No Man's Sky -- *20* free updates and counting...

https://www.nomanssky.com/outlaws-update/

I suspect the last NMS thread is probably necro-locked by now, but there really isn't any time when this game's ongoing trajectory isn't relevant to the state of gaming. I KNOW there are still people who feel the game or its devs are for some reason reprehensible or inferior, but I think it's almost objectively unfair to hold an impersonal grudge that long when the devs have gone so far above and beyond to restore good will -- NMS as it is now is so much more than what was promised at launch.

I don't play this game obsessively but every time Hello Games drops another of these substantial updates with virtually no fanfare and absolutely no price tag, I jump back in to see what they've done.

There's a screenshot/little video on that linked page that just takes my breath away -- giant frigates flying overhead in atmosphere, visible from the ground of an exotic planetscape. It's such a beautiful meshing of everything the game now presents.

Like I said, I'm not saying GO PLAY IT NOW, you're Exiles after all, but I think in the same year where Gran Turismo 7 is going down the mtx route and Square Enix released its second triple A priced GaaS (to predictably bad results), it's really important to remember Hello Games are still improving their game at no extra cost to players, almost 6 years after a disastrous launch. It took 2 years of hard work to go from Overwhelmingly Negative to Mixed on Steam, and another 3 of almost relentless content updates to finally hit Mostly Positive.

5 years' worth of free shit, to push a needle from left to right.

On the one hand, it's a huge win for gamers who held onto their copy (or those of us who kept the faith the whole way), but on the other, it sets an incredibly high bar for making reparations.

Anyway, as well as everything else they'd done since launch (such as personal mecha suits, derelict freighters to plunder, settlements to manage, fully functioning multiplayer, and 'league' like events), they've now added space piracy, solar sail ships, in-atmosphere dogfighting, npc squadrons, and most importantly, cloth physics. For free. Because why the fuck not.

Also, Elite: Dangerous finally admitted defeat on console and will no longer be updated, and Star Citizen remains the world's most expensive PC-only demo, so it looks like NMS has virtually no competition in that regard.

I just want to start giving these guys money for their work. Finally being able to charge for it without any guilt or fear of repercussion has to be the final step to proving No Man's Sky is, to crib a certain cosmetics slogan, worth it.

It's great to see what they keep coming up with, though aside from some nice scenery updates, I liked the game better at launch. Last time I tried it (probably about three or four big updates ago) the beginning of the game was really jarring; it felt like they'd doubled down a few times over on the "craft fifty blonks to make one jerf, use twenty jerfs to upgrade your dungler after you construct a dungler station using refined plorj" stuff.

Maybe creative mode would be more for me, and I plan to give it a shot next time, but I didn't really want all resource stress eliminated, just less clunk.

Hello Games can't let the ship sink, if that is the only ship they got. A different situations from video game giants, where they have many intellectual properties and they have to cut losses from unprofitable investment and funneling the money to the most profitable investment. Too big to fail, a situation in which a business is so deeply ingrained with the game losing it would mean losing the business itself. I don't think saving their own skin deserve extra brownie points.

What if No Man's Sky got Paid DLC?

Development of the game cost money. Its developers acknowledge that in the future it is possible they just couldn’t possibly afford to do a certain feature without charging for it.

The monetization strategy is to use new content to drive new purchases of the game itself. This have been tried and proven disappointing in the long run. The problem is that it is deeply flawed. It is likely to reach a plateau or a peak at some point and and profit and earning will diminish or slow down substantially.

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awesome999 wrote:

Hello Games can't let the ship sink, if that is the only ship they got. A different situations from video game giants, where they have many intellectual properties and they have to cut losses from unprofitable investment and funneling the money to the most profitable investment. Too big to fail, a situation in which a business is so deeply ingrained with the game losing it would mean losing the business itself. I don't think saving their own skin deserve extra brownie points.

What if No Man's Sky got Paid DLC?

Development of the game cost money. Its developers acknowledge that in the future it is possible they just couldn’t possibly afford to do a certain feature without charging for it.

The monetization strategy is to use new content to drive new purchases of the game itself. This have been tried and proven disappointing in the long run. The problem is that it is deeply flawed. It is likely to reach a plateau or a peak at some point and and profit and earning will diminish or slow down substantially.

They've been working on a new game for a while now. And according to Sean Murray, the project is so ambitious that it would seem impossible to make even if they had 1,000 people working on it, whatever that means. I hope he doesn't overhype the new game. The NMS redemption arc has been top 10 anime worthy though, for sure.

