the "nothing to do in this game" club members please consider this point of view
- Thread starter Ruskodisco
- Start date
I have never found myself wondering this more since I joined this forum. Thankfully, it seems to have eased up some lately. Either that, or I've just become numb to it.
i hear alot of complaints about the lacking in things to do in elite.
so i just want to get this in the perspective of another game. anybody remember the need for speed games? well if you for some reason never played those games, i will simply say that it was a "racing" game; you race cars, you can only be inside cars and that was about it.
some times you ran away from cops. but that was seriously what the game was made up of. yet for some reason i never seen anyone get mad that they paid for need for speed and didnt get to deliver anything, nor do i remember anyone getting mad that the trading of the game was lacking, and if im correct you couldnt even mine in that game!
yet people seemed to buy need for speed over and over....and never did any of the edition come out with anything different then racing and customization.
now elite dangerous with out the expansion packs is just a space flight sim. so you can fight, you can explore, you can trade, you can mine, you can be a bounty hunter (technically thats just fighting) now thats what really comes to the top of my head i may have missed something but thats about it.....
yep correct. what else are you going to do? because if you do have some useful ideas that are not in the category of fighting, trading, or mining please share.
but until planetary landings and ship interiors come i would suggest getting used to this because saying that elite dangerous has nothing to do is just bull. because if elite dangerous is in the wrong then so is need for speed, euro truck sim, motocross, midnight club, flight simulator, war thunder, some tony hawk games that only had skating. basically any game that concentrates on a subject and has a repetitive gaming mechanic
yes i do know that it was a random gaming list but you guys get the point lol
Need for speed had progression and rewards/, we have (ed) you get a bigger ship and credits, Euro truck SIM like driving a real truck?, flight SIM like flying a real plane?
Ed flying a spaceship has been dumbed down so much and "physics" tweaked so bad it's not a SIM anymore.. See where I'm going with this? Tony hawk had new gear and skills buy only after you earn them....what can we earn other than credits? One or two ships by getting "military" ranks..the list goes on
Danger, Will Robinson! Sense is not being made!
Thank you .... so much .... We don't know what to do without you
It seems like you share many of the hopes and aspirations for the game that us "complainers" do. I guess my follow-up question would be: if none of those things came to pass, either in free or paid updates, and exploration stayed as it is today, would you be satisfied?
They are posting because, I dont know... they backed this game, they invested lots of money time into it? They are unhappy how game turned out? They want to game to get better? Pick your fav
Satisfied that I got my money's worth out of this game? Yeah, that ship sailed long ago. It is by far the best money I spent on a game ever.
I would be disappointed though, since exploring has not had any love for the last 2 updates. All that love went to the loudest and most annoying and squeakiest of wheels. And those wheels cannot be satisfied ever unless their ideas are implemented exactly as they demand they are. So they keep on squeaking and squeaking.
Exploration is due for some attention. But I'm not going to try to out-squeak those who have far more experience and skill in that department than me.
The difference between my take and the "complainers" might be that I don't feel I am entitled to that attention. I have bought this game, not a stake in the company. I have the right to post suggestions and try to draw attention to issues I feel need to be addressed, I don't have the right to be heeded in the decisions FD makes, just because I pre-ordered and bought some skins. I spent that money on pure selfish motivations.
If exploration stays as it is, I will grow tired of it eventually and move on to another next game. I will not be posting thread after thread on how I am entitled to have my demands met, and if they don't this game will not be around much longer, and this other game has better exploration and you know the drill
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They are posting because, I dont know... they backed this game, they invested lots of money time into it? They are unhappy how game turned out? They want to game to get better? Pick your fav
Indeed... I enjoyed the game as it is... But every now and then I catch a glimpse of what I believe it could easily be, and what I always hoped it would be. And I don't believe it's a far away from that place! The game just needs to drop the fixation on small grinding mini-games, and open itself up to deeper more immersive activities and missions.
