Hello,
alot of you may know me now throughout the years. My playtime in Elite has reached record heights and started its first playtime minute at release. So you can potentionally claim that I have been around for quite a while now.
After 4 years, Elite has changed in alot of areas ... and hasn't in some other core areas. Regardless, in my opinion it is important to regulary reflect and re-evaluate future decisions based on the conclusions one draws out of reflection(s).
If you have been around for more than 2 years, you may remember my old In depth review of Elite: Dangerous from summer 2016.
As this information is now outdated, I believe now is the time to repeat this reflection, especially since the last chapter of the core gameplay improvement series has been released. However, I will be using the same categories to make a comparision between today and 2.5 years ago simple.
So, let's begin ... again!
Game Version: 3.3.01
Result: 75,71%
So, what does this table tell us? Well first of all the general score for Elite has increased in almost all categories which means that Elite indeed improved throughout the years, but especially during the beyond series that were focused on achieving just that. However, there is still work to do, especially in the multipalyer/netcode department. While is an example for the best sound design in video games that is unbeaten (in my opinion, ofcourse) and should be used as a reference for all future developement up to the next sound hard- and software generation, the networking part of Elite is the exact opposite. While it is possible to play with players, the amount of issues the players have to deal with is jus tso much that is often steals every entertainment Elite actually has to offer. Let it be bad chat connectivity, instancing in general or other major issues like desynchronized players or potential instance crashes ... the list goes on and Elite stands for exactly how to not write a multiplayer feature.
Overall I must say I am pretty statisfied with where Elite is going but this assumes it is keeping that direction. The fact that we have absolutely no idea what comes next year is holding me back from investing any additional cent into this game but I am gladly playing the new features as they are indeed noteable improvements.
The balance in this game has improved alot too, and though I am mainly a PvPer, we need to mention the balance of the different careers such as exploration and trading or PvE combat as well. 2.5 years before, there was barely any profit from exploration and the main credit income source was always doing the next mission gold rush board hopping while watching netflix or doing other braindead activities.
Now while we do have an ongoing mining gold rush (which I find a good thing), general credit and most importantly material income sources have been balanced and it usually doesn't matter wheather you do a haulage, scan or combat mission. They rouhgly reward the same amount of money and goods depending on the BGS and the location you are, ofcourse.
However, as mentioned above, combat is lacking a little bit of reward, especially since it's one of the most risky acitvities. I don't have to say that killing a Hydra after 90 minutes isn't rewarding considering the amount of preperation that is needed to actually do the job. Since there is no use for thargoid materials (no, the enzyme missile doesn't count. It's complete garbage) we don't take these as actual reward worth noting.
Width and depth have been improved but mostly we can say that the argument Elite is as wide as an ocean but as deep as a poddle doesn't apply too well now. There is more to do, more to influence but most importantly there are many different ways to do this that also have different outcomes for each choice you make. While it certainly isn't perfect (like come on, Powerplay ... give it some love, the antique remnant of an early developement needs work ... it actually needed work since its release. Remember when they said pwoers could fall? Haha, yeah ... good times) it does has noteable improvements as well.
With all that in mind I am somewhat confident now and looking forward to see what Elite has to offer next year. Though there are still a hand full of old issues to resolve (especially developement decisions and a lack of communication between the dev team and the community) I am ready to take them into the next year and weight them against further improvements or features.
If now the multiplayer features would recieve as much devotion and love as the other areas and we finally get a stable, high quality and less nerve killing connection to other players (one way or another, just make it work) then I'd be more than statisfied.
So yeah, this is ofcourse my subjective based review of Elite and doesn't provide an objective rating and it certainly won't take away the effort to decide on your own if Elite is enjoyable for you or not. But I believe it is a good reference to decide wheather or not it is worth thinking about starting, continueing or stopping playing Elite.
As a conclusion I believe most of us can agree that Elite has improved over the past 2.5 years and that it has adressed one major critique fairly well: wide as an ocean but as deep as a poddle. With that out of the way I'd really like to see the multiplayer being improved ... or general connectivity. However, new featurs such as atmospheric planets or spacelegsTM would also be something that'd contribute to Elite's overall (personal) rating of each user.
A word to the developement team: The recent changes made Elite overall better playable and more enjoyable. While there is still work to do, there has alot been done and a good distance is covered towards the right direction. Especially the new mining and exploration mechanics are outstanding and pleases most of the community.
However, as improvement I'd like to see way better communication and more frequent bug fixing. Bugs usually persist through multiple minor and major patches and it feels like that you are either unwilling or incapable of fixing them. Only a few, important bugs get fixed and the rest gets ignored. This leads to less people reporting bugs that prevent you from fixing them so that is additional work for you.
