Review: Andromeda Mass Effect

If you want to skip to all the negatives please go down to the bottom of this review.  The flaws in this game are fundamental ones in gaming development, not the story, not the characters and certainly not the amount of content.

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Right.  If it wasn’t for those bad points I would be screaming at the top of my voice “WHAT A GAME”.

Instead it’s still a brilliant game.  The story is very typical Sci Fi which will be enjoyable by so many especially Mass Effect fans.  And yes – huge spoilers coming.

So the story

It’s very Sci-Fi and you certainly get the feeling that not everyone will live.  So the Ark which your character starts on arrives in Andromeda to find the Galaxy in a huge mess.  Not only do you have to deal with a weird space spreading anomaly but you’ve got a species who are hell bent on killing you with no remorse.  The previously arrived people have struggled, split and suffered a lot of deaths.  Morale is low and resources are limited.  It really does look like no one will live.

In your first mission you get a huge feeling that something much more is going on in the story.  Ancient ruins, an unknown race willing to kill and this mysterious AI SAM.  Brilliant.

Each planet has plenty to do and plenty of story, my favourite well.. I won’t go in to detail but it had a nice twist at the end.  In fact there seems to be quite a lot of future plot lines coming with teases and hints.    The impressive part is the lack of plot holes, instead it goes out of its way to show you there is more going on.  You learn one of the reasons why they wanted to send people to Andromeda but there’s a mysterious benefactor.

This is all my kind of story, esque of Babylon 5, Halo, Star Trek but more importantly previous Mass Effect games.  Remember this is Mass Effect.

The Characters

There’s too many to name on good ones, bad ones and the annoying.  The important part though is so many become memorable.  The way the characters develop really separates itself from Mass Effect while still being.. well Mass Effect.  Previously it was easy for me to fall out with them and I would wish I could kill them.  This time around they seem willing to follow you but even when there are moments of discourse they still believe in you.  The rivalry this time around only really exists with one people – The Kett.  I will add this, I didn’t like Liam what so ever.  A strange character to me that seemed out of place.

Music and Graphics.  Keep it simple – brilliant and can’t complain.  Typical Mass Effect.

Content

Beyond amazing? I managed to hit 60+hours and still had some simple tasks to achieve and mining, this game has an unbelievable amount of content.   And the important part is some of it is very relevant to finding out what’s been going on.  You find out more about why you’re out here, you find out what’s happened to the other Arks and why working together is important.  You get to establish bases on several colonies which can only be done by completing a ton of side quests etc.  Which is again fantastic.  While driving around you will find little side quests and tasks that you can complete.  The sad part is? When you’ve got to the end.  I can’t stress how much more I want from this game.

I have to add though, the only sad part about establishing bases – you can’t physically build them.  When you start asking yourself what move could they have added to a game that’s almost a master piece…. We do have something that’s worth the money.  I really hope one day in future Andromeda games they will add this feature.   What more could they have added? This is a good thing to say because I can’t think of anything else.  I’ve read a lot of comments from people who have played 40+ hours and said they did everything but somehow managed to miss obvious quests (not tasks they are a bit harder to locate, not always with a quest marker but random locations of something you found)….  Which to be makes me think did they really complete the game and explore everywhere?  I’ve still got some map locations small areas unexplored..  96% complete I currently sit.

I guess one of the reasons why I am almost in love with this game is how single player has not been neglected (content wise).  It’s a bit like giving us a film with zero story or zero character development.  You’re only in for the explosions and deaths.  This game does not neglect single player story nor does it feel like it was etched on a pizza box.  I will rarely buy a game just for its multiplayer features and find it ludicrous to spend large sums of money on a game like that.  When you look at some of the best most played MP games you look at Counter Strike which was never expensive to buy even in its time.  You got a game just for MP and nothing more.

Now we have finally a game that provides a full single player experience.  And unlike COD/BF games it provides more than 15 hours of game play.

