Is this really it? Is this the whole game? Did I miss something?

[Reject]

Just a reminder: I'm sure most (if not all) of us here really, deep down love or want to love ED, else we wouldnt be here.

Example: I dont like DOTA, hence I dont play DOTA, hence I'm not over at a DOTA-forum voicing my opinion...simple as that; we're all in the same boat and we all want it to stay afloat...

 

[The Big One]

Was Freelancer released with all of the features that you quoted fully in place?

.... and how big was the play area?

Freelancer was a full game from day one. There is no question about it. The patches only improved multiplayer stability.

 

[Iskariot]

1. In Elite you can't interact with NPCs other than interdicting or shooting them. In Freelancer you could ask them where they go and they replied with a text message and voice, where they are from and where they go and WHY. That made a lot of difference to me, because I felt, NPCs have a PURPOSE and are not just randomly spawned like they are currently in ED.

That is actually something I would like to see implemented in Elite too. This simple addition would make a great difference in how we perceive npc. You should make a proposal out of it.

2. In combat Freelancer pilots reported to their base about you, often making observations about your combat skill and so on. Id added a lot to immersion.

Like that too.

3. In Elite there are no "highways" for haulers, no pirates attacking outposts, no hidden REAL pirate bases (I know there are some placeholders ATM), no patrols you could join with, no gas clouds, no radiation you can take damage from, no hidden worm holes

We do not need highways in space. I would hate that.
Events like pirates attacking outposts would be cool.
Hidden pirate bases are planned and confirmed and I expect them in the retail game.
Patrols to join would be great too. But I suspect you need a certain standing with certain factions in ED and I would not be surprised if we would see stuff like this soon.
Gas and dust clouds, dangerous radiation and stuff like that would be very cool. We need more environmental factors to create a richer gaming environment.
Worm holes. I hope to see a mechanic in the future that enables us to travel a huge distance across the galaxy to unknown space. Wormholes could be that mechanic.

5. Even the very old game Hardwar had NPCs that had their own goals and were doing the same thing as player. Making trade, searching for scrap, trying to survive pirates... In ED I feel, the NPCs are just spawned and they don't really do anything except docking, undocking and then exiting SC close to random planet with no station at all.

In Hardwar (I love that game) it was all make belief too I'm afraid. At least some NPC in ED are doing the same thing as players. You can follow them and oberve them traveling from station to station, pirating and bounty hunting.

6. Factions. In Freelancer you could see the faction's relationship with other factions. They had enemies, they had allies. They made sense and they had purpose in the universe. There were factions of bounty hunters, pirates, trading companies and military. You could work up your rep with them to get better gear of ships. You knew also what weapons is what faction using and if worked on your rep with them, you knew you could buy those cool weapons from them. No random equipment like in ED.

I think this is planned for ED too. I agree it needs more work.

7. Exploration. In Freelancer you saw a nebula and you wanted to explore it because often there were destroyed ships from which you cloud salvage some cool weapons. I explored EVERY part of that universe until there was nothing to explore, because it was fun and rewarding at the same time. In ED I have no reason to leave the core systems at all.

It is in the DDF, so I hope to see stuff like this in retail.
I also hope they will flesh out the salvaging profession, because I feel it could be one of the most entertaining and exciting jobs in ED if done right.

 

[Steve_T]

What limitations? What end-game? You're telling me to open all the doors and look behind them when I'm standing in an empty, open field. There's no mystery here. You blow things up or you sell things to NPCs. Or you spend a lot of money, take a lot of hallucinogens, and fly around aimlessly if you're 777Driver, apparently.

This is the problem for a lot of players, complaining about ED. They can't get their heads around the fact that there's no fixed story line with rewards/medals along the way.

 

[remusus03]

Its 3:00 AM I should be sleeping but what the heck , ok time for me to pitch in.

I will try to be as neutral as possible , I understands the Op's point as I did share some of his past experiences ..in Not in ED but as he was or may be still an EvE player it would make sense, people who have played EvE , would understand when they jump into ED as what is going on and all.

As most people who have played EvE the way you could have played EvE would understand, when I say this getting really involved , what EVE missed in my honest opinion is what ED has got it right to a good extent, that is Flying your own ship that is you are able to control in terms of having your own joystick inside the cockpit , docking in a station at the right pad (I know it is a small part , but for the immersion part is this part) considering really feeling that I am able to actually feel docked into a station, those parts of FD I like.