So when I see so much time and effort go into something like Powerplay, when almost everything of any merit within it could have (IMHO) been offered via less development and using missions or community goal, it's frustrating. All that additional time could have gone into "expanding" the game (missions, occupations, exploration content) rather than simply orchestrating mass grinds around some pseudo-board game.
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Absolutely... As surely are missions and the like - They're too simplistic and unchallenging.
After six months, as you say, exploration has had no "love", and likewise neither have "missions," even though the missions system has supposedly been reworked.
I so hope V1.4 has some core game enhancements to these sorts of areas. If it doesn't, I think it's a sign FD have very different views to us.
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Satisfied that I got my money's worth out of this game? Yeah, that ship sailed long ago. It is by far the best money I spent on a game ever.
I would be disappointed though, since exploring has not had any love for the last 2 updates. All that love went to the loudest and most annoying and squeakiest of wheels. And those wheels cannot be satisfied ever unless their ideas are implemented exactly as they demand they are. So they keep on squeaking and squeaking.
Exploration is due for some attention. But I'm not going to try to out-squeak those who have far more experience and skill in that department than me.
The difference between my take and the "complainers" might be that I don't feel I am entitled to that attention. I have bought this game, not a stake in the company. I have the right to post suggestions and try to draw attention to issues I feel need to be addressed, I don't have the right to be heeded in the decisions FD makes, just because I pre-ordered and bought some skins. I spent that money on pure selfish motivations.
If exploration stays as it is, I will grow tired of it eventually and move on to another next game. I will not be posting thread after thread on how I am entitled to have my demands met, and if they don't this game will not be around much longer, and this other game has better exploration and you know the drill
If we could witness realistic celestial interactions I would be out there in an instant. Binary stary systems would be fantastic!
I actually like that about Elite
. That I can read something while playing. Or watch a tv show that I wouldn't otherwise.That it would
Heh, I feel the same way. Exploring wouldn't be as immersive for me without the waits. It signifies you're flying quite some distance. I can't imagine actual explorers not trying to find ways to pass the time while they are on their way to the destination.I actually like that about Elite
Maybe it's the difference in seating arrangement. I bolted my HOTAS to the armrests of a comfy chair so I'm quite relaxed during the trip and quite happy to occupy myself while my trusty Asp gobbles up the ls
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This thread needs to be renamed 'Do not read if you are new to the game' or moved to somewhere deep and hidden in the forums that only you old timers know of.
After reading the whole 19 pages (so far) I feel like I should just throw the game away... But I won't. I laughed at those who are bored and I applaud those who see the promise held in the game. I for one am having a blast in the game, so much to do when you are new... Just as all of you were once noobs and had to L2P, remember that feeling? Now you've been there, done that, read the book, got the T shirt and have a leading role in the upcoming musical.
Now the game is on the Xbone and this is bringing a whole new range of players to the game - To any of you PC players (myself included) that want the game to grow and become all it can be, please don't let them find this thread!!!
After reading the whole 19 pages (so far) I feel like I should just throw the game away... But I won't. I laughed at those who are bored and I applaud those who see the promise held in the game. I for one am having a blast in the game, so much to do when you are new... Just as all of you were once noobs and had to L2P, remember that feeling? Now you've been there, done that, read the book, got the T shirt and have a leading role in the upcoming musical.
Now the game is on the Xbone and this is bringing a whole new range of players to the game - To any of you PC players (myself included) that want the game to grow and become all it can be, please don't let them find this thread!!!
As far as 'bodies orbiting stars' goes, this is to be expected to some extent. Perhaps the algorithm needs to be tweaked to allow greater variety, since exoplanet discoveries suggest that there are some pretty mad systems out there; but even then, once we've seen a lot of what's out there, people are going to start noticing patterns.
I think, for me, the greater problem with this is not just that planets are of a few limited types: it's that once you've seen them from a high orbit... not even an orbit, because the flight dynamics preclude actual orbits... that's it. You can't do anything with them, or on them. For me, planetary landings was a crucial, central part of any Elite game. To leave that functionality out meant a huge step backwards from FE2.
