No Man's Sky

Superior

The thing with Dan is that if you look at the 2015 non poop awards then he says that just cause 3 is his favourite game, because it's fun. He doesn't say it because of the story as he then says "the story's crap" so this means that for him to like a game it doesn't have to have the best story but it has to be fun and a good game. With no mans sky this is reversed so it may have a good story but he doesn't like it because in his OPINION it isn't fun and is boring and just not very good.

Granted, he did write this at 5 A.M.

Hey, remember 2 things. 1, it might have been asked before and you don't know it, and 2, Matt is Lazy and skips ones that he doesn't feel are good or are too long to read. As they talked about before they're really a rag tag company.

Aidan Kenny

i dont mean to offend you and i respect you as a creator. but this game is fun and people play it. i play and you seem to not be one of those people

oh wait your its not

wow so true...

Jesus Dan we get it, you don't like the conservatives. He sounds like an 'edgy' 14 year old every time he shoe-horns a Cameron reference in.

Hello, just wanted to say after reading all that, that it's well written for being made at 5am, lol. Really got the points across well (least it did to me), even learned a few new bits, like that you can walk through animals and fly through other ships (wtf). So depressing that this game turned out to be a pile of lies, letdown, and nothing else because the inventory is full.

Preach

"That's everything! Holy shit I stayed up till 5am to write 2000 words on this piece of shit. Now I don't have to make a video on it. Deal? Deal."

Dan i've just seen your gogos vid and want to send you mine but i don't know where to send them. Can you help me?

What games are you making Dan , i hope the have better game mechanics than NMS

But, but, but... in starbound every planet has some structure to explore (but NPC's are not shit.) , doesn't that mean planets are already explored?

[[SPOILERS]] The atlas storyline isnt much of a story. collect red balls and read kinda trippy text. turn in 10 red balls and read some meaningless text. The new storylines will probably be paid dlc so it does count toward the game as a whole. DLC gets rated seprate

Dan I really respect you as a very smart and good game rate person guy yeah that thing, but there are little bits and pieces in no mans sky to be interesting like the Atlas storyline, and I think hello games announced that in a update coming up they will add 3 new story lines, and including the atlas that's 4 story's, although the atlas story is really just a space station that gives you warp cells.. But still it's something, it does get repetitive and I agree with you I just like saying things don't hit me

lets say one piece of iron for 45 min of mining in minecraft, you need around ... 200 for a full multitool that gives you 10 minutes? When I played NMS I mostly spend my time looking for fuel instead of actually playing the game

<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/nerdcubed/comments/4vouel/requests_megathread_august_2016/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/nerdcubed/comments/4vouel/requests_megathread_august_2016/</a>

Roby de Visser

Is there a place here where we can recommend games because i now a vr game i think Dan would love

PixelsInSpace

My main issue is not the feedback loops with the fuel or anything, although that could better, it's that for a adventure game, it sucks. The planets all feel the same, the random generation could be better (when you see a rock that is the exact same, across systems and even in other youtubers videos, and it is apparently a different rock each time, you know you have an issue) instead of a boring fucking get a million billion money and stand around inside a space station all day looking for the perfect new ship, make it so I can buy separate parts (with a tiny bit of controlled random gen to make them unique) and build my ship from the ground up, or upgrade my existing one, and be able to paint it, that why I can start to care about my ship. More types of planets are desperately needed, like less garden of edens more barren rock and planets that are just starting out full of algae and shit, giant ocean worlds (why are there no pangea like planets, or one where there is not an island in sight, but a vibrant ocean world?) and etc. The flaws with this game are countless.

Zemeon12

When's the video coming out?

Aidan Kenny

Tetrahedron isn't a number :P A tedrahedron is a triangular pyramid, and a tetrahedral number is a number that represents a tetrahedron in maths, which I don't think you meant. That said I agree pretty much entirely with your arguments here, but I'm not sure I understand the one about survival. I think I understand that if you die you just go back to the save point and have to retrieve your gear from a grave, similar to minecraft in that regard. What does dying need to be a better mechanic? IMO, dying is an obstacle that you have to avoid to continue your advancement for the main goal, which you said was a good thing. Is it just because it's avoided by the same mining that everything else is?

Slipped Halo

Dan, while I respect you as an intelligent individual and take no personal offense from your opinion on NMS I have a question regarding the Minecraft comparison. You compared the Multi-Tool to Minecraft's pickaxes as though they were completely different things, my question is this: in what way is recharging an empty Multi-Tool different to repairing a nearly broken pickaxe or replacing it altogether? You need a pickaxe to get materials to make a pickaxe of equal or greater quality just like you need the Multi-Tool to keep the Multi-Tool running, You might as well be filling a meter labeled "ability to mine" that is all.

