No Man's Sky X Empyreon

[All1]

Man, i have been postponing this buy for years, unfortunately i have to be sure of what i am buying since it will take some time to me to be able to buy any other game...
So, I know that in the building part Empyreon and NMS are completely different games; but i think that in other areas the games are alike enough to this question be valid. Opinions? Thanks in advance.

[Remnar]

Empyrion will just frustrate you with all its jank. It's a 10 year dumpster fire, with a mod that carries it. AI is terrible, and NPC's and creatures are asset flips, with bald headed planets. It tries to combine survival, horror, FPS, trade economy, and make believe role play. It isn't even truly 1.0, as that was a farce like other loser game devs have done. There are some good things about it. I guess you get what you pay for.

NMS is the better game in all regards. It is better looking, better made. It is of course a sandbox, and it suffers from monotony, like most sand box games do. What you can't do, however, is build your own vehicle block by block. That is the only thing Empyrion has going for it. NMS has silly looking NPC's, but at least they are unique, as is the fauna and flora.

[UncreativelyNamed]

To be clear, do you mean Empyrion Galactic Survival? I'm going to assume so in my answer, but I do know there are other similarly-named games, so I hope I'm making the right assumption. :)

So! Prior to this NMS update, I had been playing EGS for a little while, having bought it quite a while ago but never having played it. EGS's building system is, frankly, vastly superior to NMS's, not the least because you can build all sorts of things in it. In NMS, you can really only build bases and the pieces are far more limited. (Yeah, they recently added the ability to build small ships in NMS, but you do it by salvaging bits from other ships and sticking them together. You don't build them block-by-block.) Also, you can't spawn from blueprints in NMS, like you can in EGS. You can't even save your own builds in NMS. You have to build everything individually, piece-by-piece.

But, building aside, there are a lot of similarities between the games, but also differences.

NMS's graphics are far superior, in my opinion, especially the view from space. Also, EGS planets, even the largest ones, are teeny-tiny compared to NMS planets. On the other hand, EGS planets have some real physics in terms of different levels of gravity and whatnot. NMS doesn't have that. Except for one type of planet, all of them have the same gravity.

Also in my opinion, EGS planets, though often pretty to look at, are not nearly alien enough and also not really cohesive in style. That's because they used pre-made Unity assets they bought, probably to save a lot of money. The NMS devs have built all their own assets, and while one could argue that some of the critters are just mash-ups of Earth critters, at least they ARE mashups. You don't get Earth trees and various species of Earth dinosaurs just wandering around a supposedly alien planet, and you don't hear wolves howling and owls hooting. But, I can forgive the non-alienness because the planets are pretty fun, and I can understand a small indie studio wanting to cut costs where feasible.

Speaking of which, the NPCs wandering around space stations and whatnot in EGS are hilarious. Not only are they Unity assets, but they're mismatched ones and the animations are laughable. They move like zombies and don't look at their immobile faces. CREEEEEPY! On a similar vein, both games lack voice acting (Which is a blessing in my opinion, because unless it's done very well -- which generally requires a big budget -- I'd rather have none.) So there's text to read in both. But, there is a lot, LOT more text to read in EGS than in NMS. I don't mind this at all because I'm pretty old skool, but some people can't be bothered to read anymore.

You can travel to different systems in both games, but in EGS you can find out a lot more information just by looking at the map info for the system you're thinking of traveling to or that you have traveled to. In NMS, you have to fly to and around systems and, at the least, scan individual planets from space to find out their basic resources.

It's a matter of opinion, but I prefer NMS's flight model. On the other hand, in EGS you can drive hover vessels, pilot small spaceships, or fly capital vessels. In NMS, you have exocrafts, which I guess are similar to hover vessels, and you have small spaceships (but they are not nearly as customizable for specific purposes like EGS's) and you can get a pre-built capital vessel and build a base on it, but you can't really fly it, aside from having it warp to another system. You certainly can't land on planets with them like you can in EGS, nor can you participate in space battles while flying them. You can also have a fleet of capital ships in EGS to serve various purposes. You can't have that in NMS. One capital vessel per save.

EGS is much more "shooty" than NMS is. You CAN do the shooty thing in NMS, but you don't have to, and there are no POIs where you go and shoot spiders and cyborgs and big-butt bugs and get loot and all that. Well, OK, there are derelict freighters in space where you can go shoot things and get loot, but you have to deliberately seek them out and there's nothing comparable on planets in NMS.

EGS has lots of different guns you can build or acquire or sell and all that. NMS doesn't really have that. You have a multitool that you can add different kinds of weapons to and then upgrade. On the other hand, you don't have craft a bunch of different kinds of ammo for them. Just two kinds, really, and only one or two of the multitool weapons use the second type of ammo.