UPDATE

So I’ve done something that I rarely do, I’ve started a fresh game (New+) which grants same money, resources and skills to carry over.  I very rarely go through single players again unless the story really grips me and I find the game fun enough.  And even after playing for just two hours I still that sense of enjoyment and need to complete every task.  For me this is quite a thing because not many games make me feel this way.  Even the original Mass Effect games only got me doing this so I could gain the best ending – nothing more.

97% complete with a 2^nd run over, again a few small tasks to complete.  Even with the carry over stats you can still die, you can quickly find your self overwhelmed and still require cover.  The ending is still satisfying – I find this better than Mass Effect 1 by far in regards to how it ended.  There’s a ton of questions you end up asking yourself.  With the original series it was all about the Reapers – nothing more and nothing less.  This game has been designed knowing there WILL be a sequel and that the story for that is already laid out.

I’d recommend this game though.  In fact it makes me wish this was a TV Series on the quality level of Expanse.  If I was rich..  I’d be funding this TV show in a blink.

Special mention notes:

The story does touch base on Commander Shephard from the Milky way, mentions the reapers and attempts to contact the Milk way.  And the good thing is it doesn’t feel like it’s all rushed like Star Wars Episode 3 in the last 10 minutes in the game.  In fact a lot of the extras you have to work for and do a ton of side quests.

Although this for some is a negative people have mention Halo, how the story is quite similar I’m not going to count it as a negative because I can relate Halo to other Sci-Fi’s that existed before.  I won’t count this as a negative, we are seeing a lot of science fiction shows, games and movies touch base on this – existence before us. In fact the original Mass Effect reminds me of Babylon 5 where ancient technology had been discovered on Mars.  It also reminds me of Total Recall and even Doom (game/movie).  So it goes to show before throwing a tantrum at its Halo similar story remember most stories today are not fresh or brand new (let’s face it, most are struggling to come up with brand new ideas) so instead they take old ideas and make them their own – something which has also been done for a long time.  A lot of story lines come from Mark Twain, you have StarGate, Star Trek which have again all touched base with civilisations that existed before us.   Again I’m sure I have missed a lot of shows and games that have done the same.

Conclusion? I’d buy this game in fact I did and it’s been a long time since I didn’t regret paying money for it.  I’ve gained the hours out of it and in all honesty without saying too much I played this game before I purchased it and if it wasn’t for questionable methods I wouldn’t have spent my hard earned money on it.

A weak 8/10 because of the animation issues and glitches galore otherwise this game would be superb.

Other Reviews

I’ve seen others mention the voice acting? Why? They are performed by above Z Lister celebrities who still work.  Some have come from Game of Thrones, one even came from an actor in Cowboys and Aliens working alongside the likes of Harrison Ford (for far more than 2 minutes of screen).  One worked alongside Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games.  These are real actors and actresses who are current earners and not exactly struggling for work.

The Story, The references to Mass Effect.

Why are these negative? No seriously.  What’s so wrong in continuing this story?   I think it’s fantastic when a story continues.  I hope we do get to see what happened more from Earth after the Reaper conflict.  That we do indeed find out if civilisation fully survived after it all (because let’s face it they lived but we don’t know any more than that).

I’d like to know if they give us more on the Reapers? Could they be behind the Kett? Will we see some kind of strong link between the Milky Way and Andromeda?

Probably not but who knows.

I wonder if all the people who hate this game, loved the Mass Effect series? That series had its issues, problems, plot holes and yes glitches (just nowhere near as bad as Andromeda).  People need to be comparing this game to Mass Effect 1 which was the start of story not all 3 put together.  I’m finding those who don’t rate this are angry over the way this game is portrayed 600 years later and we have no idea if our beloved characters from the Mass Effect series are alive (they’re not).  The same ones that complained about the ending are complaining how Andromeda ends?  It ends exactly how it should – no more no less.

