How do you see Starbound and its setting?

So some things i have read have made me wonder how people view the setting. I get the vibe that chucklefish made the setting flexible and open to interpretation so you can take whatever elements you want and have fun with it. Some things like the staves and wands are left ambiguous as to if they are magic or Clark-tech ( Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ) but this has left some people in doudt.

I personally view it as sci fantasy since the Preserver actually speaks to the protagonist and resurrects them. But i admit this is fully possible with tech as is demonstrated in the casual mode's post death cut-scene. I would like to think Starbound has room for both fantastical elements as well as futuristic ones.

So my question is How do you view starbound and its setting?
Is it fully sci-fi?
Is it Sci-fantsey
Does it even matter to you?

 

I'd go for SF with fantasy influences

 

Very soft sci-fi. A 1 on the Mohs Scale. It's sci-fi the way Star Wars is sci-fi, with mystical magical Jedi monks and starships running out of fuel and drifting to stop in deep space.

 

I tend to think of it all, or nearly all being "Clark Tech". As you say the part where you get resurrected seems pretty magical. But even then you could describe it in sci-fi mumbo-jumbo if you prefer, "The Cultivator is an ancient energy-based life form capable of manipulating space-time at a quantum level", that's all there is to it, obviously.

It's perhaps worth mentioning that you also get resurrected every time you die, except in hardcore. Depending on your race, the animation may imply this is technology based (humans seem to be re-grown in some kind of cloning tank), but since no one in the game ever talks about this, perhaps it's best to just dismiss that as a "game mechanic" and not really part of the setting anyway.

 

Sad and lonely.

 

Well, I think it is science-fiction with some fantasy in it. The space adventure is like Star Wars, I mean the Human spaceship is similar to the Star Wars Hammerhead Corvette and the Cultivator is like the Force, while the story-line is a very sad and tragic story, I mean because the Earth is destroyed by an unknown being, the human are force to evacuate the Earth, there are many casualties, and only a few people can survive and escape safely.

 

The setting is really soft sci-fi with fantasy, but i do feel starbound didn't need the story it has. I think something like what it originally had which was a series of past events and lore that built the universe you are in. You were slowly introduced by clues and ambiguous text in the books you found and dialogue from NPCs what really goes in SU (Apex rebellion, Avian atheists, Glitch self-awareness, Floran upliftment, Hylotl nomadics, Humans survival, etc). Made it feel like a much bigger story going on that you could influence via small quests that although didn't solve problems alright, would include your involvement.

 

i feel like its more fun to explain everything in starbound with science rather than magic, so i find it to be pure scifi.

 

Perhaps a touch darker than Cowboy Bebop. funtimes and cool people in outer space, with a touch of deep meaning. mostly cause I usually play human and believe they have the toughest lot drawn.