• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

No Man's Sky Review Thread: The Scores Have Arrived (read OP)

Fredrik

Member
Unless they score it well, right?
There is no right score for this game imo. I love every bit of it, it'll be my GOTY unless something else comes along later in the year. But I can absolutely see why some people will hate it too. It can completely devour your life if you let it, and maybve you have to let it do that to see what it's all about, there is just so much to do and see and so many ways to play it. But it can also be the most boring and slowest grind-fest ever made if you're not ready to put in the time needed to let it shine and just want to go flying a spaceship right away and shoot stuff etc.

I'd give it a 10/10. But I'm still not surprised to see 4/10's, especially when adding the PC to the mix when there is so much performance issues for some people.

I do miss some kind of world/base building or something, something more to do on your favorite planet besides collecting materials and trading goods. And a map! Why is there no map?? And creatures that come out to hunt you during the night or extreme temperatures during night or day etc. The Minecraft survival gameplay you know, it would suit this game perfectly.
 
There is no right score for this game imo. I love every bit of it, it'll be my GOTY unless something else comes along later in the year. But I can absolutely see why some people will hate it too. It can completely devour your life if you let it, and maybve you have to let it do that to see what it's all about, there is just so much to do and see and so many ways to play it. But it can also be the most boring and slowest grind-fest ever made if you're not ready to put in the time needed to let it shine and just want to go flying a spaceship right away and shoot stuff etc.

I'd give it a 10/10. But I'm still not surprised to see 4/10's, especially when adding the PC to the mix when there is so much performance issues for some people.

I do miss some kind of world/base building or something, something more to do on your favorite planet besides collecting materials and trading goods. And a map! Why is there no map?? And creatures that come out to hunt you during the night or extreme temperatures during night or day etc. The Minecraft survival gameplay you know, it would suit this game perfectly.

Do tell, please?
 

danowat

Banned
There is no right score for this game imo. I love every bit of it, it'll be my GOTY unless something else comes along later in the year. But I can absolutely see why some people will hate it too. It can completely devour your life if you let it, and maybve you have to let it do that to see what it's all about, there is just so much to do and see and so many ways to play it. But it can also be the most boring and slowest grind-fest ever made if you're not ready to put in the time needed to let it shine and just want to go flying a spaceship right away and shoot stuff etc.

I'd give it a 10/10. But I'm still not surprised to see 4/10's, especially when adding the PC to the mix when there is so much performance issues for some people.

I do miss some kind of world/base building or something, something more to do on your favorite planet besides collecting materials and trading goods. And a map! Why is there no map?? And creatures that come out to hunt you during the night or extreme temperatures during night or day etc. The Minecraft survival gameplay you know, it would suit this game perfectly.

It can be the most boring and slowest grindfest, and you go on to list 5 improvements, yet you give it a perfect 10/10?

Strange.
 

Makki

Member
It can completely devour your life if you let it, and maybve you have to let it do that to see what it's all about, there is just so much to do and see and so many ways to play it.

I think you are blinded by your love for the game. Objectively speaking, there's only one way to play the game and that is to explore the randomized topography. Item management, repair and upgrades are all tedious work you need to do to make your own adventure happen. Nobody should have to let the grind "devour your life" to be able to see what a game is about, because really you are spending 80% of the time repairing and gathering not for pleasure, but to be able to hold more items and keep bars topped off on live support/ship boosters.
 

ironcreed

Banned
This is one of those games where even though the meta is close to 70 (which is far too high IMO) it'll be remembered very poorly

My main takeaway from this game so far is the feeling of landing on and leaving planets. I'll always remember it for that, if nothing else. It gives me an incredible sense of wonder. Especially when it is a nice world.
 
This is one of those games where even though the meta is close to 70 (which is far too high IMO) it'll be remembered very poorly
I think by the time people see the hilarious ending, yeah it'll be remembered poorly.

The team could rehabilitate the game by adding improvements through the next year or so, but it might be too late by then.
 
Don't know if this has been posted but it sums up a lot of my thoughts

https://youtu.be/6exsGnp_4MY

My thoughts on this video from the NMS OT...

The thing about those other games in comparison to NMS is they actually had strong gameplay and narratives that hooks the player as well as a world worth exploring and losing yourself in.

I'm not sure NMS has either as I would expect a lot of players to become incredibly bored after about a week's worth of time exploring it's samey 18 quintillion planets and it is obviously lacking in the gameplay department (not expecting Destiny/Halo-like play but definitely something more than what was given).


