I don't think there's a meaningful gameplay parallel between the reactions to No Mans Sky and Destiny. Something I specifically felt (and encountered almost universally in conversation) was that Destiny's mechanics were at their core fun and satisfying. It's the opposite for NMS.
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Steamspy Data - No Man's Sky active players down over 90% in just 2 weeks
- Thread starter Vinsanity.
- Start date
UncleSporky
Member
I'm crossposting this from the main NMS thread because I think it's kind of a substantial issue. Maybe there should be a new thread for new news, but there have already been so many No Man's Sky threads recently...
People are going back to their starting planet and finding out that all their discoveries are gone. Undiscovered, unnamed. They seem to be dropping off chronologically, in order of discovery.
Lots of speculation. Could be a bug, or could be something they always intended to do in order to save space in the database, counting on the thought that no one would ever try to go back (or that it would even be possible to find your earlier planets again due to circumstances surrounding the ending you're intended to reach).
Anyone at GAF able to test this?
People are going back to their starting planet and finding out that all their discoveries are gone. Undiscovered, unnamed. They seem to be dropping off chronologically, in order of discovery.
Lots of speculation. Could be a bug, or could be something they always intended to do in order to save space in the database, counting on the thought that no one would ever try to go back (or that it would even be possible to find your earlier planets again due to circumstances surrounding the ending you're intended to reach).
Anyone at GAF able to test this?
They lied. No need to insult people who don't like that.
I think this is new thread worthy. It would be the best way to get answers.
EDIT* I can make it if you don't want to
Chobel
Member
For the love of god, someone verify this.
Going to make a new thread and credit Sporky to get some A's to these Q's. Maybe GAF can test.
March of the Crabs
Member
I went back to mine and everything was still there. This was very early on though when I felt like wasting warp drives to go backwards. If it's being overridden maybe it hadn't happened yet.
That's.... odd?
What happens when you play entirely offline? Does it still catalog all of your "discoveries" and names even after you've moved on to the next planet?
I'm 230 planets and 74 star systems in, went back to my first planet, everything was still uploaded and discovered like it should be.
What I suspect happens is that the server is what keeps track of all the planets you've discovered and doesn't endlessly save it locally to keep the filesize down (especially on PS4 I can see that being important)
However, early at launch the servers were hammered so some might not have gone through.
To add my two cents: I watched my brother play on his PS4, got about 10 mins of controller time myself. I wasn't too impressed. It looked nice and was fun but after watching him do the same thing over and over again for 2 hours I got pretty bored. It's too automated for me, there's no real danger, and it feels like a lottery waiting for a new ship or getting the upgrades you need, plus the inventory system is a PIA. The real commodity in NMS is slots. Upgrading your inventory slots IS the foundation to that game. Ugh. Without inventory slots you hit a wall, all you care about is getting a ship or suit with more space in it; guns, hyperdrive, everything relies on these.
So Wednesday I bought Elite: Dangerous. As the most comparable game to NMS it has a better game studio behind it, the base premise is broader (still a space simulation), there's more to DO (even though the biggest complaint IS running out of things to do). Flight mechanics, combat, missions, ship design and exploration are all well thought out and integrated better than in NMS. In terms of price you'll get way more for your money.
Here are some charts that don't necessarily show causation, but the correlation is interesting:
So Wednesday I bought Elite: Dangerous. As the most comparable game to NMS it has a better game studio behind it, the base premise is broader (still a space simulation), there's more to DO (even though the biggest complaint IS running out of things to do). Flight mechanics, combat, missions, ship design and exploration are all well thought out and integrated better than in NMS. In terms of price you'll get way more for your money.
Here are some charts that don't necessarily show causation, but the correlation is interesting:
IMO NMS is still fun, but yeah it's loop is nowhere near as good as Destiny's.
The flip side for me is that I hit a brick wall in Destiny's 'adventure' after about 7 hours. I was playing it for the adventure, so it was completely unforgivable for me when I realised how fucking little there was there. Sure, NMS's content gets very samey, but there are still flashes of uniqueness, and it still took me 25+ hours to see that sameyness creep in.
Destiny: 9/10 gameplay, 3/10 content; NMS: 6/10 gameplay, 7/10 content.
And that 7 outweighs Destiny's 3 entirely for me. I can play NMS for longer and have more of an adventure. To each their own, though, I bet for you it's a totally different story.
The servers were down constantly, like almost the entire time, right after release. It's very likely nothing you discovered was uploaded.
Well...
No it's not?
This is true. I don't think Elite's activities are any better integrated necessarily, NMS is just going for a different thing, but they're far more engaging and there's a lot more of them.
I totally agree with this.
Elite has had 2 years worth of updates though. NMS style criticisms were commonplace when it was released, it just had nowhere near the level of hype around it.
That is true, I bring all of that up to compare and contrast the closest comparison to NMS. Elite's base price is still half of what they charged for it.
