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easytarget
05-12-2015, 03:21
I've been keeping tabs on this one for the couple years now it's been working and while it's unfortunate they signed an exclusive launch on the PS4, at least we now know as a result that this thing has a Q4 launch window. Which means on PC it'll probably be Q1 or Q2.

I only hope the hype doesn't crush the soul out of it, but as you can tell from this article (and god knows you've gone mainstream when even The New Yorker is covering your game) the guy who started Hello Games has been dreaming about SciFi (the old school kind that started it all, a la Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein) so his heart is in the right place, and I for one, really hope they pull this off, because if they do, it could be something really rather special.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/18/world-without-end-raffi-khatchadourian?intcid=mod-most-popular

Beskar
05-14-2015, 16:42
It is going to be shallow, unfortunately. That is my prediction. I hope it isn't, as it would be an interesting title to pick up.

Usually it is like a lump of Jam, you can have it spread thickly on one piece of toast, or spread it thinly on two. This looks like it is aiming for three slices spread.

easytarget
05-15-2015, 01:51
At least with a glass half empty expectation you won't be disappointed. :laugh4:

I of the Storm
05-15-2015, 09:53
Looks interesting!

easytarget
05-15-2015, 12:57
Yes, it does indeed. I just hope a game actually lurks out there in all that space they've created.

Husar
05-15-2015, 13:44
It sounds a lot like you'll just hop around a lot of colourful planets for no good reason until you get bored or discover the disappointment in the center of the galaxy. ~;)
If there is actually a game to play that could be cool, but procedurally generated everything seems a bit like what Beskar said. There may be some "missions" or "things to explore" that are placed on the planets randomly but they are unlikely to be very unique or carefully crafted if they have to be adaptable to the randomness of the procedural generation. From the video it looks more like some artsy exploration thing that you just play until you inevitably get bored after 20-30 minutes or feel like you're a real arts connosieur and get drunk on wine or bourbon. There's some hope that the video just doesn't show everything but what it does show is actually not all that promising IMO.

I of the Storm
05-15-2015, 14:08
Might be it falls short in terms of actual gameplay and long term motivation, but tackling the procedural generated universe sounds interesting at least from a technical point of view. Maybe something to build upon?

Papewaio
05-16-2015, 04:42
If it allowed mods like minecraft then it could be something to behold.

Some of the MC mods take the game from sandbox to adventure mission orientated.

To paraphrase Carl Sagan there are more stars in the sky then sand grains on all the earths beaches. So this could be a giant sandbox or starbox if you will. Or it could turn into another Peter Molyneux bull...frog.

rickinator9
05-20-2015, 15:04
Does anyone remember the Space stage of Spore? It was a boring mess that had no point from a gameplay perspective. This sounds just like it.

Also, I doubt anyone would actually be able to visit that many planets. Nobody would be able to visit that many in a lifetime and I doubt RAM memory would actually support that many planets(Of course they only get generated when necessary, but eventually you have too many planets in memory). I'm pretty sure that this isn't just a number for hype, since it corresponds to the maximum value of a unsigned 64-bit integer.

Husar
05-20-2015, 17:10
I doubt RAM memory would actually support that many planets(Of course they only get generated when necessary, but eventually you have too many planets in memory). I'm pretty sure that this isn't just a number for hype, since it corresponds to the maximum value of a unsigned 64-bit integer.

Come on, that doesn't have to be the case at all. The entire game world of Skyrim or GTA would already make your 8 or 16 GB RAM explode, that's why these worlds are usually streamed and not everything is tracked. If a car in GTA disappears from your view or a certain distance around you and is not important, then it does not get tracked any further and is just deleted from memory. The changes that need to be saved can be saved to the HDD when required and loaded only when you go there again etc. Gothic already provided a pretty open world like that in 1999 or 2000, with day and night cycles and so on. There is no need to save everything in your main memory and depending on how the planets are generated it is possible that only a certain hash key or so has to be saved to generate the planet again when you decide to travel there again. The other possibility is not to save the way the planet is or was changed at all, like in Far Cry 2, where you could leave a checkpoint after killing everyone, return once it was barely out of sight and it would be fully staffed again as though nothing ever happened. Given that most players would probably not travel to all planets anyway as you say, the RAM should be even less of an issue.

easytarget
05-22-2015, 00:28
They have this running already so technical considerations are rather pointless. All this is a procedural generated universe only in the direction you happen to be looking at. Everything you're not looking at for any given gaming moment doesn't exist and therefore takes up no resources.

