Why did you buy Subnautica?
Who_ate_my_schnitzel
Denmark Join Date: 2016-10-16 Member: 223182Members
Denmark Join Date: 2016-10-16 Member: 223182Members
So, I have previously made my position known as a researcher who are in the process of researching the motivations of user-participation in the video game industry, and are using this fine video game as one of my cases. What I have come to learn however, is that this question of why you have all purchased the game, is not really something that you as a community discusses. I my research of the communities of other cases, I have come to learn that their motivation for participating goes far beyond that of the promised scope/vision of the game. Here especially lead developers, following the development of a video game at close hand, as well as an incentive to support independent video game development, and thus ‘sticking it to the man’ for what they refer to as “greedy and innovation suffocating” publishers, are equal if not more important goals for their participation. After all there is some risk involved from the consumer’s point of view, when it comes to buying a video game in early access.
I know I asked a similar question in web survey, however I feel like you as a community might benefit from having the discussion openly. So why did you buy Subnautica?
I know I asked a similar question in web survey, however I feel like you as a community might benefit from having the discussion openly. So why did you buy Subnautica?
Comments
I saw some big youtubers play it and foolishly decided to buy the game back when I had a really poor computer, and I bought this new gaming laptop solely for Subnautica (& Skyrim, but who cares).
Hope that helps
DeusEx Mankind Divided... while I was looking forward to it... I'd rather eat my own intestines then support that moronic bullshit practice bad enough that asian screw you casino practice made it into every multiplayer game but single player too? and it doesn't save across separate playthrouhs... that's worse then horse armor dlc. They can take their in-game cash shop and choke on it.
Ubisoft... won't touch their stuff with a stick... even if someone pays me. They owe me as far as I'm concerned for ruining one of the first public available dvd-r drives with their shitty protection practices... which are less hardware harmful now but the concept of online only single player games is not any less ludicrous.
Ea... selfexplanatory...
Pride is a funny thing... I got one developer that can get my money with no questions asked. Then there is CDProject Red which is sorta new but they got the right idea so as long as they stay the course they can also have my money... But that is really bleak pool of choices. Finding something I like... and willing to support became an unreasonably hard goal to accomplish.
Warframe is a good example of how early development access should never be done. Once great... then company that never released anything worth mentioning got high on their success and now there is nothing good about that game or developer. Sold to china while lying and banning anyone that talked about it when it was happening, then year later cat was out of the bag and then it was too late... owned by PWE the absolute worst asian publisher in history. Every hotfix breaks more things then it fixes, it got to the point of it being a running joke... that is not funny it is SAD, when someone releases multiplayer content buggier then what Bethesda pumps out, all their "new features" are usually half done? good idea hideous execution? and always forgotten shorty after. So much china themed crap it was nauseating... top level account one time, if all I had was translated into $$$ at release of those items it would probably be worth thousands... I tossed it and never felt better after doing it.
So I put my money here because they have a release in mind. Not a plan to use "beta" as a permanent excuse for why their game is so horribly broken that one would wonder if developers ever look at what they make or they work while high and drunk 24/7. No dlc... no ingame shops... no shitty attitude. Maybe it will change but for now they can have my money.
Subnautica is really fun to play even in its Early Access state and I look forward to the full release with the story.
About a week after I got it they started talking about removing the exact feature that sold the game to me lol. Such is life.
As I really began delving into the base building feature, I realize a great potential for building aesthetic but functional bases.
Although I expect a structural stability clause added for above surface structures, it's interesting to create tube bridges across the water, from island to island in creative mode.
But seriously, I watched a couple of streams, thought that looked awesome and bought it. I really like sci fi so the ship and the base / subs really appealed to me. Haven't looked back since, and conned.. uh.. recruited a few friends to buy it too
I am a fan of survival games and I like a bit of horror (subnautica has this definitely too). And since "Ecco the dolphin" I am just hooked on games that play underwater.
So Subnautica has everything I could dream of and that's why I already have 192 playing hours.
I am pretty new to the gamihg universe; the first game I truly enjoyed and spent many hours playing was Endless Ocean 2 due to the fact that I'm so attracted by the ocean (first film I watched too was Finding Nemo, and the first documentary was The Blue Planet). Since then, I decided just to follow youtubers to keep up with gaming, just to see what new stuff comes out. Those which I really like, I can't resist getting myself (like Undertale, Abzû, Valiant Hearts, Event [0], Unravel ...) but Subnautica was the ultimate one. Ever since Jacksepticeye posted his first video of it, it immediately soared to the top of my favourite video games list. I just HAD to purchase it myself, but unfortunately my PC wasn't good enough to run it. But I followed its progression in development since then, and was quadruply excited when I learned that it was coming out to Xbox. Bought it then, and I have now about 90 playing hours.
This game isn't even finished, it's still my favourite game ever made. That's how good it is.
Nothing yet has satisfied.
There aren't too many ocean games (in fact, only two come to mind). I was impressed with the graphic direction, the thrill of the terrifying dark, open water, and... base building! Played the trial, and was immediately hooked, and knew it had/has potential to be something really special. At that point, it was a no-brainer... take my money!
So I thought it'd be nifty. Didn't realize it would be AMAZING! XD
I watched the game develop for a few months and it intrigued me.
Finally in mid-August STEAM offered it for $15 and I figured what the heck.
Actually feel like I got a better game and deal, than I did with NMS.
I too took the plunge (thank you Kouji_San) and haven't looked back.
