I've recently come to the realisation that my occasional contributions to this forum have a significant negative bias. I'd like to correct that, or at least try to balance it a little.
I've made no secret of the fact that Elite Dangerous isn't what I'd expected Elite IV to be, as I waited over the years for its eventual appearance. I assumed - and, honestly, with little objective justification - that the next Elite game would further emphasise the 'simulation' aspects of Frontier and First Encounters over what I tend to think of as the more 'arcadey' elements.
'Immersion' is a word that's fallen out of favour in this and many other gaming forums, so let me instead refer to 'believability'. While I'm happy to accept the foundational conceits of any sci-fi space game - FTL travel being a key example - there are parts of ED that still lack believability for me. I've grumbled about each of them before, but they include the dogfighting combat style and the flight mechanics (such as the "top speed in space" issue).
And I struggle with little things, too, like the lack of a kill-rotation function in Flight Assist Off. Hard to imagine it, when such technology is a basic part of all 21st-century spacecraft. Or the lack of an HUD flight path indicator. Or the absence of a comprehensive autopilot. All things that have sparked my previous grumblings.
But this is what I wanted to balance. I'm doing the game down when there's really no need. That's been the problem with my previous posts. I've concentrated far more on things that I don't think are ideal, and tended to ignore the things I like - even love - about this game.
From here on I might well sound a bit fangirlish - but the truth is I like Elite Dangerous. I like it a lot. I've spent countless hours playing it, and although I've taken breaks I've always found myself returning to it. And there are certain parts of the game that are "samey" or lacking in depth - no realistic assessment could deny that, and some will say that's a spectacular understatement. But for reasons I'll get to in a moment, I have to say that I'm lucky, and for me the "depth" question isn't the problem I understand it is for some.
On balance, if I don't get caught up in the all-too-easy indulgence of picking at faults and having a good grumble, the positives of the game far outweigh the negatives. If they didn't, I wouldn't keep coming back. There wouldn't be a little part of my mind that's always living in the game world even when I'm not playing. And I certainly wouldn't be sitting here in my real life with an Empire pendant round my neck (the keyring from the store makes a really good one if you pop a suitable chain on it).
This game is absorbing. Perhaps not because of the story it leads you through, because it doesn't really have one. (And not because there'll be Thargoids one day, because honestly - sorry, Frontier - I'm not remotely interested in Thargoids as anything more than mysterious rumour, distorted and patchy history, and background urban legend.)
The game absorbs me because of little things - the aesthetics, for example: the visuals and the sound design in this game are breathtaking - and broader things. An example of the latter: there's something about the knowledge, as I go about my ordinary, real-world day, that there are people out there in that reality who share another world with me: fellow spacers, fighters, defenders, bounty hunters, truckers, explorers, fuel rats, and other such starry-eyed swashbucklers. There's a certain sense of community there, even though I don't generally play directly with others and don't tend to be on comms much. And I like a game that creates that sense, even if, as in this case, the community is a little... fractious. I liked the sense of shared experience in the original Elite and in its earlier sequels: the fact that we weren't all being pushed through the same story, but living our own.
In not-very-short-any-more, I've done a lot of griping about things that aren't perfect for me, but not given due attention to the fact that the game exists, it has a lot of merit and I've enjoyed many hours of playing it.
And I think, in light of all my negativity, it's worth taking a moment to show some appreciation for the game I enjoy, rather than harping on about the one that never was.
So thank you, Frontier, for your hard work putting this thing together and keeping the Elite franchise alive. Thanks to the graphic artists and sound designers who've created the feel of the world. Thanks to the story writers and artists, whether employed by FDev, licensed by them, or doing it just out of enthusiasm for the game world. Thank you to the third-party app developers who work so hard to provide tools to make the ED experience better and deeper.
Enough complaining from me. ED cannot be so things to all people. nothing can. So I'm going to fly my ship and live my space life and enjoy what I've got.
Right. End of fangirling.
I've made no secret of the fact that Elite Dangerous isn't what I'd expected Elite IV to be, as I waited over the years for its eventual appearance. I assumed - and, honestly, with little objective justification - that the next Elite game would further emphasise the 'simulation' aspects of Frontier and First Encounters over what I tend to think of as the more 'arcadey' elements.
'Immersion' is a word that's fallen out of favour in this and many other gaming forums, so let me instead refer to 'believability'. While I'm happy to accept the foundational conceits of any sci-fi space game - FTL travel being a key example - there are parts of ED that still lack believability for me. I've grumbled about each of them before, but they include the dogfighting combat style and the flight mechanics (such as the "top speed in space" issue).
And I struggle with little things, too, like the lack of a kill-rotation function in Flight Assist Off. Hard to imagine it, when such technology is a basic part of all 21st-century spacecraft. Or the lack of an HUD flight path indicator. Or the absence of a comprehensive autopilot. All things that have sparked my previous grumblings.
But this is what I wanted to balance. I'm doing the game down when there's really no need. That's been the problem with my previous posts. I've concentrated far more on things that I don't think are ideal, and tended to ignore the things I like - even love - about this game.
From here on I might well sound a bit fangirlish - but the truth is I like Elite Dangerous. I like it a lot. I've spent countless hours playing it, and although I've taken breaks I've always found myself returning to it. And there are certain parts of the game that are "samey" or lacking in depth - no realistic assessment could deny that, and some will say that's a spectacular understatement. But for reasons I'll get to in a moment, I have to say that I'm lucky, and for me the "depth" question isn't the problem I understand it is for some.
On balance, if I don't get caught up in the all-too-easy indulgence of picking at faults and having a good grumble, the positives of the game far outweigh the negatives. If they didn't, I wouldn't keep coming back. There wouldn't be a little part of my mind that's always living in the game world even when I'm not playing. And I certainly wouldn't be sitting here in my real life with an Empire pendant round my neck (the keyring from the store makes a really good one if you pop a suitable chain on it).
This game is absorbing. Perhaps not because of the story it leads you through, because it doesn't really have one. (And not because there'll be Thargoids one day, because honestly - sorry, Frontier - I'm not remotely interested in Thargoids as anything more than mysterious rumour, distorted and patchy history, and background urban legend.)
The game absorbs me because of little things - the aesthetics, for example: the visuals and the sound design in this game are breathtaking - and broader things. An example of the latter: there's something about the knowledge, as I go about my ordinary, real-world day, that there are people out there in that reality who share another world with me: fellow spacers, fighters, defenders, bounty hunters, truckers, explorers, fuel rats, and other such starry-eyed swashbucklers. There's a certain sense of community there, even though I don't generally play directly with others and don't tend to be on comms much. And I like a game that creates that sense, even if, as in this case, the community is a little... fractious. I liked the sense of shared experience in the original Elite and in its earlier sequels: the fact that we weren't all being pushed through the same story, but living our own.
In not-very-short-any-more, I've done a lot of griping about things that aren't perfect for me, but not given due attention to the fact that the game exists, it has a lot of merit and I've enjoyed many hours of playing it.
And I think, in light of all my negativity, it's worth taking a moment to show some appreciation for the game I enjoy, rather than harping on about the one that never was.
So thank you, Frontier, for your hard work putting this thing together and keeping the Elite franchise alive. Thanks to the graphic artists and sound designers who've created the feel of the world. Thanks to the story writers and artists, whether employed by FDev, licensed by them, or doing it just out of enthusiasm for the game world. Thank you to the third-party app developers who work so hard to provide tools to make the ED experience better and deeper.
Enough complaining from me. ED cannot be so things to all people. nothing can. So I'm going to fly my ship and live my space life and enjoy what I've got.
Right. End of fangirling.