In the truly enjoyable book Han Solo's Revenge -- one in a trilogy written by Brian Daley in the early '80s, there's a scene where Han and another character are leaving a planet on a luxury liner to escape some unpleasant entanglements. The other character is bored and wants to play a video game with Han in which you play as a captain of a ship that travels through space trying to make money. Han declines; he doesn't like the game because it's "too much like work".
This is Elite: Dangerous. The backdrop of 400 billion systems is enticing. The game description provided by the publisher is exciting and alluring. As for the actual gameplay, it's work. Like, actual work. When you remove the space backdrop from the equation, what you're left with is a game where you essentially work with numbers. And it takes a very, very long time to obtain the smallest modicum of progression (or backsliding).
Ex. 1) I've had the game for two days. My game started me in a station that was on lockdown: no missions were available to me at my paltry level, and the commodities section of the station was locked. I made it to another station, then I spent a couple of hours (real-life hours) flying around with a trunk full of biowaste, which I eventually managed to unload at a loss. Then I bought some kind of material which looked like a more promising trade, but the only system I could find that wanted it was uncharted with two suns. I thought, "well at least it's someplace new I can add to the map". I spent my remaining cash on loading up the cargo, and flew out to the system. I miscalculated and got too close to the sun, which damaged the cargo doors and so I lost all my cargo. I deleted my save and started up a new one. Got a ship with only two cargo slots, and I couldn't exchange any of the other onboard equipment for more cargo space because all the equipment was listed as being on loan. So, I flew around a while with 2 units of water in the hold, which I eventually (another hour or so in real time) managed to unload at a heft profit of about 12 credits. Desperate to figure out what I was doing wrong, I went to the internet, which leads me to...
Ex. 2) I read a review from Gamerevolution, I think the site is called. The reviewer "loved astronomy" so was hooked from the first nano second. He talked about flying to a new discovery about 20 light speed jumps away, which "only" took him about 30 minutes or so of actual time. Now, in his mind he's a swashbuckling, daring ship pilot leaping through the galaxy towards parts unknown, but you really have to look at the reality of this, which is a guy sitting in front of his monitor for 30 minutes just watching a number countdown, and occasionally pushing a button or three. I then realized that even at my deepest, most thorough understanding of how to play this game "properly", it is still--minus the required suspension of disbelief--a game that is a sim of sitting in a cubicle running numbers all day.
We often hear "This game is not for everyone" used in conjunction with various games. Well, I think it's never been more true than it is with Elite: Dangerous. Finally, here's the crux: this game has been out on PC for 3 years now (and on XBox One as well). Don't do what I did and go in solely from reading the box description. There is 3 years' worth of feedback on this game online. Do your self a favor and just do some research before you buy.
[UPDATE 1] - in spite of my continued displeasure with the "daily-grind" aspect of this game, I'm not quite willing to call it quits just yet. I did delete my save and restart again, and this time I was lucky to get some "boom delivery" data courier missions on my starting station with destinations just on the edge of my jump distance, and now after several trips I've got about 200K in the kitty plus some good upgrades on the Sidewinder (a nearly tripled jump distance which is really helping). These data courier missions are good because, among other things, they don't use cargo space. One thing to note now: if your issue is controls, you really have to keep playing until your piloting tightens up. My first time docking the ship was a hilarious mess, but I can do it now in one seamless sequence of maneuvers. I still sometimes overshoot stations & outposts because I don't slow down in time, but in general, my piloting skills are getting there. I'm staying away from combat for the time being, so nothing to comment on there (but I did splurge on both a better laser and a kinetic cannon). And finally, I'm playing on Solo. I haven't been griefed by any other players, but after playing in Open and always arriving at a station only to find that all the parking spaces are full, I decided to switch to Solo. Now there's always an open berth to dock in.
Depending on how my experience shapes up over the next couple weeks or so, I may come back with additional updates. My previous recommendation that you look at the 3 years' accumulated data on this game online before making your purchase still stands. IGN has a very good review of the original PC release that is definitely worth reading; as the reviewer speaks mainly to the underlying philosophy/context of the game, his review hasn't really been rendered obsolete by the many updates the game has had since that review. It's worth a look.
[UPDATE 2 - Final] - I am now flying a Cobra Mk. III plane with a bunch of upgrades and about 1.2 million in the bank, and have found myself in the game's infinite loop: earn more money so I can buy/outfit a better ship so I can earn more money so I can buy/outfit a better ship so I can earn more money so I can...etc.
I've put in about 30 hours so far since I got the game last week (a bit of online research tells me that the average Elite Dangerous player puts in about 60 hours a year). In that 30 hours I've done a lot of trading and exploration. The tasks are mundane and tedious, but the game's grand sense of scale, very pretty graphics, and solid math/physics (based on what little I remember from college astronomy) helped keep me interested...for a while. Out of boredom, I switched to bounty hunting, made a few collars and then got blown up. I didn't feel angry or frustrated, nor did I feel eager or excited to jump back in. I didn't even feel ambivalent. I had the insurance money 10 times over to get my ship back, so no issue there. I just felt about as thoroughly disengaged from a game as one can feel, and cannot come up with a single reason why I should go back.
I have decided that I will not trade in the game, as I don't really have anything else like it in my collection (I do own No Man's Sky, but that game's '70s sci-fi trippiness and focus on survival make it--to my mind--a different animal) but I'm honestly not sure when I'd want to play it again. I will keep my 3-Star rating for this game. It appears that Frontier had achieved what they set out to do with Elite: Dangerous, and that's fine. The game is not for everyone, also fine. However, bringing in new players should always be taken seriously, and here is where I think Frontier dropped the ball. I've seen other reviewers try to shame new players with phrases like "weak-minded", "cry-babies", and the dirtiest of video-game appellations: "casual", but I think that misses the point. It's not fair to say that if you don't like the game you must be doing something wrong. The controls are hard and they do take time to acclimate to, but Frontier doesn't give a new player motivation or incentive to persevere. The addition of a several-stage tutorial where you, for example, do a delivery, run down a bounty, land on a station to cash them in, and then make enough money to give your ship a juicy upgrade could do wonders to encourage new players to stick around. I know the game is open by design, but there needs to be a clearer underlying structure for players to insert themselves into. It's great that the player has the freedom to immerse him/herself at the level they wish to, but the game really could do a bit more of the lifting in this regard.
When Han Solo and his companion first boarded that luxury liner, his companion wanted the window seat because she was very excited to watch the launch. Han, who had seen more launches than he could ever count, moved his seat back and settled in to take a nap.
This is Elite: Dangerous.
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Elite Dangerous: The Legendary Edition - Xbox One
Merchant Video
The disk was in like new condition as said, it does work, But it would have been nice to have the game case as pictured in the seller's ad. Plus there was no instruction booklet. My order did arrived fast.
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