The Not so Engoodening of Elite Dangerous Odyssey Review - How I Fell Out of Love

[Sighman]

such as?

I'm sure NMS fans could argue the exact same sentiment in reverse - Elite Odyssey offers nothing very different after X hours but in NMS there's always something to do.

Community goals. Helping to win wars, elections, etc for my minor faction (and the whole BGS). Trading commodities. Aligning with different major factions to obtain all the special hardware. Teaming up with friends and going on a rampage at some settlement. Three-four types of mining. Exploring a vast universe.

With NMS I found I was moving on from one planet to the next, like a yellow brick road to nowhere. In Elite I like to get familiar with a given area and start influencing the factions.

Bear in mind if I get 100 hours out of any game I'm more than happy. I'm happy I bought and played NMS, but nothing is drawing me back. Elite I've been playing on and off since launch, sometimes with gaps of a year or more. Then I get the urge to explore, or some goal tickles my fancy, and I'm back again.

 

[Stikkit]

Yes, fans of the respective games enjoy playing their games. I have now roughly 75 hours or so in EDO and having a blast. As a Mass Effect fan I was very much looking forward to the remaster but I haven't even installed it yet: the mission based gameplay is simply really fun to me in EDO.

And if others prefer NMS, that's cool. Multiple games exist for a reason.

oh for sure, I'm not raining on anyone's parade, just pointing out that arguing subjective levels of 'content' in 2 games that are similar (open ended proc gen galaxy etc) doesn't really mean aything.

 

[Ian Skippy]

oh for sure, I'm not raining on anyone's parade, just pointing out that arguing subjective levels of 'content' in 2 games that are similar (open ended proc gen galaxy etc) doesn't really mean aything.

Personally I'd argue both have tons of content, but in both games it's not immediately apparent when starting out. Same with X4. It's pretty crazy the value for money these three games offer. Which has 'the most' content is indeed up for debate. Would be a pretty drab debate too.

 

[StanleyDunkan]

The difference is I paid for a game in 2014 which FD said would get FPS eventually. There was FPS concept art. FPS played a big role in the novels at launch. I have waited seven years for FPS to be delivered.

We all want different things, and it's cool if someone doesn't like the EDO content. But I am a bit tired of people pretending that the stuff they promised way back in KS is some kind of bizarre deviation from their plan. It's not. And every single time FD adds something part of the community goes nuts that FD didn't add the thing they wanted.

But it's not always your birthday and at some point one should learn to behave with some dignity when your little brother gets a gift and you don't.

Performance issues? Bugs? Valid reasons for being annoyed. Someone doesn't like to infiltrate a base, disable some alarm, steal some ID to stealthily assassinate some target? Well booohoo.

Actually they didn't even promised FPS on Planets, just inside Space Ports. So Odyssey delivered much much more than what was on that Road Map.

Road Map from Newsletter 29

If only they didn't rushed with the release - this would have been perfect continuation of Elite journey. The whole concept of adding a new role of beeing a Mercenary was very visionary of them.

 

[[VR] Zakk]

But it's not always your birthday and at some point one should learn to behave with some dignity when your little brother gets a gift and you don't.

Fair enough. But in this case, the little brother had been promised a pony years ago, when the parents had a careless moment and made a promise they didn't really think through. And now that they were hell-bent to fulfill the promise, they didn't have money to fix the roof anymore, leave the door unhinged, and had to sell the TV and replace it by an older model, only to be able to afford a pony - that now turns out to be sickly and have a hobbled leg.

You could argue that "we" got our promises fulfilled earlier already. So now it's your turn to get yours. You got your FPS part, and I'm glad that you like it. I really are.

But it could mark the beginning of the end for the franchise. Because no matter how much you like it, there seem to be a lot of people out there who don't.

And even many who do enjoy Odyssey gameplay admit that it is fun for a few dozen hours. Then you have seen and done everything, and there is little motivation to go on. It doesn't look like the same applied to pre-Odyssey Elite. A space sim in which many people invested hundreds, if not thousands of hours.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Fair enough. But in this case, the little brother had been promised a pony years ago, when the parents had a careless moment and made a promise they didn't really think through. And now that they were hell-bent to fulfill the promise, they didn't have money to fix the roof anymore, leave the door unhinged, and had to sell the TV and replace it by an older model, only to be able to afford a pony - that now turns out to be sickly and have a hobbled leg.

Oh come on man. They did "think it through", they charged for it, people have been looking forward to it for years.
You may not like it, but the actual gameplay and AI is better than what other space games offer in terms of FPS. Or open world games ala Bethesda. The EDO gameplay is pretty neat for those into this stuff.

