The absence of cities is my one minor criticism of the game so far, but I get why they would be difficult to manage.

I think that's the biggest thing that would make or break someone's interest in this game (followed closely by how much action one is expecting). As others have said, it's another great example of why pre-ordering something a year before its release is a patently absurd idea.

Not sure if you're playing on PC, but there's a lovely new mod that allows you to fly closer to the surface, and even fly into oceans - here's a link.

I can dig this perspective, though it's not one I share. The absence of overly hostile fauna and the ability to negotiate the landscape with some careful use of the jetpack actually brings the experience closer to hiking for me. Admittedly, I'm not a hardcore hiker, and my walks tend towards the low-key exploratory.…

This is a pretty big spoiler, and one that I wish I hadn't read. You've been downvoted.

Do you mind if I borrow your time machine for a few minutes?

It's nice to intersperse with more standard gaming fare. I'm alternating it with Phantom Hourglass, and the two complement each other nicely.

The settlers provide a really interesting way to interact with the game world, and contribute heavily to its unique sense of community. Most of the settlers I've encountered are in need of some assistance, and are, like the player, all alone in a vast universe. Helping them almost feels like a sense of solidarity, of…

Good call. When asked, I've been generally recommending people to read a lot about the game before plunking down some money for it. This is good advice in general, but particularly in the case of as polarizing a game as No Man's Sky. I don't think it would justify a $60 expense for most players, though I'll…

That notion of thinking of a game when you're away from it is a meaningful one to me, and one that you encounter rarely enough that it feels special. I think the last one like that for me may have been Dark Souls, or perhaps Xenoblade Chronicles X. It has definitely been occurring quite a bit with No Man's Sky as I…

Bird-watching is one of the best analogies to this that you could make. Maybe, to a lesser extent, hiking? In any case, I really loved the review. I'll confess that I was impatient in looking forward to its arrival, but at least my own personal hype was rewarded - this is the best piece I've read on the game so far.

That's a weird, weird game. I enjoyed my time with it well enough, though I don't think I'd play it again. If I had to define it, I'd say that it feels like someone transformed one of those rough-edged mid-1990s mid-budget RPGs into a big-budget 3D release. There are just so many strangely empty or opaque mechanisms,…

Whoa! I too will be going from 28 to 29 in the coming week, and I too am fatter than I was last year. Still within the proper BMI, I think, but it's a slippery slope and my genes are questionable at best!

I've been wondering the same, though I haven't gotten there yet. Apparently it is programmed in, in some fashion. Maybe bringing up the Home screen?

Good call on the filter - I need to replace it. To be honest, I'm surprised that hasn't given me more trouble given that I've only changed it… three times since I moved in a year ago. It should be changed monthly!

I'm waiting for a sale, but this Ars Technica article gives it a lot of praise.

This dovetails nicely with a post by @Dikachu:disqus upthread.

This is so exciting! I'm still 9 years off from canceling the PMI, so I'll have to live vicariously through you.

My birthday is this weekend, and I get to celebrate it by visiting DC with my wife on Saturday and at a family cookout on Sunday. Woohoo!

I actually had a coworker take this to its logical extension one time, where after he left, he got in touch with several (!) former coworkers to ask them out. Apparently he'd had crushes on them for years without ever seeking to develop the relationships. They all turned him down, because this situation was…