There aren't factions in NMS like there are in EGS, so you can't make friends or enemies. There are three species in NMS and you can build standing with each of them, but if you have negative standing they won't attack you and if you have positive standing, there's really no benefit. That aspect of NMS is kind of disappointing.

And I could probably say more, but it's getting near my bedtime, so I'll stop there for now. In short, I'll say this: I love NMS, and I've enjoyed playing EGS so far. I haven't really gotten into building in EGS myself yet; I've only used blueprints from the Steam Workshop, so I don't entirely understand it yet, but I can see where it will be very cool. EGS is a bit shootier than I like, but I think once I've finished all the story story, I'll be able to avoid it, which I'd prefer. I think doing "space trucking" in EGS will be fun. You can sort of do it in NMS, too, but I think it can be done more "deeply" in EGS.

I guess I'm making EGS sound superior to NMS, but that's not my intention. My intention is to point out how they are different. EGS is superior if you want combat and the idea of being able to become a power in the galaxy. It's a more intense game in that regard. NMS is far more laid-back. While you can do combat if you want, you don't have to, at all, and the game overall is more about peaceful exploration, seeing what's out there, maybe building a base or two if that's your thing, and basically just bopping around a near-infinite universe, gathering what you need to get from place to place and then seeing what you can find on the planets.

I will continue to play both games. I definitely want to check out the Reforged Eden scenario in EGS once I have a firmer grasp of the vanilla game. But NMS is really more of a game that fits me, because generally I don't enjoy combat and while I DO like diplomacy and stuff (the other main genre of games that I play is 4x games), I also like to just chill out and explore planets in NMS.

Hope that was helpful. Feel free to ask any more specific questions you might have.

[Antaiir]

You just choose between plague and cholera.

[All1]

Originally posted by Antaiir:

You just choose between plague and cholera.

LOL

Originally posted by Remnar:

Empyrion will just frustrate you with all its jank. It's a 10 year dumpster fire, with a mod that carries it. AI is terrible, and NPC's and creatures are asset flips, with bald headed planets. It tries to combine survival, horror, FPS, trade economy, and make believe role play. It isn't even truly 1.0, as that was a farce like other loser game devs have done. There are some good things about it. I guess you get what you pay for.

NMS is the better game in all regards. It is better looking, better made. It is of course a sandbox, and it suffers from monotony, like most sand box games do. What you can't do, however, is build your own vehicle block by block. That is the only thing Empyrion has going for it. NMS has silly looking NPC's, but at least they are unique, as is the fauna and flora.

Originally posted by UncreativelyNamed:

To be clear, do you mean Empyrion Galactic Survival? I'm going to assume so in my answer, but I do know there are other similarly-named games, so I hope I'm making the right assumption. :)

So! Prior to this NMS update, I had been playing EGS for a little while, having bought it quite a while ago but never having played it. EGS's building system is, frankly, vastly superior to NMS's, not the least because you can build all sorts of things in it. In NMS, you can really only build bases and the pieces are far more limited. (Yeah, they recently added the ability to build small ships in NMS, but you do it by salvaging bits from other ships and sticking them together. You don't build them block-by-block.) Also, you can't spawn from blueprints in NMS, like you can in EGS. You can't even save your own builds in NMS. You have to build everything individually, piece-by-piece.

But, building aside, there are a lot of similarities between the games, but also differences.

NMS's graphics are far superior, in my opinion, especially the view from space. Also, EGS planets, even the largest ones, are teeny-tiny compared to NMS planets. On the other hand, EGS planets have some real physics in terms of different levels of gravity and whatnot. NMS doesn't have that. Except for one type of planet, all of them have the same gravity.

Also in my opinion, EGS planets, though often pretty to look at, are not nearly alien enough and also not really cohesive in style. That's because they used pre-made Unity assets they bought, probably to save a lot of money. The NMS devs have built all their own assets, and while one could argue that some of the critters are just mash-ups of Earth critters, at least they ARE mashups. You don't get Earth trees and various species of Earth dinosaurs just wandering around a supposedly alien planet, and you don't hear wolves howling and owls hooting. But, I can forgive the non-alienness because the planets are pretty fun, and I can understand a small indie studio wanting to cut costs where feasible.

Speaking of which, the NPCs wandering around space stations and whatnot in EGS are hilarious. Not only are they Unity assets, but they're mismatched ones and the animations are laughable. They move like zombies and don't look at their immobile faces. CREEEEEPY! On a similar vein, both games lack voice acting (Which is a blessing in my opinion, because unless it's done very well -- which generally requires a big budget -- I'd rather have none.) So there's text to read in both. But, there is a lot, LOT more text to read in EGS than in NMS. I don't mind this at all because I'm pretty old skool, but some people can't be bothered to read anymore.

