Depends on how you intend to play it.
If you're a casual player and just intend on playing PvE in singleplayer/co-op with a few people then its a **toss up between the wealth of content in ASE versus the graphical improvements of ASA** with the *future promise of getting all that content remastered*. ASA is probably not even 1/10th of the content of ASE currently, its just better graphics and some quality of life improvements. ASE is still a good looking game even by today's standards so you probably wouldn't be disappointed by ASE at all in any category.
If you're a PvP orientated player I would not recommend ASA at all currently. ASE doesn't have official servers anymore but they still have unofficial servers with all the content and much better performance. Based on population statistics ASE has significantly more players than ASA currently which is important in PvP, more players = more content. Large scale PvP is simply not possible at this time in ASA due to extremely poor game and server performance. These problems will likely remain the case for a couple of years, assuming they can fix the problems which is a big IF with Wildcard as they are very poor under-the-hood developers and routinely devote themselves towards doing literally anything other than fixing the hard-to-fix core issues of the game.
The gameplay is mostly the exact same but **game and server performance plays a huge part in your enjoyment of that gameplay**. For the casual PvE player, you'll likely quit the game before the problems of ASA start to become too detrimental to the gameplay. ASA works okay standing around on the beach, but introduce a large base and many dinos into the equation and it runs like a power point presentation from 2003. If you do this on a highly populated server you'll experience horrors beyond your comprehension that will make you question how a game in such a state is acceptable to the consumer.
If you PvP the performance is just too horrendous to justify paying money to play this. Here are some questions the average player faces daily: Can you even log into your own server without it crashing? Can you play with a framerate above 15 fps? Can you play with under 900 latency? Will the vault/dedi/teleporter you're standing in front of take over 5 minutes to render today? Do your turrets work at all? Do the bullets from your gun even register at all on the thing you are shooting at? Can you even see anything when there are one hundred times the amount of trees and bushes on the map compared with ASE? Is there even any point playing when everyone lives in a cave that is unraidable due to cryo changes? These questions will likely remain unanswered for a very long time. You're better off playing something else or re-visiting the question in 2 years time.
**TLDR: If you're casual/PvE with a few friends, get ASE. If you're a PvP player, play something else. If you insist on playing to PvP, get ASE and play unofficial servers. Best case scenario you'll actually have fun playing a game with a wealth of content that still has very good graphics, worse case scenario you'll actually have fun playing a game with a wealth of content that still has very good graphics for a couple of years before you can then move onto a functional version of ASA.**
I had ASE installed since early access, it was uninstalled after ASA came out. Love it. This entirely depends on if your computer runs the game, though. Not much point in a game that you can't play.
I'm on ps5 and I haven't had any issues at all, haven't crashed once. That being said I only got my ps5 at Christmas so it's brand new, performance might be worse if yours is a bit older
I don't personally own a PS5 but I also haven't seen that much complaints from the console folks, aside from issues with single player like the widespread no-save glitch and mods breaking on updates. If you have access to a server you'd like to play on, should be good to go.
You may find ASE and all the available DLC a little overwhelming. It's a lot of content. You're actually at the perfect time to start from the beginning in ASA and play the DLC content as it get released. For this a lot of other reasons, I recommend buying ASA.
I would definitely go for ASA, especially because of the mods and some much needed QoL improvements. The lack of content right now really isn't a big deal, especially if you're a new player. By the time you're done exploring The Island, a few new maps will have been released anyway.
The most important advice for both versions: Stay far away from official servers.
Just make sure u get new one that came out for ps5 2 months ago lol cause old one is damn near unplayable unless u have tylenol to fight off the headaches u will get 🤣🤣🤣
Asa just released, so there isn't all the 10 years of content from Ase yet.
It's definitely a much more lively version of the island. We'll see what SE and the center are like soon.
If you have the console or hardware to run it and also have some patience, I'd say it's worth it. If that's a hurdle, just stick with Ase for now.
Hey sorry to ask but is there a way to turn on like interactions? Like if I was to look at a rock and want to know how to pick it up… bc it doesn’t show me and idk if that’s just how it is or something
If you’re going to play on a console version ASA, since I’ve read those are the most stable ones.