Also I'd like to encourage you to greatly improve the multiplayer feature. Especially for Open Play players this is a disaster in hotspot systems. Community events are always plagued with instancing issues and it is a job itself to just be able to set up an instance if people wish to play together with more than one or two other players.
No, I will not take any excuses like "We can't do X". Yes you can, you just don't want to invest the time and money. We can coordiante cars, planes, drones and ships using global networking so please don't tell me we are unable to send some packages of data, correctly, within a certain timeframe.
Other than that your work has paid off. The changes are mostly for the better and while there are still minor inconviniences like two damn modes for different (or not?) modules, most of us probably appreciate the changes as a whole.
And now, with all that said, I wish you happy gold rush mining and holidays as well as an enjoyable year 2019
PS: I fix typos later
alot of you may know me now throughout the years. My playtime in Elite has reached record heights and started its first playtime minute at release. So you can potentionally claim that I have been around for quite a while now.
After 4 years, Elite has changed in alot of areas ... and hasn't in some other core areas. Regardless, in my opinion it is important to regulary reflect and re-evaluate future decisions based on the conclusions one draws out of reflection(s).
If you have been around for more than 2 years, you may remember my old In depth review of Elite: Dangerous from summer 2016.
As this information is now outdated, I believe now is the time to repeat this reflection, especially since the last chapter of the core gameplay improvement series has been released. However, I will be using the same categories to make a comparision between today and 2.5 years ago simple.
So, let's begin ... again!
Game Version: 3.3.01
| Visuals | 9/10 |
| + Detailed textures | - Bad antialiasing |
| + High resolution even for small objects | - Poor reflections |
| + Good adaptive background and skybox | |
| + Detailed HUD and GUI | |
| + Good overview of relevant information | |
| + Beautiful effects like nebulae or Geysers | |
| + Immersive lighting system | |
| Balance | 8/10 |
| + Wide variety of modules, ships, etc. | - Yet some broken and unbalanced modules |
| + Pro/Con for nearly every module and ship | - FDL's overly powerful and unmatched combat stats |
| + Variable progression possibilities | - Bounty hunting is barely profitable |
| + Mostly equal income for all careers | |
| + NPCs difficulty adapt to combat rating | |
| + Area of choice for higher challenge (CZs, Thargs, etc.) | |
| Sound: | 10/10 |
| + Incredible weapon and ship sound effects | |
| + Impressive NPC chatter and "alien sounds" | |
| + Fitting music for different situations | |
| + Detailed sound effects for even the smallest events | |
| + High quality voice lines for COVAS and NPC chatter | |
| + Great overall sound design in all areas (none left out) | |
| Environment: | 8/10 |
| + New random events and encounters | - That are still a little buggy |
| + Variable events that use a wider variety of set-ups | |
| + Better representation of system states using signal sources | |
| + Adaptive NPC challenge based on area | |
| + More activity choice options | |
| Width: | 9/10 |
| + Alot of possible activities | - Though still fairly limited to yourself |
| + Great choice possibiltiy even within a career | |
| + Supported Community Events such as the Gnosis jump | - That could happen more frequently |
| + Good variety of possible events within careers | - Again, could be more |
| + More states, contacts, services, etc. | |
| + Overwhelming control binding possibilities | |
| Depth: | 8/10 |
| + Imroved exploration gameplay | |
| + Improved Mining gameplay | |
| + Deep trading system with changing commodity prices | |
| + Improved BGS system with more values to influence | |
| + Engineers adding more complex combat scenarios | |
| + Overall more complex gameplay without making it more complicated | |
| - Sometimes still fairly limited gamepaly such as surface prospecting | |
| - Straight-forward community goals | |
| - Outdated powerplay feature that is no longer compatible with the rest of the game | |
| Networking: | 1/10 |
| + Ability to instance with players | |
| - Poor stability | |
| - Often unable to instance | |
| - Poor overall ping (~500 ms) | |
| - Disasterous hotspot instances | |
| - Poor server stability, especially after updates | |
| - Pathetic error correction | |
| - Teleporting, rubberbanding, insatnce crashes | |
| - Unsychronized instances | |
| - Combat logging (all modes) | |
| - Long loading times and blue tunnels | |
| - Major bugs in all areas |
Result: 75,71%
So, what does this table tell us? Well first of all the general score for Elite has increased in almost all categories which means that Elite indeed improved throughout the years, but especially during the beyond series that were focused on achieving just that. However, there is still work to do, especially in the multipalyer/netcode department. While is an example for the best sound design in video games that is unbeaten (in my opinion, ofcourse) and should be used as a reference for all future developement up to the next sound hard- and software generation, the networking part of Elite is the exact opposite. While it is possible to play with players, the amount of issues the players have to deal with is jus tso much that is often steals every entertainment Elite actually has to offer. Let it be bad chat connectivity, instancing in general or other major issues like desynchronized players or potential instance crashes ... the list goes on and Elite stands for exactly how to not write a multiplayer feature.
