Elite: Dangerous is $15 on steam until Dec 1

Almost got it, but I'd need to buy a flight stick or whatever
Good price though
 
Looks good, till you realize the game's tutorials are such a joke. It literally tells you nothing except how to target and shoot, nothing about factions, trading, etc. I already filed a refund request for this thing. If you're a fan of the original, might be for you but there's nothing "fun" about it in the slightest if you constantly have to alt tab to a wiki or look something up on your phone every 2 minutes for a basic understanding of how things work(nevermind constantly checking the control settings to find keys because the game can't be bothered to indicate which buttons/keys do what).
 
Keep in mind that anyone who wants to play the Horizon DLC needs to rebuy the entire game. Thats probably why it's so cheap.
 
When does the Horizon expansion launch anyway? It says "Holiday", and that you're given something for preordering etc... but is that before the end of 2015? Or is there a set date you have to buy Horizons to qualify for all the bonuses? I am interested in giving the game a try and $15 seems like a great price. I should also mention that you can get the same price from buying a key direct from the developer, though. I assume that the Steam key will let you use the Steam client and the independent patcher/client, right?
 
Xaeos said:
When does the Horizon expansion launch anyway? It says "Holiday", and that you're given something for preordering etc... but is that before the end of 2015? Or is there a set date you have to buy Horizons to qualify for all the bonuses? I am interested in giving the game a try and $15 seems like a great price. I should also mention that you can get the same price from buying a key direct from the developer, though. I assume that the Steam key will let you use the Steam client and the independent patcher/client, right?
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I think you can get a Steam key through Frontier.
 
Viper87227 said:
Keep in mind that anyone who wants to play the Horizon DLC needs to rebuy the entire game. Thats probably why it's so cheap.
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I've heard that owners of ED get a $15 discount on Horizon. Which essentially makes it a wash, try it for $15 and if you like it you don't lose any money when you upgrade.
 
Raekwon said:
I've heard that owners of ED get a $15 discount on Horizon. Which essentially makes it a wash, try it for $15 and if you like it you don't lose any money when you upgrade.
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My bad, you are correct. That makes this considerably more tempting.

Frontier does say its limited time though. So who knows if that will stick around?
 
Not sure. A coworker is really into this game. It's a niche genre. I figure if you think you'd like it, $15 is a pretty cheap price of entry.
 
Just chiming in. A bit of a biased source but I backed the game early.

If you have any interest at all in space sims it's a great game to pick up, especially at that price.

Further, even if you don't upgrade to Horizons after the fact you will still be able to play with all the players and the rest of the game, just surface landings on atmosphere-less planets will be locked off (atmosphere is being worked on and coming in a later expansion).

Long time member of [H] forums, thought I'd throw in my 2c. Also, The sound design is amazing.
 
Merc1138 said:
Looks good, till you realize the game's tutorials are such a joke. It literally tells you nothing except how to target and shoot, nothing about factions, trading, etc. I already filed a refund request for this thing. If you're a fan of the original, might be for you but there's nothing "fun" about it in the slightest if you constantly have to alt tab to a wiki or look something up on your phone every 2 minutes for a basic understanding of how things work(nevermind constantly checking the control settings to find keys because the game can't be bothered to indicate which buttons/keys do what).
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I am so glad this game wasn't made with you in mind. Having never played the series before, I found the learning curve to be steeper than other recent games I have played. I found the complexity to be refreshing without being tedious. Maybe I am giving this game a wide berth because most space sims have been shit but I thoroughly enjoyed it and cant wait for the new expansion that introduces planetary landing and exploration.

P.S. there are countless videos on youtube that explain the different game mechanics as well as any tutorial could. You dont need to spend hours doing so to get a good understanding either. It is not for everyone, but if you consider yourself a fan of space simulations this is an obligatory purchase.
 
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Chaos Machine said:
I am so glad this game wasn't made with you in mind. Having never played the series before, I found the learning curve to be steeper than other recent games I have played. I found the complexity to be refreshing without being tedious. Maybe I am giving this game a wide berth because most space sims have been shit but I thoroughly enjoyed it and cant wait for the new expansion that introduces planetary landing and exploration.

P.S. there are countless videos on youtube that explain the different game mechanics as well as any tutorial could. You dont need to spend hours doing so to get a good understanding either. It is not for everyone, but if you consider yourself a fan of space simulations this is an obligatory purchase.
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Considering I started my PC gaming back with microprose flight sims with 150 page manuals and keyboard overlays, maybe you should discuss the game rather than make assumptions about me when all I did was discuss the game? A game in 2015 that doesn't include any sort of information about things like the throttle control and how it affects movement and maneuverability is... odd. You're right, there are a bunch of youtube videos and wikipedia pages, however reading wikipedia pages and watching youtube tutorials for hours on end is not "fun".

