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

[[VR] Enexemander]

But... (in my opinion) they didn't implement it well.

They implemented it, technically.

You could land on planets, and drive around but.... it was a height map- with frankly, very little on it. (there's a quote from Braben saying this is exactly what he wanted to avoid!)

They added some things later (thargoid bases and gaurdian stuff)

but... the bases you could assault were always very poorly designed gameplay wise - even though it LOOKED like they had ideas for them, that just seemingly never got fully implemented.

Those "skimmer control" data links? be nice if that swapped the skimmers over to your side, or allowed you to "neural link" (original term for using the turret on the SRV) into them and control individual ones - activating others things, shooting at other skimmers.

There's a load of other things like that, that seem to either do nothing, or do something so unintuitive or poorly telegraphed, no one really cares.

It was also designed without really thinking about the fact people had ships... It was like the developers assumed people would just use the SRV because... why wouldn't you? the SRV is a cool new thing!!! (not realising players are fully aware their ship has massive missiles and stuff and can just nuke everything from orbit - so they are gonna do that)

(Also Remember the blue circle scanner thing for ships which dissapears the closer you get to the ground, so that you HAVE to get out and use the SRV's wave scanner? - the wave scanner is cool! but... why do your ships sensors get less accurate the closer you get to something... - it's purely to force use of the SRV, not a clever design in which SRVs are useful because of what they are...)

The turrets "auto repair" after a while (with poor telegraphing of it happening leading to unintuitive situations) - skimmers were changed to instantly drop ship shields and knock out thrusters if they were rammed as a quick fix to patch over a poor design idea, some turrets were made exceedingly powerful against ship shields to dissuade players from using ships to assault bases (ignoring the fact this would have been immense fun in multiplayer to have air support - and could have been great if multicrew hadn't been botched regarding SRV use) in order to force them into the SRV so they could get the "intended experience"

It's almost as though the design team get given a single specific thing to design, and aren't asked to take the rest of the game into account when they make stuff. I'm sure it was a great design if it was purely an SRV game - but it aint.

So... I mean, I guess what I'm saying is.

Ok...

Spot on. The most fun I've ever had on these planets was using my dumb fire missile boat Dropship to lay waste to these bases. And then they tried their hardest to make that unfun.

After that, doing flips and rolls in the SRV is a distant second on the fun scale.

 

[babelfisch]

Seeing as Pluto’s orbital period is 248 years and the ice storm happens when it’s heading towards aphelion, we might be in for a bit of a wait

Stop being so lazy Pluto!

 

[Mengy]

It's almost as though the design team get given a single specific thing to design, and aren't asked to take the rest of the game into account when they make stuff.

That's a rather accurate statement to how Elite's development feels sometimes. Like its a "design by dartboard" game.

 

[iFred]

Undoubtedly as long as FD are making money on ED sufficiently, it will be developed. But, it would be nice if DB took 30 minutes twice a year to record a 10 minute video update at the Grand Scale.

After he got almost beaten up in Cologne for delievering this sh...t horizon and delaying all teh other stuff he was pretty much gone. Out of these forums and out of social media. The one or other post regarding Tesla , NASA or advertising Frontiers kid-games is everything we are hearing from him.

Last time we saw him was at the Elite Meet in Here East in London. In my opinion it was the last time he was talking about Elite.

There must be a reason for it. And I bet its the unbelievable success of Elite.

 

[Virgile]

After he got almost beaten up in Cologne for delievering this sh...t horizon and delaying all teh other stuff he was pretty much gone. Out of these forums and out of social media. The one or other post regarding Tesla , NASA or advertising Frontiers kid-games is everything we are hearing from him.

Last time we saw him was at the Elite Meet in Here East in London. In my opinion it was the last time he was talking about Elite.

There must be a reason for it. And I bet its the unbelievable success of Elite.

After that He use to do Ama's on Reddit once a year...
He also annouced the thargoid update.

 

[Ignition]

Complexity doesn't always equal fun. I don't find the planetary scan super boring. In fact I don't find any of it super boring unless that's all I do. But it's not all I do. Could they be better, sure. I'm hopeful that the sample collector has some similar gameplay to the deep core mining and that it's not just point and shoot.

Simplicity always equals boring though.
So you're not an explorer, we can't be explorers or any profession in the game because of the lack of complexity.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Simplicity always equals boring though.

Not necessarily.

So you're not an explorer, we can't be explorers or any profession in the game because of the lack of complexity.

