Thinking of picking the game up, how is it?

[Soapstone]

I have seen a ton of mixed reviews about this game online, some say it is great, others saying it is terrible. I know asking here is a bit biased, but is the game pretty good?

[soulsource]

It depends on what you expect. If you want an orbital mechanics sandbox that's simplified enough to be quite an entertaining game, but still requires you to learn a lot about classical mechanics (assuming you don't know all that stuff by heart already), then KSP is really great. If you expect a game you can play without reading up on physics, and without having a spreadsheet calculation (or someone else's results found in the KSP wiki) open in the background, then KSP is not for you.

For me as a physicist KSP is one of the greatest games of all time, but yeah, I might be biased, as I consider it fun to calculate everything myself.

[pandaman]

Welcome to the forums.

If you are interested in spaceflight then give it a try.  Not sure what the current demo is like, but it should give you enough of a taste to see how you like it before committing to purchase.  By far and away the best value game i ever bought, I'm still playing a lot after 5 years as are many others.

The learning curve can be 'a bit steep' especially at first, but well worth climbing so don't let that stop you. These forums are full of friendly and helpful people to give tips and help you out if you get stuck.  And there are loads of youtube videos and tutorials available.

There are several mods that can help with  the physics calculations etc too if you want.  As well as loads more that can add extra features and challenges.

[Dfthu]

You should get it! It's a great game with a fantastic community. Although the learning curve may be hard, there's plenty of videos on YouTube to help. 

[Zeiss Ikon]

I'll echo the sentiment that this is the best "fun" money I've ever spent.  I bought the expansion, Making History, as well, and it's still the most play time and fun per dollar I've ever had from any game, computer or otherwise.  Just today, I've been refining and testing a rocket that can put a science experiment into Kerbin orbit, transmit the data back to Kerbin, and masses less than one tonne at launch.

The demo is pretty outdated (last I looked); but it's true to the general spirit of the game -- and it's a free trial.  You can, with a little knowledge (such as watching the right video on YouTube) launch a rocket past the Mun in the demo.  It's much easier to do so in the full game; you have many more parts choices, with higher performance, and Kerbin's atmosphere was revised to make it less like soup.

[Tewa]

The bad: It's too addictive.
The good: Everything else.

I had 2 weeks of vacation over Christmas, 4 months ago. Halfway through my vacation, I decided to pick up KSP on Christmas Day, and started playing. A week later, I was kicking myself for not buying KSP at the START of my 2-week vacation so I could have had another week to play before going back to work.

Now I have over 1000 hours in the game, and still play for hours every night. I can't wait to get home and log on for my next session. It's that good.

It does have a steep learning curve. Here's what I did, which I would suggest:
1. Start with Training. Do everything from "getting started" to "science basics". Just to prepare you, that's an evening's play right there, maybe 2. The game is pretty complicated but the training scenarios are great at taking you through it. But it will take some time. That's a good thing because you'll be ready to go afterwards.
2. Start a Career game. It will gate the parts you have to work with and the things you do. There will be missions for you to perform and you will unlock more rocket parts as you proceed. This will guide you through learning more about the game. Do NOT start with sandbox; in sandbox you have all the parts to work with at the start and it will overwhelm you.
3. Once you've puttered around on your home planet for a few days, go back to the Training missions and do To the Mun! through From the Mun. This will teach you how to, well, go to the moon. You'll then be able to play with your home planet's 2 moons for a while before you need to learn more.
4. At this point you might be ready to start getting some basic mods. (For me, this was 3 weeks after picking up the game.) Mods run the full spectrum from adding additional useful info (like putting stuff on the pilot screen you normally have to flip to map mode to get), to making purely cosmetic changes (like "mission control" radio background noise while you play), to adding new features (like resources to mine and ways to build moonbases and space stations).

I'm 48 years old and have been gaming since the dawn of digital games. In fact, I've been in game design for 20 years professionally. KSP is a unique masterpiece.

