"The E:D world needs to interact with me"

[Kestril]

So I was having a chat with one of my buddies about Eliteangerous, and we felt things were pretty good with a few exceptions.

Basically, he brought up how "the grind" was a problem, but I don't think that's entirely the case. I think it's the lack of emergent depth to the game. While you can interact with the galaxy, the NPC's never really interact with you (beyond a bounty system.)

Basically, aside from bounties the game world doesn't interact with the player much. So the credits and the ship I have are always a bit "separate." The next enemy ship will spawn in a RES, the USS's appear just for me, and so on. I never really feel a part of the world. So, the only part that I can meaningfully gauge my progress is via credits and ship, making the game about grind rather than space adventures.

I think the game would be helped lots if the 'verse reached out and poked back every once in a while. Here are some examples off the top of my head:

Your assasination target gets away. A few jumps later, your target interdicts you with a wingman for some revenge, you look up at the comms and see "Time for my revenge!" by that tart that got away. Or maybe that fella is the more subtle type, and hires a bounty hunter to interdict you. The bounty hunter, instead of lighting you up, offers, "pay me double what he's offering and he'll be the one that dies in the black."

Maybe after you've bought goods from a station, you get interdicted by some pirates. As it turns out, the station loaded a tracking device in your cargo and is in league with the pirates! Pay them off, run away, whatever the case, they may send a bounty hunter after you to make sure that secret is kept.

But it's not just linear missions, why not mix and match? Say you get a tracker on your ship, but it's an assassin, not pirates! Escape and then he might want revenge, or maybe he'll just want some credits to bribe his employers and keep his reputation intact. Maybe he's now on the run and offers you some credits to team up and take down his former employers. The possibilities and narratives that can be generated with these three scenarios are vast! Moreover, having persistent NPC's gives some permanence and persistance to the world, so it doesn't feel like grinding mobs of identical enemies.

Does anyone else feel this way? Does E;D need some more persistant NPC's and more interaction with the world?

 

[Deadlock989]

Yeah, it would be great.

Shame they've run out of money.

 

[Kestril]

I don't think it would cost too much. The structure is almost there already, and the whole mission system is *almost* something like those examples.

I don't see how it would be that costly to implement.

 

[Armour]

Yeah, it would be great.

Shame they've run out of money.

Can I get a look at their current accounting figures as well? I presume you have a link or something.

 

[Witcherman]

Yeah, I think that most people would like to see this kind of "interactivity" with the ED universe so that it doesn't feel quite so one dimensional. I'd even be happy with just a few more ways to customize my ship, just anything to make this place feel more...lived in.

 

[Barking_Mad]

There's a couple of things floating about re: how much profit they have made - but as far as anyone can tell that post is just nonsense. (I posted this on another thread earlier today).

From here

Frontier Developments has released financial results for six months ending with November 30th, showing that Elite: Dangerous has sold around 300,000 units, earning the company approximately $21 million (£14.1 million). IncGamers has details on this, including a few scenarios Frontier outlines for how they see the game selling over the next few years, ranging from a minimal "base" scenario, through a "bull" scenario where the game sells like hotcakes. Based on this, they are way ahead of their base expectations, which says they will earn £2.5m this year if they manage to sell 250,000 copies, a milestone they have already surpassed. In this model, they project the game will sell two million copies by 2017, which would equal £20.0M in revenue. In their "bull" scenario, if the game sells 750,000 units by the end of this year, they will have earned £7.5M

As of late April the PC version had sold 500,000 copies. Since it's release on Steam it's sold another 190,000 copies. If the above is accurate they'll have made close to £7.5m. That excludes a smaller number of Mac copies sold. Then there's Xbox copies.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

'Emergent' gameplay is exactly what this game needs. I still hope they'll add it, preferably sonner rather than later.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I'd like to see some pre-written crafting missions.

A faction you are friendly with gives you a BB mission to hunt down a ship as they are believed to have some secret module tech on board. You find them, destroy their ship and scoop the cargo. You return it to the faction who then reverse engineer it and ask you to go to various places in the galaxy to find rare components that are used to make it work. Your reward? A stash of money a free module for your ship with the new tech and blueprints to do with as you wish

 

[kilvenny]

I am confused by the numbers which I think are based on sales at 10 pound a copy which was what that forecast was based on, rather than 40 pounds which its been at until recently. 1M copies at 40 pounds sterling is 40 million sterling, so 500K sales in 20M. The big issue is the financial year end passed so the sales need to be good for the year coming. They also have to match costs which we can only guesstimate.

 

[Cat_Astrophe]

I'm going to make a prediction here...
.
ONe day the universe WILL start interacting with you guys just like you say you want it to... and you will have nothing but complaints.
.
Just wait and see. And no, I'm not going to argue with you guys, as I believe it may be a case of "Be careful what you wish for because you may just get it". I will, however, laugh when it happens.

 

[Ekar]

Does anyone else feel this way? Does E;D need some more persistant NPC's and more interaction with the world?

Most definitely. The game needs a ton of new content to interrupt the grind factor and a way to do that is through the NPCs. They should be full of surprises... agents of chaos. At the level of 'one man/woman, one ship' that the game is being pitched on, it's these stories which need to come to the fore, the everyday surprises of dealing with other pilots out there in the crazy calm of space.

