External View [A definitive discussion]

[Gédéon_Lecanard]

It's an immersion breaker, Vanity Drones you have to buy keep it real. You can see the beautifully 3D crafted ships all the time by flying close and in the hangar. Vanity drones are a superb idea. Not to mention when you can go outside your ship I'm sure you could float to a distance and take a nice photo in first person. No 3D cam ruins too niche opportunities which simply increase the depth. Vanity is a sin.

It does not break mine, anyway. And, like many people here, I played a lot of sims, including hardcore ones that still included so many external view options you would not know them all. If anything, it makes the game a better experience. Besides, external camera view would be an option, not an obligation. So what's the point in standing against it?

And about vanity? Well, you're playing a game that's almost essentially about pimping your shiny spaceship to the core until you can buy an even more bling bling one. If "vanity is a sin", you're going straight to hell with the rest of us Or would you actually care if your ship was a cube primitive?

The real sin, if any, is to prevent us from admiring the ships from every angle. The models are beautiful, the details and animations are stunning. And all of that right now is in vain. See the work many youtubers have done already to display the game. Now imagine the possibilities they'd have with a controlable camera.

edit: compared to DCS, yes, Elite is for kids actually. So there.

 

[agent1138]

Would you consider DCS to be a hardcore flight-sim? It has a plethora of external views and I for one would liike to see something like that in ED. Selling paint jobs for your ships without a means to actually admire them in all their glory does not seem like a sound business plan to me.

Vanity drones, hangar, this game is about immersion, there is a certain feel when you're locked into cockpit view.
Besides the whole point is to force people to play in cockpit view which actually increases the skill ceiling, otherwise it's just makes it too easy. It's meant to force you to know the size of your ship be a better pilot.

 

[akiratasoeur]

I don't want to start anything but here's a video of someone playing Star Citizen and changing the view.
It only makes me sad to see what we've been missing in ED:

Jump to 8:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC0k2fY-NVs#t=495

 

[Armour]

you're playing a game that's almost essentially about pimping your shiny spaceship to the core until you can buy an even more bling bling one

Personally, I don't recognise that game as the same one that I am playing. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Your objectives may vary from mine.

 

[agent1138]

I like this, majority vote no. So the poll must be broken.

In my opinion keeping you fixed in the cockpit with the option of vanity drones is the best. That way it maintains the skill needed for flying, doesn't break the 1st person immersion. It's really just an unnecessary cod era gimmick feature.

 

[Achilles Maelstrom]

Want an external view? wait for the FPS expansion, put your suit on and go and have a look!

Job Done, problem solved - next issue please.

Dito! The only time I will see my ship from the outside is when I'm on E.V.A.! You can't sit inside your car and take pictures of yourself in it. Unless, you have a drone with a camera attached but that's a boring concept to me.

 

[Amaze]

The outfitting screen is all wrong too.

How do we move so fast from top to underside of ship?
This game is about immersion not views, outfitting if breaking immersion.

 

[DAYLEET]

I wish to vote

"Yes: a Simple external ship viewer None Combat"

I must be able to look at my ship in space and admire the scenery, when another ship comes within far distance automatically put me back in, disable all ui while outside AND input movement AND engine. that way it cant be used versus the game and only exist for screenshots and to admire your ship wit hits paint. It should be made positive there is no way to abuse the camera and it should not be hard to do.

 

[Vasea Azure]

This isn't a game for kids, it's a hardcore space sim. If you want external free camera ‎Start Citizen is this way.

Sorry but I have no interest in Star Citizen. Stop pointing people with different views on some subjects to different games. Also - Orbiter - that is hard core space sim.

Back on topic - Looks like no one will convince anyone here. Maybe the best will be just leave this to the ED dev team. We will se how this ends up.

 

[Vasea Azure]

One last thing - the whole point that I'm speaking of the 3 p view here is because I love Elite and I want it to be even more fun and entertaining. I truly do. And in my opinion external views would only add to the whole experience. In my opinion.

 

[Gédéon_Lecanard]

Personally, I don't recognise that game as the same one that I am playing. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Your objectives may vary from mine.

Probably. Then, I take it that the game you're playing could take place in any other setting?
You're right, it's quite a question of objectives. Right now, as much as I love ED, there are not many of them, and among those available, flying a spaceship in, well, space, is on the top of my fav list.

 

[Deyn]

Go play X plane then if its what you want, no one is forced to play ED.

What you SHOULD be doing is finding a game that matches your criteria for enjoyment not playing one you like bits of and then demanding the devs give up their vision and use yours to "fix" the bits you don't like.

Nice attitude! Really... If somebody says something you don't like or have a different oppinion, just pop out the "Nope!" or "Go away!" signs... the ridiculous part is where it doesn't even affect you. So you just troll and act like an angry child, taht no one's listening too. Try learning basics of a fruitful discussion. Understanding other peoples arguments, is pretty helpful.

Now, move along... nothing to see here! Let grown up discuss this!

 

[Vasea Azure]

"Go play X plane then if its what you want,"
I tried - I cant find galaxy map and my Cobra in Xplane so I have to go back to ED

I think you guys misinterpreted my concerns here - lack of 3 person view is not a game breaking ting, or a big problem either to be honest.
I will still enjoy heck out of Elite with inside view only. It just seems logical to have the option as I said many times before...

