No Man's Sky - a procedurally generated sand box space exploration game

Realistically: Probably the latter. ;) Looks like 1.3 really added some meat to the bones, though, by all accounts so far.

My sister bit on it. She's the guinea pig. We'll see what's what this weekend.

To be fair: These guys have busted their ass trying to make things right here and I think they've earned some good will here for people interested if they understand what they are getting. They very easily could have shut the shop down after the nightmare and they didn't.

Agreed totally and enjoy the experience. You're in for a mind blowing time... the scale... man. The god damn scale of this game made me giddy for the future of gaming.

To answer your question about if it's good enough and issues addressed - it was already a new game with the first major update, vastly smoother, better looking etc etc... base building added to it and made it more fun for average joe, controls and settings were fixed etc. Most major things needing an immediate address were sorted. If you enjoy exploring though, you will love this guaranteed.
Remember, there is no manual. And in the early days we were struggling to figure some things out..

With the first update, it was a tiny bit slower when it was 'fast' and didn't lag out when flying above planets in some viewing angles, like the first version of NMS did, so overall a vastly smoother and better experience, the fluctuations were less basically. So to hear some performance changes might indicate further graphics work. Anyone got some screeny comparisons of their current planet before/after?

It's breathtaking and yet reasonably simple, because the game follows natural formulae and rules in many cases. Seems [H] crunches the screeny but enjoy. 290X does fine on 1440p so it's not a heavy game.

Whelp.. that NMS can go fuck itself.. fuck itself right in it's adorably addictive exhaust port hole. Ugh. Once I got up and flying around, stabilized what I needed vs my hoarding tendencies then it was just me loping around discovering shit, looking at things, shooting rocks, and occasionally flying to a space station. Papa needs credits to get a bigger ship to hold more loot before he decides to engage that hyper drive!

Stabilising your hoarding is a great way to start out, you'll do well :)
It's one of the main reasons I want to get rig back up to steam asap. Enjoy the addiction.
 

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has the basic concept changed?...meaning is it still all about endless exploration?...are all the planets still basically empty?...do all the planets look the same with the only thing different being the color scheme?...are there people, aliens etc to interact with?...did they change the crappy ending when you reach the center of the universe?...can you now meet up with other players fairly easily?
 
For $24 I'm tempted....

What am I looking at in terms of performance at 4K with a 1080 Ti?
 
Found this, might be worth experimenting with.

http://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/441/

Also, the Recent Reviews on Steam are now 'mostly positive'.



has the basic concept changed?...meaning is it still all about endless exploration?...are all the planets still basically empty?...do all the planets look the same with the only thing different being the color scheme?...are there people, aliens etc to interact with?...did they change the crappy ending when you reach the center of the universe?...can you now meet up with other players fairly easily?
The answer is yeah they've fixed nearly all of that. Full disclosure I barely touched the game since launch.
 
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I bit.

And I am going to stay up WAY too late exploring my first planet. Really digging it so far. This will be a very welcome change of pace for me.
 
I bit.

And I am going to stay up WAY too late exploring my first planet. Really digging it so far. This will be a very welcome change of pace for me.

That's one of the main things about this game. It's a change of pace from just about ANYTHING. Which is great. Pop in, play a while, then go back to whatever else is in rotation.

I mean, it holds up fine on its own, but it's a really good, complementary game to most other games.
 
Seconded. I restarted and got a bummer of a planet at first (no life support plants), but the second try was much better in that the toxin isn't maxed and I have actually found the needed starting resources. I just wish they either cheated on the starter worlds or told you that you might need a restart. But; the game has changed so much that anyone that has not played since launch has no opinion now.
 
has the basic concept changed?...meaning is it still all about endless exploration?...are all the planets still basically empty?...do all the planets look the same with the only thing different being the color scheme?...are there people, aliens etc to interact with?...did they change the crappy ending when you reach the center of the universe?...can you now meet up with other players fairly easily?

