Who else is playing No Man's Sky for the first time on Game Pass? (please no spoilers, thoughts, hints, general discussion welcome)

[Landy828]

So I've had a PS4 since No Man's Sky released, and a gaming PC, but I never got around to playing it. I kept putting it off and telling myself I'd get it when it was $10-$20.

The initial release, and talking to others playing it, turned me off of the game for quite a while. However, with the updates, I started to get excited about finally playing the game. I came close to purchasing it multiple times over the last couple months.

I have to say I'm absolutely LOVING this game. It has a strange sense of being both extremely relaxing and tense at the same time. The feeling of discovery and awe at the size of the game is pretty great, and I find myself battling over whether I should move on or find everything on the planet I'm currently on.

I'm only a few hours in, but I finally made a FTL jump for the first time. I felt bad leaving where I was, as if I'd miss a ton of stuff, but went ahead and made the leap. Who else is really enjoying the game for the first time? Or not if you're not.

Any hints from long time players?

Should I stick around in each "solar system" for long?

Should I try upgrading certain things? Buying a new ship?

First purchasable ship I found/was offered was $6Million, which seems impossible at this point 🤣 .

Best way to make money?

I'd love any hints or non-spoiler help in the game.

 

[Raijinto]

I'm not necessarily playing it for the first time, I played it for a couple of hours a few months after launch, but man all these updates make it feel very different indeed. I'm on the second planet where it's directing me through the base building and I'm a bit weary of this as I hate this kinda thing and hope it's brief so that I can get back to exploring and space traveling. It's good apart from that though.

 

[Punished Dan]

Yup. I am.

playing it for the first time. I've made my way to my second planet.

 

[Indy in the Fridge]

I played it somewhat extensively but it was some time ago. I started having difficulty once I was forced into dogfights with mercenary pilots. Considering everything cost some sort of resource, I'd make sure you find planets that have FTL resources and stock up as much as possible on that. Don't worry so much about sticking around planets or systems for very long. But take the time to look for and mine the more valuable resources.

As for money, asteroids and planets usually have tons of silver and gold which can be sold for cash. That's in addition to the missions you can take on for profit. Earning money takes time in the beginning but eventually the game starts throwing it at you (with the caveat that things get far more expensive).

 

[Landy828]

I'm not necessarily playing it for the first time, I played it for a couple of hours a few months after launch, but man all these updates make it feel very different indeed. I'm on the second planet where it's directing me through the base building and I'm a bit weary of this as I hate this kinda thing and hope it's brief so that I can get back to exploring and space traveling. It's good apart from that though.

Click to shrink...

Once you get through a handful of "missions" it does give you the option to continue on the story/learning arch or to go into "free roam" with your FTL drive. If you played the game in the past, and know what you're doing, you could just go wherever after that.

I'm learning everything right now, so I've continued the "training/story" stuff.

I played it somewhat extensively but it was some time ago. I started having difficulty once I was forced into dogfights with mercenary pilots. Considering everything cost some sort of resource, I'd make sure you find planets that have FTL resources and stock up as much as possible on that. Don't worry so much about sticking around planets or systems for very long. But take the time to look for and mine the more valuable resources.

As for money, asteroids and planets usually have tons of silver and gold which can be sold for cash. That's in addition to the missions you can take on for profit. Earning money takes time in the beginning but eventually the game starts throwing it at you (with the caveat that things get far more expensive).

Click to shrink...

Hmmm, I wonder if hanging out near the first space station and just farming asteroids is a good idea 🤔 .

Thanks!

 

[Oozer]

I played a ton at launch on PS4 and for the next year or two. I'm planning on using the game's addition to Game Pass to get back into it and start a new save on Xbox. At least the last time I played, you could make decent money being a space trader. There's been at least one major update since then, though, so I don't know how lucrative trading is anymore.

