No Man's Sky Catch-All 2.0

Survival mode needs tweaking, badly. The two planets I started on, neither had the one mineral needed to power suit life support. Both crashed starting ships couldn't be reached by running on foot before dying to lack of life support. And dying meant I ended up back at the last save point, my repaired gear broken again and the minerals I mined were still gone.

I suppose I could just keep re-rolling the start until I get lucky and find the basics needed to survive long enough, but that doesn't appeal.

Honestly, does Hello Games bother to test their sh*t before rolling it out the door?

The update changes the game for the better but I think I'll keep waiting and see what else they add (and if it all works on PS4.) I'm longing to play this game but I'm fairly positive, at the moment, I'd find it lacking. I'd rather wait and play it in two or three months time when it has a better chance of living upto the promise of those astonishing visuals.

Tiny, lizard assistants are a big step in the right direction.

LtWarhound wrote:

Honestly, does Hello Games bother to test their sh*t before rolling it out the door?

Well, it works... The issue is that the very nature of this game means you could end up in dead end situations. It's because of this that the "normal" mode has had such homogeneous worlds and space. The "fuel" problem writ large with procedural generation.

I play survival mode and the planet I'm on has incredibly scarce resources (as it should be). I survive, tag and name everything. You play in normal mode and through astronomically small odds you find the planet. Do you have traditionally abundant resources?

...because that's going to happen.

Tyops wrote:

I play survival mode and the planet I'm on has incredibly scarce resources (as it should be). I survive, tag and name everything. You play in normal mode and through astronomically small odds you find the planet. Do you have traditionally abundant resources?

...because that's going to happen.

I was thinking about that myself, but perhaps they are different universes? It's pretty trivial for them to separate the survival, normal and creative universes.

Mining bots.

That and a planet with a load of emeril and you would get that 7 million

Spoiler:

in no time to buy a freighter

I think the creative mode will be good to learn the ropes in building. That will make it an easier to build in the regular mode.

Is anyone getting a weird audio thing where there's nearly incessant blipping that kind of sounds like one of alert sounds looping at like twice its standard play rate? At first I thought it might've been some kind of modelled atmospheric interference but it's in all situations, i.e., ship, multiple planets, space station (I think), freighter (I think).

EDIT: Yes, everywhere is the annoying robotic-insectoid sound except for when one of the alerts or prompts in the lower-right of the visor pops up. Or when I'm talking to merchant or commander or what have you. Very annoying. I rebooted my PS4 and no joy. It's basically unplayable. I may start another game to see if it's something wrong with the save, but not at the moment.

So is there a recipe to craft mining bots that I'm missing cuz I'm still forced to phaser giant metal wangs to get resources.

Yep. If you're on PS4, press up on the D-Pad and you get the build menu. I haven't really done anything with it but the recipes are there.

ETA: Obviously I hadn't done anything with it because the mining things aren't there. My bad! I have no idea.

muraii wrote:

Is anyone getting a weird audio thing where there's nearly incessant blipping that kind of sounds like one of alert sounds looping at like twice its standard play rate? At first I thought it might've been some kind of modelled atmospheric interference but it's in all situations, i.e., ship, multiple planets, space station (I think), freighter (I think).

EDIT: Yes, everywhere is the annoying robotic-insectoid sound except for when one of the alerts or prompts in the lower-right of the visor pops up. Or when I'm talking to merchant or commander or what have you. Very annoying. I rebooted my PS4 and no joy. It's basically unplayable. I may start another game to see if it's something wrong with the save, but not at the moment.

Turns out it's a thing (this is for PC but it's the same description of my issue on PS4). My only game is probably fubar. Played for a couple hours tonight and while I adjusted to it it's rough. Harshes the whole space trippy vibe they're goin' for.

Might be fine. I'm not super far into it; I've been mostly prodding and running around the planets on foot. I'm not even sure how to start a new "Normal" game on PS4, though. Maybe deleting the current save data?

muraii wrote:

ETA: Obviously I hadn't done anything with it because the mining things aren't there. My bad! I have no idea.

Yeah, all I can craft that way is the save point, the communications beacon, or the scanner. No mine bots.

Crafting is very fun, but as is everything in No Man's Sky, it's not cleanly explained.

So, if you want to find out on your own, skip the spoiler. For those interested, here's the breakdown:

Spoiler:

You can only craft basic items at the start: a Signal Booster (equivalent of the beacons scattered around the landscape from launch), a Save Point (VERY HELPFUL now that waypoints are far more scarce), and a Communication Terminal (which just lets you leave a random message out to the universe).
The signal booster is your first build. With that, you can interact to find waypoints on your current planet. The one you want first is to locate a habitable base. Once you arrive at the base, you can interact with the equipment there to claim the base as your own.
Next, build a construction terminal. Most build technologies and some advanced technologies (like the new HazMat gauntlets or Advanced Mining Laser) in the game are now unlocked via these terminals and research at your base. However, you can't interact with these terminals yourself, you need to hire an alien to do it. A construction worker should always be available at the starbase in your system. So, once the base is yours, and the construction terminal is built, take off and head to the starbase to hire your construction worker. He'll then run you through a series of quests to gather resources necessary for your next terminal, the Science Terminal. With the Science Terminal built, you should be able to find a Scientist at planet spaceports, or again randomly at space stations. Near as I can tell the game spawns the construction worker for you no matter what, but the Scientist is a little more random. Interacting with the Science Terminal should provide you a waypoint to where a Scientist can be found.
From there, it's a series of quest loops and gathering missions to grab the resources necessary for each team member to do their job, thus unlocking more terminals, equipment, and technology.