[Snark]

7 hours ago, Soapstone said:

I have seen a ton of mixed reviews about this game online, some say it is great, others saying it is terrible. I know asking here is a bit biased, but is the game pretty good?

It's very,  very good at what it does.

So what really matters is  this: us "what it does" something that appeals to you? Or not?  Different people like different things. I love KSP like a brother, but I'll be the first to admit that it's not for everyone.

If you like Lego-designing ships, and learning the physical principles of rocket design and interplanetary spaceflight,  and you like to make up your own "story" in a sandbox-type environment where "achievements" are something you define for yourself,  then it's nirvana.

If that's not your cup of tea-- e.g. you want something competitive, or you want a game that will define a story for you,  or something else-- then it won't be as well suited.

(And it has a very rich ecosystem of mods to help keep it fresh.)

I can tell you that it's a game that, if it does ring your bell, is easy to sink literally thousands of blissful hours into. (I certainly have.) So, I can't guarantee you'll love it,  since I don't know your tastes. But I'd say it certainly is worth taking a chance on.

[Superfluous J]

One biggie I don't see mentioned: the graphics are nice but plain.

[Snark]

20 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

One biggie I don't see mentioned: the graphics are nice but plain.

Yah, there is that.  It's nice, but not what I'd call jaw-dropping Hollywood-style special effects.

Though, if one has a high-end graphics card, there are mods that can pretty it up quite a bit.

Spoiler

^ above two images while running the Scatterer and Stock Visual Enhancements mods

 

[KSK]

It really depends how much you like sandboxes and how much effort you're prepared to put into learning the game, most probably with the help of third party content. To a lesser extent it depends how much time you want to sink into tracking down and installing mods.

There is a 'game mode' (It's called Career Mode) of sorts but it's not particularly deep.

Personally, I got many hours of enjoyment learning to play the game and master (actual mastery may vary  ) rendezvous and docking, Mun landings, Interplanetary transfers etc. However it turns out that I don't like sandboxes as much as I thought I did and once I'd learned the game, I didn't really have the motivation to play it much. Likewise, I've never really had the motivation to try and cobble together the right collection of mods to add enough gameplay elements to rekindle my interest.

But for all that, I would still thoroughly recommend KSP to anyone with more than a passing interest in spaceflight. Learning KSP gave me some of my best gaming moments ever, bar none. And playing KSP has given me much more understanding of real life space missions and meant that I get a lot more out of following them. 

[Geonovast]

If you've ever build a spaceship out of Legos without following directions, this is exactly the game for you.

[Ty Tan Tu]

"WOW, I actually did that!" That is the additive part of this game. I love it.

It is a problem solving game at its core, but it is an open world game where you decide what the problem is. There are no scripted runes you need to solve to open a locked door. You are instead faced with an indifferent universe that does not care whether you succeed or not, and you do have to obey the universe's Newtonian physics rules - or you fail - or even die. But you have a huge tool box to solve your problems. How you use it is totally up to you. You have command pods, fuel tanks, engines, and a lot more stuff.  

There are no icons clues that guide you through climbing to the top of a mountain. It is up to you to craft a solution. But when you do finally  craft that solution and land a Kerbal on Mun, it was YOUR solution - nobody else's . That is when you get that "WOW, I actually did that!" moment.

[betony1]

For me, what got me into the game was watching Lore play it before he joined blizzard as their Pr person. He was having so much fun! So i got the demo, and within an hour or so, i bought the game with my remaining money i had. I have played thousands of hours and with hundreds of mods, but to this day, i still enjoy the latest version, with few to no mods that involve parts.

What got me hooked the most, was the lego like building of my spaceships! If i changed an engine, or something small, the ship would go further or become cheaper to make. As other people have said, if you like spreadsheets, this is the game for you! if you like throwing things together and watching it explode, this is for you. 

If on the other hand you want content, like a story that you don't have to create, this is not for you. You are the creator, the destroyer and you get to decide what you want to do.

