Will Star Citizen Ever Be A Casual Player Friendly Game? (Ft. R3vak) | Launch Sequence Podcast

While Star Citizen is a sim, and quite a bit to learn, many players don’t want to spend hours every week just to enjoy it. Will this game provide players looking to experience it casually a good experience? This week I talk with streamer R3vak who has covered Star Citizen in the past, only to take a break. Now that he’s back I wanted to know why, and whether the differences he is now seeing might point to a more widely enjoyable game. Enjoy!
Today’s Guests: @r3vak216
KZbin: / @r3vak216
Twitch: / r3vak
ToC:
00:00 Introduction
02:40 Your Introduction to Star Citizen
08:20 What Brought You Back?
13:45 What Else Have You Been Playing?
20:20 Squadron 42
26:50 Arena Commander
36:30 Starfield
44:00 Did Your Community Follow You to Star Citizen?
46:30 What Did You Hate About Star Citizen That’s Better Now?
52:50 Can Star Citizen Be Your Side Game?
57:40 Most Anticipated New Features
01:04:44 The Player Skill System
01:10:10 Permadeath in Star Citizen?
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[@r3vak216]

Thank you for having me on Tomato! Really enjoyed this conversation and am so happy to have had this chat with you! I can't believe it was nearly 1.5 hours! It felt like 20 minutes! Looking forward to getting back into the world very soon!

[@grygaming5519]

I'm going to frame this by time. A Casual is someone who has 10-20 hours per week to play leaving 40-60 hours per month. If a casual is unable to achieve tentative goals within those 10-20 hours they will drop...or if they feel they are severely behind they will drop. A good case study is Escape from Tarkov where from season 4 to the last current season saw a exodus of Casual and mid-core players from the game who quit before level 30. These were either induced by the game mechanics themselves, the hacking/cheating and over-geared & over leveled players that were roaming maps. With a decline in player population (and twitch eyeballs do not count for players playing) Tarkov finally added a new player friendly zone that more or less protects players up to level 20. The issue now is...the mechanics of such implementation are too late to claw back those casual-midcore players. What Star Citizen has to now come grips with is that certain things may not be feasible for the player experience...that is player death (death of the spaceman needs to be seriously go under evaluation), insurance (needs to be rethought out), and overall new player experience. The next thing is the focus of the game, going from a PvPvE to a more general focused PvEvP mode. The reason I argue this is because only 10% of any given MMO population is PvP driven/focused meaning the lion share of content in game must be focused towards...PvE. You look at pvp focused MMOs and their populations are abysmally small compared to their PvE counterparts...and PvE games that have 'battlegrounds' spots ala WoW or TOR...those zones are pretty much ghost towns. At least as long as instant action pvp exists there's really no reason to risk it out in the open. Star Citizen also has a very poor risk to reward....and player vs player combat system. Poor rewards to engage in pvp and what I'd deem as the die first/retaliation system. Again in Tarkov if two PMC's fight off the winner/defender doesnt get penalized for killing a PMC in defense/aggression attack. It makes sense but in SC, the aggressor has advantage because they know what they are doing will gain them a Crime Stat and block half the system for them, the defender on the other hand is at a severe disadvantage because if they defend themselves they gain a crime stat even if its justified. The current system is just horrible and if that stays you'll see more people abstain from PvP....or be forced into clubbing seal incidents like Jumptown.

[@th3count]

Even for myself I play for a week or 2 then put it down for a couple of months. Even at this level of commitment I find the learning curve still really high. Everytime I come back I find myself as lost as a new player.

