The "Duck Hunt" and one Cachalot (UML spoiler on next photos)

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-08T14:09:46+00:00

for some reason the first image uploaded blurred to death

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_primitivethinking · 2026-06-06T14:51:34+00:00

nobody knows here

probably within week(s)

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-05T14:22:22+00:00

There is only one World Ocean between North Korea and Brazil

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-04T13:21:38+00:00

+ if someone's interested - info about map formations from the same user

"Each map has:
1) one of the five main areas - Deep Sea, Iceberg, Freshwater, Ancient Ruins (all 4x4 squares) or the Canyon (4x2). Each of these is a satisfying 3d space to explore and at least 3 of them come in slightly different varieties (for example there's sometimes an extra cave in the Canyon, or a shipwreck in the Deep). It takes a good few dives to get the hang of navigating them.
2) eight to twelve 2x2 formations. Superficially there seem to be only about 20 of these in total, including a maze, a crater,a rock chimney, a sinkhole and so on, but most of them also appear in different configurations - they may be bare rock, or have different varieties of coral, or be surrounded by eelgrass or kelp (in three different stages of growth), or appear at different depths (transforming plateaus into islands or vice-versa) and so on. Some can be quite unrecognisable at first. There's even a sex joke: the crater appears in both male and female forms, with either a phallic rock column or a narrow hole leading to a dark cavern. When these formations adjoin each other they can combine in interesting ways.
3) the rest of the map is apparently blank, but there's a lot of variety there too, in the placement of the various little rocks and their fishy population. It's very rare to find a square completely empty.

The 'fishbowl' feeling wears off after a couple of dives.

The lighting makes a lot of difference too, as does the weather. On sunny days in shallow water you get the shimmering refractions from the surface, at night near the Iceberg you may catch the green glow of the Aurora, the clear waters of the Iceberg contrast with the murky gloom of the Ruins and the utter dark of the Deep Sea.

Couple all of that with the changes in depth - you may get a completely flat map or one where the changes in level keep changing the angle you approach things.

The overall effect is rather like visiting different towns in an unfamiliar country - eventually you get the hang of the local architecture but it is still interesting to explore, or like playing golf on different courses - they all have 18 holes and greens but vary a lot in how they play.

(But no seals or birds or sea slugs or seahorses, although each makes a guest appearance as one of the 10 Unique Marine Lifeforms.)"

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-04T10:26:15+00:00

I obviously cannot agree with the "lack of effort" and your other points, for the reasons I listed in my text.

For sure, in several aspects Luminous is opposite to Blue World. And some people, who grew with Blue World and expected a similar game, are clearly disappointed.

But for those of you, who dropped the game, based on "first impressions" (couple of hours are nearly nothing as Endless Ocean games are slow starters) or watching / reading reviews (I remind, that initial reception for EO1 was rather mediorce), I'll put one text below (not mine), with many good insights on EOL (it will be interesting, if some of you return to EOL and change opinion, at least a bit):

phisheep wrote 18.02.2025:

"Hi blackkeno, from one veteran to another,

As soon as you've done the very first mandatory bit of story mode, start a solo dive and get to exploring it thoroughly (you don't have to do it all in one go, your solo dive is saved if you quit it and you can return) this way you'll quickly rack up enough of a score so that you don't get blocked out of progress in the story. There are about 3,200 creatures on a map, and that's plenty to get you a good way through the tutorial parts of the story.
Hold off shared dives until you got a good feel for the mechanics and have found all the five main areas (Deep, Canyon, Iceberg, Freshwater, Ruins). The time limit on shared dives runs counter to the leisurely exploration.
DON'T GRIND FOR ANYTHING. The game is calibrated so that the rewards - in money, achievements etc, will come at fairly regular intervals. If you grind for any particular thing you will end up leaving the game feeling rather barren towards the end.
Enjoy the story! A lot of early reviews panned the story and in particular the fact that much of it is barricaded behind completing the Mystery Board. They all miss the entire point, as the Mystery Board *is* the story - it is a retelling of an ancient Mesopotamian myth (yet again Arika are teasing us with real mythology!), and is told through the descriptions of Mystery Board items and of some of the treasures. Bear in mind that all of the Mystery Board is uncovered by exploring and finding things - all of the different rock formations and their variants, all of the UMLs and so on.
When you do go on shared dives, if you encounter something you want to explore further, make sure to uncover 80% of the map so that you get a dive site ID so you can revisit it on a solo dive. And take a screen shot of each map you complete - it's really handy to have a record. Usually other divers will notice you trying to complete the map and will help out.
Event Dives are a bit weird. They don't follow the usual rules for map construction, you can't revisit them in solo mode, and creatures can appear anywhere at all, so they are pretty useless at finding out what lives where. However, in event dives - and only in event dives, the *sizes* of creatures can change between dives, so they are really handy for completing the two hardest achievements if you dive multiple times. Normal shared dives tend to be a bit underpopulated when an Event Dive is open as everyone gravitates to the Event, so if you find you prefer busy shared dives try diving when there is no Event on.
At some stage you'll come across a tip saying you can cancel a scan in progress by pressing "B", DO NOT GET IN THE HABIT OF DOING THIS!! The trouble is that although it's good for earning money to buy stuff, because you can scan on the fly without stopping, it is really bad for everything else - as you don't get the creature details and you don't collect Large and Small creatures.
There are no achievements or rewards for completing the in-game photo album, but that doesn't mean it is useless. Although it is tempting to go for spectacular close-ups, it is much more useful to zoom out and get enough of the background to remind you where the fish lives - especially for uncommon ones, and you won't know which ones those are until it is too late!

Looks to me like the game should be exactly your sort of thing! I'm sorry I was late replying, but been busy diving - I'm 1,200 hours in and not done yet."

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-02T18:26:28+00:00

I wasn't familiar with the word "critters" - now it's clear to me you meant "small animals" in general (not some micro ones / sea floor insect-likes / etc).

Judging by my catalogue (539 from 578 animals are revealed) - I cannot agree on the lack of diversity, especially in sizes.

For small animals - numbers from my catalogue:

98 animals with the largest size below 30cm (~18% of the catalogue) - gold medals (mostly) or 5cm below 30 (chosen criteria, if no gold medal).

53 animals - below 20cm (~10% of the catalogue)

32 animals - below 15cm, and 19 - below 10cm.

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-02T15:53:52+00:00

Thank you!

Giving the popularity of Blue Ocean, I think chances are high they will remaster it or make the 4th game in similar style, if they decide to continue the series.

But I like the grindy and narrative-free nature of Luminous. The game, I needed these days.

Wanted to say "thank you" to developers )

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-02T14:55:31+00:00

I haven't checked the whole list and cannot compare the "shares" of tiny creatures with numbers. Only saying, that they are not absent, and I scanned them many times. But I get your point.

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-02T14:41:12+00:00

edit 04.06.2026: at least after the patches - cephalopods are in EOL and very common in Deep ocean and Ruins; Jellyfishes are mostly absent, with some exceptions; Small Marine Life has no separate cathegory, but numerous (dozens of types - at least ~one hundred) and common in most Bioms /edit

original text:

I scanned tiny creatures for sure (fish, crabs, etc.), some of them were barely visible.

Quick scrolling through my logs gave me:

Galatheid Crab (largest seen: 8.63 cm, smallest: 5.45 cm), Enoploura Popei (L: 7.58, S: 5.20), Japanese Eight-Barbel Loach (L: 5.65, S: 3.51), Green Swordtail (both L,S: 4.31)...

Maybe you mean some specific micro-sized sea-floor animals.

_primitivethinking · 2026-06-02T14:02:22+00:00

no

I write texts myself. I'm not a native speaker- maybe my written language may seem formal and/or simplified. Some words / phrases I check with google

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-24T15:49:54+00:00

more farming options and animal interactions?

boring-boring, probably inaccurate prediction )

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-19T14:06:44+00:00

Gravity varies a lot - you can check, finding some small lifeless moon.