 

[ethanradd]

I am, absolutely loving it. On my second planet, love just exploring and flying around in my ship. Performance gets a bit choppy, wonder if it'll be able to run at 60fps on next gen hardware, that'd be beautiful.

 

[Woylie]

It's my first time playing it too! I started on Normal and found that the grind for materials was a bit tiresome, but I generally enjoy the exploration and discovery with new planets and alien animals. I started a file on Creative Mode and I think I'll go back and forth between both files, depending on if I'm in the mood to build up materials and follow along with the story, or just chill and explore random planets and build cool bases.

Some of the emergent gameplay stuff I've seen so far has been hilarious. I got chased by an alien T-rex with a flower for a head and ended up running along with a herd of armadillo-looking creatures across a radioactive desert. Excavated an alien ruin before having to run from sentinels and hiding in a cave with glowing flowers. Got into my first space combat battle having no idea what I was doing, but ended up winning.

I've really been enjoying my time with it, even if it's not perfect and the worlds can feel a bit empty/samey.

 

[Goldenroad]

I played it on launch day on PS4 and traded it in the next day.
This is my first time playing it since that day, and honestly, I'd probably just trade it in again if it weren't on Game Pass.
I just don't like survival games. The first planet I'm on, within minutes I'm needing to find some element to keep my suit from overheating...and yeah, those types of systems do absolutely nothing for me. I did get to the second planet, and it was just more of the same. I'll leave it on my HDD for a while in case the mood strikes me to give it another shot, but I just ended up installing Fallout 3 and I played through that entire campaign again. Now that's an open world I can get behind. I just don't like crafting, I don't like survival crap...I wish Fallout 4 was more like Fallout 3 and less like No Mans Sky.

Actually, that was point at which I turned it off; when they asked me to build a shelter ala FO4. I have zero interest in ever building a shelter in any game.

 

[Omanisat]

You should all pop over to the OT if you've got questions, etc....

 

[Landy828]

I played it on launch day on PS4 and traded it in the next day.
This is my first time playing it since that day, and honestly, I'd probably just trade it in again if it weren't on Game Pass.
I just don't like survival games. The first planet I'm on, within minutes I'm needing to find some element to keep my suit from overheating...and yeah, those types of systems do absolutely nothing for me. I did get to the second planet, and it was just more of the same. I'll leave it on my HDD for a while in case the mood strikes me to give it another shot, but I just ended up installing Fallout 3 and I played through that entire campaign again. Now that's an open world I can get behind. I just don't like crafting, I don't like survival crap...I wish Fallout 4 was more like Fallout 3 and less like No Mans Sky.

Actually, that was point at which I turned it off; when they asked me to build a shelter ala FO4. I have zero interest in ever building a shelter in any game.

Click to shrink...

There's a free play mode where you don't have to do anything but enjoy exploring/flying around...I believe. I haven't tried it yet.

Also, they have you build a floor, and four walls, and a roof if you want. I've not been made to build a shelter since then, haha.

I'll probably go to that if I don't feel like grinding/working to survive. I like having both modes available.

 

[Goldenroad]

There's a free play mode where you don't have to do anything but enjoy exploring/flying around...I believe. I haven't tried it yet.

I'll probably go to that if I don't feel like grinding/working to survive. I like having both modes available.

Click to shrink...

I guess, but then what's the game loop at that point? I do want goals and objectives. I just don't want those goals to be "grind out this resource, so you can go to another planet and find more resources". And then that being married with "And build a shelter and fortify your suit so you don't die just by actually being out in the world"...it's just not my kind of game. I'm not saying it's a bad game at all. It's probably, by all accounts, a really good one of those games, but I just don't like games where that is the basic loop.