[@LucidStrike]

I don't get people thinking DOASM will keep SC / SQ42 from being popular in the age of Elden Ring. Soulslikes are plenty popular. No, DOASM won't please EVERY gamer in the world, but that's fine. No game is for every gamer. Ground clinics and hospital ships will eventually be common enough that the only reason you'd have to start over very far away after a Regen will be because you failed to do the simple task of resetting your spawn point nearby. If gamers can't handle consequences of their own actions, maybe they should be watching content instead of playing it? 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@grygaming5519]

@@LucidStrike It took years before Dark Souls to Elden Ring became a thing. Demon Souls flopped in Japan, From Software was only able to stay above water due to decent Western Sales. When Dark Souls 1 was release it was still a mild reception in Japan but the western gamers loved it.. However this pitch for 'souls like' games didnt hit until 3 and even then that's still suspect. Elden Ring is what took off and that's only because the rest of the gaming industry took a nose dive in general quality. So its not that Dark Souls couldnt compete, it just had harder issues competing when other games were enjoyable. Again the whole resetting spawn point isnt a issue at all. The issue comes with what they propose. At the end of the day CIG is a business and the wider and bigger the net the more profitable the game is. Unless you're 100% ok with CIG keeping the ship store operational once 2.0 goes live.

[@ThaFiggyPudding]

I only have a few hours per day to play (at most), which puts me right in that casual range. I think SC is fine, though I do agree that PvP should have more rewards. I really like that I can build a lot of player skill slowly over time, so I hope that doesn't change. The issue with getting a crime stat from defending yourself is not intended and will hopefully be fixed sooner than later. I imagine Jumptown will be moved to Pyro once it releases, which will be a no-security system, meaning no crime stats. If people want to avoid PvP completely then they'll be able to live in high security systems (once we get some). The game is already almost completely PvE focused. In the last 6 months I was only engaged in PvP 3 times, except when I went to lawless places to sell illicit cargo... which is the kind of place you should expect to encounter PvP. The other three times I just flew away. it was no big deal. Obviously high sec systems and sensible law system don't work yet, but I think the long term idea is solid... as long as they can make it actually happen...

[@LucidStrike]

@@grygaming5519 CIG is a business with very little debt from a super limited set of small investors that will undoubtedly be immediately covered once put into action for SQ42 release. There was a publisher fronting development money that needs to be paid back. It needs relatively little profit margin, as all it really NEEDS to do is pay its workers, not make execs rich. Breaking even would be success and there's no good reason to doubt CIG can do that with DOASM. This idea that they NEED to maximize revenue - through watering down the design for casual appeal - is a bit out of touch with the realities of crowdfunding. The whole point of this venture was Chris being free to create the game of his dreams and for those who share those dreams to enjoy them. Folks who DON'T share that dream are rendered unnecessary by this approach. Niche shit can exist just fine. Not every game has to top the damn sales charts. 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@dracussdarkweave112]

Due to the extreme hours of my Job, im considered a "Casual Player" However, Im having a blast with SC. Yes Ill never have the time to participate in the Big Org events, like the Rally, or Jumptown. But I can do mining and salvage. still have yet to try combat missions, but Im really enjoying just logging on, getting my Vulture or my Connie out, doing a salvage run or a cargo trip. flying back home, selling and loging out for the night. its very relaxing. Someday the stars might align and I might have more time to go out for a group thing. but I would say that there is plenty to do for people like me, who life limits play time with..

[@seekerhooligan781]

I like where your head's at. 😎

[@animusnocturnus7131]

So regarding the mining aspect of the game not being casual friendly, I think R3vak missed a crucial point: Before ship mining, you do have hand and ROC mining, which are both devoid of mining attachments. Also, I believe that he still approaches ship mining the way it was before the mining rebalancing, where you basically had to look for quantanium to actually make any type of bank. Personally I had a lot of fun with just mining whatever rock I came across since the rebalancing and I made a pretty good amount of money even with selling the raw materials now. Mining copper and iron and all those materials is now basically on par with doing low level bounty hunting missions.

[@seekerhooligan781]

Agreed.

[@RD-qn4gt]

Great convo! I agree SP. The 1st week in this game was really tough. If your not a die hard you will most likely move on. But they have changed that recently with more way to teach new players. And then you have global chat, which was big help for me.

