The core gameplay is boring

[Deleted member 38366]

When I say this game has very basic gameplay people say to me that what I really want is a story driven game, I don't know why they say this because what I say is really clear...

That's why I open this thread because I don't want to talk about a story:

The core of the game: Combat, Trade, Exploration and Mining are very basic, very easy, simplistic and short.

Everything in this game revolves in those 4 activities, Community Goals, Wings and Powerplay included but there wasn't new content in the core gameplay.

And thats why people say there are very little things to do because its true, its always the same recycled basic tasks.
The basic activities are really short and simple, you can learn all from the begining and the only thing that will change is the ship you use, then is a matter of repeat those simple tasks until bored.

I don't mind to do repetitive things when the gameplay is fun!

I know there will be people who will say "this game is not for you move along" "don't come to the forums to say bad things about the game", but I have hope in this game.

In this game you choose an instance and the difficulty, it never ends, it has no goals and you know the outcome of it. The gameplay doesn't have variety and surprises and has no challenge specially in exploration and mining.

The mechanics are so simple that anyone can play it, from a kid to an older guy. Thats not bad but the game has no depth so when you learn how to play thats it, you're done. The gameplay doesn't go further.

Might be unexpected, but my advice is the following :

After you have aquired all these Skills and all the Assets you wanted to have...
IMHO the key is not to repeat the same tasks in the same manner over in over (doing that is what build your Skillset and Assets already).

It's what you do with your Skills and Assets afterwards is what counts.
In short : "leave the Cockpit" for a moment and think bigger

Find something you would want to achieve that
- neither just feeds your Credit Balance
- nor profits you in any classic way (you've probably done exactly that 1000 times already)
- but what you might enjoy working towards instead
- any maybe... just maybe leave behind your Name to be seen & remembered by the Community of CMDRs

Naturally, the Options are limited - but they do exist.

- want to get your name into the Galactic Stellar Record breakers list, then Explore and seek that record find
- want to get your name into List of known Earth-Like Planets, then Explore and seek those Earth-likes
- want to feel the thrill of being the "most wanted man", place yourself into the Top 5 Bounties list and see if you can survive in Open
- see Videos made by big Player Groups and like what they do? Do they seem like they're having fun? Ask to join them, maybe next week everyone can see you in action
- feel inclined towards a certain Government or Faction? Starting working the Background Sim and cast your vote that way
- ever thought about returning to your roots (Starter System) and assist Newbies? Nothing stopping you, even if you never considered it
....(the view of them trying to work things is often worth the trip alone, as it'll show you how far you really have come already).
- can you come up with a crazy plan that seems almost impossible to pull off on 1st sight? The heck with it : try to make it happen anyway!

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

This is something which keeps bothering players. And they should be bothered.
There's a lot to love in this game. From very beatiful/elegant, to expiring, to major fantastic fun. But nothing feels fleshed out and finished.

Exactly. There is indeed much to like about the game. But there are several parts that are tedious beyond belief. Far too many parts of the game seem to just be placeholders - or I hope they are.

 

[Jon flint]

It's only boring if you have no imagination.

Set you're own goals, give your cmdr a backstory and play to that (fed/imp sympathiser,retired pirate, galactic serial killer in hiding etc...). Find some friends and work towards something, anything. Dare I say it, blaze you're own trail

No disrespect intended to the OP, but you get out what you put in.

 

[Enderby]

It's only boring if you have no imagination.

Set you're own goals, give your cmdr a backstory and play to that (fed/imp sympathiser,retired pirate, galactic serial killer in hiding etc...). Find some friends and work towards something, anything. Dare I say it, blaze you're own trail

No disrespect intended to the OP, but you get out what you put in.

Oh my god. This again. Perhaps it's only boring if you do have an imagination?

 

[AJW]

Endless threads about people finding Elite boring are boring.

If you don't enjoy playing, don't...

 

[Jon flint]

Oh my god. This again. Perhaps it's only boring if you do have an imagination?

Please feel free to explain it to me then. If you want to switch off and have entertainment spoonfed to you then Elite isn't the game for you. Maybe try something with cutscenes and a story.. or a book!

 

[Enderby]

Please feel free to explain it to me then. If you want to switch off and have entertainment spoonfed to you then Elite isn't the game for you. Maybe try something with cutscenes and a story.. or a book!

So you don't give any credit to people who comment that the 'gameplay' can be a little dull? No credit at all? It's all their own fault for not having any imagination? OK, well if that's your opinion, but to be honest, to me, it seems to lack a little imagination.