I have been a huge fan of NMS since launch, and this update has only improved things for me. There's some culture shock at having the universe so drastically changed in the rebuild (like having a mineral rich planet I've been mining now be completely barren, and seeing that waypoints and events on a planet are now much more scarce), but for me that just pulls me deeper into the world. This is still my go-to Zen game for stress relief. I played last night from 9pm until 3am this morning, and I'm not much use at my job today. But I loved every second of it last night and I have no regrets. In fact *cough* *cough*, I feel a cold coming on. I may have to call in sick tomorrow...

Excellent info 42!

I'm with you, I'm a fan that never cared about what was supposedly left out. I didn't pay enough attention to the dev's wish lists to notice. I just like the game but I am pissed that they left out proper 21:9 support.

grr.

I've noticed the "fuel" for various equipment has changed as well. Pulse drives use Iron instead of Thaumium9 now, and the launch thrusters for your ship use Plutonium... which would be great but Plutonium has become a lot rarer now. Not that I mind, because now I actually have to SEARCH for fuel for my ship.. exploration is now more necessary.

Also I noticed I need an advanced mining laser for some elements I could mine just fine before. Which I'm down with. I like the larger spaces (thus far I've only seen it in freighters).

I'll be deleting and starting over tonight but I'm not way in at all so it's cool.

Advertising Standards carried out a thorough investigation, which Hello Games took very seriously, and have found there to be no case for misleading information, or false advertising. Eurogamer link for those interested.

I for one am glad to see a victory over the tantrum fuelled entitlement that can be the modern (video game) consumer. I was seeing proof of everything shown, either in my own brief journey, or Spikeout's, or by reading reports here. Procedural generation changed the probability, the order, and the implementation for each of us. I also understood when Sean Murray explained that promotional footage had the dials cranked up to eleven to show what was possible. I'm not sure everyone out in the world grasped this. Hello Games could certainly have handled it better. The reaction was completely over the top, though. I'm glad it can be laid to rest now.

No Man's Sky has supposedly saw an increase in players once more, due to the latest update. Maybe it will pull a Drive Club and turn things around through updates. Although, that studio unfortunately folded in spite of all their fantastic post-release efforts.

The reports of survival mode being a legitimate asshole is making me want to get into the game. My preference in survival and exploration games is always the beginning when needs are simple and getting resources is the challenging part. So if I have to scrap a half-dozen times trying to get a leg up I'm actually kind of OK with that.

imbiginjapan wrote:

The reports of survival mode being a legitimate asshole is making me want to get into the game. My preference in survival and exploration games is always the beginning when needs are simple and getting resources is the challenging part. So if I have to scrap a half-dozen times trying to get a leg up I'm actually kind of OK with that.

You, me, on the same level.

I attempted survival mode last night. Started on a frigid planet with my ship crashed 15 minutes away. I could probably survive in the cold for ~2 minutes tops. Tried to harvest some resources while jumping from cavern to cavern but I couldn't find the resources I needed for my hazmat suit and eventually had to give up. Everything is more brutal: you can't sprint or jetpack for as long, mining laser needs recharging more often, life support and hazmat lasts a fraction of the time, you need way more resources. I suspect getting a base built would feel really satisfying.

I'm totally okay with this mode being challenging, and it was fun scrambling around seeing what I could pull off. Two complaints, though:

* When you die you have gear break. Survival mode is already challenging enough and losing any resources you didn't transfer to the ship plenty harsh. Having gear break once repaired was a major annoyance in the first place, now even moreso. Not a fan of that mechanic.
* Eventually decided I needed to bail on this run and start over to see if I got a better random starting spot. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to jump back to the main menu to delete my save and start over; I had to quit the game and relaunch. Maybe I missed the option, but given how hard survival mode is it'd be nice to have a quick way to start over!

After that I deleted my original save (considered "standard" mode or whatever) and man did that feel easy after trying survival!

RnRClown wrote:

I for one am glad to see a victory over the tantrum fuelled entitlement that can be the modern (video game) consumer. I was seeing proof of everything shown, either in my own brief journey, or Spikeout's, or by reading reports here. Procedural generation changed the probability, the order, and the implementation for each of us. I also understood when Sean Murray explained that promotional footage had the dials cranked up to eleven to show what was possible. I'm not sure everyone out in the world grasped this. Hello Games could certainly have handled it better. The reaction was completely over the top, though. I'm glad it can be laid to rest now.

