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

[deusx_ophc]

My great hope & expectation is that by release we see the gameplay & story elements we are missing now, because they are kept for release. Without those elements I think sales might be very slow. This in turn can impact on how sustainable it is to even have a future of walking around our spaceships or landing on planets. We all want and expect those things to be added but the harsh reality is that if the game fails to capture the imagination of enough people who want to buy it ... what then ? The answer is too terrible to consider!

well do not keep your hopes so high for added storylines. ed is what you (with a little help from some friends) make it.

it is up to the devs to provide you with some decent tools other than your imagination. there are already great tools in ed beta today, sure there will be more added over then next days, weeks, months, years, decades. will thoses added tools ever be enough to make Ed the game that you (and many others) so crave? no idea

i just know that FDEV have done a great job since the first day of the kickstarter campaign. at a time when key concepts, networking and other parts of the game have been in the works for a long time. i know that the company is currently cash-rich to keep funding the development of ED despite not it making the no.1 christmas sales game of 2014. there are also very detailed videos that show what has been and will be in development for ED. those are very real indications of what FDEV want and where ED is internally.

and again, there is a #newsletter50 due tomorrow with detail on what to expect in gamma. (lol i can already see the posts following that newsletter, when will it this madness ever end )

so what is missing then? ahh some perspective & aplomb ^^

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[englishkernigit]

Would be nice to have maybe a story line of some sort to follow maybe faction based but to fill up 400 billion star systems with that kind of content seems to be a mission impossible to me.

 

[Riedquat]

Oh heck.

That really, really wasn't what I wanted to hear.

I'm very willing to see what FD come up with this month but it sounds like for those like me who want a relatively 'complete' experience the gamma should remain uninstalled for a bit longer....

Wait and see what the Devs have in store for you rather then believing everything you read on the forum

 

[Irre]

For anyone to enjoy this game (or ANY game) they need imagination. I have been saying that the lack of imagination is not a valid stock response to anyone that wants more.

correct. "use some imagination" might be the worst excuse in history for missing content/features in a game. It´s even way worse than "It´s coming in a future expansion". I can´t believe statements like that are used as an argument, I think I may have encountered some of the whitest of white knights in the history of gamer forums here

 

[Sacman]

The true, honest to goodness answer ( that a lot of people really don't want to hear) is, yes. That's it.

They have taken a game that was 20+ years old and brought it up to current technological standards. If you ever played the old Elite:Frontier game, it is absolutely identical. Sure, there is a lot better graphics, and yes, I can see and interact ( in a very limited fasion ) with other humans, but for all intents and purposes, to date, all Frontier has shown is is a rebranded 20+ year old game. Sure, there are a lot of promises out there, and a lot of hopeful " wait and you will see" kind of hype, but I think as far as release goes, they are going to finish polishing out the bugs, and are going to call it good.

There will be a lot of howling about things like "Where is the rest of the game?" or " I can't believe all this time and money was spent for this" kind of thing going on, and the DEVs will say how they have the basic game all laid out, and you will just have to wait for the expansion. I hate to sound so pessimistic, but from what I have seen and played, that will be what happens. I truly hope I am wrong. I truly hope that they actually have a few things up their sleeve to throw out at launch that will give us something to chew on until the first expansion.

As far as what we DO have to play, it is an enjoyable experience. You truly can decide your own fate, do what you want to do, and not really worry about grinding out gear and gold. Sure, credits will get you better equipment, but even a well kitted out Sidewinder will get you where you want to go in this game. Having been a younger man that spend many many hours playing the predecessor to this game, I am grateful that it has received an update.

Regardless of what comes out at release, the DEVs better get themselves sorted and on the ball. While this is a great game for the nostalgic, the fact of the matter is that players expect a lot more in today's gaming. A considerably better multiplayer experience, storylines, and as much immersion as they can punch down in code needs to get done, and done as soon as possible. As the game stands now, if Star Citizen is even half of what they are promising, this game will become nothing more than a small footnote in the evolution of Space simulator games.

Agreed ... well written!

 

[JeffRyan]

I'll wait until gamma before making any judgement calls.

 

[deusx_ophc]

Would be nice to have maybe a story line of some sort to follow maybe faction based but to fill up 400 billion star systems with that kind of content seems to be a mission impossible to me.

well the magic of procedural generation comes form this place ^^

just not sure it should be called storyline, but the conflict around eranin, that can be reproduced easily (it has been tested as a mechanism afterall). we are just waiting to see what the full background simulation in ED will look like.

here is a link to its ddf post Elite: Dangerous - Background Simulationd

 

[Gee]

The true, honest to goodness answer ( that a lot of people really don't want to hear) is, yes. That's it.

They have taken a game that was 20+ years old and brought it up to current technological standards. If you ever played the old Elite:Frontier game, it is absolutely identical. Sure, there is a lot better graphics, and yes, I can see and interact ( in a very limited fasion ) with other humans, but for all intents and purposes, to date, all Frontier has shown is is a rebranded 20+ year old game. Sure, there are a lot of promises out there, and a lot of hopeful " wait and you will see" kind of hype, but I think as far as release goes, they are going to finish polishing out the bugs, and are going to call it good.

There will be a lot of howling about things like "Where is the rest of the game?" or " I can't believe all this time and money was spent for this" kind of thing going on, and the DEVs will say how they have the basic game all laid out, and you will just have to wait for the expansion. I hate to sound so pessimistic, but from what I have seen and played, that will be what happens. I truly hope I am wrong. I truly hope that they actually have a few things up their sleeve to throw out at launch that will give us something to chew on until the first expansion.

