The slowly dying sandbox

Minecraft and Terraria don't feel lacking... or at least to me.

 

These games didn't have any kind of ambition either, just plain sandbox stuff. Starbound, even in its earlier days, was meant to be something else than just a big sandbox (from what I understood throughout my 2 years on this game), and from what I've read, a big sandbox is what people expected from it (I might be wrong on this, I'm not in everyone's head).

 

i don't think anyone in their right mind expects the 'ultimate sandbox', but they did kind of remove some things that I honestly quite enjoyed back then. With Pokemon, sure red/blue are great but they're buggy, and the newer games do it the same way but better, you don't lose much between the two.

 

If Starbound was meant to be something more than just a big sandbox, it hasn't succeeded in that regard IMO. Maybe it has, but underwhelmingly so.

 

Starbound is a disappointingly bland sandbox, coupled with a disappointingly bland story that attempts to use the sandbox as part of itself. The story could have been saved by the sandbox being actually interesting. The sandbox could have been less of a disappointment with a story that does more than just bridge a few short missions with a lot of wandering around.

While there isn't such a thing as "the ultimate sandbox", whatever that would even mean, I think it's pretty clear that Starbound barely reaches "decent sandbox", and even that mostly thanks to the building aspect.
I think that at the core of the blandness are just a few really stupid preconceptions. That a highly formulaic structure of random generation is an acceptable tradeoff for shorter load times. That eventual boredom from oversaturation by content is more acceptable that transitional boredom from content not always being within arm's reach of the player. That depth and intricate design are acceptable sacrifices for streamlined gameplay and balance.

(On the last point - yes, sometimes they are. But not in a sandbox game.)

Dwarf Fortress is probably about as close to an "ultimate sandbox" as it's possible to get right now. And it's getting closer. Yes, it doesn't always have interesting content right under your nose for you. Yes, it does not have the most balanced play experience, and it places a heavy drain on your PC's resources even though it has barely any graphics by today's standards. But the content is there to find, and the effort and time it takes to find it make actually finding it that much more interesting - even if it's something as simple as a hole in the ground. And of course it pulls out all the stops to make depth and detail the primary factors in how the game plays. It's the ultimate exploration game - one not easy to get into by any means, but one you will keep coming back to because there are always more things to find, see, and do.

 

it does not matter what they add, when you have seen evertyhing after beeing on 4 planets of the same type it is a pointless possibility of quadrillions planets. and planets are rather small.

a practically infinite sandbox it already WAS. as it was fully randomised. and no one ever cna visit quadrillions of planets in his lifetime. yes NMS was the prime example what happens when you don't have meaning and subtsance in your game, and SB lost a lot of it's subtsance. there wa smuch unqiue stuff to see in the koala, and it feels so quickly "I have seen it all" in the current version.

DF does exactly that what a sandbox should do, it entertains and gives your full freedome, yet every single game feels actually unique as the things that differ are big enough to actually matter. Most other sandboxes are either too repettive or too preset. Sb fails here, the same type of planet looks too much the same and innerbiome repetitiveness is even more than ever before it makes things also way too predictable, which entirely demotivates explorations as you already know what there definately will be. NMS failed because it entirely just is a landscape generator with no adventures in it.

however DF should simply get a better mouse and click UI, thats really needed more tha a "graphic update" given what it has is even worth being called graphic.

 

Well I like it atleast.

 

Well.. that's good and fine for you, but not for the countless other people here.

 

Thx for the terraforming, it will at least allow us now to generate the biome we want with a specific tier and planet size. Now if we can also get some weather machines where we cna swithc on and off specific weather conditions that would be nice.

 

Take a look at Space Station 13 if you like Dwarf Fortress. It will blow your mind.
http://wiki.ss13.co/Main_Page

 

After taking a 2 year absence, I came back and noticed one feature I was looking forward to, was removed from the game. Was there ever a reason given as to why pet leveling was removed? My pets now don't stand a chance at anything at all, and there's no way to level them up. I was also looking forward to what it would look like when they reach a high enough level to "evolve." What happened to all that? I was really hopping to see it fine-tuned in these two years, not removed entirely!

 

pet stats are based off of your armor stats. so, if you're wearing end-game armor, then your pet health and damage should reflect that. at least, that's what the wiki says as of Nov. 26th of last year.

 

Honestly, they're still trash with end game armour. Pets used to have a decent Ai in koala, where they could stop at a distance and blast the enemy with projectiles. Now, all procedurally generated mobs, and even most unique monsters charge the enemy. There are obvious tiers of mobs, with the projectile shooting, max damage augumented Pulpin being the only one worth keeping. The rest need constant healing.
Edit:

Quick example of mob tiers. I find it bad design that there are obviously better ones and some that are absolutely useless as combat pets.

