Does this have a story or its some endless sandbox game?

[Sexy_Tanjiro]

Like the title says.

[DizzieDawgie]

Both

[Sexy_Tanjiro]

Originally posted by DizzieDawgie:

Both

I don't mind if the game is like the X series from Egosoft. If the game is like that then its a buy for me.

[DizzieDawgie]

Others may disagree or quibble, but in my opinion: yeah, it's kinda like the X series in this respect.

[Dirak2012]

It has a short story (20 or so hours), delivered through text boxes with a lot of mundane fetch quests and some time gates, After that, it becomes an infinite sandbox.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

It has a short story (20 or so hours), delivered through text boxes with a lot of mundane fetch quests and some time gates, After that, it becomes an infinite sandbox.

And there is additional lore but it is provided in piece meal bits as you explore in no particular order. If you like to read and have a good memory you can put a bigger story together.

There is no story GOAL/Conclusion if that is what you mean. It is more a story about how things came to be. If you are hoping for a "save the princess in the tower" or "conquer the bad squiggles so the galaxy is free again" type story...Nah

[Galadhlinn]

You have to look in the nooks and crevices. Stories abound, mostly about the Gek. Spend some time learning about their sneaky ways, and you be looking over your shoulder whenever you are in a Gek system. There is a lot of conspiracy and intrigue to be had.
Just be careful!

[Jaggid Edje]

There's a story, but it's very short. There's also quite a lot of 'story elements' scattered just throughout the game independent of a story-progression. But you have to want to read it, and actually think about it, for those bits to be even noticeable.

So mostly it's a giant sandbox, seeing as most players don't actually read anything and just click through it all.

[NZ.Zero]

Yes, there is a story. If you enjoy sci-fi stories, which I do, it's really interesting and has a lot of depth. Many people just do the gamers thing and skip past everything, arent very inquisitive, and think there isnt much story. Personally I found it really deep and interesting, loved how it unfolded in parallel with your own unlocking of abilities to explore.

There's a lot of humour, a lot of philosophy, a fair chunk of science and I found it very much like HHGTTG in it's style. Maybe with an asimov tinge. Sometimes you get a 'full blast'of story, but a lot of times it comes in fragments (which are now recoreded in the log, since v4). I used to screen shot them anyway and go back and try to piece together everything and found the úncovering' really fun too.

BUt when you dont feel like it just go do something else til you do., then you cna reactivate the quest when you feel like it.

[Zak]

Originally posted by NZ.Zero:

Yes, there is a story. If you enjoy sci-fi stories, which I do, it's really interesting and has a lot of depth. Many people just do the gamers thing and skip past everything, arent very inquisitive, and think there isnt much story. Personally I found it really deep and interesting, loved how it unfolded in parallel with your own unlocking of abilities to explore.

There's a lot of humour, a lot of philosophy, a fair chunk of science and I found it very much like HHGTTG in it's style. Maybe with an asimov tinge. Sometimes you get a 'full blast'of story, but a lot of times it comes in fragments (which are now recoreded in the log, since v4). I used to screen shot them anyway and go back and try to piece together everything and found the úncovering' really fun too.

BUt when you dont feel like it just go do something else til you do., then you cna reactivate the quest when you feel like it.

Yeah, I'm one of those "many people". I became uninterested in the "story" after a while and I just roam around aimlessly or setting my own goals. I'll have to finish the story eventually, because, as I understand, it's one way of getting some tech upgrades.

The story just involves travelling from one computer terminal to another and reading text messages and getting a text message on ship comms on occasion. Maybe it develops later on but so far it failed to keep me engaged. The writing is very average and there is no acting and any interesting character interactions in the game. The protagonist has no character at all. Even with advanced translator all NPCs "speak" alien gibberish. Story missions are mundane and the side "quest" are of the "go fetch that" or "go kill that" type. But I honestly didn't expect a deep, engaging story from NMS, that's not why you play this game. And yeah, there is lore which is allright, but not terribly interesting either.

I've read all Asimov's books several times over the decades, pretty much grew up on them, and I see only a lose connection, some inspiration is there for sure, the art style is interesting, has old Sci-Fi vibes to it. HG were definitely inspired by old, classic Sci-Fi works, they said that. I get some Mass Effect vibes too but nowhere near the writing quality of ME.

[Scyris]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

There's a story, but it's very short. There's also quite a lot of 'story elements' scattered just throughout the game independent of a story-progression. But you have to want to read it, and actually think about it, for those bits to be even noticeable.

So mostly it's a giant sandbox, seeing as most players don't actually read anything and just click through it all.

For example the sentinel pillars logs you can access? they actually form a story that takes 21 of them to complete, there is several instances of things like this, another is in abandoned buildings where those whispering eggs/monsters are, there is actually 3 or 4 diff mini storylines across those terminals. Its mostly lore entires and such but some of it is pretty intersting like the sentinel pillar one.