Dan, have you ever played Rebel Galaxy? It's an indie space game that feels like a cross between a western, a naval battle sim, and some hybrid trucker game. There's only one plane of movement, but it uses that exceptionally well in naval-style combat (think the good parts of AC: Black Flag improved and refined with great tactical control of all your weapons so you can directly control and aim whatever you want while your other cannons, turrets, etc work independently as you told each one to from a set of options. As well as exceptionally well done combat, there's a brilliantly simple, yet game-changing economy system. Space stations and the planets some may orbit (not that you ever set foot on one) can enter wars, be struck by famine, hit a mining rush or tech boom, or may have an over supply of many products, each resulting in vast changes in their respective economies, and sometimes of those around them. There are many different factions and guilds/gangs you can join or choose to aid, your decisions genuinely shaping your gameplay experience. Pissing off a certain faction may result in large areas of space becoming dangerous for you to fly through, or convoys from those particular factions threatening you and attempting to make you give up your cargo under threat of obliteration. It can sometimes even result in massive ambushes waiting to blow a hole in you on your trade routes. Allying with a faction, or even just earning their goodwill, opens up more and more opportunities, whether that be new ways of making money, gaining new and better missions and improved trade rates in some areas, or even just support in a massive battle against an armada of enemy ships varying in size, shape, and combat ability. There are enough AI classes in the game to stay refreshing in battle, but not so many that you can't become familiar with them and improve your tactics against them. The upgrade systems in the game are very well crafted, allowing many variations in weapons, shields, thrusters, expanded cargo holds, and extensive other modules. The mission variety is brilliant, giving you objectives without shoving them down your throat and saying YOU MUST DO THIS RIGHT NOW OR WE WILL NOT LET YOU PROGRESS. These objectives tie in well with the game's mechanics and many possibilities. There's about ten solar systems in the game, each unique and interesting, and you can easily lose tens, if not hundreds of hours to it. The best thing about it in my opinion is that you can truly play how you want. While there is a pretty good narrative, it's put on the sidelines to your own story creation. Do you want to be a pirate, taking out militia convoys and traders then selling their goods for valuable money? Do it. Do you want to be a trader, using the game's great economy system to your advantage to get rich quick? Go ahead. Do you want to be a bounty hunter, taking care of the areas most-wanted and joining in fights on whichever side is gonna benefit you more? Fire away. A vigilante law-enforcer? Right on. A miner in the furthest asteroid fields? Boom. How about a bit of everything, doing whatever you can to make the most money? It's all open to you. You really can shape your own experience with this game. Not to mention when you get into a massive space battle it's absolutely beautiful and entering warp speeds is honestly joyous visually and audibly. You can put in custom music on PC if you please, which is the icing on the cake. I should probably stop talking now, but I've only really touched on the true brilliance of Rebel Galaxy in this post. It's on Steam and free on PS Plus this month, I'd love to see you do a video on it. I'd really appreciate a reply Dan, I hope you read this. - Sam

Actually better than a video, not sure anyone could cover this as well in a video without scripting it.

Simon Paffett

Yeah, how is that doing? I have it in my whishlist for some time, but it doesn't pop up in Steam sales often.

Excelent points. Dan, have you played Out There: Omega Edition (<a href="http://omega.outtheregame.com/)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://omega.outtheregame.com/)</a> released in 2014? This is what bugs me the most about NMS. Every interesting mechanics in this game is copied from OT:OE. Inventory, with its layout and management; learning alien language one word at a time; spaceship switching; even the main goal of a journey to a certain place in galaxy. Now I'm not saying that this game is a blunt copy of OT: OE, maybe Sean Murray just liked that game and decided to use its mechanics. But knowing what they used and seeing what they added - namely 3D environment, mining and currency - I'm mind blown how they used the development time. Furthermore OT:OE used well those mechanics, I liked that game. I have also a theory, that originally the developers wanted to make a different game, but after the deal with Sony there were some late decisions to alter the gameplay towards more casual. Which would explain the unfinished feeling of the game. I want to believe that's the case, because if not, there's little hope for Hello Games in the future. More. On the Steam page of NMS the first video we see is that trailer we all know, that seems to be "gameplay". Majestic large creatures walking gracefully, than some rhinoceros comes in angry through the treas... Yeah, we know how that turned out. Lastly. Slightly more development, or a mod to Space Engineers and we would have a true NMS. Thank you for your time. Back to Starbound.

