The quality of ED's future

[medwyn]

Horizons announced, well, surely and exciting thing.
My excitement however is a bit lacking because I'm not convinced about whether this is a step forward to something or away from something else.

ED is still a shallow, contentless framework with non-functioning placeholders. It's over 8 months after release and fundamental issues has not been sorted out to make ED up to a good standard or at least to match the quality of years old games in the same genre or with the same features. There's a lot of work to be done on this area and not much have been done since release (since Betas to be honest).
The 1.x series brought a few again unfinished, unorganic additions which did not address any of the fundamental issues repeatedly reported on the forums - ED can be "more" but it can not be "higher quality" this way.

Now it's another move towards planetary landings and I do understand the excitement but have some concerns overall:
- will Horizons be another half-baked, content-empty addition released as buggy as the previous patches regardless of the beta feedbacks?
- will the default ED have now even less resources to be able to bring the quality a lot of players expect and desire?
- will FD's financial model produce further examples of rushed, overly hyped but not properly done features for even more money? Is this the 10-years plan?

I'm not sure if I'm waiting for Horizons or a sound ED before that.

 

[Leo Sagan]

ED is still a shallow, contentless framework with non-functioning placeholders.

I see your point and I respect it. But that's not how I personaly feel. As I picture the thing, I'll be in my ship like today, scanning planets in an unknown solar system, and then I'll be able to do something I cannot today : go down and explore.

So YES , all the things missing today are still missing, but there is something more to do, something more to see, and this is definitely depth to me, and a LOT of depth even (well, hopefully).
So this is a HUGE step in the right direction, as long as you consider Horizons more like an E : D part and not a separate entity.

 

[SonGon]

Horizons announced, well, surely and exciting thing.
My excitement however is a bit lacking because I'm not convinced about whether this is a step forward to something or away from something else.

ED is still a shallow, contentless framework with non-functioning placeholders. It's over 8 months after release and fundamental issues has not been sorted out to make ED up to a good standard or at least to match the quality of years old games in the same genre or with the same features. There's a lot of work to be done on this area and not much have been done since release (since Betas to be honest).
The 1.x series brought a few again unfinished, unorganic additions which did not address any of the fundamental issues repeatedly reported on the forums - ED can be "more" but it can not be "higher quality" this way.

Now it's another move towards planetary landings and I do understand the excitement but have some concerns overall:
- will Horizons be another half-baked, content-empty addition released as buggy as the previous patches regardless of the beta feedbacks?
- will the default ED have now even less resources to be able to bring the quality a lot of players expect and desire?
- will FD's financial model produce further examples of rushed, overly hyped but not properly done features for even more money? Is this the 10-years plan?

I'm not sure if I'm waiting for Horizons or a sound ED before that.

FD continue to add broken things on broken things onto the basic broken mechanincs.... and they only think to $. They have to make the game works well in all the professions and fix the open/solo/private thing and the combat logging/cheating/hacking that they cannot fix (will be already fixed otherwise)

 

[dreamer1986]

I agree. First they should have fixed the game properly, and only then move on to expensive expansions.

 

[Johaunna]

I agree. It is definitely a good thing that the planetary landing is proceeding and that there is something concrete .
But the game is half broken and must be fixed.
Otherwise we will have empty planets to explore with nothing to do and no one to meet .

 

[lilikin]

The don't think about $ they think about £.
.
On the OPs point if you keep your imagination locked down the content available in the 2015 release will not only let you fly around and see planet and the such but also get out and land and drive around on another planet, if that is ALL they do it will be incredible in the depth department.

I agree it is lacking right now but this will mean a lot of extra stuff to do this is real content

 

[ZeeWolf]

At least the continued funded development of ED will ensure you can enjoy many more months of ...challenging it's right to exist... on the game's forum

If the game isn't what the public want then they will stop buying into it and purchase a worthy alternative no? Do we need to be told what not to like?

 

[Defacto]

I see your point and I respect it. But that's not how I personaly feel. As I picture the thing, I'll be in my ship like today, scanning planets in an unknown solar system, and then I'll be able to do something I cannot today : go down and explore.

So YES , all the things missing today are still missing, but there is something more to do, something more to see, and this is definitely depth to me, and a LOT of depth even (well, hopefully).
So this is a HUGE step in the right direction, as long as you consider Horizons more like an E : D part and not a separate entity.

I don't want to stomp on your opinion, but I think I can say, completely objectively and with a lot of certainty, that there are a lot of features that were discussed as integral features of the base game, and were either not delivered at all, or in a very basic and limited form.
Maybe it's just natural that some of this occurs during development, but I think the scale that this has happened at is disappointing, despite all the great things (I happily admit) that this game has to offer.

There are things I would want to see more than planetary landings, basic things that sounded like they were going to be in the game at release or shortly afterwards. Hopefully, we'll see these features too in the future, and not locked behind paywalls.

 

[Evil]

Horizons announced, well, surely and exciting thing.
My excitement however is a bit lacking because I'm not convinced about whether this is a step forward to something or away from something else.

ED is still a shallow, contentless framework with non-functioning placeholders. It's over 8 months after release and fundamental issues has not been sorted out to make ED up to a good standard or at least to match the quality of years old games in the same genre or with the same features. There's a lot of work to be done on this area and not much have been done since release (since Betas to be honest).
The 1.x series brought a few again unfinished, unorganic additions which did not address any of the fundamental issues repeatedly reported on the forums - ED can be "more" but it can not be "higher quality" this way.