The ending was never just one, there are multiple 'endings' to the game and some we still don't know how to replicate....
They never did look all the same from day one. People landed on 5-6 different planets and said oh they're all the same because 'x' reason.... they didn't play the game or actually even look for the variations, remember, NMS was the coolest thing to hate on when it came out. Sometimes they differences are subtle, other times wild. It took us a month or so to realize there is distinct system or even planetary variation in the earlier 'key' plants and that they were not all the same lmao.
It's a game that you need to be aware of the subtle differences with.
And yes there are aliens to interact with, always have been they are the main and only interactions you have usually, other than obelisks etc.
And yes now you can apparently meet/see people and they can see your base etc etc finally.
And try avoid spoilers because now we can see players it might reveal something about the storyline (e.g. what we look like...)

Also they have apparently changed the storyline.
 
That's one of the main things about this game. It's a change of pace from just about ANYTHING. Which is great. Pop in, play a while, then go back to whatever else is in rotation.

I mean, it holds up fine on its own, but it's a really good, complementary game to most other games.

I can definitely see that happening. For now, my sense of awe and amazement is probably going to lead to this being my #1 game for a while. It just feels so new and fresh compared to everything I've played over the past few years.

Games with exploration like this are great for coming back to, especially with everything being so randomized and non-linear. I mean I like to go back and fire up Half-Life from time to time, but as good as that game is, there's never anything new. I've played the same levels time and time again, and it does feel like a somewhat scripted, linear journey from A to B (with that said, that scripted, linear journey is one of the best in gaming history which is why it's worth replaying almost 20 years later).

Take NMS on the other hand. You're pretty much free to do whatever you want. You can just go to a different planet and your sense of curiosity and exploration takes over. It's why people can still come back to games like Terraria and Minecraft even after sinking dozens or hundreds of hours into them.

Seconded. I restarted and got a bummer of a planet at first (no life support plants), but the second try was much better in that the toxin isn't maxed and I have actually found the needed starting resources. I just wish they either cheated on the starter worlds or told you that you might need a restart. But; the game has changed so much that anyone that has not played since launch has no opinion now.

You hit on something there - the game definitely doesn't hold your hand as much as many do these days. I for one haven't paid much attention to NMS due to the reputation it received after launch. I wish I had, because it seems that many people enjoyed it regardless. But the point is that I know next to nothing about the game, so all of this is new to me and I'm still trying to figure out what I need and how to do stuff. I can definitely see how starting out could be easier or more difficult depending on your planet's conditions. I felt like one of them that I got wasn't rich in anything but iron and was constantly chipping away at me with the elements and environment. Perhaps there was something out there that could have helped me survive but my mining beam ran out which made it seemingly impossible to keep my Hazard Protection and Life Support systems going so when I tried traveling to some distant waypoints I eventually died. I'm trying to figure all of this out on my own; I'm sure there are some super helpful guides out there but I'm trying to approach this as if I've just awoken on a random planet with no memory of what's happened.
 
I mean I like to go back and fire up Half-Life from time to time, but as good as that game is, there's never anything new.
Sven Coop?
You hit on something there - the game definitely doesn't hold your hand as much as many do these days. I for one haven't paid much attention to NMS due to the reputation it received after launch.
Most of that was just people bitching that Sean? had promised the Moon, but only delivered an asteroid.
That and it should've been priced a 20-30 dollar game. Still a good game though, hopefully they'll come out with another sometime. Now that we know they understand how to support a game :)
 
meaning is it still all about endless exploration?...are all the planets still basically empty?...do all the planets look the same with the only thing different being the color scheme?...are there people, aliens etc to interact with?..
Being a recent player I don't know about the before times, but so far once I got the concepts down of what I need-need, how to keep flying (plutonium!), and what I need to power my suit/gun it was good. I haven't left my original system.. bounced between a few planets and moons in the same ship. So far nothing has been "the same".. lots of animals (almost a comical amount), birds, formations, etc.

In my ten hours playing here's what I have seen.

Started in a fairly toxic planet, and had to repaired my ship, scanner, etc. Once that is up and going I started scanning everything, and just collecting everything. Got enough resources to get off planet, and jumped into space. Learned that you don't strip mine areas or these sentinel pricks attack you.

I didn't quite know what I was doing out there, and damn near ran into a flipping space station and a bunch of big haul freighters. Bumbled around there, sold some crap, can't access areas, can't get rando missions, but notice I could buy sweet looking ships.. then noticed I was dirt poor. Off to another planet.

