TL;DR: I like Elite Dangerous, and I always will. But for the love of god, fix those massacre and wing trading missions.
No game, ever, have I engaged in the community quite like I have in Elite...
I'd like to start by taking this very valuable time out of my day to express my gratitude and thanks to Frontier Developments for making this Space Simulator. No game, ever, in the history of me playing a video game have I engaged in the community quite like I have in Elite Dangerous. I have never participated or joined in in a game's forum, or online community outside the game, before I started playing Elite. I still remember the first time I logged into the subreddit and official forums, seeing so many passionate players talking about every aspect of the game. Sure, I've come to learn other games have similar communities, but Elite always felt... special. So many other game forums talk about optimizing builds and how to do this or do that, but yet, in the Elite online community, there's also that, but there is so much MORE talk about... the philosophy of doing certain activities. Why, as a space cowboy, a trading loner, a bio-waste dropping pirate, or even the multi-crew explorer, there were passionate discussions about WHY you do the things that you do. There are still so many "WHY" discussions, and how to make the game better and to build off of what they love. I mean... even NEGATIVE original post threads have life in them. At the core of even those hateful posts, there is still a spark of admiration and willingness to constructively critique the developers. If the game was TRULY as bad as they said, there wouldn't have been a post to begin with. I know, for me, games that I grew tired of their nonsense, I just stopped playing. Yet, people keep coming back to the forums, at the very least, to check up on the game. That, in itself, is astonishing.
From Request Docking to "Docking Successful. Engines Disengaged"...
Despite some hiccups, glitches, salt mines, and overhyped/underrated/broken segments of gameplay and development, Elite Dangerous is still a game that has no rival. Even though some missions and activities have lucratively high credit payouts, horribly poverty-line low payouts, and everywhere in between, Frontier Developments have made a game that is so much more than who can make the most credits or own the most ships. You are a spaceship pilot, and the galaxy is yours to not conquer. Ha, seems silly, but I value not being the hero of the story for once. While many players think high and mighty of their PvP skills, one wrong move around a neutron star renders them mortal. That's not a bash at PvP (I really like consensual pews). I don't think I can think of any other multiplayer game where pure skill is a huge chunk of whether you are the victor, or an insurance fraud victim. This game is skill, on skill, on skill. How long did it take you get the landing down to under 30 seconds from Request Docking to "Docking Successful. Engines Disengaged"? That's a skill you learned right from the beginning. It took me so long to build up the courage to not wait for the System Security to engage those pirates on my own. Oh yeah, I died quite a few times. But I LEARNED. No, not learning to button mash in a certain order, either. That's not kill, that's memorizing. I'm talking about learning how to use your FA effectively, how to actually aim your fixed weapons and shoot the canister of Liquor off the nose of an Adder. Learning each aspect of this game felt so rewarding. Even knowing how to mine efficiently is a skill! There's no "lucky shots" here. Though, I haven't seen any "360 no scope" videos yet...
3 STOCK EAGLES WITH A FULL CARGO OF BIOWASTE...
I have made my fair share of criticisms to Fdev on numerous occasions. For starters, WHY ARE MASSACRE MISSIONS SO FLUBBING TERRIBLE, AND WHY AM I HAULING OVER 9,000 TONNES TO GET THE TOTALLY AWESOME PAYOUT EQUAL TO THE COST of 3 STOCK EAGLES WITH A FULL CARGO OF BIOWASTE. IMMERSION BREAKING. Alright... got that out of my system. Moving on.
The screenshots... oh the screenshots...
Elite continues to amaze me with some of the footage of the beautiful stellar forge. Sure... they may be something that might be procedurally generated that sorta kinda looks like everything you can find right next door in the system next to you... but regardless of that, some players have an amazing eye for getting juuuust the right shot. I am still astounded how clever some screenshots are. I have yet to find my golden eye for this. Even some people I know who are CoD worshipers and would never play this game, admit that some screenshots look incredible.
This game will always have a place in my Steam Library...
Regardless of how anyone feels about Elite Dangerous, this game will always have a place in my Steam Library. No ganker, hater, or doom and gloomer will change that. Thank you, Frontier, for making an amazing game that I cherish, and a game that is my home away from home when I'm having a stressful day. Thank you to the community for always pushing the Devs to be better, and ultimately, for interacting and keeping this game alive (whether you realize it or not). It will be a sad day when these servers come to an end, but hopefully, they'll be another game around the horizon where it's servers are even better than this one.