I am really curious. Would you recommend Elite over this? elite suffers from a lot of the same issues, but the ships are wholly fun to fly and you can do multiple things. (Bounty hunting, exploration etc). I know you dislike the game, but it would say a lot if you'd rant Elite over this.

Moony Moonbear

so rodina then ok

I thankfully got a discount on the game on release day from my friend who works at Game (though that's not saying much), so maybe it's the lack of feeling I fully 'payed' for the game, but for me I've enjoyed my time with NMS despite all the flaws you've pointed out, probably because I am an expert in blocking out problems for the sake of immersion. I know that word is thrown about by reviewers to the point of stupidity, but I found myself reacting the same way I did when I started playing Fallout 4. Granted that game is graphically superior (I'm on PS4 exclusively btw), but I still found myself doing what I call the 'trailer walk' in NMS wherein I wander about on planets trying to place in my mind a sense of wonder or whatever, panning the camera around without considering much else. Granted that could arguably place NMS on par with shit-fests like 'everybody's gone to the rapture', but for me, space beats a lonely English village that I could find simply by playing Pokemon Go for free... For some reason I love the distance of the game, even though in reality planets are only 1 minute away from each other, having that 6 hour clock has a habit of making me feel small and like an insignificant explorer, even if that means running away from trading posts, pretending they don't exist. Having said that, I have had one or two planets that genuinely seemed abandoned (or at least preliminary scans gave no '?'s) which were weirdly creepy and (no joke) dotted with penis-shaped gold towers, and mountains that left me with no way back to my ship except a 7 minute walk, which, for me at least, was a fun little anecdote. Ironically the whole 90-10 thing seems flipped, and I genuinely enjoy walking about a planet that seems completely fucked. Obviously with being a game-based YouTuber you inherently can be a lot more objective in your criticism than someone like me who can only really afford a new game about once a month (#firstworldproblems), but for me I'm able to squeeze all the content I want out of NMS, even if that were to require a hydraulic press. Not the best game in the world by any means, but it's probably an interesting experience while on drugs. You've said numerous times that with early access games you're only gauranteed what you pay for at the time, and my pessimistic side says you're right in this case too, but the optimist believes that if Hello Games rake in enough money, they might actually keep updating the game for free with new content like they've said, though we've been burned by promises before... (Side-eyes Ubisoft) Goddamnit Dan, even when I rarely disagree with you're points I always know your right... Now I know how being religious feels... #sciencebless

Great piece! The mechanism you described for Minecraft with the food and mining lower and lower and shit into the ground is also a feedback loop, though. It's just got more "inputs" and "outputs" to it. I'm sad for how this game ended up being... So much potential. I'll probably pick it up when it's cheap on Steam and never play it...

Raphael Thoulouze

You basically wrote what I was thinking about when I played the game. There was so much hype and I got sucked into that, so sad to see that it never lived up to it. Not enough to do, horrible tutorial (... actually thinking about it, what effing tutorial? I got nothing) and lack of an ecosystem on planets. I was bored in the first 30 minutes. Going to refund it tomorrow, not my cup of tea at all.

Loz

I can't agree with you more on that, although I do still love free roaming games (RTS's I'm pretty neutral on). The relative freedom of simple goals and setting your own larger goal- get to a particular solar system, upgrade my ship, find a planet full of rare elements, buy/fix a new ship, upgrade my pulse jets and my multi-tool, discover a new species that looks exactly like an earth species. The list goes on far longer than just. What I'm trying to say is, while mining is essentially the button pressing of the game, there's so much more to it if you make it and if you accept it's flaws and play it for what it really is: a game about freedom and personal discovery, built by a small team, who (this is important) have ALREADY STATED that they're going to add more content and services as the player base gives feedback. Sean Murray said in an interview recently that they're planning to add real multiplayer support at some point, even being able to go through wormholes to your friends.

I truly have to thank you for writing this post. Without this I might never know why I LOVE NMS and hate RTS's. I never liked using my brain too much when playing video games cos I am already using too much of it in politics and philosophical shit. RTS's are filled with exactly what you said you need to have: sub-goals. If you need to win you'll need to build this, build that, construct additional pylons. I hate that kind of things, there too many goals, sure, my play style can come into play, but I HAVE to defeat the enemy. What if I don't want to? Not play the game? Yeah that's exactly what I did. Now comes free-roaming games like JC3, Fallout 4 and NMS. You encounter an oppressed city, you can choose to blow shit up or fly away. Sure, you get stuff from liberating the city, but that's never what I was going for when I blow shit up. I wanted to blow shit up and enjoy the moment, and I got exactly what I was going for. NMS is simply an extreme example of "freedom". The aimlessness is at its maximum, although might not be exactly what you like, it is exactly what the game needed. Sure, crafting gets repetitive, but that only adds to the aimlessness, and I simply love it. The freedom of having whatever goal you wish to have, making up plans as you go and explore. "Happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness", perhaps this quote is true for a lot of people, but not for me. Probably because I'm crazy and I buy a game based on its idea.