 

[Cynaqq]

I refrained from commenting on this thread until now and lurked to see where it would go. Obviously, it didn't lead anywhere unusual and interesting. The thing is, it's almost as shallow and boring as the mechanics OP is complaining of. There is a simple reason for this.

The reason is, everything the OP says is true.

The game simply lacks deep mechanics. They are repetitive, and if you are not REALLY into space travel and experiencing the emptiness of space itself, is admittedly quite boring. This may sound strange coming from me, someone is openly a fanboy who defends the game and its developers constantly, but I don't recommend this game to any of my friends who play games. I have a few friends to whom I would recommend, but instead I bought them the game so there was no need for recommendations.

Everything in the OP is true, so, why all the heat? Why are the white knights here? Why do some people feel the need to spend time here arguing?

The heat is not because the OP is wrong but because threads like this are perceived to be trolling. Even if everything the OP says is true, it sounds like trolling to those 'fanboys' of the game. The reason is really simple.

The reason is, while everything in the OP is true, they are equally obvious! Anyone and I mean ANYONE who plays this game can and does come to the same very obvious conclusion. The game is in a less than perfect state. There are numerous problems with it. It's shallow and boring to most people. It's all so obvious though, it's so obvious, it's nauseating to read it again and again day in day out. This is why these threads draw so much heat. Not because the OP is wrong, or they are trolling. Just because the criticism is so obvious and so easy to look through given the circumstances the game has been getting developed in.

Normally, if a project of this size would be possible in this day and age to be funded ahead of release through a classical business model, some company would pay for it's development for about 8 to 10 years in hopes that when it's finished and released, it would return a profit. The thing is, no sane company would fund the development of a very ambitious space sandbox for ten years because it's damn risky! If it wasn't, we'd be swimming in space games of this scope for years now. Space games were almost dead for more than a decade and it's just reviving.

The only thing left to do was to fund the game through an ongoing development following release through sales of season passes. This ran the very obvious risk of the early versions of the game getting the exact criticism it is getting right now. If you think about it, it's nothing more than an unfinished game being compared to a finished product in one's head. Nothing more. All the criticism comes to this simple point. The game is unfinished.

We all understand this fact but we get divided in one respect. One part of the community feels that the developers actually know what they are doing and the other part is somehow convinced otherwise. They apparently believe the developers of this project of astronomic proportions need to be reminded of very obvious shortcomings of their own product every hour of every day.

It's always the same complaints.

And it always comes down to this: The developers of this game WILL NOT alter their development plan significantly because they simply can't. It doesn't work like that. They are a conglomeration of different departments working on different aspects of the same project and they have to be coordinated and efficient. If they decided that the placeholder mechanics will have to make do for one season, no amount of complaining will make them reconsider and work on deeper mechanics on the first season. If they decide they'll have to make do for two seasons, then that's it. Players will get stuck with the mechanics for two seasons and if some leave, they will leave. No other way around it with a project of this size. If this was a two man indie project, it might be easier but even that way, you are kinda stuck with what the developer plans because that is simply how humans work.

Therefore, criticise the game fiercely by all means. Point out the flaws from the most minor to the most major in detail. I'm sure the devs appreciate that no matter what the fanboys or white knights say in defense. FD is made up of and headed by very smart people who can distinguish between a useless rant and a valuable insight. They will collect the feedback they deem valuable in a list and they'll address them in a planned fashion by distributing the necessary work through their overarching development plan in an efficient way. The only thing is, repeating the same complaints which are as shallow as the mechanics they are complaining about won't get anything done more than drawing heat and running discussions into a cul de sac.

It's a very fine line between a good criticism and a useless complaint but it's a very important line nonetheless.

 

[Jon flint]

So you don't give any credit to people who comment that the 'gameplay' can be a little dull? No credit at all? It's all their own fault for not having any imagination? OK, well if that's your opinion, but to be honest, to me, it seems to lack a little imagination.

I never said that. Occasionally everyone will have that moment where you tire of whatever you're doing in-game. I know I have, that's when you mix things up a bit to keep yourself going.

But if you can't conceive of some small change or a bit of roleplay to inject into the game and make it worth you're time then I firmly believe it's not the game for you. And of course as with any game a basic level of imagination and suspension of disbelief is required to get the most out of it.

The "read a book" comment wasn't intended as sarcasm, there's some fantastic Elite dangerous fiction on the store that can inject some life into things if what you want is some story to play to.

