Ghostlight
New member
Disclaimer #1: There's a lot I like about A17. The new graphics, the new AI, better performance, and so on. But oh how I wish TFP had stopped there with this alpha, as almost every other system they have changed or added has made the game LESS FUN. Bland and tedious are the words I will use here, and I will explain why the game has become both.
Disclaimer #2: Everything I have experienced so far comes from a fresh run on Navesgane with a few friends, playing co-op. We are currently on day #6.
1) The BLAND
Ok let's do 'bland' first as it the easiest to explain. The following points explain why I think the game has just become very bland and less fun compared to what we were used to.
Perks.
Everything is about the Perks. You want your Axe to farm more wood? Don't craft or find a better axe, spend skill points instead! Not doing enough damage with a Shotgun? No point crafting a level 6, as it does the exact same damage as a level 1 (!!!), spend points instead. Not only does this remove any joy the player had from actually finding decent guns or parts, but it also means every single copy of an item you find is useless, uness it is higher level than what you already have. Every single item. And there are only 6 levels. So on day 1 I found a level 2 Shotgun. This means every single Shotgun that is level 1 or 2 I ever find is now trader fodder. The joy of looting / crafting better items (i.e the entire mid-game of 7DtD) just got removed. Gun safes never looks so pointless and uninteresting as they do now.
Level Gating.
All the skills you want are gated behind a level cap, and guarenteed available once you hit that level. All of us will get our pushbike / mini-bike / hog / jeep at exactly the same level. Gone is the joy of looting the blueprint, or dealing with the interesting challenge when you haven't found a certain blueprint. The BP model made every run in the game a competely new adventure. Now it is going to be the SAME THING every single time. God that's bland.
Magazines
Temprary buffs. How bland. I do not even read these when I find them, just use them and move on. What? You expect me to keep it for later with this stupid encumberance mechanic??
Enemy Challenge.
40 years after the birth of video games and there are some people who still think that making enemies into bullet sponges increases challenge?!? No, all it does is increase the tedium of fighting those enemies.
The POI Mini-dungeons
Boy those got old fast. After the 10th time of falling through a floor or tripping a hidden mine, I just don't want to see those POIs ever again. I LONG for a normal house that I can just loot and move on. Early game I desperately need a Cooking Pot to avoid imminent *STARVING*, OK? The last thing I want is to have to work my way though a dungeon-like house full of traps while fighting goddam bullet sponge enemies in an enclosed space - just for a Pot!!!
Now this may be a factor of Navesgane in general and Diersville in particular but TFP have REALLY overdone the new mini-dungeon POIs imo. I hate them already. They are simply too common.
2) The TEDIOUS
No graphical or AI improvement is worth having to put up with the utter tediousness of some of the new systems in place. Gameplay....RIP.
No Forge Till Level 20
TFP, you have NOT made the first 19 levels more challenging. You have made them more tedious!! Now I need to use Stone tools for the first 19 levels instead of the first 3. Yay! This also means that the absolute VITAL item to find early is the Cooking Pot. If you are so unlucky that RNG doesn't give you one, then your first 20 levels in this game are going to be very very frustrating and PAINFUL (and tedious).
Death Penalty
Yeah I've just turned it down to 5 minutes like everyone else. It's TEDIOUS. Not challenging, just boring. I need to wait an hour before I remember how to craft things I could craft mere minutes ago. What a stoopid design.
Stamima Use
Of course it is on my list. If I break wind in the game it consumes half my Stamina bar. I wonder if TFP realise just how long players need to spend standing doing NOTHING waiting for their Stamina to regen - yup, even when specced to aleviate this. Gameplay!! No one will be seated during the riveting Stamina regaining scene. And guess what, your Armour now burns stamina faster when you run. So the new gameplay thing is you have to remove all your Armour before travelling any great distance then put it all on again when you arrive. And we all thought swapping Dusters for Ponchos every 5 minutes in A16 was tedious? Ha!
Max Stamina
What a triumph of BAD design. My max stamina is dictated by my hunger. lol. The implications of this are stunning:
a) You want your max to be close to 100% at al times, especially if you are out doing a lot of work such as mining. This means you need to carry food with you to top it up. With the encumberance mechanic, yup, you guessed it....TEDIOUS.
b) The best foods in the game, like Bacon and Eggs and Meat Stew are now kind of useless. Bacon and Eggs for example give approx 50% fullness (and hence max Stamina) to the player. But no player would ever want to or let his fullness fall to 50% to make eating such foods efficient.
Encumberance
Not only stupid but again tedious. In the end I just started to completely ignore being encumbered. However you do notice it when you need to run any distance. Meet your new mini-game....Inventory Management!! You don't like it? Tough, you're going to be playing it every 60 seconds, trust me. Gameplay!
Mining Surface Boulders
For those of us that can't be bothered digging elaborate mines, mining the surface boulder clusters was very efficient for iron/nitrate/coal. Now the rocks are fewer and more scattered. Much more tedius to mine now. a minor complaint but still.
May add more if I can be bothered, but my typing finger is sore.
I am going to persevere with A17 as I want to see all it has to offer (and no doubt discover a whole lot of new problems in the process), but goodness it is HARD going, instead of reverting to a16.