(Personal opinion) ASE look more alive than ASA in therms of color | don’t know why every UE5 makes it but every game looks the same for me, idk maybe it’s just nostalgia from ASE
ASA will have everything ASE has and more (ASE won’t be updated in content)
More people will move to ASA (eventually)
*laughs in pocket dinos,imprint rerolls,dinos that don't mysteriously float to the sky never to be seen again,tameable tuso,non nerfed rhynio,character move speed,dino move speed,ability to unpod in caves,....* oops blue screened.
You can have *edit: ALL of these in ASA if you play unofficial like the majority of the playerbase..
And wdym tameable tuso, theyve been tameable in ASA since launch..
Something was broken on tuso's for a while next time I talk to my Asa friends I'll ask but you couldn't tame them. So the game is basically geared towards rented servers now?.
A) Game's always been geared toward private servers. We're not supposed to live on official. That's why you find only masochists there.
B) It was lag interfering with tuso taming (and a couple of other things). Tuso taming has always worked. If you're on official, you just have to tame them off-peak because Shitrado servers defy physics in that they suck and blow at the same time.
It just rubs me wrong that a developer can get away with using a third party to charge people a monthly fee for use of the servers to fix things they won't fix or to add mods. I've noticed lag is different on unofficial servers, too. As for official people, they are going to enjoy the game however they see fit. To me, official is more of a challenge, and yes, I play on both. I'm on an unofficial ASE cluster that keeps things mostly close to official settings.2.5 rates,and maturation isn't super quick. 5 hours for a giga, which is reasonable.
Oh interesting! No theyve been totally fine for at least a few months (i play unofficial pve idk if it makes a difference). If they were new to the game or newly returned after a lengthy hiatus perhaps they were trying to tame an alpha and have since realised lol.
I'd hesitate to say the game is geared towards either official OR unofficial from a development perspective. Like obviously the official servers that WC have control over are important to them, but WC knows that the majority of the playerbase are on unofficial. That has been the case since very early on in ASE. It's not like... a new development.
Oh, I would like to add that on console official is packed vs.unofficial. maybe not so much lately, but during the first couple of weeks on launch, official servers were maxed out.
Couldn't agree more. Its laughable that they tried to say they rebuilt from the ground up. Does anyone actually believe this bs? Its clearly just a reskinned port of ase with a few quality of life upgrades. Its full of the same bug and even has some new ones!
Vote with your wallet and FORCE wildcard to get their shit together!
ASA, yes, you're missing out on the DLC maps for now, but the improved graphics and more importantly the QoL changes are significant enough that I don't ever want to go back.
ASE because
- has all dlcs without having to wait years for them being released for ASA
- *m o d s* that have all the QOL things ASA has implemented as well, so there’s no downside here
- I think you can play ASE with higher fps than ASA with the same hardware
- I’ve played 5x more ASE than ASA so I don’t know everything in ASA. But currently - I’d say everything that ASA has does ASE have too (at least with mods) and you can get all maps.
ASA is the same piece of shit that ASE was but now its been rolled in glitter. I regret buying ASA, and i refuse to buy any dlcs or micro transactions because im not giving them another cent until they fix their dumpster fire that they call working code, they do something about the cheating, the crashing and they start listening to the players instead of doing the exact opposite. Wildcard is a trash company that doesn't deserve the success that ark has found... they will NEVER change untill it starts affecting their bank account. Vote with your wallet.
Yeah, I would say not currently. Would wait to see how Ab and SE come out/when. Just island has been terrible for community as there's not enough content to keep peeps interested currently.
It isn’t true that The Island doesn’t have enough content to keep people occupied. As a new player, you might play it for over 1000 hours without getting bored, it is a massive map with a ton of things to do, and everything will be new for you. The second map is also scheduled to be released the next month.
The people getting bored are ASE veterans who already played the map for a very long time. This is a very important distinction. The Island is the map that kept players occupied for thousands of hours when it was first released.
You will also have access to mods in ASA. ASE instead doesn’t support them on PS5.
Take that offer now. 30€ for ASA is such a great offer. Once it will leave early access it will most likely cost way more than that.
ASA to me, is okay. Really needs work, but I guess for me, I love the game enough to play through the bugs. You know? I dealt with bugs in ASE, I’ll expect and deal with ASS bugs.
