Topic: No Mans Sky

Outside of the awful inventory space, I'm really liking the game.

The first hour or so blew me away. I was on a toxic rain planet desperately trying to fix ship and get my bearings before I died. I explored a fair old bit of the region but came across sentient life IMMEDIATELY. I thought that was supposed to be a super rare moment? Anyway, the feeling of blasting off with an inventory full of fuel and entering space was very liberating, as was seeing another planet and landing on it. The terrain was so different, it did feel like being an intrepid explorer.

The issue I have is that I was au fait enough with the mechanics to jump around my system and touch down on all the planets there and stick a flag on them but I don't know what to do next; do I explore my system fully , build up wealth, resources and equipment , or do I go on to a NEW system and take a look around?

I can see how after the first few hours people could be turned off by the repetition and aimlessness, but so far it's been what I'd hoped it to be, but with a couple of warning flags about how diverse the new planets will be? And what will compelling you to explore a planetime further, other than a quick flyover and land somewhere?

After one night of playing it, I'm expecting the reviews to fall in the high seventies to low eighties on Metacritic.

This is a game that some people will love, but others will be thoroughly unimpressed with. For my part, I'm really enjoying my time with it. It's giving me a sense of awe and wonder that I haven't felt playing a game in as long as I can remember. It's also fantastically depressing. It's like one of those videos on YouTube that shows you the scale of the universe just to remind you of how small and insignificant you are, but an interactive version. It's humbling and actually quite a sad and lonely experience.

I question how long the game will stay entertaining, but currently I'm loving just walking around and making a record of the flora and fauna.

Managed to get about 3 hours play on NMS last night and absolutely loved every second of it. Huge, mysterious, relaxing, awe-inspiring and completely unique. I might even cancel my FFXV pre-order, because there is no way I'm going to have room for it in September, might have to wait until 2017.

As predicted, NMS really isn't a game for everyone - it just isn't. But I am absolutely in love with it at the moment and I can see myself losing hundreds of hours in this incredible universe. I honestly can't think of a single game that has ever captured such a true sense of the wonder of discovery and exploration. It's infectious and I'm counting down the hours today until I can go home and blast off to some new horizon.

The negative stuff out there is a bit of a shame, as it seems people really like vocalizing how much they don't like it, in an almost defensive way. I imagine it would be a difficult game to review, because you really do kind of have to take one stance or the other, which brings about the issue of how much of yourself you put into a review. Will be interested to see what Push Square make of it all.

@SegaBlueSky: Sounds good. I'm a bit more excited about picking this up now, I actually enjoyed Proteus on Vita for what it was but was disappointed there wasn't a bit more interactivity going on. NMS is obviously a deeper experience so I should enjoy it. I've got to say though, I'll be really surprised if the game lasts you as long as you think it will... Maybe I'm wrong but usually the bottom comes up on this type of experience quite suddenly and you go from having insane amounts of fun to wondering what you're wasting your time for in the same session lol.

@kyleforrester87: No you're probably right, think it's just the initial excitement getting me at the moment I do genuinely think there's a chance though - if the core mechanics of a game are good enough then I'm happy with a relatively repetitive experience. My Rocket League stats are proof of that! If Hello Games keep the updates coming then this really will keep my busy for a long time, so 100 hours isn't totally unrealistic, IMO. But between this and Last Guardian along with all the other games I'm still playing or haven't even started, I just don't need anything else for the rest of this year!

@SegaBlueSky: On going and meaningful support for NMS would be ace, hopefully they can live upto it

To me it seems there is a difference between those gamers that are coming to it 'fresh', played maybe 5-6hrs and a reviewer who has put in lots of hours. I get the impression that sooner or later you are going to hit that wall - yet another planet that's essentially the same as the last although it may look different, gathering yet more resources for what specifically, how disjointed everything is from the world - the lack of physics, AI (animals behave the same, Alien ships behave the same), Mechanics - space combat, shooting are basic. Its easy to get lost in the shear scale of this game, the way it looks etc, but after a while, it seems, people are hitting that wall where the next planet offers virtually the same as the last planet which offers virtually the same as the next and the next etc. That's without considering the technical issues too. It seems to me that it depends on the person as to when they hit that wall- whether its sooner or later. I wonder how many will still be playing after 30hrs? after 50?

@SegaBlueSky:
Thanks for summing up my feelings. I think it's really funny how polarising everything is at the moment; my friend is very passionate about Suicide Squad, because it feels almost an injustice when people who were determined to give something a kicking and spent two years saying "well, this is going to be rubbish" turn around and go "I knew this was rubbish, what a load of rubbish, I said it would be rubbish and I went in waiting to hate it, and guess what? I hated it, you guys who like it are mugs".

