Not like all the rest of the space games.
Okay no but honestly elite is amazing and It still has some warts and issues but every game has its flaws and most games dont get updated past a year.
Looking back at season 1 , the beta before it and now 2.1 I noticed that the dev cycle for elite is the best I have ever seen.
Every update is treated as an expansion , or rather two expansions for now.
Eatch expansion is themed around a specific element of the game we had :
1.6 Missions , witch overhaul missions and the AI as well as making the USS what we were promised in beta as many elements of the BGS to make the game more alive and in line to what was shown in beta and even alpha (I only got to watch alpha , wish I was there)
2.1 Engineers , witch adds engineers but also changes the surfaces of planets and POIs and overhauls bases and adds NPC flight around planets
And on top of all that we get graphical upgrades (for once) and a bucket load of bug fixes.
This is an incredible value for money , season 1 only owners still get full expansions to season 1... right , ''missions'' was not a throw away thing it was included in the purchase of season 1 , so in a sens FD lied to you and instead of including the promised 5 or so expansions they are including more and will continue to support the base platform for years and years.
Think of that , they could have left season 1 users with the old bultin board and say the new one is for owners of season 2 only but they did not !
I am sorry but complaining about price value when you are going to get years and years worth of support and expansions just for season 1 is crazy.
Anyway that was just a small part of what I wanted to say , the other bit is gameplay and content : for 2.1 is the official launch of elite dangerous and for FD as well it seems as its no longer ''early access'' on steam , yeah this is how elite should have been on day 1 but it was not , so no point complaining and lets just move on.
Elite is a unique game.
For starters there is its beautiful pace : instead of just giving players new ships because they saved the princess or killed one pirate they have to do what ''real'' space pilots have to do , earn it. get a job in space and work towards getting the right tools. because of this we can finaly live out real space situations were you see a pilot dreaming of a ship , loosing it all in an epic battle or even just the pilot who found his love in a low tier ship but is so good with it will never need to change. If you are good you can be han solo is what I am saying (apart from you cant win an ASP by wining at a card game)
Then we have the core gameplay loops :
Trading
Fighting
Exploration
BGS
Powerplay
Mining
Scavenging/salvaging (I could count this twice due to surface and space but I wont)
And then on top of that we can add minor side loops :
CQC* (I was going to put it in the main loop but its just not very popular sadly so I put it in minor)
Resorce collection
Looting
Crafting
Missions (I count it as minor as its very optional if you dont like this)
And then we have what I love the most what I am going to call ''meta-gaming''
Elements that are core to the game and crusial to its existence :
Role-playing (this is were I call the game a life-sim , its optional but my in game story is better than any scripted one apart from mass effect)
Sightseeing or real exploration (a lot dont count this as gameplay because there are no credits in it , but the sights are worth more than 100000000 credits , trust me)
Community events (not just CGs but stuff done by the community like elite racers and so on)
And then there is the story
Yes there is a story , and its not just told via GalNet.
I agree that GlaNet is a mixed bag but because some of its stories were not very well told in my opinion (like the master chef super cookers) and the second Xmass event.
But beyond those GalNet is a good read and every time I read something about the aliens or what not I feel actual real dread...that is a good sign.
So for the story telling features :
Hand placed areas yet to be found such as formidine rift , raxxla (I dont belive they actualy put raxxla in , but the rift is thats 100% sure)
The lost , hand place lost colonies yet to be found
The UAs a real alien encounter were we the players play the role of detectives and must solve the puzzles (the best mystery narative in the last 10 years I say)
The fake humans , the AIs the potiential war between the feds and imps
The ex presidents visions.
Now are there things I hate or dont like? yeah , a few.
Some of the player factions using terms that were never used in lore such as ''terran'' but its a big universe and we have even more mad things on earth anyway
The UV mapping on the vulure is off.
Sometimes its too easy
The specials are wierd , but that will be fixed
And of course the fabled BGS that many think is a DRM that actual works and I have seen in it action.
It has flaws of course but its very complex and when you have seen factions take over systems , prices rise and fall , famines happen its amazing and cant wait to see what else they will add to it , imagine actualy witnessing civil unrest in a station or even a famine.
Anyway , thats it just that remember that the game is being worked on and we will soon have
-Avatars
-Multicrew
-Passangers
-Aliens
-Comets
-Volcanic worlds
-Ship launched fighters
And then the ''far'' future stuff
-Walking around ships , planets , stations
-FPS combat like in ArmA (bassed on old DDF stuff)
-Player driven capitol ships !!!
-Science based procedurally generated alien life
-accretion disks !!!!!!!
-additions to the trading
-additions to epxloration
-exploration of gasgiants that will serve as fantasy nebula in a way
-exploration of worlds with atmosphere
And stuff that might happen
-underwater stuff?
-caves? planet coaster can do it , so elite might?