Right the BAD STUFF

Four things sum up all the negativity in this game – GLITCHES, ANIMATIONS, FACIAL EXPRESSIONS and the AI

You will find:

Quest Glitches (I found two even after the update)

Animation Glitches (although not a ton now with the update – there’s still quite a few)

Questionable Script moments like you’re playing multiplayer with geeks/dorks instead of professional adult script writers but it’s a tiny issue…

Location Glitches

Random Deaths

Cliff Glitches

Shooting through walls (standard mobs)

Mobs hiding in walls (no joke) and still able to shoot you

Serious animation glitches where heads look like they are possessed

And don’t get me started on the EYES that can’t look at you…

Did I mention glitches? Ugh.. those glitches..  they do hit you…

The animations are a serious issue.. they don’t feel like people… and expressions… when a character looks angry they look constipated..  when they look very annoyed.. they look like normal.. when happy, in love and sad they all look normal.  There is only two expressions Very Angry or very Normal.

The AI is very poor, you will find a random guy just stand still while being shot at.  Another AI randomly move for no reason and don’t start on your own allies who at times get in your way.

If the majority of glitches didn’t exist in this game I can’t stress to you that this would truly be a master piece.  Not only the best game in the Mass Effect series but potentially one of the best games of its kind.  It makes you want more, it makes you want to find those little details and that’s before touching Multiplayer.

The good news is, the glitches are being resolved so if you have not purchased this game yet I’d wait till around JUNE 2017 to purchase it.  Most of them hopefully will be a distant memory.

FFXIV: The good, Bad and that coming update

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Why I am hoping the FFXIV changes will bring new life in to the game.

When I first played FFXIV I loved it, it’s like FFXI but better in every single way.  What wasn’t there to like?

·         Graphics are tremendous

·         Music high quality

·         Content in high amounts

·         Not needing multiple characters

·         Easily switch jobs

·         Updates galore throughout the year

·         Didn’t take forever to earn anything outside the relic/HQ crafts

·         All content accessible (with Echo, no sync, story and normal modes for more difficult areas)

What did happen however is this rut I’m calling it, it’s continuation of nothing different:

·         Signing on just for weekly/daily tasks

·         Capping out tombs

·         Same old dungeons for a few months

·         Mechanics, Mechanics and less job focus

·         Archer, Ninja, Thief – The ruined jobs

·         Mess of the relic

·         Over complicated systems typical SE especially from XI

At the moment like many I simply logon to perform the daily tasks, then I think about catching up with the latest content (at the moment Palace of the Dead).  Once I’ve done the dailies it really is simply what now…  shall I bother getting in to something else just to tick a box?  Perhaps try and cap out tombs and have to wait another week before I can get a piece of gear.  This then ties in to the same old dungeons, each time they release new ones you’re basically stuck doing them for a few months.  While the old ones become pretty much useless unless you do lower level dailies etc.

Then we get to the mechanics, basically you dodge moves all day or stand in a particular spot creating a less focus on the job.  When you’re a healer this becomes a bit of a nightmare trying to keep people alive while casting cure.  It’s also why I prefer WHM it allows me to instantly cure while also having a ton of regen.  I’m becoming bored with just having to constantly learn new mechanics every update.  I’m not able to enjoy the actual content, I’m not able to look around in amazement at the scenery or even watch what every move is called.  I’m not even able to fully enjoy the job I’ve spent ages building up. The game becomes much more about maximising everything in the shortest amount of time.

The Job class system is still one of the best but they have ruined a few jobs.  The biggest gripe was Thief because SE didn’t like the name so they called it Rogue which turned in to Ninja.  I do not believe this is right.  They’ve turned a treasure hunter job in to a complicated memory job called Ninja.  Basically you have to press certain buttons in order to perform the corresponding moves.  This is another over complication of a job.  Instead of performing a simple button/macro you are performing pattern combos (something I’ve never been a fan of).  They’ve even removed the chance of Ninja ever being a tank job.  I remember counting shadows was always the most difficult part and timing it so the second you had none left you had casted the new spell on time.

Now we get to my favourite Ranger/Archer becoming BARD.  A musical singer that’s a support job for the group with average DPS at best (unless you are really geared and up against average geared DPS).  Fact of the matter is this job is a support one not just a simple DPS like Ninja/Monk/Dragoon.  It’s also got over the top bows that look half like musical instruments not to mention the singing abilities.  People will say you rarely use them but those people rarely use BRD and use it even less in groups.  The focus of this job should be about DPS power abilities not singing supporting ones.

