I had some thoughts going on videos but I must admit those thoughts were fairly meaningless without playing.... well now I have and here goes.
1) jesus, those ship models are somthing else in terms of detail. I think they are some of the best I have seen on a pc game. My 300i in the hanger, all in white is sweeeet!.
I thought it looked ok pre PBR but now...... on top of that, performance on my 670 is better too. playable on full bubble 1080P.
2) The damage model is cool. I clipped an asteroid and realised I damaged my gun.... a quick outside view look, I hadnt damaged it, it was gone, alone with the left side of my rear tail.
I also lost an engine with 1 life... that was good too.
3) I tried with the X52, it was floaty, unresponsive and didnt feel right. I am thinking this could be improved over time. the throttle was ok though.
4) there is not enough mass to the ships imo. I just dont really feel I am flying a big vehicle. That being said, there is no reason why this cant be tweaked.
5) The big negative for me and what I am worried about. Mouse aim and flight at the same time.... This is the worst thing I have seen so far, for my perspective. If HOTAS is going to be a viable option in this game, the complete dumbing down of the mouse controls has to be scrapped. people saying "its not fair, why should my mouse aim be nerfed.... Fine, I can kind of accept that to a point, but take your bitter medicine with your sweet treats, if you are goiing to get pinpoint target snap to mouse aim, you should still have to be flying the vehicle as well, not this arcade war thunder nonsense.
I havent tried with flight assist off yet, I will do of course but the thing is, so long as the option is there for it to be on, along with the mouse control, to disable it in multiplayer and go up against full assist mouse control will be suicide.
I havent experimented with 3rd person yet to see if that is balance ruining either..... It is fair today I am a little worried for it. 3rd person is ok for eye candy but is totally immersion breaking for me..... but if I am going to be at a disadvantage by staying in my cockpit then I guess I will have to use it. time will tell.
things like the sound effects, poor lasers etc I am not concerned about, neither am I the AI, all of those things will be improved.
So conclusion (sorry if I am rambling I am just trying to be balanced and honest)......................
I dont think it is as bad as some have said on different forums, though I think it is certainly more arcadey than I was hoping.
It looks amazing.
The flight mechanics with a stick needs work but is not a lost cause.
It feels a bit floaty and disconnected but again, i think this can be fixed with a little tinkering.
imo the mouse controls seriously need a rethink. For me this will make or break the game.
Personally though, as of right now, it does not come close to the feeling of flying a big complicated ship, which elite gives me. When I 1st played elite, I felt a bit like the 1st time I drove a car.... with Arena commander it does just feel a bit like a very pretty arcade shooter... nothing bad, but, nothing really to make it stand out from say galaxy on fire (aside from its looks).
The proof in the pudding was, 1st time in arena commander I was able to take out a good few ships, indeed my 1st deaths were my own demise of hitting asteroids. 1st time in ED in a 1 on 1 vs an AI sidewinder in premium beta training module..... I got owned!.
I accept though that I am biased. I really like all of Chris roberts' games but for me ED was my childhood gaming love.
On KB/M this does feel a lot like Freelancer, and I was hoping for more.