Heyo everyone. Hope you’re doing well. I know Odyssey criticism has been done to death at this point and most of what needs to be said has already been said, but I still think that there’s a lot that hasn’t been fully addressed on the forums and I’ve wanted to talk about my opinions on Odyssey for a while.
I want to look at Odyssey in a balanced way from a game design perspective. I want to be as fair as possible, not just because I think that’s the right thing to do but also because I do genuinely see a lot of potential in Odyssey, I just think it’s being steered in the wrong direction. My opinion of Odyssey has been largely one of disappointment more than anger, because I genuinely love this game and I feel that Odyssey flies in the face of everything that made me love it in the first place. I absolutely don’t think it’s unsalvageable, and I really hope that both fans of Elite Dangerous and Frontier themselves understand that, however I want to explore why exactly I think that Odyssey has been such a misfire, what potential could come of it, and hopefully say something that hasn’t already been said.
Graphics, optimisation, bugs and UI design have already been talked about so much I don’t think there are any more points to say on them. The thing about those issues, though, is that they’re things that with time were always going to be fixed. I’m not saying that it was right that they weren’t corrected before launch, what I mean instead to say is that eventually these problems will go away.
I instead want to focus, as previously mentioned, on game design in Odyssey. A lot of prominent Elite Dangerous creators have rightly pointed out that Odyssey doesn’t seem to pay homage in any capacity to the lore and world that David Braben (and more recently the ED team) have spent so many years writing and crafting. Jaques’ absence in Colonia seems to be one of the largest let-downs, and many people seem to be blaming this on a lack of attention to detail and developer priorities missing the mark on what fans want. While I absolutely agree, at least to some extent, I view it as a symptom of what is perhaps (in my opinion) the largest problem that Odyssey has gameplay-wise: an unwillingness to take advantage of what already exists and works in the game. I can think of no better microcosm of this than the abandonment of perhaps my favourite element in Elite Dangerous: the Background Simulation.
The Background Simulation is, in my opinion, the greatest technical achievement in Elite Dangerous besides the Galaxy Map. Elite Dangerous has always been a bastion of impressive and groundbreaking software and technology, however there is something extremely special about the BGS. It is simultaneously a functioning player-driven internal economy and commodity market, a power struggle wargame influenced by player allegiances and actions, a political and social stability simulator on a galaxy-wide scale; these are just to name a few of its in-game functions, it’s impossible to sum it up in only a few sentences. To have a dynamic system with the level of detail and fidelity of this that actually works is nothing short of genius. There are without a doubt problems with it, but largely it functions as intended and that alone is an achievement worth recognising. So, gameplay-wise, what does this give us, the players? In my opinion, some of the most interesting gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Travelling to a system that’s experiencing an outbreak, a famine, or a war, to give a small example, and actually seeing the effects that that has, potentially even knowing how the system got into that mess in the first place and how you, the player, could fix or exacerbate the issue, is really fascinating and compelling. Pairing that with the GalMap with its level of scientific accuracy in simulating both the position of stars and the planets/moons that form around them, and how that interplays with the BGS, affecting economies and population numbers, is genuinely like no other game I’ve played.
It’s for this exact reason that it completely boggles my mind that Odyssey, for the most part, pretty much ignored the BGS in favour of effectively building a different game. Now don’t get me wrong, there are elements of Odyssey that take full advantage of the BGS and pre-existing components in Elite Dangerous, and in my opinion these are without a doubt the strongest gameplay elements that Odyssey has to offer. The Prison Ships, for example, are a perfect example of Odyssey building on elements in the game that already work: if you’re caught breaking the law on foot, you’re sent to a prison cell on-board a Prison Ship, the same place that your ship gets sent when you break the law while in the cockpit. It’s a natural progression that not only fulfils a gameplay requirement but also deepens and richens the universe of Elite. I also very much appreciate the different Odyssey settlement types and the way that they fit into both the Galaxy and Background Simulation. I remember travelling to a small mining settlement on an ice planet and listening to a worker comment on my choice to come here, complaining of the cold weather and how miserable the environment is. To my eye, this is exactly what Odyssey can and should be: a way to take all of the wonderful lore, mechanics and systems at play that already exist and distil them down to the human level, allowing the player a completely new and different perspective on the galaxy they’ve already been exploring for years.
I mentioned earlier that I see potential in Odyssey, as if my authority means anything, and I wanted to give some examples of what it could bring to Elite Dangerous if handled correctly. I mentioned earlier the brilliance of being able to visit a system undergoing a particular event or political state and seeing the effects of that, and I think that Odyssey offers a new way to explore this. Take, for example, the system state ‘Outbreak’, in which the system is undergoing an epidemic that is affecting its ability to function. Visiting a station in an ‘Outbreak’ state on foot is currently visually and functionally identical to visiting a station undergoing an economic Boom. I’m not suggesting that some new amazing gameplay loop be added, and I often get frustrated with people suggesting what they think Elite Dangerous needs when they clearly don’t understand how difficult game development is; what I instead suggest is a subtle, discreet difference that gives the player an immersive suggestion of where they are. In the case of a station undergoing an Outbreak, perhaps the NPCs could be wearing high-tech respirators. No difference in interaction or gameplay, just a pure cosmetic difference that makes the player feel that this station is different to the last one that they visited. The same applies to systems of government: perhaps when exploring the concourse of a Dictatorship system, NPC guards are stationed around holding weapons. Again, this wouldn’t change the gameplay at all, and functionally it’s pretty much just an aesthetic choice, but small details like this build up.
