Is SINGLEPLAYER just a afterthought?
- Thread starter Snaphaan
- Start date
If you want to play the game you played years ago... go play it. Or play Oolite. Elite: Dangerous is not a samey sequel. Like every Elite game before it's trying to break new ground.
Elite had an open universe and utter freedom, in an era of arcadey games with 3 lives. Frontier had a whole galaxy and planetary landings. First Encounters had the player weaved into the ongoing plot developments between the major factions. Elite: Dangerous reforms the player's role by making the whole galaxy influenced by player actions and supporting a range of direct and indirect multiplayer activity.
So no, not the same old Elite. There will be similarities, and various options to bring it closer to the old style, but it would be a betrayal of the Elite branding if Frontier just went back and copied the original.
Embrace the new, believe in Braben - multiplayer is here and Frontier will make it magnificent
If you want to play the game you played years ago... go play it. Or play Oolite. Elite: Dangerous is not a samey sequel. Like every Elite game before it's trying to break new ground...
There will be similarities, and various options to bring it closer to the old style, but it would be a betrayal of the Elite branding if Frontier just went back and copied the original.
Embrace the new, believe in Braben - multiplayer is here and Frontier will make it magnificent
Oh, no, no. I don't want a simple rehash of a old game but multiplayer is a whole different beast and something that can quickly take away some of the immersion aspects of a game. A Skyrim MMO would be a different experience from the Skryrim single player game. Yes?
Eve is harsh, cruel and unforgiving. It only attracts a certain personality type - sometimes not even a real "gamer". Hats off to them - I mean it.
Star Citizen (to me) feels like COD in space. No thank you. So till 2015 I will watch that monster from the sideline and see what happens. As far back as I can remember (anyone played Times of Lore?) Chris Roberts has never been someone for depth of gameplay.
I've seen a number of posts from Star Citizen supporters who are mostly (or only) in it for the Squadron 42 experience. Are they far and few between? I dunno. But it is interesting to see what some fans actually want from the game
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who is rich hall?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFal553wR3k
please don't click it if you are very easily offended.
......I've seen a number of posts from Star Citizen supporters who are mostly (or only) in it for the Squadron 42 experience. Are they far and few between? I dunno. But it is interesting to see what some fans actually want from the game
WARNING: BIG POST AHEAD! - only enter if you have the ability to be patient and read!
From what i understand (i'm a backer of SC as well as ED (and LT!)), i'm going to be limited to the Squadron 42 part of SC as the rest in ONLY MP, and i just really hate MMO/MP online type games.
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About SP vs online MP/MMO:
I've tried many of those death match/team FPS games back in the day (Quake/Delta Force etc), and a number of newer online MP games over the last decade or so (Unreal Torment and Halo on console, WoW and Guild Wars on PC). My first online MP game experience was M.U.D way back when. So yeah i've had a number of 'internet' based MP games to test out, and they always fell short of the best SP game experiences for me, every time.
The problem is ALWAYS the other people. Many are fine, some are really good to interact with (they roleplay or whatever), but all it takes in one bad egg and the whole game world falls down around my ears.
One 'gangsta' hiphop text message, one off topic message about some inane celebrity from X-factor on tv the previous night, one comment that is from outside the confines of the game world and lore and my immersion is gone. It then dawns on me all i'm doing is hanging out in a virtual playground with a bunch of 'juveniles' (often with very bad manners and little imagination, often not just kids!) that are mostly only interested in killing stuff for loot or the kicks, which is kind of depressing and game wrecking.
I've always been after so much more in my games than that. Even back in the day when SP games were very primitive, my imagination would help fill in the deeper details of the gameplay to make the experience richer and more involved than simply blowing stuff up.
The game world is a new place outside of our reality to explore and experience, often you can learn interesting things from playing them (not so much these days, as we have gone all AAA graphical-violence over content).
Say like in Elite, you learnt pretty quick that docking a space ship in zero-g was pretty darn hard, which in turn grew ones respect to the Astronauts that do it for real.
Or in Frontier you learnt about semi-newtonian physics and the actual closest part of the galaxy around us (Proxima Centauri being 'only' 4.2 light years away etc).
Or in a game like Civ, you learnt some broad basics about the history of the world, and in a much more interesting fashion than any history lesson most of us can remember!
Or in Pirates! you got a basic geography of the Caribbean and even it's trade winds that effected the route sails ships would mostly have to use.
Or in Sword of the Samurai where you learnt some basic concepts about Japanese feudal Shogun society.
All while having a blast of a time.
These kind of experiences, invested deeply in the game world and scenario were always the most valuable to me growing up as a gamer. These little pearls of actual knowledge AND/OR wisdom. And exclusively (in my experience) this has been the preserve of the (good) SP game. All MP games have been about the conflict between player A and player B, and little else really matters, as ultimately that is what the MP game is about.
Sure it can be exciting, sure it can be adrenaline inducing, but that is all it ever can be at it's best, that inherent conflict between players. For me i've always got more real world excitement (from sports etc) that also comes with physical health/social aspects, a much richer reward for the adrenaline rush imho.
So while i would love Elite: Dangerous to be the game that breaks the mold in terms of the limits of MP/MMO game design, i really can't see that happening as some fundamental basics are hard-wired into what MP/MMO is really about. To put it crudely a ing contest behind the bike sheds.