Winder Sun

Smart

anon

Good grief, I spent more time reading this than playing NMS. Loving the analogies btw.

Freek Jansen

I'm taking some of these analogies. They're great.

Jacq

That was amazing, if your more "professional" writing is anything like this it's fantastic. It'd be awesome if you posted more of this kinda stuff

jonathan steward

Hey Dan you should post this in the NMS subreddit. The devs might be able to provide feedback on how they plan to fix the problems you pointed out (of which there are many that I all happen to agree with. That's why I refunded the game...).

Kyle Myers

*It's because you (Dan) CAN be....

Maybe you should do more "morning rants". You may think your thoughts are sloppy, but I counter with "It's about goddamned time someone steps up and shows some passion about something." THIS is why the 'Nerd(Cubed)'s Hell' series was so successful. THIS is why Nerd(Cubed)'s Hates' series was successful. It's because you (Dan) be passionate about a game and still dislike it. It's because you can still "rail" on a game and point out WHY you don't like it (and not just say "Ugh...it's ugly"...or some non-informative bullshit). THIS kind of stuff is what gamers NEED to hear....someone being OBJECTIVE AND HONEST.

I got a refund.

Mika Joel

It's definitely not a great game but I can't stop playing it

I love a good space exploration game, but after watching just twenty minutes of gameplay I could tell that something was off. I got bored and vaguely disappointed, but I didn't have any specific theories as to why--I just left it alone after that. But this explanation was perfect. It hit every vague feeling that I had, and the comparison with Mario and Minecraft explored the game's fundamental issues in a comprehensive and very understandable way. This is the critical way that I wish I could think about game dev...For all its "infinite space," NMS is inherently bounded in a nutshell.

And this is with out Dan nitpicking like he usually does, for instance the fucking tower of gold or whatever that emerge like it's a Christmas tree, I'm not geologist but I'm damn sure that's not a natural rock formation and if it isn't natural "in lore" then what the fuck is the propose of them other then for the player to demolish or perhaps the crystal aluminium where the arse did those come from.

No. No they do not.

Tyler Rand

Ok Dan, I hope you've got all that rage out of your system. I never expected No Man's Sky to be a great game, like everything it was hyped for too much. Let's all go to a happy place and wait for episode 6 of Saints Row. Happiness - Johnny Gat and the most beautiful man in the world, killing gangs and flinging pedestrians 50 feet into the air.

Stan Collins

Seriously disappointed in this game. It had so much potential in its early stages. I think the Devs got into way over their heads. They hyped it up too much and so much was expected from them that they just cracked under the pressure of it all. There are so many design flaws that scream "this is our first game" or "this was not a game designed for PC". I mean they have two other games but they aren't anywhere near this scale. They just got too ambitious.

PBandJammers

bitch read it now

I've got the same problems with the game. All I end up doing is landing on a planet near an outpost, interacting with the outpost for a couple of minutes, perhaps mine for some fuel, jump in the ship, go to the next outpost. I get the idea that there's more to the game, but I haven't found it yet (well, I have, but I'm not interested in it). I've been jumping around planets for quite a while now, and still haven't found the concept that makes me want to explore. Last night I decided I'd land my ship 50 mins walk from where I was going, and walked. An hour later I was 20 mins away. That hour wasn't fun. By the end of it I was going from outpost to outpost trying to find a place where I could call my ship. I ended up deciding to just walk back. Oh god the inventory management. I won't even speak of it. It's not an interesting mechanic, it's tedious, and tedious is not fun. The UI moves for no reason, you have to click and hold or press and hold everywhere. There's something missing from it. Something just isn't quite right. I don't know what it is, but I hope I find it so I can put this game down until it is fixed.

I am a YT also I barly sleep to :(

BGHD Network

I was thinking of getting this game. Gonna hold off by the looks of it

rain

Do any youtuber's actually sleep?

chazie

Welp. Im reading this tomorrow.

Tyler Rand

This is the review I wanted! :D

Chris Graden (DinoDoesStuff)