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No Man's Sky gets released like, soon, I guess ¯\_()_/¯

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Figboy79

Aftershock LA
You only have to worry about the ones that will play it 72 hours straight to get to the center. If they get it early then that could be bad.

For me personally, the center of the universe is the least interesting aspect of this game. Am I curious about it? Yes. But I'm more excited about exploring as many planets as I can. I want to see what's out there. I want to explore shit that no one else will ever see, then share it with others. A ton of people will get to the center of the universe eventually. I don't need to be one of them. Eventually I'll get there, but not for a very, very long time.

I haven't decided if I'm going to follow the line to the center, and investigate those planets. I think I'll end up picking the other planets I can reach instead.

On another note, my 1080p set decided to up and die on me yesterday. I was sitting there, eating lunch and watching videos on YouTube, when it just died. I had to switch to my ancient 720p set.

On the downside, I now have to play No Man's Sky in 720p for my first experience with the game.

On the upside, I now get to buy a shiny new tv, and I found a really awesome Samsung 4K set for a great price on Amazon.

On the downside, I won't be able to afford it until the 15th, 6 days after NMS releases.

It's been a roller coaster 24 hours.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Well you can't build in this?

But yes the earlier explanation should be on the box

What does not being able to build have to do with not being able to understand it? Are you saying people would have been completely confused if Minecraft didn't have building in it? Minecraft doesn't have space travel in it so I'm assuming that will confuse people too?

We know your aim is to get to the centre of the galaxy. Not only that but we've just had 4 trailers which were Exploring, Fighting, Trading and Surviving. That's what you do in this game. My mind is boggled.
 
I just finished listening to the audio version of Ready Player One that I grabbed with my free token from my free audible trial (thanks Amazon!). This game while not the same, seems like an evolution that could bring us closer to something like the oasis. Obviously this game is like pong compared to the oasis in RPO but the excitement of the unknown and having a shared universe with millions (hopefully!) of other players that I will never see due to the vast nature of the universe is what really excites me. I can't wait for this!
 

diaspora

Member
The problem with building as a general mechanic in this (unless it's ship-building/customizing) is that it makes you invest in a specific planet or system when I think Murray's intention is to keep you exploring as many of the planets as possible. Building static objects in one place runs counter to the entire point of exploration given the scope of the game.
 

E92 M3

Member
Why is this game so hard for people to understand. Its such a simple game: collect resources, improve your spacesuit and ship, find the center of the universe. Is it the procedural part of the game that keeps confusing people?

These days people are used to handholding and "level up screens" present in most modern games. No Man's Sky is basically a PC game that is coming out to console. Steam has a ton of unique games that are popular that would never fly on consoles.

It's just the nature of the beast, unfortunately. By now, though anyone that asks the "what do you do?" question is just trolling.
 
So if the Universe is a Bubble how long do you think it will take someone to find the edge? I'd be very interested to see a video of what happens when you point your ship outward, into that starless void.

Well if it is a bubble, and we all start at the outer edges of said universe, I'd say we'll be pretty close to its edge (in relation to the center).

But even if the game really does have a seamless universe, like Space Engine, and the star systems aren't actually isolated hubs you load into with every hyperjump, the trip between the closest start systems would probably take tens or hundreds of thousands of years in real time (well, depending on how fast the ship's "pulse" and "boost" speeds are and the actual distances between stars, but still...).
And then, the distance between the "last" star system and the universe's bubble's edge would probably be so vast that it would probably take millions of years or something to that effect.

I mean, I wanna say, NMS has a fantasy/sci-fi setting, and there might be some technology in there that eventually lets you jump entire galaxies, incredible distances etc, but even that technology will probably be implemented as hyperjumps, instant hops through space instead of a superfast noclip of sorts, but who knows. In any case, I think using the normal spaceship speed will get us nowhere and we'll just be looking at static space indefinitely (aside from the particles and lines swooshing about to better depict you're actually moving).

It would be cool though if they actually implemented some sort of space-warping mechanic you can eventually unlock as well as a different visualization for what's "outside" the universe, like blank white space with infinite black bubbles representing other universes (for the life of me I can't remember the movie that was from).
 