Why did I mention the throttle control? In Elite: Dangerous there's an extra marker on the throttle gauge that isn't labeled. Turns out it indicates the throttle range(forward or reverse) that you have maximum maneuverability. In a space sim, things like that are kind of important. Yet I happened across a video describing it on accident while looking for something else. Considering that the included "tutorials" are primarily about space combat, you would think such information would be important enough to mention, right? Nahh, just leave no mention of it whatsoever so the players can figure it out by chance running across it in a video while looking for something else that isn't explained in any way.

Don't need to spend hours to get a good understanding? Strange how I sat through 2 hours of youtube videos trying to figure out controls and menus in the game in between looking things up on a wikipedia page for the whole 4 hours that I played it. Hell, the only reason I even knew that there were menus to the left and right in the cockpit was because I had seen them in videos and found the keybinding for it. Because the game explains so little, I had managed to figure out the weapon group binding system(that's actually a decently setup menu) before figuring out the navigation on the left menu.

That doesn't seem the slightest bit odd? I wasn't expecting some sort of hand holding newbie zone walkthrough tutorial, but it seems the developers expect new players to just load the game after watching a couple hours of youtube videos(where the narrators don't necessarily give the proper names for the key bindings so you can at least look them up in the in-game menu for yourself), yet I'm the one with the issue? The game doesn't have a learning curve, it's a brick wall. Yeah, if you've got the time to spend hours watching people play a game on youtube to learn the basics of how to play the game yourself, great. I don't. Notice how my complaints aren't about hauling cargo, getting blown up by enemies(NPC or player), or the control mechanics being complex, because I expect that in a game like this.

You said it yourself that you might be giving the game a wide berth due to the fact that most recent(not to mention very few) space sims over the past few years have been crap, sounds like it to me. But it doesn't change that my initial experience with the game(thank god for steam refunds), was that it is crap... just in a different way from the rest of the crap space sims out there.
 
I think I'll buy the 2016 expansion since they seem to expect you to pay full price for the actual game every year. I'm not the most pleased to have preordered the game for around $50 only to have them try to sell my an expansion at full price.
 
im curious about this game is it a really good game ? worth $15?
 
Is this similar to tradewars 2002 bbs game?!

Do you need a joystick to get the most out of the game? Joystick less at the moment. (No jokes!) can you fly ok with the mouse and kb?

Can you design your own ship or they all stock designs?
Thanks!

I remember he microprose games, loved those!
 
ironforge said:
Is this similar to tradewars 2002 bbs game?!

Do you need a joystick to get the most out of the game? Joystick less at the moment. (No jokes!) can you fly ok with the mouse and kb?

Can you design your own ship or they all stock designs?
Thanks!

I remember he microprose games, loved those!
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While you CAN use a mouse and keyboard, a joystick is HIGHLY recommended. You get to add/remove weapons from your ship, and adjust the color scheme based on a few options, but aside from that you can't "design" your ship. Also, there is no traditional story mode. It plays like an MMO - go to a station, pick up a quest, complete said quest, return to station. Repeat ad nauseum. Things are happening that hint that a main story exists if you read the news feeds, but it really isn't like your usual games. Much more space sim than space game. Fun to fly around in and shoot stuff, and AMAZING with an Oculus Rift.
 
TeeJayHoward said:
While you CAN use a mouse and keyboard, a joystick is HIGHLY recommended. You get to add/remove weapons from your ship, and adjust the color scheme based on a few options, but aside from that you can't "design" your ship. Also, there is no traditional story mode. It plays like an MMO - go to a station, pick up a quest, complete said quest, return to station. Repeat ad nauseum. Things are happening that hint that a main story exists if you read the news feeds, but it really isn't like your usual games. Much more space sim than space game. Fun to fly around in and shoot stuff, and AMAZING with an Oculus Rift.
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is a gamepad (360 controller or other) acceptable for this game? I enjoy flying with my 360 controller, just feels well suited to it lol
 
Ragenrok said:
is a gamepad (360 controller or other) acceptable for this game? I enjoy flying with my 360 controller, just feels well suited to it lol
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I haven't used one myself, but I see no reason it wouldn't work. You can configure the joystick to work however you want, so I imagine you can configure the Xbox controller however you want. It'd likely be a sight better than a KB+Mouse combo, that's for sure!
 
PersonalJ said:
I play this game with a 360 controller and it works excellent.
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Really tempted to pick this up. I don't have a joystick (other than a ~20 year old CH fighterstick with a serial connector, so I can't connect it to anything these days) but I do have a 360 controller.

How much of a time-sink is this game?
 
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