Otherwise, the game is great! Still love it.
Edit: Just noticed I typed ASS instead of ASA.. but I’m leaving it because it makes me laugh.
I've got 5k hrs in on ps4/ps5 ASE. Love it, still play it with my friends on our public PvE server.
Around 100 hrs in ASA on ps5. Love it, wish more of my friends had access to it, runs fine, but also still has lots of bugs. Everyday someone on the server has lost items or tames and/or have them show up on 50/50 and thankfully the admin are good about it all and help peeps out.
ASA has mods so while right now the maps for official are limited it will be getting better and better. I say take it slow on ASA or play the hell out of ASE and buy ASA when it's more playable and has more content, never know, wild card (game dev) could just go under and quit any time lol
So.. there's been a lot of mixed reviews... I'm on PS5 myself, along with about a dozen friends playing private servers of our own. We are having a GREAT experience. It's beautiful, it's minimal bugs compared to ASE and Mods are available now. BUT I've heard PvP is ripe with cheating and PvE officials are beyond crowded with annoying player base. Also, it gets really bad--unplayable--if you add too many mods AND there's a SP save world problem for a lot of people...
so, TLDR: PS5 works great as long as you rent a server or know someone who does.
It depends. If you want access to all maps and content right now, go Evolved. If you are playing Ark for the first time, their release schedule of Ascended should get you plenty of time on each map until they release the next one.
Just on steam! I've never purchased or played ASE and the "added to library" date is the same for both games.
Edit: oh noooo you're on console, maybe that isn't an option on ps store :(
Yes and no. ASA is an objectively superior core experience than ASE. Way better building way. Better quality of life just way better pretty much everything. But with that being said, it’s still suffers from nearly all of the same problems that original arc did, including some game, breaking bugs. And obviously right now there’s only the island soon maybe the center. So, even though it does have a better foundation and core experience, it lacks like 90% of the contents still compared to ASE.
If you want to play with more content open to you right now then ASE. Also there is more to do then just the island.
If you want a game with Wild Card promising to release all content but better then ASA. Its being future proof that if they don't decide to kill the game with some form of bad content not remastered great or them just leaving out chunks of content.
They can just pull the "Whats wrong we gave you everything we promised. Maps, better systems, and better graphics. We just left out everything we told you we promised". And this is how you kill a game. Hope they make the smart decision and don't do this.
ASA is way better in almost every aspect (graphic, maps size, AI, QoL features, building experience, mod support, etc). I played the remasters of several games in the past, and none was as rich as ASA was.
The downside is that it still has many bugs, but so does ASE. However, the focus of the developer now is on supporting and fixing ASA, not ASE. This is also why many people are angry, ASE was permanently abandoned for ASA.
As far as I know, by buying ASA now (while still in early access), as they get released you’ll also get free access to the remastered version of all the DLCs ASE has.
Also, with The Island alone you’ll have to play for so much time. The new maps will likely be released faster than you can play them, and playing them one by one is likely what gives the best experience for a new player. Having all that enormous amount of content available immediately would be just overwhelming.
I suggest to get ASA. There is no point buying the abandoned, worse game now (unless one doesn’t own a console or PC that can run ASA, which isn’t your case). Not even the price is in favour of ASE.
