And Now For Something Completely Different

[Red Martian]

I grumble and grouse a lot, but it's because I love this game so much. There is NO other modern game where I have invested nearly 700 hours into it. The previous game that had so much time invested was Freelancer (you see the theme here), where I probably spent thousands of hours playing. So to balance out the "get off my lawn"-ing, here are some things I love about Elite: Dangerous:

* Gorgeous graphics. The game has beautiful graphics, with realistic and colorful looking planets (thanks 3.0!), ships that look real enough that you could almost touch them, massive stars with arcing solar flares, complex and well rendered stations, and a skybox peppered with honest to goddess stars you can reach if you so desire. The game is a visual treat all across the board.

* Fun flight mechanics. Oh man, flying in Elite is awesome. I've played dozens of flight sims, and space games, and they all have their upsides but Elite wallops them in flight mechanics. There's nothing like flying through the mail slot going a little too fast and trying to brake before you slam into the back wall. Small ships flit and dart about, large ships lumber and strain to turn. There's no greater feeling for me than to try landing my Corvette on a high gravity world. It makes me wish I had both VR and a HOTAS to really get the full experience (someday I hope to have both). I still clench my teeth as I attempt those landings, even though I'm not in any real life danger.

* Variety of ships. NO game beats Elite in variety of ships. Sure, there may be games out there with more to choose from, but every ship in Elite has its own personality, it's own characteristics that separate it from the rest. What's more, you can get *ALL* of these ships in-game, no real money purchases. If I may slip one downside in, it's that there are so many I always jump from ship to ship, never entirely sure which one I consider my most favorite, but on the plus side, I can say so many of them are favorites (I'm looking at you, Python, Clipper, and AspX).

* Soundtrack and sound design. Can we all agree here that Elite has some truly kick-aft music? It flawlessly sets the mood for whatever you're doing in-game. I love the music so much I bought the soundtrack. Every ship has its own distinct sounds, too. Every time I come out of supercruise in my AspX, it sounds like I'm taking on the Red Baron in my Sopwith Camel. I mean that in a good way, because the AspX is a jewel. No wonder so many people love it.

As far as I'm concerned, FDev has one heck of a framework here, and I sincerely hope they keep building on this universe, because it's one of those games that I will always come back to time and time again. So thank you, FDev, for keeping your word in creating the game, and managing to do so with what would be a shoe string budget when compared to what you envisioned 5 years ago. I hope that vision continues to bear fruit, and if you see future grumblings, please forgive them, I'm probably just tired, stressed, or lacking coffee, and taking it out on the ones I love, and yes, I do love this game, and I hope its future is bright.

Also, if you could create a rainbow paint job for the Python, I would really appreciate it. ♥

Fly safe, Commanders.

o7

 

[GroundxZERO]

Not to rain on any of your parade, but Id like a little more diversity in ship personality. I really don’t like the idea of a universal HUD even though it’s extremely practical. Perhaps through future developments I will one day feel like I am piloting ships instead of a HUD with modules.

I agree with the rest of your post though.

 

[Red Martian]

Not to rain on any of your parade, but Id like a little more diversity in ship personality. I really don’t like the idea of a universal HUD even though it’s extremely practical. Perhaps through future developments I will one day feel like I am piloting ships instead of a HUD with modules.

I agree with the rest of your post though.

Thanks! I could certainly expound at length on things I have issues with in the game, or things I want to see, but I do it so much that I felt it was time I let FDev know that it doesn't comprise the entirety of my experience with Elite. Sometimes, it's a good idea to let people know you appreciate them, even if you're always asking for changes and improvements.

 

[Lucifera Danzig]

A few points that struck me over the course of playing the game:

The very notion that I can look in a RL astronomy data source, pick a star, and chances are I can fly there in ED is, to me, mind-blowing. It could use comets and perhaps black hole accretion disks, but otherwise it's astounding.

It manages to capture a very real, gritty kind of feel that some of the best sci-fi has, while maintaining a sense of humor (I still giggle over being able to dock at "Gustypants Outback Emporium) and while giving a nod to some of the greatest sci-fi inspirations in history.

Even the ship designs that aren't optimal for best game-play give it a feel of human involvement - and perhaps error - from the inhabitants of the galaxy. (I've always imagined the people who decided on the design for the Hauler were the descendants of the people who thought the AMC Gremlin was a good idea...)

 

[Jaiotu]

The very notion that I can look in a RL astronomy data source, pick a star, and chances are I can fly there in ED is, to me, mind-blowing.

Oh yes. There are scripts that can take real world data like Right Ascension, Declination & approximate distance to a real world astronomical source and spit out the approximate coordinates in the Elite Galaxy map. You can track down a lot of cool places in the galaxy like that. Just not Cassiopeia A. Nothing will help you find Cassiopeia A

Music got switched off few hours into the game never to come back for me.

I switched off the music as well. I actually own the soundtrack and think it is pretty good but I prefer to fly without music or, if I do want to listen to something, I have my own play list.