Star Citizen - Impressions @ Polygon

[Redglyph]

Polygon discovered Star Citizen and gave their impression along with a brief overview of the game's state. (some links removed below)

Star Citizen still doesn't live up to its promise, and players don't care

A decade in, development's still trucking along

It's 2022, and I just got into Star Citizen. An uninitiated spacefarer might be surprised at how much there is to explore.

It all started when a friend purchased starter packs for me and my friends. Despite being a skeptic who has largely been disinterested in the game, I was surprised to find a galaxy I could actually explore. Spending a few hours in the world of Star Citizen is intriguing, breathtaking, and frustrating all at once. I found myself taking time to just stop and watch advertisements for fictional mercenary companies, or sitting and bathing in the neon glow of a futuristic plaza. It is a game that is far more advanced than many people think, despite falling short in many respects.

Many people aren't aware of how far Star Citizen has come -- which makes sense, as it has so far still to go. It is, in fact, not actually a singular game but a franchise consisting of a persistent universe (PU) and an unreleased single-player campaign game called Squadron 42 that still doesn't have a release date (and hasn't since 2016).

The game has been infamous for its slow and delayed development cycle; for many people, the title has become just a meme, and its harshest critics online have even claimed the game is a "scam". As the years have passed, the gap between those who are following Star Citizen and those who are disinterested has grown. If you've given up -- or never boarded the hype train -- then you might only know about Star Citizen from snarky headlines like "CIG reels back Star Citizen's roadmap because players 'interpret anything on the release view as a promise'" or "Star Citizen dev defends missing roadmap feature by 4 years." It's easy to doubt whether the game is even playable -- after all, even though it's been nearly a decade, the developers are still discussing features as basic as, er, loot.

Yet the game is not lacking in resources. The game's fundraising campaign continually breaks records, even as it adds on deep-pocketed investors. Fans and investors bought into Star Citizen's big promise: it's a "forever game" consisting of a massive sci-fi universe filled with players, each on their own individual journeys. Roberts Space Industries (RSI) and Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) have together raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the development of Star Citizen, which has gone towards game development, in-game cinematics, voice work and motion-capture for characters in the campaign from celebrities like Mark Hamill (and Gillian Anderson, and Andy Serkis, and on and on), and lavish in-universe commercials showing off how neat certain ships are.

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More information.

 

[ChaosTheory]

Quoting Kemuri07:

"Like all cults…the point is never to actually reach the goal. You can’t. Because then the dream dies. And no one wants to come down from that high. So Star Citizen will never actually release but the dream, the possibilities, are what will keep people playing."

 

[NFLed]

When the game Grimoire finally released, after I think decades of first anticipation then skepticism then ridicule then animosity I didn't even end up playing it as it doesn't seem good to me (just looking at gameplay footage).

I haven't paid attention to Star Citizen other than thinking (beginning several years ago) that it seemed like a very good idea, and I'll just wait for release to pay any attention to it.

 

[Couchpotato]

Quoting Kemuri07:

"Like all cults…the point is never to actually reach the goal. You can’t. Because then the dream dies. And no one wants to come down from that high. So Star Citizen will never actually release but the dream, the possibilities, are what will keep people playing."

Well said and damn true. I remember another quote from a different article that was almost the same. The developer can't finish as the studios burn to much cash.

It's like the fabled ouroboros dragon eating it's own tail.

 

[SveNitoR]

I think this quote is pretty revealing who this game will be for:

Star Citizen is similarly focused on the mundane. It promises to be a forever game by making the normal, real-life parts of a futuristic sci-fi life feel real, so someone can really be a space trucker, notorious bounty hunter, or famous fighter pilot.

It seems it could become awesome for people who love the thought of living in virtual space with all the minutiae of daily life included. Unfortunately I'm not one of those people.

 

[Morrandir]

“Meta buys Star Citizen, game to be included in Metaverse“

You heard it first on RPGWatch!

 

[domein]

Generally project past 5 years mark in development is a failure, as technical base and concepts getting outdated past that point.

 

[Redglyph]

DCS is not too far from this model, except it's been more usable from the start and it's SP/MP (I know there's supposedly a Squadron 42 sub-project that started later).

DCS is continuously updated with new aircraft and campaign modules, but since the base is a moving target, many modules are regularly broken. IL-2 is similar but they do a much better job at providing stable releases.

Those are models of development that never stop, the tricky part is to keep a good balance between developing new modules to earn money, developing the base to provide a good experience, and keeping it stable. DCS is bad in the last two points but thankfully they have 3rd-party aircraft and campaigns to compensate with the content and under-developed base system.

I'm not sure opening to 3rd-party content would be a good option for RSI, however, even if they were willing to (I have no idea but I doubt it). The "space" setting is too open and vague to keep it coherent, it would become a mess. So we're stuck with what RSI does and Roberts' whims.

 

[Couchpotato]

"Meta buys Star Citizen, game to be included in Metaverse"

You heard it first on RPGWatch!

For enough money Chris Roberts would sell his soul. Probably take a few billion but Mark Zuckerberg can afford that easily. So that sale is very possible and does make sense.

 

[Mordegar]

It's hard to get a meaningful discussion about Starcitizen and Sqd42 going most of the time, especially in open Forums because of the massive Fanboyism about that Franchise.
Everytime we started to discuss about why Sqd42 got delayed again, there were at least 1 or 2 ppl who started to argue with almost fanatical zeal why everything is totally fine and justified by RSI.
Back in 2012, when i donated for a Sqd42 Pack i was foolish enough to believe that Robert's wouldn't pull another Freelancer debacle….Well, here we go again…

 

[mercy]

Perfect infinite pension for Chris Roberts.

 

[SSIGuy]

For those who have backed this and eagerly await its release, I believe Couch, JDR13 and Carnifex have some land to sell you in Florida.

 

[JDR13]

For those who have backed this and eagerly await its release, I believe Couch, JDR13 and Carnifex have some land to sell you in Florida.

Well, ironically, I do have land in Florida.

 

[Carnifex]

Get off my yard, heathens!! =p

 

[mercy]

I'm looking forward to an article here in 2030:
Star Citizen: Will it ever be finished now that Chris Roberts have gone to Mars with Musk?