I have not been seeking out every piece of video/news/etc. for the game and all I want to do is go from galaxy to galaxy and discover crazy planets and name them really stupid names.

I assume the reasoning behind the vagueness of NMS' content is because it's not an action heavy game. It's mostly a chill and craft things game, with the occasional bit of action. I'm sure the devs had a somewhat hard time trying to make it seem exciting due to this and other factors.

@coolarman: I'm the same way, and the general vibe I got is the lower your expectations were, the less you were bothered by all of this. Finding out I couldn't crash two planets together never bothered me as why the hell would you think that's in the game? I just wanna fly around and shoot robots and shit. Real time orbital mechanics would be cool, but aren't exactly a game-changer.

Not everyone feels the same way, and I'm interested if the long road to release has reinforced their perceptions, and in what direction.

It basically solidified my decision to buy it. Because of all the vague responses and the short gameplay "sizzle clips", I had an inkling about what to expect. However conjecture from multiple places (including Brad during a past episode) seemed to contradict that. I'm fine with it being what it is, I didn't hope/think it would be anything else.

not really. hopefully a gb stream tomorrow will tell me if i ultimately think its something im into (though i believe i will be).

I expect a game where I can explore, see cool stuff, fly space ships, and probably listen to podcasts. This seems like that game. All the stuff surrounding release doesn't matter to me much. People ruined the game for themselves seeking it out so much.

This always seemed like a different take on one of those crafting style games to me, and I've never been interested in those. Streams have made it seem like there may actually be enough there for me to buy in if the price drops, though, which is more than I expected, so I guess my impression's been decently positive.

So yeah, seems fine to me, but people's reactions to it have been absurd and legitimately difficult to wrap my head around, the whole way through. I just continue to find it hard to feel particularly strongly at all about it either way. I've had/heard enough arguments about these sorts of open-ended games for a lifetime already. Clearly people saw something in it that I never quite caught, though.

A lot of the stuff listed in the patch has me more excited to see how they support the game down the line, but seeing that there are apparently "endings" was really odd.

@theht: Same here; I expected there to be a critical path of sorts that would guide you to the center (quests, discoveries, required upgrades, that kind of thing), but the idea that there's multiple (one would assume) guided narratives which leads into multiple endings is both strange for what I imagined this game to be, and more than expected. They say "can follow" as if you can ignore them, but that just makes me more interested in how one would start a path you've ignored, or if you can take multiple at once.

Well im a little more interested actually, still will probably wait for sales. However since its kinda clarified what the game is now i feel like it will be fun as before i really had no idea what you would do in the game. The lack of review copies have me worried about the merrit of the day one patch, but most of the complaints seem to be about what people thought the game would be rather than what it is.

I've kept my expectations to a realistic degree. As someone who hasn't kept up with just about all the news surrounding this game, it seems like it's going to be a resource-gathering procedural game with light combat in space. I'll wait for the reviews (I'm hoping someone on GB reviews it).

No interest before, no interest after.

Doesn't really seem like the game for me. The planet generation stuff is very cool, but the gameplay hook doesn't really interest me.

Yes, I'm more likely to buy / did just pre-order it. I was very excited for this game last year and the 'controversy' reminded me of that. I have to see it. The extensive day one patch notes only make me more excited that it's a game that can grow with the player base, and it won't necessarily be the same as what I boot up later tonight.

I think I'm less likely to buy it based on the leaked footage and the patch notes. I know that footage is not indicative of the final game but from what I saw I don't think the patch will make much of a difference to the gameplay and procedural generation which I think both look boring.

I'm positive it was announced in December 2013.

With that said, no, none of this current stuff has led to me not purchasing it. It's been way to long from announcement to now and that was plenty of time to decide it wasn't for me. Plus I ain't paying 60 for that type of experience.

The only "news" I have really heard about this game since its announcement was the delay. I've watched a couple trailers and the Colbert bit but other than that I've been in a No Man's Sky blackout. My expectations are in check, I think this will be what I want it to be but there will definitely disappointed folks out there.

@nightriff: You are correct, and now I am correct. :D

I watched Jeff Bakalar's stream earlier today. It's a space survival game. While it certainly seems like a nice looking space game, it's also still a survival game. Those do literally nothing for me, so no thanks.

Nah, I thought it looked neat from day one and I still do. Never expected it to change the industry or anything, so my excitement levels have been pretty even.

I might pick it up this week to mess with during my vacation, but I'm not in much of a rush, to be honest.

I don't care. I will probably buy it when it gets cheaper.

As soon as I saw the combat I was out. I was even more out when it sounded more and more like a survival crafting game. I'd rather just wait for Star Citizen to come out in 2034 or maybe get it when it's half off.

No interest before or after from me.

There really isn't any controversy. I mean, they goofed by not letting people know that it is a crafting type game at the start, and allowing people to let their imaginations run wild, but really once they started really showing gameplay it was pretty obvious that it was space crafting type game. So really people should have started tempering their expectations. Also as someone who doesn't care for crafting/survival games, I'm curious about the space traveling, and am totally going to wait to see what the consensus is, and then maybe give a shot.

