What to say about Elite... Firstly, the game itself is incredible, in many ways. It's incredibly beautiful. Any screenshot of some of the most mundane stuff is absolutely amazing. The engine, though somewhat dated, is extremely complex, going down into detail to such things as how planetary atmosphere compositions scatter and bend light into different wavelengths, or how star systems that were randomly generated at the start of the game were made as realistically as we know. It helps that Frontier Developments actually enlisted the help of astrophysicists and the like to help design the engine; many members of that team are actually memorialized in the game one way or the other. Elite is incredibly massive. The game has been around since 2014 (2013 if you want to be technical). A decade later, and certainly not for lack of trying, less than a percent of the galaxy has been mapped. It is just so incredibly large, so diverse, that it may take the entire community many, many lifetimes, no exaggeration, to map even a full percent. The scale is, pun intended, truly astronomical, and goes a long way to showing you just how small we are. Elite is incredibly rich; the lore itself dates back to the original game from 1984, and reading the codex, you can even see the references about it all. The galaxy is very much alive, especially now that Frontier has gotten their heads back on it seems (more on that later), with events constantly happening and being driven by the playerbase. This is the community's story as a whole, for sure, but there's a whole few thousand years of history from before Elite:Dangerous came into being, so to speak, starting all the way from Yuri Gagarin launching to space. It's scattered across the sect of human-colonized space colloquially called the 'bubble' in the forms of data beacons, abandoned megaships, and more, all with their own story behind them. Elite is, however, incredibly, INCREDIBLY grindy. It has been made much easier with recent updates, but those updates were too long in coming and certainly saw a large portion of potential players and seasoned commanders leaving before they happened. Money isn't the grind, it's the materials required to upgrade your ship's modules, weapons, and more to be 'the best' at your chosen profession, be it bounty hunting, exploring, fighting for one of the galactic superpowers, fighting the alien invaders and defending humanity on what was, until recently, a losing war, or more. Again, made much easier now, but even if it was enough, it was still too late. Elite is incredibly frustrating. I say this as someone who experienced it personally; starting as a new player, expect to be ganked by seasoned veterans who have nothing better than to constantly kill fresh players because it's the only way they can level themselves up; anyone with half a brain would wipe them. Of course, in light of that, there are communities of players who dedicate themselves to hunting those same players down and clearing the way for those fresh players, and now you have solo play, where only you will be in your galaxy; you still share it with the rest of the playerbase, but you won't see them and they won't see you (NPCs can and will still try to take your cargo though, you aren't safe). Every now and then, a game bug will cause you to experience catastrophic damage to your ship, or a NPC pirate (or player) will interdict your cargo ship and kill you a few thousand kilometers (about 3 seconds' flight time) from your destination, but that's how it is. Brutal and frustrating. And you can't always rely on the security forces to help you out. The biggest gripe with Elite isn't the game, but the company running it. Frontier Developments, for the last few years, chose to virtually abandon what can be described as their flagship title to pursue other genres of games, some of which worked, most of which flopped. While I'm all for companies trying new things and broadening their horizons, that firstly shouldn't be done at the cost of a very well-loved, money-making franchise, and secondly, if those new things fall flat, don't try to keep pumping them up, especially when the hole causing the leak still exists. At the start of this year (2024), Fdev had a little sit down with their folks, shareholders, etc etc, and figured out that maybe, instead of trying things that still aren't working for them, they should focus on the things that have been. Granted, that introduced some new monetization into the game, but it isn't even close to pay-to-win, or even pay-to-progress-faster...maybe along the lines of pay-to-skip-a-bit-of-that-grind-I-mentioned-earlier. And of course, there's skins for your ships, space suits, and surface vehicles. Many customization for many things, but the currency can be earned, 400 ARX (the premium currency) every week, simply playing the game. No missions to do, just play the game your way, and you'll earn it. And if you're adverse to spending any money but want some sort of customization? Every now and then, for holidays, community events, etc, you can earn some stuff by completing a set of missions that might have you go on a bit of a goose chase, or complete 'x' objective in concert with the rest of the playerbase to unlock new tech with bonus skins for certain contribution tiers. Credit where credit is due, Fdev do seem to be trying, but myself and many other long-time commanders are remaining wary. Elite is certainly a game worth buying if you have time, and a lot of it. Expect to get addicted, if you enjoy space and science fiction, but that ebbs and flows. Find your niche in the game, and learn to love it, but don't be afraid to try out new things too. And there's always a group of players who can and will help you out, as long as you find the right ones.
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