Elite is a convoluted mess

thistle

T
Lobey said:
I think folk are being overcritical of the OP - I've played from Beta and enjoy the game and certainly don't want it "dumbed down" - but his criticisms - especially of the controls have some validity - especially when you consider a lot of it has simply developed over time - with bits getting added on as we go.
Unlike him, I enjoy the game, but I'm not blinded to it's shortcomings.
Unfortunately as that "other game" has still not managed to deliver on the "wing commander " niche that I suspect the OP might have been looking for then he is stuck with Star Wars squadrons , which is pretty but a little too expensive, shallow and late to the table
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I think of it this way.

I watched a streamer a few weeks ago trying ED for the first time. It was excruciating for him. He hated it. There was no pleasure to be gained flying from this station in system 1 to that station in system 2. Because he wasn't interested in that, ie the flying, he was trying to see where the cool bits were and all he could find was infuriating key binds.

And others will try the game and will fight through the key binds and confusion because, frankly, wwwhhhheeeeeeeeee sspaceships!
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Factabulous said:
This is the problem with making the game free - no incentive to climb that difficulty wall.
Click to expand...

This is the problem with making a game available, for free, to a horde of people who have no particular interest in it but are likely to be very vocal in their perceived criticisms of it.

I'm sure FDev thought this through fully...

... to the extent of "Hey, some of these suckers might buy paint jobs and ship kits".
 

CMDR_LS

C
eyerobot61 said:
Start with the options, I want to find the button to enter FSS mode. No it's not in the category with the other FSS buttons, It's been moved to something called mode switch. Of course this wasted two hours of my life, And wound up finding it on google, Since the elite wiki never tells you anything useful. And all this time was wasted in just figuring out one button that i wanted to change or even use. Why can't you put everything pertaining to one function in a single category, And stop making it overly difficult to find?

Flight controls, Is it really necessary to make it so difficult to fly around a solar system, Do i need to hit j, Wait for a countdown, Find the target, and then accelerate? Or would a smart person make it so i just hit the spacebar for four seconds to enter frame shift mode? Since i can maneuver within that mode.

Scanning and FSS mode. What an over complicated and stupid system. I have to be in frame shift mode to enable FSS mode? What for? If it's far enough away to require frame shift mode, Then i'll turn that on myself. And i don't need it to be mandated to me. Why are there three kinds of scanners, When there are only buttons for two fire groups? Why doesnt the FSS scanner auto identify a signal type and just list it on the screen for me. Do i really need to manually tune the dial for every little thing? That's terrible game design. Also indicative of this game overall. Overly complicated simple functions. Or twelve buttons for every little thing.

Mining, it was easy enough to understand that i needed a mining laser and refiner to go mining. Go through the massively overcomplicated flight controls to get to an asteroid, Hit the lasers, a piece flys off, And i have to chase it like a duck hunting dog, And scoop it into an opening under my ship. Only to get the message resources unallocated, Because it has more than one material, So i have to manually eject the unwanted part of each chunk, Every single time i mine. Could you possibly have made this suck any more than this? How about your ship extends a tube to suck up the chunks, Like someone would do in real life. And anything that your ship cant refine is jettisoned automatically. How about you actually tell new players where to get drones that collect the chunks. Horrible system.

I spent the last two days playing this game, And so far I have had zero amount of fun. Every single thing i try to do is overly complicated, Micromanagement in it's worst form. I can't stress enough how you have ruined anything resembling fun, In favor of "MORE BUTTONS" to push. More nonsensical steps to take to do one simple function. In the real world, We simplify things, We group things together under automatic control, So that the operator doesn't have to micromanage everything. This is not Kerbal space program, Where you build and fly your own ships manually. This is supposed to be a space adventure. But instead It's a space irritation.

Rewards Or the lack thereof. Ten chunks mined 38% of one unit of ore? How about with payout that low, I just tell you what to kiss, And quit this crappy job. Setting the difficulty high, Does not make a game enjoyable. it just shows that you don't care whether people are having a good time or not.

Anyway, I'm just glad that this game was free. So i won't feel bad about deleting it. Adios!!!
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LOL, a classic example of a lazy player with zero willingness to learn. Clearly he put more effort into coming to the forum to complain than taking the time to watch some YT videos and learn the game mechanics.
People are so entitled these days, it's unbelievable.
 

VirtueXOI

VirtueXOI
Sad to see this. I mean for humanity :eek:

1st why mining.
2nd well , elite is somehow half simulation so yes control can be complicated.
3rd not liking a game happend, why being so negativ about it ?

4th Learning and achiving things are great in this game, comeback in some year , with a bit more patience and maybe you'll enjoy it =)
 

Drelthar

Drelthar
There are some possibly not the best design and UI decisions, but really, part of the fun of the game for me, was figuring things out.
Also, at one point, I had spent more time setting up controller systems for the game, than actually playing it, and I massively enjoyed it.
If you don't enjoy that, then, I can see why you'd get frustrated.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
thistle said:
I think of it this way.

I watched a streamer a few weeks ago trying ED for the first time. It was excruciating for him. He hated it. There was no pleasure to be gained flying from this station in system 1 to that station in system 2. Because he wasn't interested in that, ie the flying, he was trying to see where the cool bits were and all he could find was infuriating key binds.