Ok now before I put my points across, so that hopefully everyone looks at all the angles, I hope I have covered all angles to get my point across , I know FD is in BETA , and I usually compare any game to EVE for Space Sim in terms of Sandbox and gameplay, for fantasy I would say "DarkFall".

First I will start of is the money factor:

FD we had to pay 75$ , I know it is high but then I thought of one thing what I would gain is that there is a multiplayer server hosted for it or the private group with large amount of players in and all and expecting future updates and features hoping it will bring in some of the EvE / SC elements in terms of sandbox.

Even SC for that matter has gone in a similar path one time payment, but I understand there could Expansions or DLC's for FD which we may have to pay.

EvE has been around a lot of years together..more than a decade I guess in my understanding, and since we pay 15$ a month , that by over a period of one year 180$ , so there is constant funding here which has helped to continue to further expand eve and helped it to be the best sandbox game ever in my opinion and understanding.

So I hope the funding part has been cleared out as where these games have the differences , but I hope FD has and will get in some gameplay elements from EVE , then that would make the ultimate game in my mind atleast , launching out of a Carrier in my Cobra MK III from a another player's Thanatos or Nyx . (I will use this as an example later on )

Coming to the story , Eve has set and explained the story lines regarding the different Factions , and easy access to view the story and understanding about what is going on, "NPC" have faces when you get the missions , now "showing a face" for a human always makes it more appealing "We are all humans" we need that feeling that someone more real is actually give us the mission from that faction, though it might be a static face with no movements.

What would be more awesome is that the mission is actually not just read from a single Page, but an interactive 3 stage (Basic briefing as to why we are doing this and what would be the aftermath , Possible loadout for the mission regarding the enemy , debriefing" informative description "something like Freespace 2" missions acceptance would be awesome with audio. (Not sure how many of you guys would share this view, I know it is a bit too much to implement hehe , I don't expect this, funding would be an issue and the load on the systems, I don't mind sacrificing graphics for gameplay )

For me, Gameplay > Graphics ( I dont mind Freespace 2 graphics still )


Now , where EVE gets it story, the other story, the story what made me addicted to it for 2.5 years until I realized that there is reality I need to look out for rather than just playing a game and I need to complete my engineering and get a job

This story was not done by makers.. this story was possible because of the idea of Territorial control..with territorial control you need Factions to rule them over... Factions DEFINED their own Rules as how they will police their systems, who will be allowed in and who will be destroyed, they HAD the power to control resources , CONTROLLING resources gave them the power to Rule certain sections of the economy , this made them mighty , for this MIGHTY faction , other foresaw these as threats , they dint want such factions ruling over, so to KEEP balance, people start uniting factions against the more powerful.

It was the people themselves created and empowered the gameplay, it bought life, it co-related to our reality in the world we live in, control of resources. , So to defeat the enemy , no doubt WAR is needed and doing so, the other territories are being harvested for resources ..To BUILD your own ships , thus people group together as a well organized faction to build war ships , work on intelligence, send spies to the enemy base , join their faction report in intel, during fleet battles, send in reconnaissance team top monitor enemy Mining activity, so this faction can send in a Raiding squad , destroying or hampering their Resource extraction would seize their opportunity to build ships , weapons , mining ships , Stations , money.

The constant Battle , cause lot of destruction, this destruction AFFECTS the economy directly , PRICES rise up as so many ships destroyed , each destroyed means, weapons have to be rebuilt , and all the other equipment like Engines , electronic equipment and on , everyone who got destroyed would have to do missions to get money or kill some Pirates who have Bounties "Set by other Players" ,or mine then refine after that build their own ships using "Blueprints" they have bought , or hand it over the resources to their Industrialist guy who has the ability to Manufacture all ships using their resources and after manufacturing hand it over to them for a price or for free depending upon their corporation policies or give it to a another Manufacturing faction, who they Have good Ties in which if this Manufacturing alliance gets attacked, the guys who are a Military faction can always protect them as mercs , in return for ships being manufactured.


Stories are built by people it self the stuff that on goes over the territories like our real world since time of Alexander the Great during his campaign or Julius Caesar during his conquest, thus over period of time these territories hold stories of great battles between alliances, battles that brought economies down. People who werent even part of such Wars always wondered why they had such inflation in the core systems , only to realize the Wars on the frontiers have caused the price to rise, people learn of these wars discuss and may want to take part or not or learning about what can be done in understanding of such situations take ADVANTAGE of the situation and try to buy as much resources as possible from the available market and RESELL them as their warring factions would come back looking for resources to built more ships in the process.