 

[Ignition]

Might be unexpected, but my advice is the following :

After you have aquired all these Skills and all the Assets you wanted to have...
IMHO the key is not to repeat the same tasks in the same manner over in over (doing that is what build your Skillset and Assets already).

It's what you do with your Skills and Assets afterwards is what counts.
In short : "leave the Cockpit" for a moment and think bigger

Find something you would want to achieve that
- neither just feeds your Credit Balance
- nor profits you in any classic way (you've probably done exactly that 1000 times already)
- but what you might enjoy working towards instead
- any maybe... just maybe leave behind your Name to be seen & remembered by the Community of CMDRs

Naturally, the Options are limited - but they do exist.

- want to get your name into the Galactic Stellar Record breakers list, then Explore and seek that record find
- want to get your name into List of known Earth-Like Planets, then Explore and seek those Earth-likes
- want to feel the thrill of being the "most wanted man", place yourself into the Top 5 Bounties list and see if you can survive in Open
- see Videos made by big Player Groups and like what they do? Do they seem like they're having fun? Ask to join them, maybe next week everyone can see you in action
- feel inclined towards a certain Government or Faction? Starting working the Background Sim and cast your vote that way
- ever thought about returning to your roots (Starter System) and assist Newbies? Nothing stopping you, even if you never considered it
....(the view of them trying to work things is often worth the trip alone, as it'll show you how far you really have come already).
- can you come up with a crazy plan that seems almost impossible to pull off on 1st sight? The heck with it : try to make it happen anyway!

The thing is that are personal goals or excuses and to do that you need to play the same basic mechanics. What I want is a lot better mechanics and then I would have goals.
Otherwise It feels like I would be forced to play with crappy mechanics to enjoy a "modern space sci fi game" and I think some people do because ED is the "new" sensation.

 

[Hooplah]

Try being old. That way you forget everything you did last week in the game. Then it's all brand new this week! The fun never ends. Of course in many years time we'll all be old by the time the game is fully developed. The perfect solution.

 

[Kenaz]

Try being old. That way you forget everything you did last week in the game. Then it's all brand new this week! The fun never ends. Of course in many years time we'll all be old by the time the game is fully developed. The perfect solution.

P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

 

[DanTheMan]

OP's points are well made.
I'm beginning to tire a bit myself after 4,000 Hrs.
I don't like some of the things FD have done (PP, CQC, CG's) and would rather that they had implemented things from the DDF.
With the lack of real missions, real AV content and real conflicts one can get behind (or steer clear of) the game is only a refreshed BBC-Micro version on modern hardware with prettier graphics. IMHO.
Don't get me wrong...it's still fun...up to a point.
LEP means I am happy to "wait & see".

 

[Ignition]

...Therefore, criticise the game fiercely by all means. Point out the flaws from the most minor to the most major in detail. I'm sure the devs appreciate that no matter what the fanboys or white knights say in defense. FD is made up of and headed by very smart people who can distinguish between a useless rant and a valuable insight. They will collect the feedback they deem valuable in a list and they'll address them in a planned fashion by distributing the necessary work through their overarching development plan in an efficient way. The only thing is, repeating the same complaints which are as shallow as the mechanics they are complaining about won't get anything done more than drawing heat and running discussions into a cul de sac.

It's a very fine line between a good criticism and a useless complaint but it's a very important line nonetheless.

OK, I agree with you in your post. But if FD were more open to the community about their plans MAYBE this types of threads didn't pop up all the time.

What's the mystery behind the simple core activities? whats so important that they don't want to tell us, and Im talking ALWAYS for the basic activities, I'm not talking beyond that not aliens etc.

Other thing, why they can't make what we have now a bit more complex, I'm not saying they finish it, just make it more engaging. Why they keep expanding the game and leaving more empty rooms? Its money? Its always about money but if thats true, then they are using their customers. Are the consoles the problem?.

I would like FD to be more open about this.

 

[Cynaqq]

The thing is that are personal goals or excuses and to do that you need to play the same basic mechanics. What I want is a lot better mechanics and then I would have goals.
Otherwise It feels like I would be forced to play with crappy mechanics to enjoy a "modern space sci fi game" and I think some people do because ED is the "new" sensation.

