I love some aspects of new Elite Dangerous, but there are some things that I cannot get over which have forced me to uninstall it.
Below, is a list of my positive and complaint-style feedback for Elite: Dangerous.
Good:
- Elite has the best in-cockpit feel I've played in any space Sim, ever. My steam library abounds with space Sim games, and this one delivers! You really feel like you are flying the type of ship that you are in and the parts you choose to fit the ship with does indeed have a noticeable impact. Weapons look an feel awesome, although I still chuckle when I "hear" ships exploding in outer-space.
- A wide gamut of default hardware support. I rarely consider buying a flight game that doesn't support a triple-monitor surround setup and flight sticks, and this game delivers with some good visuals and throttle support and button mapping. Good visuals? Excellent visuals!
- Small learning curve. If I can master the elite anaconda assassination missions using only my Viper within than a month of game play, then certainly your average player can do it.
Bad:
- The slow acceleration/deceleration process (especially when mass locked) is like watching paint dry and is much of the game. Sure, the visuals are great, but when you are trying to get something done it is very frustrating. Overshooting is even more frustrating. The super-cruise idea seems cool but as-implemented is a brutally cumbersome process.
- I forced myself to perform each profession for at least 10 hours of game play to get a good feel for the game:
- If you fly around looking for "unidentified" points to encounter, you will ultimately come up with one of just a few repeating drops:
- Have you tried doing a mission to "Hutton Orbital" near the Sol system? A game developer who dreamed up doing a 30+ minute cargo run in the middle of empty space should be locked in the server room and forced to eat his/her weight in gummy worms. What's more, I can't delete this line item from my list of missions until I go there to collect my 900 credits. How much is your time worth again?
- The only difference I noticed during "open play" vs. solo play was that in open play I was getting interdicted from super-cruise a lot more. I would lose about half of these fights to equal or bigger ships. So now I have to lose more ships and spend even more of my hard-ground credits on insurance. This is supposed to be fun? Where is the incentive to promote lone players to team up?
Other minor complaints:
- I have a keyboard and text panel for a communication system? So, I have to read an electronic notepad while trying to focus on shooting the enemy. Over ten years ago I bought a game called "Nexus: The Jupiter Incident" which used video and audio communication systems which positively added to the game. I don't think it's too much to ask 10 years later to have a game hire a few voice actors.
- I should be able to buy a ship graphic (or upload my own) with in-game credits. This seems like an unfinished part of the game.
- Not all weapons or ship parts are available at all stations. As implemented it feels randomly thrown together without a theme or reason (i.e. there are no "beginner" or "advanced" part stations). If I have to research an online player-built wiki to find a certain weapon or sized cargo hold then it really detracts from game play.
All in all, I feel Elite Dangerous is the best in-cockpit space game I have ever played, however that's where it ends, and I am disappointed with the overall playability, which ultimately feels like a grinder. If more realistically-attainable, middle-priced ships are added I might consider playing again, however as-is the game requires an unrealistic time commitment after you get over the initial wow factor and try to build your in-game capitol.
Below, is a list of my positive and complaint-style feedback for Elite: Dangerous.
Good:
- Elite has the best in-cockpit feel I've played in any space Sim, ever. My steam library abounds with space Sim games, and this one delivers! You really feel like you are flying the type of ship that you are in and the parts you choose to fit the ship with does indeed have a noticeable impact. Weapons look an feel awesome, although I still chuckle when I "hear" ships exploding in outer-space.
- A wide gamut of default hardware support. I rarely consider buying a flight game that doesn't support a triple-monitor surround setup and flight sticks, and this game delivers with some good visuals and throttle support and button mapping. Good visuals? Excellent visuals!
- Small learning curve. If I can master the elite anaconda assassination missions using only my Viper within than a month of game play, then certainly your average player can do it.