[@seekerhooligan781]

I agree. I died about 63 times before I started getting the hang of it, but that's the hook. It's NOT for everyone who quits. It requires a little time to get into it. Like a song you love the 1st second you hear it eventually you hate because it's on the radio every day. Conversely, you hear a song that takes a couple listens, and it ends up being one you listen to your whole life. 😉

[@tapewerm6716]

I love the train rides. For me they're very immersive. I have loved them from back in the Half Life days, or earlier. I feel people want to have it both ways when they want an immersive game, yet they complain when things take some time, from train rides to trips to other planets or moons, etc.

[@llillian4055]

One of the big "missing pieces" in this game is the ability to get onto an NPC ship to get to a destination - if CIG has NPC passenger transport ships that fly through jump points which players can buy a ticket on, then the jump points being scary to fly through would be less risky (with the cost of the ticked and not taking your own ship).

[@RobertTheCoder]

But there is currently no cost to losing your own ship, all you lose is a little time.

[@valladaresRey]

I started with Elite Dangerous, got hooked with the genre. Someone recommended me Star Citizen, haven’t looked back since. Initially, filled with frustrating moments but as I got more used to it was quite the experience.

[@Spidder81]

I agree on the immersion, they should definitely not take away any immersion from the game. Once the game is a lot more fleshed out there will be more things to choose to do etc, we just need to hurry up and get there

[@jonlaukeman1791]

I can understand why people aren’t fans of the train/shuttle system. I personally don’t mind it as I use that time and the time during long quantum jumps to interact with the global chat. Sort of the in game version of hopping on social media or texting while on a bus or train for me lol

[@malismo]

This is a very pleasant conversation. You are quite a skilled interviewer mr. Tomato!

[@SpaceTomatoToo]

Thank!

[@WookieeRage]

New players tutorials are a must with the huge push I've seen in KZbin advertising. Making such an aggressive ad push is putting the cart before the horse if the game can't support new players that aren't connected to anyone who can help them.

[@SternLX]

I'm one of those SC players, I only pick it up for about 5-6 weeks at time usually around ILW and from CitizenCon to IAE. Edit: Follower of SC development since 2013 but didn't Back it until 2019.

[@seekerhooligan781]

This is a great cast. Been listening to the channel. I agree with most of what R3vak said. ESPECIALLY about the immersive play. I love what he said about the fact that not everyone wants to be the same, and SC allows you to mix it all up like a custom Han Brolo. I hope that doesn't change in favor of some sort of standard "kit" or "loadout" style for a standard "role". I disagree with his accessibility to mining for new players currently though. ( Maybe this vid is a little before a change? ) I'm new-ish to the game and definitely only ok, LOVE PvP and piloting, with no interest in being a "Miner". That said, I mine solo all the time, have a blast doing it, and come out with a reasonable amount in little time. Super fun, accessible, and cheap to do for a new player imo. Renting is a thing too 😉 I also enjoy bus rides and watching the hangar doors open slow in SC though. 😁

[@Kinovski1]

lets become a game first and we will see :D

[@hog660]

I'm very much a casual SC player, due to my skill levels. I have yet to succeed any of the FPS missions, because I never played FPS games, and I'm only really good enough to do VLRT bounty missions. I get by running box missions and selling dropped medical gowns. Been playing about a year and am yet to make my first million. It's kind of fun just trying to avoid getting killed.

[@Rogun987]

It is wild. I was 29 when I first HEARD of Star Citizen. Im 42. I was in my 20s when I heard about the game, and in my 40s now. 😅

[@SpaceTomatoToo]

It's pretty crazy. I havea few games on my list that I discovered during college only just now coming out.

[@bryanperras7628]

Squadron 42 is perfect for casual gamers. Star Citizen might be but it depends on features not yet implemented. Essentially, iy comes down to one thing: fees. If fees are based on playtime or real time. Playtime based is casual friendly, if it's based on real time, casual players will hate the game. These are things like ship insurance, hangar fees, taxes for land on planets. If you are charged based on playtime, it will be fine. If you play the game steady for a month, accrue millions of dollars, log out for 6 months, then pop back in to find you base destroyed and your bank account millions in the negative, you'll turn it off and never turn it on again.

