Prior to the NEXT update, which arrived 11 months after their previous major update,
very few in the gaming community would have said HG were competent. The NEXT update itself introduced hundreds of bugs (the
first NMS Reddit NEXT Bugs Megathread reached 3300 comments before being unstickied).
One wonders if this community would prefer if FDev went dark for 11 months then released a large update, followed by a smattering of fixes to a small proportion of reported bugs.
Actually since Next dropped, there have been several large bug fix updates, the latest one just yesterday. At 4gb, its almost as big as a content update...thats the difference between the two games right there and why thats Im still playing NMS and ED is now in danger of deletion from the HD to an external backup hd...to make way fer games that are actually fun.
Its surprised me somewhat in terms of just how much there is...hundred hours in and Ive only just started learning about portals which allow instant travel over massive distance...quite rare and hard to find apparently cos until the game directed me towards one, I didnt even know they existed. A little spoon feeding and leading by the hand to point a player in the right direction...not too much not too little, baby bear will eat that porridge quite happily.
And thats still flying small ships only, even if its the best supreme class fighter money can buy, its still technically a small ship. Not counting the freighter which is still only the basic model sadly...trying to upgrade to a much bigger mobile base over the weekend. Now that Im farming using hydroponic trays, I need to think about expansion and quickly as production begins to overtake distribution.
Thats why its pointless comparing the two...those are part of the fleet and base building mechanic of NMS...something which ED doesnt have in any shape or form and which many will argue against ever seeing in this game because...reasons.
I loved the survival aspect in the beginning, but now its all about building fleets of frigates, corsairs and battleships, repairing them when they get damaged, keeping them refuelled etc. They sit in a low orbit around the planet where one has built ¨Bob Marley Memorial¨ which has over the space of a week went from a couple of wooden shacks to a small city of iron and concrete and something called ¨living glass¨ which makes outdoor hydroponics possible on an industrial scale.
The flight model many seem to make noise about...ok so thats where ED shines more brightly but its not all bad. The reason its not all bad is because the flight model in third person perspective is uncannily familiar to the flight model of Freelancer from near 2 decades ago. Now while many will see the part where its based on a 2 decade old design, the game freelancer itself was where the love affair with space games began. So while its a fairly simple design, its actually a lotta fun when ye learn how to actually use it.
Gotta say, theres more negativity surrounding the future of this game...less emphasis on fun gameplay and more emphasis on grind mechanics. Both games have grind but in one, ye can actually see what progress ye make while in the other, ye see a percentage bar and thats if yer lucky. I spent an hour last night mining pure ferrite...thats grind but it then meant I could add a new extension onto my base, so thats a visual clue as to how one can see progress being made.
So by all means, keep up with the comparisons between the two...cos as time moves on and HG keep releasing regular bug fixes, it seems as though ED is losing more and more ground on a daily basis now. And if HG start working on their flight model instead of their planetary content and their bug fixing...well then time will tell the tale better than anyone here can.
But as yer on a roll with bug mega threads, lets make a few comparisons shall we? Level the playing field as it were. Anyone fer another beigification debacle? How long did that roll on on this very forum? Longer than 11 months and more than one mega thread...several to be exact. And thats just one example...so like I say, by all means lets keep comparing cos ED looks to be turning up to the gunfight with a rusty old kitchen knife.
Puts a few things into perspective yes?