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SPACE WARFARE: A DUAL UNIVERSE STORY - discussion thread


NQ-Wanderer

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That is some amazing visuals and ship design. Also it was really nice to have a small story along with voice acting. Looking forward to see what comes next.

Edited by Msoul
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The voice!!! oh the voice!!!! /grin

the vid was flashy and just "real game play" enough to not be over-blown

 

The best part, IMnsHO, is the inclusion of the "Alian" tech, which is DUs best hook for storyline and PvE content.

what is that small tingle at the back of my skull? Is it the first hint of hope? nah it can't be, it must just be an itch.

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I know things like this are very subjective, but to me it's just corny... 

 

Personally, I don't find the story or lore of DU to be solid enough for this video to be meaningful, and don't really see how this video improves on the lore, setting, or theme. 

 

32 minutes ago, Cergorach said:

That feels disgustingly dishonest as a DU promotional video...

 

Yeah, agreed -- I get that it isn't necessarily meant to show "real gameplay" but people will take it as such if used for promotions. 

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It's a false representation of the game and sets expectatiosn which can't be met.. at all ..

 

It feels like NQ tries to copy the genenal idea of the "Clear Skies" fan created story based on EVE but falls terribly short.

 

--

 

Imagine this:

 

Abandoned alien stations are found across the system, it appears these stations once were used to extract valuable resources but have long since been left, damaged and forgotten.

Finding such system will allow you and your crew to investigate and repair the core, restore power and shields and repair the station. Then you find a machine which does not work but there is clues as to how to make it work, once you solve the puzzle and gain access to the unit, you find it will allow you to harvest the resource the previous owners extracted and used. Throughout the station clues are found allowing you to piece together for what purpose the plasma you can now harvest is used.

 

As you bring the station back online though, it becomes detectable by others and so you may find you get visitors. Whether these are friend or foe.. remains to be seen ..

 

--

I mean.. it is not that heard to conceive a scenario that works for both sides and would allow you to play out some interesting gameplay. I agree that content like this should really not be for solo players and that there needs to be risk but at the same time, you need to have a chance to remain undetected and get away with what you find.

 

And the above may sound familiar if you watched the latest videio NQ put out, it is effectively what is shown with some further refinement. And so what that video pretends to show is actually not unrealistic in what could be done but as-is it sets entirely false expectations fo rthe actual content, which is a problem in and of itself.

 

As it is, these are just stationary constructs like any other and offer nothing really new or worthwhile.


NQ is not short of ideas, they are however short on imagination, time and money

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I feel cinematically this was well done, voice acting and story wise the budget shows. Unfortunately I wish I could say I have experienced anything close to this in all of my time in DU, and I have played for years now. I think this is a great vision to have, still a long ways to go.

A little off topic, but will say I really like the new system map in game.

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The video would have to be many hours longer for you to understand the actual game mechanics that it takes hours to get from a planet to an alien core station depending on the ship. The mechanics should be presented more clearly, especially that you don't notice many battles with ships, but at most see a blue ship icon with distance and name. Most of the time, the ships do not render at all because of the distance, as the video suggests.
There is also no indication that you can only "play" a battle by clicking "select ship, identify, shoot". There are no great flight manoeuvres to avoid being shot at. The ships themselves looked great in the video, but this is hardly reality, because they are often elementary ships in order to keep the ship size as small as possible and now also to minimise the weight due to the maximum speed.
I generally feel that the time you have to invest in the game to finally get to a point where you can really play and have fun is too extreme. Has NQ really thought about what exactly a player is supposed to do while flying through space for 2-6 hours? Whether it's a mission or now the alien cores.What exactly do the developers expect the game to be perceived as? In our organisation, people watch series or films on the side or simply start another game. Excuse me - but is that really the way it's meant to be? You have to consider that we use high-quality hardware to play the game, as well as then (at least here in Germany) a high value of electricity costs to implement this hobby - and NQ expects me to "play" a game while I tune out the game to do other things? This reminds me of the browser games that you start once a day, send your ships somewhere to attack something, click through the productions and then go offline again to check the next day whether everything had worked.
The video itself, well, you notice that not much time and money was put into it, which is understandable at the moment, as you are happy for every sign of life from the game.