So for me all the richer, deeper game experiences rest in SP games and the ability of their creators to find the 'art' in their expressions and try to 'teach' the player something good and important they can use to grow as individuals in life, in the real world.
Ha, this became longer than i was expecting, but i think these finer points are often not talked about between gamers, and i just want to be sure people understand crystal clear why i'll be SP only (maybe home network with a few friends i know i can trust to not 'break' the game world immersion for me) in both Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen, and why i now avoid all open online MP and MMO games as my gaming preference.
These thoughts and insights have been developed over the past 30 odd years of my gaming, over many thousands of different games played on many different systems, with a huge variety of gameplay and game styles, and with deep reflection on what i value a 'game' for the most. Your millage may vary, and not saying i'm right and 'your' wrong, but just that this is the value of gaming for me, the reason i've been at it for as long as i have and the reason i'll be at it for the next 30 years (assuming all games don't become 'Micro-transaction', MP only and all about graphics over gameplay and depth!).
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Hm. Y'know, as much as I WILL definitely play in the shared universe on occasion, I too am looking forward to both singleplayer and particularly, small-group multiplayer.
One of the most amazing experiences I've had in gaming was playing Freelancer in a private server with a couple of friends. Sadly, with the static economy and lack of variety, it became repetitive rather quickly, but for a while its was nothing short of amazing. Having some poor fool flying a freighter fool of cargo on a hugely lucrative run through pirate-infested space while the other two of us ran escort in souped-up fighters was amazing. As was flying through an unexplored gate into unknown space with my best friend as wingman. I've been trying to recapture that feeling since, and I think Elite might just fit the bill.
One of the most amazing experiences I've had in gaming was playing Freelancer in a private server with a couple of friends. Sadly, with the static economy and lack of variety, it became repetitive rather quickly, but for a while its was nothing short of amazing. Having some poor fool flying a freighter fool of cargo on a hugely lucrative run through pirate-infested space while the other two of us ran escort in souped-up fighters was amazing. As was flying through an unexplored gate into unknown space with my best friend as wingman. I've been trying to recapture that feeling since, and I think Elite
might just fit the bill.Yup, same problem I have.
I have to admit. I still can't wrap my head around the SP experience (within a MP environment) but anything is better than COD clone in space.
Hm. Y'know, as much as I WILL definitely play in the shared universe on occasion, I too am looking forward to both singleplayer and particularly, small-group multiplayer.
One of the most amazing experiences I've had in gaming was playing Freelancer in a private server with a couple of friends. Sadly, with the static economy and lack of variety, it became repetitive rather quickly, but for a while its was nothing short of amazing. Having some poor fool flying a freighter fool of cargo on a hugely lucrative run through pirate-infested space while the other two of us ran escort in souped-up fighters was amazing. As was flying through an unexplored gate into unknown space with my best friend as wingman. I've been trying to recapture that feeling since, and I think Elite
I plan to be in the full experience... I am however extremely glad that comm systems are ship to ship and you can DENY a request, no open shouty texts and rants and buy my swordz!!!
That all said, like you, the one experience i look forward to most is having my best pal playing with me as my wingman (and me his), undecided, probably depends on experience we get, but I wouldn't be adverse to just having him in my instances so it feels more like a co-op game.
Interesting to read that, Zak. I've had many of the same experiences as you in online games, and I agree entirely how aggravating people can be at times - breaking immersion, being stupid or just plain rude, etc. I've been ganked, griefed, had accounts hacked and gear stolen, put up with foul language and trolls, and all the rest of it.
I started playing computer games on the mainframe at university in the early 70s, and after more than 40 years of playing computer games I cannot conceive of going back to the insular confines of single player games full time. I can't say that I have played "thousands" of games, but certainly over a hundred in that time.
I still play many favorite solo games - Civ 5, Skyrim, Stalker, Fallout 3, CoH, CoD, and Gal Civ, to name a few - but I really miss the online experience when it is not possible. There is a strange frisson of reality about knowing that a lot of the characters walking around in an MMO are not just controlled by an AI, but are the presence of real people. It adds randomness, and, well, life.
It would be a boring old world if we all thought the same way, but for my part I embrace online multi-player games, including all their bad aspects, because in the long run I find the positives outweigh the negatives by a long margin. To me online games are actually about the people as much as the game - they are a social interaction, and giving up MMOs would be for me like giving up the internet itself.
Just my perception.
Yep! But it could be really cool if done right. It needs the right controls on the playerbase, I believe, but it would so magnificent if they manage to make an immersive multiplayer experience. I've had a lot of fun on role-playing MUDs and the like before. When players behave and role-play and work together you get such a better experience than just shooting some NPCs or trying to game the AI.
I'm hoping the game ends up nothing like Eve. In general I hope it isn't all that combat-centric. We all want a bit of pew pew, of course, but Elite has never been about mass interstellar combat.
Philip Coutts
Volunteer Moderator
I think if you play single player on-line you will get a great game and experience. I honestly can't see it being any different to multi player bar the obvious lack of other "real" players.
And if you are going for the Explorere archetype, you won't even notice the lack of players...
I think this is problem with experience from recent MMOs, where NPCs are passive and incapable of independent action. ED will be much different on this regard, just many people don't know it yet - or can't wrap their thoughts around such concept.
That's my plan. Take-off for the frontier and make some finds.
If you want to, yes you can.