I can respect having an appreciation for what was in the game at launch. I enjoyed it as well for a while. That being said the notion that this somehow resolves everything is pretty ridiculous.

to summarize some of the points in the RPS coverage of this. First, the bar is very high to be found to have mislead consumers. Second, this is a decision made based on the understanding of people who have no real understanding of video games.

Look at this excerpt from the decision.

It also ruled that the developers hadn't misled customers over graphics: "We understood the graphical output of the game would be affected by the specifications of each player’s computer, and considered that consumers would generally be aware of this limitation."

Let's not mention that there are no combinations of specs that would produce the visuals of the in-game trailer.

This settles nothing. The ASA's investigation is done, but this doesnt suddenly de-legitimize people's complaints about the game at launch.

Considering how early this game got leaked in it's entirety before the release date I still can't wrap my head around the fact people felt like they were duped by a trailer. It's always come off as more anger towards the game not turning out how they wanted it to and finding that trailer as a convenient reason to lash out than anything else.

JeremyK wrote:

It's always come off as more anger towards the game not turning out how they wanted it to and finding that trailer as a convenient reason to lash out than anything else.

Certainly not an unfair perspective, but dont forget all the pre-purchase folks (who probably learned a valuable lesson), and all the misleading press appearances. There's a whole chunk of people who likely picked up the game without having awareness of the leaked versions who have quite legitimate reasons to feel let down.

Just compare the trailer for their latest update to the launch trailers. This new one is so obviously "in-game" that it really stands out compared to the original ones. It's obvious a lesson was learned.

The teleporter is definitely handy, since according to the science terminal I need to travel to a different star system to find a scientist.

RnRClown wrote:

I for one am glad to see a victory over the tantrum fuelled entitlement that can be the modern (video game) consumer. I was seeing proof of everything shown, either in my own brief journey, or Spikeout's, or by reading reports here. Procedural generation changed the probability, the order, and the implementation for each of us. I also understood when Sean Murray explained that promotional footage had the dials cranked up to eleven to show what was possible. I'm not sure everyone out in the world grasped this. Hello Games could certainly have handled it better. The reaction was completely over the top, though. I'm glad it can be laid to rest now.

Well, its easy to tell your experience didn't match up with mine.

I paid no attention to the prehype. Didn't preorder. Saw some info a thread talking about features that were intriguing. Went to the Steam page, liked what I saw. Bought it a day or two after it was released. Played it for 40 hours. And did not see one system, not one planet, that looked like the advertising in Steam.

So, tell you what, I'll lay my tantrum fuelled entitlement to rest if you can generate a screenshot, now, that matches the ingame footage displayed on the NMS Steam page when it was first released. Should be trivial, right? I'll make it simpler, here is a sample screen shot that is still up on the Steam page. Just match that one.

Man, that first video (also still up on Steam) still looks great. Sadly, can't actually find anything like that in game, but hey, why should a consumer expect what is clearly supposed to be ingame footage to actually be something you can find in game?

Edit: Not worth it

For those whole haven't played the game since initial launch but liked it and spent significant time with it then, is it worth coming back?

LtWarhound wrote:

I'll make it simpler, here is a sample screen shot that is still up on the Steam page. Just match that one.

While not exact, I've seen plenty of planets that are relatively close to a few of those screenshots. Clearly that footage is exaggerated and the screenshots are not representative of what MOST planets look like, but it's also not wildly different.

Valmorian wrote:
LtWarhound wrote:

I'll make it simpler, here is a sample screen shot that is still up on the Steam page. Just match that one.

While not exact, I've seen plenty of planets that are relatively close to a few of those screenshots. Clearly that footage is exaggerated and the screenshots are not representative of what MOST planets look like, but it's also not wildly different.

That screenshot, I have been to planets almost identical to that. This screenshot, however, has eluded me.

I'd love to jump back in but I am currently playing Watch_Dogs 2 and Mass Effect 3. I'll probably start back up in January since there's nothing coming out then that I'm interested in.

I

Vector wrote:
Valmorian wrote:
LtWarhound wrote:

I'll make it simpler, here is a sample screen shot that is still up on the Steam page. Just match that one.

While not exact, I've seen plenty of planets that are relatively close to a few of those screenshots. Clearly that footage is exaggerated and the screenshots are not representative of what MOST planets look like, but it's also not wildly different.

That screenshot, I have been to planets almost identical to that. This screenshot, however, has eluded me.

I'd love to jump back in but I am currently playing Watch_Dogs 2 and Mass Effect 3. I'll probably start back up in January since there's nothing coming out then that I'm interested in.

Considered broadly, I was actually on a planet pretty similar to that last night. Tropical with a bunch of small animals (and they were everywhere -- hundreds on my screen at once) and a single, giant dinosaur-like species.

That said, I doubt that specific planet is possible without the developers influencing the procedural generation algorithms. I've never seen a creature that looked even remotely like an actual dinosaur. With the exception of the long neck, I've seen most of the component parts, but never put together that well.

I'm not seeing lots of that complexity but I also play on PS4. So the fundamentals are there but I have to imagine the engine is tuned up for PC. The draw distance on PS4 for animals seems odd, e.g., when I'm flying I won't see most ground creatures and only flying creatures when I'm right on top of them.