Considering that you can only use the hyperdrive between systems and not just in any direction, it would probably take hundreds of real years at sublight to reach the wall of the bubble of the universe.
 

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
So if the Universe is a Bubble how long do you think it will take someone to find the edge? I'd be very interested to see a video of what happens when you point your ship outward, into that starless void.

that's the first thing I've planned to do lol.
 

Danlord

Member
So if the Universe is a Bubble how long do you think it will take someone to find the edge? I'd be very interested to see a video of what happens when you point your ship outward, into that starless void.
that's the first thing I've planned to do lol.

This hypothetical was already asked in the 70 Questions Game Informer interview, mentioned here 4 minutes 9 seconds onwards.
https://youtu.be/n0uYnwqlslU?t=250
Question: If I keep flying in one direction for a really long time, will I bonk the edge of the galaxy?

After joking about would you prefer if it said "you are now leaving the mission area"? Sean Murray said, "No, neither of those things happen. You can go in to the darkness....for as long as you wanted to."


I've been following this game a lot :)
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
In my day and age we'd go to the woods to explore and create our own fun, today people will only go to the woods if the entertainment is laid on.

I know you said it in jest, but the truth is, when I was a kid, me and my friends would totally go out exploring the creeks and woods around our house and the neighboring areas. We'd either do it on our dirt bikes, or trek on foot, but it was a lot of fun. Then, after we got exhausted, we'd head back home, and play Super Mario Bros or something on the NES. I'm only 37, but yeah, it was certainly a more active childhood than sitting on the couch with your face glued to your smartphone. My mom always booted us out of the house to "get some sunshine" when we'd been staring at the TV for too long.


I'm hoping that when you reach the center of the universe/galaxy/who gives a shit, it's fucking big, the game fades to black, and a

"Congraturlations, a Winner Is YOU!"

message appears, with a gif of Peter Molyneaux and Sean Murray, arm slung over each others shoulders, pointing and laughing at the screen.

It's so hard to believe the game is finally so close! I don't take days off of work for games (I enjoy making money, and I'm not going to use up my vacation or sick days for a video game), but it's certainly tempting with No Man's Sky. At the very least, I'll be able to sink a lot of time into it over that weekend, but I can already tell that this is going to be another one of those games that I sit and think about at work all fucking day until I get home. I'll be youtubing it up for sure to help pass the time.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
I know you said it in jest, but the truth is, when I was a kid, me and my friends would totally go out exploring the creeks and woods around our house and the neighboring areas. We'd either do it on our dirt bikes, or trek on foot, but it was a lot of fun. Then, after we got exhausted, we'd head back home, and play Super Mario Bros or something on the NES. I'm only 37, but yeah, it was certainly a more active childhood than sitting on the couch with your face glued to your smartphone. My mom always booted us out of the house to "get some sunshine" when we'd been staring at the TV for too long.


I'm hoping that when you reach the center of the universe/galaxy/who gives a shit, it's fucking big, the game fades to black, and a

"Congraturlations, a Winner Is YOU!"

message appears, with a gif of Peter Molyneaux and Sean Murray, arm slung over each others shoulders, pointing and laughing at the screen.

It's so hard to believe the game is finally so close! I don't take days off of work for games (I enjoy making money, and I'm not going to use up my vacation or sick days for a video game), but it's certainly tempting with No Man's Sky. At the very least, I'll be able to sink a lot of time into it over that weekend, but I can already tell that this is going to be another one of those games that I sit and think about at work all fucking day until I get home. I'll be youtubing it up for sure to help pass the time.

I didn't say it in jest. Lot's of young adults today don't take pleasure from their own creativity, they rely entirely on someone else supplying that creativity. I come from an era where we made our own entertainment, be it hide and seek, swinging on 'Tarzan ropes' or searching for frogs in our local pond. My mindset is perfect for this game. I actually WANT to find Bolari V because I saw a cave system behind that base and I want to see what's down there.