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Xavderion wrote:

They've been working on a new game for a while now. And according to Sean Murray, the project is so ambitious that it would seem impossible to make even if they had 1,000 people working on it, whatever that means. I hope he doesn't overhype the new game. The NMS redemption arc has been top 10 anime worthy though, for sure.

Sean Murray is hyping up his next game... I never believe him when he previously said "we've learned our lesson".

I dunno how I feel about it. I tried it for a few hours on game pass, like after the obnoxious amounts of deaths because I wanted to play HC and the start it bullshit. And I didn't really see what the point was. It seems like it's just Minecraft in space, but with a lot less content.

I'm sure I missed a lot of what you could do, but in those first few hours I felt like I was playing an early tech demo of the game and none of the actual game had been put in yet. It seems like Space Engineers has everything NMS did but with insanely more depth and gameplay to it.

Well, my save got corrupted on the latest expedition and that ridiculous bug of pirates attacking pretty much constantly is a bit of a killjoy, but there's a fix coming for both -- or at least the latter. If my save is dead, I can always start again.

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CanHazName wrote:

It seems like Space Engineers has everything NMS did but with insanely more depth and gameplay to it.

I've only vaguely heard of that game but from what I can tell, they're very different games in terms of focus. NMS is all about exploring -- everything you do, until the last few updates, is in aid of facilitating exploration. Space Engineers looks far more about construction (per the name), with a stronger focus on the technical side of putting things together.

Also, Space Engineers has paid DLC, which sort of puts it in an entirely different genre for me. The whole point of this thread was NMS' one-and-done, Game As A Product financial model despite it actually behaving like a Game As A Service. SE seems, in this regard, a pretty run-of-the-mill Sims-style after-market nickel-and-dime business. Which, hey, is how the world works for the most part these days.

Maybe not apples and oranges, but definitely oranges and lemons. Roughly same texture, kinda looks the same in the dark, *very* different taste once you take a few bites.

But if it felt like a tech demo to you, well there's no real discussion to be had, is there? You play what you want. As I said, this isn't a cry that NMS is the best game ever and that everyone should play it. I'm 44 years old, which is roughly 30 years past the threshold for such immature, solipsistic declarations. I just think Hello Games' approach clears the standard for what a Game As A Product should offer, all because it had a horrific landing. Goodwill is hard to regain, especially with the fickleness and pettiness of many gamers, for which I generally have almost no time.

Cya. :)

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

I just think Hello Games' approach clears the standard for what a Game As A Product should offer, all because it had a horrific landing. Goodwill is hard to regain, especially with the fickleness and pettiness of many gamers, for which I generally have almost no time.

I disagree. Hello Games' approach is pretty much what a Game As A Product should not do. An indie ahold by their profit and earning is not true indie. It is very clear from the way Hello Games tried to push expedition and hand out rewards for Twitch to promote their game. THEY WANT TO SELL MORE COPIES is blatantly obvious. THE OUTLAW update is the PUSH for Certain content to promote their product. This pose the existence of malevolent creativity that has the potential to cause harm, either inadvertently or deliberately. Some people want it and some people don't, Content is unavoidable even if it is not for you.

Games as a Service as in another form. For Game development to continue, video games need to be monetized. MORE COPIES need to be sold. This is the problem I see in Path of Exile with seasons and standard. The player Population in standard does not matter to GGG when they tried their hardest to promote season. Players drop off after season is over, a dwindling player count in standard since they are treated as inferior second class citizen. Something similar in NMS. If that is what you want it will be great, if not woe to you.

In NMS you are a lonely explorer in a computer simulation who actually want to be a space pirate. I used to think players raiding freighters is something fringe and pirates chasing me all over the place is not a thing. Pirates are not hard, they are annoying. NOW even more ANNOYING. The random things they throw out is mixed. Sometime they are good, and Sometime they're not.

Somehow the developer think throwing newbies in their starter ship into a freighter battle on their first warp in expedition 6 is a good idea.

Encounter the missing pirate map bug, but I still complete the expedition in less than 24 hour game time with a work around. I heard someone beat the expedition in 4 hours... Now let me go back my main save and chill in my beautiful base now with annoying pirates flying overhead.

Make that 20 free updates:

https://www.nomanssky.com/endurance-update/?cli_action=1658350203.876

Finally, freighters as our home among the stars. Most are referring to this as the Star Trek update...apt.

they keep adding new stuff to the game but they forgot to make the game fun or engaging so it doesnt really matter. also performance is still sh*t