The relic is a time consuming well worth it weapon and rightly so.  The nightmare is how they have over complicated everything, strangely enough I have two quests activated for this one single relic.  You have to resort to using endless guides to keep going (something XI was made famous for) but instead of simple they’ve done their usual over complicated system.   They’ve done the same thing in:

·         Squadrons by over complicating something that seemed pretty good at first

·         High end crafting gear (earning it)

·         Savage mode (you will struggle without teamspeak systems)

·         Upgrading old gear

·         Multiple tombs

The Expansion and the changes

Our last expansion was brilliant although it did bring us the same type of content.  The story was one of the best expansions I’ve ever had and I couldn’t criticise it at all.  And all of that was before the huge content that was provided to players.  There’s something coming in regards to losing some abilities, classes and battle changes.  Personally I’d like to see more reliance on learning how to do the job, bringing the classes back to basics and less mechanical based content.

As a healer I should be able to rely on being the healer and keeping people alive.  The most action I get on this job is mass pulling while sticking all regens up and spamming holy for DPS.  This not only pushes you as a healer but squeezes your timing to keep the tank alive with an emergency benediction just after doing quite a bit of damage.  You have to position yourself right all the time, if you have to move that’s a cure interruption if you’re too far away you can’t medica 2 (aoe heal/regen) so easily.  You also need to be in range of holy.  I’ve got to say this is the most fun you can really have as a WHM healing. 

·         I’d love to see a less mechanical reliance on this game

·         Perhaps make us have to use esuna more

·         Use all our abilities to keep the tank alive for simple mobs/mini bosses

For Archer, I’d like all songs to be scrapped without any turn around.  I’d like to see the gear improved towards a more DPS orientation of a job that looks like it can hurt.  We’ve seen a lot of questionable gear but BRD seems to be the one I completely struggle to find more than two or three sets of dedicated glamour.  It tends to be the pirate or musketeer look.  I hope to have more abilities with perhaps high cool down timers but instant damage dealing.  During XI you would have Eagle Eye Shot, Side Winder, Barrage and other abilities that gave extra power for ranged attacks.  The entire job was dedicated to ranged damage and that is the biggest difference between XI and XIV Ranger/Archer classes.  In XIV there’s limited buffs to cause extra damage although there is DOTs – I personally would very much prefer extra attacking buffs and instant damage dealing abilities.

The battle system changes I am hoping will rely a lot less on mechanics and more job focusing.  Otherwise unless there is something special in the next expansion once I’ve gotten through the story there’s a chance I will leave the game until the next expansion.  I personally feel there is too much repetition and over complicated systems in place for a game.  And considering it’s a monthly subscription I have to ask if it’s worth sticking around the whole year.  Considering half what you do at the moment is meaningless grind for slightly better gear which is replaced in a very short time in the next update.  Outside of the main scenario the story is quite average, rewards almost meaningless and a daily repetition because there’s limits in place preventing you from maximising all the jobs you enjoy to decent gear levels.  And when those gear levels are being changed a very few months….  It’s become far too difficult and lengthy to enjoy them all.  Currently I play WHM > PLD > SMN > BRD.   I’d love to play BRD more often and even SMN but the truth is it takes too much time and you have to wait to really maximise those gears.  Which is also made difficult by gear level caps on the latest content.  There are multiple amount of gears > upgrades > items to increase ilvl…  it’s a mission.

So I find my self sticking to WHM just like XI, although with XI it wasn’t through gear but instead a limited amount of available healers to do the End Game.  Those though who had endless hours of being a NEEDED job earned the right to choose a DD (DPS) job and did so for a relax/enjoyment.  XIV though forces you to effectively choose one job otherwise it becomes very difficult and 35+ hours a week to keep more than one job updated and with weekly limits.. you will wait a while to do two jobs let alone four.

The update I really do hope.. brings me and others what we wanted from day one.  I know this isn’t just me that’s facing this, many have quit FFXIV due to the above issues and some returned on the last expansion – only to discover it was content based nothing really changed.