The delays were hardly surprising, and considering how small the studio is, people were being way too unfair. Delays in games are more often than not great for the games. Am I the only person that remembers how often Ocarina Of Time was delayed? I can't be, and that game is still considered one of the greatest. Now I am in no way saying that NmS will be that great, but I am trying to remind people of a great game that was frequently delayed. Sure the opposite could happen, but optimism is a better trait than pessimism. Also if you're on the fence, then just wait and see.

As far as not giving out review copies goes. It's been said several times, on various sites, that sometimes that can be bad, but not always. To me I figure since the game has an online component that lets people name things, maybe they wanted everyone to make discoveries at the same time, or perhaps they were just worried about server constraints. The breaking street dates, people not liking what they see, or the day one patch, just sound like the usual things you hear about big launches these days.

So yes, when you look at all this together as a whole, it looks like controversy, but really I just think of it as more or less how things go now. I feel like we're seeing a studio that had a lovely idea for a game, that then had to make something ten times what they were originally thinking about making, to a market way bigger than they planned on marketing it to. Which sucks, but is partially their fault. I hope it works out for them though, they seem nice like people.

I wasn't gonna purchase it but between the patch notes and some early writing from Austin Walker I'm definitely on the verge of picking it up.

Everything has drama now, so no. I'll let the game do the talking, not whether or not someone got a preview copy (that isn't me).

I've always thought the game had potential, but figured it was never going to be able to successfully achieve the hype its obtained. I'm still very interested in the game and its still going to be a "ON SALE" pickup/gamefly rental situation

Nope.

The only thing that's influenced me is my fucking copy hasn't arrived yet.

I wouldn't say I've been hotly anticipating this game, but I have been curious about it. Any pre-launch drama hasn't phased me. My approach has always been to wait and see what the reception it gets at launch is like. At this point I've seen the Quick Look and not much else. Maybe I'll have a better idea of if or when I decide to buy NMS after I listen to a few podcasts this week.

Nope. I was never buying this game on release because apart from looking very pretty, it didn't look like was worth my €60. I might pick it up when it's cheaper, but right now I've got Rebel Galaxy to fill my space exploration requirements. That game has a better soundtrack too.

Now that I actually know what the game is, I'm interested in playing it. Before it was too vague.

I still want to get it, I just want to explore really!

Well all vague messaging has definitely lowered the chances of if I would pick up the game or not at launch. If I had a clear picture of what the game was since the beginning then I would have been able to make my decision on release.

So far the whole situation surrounding this game seems to be like the one behind The Witness which I feel like I got burned on. I didn't buy that one at launch for similar reasons but I did buy it soon after. Everyone refusal to talk straight about that game after it release was maddening. Everything was spoilers this and that. For a game that literally couldn't be spoiled because it was pretty much just puzzles. The spoiler was there was nothing to be spoiled.

So I felt robbed buying a $40 indie game that was vague about the exact nature of what I was buying. I'm certainly not buying $60 one until all is revealed.

All the people foaming at the mouth to tell everyone else that NMS is actually Satan just means I'm going to buy it and rate it positively out of spite. You're welcome!

The game had drama from the start, but I felt the idea was neat. So, I just kept a wait and see attitude that ist woudl come out as weird and funky as they were saying.

Actually a lot of the anti-hype people were saying, sounded good too me, because I never really wanted this to be a conventional game with conventional goals. The fact that 'this game' or 'that games' does this or that more smoothly is not a factor. For instance, finding other people easily is not really interested to me, I woudl never have wanted it to be EASY or SIMPLE.

i was slightly interested in the game at one point but the more and more info that got out and then the price tag of $60 slapped on i lost the little interested i had back then

the only drama around this game that I'm aware of is the internal drama I have of having to wait another two days to play on PC

everything else just is stupid internet garbage that I try to avoid anyway

not at all - honestly all the drama about "THEY LIED" doesn't apply to me at all and I really don't care. They don't owe anyone apologies in the first 48 hours the game is released because two people couldn't see each other on the same planet. That's insane. The game is exactly what I wanted it to be - even with more surprises and I couldn't be happier.

@scientificpizza said:

Basically my thoughts on the matter. Bright side, I have an extended weekend and it's going to be awesome. Unless it runs like utter trash or explodes my computer or something.

Thanks to a guy named Peter Molyneaux I learned to manage expectations. That said No Man's Sky looks like a fun exploration/survival game like all the previews said. I'm in no rush to buy a copy because I have quite the backlog but I will definitely pick this up before the end of the year.

It's never seemed like my sort of game, but the reaction it's getting from some corners of the internet is... something else. It pays to manage expectations, though I think it would've helped a whole lot if the developers were more forthcoming earlier on about what you actually do in NMS instead of just throwing out numbers of planets.

I was always not buying it so no influence

I honestly feel bad for the NMS team. Given some of the comments I've read you'd think they had hired Peter Molyneux as a hype man. I don't understand why people extrapolated they way they did and invented features. It's an indie game; I expected simplified combat, exploration, and survival. I'm waiting for some full reviews, but I'm learning towards getting it. It seems like the sort of experience I'd be into.