Hello Games adding Minecraft to their game still makes it the same game as it was almost 5 years ago but actually kinda worse. No Mans Sky became less desolate while on the other hand there is more grinding to do. The only bad thing about No Mans Sky that ever made it bad is that between the planets there is almost nothing to do but another timesink, and one without much use. Its honestly depressing that adding timesinks is essentially the only response Hello Games has to improve their game.
The game itself is in dire need to add meaning to each and every activity. Even the incentive of being able to actually fly around in your freighter while landing it on planets would be a huge incentive for players to progress, while keeping the general philosophical design choices of the game intact. It also would make players able to make pretty screenshots and sense of scale, something that is already intentionally designed (there is a reason you can freely walk around planets, some of which is related to the sense of scale. Compared to a planet, flying around a small spaceship, a frigate or a freighter wouldn't make much of a difference after all).
Meanwhile, the only freighters we see on a planet are crashed ones, something that is impossible to do by the players hands but what do I know.
People are now happy with the game because it added "moar stuff" but nobody ever talks about how meaningful that stuff actually is. More stuff doesn't mean a better game at all as it needs to relate to meaning in order to give it gravitas.
Take the space grind as an example, here are the negative aspects of it.
- No meaningful activities to do that lead somewhere
- No fleet to fleet battles
- Fleets only serve as a Ubisoft-esque timesink like minigame.
- Freighters are nothing but glorified inventoryspace
- Overall, every step you do is practically a nihilistic timesink. You don't feel anything, you just waste time.
The positive aspects.
- You can walk inside freighters, appreciate its size
- You can walk on frigates, appreciate its size
Don't get me wrong, its a fun game and all, but at the same time it really isn't. I found the game more fitting in its atmosphere when it came out in 2016 then it is today though, even though I know it is not that type of game. The tone of the game really has changed. From feeling alone in a vast and uncaring universe, from doing vast and uncaring activities instead. The game is best played in sandbox mode because of that.
And honestly, the best thing about the updates were the ARG. Those were actually fantastic and the greatest thing Hello Games has ever done.
TZODnmr2k5: *CDPR take note! Absolutely hard disagree on that. Don't you remember EE and the 16 free DLCS? You got to be kidding. I bet you don't even remember the huge drama about the graphical downgrade shortly before The Witcher 3 came out.
Haven't you asked yourself why you even compare NMS to Cyberpunk (or HG to CDPR respectively)? Haven't you ever noticed how NMS promotional material and Cyberpunk 2077s are almost exactly alike? Both games only ever showed small sniplets (sans the minute long gameplay teaser), all while the devs ever exclaimed about the potential of the game, yet they've never said what sort of activities you may be able to do and how exactly the game plays. It was a huge red flag. At any case, it was easy to determine that Cyberpunk isn't the god-tier game that people wanted it to be and got exactly that. Still a 6/10 or 7/10 game I've fully expected considering its full price, that its now getting fixed will make it even better.
Its clear as day that both companies care enough to focus on the bigger pictures. For Hello Games, it is remaking their lost game due to the large flooding they had. For CDPR its to keep fullfilling promises and past creeds. Its also clear as day that a Enhanced Edition for Cyberpunk 2077 is in the works and coming in late 2022 or 2023 judging how they've threated past development procedures. In the end, it was the lack of communication and beating around the bush that destroyed a lot of good-will of the userbase/costumers/gamers/whatever in both companies.
I still have mad respects of both Hello Games and CDPR (one references Frontier and the other one Piranha Bytes and Eidos). Them updating the game is just another good thing in an ever ongoing journey. I just wish that Hello Games wouldn't keep jumping on the nihilism train, while CDPR should add more depth in most aspects of the game (lack of minor activities for instance, at least with GTA 5/Online you can take part in some of that, while also having incentives to get certain things, like prettier cars).
