No Man's Sky

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah. The game looks good. I love the procedural generation. But how does it play? What's the point?

 

[Dac]

I really want to like No Man's Sky, but I'm getting a bit frustrated by all these trailers showing what is functionally the same thing. I get that you can fly to procedurally generated planets and walk around on foot, but what's the actual game like? I want to see what you can actually do on these planets, I want to see the player mining, hunting, fighting, upgrading, and so on. Exploration for its own sake might be fun for a while, but without engaging gameplay NMS will fall flat on its face.

Spore had a massive galaxy to explore with all sorts of interesting creatures to see, and it shared NMS's ultimate goal of reaching the centre of an increasingly hostile galaxy. But it wasn't a good game, and nothing yet has convinced me that No Man's Sky will be.

We've already seen dogfighting mechanics in earlier trailers, and there appears to be an FPS aspect, as there's an ammo counter and grenade/healthpack/mine/life counter too.

Assuming the sheer scale of that second trailer is anywhere NEAR the playable space, there must be an AI bad guy to fight, as even if you had every person on PSN playing, that'd still be a LOT of empty space.

Personally, I'd like to see it share Destiny's premise - the playerbase are all on the same side, and are pushing back AI baddies. Except instead of conquering a lost system, we're exploring strange new worlds....and shooting civilisations in the head. Join sub-classes and factions to do specific tasks. You can have a pure exploration arm, a mining arm and a combat one. Any person can do any one thing, its just once you hit end game you get missions in that thing.

The only thing I'm not seeing here are developed worlds. Sure, a complete cityscape would probably be a bit much, but something bigger than a landing pad complex would be nice. Maybe allowing us to colonize a planet? Set a home planet that we can develop? Purchase/build capital ships that jump further?

I'd say all of these things are plausible, although their implementation may not be possible for launch they are certainly elements that are parts of other games that I would love to see here.

But I think it's safe to say the core mechanic is spacefighter battles. The next thing I'd like to see would be some live gameplay with commentary that actually shows some of it.

 

[Jax]

I've gone from so excited to sooooooooo cold to this project especially with Elite Dangerous on the horizon with updates over the course of 2015 that will introduce some elements found in "No Man's Sky"

But how does it play? What's the point?

This is my issue at the moment + How does the play with friends online work exactly?

 

[TheGodBen]

Personally, I'd like to see it share Destiny's premise - the playerbase are all on the same side, and are pushing back AI baddies. Except instead of conquering a lost system, we're exploring strange new worlds....and shooting civilisations in the head. Join sub-classes and factions to do specific tasks. You can have a pure exploration arm, a mining arm and a combat one. Any person can do any one thing, its just once you hit end game you get missions in that thing.

That would require NMS to be some sort of MMO, while the developers have been cagey in the past about whether the game even has basic multiplayer. Considering the fact that the studio making the game only has 10 people working there, I don't think it's likely for them to create and maintain the sort of server infrastructure that an MMO would require. For now, it's safest to assume that the game will be predominantly singleplayer with perhaps some multiplayer elements.

This is the problem the developers face right here. Because they didn't show you the gameplay you have resorted to imagining what you want the game to be, and it is unlikely to match those expectations. If they don't get the hype under control, NMS will disappoint a lot of people. They need to make a 10 minute developer walkthrough where they show in some detail what you can do in the game other than gawping at the scenery.

 

[Dac]

Personally, I'd like to see it share Destiny's premise - the playerbase are all on the same side, and are pushing back AI baddies. Except instead of conquering a lost system, we're exploring strange new worlds....and shooting civilisations in the head. Join sub-classes and factions to do specific tasks. You can have a pure exploration arm, a mining arm and a combat one. Any person can do any one thing, its just once you hit end game you get missions in that thing.

That would require NMS to be some sort of MMO, while the developers have been cagey in the past about whether the game even has basic multiplayer. Considering the fact that the studio making the game only has 10 people working there, I don't think it's likely for them to create and maintain the sort of server infrastructure that an MMO would require. For now, it's safest to assume that the game will be predominantly singleplayer with perhaps some multiplayer elements.

This is the problem the developers face right here. Because they didn't show you the gameplay you have resorted to imagining what you want the game to be, and it is unlikely to match those expectations. If they don't get the hype under control, NMS will disappoint a lot of people. They need to make a 10 minute developer walkthrough where they show in some detail what you can do in the game other than gawping at the scenery.

I remember seeing a video/hearing someone say that it IS intended to be an MMO like experience with everyone in a shared universe, but that the universe is so big the chances of seeing another player is quite slim.

Now yes, the core team is 10 guys in England. But they seem to be getting a LOT of help from Sony. Considering the buzz it has, I wouldn't be surprised if they are getting a tonne of help from bigger studios.

 

[TheGodBen]

I remember seeing a video/hearing someone say that it IS intended to be an MMO like experience with everyone in a shared universe, but that the universe is so big the chances of seeing another player is quite slim.

I'm guessing it was this video? I had forgotten that they had confirmed multiplayer, but he does say that the game wont be structured like an MMO, that there wont be factions and the like, and that it's focused around the singleplayer experience.

 

[Dac]

Hmm yes. Fair enough. To be fair he DID say there would be MMO-like elements, and that there is a multiplayer component he's not ready to talk about. It really wouldn't surprise me if that was like Destiny's crucible and strike mechanic.

Reading up on reddit and the like, theres talk about the "Malevolent Force" - supposedly the main sorta antagonists in the game. I imagine they inhabit the big pyramid/diamond ships we've seen and act like a robotic galactic police force with a Borg like mechanic. Leave them be and they won't even acknowledge you, but if you kill some native animal life or attack them, they'll come at you with overwhelming force.

 

[TheGodBen]

They have finally explained how the multiplayer element works, and it's very basic. It sounds interesting, but I'm now back to thinking that this predominantly singleplayer game is going to require a PS+ subscription in order to facilitate this gimmick.

 

[SPCTRE]

I'm starting to think there is no way this game will meet expectations, basically everyone I've talked to has a slightly (or wildly) different idea of what this game actually is.

 

[Dac]

They have finally explained how the multiplayer element works, and it's very basic. It sounds interesting, but I'm now back to thinking that this predominantly singleplayer game is going to require a PS+ subscription in order to facilitate this gimmick.

I don't know. Their intention to have fuck all story and explanation for anything reminds me very much of Destiny

 

[Nerroth]

This is the No Man's Sky-themed concert which 65daysofstatic performed at the PlayStation Experience:

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIXIl1lUY_s[/yt]