The Ars Technica Review

[Synther]

Ars finally made a megareview of the game. Probably the best review of the current state of the game I could find.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/...the-best-damn-spaceship-game-ive-ever-played/

 

[ElectricZ]

This is an amazingly rational article about the game, and the one I would point to anybody who is thinking about buying ED. It tells what makes ED great, but also about where it sucks, and gives an excellent idea of what the game is about: being the hands-on pilot of a space ship. There's enough genuine information that a reader can make an intelligent decision about whether or not it's a good game for them.

Bravo, Ars Technica.

 

[Smugallo]

This is an amazingly rational article about the game, and the one I would point to anybody who is thinking about buying ED. It tells what makes ED great, but also about where it sucks, and gives an excellent idea of what the game is about: being the hands-on pilot of a space ship. There's enough genuine information that a reader can make an intelligent decision about whether or not it's a good game for them.

Bravo, Ars Technica.

I think it's more or less bang on the money. I want to play, I do, but I haven't quite forgiven Frontier for the state the game launched in, and the state it's currently in. At the rate they are going at it's going to be at least a couple of years before the games up to scratch. Players will get bored and taper off eventually, then you'll get the guys like me who log in every big update to see whats new, sigh, then log back out until the next one. Hopefully funding for the game continues and we get the game they pitched at the kickstarter!

 

[Mellom]

I think it's more or less bang on the money. I want to play, I do, but I haven't quite forgiven Frontier for the state the game launched in, and the state it's currently in. At the rate they are going at it's going to be at least a couple of years before the games up to scratch. Players will get bored and taper off eventually, then you'll get the guys like me who log in every big update to see whats new, sigh, then log back out until the next one. Hopefully funding for the game continues and we get the game they pitched at the kickstarter!

Exactly my thoughts.

 

[Joe Spivey]

Excellent review. The good, the bad and the ugly laid out sensibly for all to see.

 

[Surly_Badger]

Agreed; it's an excellent and fair review.

 

[Ydiss]

A decent review. Shame all the comments show no one seems to realise you don't need to spend hundreds on a stick and vr to enjoy the game. I use mouse and keyboard just fine and love the game.

The only bit I don't agree with in the review is the statement that the flight model is nonsensical. The flight model makes combat so much more fun than yaw-wars.

 

[Sanderson]

Best review I've read to date. Thanks for the link.

 

[Derath]

A decent review. Shame all the comments show no one seems to realise you don't need to spend hundreds on a stick and vr to enjoy the game. I use mouse and keyboard just fine and love the game.

The only bit I don't agree with in the review is the statement that the flight model is nonsensical. The flight model makes combat so much more fun than yaw-wars.

this x1000, yaw wars are horrible this combats really quite enjoyable with the way it works

 

[Surly_Badger]

The only bit I don't agree with in the review is the statement that the flight model is nonsensical. The flight model makes combat so much more fun than yaw-wars.

I agree. It was a good choice that makes the game-play much better.

Besides, most of the ships in space opera movies don't yaw very well, either: X-wings, TIEs, Vipers, etc.

 

[dannysquid]

The only bit I don't agree with in the review is the statement that the flight model is nonsensical. The flight model makes combat so much more fun than yaw-wars.

For me, the flight model is one of the game's real triumphs. But I agree with pretty much everything else in the review.

 

[wstephenson]

From the article:

"The instancing means that you’ll never run into more than a few dozen players at any given moment, as that’s the upper limit on the number of players that can be in any given instance. You’ll never find yourself parked outside of Lave Station watching a thousand players shuttle in and out of the docking bay—there might be a thousand players at Lave at the moment, but only a handful will be in your instance with you."

I wonder whether the 'new way to interact with the galaxy' trailed for 1.3 in last week's dev update would be some more artful hiding of the 16-32 player instance limit, like, for example, somehow giving an abstracted view of real player volumes either on the galaxy map or in Supercruise? At the moment we only have the Community Goal stats and the traffic reports to see in-game how many players are active in a system.

 

[SiriusSeven]

Good review. Right on the money.

I am biased, but I found this passage bang on:

There are going to be those players who love—indeed, prefer—this kind of multiplayer experience. The game’s paths to advancement aren’t enough for everyone, and if there’s one thing people are good at, it’s adding emergent gameplay into a sandbox like Elite. However, for what I want out of a game, solo play is the superior way to play Elite: Dangerous. It’s also the only way to keep your game completely clear of idiots whose primary goal is blowing you up because it’s funny.

I think it's time for more secure core systems, or an Open PvE mode, so we can still have people play online together.

 

[halo jones 101]

A good clear and thoughtful review of all aspects both good and bad about ED thus far...

 

[MissMeYet]

Lee is a fracking rock star. He's got:

Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/flying-in-style-with-thrustmasters-450-warthog-joystick/2/

Custom made flight pedals:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...00-in-a-polish-bank-account-and-contact-slaw/

He got to fly a US Navy F18 simulator:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014...s-the-navys-fa-18-sim-into-the-danger-zone/2/

And his game setup is first class:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014...rs-work-our-computers-let-us-show-you-them/2/

 

[Silh]

A decent review. Shame all the comments show no one seems to realise you don't need to spend hundreds on a stick and vr to enjoy the game. I use mouse and keyboard just fine and love the game.

The only bit I don't agree with in the review is the statement that the flight model is nonsensical. The flight model makes combat so much more fun than yaw-wars.

Yeah, I posted a number of different replies that keyboard + mouse is fine, but they seemed to be mostly ignored.

The yaw-limited flight model is non-sensical (as are the speed-limits) in that the physics make no sense. But it does make gameplay sense!

 

[Sgt Doom]

If someone asks me if they should get the game, i'll probably just link them to this review. Only thing I disagree with is about the flight model, which I personally quite enjoy.

 

[Daffan]

Make-work and repetition. Sounds correct actually. However i like the term busy-work better, but both are equally boring.

 

[MacKerris]

Thanks for the link. I agree it is a fair review, it comes across as positive but shows the negative as well.

 

[Simi Kusoni]

Yeah, I posted a number of different replies that keyboard + mouse is fine, but they seemed to be mostly ignored.

The yaw-limited flight model is non-sensical (as are the speed-limits) in that the physics make no sense. But it does make gameplay sense!

That's somewhat subjective, I started off playing with K+M then swapped to my xbox controller and eventually got a HOTAS as I plan on playing star citizen etc. in the future anyway.

IMHO I'd be very hard pressed to beat a CMDR with a HOTAS using keyboard and mouse, or even an xbox controller.