No Man's Sky

i get where it is trying to go, but that is the not the game experience i am looking for. thought it was, but it isn't. the aesthetic of the game is uniform, that is to say that nothing you encounter in the game seems out of place. and it is pretty. i had a struggle appreciating the beauty as i spawned on a frigid tundra and was more worried about freezing to death than being able to look around and appreciate the scenery. i get why the developer chose to not give the player certain information, but to me some of those choices feel arbitrary and immersion-breaking. the hud ui is never explained and not always intuitive for me. i also feel like if i were flying around in a system that i would try to have some very basic understanding of the language of the native civilizations, but instead i have nothing, leaving me floundering as i try to find stones that have been strewn about the planet's surface teaching me the words for syrup (i actually learned the gek word for syrup in the thergdes system on planet nivis), which i sincerely doubt will ever come up in meaningful interactions with the npcs i could encounter. the worlds also felt empty, these aliens can travel between stars but all they have planet-side is a very close proximity network of tiny outposts and beacons? as i gallivant around these empty worlds making a fool of myself with the natives, atlas is trying to get me to leave the planet, so that i can do the things i am doing on this planet on another planet. so i have a choice, stay or go, but the choice is meaningless because in both places i am doing the same thing. and for me that thing was just not enjoyable, place irrelevant. if you like going from virtual to planet to virtual planet scanning plants, rocks, and animals and then shooting those plants, rocks, and animals to get resources to allow you to go to more virtual planets to scan even more plants, rocks, and animals before shooting them (you get the point right?) by your self in virtual spacecraft while some atlas thing tries to get you to the center of the universe, then this is the game for you. enjoy.

Ok, first of all, I have the PS4 version of the game, so I can't say anything about the PC version. There has been so much talk about this game that I'd just like to share my personal experience with it, a totally subjective way. I tried to stay of of the hype, because a) that has become a good practice unless you want to be disappointed on a regular basis and b) there was no way anybody could get all the ideas these guys had into one single game, especially not with a small team like that. Realistically we'd get a new generation of procedurally generated environments with some fun game mechanics tacked on. So ... what did I get? Not an easy question to answer. Let me describe my feelings playing the game: First hours: Everything is new. I love the look, it's really like those 70s/80s Sci-Fi book covers. Great beyond belief. Controls are okay, it's fun to walk around. The inventory sucks donkey balls, though. I get my ship up to par, and it's still fresh and fun. After that, I begin to wonder. The inventory size limitations are not fun to me, I never liked that (loved the Gothic series for that, or even the Souls series), but OK, I manage. Went to some other planets to see more stuff. They are not as different as I had thought, or hoped. I'm still figuring out game mechanics - trading, crafting. Started the Atlas chain. It's all nice and dandy, but the seams are showing through. Don't know exactly, but maybe after 10 hours or so I hit the low point. Stuff was getting repetitive. It was getting better (more Suit/Ship space) and worse (wanted more upgrades) at the same time. The planets were mostly changing in color, the creatures were mostly dino-like. I was clinging to the Atlas story chain, but there wasn't anything deep to it, just hopping on and on to more locations for the same thing. After finishing the Atlas stuff I was thinking "Seriously? What the hell?", and I put away the game for the day. I felt like I was through with it. And then, a day later, I picked it up again. I learned new things - companion tool synergies, for example. I also discovered that there are different types of star systems, and that my Theta-tier warp generator would not take me where I wanted to go (which I still hope is a bug, not a feature). I found out what I needed, and how I could win a space battle (much to my dismay I was shot down by pirates on my second and third jump to a new star system), and how I could get a nice ship and more inventory space and all that. And I discovered really different looking worlds with deep oceans, flying creatures and so on. I started to approach everything differently - relaxed. I'd play for an hour or a half, find some nice stuff and kind of feel like the lone explorer in a vast galaxy. And that is probably the best way to deal with this game, since there is not a lot of "game" in there at all. I take it in in small doses, and I like it that way. I love the sense of loneliness it conveys. It's relaxing and does not want my attention all the time (although the constant need to refill all systems manually does deter from the experience). It's really a great thing to do while drinking a beer :P If you don't have that mindset (and I didn't, at first), you're going to either get bored or angry quick, so be warned. Really. If you are not truly relaxed, the interactions with trade or various other consoles, or an NPC alien are going to drive you nuts. Everything fades in extra slowly, and takes what feels like half a minute until you can interact with it. That feels like fishing for play time - not good. Now, I'm pretty sure Hello Games can't turn this game into something totally different. You have to keep in mind that everything is created on the fly - and forgotten as soon as you turn your back on it. So there will never be "persistence" in any meaningful way in this game. It's just not how it's going to work. You should never have expected that. Nothing (much) will ever change based on your actions. But I hope that they will add in some more game mechanics that were obviously cut from the retail version, be it as "simple" as being able to craft/change your own ship with the parts you really like and want, for example, instead of having to rely on the RNG. Like more interesting interactions with aliens (remember: no persistence, so there's little incentive to have them running around doing some personal schedule or even remember you). Deeper crafting. More materials. And I sincerely hope they find a way to make planets look more diverse. I could even live with the "one biome per planet" thing if the geography was more interesting - hell, it took me like 30+ warp jumps to discover that there really _are_ mountains and deep waters in the game at all. There *are* nice things, but they take too long to find. So, I'm still liking NMS (although I only take it in tiny bites now), and I feel like the guys who made it really wanted to make their dream come alive, but they somehow collided with reality. I just hope they made enough money so they can add stuff to get a little closer to their original vision. I'd be really happy to pull this one out again and again for a quick trip to be the lonely man space. Please.

installed it, played it straight from the install screen. Looks beautiful and promising. BUT: Tried again a few hours later: CTD, CTD, ... changed various parameters....CTD, CTD. (during loading ("starflight" screen), no further error message) Dont wanna pay for a game that crashes from the beginning without any mods or changes.

a

fun game, a lot to do