The OP is about the user base dropping, and I was giving my opinion (take it with salt) of why that could be the case and also drawing the conclusion (based on those charts) that a group of people were migrating over to E
. Mostly because of NMS' shortfalls based on the marketing of the game (and because of overhype).
ViolentP
Member
I always find it obnoxious when people defend NMS by saying it's problems are relative to pre-release hype. All due respect, that's utter bullshit. I went in with nothing more than a brief understanding of what the game was and a need for a new after-work, relaxation game. In my opinion, the game simply isn't good. I'm not even talking about the performance nightmares on the PC as that is to a point, understandable so long as the solution is release expeditiously. But the game itself is, ironic as the term is, shallow. There is great potential in NMS and I truly hope that one day it reaches it. In its current state however, it's a free PS+ title.
themadcowtipper
Smells faintly of rancid stilton.
Yeah but this was kinda a major selling point of the game, discover already discovered planets. Can't recall bullet holes being described as a selling feature.
Bronetta
Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
The dishonest PR didn't help but I remember people whipped themselves into a frenzy over this game that looked mediocre from the start. Everytime someone asked what you actually did or what the loop/hook was and people mocked them.
For me the warning signs were up all over the place from the moment this vague concept was announced by an indie team claiming to revolutionize space sims.
For me the warning signs were up all over the place from the moment this vague concept was announced by an indie team claiming to revolutionize space sims.
It's not a defense, it's just pointing out that Elite suffered similar issues.
Whatever it takes to get this game discounted in half so I can jump in (PC). Knowing the content I get, I am not willing to pay more than 29.99 for it and will hold off/not buy if it never makes it there.
Not surprising. The game sucks.
I mean what's good? The crafting and inventory management is tiresome. Shooting mechanics are bad. Ship versus ship is even worse. The procedural characters look bad. The language learning is worthless. Infinite planet possibilities is meaningless when the procedural systems mean next to nothing beyond color pallets changes and how fast your life support systems drain.
The story is non existent. The final goal has no pay off. Every planet is repetitive. Every star system is repetitive. Every task you have to do is repetitive. Every line of dialogue is repetitive.
The FANTASY of leaving a planet and entering another is awesome. Everything else is legit bad. Now some people can see passed that and indulge in the fantasy, relax, and share some cool screenshots.
For everyone else it sucks
I mean what's good? The crafting and inventory management is tiresome. Shooting mechanics are bad. Ship versus ship is even worse. The procedural characters look bad. The language learning is worthless. Infinite planet possibilities is meaningless when the procedural systems mean next to nothing beyond color pallets changes and how fast your life support systems drain.
The story is non existent. The final goal has no pay off. Every planet is repetitive. Every star system is repetitive. Every task you have to do is repetitive. Every line of dialogue is repetitive.
The FANTASY of leaving a planet and entering another is awesome. Everything else is legit bad. Now some people can see passed that and indulge in the fantasy, relax, and share some cool screenshots.
For everyone else it sucks
Netherscourge
Banned
It feels like a giant placeholder waiting for something to be inserted.
But nothing ever gets inserted.
So, it's just an empty game.
But nothing ever gets inserted.
So, it's just an empty game.
Unfortunately I don't see this as the type of game where they can simply patch stuff in or add content to fix the gameplay loop and add fun. If you don't enjoy it as is, I doubt there will be any substantial changes that would turn that around. And after the whole launch debacle I'm willing to bet any support Sony might have given them is probably rescinded as well :/
GodParticle
Member
Got rid of my ps4 copy today and it was already down to $20 trade in. They said people were already returning it. Luckily, I only paid like 27 and with the BB club I somehow manged to get 32 back(profit!). I'll probably give it another try on pc when/if they get some real content injected. Right now, I'm loving Elite Dangerous way more. Seriously, give that game a try
Breh, it's been two weeks lol
Eh, I remember Xcom 2 dropped sharply as well and that was a great game.
It was not similar though. The discussions took place around features in a kickstarter game where people got to play in both alpha and beta access. People in general knew what they was in for (progressive updates) It was a normal healthy discussion where Frontier hid nothing. They layed out the roadmap with disclosure and transparency. The lack of offline mode f.ex. was disclosed a month or two ahead of release.
To add my two cents: I watched my brother play on his PS4, got about 10 mins of controller time myself. I wasn't too impressed. It looked nice and was fun but after watching him do the same thing over and over again for 2 hours I got pretty bored. It's too automated for me, there's no real danger, and it feels like a lottery waiting for a new ship or getting the upgrades you need, plus the inventory system is a PIA. The real commodity in NMS is slots. Upgrading your inventory slots IS the foundation to that game. Ugh. Without inventory slots you hit a wall, all you care about is getting a ship or suit with more space in it; guns, hyperdrive, everything relies on these.