Bad:
- The slow acceleration/deceleration process (especially when mass locked) is like watching paint dry and is much of the game. Sure, the visuals are great, but when you are trying to get something done it is very frustrating. Overshooting is even more frustrating. The super-cruise idea seems cool but as-implemented is a brutally cumbersome process.
- I forced myself to perform each profession for at least 10 hours of game play to get a good feel for the game:
- Mining seemed more like 8th grade detention than playing a video game. Mining in dimly-lit areas seemed necessary for higher profit metals, but made me want to put my fist through the screen.
- Trade. There is a vague color-coded map, however no way to tell prices of anything until you fly to that station (or if there is a way I couldn't find it online). It makes for an extremely long process to research good trade routes and felt more like exploration than trading. The best route I found with 100+ cargo hold was hauling consumer tech and gold back and forth between two systems, and ultimately felt like a low profit, redundantly boring endeavor.
- Exploration in a cobra MK3 was okay, however I didn't make a lot of credits for the 40+ or so systems I fully scanned with a detailed surface scanner and the best exploration scanner credits can buy. I felt cheated when it was all over and gladly sold the cobra.
- Bounty hunting seems the most action packed, however the AI doesn't seem to keep up with your skill level or asset value and ultimately plateaus. I played tonight and made only 124k in bounties for an hour of play in a 4 million credit viper. And that doesn't include the ammo and fuel expense.
- Pirating various systems in each "faction" of space. I simply didn't make as many credit doing this as repeating the "anaconda assassination mission" in my viper.
- If you fly around looking for "unidentified" points to encounter, you will ultimately come up with one of just a few repeating drops:
- A technology company asking to "buy tech, no questions asked". As far as I can tell this drop is just cannon fodder for pirate-style game play.
- A solo "clean" NPC which seems like cannon fodder for pirate-style game play.
- A randomly generated set of clean and/or wanted players, who may eventually start fighting. The "wanted" NPC's cruise out sometimes, leaving you feel cheated out of a bounty. Furthermore, while I do get the occasional 50K+ bounty, I seem to get an average of 20K bounties while flying my 4 million credit Viper, which seems like a waste of time.
- A destroyed ship with some "stolen" crates that can only be sold on black market. This is good money while you are just starting out, but with a 4 million credit viper I'm not going to waste my time with a few $2-5k pieces of cargo, especially with the risk of a fine that will cost me more than the stolen crate sells for.
- Have you tried doing a mission to "Hutton Orbital" near the Sol system? A game developer who dreamed up doing a 30+ minute cargo run in the middle of empty space should be locked in the server room and forced to eat his/her weight in gummy worms. What's more, I can't delete this line item from my list of missions until I go there to collect my 900 credits. How much is your time worth again?
- The only difference I noticed during "open play" vs. solo play was that in open play I was getting interdicted from super-cruise a lot more. I would lose about half of these fights to equal or bigger ships. So now I have to lose more ships and spend even more of my hard-ground credits on insurance. This is supposed to be fun? Where is the incentive to promote lone players to team up?
Other minor complaints:
- I have a keyboard and text panel for a communication system? So, I have to read an electronic notepad while trying to focus on shooting the enemy. Over ten years ago I bought a game called "Nexus: The Jupiter Incident" which used video and audio communication systems which positively added to the game. I don't think it's too much to ask 10 years later to have a game hire a few voice actors.
- I should be able to buy a ship graphic (or upload my own) with in-game credits. This seems like an unfinished part of the game.
- Not all weapons or ship parts are available at all stations. As implemented it feels randomly thrown together without a theme or reason (i.e. there are no "beginner" or "advanced" part stations). If I have to research an online player-built wiki to find a certain weapon or sized cargo hold then it really detracts from game play.
All in all, I feel Elite Dangerous is the best in-cockpit space game I have ever played, however that's where it ends, and I am disappointed with the overall playability, which ultimately feels like a grinder. If more realistically-attainable, middle-priced ships are added I might consider playing again, however as-is the game requires an unrealistic time commitment after you get over the initial wow factor and try to build your in-game capitol.
Sad faces
