*** The Official Elite: Dangerous Thread ***
- Thread starter Zefan
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Soldato
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Whilst i dont disagree with a lot of the above, I still think there are things in Elite which i have not experienced anywhere else. ED has failed to reach even close to its potential on so many levels........... but at its core imo there is still a great game in there and despite the fact it not longer officially supports it, flying a ship through a star system and docking in a coriolis orbiting an ELW all with correct orbital mechanics, in VR is an experience.
for me its still warts and all an 8/10 game (in VR) . the stuff i loved i launched is still mostly in there now, its just that i do not like the direction the game has gone in and i largely ignore all the new content they have created.
I am not convinced there is any other game on the market yet to scratch the Elite itch. the only one i can think of so far is X rebirth VR edition but i gave up on that as it completely borked my controls and i could not fly properly.
I cant think of any other game out there remotely like ED VR. MSFS 2020 with the career mod is probably the closest, but I cant leave orbit in that one
NMS after an awful launch is also a masterpiece for what it is....... but it doesnt feel like a space game to me, certainly not a convincing one. if i am missing any however please share!.
for me its still warts and all an 8/10 game (in VR) . the stuff i loved i launched is still mostly in there now, its just that i do not like the direction the game has gone in and i largely ignore all the new content they have created.
I am not convinced there is any other game on the market yet to scratch the Elite itch. the only one i can think of so far is X rebirth VR edition but i gave up on that as it completely borked my controls and i could not fly properly.
I cant think of any other game out there remotely like ED VR. MSFS 2020 with the career mod is probably the closest, but I cant leave orbit in that one
NMS after an awful launch is also a masterpiece for what it is....... but it doesnt feel like a space game to me, certainly not a convincing one. if i am missing any however please share!.
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That was clearly the avenue FD chose with Engineers early in the game. Shallow grindtastic gameplay to upgrade ship modules, which resulted in ridiculous unbalanced combat outcomes.
I mean seriously, whoever thought this random wheel of fortune grintastic nonsense was a good idea?
A designer with a draught excluder around his neck. Surprise surprise...
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Soldato
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i hated the gambling mechanics in the engineers as well.. however you must not have played for a while as they have not been in the game for..... must be 4 years now (at a guess)
grindy..... a fair accusation but most of the crap you can source in multiple paths and you can trade the stuff you do not want for stuff you do (at incrediblely poor exchange rate) but now you get a predictable upgrade path and the experimental effects are chosen, no random chance, you pick what you want to put on your gear.
grindy..... a fair accusation but most of the crap you can source in multiple paths and you can trade the stuff you do not want for stuff you do (at incrediblely poor exchange rate) but now you get a predictable upgrade path and the experimental effects are chosen, no random chance, you pick what you want to put on your gear.
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Absolutely, but most of the epic backbone of ED was there within a year (eg: up to when planetary landings was added). But from then on, it was mostly a tear jerking missed opportunity.Whilst i dont disagree with a lot of the above, I still think there are things in Elite which i have not experienced anywhere else. ED has failed to reach even close to its potential on so many levels........... but at its core imo there is still a great game in there and despite the fact it not longer officially supports it, flying a ship through a star system and docking in a coriolis orbiting an ELW all with correct orbital mechanics, in VR is an experience.
for me its still warts and all an 8/10 game (in VR) . the stuff i loved i launched is still mostly in there now, its just that i do not like the direction the game has gone in and i largely ignore all the new content they have created.
I am not convinced there is any other game on the market yet to scratch the Elite itch. the only one i can think of so far is X rebirth VR edition but i gave up on that as it completely borked my controls and i could not fly properly.
I cant think of any other game out there remotely like ED VR. MSFS 2020 with the career mod is probably the closest, but I cant leave orbit in that one
NMS after an awful launch is also a masterpiece for what it is....... but it doesnt feel like a space game to me, certainly not a convincing one. if i am missing any however please share!.
TBH I was considering a come back at the beginning of last year but then I started reading up on Engineers, thought ‘what an absolute ballache that sounds like!’, realised that unless I did it anyone I’d come across that has would be massively powerful compared to me and didn’t even install it. Such a missed opportunity. Opportunities really.
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Yes, the wheel of fortune nonsense was removed leaving just avenues of grind to choose to upgrade modules. And let's not forget upgrading the weapon related modules increased their performance rediculously, as well as adding the stupid paper-scissors-stone side effects too.
The upgrading of weapon related modules should have been simple and subtle in outcome.
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Soldato
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yep you are right...... the last time i was truly excited for the direction of the game was that 1st announcement video of the cobra landing on an airless moon. since then its been missed deadline after missed deadline and features failing to live up to expectation. Damn shame.
