exploration minigame 6 months later

[-VR- Max Factor]

Not sure why you'd think that.

From the perceived tone of your post. Maybe I misunderstood.

Well there clearly IS an issue. You can argue about whether it's a significant issue, but FDev have made it clear that they don't think it is, so it's ultimately pointless. However, as we both know, that has no impact on what people post in the forum.

The issue is personal. It's not an issue for the game or for Fdev from what I can tell.

The latest SC change suggestion is from a player active since 2016. It's only the "Aaargh Hutton!" ones that are noobs.

Yup. There have been a few suggestions from older players. But are from new players.

Personally, I'm done with trying to change FDev's mind, but since I've found a way to enjoy exploration without using the FSS, I'll keep dropping into threads like these to let people know it's possible - just in case it makes their gameplay more enjoyable too.

Yeah, I've pretty much given up on suggestions as I have come to the come to the conclusion that they are ignored.

I'm glad you have found a way to enjoy exploration

 

[askavir]

I have never seen an single update turning a game into such a huge turd sandwich like the update that brought the FSS. Only FD to look upon the concept of space exploration and their best idea about it being a ball clicking minigame... Space, the final frontier, the great unknown that defies the limits of the imagination, and all they can imagine is this worthless piece of digital fecal matter. It's almost impossible to fathom how could possibly someone on earth could even propose it, if one would ask a million different people a suggestion to make exploration more interesting no one would ever suggest this.

 

[Enderby]

I have never seen an single update turning a game into such a huge turd sandwich like the update that brought the FSS. Only FD to look upon the concept of space exploration and their best idea about it being a ball clicking minigame... Space, the final frontier, the great unknown that defies the limits of the imagination, and all they can imagine is this worthless piece of digital fecal matter. It's almost impossible to fathom how could possibly someone on earth could even propose it, if one would ask a million different people a suggestion to make exploration more interesting no one would ever suggest this.

Yeah, it's well ropey, innit.

 

[Nihila Vex]

All hail our casual overlords.

I appreciate nothing good can come of this question, but... who are you referring to? And why?

 

[[VR] M4st0d0n]

I appreciate nothing good can come of this question, but... who are you referring to? And why?

Turning knobs to unlock stuff in minigames is well known to your standard casual hidden object big fish game.

It is modular design, another symptom of featuritis and FDev unable to develop something engaging while maintaining the integrity of its core gameplay.

The initial design seemed to put each pieces in place, maintain a continuous experience from normal space to witchspace to jumping.

Now you have to full stop, go in analysis mode, get your informations from a 2d overlay with surface signal sources popping dependant of your framerate.

Objectively, casual minigames in a "hardcore space sim" is a hard sell, and you dont convince anyone who wasnt already.

 

[CmdMarty]

I don't use the fss hurts my eyes, mode switching was blah and nothing special or fun to begin with.

 

[Nihila Vex]

Turning knobs to unlock stuff in minigames is well known to your standard casual hidden object big fish game.

It is modular design, another symptom of featuritis and FDev unable to develop something engaging while maintaining the integrity of its core gameplay.

The initial design seemed to put each pieces in place, maintain a continuous experience from normal space to witchspace to jumping.

Now you have to full stop, go in analysis mode, get your informations from a 2d overlay with surface signal sources popping dependant of your framerate.

Objectively, casual minigames in a "hardcore space sim" is a hard sell, and you dont convince anyone who wasnt already.

Okay, that's a casual thing. So say I enjoy the FSS because it adds, for me, a sense of additional engagement in one of the game's processes which to my mind had previously felt like nothing more than 'arrive, press a button, move on', and now at least involves at least a tiny bit of actual player involvement. I get from FSS a little, tiny flicker of the sense of engagement I believe the game generally lacks because of the decision to exclude things like full-Newtonian flight mechanics, proper orbital dynamics, navigation plotting, ATC procedures and communications at stations and settlements, and so on. Obviously I can find all those things in other games, like Orbiter, FSX/X-Plane, and so on, but ED is the closest I can get to the space trading/exploring game I'd like outside Pioneer or resurrecting First Encounters.

So with all those things I'd like to have seen in ED, what do I need to do with what we have in order to avoid being considered a 'casual'?

 

[thistle]

FWIW, I could actually go back to the old ADS if the following things were added:

1) The DSS resolves POIs
2) The honk reveals the presence of unique things in the system (biologicals, structures, etc). Not the location, just the general presence.