Tierless: (Literally useless.)

Buries itself upon summoning. Unusable.

Tier F: (Garbage)

Good for one attack. Use a bomb instead, for the same effect.

Tier E: (Very bad)

Absolutely terrible itself in combat, but can at least hit more than once.

Tier (Bad)

Slow and hides too often to attack

Tier C: (Decent)



Strong, tanky, but lacks range.

Tier B: (Good)

Has range and can use projectiles to provide cover fire. Only mobs with projectile attacks can be considered good.

Tier A: (Amazing)

With a max damage collar, it shreds everything like some sort of biological minigun. No mercy.

 

It has always seemed to me that Starbound is more of a modder's sandbox than a stand-alone game.

It's a collection of ideas, systems, etc that allows modders to do whatever they wanna do with it. There's enough there (barely) to call it a full-release base game, but it isn't enough that you can just play Vanilla and be content with it for long.

Progression and the Main Story Quest can be done in <5 hours, and I bet it could be done even faster than that depending on RNG and luck.

There's a HUGE amount of various blocks, NPC types, tenant types, etc but very little reason to go get them. There's a lot of different weapons and systems in the game, but then again, if all you are doing is vanilla, then most of them will go unused either because A). It's not necessary when a broadsword will solve 90% of your problems, or B ) . It is very inefficient/underpowered/lackluster like pets.

The story is very tropish and basic, though I'm not going to attack it as vehemently as other players do. It works, but in the very basic way. It's like buying a Ford Taurus. It'll get you to where you're going to go, but it doesn't look flashy, it isn't an overly powerful car, nor can it haul lots of stuff. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles more expensive cars would have.

All of these things put together give me the impression that Starbound was, and is from the ground up a modder's game. You can mod just about anything in the game ('cept for a few things that are handled in-engine). You can insert your own story. You can make your own weapons that don't suck. You can add more planet types, dungeons, NPCs, quests, what-not if you're willing to put the work in.

Some people might not like the idea of being "forced" to download mods to enjoy SB, but let's face it -- that's what this game was made for.

Now, if we consider it from THAT angle and assume that's what its purpose is/was, then SB achieves its purposes rather well. The game is an excellent modder's sandbox due to how easy mods are to make, install, and troubleshoot and the amount of things that one can mod having to do with the game.

That's what Starbound excels at, and IMO, easily moddable games are the games that are the most successful.

 

I agree with you here. I frequent an Rp server, where people mod in a lot of their own stuff using LUA and Starcheat. Starbound's system allows for an incredible amount of content to be modded in, and I feel that some of the things people can make using drawables are much better than anything that can be found in the game.

 

Not even that it is, if the game were made for modders, playing it online with others wouldn't be a mess. The game would then entirely uttulise mods differently and characters to make sure it's not a science on a new server to make everythign work if it doesn't runs the same mods. And the game would be better desigend in a way for relaibility with mods, so that new releases and updates on the game don't mess up as much as they do.

 

well, as far as I'm aware the bubbly blue little dude was actually nerfed rather recently. still usable, but much less so than he used to be.
I totally forgot about the bouncy parrot splitting acid blood. I'll have to go get me one.
truth be told, I like my adult poptop. he's a nice guy, and with that Healing III collar I gave him he doesn't really die. good meat shield, but agree that his damage is negligible.

 

Yes, soon after making the post, I tested him out. Yet another removal and nerf for no reason, he can now only shoot in one direction, which screws you over if you don't put him on a wall.

 

for no reason lol? the bubbles come out of his head, right? he doesn't change the orientation of his head when he shoots the bubbles out. ergo, why should his bubbles go in an altered direction?
they didn't nerf its damage, they nerfed its ability to shoot in directions that don't make sense based on the orientation of the creature's body.

 

Cluephone for you: Not everybody plays Online/Multiplayer. Lots of people enjoy Single Player.

And a highly modded game using Multiplayer is always going to be a bit messy -- all the players and the server need to have the same mods, otherwise you're going to have downright messes popping up everywhere.

As for updates, well, that's inevitable. The game gets updated, new functionality gets added, and sometimes this new functionality breaks previous mods that don't include such functionality.

Now, there ARE some things I think CF could do a little better, but hey nobody's perfect. I'd rather look on the bright side of things.

Some people around here are probably not very fun are parties, I'm guessing.