What's going on gents, Decker here and I have a very important, somewhat philosophical, question for you all...
Why are we here? What is our purpose? Deep meaningful questions that every game seeks to not only clarify at some point - but embolden through rich narrative and succinct storytelling. Of course, the possibilities are endless as time progresses, but I believe we are coming to a pinnacle of production within the development of Star Citizen, rearing its beautiful, bulky, head for a live release sooner - rather than later.
What will that mean for the newest distinguished citizen who hasn't followed the development? The one who was born into ignorance of the history, the lore, and given the ticket into paradise? They've been given the keys to the heavens and now what...?
I hope to seek an honest answer from CIG one of these days on how they'll go about the starting days in the Persistent Universe, giving us clear, if not somewhat definitive, direction for our characters' motivations. While I don't believe the game will be an utter disappointment, I do worry that CR's vision is suspended in the clouds, and not quite grounded yet.
Will we be mindlessly picking our starting location and slaving our way for money to an unclear goal? Or will we be greeted with a story that gives our character some depth, giving us a defined path that leads us into the heavens at some point to find our own path?
What do you think?
Drop your answer below, and don't be afraid to share your ideal prologue!
Salutations, Decker. Delicious set of quandries.
All I can give you is my subjective responses based on my own personal experience and opinion, so your mileage may very on the following:
I suppose the reason why I am here is one day many years ago, my parents gave each other a
special hug which I would rather not think about, resulting in conception. A lot of long, boring and mostly futile endeavors later, here I am.
Again, context will reveal an answer for you however I suspect in life in general we, organic life, are mostly Entropy Engines - we take or collate sources of rich energy and reduce them over and over until they are gone... We attain things sometimes, we accomplish things a bit, but ultimately our earthly efforts are not infinite and the energy expended is exhausted to no gain. You may travel to the other side of the world with the exertion of many kilowatts of energy, only to return and the energy expended is gone with no practical expenditure other than "I saw the pyramids, yo!". A building built of baked bricks is erected and used for shelter for decades, however it eventually crumbles and is gone all that energy just reduced to rubble which in turn reduces to dust.
Entropy. It's what we are for.
What will that mean for the newest distinguished citizen who hasn't followed the development? The one who was born into ignorance of the history, the lore, and given the ticket into paradise? They've been given the keys to the heavens and now what...?
Squadron 42 is going to be the single player mode of the PU. You'll be playing s42 a long before the persistent universe is ready, too. So you'll run through being the right hand of the UEE to give you an idea as to if thats what you want to be chasing in the PU.
Other than that, there is going to be a whole universe to explore and survive. Imagine you know nothing of SC and log in on your first day. You know about AC and the Dying Star and Broken Moon levels. These are real places in the PU you could go visit. While doing delivery missions you discover the Outsiders cult colony on Leir II, you look into it more. While running boxes you discover Jump Town. Do you milk it for money or report it to the UEE and clear out that rat warren? You do a passenger transport to Nemo and discover the mystery of the empty seas there. Where did all that life go? To the stars?
I suspect while doing standard missions, like security, cargo, passenger transport, there will be many multiple mysteries just waiting to be discovered if only you think to look in to them. You are sent to repel a pirate raid, but notice are these pirates are in short range fighters - that means they must be based nearby, can I profit from finding this out either from the pirates or the UEE? How are these smugglers making it this far into the system, is there a secret jump point? What do these Vanduul raiders actually want in this system? Why are they bothering us when they have their own places to live and exploit? Are the not
raiding, but actually
running?
I suspect this is what the PU may end up being, a lot of larger issues and missions behind the day-to-day that is served up to you. I don't think they are going to be serving you much on a plate past casual gameplay missions. Bigger mysteries will await those wanting to find them. You don't need to know the lore to stumble across them. Just keep your eyes and mind open as you do your usual.
I hope to seek an honest answer from CIG one of these days on how they'll go about the starting days in the Persistent Universe
I think the game is going to be ready for a good few months before they officially launch it. Emergent gameplay, missions with players pitted against players. A lot of experimentation can occur before they finally plump for one, two or more mechanics that keep the 'Verse live and vibrant.
Will we be mindlessly picking our starting location and slaving our way for money to an unclear goal? Or will we be greeted with a story that gives our character some depth, giving us a defined path that leads us into the heavens at some point to find our own path?
S42 is going to be the big story driven mode. I think they will be plenty of arcs happening in the verse like Tyrol going nova at some point etc, however I think they will be slow burners on a galactic scale with a lot of scope for players to make their own stories without being spoon fed like events and missions like S42 will be.
I try not to anymore. People don't seem to like it.
