Pat asked me for my thoughts on No Man's Sky. Bare in mind I've only played 5 hours.
I'm having trouble getting my thoughts into words, or the right words at least. It doesn't help I have /r/nomansskythegame and /r/nomanshigh open as well. Dunno how many times I wrote a paragraph and have deleted it.
I am enjoying No Man's Sky very much. Every time I play, each session has a 'wow' moment. Just today I found a planet with a rift in the landscape with a rock at the end of it that wasn't quite part of the landscape. Obviously a meteor had gouged the part of the planet and came to a rest. The meteor wasn't an object the same way outposts and ruins are, but part of the landscape. And that wasn't put there by the dev. Then I saw a flock of giant moths.
The game isn't perfect, and maybe I'm cheating a little bit because it was a very late birthday present, but there's something about this game that speaks to me. I want to see what's over the next horizon, willing to walk the 2 minutes that'll take me to that next question mark. I saw a planet in the sky and was able to go there. This is what I wanted from the game, to see new worlds and things nobody else will ever see, although I suppose they'll see something very similar. Maybe that was the right level of hype?
I really don't like the vitriolic 'Sean Murray is malicious liar who just wants our money'. I think I sympathise with Hello Games - when you're creating something, you compromise based on budget and time. Games are this weird medium where development can be documented through the entire process. Everything else, the audience sees either the final product or small little teasers. Like, imagine if GRR Martin released every draft of Winds of Winter every month.
I don't know. I'm having fun.
