Having played both, Elite: Dangerous is a very different game.
Is it good! Yes.
Is it fun? Absolutely.
Does it have more merit than Star Citizen in many ways, while not being a predatory hellhole? Hell yeah.
But it falls short in a few things where Star Citizen delivers - most notably, immersion. That’s their strong suit. In Star Citizen, you can actually freely walk aboard your damn ship, you can visit glorious stations and entire cities, leaving your starship far behind. The world is more alive, cities are filled with NPCs, ads and neon screens are blasting around, you can ride a subway or hop into a bar with friends! And then you walk your friends aboard your ship, and you have a cozy night at the kitchen - talking, sharing life stories, and having fun. The game feels very…real in this respect, and the social life you get there is a major part of the experience.
Perhaps, this is exactly how it extorted so much money from the gamers: making them feel at home, build social ties to the game, and then making them feel they can’t progress and do more and be a worthy part of this society without putting in hundreds and thousands of dollars. Gotta admit - they almost had me, too, to spend $400 on a cargo vessel, and that’s almost my monthly income. Common sense took over, though, as I saw people throwing their life savings into the game.
Having played both, Elite: Dangerous is a very different game.
Is it good! Yes.
Is it fun? Absolutely.
Does it have more merit than Star Citizen in many ways, while not being a predatory hellhole? Hell yeah.
But it falls short in a few things where Star Citizen delivers - most notably, immersion. That’s their strong suit. In Star Citizen, you can actually freely walk aboard your damn ship, you can visit glorious stations and entire cities, leaving your starship far behind. The world is more alive, cities are filled with NPCs, ads and neon screens are blasting around, you can ride a subway or hop into a bar with friends! And then you walk your friends aboard your ship, and you have a cozy night at the kitchen - talking, sharing life stories, and having fun. The game feels very…real in this respect, and the social life you get there is a major part of the experience.
Perhaps, this is exactly how it extorted so much money from the gamers: making them feel at home, build social ties to the game, and then making them feel they can’t progress and do more and be a worthy part of this society without putting in hundreds and thousands of dollars. Gotta admit - they almost had me, too, to spend $400 on a cargo vessel, and that’s almost my monthly income. Common sense took over, though, as I saw people throwing their life savings into the game.