As I said in my post above, you are right. You are right but your complaint is very superficial. We all understand that the mechanics are very simple, one dimensional and potentially boring. That's why a lot of people are recommending either leaving until other mechanics are implemented or adding a little role playing to make things more interesting. You are obviously on the camp that believes FD can somehow change and expand basic mechanics on a whim and the only reason they are not doing so is that they are not aware. I don't think they are not aware.

When I say this, you'll say 'but it's been over a year since released and these issues haven't still been addressed yet!'. You'll probably throw in PP and CQC for good measure too, using them as examples of bad prioritization on FD's part.

The truth is though, none of us knows the exact circumstances in which the decision to prioritize those aspects were made. We don't know their exact reasons. The most apparent reason is that the initial Horizons content, namely the 'planet generation' and the mechanics go along with it, be it near surface flight or SRV driving model, are probably a lot more complex than we understand as players and they had to dedicate a large portion of their work force to those areas. While working on that, they had to make do with simpler additions like PP and CQC to keep things at least a little interesting. It was most probably an act of pure efficiency and compromise rather than incompetent management.

So, FD will implement better mechanics into the game. They've been saying so since the very beginning. It's just that they'll do it within a roadmap they deem most efficient and most profitable. If you want to give really valuable feedback, I suggest designing better mechanics which would successfully replace the current ones and posting them in detail to the suggestions forum. They'll have a much larger probability of being seen by the devs and make it into the game, in due time of course and it will still be a really small probability.

 

[Jon flint]

OP's points are well made.
I'm beginning to tire a bit myself after 4,000 Hrs.
I don't like some of the things FD have done (PP, CQC, CG's) and would rather that they had implemented things from the DDF.
With the lack of real missions, real AV content and real conflicts one can get behind (or steer clear of) the game is only a refreshed BBC-Micro version on modern hardware with prettier graphics. IMHO.
Don't get me wrong...it's still fun...up to a point.
LEP means I am happy to "wait & see".

I conceed that after 4000hrs I may feel differently about some of the less well fleshed out areas of gameplay I'm on a lowly 580hrs.

 

[Cynaqq]

OK, I agree with you in your post. But if FD were more open to the community about their plans MAYBE this types of threads didn't pop up all the time.

What's the mystery behind the simple core activities? whats so important that they don't want to tell us, and Im talking ALWAYS for the basic activities, I'm not talking beyond that not aliens etc.

Other thing, why they can't make what we have now a bit more complex, I'm not saying they finish it, just make it more engaging. Why they keep expanding the game and leaving more empty rooms? Its money? Its always about money but if thats true, then they are using their customers. Are the consoles the problem?.

I would like FD to be more open about this.

I'd like them to be a little more open too but it's a double edged sword. They run the risk of shooting themselves in the foot by over promising. It's always better to take heat up front while working on stuff and then make up for it later than talk about what you are doing in detail and disappoint people down the line when things take longer than you planned.

The reason for the basic activities seem stuck for now and they can't make them just a bit more complex right now can be because of many things. One thing that comes to mind is that they have a more synergistic gameplay system planned which takes time to develop (and judging by the dev update from MB about 2.1, it seems true). MB said that without what they now have and have been developing until now, they wouldn't be able to develop the more complex stuff they are currently working on. We don't exactly know how their systems work so they must have a good reason given that we all wonder these.

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

Imagine the Mona Lisa was an early access painting.
Would it be prudent to criticize Leonardo da Vinci half way through painting it?
Elite is due 8 more major expansions,i don't think we''ll even recognize the original release when all is said and done.
Just enjoy the ride OP,when you get frustrated go exploring!

 

[Ignition]

I conceed that after 4000hrs I may feel differently about some of the less well fleshed out areas of gameplay I'm on a lowly 580hrs.

Well the game for me sadly lasted even a lot less than you.

 

[SnowyNI]

I refrained from commenting on this thread until now and lurked to see where it would go. Obviously, it didn't lead anywhere unusual and interesting. The thing is, it's almost as shallow and boring as the mechanics OP is complaining of. There is a simple reason for this.

The reason is, everything the OP says is true.

The game simply lacks deep mechanics. They are repetitive, and if you are not REALLY into space travel and experiencing the emptiness of space itself, is admittedly quite boring. This may sound strange coming from me, someone is openly a fanboy who defends the game and its developers constantly, but I don't recommend this game to any of my friends who play games. I have a few friends to whom I would recommend, but instead I bought them the game so there was no need for recommendations.

Everything in the OP is true, so, why all the heat? Why are the white knights here? Why do some people feel the need to spend time here arguing?