This constant crapping on stuff an individual doesn't like is really quite meh.

 

[Erei]

Oh come on man. They did "think it through", they charged for it, people have been looking forward to it for years.
You may not like it, but the actual gameplay and AI is better than what other space games offer in terms of FPS. Or open world games ala Bethesda. The EDO gameplay is pretty neat for those into this stuff.

This constant crapping on stuff an individual doesn't like is really quite meh.

I disagree. The AI is very basic.
-target the closest enemies (no sense of priority target). Including 360 no scope if you jump behind them when they are engaged in a firefight (no flanking really possible)
-wallhack, and "omniscient". It will know your shield, hp, position and everything even through wall. They will throw a frag grenade over a building the exact moment you disable the shield. A shield one the moment you activate it
-Aimbot. To compensate they have absolute trash accuracy on their weapons. Except for the sniper rifle.
-AI have 2 mode : push and swarm, or stay at range for sniper. That's it.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Oh come on man. They did "think it through", they charged for it, people have been looking forward to it for years.
You may not like it, but the actual gameplay and AI is better than what other space games offer in terms of FPS. Or open world games ala Bethesda. The EDO gameplay is pretty neat for those into this stuff.

This constant crapping on stuff an individual doesn't like is really quite meh.

Hey, I'm a "boomer", honestly... (as it appears that folk of my generation are thought to be real boring 'stick in the mud' types)

I think I have more hours of play in Odyssey than you do (maybe twice as much, thereabouts) and am having a great time, which doesn't seem to be diminishing the more I play.
Odd, aren't I?

 

[Koma Pahu]

I disagree. The AI is very basic.
-target the closest enemies (no sense of priority target). Including 360 no scope if you jump behind them when they are engaged in a firefight (no flanking really possible)
-wallhack, and "omniscient". It will know your shield, hp, position and everything even through wall. They will throw a frag grenade over a building the exact moment you disable the shield. A shield one the moment you activate it
-Aimbot. To compensate they have absolute trash accuracy on their weapons. Except for the sniper rifle.
-AI have 2 mode : push and swarm, or stay at range for sniper. That's it.

But how does it compare to other space games? I genuinely don’t know.

I do agree that it’s basic though.

 

[The Atlas]

I disagree. The AI is very basic.
-target the closest enemies (no sense of priority target). Including 360 no scope if you jump behind them when they are engaged in a firefight (no flanking really possible)
-wallhack, and "omniscient". It will know your shield, hp, position and everything even through wall. They will throw a frag grenade over a building the exact moment you disable the shield. A shield one the moment you activate it
-Aimbot. To compensate they have absolute trash accuracy on their weapons. Except for the sniper rifle.
-AI have 2 mode : push and swarm, or stay at range for sniper. That's it.

-they move like drunk people on partys
-at close range their "melee" as ive seen is little to non existent
-they will still walk into stuff very often
-they look, feel, move and shoot dumb overall
and we are in 2021, older games had better npc ai than this, but then there's also cyberpunk.....

 

[Erei]

But how does it compare to other space games? I genuinely don’t know.

I do agree that it’s basic though.

Space game usually don't have any AI on the ground. Usually. I don't know how they work in SC, but it's alpha anyway.
You're comparing apple and bacon.

If you compare to shooters and the like, then no, ED lose. In about every way possible. Which is ok, because it's not a shooter. But don't try to act as if its shooter component is suddenly top tier.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I disagree. The AI is very basic.
-target the closest enemies (no sense of priority target). Including 360 no scope if you jump behind them when they are engaged in a firefight (no flanking really possible)
-wallhack, and "omniscient". It will know your shield, hp, position and everything even through wall. They will throw a frag grenade over a building the exact moment you disable the shield. A shield one the moment you activate it
-Aimbot. To compensate they have absolute trash accuracy on their weapons. Except for the sniper rifle.
-AI have 2 mode : push and swarm, or stay at range for sniper. That's it.

I didn't say it wasn't basic, I said it's better than what NMS and SC offer.

Compared to a dedicated FPS EDO doesn't win, but compared to its peers? Hands down. I never felt Fallout4 fps should measure up to dedicated FPS, or GTA5 driving to a dedicated racing game.

I compare these games with other games in the genre, seems fair to me.

 

[[VR] Zakk]

Oh come on man. They did "think it through", they charged for it, people have been looking forward to it for years.
You may not like it, but the actual gameplay and AI is better than what other space games offer in terms of FPS. Or open world games ala Bethesda. The EDO gameplay is pretty neat for those into this stuff.

