This is just a hot mess, can’t believe it’s been in development for so long, and I’m not talking about the bugs - it’s an alpha, but it’s pretty apparent to me Odyssey is just a new game focused on FPS gameplay, the absence of ship interiors isn’t an oversight, they simply haven’t bothered because it’s at least obvious to me their intentions were to simply capitalise on FPS player base.
OK so longtime player here, Founder with life time pass and ardent ‘elite feet’ supporter in the respect of what Braben and team set out to develop, that being something really immersive.
Been testing the Alpha and it’s pretty apparent that Odyssey is not ‘elite feet’ but a separate first person shooter, mocked up to look more than it actually is.
Essentially settlements are not active environments where NPCs go about conducting business, these are maps for FPS content first; scavenging etc really brought this home to me, as I moved about thinking mmm sniper point, mmm cover, mmm why put this here, these resources are just drop / loot boxes.
The stations are just empty lobbies with nothing really happened, no social nor environmental occurrences eg no NPCs sweeping the floor (that I could see) or repairing stuff, no refugees etc it was just another situation for menus, geared to engage you in FPS missions, bars were dull and lifeless.
Unless FD put some more content in (it is Alpha) this will get very dull and boring very quickly. You cant even buy a drink!
A good example is the taxi service, FD say they don’t want to implement ship interiors because it will take up players time negotiating corridors, but the taxi service straps you in a seat, where you are literally doing nothing for minutes at a time.
Now back in the day FD talked about such a thing, but with an option to mingle with NPCS and access missions etc, but simply looking around shows you how little they have thought this out regards to Odyssey.
The taxis have a minimum number of seats (all empty), and these are ships which can haul tonnes and where internal space is a premium! If this was better thought out they would have implemented a simple ramp and filled every inch with seats.
At most the taxi service I feel is to ferry players to fights in safety, and avoid griefers. It will basically cut the player base in two, FPS types and sim types).
Overall the feeling I got is yup, this isn’t feet, and it put me in mind of what Braben said when Odyssey was launched ‘some people aren’t going to be happy’. And I think he was including himself in that.
It’s apparent to me at least that FD has lost its way. All of the really cool ideas proposed have never materialised, they have always settled for the easiest option, I used to put this down to limited imagination but I now believe it’s simple corporate greed, it works, it’s cheap - use it, does it work, keep it and move on.
I do feel FD have over a number of years aimed at producing elite feet in a manner which was immersive and intelligent, the evidence is extensive, but these ideas and development leaders have fallen by the wayside over and over, to the point where they actually archived much of their previous content, that’s the point I lost faith.
Currently FD have at least been very helpful in confirming my suspicions and that Elite Dangerous is no longer on the path set out by Braben, it’s something else. It’s not dead, but I am pretty certain it’s not going to be improved.
This is it, it ain’t getting any better.