Fingers crossed.

Review: 3 Hours of FFXV

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Finally a game that I’m really enjoying and I don’t feel like this is boring at all.  (SPOILERS)

This game feels like an MMO not just a single player running around a single direction.  Do you ever get the feeling this is what XIII should have been?

I’m going to start off with the tiny complaint about this game which is how the first two minutes started.  It doesn’t cut you in to the action nor does it show a gripping story instead it’s the usual teenager saying good bye to his father but has to push a car by hand.

After this though wow this game not only has brilliant quality but the characters that follow you actually feel like personalities.

So what shall we talk about first?

Combat System

I didn’t play the demo, I didn’t want anything spoilt for me at all from the moment I got XV in my hands I wanted to feel this is totally fresh and new.

The combat systems on RPGs especially the standard click kill or the Skyrim type combat have always been “okay” to me.  Final Fantasy XV though nails it and frankly my only gripe is with the camera system.

The combat system allows you to whizz around, hammer hard the enemy, it’s fast and fluid while still providing difficulty.  It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the enemy especially in fights with plenty to kill with levels close to you.  I can’t complain about how this system is setup.

The night time battles are also a different touch when Iron Giants come after you.  Not to mention fighting birds which can also be a touch annoying with them dive bombing you but let’s face it they are birds.

Graphics

SE have always nailed quality for the time, XIII was beautiful and XV is even more gorgeous to the point where you can’t help but keep an eye on the horizon.  The characters look real, the cars and the buildings all seem fantastic.  I’ve only played this game for a few hours and still it’s like wow to me.

So what have I done?

Not much really I’ve levelled, explored the open area I’m in and barely done anything in regards to travelling distances.  I’m currently at my second stop and I’ve spent the majority of the time killing monsters, gaining levels and generally just enjoying the game.  The good thing is they have added all kinds of little tweaks to this game so it doesn’t feel repetitive.  I’ve played this strange pinball machine, stood listening to peoples conversations, looked through the photos and saved a few, gone hunting, attempted to kill tougher opponents or generally explored looking for more random items for cooking.  And I’ve still barely scratched the surface – after all we can fish too??  I’ve not rented a chocobo yet and done only a few things to the car.  Not to mention the soundtracks added to the car stereo which is again a lovely touch.

What can I say?  This is the game we wanted when XIII was released.  Not just a stunning adventure but an action packed game with plenty to explore and do.  Although I’ve only played for a few hours I don’t feel like wishing to get to the next stop instead I am happy to go at my own pace.  Enjoy the story when it comes, enjoy the fun of the moment.  This is the game we’ve been waiting for.

Well so far so good anyway right?

Review: Star Wars the Old Republic

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Huge Star Wars fan on top of RPG and Sci-Fi.

Going to start off with some quick positives with it’s free to play and not necessarily a ton of restrictions if you want to enjoy the game for what it is.

The graphics are quite good with large surrounding areas and it never feels like that everything is copied and pasted.  Every world seems very different and looks incredibly beautiful.  There is certainly a scope of feeling that this is a very big game.  Special mention for the introduction movies that not only feel like Star Wars but gave impressive moments.

Plenty to do with tons of quests, story quests, flash points and other bits and pieces.  I really felt like that I could never get all this done in a billion years.

The characters

I have to say this to me was a positive especially when I chose a male character that had a female companion.  I created a bond and a relationship between these two.  We get a lot more background story about relationships with Jedi’s.  Although this was explored during the prequels we didn’t actually get much other than a very poorly acted love scene which felt very uncomfortable to watch.  This time around the relationship doesn’t feel uncomfortable but it’s quite fun to follow.  There’s plenty of characters to come across, the good the bad and the ugly.  Some are companions some are not while others you end up killing.  The Star Wars universe as ever is full of our usual type of characters.  This is certainly a good thing.

Story

This was a big let-down I have to say for a Jedi Knight, I found a lot quite predictable and poorly constructed.  The ending to chapter 3 I must say was incredibly unsatisfying.  I wasn’t impressed that the introduction movies gave us this big war but it turns out that the story is based on after the war.  Yet for some reason there is heavy conflict going on so are we at war or is there a truce?

