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[Zaizai]

Point is that it feels like such a shame that such a beautiful game doesn't have an engaging endgame loop, its almost criminal. There are tons of games that have a sluggish horrible gameplay and hours upon hours of content, and then you have this masterpiece that absolutely NAILS the gameplay but hungers for everything else

[eert5rty7u8i9i7u6yrewqdef]

I don't even know how it all happened but it all happened so quick. I got blasted with problems one after another, the pather, tri-tach, hegemony, sindrian diktat, persean league.... 
I couldn't explore for long because it was one crisis after another and I was constantly on a timer to get back in time to tend to the colony. This was stressful so I just tried to permanently solve these issues. I gave pathers a PK weapon, I struck a deal with kanta, I destroyed 2 tri tach markets and murdered some of ther fleets, i beat the blockade and survived the sindrian attack. It all happened in the spam of 1-2 hours of gameplay, then I was like "finally I can explore mostly in peace", and I ventured out....then I realized, what even is the point? what am I gonna do with whatever I find outside? I already defeated the doritos, the threat and shrouded enemies and got their weapons, I made some colonies, got a bunch of ai cores...I pretty much cleared the whole game like it was some chore to do before the actual game begins, but I'm left with no game left. The chores were the game....I wanted to find a pristine nanoforge but what's the point in finding new items to make my colonies stronger? the hegemony is not getting any stronger, I can bomb their worlds any time I want and the AI inspections will be over, then even them will leave me alone. 

I dunno if this rant made sense to anyone, but am I the only one feeling like this? I feel like I spent the whole time preparing for something that never came, preparing myself for a struggle that never arrived. The game is over before I could even find the weapons I was looking for (somehow I neve found a stormneedler lol). I could fight more threat or dwellers and equip more ships with their weapons but then what? there's nothing to do, no long term goal. Even If I make myself such goal, there's no challenge in achieving it. I can go around sat bombing every single planet and no one will be able to stop me. 
I know I can install nexerelin to squeeze more out of the game and make the long term goals harder to achieve, but I feel like the core game is lacking something fundamental, the game lacks the game itself. Its like a very cool rpg with a 1 hour long storyline but with amazing gameplay and combat, it feels way too wasted. I want to keep playing, I want to keep fighting, but there's nothing for me to fight, nothing to aim for, nothing worthwhile anyway. 
The crisis were over so fast I couldn't even see the benefit for me solving them, since the game was soon over....
I guess I'll wait until next update, then play for 2 days, then wait for the next update etc. Maybe next update I'll install nexerelin from the start and play for a week or so instead of 2 days. But this saddens me so much because I LOVE everything about this game and I've been playing every single update since 0.90 I believe.  I usually play on release but this year stuff happened and I started playing 2 days ago....well, let me know what you think, I'm curious if I'm the only one feeling like this or not.

>whats the point?
It's a video game, it has no greater purpose other than entertainment. If you're not feeling like playing it's either burnout or you need to attend to things IRL.
As for how you should entertain yourself, at this point the game basically boils down to an artistic form of fleet design with the goal of achieving maximum functionality with that art piece. It's on par with building a minecraft castle, but your blocks are ships, officers, weapons, and skills.

[Forlorn Hope]

No, you're not the only one its a common complaint.

The game really needs a resource other than money, that can be used for rare ships/items/endgame challenges. Blueprints sorta fall in that category but they aren't very useful or necessary, you can easily buy anything you need without the BP.

Right now its good fun until you get your endgame fleet composition sorted, but then you go from building up steadily to suddenly not needing anything at all. Its a sudden jarring black and white change. And then from a progression point there's literally no need to explore or do anything for money. Look at all the all the major gameplay loops - (trading/smuggling, exploration, missions and combat, colonies and crisis), the end result is just money, which you don't need anymore.

Which leaves only RP and challenge goals. Which are ok to pursue but it would be nice if there was a better progression system to keep farming in parallel.

[WhisperDSP]

I totally agree. The developers need to sell out to Bethesda or Paradox or someone.

After they have spent $20 million polishing it to absolute perfection, the game will be worth the $159.99 that we paid for it.

Edit: Also the new DLC every 6 months, at $49.99 each.

[Spyro]

I totally agree. The developers need to sell out to Bethesda or Paradox or someone.

After they have spent $20 million polishing it to absolute perfection, the game will be worth the $159.99 that we paid for it.

Edit: Also the new DLC every 6 months, at $49.99 each.

Just sell it to Microsoft and let them do nothing with the IP.

[TK3600]

Sell it to EA, you can only unlock ship with lootbox, and every update requires season pass.

[Lawrence Master-blaster]

Point is that it feels like such a shame that such a beautiful game doesn't have an engaging endgame loop, its almost criminal.

This may surprise you but it's not actually normal for a game to have an "endgame loop". That's usually reserved for products that only exists to extract as much money out of your wallet as possible.