Do you still enjoy the game in spite of that?
I thought it was procedural before I bought it was excited about it's potential. So at first I was a tad bummed, but now that I see how it's been crafted I'm glad it's not. Though I think there's room for more 'random x' here and there. Maybe for an expansion or DLC they could add a few more procedural elements or zones to spice things up for replay-abilities sake. But in reality these hand-crafted zones are gorgeous and could never be replicated via procedural generation. You lose 99% of the character of a non-isometric game when you go full procedural and this game oozes characters and a loving touch.
Major:
I'm a huge fan of adventure games. Not type knows or cares much about the hubbub of the Golden Age; more of a nook and cranny explorer of the genre in the broadest sense. That means that, while I don't necessarily derive joy from playing these genres, I do have an interest in hidden object games, exploration games, interactive movie games, cinematic platform games, puzzle games, action-adventure and action-puzzle games, life simulation games, and survival games. Thing is that from my point of view adventure games > life simulation games & exploration games > survival games are two steps quickly made; in theory. How much survival games actually are related to adventure games is very dependent on the focus of the former. Unfortunately, most survival games I come across, while appealing in setting and resource management, emphasize action and selfcongratulatory accomplishment over engagement with the gameworld. I don't believe that's what survival games inherently should be. I like collecting stuff, getting creative, the sensation of becoming better that isn't linearly bound (ie, many games give better equipment and stronger opposition concurrently, thereby creating a null effect); why should that only be packaged with "unforgiving" gameplay? There aren't many survival games that ask that question, so when I took note that Subnautica does, that was a major motivation to purchase it.
This one's hard to explain, so plz give me some leeway if it sounds odd, but Subnautica was a loud bleep on my "European games" radar. It's a personal category of games, of which I've not been able to pinpoint the defining common traits. There's a sense that the devs had more eye for creating a work of love than something with a "cool" factor. There's genre creativity. And the reason behind the faulty name is that most (most; not all) these games seem to be made by Europeans (not accounting for the huge amount of Japanese games that I don't know about because they don't receive localization. I'd kill to have more access to the Love-de-Lic legacy). If I have to hazard a guess, it's got something to do with American fiction being big on heroism and Japanese fiction being big on escapism (the part that gets localized, anyway), whereas Europe might not really have an -ism to go by and therefore has more chance of a hit. Some games that fit this personal category are Broken Puppet, the Little Big Adventure games, Beyond Good & Evil 1, Another World, Realms of the Haunting, Ib, and the Portal games. I had not yet encountered a survival game that seemed to fit and I wasn't about to let such an experience pass. I'm happy to report my assessment was correct.
Minor:
The racial identity of the player model(s) also plays a part. I do seek out games that have representation value for the sake of that representation value, but it's also part of the aforementioned search for something different. If there's someone else to take the role of lead than "brown-haired white guy with a little stubble", that shows me that consideration for the game's identity runs deep.
The "no violence" policy is, well, I enjoy violence in video games. What I don't enjoy is how violence on its own is an antique gameplay element that, rather than be reevaluated as technology creates more possibilities, simply gets made more graphic and contextually gruesome. I don't find it engaging and at times even worrying that there are people who view a formulatic gorefest as essential. UWE has given a well-spoken argument as to why violence does not fit in their design for Subnautica. I commend them for that and find the gameplay as it is one of the best experiences in several years.
I've turned my back on big budget gaming some years ago (exceptions remain, like Nintendo and the French portion of Ubisoft). This is in part because nothing what they offer interests me, games being too violent or whiny or empty or improper towards a marginalized group for my taste. But I'm also put off by the way AAA games are sold these days, with store-exclusives and ingame purchases. Something like the Soulcalibur II console-exculsive characters I'm fine with, but if I can't reasonably purchase a game "whole", then I'm just not interested. Comparatively, indie Early Access is a deal with less risk of feeling cheated. But avoiding big budget games also means missing out on that particular bombastic game experience. Subnautica is indie but also big budget-like enough to fill that hole. (For reference, the only other such game I currently have interest in is ReCore.)
I'm always on the lookout for fresh horror games, which by my standards are rare. Horror needs a creative vision to hit its mark and, like, I don't care if you call your zombies wendigos or if you blame fungus, if that's all that's changed up than that does not make the experience fresh. Light horror (and dark fantasy) tend to be the better paths because horror elements in a non-horror setting are almost assuredly new. I would call Subnautica light horror, because it works with thalassophobia and fears of drowning without making it take center. Having experienced nearly drowning as a child, I am impressed with how efficiently Subnautica has implemented that part of the gameplay. And even after several playthroughs, there's still something about diving down into the deeper and darker biomes that requires a deep breath beforehand.
Post-relevant:
The matter of multiplayer was not something I paid any mind when I made my purchase, but if I had known that there would be none, that would have been a positive factor too. My sympathies to people who were looking forward to playing together, but my own experiences with mp aren't good. By default I am a sp kind of gamer; I don't like dependence on other people for videogame fun (unless it's Mario Kart). So, what I want is a solid sp and these days it's a thing to disregard sp quality in favor of a mp experience. To not have to worry about a repeat of my experiences with Don't Starve (which I still love, mind you) is a good thing.
I did not know about Trello and UWE's other development tracking websites before purchase either. I had been following updates for a while from LPs and visiting the website and that was enough for this EA deal to earn my trust. Had I known about Trello and the like, my faith in this project would've been acquired even sooner.