I’m new to Lemmy BTW.
Just want to make some friends
It was apparently my top played game on PS5 this year because earlier in the year I got really into playing it while listening to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
I liked it but wish it had better multiplayer. My friends kept dropping out of the party and there wasn’t much to do as part of a small group other than to collect corvette parts to make bigger (or smaller) outrageous ships.
Could be tempted to do the massive week long runs but… I just got back into BG3.
No.
The sameness of every planet was a major turnoff for me, plus the scale of the universe pretty much guarantees that you’ll never run into another player organically. The game is basically just Minecraft in space, except bad.
This is the reason why I don’t like procedurally-generated games. What’s the point of a big, massive universe, if it’s nothing but a bunch of generated sameness? Environments that weren’t handcrafted are a major turnoff for me. As someone who sees video games as art, it just feels soulless and empty. Like AI-generated art, except it’s an entire game.
definitely
Same
NMS did such a better job of looking like a movie poster than Starfield could ever have hoped to.
Every since launch 🧡
100% 💪😤 I play on the Switch 2, I’ve been loving it. I took a break for a bit so I can vibe with other games for a bit until I can figure out if I should start playing multiplayer or finish my quests with my base.
Welcome to Lemmy BTW! You’ll love it here!
Does Elite Dangerous count lol?
I broke my joystick dogfighting in that game in VR lol. A little TOO immersive!
252.6 hours played, last played October 2024.
It’s enjoyable, but I’ve never been really engaged with it. There’s no progression, I don’t feel like my character, equipment, or ships are getting better even though I’m upgrading things. No planet is special, even though they’re all unique.
I think it would be better if you started out in a “settled” region with interesting factions, hand-designed planets, optional quest lines, etc. The infinite procedurally generated stuff would come into play if you push beyond the edges of known space.
You didn’t engage with it but have spent the equivalent of 6 weeks of full time work in the game?
Maybe I’m setting my bar too low, but for a video game I expect to get 1hr enjoyment per dollar spent for me to consider a game ‘worthwhile.’
That aside, I agree it would be nice to have a more lived in feel in NMS, cities, a feel of civilization.
Yeah and having an expansive universe with like three languages and three races of intelligent creatures, none of which seem to have any personalities just left it feeling shallow.
There’s no storyline in even the main story. It feels like a vast and lonely universe. I think procedural world generation has largely the same problem as generative AI: infinite slight varieties of responses, all of which are as bland as a HR seminar.
I’ve come to realize over time that I would prefer a completely linear story to games on the other extreme end.
What you’re suggesting sounds very interesting though, linear and more handcrafted content paired with procedural content to pad in the margins. Keep playing forever if you want to, but feel a sense of story and accomplishment in the main storyline.
Edit: that’s probably why the expeditions feel more worth playing… You bump into people because you’re all playing on the same planets, and the star systems you’re playing through are at least somewhat curated.
Currently working through rebel galaxy outlaw. No Man’s Sky is next!
No, I’m not a No Man’s Sky fan. I’m a recovering No Man’s Sky addict. If retirement exists in the future, I hope this game still exists, cuz I’m gonna ruin whatever remains of my life with it.
Don’t know, I really would like to love the game. Everytime a new update drops I try to pick up the game, but time and time again I struggle to find a game loop which really grabs my attention and keeps me playing. I either fall back into ressource grinding or trying to unlock all expedition rewards. Both getting repetitive and boring after some hours of playing. It’s really a shame as I love the aesthetic and somehow casual feel of the game.
If you guys have any recommendations how to make the game enjoyable again, please feel free to drop a comment, would love to hear from you how you play NMS.
That was my experience as well for the first couple of years. But with the drop of the update where you can build your own Corvette, I finally converted. Finally I could build my very own Serenity! Next step is to make my way as a smuggler across the universe!
Edit: this is built after another players YouTube-tutorial by the way.
I would pay good money for a mod that has Jayne as a crewmember, and any time you ask him to do anything he just walks away murmuring “I’ll be in my bunk”.
That’s a sweet looking ship indeed! How was your experience collecting all the necessary ship parts to build this? Do you think it helped make it more enjoyable to follow a youtube guide?
Nowadays being over 30 and having a child I don’t find as much time playing games anymore. Which makes the grinding part of games so much less enjoying and worth while. So following a youtube tutorial sometimes helps me to get through the more grindier spects of a game if its not possible to circumnavigate them.
