Well, I have been playing Elite Dangerous Odyssey for a few weeks now, so here is my review.
I will not go into performance issue or the gamma/contrast issues as these are all known about already.
Odyssey
Stations/Outposts/Planetary Ports
I really like ambience of these places, but I feel they need a bit more variation. It is a great start though. My only real gripe is seeing litter on the ground in the space outposts were there is no gravity. It should be floating around unless they are made of the same stuff as the magnetic boots, which is doubtful.
It would also be good to get other areas of the stations accessible via the lift system. Such as black market area, that give out illegal missions and contract, instead of getting them on the main concourse, which seems an odd place to advertise these missions.
Settlements
These are excellent but would like to see NPC mission givers in these places too. I am not sure if they are in as I haven’t seen any. Obviously, more variation would be great too, but there is enough at the moment. If a mission giver dies in the meantime, the mission should be able to be handed in from the mission board.
Missions
I like the variation of the missions and I like the fact that there are several non-violent types mission of too.
But I would like to see more done with these though such as:
I would like to also see chained missions that include space-based objectives such as:
Exploration
I am happy with the new scanning of the bio signals, but there need to be more to it. The overall gameplay loop is pretty good at the moment, love the new DSS with areas to look for instead of pinpoint locations.
My biggest grip is why should I do it. All I get for doing this is a bunch of credits which to be frank, I am not that bothered about, and I think many explorers are in the same boat as me.
What I would like to see as an enhancement is another process called analysis. This can be done on the ship. What this gives you are materials. Having something to craft with these materials would be great, such as bio-engineering engineered module/weapons/ammo/suits/guns with maybe a new type of engineer.
Give the exploration mechanics more of a purpose then just credits and taking nice photos.
Combat Zones
To be honest, I have not done any combat zones yet, but it would be good to get a few more variations on these like having the clear out defenders building by building.
POI’s
I’m really enjoying the scavenger gameplay the POIs and the missions that go with them, but these could be so much more.
Have small building that can be entered or cut into using the arc welder to loot and maybe fight Scavs.
Basically, some more variation and expansion on these would be great, as these are some of my favourite parts of the expansion.
UI
I prefer the look and feel of the new UI, but it need to be streamlined and the information and some of the usability needs to come back. The has been talked to death so will not go into details.
Space based game
Most of this is fine apart from the bugs. The worst one for me being megaship looting, it does not work.
C&P
Crime and punishment is currently a mess, it should all work together on the ground and in space in a seamless way.
Personally I would remove bounty on ships and apply to the commander, if he has done something illegal in space, it should apply on the ground as well. Notoriety should apply to ships. Different amounts of notoriety should dictate where you can dock your ship and transfer it too and the removal of modules. Self-destruct will not remove notoriety from your ship.
Black Markets
Please always make anonymous protocols available in the initial station menu at all times in all law-abiding system. This is where you should have the black-market dealer and the interstellar factors in all law-abiding systems.
Why would a black market be advertised on the main station services? It makes no sense.
The black-market dealer should be where you can buy and sell black market items from a black-market commodities market, not just sell them.
This could allow a brand-new area of gaming for smuggling. Also, the higher the security of the system, the bigger likelihood there will be a black market but with higher buy prices as it is riskier, for lower security systems it would be the opposite, low price as it is not as risky.
Also, the lower the security the less likely a black market would be needed.
This should not be too hard to add as all the mechanics are already used in game, it would just have different commodities depending on what is illegal. This information is already in game.
I would also like to see a Fence contact added in anonymous protocols in law abiding systems where you can sell stolen goods. Stolen goods should be treated differently to smuggled goods. Smuggled goods are not necessarily stolen they are just illegal. Or have a contact in anonymous protocols that can clean your stolen goods and they can be sold on the commodities market or the black market.
Powerplay and the BGS
For the love of God, please do something with powerplay. It is an excellent idea, just very poorly implemented.
Personally, I would completely rework it and make it another full on layer of the BGS. Have aligned factions to powers. Having those faction in power would boost that power. Doing missions for that faction would also help that power. Remove the current deliver and combat mechanics and use the mission mechanics instead as well as faction CZs.
When a power has control of a system have a sweeping change happen, such Archon Delaine controlled system all become anarchies. Zackary Hudson could turn every system he has control over to high security, but with a much higher chance of black markets opening.
For me, this would make powerplay a more compelling thing to be and be apart of.
For the BGS, I would like to see opposing faction implemented. So each faction will have an opposing faction, if you do a mission for a faction, it will have a detrimental effect on the opposing faction. If you just become a mercenary and try to do missions for both, you will end up annoying both and they will both not like you. As the negative rep for the opposing faction will be more then what you get for doing the mission for the faction the mission was for.
This creates consequences for you actions which will help build personal story elements and help create a more compelling game experience where it feels your actions mean something but won’t affect anyone else’s game.
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoy the game, its still one of the best games I have played, but it is not without its issues.
I am really enjoying the Odyssey expansion regardless of its issues.
But it could be so much more, without too much effort either.
I hope this isn’t too long and hope you like some of the ideas too.
I will not go into performance issue or the gamma/contrast issues as these are all known about already.
Odyssey
Stations/Outposts/Planetary Ports
I really like ambience of these places, but I feel they need a bit more variation. It is a great start though. My only real gripe is seeing litter on the ground in the space outposts were there is no gravity. It should be floating around unless they are made of the same stuff as the magnetic boots, which is doubtful.
It would also be good to get other areas of the stations accessible via the lift system. Such as black market area, that give out illegal missions and contract, instead of getting them on the main concourse, which seems an odd place to advertise these missions.