[@tapewerm6716]

It would be great if you didn't even have to be an engineer, or any trade specifically involving outer space. It would be awesome if Star Citizen allowed people to take part who just want to exist in the Verse. We should be able to have a job in a city with ground transportation, where we can support ourselves in the city or somewhere in orbit around that planet or moon. We could take space transportation or whatever when we need to, either to our jobs or to visit family/friends or just leisure travel. A full immersion sim should include people just existing in the world who don't pilot spaceships or have anything to do with space travel, combat etc.

[@staceybertran52]

That was a lot to take in. The topics were on point. I believe it will be such a love hate relationship when the flood gates first open. But like any MMO its a learning curve, and was there enough there that keeps you wanting to learn the mechanics of the game. The the tutorials get for just describing the day to day commands you will use the better the people will take to it. The Death of a spaceman feature. Reminded me of Jurassic park's Lysin contingency. Life will find a way. But will put a price on character death.

[@harxey]

I love the game. I stopped playing for awhile because of bugs, but much of them have been fixed. For me, I think the hardest part when I started was simply getting to the hangar. I almost gave up right then and there. lol.

[@sebc8938]

The first point they would have to improve would be tp provide more keybind in the helping contextual menu and helping with some procedure (landing, quantum travel, ...). The game should also explain clearly to the player where to do things. It is not evident for solo casual players where to sell/do things and where in the cities/stations/outposts. The progression is also not evident as no one is advising players to buy a multi tooll, to go visite caves, to rent a ROC or another ship when possible, etc. Because of that the game risk being played all the time looking at some internet sites which destroy the immersion ... The missions linked to a specific reputation should give some advice for instance.

[@jawshbawx1483]

I border between combat-casual/avoidant and flight/science intensive and this game hits the mark for me on both counts. If they maintain current trajectory, I think it will be accessible to casual players but deep enough to appeal to those who desire that depth.

[@IrisCorven]

After the ISC today? 3.23 might end up being the most accessible patch in the game. The new interaction system looks like it drew a lot of inspiration from modern radial menu setups, and streamlined everything to be WAY less clunky.

[@sidewithwerewolves]

Eve and its null sec are a good case study in gear fear and players feeling trapped or scared by null sec and super null sec; worm holes. At the end of the day its like changing difficulty sliders on a single player game. Some parts never get played or unlocked until you do the iron man modes. Also the more dangerous the area the more likely you have players working as teams and even potentially developing a culture of players working together because thats whats just done in nyx or whatever. Also being able to see player names and orgs ingame will help with players being willing to do pick up groups as they see familair names/groups

[@DiscordiaDD]

0.0 fear was mostly hyperbole

[@RobertTheCoder]

SC doesn't have the type of loss that Eve does. In SC if your ship is destroyed, you just put in an insurance claim to get it back. All you lose is your cargo and a little time. I think that is a pretty manageable risk.

[@Z3RO4351]

A casual player isnt neccesarily defined by hours played. For example (and this is just one) there are many casual mobile games and players of those games put in lots of hours. A casual in SC could also probably be defined in multiple ways, depending on who you talk to. However, one popular way to define it is those that choose not to engage (heavily) in pvp. Whether its by that standard or the metric of not putting in many hours, SC is a type of that has so much breadth to it that theres something for everyone. For those that do not want to engage heavily in pvp, or those that do not log in every day of the week and play for 3 hrs each day, they can easily do that. A couple of bounties here and there, mining or salvaging in the safety of high security space, or simply trading on secure routes, theres lot available for the "casual" player. That said, it IS a casual player friendly game and always will be. * Note - There is one other possible definition of a casual player - one who wont be as patient and tolerable of lots of bugs and resorting to tons of workarounds. By that definition - the answer would be no for the forseeable future.