You can travel to different systems in both games, but in EGS you can find out a lot more information just by looking at the map info for the system you're thinking of traveling to or that you have traveled to. In NMS, you have to fly to and around systems and, at the least, scan individual planets from space to find out their basic resources.

It's a matter of opinion, but I prefer NMS's flight model. On the other hand, in EGS you can drive hover vessels, pilot small spaceships, or fly capital vessels. In NMS, you have exocrafts, which I guess are similar to hover vessels, and you have small spaceships (but they are not nearly as customizable for specific purposes like EGS's) and you can get a pre-built capital vessel and build a base on it, but you can't really fly it, aside from having it warp to another system. You certainly can't land on planets with them like you can in EGS, nor can you participate in space battles while flying them. You can also have a fleet of capital ships in EGS to serve various purposes. You can't have that in NMS. One capital vessel per save.

EGS is much more "shooty" than NMS is. You CAN do the shooty thing in NMS, but you don't have to, and there are no POIs where you go and shoot spiders and cyborgs and big-butt bugs and get loot and all that. Well, OK, there are derelict freighters in space where you can go shoot things and get loot, but you have to deliberately seek them out and there's nothing comparable on planets in NMS.

EGS has lots of different guns you can build or acquire or sell and all that. NMS doesn't really have that. You have a multitool that you can add different kinds of weapons to and then upgrade. On the other hand, you don't have craft a bunch of different kinds of ammo for them. Just two kinds, really, and only one or two of the multitool weapons use the second type of ammo.

There aren't factions in NMS like there are in EGS, so you can't make friends or enemies. There are three species in NMS and you can build standing with each of them, but if you have negative standing they won't attack you and if you have positive standing, there's really no benefit. That aspect of NMS is kind of disappointing.

And I could probably say more, but it's getting near my bedtime, so I'll stop there for now. In short, I'll say this: I love NMS, and I've enjoyed playing EGS so far. I haven't really gotten into building in EGS myself yet; I've only used blueprints from the Steam Workshop, so I don't entirely understand it yet, but I can see where it will be very cool. EGS is a bit shootier than I like, but I think once I've finished all the story story, I'll be able to avoid it, which I'd prefer. I think doing "space trucking" in EGS will be fun. You can sort of do it in NMS, too, but I think it can be done more "deeply" in EGS.

I guess I'm making EGS sound superior to NMS, but that's not my intention. My intention is to point out how they are different. EGS is superior if you want combat and the idea of being able to become a power in the galaxy. It's a more intense game in that regard. NMS is far more laid-back. While you can do combat if you want, you don't have to, at all, and the game overall is more about peaceful exploration, seeing what's out there, maybe building a base or two if that's your thing, and basically just bopping around a near-infinite universe, gathering what you need to get from place to place and then seeing what you can find on the planets.

I will continue to play both games. I definitely want to check out the Reforged Eden scenario in EGS once I have a firmer grasp of the vanilla game. But NMS is really more of a game that fits me, because generally I don't enjoy combat and while I DO like diplomacy and stuff (the other main genre of games that I play is 4x games), I also like to just chill out and explore planets in NMS.

Hope that was helpful. Feel free to ask any more specific questions you might have.

Thanks for all the answers. I Have EGS; and to be fair i had a lot o f fun with it; it have a lot of problems that's for sure but can be fun specially with the mods; and the reason of the question here is exactly because i have an idea of the difference between EGS and NMS but on the other hand i don't know how similar they are; i am afraid to buy NMS and see that it is basically a best designed and beautiful EGS.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Originally posted by All1:

Thanks for all the answers. I Have EGS; and to be fair i had a lot o f fun with it; it have a lot of problems that's for sure but can be fun specially with the mods; and the reason of the question here is exactly because i have an idea of the difference between EGS and NMS but on the other hand i don't know how similar they are; i am afraid to buy NMS and see that it is basically a best designed and beautiful EGS.

No, NMS is definitely a different overall experience, though the two games do have similarities. I think if you like Empyrion, you'll also like NMS *unless* the primary thing that you enjoy in Empyrion is building ships or the combat aspect of it, and you want NMS to be similar in that regard. NMS is fairly weak in both those aspects. If you enjoy exploring and want something a little more relaxed and very much more scenic, I think you will enjoy NMS. And if you don't, you can always refund it. :)

At the very least, NMS has a coherent tutorial. EGS, not so much. LOL