No Man's Sky, Elite: Dangerous, and Planet Explorers

What do all these games have in common?

Well, besides being in my steam library… They are sci-fi exploration games. Some more so than others, but I enjoyed exploring the settings in these games. Since No Man’s Sky is the newest and the big hotness, I’ll get it out of the way first.

No Man’s Sky

Here’s a game just built for exploring. And you get a very unique view of a galaxy. I say a galaxy becauses it’s not our galaxy. The heart of this game is that it’s mostly computer generated. Very little was hand created, so that plays with some very interesting mechanics. Since it’s computer generated, you see some stuff that’s a little strange, but sometimes you see stuff that works.

Since most of the game is computer generated, once you explore a couple planets, you kind of explored most planets. Even though it’s different by numbers on paper, a person’s ability to discern patterns quickly finds the sameness. I liked scrounging every inch of my first planet, and walking around my second planet, but I already found myself running from place to place later on.

The story is interesting, but I find it very cyclical for the three races. You can find monoliths that tell you about that race, but it’s usually the same thing. They are great and powerful, yada yada yada. I’m confused about Atlas and those sentinels are just plain no fun. I have to harvest and run so I don’t grab the ire of those annoying little fellas.

If I had to guess, the three main races you find were top dogs of the galaxy, until the sentinels swarmed them and toppled their power through a battle of attrition, and then Atlas is trying to do something… Maybe good, maybe selfish, but I’m curious enough to find out.

I may sound like I’m being hard on the game, well if they had multiplayer co-op I’d sure be a lot nicer, but I do like the game in the end. If not for what they are, but what they can become. No Man’s Sky computer generated an entire freaken galaxy, with humungo planets and semi unique creatures for each planet. It’s a damn good start and can only get better the more they add to it. More planet types, more buildings, more races, more creatures, more ship parts, more anything will add to what can be discovered.

If you found yourself wondering if you should or shouldn’t get No Man’s Sky, my suggestion is to stay on the fence if that is where you are planted and wait a bit for a deal to come by, because the longer you wait, hopefully the more will be in this game. It worked great for me and Ark.

Elite: Dangerous

Some may be all like, “how is Elite: Dangerous an exploration game?” All I can say is, I have tons of screenshots of awesome locations I’ve found. I haven’t traveled outside of civilised space yet and I still find wonderful shots.

Why I included Elite: Dangerous in this post is because I feel like they can learn from each other.

Elite does great for craft control. I can hover, move, look, and see the status of my ship with ease (and some practice) unlike No Man’s Sky which is setup to kind of put that experience on rails a bit. It’s nice not crashing into the planet, but let me stop and look around once in awhile in my space craft. I also feel combat is better in Elite, but I like No Man’s Sky simplified version so I can get in and out quickly.

No Man’s Sky let’s you get out of your craft, which lets me feel more connected to a character, vs a ship. As silly as that sounds, I don’t feel connected to anything in Elite. I am quick to change ships if I think it works for the style I want to play, but in No Man’s Sky, I have a character I can hear breath when they run.

Comparing the two games, I say they are their own games, definitely. They both bring great stuff to the table of space exploration.

Planet Explorers

Now, if Elite was great for space exploration, Planet Explorers is great for planet exploring. Heck, it’s in the name.

This is a game that was overlooked by me. I had it on my wishlist for a while, but I was distracted by other games. I finally got it only because Faeldray thought this dork was in need of a good game, but even then it just sat on my steam account until she was all like “nuh-uh! You gonna sit down and play this game” and I was all like “but work and time and stuff” and she all like “all work and no play makes Tyr a terrible blogger” and then I was like “aww, why you bring that up” and she all like “pfft, I didn’t, this is all in your head”... >.>

I think that’s how it went down.

Anyways, this game has everything I could have wanted for the planet exploring part of the game. A procedurally generated world with a population, some jobs for me to do, equipment, a Star Wars Galaxies-esq resource gathering mechanic, tons of crafting, the works. I love this game.

But it’s not without its faults. There are bugs and optimization issues because it’s still being developed, though I can easily look past all that. The best part is it has co-op!
>.> - - - - No Name’s Sky

Space Engineers

Computer generated planets, space, fully customizable ships, characters you play, co-op, crafting, resource gathering, moddable. Nuff’ said.

Undertale: Quick Review

Undertale hit at the perfect time for me. Many games and RPGs are stuck in a rut and teetering on being nothing more than a murder simulator. That may be a harsh look, but some games just point you to an enemy and tell you to kill them, and we as players don’t even question why. This game has been a refreshing look at the genre and the industry as a whole. There are some games that try and change it up, but Undertale hit it at the right time with the right mix of characters and story.

Suffice to say, I love Undertale. The quirky characters, the story that pulls at your heartstrings, the humor that doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s a gaming triple threat that quickly rose to top of my favorite games list.

You play as the unknown protagonist, an androgynous character that falls into a cave and find yourself in Underworld. Your goal is pretty simple; get back to the surface. Dangers lurk inside every crevice and I don’t mean dark caves and endless falls. You’ve found yourself in the land of monsters; long, lost and probably forgotten.