This constant crapping on stuff an individual doesn't like is really quite meh.

Honest question:

How many hours did you play pre-Odyssey Elite?
Do you feel you will invest around the same amount of hours into Odyssey?

 

[Ian Skippy]

Space game usually don't have any AI on the ground. Usually. I don't know how they work in SC, but it's alpha anyway.
You're comparing apple and bacon.

If you compare to shooters and the like, then no, ED lose. In about every way possible. Which is ok, because it's not a shooter. But don't try to act as if its shooter component is suddenly top tier.

Both NMS and SC do, and EDO is better than both. Also better than some open world RPGs outside the space genre (outer worlds, fallout) and I'd easily place it above GTA too.

 

[The Atlas]

I didn't say it wasn't basic, I said it's better than what NMS and SC offer.

Compared to a dedicated FPS EDO doesn't win, but compared to its peers? Hands down. I never felt Fallout4 fps should measure up to dedicated FPS, or GTA5 driving to a dedicated racing game.

I compare these games with other games in the genre, seems fair to me.

NMS has no NPC's per say, it has sentinels, and they have progression levels, swarming, they get harder as you progress, and they act less dumber than odyssey humans. Sure NMS is not focused on combat(at all) so it has its downsides, but the upper sides(at least in the beginning of the game as many of us are on odyssey) are way better than EDO right now, specially the progression, and the sentinels lose you of sight if you run and hide behind a building, no omnipowers there(unless you enter the building, then they get dumb XD)

and even if i compate to an unrelated open world game, lets say red dead 2, it's worse
and red dead is 3 years old now

 

[Koma Pahu]

Space game usually don't have any AI on the ground. Usually. I don't know how they work in SC, but it's alpha anyway.
You're comparing apple and bacon.

If you compare to shooters and the like, then no, ED lose. In about every way possible. Which is ok, because it's not a shooter. But don't try to act as if its shooter component is suddenly top tier.

From what I’ve heard SC AI is decent, but generally doesn’t work.

I feel it could do with a few tweak here in Odyssey, but personally I don’t want dedicated shooter level AI. My mindset is very different when playing ED than when playing a shooter.

 

[Erei]

I didn't say it wasn't basic, I said it's better than what NMS and SC offer.

Compared to a dedicated FPS EDO doesn't win, but compared to its peers? Hands down. I never felt Fallout4 fps should measure up to dedicated FPS, or GTA5 driving to a dedicated racing game.

I compare these games with other games in the genre, seems fair to me.

Yeah but few space games have ground component. Most focus on having a complete space experience first (look at PP, and all the features that were never fleshed out).

The AI we have is serviceable. A little less and we'd have "zombie" ai. Just swarm and shoot, really. The only reason we don't have that yet, is because once in a while they use cover, and sniper want to stay at range.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Honest question:

How many hours did you play pre-Odyssey Elite?
Do you feel you will invest around the same amount of hours into Odyssey?

Roughly 2500 since launch. The question is false though. I don't keep track of how much I spend on 'Horizons', it just added to the game and kept me playing. Same here. EDO really adds a lot for me, also in how it scales things (inter-system missions and trading, just more stuff to do when freelancing around).

I don't think I should feel entitled to thousands of hours from a dlc, but it so far really re-vigoratrd my interest in ED.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Yeah but few space games have ground component. Most focus on having a complete space experience first (look at PP, and all the features that were never fleshed out).

The AI we have is serviceable. A little less and we'd have "zombie" ai. Just swarm and shoot, really. The only reason we don't have that yet, is because once in a while they use cover, and sniper want to stay at range.

I think there are four major space games: ED, NMS, SC, X4. ED is the last to add legs, and one could argue that with NMS and SC most gameplay and time is spend 'with legs'. X4 is the only one were legs is mostly an immersion thing. Then again, so is the flying of ships: it's more a space-themed spreadsheet manager.

Not sure which 'most space games' you refer to, but it doesn't seem to be the major ones?

 

[Rat Catcher]

I disagree. The AI is very basic.

Indeed, there were many complaints in the alpha that the AI made playing "too hard! " so this is what we got...

How many hours did you play pre-Odyssey Elite?
Do you feel you will invest around the same amount of hours into Odyssey?

I'll answer also: Around 4500 hours in ED up to the launch of the Odyssey DLC... I hope to get at least the same following the DLC launch...
(Invest is an odd term, but I just play, others may see things differently)