Polygon and Twinfinite interviews - more Odyssey details, unknowns, and Walking-In-Ships not at launch

[Viajero]

OH!, sure you mean pressing 1 button for 100 hours, THATS GAMEPLAY!.

Not really no. I didn’t mean that at all. Much like I do not think the king of games, chess, is just about moving pieces from tile A to tile B for hours.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I get a very strong Horizon vibe. Lots of enthousiasm and energy invested into the 'tech' and 'sciency side' of planets, with gameplay being a bit of an afterthought. IMHO, design starts with asking yourself what a fun player experience would be, and then wondering what you need to do to make that happen. With FD it frequently seems reverse, with the studio wondering what would be fun to develop and only afterwards considering what the player experience is like.

We'll see. So far Space Legs seems to have none of the three things I was looking forward to: Zero G, in- and outside of the ship, in VR. The planets so far look visually cool. Very good work. I have not yet seen even a hint of compelling gameplay.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Me.

Ahh, so just a few people then.

 

[Lightspeed]

Gameplay - not at launch !

 

[Ignition]

-VR- Max Factor said:

Who's the we? You and?

Me.

This reminded me of this

LOL, thanks. I forgot about this song.

 

[Fawkner]

I don't understand why FD bothers to release things that are only half done, we will be waiting another 5 years for the next part of the update to come while in that time they try and sort the bugs out which will come with the Odyssey release.
Proper atmospheric landings should have come first before any other update, the only good thing about space legs is now I could kick my own heels in game until what I backed for finally arrives!

 

[Iron Body]

Disappointing that they haven't even nailed down features yet, but about what I expected.

I guess they have a number of smaller teams working on a number of features.
They also now have a deadline (although flexible).
So will all these teams meet the deadline ? Only those already promised, and with high priority.
Some lower priority features may or may not be ready by the deadline.
What's actually delivered will be those features that meet the release criteria (whatever that may be).

Hopefully some of the lower priority features will be moved up the list and released soon(tm) after.

(Speaking as a Dev Proj Manager for many years.)

 

[Cosmo]

From the articles, it sounds like all that has been done is about a Star Citizen level of achievement from 2018, i.e. it looks like they've just been working on a tech demo.

We're supposed to believe this is 6 to 8 months away from release? I can't imagine this is true, unless it is completely bare bones.

SC barely has any basic missions for ships and on foot.

Gonna look really weird for SRV if there's not some sort of smooth transition of climbing in and out, but I'm guessing this has to do with how they instance these various 'modes' of travel. Rather than the SRV be an asset useable on the ground, it's more akin to a limited flight model...which jacks with instancing and 'popping in and out'.

Yes it must be seamless get in and out of SRV.

 

[Ignition]

SC barely has any basic missions for ships and on foot.

It has basic missions, they are as simple as the ones in Elite from what I saw, go there kill that, go A to B.
I think both games may be similar on features and gameplay when odyssey releases, which is really sad for Elite being a released game. It has only a tiny framework in regard of gameplay mechanics and 0 NPC interactions.

 

[Red Anders]

It has basic missions, they are as simple as the ones in Elite from what I saw, go there kill that, go A to B.
I think both games may be similar on features and gameplay when odyssey releases, which is really sad for Elite being a released game. It has only a tiny framework in regard of gameplay mechanics and 0 NPC interactions.

Yeah but on the plus side, we haven't had to donate 300m for Elite and have been playing it for six years.

 

[Ignition]

Yeah but on the plus side, we haven't had to donate 300m for Elite and have been playing it for six years.

I've paid 20 for Star Citizen and I think 190 for Elite (of course Premium Beta)

 

[Red Anders]

I've paid 20 for Star Citizen and I think 190 for Elite (of course Premium Beta)

If I'd done that I'd probably consider the value for money split to be about equal so far

 

[myothershipisacobraiv]

ooh, ouch.

no ship interiors is a blow.

rooting for Odyssey!

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Ignoring the XBox series X and PS5 is also alarming, the first time the consoles are on par with PC performance, and the company isn't looking at unisng them or deploying to those platforms. So everything in Odyssey will need to be hamstrung to be compatible with 7 year old console designs?

