Moonpool and vehicle upgrade fragments in a sane location
WhiteFox77
Minnesota Join Date: 2016-05-26 Member: 217564Members
Minnesota Join Date: 2016-05-26 Member: 217564Members
Can I beg you to PLEASE STOP putting the fragments needed to upgrade the seamoths depth in places that are too deep for the seamoth to go before you get the upgrades? This might seem clever, or even like a funny joke. However, do you honestly believe that once a player figures out how to build a seamoth the first thing they are going to want to do is stop using it? Of course not. They are going to continue to explore, but they are going to do it in the seamoth. For the PRAWN suite update I doubt there is one player that managed to get the moonpool or vehicle upgrade station fragments without either looking up their location online, or just blatantly cheating using console commands, which is what I did when I realized I was expected to get to 300m and 400m in a vehicle that would be destroyed if I went below 200m.
Then you get the depth upgrade to go to 300m, and the modification station that lets you go beyond that is of course at 330m...
Eventually this game is going to be released to the general public, and most players aren't going to want to follow discussion boards or bookmark a wiki in order to play. They aren't going to tolerate having to pause the game at least once an hour so they can consult their tablet to find out where they have to go next. Players expect games to be self encapsulated. They don't want to have to use outside resources in order to play. They are going to expect the game to help them find the things they need (yes it's lazy, it's also how people expect games to work). They will not think this is clever or funny, like me they will find it annoying and consider it bad game design.
Then you get the depth upgrade to go to 300m, and the modification station that lets you go beyond that is of course at 330m...
Eventually this game is going to be released to the general public, and most players aren't going to want to follow discussion boards or bookmark a wiki in order to play. They aren't going to tolerate having to pause the game at least once an hour so they can consult their tablet to find out where they have to go next. Players expect games to be self encapsulated. They don't want to have to use outside resources in order to play. They are going to expect the game to help them find the things they need (yes it's lazy, it's also how people expect games to work). They will not think this is clever or funny, like me they will find it annoying and consider it bad game design.
Comments
Also moonpool and upgrade station fragments i found kinda quickly since i was in the grand reef, which is there area. But then again i'm not new to the game so I already know my way around a bit. But regardless, this game you can 100% do without using any vehicle or even the seaglide. You just gotta be smart in how you move about.
Plus i think the way the game handles the stuff is fine. Because you shouldn't be spoon fed everything like some retard. But given a hint or tip at best that makes you go "i wonder what is over there" thus helps drive you to explore and look for things. Thus what you uncover and accomplish is of your own doing, and not simply done because the game demanded it and pushed you there. Which again fits this style of game well, because it's an exploration sandbox.
I also have been playing for several updates (in fact I started the day it first became available on Xbox One), and I restart my game with every update. I think that is part of the problem of how people read this. Stop thinking about it from the point of view of someone that already knows how the game works, and already knows where the wrecks are.
Assume you just started playing yesterday. You don't know ANYTHING about where the wrecks are, or how the game has worked in the past.
How easy would it be to find the wrecks and the fragments to build the moon pool (without looking online or asking around in forums)? If you didn't do an online search would you even think to look for them at depths that were greater than you could go in your Seamoth (assuming you wanted the moonpool because you'd already built a Seamoth and want to charge it and upgrade it)?
And yes, the game DOES force you to leave your vehicle sometimes. Know why? Because the game's really tense moments are those times when you're totally exposed. That's a natural gameplay loop. Also creates those intense pants-crapping dramatic moments like your returning to your seamoth only for an unseen reaper to come out of nowhere and grab your 'moth right out from in front of you and swim away shaking it violently. You're not thinking about fragments at that moment, you're thinking "OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP". That's a panic that a scripted horror game can never match.
I'm saying that all from the mindset of someone who might not be experienced with the game, either. An experienced player would know not to bring a seamoth anywhere NEAR reaper territory. In general, the game is meant to go "faster" if you know where everything is and what exactly to do. If you don't know those things, you're supposed to take a very long time to progress. You're supposed to want to spend a lot of time living in this world and letting it steep into your spirit.