Settlements
These are excellent but would like to see NPC mission givers in these places too. I am not sure if they are in as I haven’t seen any. Obviously, more variation would be great too, but there is enough at the moment. If a mission giver dies in the meantime, the mission should be able to be handed in from the mission board.
Missions
I like the variation of the missions and I like the fact that there are several non-violent types mission of too.
But I would like to see more done with these though such as:
- Courier missions to a specific target npc in a settlement.
- Picking up something from a spy npc within an opposing settlement and bring it back to the NPC at the station.
- Variations of the power up mission, such as delivering a sample to a settlement, such as a bio sample to a containment area, there could be many variations.
I would like to also see chained missions that include space-based objectives such as:
- Deliver letter to an NPC/or terminal via mission update if NPC is dead in a settlement.
- NPC/Terminal says they have received news that they have a missing pilot in space.
- They give co-ordinates of last know position – mission gets updated to investigate last known co-ordinates in space.
- Go to space-based co-ordinates.
- There is some debris with a data beacon.
- Download the data which mission updates us that he has crashed his ship on the surface after being attacked and give us a transponder signal and planet.
- Scan the planet and find the transponder signal.
- Fly down to the crashed ship.
- Escape pod is caught up in debris and needs to be cut out with the arc welder.
- Use SRV to pick up the escape capsule and back to ship.
- Fly back to original station for rewards and delivery.
Exploration
I am happy with the new scanning of the bio signals, but there need to be more to it. The overall gameplay loop is pretty good at the moment, love the new DSS with areas to look for instead of pinpoint locations.
My biggest grip is why should I do it. All I get for doing this is a bunch of credits which to be frank, I am not that bothered about, and I think many explorers are in the same boat as me.
What I would like to see as an enhancement is another process called analysis. This can be done on the ship. What this gives you are materials. Having something to craft with these materials would be great, such as bio-engineering engineered module/weapons/ammo/suits/guns with maybe a new type of engineer.
Give the exploration mechanics more of a purpose then just credits and taking nice photos.
Combat Zones
To be honest, I have not done any combat zones yet, but it would be good to get a few more variations on these like having the clear out defenders building by building.
POI’s
I’m really enjoying the scavenger gameplay the POIs and the missions that go with them, but these could be so much more.
Have small building that can be entered or cut into using the arc welder to loot and maybe fight Scavs.
Basically, some more variation and expansion on these would be great, as these are some of my favourite parts of the expansion.
UI
I prefer the look and feel of the new UI, but it need to be streamlined and the information and some of the usability needs to come back. The has been talked to death so will not go into details.
Space based game
Most of this is fine apart from the bugs. The worst one for me being megaship looting, it does not work.
C&P
Crime and punishment is currently a mess, it should all work together on the ground and in space in a seamless way.
Personally I would remove bounty on ships and apply to the commander, if he has done something illegal in space, it should apply on the ground as well. Notoriety should apply to ships. Different amounts of notoriety should dictate where you can dock your ship and transfer it too and the removal of modules. Self-destruct will not remove notoriety from your ship.
Black Markets
Please always make anonymous protocols available in the initial station menu at all times in all law-abiding system. This is where you should have the black-market dealer and the interstellar factors in all law-abiding systems.
Why would a black market be advertised on the main station services? It makes no sense.
The black-market dealer should be where you can buy and sell black market items from a black-market commodities market, not just sell them.
This could allow a brand-new area of gaming for smuggling. Also, the higher the security of the system, the bigger likelihood there will be a black market but with higher buy prices as it is riskier, for lower security systems it would be the opposite, low price as it is not as risky.
Also, the lower the security the less likely a black market would be needed.
This should not be too hard to add as all the mechanics are already used in game, it would just have different commodities depending on what is illegal. This information is already in game.
I would also like to see a Fence contact added in anonymous protocols in law abiding systems where you can sell stolen goods. Stolen goods should be treated differently to smuggled goods. Smuggled goods are not necessarily stolen they are just illegal. Or have a contact in anonymous protocols that can clean your stolen goods and they can be sold on the commodities market or the black market.
Powerplay and the BGS
For the love of God, please do something with powerplay. It is an excellent idea, just very poorly implemented.
Personally, I would completely rework it and make it another full on layer of the BGS. Have aligned factions to powers. Having those faction in power would boost that power. Doing missions for that faction would also help that power. Remove the current deliver and combat mechanics and use the mission mechanics instead as well as faction CZs.
When a power has control of a system have a sweeping change happen, such Archon Delaine controlled system all become anarchies. Zackary Hudson could turn every system he has control over to high security, but with a much higher chance of black markets opening.
For me, this would make powerplay a more compelling thing to be and be apart of.
For the BGS, I would like to see opposing faction implemented. So each faction will have an opposing faction, if you do a mission for a faction, it will have a detrimental effect on the opposing faction. If you just become a mercenary and try to do missions for both, you will end up annoying both and they will both not like you. As the negative rep for the opposing faction will be more then what you get for doing the mission for the faction the mission was for.
This creates consequences for you actions which will help build personal story elements and help create a more compelling game experience where it feels your actions mean something but won’t affect anyone else’s game.
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoy the game, its still one of the best games I have played, but it is not without its issues.
I am really enjoying the Odyssey expansion regardless of its issues.
But it could be so much more, without too much effort either.
I hope this isn’t too long and hope you like some of the ideas too.
)![[Diplomacy] Carnegie](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/123/123809.jpg?1553527149){kind=avatar}