No Man's Sky (1 Viewer)

[Morgan Jolley]

I'm not sure there are any "reviews" out yet, but most places have their first impressions written up. In short, this is what I've gathered from reading a few:

-The game is more of a survival sim than straight-up exploration sim
-The core gameplay loop (find resources, upgrade stuff, move on) gets a bit boring as time goes on
-BUT the core loop gets easier and exploration gets better as time goes on
-The NPCs and lore stuff are neat but not more than neat
-At some point, you may question the value of doing so much "virtual work" for dozens of hours
-It can feel very lonely

It's not exactly what I thought it would be, but the survival/resource management stuff is an even bigger turn off for me. A few places have said they were a little disappointed that the game was more about the survival stuff since the initial reveal trailer seemed to be solely about exploring.

 

[Scott-S]

I am still on the fence on whether or not to go down this rabbit hole. If it were cheaper, it would be easier to just try it. But at $60 I might wait until the reviews make we want it more, or the price comes down.

I also know I have just enough OCD that I might stay on one planet for weeks to make sure I didn't miss something

 

[Ruz-El]

I've been reading a bit of VICE gamings coverage. They have three reviewers playing it, and the "review" is in the form of letters to each other talking about their own experiences. The two posted so far have pretty much convinced me to pick it up since they are completely different experiences to wach other. That said, I'm so far behind on other games who knows when that will be. I'm still trying to clear up PS3 games. :S

As far as the survival element of poking around for resources, I actually enjoy that kind of "lazy" gaming. As one of the above reviewers posted "It's the stress relief I didn't know I needed".

 

[Bryan^H]

Emphasis on survival. I find it to be another "walking simulator" with lots of chores to stay alive or relevant.
Everything gets depleted, your life support your laser gun you use to mine for items(this to me is unacceptable as it is an essential tool for playing the game) and you can recharge them with the right resources....if you have the patience.

No Man's Sky is a beautiful game, and for those that love this type of game (survival, and exploration) to be one of the best gaming experiences ever(I envy you). But for me after just an hour of playing found it to be boring, and oddly enough I never even repaired my ship to experience the sky travel aspect.
I have nothing against this game, it just is not my type of enjoyment. One of the few video games I ever played that serves as an expensive lesson to go with my instinct and avoid the hype.

 

[Sam Posten]

Since I can't play till friday I will have to envision it like this:

Spoiler

 

[Clinton McClure]

Since I can't play till friday I will have to envision it like this:

Spoiler

 

[Morgan Jolley]

That's pretty funny. The devs jokingly said they're running a social experiment with PC and PS4 versions running on different servers to see which group makes the most immature planet names.

It turns out, you can't actually interact with other people at all in the game. It took less than a day for two people to wind up on the same planet while streaming on twitch and they couldn't see each other. So everyone is running their own instance of the game but connected to the servers for, I guess, getting the names of the planets or something?

 

[Brandon Conway]

I think it's pretty clear they want players to be able to see each other. Sounds like the servers are overloaded right now and not providing that element properly.

 

[Bryan^H]

I think it's pretty clear they want players to be able to see each other. Sounds like the servers are overloaded right now and not providing that element properly.

Brandon,
Have you played this yet? If so, what are your thoughts about it?

 

[Brandon Conway]

I've spent around 15 hours with it, which should convey a lot in and of itself.

It is a bit grindy, which has started to get reduced as I've updated my suit, ship, and multitool. I've also learned better which items and resources I can sell and which I need to hold on to, which can be a bit daunting at first.

I'm spending much less time on each planet as I learn alien words, build new tech, etc., which is partly due to the relative sameness of many planets so far - mostly barren worlds with little vegetation. However, I've also been to a really toxic planet, which is the only extreme condition one I've had yet (a couple were a bit warm, but not really tough to survive). So when I do find an icy planet, or a radioactive one I suspect I'll spend a lot of time there.

I've had a couple semi-plentiful worlds, and those have been really fun to explore. I look forward to finding a more paradisiacal world at some point.

Space flight is a lot of fun, and I've been attacked by a few pirates in a couple of the star systems I've been to, with the first such encounter leading to a quick death.

Naming creatures loses its appeal after a while, but every time I've come across something truly new it inspires me to name them, which I think is a good balance. I still try to name at least one planet per star system. I've never bothered to name any plants or locations.

My current goal is to acquire a ship with many more resource slots. In on my second ship which has 15, but I've seen some in the high 20s to low 30s at the star base and at trade posts. The problem is that they go for $1-2m units, so gotta earn that ca$h.

Overall, I've enjoyed the game a lot, but I expected off to be a survival exploration game with a lot of resource management. Those that get frustrated by such games may find it is not for them.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Freakiest thing I've seen yet during my long play session yesterday. To give a sense of scale, the animal this monstrosity is eating is about my player's height. Also note that it's an "infant".

I did not stick around long enough to meet its parents.

 

[Sam Posten]

Dangit
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4xesqy/worried_about_the_nms_port_you_should_be/

 

[Sam Posten]

Sad panda
https://twitter.com/BradChacos/status/764164603676860416

 

[WillG]

Since I can't play till friday I will have to envision it like this:

Spoiler

That's pretty funny. The devs jokingly said they're running a social experiment with PC and PS4 versions running on different servers to see which group makes the most immature planet names.

It turns out, you can't actually interact with other people at all in the game. It took less than a day for two people to wind up on the same planet while streaming on twitch and they couldn't see each other. So everyone is running their own instance of the game but connected to the servers for, I guess, getting the names of the planets or something?

Suposedly the profanity filters in NMS are pretty strict. Someone on another message board reported every attempt he made to name a plantet some derivation of "Dildo" failed.

 

[Josh Dial]

I'm spending much less time on each planet as I learn alien words, build new tech, etc., which is partly due to the relative sameness of many planets so far - mostly barren worlds with little vegetation. However, I've also been to a really toxic planet, which is the only extreme condition one I've had yet (a couple were a bit warm, but not really tough to survive). So when I do find an icy planet, or a radioactive one I suspect I'll spend a lot of time there.

I've had a couple semi-plentiful worlds, and those have been really fun to explore. I look forward to finding a more paradisiacal world at some point.

The class of star system generally determines how barren or lush a planet is. The Atlas path mostly takes you through class G or yellow star systems, in which most planets are barren. To visit the other types (red, green, blue, white, orange, brown, and variations like blue-white), you must upgrade your warp reactor, and place them in series (next to each other), and you must venture off the Atlas path and explore on your own. While it is technically possible to visit a non-yellow star system while on the Atlas path, it appears quite unlikely without freely exploring.

Full credit goes to use Harvoification and the other users on the NMS subreddit (though I have personally checked the theory and it appears to be sound).

 

[Sam Posten]

I got it installed. It lags like crazy. There is no sound. Can't figure out how to get sound. Grrr

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The reviews are starting to come out. Last I checked, the PS4 version was running a 70% on GameRankings. Not bad, but still kind of ouch.

 

[Brandon Conway]

This is not a game that will be loved by everyone. It's gonna have its die hard fans, and it's gonna have those that think it's a complete waste of time.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I have been reading some of the online reviews / impressions of the game and it looks like this probably won't be the title that makes me jump into the current generation of game consoles. Parts of it look pretty amazing, but the 'grind' aspect of the title and other gameplay elements make it (for me) not quite the 'must have' that I anticipated.

Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind.

- Walter.

 

[Sam Posten]

Bahahahahaha
https://twitter.com/Britbongreturns/status/765190830894317568