I'm beginning to think I'm more interested in buying a DLC with the features that are on the editing room floor than the ones in the retail product.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

Elite Dangerous expansion aims to give players their own ‘Neil Armstrong moment’

The details for the Odyssey expansion are still a bit hazy

www.polygon.com

Elite Dangerous Interview: Devs Detail Upcoming Odyssey Expansion

Elite Dangerous is marching towards another major expansion titled "Odyssey," due out in 2021. It will add full on-foot exploration of many planets in the

twinfinite.net

Developers are also considering allowing them to walk around inside starships, exploring the vessels they’ve owned for years for the first time. The feature won’t be available at launch when Elite Dangerous: Odyssey comes to PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One sometime in early 2021.​

​

Other questions about gameplay details went unanswered. That’s because, principal designer Gareth Hughes said, many of those details have yet to be finalized. That includes how the game’s flight model will be changing to deal with traveling through atmospheres for the first time.​

​

Also undecided is how players will transition from ships or wheeled vehicles to walking on foot. The team wants players to have their own “Neil Armstrong moment” Hughes said, of being the first person to step on a distant world. Trouble is that they’re just not settled on what that moment will actually feel like. Also undecided is how Odyssey — which will not launch with support for virtual reality — will impact players who have long experienced the game exclusively in VR. Hughes said his team is keeping those heavily invested in VR technology in mind as they make their plans for launch.​

​

​

As for the platforms and where we’re headed, I’ll tell you that we’re looking at PC, Xbox and PS4, as far as what we’re pushing it to, it’s not currently planned for PS5 or the Xbox Series X. We’re continuing to evaluate.​

These interviews were more informative than the Dev Diary, which is disappointing.

More importantly, the tone feels more genuine, and seems to be more detail oriented, and less marketing oriented. I actually believe now that ship interior exploration and VR are seriously being considered, and that we might possibly see an update with one or the other sometime after launch.

 

[Alien]

These interviews were more informative than the Dev Diary, which is disappointing.

And inaccurate it seems. Which just reinforces what I and others keep saying on this forum .... wait for Frontier to confirm what is/is not in Odyssey.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

And inaccurate it seems. Which just reinforces what I and others keep saying on this forum .... wait for Frontier to confirm what is/is not in Odyssey.

I saw the follow up on Buur Pit's discord, thanks for that.

The Polygon interview only says that Frontier are "considering" ship interior exploration, and keeping VR "in mind", which is what you would reasonably expect, and which is not a confirmation of either of those features, or a promise for their inclusion at launch.

I don't see why Frontier would backtrack from saying they're merely thinking about things, unless simply to manage expectations or not raise hopes about potential features that are as yet unconfirmed. I'm going to take it at face value, as they probably are considering both of those things, even if they end up not implementing either.

 

[Wobblin-Gobblin]

I've paid 170 for the LTP and another bunch for cosmetics. I guess I've paid over 300 since 2014 and I don't regret it.

EDIT

Euro, of course

 

[Alien]

I saw the follow up on Buur Pit's discord, thanks for that.

The Polygon interview only says that Frontier are "considering" ship interior exploration, and keeping VR "in mind", which is what you would reasonably expect, and which is not a confirmation of either of those features, or a promise for their inclusion at launch.

I don't see why Frontier would backtrack from saying they're merely thinking about things, unless simply to manage expectations or not raise hopes about potential features that are as yet unconfirmed. I'm going to take it at face value, as they probably are considering both of those things, even if they end up not implementing either.

The issue isn't so much that what Polygon said was wrong, and yes, I know I've commented words to that effect, the bigger issue is that people in the community saw that and took it as confirmation from Frontier that ship interiors are confirmed as not coming.

The truth is, as far as us in the community are concerned, we don't know for certain until Frontier literally state what is happening.
As much as I want ship interiors, I will accept them not being in Odyssey once Frontier state it. What I keep trying to do (mainly on this forum) is to remind people to not make assumptions.

Website articles have been shown in the past to take a creative approach with what is said in interviews. That's normal for journalism, sensationalism sells.

 

[Virgile]

I'm assuming you will use your feet when the SRV isn't appropriate. There will likely be things that can only be done on foot like in real life.

I wish they will do such things, but from what I've seen so far, it's just moving, scanning things, shooting things. SRV but Slower and less resistant.