One Universe so everyone is affected cant jump to Milky Way (FD Universe) anymore from New EDEN (EVE universe) LOL

So here as you see, I think this is the kinda of sandbox to certain extent would be there in FD would be awesome, I know it is too much to ask as we are not paying a 15$ monthly subscription, and that would explain some of the things that may happen over years to come as compared to eve that has been more than 10 years understandable.

I can talk more about sandbox but lets leave it for there now, but what I wish FD could implement in the future would be awesome to have is,

FD has already got the Full control of your own ship and as mentioned earlier the feel of docking into something real is what I really liked, ability to do what you want with where we want to go and probably play around pirating other players or miners or trade , wish there was an interface similar to eve to communicate to other players, like chit chatting in "Local" without getting "Invalid" , this would bring in a global chit chat for that station and around or to a particular zone like near a star. I know not the whole star system, then the global would be kaput spam. "This part could take care of loneliness" felt by a few players during open play in my understanding.

I always wished that I could fly out of a Carrier "Using my Cobra MK III with my squadron with other fellas who are in their specific configured Cobras ...out from my Fleet Admirals Carrier "Thanatos" I love that ship , simultaneously able to see other Carrier launching other fighters..and I see ahead a huge fleet battle.. near the station where people docked in are camped outside and waiting for OUR support to clear the raiders infront of the station , Gun turrets of the station down , the station commander is requesting for new Gun turrets to replace them. Haulers are docked inside , freelancer people who have no play in the war are stuck for no reason too bad for them , but we are here to protect the innocent as well , next time they will think coming here and selling gun turrets or resources to build ships here as they know this zone is more prune to war ..so they might think they would ask other players to ESCORT them for a fee from the money they make selling to the station, giving the station commander the gun turrets would make the station more safer , this in return would help the Haulers know that they are safe during exit.

Player driven economy would be lovely to have , everything affects everything but ofcourse there are pro's and con's to this, but I hope to see FD could be like this in the future I know it will take time, but this would be a sexy sandbox game with all of this implemented, if people can understand where I am going with this.

We will have galactic maps were player alliances have their names on it , a story behind how they achieved it getting the star system under their control , as we are the story

I see that through groups you will get to see all group members only in the universe, but if someone could help me understand, once a group start playing together then, for example if we have 10,000 players (What is the limit of a group? ) , say 100 of them meet up at a station "Dahan 3 Gateway" , would all 100 be able to meet up as they should be a instanced together? as it is a GROUP?,

This way , the universe could be less lonely and people would love to be as a massive group and bring in a different idea to this would be fun to have. Fly together, war on other groups as such. I remember people said about alliances and all but if we could put 10,000 players in a single instanced universe, we can build our stories in FD

I hope I have been neutral enough, just sharing what would be good to have , I hope I hit both sides of the angles, I might have given more information on EVE , as not many might have known the point where atrex was trying to pitch in, I just thought I figured our what he was trying to explain I would be able to elaborate it, but at the same time I brought the fact that we have paid only 75$ and no monthly subscription and thus I see the difference between the two games.

 

[Shoklar]

Freelancer was a full game from day one. There is no question about it. The patches only improved multiplayer stability.

That 48 system full game just doesn't cut it for me, not enough content
It feels too constraining and that I'm stuck in a box. At least I will be free to explore our very own galaxy in Elite Dangerous.

Also:
"In June 2000, Microsoft started talks to buy Digital Anvil. Roberts admitted that his team required large sums of money, which only a huge company could provide, to continue developing Freelancer with its "wildly ambitious" features and unpredictable schedule; the project had overshot its original development projection of three years by 18 months. Roberts trusted that Microsoft would not compromise his vision for Freelancer, and was convinced the software giant would not attempt the takeover if it did not believe Freelancer could sell at least 500,000 copies when released. Roberts left the company on completion of the deal, but assumed a creative consultant role on Freelancer until its release. Microsoft instructed Digital Anvil to scale down the ambitions of the project and focus on finishing the game based on what was possible and the team's strengths. Features such as the automated flight control, conversations that had different choices of responses, and sub-quests were abandoned. Despite the reductions, several reviewers believed the resultant product was still true to Robert's vision."

Now, I wonder if you'll be a bit more forgiving to FD at release of their massive galaxy and gameplay.

Shok.

 

[Joe Spivey]

I don't think he'll just release it and leave it alone, but once you miss that sweet spot just after release where the game can snowball from people buying, then enjoying, then reviewing, then talking to their friends, then their friends doing the same, etc etc, the game's future can be severely damaged. So although we might get a great game later on, if it releases like the skeleton of a game that it is, we won't be seeing any big expansions or anything because they won't have the income to justify it. And that's pretty sad, because the engine is great. There's just nothing else to it.

So I've probably put about 20-30 hours into the game now, and I'm still having trouble...well, I'm having trouble locating the game, to be honest. I'm bored!

Combat = Shoot at NPC shipos that pretty much just fly around in big arcs or charge you head on. Have OP ship or hope the NPCs don't get the last kill. Turn in kill mission (if you have one) and collect NPC bounty money. Repeat. Upgrade ship maybe to blow up things better.

Exploration = Hyperspace a lot. Scan. Sell information to NPC.

Trading = Get mission. Hyperspace. Turn in mission. Repeat. OR use information from the Internet to find out where to buy things, hyperspace, then sell them and repeat. Possibly upgrade ship to carry more.

PVP/Pirate = Blow things up. Get money and/or goods. Sell goods. Repeat.

Mining = Pew asteroid. Sell to NPC. Repeat.

I get that there is great detail in the getting from place to place, the stations, the ships, the docking, and all of that, but that's all just fluff. Where's the actual game? And if we're not testing it now, what kind of condition is the rest of the game going to be in when the game launches in less than a month? Where is this dynamic economy we were told about? How is this a sandbox when it's extremely limited what you can and cannot do by the fact that there's just nothing out there to see or do? How are we even supposed to role play when the galaxy in which we're playing basically does not exist beyond having a few solid objects scattered around with no history behind them? Besides, how would role playing work when you'll never see the same person twice at any gathering place due to the fact that all high population areas are instanced?

I see people saying that this game is supposed to be "freeform" or whatever, but how is it more free than any other game, other than that they give you no real reason to do anything? I can go wherever I want in EVE. I can go wherever I want in WoW once I hit max level. I can go anywhere I want in Archeage once I hit max level. That's what passes as "sandbox" these days? Just the ability to go anywhere and smack anything without any reason to do so? I can wander aimlessly in almost any video game, but even in those games that aren't "sandbox" games, there's usually something interesting to see. Here, it's just a planet I can't interact with, or a space station that looks just like dozens of other space stations. Woot?

I guess TL;DR, where is this game that we've all spent so much money on? Did they really spend all those millions in Kickstarter funds on being extremely detailed on the getting from here to there while forgetting to give us a reason to do so?

Please, tell me I'm missing something here, because otherwise, I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in a game in which I had such high hopes. Are we really only getting a bare-bones space combat and trading simulation, with tons of detailed fluff and no actual substance? And don't give me the "wait until launch to complain" . The game launches in a month, and what's already here is nearly unplayable at times. This is it, and I suspect even the most devoted of fanboys have realized this. We're getting a smoother (hopefully) version of exactly what we're playing, and have been playing for a few months now.

I can't "do anything". All I can do is murder up NPCs that suck at fighting back, murder other players maybe, or sell or trade things to other NPCs. That's pretty darn limited if you ask me. In what game can I not do this?

*oh, I can also gather resources, AKA mining. To sell to NPCs. WHOOOOO....

LOL exactly. I can use my imagination for free. I paid money for a game.

What limitations? What end-game? You're telling me to open all the doors and look behind them when I'm standing in an empty, open field. There's no mystery here. You blow things up or you sell things to NPCs. Or you spend a lot of money, take a lot of hallucinogens, and fly around aimlessly if you're 777Driver, apparently.

You know, people keep saying that it's far from done, but we have zero reason to believe that to be the case. The game is repetitive, hard to learn, and pointless and unrewarding once you do learn it, unless you really enjoy doing the same things over and over again for hours on end with zero feedback from the game and zero immersion other than "ooh, look, a spaceship...in a station...as opposed to that other station that looked just like this station..." There are Facebook games that have more depth and more different things to explore than this. Simply throwing some planets out there with different names on them and scattering some asteroids around does not make places "new", and it certainly doesn't make them interesting.

The game is missing from the game. There's no reason to become a better pilot when the NPCs fly mostly straight and the cops are probably going to get the last hit anyway unless you're so OP that you instantly pop them, which means you can be a total crap pilot and it won't matter. And there's no reason to do that anyway. It's just a mission that says "Hey, go do that...alright cool, you did that, here's some credits." The game makes zero attempt at immersion aside from trying to make the ship somewhat realistic. And I wasn't the one talking about "end-game", I was quoting someone else and I have no idea what he was talking about with that, either. I guess he was trying to put it in MMO terms.

