No Man's Sky: NEXT

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by Kephras, Aug 10, 2018.

  1. NMS has come a long way since its initial disastrous release. With the 'NEXT' (1.5) update adding multiplayer and character customization, the ability to build bases practically anywhere, and a whole slew of other improvements, I figure it deserves a new thread...

    If you've been living under a rock the last two years and don't know what No Man's Sky is, I would best sum it up as a sci-fi exploration game with an infinite, procedurally generated universe. Travel the galaxy, visit new star systems, explore planets, study all manner of strange alien life, hunt pirates (or be hunted by them), take command of a capital freighter and build up a mighty fleet of your own, or just find a quiet spot on some backwater planet and settle down - you have an entire galaxy of stars and planets for a sandbox. (And if that's not enough, you can travel to a new galaxy with its own star-systems...)

    Feel free to discuss, share your stories, screenshots, and intriguing discoveries!
    (*But please, let's leave the "Hello Games lied to us" controversies behind, that was two years ago and the game's improved dramatically since then.)
  2. I thought it was already multiplayer? Just, the game is so large that you would likely never find another living person :p

    I've considered buying this game over the past couple of years, but it just always seemed unfinished, like it was lacking certain things to make the game as cool as it sounds. Would you recommend to a person who has not bought it yet to buy it now?
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  3. I haven't play NMS since released and put about 30 hours of exploring and gathering materials in a system but after awhile I just got bored of it. I see NMS as Casual Space ship adventure not a complex system like Elite Dangerous or EVE Online. Which I want at the end of day coming home from work just to jump on to be a Space Cowboy.. lol

    in the end everyone wants to be like Spike
  4. You could explore worlds 'discovered' by others - named planets, animals, uploaded player bases, but there was no way to interact with anyone. 'Atlas Rises' update added a sort of fake multiplayer with up to 16 concurrent players, but they were 'glitches,' just points of light that you couldn't really interact with. 'NEXT' added proper 4-person multiplayer with actual character models, so now you can actually go off hunting or mining or building and have friends with you to help, explore, etc.

    I've joined khixan a couple times in her game (she has the best luck with finding nice worlds, but the star systems are "high-conflict" and infested with pirates!), which has been loads of fun. We both have bases on a beautiful island/water-world planet in her starting system, along with another friend of mine who goes by Hicks. It's basically space Hawaii.

    NMS gets a bad rep, but the devs have been working on it for two years straight with constant improvements, expansions, and updates. I haven't exactly enjoyed each update, since 'Atlas Rises' changed planet generation and turned my last homeworld into a pink radioactive dustball, and 'NEXT' altered something with ship seeds and one of my ships changed appearance drastically (for the worse). It's not all sunshine and roses, sadly. But the updates have made the game much better as a whole, despite my peeves.

    Bottom line, I don't know if it's worth full price to you or not, but it's definitely worth picking up on sale.

    I mean, hell man, we have actual character models now!

    NMS Keph is a tiny tiger-Gek (Tigek?), and he approves this message. Or maybe he's just happy with his Armorer's good work...

    EDIT:
    Yeah, the focus is definitely on exploring - if you just want to be a space jockey and shoot stuff, NMS isn't the best choice. I would definitely agree that it's more on the 'casual' side of things. That said, you really ought to check it out again, you'd be amazed at what a difference having some friends along can make. Heck, give me a poke on Steam sometime, I wouldn't mind being your wingman.
    Lukas3226, Esrik, 607 and 1 other person like this.
  5. JD, I got it on the Steam Summer sale, and I am enjoying it. It is worth it if you see it for 50% off again. I've been playing it with Keph and alone. My husband Rob loves the game. He plays it on console.

    The pros:
    • It's beautiful. Lots and lots to explore. Oodles to explore.
    • There are TONS of things to do. I could play this game for years easily.
    • Once you get through the starting story line (about 12-20 hours of gameplay roughly), it is play at your own pace. You can chill, or run around like a maniac. You can fight things, do dangerous stuff, or avoid it 90% of the time and just enjoy exploring. Your choice.
    The depends on what you like:
    • This is not a quick game. Some people like that this will be their entertainment for the next year or three. Some people prefer games that they can "finish".
    The cons:
    • The adaptation from console to pc for the menus is terrible. They are supposedly working on it. There are too many menus in too many places that all use a different combination of buttons. In one menu, you can click but others you can't. Another menu may use Q/E for scrolling left/right, but a different menu will use A/D. It is hellish confusing to learn. Took me like 7 solid hours of gameplay to get at all comfortable with it. If my husband had not sat by my side for hours, I would have given up. There is no in-game guidance for the most part. It requires research to learn ALL the menus and controls (or an awesome hubby!).
    • Check the minimum requirements for the game on pc and make sure your machine exceeds them. It is a hog. I've never seen a game take so dang long to load. Mine will very rarely lag though once loaded, and the only time I've seen any lag at all was when I was hosting other players in game.
  6. ...okay, gotta be honest with you guys, half the reason I made this thread was just because I wanted to share cool screenshots.