If you want to raise a flag, jump in line with everyone else who are all asking will this even be a game I want to play. Spore I suspect in hindsight will prove a poor comparison, that was a trainwreck created by a guy past his creative 15 minutes of air time. The question for me is: have they tackled whether a walking simulator in space has a point inside it worth the journey. I'm intrigued enough to start the thread on it, so you know I'll be watching and listening what the PS4 console mouthbreathers have to say about it later this year.

easytarget
10-28-2015, 01:07
Waited for a release date forever, one came out today, not particularly great news given how much time Sean has wasted running demos for the last couple of years hyping it up, it's still 8 months out: June 2016

Philippus Flavius Homovallumus
10-29-2015, 02:08
Looks like a nice place to visit, possibly, but it will be fatally compromised by having a console release, and worse a console release first.

I'm sure there'a market for it, but it looks like it will essentially be about exploring a big open galaxy without any real motive other than wanderlust.

In that sense it's a much weaker and, yes, shallower game than Star Citizen or Elite.

Montmorency
10-29-2015, 06:04
Yeah, what I've read makes it seem really boring.

EVE Online is probably the only space game that has a good grip on the "gameworld" aspect, but on the other hand it's so community-driven that I've never had the gonads to invest my time into giving it a go.

Something like EVE Online with on-world activities and options, as well as fleshed-out political and economic frameworks such that players can become statespersons within various forms of government and actively shape the geopolitical dynamic of the game universe with policy and legislation. You know, something other than grinding pirates or asteroids, trade, or running enormous shell organizations.

The one big problem I see is how to make it work without character permadeath. But even that wouldn't be sufficient, as relationships would obviously form off-game or between profiles/accounts rather than particular avatars.

Yes, if the principle engagement of the game is the internal social order rather than the mere accumulation of loot or levels, considerations of balance go to interesting places. The best I can come up with is, in terms of lore and server allocation, a series of "parallel universes" with varying initial parameters through which player-lives cycle. Maybe as one character, you become an influential minister mediating between System X and foreign investors, but your hired pilot is a trollish newb who beats you to death for no reason on a routine commute to the government offices. Hence, you continue with a new character in another server, and you can't return to that first server until some fixed time period has passed.

(Meanwhile, the psychotic killer reenacts Grand Theft Auto on the world you loved. :thinking:

easytarget
10-30-2015, 00:40
, but it will be fatally compromised by having a console release, and worse a console release first.

actually it's simultaneous release on ps4 and pc, not that it matters, it's still to far off for my tastes

as for your comment about SC and Elite, I don't see this competing with them.

Philippus Flavius Homovallumus
11-03-2015, 00:23
actually it's simultaneous release on ps4 and pc, not that it matters, it's still to far off for my tastes

as for your comment about SC and Elite, I don't see this competing with them.

Open World Space sim - you aren't going to invest time in Elite, Star Citizen and No Man's Sky - you might buy two of the three but you'll only invest your time in one.

And I'm betting Star Citizen is the one that will hit like a nuke because of the A-List cast for Squadron 42. Squadron 42 is the Pot designed to get you onto the Crack that is Star Citizen.

Elite has a head Start - Star Citizen has the big names in both devs and cast - what does No Man's Sky have?

Also - why should I buy no Man's Sky? Because it has a bigger universe?

easytarget
11-03-2015, 04:11
Likely very true, myself, I've no interest in SC right now, none. Not sure about Elite, guess I'll just sit back and see what becomes of that universe once they call it done.

As for No Man's Spore (which is what I've started calling it lately), I'm just telling you I don't see it as competing with SC and Elite, NMS is not really a space sim in my view. It's more exploration than space sim and makes no pretensions like the other two in this regard.

And no, I wouldn't suggest you pick up NMS based on it being a larger universe. :laugh4:

easytarget
05-08-2016, 19:44
Finally closing in on a release date for this one, so I figured it's about time to start a thread on it.

