Worth buying?

I'd wait a little bit.

 

If I where in your position I would wait and see when development gets up to speed again.

 

why buy an unfinished game that has little evidence it is moving towards completion?
If you feel an unquenchable desire to play, even after trying similar games, Tiy has endorsed pirating starbound to see if you like it, so that's a potential way to go.

 

Have.. you read his tweets at all?

 

A lot of people have trouble because they buy it now, either it's not complete enough for them, or it lags to much to play for them. If you are willing to deal with that then yes, it is absolutely the most fun I have ever had playing a video game.

 

That reason (and I may seem like just a CF defending the company with my life) that the development is slow is because of a couple reasons. First off, they moved out all their employees to another country, which takes a whole lot of effort and time, time spent unfortunately, not developing. A lot of people say that they should be done moving by now and I guess it's because they don't understand the circumstances. Picking your whole life and moving to somewhere else is a tad bit complicated, and the employees should be allowed to have their time to adjust and settle before diving back into full-time development.

The second reason is that there are very large things being developed as we speak. Tiy said it himself (and I'm not going to quote here because I forgot what exactly he said) that we are either going to get lots of updates with "fluff" as you say it, or little updates, but ones with large content. Considering Tiy has spoken of revamping the current tier progression, and a lot of the things that go with it, I'm guessing (and hoping) the next update will be a big one.

I personally find this game a lot of fun just to chill out for a bit. I generally go to this game when I get really frustrated playing another game because this one is just really chill.

As to whether or not to buy, I've already stated my opinion in the beginning of this thread. I just came to do some defense.

 

Whether or not it'd be worth anyone buying the game now depends largely on playstyle. I bought the game sometime in March and have accumulated 70 or so hours on it so far, and I'm certainly not bored of it yet or stuck for things to do. I am taking my time with exploring and building up my base, and only summoning the bosses when I feel I have exhausted the sector I'm currently in. My playstyle completely contrasts someone who plays it more for the storyline/difficulty progression, as they could easily hurry through everything, defeat the bosses, and then be stuck for things to do. I'm not sure how many players do play like that, but if you're anything like what i described, then no, it probably wouldn't be worth buying. But if you're a more thorough player who would enjoy the exploration and sandbox aspect of the game, then there's a pretty high chance that you'll get your money's worth out of the game quite quickly, and may even continue to play it in the long term.

But, of course, the content isn't finished. Aside from exploring a limited number of dungeons (despite being generated, they're still essentially the same dungeon), spending time and effort to collect resources to build something (that may get crushed by a meteor...), and fighting the bosses there isn't much else you can do in the game. All the biomes, despite having different elements, are still quite similar. After a while, you stop noticing the aesthetics of the weather, lighting and plantlife until you take a break from the planet. Building is quite laboured and, as I mentioned just now, it takes a while to build something from the floor up because you have to collect all the blocks from various dungeons. Mining takes a long time even with the highest tier pickaxe, so if you're not patient you won't enjoy that aspect of the game much right now. And the bosses are most likely not finished, with strange AIs and, often, less challenge than you can find on a planet's surface.

Sure, the updates aren't coming very quickly, and that is frustrating. I'm fortunate enough, I guess, to be playing the game at its present state, where I have got used to there not being regular updates and don't miss how development used to be. It doesn't bother me so much that there aren't regular updates, because I'm still experiencing the entire game as it is now. I haven't finished with the current content yet, so new content doesn't matter to me. And due to the pace I'm taking the game, I can't imagine it'll matter to me any time soon.

Of course, I know I'll run out of things to do eventually. I have built my base, I have accumulated a large amount of dungeons into my "Have Seen" category, and have begun to progress through the sectors at a slightly quicker pace. I know that I'd get a bit bored, in this present state, if I had to start my character over, because I've already done everything there needs to be done in the initial stages of the game and the magic of finding something new and exciting won't be present if I begin a new game. But even if I do get bored, or do find myself having to start again for whatever reason, I have really, really enjoyed these 70 hours of gameplay. It doesn't feel as incomplete a game to me as others have said it is. Things work, the content's there, and the music is incredible. I can see the flaws, but there are flaws in every game, released or not.

I'm glad I bought the game, and feel it has definitely been worth the money so far. But that certainly won't be the case for everyone. I'd definitely recommend it, though, even if you do what others have suggested and don't play it yet. Getting it cheaper now will just mean less reluctance from you once it does get better content added, because you'll be able to play it without having to worry about your current financial situation.

 

I like CF and starbound a lot. I don't like the swarm of people shouting "BETA" when theirs an issue, flaw, or missing point in a game *cough* rust *cough*.

For now, we raid glitch villages while playing on the beach at night while oil is spilled.

 

Put it this way: I'm glad this game was bought for me as a gift, though I feel a bit sorry for the friend who not only bought three copies for me, himself, and his wife, but also gave even more money to the kickstarter. This whole thing has been a massive disappointment, to the point that I don't even want to look at it on my Steam list let alone play it. I basically came here today just to see if anyone else is as incredibly sour about this game as I am.