The heat is not because the OP is wrong but because threads like this are perceived to be trolling. Even if everything the OP says is true, it sounds like trolling to those 'fanboys' of the game. The reason is really simple.

The reason is, while everything in the OP is true, they are equally obvious! Anyone and I mean ANYONE who plays this game can and does come to the same very obvious conclusion. The game is in a less than perfect state. There are numerous problems with it. It's shallow and boring to most people. It's all so obvious though, it's so obvious, it's nauseating to read it again and again day in day out. This is why these threads draw so much heat. Not because the OP is wrong, or they are trolling. Just because the criticism is so obvious and so easy to look through given the circumstances the game has been getting developed in.

Normally, if a project of this size would be possible in this day and age to be funded ahead of release through a classical business model, some company would pay for it's development for about 8 to 10 years in hopes that when it's finished and released, it would return a profit. The thing is, no sane company would fund the development of a very ambitious space sandbox for ten years because it's damn risky! If it wasn't, we'd be swimming in space games of this scope for years now. Space games were almost dead for more than a decade and it's just reviving.

The only thing left to do was to fund the game through an ongoing development following release through sales of season passes. This ran the very obvious risk of the early versions of the game getting the exact criticism it is getting right now. If you think about it, it's nothing more than an unfinished game being compared to a finished product in one's head. Nothing more. All the criticism comes to this simple point. The game is unfinished.

We all understand this fact but we get divided in one respect. One part of the community feels that the developers actually know what they are doing and the other part is somehow convinced otherwise. They apparently believe the developers of this project of astronomic proportions need to be reminded of very obvious shortcomings of their own product every hour of every day.

It's always the same complaints.

And it always comes down to this: The developers of this game WILL NOT alter their development plan significantly because they simply can't. It doesn't work like that. They are a conglomeration of different departments working on different aspects of the same project and they have to be coordinated and efficient. If they decided that the placeholder mechanics will have to make do for one season, no amount of complaining will make them reconsider and work on deeper mechanics on the first season. If they decide they'll have to make do for two seasons, then that's it. Players will get stuck with the mechanics for two seasons and if some leave, they will leave. No other way around it with a project of this size. If this was a two man indie project, it might be easier but even that way, you are kinda stuck with what the developer plans because that is simply how humans work.

Therefore, criticise the game fiercely by all means. Point out the flaws from the most minor to the most major in detail. I'm sure the devs appreciate that no matter what the fanboys or white knights say in defense. FD is made up of and headed by very smart people who can distinguish between a useless rant and a valuable insight. They will collect the feedback they deem valuable in a list and they'll address them in a planned fashion by distributing the necessary work through their overarching development plan in an efficient way. The only thing is, repeating the same complaints which are as shallow as the mechanics they are complaining about won't get anything done more than drawing heat and running discussions into a cul de sac.

It's a very fine line between a good criticism and a useless complaint but it's a very important line nonetheless.

To be quite honest I'm shocked... that for once I (kind of) agree with you!

And to read you admitting to knowing that the game has many issues was very refreshing to say the least.

One minor issue I do have though is that, if they knew, and indeed, we all knew that parts were missing/broken then what was CQC and PP all about then? Was it some misguided idea that sounded good on paper or were we sold out to get in more funds via m/soft, xbox and more sales? They could have been adding depth or fixing issues instead?
That is why I think I criticize this game so much, there was a chance to stay true to the ideas of what was planned, yet we ended up with tripe, bugs and no depth. Does it do any good me ranting on about it? Probably not, but I feel like I've been left with a bitter taste in my mouth and so, I spout!
If they add or do something great, then I praise. There's not been a lot of that this past year. Do I feel entitled? Hell, no. I feel like I see what was offered and then see what was given and they are very different things.

There seems to be a lot of whitewashing over at FD HQ these days. (Steam reviews all deleted?).

Criticism, be it good or bad is a good thing. It let's those that pull strings see that some things need looking at, and sits as a warning to others that all may not be well in the engine room (Keep the band playing, were not sinking comes to mind).
At the end of the day, we all have ideas of what things should be and opinions there of. None of us will probably be correct!

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Imagine the Mona Lisa was an early access painting.
Would it be prudent to criticize Leonardo da Vinci half way through painting it?
Elite is due 8 more major expansions,i don't think we''ll even recognize the original release when all is said and done.
Just enjoy the ride OP,when you get frustrated go exploring!

What if, at the end you still thought she was ugly and wouldn't hang her in your hallway for free!