Overall I must say I am pretty statisfied with where Elite is going but this assumes it is keeping that direction. The fact that we have absolutely no idea what comes next year is holding me back from investing any additional cent into this game but I am gladly playing the new features as they are indeed noteable improvements.
The balance in this game has improved alot too, and though I am mainly a PvPer, we need to mention the balance of the different careers such as exploration and trading or PvE combat as well. 2.5 years before, there was barely any profit from exploration and the main credit income source was always doing the next mission gold rush board hopping while watching netflix or doing other braindead activities.
Now while we do have an ongoing mining gold rush (which I find a good thing), general credit and most importantly material income sources have been balanced and it usually doesn't matter wheather you do a haulage, scan or combat mission. They rouhgly reward the same amount of money and goods depending on the BGS and the location you are, ofcourse.
However, as mentioned above, combat is lacking a little bit of reward, especially since it's one of the most risky acitvities. I don't have to say that killing a Hydra after 90 minutes isn't rewarding considering the amount of preperation that is needed to actually do the job. Since there is no use for thargoid materials (no, the enzyme missile doesn't count. It's complete garbage) we don't take these as actual reward worth noting.
Width and depth have been improved but mostly we can say that the argument Elite is as wide as an ocean but as deep as a poddle doesn't apply too well now. There is more to do, more to influence but most importantly there are many different ways to do this that also have different outcomes for each choice you make. While it certainly isn't perfect (like come on, Powerplay ... give it some love, the antique remnant of an early developement needs work ... it actually needed work since its release. Remember when they said pwoers could fall? Haha, yeah ... good times) it does has noteable improvements as well.
With all that in mind I am somewhat confident now and looking forward to see what Elite has to offer next year. Though there are still a hand full of old issues to resolve (especially developement decisions and a lack of communication between the dev team and the community) I am ready to take them into the next year and weight them against further improvements or features.
If now the multiplayer features would recieve as much devotion and love as the other areas and we finally get a stable, high quality and less nerve killing connection to other players (one way or another, just make it work) then I'd be more than statisfied.
So yeah, this is ofcourse my subjective based review of Elite and doesn't provide an objective rating and it certainly won't take away the effort to decide on your own if Elite is enjoyable for you or not. But I believe it is a good reference to decide wheather or not it is worth thinking about starting, continueing or stopping playing Elite.
As a conclusion I believe most of us can agree that Elite has improved over the past 2.5 years and that it has adressed one major critique fairly well: wide as an ocean but as deep as a poddle. With that out of the way I'd really like to see the multiplayer being improved ... or general connectivity. However, new featurs such as atmospheric planets or spacelegsTM would also be something that'd contribute to Elite's overall (personal) rating of each user.
A word to the developement team: The recent changes made Elite overall better playable and more enjoyable. While there is still work to do, there has alot been done and a good distance is covered towards the right direction. Especially the new mining and exploration mechanics are outstanding and pleases most of the community.
However, as improvement I'd like to see way better communication and more frequent bug fixing. Bugs usually persist through multiple minor and major patches and it feels like that you are either unwilling or incapable of fixing them. Only a few, important bugs get fixed and the rest gets ignored. This leads to less people reporting bugs that prevent you from fixing them so that is additional work for you.
Also I'd like to encourage you to greatly improve the multiplayer feature. Especially for Open Play players this is a disaster in hotspot systems. Community events are always plagued with instancing issues and it is a job itself to just be able to set up an instance if people wish to play together with more than one or two other players.
No, I will not take any excuses like "We can't do X". Yes you can, you just don't want to invest the time and money. We can coordiante cars, planes, drones and ships using global networking so please don't tell me we are unable to send some packages of data, correctly, within a certain timeframe.
Other than that your work has paid off. The changes are mostly for the better and while there are still minor inconviniences like two damn modes for different (or not?) modules, most of us probably appreciate the changes as a whole.
And now, with all that said, I wish you happy gold rush mining and holidays as well as an enjoyable year 2019
PS: I fix typos later
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