Agreed with all of the above. Right now, other players are nothing but a mild obstacle when docking, which feels pointless. But then you do solo and the game feels lonely, empty, and still pretty pointless. I feel like I'm testing concepts for a game that hasn't been made yet, and I hope they do come up with some magic somewhere, but if they do, it's not going to be beta tested, so I'm not sure that's going to be any better.

And Mhiester, don't forget the people that are going to be driven away by the complete lack of instruction on how to actually play what little game is here...

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If you're still talking about the game (which is nothing like what you said), it takes zero ingenuity, effort or anything else, nor is there anything to discover there, ever. You point ship, hit hyperdrive, stop, get fuel, repeat until you get there, and...stop at the nearest station for more fuel and wonder why you just spent half an hour doing that. The real thing has already been infinitely more interesting and eye opening than the pretty, non-interactive graphics in this game.

I do like the game style. I just wish there was more game. I loved the Xwing, Tie Fighter, and Wing Commander games. I also have enjoyed EVE for the trading and the mining and the exploring and conversing with other players. I like Endless Space and Distant Worlds, too. I can get in to just about any space-based game, and I have gotten in to the actual mechanics of this game well enough to learn them. I can dock fine with my 360 controller. I can easily beat the crap out of NPC ships. And I'm really good at looking things up on the Internet, then pushing the button to buy things and then pushing the other button at the other place to then sell them, which encompasses all that is "trading". So, yeah, I like the game style, unless by "style" you mean a complete lack of purpose or substance.

No, no one is forcing me to pay it, but I did pay the money and I am going to voice my opinion on the matter, especially considering the game is still technically in beta, and that means the devs theoretically want feedback. Just like no one forced you to respond to this thread, but you did anyway. And yes, you could bring up any other game and reduce it to its mechanical description, but that's just it...you'd have to reduce it. There's nothing to reduce here. They didn't build on the mechanics at all. You just do the simple and basic thing, over and over again, and that's it.

You're right. To be honest, I was really hoping that I had missed something. That there was some deeper content that I just hadn't figure out how to reach. The game doesn't provide much direction, so I felt like it was possible that maybe the game itself had yet to reveal itself to me. Instead, I see people trying to justify the existence of an empty, repetitive, pointless shell of what could be a really cool game, should they ever decide to include one.

Well, life, for one thing. There is zero life in this game. You never talk to anyone or anything, even though you're constantly interacting with NPCs, other than the constantly repeated bulletin board missions which have less variety than most BBS games did back in the dial-up days. That alone would go a long way toward making the game feel like it was a game instead of a shell.

The factions should have meaning instead of just penalties for being the wrong one.

Interesting things should happen at stations, such as NPCs giving you special missions or something, instead of it always being the exact same slog.

I don't know, I'm really not much of a game developer. I'm more of a writer, so interactivity isn't my forte. But I've played enough games that I know it when I (don't) see it.

You didn't say anything upsetting.

I see what you mean, but that's my big problem with this game. With it just being a few concepts attached to loosely together without any cohesion or purpose, I'm getting zero immersion. There's nothing to immerse in. Jump here, get a planet that I can't interact with. Jump there, get asteroids that are just like all the other asteroids. Jump there, fly in circles for a while until the NPC ships get blown up. There is zero life or substance to the game.

I haven't played Star Citizen. I made the decision to play this one instead as it looked like a more complete game. Oops. I really have no idea if Star Citizen is any better, though. I know they're being stupidly slow in development so I'd guess not.

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Sadly you must have missed that this BETA is scheduled for release in a month, which means we're now testing all there's going to be to test at release, or very nearly.

Stop getting angry if you want to actually discuss things.

And if getting out of the ship and exploring would reveal actual content, I might be happy, unless the whole reason is to get out, get a mission off another bulletin board, and then go to an identical station to turn it in or whatever...lol. But things like this very rarely come to fruition when a game is released before it's complete. I've seen many games with grand ideas such as those sputter and die because they were release either too broken to play or just don't actually introduce anything new or interesting.

Now I would be surprised if this game launched broken considering how functional it is currently. Reliability wise, everything feels pretty on par with your average beta, if not a bit better. And it's remarkably polished and detailed, as well. It's just that, what's here, takes about an hour and a half to fully explore and do, and then everything else is just repetition.