Some people (I'm guessing those that still ask 'what do you do) say 'entertain me' and those that do understand what you do entertain themselves. But the thing that I find the most confusing is Minecraft and Don't Starve demand the same mindset, which then leads me to believe 99.9% of the people who ask 'what do you do?' are either wilfully ignorant or not the sort of people who would like this game.
 

vix

Member
Everyone cites those two game informer videos as the nms bible or definitive encyclopedia. Aren't they both from 2014? I don't get how info from them is more reliable than info from recent vids. I'm being stubborn though. I want the ign video from April to be correct so I can secretly say I told you so to some people elsewhere. Heh. Oh well. At least it brings me some comfort in knowing I'm not the only one "confused" by the constant swapping between galaxy and universe. It's scifi, it doesn't have to make sense or be justifiable. :). But yeah it's not a big deal either way. Only two more weeks now.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Everyone cites those two game informer videos as the nms bible or definitive encyclopedia. Aren't they both from 2014? I don't get how info from them is more reliable than info from recent vids. I'm being stubborn though. I want the ign video from April to be correct so I can secretly say I told you so to some people elsewhere. Heh. Oh well. At least it brings me some comfort in knowing I'm not the only one "confused" by the constant swapping between galaxy and universe. It's scifi, it doesn't have to make sense or be justifiable. :). But yeah it's not a big deal either way. Only two more weeks now.

Science fiction DOES have to make sense, science fantasy doesn't. Sean went for the 70s depiction of science fiction which gives the game a unique aesthetic and room to take liberties. I'd love for him to have called the gun a 'raygun' though :)
 

SomTervo

Member
This game sometimes sounds like the worst Korean MMO grind ever.

It sounds like the only way to propel forward and make progress is to constantly grind for materials.

I really hope you can stumble upon massive treasure-troves that will allow you to play for several hours without the need to stop and re-supply.

But what would you be doing during those several hours without harvesting?

I think you're misunderstanding the definition of grind. Grind means do a repetitive activity. Repetitive as in
> same location(s)
> simple activity
> no, or not much, challenge
> a long time between improvements/feedback

In NMS:
> no single location in the universe is the same and once you gather a resource from there, it will take time for the resource to respawn (IIRC like one day, so you can't just wait for it)
> there is a constant level of ambient challenge everywhere. The devs are on-record saying they want challenge to be built into every minute of gameplay. On-planet, weather can turn hostile, hostile animals can show up, sentinels will attack you if you destroy resources on certain plants, and hostile sentient aliens may attack. In space, you might be muscling in on other race's territory and they may attack you
> the activity of mining becomes more efficient and faster as you upgrade your multitool. You'll be able to scan, and gather, more resources at once
> it won't take hours of collecting a specific resource in a specific location to upgrade your gear. It might take hours to find the resources, but once you find them it will take a moment to collect them - and then a moment to upgrade your gear on the fly. You don't need to collect absurd amounts of them and you don't need to go to merchants or anything to upgrade

You're not going to be travelling up to a resource, and standing still clicking a button for hours on end, and new things will be happening every time you start mining. I don't see how 'grinding' applies.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Science fiction DOES have to make sense, science fantasy doesn't. Sean went for the 70s depiction of science fiction which gives the game a unique aesthetic and room to take liberties. I'd love for him to have called the gun a 'raygun' though :)

Or 'phaser' that Jack O'Neill kept harping on in Season 6 and 7 in SG1, lol.
 

SomTervo

Member
Science fiction DOES have to make sense, science fantasy doesn't. Sean went for the 70s depiction of science fiction which gives the game a unique aesthetic and room to take liberties. I'd love for him to have called the gun a 'raygun' though :)

I don't think that's as clear cut a phrasal distinction as you would like, Gribble. Nobody even uses 'science fantasy'. Not to mention the original term for both was actually 'scientific romance'.
 

Se_7_eN

Member
This is such a nice display, as per Chris Owen's twitter (English Community Manager at PlayStation Europe);
kwVwYYG.jpg


edit: confirmed to be used for retailers!
https://twitter.com/Envisager_/status/758666203854434305

Dang, that is a real nice display... Best I have seen in a while.
 

SomTervo

Member
I mean..not to be a debbie downer here but it's just the game's artwork on a rectangle with a semicircle at the end. It doesn't seem particularly elaborate/impressive, the game's art is just pretty nice.

I think by 'display' they just mean the whole layout/presentation. Where the boxes are, etc. The designs are only partly important to retail displays.
 

