Don’t know, I really would like to love the game. Everytime a new update drops I try to pick up the game, but time and time again I struggle to find a game loop which really grabs my attention and keeps me playing. I either fall back into ressource grinding or trying to unlock all expedition rewards. Both getting repetitive and boring after some hours of playing. It’s really a shame as I love the aesthetic and somehow casual feel of the game.
If you guys have any recommendations how to make the game enjoyable again, please feel free to drop a comment, would love to hear from you how you play NMS.
That was my experience as well for the first couple of years. But with the drop of the update where you can build your own Corvette, I finally converted. Finally I could build my very own Serenity! Next step is to make my way as a smuggler across the universe!
Edit: this is built after another players YouTube-tutorial by the way.
I would pay good money for a mod that has Jayne as a crewmember, and any time you ask him to do anything he just walks away murmuring “I’ll be in my bunk”.
That’s a sweet looking ship indeed! How was your experience collecting all the necessary ship parts to build this? Do you think it helped make it more enjoyable to follow a youtube guide?
Nowadays being over 30 and having a child I don’t find as much time playing games anymore. Which makes the grinding part of games so much less enjoying and worth while. So following a youtube tutorial sometimes helps me to get through the more grindier spects of a game if its not possible to circumnavigate them.
PS: Woulf you mind sharing the youtube tutorial you followed?
So, as I’m also an “older” gamer, it definitely helped with the time management 😉
How I did it was to first just look up which parts he used and try to find as many of them as possible, or otherwise trade for them in the Corvette parts shop. For some parts I also used alternatives until I had managed to collect all of the “original” parts. And when I had collected all the parts, I then followed the tutorial to do the actual build.
And I enjoyed doing it this way 🙂
There are several different alternatives, but the youtube video I followed was this: https://youtu.be/WyxeEKAnlek
Hehe wonderful, thanks for going into a deeper explanation on how you did it! Definitely gonna give it a try the next time I decide to start up the game again 🚀
I really would like to love the game. Everytime a new update drops I try to pick up the game
Are you me?
I have it installed right now, I logged in to play all this new, raved-over content and found myself on some planet with too much air-traffic making noise overhead, needing to collect minerals to power my ship, and a base with some minecraft-like chests of loot.
I know the game is vast and deep and full of surprises and such, but I have the hardest time connecting with it enough to feel like I want to explore several hundred hyper-colorful planets.
That may be it, I am expecting something more grand or epic or complicated to start uncovering, not really realizing that what I’m already doing is “it” and the rest is just exploring for the sake of exploring.
It’s fun for a while, but it’s a pretty shallow sandbox and after you’ve played in the sand for a bit, it’s all just sand.
If you’re not setting yourself a complex and/or grindy goal, like building a neat base, finding the perfect weapon or ship, filling out your reputations or lexicon, or learning all the crafting recipes to make the ultimate mcGuffin, then there is really not much to do. And, for me, once that goal is accomplished, I’m done for a while.
Each planet is just a collection of random tree/bush/rock/animal/color combinations that are mechanically identical (unless something’s changed. I haven’t played since they added VR). I’m also a gamer who likes mechanical complexity and interactions; I don’t tend to play a game for the actual ‘role playing’.
The hand-written “quests” were fun to do most of the time, but that content runs out quickly.
I have the same problems with Elite Dangerous (I have an explorer somewhere out a solid few hours away from civilized space) and unmodded Minecraft (I can only build so many houses/castles). I’ll pick all of these up every now and then, but the fun wears off more quickly each time.
You hit the nail on the head with your explanation. And I fully agree, played alot of Elite Dangerous when it released but the game loop got boring really fast. I also don’t know how many times I’ve started a Minecraft server with friends, only for us to abandon it after playing on and off for a couple of days.
The same in NMS, tried to make the game more enjoyable by playing with friends, but just the same as with Minecraft. You really need to find or define your own goals you want to achieve. But nowadays with everyday life and a limited amount of time to spend gaming, I tend to gravitate more and more towards more linear/story based games and less sandboxy ones.
I find NMS a shallow sandbox. I have around 150 hrs in NMS, The activities do not appeal to me. I am 30 hours in playing Dwarf Fortress and I already have many self-made goals regarding child programs, fortification projects, military build-up, dam construction, production capacity, relocation of workshops…
If I just want to build something for aesthetics, I can always fire up SketchUp and other building games, instead of glitch building.
If I want shipbuilding, I have KSP and Children of a dead earth…
I have high hopes that Light No Fire will learn the lessons from NMS and make a world that is both dynamic and interesting, but grounded enough in a single planet that it’s not such a slog to explore and it’s not just “Oh, neat, a green planet with blue worm aliens and purple trees, this is a color/creature combo I haven’t seen in hours.”
Also, imagine how nice it would be if they just drop it as a huge MMO and you just drop in somewhere and people start randomly finding each other and building communities. That would go so hard, and yet the studios capable of making that kind of experience are soooo scared of the 2% of players who will play that and whinge all over the forums that they’re “bored, lost and can’t find anyone.”
Who knows, in one way or the other we might be (hello parallel universe?!)
Haha yeah I played it back in the days before the game had a real multiplayer, where you only saw other players as floating lights. Back then the game had a more “lost in the stars” vibe, more so as the sphere was no multiplayer hub and no player made buildings you stumbled upon while exploring. To be fair it also felt somewhat more empty as well.
