I bought No Man's Sky and have enjoyed it for the most part so far, but I expect a polarized response given its slow pace. Most of my time has been wandering, exploring, and collecting rather than fighting or blowing stuff up. Initial impression is around 7/10, although my opinion has improved over time. Initially, the very limited inventory space was quite frustrating, but things are starting to open up now.
No Man's Sky looks like a fun sandboxy indie game similar to Subnautica. I'll pick it up when it's under $20 during a Steam sale, but $60 is way too much for it. I've also read/heard the PC version is a mess right now and they are working on a patch.
I've been skeptical about No Man's Sky due to the procedural generation aspect. Can it really create enough interest/variety to avoid the "been there, done that" feeling too soon?
I got it for $40-something with a preorder deal. It definitely has an indie feel to it. I can't see the typical mainstream gamer reacting well to the pace.
I haven't played it enough yet to know. I've only explored a few planets so far. I'd need to play more to see if it gets too stale.
NMS seems like a real love/hate game. I love it so far; It's a great chill out game. It's lack of a really strong narrative and its simpleness in some mechanics makes it quite different. I think a lot of what you get out of it depends on your kind of person; I just like exploring around and taking in the sights while improving my stuff. The best moments are those I've crafted myself; running low on resources, running from enemies, diving over cliffs to escape or just finding a bizarre structures and aliens. If you're cynical about it from what you've read then it's probably not for you. For me, it's a modern development on the classics like Elite and Mercenary on the C64 and that's more than enough for me. @AKS how far are you in?
@monsly I've explored a few planets and visited a couple of moons. I think I've nearly doubled my inventory slots on my character and found a ship that is a bit better than the one I started with. I also got a better multitool as a reward from one of the aliens. I've spent most of my time wandering, collecting, and upgrading so far. I've learned enough of the alien words that I can usually take the appropriate action when I encounter aliens that provide me with a few choices and get the reward. I'm sure there are some more combat oriented components of the game I've yet to really get into. I've just fought a few animals and sentry drones so far. I haven't gotten into any battles while in my space ship. I think there is certainly a strong element of repetition from the procedural generation element of the game, but sometimes you can find an interesting looking planet with good rewards when the random roll of RNG goes your way. I was considering buying a ship with about 20 inventory slots and just happened to stumble upon a ship while exploring that had around 19 slots for free. I just needed to repair the ship and add a few upgrades. It's random what you find and get. The moon I most recently explored was quite cold and snowy, and I was frequently given warnings about temperature dropping. I've heard there are planets with acid rain that can kill you and lots of enemies. I haven't found those things just yet.
Space battles are a pain in the butt. Space pirates can pull you out of pulse warp and can really quickly take you out if you don't have decent shields or aim. I've discovered about 40 planets and 10 systems. I stopped being imaginative with their names some time ago. They're now just called iron-(number) for planets and IOR-(number) for systems. iron-36 had vortex cubes all over the surface, worth around 20,000 units each . My first planet with water was actually a waterworld, which made it tricky to land and get to the beacons. I've maxed out my suit inventory, which was a bit annoying when I got my atlas pass v1. The v1 unlocks the opposite door in space stations which contains a suit inventory upgrade, which I have no use for now. It's pretty repetitive, not sure if I'll get to the centre of the galaxy I've run into a couple of systems and planets discovered by other people on the atlas path.
You can attack transport cruisers, which brings a bunch of fighters to protect it, but there's no, "Arrr, you're a pirate!" state that I'm aware of.
They're pretty much everywhere when you're in space. Never been a system without them. They seem to warp in whenever you leave a planet's atmosphere.
Thinking of moving on from planet Monsly Beta 1 Venom Sacs. A place full of emeril, gold and, of course, venom sacs. I'm up to about 35 suit upgrades and 11 million. Thinking of getting a bigger ship (around 34 slots) and then going the Atlus path. It's such a lucrative planet and I'm slightly worried that stuff like the venom sacs will be nerfed on an update but I'm keen to go exploring more. Just being time poor means I'd loathe to miss out on a good cash cow if it's patched out. Size of the planets is pretty crazy. I wonder if they're as big as real worlds.
I'm now heading off on the atlas path. Have a 35 slot ship, 42 suit spaces and a 24 slot multi-tool. Got to my first Atkas thing and have another to go to. So far, I've enjoyed the exploring and the relaxing nature of the game. It does feel slight in a lot of ways though; ship combat is v simple and the narrative - so far - isn't strong. I've had plenty of fun with it but can't help wondering just how good it could be with more game elements to it and more stories to follow. Something like Star Control 2's approach could have been great - big open galaxy but with lots of stories to uncover and pursue,combined with strong fighting mechanics.
Lack of a story seems to be the norm for open world survival games. My guess is that it's too hard to do both.
Sales for the No Man's Sky have dropped 81% in the second week. Steam also shows about a 90% drop in players. It seems like one of those games that sounds like an awesome idea but in reality is kind of boring. Maybe they'll spice it up somehow.
@bfun: I'd imagine NMS would be very front loaded given the hype. The drop off doesn't surprise me, as I don't think it's the kind of game that many people thought it'd be. Everything was so vague pre launch so that didn't help. I'm still enjoying it but it's very much a chill out game; the actual gameplay and mechanics are lightweight. I've had my money's worth but I do think it could have been truly something epic. Maybe they'll keep constantly developing it like Elite. There's a great core to the universe it has but it needs more variety and content.
I think the best description I've seen describing the game is "a mile wide and an inch deep". Also that it's more of an experience than a game. I get that and have enjoyed other games just like that but usually for a lower price. Subnautica is almost exactly same but on a smaller scale. I really like the game but after a few hours I realize I'm playing an experience without a purpose and I lose the desire to keep playing.