[WhisperDSP]

I totally agree. The developers need to sell out to Bethesda or Paradox or someone.

After they have spent $20 million polishing it to absolute perfection, the game will be worth the $159.99 that we paid for it.

Edit: Also the new DLC every 6 months, at $49.99 each.

Just sell it to Microsoft and let them do nothing with the IP.

Microsoft bought out Bethesda, so them sitting on the IP is a given.

[Zaizai]

Point is that it feels like such a shame that such a beautiful game doesn't have an engaging endgame loop, its almost criminal.

This may surprise you but it's not actually normal for a game to have an "endgame loop". That's usually reserved for products that only exists to extract as much money out of your wallet as possible.

When the game has such amazing gameplay, it needs an endgame loop because people WANT to play more. old games used to have new game + or harder difficulties so even then they knew.  If people want to put thousands of hours into this game, there are even tournaments for ship compositions, tons of mods etc, you pretty much captured something that AAA game studios strive to achieve but fail most of the time. Its like being on top of a gold mine but only digging the surface layer with a pickaxe instead of hiring a crew and making a huge mine. Its like finding oil and instead of pumping it out and selling it, you use it locally, unrefined, as cheap fuel for a stove. games like kenshi didn't plan for people to put thousands of hours into them, so now for the sequel they are apparently expanding on that, giving players more stuff to do....I just wish I could play starsector for more than a week after release, 1 time a year.

[BigBeans]

Point is that it feels like such a shame that such a beautiful game doesn't have an engaging endgame loop, its almost criminal.

This may surprise you but it's not actually normal for a game to have an "endgame loop". That's usually reserved for products that only exists to extract as much money out of your wallet as possible.

When the game has such amazing gameplay, it needs an endgame loop because people WANT to play more. old games used to have new game + or harder difficulties so even then they knew.  If people want to put thousands of hours into this game, there are even tournaments for ship compositions, tons of mods etc, you pretty much captured something that AAA game studios strive to achieve but fail most of the time. Its like being on top of a gold mine but only digging the surface layer with a pickaxe instead of hiring a crew and making a huge mine. Its like finding oil and instead of pumping it out and selling it, you use it locally, unrefined, as cheap fuel for a stove. games like kenshi didn't plan for people to put thousands of hours into them, so now for the sequel they are apparently expanding on that, giving players more stuff to do....I just wish I could play starsector for more than a week after release, 1 time a year.

Maybe it's just me but I read posts like this and really think they start veering into entitled territory. It's wild to read posts like this, where you use language basically demanding gameplay loops and endless gameplay from a game that cost them $15.

Also, especially when you bear in mind it's a passion project that's still work in progress and receives regular yearly updates still.

There are games that cost you $50, you play them once and never touch them again. The fact that this game even gets you to come back yearly for $15 dollars is already more value than you'd expect.

I really mean no offence but I see posts like this now and again and I just really wonder what people expect for the money they've paid for this?

[GrayingGamer]

Maybe it's just me but I read posts like this and really think they start veering into entitled territory. It's wild to read posts like this, where you use language basically demanding gameplay loops and endless gameplay from a game that cost them $15.

I think you're misreading it.

Parts of the game are amazing, other parts need some serious work. We're basically early access testers, and this is a forum for expressing concerns (among other things). We all want the game to be successful - many of us think it deserves be wildly successful, but there are obstacles to that success (that are at least obvious to some of us) that need attention. Without a roadmap, we're not really sure what Alex is planning on doing next, so the best we can do is point and wave and say "this needs work." 

In a time when AAA studios are spending millions to consistently ship bad product, and games like Mount & Blade go woefully underdeveloped... it would just be a shame (and one more frustration) if something as special as Starsector doesn't get all the fleshing out it should.

[Spyro]

Nah it's not a misreading issue here. I've seen unreasonably high expectations out of the game, some people genuinely want this to become something like an MMO that's getting new stuff until the heat death of the universe.

Saying "this game needs some sort of endgame" is fair and something probably everyone is already aware of.

Saying Starsector currently is "unfinished, pointless, lacking too much" is straight up delusion considering you pay 15 bucks for it. How much else do people realistically expect to get out of this? You can't seriously expect unlimited gameplay with unlimited novelty for this amount of quality and dev time.

Lower your expectations a bit, it helps generally with things.

[Zaizai]

Nah it's not a misreading issue here. I've seen unreasonably high expectations out of the game, some people genuinely want this to become something like an MMO that's getting new stuff until the heat death of the universe.

Saying "this game needs some sort of endgame" is fair and something probably everyone is already aware of.

Saying Starsector currently is "unfinished, pointless, lacking too much" is straight up delusion considering you pay 15 bucks for it. How much else do people realistically expect to get out of this? You can't seriously expect unlimited gameplay with unlimited novelty for this amount of quality and dev time.

Lower your expectations a bit, it helps generally with things.

