This is something you'll hear a lot when playing No Man's Sky.
My girlfriend and I have been playing a fair bit of No Man's Sky between us over the last week. On the whole we've been really enjoying it, but I keep pointing out to her that a lot of the things we've been enjoying about the game weren't in it at launch and, in some cases, until very recently.
The story lines we've been exploring and which have been guiding us through the experience, to a certain extent, are recent additions to the game. I can understand why people were so scathing of the game in the beginning. I'm not sure just constantly surviving and moving around the galaxy would have been enough to keep me entertained.
However, the game being as it is, it's really captured my imagination. The visuals, the thing that has always drawn me to the game since I first saw it, are amazing; they have a beautiful retro sci-fi style, using vibrant colours and basic geometric shapes to create space stations and outposts.
I wouldn't recommend this game to a gamer who lacks time or demands constant stimulation. It has a meditative feel to it that requires the player to buy into the feel of the game and enjoy it's subtle story telling. The game is essentially a big grind - you gather resources so you can sell them to afford a big ship so you can gather more resources etc.
The title to this post quotes the computer voice that is constantly telling you when you need to top up your fuel or life supports about the fail. It's really quite an annoyingly persist part of the game that I'm not sure was totally necessary. I guess without it the game would be too easy and lose any sense of challenge.
There is still a lot to discover and we've only just started building a base. We'll see how it goes and how I feel in a week or two.
Tuesday, 29 August 2017
Thursday, 24 August 2017
ARG! It's been ages!
I can't believe it's been over 8 months since I last wrote on my blog. This year hasn't flown by, but a lot of stuff's been going on and every time I think about posting something here I've not been somewhere to be able to do so and now I've taken a random afternoon off it turns out to be almost September...
So what's happened?!
Well, good question. I've moved home, into a house I actually own, which is super scary! For the first few months of owning our house we were fighting off neighbours who were trying to use our backyard for their rubbish. Bastards (we won in the end. Our backyard is ok). And there's been some family stuff going on and my new job's been fairly busy.
The other truth is that I just haven't been playing many computer games, and what I have been playing hasn't been new games.
But I have been playing some games and recently just starting brewing some beer again! I bottled up our first all-grain brew, which I'm excited about. I'm a little apprehensive about how the beer will turn out but we learnt loads of lessons and next time will definitely be better. That's not to say it won't be good this time, I just know some of the steps in the brewing process were a bit hashed up, so we'll see.
I bought No Man's Sky for PS4! It was on sale for a tenner and has received numerous big (free) updates and is really quite good. My partner and I sit down and play it together, swapping the controller between us while we bumble about the galaxy trying to figure out what the heck we're doing in the game. It has a very subtle story sprinkled over everything you do, which I find very compelling. I should take some time to write a proper review maybe, how does that sound?
Anyway, I better get back to having a quiet afternoon.
So what's happened?!
Well, good question. I've moved home, into a house I actually own, which is super scary! For the first few months of owning our house we were fighting off neighbours who were trying to use our backyard for their rubbish. Bastards (we won in the end. Our backyard is ok). And there's been some family stuff going on and my new job's been fairly busy.
The other truth is that I just haven't been playing many computer games, and what I have been playing hasn't been new games.
But I have been playing some games and recently just starting brewing some beer again! I bottled up our first all-grain brew, which I'm excited about. I'm a little apprehensive about how the beer will turn out but we learnt loads of lessons and next time will definitely be better. That's not to say it won't be good this time, I just know some of the steps in the brewing process were a bit hashed up, so we'll see.
I bought No Man's Sky for PS4! It was on sale for a tenner and has received numerous big (free) updates and is really quite good. My partner and I sit down and play it together, swapping the controller between us while we bumble about the galaxy trying to figure out what the heck we're doing in the game. It has a very subtle story sprinkled over everything you do, which I find very compelling. I should take some time to write a proper review maybe, how does that sound?
Anyway, I better get back to having a quiet afternoon.
Friday, 6 January 2017
No Elite for the last year
Don't take this as an admission of dislike for the game! I've been deliberately holding myself away from the game, waiting for some more updates to come to the game and friends to get themselves back into a situation to play too. I've been keeping up to date with the updates and it looks really exciting! Hopefully soon I'll get back into it. Until then I have DOOM and other awesome games to keep my mind off it.
I recently saw youtube videos showing alien ships appearing in Elite! Thargoids?!
I recently saw youtube videos showing alien ships appearing in Elite! Thargoids?!
Tuesday, 3 January 2017
2016 games of the year
There were several games I really enjoyed last year, but the top spot is very easy:
DOOM - the new incarnation of this classic shooter is a stunner. If you enjoy an FPS, this is a must have. The feel of the game is spot on; it's a rare example of a modern game with an actually good single player! The sound, the graphics the gameplay are as near to perfect as I can comprehend. The only down side is the multiplayer, but it has it and it's good for a laugh.
Other games I've particularly enjoyed have been:
Company of Heroes 2 - this game has contributed a lot to my decent into going back into modelling and table top war gaming. This is a strategy game with character. Each Nation has a very different feel and the different Generals add to the diversity of tactical choices. The combat, pseudo base building and resource gathering sort of make sense and make for an enjoyable, highly tactical, divert real time strategy game.
Helldivers - a top down, stick shooter with so much more! I loved playing this game at the beginning of the year on PS4 and now it's dropped in price on PC I've grabbed it there too, with a mate. I love the playability of Arrowhead Games' games; so simple, yet brutal and wonderfully moreish!
