what is this game about?

[Betelgeuse]

The Trading Missions thread made me think of a question.
what is this game about and what do we want it to be?

I understand it can be a combination of things but what are those things and what focus does each thing have? Do you feel that the game as now does a good job at doing that?

The player is on a mission to reach the galactic core

The game just doesn't give a feel of that for me. Maybe because it is so open ended on what you can do but I have never cared about the galactic core and probably never will.

I find the game fun not from the "plot" but in what I see the game to be about is exploring and finding new places and things.

[goat not sheep]

Maybe what you're suggesting is that there should be more reminders to the fact that you're going to the galactic core?

[FAD]

I think it's good that you are given a wide latitude of freedom right from the launching at game start. That the main goal is to reach the galactic core is also an option to the player, which would allow for an indefinite game play...but doesn't that become quite repetitive after all the nooks and crannies have been saught? It would be for me anyway.

With any game there's a goal. Some have multiple set levels (each with bosses) that must be completed in order to advance onward to the goal. So far, Transcendance only has one level boss to beat and to make an educated guess, there'll be another somewhere at the core in order to complete the game. That's enough to draw my intrest of wanting to reach the core, not to mention all the new discoveries past Heretic yet to be unleashed.

So what's this game about? For me it's about prepping my ship with the best I can get in order to survive my journey to the core. To do so means that I'm gonna havta explore, take on a few jobs and missions, sell some illegals and shoot up the bad guys and reap their spoils...to make enough money necessary to complete my journey.

I can't think of any game that the player starts out with everything necessary to complete the main objective and B-lines directly to it. Where would the fun in that be? You must make choices in Transcendance in order to be successful. And choices is good, very good. So to have all these different variables to make money is simply the frosting that is necessary to finish the cake...so to speak. And the best part about that? You can choose (or not choose) any flavor you like!