Multi Elite - Dangerous by David Braben

For new entrants I agree

However I'm sitting on the fence as regards early access these days Tom, I find myself increasingly deterred from throwing funds at another's dreams without solid foundation to do so...


EDIT - I believe in the retail sector that's what would be known as consumer confidence.

 

I wish I had waited until now to buy the game. I missed out on the beta and paid full price. Not such a warm and fuzzy feeling when I see it for a tenner but the expansion is still another £30 on top.

 

I bought the lifetime expansion pass right at the beginning. £35,-- for the game, £35,-- for all expansions. A bit of a gamble but it paid off.

 

Yep, and of course, everyone should be wary, there is a element of gambling to early access. One the one hand you get the game cheaper than those that buy it post review at launch. On the other, it might turn out to be rubbish.

Well of course, but then surely you didn't buy it at full price expecting it to never be in a steam sale, and for you to get all future content for free?

I did Kickstarter (£20), upgraded to beta access pre release (a tenner I think?) and then £35 for the season pass, so I'm in for £65 so far. The Kickstarter part was a bit of a gamble, but once I started playing the beta I was pretty sure the season pass would be worth it.



I just got jumped by pirates after checking out a strong signal source. Cheeky buggers cost me 40,000 Credits!

 

I did not expect future content to be £40 a pop, either. Nor did I expect the first sale to be @ £10. Considering how much I have played Elite I could quite easily have waited until now.

Still, these things happen. I may wait until the next expansion and look out for sales ^^

 

Oh that's right, I also did £20,-- as an early backer on Kickstarter, just for the memories really. At that time I had no expectation that the game would make it, but at a difficult time in my youth ELITE more or less saved my sanity, so I felt I owed it something.

 

+1 I'm in full agreement with Dom on this

 

YMMV. People happily pay £120,-- a year for Eve Online. In comparison about £40,-- per year for Elite Dangerous seems a bargain.

 

+2.

 

Right.

I backed this game, but all I got as it turns out was a reserved name for my $15. Guess I should've read the backing text a bit more.

Anyway, this game is now on serious sale on Steam.
Is it worth it for the casual gamer, or do you need to sink serious time in to get anywhere?

 

Difficult question! I had fun with it early on but it becomes hugely repetitive after about 12-15 hours. I think as a late joiner and for only 10 quid as appose to 50, you may get more out of it, or will be less bothered if if you don't like it.
Elites core flight and combat mechanics are sound as a pound and work really nicely, with or without a joystick. The game also looks good and runs well.

I have plenty of games I can play at the moment and don't feel particularly compelled to play Elite any more.

 

There is a good case that it is better for the casual gamer new player. Generally the bigger (more expensive) your ship is the less fun it is to fly.
Also missions really start to lose their appeal when you get into the the bigger ships too since they don't pay enough compared to trading (when your in a high end cargo carrier).

 

No, I don't think Frontier expected to charge £40, since they priced the lifetime expansion pass so low. That said - this isn't an 'EA' DLC pack - with 3 new maps and 4 new weapons, it really is a huge expansion of the base game. Check out the list of what we know about Horizons.

Like you say, if the cost is prohibitive, then waiting until its on sale is the sensible move! I definitely agree that £30 takes it from a no brainer to something you have to think consider but for anyone that has played and enjoyed the game all year its very exciting and £30 is a bargain vs £10 a month for Eve or whatever.

There are four levels to Elite

1. Hours 1 – 4: OMG this game is amazing! I’m in a space station! WOAH LOOK AT THE GALAXY MAP….. I have no idea what I’m doing but that is ok because I’m new. YES I MADE 5000 CREDITS!

2. Hours 4 - 12: Jesus, I’ve been playing this game for 8 hours and I still don’t know what most of those pips on my radar mean! Is a gimballed multi cannon better than a pulse laser? What is a warrant scanner? I’ve bought one. How do I use it? God damn it, I’ve overshot that station again. That mechanic SUCKS. What is going on here? How do I still not know!?