It's as if they built the framework for the game, and then said "That's good enough, let's polish it and release it like that." I have to believe there's at least one poor dev somewhere out there screaming "But we didn't get to the actual game! All we did was make a very specific engine!"

aaaaaaaaaaaaaand then it wouldn't let me add any more. It goes on and on in the same vein right to the end. In case you haven't got it yet, the OP doesn't want to discuss points, he doesn't even want a discussion because, as you can see, he ignores every counterpoint made and just goes on and on repeating the same thing. He's here just for the argument because he thinks he can argue better than you. That's it. He wants to try and prove that he can win the argument, nothing more. Now, we have a name for people like this and we know where they live. But we also know how to defeat them. He thrive on replies. He just wants the reply. It's what he lives for. It will drive him mad when you don't reply to him. That's it, I'm done. He can say what he likes now but I won't be back to this thread so I don't care. It's up to the rest of you if you want to keep feeding him.

 

[Tarman]

Fridays Newsletter will confirm the expected release features.
In 2 Days or so you will be able to judge for yourself if they are enough for what you had in mind.

We all want the same thing after all, just a debates between the optimists and the pessimists and the realists.

I thought this was an ideological battle to the death to determine the fate of reality itself, using a game forum as a proxy battlefield!


Wait that was the Minecraft beta.


Wait, no, that was the MWO beta.

Wait.



This is every beta. Frightening how they play out on the forums exactly the same almost every time. The actual state of the game is usually irrelevant to how these shake down.

 

[Zarkon]

I think I may be one of the very few lucky gamers to have rarely played a beta build before ED. I played the Elder Scrolls Online beta for one weekend, but it didn't appeal to me so I never played it again. I actually love the ES series, with over a 1000 hours of gameplay between Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, but even though ESO was excellently designed and played great, it lacked the few things about the franchise that I actually played them for. Mainly freedom to go where I want, do what I want, and advance in the games without having to do any quests whatsoever. So many gamers today have played countless pre-alphas, alphas, betas, early access and pre-releases of games, so I guess it's expected that these 'pre-game' builds represent the actual product that is about to be released. But ED's beta is not like any of those others as far as I can tell. We aren't testing a final product here. We are testing elements of the code that will be 'used' in the final product. In the past year of helping Frontier test this title, the developers, to my knowledge, have only once come onto the forums and asked backers to test a specific feature (gimbal weapons). I'm guessing they are just monitoring the data as we play, and learning everything they need to know. So I recommend waiting until the gamma/preview is released next week before making any final judgment calls, because none of us have seen the actual game yet. In the meantime, try reading through the DDF and watching the Dev Videos to get an idea of what is to come. As for success on launch day, there are countless game titles that did not become widely popular until well after they had been out for awhile. But if FDev gets in even half of what is slated for the initial release, I doubt that will be a concern. My 2cr for what it's worth.

 

[MorkFromOrk]

This is the problem for a lot of players, complaining about ED. They can't get their heads around the fact that there's no fixed story line with rewards/medals along the way.

The use of the term end-game is misplaced in ED even though it has a loose endgame of ranking Elite.

However, the comparison to being placed in an open field and being told to have fun is reasonably valid.

If we are to explore with a metal detector the hope of there being buried treasure motivates. As a child just the idea of buried treasure is enough, but as an adult we want to know there really is something out there.

If we are to be a bounty hunter, as a child we imagine all the villains we've seen on TV and the movies. As an adult we want the plot line sketched out for us because we need a bit more structure to the role.

Even as a trader it is nice to know why somewhere values the goods you are taking to them. Just knowing they are a high tech world so value some materials that support that level helps, but why does this place, above all others, really need this stuff?

We saw a huge increase in interest when FD introduced the war event. Suddenly shipping wine was sticking it to the feds. Suddenly we were 'running blockades'. Suddenly every interdiction by a Fed was oppression (and vice versa). The game mechanics didn't actually change, but the story did. We read with interest the exploits of heroes and villains in GalNet News articles.

But then it just stopped. It was history and barely referenced again. We returned to the empty field and just a few managed to keep the story alive in their heads; the proverbial Japanese soldier fighting on long after the war had ended. For the rest the story just stopped and we just remember when playing in the field was fun and wonder when the next story will arrive. :S

 

[Toxic_Waster]

i didnt play freelancer, but happened to play x-rebirth. the game had many of the desired elements such as interactive npcs, storyline and etc. comparing to elite x-rebirth is the total trainwreck. so the storyline itself doesnt make a good game. the arguments that ed doesnt have a life bcs its missing what i experienced in my previous games is very weak. even if something was added there will be plenty of people who left unsatisfied bcs for them elite is still missing life, soul or mojo.

 

[The Big One]

That 48 system full game just doesn't cut it for me, not enough content
It feels too constraining and that I'm stuck in a box. At least I will be free to explore our very own galaxy in Elite Dangerous.

Now, I wonder if you'll be a bit more forgiving to FD at release of their massive galaxy and gameplay.

Shok.

My post was not about bashing ED or the devs. It was to show about the differences and lifelessness of the current beta. And also about ways to expand the experience and gameplay. I still like ED though and don't feel like I need to forgive them anything.

 

[Shoklar]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaand then it wouldn't let me add any more. It goes on and on in the same vein right to the end. In case you haven't got it yet, the OP doesn't want to discuss points, he doesn't even want a discussion because, as you can see, he ignores every counterpoint made and just goes on and on repeating the same thing. He's here just for the argument because he thinks he can argue better than you. That's it. He wants to try and prove that he can win the argument, nothing more. Now, we have a name for people like this and we know where they live. But we also know how to defeat them. He thrive on replies. He just wants the reply. It's what he lives for. It will drive him mad when you don't reply to him. That's it, I'm done. He can say what he likes now but I won't be back to this thread so I don't care. It's up to the rest of you if you want to keep feeding him.

I do feel you're right about this, as we have seen lately a few of these style posts that are based on assumptions and largely without merit. That drag on and on and attempt to sow discord and distrust in the game and developers. Almost like paid shills. Ten pages, and I still don't see the 'content definition by the op' that the op feels is missing and should be already in the beta build of the game.

Shok.

 

[zelda_n64]

Right now the game relies almost entirely on imagination.

Being nostalgic, back in the early 1980's Elite broke the stagnant platform game, to me as a very young teenager Elite was the best. It would allow me to do what I wanted without constriction. To begin with it was hard, getting used to the open world. But and a very big but, I had fun turning up at a station and realising that I couldn't make money selling my cargo there. I never did any missions as set game play does not float my boat. One thing I always wanted to do back then was land on the planets, explore, find stuff get back to my ship & find somewhere to offload it, I couldn't. It took me many months of trading, combat and the like to become Elite but I did it & I had major fun along the way.

When I heard about ED I hoped that the format would stay the same as the original Elite, no stories, no constriction, a game/place where I could use my imagination again.

I have not really played the Beta much, but I like what I have played. One thing I have yet to try in this version to becoming Elite is attacking the Space Stations. Something I did often in the original as police Vipers would exit the station & try and take me down. As the original manual said -

'on the slow climb to a status level that reflects a growing talent for combat you will have to engage many different ships, in many different skirmishes, in the System Space of many different worlds'

I may be of the older generation that does not like apps or iphones, where freedom is more important than constriction, where imagination has not been sterilised by reality tv. Go and try to beat up some space stations then run or fight and remember you may win but the next system you may not be so lucky, what ever you do - have fun.

Step back from what you think Elite Dangerous should be or what you want it to be. It has done now what it did in the 80's and for us old ones it is a blessing from on-rail or do this do that in this order games.

I feel for those that aren't getting the same experience as me & I do hope that they can see the game through a different set of eyes and try things that a 'normal' game wouldn't allow. Be safe in space!!

 

[The Big One]

i didnt play freelancer, but happened to play x-rebirth. the game had many of the desired elements such as interactive npcs, storyline and etc. comparing to elite x-rebirth is the total trainwreck. so the storyline itself doesnt make a good game. the arguments that ed doesnt have a life bcs its missing what i experienced in my previous games is very weak. even if something was added there will be plenty of people who left unsatisfied bcs for them elite is still missing life, soul or mojo.

Now imagine you could join a group of NPCs in ED for haulage protection on fly and get paid once you reach the final system. Or join a patrol on their way to clear a pirate base.

How would that be? Oh right, weak argument....

 

[Brusilov]

This is not a reply or what so ever.

 

[Kernel Kwatz!]

The issues I have with people saying that you need to use your imagination is that the remark:

a) Is often a veiled insult;
b) It's a dismissive response to concerns that are frequently expressed on these forums;
b) If a content update was released tomorrow they would download it rather than just imagine what it's like to mine or whatever.

I see the "imagination" response to be about as helpful as the soon to be no longer valid "it's a Beta". It might be true and appropriate in some cases but more often then not it's just a way of typing something without actually engaging with a poster. This said, I am hopeful for the games future should it's initial release be a commercial success.

 

[Steve_T]

The use of the term end-game is misplaced in ED even though it has a loose endgame of ranking Elite.

However, the comparison to being placed in an open field and being told to have fun is reasonably valid.

If we are to explore with a metal detector the hope of there being buried treasure motivates. As a child just the idea of buried treasure is enough, but as an adult we want to know there really is something out there.

