This is a large part of it. But there is also other people who have put the minimum amount or no money into it and just want a cool space game and also want the developers to not be pressured into rushing updates out (they were once and it was unplayable for a month). I am not defending the sketchy stuff cig have done, they really need to look at how they manage this game and their business, I would have gladly put more than the bare minimum into the game if they didn't charge so much for everything beyond the first purchase (about £35) but they do too much wrong for me to support it any more than I have

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I haven't bought into it or anything, but I followed the development for a while in the 2010s because I was really excited for what they showed.

Speaking personally, I just want a game that would let me feel immersed in a spacefaring future human civilization. I'm never gonna live to see that. So, I'd like a game where I can at least pretend.

EvE doesn't work for me. I'm not interested in spreadsheets, and I want to be able to fly my ship instead of just clicking to move (I assume that's still how it controls? I only played briefly in the 2000s)

Starfield is..Starfield. I just appreciate that they tried something, honestly. No Man's Sky seems pretty neat, although I don't really know what you do in that game outside of just collecting resources. I need to try it sometime.

Elite Dangerous is great. It comes the closest to scratching the itch. Zooming through the galaxy looking for different astral phenomena and sights to see is a really chill way to spend an afternoon. But, it only really gets so deep. The space legs (I mean, the Odyssey expansion) only do so much to make you feel present. Space stations and outposts really only consist of two or three different layouts of one big room with the same shops. Settlements mostly only exist to be mission objectives. You get 8 guns and 3 pistols to choose from. That's about it. Not super immersive once you step outside of your ship (personally speaking).

But, pretty much the main thing they've been trying to accomplish with Star Citizen is to make it the most immersive experience they can. It's right there in the name, isn't it? You get to play at a citizen of an interstellar civilization. That's the idea. I'm not sure if that's the reality.

So, yeah. Speaking personally, I've got a dream I'll never see realized, and (it feels like) no one stepping up to offer a proper simulation. I imagine a lot of folks are clinging to Star Citizen out of desperate hope, since there's not really a proper alternative if it ever goes away.

[–] pyre 9 points 1 month ago

claiming Bethesda tried anything with starfield is pretty generous.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

To me NoMansSky feels like singleplayer Minecraft but with planets and tasks/missions.
So if you arent fond of that, I'm afraid it's not for you. You can play witg randoms but I would say this isnt the norm.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

I had an argument with someone who kept claiming that it was all okay because it was "in alpha", all the developers have to do is claim that the game isn't finished yet and is still in development and then they can sell it for whatever price they want an idiot will buy it and defend it.

[–] Strider 2 points 1 month ago

It's a bubble.

A friend of mine who bought it clearly states that that's never going to get anywhere. But he's only paid a regular amount and accepted the risk and loss.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Because it's in a genre that has no good alternatives?

EVE is spreadsheet simulator, Elite Dangerous is space-truck simulator, NMS is all planets not space, StarField is StarField.

The only viable alternative I found was X4. Even that is slightly different from what Star Citizen promises (it's more empire management than solo flying in the endgame, vanilla balance is also questionable: you can "luke skywalker" a destroyer with a scout with pure dogfighting skills)

[–] passiveaggressivesonar 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Honest question, what does it give that eve doesn't? If X4 is a good alternative why is eve really so lacking? Give it a try, do a level 1 security mission in a merlin, it's very similar to X4

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I can't simultaneously play a third MMO (already got FFXI and FFXIV)
X4 custom start allows me to jump to the parts I want to play instantly, no matter if it's starting wars, flooding the market, dogfighting, etc
My X4 save is a gzip file: no need to worry about latency after moving to another country etc (my EVE account is locked to a region halfway across the world)
I don't have to wait for irl people to do something fun in X4
The gziped save file is in xml format. If something breaks I can just fix it
X4 has a huge modding scene for whatever features you want
X4's modding tools are super easy to learn: it's all xml and lua. Took me only 2 hours to figure out how to modify the UI from scratch.