I have to say that I think the option to change several difficulty settings is reasonable and a great touch to the game for players with disabilities or who just want a chill game to play. However, it IS a lot of control. Most games dont have this level of control. Also, HG did say from the beginning that combat was a feature of the game. In fact, 25% of its main pillars was combat. So removing it entirely is to essentially make two different games for a pretty small portion of players these days. Which, to be fair, is a little bit on the unreasonable side to want a different game than what it actually is.
Not saying that the anti-combat players should be ignored as I too am not big on combat these days, I used to play shooters but I didnt like the person they slowly turned me into so I now limit my combat in games to some survival sandbox games were its âthere, but its optionalâ.
Combat in NMS isnt that bad for me as they are just mindless machines, but they are mostly just annoying more than anything else
I do think âalternateâ methods of play should have been introduced. For example, instead of fighting, one can âhackâ or âtrapâ sentinels. Or perhaps âsneakâ passed some to achieve some goal or one could choose to fight instead. But ultimately, everyone can enjoy the same expeditions.
Similar to the Metal Gear franchise(while Kojima was with Konami) where the goal was NOT to kill anyone but you could. And you had alternate methods of play. You could sneak, hide, use distractions. Or knock out enemy with tranqs(which they will wake up ans alert guards) or use weapons or set traps to reach your goal. I imagine that would be hard for HG to accomplish though as the Sentinel AI would need to be reworked entirely.
I did check and found that the sentinels will fire in caves. I could only entice one to enter the cave and the others just hovered around the entrance, but maybe I was just on a planet with cautious sentinels. IDK. The one that came in insisted on lobbing grenades which always missed and didnât fire its cannons. It was fairly easy to just walk around it and watch it maneuver. My friend said that he was in a large cave and the small mechs would come in (and I assume the dogs would as well which are more dangerous IMO). Caves arenât totally safe anymore, better to stick with existing buildings or your own bases if you want to farm sentinels for nanites or glass shards.
While there are 4 pillars of No Manâs Sky, they are not equal percentages. Not when Sean described it as âa game of chill exploration.â The fact that the initial released focused on exploration is another clue. Itâs the major pillar.
Game changes and expeditions should not exclude players just to make combat tougher, survival harder, or satisfy the bloodlust of some players.
Letting it be optional is OK, but this is not an MMO game of competition, nor is it primarily a PVP shooter.
I agree. I think if they did away with some of the planet charts, and you could scan planets from orbit for more detailed info and where sentinel hives etc could beâŚmaybe new scanner tech you have to install in Freighters etc.
I get why they are never ending, after all they have a virtually infinite supply, that they wouldnât just give up. But it would be nice if destroying certain ones would like EMP the planet or something lol
But its also why I would like more defensive systems, turrets etc
Planetary shields.
Base Shields
etc
while I think a lot of players enjoy chillâŚI think a higher percentage is the other way. And would have gotten bored and moved on. Thankfully there are difficulty options to play just about any way you want. But expeditions are rewards for playing through challenges. Not everyone is going to enjoy every expedition. But you also donât need every reward.
Personally I hope this never changes. otherwise they might as well add a button to each expedition that says give me all rewards cause I donât wanna play it.
Sorry that just sounds highly entitled. I wanna play Super Mario but I hate jumping, can you make jumping sections easier. I am not a fan of combat. But its part of the game so I deal with it best I can. Some parts of games are just not for everyone.
No one needs cosmetics.
If your not playing through an expedition with some challenge, than what is the point? A glorified sight seeing tour with a cosmetic at the end? Iâll pass.
But Hell maybe Hello Games someday will allow it, so be it. Itâs still not going to affect my play style, other than maybe even less reasons to team up to do expeditions with others due to difference in settings.
Thing is, itâs already possible to make most of NMS super easy - but most of us realise that would spoil our game, so we donât.
For all I know, there are thousands of people out there who have turned off combat, turned off sentinels, turned off hostile animals, and are getting their resources for free. Does it bother me? Not at all. But I would get bored playing that way, so I leave the settings on standard.
If there are people who, for reasons of disability or inclination, would prefer not to indulge in combat, I see no reason why the game should exclude them from the expedition experience or rewards. It doesnât affect my enjoyment one bit.
No Manâs Sky is not and should not be a competition. Thus, being able to participate in an expedition and carry out tasks such as base building, using a Roamer, finding all fauna on a planet, etc. do not relate to being forced to engage in high-level combat.
I suspect tghat Hello Games also uses Expeditions to test some aspects they have in mind for the future. They also serve to encourage players to try out features and equipment that they may not have yet. None of that requires that all players must have some minimum levels of hazards, etc. set.
The only competition in NMS is with yourself and the goals you set. None of that precludes allowing a wider group of players to play and complete an Expedition. Some players seem determined to morph No Manâs Sky into a game âlike ââ. I much prefer that it retain uniqueness while allowing as wide a player base as possible.
âI want exclusive rewardsâ ['cause Iâm better than you (thumbing nose)] is a type of competition NMS does not need and should avoid.