The problem here is that multiplayer isn't as non-existent as it should have been. Forcing Elite to be multiplayer meant making compromises that have benefited no-one; and the decision to make a 'halfway-house' multiplayer - i.e. instancing on the fly - means the game doesn't fit well in either camp.
Bad. Bad bad bad. Don't do it. If I wanted to be confined in a tiny space I wouldn't look to space games to provide that. That is the antithesis of what space games should be about. The only space game that can get away with such a constraint on player freedom is EVE Online, and that's only because there are enough systems (several thousand) modelled in 1:1 scale to make the limits minimally distracting. Yes, it's true: most of us won't ever visit a fraction of the systems available in Elite Dangerous - but the fact that they're there, and that we could if we wanted to, is what makes this a superior model.
Don't forget that the universe as we see it is, in effect, procedurally generated: the baseline assumption of physics is that there's a rule or set of rules that will enable us to model everything. All the variety of nature stems from those rules. So the question isn't whether procedural generation is the right way to go about creating your space game - it absolutely is, if you want your space game to feel like it's in space.The question is what the constraints of the generation should be: how much variety should the algorithm(s) allow. I know we're not supposed to mention Space Engine, but it's good example: the variety there is a little wider than in Elite Dangerous; the procedural generation in No Man's Sky looks to be producing pretty magnificent results. But in both cases, sooner or later someone will see patterns, limits, familiarity. At that point, things need to get fractal: how deeply does the system produce detail, and how closely does it let you look at that detail? Does it keep you in space looking down at a globe? Or does it let you get down into the clouds, let you fly through valleys, land on open plains and go walking through forests, dodging giant spiders (oh gods, don't generate giant spiders, please) and fourteen-foot scaly koalas with antlers?
TL;DR: Tweak the procedural generation for greater variety and exploit it for greater detail on planet surfaces; don't remove it.
Yes it is. Yes, it's a really, really bad thing. Since FE2, Elite has been about a realistic-sized environment. Like I said above, there's no point in a space game if you don't want to set it in space.
But trading doesn't get old in EVE, and that doesn't present a great deal of variety in terms of what systems look like. Trading is a repetitive activity, by definition. How dull or exciting trading is is nothing to do with what the background looks like: it's to do with how the economy works; how dynamic it is; how cutthroat it can be. EVE allowed for 'station trading': you could use buy and sell orders and exploit the spread between the values to make money without ever leaving a single station. There was, in short, no scenery at all - but EVE trading was basically a form of PVP: you had to outbid, outmanoeuvre the opposition - exploit their mistakes; find those little deals that other people hadn't noticed. EVE's trading, without doubt, works as well as it does because it's pretty much a player-driven economy (albeit with money taps and sinks at the ends), but still, stripped down to its root description, it still involves doing the same things over and over.
If Elite's trading is lacking, it's because the trading mechanic is lacking, not because the background pictures aren't pretty enough.
There are fantasy games I'll play, and enjoy. But in the context of Elite, or any space game, hearing the word 'quest' makes me shudder. Not just because it's a fantasy word in a sci-fi environment, but because it's a different model of gameplay. Questing, in fantasy MMOs, is about embarking on a (usually) long set of pre-scripted objectives, talking to NPCs through pre-written dialogue - going, in short, where the game wants you to go. And that's fine, in its place. But its place isn't in Elite.
Yes. Good.
No. Not good. That implies that you buy a ship and you get XYZ combination of equipment, and that's it. No, there should be more customisation, not less.
No. That's quite honestly as far as I need to read. Storylines in a game like Elite are surplus to requirements. As far as I'm concerned the only reason a 'main quest' exists in a game is to give me something to completely ignore. Don't tell me who my character is; don't tell me what I need to do; and don't tell me why I'm supposed to be doing it. If you want me to develop my character then just give me a space to type her name (or his name) and leave me alone. She'll develop well enough without you having to pay a team of writers to develop her for me. If you really want to improve the experience then give me a visual avatar designer (ideally one at least as good as EVE Online's). Then leave me alone.