No game, ever, have I engaged in the community quite like I have in Elite...
I'd like to start by taking this very valuable time out of my day to express my gratitude and thanks to Frontier Developments for making this Space Simulator. No game, ever, in the history of me playing a video game have I engaged in the community quite like I have in Elite Dangerous. I have never participated or joined in in a game's forum, or online community outside the game, before I started playing Elite. I still remember the first time I logged into the subreddit and official forums, seeing so many passionate players talking about every aspect of the game. Sure, I've come to learn other games have similar communities, but Elite always felt... special. So many other game forums talk about optimizing builds and how to do this or do that, but yet, in the Elite online community, there's also that, but there is so much MORE talk about... the philosophy of doing certain activities. Why, as a space cowboy, a trading loner, a bio-waste dropping pirate, or even the multi-crew explorer, there were passionate discussions about WHY you do the things that you do. There are still so many "WHY" discussions, and how to make the game better and to build off of what they love. I mean... even NEGATIVE original post threads have life in them. At the core of even those hateful posts, there is still a spark of admiration and willingness to constructively critique the developers. If the game was TRULY as bad as they said, there wouldn't have been a post to begin with. I know, for me, games that I grew tired of their nonsense, I just stopped playing. Yet, people keep coming back to the forums, at the very least, to check up on the game. That, in itself, is astonishing.
From Request Docking to "Docking Successful. Engines Disengaged"...
Despite some hiccups, glitches, salt mines, and overhyped/underrated/broken segments of gameplay and development, Elite Dangerous is still a game that has no rival. Even though some missions and activities have lucratively high credit payouts, horribly poverty-line low payouts, and everywhere in between, Frontier Developments have made a game that is so much more than who can make the most credits or own the most ships. You are a spaceship pilot, and the galaxy is yours to not conquer. Ha, seems silly, but I value not being the hero of the story for once. While many players think high and mighty of their PvP skills, one wrong move around a neutron star renders them mortal. That's not a bash at PvP (I really like consensual pews). I don't think I can think of any other multiplayer game where pure skill is a huge chunk of whether you are the victor, or an insurance fraud victim. This game is skill, on skill, on skill. How long did it take you get the landing down to under 30 seconds from Request Docking to "Docking Successful. Engines Disengaged"? That's a skill you learned right from the beginning. It took me so long to build up the courage to not wait for the System Security to engage those pirates on my own. Oh yeah, I died quite a few times. But I LEARNED. No, not learning to button mash in a certain order, either. That's not kill, that's memorizing. I'm talking about learning how to use your FA effectively, how to actually aim your fixed weapons and shoot the canister of Liquor off the nose of an Adder. Learning each aspect of this game felt so rewarding. Even knowing how to mine efficiently is a skill! There's no "lucky shots" here. Though, I haven't seen any "360 no scope" videos yet...
3 STOCK EAGLES WITH A FULL CARGO OF BIOWASTE...
I have made my fair share of criticisms to Fdev on numerous occasions. For starters, WHY ARE MASSACRE MISSIONS SO FLUBBING TERRIBLE, AND WHY AM I HAULING OVER 9,000 TONNES TO GET THE TOTALLY AWESOME PAYOUT EQUAL TO THE COST of 3 STOCK EAGLES WITH A FULL CARGO OF BIOWASTE. IMMERSION BREAKING. Alright... got that out of my system. Moving on.
The screenshots... oh the screenshots...
Elite continues to amaze me with some of the footage of the beautiful stellar forge. Sure... they may be something that might be procedurally generated that sorta kinda looks like everything you can find right next door in the system next to you... but regardless of that, some players have an amazing eye for getting juuuust the right shot. I am still astounded how clever some screenshots are. I have yet to find my golden eye for this. Even some people I know who are CoD worshipers and would never play this game, admit that some screenshots look incredible.
This game will always have a place in my Steam Library...
Regardless of how anyone feels about Elite Dangerous, this game will always have a place in my Steam Library. No ganker, hater, or doom and gloomer will change that. Thank you, Frontier, for making an amazing game that I cherish, and a game that is my home away from home when I'm having a stressful day. Thank you to the community for always pushing the Devs to be better, and ultimately, for interacting and keeping this game alive (whether you realize it or not). It will be a sad day when these servers come to an end, but hopefully, they'll be another game around the horizon where it's servers are even better than this one.