Story is another big thing that’s important to Star Wars and it’s a failure so far in my eyes for this game.

Space Battles

One thing the majority of Star Wars games got right was the space battles.  So tell me why this was screwed over?

There is no real 3d environment to fly around in instead you follow a path.  So each engagement is pretty much exact the same.  You can’t suddenly decide to turn around and engage a bunch of fighters or bombers instead you are presented with what’s in front of you and it’s up to you to prioritise the targets.  This means even the difficulty missions are still very easy but the worst is – boring.  The music is very repetitive and even now I can hear the generic song that doesn’t feel Star Wars.  All the epic battles we’ve played in Star Wars games they failed miserably on this one.  Yet this was the one thing Star Wars fans tend to enjoy the most among lightsabre battles.  They really dropped the ball on this one.

Music

On one side some of the music created is very good but it doesn’t always feel like Star Wars.  During the movies the music was running effectively nonstop to what was on the screen.  This gave the audience a feeling that this was a grand epic story.  No matter how small the characters or what we witnessed the music always went along with the flow.  Sadly another part missing from this game is that music playing nonstop to what’s happening without the endless feeling of repetition.  The battle music is usually the same, space music is the same…. And that’s how it goes.

The conclusion for this game is although there is plenty to do you will feel the two biggest important things have been created badly – Story and Space Battles.  IT honestly feels like they spent so much time creating the introduction movies and graphics of Star Wars but they neglected the other important things.  Considering how much this game cost to make.. you have to ask your self if the person responsible is still in the job.  Even if they made cut backs on the worlds available and released them later.  You can’t ignore that the fundamentals of Star Wars are missing in this game.   Worth playing but long term subscription isn’t worth it.  I’d play it for a couple of months like I did last time and return to see what’s been added.

Review: World of Warcraft

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I’ve been playing quite a lot of games lately trying to find one that I just enjoy and can play for hours upon hours.

I gave WoW a try, although I had some what played it before this is now an aged MMO with a recent Legion expansion.

There are a ton of options and customisations before you start.  The world is immense in size and there are still plenty of people playing.

Sadly though there is one thing that’s a major let down:

The Story

As a fan of RPGs on their story, a few cut scenes and a pivotal direction to follow while still exploring.  I found myself disappointed on one text quest to another.  One miniscule unimportant quest to guess what another.  Although for a while I was following these quests which helped me explore the world.. I recently finished them all and found myself thinking.. what now.. where do I go?  I’ve just done all the quests in this dark forest area as a bad guy but…  where am I supposed to go.

I had a good look at the map and the areas near me are not slightly higher than me but instead quite a bit high but look there an area just ripe for me.  So I wandered off to that zone to look for a place to level up and perhaps find if there is some story.  I found some quests to complete while I avoided death walking in an area 10-15+ levels above me

recently finished a quest involving killing 4 or was it 5 big beasts in this conquered fortress.  I had to kill one each per quest and also collect some eggs from a poison bear.

Still sadly I’ve had no real story or even a direction to follow once I completed this area.  I wandered some more and found a weak area that offered me pets to fight with? Unfortunately there is more text quests and not actually much help to guide me on what I’m supposed to do.  I even gave the dungeon finder a few tries and luckily enough people were generous enough to help me and tell me what I needed to do.  I assumed as a tank it would be like any tank in a game where I keep hate – they kill – I get healed.  This is probably the only thing I feel I done right.

Graphics

I kept being told that legion provided far better and bigger graphics, either I’m doing something wrong or is this a lie?  Wow doesn’t look any different to me at all so I am guessing this is legion areas only?

I’ve googled and looked on blizzard forums and all I see is spec requirements which I am more than matched for.  So is WoW really still on old graphics?

The other bits

Levelling up in this game doesn’t feel like a chore, I guess when you lived on XI for a decade you kind of feel like a grind will never compete with spending 3-4 hours just to get a single level…. That’s without quests.. that’s just sitting in an area killing the same creatures on and on and guess what on.

