Wall of text alert!
Almost every day there’s a new post decrying some game feature, pointing out how bugged or just plain unfair it is, usually accompanied with demands for better game mechanisms to achieve whatever the feature does. It doesn’t take long for the thread to devolve into derogatory remarks, White Knight and Fanboi are particular favourites of mine*, sent at anyone daring to challenge how bugged or unfair the feature is. It's good fun, rough and tumble forum handbags, which is why we’re all here, right?
What I don’t understand is the accusation that these features are part of a wider issue, leading to a game experience that’s ocean wide and puddle deep. There is no ‘depth’ to the game, apparently. It’s just a series of dull grinds, with badly thought out rationales for the various features.
The reason I don’t understand is that the supporters of the OP, sometimes the OP themselves, often state that they’ve been gaming the game- stacking slave trading missions by switching game modes, taking on endless charity missions and so forth. Which I totally agree sounds very dull, even tedious.
My experience has been a wee bit different. I like to try out the various options available to us and I’m fascinated by their effects. One of the very first things I did in game was (unintentionally) flip an unalligned system. I then put up a Quixotic defence of it against the Kumo Crew hordes. By the time it flipped right back I was so unpopular with the cut-throat NPCs I had to relocate to some place a little safer. It was an absolute blast! True, I could have played it entirely solo, I hardly saw another commander the whole time my little personal crusade was underway. And it would have been more fun with friends. But even so, it was astounding to find that I could have a real effect on the system I chose. A living, breathing galaxy, just as advertised.
Roll forward a couple of years and I’m playing the BGS again, with the added bonus of having friends this time around, and human opponents (although the SDC deny defending their turf,
someone is! [haha]). It’s a tiny part of the wider game, but there are so many disparate elements, so many factors interacting, that it’s almost a stand alone game. It seems that there are layers of game play beneath the pretty background!
Those layers won’t get you rank or access to end game ships, though. It strikes me that using the various features in a ‘realistic’ manner adds spice to the game and increases the sense of immersion. If you pick up on charity missions on a case by case basis, for instance, only taking up causes you sympathise with and that won’t negatively impact on whatever you’re trying to achieve when the mission is offered, you’ll eventually achieve a well earned reputation. With that will come rank and privilege- including the right to buy those shiny end game ships. It feels like a natural consequence of your in game actions, rather than a clumsy exploit that those dummies in Cambridge haven’t got around to fixing yet.
In this sandbox game, setting our own objectives, playing an extremely powerful character, everything we do has an effect. Every game career has an impact on the human occupied galaxy, there’s more going on than usually meets the eye. Now you can shrug and feel that a few percentile points on a system summary means nothing to you. You want a ginagerous ship and you want more pew-pew, or safer trading. The best and quickest way to do that is to game the game, take the fullest advantage of every grind feature and race up the ranks, accumulate a mountain of wealth and strut about in your brand new, end game ship.
Well, that’s fair enough, you can do that and I wish you the best of luck. But I don’t think it’s particularly fair to slag nine hells out of the game for lacking ‘depth’ when your own actions have deliberately destroyed any sense of immersion you may have otherwise had.
You’re the one taking away the ambiance and character the developers have tried to incorporate into your experience.
Is it just me who thinks you get out of the game experience what you put in? If you want to play a role, or explore game mechanics, or enjoy co-operative endeavours with like minded players, the game has the tools to allow you to do that. But at the same time, if all you want is in game achievements, the quickest and easiest ways to get them tend to make them feel less like achievement and more like make work.
* Because I
am a Fanboi, with a tendancy to White Knight!
