Constructive criticism of Elite. A game I am loving!

[emacinnes]

Elite should never have a "win" condition, that would be entirely besides the point of blazing our own trail. The journey never ends.

Some ship customisation options would be good, as would the crew, but really, the player's avatar is "the Pilot". Customisable flight suits, UI style, all that stuff that reflects directly on the pilot, and follows "the pilot" across different ships.

I'd expect to see much more of that in the ship-ship boarding add on, where this would be necessary, otherwise it'll be 20 black jumpsuits all shooting at each other, with the only differentiation being male/female. This will also be why we haven't seen the customisation yet as it's necessary for this add-on which is also a paid-extra. Once we can all get out our seats and start running around, changing outfits and so on, it'll become a lot more personal.

 

[Nelson]

Nice to see a thoughtfull discussion. Im an 84'er and a Beta backer who wished he'd known about the whole kickstarter thing !

But I 90% Agree with the OP as yesterday I went onto Steam and bought three new titles to enjoy over a break Im having... I had planned to spend my break doing nothing but playing Elite but, as the OP described very well, Im struggling to connect "emotionally" or whatever to it - despite the amazing engine, physics, vastness, art and tech achievement...

Im hoping in a month or two some expansions will tip that balance so I can feel the desire to invest time and effort back in Elite and I am happy to wait, but I do think there are some elements which could have been implemented to create the desired player in game investment. Things such as credit transfers between players, some kind of player crafting, homebase/hanger stuff, and the corp/guild thing. Yeah theres a rack of issues discussed elsewhere on these forums about those points but its those things that make people feel part of a game experiance, despite some of the negatives that go with them. Dont be afraid ED implement them !

The days of Epic gaming titles being ready out of the box are long gone in the modern gaming world so I dont expect it, but I really really hope after the economic no brainers of bringing ED to as many platforms as possible they remember to go back to the simple gaming principle of making a game people get addicted to because they simply love it for letting them be someone they could otherwise never be ! appart from in our imaginations.

For now though its a bit love/hate for me, but Im wishing for more

 

[Chaodiurn]

Small correction: Both WoW and Minecraft had a precise "beat the game" moment. In Minecraft, that was when you defeated the dragon. In WoW, that greatly depended on what addOn you played on. WotLK? Kick the Lich King into the next universe.

Both actually deploy you into a set world, where there is a certain treat and where you take a specific role that you are to fulfil. As much the focus lies beside that, you still are taking action as a hero in a fixed world. In E: D, however, the idea is that such a fixed world with a point zero doesn't exist. You just are doing whatever the game mechanics allow, with the system developing around you. To enjoy the game you are forced to check what the game-mechanics allow you, to find a way of entertaining yourself. While doing that, you are given information on how the world around you develops and what you can do to support alteration in a way you maybe prefer.

Minecraft hits this problem in a very comparable way: you are given no information about your surroundings at all. Instead of checking what game-mechanics allow you to do, you explore into the unknown, learning about the different game mechanics as you venture further and further: deeper into the dangerous night, further into the hard-to-reach parts of your own mines. You get more and more familiar with the game mechanics until, eventually, you get how you may reach that point zero, where you enter the realm of the dragon and defeat it. In the progress you most likely got that addicted to the game mechanics, that you continue, not caring to beating the game at all. Spreading from player to player, this will result in the final game-goal shrinking to zero importance, as all just play and recommend the game as something, where you can do stuff.

Same goes with WoW. You gear up, level up, explore more difficult areas, until you eventually are strong enough to face endboss X. On the way you met people, formed guilds, performed raids. You learn that there's more gear to be acquired, raids to be finished faster, PvP content to be dominated. You get more addicted to the progression and its processes, than to the continuation towards the game's "final goal" itself. In the first hours that means: Go kill 6 wolves. Bam! Now go down there and kill 8 elementals. And oh, take this sword to DPS 'em 6 feet under. Progress! Win! Achievement! Loot!

In E: D? Well. There's nothing that gets you hooked. You have to go and get yourself hooked yourself. The grind doesn't come with any face or colour. Until, eventually, you got so familiar with grinding that you start to see the game-lore and meaning behind it. That's most often the point where you reached enough boredom to care and take a look. It's the whole other way around! There doesn't anything change, ever. Apart from what guns are pointed at you -- and how many. Unless you're the explorer kind of type. Then gameplay isn't to be discussed anyway. You just scan celestial bodies over and over again. While enjoying most awesome views of course. Then you get eventually paid for that.