 

[Putosaure]

Hope you guys enjoy the game as it is. To me it's not the same anymore as it was at the beginning (duh). The magic of launch window was a clunky experience, but full of mystery. Now, it's base building galore, racing, whatever. I think it lacks the sense of loneliness that it had. Btw, am I the only one wondeing how you can "discover" planet and species when those same planet already have bases and outposts built? :)

 

[Landy828]

Hope you guys enjoy the game as it is. To me it's not the same anymore as it was at the beginning (duh). The magic of launch window was a clunky experience, but full of mystery. Now, it's base building galore, racing, whatever. I think it lacks the sense of loneliness that it had. Btw, am I the only one wondeing how you can "discover" planet and species when those same planet already have bases and outposts built? :)

Click to shrink...

Like Europeans "discovering" America. 🤣🤣

 

[Choco Momonga]

I like the game but the controls seem rough, specifically on foot, first and third person. I wish it was more smooth. I'm on pc, friend is on Xbox and we had the same complaints.
Other than that the game is really something else, I like it.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

I'm playing it and loving it. Would prefer better inventory management but I'm coping.

 

[Mingoguaya]

I started the other day and played for like 5 hours straight (haven't done that in forever). The game is just as amazing as I thought it will be. Funny story, a couple of weeks ago I planned on getting the game, and not a week or two passed when they announced that it was coming to Game Pass.

 

[Ayra Sutoraifu]

Played about 120 ish hours on PS4 and several on PSVR. Jumped ftl about 200 times to the outside of the galaxy but last time it sunk to me; if you want to explore planets they sadly all look the same from a handfull of basic blueprints.

 

[Robaperas]

I have played it in all its updates, the last time was a month ago, the easiest way to get money at the beginning was digging for salvage data (Buried Technology Module), if you collect a bunch of those, you can make a good amount of money in no time. On my last playthrough I ended up farming and crafting a bunch of high value items from plants, I made like 900 million units in a couple of days.

You can stay in any solar system for as long as you want, when you get into making a base, there are ways to make exploring easier.

What I upgrade first is the jetpack, with the melee bosst/punch boost, you can fly long distances if you feather the jetpack. Also, you can find upgrades in Damaged Machinery, if you're lucky, you can find S-grade upgrades in those.

 

[Landy828]

I have played it in all its updates, the last time was a month ago, the easiest way to get money at the beginning was digging for salvage data (Buried Technology Module), if you collect a bunch of those, you can make a good amount of money in no time. On my last playthrough I ended up farming and crafting a bunch of high value items from plants, I made like 900 million units in a couple of days.

You can stay in any solar system for as long as you want, when you get into making a base, there are ways to make exploring easier.

What I upgrade first is the jetpack, with the melee bosst/punch boost, you can fly long distances if you feather the jetpack. Also, you can find upgrades in Damaged Machinery, if you're lucky, you can find S-grade upgrades in those.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Robaperas]

Thanks for the tips!

Click to shrink...

No problem, if you have any specific question, I can answer in a non-spoilery way.

 

[Deleted member 13645]

I've been dabbling with it and really enjoying it. One small thing I don't like is that there's ships flying overhead on every planet it seems like. It takes away that isolated & lonely feeling that space can convey, but that's obviously not what it wants the player to feel.

 

[ginger ninja]

I know they have cross play now but is there any way to transfer your progress over as well ?

 

[Omanisat]

I've been dabbling with it and really enjoying it. One small thing I don't like is that there's ships flying overhead on every planet it seems like. It takes away that isolated & lonely feeling that space can convey, but that's obviously not what it wants the player to feel.

Click to shrink...

The red star systems are often unmapped, so if you focus on those you'll never encounter any NPCs.

 

[Landy828]

The red star systems are often unmapped, so if you focus on those you'll never encounter any NPCs.

Click to shrink...

Didn't know this. I'll keep this in mind.

 

[nikos]

I think I'm going to start over on Game Pass so that I can play on both console and PC. I played the PS4 version at launch for quite a bit, then purchased the game again on Steam for VR but only played for a couple of hours.

Cross-play is a really great addition. The only thing I wish we had was cross-save, and this seems like the best solution for now. I feel kind of silly playing a "free" version when I've purchased the game twice, but it makes the most sense.