This ‘build up’ is fundamental to creating an immersive galaxy. Of course it’s impossible to make a procedurally generated galaxy of billions of stars have a unique experience in every corner. What I’ve noticed from my own gameplay, however, is that it doesn’t need to; you just need to let the player do the work for you. Say, for example, I need to offload some Alexandrite I’ve just mined; I’m wanted in Imperial space, so any Imperial system is a no-go, and I’d rather not be blown out of the sky by a pirate so I’d quite like to find a system with high security. I also know that the Alexandrite will sell for more in systems experiencing an economic boom. So now, I know that I’m looking for a Federal or Independent system with high security that’s experiencing a Boom. I search the galaxy map, and all of a sudden, bingo.
The system I’ve just found wasn’t made to be special for me, but my search for something like it makes me feel that it’s special. It doesn’t need to be unique, because I found it, and that’s all it needs to feel important.
This same exact principle applies to Odyssey, albeit in a slightly different way. While I don’t care much for the combat in Odyssey, having to seek out a system in war in order to access it feels (dare I say it) somewhat immersive. Going back to our Outbreak example, there are going to be plenty of systems in the bubble experiencing that state. Combining that with other factors, however, the system will begin to feel unique. A Dictatorship system in Outbreak will feel completely different to a Corporate system in Outbreak. By taking a limited number of conditions, assigning them visual or gameplay purposes, and then stacking them, you’ve effectively built a story generator. Suddenly you’re remembering the station you were just in, how it felt different to the one you’re standing in now, and instead of feeling like a grind, you get a sense that you’ve actually travelled from A to B. Couple this with hand-crafted story/lore elements (like our good friend Jaques) and you’ve designed something truly special that feels alive.
I’ve got a lot more to say, but if you’ve read this far down I think I’ve taken up plenty of your time and I’ll leave more of my ‘old man yells at cloud’ ramblings for another time. If you have any thoughts on this please share them, I’d really love to hear what everyone else thinks.
o7 everyone, thank you for indulging me.
I want to look at Odyssey in a balanced way from a game design perspective. I want to be as fair as possible, not just because I think that’s the right thing to do but also because I do genuinely see a lot of potential in Odyssey, I just think it’s being steered in the wrong direction. My opinion of Odyssey has been largely one of disappointment more than anger, because I genuinely love this game and I feel that Odyssey flies in the face of everything that made me love it in the first place. I absolutely don’t think it’s unsalvageable, and I really hope that both fans of Elite Dangerous and Frontier themselves understand that, however I want to explore why exactly I think that Odyssey has been such a misfire, what potential could come of it, and hopefully say something that hasn’t already been said.
Graphics, optimisation, bugs and UI design have already been talked about so much I don’t think there are any more points to say on them. The thing about those issues, though, is that they’re things that with time were always going to be fixed. I’m not saying that it was right that they weren’t corrected before launch, what I mean instead to say is that eventually these problems will go away.
I instead want to focus, as previously mentioned, on game design in Odyssey. A lot of prominent Elite Dangerous creators have rightly pointed out that Odyssey doesn’t seem to pay homage in any capacity to the lore and world that David Braben (and more recently the ED team) have spent so many years writing and crafting. Jaques’ absence in Colonia seems to be one of the largest let-downs, and many people seem to be blaming this on a lack of attention to detail and developer priorities missing the mark on what fans want. While I absolutely agree, at least to some extent, I view it as a symptom of what is perhaps (in my opinion) the largest problem that Odyssey has gameplay-wise: an unwillingness to take advantage of what already exists and works in the game. I can think of no better microcosm of this than the abandonment of perhaps my favourite element in Elite Dangerous: the Background Simulation.
The Background Simulation is, in my opinion, the greatest technical achievement in Elite Dangerous besides the Galaxy Map. Elite Dangerous has always been a bastion of impressive and groundbreaking software and technology, however there is something extremely special about the BGS. It is simultaneously a functioning player-driven internal economy and commodity market, a power struggle wargame influenced by player allegiances and actions, a political and social stability simulator on a galaxy-wide scale; these are just to name a few of its in-game functions, it’s impossible to sum it up in only a few sentences. To have a dynamic system with the level of detail and fidelity of this that actually works is nothing short of genius. There are without a doubt problems with it, but largely it functions as intended and that alone is an achievement worth recognising. So, gameplay-wise, what does this give us, the players? In my opinion, some of the most interesting gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Travelling to a system that’s experiencing an outbreak, a famine, or a war, to give a small example, and actually seeing the effects that that has, potentially even knowing how the system got into that mess in the first place and how you, the player, could fix or exacerbate the issue, is really fascinating and compelling. Pairing that with the GalMap with its level of scientific accuracy in simulating both the position of stars and the planets/moons that form around them, and how that interplays with the BGS, affecting economies and population numbers, is genuinely like no other game I’ve played.