Left the station and went to another planet where I spent some time in earnest exploring so I could get my hyperdrive working to leave the system.... then things got weird.

I found out my scanner sort of indicates places to explore and gives a bit of direction. Racking up save points/way points. Good.
Found a few settlements, abandoned, that led me across the planet to a downed ship. After puzzling over what to do with it I opted to let it sit. That was a procedurally generated instance.
Popped out to the space station..
This moon was the first 'green' body. Literally grass waving, blue skies, giant planet on the horizon.. it was sweet.

Found ancient pillar things to learn a few words.. then I stumbled across a giant landing platform/trading post with ships in and out. Started to figure out the economy so I could buy me a better ship.
Took off to mine, found this settlement with a lone dude inside, cracked this code on a terminal to get information about ruins... on the planet this moon is orbiting. Aimed my ship at it, and left the moon to the other planet. That was flipping neat.
Explored a ton there.. went back to the green moon.. and came across a downed freighter. It was massive. I mean huge!
Noticed there was containers under the ground, but I don't have a nifty enough gun to cut through the dirt. Maybe later.
Digging through the menus I found I could turn in my scanned discoveries for money! woohoo!

So.. with little to no direction outside of basic repairs I have been kept interested with procedurally created instances of down ships/freighters.. random waypoints, shelters, and trading outposts.. found out there was this whole space station/freighter route in my system.. found a green planet, finally found some liquid lakes, learned caves blow, found ruins, saw sweet ships I can't afford, scanned weird ass animals, shot some uppity animals, etc. All without leaving my system. Super impressed.


Here's a shot from the freighter. That planet is where I later flew to to inspect a ruins location given to me by some alien.

D76A18DDA5850C5E8D1468CCBEBF02F7473887F3.jpg


filedetails
 
I still think the game needs a lot more interactivity...meaning there are thousands of planets but if all you're doing is going from planet-to-planet, collecting resources and moving on rinse/repeat it seems boring...as a planet exploration game it might be OK but after the first 20 planets it'll get boring quick...the game needs much more interaction with other life forms, unique storylines for planets, races to interact with, conflicts to resolve, side-missions etc...if all you're doing is collecting resources to fuel your ship so you can repeat the exact same thing on the next planet it sounds boring as hell

imagine Mass Effect woven into this universe...that would be amazing...how could the entire universe be so barren of life forms?...the game is about an infinite universe but it seems so lifeless
 
I am learning the lore of this one group that owns this sector. Saw a hologram of another. Missions come in the form of becons on planets. I think I may get missions from a space station but I don't know enough of the language to do so.. thus the side quests of finding trinkets to trade to learn a new word, ruins where I can learn a handful of words, etc.

I noticed I have been narrating my adventures and slipped into a Zapp Brannigan mode. Yelling about Brannigan's Law - I offer no help, but I am here to exploit.

 
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Cool- I have not seen a downed freighter yet- but I also restarted completely so I'm still scrounging around to repair my ship...
 
I don't think this counts as a spoiler, but you'll need to get the terrain manipulator to make much use of the freighters.



PSA don't get 48 inventory slots before maxing out your tech slots, or else the prompt goes away. Speaking of which anyone figured out what's up with the cargo slots, they don't seem to do anything other than suck up 50k?
 
Glad to see some of you guys are disregarding the games first months of launch.

Glad to see Hello Games still hard at work making everything they've aimed to give us, by actually doing so.

When coop hits in this game, it's going to be effing sweet.

I too am going to install this again.

Much like J3RK I too loved the game at launch. But hey, I didn't need all these bells and whistles. I just enjoyed its simplicity and it's vast size.

But now? More things to do, more lore, more content equals a no Brainer for me to get on NMS and check it out again.
 
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Debating buying this, watched a couple random streams of it. It seems like perfect after work game when I'm fried.
 
This game has improved A TON since release!!

I can fully recommend purchasing this game now.

(only when it's on sale though)
 
So I bought the game last night and have already put about 10 hours in. There is a lot more that I need to know - I really feel like I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. And I really haven't. I haven't even left the first planet and I feel like I have barely covered 1% of its surface.