PS4 Trailer featuring a dash of Bladerunner narration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBERVWYa-1Y

In-game gameplay footage from about a month ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-uMFHoF8VA

Gregoshi
05-10-2016, 06:41
You mean a thread like this one that you started a year ago tomorrow? No Man's Sky (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?149052-No-Man-s-Sky) ~;)

easytarget
05-12-2016, 15:21
haha, oopsee. Strange because no matter how I did a search for any combo of No Man's Sky I didn't get a hit. Oh well, back again it is, not like this utterly dead forum is going to suffer from the clutter now is it?! :laugh4:

Gregoshi
05-14-2016, 20:40
Yes, well, point taken, but one must maintain an air of decorum in times such as these. [/English butler impression]

So, what is your take on the game from what you've seen, heard and read so far?

easytarget
05-15-2016, 00:26
So far from what I've seen of the actual game-play it appears to match up pretty well with what Sean (lead programmer) described as his vision for what he was going for in making this. I grew up reading Herbert, Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, etc, so I get the aesthetic Sean was influenced by and designed into the game, so I'm pretty interested in seeing whether he manged to pull off making a game that's actually fun to play.

Beskar
07-30-2016, 18:10
It is out soon.

There is a leak of an early video done via the PS4 going around which youtube keeps taking down.
http://www.watchmybit.com/Video/Show/3b4280cb-968f-4374-8377-3d17a642c61f

Veho Nex
07-30-2016, 21:05
Too bad his audio overpowers his voice.

easytarget
07-31-2016, 02:00
I'm ignoring the leaked video, but will circle back with my first impressions once it releases.

Beskar
08-06-2016, 16:45
It has been repeatedly streamed (and taken down), but being honest, it looks like my initial concerns were spot on. The game looks really shallow and lacking character.

I am still tempted to get it, only because I fancy jetting around and derping. But I am not foreseeing any depth.

easytarget
08-12-2016, 13:50
And I'm still convinced it's exactly what I thought it was when I first watched a video of it three years ago.

Veho Nex
08-13-2016, 00:03
Okay so my 103minute review.

Its a fun little exploration game but it has some glaring PC issues.

Its got your basic survival mechanics minus food and water. You gotta worry about elements, atmosphere, and radiation. Ground fighting is meh, didn't do any dog fighting. The controls for the gamepad on PC leave a lot to be desired and flying is a bit cumbersome.

All in all the games just okay. It's not worth $60 in my opinion but probably closer to $30.

IMO wait for the sales and price drops unless you wanna play another exploration/survival game.

Beskar
08-13-2016, 16:43
Lack of Inventory Space is annoying. Especially just as the last slot is taken by a random piece of carbon when as you destroyed a massive chunk of gold.

Space Ship prices are also stupidly high, and you get no "cash-in" value of your own ship either. I saw a 48 slot ship at 100 million, for example.

easytarget
08-14-2016, 04:25
10 hours in and having a blast

Beskar
08-14-2016, 21:05
So I reached the Galactic Centre... what a waste of my life.

Gregoshi
08-14-2016, 23:06
So I reached the Galactic Centre... what a waste of my life.

Now what? Does the game continue or is game-over/start again?

Beskar
08-14-2016, 23:31
Now what? Does the game continue or is game-over/start again?

Why can it not be both?

You get to center, then you are zoomed across space to another galaxy, to crash all over again like you did at the start. No fancy cutscenes, or anything. Basically, New Game+

easytarget
08-15-2016, 14:55
So I reached the Galactic Centre... what a waste of my life.

Funny, that's the same thing everyone who doesn't play games says about all games.

Beskar
08-15-2016, 15:56
It made the Mass Effect 3 ending look like a brilliant masterpiece.

Gregoshi
08-15-2016, 16:47
Okay, so you bolted for the Galactic Centre and reached it in 2-3 days. There are a bazillion planets and stars in the game. Is there any incentive or reason to forget about the Galactic Centre and just do something else with the game?

I'm asking because I'm currently playing Elite Dangerous, and while initially impressed with early information about No Man's Sky, the closer to release, the less excited I've become about the game. I'm inclined to stay with Elite Dangerous and remove No Man's Sky from my wishlist - unless there is more to the game than just a short two day trip to the game's objective and repeat.

