When A Work Of Art Does Something New...

[adam_cass]

It very often provokes a diverse, heated reaction from people who love it and people who hate it. I have sat on many panels for different theatre making & writing, and other kinds of storytelling awards, and it is always that kind of work that provokes the firiest debates. I have seen time and time again, though, that almost always the judges who don't like it are the ones who ultimately win out, because they come in greater numbers than the people who are genuinely excited about the work. That, to me, is very consistent with the response that NMS has seen.

The (to me) unfortunate fact of the whole entertainment world is that it is the middle of the road stuff, the slightly-better-than-average stuff that almost always gets the prizes and the across-the-board support. Because if everyone agrees that something is slightly better than average, that particular piece of entertainment will always get more traction than the stuff that a few people view as a masterpiece and a few more view as really terrible. So, the middle wins in other words. Say what you want about NMS, I can't imagine anyone can accuse it of sitting in the middle. It's either wonderful or rubbish.

This post is not about the way the game was marketed, so please leave that discussion in all the other billion places it's currently being talked about. But it is about consensus or about, in starker terms, mob mentality. I'd love to know what people think about this.

For the record, as I have said elsewhere, I think the game is a masterpiece.

[Bryan Brightside]

There is definitely a mob mentality. However, even ignoring the hype and marketting, which was some degree of misleading (I happen to think no worse than any other AAA game, but admit it's debatable), the fact is that the game as delivered is in a pretty alpha state. The UI is simply bad. The features like observatories and alien NPCs are badly implemented and show clear workarounds put in place where functionality wasn't finished.

I happen to think the game has a ton of potential, but I'd stop short of "masterpiece". Procedural generation isn't new, although they do it well it lacks variety and impresses only rarely in NMS. The "parts bin" isn't large enough to really inspire awe, which is the goal of the game.

In another year of dev with proper management, it may have been a masterpiece. However, given how long it was in dev and that delays already occurred, and what came out of it, it looks like the devs lost their way some time ago, possibly related to the PS4 port and the need for parity.

I think there's a potential masterpiece buried here under a fair amount of mismanagement.

[Bryan Brightside]

I do agree that it's nice to see a title not hewing closely to a "safe" genre, however they're not the first to do that, either. They're one of the first to get a major release level of attention, is all. Maybe that honor should have gone to a better team. Maybe the attention is what made them come apart. Who knows.

[Grimm]

Originally posted by muppet:

There is definitely a mob mentality. However, even ignoring the hype and marketting, which was some degree of misleading (I happen to think no worse than any other AAA game, but admit it's debatable), the fact is that the game as delivered is in a pretty alpha state. The UI is simply bad. The features like observatories and alien NPCs are badly implemented and show clear workarounds put in place where functionality wasn't finished.

I happen to think the game has a ton of potential, but I'd stop short of "masterpiece". Procedural generation isn't new, although they do it well it lacks variety and impresses only rarely in NMS. The "parts bin" isn't large enough to really inspire awe, which is the goal of the game.

In another year of dev with proper management, it may have been a masterpiece. However, given how long it was in dev and that delays already occurred, and what came out of it, it looks like the devs lost their way some time ago, possibly related to the PS4 port and the need for parity.

I think there's a potential masterpiece buried here under a fair amount of mismanagement.

That is what I was thinking. Sony prolly came in and said "Make it for PS4 too" so they had to shift from the PC version to throw together a PS4 version which halted their completion of some of the features. And then Sony hit them with a you cant delay it anymore we need it to release now and they had to cause you don't say you cant release it its not done as you would lose your funding.

[katzenkrimis]

Originally posted by adam_cass:

I think the game is a masterpiece.

Then your artistic vision is on par with Murray's.

You guys would work great together. But you'd produce terrible games.

You say that you've sat on panels for theater and writing awards. Which is fine, because I've never seen your theater or written work. But I can tell you one thing. You'd be terrible at judging video games.

Which isn't a bad thing. Because you could get a job working for IGN.