Planetside 2 - I've not played this in a while, but when I was it was absorbing a large amount of time. It still stands as my most played game on Steam... This massively multiplayer shooter really scratched that mass military operation itch, that I hadn't been able to satisfy since I stopped playing WW2 online some 10 years ago or more. The only reason I moved away was because it was becoming repetitive; campaigns only last a couple of days at most and the game revolves around the same continents over and over. If the pace of the campaigns was slowed somehow I think I would have felt more compelled to stick around. It is a brilliant game otherwise and I will be back at it in the near future, when the itch re-emerges.
Space Engineers - I must admit I don't really feel I've actually "played" the game yet. But I have spent 10s of hours creating things in the creative mode! Looking back through my old ship designs I've built a couple of large ships I'm quite proud of. With the game recently moving into beta I hope to finally make the plunge into survival mode and start playing the game properly, so to speak.
Those are the main games that have really stuck in my mind from the last year, but there were numerous smaller games, such as, Prison Architect, FTL, Planet Base, Banished and, of course, World of Warships. These games haven't occupied my mind so much as tickled a smaller itch or, in the case of World of Warships, been a catalyst for staying in touch with old friends.
Computer games are an important part of my life. I love the creativity they can encourage, the social interaction it allows with peoples 100s of miles apart and the stories they can tell. I can't wait to explore new games in the coming year!
DOOM - the new incarnation of this classic shooter is a stunner. If you enjoy an FPS, this is a must have. The feel of the game is spot on; it's a rare example of a modern game with an actually good single player! The sound, the graphics the gameplay are as near to perfect as I can comprehend. The only down side is the multiplayer, but it has it and it's good for a laugh.
Other games I've particularly enjoyed have been:
Company of Heroes 2 - this game has contributed a lot to my decent into going back into modelling and table top war gaming. This is a strategy game with character. Each Nation has a very different feel and the different Generals add to the diversity of tactical choices. The combat, pseudo base building and resource gathering sort of make sense and make for an enjoyable, highly tactical, divert real time strategy game.
Helldivers - a top down, stick shooter with so much more! I loved playing this game at the beginning of the year on PS4 and now it's dropped in price on PC I've grabbed it there too, with a mate. I love the playability of Arrowhead Games' games; so simple, yet brutal and wonderfully moreish!
Planetside 2 - I've not played this in a while, but when I was it was absorbing a large amount of time. It still stands as my most played game on Steam... This massively multiplayer shooter really scratched that mass military operation itch, that I hadn't been able to satisfy since I stopped playing WW2 online some 10 years ago or more. The only reason I moved away was because it was becoming repetitive; campaigns only last a couple of days at most and the game revolves around the same continents over and over. If the pace of the campaigns was slowed somehow I think I would have felt more compelled to stick around. It is a brilliant game otherwise and I will be back at it in the near future, when the itch re-emerges.
Space Engineers - I must admit I don't really feel I've actually "played" the game yet. But I have spent 10s of hours creating things in the creative mode! Looking back through my old ship designs I've built a couple of large ships I'm quite proud of. With the game recently moving into beta I hope to finally make the plunge into survival mode and start playing the game properly, so to speak.
Those are the main games that have really stuck in my mind from the last year, but there were numerous smaller games, such as, Prison Architect, FTL, Planet Base, Banished and, of course, World of Warships. These games haven't occupied my mind so much as tickled a smaller itch or, in the case of World of Warships, been a catalyst for staying in touch with old friends.
Computer games are an important part of my life. I love the creativity they can encourage, the social interaction it allows with peoples 100s of miles apart and the stories they can tell. I can't wait to explore new games in the coming year!
It's the New Year already?!
The end of last year went by in a flash! I was determined to post more on this blog and before I knew it I was knee deep in buying a house, new job and caving to peer pressure.
Last year was a big year in my life, I went from being unemployed and a bit lost, to having a job I enjoy and starting to get back into things outside work. New house and also a new car for the lady is all still in the process, but I think I've got a handle on things now (famous last words...).
I gave into peer pressure! World War 2 table top war gaming finally became too much to resist and before xmas I bought a bundle of British troops, which absorbed the weeks leading up to xmas and will undoubtedly take up many weekends from now, but I don't regret it. My brothers kindly gave me the money for my army as my xmas present and after I'd assembled them all, one of my bros helped me with a base coat, so they're looking pretty good already.
I've seen there's a gaming club in Carlisle and I'm hoping people there play Bolt Action. It's about time I actually started doing stuff in Carlisle with people, socially-like.
There have been a number of bargain games I've picked up in Steam and lots of interesting new games coming up in this year, including maybe some Star Citizen....? We can only hope.
Last year was a big year in my life, I went from being unemployed and a bit lost, to having a job I enjoy and starting to get back into things outside work. New house and also a new car for the lady is all still in the process, but I think I've got a handle on things now (famous last words...).
I gave into peer pressure! World War 2 table top war gaming finally became too much to resist and before xmas I bought a bundle of British troops, which absorbed the weeks leading up to xmas and will undoubtedly take up many weekends from now, but I don't regret it. My brothers kindly gave me the money for my army as my xmas present and after I'd assembled them all, one of my bros helped me with a base coat, so they're looking pretty good already.
I've seen there's a gaming club in Carlisle and I'm hoping people there play Bolt Action. It's about time I actually started doing stuff in Carlisle with people, socially-like.
There have been a number of bargain games I've picked up in Steam and lots of interesting new games coming up in this year, including maybe some Star Citizen....? We can only hope.
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