Beskar
08-15-2016, 17:40
If I am honest Gregoshi. I bolted for the middle, like a mindless drone, in a very intense two day sessions which took a solid chunk of those two days, because I wanted to see what the hype was about the middle. Lets say, you can safely ignore the middle. This is part of why I was disappointed, because I neglected other parts of the game to reach it and you receive a big middle finger from the developers.

No Man's Sky's main focus is on exploring worlds, which are large and if I am honest, very time consuming to complete (especially since I couldn't scan/identify flying creatures, so had to leave a large chunk of worlds incomplete). This provide you with credits and you get to name stuff. After visiting a bunch of worlds, you will see that the fauna is pretty much identical, with the creatures being a pick 'n mix of random parts, like if someone had a bunch of lego animals, smashed them, and put them together blind-folded.

Other focus is solving puzzles and challenges, made more difficult by the fact the aliens are talking in complete jibberish, which you can unlock random words to help decode. These are repeated a lot again, and the more maths based ones you can safely introduce to toddlers for them to decode. For example, work out the next in sequence, with options presented to you.
1226-2261-2612-**** Is it = 2162 / 6122 / 4234

The game has a honeymoon period, and being honest, this will last like 10 hours before it starts to 'settle in'. In the start, this is made frustrating by lack of inventory space, which does get better later, but by that point, it doesn't really matter.

For the price-tag, the game is not worth it. This gets compounded by the fact it is a niche title (so if you like the premise, you have a nice honeymoon period to enjoy), but if you don't like the niche gameplay, it will get old very fast. There is no "end-game", offers virtually unlimited grinding which serves no real purpose. There is a quest-line which is underwhelming, but it does give some sense of achievement, especially as it does scale with difficulty due to it eating your inventory space but you do unlock the ability to start expanding it, which offsets this.

The game does give a big fanfare of a goal of "reaching the center", but there is absolutely no reason, with knowing what is there, why anyone would actually want to do it. It is more a "what is this mystery at the center.... oh.... time to re-roll my save."

Gregoshi
08-16-2016, 02:29
Thanks for that analysis. :bow: I guess I'll put it aside for the time being and keep tabs on it as the game progresses, in this thread and elsewhere...then wait for a Steam sale if things turn more positive.

Beskar
08-16-2016, 15:54
I found this comparison of the 2014 E3 Gameplay video, and reality.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvAwB7ogkik

Lizardo
08-16-2016, 21:34
So basically the game is terrible i thought it would be when they said no proper multiplayer

Beskar
08-17-2016, 02:36
Here is a video of what happens at the galactic core. Now remember, to get to this point, you probably warped like 140 times, and if you were like me, and spent a solid 10 hours or so, of constant warping to get there.. this is the reward.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuhNbIBoUM

Also to make it funnier. All your equipment is broken, which made it impossible to mine the resources needed to repair it, unless you were already carrying resources. (I wasn't)

Also a reddit post on missing features: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/4y046e/wheres_the_nms_we_were_sold_on_heres_a_big_list/

Gregoshi
08-17-2016, 15:55
Wow, that is incredibly lame. Okay, after seeing that and reading some of the reddit, I guess I don't really need this game.

Veho Nex
08-17-2016, 21:40
About 3 hours into the game it hit me what it was.

The game is essentially explore the minecraft world but you aren't allowed to build anything. Once I realized that I uninstalled and called it quits. Havent thought it about it till I saw this thread.


So happy i did a steam refund.

Gregoshi
08-18-2016, 15:19
I follow an Elite Dangerous YouTuber called ObsidianAnt. He's been playing No Man's Sky, so I was really curious what his thoughts were since he is a huge Elite Dangerous fan. In a nutshell, he likes it because he likes exploration and discovery, something he does a lot of in Elite Dangerous. So as a counterpoint to all the outrage, I'll post his video commentary here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqYpsaad2fY&list=TLD2h_D_IgMFExODA4MjAxNg

Beskar
08-18-2016, 21:44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCG9YLeIB98

Montmorency
08-21-2016, 06:28
Funny, that's the same thing everyone who doesn't play games says about all games.

