Wasted Potential of Elite: Dangerous - My reply to ObsidianAnt's new EVE Online video.

[WR3ND]

I'm posting this here as well to get your guys' thoughts on this too and to maybe help encourage FD down a brighter path of game development for Elite's future.

These are my thoughts after having seen the following videos from ObsidianAnt, having played and progressed in Elite: Dangerous for some time now, and having seen most of the early promotional backer material and media for Elite: Dangerous.

Spoiler

[video=youtube;911GnDTFNx0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=911GnDTFNx0[/video]

[video=youtube;bahoENRVp0Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bahoENRVp0Q[/video]

I never got into EVE Online. I wasn't ever really interested in it since it's more of an arbitrary strategy based game that someone needs to progress through and learn the ins and the outs of to excel at instead of an intuitive piloting simulator. I've noticed that a lot of Elite: Dangerous players seem to have played EVE before, so they bring that baggage with them and invariably compare Elite to EVE. I personally find it kind of ironic since EVE holds no weight for me, especially since it wasn't ever anything I was really interested in other than its overall sci-fi space combat theme.

Thanks for the video all the same. This at least gives me a better frame of reference and reconfirms that EVE isn't something I'm interested in. To each their own, as they say.

I do very much hope Frontier figure out how to make use of the potentials of Elite with regard to free-form emergent gameplay. It would be a huge waste and letdown to see them continue on the shortsighted path of self-destruction that they currently seem to be on. As you said previously, I agree that it's all that much more poignant since Elite has the potential to be one of the greatest games of all time.

It seems as if some of Elite's developers are staunch followers of certain unfortunately prevalent game dynamics that have had success (if you want to call it that) elsewhere. This shouldn't come as a surprise though as there are narrow-minded and incompetent people everywhere (have a look at how well human kind takes care of the natural world which it is a part of and depends on); I just had my hopes up and still do to a degree.

I acknowledge that this is a rather harsh and critical viewpoint of the Powerplay update, FD, and of Elite: Dangerous as a whole, so take it with a bit of salt or sugar as you prefer. Though it holds very little interest for me personally, I do think Elite is better off with the Powerplay update than without as it does help to fill out the galaxy a bit.