Early access and kickstarter very rarely work, and unlike something like Keiji Inafune funding a Megaman clone Chucklefish clearly lacks the skills or manpower to back up their promises, nor do they even have the clout to draw in people with those credentials. They can say "We will be adding X, Y, and Z" all they want but the fact is that what we have now is lightyears away from anything we've been promised.

I feel like I've been lied to. I feel bad for the people who did put down money on this game. This right here is why I only pay for finished games.

 

I'm completely with you. I bought this hoping for something new in the sandbox genre, and I also convinced my friends and co-workers to buy this. Man, what a waste of money. Never again.
They just constantly find excuses, I am a developer myself in a big company, and they seem so unorganized its not even funny.

 

The game is nice, but wait until it's finished. At the current pace of development, you'll be waiting a while.

 

My short answer, yes. Long answer... depends, but still, yes, IMO. I'd wait off a bit if you are looking for a finished product, though.

I'd suggest reading over the many, many threads here on the forums and make up your own opinion, if you want to be informed.

This game is very not finished, nor will it be 'done' tomorrow, next week, or next month. And, it looks like a long road ahead until completion. It does have several major issues that are big 'deal breakers' for some, but not for others. It really depends on what you want vs. what you'll get now.

 

Oh hell, just get the game. It's great fun in the current version, pretty stable as it is (unless you're masochist trying to run it on Linux, in which case - godspeed, sir). $14 isn't going to make or break you.

 

Ah, it starts again.......Hey CLiffyB can I have an autograph?

 

Except the simple fact that this game is not a beta. It's a sad excuse for an alpha released as a 'hail mary' to please the fans, customers, investors (whatever you want to call yourself for contributing money) to cover their indie butt because they are woefully behind and lack the resources to deliver on their promises in due time. Everything Chuklefish has done these last 5 months proves they are way over their heads...

It's a slap in the face and a disgrace to collect a cool $4 million in pre-orders off the website alone (not counting steam) and still have the below issues:

- It's inexcusable to use a forum for a customer facing defect tracking system. Spend the $180 USD / year and get a hosted bugzilla database or spend an hour investigating free alternatives with free hosting.

- It's inexcusable to experience downtime due to only having one build server and it go offline because the person that maintained it has moved...

- It's inexcusable to spend several months on keybinding functionality only to deliver without a UI. Implementing a simple dialog UI for keybindings might take 4 or 8 hours if it was previously mocked-up? And yes, it was mocked-up because Tiy twitted a picture of the mock UI.

- It's inexcusable to announce to the world and promise 'break-neck' speed for updates and then silently change the direction / plans back to slow updates and blast the community for being ungrateful because we are shouting for updates. We didn't know you changed your minds behind the scenes back to slower updates... we're not mind readers... but it seems like that was a convenient excuse for Chucklefish / Tiy.

- It's inexcusable to continue ignoring the lack of coders on the team or their lack of ability to deliver.

 

Does it matter if the game is alpha or beta? They're just words, anyway.

Since the OP is asking if the game is worth playing (subjective) the best we can do is to explain what IS in the game right now, what has been announced for the game soon/next, how we feel about the stability and frequency of updates, and then maybe a yes/no answer.

Also, "inexcusable" is a subjective word. I could also say that it is inexcusable to make claims about things you won't back up and also inexcusable to call devs extremely lazy. But, I'm sure that the quotes I linked aren't actually you from a deleted account that was kinda shown the door, and instead it was someone who had the exact same name as you but decided to post stupid things and then exit. Clearly not you.

 

Don't waste your time with this troll, he posts the exact same garbage as Xander and D-16.......He is our resident Al Gore, he did not create the Internet but apparently the OS on every smart phone.

Bottom line - in the games current state you can easily put in over 100 hours...and for 15 bucks that is a cubic a$$load of game play.

 

Wait, not fleshed out yet. I haven't played in months, nor have I seen any update content significant enough to come back.

 

All I see is 'wah me me me, gimme gimme because of X reason.'

You guys need to calm down, it's a game. Unless you have nothing to worry about in your personal lives, it's not something you should get so pissy and entitled over.

The game is enjoyable, and its state as alpha or beta is semantics, to argue that is petty. It doesn't matter, it's unfinished no matter what you call it. Posting this garbage doesn't do anything but discourage the devs and make them think the main population of their forum users are assholes. Toxic stupidity like yours spreads, stop jumping to the offensive over a video game. It'll get done when it gets done, they can't make it any faster than they are. Also, devaluing everything anyone says in defense of the devs is childish and only goes to show how tightly people have their hands over their ears, refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the other end of this argument. Try to remain composed, show some class. Stop losing your shit over a game and be glad they even want to make it for you in any state that it may exist instead of dropping to the ground kicking and screaming until you get what you want.

You people need to stop applying the same pressure to this small indie group that you would larger companies that make millions annually and have 50-200 people on staff.

 

if you love to explore, build, and roleplay id say yeah its 100% worth it!