Should Frontier continue labouring over Elite Dangerous? Or call it time and work on Elite Dangerous 2?

[Fishy]

But it was a sequel.

System Shock 2 was fantastic.

Thief 2 was fantastic.

Because System Shock 1 competes with Street Fighter 1 in the list of "games hipsters pretend to have known and played before the sequel put them on the roadmap". A bit like NieR after Automata became a hit.

I'll grant you Thief 2 though, this is a worthy curse-breaker.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Considering my LEP cost 180 USD for just Horizons and Odyssey so far, plus the base game at 60 USD, putting the total for just the game so far to 240...

They'd have to be selling Odyssey for more than what 140 USD to be "losing" money on me.

Sure, and a considerably higher value for myself to be "losing" money (I named the Founders ) but that isn't the point. The base game sold in the millions, of which the income far outweighs the lost revenue from the LEP holders. Despite FDEVs best effort to mess things up, ED is still very profitable for them.

 

[Rubbernuke]

The sad part is a lot of Odyssey was not required. Since FD work to a budget they could have done just as much by adding an arm to the SRV & expanded the core game. I don't see much longevity in what EDO brings to ED in comparison to what filling out the main game would- the latter would make ED actually 'complete'.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Befitting for the bolt-on monstrosity that E: D has become. Though a quick shot to the head would be more merciful.

There would be too much 'outrage' to kill it dead mercifully, even if it makes perfect sense.
Look at the 'majority' of posts in the last year - complaints that the game doesn't have whatever is fashionable at that time - has not gone in the direction it was 'supposed' to go - or just pointing out that the developers are unable to produce anything worthwhile.

Best thing for FD to do, in my opinion, is to announce a shutdown date for the servers, withdraw ED from sale and let it go, we'd all get at least another year of play I'd think.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Because System Shock 1 competes with Street Fighter 1 in the list of "games hipsters pretend to have known and played before the sequel put them on the roadmap". A bit like NieR after Automata became a hit.

I'll grant you Thief 2 though, this is a worthy curse-breaker.

System Shock 1 was excellent. SS 2 was even better.

Privateer 2 was great. Civ 2 was even better than 1.

 

[Fishy]

Privateer 2 was great

Now, I don't like reporting posts, so please stay polite.

 

[Alien]

LOL, I think its you who hasn't been paying attention.

Take a look at the latest fiasco of theirs to see how much they've "learned" in the last 6 years. You know, the one that calls itself Odyssey. Look at the underhanded way they went about it, selling everyone a broken DLC barely out of alpha, and most definitely a beta, yet masquerading it off as a AAA release, charging full price to beta test it (after charging people extra to alpha test it 6 weeks ago, no less!). And now you want to trust the same developer who pulled that trick on its loyal customers after 6 years, to suddenly get it right? Their motivation is money, its not about learning from mistakes or doing the right thing, its about releasing a MVP and milking it for all they can. An Elite Dangerous 2 will go exactly the same way, it'll be another MVP.

Now if you're talking about the actual developers going off to make ED2, the guys who are passionate about their work, and are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs because of beancounters hampering them, Yes I would love to see them go independent and put their wasted talent to the test with much more expressive freedoms. An independent studio making an Elite-type sequel to ED?. I'm interested. But as for frontier developments themselves doing it? No thanks! Never again.



Exactly.

I don't disagree with you here. I haven't been paying attention because in many things, I am an idiot. My stance in this thread (at least) is to try to stay neutral and ask the question.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Now, I don't like reporting posts, so please stay polite.

I loved it

 

[Alien]

Absolutely not. They should skip to Elite 3 immediately because <Game Franchise> 2 is cursed to mediocrity at best. Think of any game franchise with a number 2 and it will consistently be considered mediocre at best, or causing an upheaval for pandering to the wrong fans at most. Even if the game is objectively the best game in the series (see Dark Souls 2). Heck, even FD got hit by the curse with Frontier Elite 2 because gamers couldn't understand the concept of "Engines off" for combat, and to this day, remain convinced that combat in FE2 is relativistic jousting.

Obviously there are a couple remarkable exceptions, and none shine brighter than Street Fighter 2 which pretty much defined a new genre, but it's not like anyone even knew the original existed in the first place. Of course, someone is bound to mention Diablo 2, but here, we're talking of a minor iteration over a design centred on mediocrity (and clicking, lots of clicking), so I will laugh it out before you dare to point it out.