So Wednesday I bought Elite: Dangerous. As the most comparable game to NMS it has a better game studio behind it, the base premise is broader (still a space simulation), there's more to DO (even though the biggest complaint IS running out of things to do). Flight mechanics, combat, missions, ship design and exploration are all well thought out and integrated better than in NMS. In terms of price you'll get way more for your money.
Here are some charts that don't necessarily show causation, but the correlation is interesting:
As much as Elite Dangerous deserves some extra love in the face of all the No Mans Sky hype, I don't think this is a fair comparison considering ED is 2 year old game and NMS just released. Besides just about every game has a drop off from its initial release as people move on to the next latest best thing.
Still I just want to say ED while there may be some fetch quest style missions at least there's some complexity to the handling of space craft. That's probably what kept people playing all this time.
I think the problem is the game is a mile wide but an inch deep. I feel like by not expanding their team they missed out the ability to pack the deep mechanics it needs for longevity. I enjoyed the game for the first couple of days, but even with the billions of stars it began to feel like the same planet slightly randomized.
I've got a friend who took this photo in his local CEX
(and yes they're all the same game hiding behind the front ones he confirmed)
The Hamburglar
Banned
Perfect example of why you don't preorder and wait for opinions.
GhostWriter24
Member
The most unbelievable case of gaming justice.
Deaf Spacker
Memb
I preordered NMS, got a refund after half an hour because of the performance issues but I bought it again after the patch fixed things, however I got another refund last night, game is repetitive as fuck.
Memorabilia
Member
Shitty game drops in popularity as people realize it's boring and repetitive. Who knew?
Slayer-33
Liverpool-2
I've got a friend who took this photo in his local CEX
(and yes they're all the same game hiding behind the front ones he confirmed)
No Man Buys..
*hueueueue*
jakonovski
Member
I would say it goes beyond unrealistic expectations. NMS is plain lacking in content, and good gameplay mechanics aren't the sole purview of big studios either.
OuterLimits
Member
Yeah I imagine stores like GameStop are getting a ton of copies brought in.
I'm curious if Hello Games will update the game much? They did say if it sold well, they would continue to support the game for a fair amount of time. Plus they mentioned base building and other stuff. It did seem to sell well at release, but with player interest dropping quickly, and likely many trade ins and returns even on PS4, you have to wonder if they will just finish the bug patches and bail.
The game certainly has a decent foundation and has the potential to be much better if they actually take the time to add stuff. Or hell, even put some things in they claimed would actually be in the game at release. Make it closer to the game they heavily promoted for years and charged $60 for.
Hopefully they do try and make it a much better game. They may claim not enough are playing anymore to make it worthwhile and move on.
I'm curious if Hello Games will update the game much? They did say if it sold well, they would continue to support the game for a fair amount of time. Plus they mentioned base building and other stuff. It did seem to sell well at release, but with player interest dropping quickly, and likely many trade ins and returns even on PS4, you have to wonder if they will just finish the bug patches and bail.
The game certainly has a decent foundation and has the potential to be much better if they actually take the time to add stuff. Or hell, even put some things in they claimed would actually be in the game at release. Make it closer to the game they heavily promoted for years and charged $60 for.
Hopefully they do try and make it a much better game. They may claim not enough are playing anymore to make it worthwhile and move on.
Cthulhu_Steev
Member
Yeah, I agree. I was just hoping to travel, cataloguing flora and fauna, but it doesn't even do that well. I'm keeping it on my HDD for future improvements, but as it stands I can't really be arsed with it - especially as I know it don't improve from what I've already seen.
Huge disappointment, really.
They didn't start work on it two week's ago, they've had years. The point is valid.
Gamezone
Gold Member
I seriously believe that Sean Murray is the biggest scumbag in gaming history. Not only did he lie about the game and show us false pre-release gameplay, but he knew it was only a matter of time until people caught up to his bullshit.
Do you really think that Hello Games held back review copies of the game because of the patch? This was probably a very well a thought out decision by Sean Murray. He wanted to delay reviews as much as possible, because he knew about the bullshit, and knew that it sales would be affected once people knew the truth.
Do you really think that Hello Games held back review copies of the game because of the patch? This was probably a very well a thought out decision by Sean Murray. He wanted to delay reviews as much as possible, because he knew about the bullshit, and knew that it sales would be affected once people knew the truth.
Milly Osworth
Member
Nah, base building is coming. Hello Games wouldn't go back on a promise.
jakonovski
Member
That's not a solution to the problem of snake oil salesmen.
I've got a friend who took this photo in his local CEX
(and yes they're all the same game hiding behind the front ones he confirmed)
And yet they still want 45 pounds? Lol
OuterLimits
Member
I remember the thread at release about the letter Sean sent to reviewers when they got a copy. I remember at the time it seemed like a humble guy just writing a brief letter about making the game, and his fears that it was overhyped some by him and gamers.
Now even that seems like it was a calculated move on his part. I hate being cynical, but his many conflicting statements even at release, followed by complete silence now certainly doesn't look good.