I think especially with games, you need to give something enough time to breathe and be objective to form a review. I understand how you could call NMS a 5/10 mediocre game, based on 2 days play but equally in the limited sample of the whole experience, I could see how it could be a 1/10 , or a 10/10 after two days. I think the proof in the pudding will be in the weeks to come.

See you in space!

Does anyone know how many words is in a aliens races vocab? I learned about 150 of the Korvak's words last night (and got a top rank lvl 10 achievment for it but I still can't make heads nor tail of any conversations with them?

FYI I'm about 5 hours in, 2 1/2 of those learning words solely on one random alien again and again and again gawd help him lol. Why can't I buy a dictionary with all the words ffs? lol. I've only been on my starting world and the closest one with a space station orbiting it so taking it slow b4 I head out into the wide vasts of space. So far loving the game and know it's one I'll reach for again and again over the lifespan of my ps4. Great game for me anyhow.

This game seems like way too much of a time sink.

I wasn't really excited for this game to begin with, but I was impressed with some screenshots. However after reading some reviews and first impression I think I know this isn't a game for me, definitely not at €60. I can understand why many people are disappointed with it. The first few hours may be okay, but that procedural generation is going to rinse and repeat a lot of elements. I mean, the trailer looked fantastic; combat, action and space battles, but they paint a completely different picture from how the actual game plays like.

@Wesker: Ahh but the best games always are

@TomKongPhooey:
There are monolits and knowledge stones on planet surfaces, well, there are for me.
I hacked antennas at a mini base and asked it to point me towards a monolith. I actually had enough words to "get the gist" of a monolith and space station alien and I felt so chuffed.

I just feel...overwhelmed.

One of the things Sean said is that the purpose of this game in his and his team's eyes is to make the player feel something. The vastness of space, the vastness of a single planet, the struggle to locate all the species to scan on a planet, the lack of existing maps, or waypoints. The inventory space is realistic, it is a pain in the ass, but I really don't think the game would improve by giving the players all they want.

I've spent all of yesterday playing, haven't gotten out of my starting system, my priority has been trading enough to buy a decent ship, which I achieved yesterday for the price of 2M units, 24 inventory spaces going on 18 on my exosuit, sadly I forgot I had already fed a warp core to my previous ship, so I need to somehow find more antimatter to power up the hyperdrive and continue my way to the center.

So far I am enjoying it, the crafting is tough, you need to manage your space, and some stuff you need I don't even have a clue as to where to get it. I also think going onwards they'll have to put in some sort of waypoint storing system that we can log in our atlas, even if you can't really fast travel to it, at least markers on the planet, bringing a bit more of cartography into the game, even though major trading outposts are easily found by following the faint lines in the sky. Maybe even improving the scanner to track for mining, it can be very frustrating when you need specific stuff for your ship and can't really find it anywhere, as only isotopes and certain types of resources show up upon a scan, or maybe i just need a better multi tool and that already exists.

All in all, I cannot wait to get home to continue my exploration. One thing I do have to say tho, from the moment I started playing I had this "is this real life" half-smile going on, gotta be a good thing.

Finally got my refund on the store for the digital version. Funds can't be returned to my bank so I'm thinking of putting a pre-order down on BF1 digital.

Bought another copy of this though for £36.01. Should hopefully arrive in the coming days. My buddies seem to be enjoying it. People are really making a big deal out of the multiplayer though. It's laughable. Some of the comments on the latest eurogamer article are ridiculous.

I want to wait to get this for a bit to get through my huge backlog of games, but I'm a bit worried about the center of the universe. If the goal is to get there, eventually most planets will be discovered and named that are close to the center I'd imagine. This takes away a bit of the self discovery. Of course if the center is so vast that the odds are still small of seeing other discoveries that would help. I'm just not sure how long to wait.

Ok. My multitool has an analysis visor, i just found a new tool that doesnt have one. if i make the trade up, will i still have the ability to scan for creatures and plants? I dont want to be stuck withouth that ability. I've checked the create slots and it doesnt seem to be there.

@kyleforrester87: Maybe so, but I sense frustration coming out of this game rather than satisfaction. Destiny is a time sink, but it's also very satisfying to win the firefights on the battlefield. What's the equivalent in this game? Making discoveries?I don't know...

@MadAussieBloke: Yeah man. I've done this twice already & I'm only on my 2nd planet! Game is amazing