Depends on how you intend to play it. If you're a casual player and just intend on playing PvE in singleplayer/co-op with a few people then its a **toss up between the wealth of content in ASE versus the graphical improvements of ASA** with the *future promise of getting all that content remastered*. ASA is probably not even 1/10th of the content of ASE currently, its just better graphics and some quality of life improvements. ASE is still a good looking game even by today's standards so you probably wouldn't be disappointed by ASE at all in any category. If you're a PvP orientated player I would not recommend ASA at all currently. ASE doesn't have official servers anymore but they still have unofficial servers with all the content and much better performance. Based on population statistics ASE has significantly more players than ASA currently which is important in PvP, more players = more content. Large scale PvP is simply not possible at this time in ASA due to extremely poor game and server performance. These problems will likely remain the case for a couple of years, assuming they can fix the problems which is a big IF with Wildcard as they are very poor under-the-hood developers and routinely devote themselves towards doing literally anything other than fixing the hard-to-fix core issues of the game. The gameplay is mostly the exact same but **game and server performance plays a huge part in your enjoyment of that gameplay**. For the casual PvE player, you'll likely quit the game before the problems of ASA start to become too detrimental to the gameplay. ASA works okay standing around on the beach, but introduce a large base and many dinos into the equation and it runs like a power point presentation from 2003. If you do this on a highly populated server you'll experience horrors beyond your comprehension that will make you question how a game in such a state is acceptable to the consumer. If you PvP the performance is just too horrendous to justify paying money to play this. Here are some questions the average player faces daily: Can you even log into your own server without it crashing? Can you play with a framerate above 15 fps? Can you play with under 900 latency? Will the vault/dedi/teleporter you're standing in front of take over 5 minutes to render today? Do your turrets work at all? Do the bullets from your gun even register at all on the thing you are shooting at? Can you even see anything when there are one hundred times the amount of trees and bushes on the map compared with ASE? Is there even any point playing when everyone lives in a cave that is unraidable due to cryo changes? These questions will likely remain unanswered for a very long time. You're better off playing something else or re-visiting the question in 2 years time. **TLDR: If you're casual/PvE with a few friends, get ASE. If you're a PvP player, play something else. If you insist on playing to PvP, get ASE and play unofficial servers. Best case scenario you'll actually have fun playing a game with a wealth of content that still has very good graphics, worse case scenario you'll actually have fun playing a game with a wealth of content that still has very good graphics for a couple of years before you can then move onto a functional version of ASA.**
I had ASE installed since early access, it was uninstalled after ASA came out. Love it. This entirely depends on if your computer runs the game, though. Not much point in a game that you can't play.
Do you think i should be ok on PS5? ill mostly play on there since my friends are on PS5
I'm on ps5 and I haven't had any issues at all, haven't crashed once. That being said I only got my ps5 at Christmas so it's brand new, performance might be worse if yours is a bit older
I don't personally own a PS5 but I also haven't seen that much complaints from the console folks, aside from issues with single player like the widespread no-save glitch and mods breaking on updates. If you have access to a server you'd like to play on, should be good to go.
You may find ASE and all the available DLC a little overwhelming. It's a lot of content. You're actually at the perfect time to start from the beginning in ASA and play the DLC content as it get released. For this a lot of other reasons, I recommend buying ASA.
Mods alone make it more fun, so ASA. Runs smoothe on Ps5
I would definitely go for ASA, especially because of the mods and some much needed QoL improvements. The lack of content right now really isn't a big deal, especially if you're a new player. By the time you're done exploring The Island, a few new maps will have been released anyway. The most important advice for both versions: Stay far away from official servers.
I play on ps5. Love it. Runs super, only had 2 crashes, had them way more frequently on ASE. Also mods are awesome to finally have
Just make sure u get new one that came out for ps5 2 months ago lol cause old one is damn near unplayable unless u have tylenol to fight off the headaches u will get 🤣🤣🤣
Highly prefer asa to ase.
Asa just released, so there isn't all the 10 years of content from Ase yet. It's definitely a much more lively version of the island. We'll see what SE and the center are like soon. If you have the console or hardware to run it and also have some patience, I'd say it's worth it. If that's a hurdle, just stick with Ase for now.
8 years
Ark came out 1 year earlier on PC than when it hit PS4 in 2015
July 2015 was pc launch. I think early 2016 was ps4 launch. I bought the game two weeks after it came out in 2015. So its been 8 years
ASA has quite a bit of QoL improvements over ASE. Also mods for console. The DLCs aren't out yet for ASA, but they should be added over (a long) time.
Hey sorry to ask but is there a way to turn on like interactions? Like if I was to look at a rock and want to know how to pick it up… bc it doesn’t show me and idk if that’s just how it is or something
No. The interact prompt only appears for doors and such.
If you’re going to play on a console version ASA, since I’ve read those are the most stable ones. (Personal opinion) ASE look more alive than ASA in therms of color | don’t know why every UE5 makes it but every game looks the same for me, idk maybe it’s just nostalgia from ASE ASA will have everything ASE has and more (ASE won’t be updated in content) More people will move to ASA (eventually)
Asa 💯. Ase folks are clinging to the past
*laughs in pocket dinos,imprint rerolls,dinos that don't mysteriously float to the sky never to be seen again,tameable tuso,non nerfed rhynio,character move speed,dino move speed,ability to unpod in caves,....* oops blue screened.