 

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37 minutes ago, Zarcata said:

...What exactly do the developers expect the game to be perceived as? In our organisation, people watch series or films on the side or simply start another game. Excuse me - but is that really the way it's meant to be? You have to consider that we use high-quality hardware to play the game, as well as then (at least here in Germany) a high value of electricity costs to implement this hobby - and NQ expects me to "play" a game while I tune out the game to do other things?...

 

Agreed. It's literally the opposite of engaging gameplay when you're forced to do other stuff while DU is running in a background. It's a waste of electricity in an age when developers should know better.

 

It's "hardcore for the sake of hardcore" to force people to slowly crawl through the black -- I've yet to hear any real game design justification for slow boating other than some vague ideas about realism that don't really make any sense in the context of game design. "But Eve has it and that's been around for 20 years" isn't a meaningful statement.

 

But...this ship has sailed (slowly) -- it is what it is and isn't going to change (except in adverts and promotional cinematics). 🤷‍♂️

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Not bad, but not great either. Close in fights like that look cool, and as Blazemonger said it would work in a "fan-made story" kind of way, but it does not look at all like actual DU pvp, and care should probably be taken to ensure prospective new players do not mistake it as such.

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It's well scripted video mimicking the style,  which we've been accostumed to seeing with each eve online expansion. I'm sure it has potential to get some new people excited enough to give Dual Universe a shot, however it's a gross misrepresentation of what the actual experience on live service is; both visually and gameplay wise.  I would go as far as to say it's coasting dangerously close to what may, even legally, constitue false advertising; especially considering the closing statement declaring "ALL AVAILABLE NOW IN THE ATHENA UPDATE" ; by which beyond resonable doubt, NQ implies, what viewer sees, is what really happens in game. 

 

Despite all the hurdles and false starts we've seen in past 2 years, i still belive DU is unique, has a fair bit to offer, and may yet grow into something truly exciting.  NQ certainly doesn't need to do themselves a diservice by reaching for this type of low hanging fruit.  Sure you may get a few more subs initially, than your would have otherwise gotten with more honest presentation, but quite a few of those new recruits will end up being pretty  steamed,  once they get to experience DU pvp first hand, and those will be the people you don't get to monetize beyond the intial cost of entry.  

 

(not to mention "the" determiner before name "Athena"  as name, is grammar error, unless Athena is, in this context  an acronym)  I'm but a simple forum troll, i can afford the sort of blunder, but for a serious company... not a great picture to present.

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On 5/7/2022 at 7:53 PM, Bazzy_505 said:

Sure you may get a few more subs initially, than your would have otherwise gotten with more honest presentation, but quite a few of those new recruits will end up being pretty  steamed,  once they get to experience DU pvp first hand, and those will be the people you don't get to monetize beyond the intial cost of entry.  

 

This is the sort of basic business logic that seems to elude NQ when it's obvious for everyone else.

 

If you don't charge an initial purchase price, you can't afford to churn people like this -- the cost of acquisition may very well exceed the $9.99 they pay for 1 month's sub...and creating an unrealistic expectation makes churn rates far worse.

 

It's frustrating because it's easy to imagine someone in marketing insisting that the adverts are fantastic because "conversion rates are good" -- when as a subscription-based game its retention rate that matters. It's like they've made an effort to learn as little as possible from the public beta rollout and are trying to repeat that failure in every way. 

 

NQ has had 3 difference CEOs before the game has even launched...so even if we put all their game design and development woes to the side, there's fundamental issues with their leadership that are hard to explain.

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31 minutes ago, KaraThrace said:

Come on, it was alright. For a quirky indie game developer it was great. A bit of fun to advertise new features to folks already playing the game.  

 

But NQ isn't an indie developer...why do people think they are? 

 

They are certainly indie compared to the big giants of the industry like Activision or EA, but over $20 million in funding and ~30-50 employees across two offices means you aren't indie. 

 

They are probably not even triple-I with the size of their studio...and more neatly fit into the double-A category. 

 

So...might be quirky but certainly not fair to classify them as indie. 

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