And others will try the game and will fight through the key binds and confusion because, frankly, wwwhhhheeeeeeeeee sspaceships!
Click to expand...

This.

There are some games that you just have to play, maybe because you're a fan of the franchise or genre, maybe because you have an interest in the subject matter or maybe because you're just determined to get the experience that it offers.
When one of these games comes along, you're going to be willing to make the effort to do whatever it takes to get the experience you were hoping for.

And, therein lies the problem.
New arrivals from Epic aren't necessarily people who have any special affinity for the Elite franchise or even spaceship games in general.
They're just pleb's who want a shot at free stuff, and they probably have a whole heap of other stuff which is likely to be more immediately accessible, with a less challenging learning curve.

The saddest part is the thought that FDev might really think ED has "mass market appeal"... because that might mean they'll try and tailor the game to suit that "mass market".
I bet there's even people at FDev who daydream about Odyssey becoming the next "fortnite".
 

Drelthar

Drelthar
Stealthie said:
The saddest part is the thought that FDev might really think ED has "mass market appeal"... because that might mean they'll try and tailor the game to suit that "mass market".
I bet there's even people at FDev who daydream about Odyssey becoming the next "fortnite".
Click to expand...

You... don't think they've already been trying this? from like... release day?
 

BirdWisdom

BirdWisdom
eyerobot61 said:
Start with the options, I want to find the button to enter FSS mode. No it's not in the category with the other FSS buttons, It's been moved to something called mode switch. Of course this wasted two hours of my life, And wound up finding it on google, Since the elite wiki never tells you anything useful. And all this time was wasted in just figuring out one button that i wanted to change or even use. Why can't you put everything pertaining to one function in a single category, And stop making it overly difficult to find?

Flight controls, Is it really necessary to make it so difficult to fly around a solar system, Do i need to hit j, Wait for a countdown, Find the target, and then accelerate? Or would a smart person make it so i just hit the spacebar for four seconds to enter frame shift mode? Since i can maneuver within that mode.

Scanning and FSS mode. What an over complicated and stupid system. I have to be in frame shift mode to enable FSS mode? What for? If it's far enough away to require frame shift mode, Then i'll turn that on myself. And i don't need it to be mandated to me. Why are there three kinds of scanners, When there are only buttons for two fire groups? Why doesnt the FSS scanner auto identify a signal type and just list it on the screen for me. Do i really need to manually tune the dial for every little thing? That's terrible game design. Also indicative of this game overall. Overly complicated simple functions. Or twelve buttons for every little thing.

Mining, it was easy enough to understand that i needed a mining laser and refiner to go mining. Go through the massively overcomplicated flight controls to get to an asteroid, Hit the lasers, a piece flys off, And i have to chase it like a duck hunting dog, And scoop it into an opening under my ship. Only to get the message resources unallocated, Because it has more than one material, So i have to manually eject the unwanted part of each chunk, Every single time i mine. Could you possibly have made this suck any more than this? How about your ship extends a tube to suck up the chunks, Like someone would do in real life. And anything that your ship cant refine is jettisoned automatically. How about you actually tell new players where to get drones that collect the chunks. Horrible system.

I spent the last two days playing this game, And so far I have had zero amount of fun. Every single thing i try to do is overly complicated, Micromanagement in it's worst form. I can't stress enough how you have ruined anything resembling fun, In favor of "MORE BUTTONS" to push. More nonsensical steps to take to do one simple function. In the real world, We simplify things, We group things together under automatic control, So that the operator doesn't have to micromanage everything. This is not Kerbal space program, Where you build and fly your own ships manually. This is supposed to be a space adventure. But instead It's a space irritation.

Rewards Or the lack thereof. Ten chunks mined 38% of one unit of ore? How about with payout that low, I just tell you what to kiss, And quit this crappy job. Setting the difficulty high, Does not make a game enjoyable. it just shows that you don't care whether people are having a good time or not.

Anyway, I'm just glad that this game was free. So i won't feel bad about deleting it. Adios!!!
Click to expand...

If you need some help just search in Forum and ask or start a new thread that you are already familiar with, or you can get some help in Twitch - Discord - youtube - Google - EDTutorials by Exigeous - Down to Earth Astronomy and so on.
 

PRORABBIT67

PRORABBIT67
tenor (9).gif
 

Amanojaku

Amanojaku
Vedmo said:
Elite is a game I very much love, top 3 all time video games for me, and yet there are very few people I'd actually recommend it too. It just isn't for everyone, or even most, and I certainly hope they don't ruin what they have chasing a broader market.
Click to expand...

That is exactly how I feel, but I also think modern gamers have been ruined by live services, games being dumbed down for accessibility's sake, and atrocious mind-numbingly milquetoast marketing campaigns.

When people ask me about ED I usually say, "It's not for you", and mumble under my breath, "because it takes patience and brains".
 

MintyBiscuits

M
I'm hoping Odyssey adds just enough mass market appeal that I can get my friends to play with me.

If the on foot stuff is akin to Destiny, I know I can get my friends to play and that's good enough for me. I can still do everything I did before they added pewpewlegs.
 
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