I've been racking my brain at what this game is missing, why it feels so lifeless, why it lacks depth, and how we can help change it. Well, I think I've at least figured out what the problem is. Let me know what you guys think.
First of all, I imagine making a game is quite an undertaking. There are so many variables and so many markets to try to appeal to. The casual crowd, the hardcore crowd, the console crowd, the PC crowd, the realism fans, the gameplay first crowd, and of course you can never satisfy everyone at once.
But I think the problem with Elite Dangerous, at least for some, if not most of us, is it did not meet our expectation of what we think a game of this genre and setting should be. Don't get me wrong, what we have here is a great START to a game which has TONS of potential to be truly great. But it's been left at that. It shouldn't be this lacking this far/late in the game. There is so much untapped potential in this game that I slap myself on the forehead everytime I see some update, patch, or expansion, that simply doesn't address what this game is missing. I simply cannot fathom the decisions that are being made in the development of this game. So I began thinking, what ARE they thinking?? What's the logic here? Well, part of the problem is I and or we (the customers), have a different expectation than what the developers are intending.
My expectations of this game were that it was going to be a living breathing universe that I could be a part of (similar to how Star Citizen is marketing itself). Maybe not quite with the quality, features, or depth that SC is claiming to be bringing, but 400 billion star systems sure made it seem like a large play space with plenty of opportunities for some exciting adventures and gameplay. What I got though, was a huge beautiful sandbox arcade shooter with minimal career systems or depth, and a couple shiny toys thrown in to keep me busy. That was it. So once I became bored with these toys (cool ships/sound effects, bounty hunting, trading, exploring, mining...) I began to try to understand why I was getting bored and feeling like there was nothing left to do. That's when I realized something.
THE ENTIRE GAME IS A REPETITIVE TIME-SINK GAMEPLAY LOOP CENTERED AROUND PROGRESSION!
This game seems to be designed with an MMO grind mentality, and that is why it fails to match with our perception of what a living breathing SPACE game is supposed to be. Think about it. Whether you mine, bounty hunt, trade, or explore, the end game is literally only a grind for money so you can attain a better ship to continue doing exactly what you were doing before, only better. Sure you can enjoy cruising around in space and landing on planets and looking at stuff. You can even role play in your mind that you are some space traveler on some mission. But FD didn't provide you any of those role playing tools, they put no emphasis on making you feel like part of the universe. And I'm not gonna pay money for a game where I have to pretend in my head there is more to the game than what has been given to me.
Horizons? Oh! Now we can collect minerals on the surface? Oh you mean to refill my AFM ammo so I can continue flying around to land on more planets to collect more AFM ammo to continue flying around and landing on planets to maybe make money to buy a better ship so I can do more flying around and landing on planets fill my AFM? You get my point
Oh, but it's so coooooool to land on planets! Yep, it sure is. And while you're cruising around you can also take some pretty screenshots if you want. So congratulations, you just got sold a $50,000 diamond ring because it's shiny! When you stop admiring how shiny it is, you should realize it's absolutely pointless. Don't even get me started on Powerplay, there is no end game to that either, it's just another loop.
Now, although I sound bitter, my intention is to convey my dismay at the current design of this potentially incredible game. I want FD to break from this looping gameplay and create some meaningful emergent gameplay.
TL
R
FD doesn't seem to understand the saying "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Give us the tools to have fun FD, and stop making your game like a shiny version of Candi Crush in space.
First of all, I imagine making a game is quite an undertaking. There are so many variables and so many markets to try to appeal to. The casual crowd, the hardcore crowd, the console crowd, the PC crowd, the realism fans, the gameplay first crowd, and of course you can never satisfy everyone at once.
But I think the problem with Elite Dangerous, at least for some, if not most of us, is it did not meet our expectation of what we think a game of this genre and setting should be. Don't get me wrong, what we have here is a great START to a game which has TONS of potential to be truly great. But it's been left at that. It shouldn't be this lacking this far/late in the game. There is so much untapped potential in this game that I slap myself on the forehead everytime I see some update, patch, or expansion, that simply doesn't address what this game is missing. I simply cannot fathom the decisions that are being made in the development of this game. So I began thinking, what ARE they thinking?? What's the logic here? Well, part of the problem is I and or we (the customers), have a different expectation than what the developers are intending.
My expectations of this game were that it was going to be a living breathing universe that I could be a part of (similar to how Star Citizen is marketing itself). Maybe not quite with the quality, features, or depth that SC is claiming to be bringing, but 400 billion star systems sure made it seem like a large play space with plenty of opportunities for some exciting adventures and gameplay. What I got though, was a huge beautiful sandbox arcade shooter with minimal career systems or depth, and a couple shiny toys thrown in to keep me busy. That was it. So once I became bored with these toys (cool ships/sound effects, bounty hunting, trading, exploring, mining...) I began to try to understand why I was getting bored and feeling like there was nothing left to do. That's when I realized something.
THE ENTIRE GAME IS A REPETITIVE TIME-SINK GAMEPLAY LOOP CENTERED AROUND PROGRESSION!
This game seems to be designed with an MMO grind mentality, and that is why it fails to match with our perception of what a living breathing SPACE game is supposed to be. Think about it. Whether you mine, bounty hunt, trade, or explore, the end game is literally only a grind for money so you can attain a better ship to continue doing exactly what you were doing before, only better. Sure you can enjoy cruising around in space and landing on planets and looking at stuff. You can even role play in your mind that you are some space traveler on some mission. But FD didn't provide you any of those role playing tools, they put no emphasis on making you feel like part of the universe. And I'm not gonna pay money for a game where I have to pretend in my head there is more to the game than what has been given to me.
Horizons? Oh! Now we can collect minerals on the surface? Oh you mean to refill my AFM ammo so I can continue flying around to land on more planets to collect more AFM ammo to continue flying around and landing on planets to maybe make money to buy a better ship so I can do more flying around and landing on planets fill my AFM? You get my point
Oh, but it's so coooooool to land on planets! Yep, it sure is. And while you're cruising around you can also take some pretty screenshots if you want. So congratulations, you just got sold a $50,000 diamond ring because it's shiny! When you stop admiring how shiny it is, you should realize it's absolutely pointless. Don't even get me started on Powerplay, there is no end game to that either, it's just another loop.
Now, although I sound bitter, my intention is to convey my dismay at the current design of this potentially incredible game. I want FD to break from this looping gameplay and create some meaningful emergent gameplay.
TL
RFD doesn't seem to understand the saying "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Give us the tools to have fun FD, and stop making your game like a shiny version of Candi Crush in space.
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