Don’t know, I really would like to love the game. Everytime a new update drops I try to pick up the game, but time and time again I struggle to find a game loop which really grabs my attention and keeps me playing. I either fall back into ressource grinding or trying to unlock all expedition rewards. Both getting repetitive and boring after some hours of playing. It’s really a shame as I love the aesthetic and somehow casual feel of the game.
If you guys have any recommendations how to make the game enjoyable again, please feel free to drop a comment, would love to hear from you how you play NMS.
That was my experience as well for the first couple of years. But with the drop of the update where you can build your own Corvette, I finally converted. Finally I could build my very own Serenity! Next step is to make my way as a smuggler across the universe!
Edit: this is built after another players YouTube-tutorial by the way.
I would pay good money for a mod that has Jayne as a crewmember, and any time you ask him to do anything he just walks away murmuring “I’ll be in my bunk”.
Yeah, that would be amazing!
That’s a sweet looking ship indeed! How was your experience collecting all the necessary ship parts to build this? Do you think it helped make it more enjoyable to follow a youtube guide?
Nowadays being over 30 and having a child I don’t find as much time playing games anymore. Which makes the grinding part of games so much less enjoying and worth while. So following a youtube tutorial sometimes helps me to get through the more grindier spects of a game if its not possible to circumnavigate them.
PS: Woulf you mind sharing the youtube tutorial you followed?
So, as I’m also an “older” gamer, it definitely helped with the time management 😉 How I did it was to first just look up which parts he used and try to find as many of them as possible, or otherwise trade for them in the Corvette parts shop. For some parts I also used alternatives until I had managed to collect all of the “original” parts. And when I had collected all the parts, I then followed the tutorial to do the actual build. And I enjoyed doing it this way 🙂
There are several different alternatives, but the youtube video I followed was this: https://youtu.be/WyxeEKAnlek
Hehe wonderful, thanks for going into a deeper explanation on how you did it! Definitely gonna give it a try the next time I decide to start up the game again 🚀
No problem, enjoy! 😉
Are you me?
I have it installed right now, I logged in to play all this new, raved-over content and found myself on some planet with too much air-traffic making noise overhead, needing to collect minerals to power my ship, and a base with some minecraft-like chests of loot.
I know the game is vast and deep and full of surprises and such, but I have the hardest time connecting with it enough to feel like I want to explore several hundred hyper-colorful planets.
Vast yes. Deep, no. That’s what you’re experiencing; the actual game loop is about as complex as Farmville
That may be it, I am expecting something more grand or epic or complicated to start uncovering, not really realizing that what I’m already doing is “it” and the rest is just exploring for the sake of exploring.
This is my issue with NMS.
It’s fun for a while, but it’s a pretty shallow sandbox and after you’ve played in the sand for a bit, it’s all just sand.
If you’re not setting yourself a complex and/or grindy goal, like building a neat base, finding the perfect weapon or ship, filling out your reputations or lexicon, or learning all the crafting recipes to make the ultimate mcGuffin, then there is really not much to do. And, for me, once that goal is accomplished, I’m done for a while.
Each planet is just a collection of random tree/bush/rock/animal/color combinations that are mechanically identical (unless something’s changed. I haven’t played since they added VR). I’m also a gamer who likes mechanical complexity and interactions; I don’t tend to play a game for the actual ‘role playing’.
The hand-written “quests” were fun to do most of the time, but that content runs out quickly.
I have the same problems with Elite Dangerous (I have an explorer somewhere out a solid few hours away from civilized space) and unmodded Minecraft (I can only build so many houses/castles). I’ll pick all of these up every now and then, but the fun wears off more quickly each time.
You hit the nail on the head with your explanation. And I fully agree, played alot of Elite Dangerous when it released but the game loop got boring really fast. I also don’t know how many times I’ve started a Minecraft server with friends, only for us to abandon it after playing on and off for a couple of days.
The same in NMS, tried to make the game more enjoyable by playing with friends, but just the same as with Minecraft. You really need to find or define your own goals you want to achieve. But nowadays with everyday life and a limited amount of time to spend gaming, I tend to gravitate more and more towards more linear/story based games and less sandboxy ones.
I find NMS a shallow sandbox. I have around 150 hrs in NMS, The activities do not appeal to me. I am 30 hours in playing Dwarf Fortress and I already have many self-made goals regarding child programs, fortification projects, military build-up, dam construction, production capacity, relocation of workshops…
If I just want to build something for aesthetics, I can always fire up SketchUp and other building games, instead of glitch building.
If I want shipbuilding, I have KSP and Children of a dead earth…
If I want a planetarium, I have Space Engine…
There is nothing left for me.
I have high hopes that Light No Fire will learn the lessons from NMS and make a world that is both dynamic and interesting, but grounded enough in a single planet that it’s not such a slog to explore and it’s not just “Oh, neat, a green planet with blue worm aliens and purple trees, this is a color/creature combo I haven’t seen in hours.”
Also, imagine how nice it would be if they just drop it as a huge MMO and you just drop in somewhere and people start randomly finding each other and building communities. That would go so hard, and yet the studios capable of making that kind of experience are soooo scared of the 2% of players who will play that and whinge all over the forums that they’re “bored, lost and can’t find anyone.”
The flight and combat is just not very fun.
Who knows, in one way or the other we might be (hello parallel universe?!)
Haha yeah I played it back in the days before the game had a real multiplayer, where you only saw other players as floating lights. Back then the game had a more “lost in the stars” vibe, more so as the sphere was no multiplayer hub and no player made buildings you stumbled upon while exploring. To be fair it also felt somewhat more empty as well.