Welcome to this episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast my friends! This week, Jim, Hunter and I bring on friend-of-the-show Travis (known as “Khronoe” on our Discord server) to talk about the gaming phenomenon known as “grind”. This came up during last week’s Jumpgate stream, wherein we discussed grind in games and why, to me, Jumpgate is better in the grind department than, say Elite: Dangerous (which comes up a lot in this episode. We discuss the upsides and downsides of grind, which games we feel embody the concept of grind and much more. It’s a lengthy and lively discussion.
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Next week on the show, it’s an early show as our guest is in Vienna, Austria. Join us as we talk to the folks at THQ Nordic about their work on classic space games Nexus, Imperium Galactica and more!
Finally, we’re launching a contest. If you leave us a (hopefully positive) review on iTunes, you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the many game codes I have, from the entire Wing Commander series on GOG to all of the X-Wing games on Steam. Once you’ve left a review, screenshot it and email it to contests@spacegamejunkie.com! The contest runs for a month, so get on it! Every ten entries adds another winner, so ten entries will yield one winner, twenty entries, two winners, etc.
As always, if you have a question or comment email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums.
Show Notes
Games Mentioned
- Jumpgate
- Elite Dangerous
- Diablo
- World of Warcraft
- Everquest
- EVE Online
- Star Citizen
- Freelancer
- Euro Truck Simulator 2
- X Series
- Star Wars Galaxies
- Final Fantasy
- Wing Commander: Privateer
- Chromehounds
- Space Bucks
- The Sims
- Mass Effect
Half way into the podcast so far. Great topic for discussion this week. I enjoy Elite a lot but I appreciate the pointed and in-depth criticism of it. I hope that community discussions like this make it to the ears Frontier Development and helps them make the game better. There is huge potential there, but a few things like the seemingly endless grind in particular hold it back somewhat. Thanks for another great podcast.
Thanks for listening!
WE. HAVE. TO. WRAP. IT. UP. – Veloxi
As I said on another forum, congratulations on hitting 5K.
This was another one of those podcasts where I have lots of comments, but don’t remember them all because I usually listen to podcasts while I’m commuting and have a very short attention span…
I don’t know why you didn’t just call this an Elite Dangerous episode, with cameo appearances from other games. :D The way you guys talk about Elite reminds me of how Calvin says he hates Susie Derkins, but talks about her all the time.
I’ve never been into MMOs, so haven’t dealt with grind from that angle. The only games I’ve played that were in some part grindy are CRPGs (Ultima, Elder Scrolls, Witcher) and of course Elite.
And, to be honest, I don’t find Elite to be too grindy because I don’t focus too much on those parts of the game. I haven’t stressed much over bumping up rank (or credits) to get bigger ships. Like Veloxi, I usually enjoy doing missions, so do that a lot. I’ve also spent a lot of time Exploring, and sometimes just go off to a CNB or RES and shoot stuff. Earning rank or money is just something that happens along the way. I played Power Play for a while, but didn’t really enjoy the way that made me modify the way I played, so I bailed out and haven’t looked back.
Likewise, Engineers seems too grindy. Every once in a while I spend some time trying to get materials or data so that I can upgrade something, but that bores me after a while so I go off and do something else (even after FD made it easier to get the stuff). I don’t spend too much time in Open, so I don’t worry too much about having my ship outclassed.
I’ve been on hiatus from Elite for a couple of months, but that’s more a reflection of how little time I have and how much I’ve enjoyed The Witcher 3, rather than anything negative about Elite.
Jim’s ideas of having commanders pledge to major powers touches on how I feel about Power Play in general. I’ve never really liked the idea of pledging to an individual, or of having multiple factions within a major power in conflict. It’s weird that pilots can murder each other just because they are carrying pamphlets or some other MacGuffin from another faction. I also find it more than a little weird when commanders simultaneously obtain high ranks in both the Fed Navy and Imperial Navy.
If a commander pledges to a superpower, or at least to a minor power associated with a super power, it at least begins to make sense that his/her allied power’s navy might help them, or the opposition navy might get violent (particularly if the pilot is running a mission for the navy).
Also, regarding interdictions by NPCs, it always bugs me when they interdict me as soon as I enter a system, commenting upon my cargo (or my bounty) because:
1) They didn’t have time to scan me (especially in those cases where I can’t even see them on radar)
2) Do Cargo Scanners even work in SC? I am almost certain that the KWS does not but I’ve never used a Cargo Scanner.
3) Somehow they are magically behind me as soon as I drop from witch space into SC?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the “sorry, sir, I didn’t realize it was you” response after an NPC interdiction. I’ve seen it a lot when I get scanned by an NPC at a CNB or in a RES, though. :D
I’m sure that most or all of this stuff has been discussed on the FD forums before, but I really can’t spend much time there any more.