I actually like that about Elite
A little window with futurama playing in it about 2 thirds of the way up on the right hand side of the screen improves every game. Except alien colonial marines, that needs to be put out of it's misery.
Sorry only skimmed the previous pages, but my current view of ED is it has lots to do but none of it matters or provides a feeling of being part of the bigger picture.
I get I am a spec of dust in a huge galaxy, as it should be in my opinion, but as a gamer I would like to feel that my actions have some small effect on the environment/simulation no matter how small.
I constantly feel that nothing moves, changes or breathes in ED unless someone at FD makes it happen, my actions are just an unrelated time sink at the moment. Quests, combat and trading do not seem to effect anything and serve only as a credit ATM while mining minerals that no one seems to want or need feels pointless too.
The galaxy fails to fill me with any sense of wonder outside of oh that's pretty, I get that some like the science but the galaxy seems totally devoid of objects and natural occurrences. I feel that FD are stuck on the science and totally forgot the 'fiction' part, sure the accuracy is cool but can we not fill it with bug eyed monsters and kidney munching lemon grass a bit? Star Trek and Star Wars did not capture our imaginations with science they had the absurdly wonderful 'fiction' part nailed fuelling our imaginations.
I haven't given up on ED yet but I feel it is currently beautiful, technically spectacular but dull and lifeless.
I get I am a spec of dust in a huge galaxy, as it should be in my opinion, but as a gamer I would like to feel that my actions have some small effect on the environment/simulation no matter how small.
I constantly feel that nothing moves, changes or breathes in ED unless someone at FD makes it happen, my actions are just an unrelated time sink at the moment. Quests, combat and trading do not seem to effect anything and serve only as a credit ATM while mining minerals that no one seems to want or need feels pointless too.
The galaxy fails to fill me with any sense of wonder outside of oh that's pretty, I get that some like the science but the galaxy seems totally devoid of objects and natural occurrences. I feel that FD are stuck on the science and totally forgot the 'fiction' part, sure the accuracy is cool but can we not fill it with bug eyed monsters and kidney munching lemon grass a bit? Star Trek and Star Wars did not capture our imaginations with science they had the absurdly wonderful 'fiction' part nailed fuelling our imaginations.
I haven't given up on ED yet but I feel it is currently beautiful, technically spectacular but dull and lifeless.
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I actually think it's a shame the game rewards players from staying well away from objects (planets) they're scanning. The mechanics rewards flying towards objects and slowing down well away, or even come to a stop. I'd suggest that most objects (planets) CMDRs discover, they see them as anything more than a dot in the distance. If/when storms, aurora borealis and/or other features are added, how many of these will be missed because the game penalised flying close to objects and/or doesn't give a means of seeing an object close up.
The game should reward the player for flying up close(r). This could be easily done by:-
1) Allowing you to still scan while not pointing directly at an object. Surely anywhere in the forward 200 degrees should be fine so you could actually fly around an object and still scan it.
2) Show a video closeup of the targetted object.
ie:-
- https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=118841
- https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=117901
Finally a use for that screen between your legs! Why not even have a button to lift/raise the screen up further into your line of sight too? Or do it automatically while scanning?
![camera4[1].jpg](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/attachments/45/45324-e5b5039c7500f56f91c637d262f7c71c.jpg "camera4[1].jpg")
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If they are part of planetary landings, there should be scan levels added.
The system as we have now + collecting for instance atmospheric data or magnetic field data which requires you to move through it. It's the perfect incentive to go planetary exploring. Heck, even collecting rock/soil/gas samples from the actual planets/moons themselves
Planetary landings could be a make or break expansion for the longevity of exploration.
...but any such activity needs to be rewarding and/or fun surely?
For example, you have to fly into the upper atmosphere and press a new bwaaaaaaaaar scan button. Done! Atmosphere scanned. Or you fly through an atmosphere to collect a sample, which turns into a mini-game ala interdiction where you just need to follow a reticle closely enough. Would either of those prove interesting/challenging/fun enough? There lies the battle I guess.