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No Man's SKy

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  • #16
    Here's something I didn't expect about No Man's Sky. The game is many things to many people: a space simulator, a survival game, an exploration game, and to some people a disappointment. I expected all those things, including the disappointment (though, I admit, not the vehemence and the organized mass trolling of its expression). If you know where to look, you'll find the game is even self-conscious enough to be a life-as-a-simulation simulator. Yet because some people believe they were misled as to what the game was going to deliver, they re-dubbed it No Man's Lie. And it is! Sort of. But for reasons very different from the ones they are expressing. Let me explain.

    Here's the thing I discovered during my own explorations, and through observing the explorations of others. No Man's Sky is actually an existential crisis simulator! That sounds unlikely and even pretentious, and I certainly didn't expect it, but that's indeed what the game is, at least in part. It quite suddenly lays bare many of the internal arguments that philosophers of the last two centuries have discussed. Indeed I like to think what Albert Camus might have made of it when the game's Sisyphean core is revealed.

    I can honestly understand if that's too real for some people's comfort. The message is "It's not possible to find the meaning of life; it's only possible to give meaning to life, and each person is free to do that for themselves." The game's two main goals - the achievement oriented Getting to the Center of the Galaxy, and the more religious cult feel of following the Atlas path - may both turn out to be less fulfilling when achieved than many people would want, and it may leave them with a sense of "What now? Back to the grind of survival?" Both goals are indeed lies.

    And I see that as good! They are lies that reflect life, as what's really important is how you react. Albert Camus wrote that physical suicide (in game terms = rage quit) because life without meaning is not worth living (in games terms = not worth playing) must be rejected, and that philosophical suicide by abandoning reason and turning to God as Kierkegaard did (in game terms = concentrating on the Atlas path) must also be rejected. What to do instead? Ah well, you'll have to read Camus to see for yourself! And I could go on pretentiously pontificating, but I won't; I'll just carry on enjoying the game.

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    • #17
      Nice one storm. You can be me my Judge Penitent anyday. Is there a bridge at midnight equivalent moment in No Mans Sky?

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      • #18
        ...but look at all the pretty colors!
        Take the time, a second to soar; for soon after, beckons a second more.

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        • #19
          No Man's Sky has had a major free update, and it's much improved as a result (IMHO). It's called Foundation v1.1

          Just some highlights:
          • Three modes instead of just one: Normal (as before), Survival and Creative. (Creative is fun.)
          • Base building - Find Home planet, find base, build homestead, recruit aliens to research tech for farming/engineering/science/weapons. Teleport to space stations.
          • Farming
          • Freighters
          • UI improvements
          • Improved anti-aliasing and added motion blur
          • Leave messages for other pilots at comms terminals (though still not true multiplayer)
          • Huge number of fixes and tweaks.


          One bug I've logged with them: the new improved anti-aliasing doesn't work well with my twin SLI linked GTX 1080 graphics cards and if switched on I get a severely flashing landscape, rather like a migraine aura.:cower: The workaround is simply to force NMS to run on only one graphics card, which I can force for this game only using the NVIDIA control panel.

          If you abandoned No Man's Sky for any reason, this is a good reason to take it up again.
          And it's 40% discount for the next 12 hours on Steam.

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          • #20
            Another major free update for No Man's Sky with improved visuals and photos, cool ground vehicles, base sharing... and 40% off till the 13th.

            No Man's Sky v1.2 "Pathfinder"
            webpage: http://no-mans-sky.com/pathfinder-update/
            video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDNtbosTCvo

            If you've already got No Man's Sky, go get the update and give it a new try.
            If you've not got it and were put off by the reviews, you may find it worth it now, at least with the discount - so be quick.

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            • #21
              Some awesome screenshots in this Polygon article.

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              • #22
                Looks nice. Have you heard if they are working on some type of multiplayer yet?

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                • #23
                  I have not heard. They now have online base-sharing, but that's just loading someone else's build into your universe, rather like putting someone else's custom scenery into FSX but only ever playing as single player. It's not multiplayer.

                  My guess, possibly wrong - who knows - is that true multiplayer is not planned and may never happen in No Man's Sky. After all, it would rather be counter to the existentialism that seems to be at the core of the game.

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                  • #24
                    One man's setup for No Man's Sky cost him $4,373. And 400 hours in, he's still loving it.

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