If you think ED's too difficult...

[ubermick]

Maybe not the wrong message, but maybe a little brash

Elite can be hard, thats the game. i think the point the OP was making is stop whining about it, and get on with it.

But again, you have to bear in mind that the stuff people are whining about (and I keep stressing it's a massive minority) are the same issues that (some) Alpha backers were complaining about when they were going through their releases. It's much easier to say "stop moaning and get on with it" when you've been getting on with it for several weeks/months, as opposed to a couple of days. Alpha backers got frustrated at various issues, are beta testers not allowed to be frustrated? (and remember if you think that only 1-2% of backers complain, there'll be a higher amount of beta backers "whining" based on the fact that there are a lot more of them)

 

[duffbeeeer]

All the people assuming a steep learning curve and unforgiving gameplay will lead to less sales should take a closer look at the Dark Souls series. These games are very successful because they treat the player as an intelligent individual and not like a 13 year old kid. Those kind of games require some self reflection, you are supposed to ask yourself what you did wrong and find a solution. That makes you grow as a player. And thats where the real satisfaction kicks in for me.

Elite: Dangerous is doing a good job in getting on this path.

 

[Darkstar_IE]

But again, you have to bear in mind that the stuff people are whining about (and I keep stressing it's a massive minority) are the same issues that (some) Alpha backers were complaining about when they were going through their releases. It's much easier to say "stop moaning and get on with it" when you've been getting on with it for several weeks/months, as opposed to a couple of days. Alpha backers got frustrated at various issues, are beta testers not allowed to be frustrated? (and remember if you think that only 1-2% of backers complain, there'll be a higher amount of beta backers "whining" based on the fact that there are a lot more of them)

Yeah, Fair point I suppose Mick !

 

[kilvenny]

Three days into Prem Beta and finally landed. Real life intruded somewhat (Father in Law had a heart attack) so I haven't had that much playing time. I feel like I am starting to take some steps up the ladder. Lots of issues around docking caused by key binding issues, glitches and station bugs, plus amateur behaviour.

Even better was when my lad decided it was to his liking so I finally got a convert.

Starting to think its not too difficult and once we get decent default key binding and clear the bugs and put in some training missions around the core elements this game will be fine.

 

[stephen_usher]

The game's not too difficult if you get the basics of "flight" working. Then it's just toddle around the galaxy buying and selling.

Oh, and if someone tries to attack you run like hell, until you've got, (a) the combat skills, (b) the combat capable ship and (c) the insurance money!

Not too difficult, unless you want it to be.

At the moment there are inbalances which make this less able to be done easily, but that's mostly because everything and everyone is bottled up in the five systems. This will change but the advice for a "not too difficult" life will be the same.

 

[metatheurgist]

It is currently too difficult for absolutely new players - assuming new people who never played the original elite are the sort of players FD are after or if its being done to cater to the 30+ crowd who did instead, at the expense of all others.

Dunno about that. The original Elite would have most gamers now on their knees with tears streaming down their face and smashed controllers by their side, just from trying to dock. And yet that game was popular enough that 20years on a KS raised enough money to start the game we are now discussing.

If the game is awesome people will make the attempt to play it. They will see the videos of people succeeding (something the original never had) and they will know that the game can be tamed - it's just going to take more effort than they're used to giving. Maybe we'll lose some players but the remainder will champion the game.

 

[ubermick]

Dunno about that. The original Elite would have most gamers now on their knees with tears streaming down their face and smashed controllers by their side, just from trying to dock. And yet that game was popular enough that 20years on a KS raised enough money to start the game we are now discussing.

Plus, this isn't the final game. This is beta. The final game will probably give people the option to start somewhere near Sol, where there'll be nice safe milk runs for people to build up credits for better ships and gear, and slowly hone their flying skills. To be honest, those of us (and I include myself in this) who are playing this with the mindset of doing just that (earning money to progress, etc.) are doing it wrong - we're supposed to be testing it and trying to break it. So the people who are rapidly kitting themselves out in Eagles and Cobras, and then heading to the various zones to rack up kills against "n00bs" are doing the whole system a disservice.

 

[EdwinStowe]

Right now the Beta is frustrating to a degree, but that's to be expected. And by frustrating, I mean with the random bugs, rubber banding and crashes.


I know it can be disheartening at first, but keep at it. Trust me, once you save up about 6k credits (not hard to do if you go to one of the low intensity sites) and are able to purchase gimbal lasers, you'll notice a difference immediately. Once you have two, its a hell of a lot easier to kill enemies regardless of you trying to target their subsystems or not.

Once I purchased those two upgrades, I quickly racked up 20,000 credits. Whenever I drop below 50% hull I'll burn out of range and travel back to the station for repairs.

 

[picnic]

Wow - being one of those people who is really struggling with this (and yes I did make Elite on my BBC micro 30 years ago) I find some of the comments in this tread quite insulting.

I know full well my skills will never be better than mediocre, I don't have the time and patience, and even if I did I fully recognise I'll never be in the top 50%. That's why, once the full game is out, I'll never come and play with you guys in the multiplayer world, I know my life will be miserable and short. So that gives plenty of room in the single player game for difficulty levels. It's then up to me to decide how much of a challenge I make it.

I've been doing online car racing for 10+years and even with all that practice I'm middle of the field, and that's on a good day. I crash regularly and have to start again, fine but I can get around a lap at my pace. I buy a game to enjoy it not to be told I shouldn't have invested money and put time in to it because I'll never be good enough.