[@jonlaukeman1791]

Casual gamers also tend to not really closely follow gaming news and updates, be apart of online communities such as discords or forums, etc. Otherwise I don’t disagree, more in addition to lol

[@First_Chapter]

Not convinced by the 'not PvP' definition for casual play. I don't like multiplayer games nor do I enjoy PvP but I do have almost 3,000 hours in Warframe alone, a game that is probably best described as a fast, sci-fi looter-shooter. My dislike of multiplayer and PvP likely stems from how games were when I started the hobby: they were offline and single player, except in rare instances. Multiplayer meant you and friends huddled around a machine and taking turns at a game, passing control from one to another after your 'go', your slice of time. How primitive, you cry. Maybe. But games also shipped as finished products on physical media and whether the medium was an audio cassette tape, floppy diskette, CD-ROM or hardware cartridge, games had to work without major bugs because patching wasn't an option. ever been frustrated by having a short period of time in which to play a game - and instead of starting it needs a multi-gigabyte update set to take many hours? That didn't happen when you slotted a cartridge into a console.

[@ShaighJosephson]

The solution is very simple...just create a solo mode like in Elite Dangerous so players have the option to play without being bothered by other players... As it stands, CIG is making the same mistake as Eve Online in giving too much advantage to gankers by deliberately hindering the ability to defend from it...thus negatively effecting player retention like it does in Eve... It would make more business sense to allow players the option to be care bears if they want...which would translate to more players in the game and subsequently more revanue for CIG... Of course gankers aren't able to think about it in this context and are against it because they would lose alot of their easy prey...

[@llillian4055]

The answer to gear fear for new players ... Agent Smith into NPCs on NPC navy ships.

[@DeviantJones]

Do not fear the "skills" they seem to be just buffs. Someone running bunkers every day should reload faster than someone that's a cargo hauler. And a dog fighter should be able to pull more G without blacking out than the grunt.. Extra skills will just be new or faster animations for people that do the same tasks.

[@ZipinS1]

well Runescape deals with Gear fear by ensuring that you keep your 3 most valuable Items, even in PvP zones. in PvE you oftentimes can get your gear back by returning to your grave. that way you risk a bit, but not too much, making progression promising and non frustrating

[@RobertTheCoder]

In SC, if you lose your ship, all you lose is the gear on your person. If all you have is the while flight suit, you lose nothing (because you get it back when you respawn). All you every lose is your personal gear and cargo. So if you have gear fear, you can easily manage it by limiting the amount of cargo you carry.

[@internet_tough_guy_]

It's never going to tick enough boxes to be an actual game.

[@andrewculley8524]

Love to watch Tomato trying EFT with a few org mates that know the game. I think you will be impressed

[@Traumglanz]

Yeah, yeah, not having to do the thing is great and it works for star citizen, but I am still pissed that it is not the beauty of Squadron 42, because I do not want to play as infantry. I want to play as a pilot and that's it.

[@FunkThompson]

I mean, the game has essentially moved beyond my capabilities at this point, in a lot of ways. This isn't some gripe or complaint or whine; I'm an old man now and just lack the reflexes to do well at the gameplay when things "get serious," and lack the time or patience to deal with the less desirable types that see me as content. That said... Squadron 42 will be mostly a single-player, story-driven campaign and possibly one of the best such Sci-Fi epics ever made. And I'm all for that, that is what I had first signed up for in 2012 anyways. More than happy to see what they build in SC, and I'll derp around on SC from time to time, but it's gonna be like EVE Online in a lot of ways. There is very little they can do to avoid such. CIG isn't the problem there; we are.

[@Flakey86]

Arena commander will be casual friendly

[@JackMelqart]

"Will Star Citizen Ever Be A Casual Player Friendly Game?" well, i hope NOT!

[@kenzoryba1017]

TL;DR: for casual play you can just play Arena Commander, which will also still grow in features and gameplay, until we have what Theaters of War was planned to be ( weatherboard not it will still be called that, or if it will be able to be played independently, are two different questions.) There, no need to watch the video. 😅

[@First_Chapter]

What's the definition of casual play? Having limited time measured in minutes per session? Wanting to play games that don't require studying manuals, websites and videos first? Wanting games with chilled-out gameplay that doesn't tax an already weary mind? Wanting games that have nothing to do with competitive gameplay? Wanting games that don't require a grind? Whether Star Citizen will ever be a casual game for casual gamers depends on which definitions are chosen and which aspects of the game are being considered: hull-scraping salvage is not the same as bunker-running and fast-entry Arena Commander is not the same as the main game.

