Open world adventure? Cutthroat galaxy?

[__triumph__]

Elite's experiential more than it's goal-oriented; it's how it's built. I saw someone post a good description recently, and called it an activity more than a game. People looking for more game-type stuff in Elite are currently and fairly disappointed, because it isn't there. Experiential people conversely, are more pleased to have a galaxy to go "live" in for a while, being a Pretend Spaceman. Both general groups are pretty right and honest when they express their satisfaction/dissatisfaction.

A fair amount of friction around here is caused when people don't realize there are these fundamental differences in the way people want to interact with Elite.

It's not experimental. Its design has implemented a lot of, for lack of better phrasing, well known concepts and mechanics. What sets this piece apart is, as advertised, the scale. The concept of generation to build a massive world/universe or random worlds is not new or radical although things under the hood may be.

What you are describing is that there are people toying around with a game and they are satisfied with toying around or other people are attempting to fill in the blanks their way while some of them making excuses for the content provider.

Let us go back to that steam description and to how cutthroat can be defined; (of a competitive situation or activity) fierce and intense; involving the use of ruthless measures.
This i think is implying the concept of GAME.
Open world adventure, this implies risk and excitement.
My experience has been that this can be avoided and massive amounts of progression can be made by doing it. That's just as backwards as saying I should be paying someone so I may daydream, which seems to be a pop concept for a sum of users.

Personally I don't think toying or gaming are detrimental to each other. And it's easy to create spaces for both, tools are another story though.
However when a title is advertised in a certain way, it better deliver otherwise it deserves all the negatives it will get. I like great games, great sims, and great toys.
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A quick and dirty of my open play experience:
After I learned the core mechanics of the game I went to open for some hours a day for about 3 or 4 days without newbie stomping (don't go after harmless people) because that would yield nothing of interest. Piracy was not profitable even if everyone was to drop loot. The mechanics in place don't promote it, and the way players can easily escape and deny or reject player interaction with ease results in no depth at all without going outside the game and implementing ehonor to get a poor death match going. Over 3 days of doing different things to attempt to maximize player interaction the result was a big waste of time after learning the games mechanics. It feels like there is a huge chunk of GAME (and perhaps simulation) missing.

Yes it does have potential, and it's a great bug free high performance framework that they have, but in the end it's also not much more than that. A framework that has potential and needs 2 to 3 years of pure content production to bring it to the level of a full price game.

If it was still in beta I wouldn't have come to it at this time. Going full release is exactly why I gave elite a good chunk of a month. I wonder why (business side?) the game part of it is in this state yet they went full release and onto steam. I also wonder if its taken heat from the press. I've only seen a couple of positives that are right there with my initial feelings about it.

 

[GimpstersGhost]

I have to agree with the OP on some points and disagree on others. While there is still lots of content and game yet to be added, the core mechanics work well. I do not agree with them all but I did not design them. The one thing that does bother me is the steep escalation in ship costs. It makes the game seem like its trying to be a theme park with an end game and is a true open world sandbox where the players create the stories I feel this is very unnecessary.

 

[TheLoneEnsign]

It's not experimental.

He said experiential (as in, the experience is most important). To misquote Roger Ebert: "It's not what it's about, it's how it is about it."

 

[bassman]

Are you insinuating that those who can't use their imaginations are immature gamers? C'mon. Please, I'd love to hear an example of how to use your imagination to enhance the game, because I'd love to give it a try. Should i just imagine that RES farming doesn't exists, maybe imagine a few different types of station other than the 5 that we have?

The problem with ED currently is that there is too much "oh youve just exited SC let me generate a random scenario from one of n templates with completely transient content" and almost complete lack of persistent stateful game entities with which you can interact with and find your own opportunities for emergent play. As a visceral experience its top notch but that needs to backed up with more game world interaction and depth.

 

[Philip Foster]

There being very very little content is a pretty objective observation. Whether or not you enjoy what is there is something else, but you can't say with a straight face that the current situation is acceptable. Maybe if it was still alpha/beta, but it shouldn't be like this in a full priced full release.

With a straight face I say this game is more than acceptable. I say this for a lot of reasons but I'll chose just one. I get to play on a Saturday night, a Sunday as well if I am lucky. So I get to play later today but I've got a lot to do before I can start and I am chomping at the bit. I want to test out the latest upgrades on my Asp and I want to start doing Federation rank missions so I can visit Sol because I've got my own little science fiction story chugging along in my imagination that the game fleshes out for me. Well that's my plan for tonight anyway, what are you going to do stare at the screen for a bit complaining under your breath that it should be designed with you specifically in mind and that imagination is for losers?

Yes there are bugs, yes improvements need to be made and you can argue that all this should have been sorted 'out of the box'. Sorry but I have never yet seen a piece of software that was perfect out of the box and never underwent further update and improvement so why are you being so hard on FD?

That you can't find anything to do says more about you than the game. Maybe you have too much time on your hands, maybe there is only one thing in the game that you want and it isn't implemented exactly how you want it to be. Well maybe that one thing does need a buff and maybe the devs are buffing it just for you but it still wouldn't be good enough because some people are never pleased with anything. Ever.

And yet the devs continue to try to please you knowing that the task is impossible. Bless 'em.