Having no expectations that needed to be met upon release and not having even looked at the beta, Elite: Dangerous was a game I jumped into with both feet, bare foot, from 100 feet up. I was just hoping that it was a soft and cushioned landing and not a pit of broken glass.
From the start I was very impressed with Frontier's presentation. The sound design seemed top-notch, the visuals were amazing (albeit a tad repetitive but I'll get to that in a bit), and the overall experience seemed very pleasant. So, it's safe to say the pit of broken glass was avoided... for now.
I've been pouring through these forums for the last few days and I keep seeing very similar posts about having nothing to do, how the game is lifeless, and how they're bored. At the same time the other extreme opposite sentiments are made praising the game for it's massive variety of things to do, endless space to scour, and seemingly infinite paths to travel. So, to try and make sense of this I took a closer look into things I've found in the week I've been playing Elite.
Let's start with some of the negatives. The game does a very poor job of conveying information to the player. Not that I'm expecting stat overload like some other space MMO's I could mention, but basic information like who it is I'm actually doing a mission for, which faction I'll earn reputation with, where I can actually find certain commodities from which systems; Is this information available to the player? Yes. But it is clearly conveyed? I'd have to say no. The information that is available requires a lot of cross-referencing and double-checking to verify that you have the right place, people, or thing.
Another common complaint I see is the overuse of the same few station models and the lack of variety in the ships. I find this to be a rather small issue. Sure, more variety is always nice, but I feel there there's enough at the moment to hold us over until more development is done in the future. If the game were to stay in it's current state indefinitely then yes I would certainly agree with the points made about stagnant visuals. However, as I'm sure development is continuing, it's just a matter of time (hopefully short time).
The combat and general ship controls are very well done I feel, and help give the ships the feeling of mass without each player somehow simulating momentum in their computer chairs (I'm waiting for someone to figure that out).
I'm still testing and I could go on a lot more, but in the case of brevity, I'll stop here for now.
~C
From the start I was very impressed with Frontier's presentation. The sound design seemed top-notch, the visuals were amazing (albeit a tad repetitive but I'll get to that in a bit), and the overall experience seemed very pleasant. So, it's safe to say the pit of broken glass was avoided... for now.
I've been pouring through these forums for the last few days and I keep seeing very similar posts about having nothing to do, how the game is lifeless, and how they're bored. At the same time the other extreme opposite sentiments are made praising the game for it's massive variety of things to do, endless space to scour, and seemingly infinite paths to travel. So, to try and make sense of this I took a closer look into things I've found in the week I've been playing Elite.
Let's start with some of the negatives. The game does a very poor job of conveying information to the player. Not that I'm expecting stat overload like some other space MMO's I could mention, but basic information like who it is I'm actually doing a mission for, which faction I'll earn reputation with, where I can actually find certain commodities from which systems; Is this information available to the player? Yes. But it is clearly conveyed? I'd have to say no. The information that is available requires a lot of cross-referencing and double-checking to verify that you have the right place, people, or thing.
Another common complaint I see is the overuse of the same few station models and the lack of variety in the ships. I find this to be a rather small issue. Sure, more variety is always nice, but I feel there there's enough at the moment to hold us over until more development is done in the future. If the game were to stay in it's current state indefinitely then yes I would certainly agree with the points made about stagnant visuals. However, as I'm sure development is continuing, it's just a matter of time (hopefully short time).
The combat and general ship controls are very well done I feel, and help give the ships the feeling of mass without each player somehow simulating momentum in their computer chairs (I'm waiting for someone to figure that out).
I'm still testing and I could go on a lot more, but in the case of brevity, I'll stop here for now.
~C
Last edited:
