deeper.

These are not kids looking for a CoD in space. These are people whose gaming experience goes beyond primitive 80s titles that make Elite Dangerous look like Dwarf Fortress. On a side note, looking serious does not mean being deep, there are many dimensions to modern gaming that seem to escape to Elite fans.

As it is, the game is very much lacking in actual content. It is no where near worth the price of $60.

1. Year 3300 and there is no auto navigation for inner system flight with over light speed? seriously? not only it takes forever to get somewhere. its ridiculously annoying.

2. The entry into the game is extreme hard. the in game tutorials are useless and i had to watch over an hour Youtube tutorials to get anything done.

3. And this is the reason why i stop playing after a few hours: There is absolutely no Player trading in game not with items or credits.
Addition: Dropping stuff in space is not player trading.

Edit: Just to make it clear. I played more then one hour. i just did not use steam to launch the game.

I thank everyone for the Helpfull comments. i will give a few a try. and let every hating fanboy know. dont waste your time here i am going to delete every single insulting comment.

Omg this reminds me of one of the space-mining-clones that populate the android or IOS market. I was fooled by the trailer and thought it had a single player campaign with a story... you know... something.

These are valid critique in my opinion, and there isn't that much of it. I think it deserves the current rating it's receiving (which is Mostly Positive, by the way).

I'm a beta backer, and although I'm keeping an eye on the game, I uninstalled it last year and haven't had the strength to force myself to play it again. I still have hopes, but the truth is it's still in diapers.
 

SlackR

Banned
I've been replying to them as helpfully as possible, and as you'd expect, all you get back is flaming and defensive posturing from kids who are looking for CoD in space. What may be worse than the mixed reviews is the idea of the influx of these folks into "our" universe. Griefing level is about to rise exponentially.

maxresdefault.jpg

CoD in space seems like a reasonable assumption...
We already have Cobras, Asps, Anacondas etc... So why not fish?
:p

I had a quick look at the reviews this morning and the ones I read were all positive.
Provided the game isn't simplified to appease the moaning I couldn't care less if some twelve year old can't reach Elite status after an hour of playing. A lot of people didn't get the original ( including the publishers ) and it went on to define a new type of gaming. DB needs to remember his roots and not his bank balance and we can have a new revolution on our hands!
Instead of dumbing down the game, let's educate the dirty masses! :p
 
These are not kids looking for a CoD in space. These are people whose gaming experience goes beyond primitive 80s titles that make Elite Dangerous look like Dwarf Fortress. On a side note, looking serious does not mean being deep, there are many dimensions to modern gaming that seem to escape to Elite fans.

I'm younger than the average backer, being in my early 30's, and my gaming experience is quite extensive and contemporary. I did not play the original Elite untill it was already 20 years old, and my decision to purchase and play ED had nothing to do with nostalgia.

I do not find Elite to be especially lacking in content or depth. It's kept me well entertained for many hundreds of hours thus far and is sure to do so for many thousands more.

Content in Elite isn't handed to you on a platter. You are not chaperoned from ride to ride or railroaded along a linear story. You go out and discover it. You make it.
 
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You see this with a lot of game forums. It's especially ironic in Elite. Once you learn the controls and how to get around, the game is extremely easy. Ultra casual level of difficulty. You don't really need to think or have skills for anything other than pvp. It's really a rather dumbed down experience when you step back and take a look at it. They make it difficult to lose and there's no depth to what you do. It's a very simple, straight forward, risk free game.

It's pretty funny how some people talk about those who don't like the game considering how it's made.

My thoughts exactly. It's a game for people with little time to spare that somehow manages to make them think they are having a super-hardcore gaming experience. In truth its feels disconnected from the evolution of gaming since the last millennium.
 
Instead of dumbing down the game, let's educate the dirty masses! :p

How can they dumb it down further? Difficulty is stuck on casual, you can only bind 2 firing buttons, every activity in the game is extremely shallow. The controls have a bit of a learning curve, but that's it.

This game is made for casual or poor game players already. There's nothing to educate anyone on.

Content in Elite isn't handed to you on a platter. You are not chaperoned from ride to ride or railroaded along a linear story. You go out and discover it. You make it.


Yes, it is. There's a few very simple things you can do and they are all available on demand. There is no challenge to any of it, no strategy or thought required.

Repeating simple tasks to finish a grind is how casual players feel accomplished because they don't respond well to actual difficulty. That's Elite, that's what it is. It's really a very basic game. If people enjoy it that's cool, but can we stop pretending it's not a very low difficulty experience? It's stupidly easy and simple, let's be real here.
 
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I'm younger than the average backer, being in my early 30's, and my gaming experience is quite extensive and contemporary. I did not play the original Elite untill it was already 20 years old, and my decision to purchase and play ED had nothing to do with nostalgia.

I do not find Elite to be especially lacking in content or depth. It's kept me well entertained for many hundreds of hours thus far and is sure to do so for many thousands more.

Content in Elite isn't handed to you on a platter. You are not chaperoned from ride to ride or railroaded along a linear story. You go out and discover it. You make it.

some people like it, some people don't.
if there was a "right" way to make a game, we all would play the same one ;)
 
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