The game is too old and the devs who gave a toss about the game long gone, imo the best chance of a game managing the potential of elite is a new game - be it elite dangerous 2 or possibly better still another company by devs who love elite making a spiritual nod to it. whether it will happen, who knows.
note i am not name dropping star citizen not out of spite - i own that game too ................. but that as well i fear is not going in a direction that i personally am convinced i will like.
i dont like PvP at all, i love exploration... but most importantly for me - whilst in the cockpit at least - i need VR for cockpit games. last time i tried SC, nothing about it felt like it would translate well into VR..... certainly performance would likely have to triple on my rig... mind you by the time it launches i may have moved on from my rtx 3090
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Here's me doing some exploration in the early days of ED. But there was basically nothing added after this period in time (7+yrs ago?) that was of any significant interest to me. So sad
As you say, sooooo much potential, but squandered.
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Absolutely this, used to be that I was a staunch defender of the game and dev team, no more, it's just such a disappointment that every single feature since the early days has been the absolute minimum viable product that they could get away with, and then they started downgrading existing features to shoehorn in an on foot shooter element that very few people wanted while completely ignoring what made the game great.
Lol! Just popped back to the Frontier Forum this evening to discover I've been banned. I've only posted once on there in something like a year+ so I suspect it was my cherished "designer with a draught excluder around his neck" comment that might have done it 
Shame there was no explanation of why, what and if the ban is for a period or forever. It's like the mechanics for it are half-baked and poorly designed
Oh well... After nigh on 20k posts on that forum, a befitting last nail in the ED coffin for me I guess...
Shame there was no explanation of why, what and if the ban is for a period or forever. It's like the mechanics for it are half-baked and poorly designed
Oh well... After nigh on 20k posts on that forum, a befitting last nail in the ED coffin for me I guess...
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Was going to pick this up when it got sorted, but i started hearing nothing but continued issues. i must admit i was narked at the outset, i was playing the original games on release in the 1980s et seq, and then the big planned Elite IV just became vapourware, even after some teasing by Frontier that had some new dog animations that were stunning for the time. I got the distinct feeling Braben was not a fanboy, he was a moneygrubber, and snubbed all the Elite fans to do a load of rollercoaster ******** - so when he got his are in gear for ED i got the distinct feeling it was to hop the SC bandwagon and make cash, not because tech could finally realise his vision blah blah whatever.
Think i'll just stick w/ oolite instead, at least it's a load more fun making your own ships.
Think i'll just stick w/ oolite instead, at least it's a load more fun making your own ships.
Nah, don't let it put you off, the game is great for a lot of time, most of us who moan about it have many hundreds if not thousands of hours played, it can be had for so cheap these days it's be a shame to let it put you off the good that it does have.
does it have much of a learning cuve? i LOVED all the Wing Commander games, and they needed a joystick and about 8 keys; last time i tried the SC tutorial it used more keys than i have on my keyboard. Still play Oolite keyboard-only, same configuration that the Beeb original had
Associate
Neil Fawcett i remember you in the Kickstarter back in 2012.It's too late. For 8+years ED has been a litany of all too often poor design choices underpinned by poor management. There's been little attempt (ability?) to create deeper more joined up mechanics, and all too often designs have even been ineffective and/or down scaled leaving additions vapid or almost dead in the water. eg:-
..and the list goes on of half baked, poorly designed and delayed features.
- CQC - Why all the effort for a stand alone fighter game which soon did little more than collect dust? Why wasn't it built into the core game to be utilised for missions/tasks? Both for PvE and even PvP (eg: Community goals and Powerplay)? Right now people could be jumping into PvE fighter missions to affect community goals or fight Thargoid Scouts? Orchestrated PvP fighter based gameplay to affect Powerplay outcomes? Or jumping into fighter based missions with a few friends to attack/defend platforms or escort ships though asteroid fields?
- Multicrew - A half baked design resulting in an interesting role for one player being broken down into basically a number of dull rolls for more. Worse still, it created a code deficit which would then be a hindrance going forwards forever more. ie: Every change going forwards had to take into consideration multicrew's code.
- Engineering - Colour me surprised that a designer with a draught excluder around his neck would create such a mess of an addition to the game. Grindy and unbalancing this is what initially got me concerned about the direction of ED. Indeed, I knew a number of early backers that even left the game around this time so obvious was the direction the game was NOT going in.
