News letter #100 Xbox one.....

[j4mmin42]

We don't get the hand-me-downs from the PC, as proved in GPP, and we're currently on a par with them in terms of game features until Horizons. It'll be interesting to see how the 1.5 release across the Mac/PC/Xbox platforms is handled, and I'm sure we'll know more as the time comes. As a developer, I often have to do the "when it's ready it's ready" thing, so Fdev are probably playing it safe rather than risking a bad rep for slipping deadlines. Damned if you do...

+1. After 1.5 rolls out, we'll have a better idea of just how far behind and/or different the XBone version of 1.5 *and future updates* will be. For better or for worse, the rollout will set a precedent.

Alright, I will post this just to hopefully clear up confusion.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=199470

These are the patch notes for 1.5, notice how several xbox one specific patch notes are in, clearly xbox one is not forgotten, but yes xbox one is not specifically mentioned in newletters and such, but does it really need to be? they are stating their goals as a whole, xbox one will be a bit behind most likely yes, due to the nature of consoles, Microsoft needing to verify patches and such alone is going to slow it down a bit.

But could we please stop this doomsday prediction of them having given up on xbox one? please? because they clearly haven't they just haven't said much, but maybe that's because there isn't much to say yet. Would it be better if they kept stating, "Still working on xbox one" every newletter?

This. With a willingness to read through the dev update, one can gather that the XBone is NOT a forgotten platform. I would agree with both posters that we should all just sit back and take a moment, and let these guys do their job. I know that when I'm working on something and a vendor/customer is complaining out the ***, it just hampers my work. No reason not to think that all of this baseless complaining is also affecting FD and their perception of our community- not just in this thread, but the complaining in general...


And, I dunno about you guys, but I'm excited for so many of the features that come in just the 1.5 update... it's looking to be awesome. I'm surprised there isn't a "1.5 anticipation thread" yet, because it deserves one.

 

[xondk]

My above reply answers your question "but does it really need to be?" just because you joined the forum, do you think every player has or will, if FD really thinks in line with you, they are making some serious miscalculations. Im not trying to argue with you, I am just trying to open your eyes to the seriousness of this, and the fact that every player in elite gets newsletters, and if someone isn't a forum user, they wouldn't feel like the newsletters had anything to do with the xbox version, because its rarely mentioned.

Well, here's the thing, at least to me, newletters such as those Elite Dangerous are in my mind inclusive, meaning unless they state otherwise that product comes out for all platforms, and they have clearly stated elsewhere that xbox one horizon isn't going to be released at pc release time. So maybe I'm just having a hard time reading the newletters as stating anything against xbox one, they simply don't mention it, but neither do they mention pc? people are just assuming its pc only mention because that's the main platform? seems weird to me that it needs to be explicitly mentioned to count? as in the newletter only is pc related?

Could you perhaps indicate towards where such happens if so? since I may be understanding the newletters differently then you.

 

[mavrac]

Well, here's the thing, at least to me, newletters such as those Elite Dangerous are in my mind inclusive, meaning unless they state otherwise that product comes out for all platforms, and they have clearly stated elsewhere that xbox one horizon isn't going to be released at pc release time. So maybe I'm just having a hard time reading the newletters as stating anything against xbox one, they simply don't mention it, but neither do they mention pc? people are just assuming its pc only mention because that's the main platform? seems weird to me that it needs to be explicitly mentioned to count? as in the newletter only is pc related?

Could you perhaps indicate towards where such happens if so? since I may be understanding the newletters differently then you.

I'm really not sure how you'd expect me to do that? Post quote's? If this an answer you'd like answered, id say go through the newsletters since June. Now that you are clear headed, and not excited about the coming info, you might notice a pattern. One that rarely includes the Xbox community. Though in a way you could say it might, because the news letters do include content that eventually will arrive on Xbox. But that is eventually, that lack of any forth coming information is the key issue. The fact that pc/mac are mention in every news letter, and their progress with content arriving on them. Though rarely do we see mention of Xbox, this is the one most likely way the mass majority of the Xbox community would gather their information.

Some have said hang back. Go ahead, dismiss this whole post. Lets see if one day you tire of the lack of communication. The forums do not count, because far less elite customers join here, and read and take part. We are the minority, those of us who joined the forums.

I'm really shocked that any of you are defending this. But then I noticed your join dates, I noticed your forum ranks, and realized some of you defending this are PC elite. So the defense is clearly in place when your home platform isn't the issue. Though I am PC and Xbox, so seeing this from both sides, I am noticing a trend one I should have expected the day they announced elite. FD needs money, how better to make money then put their game on other platforms to fund development of their baby, the PC. Makes sense business wise, but is messed up for those of us Xbox gamers. Fact is, I enjoy playing elite on my Xbox more, and the only reason I've played PC recently was to see 1.5, and Horizons. Yet it was a tease, because ill be back on Xbox, with no knowledge of when we will get it. But hey if many of you're cool with this. So be it. Though lets not see any of you who have dismissed come complaining in the following months or a year....

 

[M0rdresh]

You're taking your opinion or your perception of this as they did meet their goal of having the same product as they promised. That is not the case. Please let me make this clear I'm not trying to argue, just converse. I will say your opinion is your own and i respect that.

And your opinion is your own and I respect that too. Not sure what your point is with this.

I don't agree with your perspective on "I think they managed to uphold the statement you quoted. In fact you fail to convince it is otherwise, lacking some control options or camera stuff does not constitute being watered down." You make this out to be a small thing. This again is your perception of the situation.

And being of the opinion that us XBOX ONE users have received a watered down because of those items is also your perception of the situation. Again, what is your point here? I never said you cannot have an opinion or denied my subjectivity. What I said is, you can have your own subjective reasoning on things the game lacks, and I can understand some elements there, but stating that it's a watered down version because it lacks elements you like is something else entirely and you did not convince me. Are you now going to reply stating that I did not convince you on not being convinced by your argumentation?

So in closing. If someone is to say they will give you the exact product promised, and they remove bits of the promised product with no explanation, that is not following through

Maybe in the textbooks of some mathematics student, but on things like this there is no 'exact'. These are two different platforms and I for one do really appreciate they did not do a straight copy and shipped a mouse and keyboard with the game (figure of speech, humorous intent) and actually focused and prioritized on making the experience fit for the device and it's overall audience, over a drive of having everything in check 1:1. You may very well not agree with that direction, your call to make and I think you did, but again in my opinion what you lamented does not not warrant calling it a watered down version. And yes that is my perception, yes that is my opinion.

I'm really shocked that any of you are defending this. B

Seriously? So basically everyone not agreeing with you is defending? Don't you think your "you either agree or disagree" is bit too absolute? You know leaving room for nuance, looking at how you are responding you seem to be the one that is on the defense if someone does not see it your way.

But then I noticed your join dates, I noticed your forum ranks, and realized some of you defending this are PC elite. So the defense is clearly in place when your home platform isn't the issue

You are clearly dropping the ball on this one. Who are you to judge people's opinions and responses based on forum ranks and join dates? Really, performing psychological profiling in an attempt to support your argument is both desperate and absurd. Leave forum ranks and guess-work on "home platform" of other people you know nothing about out of the equation, my friend.

 

[mavrac]

And your opinion is your own and I respect that too. Not sure what your point is with this.

And being of the opinion that us XBOX ONE users have received a watered down because of those items is also your perception of the situation. Again, what is your point here? I never said you cannot have an opinion or denied my subjectivity. What I said is, you can have your own subjective reasoning on things the game lacks, and I can understand some elements there, but stating that it's a watered down version because it lacks elements you like is something else entirely and you did not convince me. Are you now going to reply stating that I did not convince you on not being convinced by your argumentation?

Maybe in the textbooks of some mathematics student, but on things like this there is no 'exact'. These are two different platforms and I for one do really appreciate they did not do a straight copy and shipped a mouse and keyboard with the game (figure of speech, humorous intent) and actually focused and prioritized on making the experience fit for the device and it's overall audience, over a drive of having everything in check 1:1. You may very well not agree with that direction, your call to make and I think you did, but again in my opinion what you lamented does not not warrant calling it a watered down version. And yes that is my perception, yes that is my opinion.

Seriously? So basically everyone not agreeing with you is defending? Don't you think your "you either agree or disagree" is bit too absolute? You know leaving room for nuance, looking at how you are responding you seem to be the one that is on the defense if someone does not see it your way.

You are clearly dropping the ball on this one. Who are you to judge people's opinions and responses based on forum ranks and join dates? Really, performing psychological profiling in an attempt to support your argument is both desperate and absurd. Leave forum ranks and guess-work on "home platform" of other people you know nothing about out of the equation, my friend.

I will say this. Its great your opinion is different. Thank you for your opinion. Though your approach was lacking. But its ok, at least 99% of the others kept it civil and non personal. Thanks to all the others. Please close this thread mods.

 

[Comrade Error]

inb4 close.

 

[M0rdresh]

Though your approach was lacking. But its ok, at least 99% of the others kept it civil and non personal

My responses are nothing of that sort and are constructive, only in my last quote I lowered myself down to your level, you clearly tried to cast off the opinion of anyone that does not agree with you on the insinuated notion their allegiance is with the other platform and thus they are selfishly defending because they are unaffected. That is downright insulting and frankly absurd that you checked their join dates, their forum rank and then try to dismiss their opinion on the grounds of that. And you call my responses uncivil and personal?