As far as what we DO have to play, it is an enjoyable experience. You truly can decide your own fate, do what you want to do, and not really worry about grinding out gear and gold. Sure, credits will get you better equipment, but even a well kitted out Sidewinder will get you where you want to go in this game. Having been a younger man that spend many many hours playing the predecessor to this game, I am grateful that it has received an update.

Regardless of what comes out at release, the DEVs better get themselves sorted and on the ball. While this is a great game for the nostalgic, the fact of the matter is that players expect a lot more in today's gaming. A considerably better multiplayer experience, storylines, and as much immersion as they can punch down in code needs to get done, and done as soon as possible. As the game stands now, if Star Citizen is even half of what they are promising, this game will become nothing more than a small footnote in the evolution of Space simulator games.

Wait and see what the Devs have in store for you rather then believing everything you read on the forum

Can't argue with that!

Just getting a little impatient for my elite fix...!

 

[Megalon]

I could flip over a couch, throw a blanket over it, and put a lite-brite inside and pretend it's a spaceship

bahahahaha! best reply to the imagination argument i have ever heard. go look at one of these "old gamer" threads and you will see why so many people are content with this game as is. at least half of the community is older than dirt and have astigmatism from staring at wire frames for 5000 hours on a cpu that is weaker than the cheapest thumb drive out now.

in regards to op's question- no, this is not it at all. DB and his team are quiet and humble geniuses and have much more up their sleeve than what we are being shown in beta. if this is not the case i will fed ex you my trigger finger on the day of release. just say the word.

 

[Monk]

Oh is something happening over here?

::scans room::

Nope, nothing to see here.

Every day I'm just counting down the minutes to when I can get home and get back into ED.

 

[s0ilwork]

nothing happens in this big OPEN PLAY WORLD! NOTHING AT ALL, no blackholes, no pulsars no asteroides/comets flying by or even falling on planets, no sunexplosions/erruptions... nothing at all, that is why everything is boring!! there are further no NEW Systems where you see a suns birth!

everything is a kind of sterile!

 

[MorkFromOrk]

at least half of the community is older than dirt and have astigmatism from staring at wire frames for 5000 hours on a cpu that is weaker than the cheapest thumb drive out now..

Watch your tone young sonny-jim-me-laddo. Some of us fought in the Thargoid wars so young whippersnappers like you could have a chance to play games like these. Why, when I were a lad, all this were just pixels, not like the fancy pixels you get these days with all yer hiferlootin' true-colour immersive gaming experiences, no, they wer real, hard earned 8 bit pixels, in fact real hard men had 4 bit pixels and liked em', why it wer me old pappy who said to me, "Son" he said,"Son, when I were a lad..." snore snuffle..

 

[Commander_Tin]

in regards to op's question- no, this is not it at all. DB and his team are quiet and humble geniuses and have much more up their sleeve than what we are being shown in beta.

Also, they are older than dirt and have probably stared at wire frames for 5000+ hours, but hey.

 

[Megalon]

Watch your tone young sonny-jim-me-laddo. Some of us fought in the Thargoid wars so young whippersnappers like you could have a chance to play games like these. Why, when I were a lad, all this were just pixels, not like the fancy pixels you get these days with all yer hiferlootin' true-colour immersive gaming experiences, no, they wer real, hard earned 8 bit pixels, in fact real hard men had 4 bit pixels and liked em', why it wer me old pappy who said to me, "Son" he said,"Son, when I were a lad..." snore snuffle..

haha. it was not intended as an insult. i think the old guys have the best perspective available for gaming, unlike players such as myself who are jaded,entitled and ADHD.

Also, they are older than dirt and have probably stared at wire frames for 5000+ hours, but hey.

well said, touche and have more rep please.

 

[Gee]

Watch your tone young sonny-jim-me-laddo. Some of us fought in the Thargoid wars so young whippersnappers like you could have a chance to play games like these. Why, when I were a lad, all this were just pixels, not like the fancy pixels you get these days with all yer hiferlootin' true-colour immersive gaming experiences, no, they wer real, hard earned 8 bit pixels, in fact real hard men had 4 bit pixels and liked em', why it wer me old pappy who said to me, "Son" he said,"Son, when I were a lad..." snore snuffle..

Eeeeeeaaah, it were all nebulae round 'ere when I were a lad.

 

[Mu77ley]

Would be nice to have maybe a story line of some sort to follow maybe faction based but to fill up 400 billion star systems with that kind of content seems to be a mission impossible to me.

Not all 400 billion are populated. In fact only a tiny fraction (~100,000 IIRC) are even part of "human controlled space".

 

[Armour]

It's not a game yet. When the gamma comes out, then we can start moaning about what we think is missing or unbalanced or boring or whatever. But the OP's criticism about the game being un-EvE-ntful seems a bit like he wants to play a different game instead.

 

[the darkwalker]

my god 9 days to gamma and people still say "it's not a game yet"

 

[MorkFromOrk]

my god 9 days to gamma and people still say "it's not a game yet"

Well, to be fair, they do have a point.

Although, also to be fair, when Gamma arrives a bunch of people will still say 'it isn't released yet'.

Even then, to be a right pain in the bum, some will say, FD will continue to build and expand on this.

At that point I hope FD tells them to shut up and get a life.

 

[Avery Woodes]

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.

You just described EVE, or most other MMO's. At least here I fly my internet spaceship instead of direct it. (Don't get me wrong, much love to EVE, I just like piloting).
As others have said there will be more on the way. For the time being my rl buddies and I are theorizing ways to pirate and bounty hunt other platyers.

I'm also looking forward to the idea of galactic wars and systems changing hands (I think I read about that somewhere).