Some notes about the creature battles in No Man’s Sky:
-The update is actually called Xeno Arena, which is funny to me because I had thought about mentioning a Pokémon spoof an explorer had made in my main NMS fic which would have been called Xenomon. I just never got around to it, and Hello Games has beaten me to it so I’m sure no one will believe me!
-Some of the league opponents can be found at archives, which are basically crosses between digital libraries, research hubs and trading posts, and I just find that delightful. A bunch of scholars, archaeologists/paleontologists and nerds taking part in academic research and then engaging in creature battles to blow off steam.
-So far, canine creatures tend to have the consistently highest stats at the outset. Maybe this is just a local quirk, but so far this has been true of both my longstanding Euclid and Eissentam saves. Other creature types can compete, but you have to look harder. (As someone who wants more variety, I’m taking my time.)
-And then you’ll find the ugliest, wimpiest looking critter and it will randomly have A ratings across all stats. Which I also find delightful because it reminds me of early versions of the game where you might be stalked and attacked by a carnivorous deer. (I really miss that level of randomness in creature generation sometimes.)
-Local trainers (or collectors, as we’re referred to in this game) do not have the same creature taming restrictions as the player, and that honestly makes me jealous. I want a shark on my team! I want an ikran knock-off! (Which is probably a good thing, because if I had some of those giant squids I’ve come across on water worlds, the competition wouldn’t stand a chance.)
-This update allows players to unlock special, exclusive creatures IN THE MAIN GAME and not in a limited time expedition. Thank God! As an adult who works 40+ hours a week and juggles other things, not having special items locked behind expeditions is a godsend.
Anywho, even though my brain is still trying to wrap around the fact that my favorite space exploration game is also a creature battling game as well, I’m definitely having a lot of fun!
I do think a lot of the more social updates like this take away from the original, lonely spirit of the game and are starting to make it feel more like a standard MMORPG at times, but since there are no micro-transactions, I can forgive it for that. Hello Games is one of the few developers who actually give the player value for their money, and honestly more value than they even charge for at this point.