Or Ian Bogost. :grin:

Beskar
08-28-2016, 18:44
Apparently there is a chance to grab your refunds, regardless of Playtime, you can get your money back, now.
http://www.inquisitr.com/3458500/no-mans-sky-steam-sony-and-amazon-begin-issuing-refunds-regardless-of-play-time/

I have tried two times, but I have received no luck in it. However, I have over twenty hours in it. Those who have less than 10 have been successful.

Also someone did the research. Out of 18 quintrillion planets.. there are only 255 different ones.

Montmorency
08-29-2016, 01:50
Out of 18 quintrillion planets.. there are only 255 different ones.

Haven't we learned over 20+ years that 2D graphics can only flatter procedural sameness, whereas the opposite with 3D?

Philippus Flavius Homovallumus
08-31-2016, 01:17
I think I said this game was going to be a disappointment. I'm not happy to be proved right, but I feel somewhat vindicated.

Core problem - the developer thought he was making a survival game, the players thought it was a Space Opera.

Crandar
09-08-2016, 17:07
And also he encouraged the customers to believe they're buying Space Opera. Kind of an amateurish misleading, CA does it much more eloquently.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuhNbIBoUM
Out of curiosity, is the dinosaur monster bugged or did the developer decided to make him move like a spastic, on purpose?

Beskar
09-09-2016, 02:56
I really like this review of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wsFhv_Kz38
Crandar They move like that, really obvious on the giant creatures.

Husar
09-09-2016, 12:14
I'd say standard animations applied to random creatures.
Might be possible to at least slow animations down depending on the size/volume of the creature, but even that probably can't beata carefully crafted game. It's the problem with the procedural generation IMO, it becomes hard to take everything into account and you can't expect a computer to just generate something with "common sense". Possible that with enough formulas the computer can randomly generate believable worlds, but then it may take 10+ years to develop and a supercomputer to calculate on the fly.

Papewaio
09-28-2016, 13:27
Also someone did the research. Out of 18 quintrillion planets.. there are only 255 different ones.

Isn't that clear cut false advertising?

255 different planets is not 18 quintrillion. The same planets again and again is not the same as generating a whole galaxy of wonders.

Beskar
09-29-2016, 16:16
Isn't that clear cut false advertising?

255 different planets is not 18 quintrillion. The same planets again and again is not the same as generating a whole galaxy of wonders.

Funny you brought this up, this came out today...
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-09-28-advertising-standards-launches-investigation-into-no-mans-sky

Advertising Standards Agency is investigating No Man Sky's after numerous serious complaints.

Crandar
09-30-2016, 09:28
Advertising Standards Agency is investigating No Man Sky's after numerous serious complaints.
https://i.imgur.com/hFslEol.jpg

Agent Miles
01-22-2018, 19:21
And now for something completely different...

I love exploring the galaxy of No Man's Sky. I've been playing for a year and a half and it's still a challenge to survive. I remember fleeing from two Pirate ships to the safety of an unknown planet. I landed in the nick of time as the two veered off and headed back out into space. I then realized that I had landed my ship on top of a giant mushroom!

I've played Morrowind and Oblivion all the way through with one character and never died. Usually after a few weeks you figure out how to keep the edge in most situations. My traveler never has an unbeatable advantage even after 18 months. The funny looking creature that resembles a bouncing balloon...it will kill you. Endless frenzied sentinels will too. A squadron of pirates will take you out in seconds. I've taken out hundreds of pirates and thousands of sentinels and my character hasn't died once, but it has always been a challenge.

Mostly I just explore. The planets are awesome. Once I just sat in my ship and watched a beautiful valley as one whole day came and went. I've logged about 88 planets' complete flora and fauna. I've throttled back my ship so as to fly with a flock of avian creatures that looked like Chinese dragons. I've walked under a creature as big as a dinosaur. Large shark like sea monsters nipped at my feet as I stood safely on a shoreline. I've even found a large group of critters in a mass writhing around like some kind of alien orgy.

The latest updates allow the traveler to build a base camp structure and use a freighter. An even tougher survival mode was also added. The Atlas part of the story has been tweaked so that you can now activate portals you discover. I imagine that the game will grow with each passing year. I'll be there as it grows.

Fragony
01-23-2018, 11:43
It will probably all come ttogether in time. Going to take a while, team is realy small