Can there be other options when dealing with potentially hostile aliens? Not like the mobs, but the residents of castles, temples, etc? I know it's unreasonable cause it would mean implementing a huge new dialogue/negotiation system, but I feel like the current options for dealing with obstacles are a bit limited to "kill it/ignore it". For example, when exploring my first planet and discovering a Glitch castle I got real real excited, but then realized that I couldn't explore it without killing literally everything inside. I guess I sort of project onto my avatars when playing, and while I wouldn't say I'm a pacifist, I've never liked being the aggressor. Additionally, I was playing an Hylotl, which according to lore are actual bona fide pacifists. Sooooo if I wanted to stay "in character", this would mean turning tail and missing out on a lot of content. I guess what I would prefer is a way to enter/explore certain areas using diplomatic means, cause honestly, exploring is really the heart and soul of this game, and I get slightly frustrated when the game tells me there is a certain very interesting place that I can't go (without being a mean dude who kills robots for fun). Of course dungeons and stuff are supposed to be dangerous, but I see no reason why presumably peaceful robot castles should be so fraught with peril. I understand that there is a certain separation for some players between gameplay and narrative, and that a lot of peeps are okay with that. So yeah, those dudes can go ahead and be pathological robot slayers whether or not that is within their "character", or whether they do it as removed "players", because I think that's also part of the game. The thing is I just want an alternative. I know it's a bit of a stretch to suggest something like this cause it would take so much work to implement, so I guess I'm just expressing a minor frustration here.
I have thought about something like this myself, but then again, you wouldn't try to walk up to a murderer and interact with him IRL.
I'm pretty sure the game is set up so that all of the cultures have their psychopathic/evil members that will just plain try to kill you for their respective reasons, also bandits. It's sort of cartoony in that respect, but in a good way. However it means that there's gonna be enemies that try to kill you, which I personally like, -only- fighting monsters and nothing else could be a bit droll. If they're attacking you, they're part of the evil factions, and if they aren't they're the kind you diplomacy anyways. It's not like all those floran villages or avian airships or 1984 apex towns are totally chill with you being around, but they're the folks that you can talk to.
I suppose that's fair. Like, bandits for example, it makes sense for them to attack you cause they seem to be obviously jerks. In that context though, they seem to be the ones out for blood and pillage, not you. They also don't really guard large, interestingly furnished areas. I guess my beef is with the guarded main race areas, because a character's motivation for exploring these areas is less clear. I might be motivated to enter a lab or a castle or a temple out of curiosity, not necessarily because I want to punish evil deeds, or else, be the one to commit evil deeds. I feel like it might help if maybe some kind of quest motivated one's exploration of these areas. For example, rescuing some NPC from within. This might also help to characterise these areas as "evil" in a sense, making the player's reason for forcibly entering and then killing a bunch of folks more clear. At the moment, it's not quite obvious enough that the guarded areas are filled with the so called psychotic and evil folk.
Well, the game still is in beta, but from the lore there are pretty danged good indications that those guys that attack you are pretty horrible people. Christ, I once stopped avians from being pushed off cliffs in a religious cult ceremony, they are most assuredly screwed up. If it helps, there are tons of such areas that are abandoned or otherwise don't have those people in it for you to explore. If you want to though, really, those people are horrible. Starbound to me seems to be pretty well intended to make the players the good guys (albeit kind of stabby ones in some cases), I wouldn't worry too much about the morals of killing people that are attacking you, in most cases you are an outcast to those psychopathic groups in the first place.
