Will I not like Starbound because of Terraria?

To begin, I love the idea of Starbound. Since I first heard about it, I marveled at the idea of a space exploration/adventure game that has construction/crafting at it's core. I like to build and grow in a game, adding a sci-fi theme makes it all the better. This interest in Starbound lead me to Terraria. While I have read, and seen, that they are different games, they do have similarities. Since Starbound was in beta, I figured I'd play Terraria to get a feel for the play style.

I was worried Terraria would be too much like Minecraft. I must be too old to see the longterm enjoyment from Minecraft, as I would play for a few hours, then get bored of the constant ore grind and pursuit of the next upgrade. It was too mechanical for me, too repetitive. I had a fear that Terraria might offer the same. With only one way to find out, I picked up Terraria from Steam and began...

Terraria began as a great enjoyment. I truly do love having to construct shelter and then later expand to accommodate my needs. This aspect of Minecraft & Terraria is what I loved. However, this feeling is short-lived. Once a "home" was constructed, I began mining. Spelunking through caverns brings some enjoyment as both adventuring and the randomness of what you find is a plus, but it gets tiresome. In Terraria, I made about a dozen runs into the mines, eventually being able to equip gold gear and other interesting accessories.

At this point, though, I felt lost. I knew I had to begin boss battles, and other mid-game/ late-game content. My problem is that I felt the exploration would now be over. I knew there were still treasures to be found, and monsters to be slain, but those didn't pique my interest. I felt the game was becoming too much an old school arcade game. See monster, button mash, win/lose. Repeat this until boss, then button mash, win/lose. I had no direction, wondering aimlessly until I luckily came across the next boss wasn't appealing.

After about 15-20 hours of gameplay, I decided, I think, that Terraria was not for me. The trips into the caverns were time consuming to reach the last location I was at, and there was nothing more to find than chests filled with potions and materials I already had hundreds of. I had no way, other than the internet, to find my next boss. I had nothing more to build, as I like to build for functionality, not to be grandiose.

My question then,

Will Starbound be enough of a different experience than Terraria that it will be worth buying?

I was dead est on getting it, but now I don't feel it would be worth it. I've read the remarks about how they are different games, starbound's in beta, so much more, etc. In the end, they still have gameplay similarities. If you understood what I said above, then you know what I'm asking?

What draws me into Starbound are the quests, the multiple planets with leveled monsters, and the plot or storyline which will accompany the game. There will still be building and crafting, with some guidance of what you can craft even! I feel I would enjoy the theme and overall, the game. Would it last though? Or will I encounter the same issue of repetition as I did in Terraria?

While I know that it's difficult to say anything based on and about a game that is not finished, never the less, if you could give me some advice, it would be much appreciated. Also, feel free to lament me on anything you have read, I always enjoy a good critique.

Should I buy Starbound or not?



TLDR; Terraria didn't do it for me in the long run, will Starbound be different enough to overcome Terraria's, or my, shortfalls?

 

Currently Starbound can't match Terraria since it is in beta, but it is still quite fun for what i has.
I would still say its worth buying even if it's in such a early stage.
EDIT: Gosh i didn't even read the question, Starbound will be quite
diffrent than Terraria once it is finished.

 

Starbound most definitely is worth buying (now if you wanna help find bugs, or later if you don't). Not only is (or will be) the scope of it immense compared with Terraria, including worlds and dungeons but also things like objects to find, craft, and build with, but there will be 10 tiers with sub levels between each of them. That means you'll get to follow a path of progression and growth if you want to, but in an open way whereby you can go off and explore near endless worlds at any point in the game without having to worry about being overpowered.

Perhaps the best reason to get Starbound is that it's (already) moddable. This makes new content easy for anyone to create and plug into the game, unlike with Terraria where there were a few mods but also many conflicts since the game wasn't designed with them in mind. Add to that the official updates that the devs will come out with every so often after launch and you have yourself an entire universe of potential. If you get bored of building, exploring, or combat, then there's still coop, PVP, socialising in multiplayer, playing through content made by others, or creating new content.

 

I find it funny that many people keep saying this with such conviction, how are you so sure that it's going to be very different from Terraria? Yes, if the developers can achive what they have said they are trying to, it will be different... maybe. So far it's mostly the sameish game with different looks, altho it saddens me to say so. I still have hope, just can't see how people can be so sure.

Ontopic: If you get bored with Minecraft and Terraria easily, I don't recommend starbound, at least definetly not in it's current state as it is far more repetitive than both of those games.

 

We gave over 2 million dollars to a game that we didn't even know the release date of, of course we are going to say that the game will be different compared to Terraria, otherwise it would be really dumb to spend money on a game that we think would be the same as Terraria.
...god the grammar must be awfull and i don't even know how i can fix it.

 

Well that's the reason for why they buy it!
that's why they're sure, bc they're the ones who gets to bug test and if the developers read the feedback (wich i Must assume they do...lol)
Then we will basically help shape the product slightly.
THey're still workin on it, and I don't mean they're gonna take everything we say literally, but they'll accept feedback, I have already seen them implement mods that people ahve made so my hopes are high for those reasons.
We don't have to be sure it'll be good, bc those who are playin git now already thinks it IS good!
and getting better and better.
that's waht I think.

 

Then your view is skewed and in favor of Starbound.

 

This is conjecture. On the outside, yes, Starbound looks a lot more massive than Terraria, but lets be honest; the planets have very little variety when compared to Terraria (that is, the biomes and explorable locations are basically the same). The amount of time it takes to jump in your ship and load a new planet is probably equal to the time it takes to load up a new world in Terraria and play on it with your established character.