Okay no but honestly elite is amazing and It still has some warts and issues but every game has its flaws and most games dont get updated past a year.
Looking back at season 1 , the beta before it and now 2.1 I noticed that the dev cycle for elite is the best I have ever seen.
Every update is treated as an expansion , or rather two expansions for now.
Eatch expansion is themed around a specific element of the game we had :
1.6 Missions , witch overhaul missions and the AI as well as making the USS what we were promised in beta as many elements of the BGS to make the game more alive and in line to what was shown in beta and even alpha (I only got to watch alpha , wish I was there)
2.1 Engineers , witch adds engineers but also changes the surfaces of planets and POIs and overhauls bases and adds NPC flight around planets
And on top of all that we get graphical upgrades (for once) and a bucket load of bug fixes.
This is an incredible value for money , season 1 only owners still get full expansions to season 1... right , ''missions'' was not a throw away thing it was included in the purchase of season 1 , so in a sens FD lied to you and instead of including the promised 5 or so expansions they are including more and will continue to support the base platform for years and years.
Think of that , they could have left season 1 users with the old bultin board and say the new one is for owners of season 2 only but they did not !
I am sorry but complaining about price value when you are going to get years and years worth of support and expansions just for season 1 is crazy.
Anyway that was just a small part of what I wanted to say , the other bit is gameplay and content : for 2.1 is the official launch of elite dangerous and for FD as well it seems as its no longer ''early access'' on steam , yeah this is how elite should have been on day 1 but it was not , so no point complaining and lets just move on.
Elite is a unique game.
For starters there is its beautiful pace : instead of just giving players new ships because they saved the princess or killed one pirate they have to do what ''real'' space pilots have to do , earn it. get a job in space and work towards getting the right tools. because of this we can finaly live out real space situations were you see a pilot dreaming of a ship , loosing it all in an epic battle or even just the pilot who found his love in a low tier ship but is so good with it will never need to change. If you are good you can be han solo is what I am saying (apart from you cant win an ASP by wining at a card game)
Then we have the core gameplay loops :
Trading
Fighting
Exploration
BGS
Powerplay
Mining
Scavenging/salvaging (I could count this twice due to surface and space but I wont)
And then on top of that we can add minor side loops :
CQC* (I was going to put it in the main loop but its just not very popular sadly so I put it in minor)
Resorce collection
Looting
Crafting
Missions (I count it as minor as its very optional if you dont like this)
And then we have what I love the most what I am going to call ''meta-gaming''
Elements that are core to the game and crusial to its existence :
Role-playing (this is were I call the game a life-sim , its optional but my in game story is better than any scripted one apart from mass effect)
Sightseeing or real exploration (a lot dont count this as gameplay because there are no credits in it , but the sights are worth more than 100000000 credits , trust me)
Community events (not just CGs but stuff done by the community like elite racers and so on)
And then there is the story
Yes there is a story , and its not just told via GalNet.
I agree that GlaNet is a mixed bag but because some of its stories were not very well told in my opinion (like the master chef super cookers) and the second Xmass event.
But beyond those GalNet is a good read and every time I read something about the aliens or what not I feel actual real dread...that is a good sign.
So for the story telling features :
Hand placed areas yet to be found such as formidine rift , raxxla (I dont belive they actualy put raxxla in , but the rift is thats 100% sure)
The lost , hand place lost colonies yet to be found
The UAs a real alien encounter were we the players play the role of detectives and must solve the puzzles (the best mystery narative in the last 10 years I say)
The fake humans , the AIs the potiential war between the feds and imps
The ex presidents visions.
Now are there things I hate or dont like? yeah , a few.
Some of the player factions using terms that were never used in lore such as ''terran'' but its a big universe and we have even more mad things on earth anyway
The UV mapping on the vulure is off.
Sometimes its too easy
The specials are wierd , but that will be fixed
And of course the fabled BGS that many think is a DRM that actual works and I have seen in it action.
It has flaws of course but its very complex and when you have seen factions take over systems , prices rise and fall , famines happen its amazing and cant wait to see what else they will add to it , imagine actualy witnessing civil unrest in a station or even a famine.
Anyway , thats it just that remember that the game is being worked on and we will soon have
-Avatars
-Multicrew
-Passangers
-Aliens
-Comets
-Volcanic worlds
-Ship launched fighters
And then the ''far'' future stuff
-Walking around ships , planets , stations
-FPS combat like in ArmA (bassed on old DDF stuff)
-Player driven capitol ships !!!
-Science based procedurally generated alien life
-accretion disks !!!!!!!
-additions to the trading
-additions to epxloration
-exploration of gasgiants that will serve as fantasy nebula in a way
-exploration of worlds with atmosphere
And stuff that might happen
-underwater stuff?
-caves? planet coaster can do it , so elite might?
