Of course not. (Gaming)

by EffortlessFury , Saturday, August 13, 2016, 22:23 (3028 days ago) @ Cody Miller

The hype surrounding No Man's Sky was massive. Did that not in some way help you enjoy the game? By playing and thinking to yourself, silently making comparisons in your brain to what you had expected and hoped? To what you already knew about the game?

I'm in an interesting position because I tuned out the hype a long time ago. I knew that from the information being trickled out, there wasn't a whole lot to go on about what the game would be or what it would feature. A lot of people's expectations were born out of speculation; I'd been here through the days of Halo 2 and 3's development and I remembered what that did for my enjoyment of the game.

The hype it self was a lot of fun. The speculation and theories were great. But in the end, what we got, in many ways, did not live up to the hype. The games might've been less disappointing had I not engaged in the hype machine (to be fair, they weren't usually THAT disappointing, I'm just hi-lighting this aspect of the hype machine and expectations). The Halo games, when experienced outside of the hype, the advertising, and expanded universe, were likely completely differently received by the player than by one who engaged in one or more of the above.

What you want from the game and what you expect from the game will color how you receive it. That's a given. In my opinion its our responsibility to temper our expectations and its the developers' to not oversell them. Unfortunately in the business world, overselling expectations is how games are sold and budgets are met.

A revolution in the industry aside, it is left to the individual to decide what to consume to form their opinions and expectations. I think its important to remember this fact, especially when reading reviews and criticism; a person's opinions on a subject are inextricably linked to their preconceived notions.

Personally, I think No Man's Sky delivered on exactly what they aimed to deliver, as far as substance is concerned. Could the product be improved by better mechanics? Absolutely. Are there some technical fumbles? Sure, most games do. (doesn't excuse it, but context matters) Play the game if its something you can enjoy for what it is, don't play it if it's not. What I do think what can be said by most everyone is that NMS does open the door to a genre and to technology that can greatly improve future works by game devs.