No Man's Sky, and Game refunds - My Opinion
http://kotaku.com/no-steam-isnt-offering-special-exemptions-for-no-mans-1785908935
Thankfully, I didn't buy this game. Apparently it's just total garbage. But I do have a strong opinion on these refund policies, especially that if you play it for 50 hours you are a thief if you return it.
Well, bullshit.
I've only returned one game, one that people here might even like. Diablo 3
Many here will disagree, but I thought that game fucking sucked. But I played it for a ton of hours. I don't know how many, but a lot.
"If you hated it, why did you play it so much?". The whole thing with Diablo - kinda like No Man's Sky, is that it was supposed to have ultimate re-play value. The only way to find out if this is true is to... play it. Unlike the latest Doom (loved it) I didn't buy the game to go through once, enjoy the experience, and then pack it up. No, you buy games like these with the HOPE that it will provide a recurring, deep experience.
And for me at least, Diablo 3 was just clicking a button to kill things over and over. The levels weren't noticeably diferent between playthroughs. The different character types were ok, but not truly interesting. It was more... "Heres a way to pointlessly waste your life with no real varation" sort of replay. Maybe the levels had some random generation to them, but if so it was so minor that I didn't really notice.
I never played Diablo 2. I heard it was amazing. Was I the wrong audience? I have no idea. I just know that after I finished Diable 3, I thought it was a total waste of my time. I rarely feel like that with games. So I yelled at them till I got a refund. If the play sucks, then the replay sucks. And if all that sucks, then it's not what I was trying to buy. But I at least figured that out over a weekend.
On that note, I probably would have returned Mass Effect 3 with the original ending. I heard it blew so I only played it years later when I could get a used copy for $5. It still pissed me off. But the rest was totally worth $5.
So I feel for the poor souls burning hours into No Man's Sky just to find out that the experience has no light at the end of the tunnel. That it is pointlessly clicking a button forever hoping for some catharsis that never comes. And I want them all to get refunds, because that's the only way publishers will be forced to make games worth playing.
With games, you have to spend a lot of time finding out what's what. Hours played really isn't the predominant issue sometimes.
Pity you never played Diablo II, that kicked ass over the third instalment as far as i'm concerned.
No Man Sky looks great, and for the first 30 min-1hr might keep you interested but like you say @rampant, its just rinse and repeat..new planet, do some mining, maybe tame the animals or kill them, power up, off to the next planet, rinse and repeat.
Looks amazing, but keeping me interested long term....no chance
I'm pleased haven't bought it now! I was very curious about it given how long it was in development but my fear was that the small team would not be able to deliver on the hype.
Do you go to a restaurant, eat the entire meal and then decide it sucks so you're not going to pay for it?
And to each his own, but I like NMS. I even wrote a post about it (https://steemit.com/nomanssky/@telos/galactic-life-hacks) although clearly the game's not too popular among Steemians going by my upvotes. ;)
I think the difference is that you dont know what the meal is really. So you eat some, expecting extra courses, and then they are like "No, it was just the slice of bread. That will be $40".
I think that is the experience people are having. They were promised a 7 course meal, they try and consume it. Only to find out it's endless serving of bland white bread.
Diablo 3 with expansion is avastly different game than Diablo 3 with auction house. Auction house Diablo 3 was garbage. Blizzard improved the game a lot in 4 years time, however that's just the problem. 4 years to make the game playable. It's a shame. No Man Sky needed one more year in the works for more features, game launched unfinished.
Yeah. They should worry more about the game and less about graphics. And ship like valve - when it is done.