As you make your way through, you’ll come across characters with depth like Sans and Papyrus, a couple of skeleton brothers, or Undyne, the captain of the royal guard, or Alphys, the royal scientist. Each character you meet brings depth to the overall story of the game, even trash mobs that you randomly encounter. Or are you randomly encountering trash mobs? Maybe they are actively seeking you out. Who knows, and that's part of what this game does. Question the status quo.

Credit: PCGamer.com

Are your actions good or bad, and in whose eyes are they good or bad in? Do you attack someone, or leave them be?

The biggest question that this game makes you think is, what kind of person are you?

If you come from a long list of RPGs as I have, then I can do nothing but recommend this game to you. I value what this game has taught me and wish for you to experience the same. Even if you come out of it with no change in perspective, the amount of people it has influenced was worth the chance. I even started a Tumblr of a Charr engineer turned pacifist in Guild Wars 2 because of this game. So give it a try if you haven’t already.

Mechanic Review: Fallout 4 Settlements

Fallout 4 settlement building is a really fun mechanic added to a game that scratches that open world housing itch I’ve had. Well, semi-open world since you are still confined to static plots, but some are pretty darn big.

I’ve played around with the system long enough to feel that I can give an experienced review on the system itself. Show where it shines, where it’s lackluster and where it’s down right frustrating.

To begin, the system has a lot of good intentions in mind and is a wonderful addition to the aging engine Bethesda is using for the Fallout and Elder Scroll series. The use of the word “aging” doesn’t mean “old”, but it does mean some parts of the engine are dated and in need of update or repair. Also by aging is that the engine has so many features that a new engine just wouldn’t have, so I’m glad they are using it and updating it still. Much like an aging MMO, the older ones tend to have a lot more to do. If you’ve been to the Institute, it’s a good analogy of this engine. The part everyone is at is shiny and new, but there is a lot of old technology behind those walls.

Unfortunately with the good intentions, the settlement building does feel like it was tacked on late or later in the development of the game and there are bugs and sections of the mechanic that is woefully underutilised. One of those are the picket fences magazines that add new items to the list of buildable stuff. There are only 5 of these magazines and one wasteland survival guide that adds two silly flamingo lawn ornaments. Between getting the magazines and not getting them doesn’t feel like a lot of difference going through the build list. There are a lot of furniture and items out in the wastes that you just can not build in your settlement without mods. It’s a good start, so I look forward to what modders can do to pick up the slack. I’ve already seen a few good ones on the Fallout 4 Nexus.

Another pitfall is that some settlements offer a lot of room, but you are still held back due to a small settlement size limit and how many settlers can be at one settlement. I understand the limitation to help keep people from slowing their game down, but there should be an option that let’s people who can handle more, or doesn’t care about that, to build and allow more on a settlement. There are some cheats to get around this a little bit. For instance you can drop a lot of guns you are holding on for new settlers on the ground, go in build mode and store each one individually. That should lower the size limit bar and allow you to build more.

Where this system soars is the inherent fact you can build whatever you want with the given objects you have, and within the confines of the settlement build area. Many housing systems of other games are usually within a small house or are pretty static with placement. Here you have an entire area to build many houses and can design inside and out. I’ve spent hours on a bunch of settlements and still have lots of places I haven’t even touched yet. I wish I could do more with my settlers, like set up guard routes or pathing in general. Maybe set up trade with places that aren’t settlements, like Diamond City.

Fallout 4 settlements are heading in a great direction and I honestly can’t wait to see what modders can do with it. If you want to see some of the possibilities you can do with a settlement, I posted a video of what I’ve done in Starlight Drive-In.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! (Season 1)

I finished watching The Devil Is a Part-Timer! season 1 (a.k.a. their only freakin season) on Netflix and I got to say I loved it. Unfortunately there has only been one season made of it and I don’t see plans for more, but I do see that there are light novels and mangas made and will look into them.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, or Hataraku Maō-sama! for all those who prefer the Japanese title, is about Lord Satan and the Hero Emilia fighting a grand battle for their world, Ente Isla, and just as Emilia looks to be delivering a fatal blow to Satan, Satan takes off through a portal and followed by his general, Alciel. This is about 5 minutes and we are now getting into the real show. Satan and Alciel find themselves without magic and in human form in this new land, modern Tokyo, Japan. They then spend a year off screen getting used to their new surroundings and try surviving in a world without magic. During the rest of the first episode, you see how Alciel and Satan are dealing without magic, taken on special roles and determining what it is they want to do from there. Either to try and return, or stay and subjugate this world instead. At the end of the episode, Satan, now Sadao Maou, comes across a lady he interacted with earlier only to discover she is actually the Hero Emilia, now Emi Yusa. She followed them through the portal and had to learn to deal with a life without magic and her celestial powers while looking for Satan to deal justice. And all that is just one episode!

Much of the show is about how the characters interact with each other, trying to discover the other’s motives and intentions in a humorous fashion. The characters are unique and I loved how Emi and Sadao constantly clash at each other in a frenemy way. To be honest, I was picking up a huge Slayers vibe - an anime that’s in my number one favorite anime slot. I really wish there was more than just the 13 episodes available to watch, but I’m going to be looking into the light novels and mangas now just to get more of these characters because I can’t stop now.