"SkySaga: Infinite Isles" VS "Boundless"

Hey guys! New dude over here :wink:

I’ve been wondering whether or not to invest my hard-earned money on Boundless for a long while now, ever since before the game changed it’s name. The reason for my doubts are simply because there’s been alot of chatter and rumors going about, concerning disappointed backers that complain about “not getting their money’s worth”.

I am however very sympathetic and understanding of the “early access” situation, and I have whole-heartedly backed many games that I am proud to see reach it’s goal and deliver just as was promised, and then there’s other games that I’ve backed that turnt out to become a complete and utter disappointment in it’s finished state. So you could say I’ve experience both sides of taking a leap of faith and trusting that developers are delivering your money’s worth.

And meanwhile, while revisiting the topic oh so many times; whether or not to buy Boundless, I’ve played Creativerse by Playful Corp a whole lot, and when I got tired of that, I discovered SkySaga: Infinite Isles. I don’t regret ever signing up for alpha-testing, because ever since I became one, SkySaga has brought me hours and hours of high quality entertainment. But still, I never got over the flirtatious thought of owning Boundless and exploring what it is all about.

So here’s my effort at reaching out, hoping someone else who’s played SkySaga, hopefully sees this thread, and enlightens me about Boundless and gives me any insightful information I need in order to be truly convinced to finally follow through with the purchase. What makes Boundless a great, or even greater game than SkySaga? What can Boundless offer that SkySaga can’t? What aspects of Boundless brings similar or even equal amounts of entertainment?

2 Likes

Hello, I can’t speak for any comparison between SkySaga and Boundless. I haven’t played an ounce of SkySaga.

But I can speak of my personal experience with Boundless. I bought the game back in May 2015, checked it out for a couple minutes and had my fun, never touched it again, I assumed it wasn’t at the stage I currently wanted to play, but wanted to support it’s development and had faith in the potential it held.

Some time has gone by, and I took the dust off, I started playing again on February 2017. I found some roadblocks in my experience in the way of not knowing how to progress, where to mine, or what to do. I reached out to the googling, and found boundlesscrafting and the forums. Sure enough I took to them, and advanced through my gameplay, fair enough I had a house with the machines near where I spawned, which helped a lot. Boundless needs improvements in their tutorial, I know they do, but it isn’t something that takes priority, as many other Early Access games, you’ll find more information out there, than in the game. And they, currently working on so many features and ideas, keep us excited, as well as them posting changes weekly.

After 460 hours of gameplay, I can say with confidence, that it’s been worth the money for me, and It was worth me, thinking over if I should get it or not in 2015. Let me tell you something. Those old reviews, with thousands and hundreds of either they’re unhelpful or helpful, hold no significant value, as they’re comments of an old iteration of the game, and a very different at that. Just now, the testing and live versions of the game, hold many significant differences, that feel like different experiences.

Average players has been on a high, and while the community is small, they offer more advice and help than big communities has ever given me. If anything, the features they’ve been trying to accomplish, like: Grapples, portals, different planets, biomes, and building. Are very well polished, and the plans for the future, they’re working on. Are set to change the way sandbox games are supposed to be done.

If Minecraft was the first game changer in terms of Sandbox. Boundless is the second game changer. Lots of creative minds in the developing team, and the playerbase.

12 Likes

Wow, thanks for a delightful response to my thread! :stuck_out_tongue: I was afraid there for a second, that I had offended the community of Boundless by perhaps appearing too upfront and blunt about it, but this reply; personally, left me with goosebumps and almost has me reaching for my wallet lol, but I still need to think this purchase over, because I’m assuming the prices has gone up since you first bought it in 2015, and that makes me ponder even more about which backer-package I should go for.

In other words: you have thoroughly convinced me to finally buy the game! Kudos to you for being so helpful! But as I said; I need to figure out which package to go for. I’m a bit confused by the various packages. Instant access and launch-key: How does those differentiate? Doesn’t instant access give you access post-launch of the game? Or does it simply mean you get access to both pre- and post-launch, and if you buy a package including launch-key as well, it basically means you get a giftable launch-key to pass on to a friend, to use whenever it launches?

Again, thanks for taking the time to give me a thorough answer! :smiley:

3 Likes

I bought it back in March 27th, 2015 (I got the dates wrong, whoops :smile:), for $34.99 (The game) + $19.99 (Adventurer Edition upgrade) on Steam, kinda sorry I didn’t get it from the playboundless.com site.

You can easily get the explorer edition, as the only difference right now is with the world builder being available for higher tiers. You can also upgrade later on if you wish.

Q: Can I upgrade my Boundless package?