...I'm not sure NMS will have the staying power/longevity for most players with just the exploration hook considering the samey-ness and monotonous nature of it.

Games like Flower, Journey, and ABZU (just to name a few popular ones) allow the player to lose themselves in the game-world but they also do not over-stay their welcome, if they did there would be other needed gameplay mechanics/hooks to keep the player interested.
 
Ouch.

No Man's Sky, The Order 1886, and Knack have all been critical flips for Sony. Killzone Shadowfall wasn't too hot either. I do think Microsoft has done better with its exclusives overall. But Sony has hit a couple out of the park (Bloodborne and Uncharted 4), more so than any Microsoft games.
 

msdstc

Incredibly Naive
Ouch.

No Man's Sky, The Order 1886, and Knack have all been critical flips for Sony. Killzone Shadowfall wasn't too hot either. I do think Microsoft has done better with its exclusives overall. But Sony has hit a couple out of the park (Bloodborne and Uncharted 4), more so than any Microsoft games.

Lollll wutttttt
 

spekkeh

Banned
I don't know where you live neither your economical situation, but I consider full priced games expensive as fuck, even in a direct dollar conversion.
Average northern European country. I was thinking about it the other day, my cleaners cost 10 euro per hour, which is a very sweet deal where I live. That means my leisure time is obviously worth more to me than that. Especially if it's something much more interesting than chores. A couple of hours and I'm good. It's definitely better value than going to the cinema or out for some coffee, let alone dinner.


From your privileged position, maybe.

I spent £50 on No Man's Sky, and it's not even worth half that.
Privileged? I guess. But whereas you might be annoyed that the thing in the center is a total letdown, I am annoyed that I start a game where I know beforehand I will never have the time to reach the center.
 

Duxxy3

Member
Ouch.

No Man's Sky, The Order 1886, and Knack have all been critical flips for Sony. Killzone Shadowfall wasn't too hot either. I do think Microsoft has done better with its exclusives overall. But Sony has hit a couple out of the park (Bloodborne and Uncharted 4), more so than any Microsoft games.

Microsoft has more consistently made games that I enjoy, this generation. I'll leave it at that. I loved Bloodborne and Uncharted 4 was very good, but the rest... not my cup of tea. I liked Sony's production more in the PS3 era. It was a better fit for my taste.
 

silva1991

Member
Ouch.

No Man's Sky, The Order 1886, and Knack have all been critical flips for Sony. Killzone Shadowfall wasn't too hot either. I do think Microsoft has done better with its exclusives overall. But Sony has hit a couple out of the park (Bloodborne and Uncharted 4), more so than any Microsoft games.

Do you ignore that Ratchet and Clank, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, Infamous and Until Down exist or something? all of those reviewed well especially Odin and R&C. I have no doubt that TLG and Gravity Rush 2 will review well as well even if it doesn't get 90+ metascore.
 

Fredrik

Member
I think you are blinded by your love for the game. Objectively speaking, there's only one way to play the game and that is to explore the randomized topography. Item management, repair and upgrades are all tedious work you need to do to make your own adventure happen. Nobody should have to let the grind "devour your life" to be able to see what a game is about, because really you are spending 80% of the time repairing and gathering not for pleasure, but to be able to hold more items and keep bars topped off on live support/ship boosters.
Wouldn't be blinded by love if there wasn't anything there worth loving ;) like I said I understand that some people don't like it but imo the slow exploration, tricky item management, slow grinding while identifying all the species and learn the language etc is what makes the game for me. It isn't easy, there are no bottomless pockets, but it wouldn't be as satisfying to build an upgrade without the challenge to never carry around stuff for later, you need to focus, walk past great things and just do one upgrade at a time, and everything obviously takes a lot of time. But if you're in a hurry. Play another game.
 

Nameless

Member
I think you are blinded by your love for the game. Objectively speaking, there's only one way to play the game and that is to explore the randomized topography. Item management, repair and upgrades are all tedious work you need to do to make your own adventure happen. Nobody should have to let the grind "devour your life" to be able to see what a game is about, because really you are spending 80% of the time repairing and gathering not for pleasure, but to be able to hold more items and keep bars topped off on live support/ship boosters.

This is a pretty arrogant response. I made the point earlier in the thread that the game's biggest flaw is its poorly balanced survival loop. For fans of genres with heavy inventory and systems management there's not much there and it's likely to become inconsequential fairly quickly. For others it can totally come off as unwelcoming, frustrating, and tedious. Just because your experience is closer to the latter doesn't mean anyone who had a different one is necessarily blinding themselves.
 
