Wow that demo of No Man's Sky looks awesome. Elite has got it beaten graphically, but that's about it.
Well, I suppose it's down to taste. I mean, graphics is something I always judge by artstyle. For example, I consider Dishonoured to be a beautiful game with great graphics, but it's not because it's photorealisitic obviously. It's like a watercolour picture.
Another example, Borderlands isn't cutting edge graphically, nor was BioShock, with the old Unreal Engine 3, but both those series look really good for the aesthetic they were trying to go for, even if they might not suit every taste. So, for me NMS looks pretty and exciting, and consistent. That's what matters.
I remember Sean Murry mentioning once they went for what people are calling a 'cartoony' style because it was reminiscent of early 50s era sci-fi books and comics - a bit like the artwork in the Fallout universe.
So, I wouldn't say Elite has it beaten graphically, per se. I'd argue that as a matter of priorities, for Hello Games, a studio of around a ten person team, it's probably a good choice to have gone with this style. Their procedural engine can probably more build environments and objects to look more consistent because of it too.
We've seen you can wonder around a procedural environment - note: they always looks very samey to me - but we really have no idea of what you'll do, and most importantly, how interesting it will be. Thus far it looks like you land on a planet, find creatures, scan then, and upload the info. TBH doesn't seem that inspiring?
Well, apart from the exploration of diverse, colourful worlds, there is combat which we've see, and some form of trading progressing mentioned, it's already more than I can do in Elite.
I'm not expecting a lot, to be honest, to start with anyway, but if we believe Frontier can build on what they've done, I think it's fair to say so can Hello Games, even though they are a fraction of the man power and budget.