Surprisingly, I wasn't able to find a thread on this one yet (unless I'm just bad at searching). Anyone on here part of the absurd hype train?

I honestly don't know if I'm picking it up yet, or not. I love almost everything about how it both looks and sounds (the soundtrack is now up on Spotify and it's kind of incredible). But, everything else I know about the actual moment-to-moment gameplay isn't very encouraging to someone like me who doesn't really get along with survival games. I've tried stuff like Minecraft and The Forest, and, I just can't get my head around having a reason to actually play them. I'm hoping there's more story in the game than the previews have led us to believe.

Despite all that, I'm leaning towards picking it up at launch. What about the rest of you?

Well, I think I'm going for the PC version if anything, due to my recent graphics card upgrade.
Because of the three day delay this also gives me at least a little window into seeing how people feel about the finished product.

I thought Joe Danger was terrific so, even though this is obviously a completely different kettle of space-fish, I have some confidence in Hello to deliver.

I'm going for the PC version, and I'm getting it soon after launch. Hello Games know how to make a fun experience, as Leon said, and even if they don't hit the stars they are aiming for with this title, I'm "fairly" confident it will still be an interesting experience.

I'm definitely picking it up. Already have it ordered on Steam. Based on everything I've seen and read about it, it seems to be shaping up to be a very engaging experience. My friend and I plan to play it on launch side by side over Skype and share our discoveries. Since we probably won't ever see each other in game, we decided that would be the best way to play together haha

The size of the game's universe impresses me and I'm really looking forward to exploring a game of that scale. Space exploration is something that really interests me, and if they deliver on their promises, this game might become my all time favorite space exploration game. The fact that the file size of the game is only about 6 gigs is hopefully some indicator of quality.
Also I didn't know anything about the soundtrack. I might've said this before, but I'm a sucker for games with good music. Sometimes I'll pick up a game based on the soundtrack alone. I'll have to look this one up now.

I always appreciated the look and style of Joe Danger more than I did actually playing it. Not that there was anything in there to actively dislike, but, it just wasn't clicking with me for some reason. Could certainly recognize the talent, though.

I've preordered on my US PSN account basically so I can play it a day earlier. I've been looking forward to this, like many, since that very first reveal and I still think the trailer is one of the best I've seen. No cut scenes, no voiceover, just a minute and a half of (scripted) emergent gameplay which covers the majority of what you do in the game. Exploration, travel, combat. The moment of leaving the atmosphere was far beyond what I expected from the first thirty seconds and then the re-entry and swooping through canyons on a completely different planet was frankly jaw dropping.

I watched the early streams and while there does seem to be an odd group of people who are looking forward to it failing or falling short, it looks like what they promised: explore, trade, shoot, fly. I'll treat it primarily as a walking simulator with elements of progression. The only thing that I don't particularly look forward to is constant farming to stay alive/refuel the ship, but I suspect that depends a good deal on individual planet conditions, etc. I'd also like to actually have the infinitesimal chance to bump into another player but I now understand that it works a little more like the Dark Souls 'ghosts' instead of phantoms, if that's not too confusing. You can see some activity and evidence of other players but not the player character. I hope I've misunderstood, though.

I do think it's going to disappoint a lot of people and will likely spawn a thousand disingenuous memes, simply because it doesn't achieve goals which are outside of its remit, but I am absolutely psyched for what it does look to offer.

Stanshall wrote:The only thing that I don't particularly look forward to is constant farming to stay alive/refuel the ship, but I suspect that depends a good deal on individual planet conditions, etc.

Yeah that's also something I'm a little worried about. I really hope that stuff doesn't get too much in the way. I can see it becoming a bit of a chore if all I want to do is get in my ship, fly around space, and let myself get lost in the atmosphere.

Stanshall wrote:I do think it's going to disappoint a lot of people and will likely spawn a thousand disingenuous memes, simply because it doesn't achieve goals which are outside of its remit, but I am absolutely psyched for what it does look to offer.

I agree. I don't think it can live up to the hype. I don't know if any game ever has. Which is why I make sure I don't keep my expectations too high. This game sounds ambitious, so I'm a bit skeptical, but still really looking forward to seeing if they can deliver. I think that we're in for an interesting experience regardless.

Stanshall wrote:I do think it's going to disappoint a lot of people and will likely spawn a thousand disingenuous memes, simply because it doesn't achieve goals which are outside of its remit, but I am absolutely psyched for what it does look to offer.

If only the rest of the internet had this balanced way of thinking!

I'm worried for the HG team. The reaction they've already received must be overwhelming and the damn thing isn't even officially out yet.

If the gameplay is good then sure, otherwise not entirely fussed but I can see why everyone here is excited and I really hope your not shattered if it just turns out to be ok.

mikeleddy83 wrote:If the gameplay is good then sure, otherwise not entirely fussed but I can see why everyone here is excited and I really hope your not shattered if it just turns out to be ok.

I think part of HG's problem is that good gameplay in this case also means 'the type of game we want' for many people. I do think they could have marketed the game differently, earlier, by explicitly saying 'this is more Minecraft than Destiny, exploration over gunplay', but by the time they released the recent series of trailers showing the four main elements of the gameplay loop, expectations and fantasies (basically) had already spiralled well out of their control. I still don't know whether their reluctance to be more explicit was a PR master stroke or just the nature of an evolving development process.

And cheers, Sean. I do feel for HG (although they're very likely to be instant millionaires!), I don't think they could really have known the full effect that all this would have.

I should have it... tomorrow! So we'll see.

I've never been too interested in this game. While it's always impressed visually, I've never been much for the whole randomly generated survival thing. Although since the release has gotten closer, I've started becoming more interested in it. I'm still pretty sceptical about it, but I do like the idea of being able to journey across the galaxy, getting in to dogfights and upgrading my ship along the way. But without a hand-crafted progression through that, I'm unsure if that will actually turn out as good as it sounds.

PC version is launching same day as PS4 now. I'm excited for it, but definitely won't be getting it launch day as I have too much else to finish first. I'm hoping it'll be amazing though, as it seems a perfect play in bed on remote play game.

Anyone want to predict a review score? I call 8.5 on IGN.

Are you sure? As I understand it the PS4 release is 9th/10th and PC is Friday 12th confirmed...

NB: Only semi-serious score predictions:

PlayStation-focused sites and magazines 9-10

EDGE 7
Polygon 6
GameCritics 4

ratsoalbion wrote:EDGE 7
Polygon 6
GameCritics 4

I thought those were the actual scores till I saw the above post

Oops! Sorry!

Are they predictions or insider info?

Didn't Sean Murray say 'please don't review it before the patch'?

Ugh, this weekend feels really long so far...

Edit: Hehe. I see.

I should have read properly, silly I am.

I got the game this afternoon, but now I know progress will be entirely reset with the day 1 patch, I might hold back till its out.

Well I might not have been super optimistic but those scores are a few under what I anticipated. Then again it's the same scores I saw for severed

Edit: stealth edit bait works well