Highlander 2.
'Nuff said.

 

[Globusdiablo]

There would be too much 'outrage' to kill it dead mercifully, even if it makes perfect sense.
Look at the 'majority' of posts in the last year - complaints that the game doesn't have whatever is fashionable at that time - has not gone in the direction it was 'supposed' to go - or just pointing out that the developers are unable to produce anything worthwhile.

Best thing for FD to do, in my opinion, is to announce a shutdown date for the servers, withdraw ED from sale and let it go, we'd all get at least another year of play I'd think.

Sold. We can play the forum while watching E: D sink like the proverbial Titanic.

 

[Astaran]

I'd rather see FDev taking the EVE Online approach with Elite and keep the game alive&kicking for the next two decades. Granted the EVE today is somewhat different to the game I played in 2004 the first time (to put it mildly), but that's not a bad things. Good things were added, bad things were added etc. That's life, things change.

That being said, in order to keep Elite around for that long, FDev really needs a change in attutide at the management level: "We want to make a great game" instead of "We want to sell a product". Maybe the rough release of Odyssey was the wake up call they needed.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Best thing for FD to do, in my opinion, is to announce a shutdown date for the servers, withdraw ED from sale and let it go, we'd all get at least another year of play I'd think.

I could go for that idea .. it was great at the start, but as time elapsed you can tell the emphasis on quality was exchanged for profit. A shame, as the KS was a whole new level of excitement, that pitched a dream worth backing. No regrets, but wow .. recently a lot of imcompetence. There is hope yet for ED, as they seem to be making good on their promises, but we have been there before .. I wlll judge it again in 3-4 months time.

 

[Globusdiablo]

I don't disagree with you here. I haven't been paying attention because in many things, I am an idiot...

Careful...

 

[Fishy]

Highlander 2.
'Nuff said.

I hadn't thought of the curse in terms of movies but you make a bloody good point...

 

[Rubbernuke]

Highlander 2.
'Nuff said.

THERE CAN BE ONLY TWO

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Absolutely not. They should skip to Elite 3 immediately because <Game Franchise> 2 is cursed to mediocrity at best. Think of any game franchise with a number 2 and it will consistently be considered mediocre at best, or causing an upheaval for pandering to the wrong fans at most. Even if the game is objectively the best game in the series (see Dark Souls 2)

Diablo 2. (That "curse" hit Blizzard with their follow up, Diablo 3, which in itself was an OK game, but not on the same level as D1/D2 .. why? Their key developers/coders left after D2, and D3 was done by a new crowd trying to recapture former glories .. sound familiar?)

 

[Globusdiablo]

I hadn't thought of the curse in terms of movies but you make a bloody good point...

Terminator 2 mic drop

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Terminator 2 mic drop

Best of the lot ... from there is was cash-cow downwards to dullsville.

 

[DMaster]

Case for continuing with Elite Dangerous:

• Keeping to one game reduces confusion with the franchise
• Sunk cost fallacy: so much time, dev hours and money has been invested in this game, it might be better to keep going
• Elite Dangerous is a known quantity
• It's easier to keep going than it is to do something new

Case for Elite Dangerous 2:

• The code for ED is a mess as it has been added to and added to and each time they have to fix things that are caused when they add new code
• Frontier have learned so much since starting ED
• It would be easier to put in things the community wants that would be harder in ED because ED wasn't designed from scratch for things like walking around and ship interiors or fleet carriers etc
• Frontier are actually losing money with ED because of all the Lifetime Expansion Pass holders who aren't buying expansions like Odyssey. Elite Dangerous 2 would mean a fresh start without an LEP and therefore income from everyone, not just those without the LEP.

Only, if i can take all my money and assets to ED2 otherwise i am not interessted.

 

[Winterwalker]

I'd rather see FDev taking the EVE Online approach with Elite and keep the game alive&kicking for the next two decades.

Me too. It's a massive shame EDO has had the performance problems it has because, partly because I haven't suffered from them, for me they are the worst of it.

While not perfect in all things, EDO is very far from the buggy mess it was at launch - or people migfht have you believe - and I think it would be an injustice if pre-stabilised release performance overshadow it as a game. Having been playing it without issue I'm having a genuine ball with it.

The planets too are a 1000 times better than they were in Horizons imo and - while I'm sympathetic with the loss of famous or favourite planets, which I had too - with a new game you'd get a galaxy wide regeneration anyway, so I don't see the point.