 

[EVIL]

The story of no man sky is one of the most roller-coaster stories in this industry.

It went from being a very ambitious game coming from a super small team (6 ppl) coming out of nowhere, with a super effective hype trailer that blew peoples expectations trough the roof, to having to ship the game far earlier than it was supposed to, to it being rightfully trashed when the 60 dollar game was an equivalent to buying a product and receiving a box with a brick instead.

A story of a down and trodden studio, who at that point, instead of taking the cash and run, invested that cash into the game and actually after months and years of incredibly hard work and dedication delivering what was promised and then some! and they are still going strong adding new content to the game.

its something that should be taught in school to anyone wanting to make games.

 

[Deleted member 51848]

its something that should be taught in school to anyone wanting to make games.

Click to shrink...

This. Head down, work hard, polish polish polish and eventually improve.

 

[Green Mario]

The story of no man sky is one of the most roller-coaster stories in this industry.

It went from being a very ambitious game coming from a super small team (6 ppl) coming out of nowhere, with a super effective hype trailer that blew peoples expectations trough the roof, to having to ship the game far earlier than it was supposed to, to it being rightfully trashed when the 60 dollar game was an equivalent to buying a product and receiving a box with a brick instead.

A story of a down and trodden studio, who at that point, instead of taking the cash and run, invested that cash into the game and actually after months and years of incredibly hard work and dedication delivering what was promised and then some! and they are still going strong adding new content to the game.

its something that should be taught in school to anyone wanting to make games.

Click to shrink...

Yes, they could have easily just disappeared with all that hype money, but it's super cool that they stood behind their game and made it into a great experience that's far more representative of how it was initially shown.

 

[Lamptramp]

So I've had a PS4 since No Man's Sky released, and a gaming PC, but I never got around to playing it. I kept putting it off and telling myself I'd get it when it was $10-$20.

The initial release, and talking to others playing it, turned me off of the game for quite a while. However, with the updates, I started to get excited about finally playing the game. I came close to purchasing it multiple times over the last couple months.

I have to say I'm absolutely LOVING this game. It has a strange sense of being both extremely relaxing and tense at the same time. The feeling of discovery and awe at the size of the game is pretty great, and I find myself battling over whether I should move on or find everything on the planet I'm currently on.

I'm only a few hours in, but I finally made a FTL jump for the first time. I felt bad leaving where I was, as if I'd miss a ton of stuff, but went ahead and made the leap. Who else is really enjoying the game for the first time? Or not if you're not.

Any hints from long time players?

Should I stick around in each "solar system" for long?

Should I try upgrading certain things? Buying a new ship?

First purchasable ship I found/was offered was $6Million, which seems impossible at this point 🤣 .

Best way to make money?

I'd love any hints or non-spoiler help in the game.

Click to shrink...

I've put ludicrous time into the game since launch on both consoles so I'll happily share some of my thoughts. Firstly though glad that you're enjoying the atmosphere of playing, its one of my favorite parts of the game.
There's tons of info in the latest OT but also more spoilers than you would probably like, but the initial post has some good overall info.

With regards to lingering, I always (since I've restarted every update since launch) linger a while in my starting system, though I would say that really aside from emotional attachment and/or aesthetic reasons there really isn't much of a reason to linger anywhere, there's always another system and systems are not unique in their resources.
Though should you come across a system early on which has a variety of enviroments and valuable loot (ancient bones or salvagable scrap) I'd recommend lingering while you build up some funds and explore for Tech etc. it can always be a place to start an initial base too to progress that storyline. You can (and should) also look for crashed ships while you have a nice system to potter around in.

Upgrading, well thats a whole kettle of fish, very early on upgrading your multitool or ship, isn't worthwhile in my opinion. You can pretty quickly be solvent enough to pick up a reasonably cheap ship which would be much better than the starting one, and start upgrading that rather than wasting resources or upgrade modules on the starting ship. Same goes for the multitool.
Upgrading your exosuit capacity and tech slots should be the priority I'd argue, and of them, I'd save cargo slots til later, they are more expensive and at the start of the game I need many smaller stacks for different resources more than one larger one. Also your exosuit tech slots always stay with you so you can upgrade and install modules safe in the knowledge thaat you won't have to remove anything until much later(if ever).

