After I started playing Magic The Gathering quite a long while ago, it kind of ruined most/all other collectible card games for me. Whenever I tried something else, I couldn't help but compare it to MTG and think how this or that was so much better there, how there aren't these silly limits nor restrictions etc.
Now that I have got hooked to Elite Dangerous, I get a very similar feeling when trying other space games that have very similar gameplay and controls (such as some Star Wars games, and other similar games). I just find them utterly boring and/or frustrating. In a typical such game there's no free exploration, and instead there are only particular missions (almost always restricted to spacecraft combat) that happen in ridiculously small levels, where there's no exploration and where you are constantly being bombarded by waves of enemies, not giving you any breathing time, and there's usually nothing more to do than to try to destroy the enemies before you get destroyed. And when you succeed in doing that, the level is over and you are just either returned to the level selection hub or the story automatically goes forward.
I have so far tried three such games, and I found all of them so utterly boring that I couldn't play them past the first 4 or 5 levels.
Sure, they aren't even supposed to be "space simulators" like ED is, but action games. Nevertheless, ED has still kind of "ruined" them for me. I just like the "play at my own pace, do whatever I want, go wherever I want" style of play that ED offers me, a lot more than the "start level, be constantly bombarded by wave after wave of a billion enemies, if you survive level is over" style. Somehow ED has got it quite right the style of "the player doesn't need to be constantly given forced challenges lest the game will be boring" and "let the player do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, don't railroad the player into a particular path nor force the player to do particular things, nor constantly throw everything and the kitchen sink at the player". Before ED I seriously would have never thought that I would rather travel for over an hour to a space station, while absolutely nothing is happening, than have hundreds of enemies constantly thrown at me giving me no time to even take a breath.
Now that I have got hooked to Elite Dangerous, I get a very similar feeling when trying other space games that have very similar gameplay and controls (such as some Star Wars games, and other similar games). I just find them utterly boring and/or frustrating. In a typical such game there's no free exploration, and instead there are only particular missions (almost always restricted to spacecraft combat) that happen in ridiculously small levels, where there's no exploration and where you are constantly being bombarded by waves of enemies, not giving you any breathing time, and there's usually nothing more to do than to try to destroy the enemies before you get destroyed. And when you succeed in doing that, the level is over and you are just either returned to the level selection hub or the story automatically goes forward.
I have so far tried three such games, and I found all of them so utterly boring that I couldn't play them past the first 4 or 5 levels.
Sure, they aren't even supposed to be "space simulators" like ED is, but action games. Nevertheless, ED has still kind of "ruined" them for me. I just like the "play at my own pace, do whatever I want, go wherever I want" style of play that ED offers me, a lot more than the "start level, be constantly bombarded by wave after wave of a billion enemies, if you survive level is over" style. Somehow ED has got it quite right the style of "the player doesn't need to be constantly given forced challenges lest the game will be boring" and "let the player do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, don't railroad the player into a particular path nor force the player to do particular things, nor constantly throw everything and the kitchen sink at the player". Before ED I seriously would have never thought that I would rather travel for over an hour to a space station, while absolutely nothing is happening, than have hundreds of enemies constantly thrown at me giving me no time to even take a breath.
![[VR] Mad Mike](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