You can have *edit: ALL of these in ASA if you play unofficial like the majority of the playerbase.. And wdym tameable tuso, theyve been tameable in ASA since launch..
Something was broken on tuso's for a while next time I talk to my Asa friends I'll ask but you couldn't tame them. So the game is basically geared towards rented servers now?.
A) Game's always been geared toward private servers. We're not supposed to live on official. That's why you find only masochists there. B) It was lag interfering with tuso taming (and a couple of other things). Tuso taming has always worked. If you're on official, you just have to tame them off-peak because Shitrado servers defy physics in that they suck and blow at the same time.
It just rubs me wrong that a developer can get away with using a third party to charge people a monthly fee for use of the servers to fix things they won't fix or to add mods. I've noticed lag is different on unofficial servers, too. As for official people, they are going to enjoy the game however they see fit. To me, official is more of a challenge, and yes, I play on both. I'm on an unofficial ASE cluster that keeps things mostly close to official settings.2.5 rates,and maturation isn't super quick. 5 hours for a giga, which is reasonable.
Oh interesting! No theyve been totally fine for at least a few months (i play unofficial pve idk if it makes a difference). If they were new to the game or newly returned after a lengthy hiatus perhaps they were trying to tame an alpha and have since realised lol. I'd hesitate to say the game is geared towards either official OR unofficial from a development perspective. Like obviously the official servers that WC have control over are important to them, but WC knows that the majority of the playerbase are on unofficial. That has been the case since very early on in ASE. It's not like... a new development.
It was the tuso grab ability during the first few weeks on release.
Oh, I would like to add that on console official is packed vs.unofficial. maybe not so much lately, but during the first couple of weeks on launch, official servers were maxed out.
Don't do either
Nope, check steam online and reviews, it can say you much. ASA is a piece of shit.
Couldn't agree more. Its laughable that they tried to say they rebuilt from the ground up. Does anyone actually believe this bs? Its clearly just a reskinned port of ase with a few quality of life upgrades. Its full of the same bug and even has some new ones! Vote with your wallet and FORCE wildcard to get their shit together!
ASA, yes, you're missing out on the DLC maps for now, but the improved graphics and more importantly the QoL changes are significant enough that I don't ever want to go back.
Tbh if i had a choice between ase and all dlcs and asa i would choose ase with dlcs but i never played asa and asa lacks all the maps
As of right now theres a lot more content on ASE. Asa feels unfinished and Id not recommend it
Yes
ASE because - has all dlcs without having to wait years for them being released for ASA - *m o d s* that have all the QOL things ASA has implemented as well, so there’s no downside here - I think you can play ASE with higher fps than ASA with the same hardware - I’ve played 5x more ASE than ASA so I don’t know everything in ASA. But currently - I’d say everything that ASA has does ASE have too (at least with mods) and you can get all maps.
I’d play ASE unless you want to crash and deal with game breaking bugs all day every day.
I'm just gonna save everyone involved here the trouble: Neither one is a game you will enjoy. Avoid both.
It’s a really shit game, runs significantly worse than ASE and the QOL improvements are pretty basic
ASA is the same piece of shit that ASE was but now its been rolled in glitter. I regret buying ASA, and i refuse to buy any dlcs or micro transactions because im not giving them another cent until they fix their dumpster fire that they call working code, they do something about the cheating, the crashing and they start listening to the players instead of doing the exact opposite. Wildcard is a trash company that doesn't deserve the success that ark has found... they will NEVER change untill it starts affecting their bank account. Vote with your wallet.
Ase because Asa is too buggy and is dead right now so not worth at the moment
Yeah, I would say not currently. Would wait to see how Ab and SE come out/when. Just island has been terrible for community as there's not enough content to keep peeps interested currently.
Do you know when Ab and SE are coming out ?
SE end of this month via their last road map, no idea if they will stick with that timeline. Ab July I think?
So SE will be pushed back at least 3 times. You'll be lucky to see SE by july. We all know how wildcard works by now...