- Thargoid Invasion - With years to prepare for this alien invasion, FD could have invested development effort in mechanics which could have then be leveraged into make the Thargoid Invasion involved and meaningful. eg: Display the Thargoid position as a type of Powerplay view and allow players to undertake tasks to affect that Thargoid position. Transport tasks. Recon tasks. Fighter (CQC) tasks. But instead they didn't introduce any mechanics that could be leveraged leading up to the Thargoid invasion which then meant we basically had invisible fleets attacking stations during server downtime. Worse still - to allow yet more grind - they split combat so dedicated weapons were basically required against Thargoid creating little more than needless faff. Encounter a Thargoid while in your regular Python? Bad luck, you need to fly away and change ship and come back... if you can be bothered.
- Crime and Punishment - Even after multiple attempts, ED has landed with a bloated and contrived C&P system. There were/are far simpler and more effective alternatives.
- Piracy - Multiple alterations never left PvP piracy in a sensible place, especially with the poorly considered associated C&P mechanics. Furthermore, multiple years never brought a dedicated piracy career/reputation path to offer engaging meaningful nefarious gameplay.
- Mining 2.0 - Another demonstration of FD's poor design ability. New mining mechanics that could have easily have blended and built upon the original, but instead due to the poor design it resulted in half of the new mechanics being pointless and ineffective. And due to this, motherlode mining became the goto option and was completely overpaid as if in an attempt to hide the design mess under the carpet.
- Fleet Carriers and Squadrons - More examples of FD struggling with design. What was released were late, cut back designs which instead of offering interesting new gameplay, instead offered limited clunky new features. Squadrons alone could have been a strong way to grow the community, but the cut down released version was nigh on pointless. ie: Squadrons could have been dedicated to specific roles (Mining, Powerplay, Anti-Xeno, Exploration) with players being able to join as many as they wanted instead of just one, (but only 1 powerplay Squadron etc). Tasks could have been offered to the Squadrons based on their role for rewards.
- Odyssey - And here we come to the crowning glory of it all. The biggest single development effort during ED's nine or so years. And the culmination of all this development time? A mediocre FPS bolt on and a few more hard coded plants for exploration simply to justify a shallow lock pick game mechanic which was so vapid it was quickly removed.
Just imagine if some of Odyssey's huge development time had instead bolted in a solid procedural engine for plant life. Creating a diverse set of hand-wavium procedurally generated outcomes based on numerous values from Stellar Forge and terrain maps. This alone could have revitalised exploration with the possibility of unusual system/terrain conditions resulting in unusual and truly unique plant life.
However (IMHO), it's been clear for many years, ED is a tour de force in missed opportunities and "what could have beens"... If only those supposed 100 developers had simply been given better designs to deliver...
I think Frontier messed up by releasing CQC from that point on. To this day i have not once played that CQC Arena 00:00 playtime. They should have put a lot more into whats out in space far away to explore, that was my biggest gripe and no atmospheric planets to land on or walking around ship.
Underboss
Yeh, so with a litanty of half baked poorly joined up bolts to show for most of 6+yrs, what's going to change that direction? And with Odyssey peeing away most of the biggest ever development effort of mediocre space legs which I'd suggest is of little interest to most players, we now have a revamp of Powerplay, which I'd suggest is also of interest to a minority of players...
There has been precious little solid design and progress on the main mechanics and gameplay of this title for over half a decade... I have no hope left that will change.
There has been precious little solid design and progress on the main mechanics and gameplay of this title for over half a decade... I have no hope left that will change.
Just started playing this despite having beta access in 2014. Going to take a while to figure a lot out but enjoying fling around with my sticks anyway.
Steep learning curve though. I get a free Eagle for some reason, perhaps some kind of pre-order bonus, I don't know.
Not like there are many options in this genre unfortunately.
Steep learning curve though. I get a free Eagle for some reason, perhaps some kind of pre-order bonus, I don't know.
Not like there are many options in this genre unfortunately.
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Caporegime
I saw this video last night, not because of the video but for the nostalgia it prompted i fired ED up, it cost me 12m credits buying my fully loaded Krait Mk ii back again twice after flying in to a low intensity combat zone, what i realised is there is no indication of when your shields are being hit or are down or the ship is getting low on health, other than the MFD, which you're not watching because its not in your peripheral vision.
I'm used to SC where you the MFD's are placed in your peripheral vision but you also get a lot of visual and audio feedback, shield impact noises, hull impact noises, alarms and a computer voice screaming at you about your shields and hull... you can see shield impacts and the colour of that changes from blue to read as the shields get low.
I'm not hating on it but the game design seems very minimal, uninformative, dull, but it did feel kinda nice to play again, there are many things i like about it, if as the video states there is a renewed interest from the developers in the game GREAT! lets see what they do...
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