Exploring is pretty fun.. you never know what’s around the next corner and it does feel like this land is huge.  Unlike XI you don’t need to be with someone.. you can wander the lands.. kill stuff.. do quests all alone.

Don’t get me wrong if you love RPGs and the classic text quests.. this game is perfect for you.  I shouldn’t complain too much because this is an old style game just like XI but although that game lacked real quests to gain experience it does however beat WoW in regards to story by far.  There is no competition regarding story on WoW/XI.  WoW though dominates the way you level where it doesn’t feel like a grind compared to XI.  XI you would gather together in a party (which at times could take hours) just to find a spot (which again wasn’t always free) just to sit there and kill the same creatures for hours (there was no guarantee a wipe wouldn’t scrap your party wasting more hours).  It feels like SE/Blizzard should have got together to create their games.  If XI didn’t have that grind fest but more of a quest levelling similar to WoW it would have dominated as much as WoW did (perhaps anyway).

A very good game but I don’t think I could go back to it without levelling with someone who knows where to go etc.  I can’t go in to too much detail until I return to this game and really give it more attention.

Personal: Why No Man's Sky is fresh air

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No Man's Sky
I'm going to start off with - this game is almost exactly what I have been after.


Let's get the negatives underway (with a mention that this is NOT a global budget game but instead a typical Sandbox low budget from a simple idea).


No building - This game let's face it is a MineCraft idea, there have been plenty.
Solus
Ark
Engineers/Medieval Engineers
My steam is full of them, my wish list is even bigger and some have great potential but badly made.


Very little tutorial at least for the "Explorer" option which I cant seem to undo but it still gives some what a guideline.


Glitches and issues - although I've barely had any on PC, I've had to reload the game a few times after it crashing right after running it from Steam.


Minimal story but perhaps this isn't a negative.  Some of the greatest stories we ever had gave us so very little, gave us hints, gave us that moment of calm about a "legend".  My favourite programs did it - Star Wars gave us the Jedi and the Force, Babylon 5 gave us the shadows.


This game gives us huge hints about a previous civilisation.


So the positives and there are plenty of them.


So much to explore:

• Planets
• Space
• Endless

The first planet I didn't really focus on repairing my ship, instead I explored the planet.  Managed to increase my inventory space a plenty, gain a better ship (my 3rd because my 2nd was through DLC) and a better tool (about my 4th on this planet).  I managed to increase my word of the language by about 50 ( I think ).


So on this one planet which has it's own life, orbit, problems to deal with, survival and mining.


Exploring
I honestly thought each world would be shrunk in some way - limited.  Instead I managed to explore a very large area only to finally get in to my ship and realise.. it really was only a tiny area on this huge planet.  Think MineCraft style where the world seems endless - Good luck in spending hours and hours walking around this globe.  I once managed to get to a outpost which was a 4 hour walk (got there by ship in a matter of moments).


Space exploring
Again I honestly thought each system would be small.. tiny.. and rather pathetic.  Instead it would again take you hours to get to a planet through normal speed.  Space is vast and makes you feel like this is REAL space.  And this is just the one system, when you get to another and see the galactic map...... you realise how big the universe is (kind of makes you think our planet is really pathetically small).


Mining
A big focus, its interesting the whiners about this part - any game build on gathering resources is always going to be a grind fest or a major focus.  Just like MineCraft, just like the Ark.

This game however balances, you can get the majority of resources pretty quickly, you can fill up your inventory even quicker.  I can't count how many times I went in to a cave looking for valuable ores only to get lost for about an hour but come out with my ship and my inventory fully stocked up full of the valuable ores not just average worth stuff.


Space mining
Oh yes, you can do this although I feel you can stock up much quicker it does offer (for me) more risk.  You get chased down by a bunch of ships and because I have yet to kit out my ship with improvements - repair ores have kept me well and truly alive.


Earning Units (credits)
This is very simple and I find I can easily make 1 million in a short amount of time.  The hardest part seems to be being near the trade market link and mining spots.


