"A mile wide but an inch deep."
- Thread starter AlexAndTheDJ
- Start date
ED is like spending a day at the pool except everything but the shallow one for kiddies is closed for fear of someone hurting themselves.
Ok, you don't like EDs game mechanisims. Fair enough, everyone has an opinion. But you're way off base running FD down just because you don't like their design choices.
Bounty hunting is a fairly simple mechanism in any game- find perp with bounty on their head, carry out action required to collect said bounty.
We fly pixel spaceships. We have a device that tells us other ships have a bounty on them, a way to collect the bounty (pew pew), we even have devices that allow us to track hyperspace jumps and to haul ships out of warp. That's a pretty full play book, dekot! If you object to the way it works then fine, make a suggestion for improvement. If it's a good one it will gain traction and you'll probably* see it in the game some time soon(tm)
Just whining that it's rubbish and other, unspecified game developers would have done it better isn't going to change anything.
As for FD 'bailing' on Elite? Get a grip! The game is still getting major overhauls and serious development four years after release- it's the diametric opposite of them 'bailing' on us. The game isn't getting tripple A shinies every eighteen months, but that's not a bad thing. SC has a huge development team and a virtually unlimited budget, but they're still miles off release. Elite has stuck to what's achievable here and now, which is a far better approach. We've had four good years and the game keeps on getting better with every patch. Long may it continue.
Elite isn't perfect. There are bugs, the developers have taken many decisions that some of it's long term players disagree with. But as long as they keep on top of fixing the bugs I'm prepared to accept that there will always be design choices I disagree with, I can always play something else if the game evolves too far from the one I want to play. I'd advise you to take the same approach. If it's no fun, bail! If you don't like something, suggest an improvement.
* Frontier don't like the Orrery. It has no place in their vision of the game, they can't think of a single good reason for having it. They patiently explained their reasoning on various occasions.
It didn't matter, some of us kept on crying for an Orrery, for almost five years, in some early backer cases.
They gave us an Orrery! [squeeeee]
They didn't want to, they can't see the point, but they stuck it in the game anyway.
Because we wanted it and they could.
Frontier haven't bailed on us. Quite the reverse, they're making good on their promise to keep on developing the game. There's a vague, 'ten year plan' train of thought down in Cambridge. I don't expect them to match the frenetic, CoD level of investment. Elite was never one of those mass market, pop culture titles, chasing the latest trends, featuring all the latest graphics. It's a bit niche, it has it's own look and feel and I'm fine with that.
I suspect most of us are.
Huge numbers of players have racked up thousands of hours in game, we've figured out how to manipulate the hidden, background software that controls the simulation, we've found things in the procedurally generated Galaxy that even Frontier didn't know were there, we've created on line communities following their own aims and goals and through it all Frontier have embraced what we want to do with their game and have adjusted their development accordingly.
Tl;dr Frontier haven't bailed, the game is still under development and if you want to see things changed, suggest improvements!
Yeah, it's bizarre how people who invested hundreds of quid into throbbing joysticks and digital gimp masks will tell you, endlessly and unprompted, how amazing this game is in VR.
I don't think SC had much to do with it. I think Frontier just stuck to what they know: 1980s RPG mechanics with random encounter table spawns, magic economies refreshed constantly by a never-ending stream of pixie dust, the same fetch/carry/kill mission rosters we've all played in 20 other games. They hired some extremely talented sound and graphics folks to put a shiny 21st century facade on their thoroughly 20th century ideas. Everything added since then - engineering materials, SRVs - is a glaring bolt-on minigame. Occam's razor.
Spotted the person who can't afford VR. Elite, Subnautica, and Resident Evil 7 and all spectacular in VR.
The good news is VR headset prices are getting cheaper all the time
I recently started this game and I can totally agree that it's extremely grind-y which (obviously) leads to boredom eventually. I already love ED and I'm dedicated to achieving something amazing, but it will take sheer willpower to obtain it. I would absolutely love new content but I wouldn't be any less satisfied with FD if not.