In theory, Starbound will have the illusion that it's bigger, but it's basically the same game with an integrated way to see "new" content without that extra step Terraria has.

So far, I actually prefer Terraria over Starbound when it comes to mechanics... but that's also because this game isn't completed yet and Terraria has years of established content.

 

Save up 10 cents per day. By the time you have the $15.00 to buy it they may have released the full version which may come closer to being the experience you're hoping for. DO NOT BUY IT RIGHT NOW. I love this game a whole lot, but it's because I wanted the Beta experience. That doesn't sound like what you'd be interested in, so go find something else to play until it's ready.

 

These threads are always so original and are not at all hyperbolic and for sure are logical and fair.

Emperors new groove?

 

I played Terraria quite a bit. Made it to hard mode several times and have crafted pretty much everything that can be crafted in the game. Since buyiing SB, however, I've lost all interest in Terraria. In the 2-3 weeks it's been out, I've got more hours logged in SB than all my time in Terraria, and while I see quite a few similarities, very little in the game experience has made me feel like I'm just playing Terraria all over again. Frankly, Terraria is no longer of any interest to me, but I sometimes find myself thinking about SB even when I'm not playing it. So, is it worth it? Yeah, I'd say so Whether or not you'll like it as much as me is for you to say.

 

YES. Thank you. Just watched it for the first time in years on Saturday. Oh so good.

You win science.

 

That movie is what happens when disney does not play it safe and actually tries to be creative. Wish they made more like that and lilo instead of 3d princess movies.

 

OHMIGOD I LUB EMPreorROEIR NEW GROOVE.

 

gud 2 kno

 

Starbound offers MUCH more exploration (randomly generated planets!) than Terraria atm, so in that regard it scores very high for me.

There are no real quests besides tutorial atm though, so progression is a bit boring and standard, like "setup shelter - strip a planet for dungeons/resources - craft gear - spawn and slay boss - go to next sector - repeat from step 2". They are planning to add this (quest system) though, as it's a pretty major part of the game. I think they're also going to get rid of the "spawn boss" thing and instead make quests/lairs for the bosses, which would be wicked.

Loot can be interesting, but isn't always. During tier 2 and 3 you'll consistently find melee weapons that are well below what you can craft for that tier/sector regarding stats, but I have a feeling they will improve this in the next update already with the character wipe. In the fourth sector/tier and anything beyond you'll frequently run into guns, and those are really awesome, each of them feels unique (the random melee weapons are lacking this).

The monsters are fun sometimes, but are mostly boring and the same thing over and over again with different looks, with very awkward movement (they can accelerate in mid-air) and weak AI, though again, this is only improving. The NPCs (the fighting ones) seem slightly smarter, but are horribly balanced right now, making them more of a nuisance than a challenge (lots of HP and low damage output).

There are different levels/tiers and such, but you aren't allowed to freely visit them, you first have to beat the boss, a system which I really hope they'll change into something cooler, where the player can choose how much challenge he wants (it was a bit like that when beta first came out, though it was badly balanced/thought out).

Building is tons of fun in this game, because there's so much to build/decorate with, you can make anything you like.

The game also has epic amounts of content and lore already, you can see that with the "inspect" tool, which will (most of the time) give you a different message depending on your race, and you can also find books with lore about the races in dungeons.

Should you buy it? For sure, you'll enjoy this game now, and you'll enjoy it even more when it's done. I currently enjoy this a lot more than Terraria, mostly because of the way how it feels.

EDIT: Also! This game is under heavy development atm, new content and fixes are constantly being added, which keeps things interesting (for me at least).

 

Actually reading the OP: come back and ask in a few months.

Given what you've said I don't know if you'll enjoy it now. It's a toss up. And given there's almost none of the quest system implemented yet I can't tell you how that will go.

So wait a bit longer and ask again.

 

To put it simply: This.

To put it not so simply and being THAT GUY: It's too early to tell in this stage of the beta (although it's more alpha to me than beta) we don't really know what's gonna be added but I can say that it's a lot like Terraria now but if the devs do what they said they had planned on the blog, this game will be very different. So again, THIS.

Not really a reply more just adding to what you said.

 

I personally never liked Terraria much. It felt like the world was too closed. I however love minecraft it is more open it seems to be limitless in scope and there are many ways to play, be it adventure maps, base building or pvp.

From what I have seen of starbound it is very open world which blows Terraria out of the water, having infinite worlds in stead of 1. It also has a lot more exploration than either minecraft or Terraria. You have progress to new sectors to get high tier ores and items, but beyond that you are rewarded by going to more planets and finding dungeons, bosses, npcs and loot, so you really tend to avoid making a base and staying there, but instead explore and visit your base if you wish to even make one...many just store things on the ship.

 

If Terraria bores you, then Starbound will be boring you as well. In my opinion all the different planets don't add much diversity right now. (Ofcourse, the game is still in early beta.)
At this point Terraria is, in my humble opinion, a much better game. Better looking/acting enemies to fight, crazy weapons, a map with many different biomes... yes, it's one map, compared to SB's many planets, but in my opinion the biome diversity of a Terraria map makes the fun long lasting.

Mining is very boring in SB right now. Thankfully we are currently blessed with an abundance in ore, but when the ore amount gets reduced it might be a headache search for ore, like in the first version. I dunno, for some reason mining was never boring for me in Terraria. Mostly because of the constant combat I think. SB's enemies, well, they suck at the moment. Boring and unimaginative. The randomness of the monsters isn't too impressive either. I am finding more and more monsters that are simply so similar to other monsters I've seen...

Anyway, I am going to avoid a wall of text. In short: I am positive you're going to dislike SB in its current state and I am afraid you might also dislike SB in its finished state.