Action
Theres some action, not over the top but not exactly non existent.  Space fights are fun, so far I've only encountered a few creatures that had to die but mainly these silly sentinels that attack.  Although one time I did find a sentinel animal (only once).


NPCs/Outposts/Ancient areas (forgot the term for these)
There are plenty of these about, they help give valuable items, blueprints, improve your relationship standings with aliens and languages.


Animal Exploring
This one, I only figured out how to do last night (even after 25+ hours of game player......)
Another example why this game has plenty to do, plenty to offer and similar to minecraft you can just carry on as much as you want.


Multiplayer - this is probably a blessing in disguise.  The main reason why I don't play Ark on the main servers is because some one can walk along and destroy not your five hours of work but destroy your months worth of constructions.  Oh Hi "Kill" .. "Dead".


This game restores my value that games like this can work.  I want to play my own little universe and not constantly watch my shoulder for people.  It's actually why I played Ark on my own server for a long time.  BUT I will admit, it would be nice to be able to team up easily enough to earn some dosh but then again... we are not exactly building are we?


So what's the aim? Well to enjoy it.  It's either for you or it's not.  If you purchased this game under a pretence that it wasn't effectively going to be a Space MineCraft without the building.. well that's your own fault.  I had no high value of this game, I didn't watch endless amount of videos (just some screenshots, some bio and trailers) but this game isn't disappointing.


I really enjoy it.


Worth the cost? considering how much MineCraft cost and let's face it, you wasn't being linked up to a server.  And are we also paying for future DLC?


I'm happy with the cost, I know some are not but considering the scale of this game?  considering I've already played this more than the last COD/BF and a handful of games already?


Considering the only games that tend to offer value seems to be only the strategy games where it takes 30+ hours to finish a standard game anyway.


Then again if you don't enjoy this kind of game, why buy it straight up?  Once upon a time before social media if you purchased a game you didn't enjoy, it was tough luck - you can trade it in if you wish.  Likewise if you go to see a movie.


So the future?


In all honesty with games like this you always see huge potential.  One thing I don't enjoy is the strong focus on staying alive, this game makes it simple.  To survive you have two elements to regenerate your self and those resources are everywhere.  You don't need to carry 5 stacks of food and hide in shelter every five minutes.  Even travelling in a cave seems to cut down what you need to survive.


Likewise for ship fuel, there are plenty of resources available and the hardest one being warping - again once you unlock the blueprints you can make these easily.


So again the future -


Building/Home World
I'd like to see the ability to build an outpost perhaps even make a "Home World" which you can easily return to quickly and easily.  Can you imagine building a facility? As a result of creating a "Home World" that one is instantly untouchable either the planet or your building location?


Although I've yet to see it, I'd like to see bigger combat engagements primarily with ships/fleets.


Control the PVP - frankly I'm not a fan of PVP, I think a game that focus's on that too much creates a game that's not good for new people.  This is game I may spend a few weeks on or few months but for some one that lives on it? very little competition.  Maybe even create a galaxy where competition is high?


Have the ability to invite friends to your location and have that friend's location shown on the galactic map with an arrow marker/selector.


This game has sold well, although it's getting mixed reviews - funny thing is half of those bad reviews are still playing it.  Reminds me of Pokémon Go - mixed reviews yet I've seen endless amount of people down the town, beach and everywhere playing it.  The company must be laughing for such a "mixed" review game and a low cost game.


The company have also been very active and quick to work on all fixes.  How many companies force you to wait? only have to look at Division which had a huge budget with a big company behind it - taking forever for bug fixes, creating new bugs, not bothering to fix basics, nerfing, ruining the DZ to make it very difficult for low players/small groups.


Would I recommend it? YES but make sure this is the type of game you will enjoy.  Don't give it an hour, give it 20.  Try and explore every aspect of this game.  Chase after the language, outposts, animals, explore space, don't get tied to one ship or tool, planet etc.


Enjoy it, be relaxed, don't rush it (probably why some people don't enjoy it, it's not really built to be rushed and get max "level" or cash over night).