Raymo

Member
Why is this game so hard for people to understand. Its such a simple game: collect resources, improve your spacesuit and ship, find the center of the universe. Is it the procedural part of the game that keeps confusing people?

I think what you have described doesn't sound very impressive or interesting to some people. Yet, there has been tons of praise and hype over this game. Those people are simply trying to see if there is something else that they may have missed or do not understand. It's just differing tastes.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Or 'phaser' that Jack O'Neill kept harping on in Season 6 and 7 in SG1, lol.

Raygun sounds far more retro though :)

I don't think that's as clear cut a phrasal distinction as you would like, Gribble. Nobody even uses 'science fantasy'. Not to mention the original term for both was actually 'scientific romance'.

The distinction is clear for anyone interested in creating or writing about the genre though. I know that the media hasn't done a great job of keeping those distinctions but they are real, they've just been forgotten. Moon, The Martian or 2010 Space Odyssey would be considered science fiction amongst the writing fraternity (although there was an ongoing debate because of the way it veered towards science fantasy at the end) but Star trek, Star Wars or Alien would be considered science fantasy. Science fiction 'should' always be within the realms of possibility or at least theoretically possible. Science fantasy doesn't require those restraints but, like most other genres, requires a consistency within its premise, regardless of how bizarre it is.
 

Danlord

Member
I mean..not to be a debbie downer here but it's just the game's artwork on a rectangle with a semicircle at the end. It doesn't seem particularly elaborate/impressive, the game's art is just pretty nice.

Well yeah I am discussing the whole thing, including the artwork. The artwork is incredible and really fitting for the game, so to have a small indie studio have this amount of marketing potential is great. As for the box, I like the parallax of the Atlas (the big diamond in the middle), the astronaut and the foreground as it makes everything stand out so much more. Rather than just sticking with a flat panel that just says the name and maybe simple artwork with boxes/shelves to store the disks.

It'll make it really stand out to uninformed customers, the artwork is so compelling. Damn you, Simon Stålenhag.
 
I think what you have described doesn't sound very impressive or interesting to some people. Yet, there has been tons of praise and hype over this game. Those people are simply trying to see if there is something else that they may have missed or do not understand. It's just differing tastes.
90% of the time that is not what's happening in these threads
 
I think what you have described doesn't sound very impressive or interesting to some people. Yet, there has been tons of praise and hype over this game. Those people are simply trying to see if there is something else that they may have missed or do not understand. It's just differing tastes.

Eh, it's true for alot of these games. Like if we took MInecraft, it'd be boiled down to digging through the ground and using those materials to create tool and create things, while fighting off monsters.

I'm not 'afraid' that NMS won't do well, I'm sure it'll be a popular game. And the truth is, it won't be for everyone. And I think that is fine. It's fine if it's not for everyone.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
- There are several NPC races (we don't know how many). Every one has a different standing with each other. Some will be at full-on war with each other. If you kill loads of a certain race, that race will dislike you and aggro you - while the races they're at war with will like you and help you out. You can play politics and the 'war economy'
- You can trade with NPCs on space stations and on planet-side settlements. You can trade for resources, materials, weapons, upgrades and schematics.
- To speak with NPCs successfully, you need to learn their language. This comes from reading 'Monoliths' on planets where they live - that is, reading their cultural writings. You might learn a word or two from each one, and these words will crop up in the NPC's dialogue. You can work out other words from context and keep notice
- If you say the wrong thing or try to speak a language you don't know, you can damage your standing with that race
- It's not officially confirmed, but we're 90% sure that you can 'hire' members of friendly NPC races as wing men. We don't know if there's an upper limit. You might be able to assemble a fleet of NPCs as wingmen and assault larger space stations.
- You can kill and rob NPCs of money/resources/schematics. You can blow up their ships like a pirate, or assault their on-planet bases. You can also hack into on-planet bases, like using stealth. Obviously these activities will aggro the race and lower your standing with them
- Certain resources/items will be more valuable with particular races. From recent trailers we saw items which are mainly valuable for electronic lifeforms. Could be items like this would be worth a lot more to a sentient robot, for example.

Now this sounds dope! The reading of the monoliths will hit Daniel Jackson SG1 archeological vibes to me.

When I was a kid I had a raygun that buzzed when you pulled the trigger! Phasers are for pussies.