[Zak]

So I've finally got around to finishing the main story. It took one afternoon of jumping between terminals. My biggest complaint is that all you did is inconsequential. Once you're done with... um... the huge thing you do, whatever... you gain access to another galaxy with some new stuff, but nothing basically changes, your suit, your ship and your multitool take some significant damage (that annoyingly requires like 30 Wiring Looms to fix all so stock up on Wiring Looms and all major minerals before the journey to the core) and all is back basically to the way it was before. I expected some dramatic events like in Mass Effect, the end of the Galaxy, some major changes, destroying all Sentinels, etc. But it's all as it was. Totally insignificant. You don't feel like you achieved anything. And it's not clear what happened to some characters you've interacted with along the way. So don't get this game hoping for a rich, rewarding story. There is much to do and to have fun in this game but it's not the story.

[Jaggid Edje]

@ZakTheEvil, I agree (mostly).

Hopefully you picked up on how 'the end' of the story is exactly like 'the beginning' though. You wake up, stranded, on an unknown planet with your multi-tool broken and your ship off in the distance also broken.
The implication being that the start of the game and the end of the game were the same, you've done it before, etc.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by ZakTheEvil:

So I've finally got around to finishing the main story. It took one afternoon of jumping between terminals. My biggest complaint is that all you did is inconsequential. Once you're done with... um... the huge thing you do, whatever... you gain access to another galaxy with some new stuff, but nothing basically changes, your suit, your ship and your multitool take some significant damage (that annoyingly requires like 30 Wiring Looms to fix all so stock up on Wiring Looms and all major minerals before the journey to the core) and all is back basically to the way it was before. I expected some dramatic events like in Mass Effect, the end of the Galaxy, some major changes, destroying all Sentinels, etc. But it's all as it was. Totally insignificant. You don't feel like you achieved anything. And it's not clear what happened to some characters you've interacted with along the way. So don't get this game hoping for a rich, rewarding story. There is much to do and to have fun in this game but it's not the story.

Well X4 allows you to change things, NMS is much more you're just one little guy who changes things for himself, but the universe never really notices.

Both have their pluses.

I like X4 most cos you can walk into your ship, you can space walk and you can add your own personal banner to your ship which is great. You also can recruit your own team to be your co-pilot or crew and- HUMANS.
I never really care for the story in both X4 or NMS. I explore.

[Zak]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

@ZakTheEvil, I agree (mostly).

Hopefully you picked up on how 'the end' of the story is exactly like 'the beginning' though. You wake up, stranded, on an unknown planet with your multi-tool broken and your ship off in the distance also broken.
The implication being that the start of the game and the end of the game were the same, you've done it before, etc.

Well, kind of. I was in a new galaxy on a new planet but hardly stranded like in the beginning. I still had my ship within sight distance, my tool, all cargo and tech upgrades, although all modules were damaged but I had my cargo and I was able to summon my freighter to the orbit with all my resources and fix my gear relatively quickly (fixed my scanner, boltcaster, mining beam and ship's engines on the spot), flew up to the freighter without any difficulties and teleported right back to my base in Euclid galaxy. Talked to Nada and yeah, he was like "here we go again...". I wasn't bad, I was just expecting a bit of a story climax, but it was underwhelming.

Although I realize that if the story ending involved any significant loss of invested time and resources then HG would never hear the end of it. It's probably better this way. It's impossible to have a satisfying story ending in a game like this, that is meant to go on pretty much indefinitely after the main storyline ends. Although Skyrim kind of pulled it off, you felt like you achieved something yet were able to remain in the game and go on with your looting, crafting and side quests after the main story was finished.

[Zak]

Originally posted by PeaceMaker:

Originally posted by ZakTheEvil:

So I've finally got around to finishing the main story. It took one afternoon of jumping between terminals. My biggest complaint is that all you did is inconsequential. Once you're done with... um... the huge thing you do, whatever... you gain access to another galaxy with some new stuff, but nothing basically changes, your suit, your ship and your multitool take some significant damage (that annoyingly requires like 30 Wiring Looms to fix all so stock up on Wiring Looms and all major minerals before the journey to the core) and all is back basically to the way it was before. I expected some dramatic events like in Mass Effect, the end of the Galaxy, some major changes, destroying all Sentinels, etc. But it's all as it was. Totally insignificant. You don't feel like you achieved anything. And it's not clear what happened to some characters you've interacted with along the way. So don't get this game hoping for a rich, rewarding story. There is much to do and to have fun in this game but it's not the story.

Well X4 allows you to change things, NMS is much more you're just one little guy who changes things for himself, but the universe never really notices.

Both have their pluses.

I like X4 most cos you can walk into your ship, you can space walk and you can add your own personal banner to your ship which is great. You also can recruit your own team to be your co-pilot or crew and- HUMANS.
I never really care for the story in both X4 or NMS. I explore.

I never played X4 so I can't relate. But yeah, I agree, I'm not disappointed, exploration and base building is what I enjoy mostly in NMS.