Now it's another move towards planetary landings and I do understand the excitement but have some concerns overall:
- will Horizons be another half-baked, content-empty addition released as buggy as the previous patches regardless of the beta feedbacks?
- will the default ED have now even less resources to be able to bring the quality a lot of players expect and desire?
- will FD's financial model produce further examples of rushed, overly hyped but not properly done features for even more money? Is this the 10-years plan?

I'm not sure if I'm waiting for Horizons or a sound ED before that.

Im on the fence as well, just have to wait and see if its got the content worth the monies.

 

[Wuddel]

I agree. First they should have fixed the game properly, and only then move on to expensive expansions.

Yeah, this is not how game development (and many other industries work). The people who make new stuff are often not the same people that fix old stuff. And you need to keep both groups occupied the same time, all the time.

I am happy with the game as it is. Also no one put a sign up at my local electronics dealer: "PC gaming: step in, it is an inexpensive hobby".

 

[Barking_Mad]

At least the continued funded development of ED will ensure you can enjoy many more months of ...challenging it's right to exist... on the game's forum

If the game isn't what the public want then they will stop buying into it and purchase a worthy alternative no? Do we need to be told what not to like?

No, people play for hundreds of hours then whine they haven't had value for money. I just had someone on Reddit say 'You're thick. People think there's stuff to do so play it for hundreds of hours only to find there's nothing to do.'


*sigh* Kids.

 

[B7ACK MAM8A]

I don't think that this is where the base game ends and all focus goes into the expansion. FD went through the trouble of expanding its development team dedicated to the game, so it's safe to assume that they'll be able to work on both simultaneously.

 

[Zak Gordon]

at medwyn,

you have to go back and play all the Elite games to understand that planet landings is an important part of 'adding content' to ED. If you just played Elite back in the day you may well be less interested in this update, but for most of us that got into Frontier (Elite 2) and FFE (Elite 3), the planetary landings blew our socks of and became an integral part of what made 'Elite' such an awesome game. It was so good to sit on a landing pad at Merlin and hear those icy winds howl while watching the sun and gas giant rise and set above. It made Frontier (and FFE) a more 'complete' game in the sense that why could you not land on planets in Elite (original game) when this was the future? (because computer tech in 1984 just could not handle it).

Planetary landings gave Frontier and FFE a huge boost of realism to your overall game experience, it fueled the imagination more, it helped you create a sense of proper place in the galaxy (I'm from Earth/Mars/Merlin etc). It was not perfect, but as implimented added a huge serving of 'extra' over the original game (and Elite Plus etc). It was progress of the series, it was going in the right direction.....then Elite 4 never happened.

So here we are

 

[orfeboy]

The don't think about $ they think about £.
.
On the OPs point if you keep your imagination locked down the content available in the 2015 release will not only let you fly around and see planet and the such but also get out and land and drive around on another planet, if that is ALL they do it will be incredible in the depth department.

I agree it is lacking right now but this will mean a lot of extra stuff to do this is real content

You can rest safely assured that they most definitely think of $ and even €. £ is the least of these concerns!

The US is a much bigger market than the UK. FD is a company and is designed to make money. That is the whole purpose of this exercise or did you not know that???

 

[Johaunna]

FD went through the trouble of expanding its development team dedicated to the game, so it's safe to assume that they'll be able to work on both simultaneously.

Maybe they can even put someone in design of new ships . Seeing the stuff coming out lately seem to be recycling.

 

[jadefriendly]

I kinda agree with your points about the gameplay being empty - the galaxy is still quite lifeless and repetitive, and could do with a serious injection of character, variety and personality

But I've pre-ordered Horizons and am excited to play it. I can only hope they will continue to address the core game issues while developing new expansions - but it's not subscription based, so they need the money to come from somewhere to pay for this stuff to happen. and there's only so many paintjobs you can buy...

 

[B7ACK MAM8A]

Maybe they can even put someone in design of new ships . Seeing the stuff coming out lately seem to be recycling.

They look similar because they are variations on the same ship. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're half-a**ed.

 

[drorelith]

I'm more then willing to give them another year to sort thier game out.
They have alot of things going on yes.
They have alot to fix yes.
They are delivering something that they said they would in december of this year.
That is quite a ways away.
Perhaps some of the things that need fixing will be fixed between now and then. FD is still working on varies things.
I know Elite has been out for 8 months now and in reality that isn't alot of time as there has been other game out for longer then that before working out its bugs without adding content. FD is adding content and attempting to fix bugs.
Perhaps they are trying to do to many things at one time and on that point I would agree.

Also I just bout the lifetime pass so yes I decided to trust in them to deliver.

 

[Dommarraa]

I decided when 1.3 came out that I would not spend another penny on ED until they added something to the game that improved it for me. They have yet to do so, or indicate that they ever will. Excuse me if I ignore the normal "core development continues" platitudes, FD obviously do

 

[Kayweg]

It's not what i am waiting for either, but let's be fair here. The horizon announcement doesn't automatically spell the end for further ED core game development.
PL is very much what many people have been waiting for, so i understand the move.
The rest of us, those who feel ED is still severely lacking ( me included ), will continue to do what we've done so far....watching and waiting , with our wallets closed.