They love every piece of crap ever made.

[😒]

A masterpiece? Holy hell, hahahaha!

[adam_cass]

Originally posted by katzenkrimis:

Originally posted by adam_cass:

I think the game is a masterpiece.

Then your artistic vision is on par with Murray's.

You guys would work great together. But you'd produce terrible games.

You say that you've sat on panels for theater and writing awards. Which is fine, because I've never seen your theater or written work. But I can tell you one thing. You'd be terrible at judging video games.

Which isn't a bad thing. Because you could get a job working for IGN.

They love every piece of crap ever made.

Is your evidence that I'd be terrible at judging video games that I don't agree with your particular view of this game? Or if not that, what are you basing that statement on? Your comment is exactly the kind of division I'm talking about in the way people speak about art that they either love or hate. You remind me of judges I've sat opposite on panels --- but now I'd like you to back your insult up. Why do you think I'd be terrible at judging video games (which, by the way, have been part of my life for about 40 years).

[князь Лев Николае]

No Man's Sky bored me to tears. Then again, I am happy that the dude who wanted to do it, did it. Art is a form of expresion of the author, not entertaiment for the masses. If this trend to make everything appeal to everyone continues it will eventually kill off all creativity. And I am more interested in meeting interesting people thru their work than being entertained by mindless generic stupidity.

[adam_cass]

Originally posted by _Patrick Swayze:

I

With your title and bit of the rest you wrote, you give me, the reader, the idea, that NMS does something new and is missunderstood which caused these reactions? You high?

Most will probably agree that the game looks quite nice, but graphics are dumbed down. Overal I say people enjoy the looks of the game and the atmosphere created. The procedurally generated universe is nice, but simalar things have been done. It was interesting at start, but after 3 warps and 12 planets, you come to the conclusion a lot looks the same. Nothing surpises anymore. No new stuff to discover really, same animal, same kinda desert, different planet.

However, in the end, art is a matter of personal taste, but NMS to me certainly isnt.

Yeah, I should probably say that I have a pretty broad view of art - to me ALL computer games are art, and they involve within them all sorts of subsets of what art can be - storytelling, design, music, etcetera. But the reason NMS is special to me has nothing to do with it as a game really, and nothing to do with its mechanics... Instead why I say it's a masterpiece, and you can feel free to disagree with me as much as you like, is that it makes me question my, and all of our, place in the universe. What IS the universe, and who are we within it? It reminds me, very much, of one of the great inspirations of the game, the Hithchikers Guide to the Galaxy, and that books ultimate reveal of the meaning of life, the universe and everything: 42. Which is a ridicluous, deflating, enraging thing, but true nonetheless, in its way. Space Engineers is great in its way, too, but it doesn't make me question my existence.

[unholyclam]

There's a piece of cheese with hair on it sitting in an art museum right now...
So I think what the OP is trying to say is: some people will call a piece of moldy hairy cheese a masterpiece, and the other majority of people will just hate on it?

10/10.

[DIRK THE DRIPLESS]

Good god, man. Is this cheese spreadable?

[Bryan Brightside]

OP, if No Man's Sky makes you question your existence, then you must never have read any contemporary science fiction because NMS' existentially minded content is the lowest common denominator distilled out of the last 30 years of cyberpunk mixed with a little New Age faux Zen.

I see you decided to spend paragraphs responding to the guy who insulted you and made the shallowest possible of all analyses of the game. How trite and boring of you.

You were hoping to provoke an easily challenged response, not talk about the game as art. How base and pathetic.

[salad]

Here's the thing, there's nothing new about NMS.

[unholyclam]

Originally posted by BIXBY SNYDER:

Good god, man. Is this cheese spreadable?

I hear that future paid DLC will incorporate the spreadable feature.

[yorkshireborn]

oh dear funny..... work of art..... hahahaha....

[Fire Miser]

The engine is a pretty impressive showroom. But HG had about 20 too few artists to actualy make use of its potential.