Watch out now... Gribble on the prowl. ;P

Zapp-Ray-Gun.jpg
 

somme

Member
Raygun sounds far more retro though :)


The distinction is clear for anyone interested in creating or writing about the genre though. I know that the media hasn't done a great job of keeping those distinctions but they are real, they've just been forgotten. Moon, The Martian or 2010 Space Odyssey would be considered science fiction amongst the writing fraternity (although there was an ongoing debate because of the way it veered towards science fantasy at the end) but Star trek, Star Wars or Alien would be considered science fantasy. Science fiction 'should' always be within the realms of possibility or at least theoretically possible. Science fantasy doesn't require those restraints but, like most other genres, requires a consistency within its premise, regardless of how bizarre it is.

I would say Star Trek and Alien were much more sci-fi than science fantasy, though I'd agree Star Wars is the latter.
 
That doesn't answer my post.

They keep saying the goal is to get to the center of the galaxy and that we'll find 'something' there, yet the back of the box says it's to get to the center of the universe. So which is it?

I bet it's both. Get to the center of the galaxy. From there access other galaxies. Get to the center of the universe. From there access to other universes.
 

Nokterian

Member
Considering that you can only use the hyperdrive between systems and not just in any direction, it would probably take hundreds of real years at sublight to reach the wall of the bubble of the universe.

It takes 1400 years at the speed of light for us to go to Kepler 452b. And yes hyperdrive is between systems but it also takes fuel.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
I bet it's both. Get to the center of the galaxy. From there access other galaxies. Get to the center of the universe. From there access to other universes.

In the context of Space however there is only one Universe. So having multiple universes wouldn't make sense. Multiple Galaxies however are a thing.

I think the simplest explanation is that this is a very large universe with many Galaxies and Star Clusters within it, which would contain their own individual solar systems and so forth.
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
I didn't say it in jest. Lot's of young adults today don't take pleasure from their own creativity, they rely entirely on someone else supplying that creativity. I come from an era where we made our own entertainment, be it hide and seek, swinging on 'Tarzan ropes' or searching for frogs in our local pond. My mindset is perfect for this game. I actually WANT to find Bolari V because I saw a cave system behind that base and I want to see what's down there.

Some people (I'm guessing those that still ask 'what do you do) say 'entertain me' and those that do understand what you do entertain themselves. But the thing that I find the most confusing is Minecraft and Don't Starve demand the same mindset, which then leads me to believe 99.9% of the people who ask 'what do you do?' are either wilfully ignorant or not the sort of people who would like this game.


Lol! I totally read your comment as a joke on the "In my day..." I didn't take offense either way, but the way you started the sentence seemed like you were being facetious.

As for the rest of your post; I agree. There are games that don't seem particularly fun to watch, but are an absolute joy to play. There are also games that aren't fun to watch unless you know the mechanics of the game. I always mention this one, but I used to think Demon's Souls looked boring as fuck. Until I played the game, fell in love with the mechanics, and then obsessively began watching videos of other people playing it and Dark Souls, because once I understood the mechanics of the game, watching how other people execute those mechanics was fascinating to me.

With No Man's Sky, the game isn't designed around being an Uncharted-esque showpiece. It's impressive in a very different way, but some people were expecting something more "up tempo," I guess. A game that looks flashy and impressive in trailers, when I think the real joy of No Man's Sky is going to be literally just walking around and exploring an alien landscape. I fucking love my epic, set piece games with snarky characters and dramatic showdowns, but I can absolutely get lost in a game like No Man's Sky, where the adventure is what you make it. Where there's no guiding hand saying, "You should clap here." I can 100% see why people would say the game looks boring or uninteresting to them. I can also 100% see why people would be crazy excited for this game as well. I'm in that latter camp. I've watched just about every video on this game I could find, and I was never bored once. Others don't feel that way, and that's cool, but it's seriously time for those folks to realize the game isn't for them and to move on. There's a LOT of stuff out there, and some of it may actually have what they're looking for. No Man's Sky doesn't have everything I ever want in a game, but what it does have is enough for me to be incredibly excited about it. The naysayers don't have to understand it because my excitement for the game is only relevant to me, just like their disinterest is only relevant to them.
 
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