Complexity has nothing to do whether you're an explorer or not.

As it goes, yes I am an explorer. I've been out there since DW2 started.

 

[Leper Messiah]

And even there . . .

especially if the previous occupant had a curry the night before.....also never inspect the hole in the wall of the cubicle either.....

 

[Ignition]

Not necessarily.


Complexity has nothing to do whether you're an explorer or not.

As it goes, yes I am an explorer. I've been out there since DW2 started.

but you said you were doing other things besides "exploring". So you're not an explorer you're multiple things, its impossible to have a profession in Elite because it doesn't go deep in anything.
In Minecraft you can be an explorer too also because the complexity of that game equals the complexity of Elite. If Exploration (or any other profession) had actual gameplay with depth you could just be an explorer, a trader, a miner or a bounty hunter only witohut the need to do another thing.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

but you said you were doing other things besides "exploring". So you're not an explorer you're multiple things, its impossible to have a profession in Elite because it doesn't go deep in anything.
In Minecraft you can be an explorer too also because the complexity of that game equals the complexity of Elite. If Exploration (or any other profession) had actual gameplay with depth you could just be an explorer, a trader, a miner or a bounty hunter only witohut the need to do another thing.

I never said that I was doing many things. I'm an explorer at the moment, I'm not always an explorer.

You seem to be confusing complexity for depth. They mean different things.

 

[Viajero]

but you said you were doing other things besides "exploring". So you're not an explorer you're multiple things, its impossible to have a profession in Elite because it doesn't go deep in anything.
In Minecraft you can be an explorer too also because the complexity of that game equals the complexity of Elite. If Exploration (or any other profession) had actual gameplay with depth you could just be an explorer, a trader, a miner or a bounty hunter only witohut the need to do another thing.

I think your definition of exploration is perhaps a bit narrow. There is indeed tons of gameplay and depth in Elite exploration, it seems you just do not like most of it, which is fine, or it just eludes your personal and too narrow definition. Remember that not liking a feature or certain kind of gameplay does not mean that feature or gameplay does not exist.

 

[Ignition]

I think your definition of exploration is perhaps a bit narrow. There is indeed tons of gameplay and depth in Elite exploration, it seems you just do not like most of it, which is fine, or it just eludes your personal and too narrow definition. Remember that not liking a feature or certain kind of gameplay does not mean that feature or gameplay does not exist.

Narrow is the gameplay of every single profession in this game. A lot of people seem to like simplistic mechanics and don't want to interact with the game enviroments, ships or npcs.
You're fine with holding a button type of gameplay to get your credits and ranking. It seems you can't think of an interaction between the player and the game other than pressing a button to jump or holding another button to scan. It's not rewarding, it's boring, its narrow.
You can go everywere you want or at least 99.999999999% of the map without ANY problem other than endurance of pressing 1 button for hours or scanning things holding 1 button.
Wheres is the gameplay and depth you're talking? I don't see any complexity, even the fuel scoop is automated and the supercruise is automated.
You say the dw2 is gameplay? is depth?, it is not. Its just pressing 1 button countless times with a group.

And all of this applies to every sinle profession in the game. For you a profession exists because it has its name in it, like bounty hunting. Where's the bounty hunting? its more like fishing on a tank. Where's the npc interactions? you're not hunting, you're shooting brainless pirates who spawn endlessly without any logic.

The core gameplay needs to be developed, the game has 6 years already and plays as it was in BETA in 2014.

 

[Viajero]

... You're fine with holding a button type of gameplay
... pressing a button to jump or holding another button to scan...
... pressing 1 button for hours or scanning things holding 1 button...
... Its just pressing 1 button countless times with a group...

You really seem to have an issue with buttons!

Seriously though, saying Exploration in Elite is just pressing a button for hours is as narrow as saying that the king of games, chess, is just moving pieces from tile A to tile B for hours. Or that rock climbing is just moving limbs from rock A to rock B for hours. Boring! Narrow!

No, there is indeed tons of gameplay and depth in Elite's Exploration, but if that is your definition then it simply means that you just do not like most of the actual Exploration gameplay (which is fine) or that it just eludes your personal and too narrow definition.

 

[Sysmon]

You really seem to have an issue with buttons!

Seriously though, saying Exploration in Elite is just pressing a button for hours is as narrow as saying that the king of games, chess, is just moving pieces from tile A to tile B for hours. Or that rock climbing is just moving limbs from rock A to rock B for hours. Boring! Narrow!