The main difference between instant access and launch key is this. Instant access lets you play right now, launch key will let you play after 1.0 comes out, which has plans to come out this year, but nothing certain yet. Those extra keys, I believe are giftable.

I bought the adventurer pack, and just recently upgraded to wayfarer.

5 Likes

Soooo I’m hoping that what you’re saying is that the instant-access key counts as both pre-release and post-release key, and not just for playing before it comes out? Lol while writing this it actually seems like a stupid question, as the most logical answer is obviously the first one, but I have to make sure, because I don’t want to get hooked, only to be thrown out of the game for not having both the pre-release key and launch-key.

Either way I couldn’t hold on to my doubts (or my money) anymore, so I went for the basic version (my economy blows right now, so yeah - that happened lol). Thanks for helping me decide! I’m hoping I won’t regret just buying the basic one. I would hate to experience midgame that I’m missing out on that “exclusive craftable wearable” thingamajig for being totally OP. But you only mentioned the “world builder” as a notable difference, and I’m guessing that I will be getting that later at launch…? :thinking: Or as you did; I could just upgrade if I feel like it’s missing… :wink:

2 Likes

Right now the only benefit of the higher tiers is access to world builder, where you design biomes and prefabs.

The other benefits will be implemented later on, like the exclusive tools and stuff. I remember them mentioning that the tools will not offer as much of an advantage, that basic backers feel left out, but it will be something convenient or unique to reward higher backers. A really though balance to get.

If you have instant access, you’re set. No kicking you out of the game. Those higher tier benefits, will be unlocked as they release them. This is an extract from the playboundless page.

"The tiers above offer a combination of “Instant Access” keys and additional “Launch Keys” for you to share with your friends and family when the game fully launches. The “Instant Access” keys give access to the game today via Steam Early Access and will unlock the tier’s perks once they become available in game. The “Launch Keys” give access to the base game and do not include any additional perks associated with your tier.

When Boundless is officially launched your Instant Access keys (and perks) will continue to work, and your Launch Access keys will be unlocked."

The benefits that are on game right now are:

  • Reserve your username
  • Have your say
  • Exclusive “Explorer” title
  • Access to World Builder
  • Create biomes for the game

The others are yet to come.

1 Like

I purchased the basic pack and don’t feel like I’m missing out as it stands. And considering it’s upgradable you don’t need to worry about it to much;)
Welcome to the community!

1 Like

Thanks for further elaborating and clarifying! :blush: really makes me feel welcome into this community! Can’t wait to try this! See you ingame! :smiley:

1 Like

Wow, what a warm welcoming committee I’m getting! Almost overwhelmed here, lol! :smiley: Thanks alot! Now I can barely go to bed before I’ve started the game for the first time! :joy:

3 Likes

Your welcome. You can find me most of the time at Pixel Gate. You can look the coords or see what it’s about if you search pixel gate in here.

1 Like

Yeah no problem at all. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

1 Like

I’m brand new as well, but I only learned about this game a few months back. The price also had me scratching my chin a bit, but what really sold me (well absorbed my heart and soul) were the community made videos. I suggest looking up a couple series on Youtube to really see what the game play is like, and most videos are actually very recent and will give you a great idea of the game at the moment. Some people have even been putting out videos from the testing server, which is super awesome.

I’ve never played SkySaga, but I’ve logged a bunch of hours on Creativerse. This game really stole me away with the beauty and greater variety of available natural blocks, craft-ables and biomes. If you are a builder, you will LOVE the chisel tool! It will take your builds to a whole new level (compared to Creativerse that is, though I do love it too).

Also as people mentioned, there have been big changes since 2015 and the game is at a very different stage. Again, check out those videos for up-to-date gameplay.

P.S. If you are ever on Berlyn, pm me and we can wreak some havok :smiley:

8 Likes

So, as I wrote yesterday, my prediction was correct: I couldn’t let Boundless wait untill later, so needless to say really; I didn’t get many hours of sleep, lol! :joy:

But now that I’ve tried it for a couple of hours, I can safely say that the two games really can’t compare yet at this stage, at least in terms of looks, because that aspect of SkySaga feels a bit more like it’s in it’s finishing stages while the textures and the aesthetics of Boundless still feels like it could use a solid touchup, and thus still got ways to go IMO. :thinking:

What I mean about that is, well… Shapes could become more “rounded” and more “natural-looking”, and not so sharp with marked edges. That really works in SkySaga and really packs that little extra punch towards making the game more pleasant to look at.