[@Threlil]

Here’s the issue. In modern gaming today you should never cater to casual gamers. Why? because they are casual they move with the flow they aren’t something that you can rely upon for a revenue source for more than six months.

[@gamingduology4757]

Games should have a easy entry but a very high level content

[@Tainted-Soul]

I think the same about the mining its ok for players like Redmonster that likes it and has found out which head and boost and all . but for me I just want to go out in a prospector find a rock and mine it not that I cant because I didnt have the right head . also its this people that complain that Salvage is just too easy, well there is players that like it easy and do not want it to go the same way as mining has or it make it too hard and not fun

[@RobertTheCoder]

IMO mining isn't hard. I think it is easy for new players to learn how to break some rocks, but complex enough so that it doesn't get boring as you learn how it works. For salvage, I think that it is easy, but lacks the complexity, and it gets boring quickly. I expect that this will change as they evolve the salvage mechanism. The current mechanism for fracture/disintegrate is new, lacks balancing, and likely won't be finalized until maelstrom damage system is in the PU. This will allow ships to break into many smaller parts, and on the Reclaimer (I would hope) require some coordination between the pilot, tractor-beam operators, and the claw operator.

[@Tainted-Soul]

@@RobertTheCoder yes but in the Vulture the fracturing is the smallest part and one i dont tend to do as the small ships are not worth the effort so i go for the hammerheads and c2, spend time scraping the hulls and take 3 or 4 trips until its clean. the problem is it is too easy fracture in the Reclaimer without scraping the hull . so make it that the ship has to be 80% clean hull before the fracture and this would slow them down. But not everyone wants complex game play.

[@n1ak]

I tried arena commander, realised i was bad. Went to youtube to find tutorials. Spent 20 hours just figure out what on earth they where talking about before i could even try again. Thats when you know the fighting is way to complicated. Good balance is when its easy and understandable but hard to master. Really hope people can choose how to play the game, i dont want to pvp but atleast its options to limit it and choose a defence style where the attacker gives up etc.

[@MrMcbear]

No offense but that seems like a you issue, it took nowhere near that long to figure out SC combat even without a tutorial, and it takes about 30 minutes to teach and for them to understand it during our Org trainings for new players.

[@n1ak]

@@MrMcbear Non taken, sure if you have someone teaching you. Just like everything else, its easier. But you shouldt when you play a game, it should be easy and understandable from start. Not all have people who play the game, and not all wants to be in a org and rely on others.

[@RobertTheCoder]

I didn't find it to be much harder than flying a helicopter in ARMA or DayZ with the keyboard and mouse. The only difference is that in space you can strafe independent of how you are rolling. But I can see how it can be hard for some people. I don't think it can be simplified though without making it more like an arcade game. If there isn't a tutorial though, I agree that there should be one.

[@Critical_Mass_]

Yup, yup. When Streamers and Creators make more than Dev's do for the game, you find out is is all about...

[@XMathiasxX]

Huh? I dont understand

[@Hurrikayne907sr]

I have been playing 1 yr now from day one I wanted a car or truck to drive around the city. I don’t take the bus in real life and that how i look at the train something I would never take. Public transportation is the worst way to travel in my opinion.

[@PeterM.22]

Star citizen in its current state is time consuming just to get started on any task. This is mostly the price of immersion, i.e having to go through multiple elevators and public transit, having to have your vehicles ready at the right location, having to have gear stocked for the task you intend to do. I cannot easily conceive of a method to lower the amount of initial setup required without losing immersion. I can only hope the devs find a way to get the proper balance for this. The sentiment people show when they say there is a gameplay loop for everyone (choosing to only dabble in one aspect of the game) worries me. It worries me because Star citizen is a multiplayer game. All professions in game should interact with one another; pvp and pve should interact with one another throughout the game. If the devs get the mentality of compartmentalizing all the parts of the game to accommodate solo/casual players, I fear they will run the same course many of the newer multiplayer games currently out there(where they call it an mmo, but the majority of the game is just single player quests). I still think there should be things players can do when they are online without their friends or org, but they need to be crafted,in a way that those 'things' end up interacting with and affecting the rest of the playerbase. Instanced-based missions where there is no possibility of player to player interaction would take away from the potential of the game experience in my opinion.