So, reading around it appears that there is no planetary map? So after you discover a place and tag the beacon or whatever...then you fly 10 minutes away. Is there a way to get back to that place in case you weren't done exploring?

I was saving up for that multi-tool that's like 2,300,000 units and then ended up having one randomly given to me at one of the monolith things. LOL. When interacting with those and the aliens, you really never know what the outcome will be. Sometimes nothing, sometimes very cool things.
 
Bought it... My FPS counter is all over the place, anyone have tips on settings to use.. So far this is the only title that's made me wish I had more than a 1070...
 
Bought it... My FPS counter is all over the place, anyone have tips on settings to use.. So far this is the only title that's made me wish I had more than a 1070...

It's the only game I've ever been forced to cap at 30 fps to get a fluid experience.

Just jack up the settings, cap it at 30 and call it a day.
 
So I bought the game last night and have already put about 10 hours in. There is a lot more that I need to know - I really feel like I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. And I really haven't. I haven't even left the first planet and I feel like I have barely covered 1% of its surface.

So, reading around it appears that there is no planetary map? So after you discover a place and tag the beacon or whatever...then you fly 10 minutes away. Is there a way to get back to that place in case you weren't done exploring?

I was saving up for that multi-tool that's like 2,300,000 units and then ended up having one randomly given to me at one of the monolith things. LOL. When interacting with those and the aliens, you really never know what the outcome will be. Sometimes nothing, sometimes very cool things.


Save your units. I promise you'll find the best stuff just by exploring.

As for no map, you are correct. However, you can always back track to where you started. You'll notice each solar system in the star map tells you if it's been discovered or not. It will also say your name if you've discovered it too. So as tedious as it sounds, it's not that bad.


Correct me if I'm wrong here people, but I also believe they've add teleport/quick porting access with the base building update, right?
I'm not sure how it works, but I could swear there were patch notes about it.

And if there is, this will most likely be the easiest way to get back to your original planet.
 
I saw something about a teleporter on a space station.. It was 'down' and I was too busy hawking gold on a toxic little number that has a shit ton of gold.

Oh, and it has dinosaur looking things. Apparently these are not predators put herbivores.

56V6QIV.jpg


I didn't know 'base building' was a thing. I will have to look into it after I scope out of the rest of my solar system.
 
Yeah, you can teleport to and from your base from stations now. I'm not sure how long the list is, but I see two stations in it so far (from my base that is).

I heard tell you can also make bookmarks or something in the star map?
 
I can definitely see that happening. For now, my sense of awe and amazement is probably going to lead to this being my #1 game for a while. It just feels so new and fresh compared to everything I've played over the past few years.

Games with exploration like this are great for coming back to, especially with everything being so randomized and non-linear. I mean I like to go back and fire up Half-Life from time to time, but as good as that game is, there's never anything new. I've played the same levels time and time again, and it does feel like a somewhat scripted, linear journey from A to B (with that said, that scripted, linear journey is one of the best in gaming history which is why it's worth replaying almost 20 years later).

Take NMS on the other hand. You're pretty much free to do whatever you want. You can just go to a different planet and your sense of curiosity and exploration takes over. It's why people can still come back to games like Terraria and Minecraft even after sinking dozens or hundreds of hours into them.


You hit on something there - the game definitely doesn't hold your hand as much as many do these days. I
I'm sure there are some super helpful guides out there but I'm trying to approach this as if I've just awoken on a random planet with no memory of what's happened.

I too love firing up HL1 and 2 every year or so but you described NMS so well.
You are also going about it the best way. Learn as much as you can in the game, it's really an overlooked part of the experience of the game, it further seeks to isolate you and give you an accomplished explorer feel when you figure it out. Some of the more complex mechanisms you may want to seek help with, it is an incredibly subtle game sometimes.

Anyone loving the audio? In my opinion it's one of the best sounding games overall, even some of the music is procedural and the sound sampling is second to none.
Sit in your ship after barely making it back in an acid rain storm... the sound. The god damn sound.


First game in eons I looked at the clock and said oh shit, I better go to bed...

This is great to hear people loving it. Always felt NMS deserved a bit more credit and in-depth/long term review than it got and now as they have mostly done what they said they would, I feel they can actually deserve some accolades from gamers in general.