Making money, there's a lot of different ways, but early on starting with valuable loot is pretty simple, in my experience salvagable scrap is "quicker" than ancient bones but YMMV. Something else I usually do as well is search for crashed ships, they are typically heavily damaged and expensive to repair fully, but you can get them working enough to fly and every one will be (even damaged) worth much more than the starting ship, with a little units from valuable loot farming and a crashed ship you could have up to 3-6 million trade in value to a better ship from an NPC at a trading post. If possibly hang on for a hauler if you would like, the extra cargo space is a boon early on. You may even be lucky and find a crashed "A" class ship which could have millions of trade in value.

I mean, I could (and would go on for ages). We even made an XBox club and Era Discord back for Xbox launch, though we didn't get much traction :). PSVR and my XboneX dying sent me back to PS4 but if you wanted some further tips please feel free to ask here or PM/Discord whatever. I tried to keep things vague but can go into more detail if you like, I really rate the storylines in NMS so always try and kee things spoiler free.

 

[Dan Thunder]

Already got it on PS4 but we've got our son a TV for his room for his birthday in a few weeks. Might move the Xbox up there so we can play this game online together.

 

[SPRidley]

The gamepass version has all the updates right?
Whats the size of the game, i want to try it but i dobt know if i have enough space on my pc right now.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

I am. Well, technically I'm not playing right now.

I was always interested in the game but the downsides with the release of an what felt like an unfinished game prevented me. Then they added a lot of stuff but most seemed addressing building and crafting whereas I hoped they would have expanded on a story or rewarding exploration so I never grabbed it at a discount.

But now I can finally see for myself how it is and how much fun, if any, I'm going to have with this. I'm really curious and it's already installed. Just need some spare time now.

 

[Lamptramp]

The gamepass version has all the updates right?
Whats the size of the game, i want to try it but i dobt know if i have enough space on my pc right now.

Click to shrink...

Because its mostly proc. generated the console versions are only about 6 gig or so (or they were last time I checked), probably more now, but I'd doubt it was much more.

 

[nekkid]

I am, but it's just got too much crafting for me.

 

[Is_that_my_horse]

I got the game on day 1 and got put off really quickly. But seeing the turn around Hello Games has done is indisputable. I'm now fighting the urge to go back because there is already so much play already and this game is a time vacuum.

 

[SPRidley]

Because its mostly proc. generated the console versions are only about 6 gig or so (or they were last time I checked), probably more now, but I'd doubt it was much more.

Click to shrink...

I totally forgot about the procedurally generated lol yeah that makes sense, thanks.

 

[Lamptramp]

I totally forgot about the procedurally generated lol yeah that makes sense, thanks.

Click to shrink...

It *has been a while since I checked, up to 11.29GB on PS4 for me, my Xbone is dead so I can't check if its similar or not there, could be larger with VR support though (no idea) so maybe 12 GB max on PC or Xbox

 

[FancyPants]

Completely "new" game now as opposed to the train wreck it was at launch. The insanely grindy gameplay loop of mining just to get tools to mine quicker got old really fast, and the game didn't have anything to actually do but mine and look at random locales (which looked pretty bad ngl). There just was nothing to reach for, which I feel they have fixed admirely. The backlash at launch was well deserved, but I feel Hello Games has redeemed themselves.

 

[gregoriavitch]

Best way to make money?

Click to shrink...

Certainly one of the quickest ways to make money I found was crash the economies of rich systems by flooding them with wiring looms. Needs about 3-5 million in start up capital to buy enough looms for it to be effective, but once you're carting several hundred of them from system to system you're making millions on each transaction.