[@PeterM.22]

I also want to add that in my experience I have noticed a lack of acknowledgement that in any mmo the interaction between the pve and pvp aspects of the game is what gives the sense of scale for the playerbase and how much they can affect the world of the game.

[@hawkzulu5671]

Live on a Space Station. no transit or trips out of atmo. Buy some backpacks at the station and fill them with ammo, rations, anything you need for grab and go. Especially with the new personal storage containers - you can put the packs in there - so you know u are grabbing the mission ready one. put on your pack, attach your guns to the pack and 1 elevator ride to hangar and your in space ready to QT

[@AgentXRifle]

Only way casuals will get into this game is if they can make it stable, has actual physics (drive a ground vehicle and you will know what I mean) and way less glitchy. Flight model is currently trash, an 890j should not be able to hover in atmosphere while pointing down.

[@mrsmith5114]

I have to wake up out of bed and run to catch a train every time I log in. Takes me what 5 minutes? I would say it's not friendly to casual players :P

[@hawkzulu5671]

Why not live on a space station as your base of ops. Wake up - elevator to lobby / elevator to hagar and your in space.. no tram rides, no trips out of atmo.

[@First_Chapter]

Star Citizen: a game so realistic you can run for your train and miss it, just like in real life...

[@XentorAntarix]

Hmmm simple Anther to the Title: Noit will not, that is not the goal, and that is in my eyes good. The franchise is flooded with Casual games. We need more complex ones.

[@th3count]

Sorry I have only been abel to watch the 1st 10 minutes and the phone rank for work (on call). I just want to chime in that i DO NOT believe this game is beginner or casual friendly and that is a HUGE blocker for people getting in. Also the lack of RPG Elements like player talents, and player progression are also big misses imho. Players need something to grind towards other then rep and coins.

[@lights4bre890]

Its a sandbox - so the things you list like RPG elements - somebody like me who is not the Least bit into RPG style games.. thats no drawback - i like the fact that the emphasis is more actual skill based, not some magic tree of abilities - not like EvE, where i move X skills into my skill queue - and X time has elapsed, now i can do that thing, or fly that thing ore mine that thing. I was watching a vid on some new space game thats coming and its like co-op or single player pve based. Scroll thru the comments Multi player ? - count me out. Next line: Single player count me out. Is it offline? Count me out ......is it online?... count me out. Thats the beauty of the sandbox. Im more of a industry focused player but there are people who would quit if thats all there was / the next guy might love PVP and other players would quit if thats all there was. Progression is coming in a sense when certain things like stamina can be trained and also faction reps will be much more of a thing. Wayy beyond what they are now - just letting you pick up higher paying/ harder missions

[@ArcaneDgR]

o7

[@j.d.4697]

Arena Commander should be left in the game for casual players.

[@siriusscepter]

Unless you make content for games or game most of your day Star Citizen is going in the wrong Direction in my opinion. The majority of players have real lifes and are casual players. Some people enjoy loading 90 crates into their ship for 20hrs or pull out thier repair tools to repair their hulls but its not feasable for casual players that may only be able to hop in for an hr and want to get into something fun, people that doint have an org or prefer to solo play. Unless they install a selector for auto or manual for many features they will.lose alot of players. I would love to select to not have to eat or drink every 30mins. If someone wants that emersion select it. Why do you think most people run everywhere they go ingame? The emersion folks will walk or wear clothing in a station. I cannot believe if we are under attack after landing we have time to get out of our pilot seats, change into armour equip our gear before we can get into fighting. Even real life swat teams are wearing gear while opererating vehicles etc. I enjoyed playing much better when my ship cargo loads at the push of a button most of the time. Id like the option to continue to do this down the road.