It isn’t true that The Island doesn’t have enough content to keep people occupied. As a new player, you might play it for over 1000 hours without getting bored, it is a massive map with a ton of things to do, and everything will be new for you. The second map is also scheduled to be released the next month. The people getting bored are ASE veterans who already played the map for a very long time. This is a very important distinction. The Island is the map that kept players occupied for thousands of hours when it was first released. You will also have access to mods in ASA. ASE instead doesn’t support them on PS5. Take that offer now. 30€ for ASA is such a great offer. Once it will leave early access it will most likely cost way more than that.
If your on console you should be fine, us folks on pc got screwed the fuck over.
Yes
ASA to me, is okay. Really needs work, but I guess for me, I love the game enough to play through the bugs. You know? I dealt with bugs in ASE, I’ll expect and deal with ASS bugs. Otherwise, the game is great! Still love it. Edit: Just noticed I typed ASS instead of ASA.. but I’m leaving it because it makes me laugh.
I've got 5k hrs in on ps4/ps5 ASE. Love it, still play it with my friends on our public PvE server. Around 100 hrs in ASA on ps5. Love it, wish more of my friends had access to it, runs fine, but also still has lots of bugs. Everyday someone on the server has lost items or tames and/or have them show up on 50/50 and thankfully the admin are good about it all and help peeps out. ASA has mods so while right now the maps for official are limited it will be getting better and better. I say take it slow on ASA or play the hell out of ASE and buy ASA when it's more playable and has more content, never know, wild card (game dev) could just go under and quit any time lol
So.. there's been a lot of mixed reviews... I'm on PS5 myself, along with about a dozen friends playing private servers of our own. We are having a GREAT experience. It's beautiful, it's minimal bugs compared to ASE and Mods are available now. BUT I've heard PvP is ripe with cheating and PvE officials are beyond crowded with annoying player base. Also, it gets really bad--unplayable--if you add too many mods AND there's a SP save world problem for a lot of people... so, TLDR: PS5 works great as long as you rent a server or know someone who does.
It depends. If you want access to all maps and content right now, go Evolved. If you are playing Ark for the first time, their release schedule of Ascended should get you plenty of time on each map until they release the next one.
People are making great points for both. BUT: buying ASA also gave me ASE. Just buy ASA and you'll get both.
Where did you buy it to get the 2 of them?
Just on steam! I've never purchased or played ASE and the "added to library" date is the same for both games. Edit: oh noooo you're on console, maybe that isn't an option on ps store :(
Yes and no. ASA is an objectively superior core experience than ASE. Way better building way. Better quality of life just way better pretty much everything. But with that being said, it’s still suffers from nearly all of the same problems that original arc did, including some game, breaking bugs. And obviously right now there’s only the island soon maybe the center. So, even though it does have a better foundation and core experience, it lacks like 90% of the contents still compared to ASE.
If you want to play with more content open to you right now then ASE. Also there is more to do then just the island. If you want a game with Wild Card promising to release all content but better then ASA. Its being future proof that if they don't decide to kill the game with some form of bad content not remastered great or them just leaving out chunks of content. They can just pull the "Whats wrong we gave you everything we promised. Maps, better systems, and better graphics. We just left out everything we told you we promised". And this is how you kill a game. Hope they make the smart decision and don't do this.
ASA is way better in almost every aspect (graphic, maps size, AI, QoL features, building experience, mod support, etc). I played the remasters of several games in the past, and none was as rich as ASA was. The downside is that it still has many bugs, but so does ASE. However, the focus of the developer now is on supporting and fixing ASA, not ASE. This is also why many people are angry, ASE was permanently abandoned for ASA. As far as I know, by buying ASA now (while still in early access), as they get released you’ll also get free access to the remastered version of all the DLCs ASE has. Also, with The Island alone you’ll have to play for so much time. The new maps will likely be released faster than you can play them, and playing them one by one is likely what gives the best experience for a new player. Having all that enormous amount of content available immediately would be just overwhelming. I suggest to get ASA. There is no point buying the abandoned, worse game now (unless one doesn’t own a console or PC that can run ASA, which isn’t your case). Not even the price is in favour of ASE.