Bought it... My FPS counter is all over the place, anyone have tips on settings to use.. So far this is the only title that's made me wish I had more than a 1070...
Considering my 290x will do 1440p smooth as butter most of the time, you are probably just holding it wrong d;. Maxing everything for the sake of it is not always the best way to go with this game.
Each manufacturer and card has it's own sweet spot. One of the main performance killers is the wrong AA or trying to force it externally. Remember this is an OGL game, it's a little different to what we usually deal with.
Check out /r/NoMansSkyTheGame/ or ask there for the optimal settings if you can't find them.
Play around with AA first though.
Also check out if there is any Ryzen specific stuff or patches, although they have focused on jaguar for PS4 so AMD shouldn't be an issue. TBH AMD cards early on were having less issues than Nvidia.
P.s. almost everything is proc gen in this game. Sure, the fixed assets like interface and base/station internals etc are not, but down to the level of rocks, land, multi tools, ships, animals, sounds etc etc are


Yeah, you can teleport to and from your base from stations now. I'm not sure how long the list is, but I see two stations in it so far (from my base that is).
I heard tell you can also make bookmarks or something in the star map?

(spoilers below)


From memory you can (in the earlier patch) only have up to one main base and station to teleport between. If you go to another station, you can teleport back to your base from it, but not back to the other station.
The spoiler is that you can also go through a black hole infinite times if you set up a base in that system, by teleporting back from the station each time ;)
Glad to hear bookmarking is possible. It was practically impossible to find planets again in the older versions.


Correct me if I'm wrong here people, but I also believe they've add teleport/quick porting access with the base building update, right?
I'm not sure how it works, but I could swear there were patch notes about it.

In the space stations they are on the left hand side door but you need an atlas pass first IIRC... have fun ;)
In the base you have to build it IIRC. It's handy if you find a planet you really like and want to stick around on.


God damn I can't wait to play again.. crashed capital ships (only used to have playable crashed ships prior), portals and the rest...
 
I managed another 10 hours over the weekend on the new update. I actually started over, as I forgot I was sitting out on a planet in the middle of nowhere that was pretty hostile, and was nearly out of resources. Instead of spending all the time to get the resources and get off that planet, I restarted the game. In ten hours I was able to get about as far and as advanced as in my previous twenty. I think a small part of that was luck, but I also stumbled on a story-line that I hadn't done before. The last time I played, I came across the Atlas path in space, and started following that along, and just playing in my own free-style sort of way. This time, I stumbled onto the
Artemis, Apollo, Null story
which may have been there before, but I have a feeling parts of it have been updated based on some of the dialog. This story-line is very engaging so far, and I've enjoyed the required tasks, the characters I've interacted with, etc. The game has officially pulled me back in. I always planned to get back to it, but even just the new bases, tech, etc. from even the last update are excellent. I built up a quick and dirty, yet full featured base with land-vehicle, and ship pads. Plenty of research, weapons, and tech with hired techs from the space stations working in it now. Once it seemed like I could get most of the things I needed though, I left the system, which is where the fun began.

I've gotten myself a really nice ship, have gotten in some decent fights in some systems, and I'm trucking along that story-line right now. I'm not on the path to the center of the galaxy. I figure, I'll do that when I'm out of everything else to do. That point is not even in sight right now. Absolutely loving the game now. It was already my style of game just as a simpler exploration sorta thing, but now it's even better with more to do on stations, unlocking portals, and there is quite a bit of character interaction now. Also, it seems like they've fleshed out the different races now, because I feel like I actually have to earn my standing with each one, instead of learn a few words and then we're best friends. Some of them outright hated me and wouldn't trade at first. Pretty cool. It was always clear what I needed to do to up that standing though, and now I'm good with all the races.

In my previous play, I only came across one Gek ever. He was the one
on the Anomaly, named Polo I think
but they're all over this time. I think it was just the luck of the draw on which systems I visited before, but now I've actually got the tools to get to systems that I know are home to certain races.