I guess HG could just turn off combat entirely for some players. It would ve easy to do too since they have the ability already.
But I do think that combat was a part of what HG wanted from the beginning. They did say it was a âchill gameâ but they also said this, I believe, after their game was apparently destroyed in a flood? So when they said âchill gameâ, to me, was a nice way to say that there was nothing to do in the game(since they had to restart making it). Which was true on launch and fully understandable.
Also, they were an indi studio at the time so their scope was ambitious but it also was small at the time. Fast forward several years later, and a whole lot more money to work with, and naturally they would likely want to expand on what they wish they could have added from the beginning. And im thinking that we are seeing this manifest now.
Edit: this is the Wishes thread so feel free to wish everyone hopefully some may come.
No one thumbs noses at others without cosmetic rewards lol. No one even care what you have or have not earned. Thatâs crazy thinking. An no different than those who miss out on expeditions completely. Or have the xbox helmet, or switch stuff⌠They are cosmetics lol
Sorry but if they are going t offer a reward to accomplish a certain expedition, with certain challenges, do it as intended or donât but dont expect them to allow you to turn off all the parts you dont like, thatâsâŚhubris at best.
Yes. As a day one player, I remember running thru the blue curly-grassed planet I was on and being amazed. It was so cool. Then I went to another planet and was amazed some more and then another and then anotherâŚand then I wondered, where does this go? What am I supposed to do? So I put it down and waited for them to add more.
I believe you have used âhubrisâ in the opposite sense you intended. Those who glory in achievement compared to others show hubris.
@Jupiter.blues:
When Sean referred to their game as one of âchill explorationâ it was followed by descriptions of his experience in the Australian outback, miles from the nearest other home and gazing up at the myriad stars.
âChillâ was most certainly a reference to exploration, not cold water flooding their small studio.
Everyone should be able to play as they like in this noncompetitive game of exploration with other aspects.
A ârewardâ is for competing an expedition (or mission, etc). It need have no direct association with any particular part of the expedition or exactly how one got there⌠Especially since players can already make many adjustments. There is no total lock of all such settings.
If a player lusts for combat and killing, fine. But that should their personal choice, not required of all players. To suggest otherwise is hubris.
My wish for the future of NMS is less exclusionary aspects. (Along with more discovery, exploration, and xenophotography opportunities. ) ⌠Hereâs hoping we see those great detailed new space station models sooner rather than later.
Dragonsire mentions âall interconnectedâ and âfunctionalâ in their wish list, I find those the most important wishes.
(Every game has some cosmetic parts which are non-functional and just give your character/base/ship a unique look⌠Thatâs fine and easy and HG are doing it already. They are just fun conversation starters in multiplayer: âwhere did you get that from?â â âooh, let me tell you the story of the {living ship / sandworm / pirate space station / âŚ}!â)
The game became more interesting in the moment when the newly added functional elements were interconnected. Now there are different ways/recipes to get the same items, so we have a choice: fight and raid, or gather salvage tech/nanites and pay, or farm and self-produce, or train up frigates to bring loot, â or cooperate in multiplayer with someone who enjoys doing the tasks you donât like.
Expeditions have a different purpose (as someone already mentioned), less free choice and instead challenging us to work within artificially imposed limits. Limits (âyou must fight sentinels to get the next itemâ) expose players to new ways of playing and (force-)teach us alternative approaches.
If you wonât/canât complete some expeditions, it shouldnât matter, since they are optional. On the other hand, skipping expeditions feels like missing outâŚ
As far as non-avoidable battles are concerned, very shooty games like CONTROL started offering an easy/story mode where you still have to shoot once in the general direction of each enemy, but that then counts as a one-shot kill. Polyphemus, would that work for the case you are describing?
Itâs all fine, until we get to the exclusive rewards. Saying the expeditions are optional doesnât really cut it for me, as long as some players get rewards and experiences that other players donât. Itâs creating a two-tier community, with winners and losers.
I freely admit, I am torn on this issue. I couldnât care less about competing with other players, but I would be very stupid not to realise that for many people, overcoming difficulty, and competitive achievement, are desirable goals.
I am also a day 1 player, and the game we have now is very different from the original. I donât think thereâs an asset or a procedure that hasnât changed in some way. I do think that something of the vision - the âsoulâ of the game, has been lost over time. Then again, NMS launched in 2016. Who would have imagined weâd still be playing it (and even arguing about it) after seven years?
I meant it how i said it.
âexcessive pride or self-confidence.â
âEveryone should be able to play as they likeâ. No. They should play the game, how the developerâŚaka the artist decides they want it played. If they give you options to tweak play style thats a bonus."
If a developer spent all their time catering to everyone, a game would never exist. People have issues with everything. Cats, water, heights, vertigo, you wants sliders for all that too? How about people who donât like to collect languages, maybe toggle that too. its ridiculous.
Iâm done with this now, we know each others opinionâs not going to change.
hopefully some may come.
) ⌠Hereâs hoping we see those great detailed new space station models sooner rather than later.