Learning the game?

[Hooch]

Noob to game here. Was wondering what is the best way to learn/experience No Man's Sky?

Should I:

1) Learn everything on my own in game as I experience it?
or
2) Watch at least some YT videos on tips/tricks to make the beginning or even overall experience "easier"?

Right now, I'm going about the game (slowly) learning everything from within the game. There seems like a lot can be missed or glossed over however (economy, upgrading, different ships, etc.) that I'm not sure the game teaches all that well.

[Pagafyr]

The game is yours to play it however you like. How you learn to play is learning, so which way you get to know ways in the game is up to you as well. Following the Storyline is the way to get acquainted. You appear to have a good grasp on what other side activities you can work on in the game. So, play! Check in with the rest of the players to find out more and YouTube all you like. It's all a learning experience, all the ways you've found out about.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

It largely depends on your frustration and willingness to learn. I find it a lot of fun to try and figure things out myself. If I do get really stuck and feel frustrated, I will google for an answer.

I think you lose a lot of the "OH WOW" features if you already watched how it all works on YT. Some people have such a FOMO, that they can only play something after they already experienced it outside the game.

[dreamrider]

Several of the "How to Start" or "Beginner Tips" videos just get you past the first hour fails, ... and give away very little. I'd search for one that includes "2024" in the title/description.

The flip/dark side of the "discover for yourself" coin is that I have known a couple of people who were ready to give up in frustration after about 3-4 hours, simply because they didn't know / couldn't find in game some basic guidance tips like "Shoot the rocks" or "Caves are good places" or "Gather some Sodium/Oxygen".

"Jason Plays" has a good one.

[Daedrius]

Just jump in and follow the quest line - Artemis Path. There's a tutorial built in.

Artemis Path:

Awakenings
Alone Amidst the Stars
Ghosts in the Machine
A Leap in the Dark
The First Traveller
Patterns in Time
16 / 16
The Purge
New Beginnings

[wkitty42]

Originally posted by dreamrider:

The flip/dark side of the "discover for yourself" coin is that I have known a couple of people who were ready to give up in frustration after about 3-4 hours, simply because they didn't know / couldn't find in game some basic guidance tips like "Shoot the rocks" or "Caves are good places" or "Gather some Sodium/Oxygen".

^^^ this ^^^
even if you are out of fuel for the mining beam, you can melee rocks, trees, and bushes (anything you can shoot) to get some... many people don't even consider melee in NMS...

[DrBonifarz]

The game is all about free exporation, so figuring out how things work on your own can be very enjoyable.

One of the most frequent pain points for new players is inventory management. There is one piece of technology that greatly helps witht his, but is easy to overlook. You may want to look up what a Matter Beam is, even if you prefer to keep everything else spoiler-free.

[Zak]

NMS can be played in variety of ways. There is no "correct way" to play this game. It's a game of discovery. In my opinion, avoid YT videos when you start playing. They will spoil the game for you. You might as well download somebody's save and be done with the game.

Discover your own ways of doing things. Don't try to imitate and copy what others are doing, especially early in the game. You will not enjoy all aspects of the game, so blindly following someone's videos is pointless as they may have a different perspective on the game.

Most of the YT videos are just people showing off their skillz for clicks, some are outright ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Being a new player you will not be able to distinguish between good advice and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

If you get really stuck, ask questions here, people are very helpful, if you're genuinely looking for help and advice, not just venting off in frustration.

[Cora]

the game isnt that deep. just play and as things come up which interest you, enjoy them in turn. there are several story and substory paths which will pop up in your 'Log' if you choose to buckle down on any one of them in particular, just select it from the log and the game will direct you.

the only thing which the game doesnt explain at all are 'META' features the community has discovered through unintended gameplay. Glitch Building is a prime example. there are numerous guides on it but you will need to unlock several building parts via Nexus to get the most out of it.

[yaerav]

No hard advice, but, personally I did not really enjoy the tutorial, and only half enjoyed the early storyline, I found it a bit confusing, and there's either annoyingly much handholding, or no information where you could really use it.