Anyway, they really filled the game out with things to do, characters to interact with aside from the generic, lone, station dweller here or there. I couldn't stop playing, and getting in ten hours of decent play these days for me is rare over the course of a day or two. The only other games to manage that lately are Sundered and Dead Cells. It was kind of nice to get back into a game with a *gasp* "third dimension" :D

Anyway, I can fully recommend this now to anyone that's into exploration, and even into some lighter RPGing. It's not Star Control 2 or Mass Effect yet, but it's definitely got intriguing stories in there, and more than just a few from what I've seen. Interactions actually seem to matter more now too. I may have just missed a bit of this before due to how I played the game, but it feels like it's MUCH more fleshed out. Also, the visuals have improved significantly. I already though it was a beautiful game despite some simplicity here or there, but they have much higher detail in the textures now, more graphics options in the menus, and there just seem to be a lot more little flourishes in the environments now.

If you were on the fence, grab it while it's still $23. It's worth more than that now.
 
Is there by chance an "easy" setting now ?

As in I'm up for getting a couple copies for my kids , but don't want to have to dick around with mods for 30 mins that break on an update. Just want them to be able to run around and explore without worrying about oxygen , poison atmosphere etc.
 
This time, I stumbled onto the
That's part of this new update.

Word of advice about your base that I found out last night, if you move it to a new system you won't be able to do any of the side missions with the people inside (the scientist, exocraft guy etc). If you move it back to the same system then you can do the missions.
 
Save your units. I promise you'll find the best stuff just by exploring.

As for no map, you are correct. However, you can always back track to where you started. You'll notice each solar system in the star map tells you if it's been discovered or not. It will also say your name if you've discovered it too. So as tedious as it sounds, it's not that bad.


Correct me if I'm wrong here people, but I also believe they've add teleport/quick porting access with the base building update, right?
I'm not sure how it works, but I could swear there were patch notes about it.

And if there is, this will most likely be the easiest way to get back to your original planet.

Yes, once you activate another teleporter, or use one on a space station, you can get back to your home world.
 
Is there by chance an "easy" setting now ?

As in I'm up for getting a couple copies for my kids , but don't want to have to dick around with mods for 30 mins that break on an update. Just want them to be able to run around and explore without worrying about oxygen , poison atmosphere etc.

There is a "Creative" mode much like the one in Minecraft. You can actually play the whole game this way, and will have unlimited resources, you can build just about any tech, etc. I used this to experiment with base layouts before I started playing on Normal again. I may actually start up a second game in this mode for doing my free-form playing, and then keep going down the story paths in my Normal play.
 
There is a "Creative" mode much like the one in Minecraft. You can actually play the whole game this way, and will have unlimited resources, you can build just about any tech, etc. I used this to experiment with base layouts before I started playing on Normal again. I may actually start up a second game in this mode for doing my free-form playing, and then keep going down the story paths in my Normal play.

Oh awesome , they would love that and I might even muck around in it.

Are there still the random flora and fauna in creative mode ?
 
Oh awesome , they would love that and I might even muck around in it.

Are there still the random flora and fauna in creative mode ?

Yes, it's got everything a normal game would have, just no constraints on the player really. You do need to build up a couple of things around your home base, and visit the nearest space station to hire an "Exocraft" technician. (actually, in Creative mode you may not even have to do that)

You use the D-Pad to select which base parts you want, and then place them. It's easiest to start inside the base, as you can see where the new modules attach to potential doorways. Otherwise it's pretty straight forward. Once you have a simple, functional base, it's easy to get out exploring, checking out animals, etc.
 
Appreciate it and they'd have no problems with building as they go nuts in minecraft as it is.
 
Appreciate it and they'd have no problems with building as they go nuts in minecraft as it is.

No problem! Yeah I think I'm going to grab a couple for my daughters before this sale is done. They're also into Minecraft, but after they watched me play this yesterday for a few hours, I think they want to get their hands on it. :D
 
That's part of this new update.

Word of advice about your base that I found out last night, if you move it to a new system you won't be able to do any of the side missions with the people inside (the scientist, exocraft guy etc). If you move it back to the same system then you can do the missions.

Thanks for the tip! Yeah, I was actually planning to move it to the planet with the first "real" portal, because on my current play, it's so lush. However, I just set up a decent camp with just what I need to get around near the portal, and that will do as my "base" for that area. I'll just leave my main one on the starting planet. It's easy enough to get there with teleportation.
 
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