How complete is the game? Will it ever be more than a shell?

[Soulstain]

Honestly EVERYONE needs to give ED a break look what they did with just over a million $ and gave you a decent game with lots more to come, what more could you ask for? or did you want this to be like the Star Citizen scam which has over 60 Mill $ now and nly produced tiny parts of the game and are soaking every penny out of it befor release "IF RELEASE EVEN HAPPENS" ED game you an awsome game "which is not perfect of course"-no game is and idk even know what else to say aside from that i made a post about people getting tired of other ppl complaining and this post from the OP fits in.

No actually they don't. People have every right to give them a hard time for making a decision to release a game before it was done. I enjoy the game, but I treat it like I'm still playing a Beta, which is what it truly feels like with a bunch of placeholder mechanics. The negativity became pitched on these forums as soon as the release date was announced! Why? Because people were ok playing the game and dealing with placeholder mechanics when they knew it was just beta and believed the real mechanics were on the way.

These complaints aren't about whether a game is "perfect", it's about a company putting their stamp of approval on something and handing it to the masses, saying "it's ready"! It clearly is not! No amount of apologists coming on here jumping on every post that criticizes the game making excuses such as ; "but I'm having fun, don't worry it's still being worked on etc etc is not going to change anything. It was not release ready. The fanboys just wanted the wipes to stop!

Yes there are pretty graphics and a working flight model. Combat is rather fun and you can fly all around the galaxy. Ok, but where is the multiplayer mechanics? (Should have been done and tested before release)
Why is the mining mechanic (as admitted by the devs) not where they want it to be? ( it should have been for release)
Where is the living breathing galaxy? Does anyone know if it's working? Was it tested for release? (It should have been)
Why are missions on the mission board so generic ? Go kill 4 bandits. Ok then what? Go kill 4 bandits. Ok, then what? Go kill 4 bandits. No story, no immersion, no feeling of anyone actually giving you a mission, nothing.

The expansions are all that should be worked on now after "release" along with some bug fixing. Instead, the next few months or more are going to be spent still Finishing an incomplete bunch of core game mechanics. This was a business decision which they have a right to make. We have a right to complain they released an unfinished game. Please stop making hollow excuses for companies who do this.

 

[jabokai]

It's also a breach of the forum rules

The thread was closed because of the people tossing insults back and forth, not because of the content of the OP. If this thread can stay away from the insults then there's no issue as far as I can see. It's been said many times that criticism (without insults) is welcomed... personally not sure of the truth of that, but it has been said.

 

[Dejay]

There are definitely a whole bunch of simple and not so simple stuff that would improve the base game but I certainly wouldn't describe it as a shell. NPC voice actors, would be great. As would a campaign mode/missions.

I always argue against NPC voice actors because they can't be procedurally generated. And that limited what "interactive narratives" you can create. Not that we have any, or I've ever played any game that really had one, but I'm a believer

Someone writing some text blocks that can be combined in different combinations is not just easier and cheaper, it gives flexibility.

Like I said my ideal would be a generated "story arc" or "campaign" that is unique to you. A long string of generated missions that finally lead you to safe your sisters drunken husband from the clutches of the musical pirate gang of Alohaloa. And then on to the next adventure. It might not be as glamorous as voice over like in star citizen, but it would be yours. If you choose to not rescue your stupid worthless brother in law and instead except that golden cobra instead, it's your decision.

(Imagine a slowly released campaign, where we the players dictate its direction by our actions) The federation and empire engage in all out war, thargians (or what they are called) are discovered, war for survival commences. The game five years from now could be a completely different beast. Humans enslaved, peaceful co existence, human sole living creatures in the universe...etc etc

Actually that is how they planned it. But currently the "foreground simulation" isn't strong and fleshed out enough to actually mirror that. There is a blockade for onionhead, but you can just fly past it without getting disturbed. So without improving on the foreground simulation it won't be really engaging I think.

 

[MJallday]

I tgink "complete" is subjective. To me, the game is complete. I can shoot things, i can trade, i can explore. The extent of each is only limited by my imagination.
As for bugs then i cant say, as post gamma 1.1 i havent seen any.
As for additional features, those are add ons and features. So my answer is its 100% complete.
But i can understand why people think it isnt.

 

[Kicks]

World of Warcraft? Ultima Online? The Secret World? Most online games obviously have less content than three years later, but this game doesn't even seem to have half of its key features.

Love it when people quote WoW as the epitome of online game releases.

Evidently you were not there.

Is it amazing? Very, much so (if that's your thing).

At launch, it was not.


Try again

 

[Herik]

I just stumbled across an interesting post here. Unfortunately a moderator closed the thread. Some trolls / fanboys deliberately derailed the discussion in order to get a critical thread closed. Anyway, I just wanted to productively reply to the content of that topic. See my reply below the quote:

[h=2]Rose tinted glasses[/h]

I enjoy the game also, but only because I have not yet reached enough credits. The game is indeed too "shallow" to be played longer.

WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT IS NOT BIG HYPE FEATURES BUT THE SMALL GAMEPLAY DETAILS.