3. Hours: 13 –20: Right, I’ve got the basics of this game covered. Hmm. What about this armour? Is that better than what I have. It says it is but I still can’t work it out. Oh I didn’t know those arrows on the station indicated the entrance. How do I find a station that sells better shields? Why are there so many buttons? What the hell am I going to assign ‘lock wingmans nav beacon’ too? I’ve run out of buttons! There is still so much stuff I don’t know!

4. Hours 20 – infinity: Ok I’ve got the basics nailed! Oh, EDFX – I can change the HUD colours! Sweet. Also, voice attack is cool! God damn I’ve overshot that station and now I’m in ‘the loop of shame’ but that’s ok because I’ve now done it so many times I’ve got an amusing name for it.

 

After about 100 hours you stop doing the loop of shame.

After about 200 hours you start doing it again because you're harder to interdict that way.

After about 300 hours you're in a Python with 16 SCB's, beam lasers and you stop doing the loop anymore, because you don't give a f##k about getting interdicted.

And that yellow line is wrong, it should just start about two thirds of the way up and stay there, ED is still easier than Eve.

 

If you don't wanna get into it heavily you can have a lot of fun on CQC...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYv5ri9yN18

$100,000 prize for top player in deathmatch.

I play CQC and the main game. Barely scratched surface of main game but I will certainly scratch surface when I get to land on planets soon in beta horizons.

Best played with HOTAS and Oculus or Vive.

 

The main criticism of ED was it lacked in depth and content. I played for 20 hours or so and it quickly became a grind fest; flying/jumping to identical space stations interspersed with occasional fun combat. Admittedly this was faithful to the Elite formula however it is still the main point of contention, and another reason to be a little miffed at the price of a major content update.

That Horizons post does look like a lot of stuff on paper, but it is difficult to see what it will actually mean in terms of gameplay and depth to the experience as a whole. Planetary landings may start to quickly feel like space station landings.

I take the Eve comparison, fair point well made; and I'm still going to wait and see before dropping more money. It is likely worth waiting for the next update or next sale season going by what they are doing now.

 

Nah, you're just looking on the surface (from orbit). Elite has a lot of hidden depth. So much to see and do. I've spent 47 hours on it so far and not even the slightest bit of grind or boredom.

Re: Horizons. The land buggies are very well designed and it looks like they'll be fun to drive/fly. Most of the videos were pretty boring to watch but then the same applies to elite. I have no idea if the new season will be fun or a flop but I guess I'll find out next week unless we have another delay.

Star Citizen aims to be the ultimate space sim catering to FPS gamers, pilots, racing enthusiasts etc but it's really nothing more than a set of disconnected concepts at the moment.

 

I'm usually the last person to spend full price on any game. I buy everything bargain price. Elite is unique in that way for me. I spent about a year avoiding purchase because I'd convinced myself that space games were a bad idea. I eventually bought it on steam months ago and liked it a lot.

Now pre-ordered Horizons even though I have no clue if it's gonna be good.

I've read the complaints from those users who purchased on steam and didn't have the first clue what they were buying.

Complaints ranged from:

"no tutorials - don't buy this game!"

"impossible to dock without autopilot - I demand a refund even though I went over the 2 hour play limit!"

"nothing to do - don't buy this game!"

"it has no story - I demand a refund"

"it has no cut-scenes - don't buy this game!"

"steep learning curve - I demand a refund"

Some people just don't get it.

I sat in orbit around a planet noticing the way the light rolled across the interior of my cockpit. With Oculus it all looks amazing.

I got stranded around a red dwarf with not enough fuel to escape.

Took on a low paying mission and ended up wandering around an asteroid mining area along the way where I was attacked by wanted criminal. Destroyed him and got 86,000.

Have to spend time learning about the various modules I can fit to ship.

Having fun playing CQC.

A friend a mine has just got himself setup with Elite, X52 Pro and is waiting for CV1. He loves it.

 

Listen you, it is impossible to tell where your sarcasm ends or if you are making any kind of point!

And stop talking about custard, or any other kind of pudding for that matter.

 

A wise man once told me I was pointless. I thought he was a charlatan but he went on to become the 14th Lama of tibet.



I think you should buy some spare copies of ED in case one fails.