I'm still finding new sights and new wildlife. Actually I just wandered into a fully working planetarium behind a v2 door, never seen that before. Odd, the planets certainly don't move out there, yet here they orbit the giant red star with moons orbiting their parents.

It's relaxing to play for an hour here and there. I'm actually playing it through remote play while browsing the net, and playing it on a projector at night, enjoying the relaxing sights and sounds. (Music 100, sfx 20 seems to be a good mix)

I enjoyed exploring in Elite Dangerous for many months and there is much much less to find. Wandering around, wondering what I'll see next keeps me coming back. Yet, I'm still 142k ly from the center. No clue if I'll still have interest in the game when I get there. I've only warped 110 times so far, I spend far too much time on the planets. 390k on foot exploration, finding wildlife is fun.

How do you get that V2 and V3 pass?

Yes, that's likely the solar system you need to visit to actual get to the centre of the galaxy.

There's just not enough variety of wildlife. Once you've seen one silhouette and animation loop, you've seen them all, regardless of any cosmetic differences. They need new animation rigs for more creature types, more tree types, bush types, flower types etc. That's why I believe they WERE using the superformula but had to pull it and fall back on premade assets. The superformula could produce millions upon millions of plant/tree variations and you wouldn't have seen the same plants/trees on hardly any planets at all. I can understand why some needed to be the same because of having to offer certain resources on every planet but there's a huge lack of diversity when it comes to flora.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntnFQXYIfo

And why didn't they tie upgrading in with the races? It seems an obvious thing to do. Instead of them being random drops or chance conversations, why didn't they make it so you could only get the upgrades in a certain order from different races and to do that you had to get a number of collectables, things that are actually in the game but serve no purpose other than to make money. I'm baffled by some of the missed opportunities for game loops.

NMS is the reason I bought a PS4. No regrets yet. I am not at all interested in coming to the centre of the universe. I am content with exploring - even barren planets.
Regarding Hallo Games: I think this little group have done a marvelous job! Now it is up to the big companies to make the "ultimate" space game. NMS should have shown them that there is an audience for this kind of game.

I got them both from space anomalies. Talk to the scientist that cycles through you milestone discoveries. On the second round (with higher requirements) he gave out the V2 pass and later V3. Other people have gotten them from operation centers too.

Wanted to love this game, i must of put about 50 hours or so into the game (PS4) - but in the end it was hugely disappointing IMO, have since traded in my physical copy. If the game improves majorly in the future i will pick it up again some day at a discounted price.

Nice. Thanks

Oh, I wouldn't have traded it in. For me it's a 'keeper'. How I feel now, after over 100 hours, isn't necessarily how I'll feel as content is added. If I had to boil down my experience while I had real motives to play I'd give it a 7/10 (8.5/10 if it hadn't crashed as often). I'm beyond that now and in a scale of Boredom/so-so/love. It just so happens to have swung towards 'boredom' lately.

They took on a lot more than they could chew. The variety is still very impressive for such a small team, but true it could be better on many fronts. However I don't think the super formula is that easy as an answer. Sure it can produce tons of variations, the problem is without finding nice initial parameters most of them will likely be a mess. In that video you linked, are those really all that different. I've seen the same slight differences in shapes and sizes of plants, trees and animals in the game.

NMS could have easily used another year in development to work on behavioral routines, improved game loops, building/customizing you ship, variety between galaxies (Maybe there is, probably not, yet I don't seem to be able to get out of the Euclid galaxy. Are there more galaxies???)

Yet after all, it's still the most diverse procedurally generated universe out there. Gotto start somewhere. Perhaps some day we'll have a space exploration game with as much thought put into every single world as Alien planet did for one. Actual ecologies shaped by a planet's composition and orbit with simulated seeds of life spreading out and contaminating neighbouring systems. You'll need more than 3 years x 15 people for that.

To me, it's the birth of a new genre. Hopefully it will be allowed to grow, instead of weeded out prematurely :)

Oh, yes, there are more galaxies. I actually loved the transition to the next galaxy even though some people were disappointed. It immediately gives you 'things that must be done'.

I'm not giving up on the game, just openly expressing my honest opinion after 100 hours of satisfaction. It's not really a game you 'finish' as such and that's what's lead to the boredom. Add 'meaningful' content that has new game loops and I'll be happy as Dandy again.

i've been wanting to express concerns for quite some time now but in all the 'noise' my little whisper would have been taken out of context and used to beat the dead donkey even more. Motives are important to me and I'm saying this out of love for the concept, love for the 100 hours I enjoyed it and respect for the guts to attempt the impossible. As my sig says: 'hate doesn't impress me.'

edit: I've changed the title slightly in order to best express my lead up to this opinion.