I've already gotten my money's worth  many times over, to the point that whenever it comes out to steam I'm ready to buy it again even if its 80$, that's not the point. The point is that it feels like such a shame that an amazing game like this that NAILS gameplay spectacularly, doesn't have much replayability after a certain point. Its fine, if alex wants it to release it as is I'm sure it will be worth whatever price point he decides to sell it for. But it will still be a shame. The game has the potential to be a 10 out of 10 and become a cult classic between a much larger audience, yet while there are many parts that for me personally are 10 out of 10, there are others that are 5 out of 10, that bring the game down from godlike status. 
I see this and I feel like its such a shame that up until now it hasn't been addressed, that's all. Do I demand that alex gives me more starsector content? absolutely not, he's free to do whatever he wants, I just feel that if the game comes out in its current state but with more quests and "toys", while an amazing game that's definitely gonna blow up in numbers, interest will die down and people will start waiting for the next content injection, like we are doing right now, where me and lots of other people apparently, only play 1 week a year after each update.

[Killer of Fate]

Nah it's not a misreading issue here. I've seen unreasonably high expectations out of the game, some people genuinely want this to become something like an MMO that's getting new stuff until the heat death of the universe.

Saying "this game needs some sort of endgame" is fair and something probably everyone is already aware of.

Saying Starsector currently is "unfinished, pointless, lacking too much" is straight up delusion considering you pay 15 bucks for it. How much else do people realistically expect to get out of this? You can't seriously expect unlimited gameplay with unlimited novelty for this amount of quality and dev time.

Lower your expectations a bit, it helps generally with things.

i'd argue you're missing the point

it's not that the game doesn't have infinite content and requires it
it pretty much does
the combat is infinite content
it's an endless source of random encounters that can be explored indefinitely with an infinite amount of options

the issue is that the game's systems do not interact with each other
the gameplay is supposed to be a neat little package of all things tying up into a functional cohesive structure. Like Deus Ex, except not operating through linear stealth/combat level design (even though there is a lot of stealth and combat in Starsector)

But that is not the case
Through choice

The economy which can be a source of a lot of entertainment is quickly overwritten with colony gameplay
the colony gameplay, which should be a source of a lot of risk, frustration and attempts at making stuff work is quickly overwritten through the crisis system
and the crisis system is like most of the combat in the game quickly overwritten through the skill and s-mod system, which then causes the player to not encounter meaningful challenges until the very end of the game
at which point there is no organic motivation to continue

(edit: gross oversimplification)

the game's economy, colony system, fleet-building should create opportunities for roleplay. The player's poverty. Anger from losing your fleet to an arrogant Persean League blockade captain. The Luddic Church being a horrible menace, etc.
That does not exist

we have the game, then the game ends. Then we have late game. And there is nothing else
through choice

I don't really expect you to understand what the problem is here, because it warrants an explanation that would be several pages long. Dozens maybe
It's just layers upon layers of things that ruin each other
An interconnected network of nonsense that end up making a non-functional image
individual elements of Starsector work flawlessly. But together they fail

ps. at least... Imo or something, whatever
I'm mostly writing this cause i dont want the OP to feel alone with their opinions on the topic
please don't start a flamewar with me cause you disagree that the game is not a 10 out 10

[Mrtophatcat]

 I feel like everyone agrees there isn't a proper endgame. I would also add that StarSector is about being a badass space captain who can beat back every other faction and create their own polity out of nothing and who partially solves the gate crisis with some egg heads and space Machiavelli. The game is a power fantasy and isn't very hard once you know what you're doing. The story point system is a free "be a badass" system which plays into that.

Whether or not that is a problem is up to the player. I personally prefer dragging the game out and making thing more challenging, my go to being "anarchist who refuses to engage with the corrupt system" (basically no using the open market or buying ships which fund corporations/governments/pirates or accepting commissions) + Kite start. The game gives you too much money that you can snow ball with too fast and so I slow it down. But not everyone is like me or will find another way to slow the game down that is fun for them. There are a variety of players who want a variety of things and the best thing devman can do is create a sandbox where players self regulate so someone like me doesn't get in the way of Mr. Power Fantasy. If devman ever decides they want to slow the game down to give players story beats like Killer of Fate wants than more power to them, but that isn't the type of game they are making (and for the better).

Hopefully devman adds in a mode that slashes the amount of money you make, makes the black market harder to access, makes getting quality ships harder, and anything else that makes the player "work" for their progress, but to some people those kind of changes will always feel arbitrary and like a grind so its better devman focuses on finishing the game. Then they can pander to players like me.

TL:DR Yes there isn't a proper endgame or even ending and everyone knows that. Yes the game is too fast and easy when you know what you're doing. My suggestion is doing "challenges" to help slow the game down. Otherwise play with mods or just stop playing and don't burn yourself out. Eventually this game (like pretty much every game) will stop giving you dopamine and all you can do is literally anything else.