8i6rvem.png


Well, at least people are talking about it.
It's been hyped to hell and back for 3 years and it bombed. Of course people are talking about it.
 
Ouch.

No Man's Sky, The Order 1886, and Knack have all been critical flips for Sony. Killzone Shadowfall wasn't too hot either. I do think Microsoft has done better with its exclusives overall. But Sony has hit a couple out of the park (Bloodborne and Uncharted 4), more so than any Microsoft games.

kinda agree with you, but well there's also: SFV, Guilty Gear Xrd, Odin Sphere, Resogun, KoF 14, Darius Burst, Ratchet n Clank, Infamous etc..
 
The day 1 patch made it where you start much further from the center.

Trust me, I've been making jumps to the center as fast and efficiently as I possibly can, and I've barely made a dent in the journey.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing haha?

I'm likely picking up a Neo and I had my eye on this game, I was always skeptical but was willing to take a chance. Unless there's some updates to flesh it out (Destiny) I'll be passing
 

Z3M0G

Member
I wasn't hoping for the game to get bad reviews, but I suspected the game had problems and expected bad reviews... so I feel vindicated I guess.

Oh and I just picked up a copy.
 

HeeHo

Member
Unique game, It gets boring after a while though. if I had to score it, I will give it a 7.

This is pretty much how I feel about it. There is definitely something good to the game. When I play, I play it for hours and hours but then I eventually feel like I am really bored and then I stop. That is pretty much my cycle with the game.

Right now I kind of look at it as primarily an adventure game with survival elements until it gets updated. It's great to explore the planets and build your character up but it needs more variety and some fine-tuning to be something I would really sink my teeth into.
 

Makki

Member
This is a pretty arrogant response.

It's not my intention to come across as arrogant, personally I enjoy the game and I feel like I can bear the pain that it is to keep your gun, your suit, your shields and thrusters topped off at all times to be able to see new vistas and strange animals. The response is worded as it was because you cannot ask for reviewers to be absorbed into the game and looks past the grind, the grind needs to be addressed and it is part of the reason why the scores are low.

Even if the life support and traveling grind mechanics were looked past, alien outposts/pods/facilities need variety, aliens need to perform actions other than staring at a tablet. As it stands the NPC content in the universe clashes with the variety of everything else. Animals should also have more interesting behaviors other than poop, run away or if you look anything like a Half Life crab attack.
 

Moreche

Member
Now that Sean has made the most he will earn from this game in the last few days, it will be interesting to see how committed he is to the project.
With no DLC plan he could close Hello Games and take the money and run or does he have this vision of what the game will be in the next twelve months or maybe a sequel or definitive edition.
I think all we'll see are a few patches and then Xbox One and Scorpio port.
 

SomTervo

Member
I don't see the purpose of exploring planets with no meaning to the content, just procedurally generated messes.

Then again maybe I'm not getting it because the game consistently drops to sub 10 fps for me.

you're not alone..
it's just like jim said.. the procedural generation is a crutch to sustain a crafting/survival game that is else sadly empty of anything worthwhile.. :/

Bummer about the 10FPS nynt.

I went through a weird transition with the game:

> The first 15-25 hours I was loving the aliens, loving the lore, discovering the universe and backstory and travelling through it.
> then I learnt cool things about the lore and the structure and got bored of it. There wasn't much going on. I still liked planets and animals but only 1 in 15 or 20 is really unique or 'out there'.
> I started mainlining for the centre of the galaxy, just to see what's up (although I knew it's practically nothing) and also to get
to the next galaxy
and complete
the Atlas quest line
which I shirked this time

But as I did this... I slowly realised that just exploring new frontiers was good enough for me. Yet more, if what I've heard about the centre of the galaxy is true, and
it lets you go to the next galaxy
, I've become besotted with the idea of getting through as many
galaxies as possible, being a true pioneer blasting through galaxy upon galaxy...
which undoubtedly fewer and fewer players will have seen. And if what Sean said is true, the procedural algorithms should get weirder and weirder as we do this. And I can't wait to do it. I've got the adventure bug. I just want to keep going forever.

And it's getting more fun every minute even though the meaningful gameplay content is dripping away.
 

Avatar1

Member
It's been hyped to hell and back for 3 years and it bombed. Of course people are talking about it.
LOL this kid thinks a game made with less than 20 people, sells for $60, and has more threads/talk than most other AAA games (threads being good or bad) has bombed?

This game has already made Hello Games and Sony lots of money I'm sure!
 