 

[HurstLlama]

Persistent NPCs in long running missions in a multiplayer galaxy. Nice idea but perhaps not easy to implement, for example what happens to your mission when I stop by and blow the NPC into dust? Similarly the idea that having finished a mission it is going to come back to haunt me with a second stage might sound great but what about mission timers? I might already be doing something and be time critical with it, the last thing I need is for my work to be interrupted by some leftover from I mission I have already finished. Does this second stage have a timer on it? In which case what happens if I have no intention of playing the game for a few days or even hours? These things sound good but the coding effort, and server resources, needed should not be underestimated.

As for emergent game play, that is a term that gets bandied around here an awful lot but I am not sure anyone knows what it means. A week or two ago one poster held up Skyrim as an example fo emergent gameplay in which the universe was affected by the players actions. Skyrim? Well it as very big collection of fetch and kill quests with some "grinding" added in as a not so optional extra and it was single player. EVen then some quests became unavailable or non completable if the wrong NPC got killed by a dragon or the player in a testy mood. So what is this emergent game play that everyone wants?

 

[Arcanonn]

There's a couple of things floating about re: how much profit they have made - but as far as anyone can tell that post is just nonsense. (I posted this on another thread earlier today).

From here




As of late April the PC version had sold 500,000 copies. Since it's release on Steam it's sold another 190,000 copies. If the above is accurate they'll have made close to £7.5m. That excludes a smaller number of Mac copies sold. Then there's Xbox copies.

Indeed I don't think running out of money is going to be their problem right now.

In terms of living up to the diverse expectations of all of the players of the game, rather them than me.

The potential is huge but how they prioritise what to work on next will be make or break in the long run. There's a lot of space to fill.

 

[Commander Dave]

"The ED world needs to interact with me"

Do you need everything to come to you on a plate?
Why don't you try interacting with it?

 

[rootsrat]

Persistent NPCs in long running missions in a multiplayer galaxy. Nice idea but perhaps not easy to implement, for example what happens to your mission when I stop by and blow the NPC into dust? Similarly the idea that having finished a mission it is going to come back to haunt me with a second stage might sound great but what about mission timers? I might already be doing something and be time critical with it, the last thing I need is for my work to be interrupted by some leftover from I mission I have already finished.

What happens now if you kill someone else's assassination mission target?

 

[_nuani]

Why don't you try interacting with it?

How? By shooting at it? Because there's not much else you can do.

I have to agree that emergent gameplay is one of the things that this game needs the most (imo!), and the OP showed some good examples of this. Would make the galaxy feel more alive and believable and less predictable and thus boring.

 

[Adam Lusardi]

Have you read the DDA on persistent Npcs?
What I would like to see is maybe the interdiction leading to escort missions then in to wing missions eventually leading to tier one invite to join a PP. Not just pick a 2D PP.
The same goes for exploring, mining etc random tier two interaction, not just picking a mission off a board.

 

[ermtony]

How? By shooting at it? Because there's not much else you can do.

There is plenty more you can do! You have to look beyond the pew-pew. The underlying political-economic sim can be influenced by the players and in many different ways.

I have to agree that emergent gameplay is one of the things that this game needs the most (imo!), and the OP showed some good examples of this. Would make the galaxy feel more alive and believable and less predictable and thus boring.

What seemed to be being advocated was scripted events. Sounds a lot like Skyrim to me. Don't get me wrong, I love Skyrim but I don't expect it to be what it isn't, just as I don't expect (or want) ED to be what it isn't. Sadly there would be a limit to how many such events could be created (they would need to be written specifically) and it would seem very odd in game to get the same ones again.

The real emergent game play (IMO of course) comes from the underlying sim, not scripted encounters. The likes of PP and CGs strike me as devices to prod the players in that direction. Further development of that underlying sim is what I feel is really needed.

Ultimately, for me, the game is the journey and not defined by the end result. We each write our own story. It's a change in mind-set from many games these days.

At the moment I'm in a stripped down Hauler, out in The Black, starting to head home after a week long test drive. Might change it for a T6. I was tempted to get back as soon as I could but then I thought why? Better to take the slow road, explore some more (and earn some more) and see what I can find. And when I do get back and sell the data some faction is going to change there opinion of me and offer me better jobs and prices. Once I'm back in my souped up Cobra, smuggling and trading and indulging in opportunistic bounty hunting, that improved relationship will help me write my story.

I love it!

 

[Privata]

Yeah, it would be great.

Shame they've run out of money.

they have the money but games dont grow on trees they must first program the features before puting them in

 

[Cmdr NXS Tripp]

To the Op. It is there already you just need to look for it. I'm tired and need some sleep but as an example I took a load of palladium from one station and was interdicted in the very next one. He had some idea I had stuff since he said he was looking for a fat hauler. Wether it was a beacon or just a relay I don't, and never will, know but what I do know is what faction he's apart of and can now reek havok on them.
You don't need everything handed to you on a silver plater & spoon. Figure out who your enemies are and go get them. There are many other ways the system tells you what is going on but it doesn't just say go to XYZ.