Is ED still playable without Odyssey?

[AnimiC]

In 70 hours I didn't meet a single player, only when I lost fuel and turned to the fuel rats did I see the first player. And when I tried to invite my friend who played switched from Odyssey to Horizons I couldn't invite him to the team, moreover, we couldn't even meet at the same place.
Then I found out that the updates my friend told me about can only be obtained if you have Odyssey, but Horizons ships were still nerfed despite the fact that there are no new ships in this version.
Does it make sense to play Horizons in that case? Will I meet any players? Will I be able to have any impact on the game world without spending $15 on pointless (for someone who is not interested in walking) DLC?

[CarpoonSan]

While yes, it is for the most part walking and shooting people, Odyssey does a tad bit more such as allowing you to land on more planets, and harvesting materials on planets is almost a necessity, and you luckily don’t have to do any walking, the SRV is oftentimes a requirement to harvest some resources. Exobiology, which is a moneymaker exclusive to Odyssey also doesn’t require much walking, it’s highly recommended to use an SRV, you just need to get out to scan the organisms. And finally, Odyssey used to cost like 40 bucks, I got my copy secondhand so I didn’t have to pay full price, so it doesn’t sting as bad to just go ahead and get odyssey

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

You can only team up with a player who plays the same DLC: Horizons or Odyssey. Horizons players can't see Odyssey content, so there is no cross-play together.

What do you mean with ships being nerfed in Odyssey? They are the same ships with the same abilities.

Playing Horizons makes sense if your friends also play it, and you want to play together. Otherwise, Odyssey adds more stuff to do (not only on foot activities) without removing anything, so there is no real reason to play Horizons if you have Odyssey.

You will meet other players in popular places for players to visit, like engineering spots, power play capital star systems, current Community Goals. If most players play Odyssey, then you will have more chances of meeting them by also playing Odyssey.

You will have the same impact on the galaxy by playing Horizons or Odyssey - they share the same galaxy and have the same impact.

Odyssey is not pointless even if you don't plan to walk. Odyssey also opens up more planets to land on, and more ground installation to do business with. Not to mention that all new ships and SRVs also will be added to Odyssey but not to Horizons.


Everything above is actual for playing current Horizons, not Horizons Legacy. Horizions Legacy is in the past, runs its own galaxy and own game save, and it wouldn't get any updates.

[Septimus]

Originally posted by AnimiC:

Then I found out that the updates my friend told me about can only be obtained if you have Odyssey, but Horizons ships were still nerfed despite the fact that there are no new ships in this version.

Are you saying Horizons ships were nerfed in Odyssey? Do you have a source for that, because it's the first I've heard of any ships being nerfed in any version.

Given Odyssey is often on sale for peanuts, I can't see any reason why someone would play Horizons Live instead.

[AnimiC]

As for the ‘nerf’ I was referring to the characteristics adjustments in Horizons, when watching the ship build guides I noticed that some not only basic but also engineering characteristic gains were changed, often to the lesser side.

Based on everything you've said it's clear that you have to buy the game twice. And Horizons has become quite lonely or rather just single player.

And yes, I visited 6 engineering locations and met absolutely no one.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by AnimiC:

As for the ‘nerf’ I was referring to the characteristics adjustments in Horizons, when watching the ship build guides I noticed that some not only basic but also engineering characteristic gains were changed, often to the lesser side.

Can you, please, show an example of such statistics being lowered? I am not aware of any.

Ship build guides can be mistaken, too. They don't know all formulas (only FDevs do), and some earlier build statistics might be erroneous if not all data is being accounted for. Later those guides may adjust their statistics, when they learn about those missed formulas, while no actual changes were made in the game.

Based on everything you've said it's clear that you have to buy the game twice.

No, you don't have to buy the game twice. Odyssey is being sold as a separate DLC - it doesn't require you to re-buy the base game/Horizions again.

And Horizons has become quite lonely or rather just single player.

Well, most people like to have all currently available game features, so they play in Odyssey.

And yes, I visited 6 engineering locations and met absolutely no one.

It may depend on several things, like the game mode, the time of a day/week, even on your network settings (port forwarding from your router to your gaming PC is the best working option).

[Talby]

I had problems with missions that had targets that were on Odyssey-only planets & settlements before I actually got the DLC, unsure if that was fixed or not but had to cancel quite a few missions back then...

[ChernoDog]

If you want to play Coop and meet friendly people, yes Odyssey will be easier to find people. Also you should join a squadron to actually meet people, the game is old, the map is huge and the playerbase is not exactly big, so even on Odyssey in Open you still wont see that many people around, so you either accept that that is just how Elite is, or you are going to have a bad time. This isnt EVE or an MMO.

[Inscydeus]

Originally posted by AnimiC:

Based on everything you've said it's clear that you have to buy the game twice. And Horizons has become quite lonely or rather just single player.

Expansion packs have been a thing on PC for quite some years now. I'm surprised you are unfamiliar with the concept...

[Swans]

I play the Odyssey version, but do not touch the actual Odyssey content because I think it's trash (it's a bargain bin FPS).

Now - I think I am correct to say this, please correct me if not - only the Odyssey ED SKU is subject to updates, so it does make sense to play that variant but ignore the undesired content. It's a bit of a swizz, because other games get expansion packs for sure, but even when not adopting them the main game will still be kept current. e.g. a typical MMO like WoW or ESO has loads of expansions, but the core game will be kept current in parallel, so this is a lazy/disingenuous move from FD.

Thankfully I did not pay for Odyssey, I get it from my backer tier, as it is a bit of a con to be forced to buy some content you don't like, just to get subsequent updates, and is at odds with how other games are release managed.

[Inquisitor Aldnir]

Just buy the DLC when it's on sale and end the dicussion lol. So cheap.

[Lekug]

The answer is No, yes but really no. Get it on sale. Get it at cdkeys or humblebundle. Elite is a game about community. If you cant engage with that community there isnt really a point.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by Lekug:

The answer is No, yes but really no. Get it on sale. Get it at cdkeys or humblebundle. Elite is a game about community. If you cant engage with that community there isnt really a point.

Elite is a game about space. And out there there is not a lot of community.

Elite also has a Solo play mode. And there is not a lot of community in this mode, either.

[Wildhorse68]

I recommend everyone to buy the Odyssey DLC, even if you don't like the shooter part. I also hesitated for a long time.
The advantage is that the generation of the planet surface in Odyssey is noticeably better and more varied. And in the rooms on the stations you are offered more and different missions.
The combat missions on the surfaces are also a lot of fun, which I hadn't expected at all.

[Swans]

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Originally posted by Lekug:

The answer is No, yes but really no. Get it on sale. Get it at cdkeys or humblebundle. Elite is a game about community. If you cant engage with that community there isnt really a point.

Elite is a game about space. And out there there is not a lot of community.

Elite also has a Solo play mode. And there is not a lot of community in this mode, either.

I know, I was reading that post thinking, "am I doing something wrong here?" - I've been playing since Alpha and I've met a total of 3 human CMDRs, one killed me, I killed one, and the other one apologised politely for blocking a landing pad while he/she made coffee.

Community is not really the word I think of when I play ED :-D But then, I'm an anti-social git, which is probably why I like it.

[ChernoDog]

Originally posted by Lekug:

The answer is No, yes but really no. Get it on sale. Get it at cdkeys or humblebundle. Elite is a game about community. If you cant engage with that community there isnt really a point.

This is straight up incorrect. There are a good portion of the community who doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about meeting other people, some of them never even logged into Open once. You can 100% play Elite Dangerous as a singleplayer game.