Now that Sean has made the most he will earn from this game in the last few days, it will be interesting to see how committed he is to the project.
With no DLC plan he could close Hello Games and take the money and run or does he have this vision of what the game will be in the next twelve months or maybe a sequel or definitive edition.
I think all we'll see are a few patches and then Xbox One and Scorpio port.


Didn't they say the reason the game is $60 is because they will continue to support it with free dlc and patches ?


I dont have the game yet so I am curious.
 

Duxxy3

Member
LOL this kid thinks a game made with less than 20 people, sells for $60, and has more threads/talk than most other AAA games (threads being good or bad) has bombed?

This game has already made Hello Games and Sony lots of money I'm sure!

Wouldn't surprise me if it already hit 1 million sold between PC and PS4. That's a lot of money for a small team.
 
You can cheese it. There's an item duping exploit. The post patch ending was posted online the same day as the patch was released.

There's also a cheat program posted in this thread earlier today, run it, press F3, it gives you 999 warp cells.

Number of warp cells isn't the problem. You still have to jump manually and you can only do it in incremental steps. Unless I'm missing something, I'm only able to warp 12 systems ahead at any one time.
 

Avatar1

Member
Wouldn't surprise me if it already hit 1 million sold between PC and PS4. That's a lot of money for a small team.
Exactly and I really think thus game may have a long tail. If they keep adding more and more content over time it will keep selling.

Not for $60, of course, but I wouldnt be shocked to hear that this game is already a profit after the first week.
 
Honestly seems like a niche game that got hyped to hell and back by Sony, that will only really will be liked by a select few (hence why it's a 'niche' game), by the sounds of things.
 

danowat

Banned
it didn't even bomb critically
I doubt you could call such a mixed reception a good result, not a bomb, but I can't imagine there are too many whoops and cheers about how well received it was in the media.

It certainly did well commercially though, there is no doubt of that.
 

Dubz

Member
I'm addicted to improving my ship, suit, and multi tool, but I can see why this game is divisive. Here are some things that could improve it.

Base building
Land vehicles
Maps
Different looking buildings (all are essentially the same on all the planets)
Humanoid aliens roaming the planets
Multiplayer


Having said all of that I'm still addicted as ever.
 

Wil348

Member
I'm really curious about what IGN's score will be, since their review sounded pretty negative. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say a 4 or 5.
 

Trojan

Member
Bummer about the 10FPS nynt.

I went through a weird transition with the game:

> The first 15-25 hours I was loving the aliens, loving the lore, discovering the universe and backstory and travelling through it.
> then I learnt cool things about the lore and the structure and got bored of it. There wasn't much going on. I still liked planets and animals but only 1 in 15 or 20 is really unique or 'out there'.
> I started mainlining for the centre of the galaxy, just to see what's up (although I knew it's practically nothing) and also to get
to the next galaxy
and complete
the Atlas quest line
which I shirked this time

But as I did this... I slowly realised that just exploring new frontiers was good enough for me. Yet more, if what I've heard about the centre of the galaxy is true, and
it lets you go to the next galaxy
, I've become besotted with the idea of getting through as many
galaxies as possible, being a true pioneer blasting through galaxy upon galaxy...
which undoubtedly fewer and fewer players will have seen. And if what Sean said is true, the procedural algorithms should get weirder and weirder as we do this. And I can't wait to do it. I've got the adventure bug. I just want to keep going forever.

And it's getting more fun every minute even though the meaningful gameplay content is dripping away.

I'm right there with you...this is really close to my thoughts. I'm loving the game, but it's not because of the gameplay loop. I think that's fine and can become annoying sometimes with the intricacies of inventory management.

The game is amazing to me for what they did technologically with the universe creation algorithm, combined with the exhilaration that every new planet you visit is the first time it's being seen. It makes you feel so tiny and insignificant in this giant picture, and puts me in awe of what they created. I'm an explorer in games and this just creates an experience for me ive never felt before in a game. I am having more trouble even viewing this as a traditional "game" and see it more as an experience.

I totally understand why some people would never get into this, and I think most of the complaints against NMS are justified. Some people just want a fun gameplay loop and don't get that same joy from direction-less exploring. That being said, while those 90% of people have legit complaints, the other 10% of comments I'm seeing on the Internet now are frothing-at-the-mouth garbage. That group would be miserable no matter what the situation I suppose. There is some serious piling-on here that is kind of disturbing to watch. This thread is civil for the most part, but some other thread/Twitter comments are off-the-reservation crazy.
 
Top Bottom