Remember the moment you first started and couldn't believe how immersive, huge and scary the game was? There's a part of you that still believes that. No game will entertain forever, so you just have to step back and appreciate the game as a whole instead of focusing on a singular goal. Do things that you never gave a chance because it wasn't as lucrative or goal-oriented. Join a new squadron, push your limits, experience something spectacular. The galaxy awaits your call.
o7
Remember the moment you first started and couldn't believe how immersive, huge and scary the game was? There's a part of you that still believes that. No game will entertain forever, so you just have to step back and appreciate the game as a whole instead of focusing on a singular goal. Do things that you never gave a chance because it wasn't as lucrative or goal-oriented. Join a new squadron, push your limits, experience something spectacular. The galaxy awaits your call.
o7
Spotted the person who can't afford VR. Elite, Subnautica, and Resident Evil 7 and all spectacular in VR.
The good news is VR headset prices are getting cheaper all the time
You're right, I can't afford VR. Thanks for the status-shaming.
No, I don't remember any such thing. I started playing in premium beta. The universe consisted of a handful of systems. We all pootled around in it, trying to write Frontier's manual for them, grinding our way up to a Hauler by killing spiders in the basement or carrying love letters between villagers. On release, the universe was suddenly 10^8 times larger in terms of space available, but it was all the same thing stretched almost infinitely thin. And not much has changed since.
I just leave this here:
https://soundcloud.com/tomcook/a-mile-wide-an-inch-deep-forum-rant-words-by-c00ky1970
https://soundcloud.com/tomcook/a-mile-wide-an-inch-deep-forum-rant-words-by-c00ky1970
Tired of hearing this. Elite is exceptionally deep, it just isn't very accessible. EVERYONE who ever said it was shallow, bar none, has not played it AT any depth.
One of the reasons it's so difficult to get into is because of the depth of all of its mechanics. Even taking off and landing is deep when you're new!
One of the reasons it's so difficult to get into is because of the depth of all of its mechanics. Even taking off and landing is deep when you're new!
Why were you expecting massive changes ?. I expected it to remain largely the same.
We don't have any ot these things either. Op is bang on.
Depth: interaction with NPCs. Base building. Destroyers, frigates. Having a crew. Caves on planets. Life on planets (real life, not just a few shrubs). Boarding other peoples ships and stealing them. Walking around in cities. Kit bashes. Starting your own faction. Worthwhile piracy. Empire vs Federation war. A few examples.
I'm in the same boat. New update comes out, fun for a bit. Then after a couple of weeks.... meh
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1. Deep != obscure. You may as well argue that driving an SRV is "deep" because they're apparently made out of banana skins.
2. Landing and taking off was always a piece of cake, I'm utterly mystified that anyone could ever find it difficult.
Try learning a new aspect of the game, join a Squadron, learn the mysteries of the BGS, Engineer your ship for PvP, learn PvP, explore the galaxy, find funky new things.
Do the guardian puzzle, unlock guardian technology, etc etc.
You got a single example of "deep" mechanics to back this up or...?
There's your problem, you ruined your view/expectation of the game by dumping a bunch of hours into a beta.
I 100% agree with you, except for stealing ships.
BGS is deep, PP is deep, dogfighting is deep with a mahoosive skill cap. Engineering is deep again with a high skill cap. Mining is a well fleshed out mechanic...deep as it needs to be. I could go on. There's not much in this game that is shallow if you're objective.
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Then you've forgotten, or you were already a skilled sim pilot before you picked up Elite (as was I).
Engineering is as deep as any other crafting mechanic I've come across in any MMO, if a little more frustrating to execute because some of the other gameplay surrounding it is, erm, poorly designed (HGEs, etc). It has a high skill cap in terms of theorycrafting and this is not to be underestimated (as an accomplishment in a modern MMO).