The DDF talks of many things, but what is needed is a kind of "updated roadmap" and a talk about the small detailed gameplay elements. Multi stage missions, NPC interaction, Bounty hunting (not just fishing), crewmembers, a kind of interactive procedural narrative. I'd love to get more info on that. Many reviewers have mentioned this also that the game is more like a "shell".

What is the plan for the future?

Well; according to FD this (shell) will get thicker and thicker, with more and more content...

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

In the early days neither did they. I remember WOW on its release being so bugged that people were crashing out after just 5 minutes in game. No game is fully developed upon its release and if anybody thinks they are then they are fools. Oh and Why people pay to play a game that isn't finished goes to show how foolish they are with their money

If ED was a full game upon release then they wouldn't be making money from it in 3 years time.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -



or as in ED 20 years

20 years; Now that is a lot of enjoyment!

 

[PrometheusDarko]

All these threads with armchair developers boil down to 1 fact.

The brain is faster than reality and they run off into their heads with fantastic ideas that take more work than they can imagine. A single suggestion that is a few words in length might take a year in a development cycle (or more)

And that's the issue with video game communities. So many people with so little knowledge about the actual machinations behind building and developing a video game that think that an idea is simple simply because they thought of it while having their morning poo. I tried mentioning this in a recent thread, but alas, it didn't get much attention. Coding be hard, time consuming stuff, yo.

One of the problems is the bulletin board for missions. This really need some tweaking. Maybe add that you can receive missions on the comms.
This could be done by using voice like VA use voice, so you get a feeling of being in a living universe.

I feel that this would be entirely too annoying. Nobody wants to hear the same exact lines spoken over and over for the same miss- *puts finger to ear* What's that? They have games like that? Borderlands? Destiny? And they're popular?

All joking aside, I've received missions via the in game text comms at USSs, but overall, I'm happy with where missions have started. I'm giving them time to flesh missions before I pick up a pitchfork.

There is a lot going for Elite. Lot more than many "complete" games.
Gave Alien Isolation and the Evil Within a shot lately. Usual stuff, by the numbers, came back to Elite.
Every multiplayer FPS shooter is just some 15 maps played over and over.

This. I had a friend over, showed him Elite and he said, "Oh, that looks cool but it has to get boring, doesn't it? I mean, it's the same stuff over and over again... By the way, have you seen how awesome Destiny is?!"

Really?

Games like this are never complete. The important thing was that it wasn't released broken like X-Afterbirth. That puts it a cut above many other games right from the word go.

Head of nail, meet hammer.

Love it when people quote WoW as the epitome of online game releases.

Evidently you were not there.

Is it amazing? Very, much so (if that's your thing).

At launch, it was not.


Try again

Heh, nobody wants to remember Vanilla except through the rosiest of rose colored glasses. Vanilla is NEVER the epitome of the game. Ever. Period. Next?

 

[edgepixel]

While I agree with the points raised, it's quite strange to look at a game as ED, and say it's 30% or 60% complete.
While I agree it needs more work, it's strange to call "incomplete" a game that you can't actually put down, and play until the wee hours.

 

[Jason S]

I mean FD could have waited two years to deliver a fuller game but they may have run out of money by then and we would have ended with a turned off game due to no offline and no release and no servers.

I think what we do have is rather well done and look forward to future expansions

 

[damnangryuser]

I agree about the "not going down the hamster wheel of content" of WoW route. WoW basically increased the level, invalidated all your equipment and added more of the exact same stuff just in different clothes. WoW is an item hunt. So personally I am not looking for "more ships" etc.

Complex missions, interactive narrative, NPC relations, a more convincing "foreground simulation". That is the sort of things I'd like to see added because it adds NEW GAMEPLAY instead of NEW CONTENT.

Stuff like walking around is great, but I fear if the current mission pool is what we can expect then it's not worth it. It'll be "oh nice I can walk around in my ship. What's next?". They should first make use of the content they have now, adding depth to it, before adding more complicated and expensive systems that might not have gameplay depth either.

Of course, I'd ideally want both haha.

I agree with this one!

pretty much I do, I mean yeay walking around my ship while hurting my pc with 4k downsampling is nice, but only once^^
more inerested into stuff like entering atmosphere of planets, maybe with missions in dangerous/toxic/whatever atmosphere and such stuff would be very awesome!
cuz they provide new thoughts how to start ur ship and makes time a matter much more than the usual missioncountdown^^

so thats one idea wich i personaly would love to see, entering planetary atmospheres without loadingscreens would be the first time for me xD but there are so many more ideas here at the forums wich would add so many many greater stuff than just walking around (eve players know how useles "walking in station" can end up)
to me this game is eyecandy enough (expect explo/die animation wich sacks heavy -.-) dont need to hustle an for the eyes only feature and better spent the (spare-chistmas-new-year-) resources not on this only!

back to topic: Im not friend of kickstarter stuff so I just poped in at release (wich Im pretty happy bout they kinda "rushed" for the anniversary xD), but to me it seems like we dont even have the half yet ;D sit back get a tee and see what comes, be sure there will be suprising and motivating stuff, no matter what they start with, there where so many plans wich where comunicated by braben no matter wich they manage first, there will be many amazing stuff coming when time goes by =)