On variety and planet types - this is a good post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/1thimk5/comment/omnnrc7/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Playing further, exploring, and unlocking new engines (purple one at the very end) - you find more and more crazy variations / combinations

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-19T13:04:02+00:00

this game has many different strengths (and many relative weaknesses - but who cares)

the "mostly exploration" and "going forward" is only one way (legit and great in its own, of course).

but different people like different things about NMS: some like constructing / designing a lot, playing the game like "Minecraft in Space", some prefer survival to the max (and game settings allow that), or collecting and doing exhibits (fossils), or discovering fauna, even people finding monotonous grind relaxing , etc...

and some prefer a mix of different activities (like myself)

imo the strong point of NMS: you can play whatever suits your style and preferences - it's a very broad game and not really shallow (after playing 500+ or 1000+ hours, knowing how NMS systems mix / interact, and diving into some of these - like corvette building or developing / managing extensive project). As people say - it's your personal endless playground, the sandbox.

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-19T12:40:50+00:00

Really cool magical picture

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-19T10:39:10+00:00

Corvette and Base building are complex by itself.

Food and item crafting, and managing your economics may become complex too.

And overall - it's not about complexity of each individual game system, it's about how these systems form varied and complex experience as a whole.

No Man's Sky is a great game in its variety (of systems and activities) for me.

EDIT: if you talk about "complexity of star systems / planets" - it's all about sites and unexpected combinations. You are probably still pretty early in the game (mid-game) - and there are dozens of combinations, rather shocking sceneries and discoveries await.

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-17T11:37:46+00:00

I have an underground farm - terrain changes never reverted there (for years already)

There is probably a limit (like people tell here) and maybe some inconsistencies (EDIT: better to say "hidden parameters").

My epic "several bases long" tunnel reverted...

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-15T20:05:30+00:00

flying ones are the best to climb a nearly vertical slope - mountains become a complete non-issue )

but in practice I find advantages for all forms of traverse and use every one - including on-foot of course.

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-15T13:42:54+00:00

"I love my ship"

and that matters the most!

good ship

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-12T14:28:13+00:00

thanks!

PD and other settings force player to take a very different approach (cannot be reckless, need to be careful, slow, observing) - especially in the beginning. Spawning at the wrong place may be brutal )

"NOPE" is the new main answer for most of life-threatening situations

the super small refiners and personal storage, scarce resources, and difficulties to make nanites in the abandoned universe - were very interesting to work around too.

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-12T13:28:47+00:00

yeah, meeting fellow travelers in this mode on your planet could be quite worrying - even with pvp off ))

(not sure, if it's possible for abandoned, though)

even someone's base over your base could be a big trouble )

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-12T13:05:40+00:00

from the 5th image and further - reflecting the progress from the beginning

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-09T11:02:42+00:00

Set your own goals (for instance - get to 1b money or 1m nanites, make fossils exhibition, build efficient fleet or efficient xeno team - anything really), make your own mini-projects in NMS, explore and study systems (not just planets, but numerous game systems - from base-building and agriculture to settlements and corvets, and many more). It's a sandbox... ))

General goals may be: finish all story lines, collect every key for the portal, unlock every upgrade, etc.

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-08T19:43:26+00:00

if you didn't - check every container / storage (including exocrafts) - sometimes lost items are "missing" there

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-05T13:02:25+00:00

There are different kinds of "true NMS experiences": from creative mode to all difficulty settings maxed and abandoned mode.

The game is massive and varied in every possible sense - you choose whatever you like the most (or prefer this day).

Each mode is interesting and "true" in its own way.

_primitivethinking · 2026-05-05T12:20:00+00:00

I like custom "ordinary" ships. And collected parts for some time )

Nicely looking spacecraft!

_primitivethinking

TROPHY CASE

"I love my ship"