Yeah, it's amazing how this game can really make you think with stuff like this. I took a screenshot of the galaxy map zoomed out, staring at the green dots of all the waypoints and points of interest that were mapped out in the squad I was in. When you get out there into the abyss and land on that world, even with other players, there's just something about it all. The quietness of the moment, the silence as one (at least I) lets what just occurred register in the mind, traveling so far, maybe with a group, maybe solo, or with a single wing mate. Crossing the galaxy in about 5 months, landing there and knowing that you are one of the people who actually managed to make it the whole way.
Checking the roster and seeing just how few of the names are now gold in color helps bring that point across. I'm still in disbelief that I made it the whole way. There were some downs, there were moments where I was just jumping "to get there" and not having fun, but I don't regret it. It was a moment, and an experience that made me realize what I truly enjoy out of this game. I got the game just a couple weeks before the expedition started (Steam winter sale and all that), and so most of my over 150 hours were both prep and taking part in this expedition. I didn't learn basic features like the FSS until right before the launch of DW2, but this expedition taught me that I like the exploration, the flying to systems and just scanning and seeing what I find. I think two moments really drive this satisfaction of this trip home to me. The first was when I discovered a system with 71 bodies in it, that's the most I've ever found. The second was finding a system with 5 stars in it (and some other bodies, need to go back and scan it) and the first star was bigger than the other 4 combined.
This game may not be perfect, but being able to just fly across the galaxy and self reflect once there while screwing around in my SRV is a moment I will never forget. While I'm glad DW3 is a thing that won't happen for a few years, I do see myself in my Krait Phantom called the "GFS Moonlit" (Galactic Far Seeker) in the black, just looking around for neat sites and awesome discoveries.
To think that I was unsure when I was considering buying the game if I'd enjoy it enough to warrant the $16 I paid for it (plus $10 gifted to me by a friend for ship customizations), now I look back at the past 5 months and realize, I will be back, I might take breaks, but the black will always call to me. I'm excited for the next expansion and whatever it brings, and hope to find myself doing more expeditions, even solo ones, just to see what the galaxy has hidden away. DW2 was a real eye-opening experience for me when it comes to this genre of games. Since Freelancer I've loved this genre of game, and I've played the Evochron games since Mercenary, but Elite Dangerous is the one I enjoy the most at this point, it really makes me feel like I missed out by not having the patience to play any of the other games in the series like Frontier. Anyway that's my rambling story of how this expedition impacted me.
Checking the roster and seeing just how few of the names are now gold in color helps bring that point across. I'm still in disbelief that I made it the whole way. There were some downs, there were moments where I was just jumping "to get there" and not having fun, but I don't regret it. It was a moment, and an experience that made me realize what I truly enjoy out of this game. I got the game just a couple weeks before the expedition started (Steam winter sale and all that), and so most of my over 150 hours were both prep and taking part in this expedition. I didn't learn basic features like the FSS until right before the launch of DW2, but this expedition taught me that I like the exploration, the flying to systems and just scanning and seeing what I find. I think two moments really drive this satisfaction of this trip home to me. The first was when I discovered a system with 71 bodies in it, that's the most I've ever found. The second was finding a system with 5 stars in it (and some other bodies, need to go back and scan it) and the first star was bigger than the other 4 combined.
This game may not be perfect, but being able to just fly across the galaxy and self reflect once there while screwing around in my SRV is a moment I will never forget. While I'm glad DW3 is a thing that won't happen for a few years, I do see myself in my Krait Phantom called the "GFS Moonlit" (Galactic Far Seeker) in the black, just looking around for neat sites and awesome discoveries.
To think that I was unsure when I was considering buying the game if I'd enjoy it enough to warrant the $16 I paid for it (plus $10 gifted to me by a friend for ship customizations), now I look back at the past 5 months and realize, I will be back, I might take breaks, but the black will always call to me. I'm excited for the next expansion and whatever it brings, and hope to find myself doing more expeditions, even solo ones, just to see what the galaxy has hidden away. DW2 was a real eye-opening experience for me when it comes to this genre of games. Since Freelancer I've loved this genre of game, and I've played the Evochron games since Mercenary, but Elite Dangerous is the one I enjoy the most at this point, it really makes me feel like I missed out by not having the patience to play any of the other games in the series like Frontier. Anyway that's my rambling story of how this expedition impacted me.