PS: Woulf you mind sharing the youtube tutorial you followed?
So, as I’m also an “older” gamer, it definitely helped with the time management 😉 How I did it was to first just look up which parts he used and try to find as many of them as possible, or otherwise trade for them in the Corvette parts shop. For some parts I also used alternatives until I had managed to collect all of the “original” parts. And when I had collected all the parts, I then followed the tutorial to do the actual build. And I enjoyed doing it this way 🙂
There are several different alternatives, but the youtube video I followed was this: https://youtu.be/WyxeEKAnlek
Hehe wonderful, thanks for going into a deeper explanation on how you did it! Definitely gonna give it a try the next time I decide to start up the game again 🚀
I really would like to love the game. Everytime a new update drops I try to pick up the game
Are you me?
I have it installed right now, I logged in to play all this new, raved-over content and found myself on some planet with too much air-traffic making noise overhead, needing to collect minerals to power my ship, and a base with some minecraft-like chests of loot.
I know the game is vast and deep and full of surprises and such, but I have the hardest time connecting with it enough to feel like I want to explore several hundred hyper-colorful planets.
Vast yes. Deep, no. That’s what you’re experiencing; the actual game loop is about as complex as Farmville
That may be it, I am expecting something more grand or epic or complicated to start uncovering, not really realizing that what I’m already doing is “it” and the rest is just exploring for the sake of exploring.
This is my issue with NMS.
It’s fun for a while, but it’s a pretty shallow sandbox and after you’ve played in the sand for a bit, it’s all just sand.
If you’re not setting yourself a complex and/or grindy goal, like building a neat base, finding the perfect weapon or ship, filling out your reputations or lexicon, or learning all the crafting recipes to make the ultimate mcGuffin, then there is really not much to do. And, for me, once that goal is accomplished, I’m done for a while.
Each planet is just a collection of random tree/bush/rock/animal/color combinations that are mechanically identical (unless something’s changed. I haven’t played since they added VR). I’m also a gamer who likes mechanical complexity and interactions; I don’t tend to play a game for the actual ‘role playing’.
The hand-written “quests” were fun to do most of the time, but that content runs out quickly.
I have the same problems with Elite Dangerous (I have an explorer somewhere out a solid few hours away from civilized space) and unmodded Minecraft (I can only build so many houses/castles). I’ll pick all of these up every now and then, but the fun wears off more quickly each time.
You hit the nail on the head with your explanation. And I fully agree, played alot of Elite Dangerous when it released but the game loop got boring really fast. I also don’t know how many times I’ve started a Minecraft server with friends, only for us to abandon it after playing on and off for a couple of days.
The same in NMS, tried to make the game more enjoyable by playing with friends, but just the same as with Minecraft. You really need to find or define your own goals you want to achieve. But nowadays with everyday life and a limited amount of time to spend gaming, I tend to gravitate more and more towards more linear/story based games and less sandboxy ones.
I have high hopes that Light No Fire will learn the lessons from NMS and make a world that is both dynamic and interesting, but grounded enough in a single planet that it’s not such a slog to explore and it’s not just “Oh, neat, a green planet with blue worm aliens and purple trees, this is a color/creature combo I haven’t seen in hours.”
Also, imagine how nice it would be if they just drop it as a huge MMO and you just drop in somewhere and people start randomly finding each other and building communities. That would go so hard, and yet the studios capable of making that kind of experience are soooo scared of the 2% of players who will play that and whinge all over the forums that they’re “bored, lost and can’t find anyone.”
The flight and combat is just not very fun.
Are you me?
Who knows, in one way or the other we might be (hello parallel universe?!)
Haha yeah I played it back in the days before the game had a real multiplayer, where you only saw other players as floating lights. Back then the game had a more “lost in the stars” vibe, more so as the sphere was no multiplayer hub and no player made buildings you stumbled upon while exploring. To be fair it also felt somewhat more empty as well.
202 hours so far, and I recently picked it up again. I really love the worldbuilding with the aliens, and the exploration is very fun. My main gripe is that it’s not very conducive to multiplayer, since you’re constantly on the move with little need to maintain a consistent base. I tried using my friend’s corvette as a main hub but defaulted to my own planetary base after a while.
PS5 or Switch 2? Which version do you all think is best?
Yes, hello fellow no man’s sky enjoyers