Anyone else think that A16 with just the new graphics, new vehicles and the new AI would have delivered a MUCH better A17 than what we got?
Disclaimer #2: Everything I have experienced so far comes from a fresh run on Navesgane with a few friends, playing co-op. We are currently on day #6.
1) The BLAND
Ok let's do 'bland' first as it the easiest to explain. The following points explain why I think the game has just become very bland and less fun compared to what we were used to.
Perks.
Everything is about the Perks. You want your Axe to farm more wood? Don't craft or find a better axe, spend skill points instead! Not doing enough damage with a Shotgun? No point crafting a level 6, as it does the exact same damage as a level 1 (!!!), spend points instead. Not only does this remove any joy the player had from actually finding decent guns or parts, but it also means every single copy of an item you find is useless, uness it is higher level than what you already have. Every single item. And there are only 6 levels. So on day 1 I found a level 2 Shotgun. This means every single Shotgun that is level 1 or 2 I ever find is now trader fodder. The joy of looting / crafting better items (i.e the entire mid-game of 7DtD) just got removed. Gun safes never looks so pointless and uninteresting as they do now.
Level Gating.
All the skills you want are gated behind a level cap, and guarenteed available once you hit that level. All of us will get our pushbike / mini-bike / hog / jeep at exactly the same level. Gone is the joy of looting the blueprint, or dealing with the interesting challenge when you haven't found a certain blueprint. The BP model made every run in the game a competely new adventure. Now it is going to be the SAME THING every single time. God that's bland.
Magazines
Temprary buffs. How bland. I do not even read these when I find them, just use them and move on. What? You expect me to keep it for later with this stupid encumberance mechanic??
Enemy Challenge.
40 years after the birth of video games and there are some people who still think that making enemies into bullet sponges increases challenge?!? No, all it does is increase the tedium of fighting those enemies.
The POI Mini-dungeons
Boy those got old fast. After the 10th time of falling through a floor or tripping a hidden mine, I just don't want to see those POIs ever again. I LONG for a normal house that I can just loot and move on. Early game I desperately need a Cooking Pot to avoid imminent *STARVING*, OK? The last thing I want is to have to work my way though a dungeon-like house full of traps while fighting goddam bullet sponge enemies in an enclosed space - just for a Pot!!!
Now this may be a factor of Navesgane in general and Diersville in particular but TFP have REALLY overdone the new mini-dungeon POIs imo. I hate them already. They are simply too common.
2) The TEDIOUS
No graphical or AI improvement is worth having to put up with the utter tediousness of some of the new systems in place. Gameplay....RIP.
No Forge Till Level 20
TFP, you have NOT made the first 19 levels more challenging. You have made them more tedious!! Now I need to use Stone tools for the first 19 levels instead of the first 3. Yay! This also means that the absolute VITAL item to find early is the Cooking Pot. If you are so unlucky that RNG doesn't give you one, then your first 20 levels in this game are going to be very very frustrating and PAINFUL (and tedious).
Death Penalty
Yeah I've just turned it down to 5 minutes like everyone else. It's TEDIOUS. Not challenging, just boring. I need to wait an hour before I remember how to craft things I could craft mere minutes ago. What a stoopid design.
Stamima Use
Of course it is on my list. If I break wind in the game it consumes half my Stamina bar. I wonder if TFP realise just how long players need to spend standing doing NOTHING waiting for their Stamina to regen - yup, even when specced to aleviate this. Gameplay!! No one will be seated during the riveting Stamina regaining scene. And guess what, your Armour now burns stamina faster when you run. So the new gameplay thing is you have to remove all your Armour before travelling any great distance then put it all on again when you arrive. And we all thought swapping Dusters for Ponchos every 5 minutes in A16 was tedious? Ha!
Max Stamina
What a triumph of BAD design. My max stamina is dictated by my hunger. lol. The implications of this are stunning:
a) You want your max to be close to 100% at al times, especially if you are out doing a lot of work such as mining. This means you need to carry food with you to top it up. With the encumberance mechanic, yup, you guessed it....TEDIOUS.
b) The best foods in the game, like Bacon and Eggs and Meat Stew are now kind of useless. Bacon and Eggs for example give approx 50% fullness (and hence max Stamina) to the player. But no player would ever want to or let his fullness fall to 50% to make eating such foods efficient.
Encumberance
Not only stupid but again tedious. In the end I just started to completely ignore being encumbered. However you do notice it when you need to run any distance. Meet your new mini-game....Inventory Management!! You don't like it? Tough, you're going to be playing it every 60 seconds, trust me. Gameplay!
Mining Surface Boulders
For those of us that can't be bothered digging elaborate mines, mining the surface boulder clusters was very efficient for iron/nitrate/coal. Now the rocks are fewer and more scattered. Much more tedius to mine now. a minor complaint but still.
May add more if I can be bothered, but my typing finger is sore.
I am going to persevere with A17 as I want to see all it has to offer (and no doubt discover a whole lot of new problems in the process), but goodness it is HARD going, instead of reverting to a16.
Anyone else think that A16 with just the new graphics, new vehicles and the new AI would have delivered a MUCH better A17 than what we got?