[Tewa]

(BTW regarding the spreadsheet talk, they aren't really necessary. If you want to fine-tune a rocket you can do it, but there are also mods that do the calculations for you if you just want to build, launch, and explore.)

[AVaughan]

You can also play without any calcs and just eyeball things and say "That looks like it will do.  Lets try it".  (That does lead to running out of fuel etc more often, which not everyone enjoys).  In my opinion, that is how the game designers intended KSP to be played.

Edited April 30, 2018 by AVaughan

[Tewa]

OP, you might want to head over to youtube and search for "ksp career tutorial" and watch a few episodes of Scott Manley's guide. It's a pretty popular guide for new players and shows off a lot of what the game's about.

[AVaughan]

Yeah I also recommend Scott Manley's tutorials.  Just be aware that some of them are pretty dated, the gameplay and technical stuff is still basically the same, but the Ui has had some tweaks and looks crisper now.

[Gargamel]

Hands down, the best Hours of Fun Per $ investment I have ever made. 

And that includes my ex-wife. 

[Curveball Anders]

4 hours ago, AVaughan said:

You can also play without any calcs and just eyeball things and say "That looks like it will do.  Lets try it".  (That does lead to running out of fuel etc more often, which not everyone enjoys).  In my opinion, that is how the game designers intended KSP to be played.

Some days ago I spent several hours launching, reverting, tweaking and relaunching the same rocket just to get it right

Edited April 30, 2018 by Curveball Anders

[Gargamel]

43 minutes ago, Curveball Anders said:

Some days ago I spent several hours launching, reverting, tweaking and relaunching the same rocket just to get it right  to not blow up.

FYP

Edited April 30, 2018 by Gargamel

[klgraham1013]

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

Hands down, the best Hours of Fun Per $ investment I have ever made. 

And that includes my ex-wife. 

I hear wives are expensive.  Probably on the exact opposite of fun per $ investment.  Personally, I can't afford one.

[Soapstone]

I noticed the demo page is down for some reason so I had to get it by linking to one of the torrents listed on the forums, it seems pretty fun. I am currently trying to figure out how to get the rocket into space without it flipping around in midair. I don't have much to work with yet, I got some of the science things purchased so I can have better rockets and fuel storage to make it into space. I had to use a youtube vid to figure out how to get my first rocket launched just to get my science up to purchase better things. I am definitely thinking I will get the full game when it goes on sale on gog.

[Gargamel]

14 minutes ago, Soapstone said:

I noticed the demo page is down for some reason so I had to get it by linking to one of the torrents listed on the forums, it seems pretty fun. I am currently trying to figure out how to get the rocket into space without it flipping around in midair. I don't have much to work with yet, I got some of the science things purchased so I can have better rockets and fuel storage to make it into space. I had to use a youtube vid to figure out how to get my first rocket launched just to get my science up to purchase better things. I am definitely thinking I will get the full game when it goes on sale on gog.

And welcome to KSPA.  You're now an addict and we're here to support enable you.  

Edited April 30, 2018 by Gargamel

[Soapstone]

I figured out that using the clamps to stabilize it on the surface after lighting the engine makes it fly more straight into the sky after decoupling it. I got it pretty high into the atmosphere before it starts flipping around now and I have no idea how to stop this so I can get into space.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Soapstone

[AngryKitty]

1 hour ago, Soapstone said:

I noticed the demo page is down for some reason so I had to get it by linking to one of the torrents listed on the forums, it seems pretty fun. I am currently trying to figure out how to get the rocket into space without it flipping around in midair. I don't have much to work with yet, I got some of the science things purchased so I can have better rockets and fuel storage to make it into space. I had to use a youtube vid to figure out how to get my first rocket launched just to get my science up to purchase better things. I am definitely thinking I will get the full game when it goes on sale on gog.

Available now on Humble Bundle for $12.00 (subscribe, pay, redeem codes on Steam, then cancel). Highly recommended, it's a great price and I think it will let you get the game + DLC (which is pretty cool) for less than the normal price.