As one of those people who's stuck it out, I want you to know I'm actually, genuinely touched. I dearly like Elite, and to me it feels like a heck of a letdown. I hope I can at least transfer my modules back from the Gnosis as most of my good exploration stuff is there now.
I hope they make it right.
Because deep down, I LOVE this game. LOVE it. The first time or three I put my hands on a HOTAS setup and turned my head after taking off, using my TrackIR - both purchased for THIS game - I was AMAZED. The sound, the FEEL...the first time I landed a ship, I genuinely FELT the impact on docking, so masterfully crafted were the flight and sound model. I mean that, genuinely - flight and sound are a masterpiece.
And like many others, from that day to about 18 months or so ago, genuinely, eagerly awaiting new content.
But somewhere along the way, a truth hit me: FDEV are incapable of realizing their vision. Maybe its talent. Maybe its tech. Maybe its both. Whatever the reason, they CANNOT do it. But you know, that in itself is ok. Just tell us the truth, level with us and do the best you CAN. I would have been ok with that.
But they didnt do THAT, either. Instead, they started down the road of "exciting content we are interested in bringing you...one day." And they kept at it. For literally YEARS on end.
And I am angry about that. Angry and hurt. We were lied to. Mislead. And intentionally, for quite some time now, no less. As we watched the game we were sold slowly transition not into some tier two "Best Effort" that we could all rally around and learn to love in spite of the technical limitations that forced Fdev to come up short, but...no...instead, we watched our game become little more than an idle clicker RNG casino with a flight model. And we watched this focus last for YEARS...despite all of the "exciting content we are interested in bringing you" pep talks from a Dev who, it turns out, KNEW they could no longer deliver all along.
Nonetheless, despite my hurt, and the anger left in the wake of this betrayal - despite its ruining Kickstarter and Crowd Funding for me, as I will NEVER contribute to another unfinished product, no matter how brilliant it seems, so long as I live - despite MY bitterness, I hope they manage to fix this. For all of you who HAVE stuck by them. Waiting patiently. Professed faith. I HOPE that somehow, they swallow the bitter pill of an all nighter and get their collective asses to work.
Because who knows? If they do that, maybe it will reignite the studio's passion for the game. Maybe it will light the fire that incites some miracle turnaround. Maybe it will lead to them fixing this entire mess of RNG grind that could have been the greatest space sim in the history of gaming.
Would that make me wrong in my predictions if that happens? Sure. But thats ok. Because I WANT to be wrong. I want to eat crow until I burp feathers. Because one day, I want to plant my hands back on that HOTAS and buzz down from a station onto an Atmo planet to pull a sketchy job the likes of Malcolm Reynolds would pursue, in the Elite universe, with THIS flight model, with interesting, persistent characters who remember the rep I have earned in their neck of the 'Verse, for good or ill.
Give me that game, and I'll put ketchup on my crow and SHOUT on these forums about how wrong I turned out to be. And I'll LIKE it. Provided I can tear myself away from playing long enough to DO it.
But for now, they need to fix this. Because you lot deserve better than this.