 

[Gédéon_Lecanard]

It's really just an unnecessary cod era gimmick feature.

I beg to differ. This feature is pretty much mandatory for sims (being realistic or fantasy) since the video games age of stone, while in fact third person view in first person shooters games is very recent, being mostly used in multiplayer as an observation tool.

You may think that's unnecessary, others may not. In the end, as Modin said FD will indeed have the last word on this, but having a (constructive) debate over it might help them decide.

I thought that Amaze had a nice point: if your immersion is broken by 3rd person view, what do you think of the outfitting screens?

Again, I'm all for a full external view in solo and none in MP. It's a bit crude, but it seems like a good compromise.

 

[Fractux]

Given the amount of interest in this from all of us, I'm sure at some point we'll have some way of doing this.

I can't say anything new on the subject, but it's only to their benefit to allow us some way to more easily make videos in game, given the type of game this is.

The storytelling / machinima publicity would be great as well. The content it generates is "free", outside of the cost & man hours of implementing the tools allowing us to make videos more easily than we can at present.

To experience the universe, that's what really drives me at the core, and probably quite a few others. Experiencing the wonder (and tediousness ) of flying around the universe, and the stories and adventures I either dream up or get to experience in game. Ok... Ok... and because I like blowing stuff up too.

But to more easily capture that and share it with people would be great.

 

[Armour]

Probably. Then, I take it that the game you're playing could take place in any other setting?
You're right, it's quite a question of objectives. Right now, as much as I love ED, there are not many of them, and among those available, flying a spaceship in, well, space, is on the top of my fav list.

There's not many objectives right now, but you only have to wait like 9 days before the game starts in earnest, and as of right now I like the idea of trying to rise through faction ranks, exploring space in my spaceship, discovering oddities and rarities at USSs, working out the sweetest trade circuits, tweaking my loadouts for specific tasks (or to get the best general-purpose craft possible), becoming a tough customer for anyone who wants to take me on - there's a lot to do, even without worrying about the fallout from the Duval succession battle, and none of it involves me strutting about space like a dandy, bemoaning the lack of space selfies. That's the game I wanted, and it has to be set in space as I don't think you get contact binaries and fuel scooping in Victorian London, Fantasy Norway, or any other genre setting you care to mention. Like I said, your objectives may be different.

I personally think the MMO you are really looking for, the one that will fully satisfy those narcissistic desires, has been out for quite a while, It's called Facebook. Maybe you could ask Frontier to develop something similar with an Elite skin on it and call it Spacebook!

 

[Gédéon_Lecanard]

I personally think the MMO you are really looking for, the one that will fully satisfy those narcissistic desires, has been out for quite a while, It's called Facebook. Maybe you could ask Frontier to develop something similar with an Elite skin on it and call it Spacebook!

That last part was uncalled for. Let's stay off the personal attacks shall we? You don't know me at all, and we're not debating anything else than the game here. For the record, I don't even have a facebook/twitter/whatever account.

Now, again, we all have our reasons to play the game, and our opinions on the reasons we love it. Obviously, if being stuck in the ship seat the whole time except for the ouftitting menu was a problem to me, I would not play it anymore. I'm only saying that the feature would enhance the experience for me. And since you would not be forced to use it if it's there, why would you stand against that?

 

[MrVibrating]

Dito! The only time I will see my ship from the outside is when I'm on E.V.A.! You can't sit inside your car and take pictures of yourself in it. Unless, you have a drone with a camera attached but that's a boring concept to me.

But by the same token, your car's speed and handling are defined by engineering and physical limits, not networking speed or someone else's idea of what's most conducive to a destruction derby. In reality you can obey the highway code, or just make up your own.

In GTA V however you have full freedom of choice, including switching views. The whole point of a "game" is that it's not real - it's freedom from such constraints. So adding 'realism' to a game while denying players the ability to appreciate that attention to detail is a foot-shot, cutting off your nose to spite your face.

 

[Armour]

That last part was uncalled for. Let's stay off the personal attacks shall we? You don't know me at all, and we're not debating anything else than the game here. For the record, I don't even have a facebook/twitter/whatever account.

Yet another poster who can't take it when they someone pokes a bit of fun at them. Look, the reason you offered for the game's existence was a narcissistic one, surely you see that?

Tooling about space in a pimped-out ship is such a tired old gaming cliche, a virtual version of those guys who rush out and buy a big red sports car the day they see their first grey hair in the mirror. Don't expect to carry on like that without getting fun poked at you a bit. "It's not 1994 any more!"

Now, again, we all have our reasons to play the game, and our opinions on the reasons we love it. Obviously, if being stuck in the ship seat the whole time except for the ouftitting menu was a problem to me, I would not play it anymore. I'm only saying that the feature would enhance the experience for me. And since you would not be forced to use it if it's there, why would you stand against that?

I'm not against it in the context of drones, where it makes sense within the reality of the game. I am not a fan of magic astral projection cam. Given that the devs have come down on my side of the argument, I'm quite happy with things as is. I still fail to see a good argument against the status quo on this subject, even without referencing any balancing issues that might arise.

 

[the darkwalker]

got an idea! inspection camera for a repair drone!
you have to take a look where the hull is damaged, would'nt it be a super-cool minigame instead of press a button and bingo?