No, there is indeed tons of gameplay and depth in Elite's Exploration, but if that is your definition then it simply means that you just do not like most of the actual Exploration gameplay (which is fine) or that it just eludes your personal and too narrow definition.

It's all just colours on a screen, pointlessly moving about, amounting to nothing. Luckily, a lot of it is quite fun to do regardless.

I'm back to mining, which is just moving my ship slowly from rock to rock aiming at things the game marks for me, then waiting for a time-gate of my collector limpets picking up the bits and pieces. Could probably be boring too if it wasn't so atmospheric in those rings and if it wasn't actually fun squeezing commodities out of spinning rocks. It was also fun searching for system with the right kind of gas giants with the right kind hot spots. It will be fun figuirng out where to sell stuff afterwards.

It could be made boring by looking it up using 3rd party tools and go where everybody else are lemminging to. Howver, the ambience of the game is what makes the game so great, so taking it slow and staying immersed is the way to go. There is plenty of ambience in the current game and there will be more in Odyssey. As long as we don't focus too hard on the mechanics behind it - that's how the experience of any game can be ruined.

S

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

That's a rather accurate statement to how Elite's development feels sometimes. Like its a "design by dartboard" game.

That's what it was like before beyond, but it seems to me that beyond changed that with features interconnecting with other parts of the game like the FSS. Hopefully that philosophy continues and from what they have said it sounds like it has, we shall just have to wait and see.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

You really seem to have an issue with buttons!

Seriously though, saying Exploration in Elite is just pressing a button for hours is as narrow as saying that the king of games, chess, is just moving pieces from tile A to tile B for hours. Or that rock climbing is just moving limbs from rock A to rock B for hours. Boring! Narrow!

No, there is indeed tons of gameplay and depth in Elite's Exploration, but if that is your definition then it simply means that you just do not like most of the actual Exploration gameplay (which is fine) or that it just eludes your personal and too narrow definition.

It sounds like to me he just doesn't like playing computer games, as they are all about just pressing buttons and move your controller of choice around a bit.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Narrow is the gameplay of every single profession in this game. A lot of people seem to like simplistic mechanics and don't want to interact with the game enviroments, ships or npcs.
You're fine with holding a button type of gameplay to get your credits and ranking. It seems you can't think of an interaction between the player and the game other than pressing a button to jump or holding another button to scan. It's not rewarding, it's boring, its narrow.
You can go everywere you want or at least 99.999999999% of the map without ANY problem other than endurance of pressing 1 button for hours or scanning things holding 1 button.
Wheres is the gameplay and depth you're talking? I don't see any complexity, even the fuel scoop is automated and the supercruise is automated.
You say the dw2 is gameplay? is depth?, it is not. Its just pressing 1 button countless times with a group.

And all of this applies to every sinle profession in the game. For you a profession exists because it has its name in it, like bounty hunting. Where's the bounty hunting? its more like fishing on a tank. Where's the npc interactions? you're not hunting, you're shooting brainless pirates who spawn endlessly without any logic.

The core gameplay needs to be developed, the game has 6 years already and plays as it was in BETA in 2014.

You've just described every game ever made. The only difference is the graphical effect afterwards.

 

[Viajero]

It's all just colours on a screen, pointlessly moving about, amounting to nothing. Luckily, a lot of it is quite fun to do regardless.

In chess it is all about the flashy shiny pieces with different shapes that move around and rock climbing is fascinating due to the different rock textures and little plants or snow mounds you just pass by, never mind the vistas at the top! It all also amounts to nothing but it is fun too, what are the odds?!

As long as we don't focus too hard on the mechanics behind it - that's how the experience of any game can be ruined.

Oh mechanics and gameplay is there a-plenty too in Exploration, on top of the vistas. It is totally ok not to like those or to get bored of them after hundreds or thousands of hours though.

 

[Rubbernuke]

In chess it is all about the flashy shiny pieces with different shapes that move around and rock climbing is fascinating due to the different rock textures and little plants or snow mounds you just pass by too!

Oh mechanics and gameplay is there a-plenty too in Exploration, on top of the vistas. It is totally ok not to like those or to get bored of them after hundreds or thousands of hours though.

I think some people wanted the loop to have more consequence- so that exploration we know today acts like a pathfinding operation that guided how the BGS might grow with all those earth like worlds becoming sites for BGS expansion to grow into. Exploration right now is identify, cash in- its a bit abrupt.

 

[Patrick_68000]

The only thing I can ask myself now is: what are we actually getting at launch?

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