It’s for this exact reason that it completely boggles my mind that Odyssey, for the most part, pretty much ignored the BGS in favour of effectively building a different game. Now don’t get me wrong, there are elements of Odyssey that take full advantage of the BGS and pre-existing components in Elite Dangerous, and in my opinion these are without a doubt the strongest gameplay elements that Odyssey has to offer. The Prison Ships, for example, are a perfect example of Odyssey building on elements in the game that already work: if you’re caught breaking the law on foot, you’re sent to a prison cell on-board a Prison Ship, the same place that your ship gets sent when you break the law while in the cockpit. It’s a natural progression that not only fulfils a gameplay requirement but also deepens and richens the universe of Elite. I also very much appreciate the different Odyssey settlement types and the way that they fit into both the Galaxy and Background Simulation. I remember travelling to a small mining settlement on an ice planet and listening to a worker comment on my choice to come here, complaining of the cold weather and how miserable the environment is. To my eye, this is exactly what Odyssey can and should be: a way to take all of the wonderful lore, mechanics and systems at play that already exist and distil them down to the human level, allowing the player a completely new and different perspective on the galaxy they’ve already been exploring for years.
I mentioned earlier that I see potential in Odyssey, as if my authority means anything, and I wanted to give some examples of what it could bring to Elite Dangerous if handled correctly. I mentioned earlier the brilliance of being able to visit a system undergoing a particular event or political state and seeing the effects of that, and I think that Odyssey offers a new way to explore this. Take, for example, the system state ‘Outbreak’, in which the system is undergoing an epidemic that is affecting its ability to function. Visiting a station in an ‘Outbreak’ state on foot is currently visually and functionally identical to visiting a station undergoing an economic Boom. I’m not suggesting that some new amazing gameplay loop be added, and I often get frustrated with people suggesting what they think Elite Dangerous needs when they clearly don’t understand how difficult game development is; what I instead suggest is a subtle, discreet difference that gives the player an immersive suggestion of where they are. In the case of a station undergoing an Outbreak, perhaps the NPCs could be wearing high-tech respirators. No difference in interaction or gameplay, just a pure cosmetic difference that makes the player feel that this station is different to the last one that they visited. The same applies to systems of government: perhaps when exploring the concourse of a Dictatorship system, NPC guards are stationed around holding weapons. Again, this wouldn’t change the gameplay at all, and functionally it’s pretty much just an aesthetic choice, but small details like this build up.
This ‘build up’ is fundamental to creating an immersive galaxy. Of course it’s impossible to make a procedurally generated galaxy of billions of stars have a unique experience in every corner. What I’ve noticed from my own gameplay, however, is that it doesn’t need to; you just need to let the player do the work for you. Say, for example, I need to offload some Alexandrite I’ve just mined; I’m wanted in Imperial space, so any Imperial system is a no-go, and I’d rather not be blown out of the sky by a pirate so I’d quite like to find a system with high security. I also know that the Alexandrite will sell for more in systems experiencing an economic boom. So now, I know that I’m looking for a Federal or Independent system with high security that’s experiencing a Boom. I search the galaxy map, and all of a sudden, bingo.
The system I’ve just found wasn’t made to be special for me, but my search for something like it makes me feel that it’s special. It doesn’t need to be unique, because I found it, and that’s all it needs to feel important.
This same exact principle applies to Odyssey, albeit in a slightly different way. While I don’t care much for the combat in Odyssey, having to seek out a system in war in order to access it feels (dare I say it) somewhat immersive. Going back to our Outbreak example, there are going to be plenty of systems in the bubble experiencing that state. Combining that with other factors, however, the system will begin to feel unique. A Dictatorship system in Outbreak will feel completely different to a Corporate system in Outbreak. By taking a limited number of conditions, assigning them visual or gameplay purposes, and then stacking them, you’ve effectively built a story generator. Suddenly you’re remembering the station you were just in, how it felt different to the one you’re standing in now, and instead of feeling like a grind, you get a sense that you’ve actually travelled from A to B. Couple this with hand-crafted story/lore elements (like our good friend Jaques) and you’ve designed something truly special that feels alive.
I’ve got a lot more to say, but if you’ve read this far down I think I’ve taken up plenty of your time and I’ll leave more of my ‘old man yells at cloud’ ramblings for another time. If you have any thoughts on this please share them, I’d really love to hear what everyone else thinks.
o7 everyone, thank you for indulging me.
Last edited:
