My expectations on this particular topic weren't high and, as far as I've been able to tell from the time I've managed to play in game, very little of the in-game background lore of the universe has been updated/enhanced.
The Codex has no new text on the main personalities or the "big" topics. I see the Pilot's Handbook now includes a little on the concourse and the new organisations (eg. Apex Instellar) but "lore-wise" it's very light on detail - essentially saying they now "exist" and were there all along.
As is my wont, I visited the Tionisla system in the utterly faint hope that they might have added in the graveyard, unsurprisingly it wasn't there. "Jaques" in Colonia is also conspicuous by his absence, which seems a shame - and a relatively easy "easter egg" to include along the lines of "sleepy Pete."
At least GalNet is being updated with new story, but that is using existing lore assets (megaships, stations, powerplay characters, Aegis, Thargoids etc).
I wonder if the folks who now compose the creative team, after all the years since the game has been out and all the changes in staff during that time, are now simply unaware of much of the backstory to the game. Or perhaps new lore additions were simply another victim of the rush to release.
While there's a lot to enjoy in Odyssey (well, there will be when it stabilises) I can't help thinking that the soul of the game continues to ebb away, along with the ability to maintain ones verisimilitude in the face of in game inconsistencies (eg. I discovered last night that an enhanced backpack costs more than Cobra Mk4). Maybe this is irrelevant... player numbers are player numbers after all and the game is far bigger and more popular than it has ever been, launch issues aside.
I don't know. I look it it now much more as just a "game" where the fun is to see what entertainment you can create alongside other players whilst chuckling at the bizarre stuff the game chucks at you (I do genuinely find it amusing, I have a great time streaming it and generally mucking about... but in a rather childish point-at-the-funny-daft-thing sort of a way - I find I can no longer take the game "seriously") ... whereas, once upon a time Elite was "special", more than "just a game"... a game that, whilst it did have it's hitchhikeresque humour, had a sense of grandeur and significance, somewhere where magic, intrigue and mystery abounded and there could be secrets to discover out there in the void.
Perhaps reality could never match expectation... but I do feel it could have at least been tried... and an investment in cleverly crafted lore woven into the fabric of the game might have gone a long way towards achieving that sense of wonder. Elite Dangerous Odyssey seems not to be taking this approach and, to me at least, feels bland, empty and, dare I say it, a bit silly, as a result. Technically it's all very clever indeed... perhaps not quite the "milestone in gaming history" Mr. Braben thinks it is, at least not yet anyway... but in terms of making you feel like you're in a believable SF/Space Opera universe, it's getting harder and harder to maintain a suspension of disbelief, IMHO.
Anyway. Right on, Commanders.
Cheers,
Drew.
The Codex has no new text on the main personalities or the "big" topics. I see the Pilot's Handbook now includes a little on the concourse and the new organisations (eg. Apex Instellar) but "lore-wise" it's very light on detail - essentially saying they now "exist" and were there all along.
As is my wont, I visited the Tionisla system in the utterly faint hope that they might have added in the graveyard, unsurprisingly it wasn't there. "Jaques" in Colonia is also conspicuous by his absence, which seems a shame - and a relatively easy "easter egg" to include along the lines of "sleepy Pete."
At least GalNet is being updated with new story, but that is using existing lore assets (megaships, stations, powerplay characters, Aegis, Thargoids etc).
I wonder if the folks who now compose the creative team, after all the years since the game has been out and all the changes in staff during that time, are now simply unaware of much of the backstory to the game. Or perhaps new lore additions were simply another victim of the rush to release.
While there's a lot to enjoy in Odyssey (well, there will be when it stabilises) I can't help thinking that the soul of the game continues to ebb away, along with the ability to maintain ones verisimilitude in the face of in game inconsistencies (eg. I discovered last night that an enhanced backpack costs more than Cobra Mk4). Maybe this is irrelevant... player numbers are player numbers after all and the game is far bigger and more popular than it has ever been, launch issues aside.
I don't know. I look it it now much more as just a "game" where the fun is to see what entertainment you can create alongside other players whilst chuckling at the bizarre stuff the game chucks at you (I do genuinely find it amusing, I have a great time streaming it and generally mucking about... but in a rather childish point-at-the-funny-daft-thing sort of a way - I find I can no longer take the game "seriously") ... whereas, once upon a time Elite was "special", more than "just a game"... a game that, whilst it did have it's hitchhikeresque humour, had a sense of grandeur and significance, somewhere where magic, intrigue and mystery abounded and there could be secrets to discover out there in the void.
Perhaps reality could never match expectation... but I do feel it could have at least been tried... and an investment in cleverly crafted lore woven into the fabric of the game might have gone a long way towards achieving that sense of wonder. Elite Dangerous Odyssey seems not to be taking this approach and, to me at least, feels bland, empty and, dare I say it, a bit silly, as a result. Technically it's all very clever indeed... perhaps not quite the "milestone in gaming history" Mr. Braben thinks it is, at least not yet anyway... but in terms of making you feel like you're in a believable SF/Space Opera universe, it's getting harder and harder to maintain a suspension of disbelief, IMHO.
Anyway. Right on, Commanders.
Cheers,
Drew.
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