 

[tafkabb]

This is like a free book

 

[Systolic]

Bah, we we were doing so well with this being civil. Things stayed pretty decent for the first couple pages.


I generally agree with OP. I don't expect an exact pc replica (features wise,) nor do I expect the impossible of hard release dates at this point. But a little better communication, a bit more public acknowledgement, and some more transparency would go a long way to soothing the savage beast that is the Xbox crowd. Soon™ gets old fast.

I don't feel purposefully neglected, nor do I feel the game experience suffers, at this time, from any of the above, but with that being said, with no idea on when new things are happening....Fallout 4 is getting a lot of love on my Xbox.

 

[Crypto54]

Without being dismissive, none of your "features" are really console applicable in the general sense, and as far as I know have never been tabled for the Xbox version of ED. The PC has controller options and view adjustments because it can have different controller setups (mouse buttons, wheels, touchpads etc.) whilst the Xbox version is limited to one controller only, and the PC supports massively different display layouts too, e.g. 2/3+ monitors, 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 and so on. We only ever have 720P and 1080P single displays. Adding complexity like this to console games is rare. We discussed controller customisation ad nauseum in GPP, and it appears that in The Whole History Of Console Gaming that only 2 games have ever done it.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't have more feedback on things like ship skins on the Xbox, especially as it's a money maker for Fdev, so saying "we'll have them for mid-December with a gift option" would make sense. Want a red Cobra for Christmas?

But overall, I think Fdev are doing OK with communication. We don't get the hand-me-downs from the PC, as proved in GPP, and we're currently on a par with them in terms of game features until Horizons. It'll be interesting to see how the 1.5 release across the Mac/PC/Xbox platforms is handled, and I'm sure we'll know more as the time comes. As a developer, I often have to do the "when it's ready it's ready" thing, so Fdev are probably playing it safe rather than risking a bad rep for slipping deadlines. Damned if you do...

Giving the Xbox community a choice is better than not giving us anything at all, and I hardly doubt that giving us the option to customise our own controller layout are not applicable due to our shortage of keys.

Why not give us the option to change the flight assist On/Off command? This has been a requested feature since GPP, but rather than fixing it they made it worse by binding it to the same command as Silen Running.

Silent Running makes you Hold Y then Press LB to activate, LB is also the command for reverse thrusting.

Flight Assist On/Off makes you hold Y then Press RB to activate, RB is also the command for forward thrust which is also used in combat on a very regular basis.

Giving us the option to change all off these commands is not something I believe Frontier is not able to do due to "Low manpower" and their current focus on the new updates but rather due to not listening to the community and neglecting the fact that this is a wanted feature.

Same me goes for Combat Logging, why has this not been addressed and why have we not been getting any updates on the promised "fixes regarding combat logging"? Combat logging has been deemed as an exploit and a bannable offense by Braben himself, but we have yet to see any solutions nor status updates by FD.

The community does not wish for you to include us in every News letter or giving us new content before the PC version. What we want is to be notified on what is currently going on behind the scenes regarding the Xbox One version of Elite Dangerous. Just letting us know can come a long way.

The frontier staff posting on the Xbox One forums today, is more than they have done in the past 4-6 months. This is proof that you actually do listen, which is somewhat pleasing.

 

[Frathos]

Not sure I agree with that statement.

Mavrac mentions some perfectly legitimate queries around the Xbox implementation

• Private group mode, all other versions have this, xbox had a menu entry for it in early GPP builds, that was then removed. To my knowledge there has never been a simple statement from FD whether xbox will EVER get this feature, never mind when.
• Controller options - by this I am pretty sure he simply means the ability to customise the xbox controller layout more in line with what PC players can do with the same controller, again simply allowing us to do what is already possible on PC.
• Camera in dock/supercruise - this is merely a binding issue, and would be fixed it they gave us the options to modify the controller layout. In earlier GPP builds the camera binding was such that it could be activated when docked or in SC, then they moved the binding to a button which is deactivated during SC or when docked. Not a new feature, used to be able to do it, now can't, PC players still can.

Additionally to these valid points... the ED HUD is cut off on some HD TV screens (eg my Sharp Aquous 720P) particularly when not moving or decelerating. This makes it difficult to properly see things quickly especially during combat. I get & can appreciate the sense of motion when the HUD moves in/out according to acceleration/deceleration however I don't always have time to select Free Look to be able to swing the view around to see the bits that get cut off. This is a console specific feature that pretty much every other game includes in some way and frequently is one of the first things that they have you check/adjust to ensure the HUD element is aligned properly for your TV screen.