 

[LtCasey]

Dont you dare........


.....to make it easy! There are enough streamlined games out there. I loved the moments, some 30 years ago, when you realized, you took one pirat to much, and going from offensive to defensive, evading, making a Run for the Base.......whiteknuckled grapping the joystick(Quickshot), and the relief, IF you succeeded.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

That's why, once the full game is out, I'll never come and play with you guys in the multiplayer world, I know my life will be miserable and short.

Don't sell yourself short.

The online experience will be better than offline - FD for one will inject "events" to the game world that the offline people won't get. (Probably not at any rate) Plus there is a whole world of people to meet and a lot are fairly friendly.

You can experience the online game with friends in a private group, or fly around the galaxy in the all pilots group with a few people (wingmen) in an armada.

 

[Daffan]

Don't sell yourself short.

The online experience will be better than offline - FD for one will inject "events" to the game world that the offline people won't get. (Probably not at any rate) Plus there is a whole world of people to meet and a lot are fairly friendly.

You can experience the online game with friends in a private group, or fly around the galaxy in the all pilots group with a few people (wingmen) in an armada.

private group is too easy! ALL or nothing!

 

[picnic]

I loved the moments, some 30 years ago, when you realized, you took one pirat to much, and going from offensive to defensive, evading, making a Run for the Base.......whiteknuckled grapping the joystick(Quickshot), and the relief, IF you succeeded.

I too remember those moments, especially when a Thargoid or two were bearing down on you. I died on a regular basis and I don't expect to win every battle. I know I'll lose every online battle as I'll suck at this but I want some chance of completing a trading run if someone picks a fight offline.

After 2 evenings of trying, some 5 hours worth, I have yet to win the Sidewinder Showdown scenario in the Premium Beta, I'm sure it was easier in the Alpha I got to try. That's only the 3rd on the list and I'm assuming they don't get easier.

Some peoples easy is another person's hard. All I'm asking for is some help offline for muppets like me who will never be experts.

 

[Zieman]

I still can't dock in the original Elite. Yes, it's *that* hard.

The original Elite would have most gamers now on their knees with tears streaming down their face and smashed controllers by their side, just from trying to dock.

I agree with these comments with a caveat: docking in original ELITE is trivially easy, once you either:
a) see someone doing it and learn from that, or
b) figure out it yourself, or
c) somehow manage to survive long enough to buy Docking Computers and learn by observing them at work

I fired a Commodore 64 emulator Elite & played it with a digital joystick - felt like the real thing some 20 years ago...

So, Alien - pick a) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Zxogh4jw8

 

[gazzareth]

Dunno about that. The original Elite would have most gamers now on their knees with tears streaming down their face and smashed controllers by their side, just from trying to dock. And yet that game was popular enough that 20years on a KS raised enough money to start the game we are now discussing.

So true, although my controller was the keyboard, it was like a tap dance with your fingers..

G

 

[Jarl]

No problems here

I played Elite and Elite II way back when, and this game is bringing back pleasant nostalgia for both the flight mechanics and the difficulty level. I was expecting to find it hard, and though I was pleasantly surprised to find I still had 'it' when it came to docking, my first multi-ship interdiction by pirates saw me chewing vacuum.

I've not really played many sims over the intervening years since Elite. About 4 mths ago I got into War Thunder and bought myself a X52 Pro rig because I knew I wanted to get into the Premium Beta. It was hell relearning how to use the joystick and throttle, but it's worth it to make my Sidewinder dance between the stars.

Oh, and my last multi-ship interdiction saw two Sidewinders and a Cobra ganging up on my popgun-packing noobship... and I sent them all a-running. Once Elite, always Elite.

 

[trenkaar]

100% agreed with the OP, and the others that agreed too

We don't need (want) another easy game that gets repetitive after just a few hours, where there is no reward for practising and getting better, and the real life skills don't matter, because you just buy them and then you get stupid achievements to show off.

Nobody points a gun in your head to play this game, if you don't like it, just find another game. There are lots of games where you don't need your own skills, you just buy virtual skills and suddenly your character can do amazing things by just pressing a button or two. Honestly, I don't need another game like that.

 

[Fromhell]

I have no hope, at some point they will also dumb down THIS game, just like every other game especially online games/MMOs that need constant revenue get dumbed down for the masses, because the masses (=the casuals] have the money.

enjoy the 1.0 version when it's out

it won't take long until it gets NGE'd


the only company that didn't fold for the whiners was CCP

 

[Arkronis]

I have no hope, at some point they will also dumb down THIS game, just like every other game especially online games/MMOs that need constant revenue get dumbed down for the masses, because the masses (=the casuals] have the money.

enjoy the 1.0 version when it's out

it won't take long until it gets NGE'd


the only company that didn't fold for the whiners was CCP

You're assuming that FD will NGE rather than CCP ED!!? A fair bit of assumption. What makes you feel this to be assured in this case? ?

 

[metatheurgist]

I agree with these comments with a caveat: docking in original ELITE is trivially easy, once you either:
a) see someone doing it and learn from that, or
b) figure out it yourself, or
c) somehow manage to survive long enough to buy Docking Computers and learn by observing them at work

I had no trouble docking either. I got so used to doing it I would speed towards the station with the speed bar just in the red, from any angle and still manage to twist my way into dock. About 1% of the time I crashed and burned. It was fun. Especially when I did that in front of friends and enjoyed their reactions. Can't do that anymore though (in Oolite, too lazy to get to that level of proficiency, docking computers all the way).