Elite: Dangerous. Any good?

[Mímir]

I'm seriously thinking of picking up a copy, but there's only access to some single player stuff until the 16th of december.

Has anyone tried the beta, and is it any good? Is there stuff to do, things to explore and is combat fun?

---

[Sath]

I heard that they scrapped off the single player stuff a week or two back. Caused quite a stir leading to many KS backers withdrawing.

But the game looks solid enough for a start. Maybe someone who played it will better explain it than I can (I just saw a few YT vids)

[Nerva]

I picked up the pre-order so I'm going to refrain from making extensive comments about the gameplay but only the flight model, having tried only the single player tutorials.

You definitely shouldn't expect Freelancer-style combat. Ships maneuver very slowly and are pretty much incapable of turning left or right. You're forced to fly as if you're flying an airplane (roll+pitch). In case you're flying with Mouse+KB, you have to constantly make use of the roll keys (highly imprecise compared to a joystick) in order to accomplish any kind of quick turn. Other that this, ships fly very smoothly and predictably.

There's a "flight assist off" mode which is somewhat similar to EK in Freelancer but a bit better because strafing doesn't break it.

4-way strafe is available but don't expect the ridiculous boxing of FL.

Ship management is almost infinitely more sophisticated than Freelancer (where it doesn't exist). You can (have to) control the amount of power to various components of the ship and manage the heat generation.

Aiming itself isn't hard with the fixed beam weapons and there are gimbaled ones, too. Getting the target in front of you is the harder part.

I heard that they scrapped off the single player stuff a week or two back. Caused quite a stir leading to many KS backers withdrawing.

They scrapped the offline play. It's still possible to play solo (only with NPCs) in the universe, but it requires Internet connection. It also means you can just switch to solo when you have expensive cargo and avoid other players, but that's another matter.

[Omi]

rekt

me and mah boi rolling around


eagle = OP
multicannons = OP
gimballed = easymode


welcome to elite: dangerous


In all seriousness, though, I would actually hold off before buying it in its current state. The game is a very solid BETA at this stage, but they're pushing for launch on Dec 16th, which IMO is far, far too soon and indicative of an imminent low-quality release. Right now, the game is very, very shallow. Comparing it to multiplayer Freelancer probably isn't far off the mark, in terms of the limited mechanics; there's simple commodity trading, simple NPC shooting, ability to 'cruise disrupt' and kill NPCs and players, really limited mining, and a kind of shoehorned-in exploration system that isn't worth anyone's time.


Think of Discovery with no roleplay, even lower player density (yes, there may be "thousands" online, but there are >400,000 procedurally generated systems or some BS for them to spread out into!), but prettier graphics and weirder combat mechanics


If they don't up their game, it will just be this year's prettiest tech demo.

---

[Mímir]

rekt

heh.

well, thanks for the heads-up, I got SC instead. 20 dollars isn't much, although it might also end up just being a tech demo. we'll see.

---

[Fluffyball]

There won't be Single Player in Elite: Dangerous...? Are you kidding me?

---

User was banned for: http://discoverygc.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=138636
Time left: (Permanent)

[Treewyrm]

There won't be Single Player in Elite: Dangerous...? Are you kidding me?

That's actually quite true. Initially there was supposed to be offline play but they had discontinued that relatively recently. No offline, no private servers. A number of players are proceeding with refunds, myself including. Can't say I didn't see that coming, although hoped eventually they'd do it right as opposed to scrapping entirely.

[Corile]

Don't buy early access.
There's a lot more better complete games you could concern yourself with.

---

Reflections on the Revolution in Gallia
Custodi // High City of Heraklion // The Cult of Archangels
Log Filter // Post Creator // Manhattan

[Treewyrm]

Granted E:D ain't bad at all as a game. Whether it is worth the price I can't say but there are plenty good things about it. Although certain aspects aren't for me personally, namely forcing into airplane pitch/roll controls by artificially handicapping yaw. My vestibular organ doesn't take kindly to frequent rolls on screen, so I can't play it for any prolonged period of time.

[Narcotic]

I'll definately will play it once everything runs smooth. We'll see if that'll be the case on the 16th.

Sucks that there'll be an online mode only. It's really a pity, that today you sometimes have to buy the game plus torrent a cracked version to actually play it offline...

---

Lee's Logs | Lee's Diary | Nat's Story | AI Shodan | Rogue Clyde | Braun's Logs | The Narcotic | The Pandora | Biographies | Feedback