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Elite: Dangerous


Soulmirror
(@soulmirror)
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  I am looking at Elite Dangerous, read about faction system changes with the 1.3 update. I understand there is not a chat bar (typing) and that when you are ingame, you are only playing with the people in you immediate area, with the numbers online being rather small. My questions:

 

1.  How many people are online with you at the same time?

2.  Does the game feel empty?

3.  Looking at planned improvements to the game, is it worth buying now or waiting?


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Soulmirror
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Topic starter  

Thanks for the feedback, anyone else have experience with this game?


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ExpandingMan
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1.  I mostly play single player, so my experience isn't terribly useful here, but from the little I have I'd say there are relatively few pilots (<10) instanced with you most of the time.

 

2 (Positive).  This has been a big topic of the discussion for Elite.  Let me preface it a little bit by saying that part of what is described as "emptiness" is actually a very, very good thing.  Elite makes space feel huge, as it should, and as so few games do.  Everything is to scale.  For me, the most compelling thing about the game is that it lets you fly a spaceship through a 1:1 scale galaxy with very few artificial boundaries.  The galaxy is beautifully realized, looks absolutely gorgeous, and even, in most cases, looks astoundingly realistic.  Experiencing the vastness of space properly more than makes up for the absence (for the most part) of scenes in which you can get a dozen planetary bodies up close in one screenshot.  I'd expect those to be enough reasons for anyone to buy it, but that's just me. 

 

2 (Negative).  Having said all that, when it comes to activities which are not only profitable, but entertaining enough to be sustainable, E:D feels disappointingly inadequate.  Right now, the only careers which really make any sense are bounty hunting and trading (perhaps exploration, but its a queer way to make money at the moment).  I will say, trading is surprisingly fun in E:D considering how simple it is.  It kept me entertained for a good long while, but eventually you'll prefer throwing yourself out an airlock to the skull-crushing boredom that endless trading entails.  Bounty hunting will keep you entertained longer, but it starts to feel very grindy, and it is much more difficult than it should be to find really good hunting grounds (one should head to resource extraction sites in low-sec systems).  Running missions isn't really profitable.  There is certainly sense in running a few on the side while trading, but the mission system is pretty abysmal.  I suspect that a thoroughly overhauled mission system would go a very long way to rectifying the lack of gratifying activity to be had; whether "Power Play" will offer this remains to be seen.  I'm a little concerned that they are concentrating more on MMO aspects than on actually filling the universe with compelling things to do.

 

3.  I personally think it is absolutely 100% worth buying immediately.  I was horribly disappointed in the flight model, they should never have tried to make it an MMO at all, and as I described there should be more to keep pilots busy, but there are some really spectacular experiences to be had.  With the (rather major) exception of the extremely unfortunate flight model, the game has an air of realism to it that few others in the genre can match.  The value of freely exploring a to-scale galaxy filled with realistic astrophysics cannot be overstated.  The UI is gorgeous (with the exception of ship fitting), the docking system is more entertaining than you'd ever expect and after some updates there is now a fairly decent array of toys that you can outfit your ship with.  It has some big problems, but look at how pathetically few games we have in the genre, even now.  You'd probably have more fun buying the recent re-release of all the X-Wing games, if you want an infinitely better flight model you should go back and play I-War2, but, regardless, E:D will unquestionably give you experiences you'll remember fondly.


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Soulmirror
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Thanks for the write-up.


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CaptainKal
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With the (rather major) exception of the extremely unfortunate flight model, the game has an air of realism to it that few others in the genre can match.

 

I will respectfully disagree. The flight model, is an evolution of the original's game flight model. (It resembles the flight model, of a good "survey" flight sim, like Jane's USAF, or the Strike Fighter 2 Series). If you go the Newtonian way, it will be more realistick, but you will let the computer fight or fly the ship. (And in I-War 2, the flight computer did most of the work.) 


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Ambrosius
(@ambrosius)
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Well the flight model was horrid compared to Jumpgate, making E:D a big disappointment, and a big waste of my money.


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Pyros
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  I am looking at Elite Dangerous, read about faction system changes with the 1.3 update. I understand there is not a chat bar (typing) and that when you are ingame, you are only playing with the people in you immediate area, with the numbers online being rather small. My questions:

 

1.  How many people are online with you at the same time?

2.  Does the game feel empty?

3.  Looking at planned improvements to the game, is it worth buying now or waiting?

 

It is always difficult to be definitive about this game - because it depends a lot on what you like. If you prefer to be guided and thrown into an interactive story, then this is not the game for you. Also it will feel a bit empty compared to traditional MMOs, not so much due to the lack of players (500k+ copies sold) but due to the mindbogling size to the game universe and the fact of quite a few players are really looking for a solitary experience in a universe - and play solo mode.

 

So the answer to the empty and how many players are online with you depends to where you go. A bit like planet earth 😉 - vacations in New York / London /.. for the crowded city; Iceland / Sahara / Alaska /  mountains for the solitary experience. Not that I think the game ever becomes really crowded. For the time being.

 

Another important thing is that the game is still evolving - and still has a lot to evolve. On the down side means that the current experience is not up to the level of what is promised to become. On te pus side is  that Frontier is actively developing and improving the game. It is already much better than it used to be and becoming better by the release. But still has quite some strides to go. But the potential is truly outstanding.

 

If you enjoy space it is a mandatory game - probably the game that has a better space feel ever. And where you can find just about any type of body.

 

Finally, on the flight model: personally love it. I've played both the original Elite and while I fount Frontier / FFE full newtonian engine a piece of art, it also made combat/dogfighting downright bad. YMMV, of course.


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