And I know people seem psyched about a certain “texture-upgrade” that the game has been given as of late, and I’m sorry to say, but honestly I feel everything I’ve seen this far could use more work, making terrain feel more alive and representative of the material it’s resembling. And also using sloped blocks as transition only works to a certain degree, because still without the slopes, the blocks feel more natural in SkySaga. But on a sidenote, what Minecraft and most Minecraft clones - Boundless and Creativerse included - does better, is giving blocktypes more realistic names and perhaps even realistically inspired textures, albeit very discreet, subtle and not as bold as I would have wanted it to be, based on materials also found in real life, instead of just names based on it’s colors, for example “red stone” or “cyan grass”… :unamused:

With that being said, crafting is basically oversimplified in Skysaga, and I’m not entirely sure that is what I personally prefer. Crafting doesn’t “take time” and happens instantly, so there’s really no effort going into crafting really. But however I do enjoy the setup of how the crafting-menus in SkySaga operates. Also, there’s basically just one machine for crafting, and I’ve gotten the impression that Boundless on the other hand have several, in the same manner as Creativerse and Minecraft, and that to me, is a positive experience and gives crafting a more significant part of the gameplay.

Being new to the Boundless universe, I really can’t rant too much about the good and bad about the game just yet, but still I do so passionately because I truly can see it’s potential. And with the developers announcing that they will release and launch within 2017, and seeing the current state of the game, I have no other choice but to be blunt about it, because as it stands I feel Boundless is in no state to launch at least for another year, or even two years…! :astonished:

Maybe the devs are holding back and have a couple of tricks and tweaks up their sleeves, already ready to give the game an graphical overhaul in the nearby future. And maybe the current look and feel of the game will grow on me with time. All I know is that I can’t wait to explore more of Boundless and truly discover more about what it brings to the table amongst several Minecraft-clones currently battling to be the best. :grin:

And yes, I would love to wreak some havok with you @Anichka93! :grinning: I’ll holler at you once I’ve covered the basics. :wink: As soon as I can figure out the usage of the socalled beacons, I’ll be sure to add you as a friend ingame. :blush:

2 Likes

nice to have another enthusiast on board:sunglasses:

I could say so many good things about the game and the ideas behind it and how it (in my opinion) goes in the right direction (I’m saying that after playing testing version for a while now).

But most of all community beats all I’ve experienced. I’ve been looking for a good sandbox for a few years now, trying out several titles. I looked for something that would promise good gaming time and steadily deliver by mixing challenging enough crafting, skill-based character progression, multiple worlds providing different environments, rich building/terraforming experience that would challenge players’ creativity and also a game not too focused on PvP.I found it all here and on top of that mega friendly and mature group of players, something that’s lacking in so many games out there.

And devs communicating skills are top notch as well.

So, enjoy and stay boundless :sunglasses: :boundless:

3 Likes

I was in the same boat as @Anichka93 and @KaKistoZ a couple of weeks ago. I have been lurking around Boundless’s perimeter for about 6 months. Doing research on it, and basically waiting for a sale. The final impetus for me was @Scratchnwiff 's game play video. I came from Creativerse and Empyrion, both have their differences, but they all of 1 thing in common for me, and that is the create and design aspect of it.

4 Likes

Thanks @knightsb :grin: means a lot to hear that. @KaKistoZ I was looking at other games for a long while too like Portal Knights and Creativerse, even 2D ones like Terreria and Starbound (haven’t played the one you talked abt tho). But this one has everything and the development is adding more and more. The community and devs are super helpful too and it makes a huuuge difference. I’m really big on aesthetics and tbh I understand where you’re coming from on some points. But like you said, I can see the potential of this game. The developments plus the creativity and passion of the players will make for very pretty things indeed :slight_smile:

5 Likes

Update 161 will bring significant changes, I can’t wait for it to go live. Look here for more info Testing 161: Statributes, Objectives, Settlements, Prestige!

It will make gameplay even more interesting.

And welcome to all new players!

4 Likes

I actually came from being addicted then burnt out in Rift Dimensions. Here are a sample of all 2 of my work that took me months to complete.
http://www.dimensiongallery.com/rift/gladfalls-retreat-by-kerrash/
http://www.dimensiongallery.com/rift/the-last-mythallar-by-kerrash/


but the grind to make gold then buy stuff to build and make gold to extend the item limits in the dimension up to the maximum, finally got to me and burnt me out. So took a break then went off in search of another game. Went back to ESO before went looking around in Steam Settling into Creativerse initially (it was free) and got interested in the mechanics. Then I found Empyrion, had loads of fun making and designing vehicles and bases, but I kinda miss the fantasy setting. So, I found Alchemist’s Awakening on sale tried it, liked it but too shallow at the moment. Around that time was when I found @Scratchnwiff game play video.

4 Likes

Ha! I like the corgi head above your fireplace in the 2nd link.

Welcome to the boundless community!

If you are looking for somewhere to settle and help with a new build project hit me up on here or on discord :slight_smile:

1 Like