C. Zircon

Turns out the reason I couldn't land on a planet in Elite Dangerous is because I have an AMD graphics card. 🙃 Do not recommend

Isn't PC gaming great

Well I tried to play Elite Dangerous, but first I found out that the version I installed was actually the "legacy" version and it would take a couple of hours to download the current version, so I decided to just play the legacy version instead even though my progress wouldn't carry over to the live version. But it was the first time playing it on this computer, so it didn't remember any of the custom controls I had set for my HOTAS, so I spent a bunch of time trying to figure out how to get it set up the way I wanted it. I also found that I didn't really remember how to play.

Eventually I managed to fly out of the space station and towards a planet and try to land on it, but as soon as I got below orbital cruise, I got an error that it couldn't connect to the servers and it kicked me out of the game. I figured maybe this was because it was the legacy version and I should just bite the bullet and install the live one. So I did, and then I flew out of the station and towards the planet again and got the same error and got kicked out of the game again.

I just want to explore a dang planet

I played No Man's Sky for a few hours when it first launched and didn't like it very much. But I know they've added a bunch of stuff to it since then and it seems to be generally considered good now, and I've been feeling in the mood for a game where I can just kinda zone out and explore, so I thought I'd give it another shot.

I started a new save because I didn't remember how to play and I figured there was probably new stuff in the beginning of the game. I turned off sentinels and predators but left the survival stuff on. It all seemed pretty familiar except that now you can build bases.

I'm maybe three or four hours into this new save and I'm feeling pretty much the same about the game as I did the first time: like I'm just grinding resources for no purposes other than to be able to grind more resources. I do feel somewhat motivated to get upgrades and stuff, because it's a video game and that's what you do, but I'm not really... having fun.

I can't really put my finger on what's bothering me about it. I feel the same way I do whenever I try an MMO: like I'm just doing the same things over and over but there's no point to any of it and there have got to be better things I could be doing with my time. But by that logic, I should feel that way about pretty much all video games, and I don't. Well, maybe a little bit. More than I used to. Maybe I'm just finally aging out of this hobby. Maybe making games my career has ruined them for me. I don't know.

I still have three more chapters of Fire Emblem to get through (plus some paralogues that I'm probably just going to ignore). I thought maybe I'd try to finish it this weekend so I wouldn't have that hanging over me anymore, but I don't think I'm up to it.

It's strange: I don't really get any enjoyment out of exploring the planets in No Man's Sky, but I used to enjoy exploring in Elite Dangerous. In both cases, the planets are procedurally generated, so I know that I'm not going to be surprised by anything I find. And the planets in Elite Dangerous have way less going on than the ones in No Man's Sky (there might be an occasional outpost but the vast majority of every planet is just lifeless terrain). Yet I found them much more interesting to explore.

Now I kinda want to play Elite Dangerous. But I'm afraid that if I do, I'll find that I don't get anything out of it anymore.