If we are to be a bounty hunter, as a child we imagine all the villains we've seen on TV and the movies. As an adult we want the plot line sketched out for us because we need a bit more structure to the role.

Even as a trader it is nice to know why somewhere values the goods you are taking to them. Just knowing they are a high tech world so value some materials that support that level helps, but why does this place, above all others, really need this stuff?

We saw a huge increase in interest when FD introduced the war event. Suddenly shipping wine was sticking it to the feds. Suddenly we were 'running blockades'. Suddenly every interdiction by a Fed was oppression (and vice versa). The game mechanics didn't actually change, but the story did. We read with interest the exploits of heroes and villains in GalNet News articles.

But then it just stopped. It was history and barely referenced again. We returned to the empty field and just a few managed to keep the story alive in their heads; the proverbial Japanese soldier fighting on long after the war had ended. For the rest the story just stopped and we just remember when playing in the field was fun and wonder when the next story will arrive. :S

You make excellent points here. I agree that adding a narrative of sorts (á la GalNet News) does fire the imagination. It would be great to see much more of this in the final game but is it feasible? I mean it was easy when there was only one story line; the Eranin uprising. But how can it be done when there's 100's of core systems, let alone the wider galaxy?

 

[xxThe_Dice_manxx]

So I've probably put about 20-30 hours into the game now, and I'm still having trouble...well, I'm having trouble locating the game, to be honest. I'm bored!

Combat = Shoot at NPC shipos that pretty much just fly around in big arcs or charge you head on. Have OP ship or hope the NPCs don't get the last kill. Turn in kill mission (if you have one) and collect NPC bounty money. Repeat. Upgrade ship maybe to blow up things better.

Exploration = Hyperspace a lot. Scan. Sell information to NPC.

Trading = Get mission. Hyperspace. Turn in mission. Repeat. OR use information from the Internet to find out where to buy things, hyperspace, then sell them and repeat. Possibly upgrade ship to carry more.

PVP/Pirate = Blow things up. Get money and/or goods. Sell goods. Repeat.

Mining = Pew asteroid. Sell to NPC. Repeat.

I get that there is great detail in the getting from place to place, the stations, the ships, the docking, and all of that, but that's all just fluff. Where's the actual game? And if we're not testing it now, what kind of condition is the rest of the game going to be in when the game launches in less than a month? Where is this dynamic economy we were told about? How is this a sandbox when it's extremely limited what you can and cannot do by the fact that there's just nothing out there to see or do? How are we even supposed to role play when the galaxy in which we're playing basically does not exist beyond having a few solid objects scattered around with no history behind them? Besides, how would role playing work when you'll never see the same person twice at any gathering place due to the fact that all high population areas are instanced?

I see people saying that this game is supposed to be "freeform" or whatever, but how is it more free than any other game, other than that they give you no real reason to do anything? I can go wherever I want in EVE. I can go wherever I want in WoW once I hit max level. I can go anywhere I want in Archeage once I hit max level. That's what passes as "sandbox" these days? Just the ability to go anywhere and smack anything without any reason to do so? I can wander aimlessly in almost any video game, but even in those games that aren't "sandbox" games, there's usually something interesting to see. Here, it's just a planet I can't interact with, or a space station that looks just like dozens of other space stations. Woot?

I guess TL;DR, where is this game that we've all spent so much money on? Did they really spend all those millions in Kickstarter funds on being extremely detailed on the getting from here to there while forgetting to give us a reason to do so?

Please, tell me I'm missing something here, because otherwise, I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in a game in which I had such high hopes. Are we really only getting a bare-bones space combat and trading simulation, with tons of detailed fluff and no actual substance? And don't give me the "wait until launch to complain" . The game launches in a month, and what's already here is nearly unplayable at times. This is it, and I suspect even the most devoted of fanboys have realized this. We're getting a smoother (hopefully) version of exactly what we're playing, and have been playing for a few months now.

Now do any other game, see if it's any different, I think you will find that ED already has a lot more to do than most games and we have just scratched the surface of what is to come.

 

[Erna Jedermann]

Now imagine you could join a group of NPCs in ED for haulage protection on fly and get paid once you reach the final system. Or join a patrol on their way to clear a pirate base.

How would that be? Oh right, weak argument....

You can do similar now .... check this Unindentified Signals .... I Have ones see Pirates try to Kill an Hauler ....but Alas I have no Guns so I leave .... also found Police Chasing a Pirat .... maybe you didn´t get shown on screen, but you get reputation/Bounty/Cargo ...depends on your action.