I really dislike the whole analysis vs. combat mode, and I could easily live without the probe minigame. I do actually get enjoyment out of my space telescope, and I think telescopes are realistic, so I still like the FSS, but the ADS / old DSS could be made "acceptable" to me with those aforementioned conditions.

I thought you had an 11 page thread about you giving up?

 

[[VR] M4st0d0n]

So with all those things I'd like to have seen in ED, what do I need to do with what we have in order to avoid being considered a 'casual'?

Frankly I dont know nor care about how you play.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

But it’s the same half dozen people creating them

That’s complete white knight . Since the forum upgrades you can see clearly how much and who supports the topics and there are many randoms and lurkers who agree.

It’s the same three people who reply to every thread and tell people their opinion is wrong.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

I have never seen an single update turning a game into such a huge turd sandwich like the update that brought the FSS.

I bet their bean counter is in mourning about how many wallet shutdowns for cosmetics it caused. They even approved the budget to develop a new game system to change things up. Woe for the fss money drought.

EDIT: This is fascinating in reflection. They can't approve fixing of really obvious front facing bugs... the ground reticule animation for all ground missions being bugged, all the left and right scrolling prompts in the newest new content truncating the button text so you cant actually see the value on pc... yet they've gone and approved what is relative to an entire new game system, full new uis, requiring balancing and likely iteration... in the down year. Quoting Enderbys below post "Bad FSS!!!!" Bad!!

 

[Enderby]

Bad FSS!

 

[Nihila Vex]

Frankly I dont know nor care about how you play.

Aw. Does that mean I don't get to be an overlord, then?

 

[Drelthar]

I find it kinda odd that there was a whole lot of "Exploration is pressing one button, it needs something more to it!"

then a bunch of "Why can't we just press a button?!" right after something else is added.

 

[Enderby]

I find it kinda odd that there was a whole lot of "Exploration is pressing one button, it needs something more to it!"

then a bunch of "Why can't we just press a button?!" right after something else is added.

They made more of it. Making it more annoying.

 

[askavir]

I find it kinda odd that there was a whole lot of "Exploration is pressing one button, it needs something more to it!"

then a bunch of "Why can't we just press a button?!" right after something else is added.

Because what people expected was a lot more interesting things to do after they pressed that button, while actually exploring the system and the planets. Instead, pressing the button was replaced by something equally mundane and uninteresting but much more time consuming and repetitive, and afterwards there is still the very same good old nothing. So basically what we got was boring busywork without absolutely anything in return. Like a tedious fetch quest in an RPG but without the loot (and without the quest).

 

[CmdMarty]

I find it kinda odd that there was a whole lot of "Exploration is pressing one button, it needs something more to it!"

then a bunch of "Why can't we just press a button?!" right after something else is added.

Thats cause many didn't think the fss was a good enough replacement or rather had a lot more stuffs added instead. Fss did away with a lot of the surprise factor imo.

 

[Enderby]

I think the one thing we can all agree on, is that FD royally ed up their exploration 'improvements'

ED: "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory"

 

[Drelthar]

I'd not class the FSS as the most profound game mechanic ever designed for sure.

I do remember a fair amount of forum suggestions about---

"Some kind of SRV wave scanner like thing, but for space would be nice, so we could seek out the planets instead of them just instantly being revealed" (Paraphrased from many threads of the past)

and also, I don't think the probe thing is the best possible way it could have been done (Personally, I would like it if firing a single probe, mapped that area, and showed you what was in that place - instead of showing nothing until you hit 90%, then everything, binary systems aren't generally that engaging) But I did see an awful lot of---

"Wouldn't it be cool if we could fire probes at the planets to map them? kind of like that mass effect thing? it sucks having to scan entire surfaces by eye, it makes no sense, where is our space tech?" (again paraphrased from many posts I remember)

Previously.

As I say, I'm not convinced these game mechanics are the most well designed things in gaming history, and my personal thoughts on them are many.

I don't think anyone can deny Frontier tried to respond to the general idea of what the player base seemed to be wanting though.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

The issue is personal. It's not an issue for the game or for Fdev from what I can tell.

When the 3 most prolific explorers (according to EDSM) are all saying that the FSS has spoiled exploration then I think it's reasonable to say there's an issue - the issue being that exploration gameplay has been changed at a fundamental level, without any consultation with the playerbase.

It's great that you and @IndigoWyrd are enjoying exploration now - and I'm sure that you're not the only ones. The problem is that your enjoyment has come at the expense of other people's. FDev should have designed a system that allowed both old and new explorers to enjoy the updated gameplay - and that should have been more than just keeping the ADS as an option.