[@darmontdk]

will star citizen ever be a casual player friendly game? Hope not.

[@fwdcnorac8574]

People that say Star Citizen is too "hardcore" need to play Escape from Tarkov and come back to apologize.

[@bgd_ton6648]

EFT is just an annoying grinding game. I play Arma 3 with mods on my group with way more realism and real life medical stuff(ace, kat, one life event), and it is not a freaking annoying shit grinding game for the sake of grind. Ive played so many EFT. I had a group that played the game in a realistic way(no magic cures, only bandages, splint and 1 morphine, and weight limits to run), still it was a lot of fun, because we used to create full operations with our own lore. Then, when we stopped and start playing it just for the sake of grinding, and it got boring af....

[@fwdcnorac8574]

@bgd_ton6648 cool. I play Arma too. Little dated but it has its charm. Waiting eagerly for Arma 4.

[@bgd_ton6648]

@@fwdcnorac8574 bro, I can rest in peace after arma 4.

[@fwdcnorac8574]

@@bgd_ton6648 minus the death part, I agree, lol.

[@bgd_ton6648]

@@fwdcnorac8574 haha

[@pawe6199]

V Rising and Tarkov. Let's compare them to Star Citizen. How much player progression is in those games? How much meaningful personalisation there is for a player? How do all systems tie up together? And there you have your answer, why those games are more fun to play than SC. You can't play new poi or river or new hair. Even the star map and UI are irrelevant for this point. This is why SC sucks if you want to make it your main game.

[@tripphazzard6679]

many topics discussed....when is title question answered? ...it seems to me to be a bit rambly and drinking at the bar kind of chit chat

[@Thomas-sv6jr]

I think star citizen's trajectory is going towards very grindy and very troll.

[@SpaceTomatoToo]

I see

[@SgtHack802]

Not everyone likes space games. The website turns people off. They figure it’s pay to win!

[@nuanil]

Better not be. Life is better with niche games rather than the puketastic state of AAA gaming.

[@victorvendetta9409]

I consider myself casual at the moment. What people don't realize is how cheap auec is to buy. I'm coming to SC after 10 years of playing elder scrolls online. Instead of paying for the sub on ESO I take that money and just buy auec lolml. so far loving sc people can complain all they want about how sc has been in alpha for the last ten years.... Well so has ESO. The big back and forth meta changes and core combat changes, they can't decide what they want to be even after the game has been "fully released" for ten years now. And that just the top of the iceberg. The performance is bad and pvp is in the worst state it's ever been in.

[@RobertTheCoder]

I'm actually excited that SC is still in alpha because it means they are still aggressively adding new features to it and play-testing them. There is no other game in existence that has the depth (or the funding) of SC. I look forward to large scale battles between capital ships with hundreds ships, with players piloting those ships, launching fighters, manning the engineering console, putting out fires, fixing damaged parts and circuits, manually reloading ammo, manually refueling ships, etc., etc. ...and I am also looking forward to those quieter times, putting up some decorations in my house, or fixing the extractor units on my land.

[@Jeremy_Walker]

Nothing casual about SC. You are in for 30 minutes to do anything.

[@Nine-Signs]

I will quote to you what one excited SC reviewer said just recently: "When these changes come in, you will never be able to play Star Citizen alone again :D" At which point I replied "Well then good job jackass given most of the player base is solo and I for one did not buy this game ten years ago to go play with friends in order to create my own fun there fore excusing the small fact that STAR CITIZEN IS F***ING BORING to any solo player who has been around for more than 5 minutes." Will it ever be fun for solo play like Freelancer was, like Wing commander was, at this juncture even Christ above doesn't know.

[@clemdog76]

So, players want Star Citizen to be made for kids?

[@C4R1TON]

Why everyone is wearing white noob suits everywhere. You die, so what. That’s happening now and will still happen.