    Crashed freighers look so ominous, especially with that red emergency lighting in the upper section.


    I actually took three different versions of this picture, using different filter overlays. Think the 'green' came out the best, though.


    'Refuge' - my first and primary base. Built in a large cavern on the airless world of Tulum XIX, there are cave entrances at both ends, which are large enough for a ship to land inside (and take off again, though it does result in a slight bump against the ceiling). Still doing the base quests, so I haven't unlocked the exocraft terminal or pad yet. Plenty of space off to the right for a garage, when I do get to that point.

    My favorite aspect of Refuge is the 'underground' section. NMS has a few types of base-building components - wall/floor pieces, 'structures' which are complete rooms/corridors, and 'freighter' parts that lack any exterior model and are specifically designed to be used on your Freighter capital vessel.

    They weren't really meant to be used with ground-base components and don't merge well - they only snap correctly to Cube Rooms, and it leaves weird gaps in the mesh when that happens. However, being the stubborn wretch that I am, I decided to spend several hours the other night in Creative Mode, figuring out a way to at least disguise the gaps and make them merge relatively smoothly. Took a while, but I made it work!

    "But Keph, why use freighter pieces at all? You can see right through them from the outside!"
    -Resource-wise, they're a little cheaper to make. They require Silver and Tritium elements, both of which are found in abundance by mining asteroids. Base Structures require large amounts of Pure Ferrite, which is somewhat more difficult to come by (or has to be refined from Ferrite Dust, a time-consuming process).
    -They make excellent underground parts. Built into the side of a cave or mountain, the lack of 'exterior' mesh is irrelevant, and actually helps save a little on performance.
    -I like the style. YMMV.
    -Because I Can. It wasn't really intended behavior for the game, and the fact that I figured out how to pull it off anyway gives me a little spark of pride in seeing the effort pay off.

    (Also, please note that the last screenshot was taken during my experiments and was not the final implementation - the underground bits in Refuge are appropriately hidden, and work very smoothly with the rest of the base).
    Lukas3226, Esrik, The_Boulder and 4 others like this.
  7. In my hunt to find a homeworld like my old, lost one, I've been scouring the stars for anything approaching a 'temperate' location... Happened across a Humid moon this evening, which I'm rapidly falling in love with.



    Decided to call it Tranquility.
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  8. Found some of the more bizarre world-types tonight...

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  9. I'm thinking about getting it for the pc
    Kephras likes this.
  10. Be prepared for waiting a few minutes for "Loading Shaders" to finish xD
    Kephras likes this.
  11. Ok is there a option to play with randomw people??
    Kephras likes this.
  12. There is. You can join friends or 'Random Game'. Just gotta be aware, what happens in MP does affect your SP save, including death.

    No exploring for me tonight... spent all my time this evening finishing up Refuge.

    Structurally, I would say it's 90% complete (still a couple little things need tweaking). Decoration-wise I've mostly been going room by room. Got my scientist's lair all spruced up, and my Armorer's area nice and cozy.

  13. Looks so nice!!
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  14. I can see why lol The scenery looks so beautiful. I had been playing this game when it came out, during all that fuss and bashing time. Enjoyed the game back then nonetheless. Guess I shall give it a try again at some point. Thanks for sharing the screenshots, a pleasure to the eyes :)
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  15. I'm a bit surprised to learn about this. Still very hesitant to dive into this due to the massive backlash in the past, but some things look interesting enough.

    Thanks for sharing Keph!
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  16. The backlash might've been deserved at the time, but these devs have been making good (or making amends) for the past two years. The patch notes speak for themselves, but if you'd like a highlight reel, this does a good job of explaining the major changes.

    Really, anyone still holding a grudge is just being unreasonable, IMO. I suppose games like Minecraft have spoiled us gamers with the expectation of constant ongoing updates - if a game like this had dropped a few years earlier, the studio would've just written it off as a flop and let it die.
    607 likes this.
  17. So I was on briefly last night, tending crops and whatnot, and paid a visit to my freighter so I could send my fleet off. Immediately upon summoning it, this little beauty touched down in the hangar...

    Honestly, Exotic ships aren't my favorites - they have pretty limited design options and very little cargo space. But seeing as they're super-rare and I actually liked the design on this one, I figured a chance like this won't happen again anytime soon. Bought it right there on the spot.

    ...I'm not sure how the previous owner is getting home, though. Guess I could give him a lift...
    Lukas3226, 607, khixan and 4 others like this.
  18. That's good u will give him a lift!!

    Any tips for starting out?
    Kephras likes this.
  19. 1. Read a guide. No really, it's a lot to take in at first and NMS isn't the best at explaining what to do as you go.
    2. Follow the 'main quests' until you get a hyperdrive. The start is pretty linear, but once you get the... well, what passes for a tutorial out of the way, the galaxy is yours. Just need a little patience to get up to that point.
    khixan and 607 like this.
  20. Huh, I thought I was watching this thread.
    Well, posting this post will make me so. ;)
    Kephras likes this.