So I did watch quite a number of Youtube videos, and I will never regret it!

[Sethioz]

Originally posted by Hooch:

Noob to game here. Was wondering what is the best way to learn/experience No Man's Sky?

Should I:

1) Learn everything on my own in game as I experience it?
or
2) Watch at least some YT videos on tips/tricks to make the beginning or even overall experience "easier"?

Right now, I'm going about the game (slowly) learning everything from within the game. There seems like a lot can be missed or glossed over however (economy, upgrading, different ships, etc.) that I'm not sure the game teaches all that well.

i suggest option 1, but if you get stuck at something, then use search engines. most youtube videos are useless, they make 30 min video on something that can be explained and shown in 3 minutes.

i recently looked up some info on a mission (it would spoil it for you if i'd give details) and those "tutorials" are just horrible, i need to make my own. they start by explaining what no man's sky is, what mission is ..bla bla .. obviously if i look up HOW TO DO IT, i already know what NMS is and how to play it, i just needed some info that wasn't obvious. it was very vague and it's done like this on purpose to make mission harder to complete and give it this "mystery" feeling.

best part about games like this, is the "wow" factor, where everything is new and shiny. play the game as it is until you start feeling bored, then look up mods and rare missions that give rare rewards.

[UncreativelyNamed]

I think it depends on what kind of learner you are and what you enjoy. Do you like to have a little preparation and foreknowledge? Or do you like to fly by the seat of your pants? I'm more of the latter, but I'm a bit regimented about it, too. So, I went into the game "cold," no watching YouTube videos, no reading the wiki, nothing.

The game includes a tutorial phase that, unless you turn it off in the difficulty settings, you have to work through every time you start a save. The problem, for a brand-noob, is that the very beginning of the game, unless you started with creative mode, feels pretty frantic, with meters going down, and you have no familiarity with the controls, and things are flashing by in the lower-right that are easily missed.

So what I did as a brand-noob was to slow down a bit. I started with the relaxed mode, considering my very first attempt at the game to be a throw-away that I'd use just to learn how to play the game. Then, once I understood the basics after a few hours, I scrapped that save and started a normal-mode save, where I was able to absorb information more easily because I understood what was going on. I played that save for a longer while, until it seemed too easy, and then started a survival-mode save, and eventually started to fiddle with the difficulty settings to make things harder or easier as I saw fit, at which point I started to consider them "real" saves that I might hold on to and play for a longer time. I'll look at the wiki if I run across something that I don't know what it is and just want to quickly know what it is, but otherwise I enjoy figuring things out for myself.

Anyway, this is what I do in pretty much all survival games I have played, incrementally work my way up in difficulty until I find a balance of difficulty-vs.-fun that I enjoy. So that's my advice. Play a few saves that you don't intend to hold on to, just to experience what the game is like and to figure some things out. Then, when you feel you have a better handle on things as a whole, start up a new save with the intention of keeping it more long-term. Worry about the larger things like the "economy," such as it is, or the differences between ships and weapons, such as they are, and the benefits of different upgrade combinations and stuff like that until you've gotten all the more basic stuff down.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Take your time and figure things out by yourself.

Once you get too knowledgeable with the ins and outs, the magic kinda die a little.

Doesnt hurt to watch some YT videos about "beginner tips/guides" or "I wish I knew this when I strated playing nms", but avoid hand-holding step by step complete guides.... just search for help when you feel stranded.

Another kind of video you might watch without being too spoiled are coordinate exchange video (where to find something specific). Because it sucks to struggle with a trash MT and starship for too long....

Now while I'm saying this, I'm the complete opposite, I'm the kind that want to be spoiled as much as possible, I wanna know where I'm going and how I'm gonna have to do it in details.... I dont like wasting my efforts, use inefficient ways to do things, etc...
So take my opinion about not spoiling yourself too much for what it is (a "do what I say, not what I do" kind of advice).