But there is a difference between exploring because you feel like checking out the scenery or finding out what's in the next biome, and exploring because you need to find a fragment and can't find it. The first is fun, and the second is pure frustration.
I have no problem with being forced out of my vehicle. I had a great reaper moment just as you explained it yesterday near the mountain island. Ended up having to swim all the way to my base because by Seamoth got crunched
I have a problem with being expected to explore 400m down when I can only hold my breath for 2 minutes at a time. You go down you build a base, you explore 1 minute in X direction before you have to turn around and go back to your base. Rather-rinse-repeat... All of a sudden 6 hours has gone by, you've built 2 additional bases to explore out of and you still don't have what your looking for. That isn't fun to me, it's tedious.
Whether people want to admit it or not THIS IS A GOAL BASED GAME. If you don't want it to be goal based, that's called Creative Mode. In a goal based game giving the player the joy of attaining the goals is key. You can not expect people to play your game for 4 hours at a time without making progress, they'll stop playing. I've been gaming for 34 years, and I know what it takes to make a good game that will be popular. If something isn't done to make the goals clearer and more attainable, this is going to end up being one of those games where 1 in 5 people rate it 4 or 5 stars, and the other 4 people rate it 1 star. Personally I think for an in-development game it's great. I just hope they give it some much needed tweaks before it's released.
And yes, during development, your input is necessary. It's good that you're giving it and I'm glad the developers have someone as articulate as you giving feedback. But I strongly suspect you're not playing this game as efficiently as you could be, regardless of how much time you put into it or how many times you've restarted. Or for that matter, how many decades you've put into gaming more generally. (which is a complete non-sequitur, incidentally -- though if it matters that much to you, I've been doing this since the early 80's myself)
Actually, having played video games for three plus decades myself, I've grown weary of the attitude that games are just about goals and optimally reaching those goals for the burst of brain chemicals associated with feeling achievement. If you haven't yet, check out the Stanley Parable which kinda deconstructs the whole idea of games being about pressing buttons and reaching some kind of end because the game told you to do so. Ultimately, I play games to temporarily distract myself from the pursuit of real life goals so I tend to not care too much if it's taking a long time to reach whatever the game's goals are. I tend to eventually blunder into success anyway, however long it takes me. In that way, I tend to get very lucky with finding wrecks and fragments in Subnautica. Got my moonpool, seamoth and prawn suit etc. all pretty painlessly that way and all on this update. I also very rarely ever have the situation where I have to return to a source of oxygen totally emptyhanded. (I think the game should do more to explain that extra oxygen tanks can be stored in your inventory and that the more you're carrying the slower you swim)
Incidentally, any game will eventually become tedious if you replay it from the beginning enough times. You'll come to hate every step you need to take to get back to where you were. It's why I don't envy people who have to be game testers for the best games; they sacrifice a lot of their ability to enjoy those games because it's their job. I myself intend to quit Subnautica at some point in the near future for that reason and wait until either release or a very tantalizing update.
First off a lot of people are acting like the fragments are still just laying about. That is not the case. Exploring a wreck is a tricky operation in the first place. You have to have the extra tanks so you have more time, you have to have the sea glide to go fast enough, you have to pack extra batteries to keep the sea glide going. That's all fine and dandy if you already know about it. And what's more is it isn't a sure thing. I've spent 60+ hours in Subnautica but I do not have the layouts for the wrecks memorized so sometimes I still get lost and drown. That's on top of dealing with the predators within and without the wreck.
Second they stack things too high. Just look at the lifepod17 wreck. It's got everything you need, right? But it's deep so you need the rebreather, but you can't wear the rebreather because it's in the radiation zone so you have to wear the rad suit instead. So in addition to the usual needing extra tanks and batteries for your sea glide dodging sand sharks, biters, and tiger plants you are now looking air faster on top of that. New players are going to die several times just attempting this and they will just refund the game. That's not to mention hiding a complete propulsion Canon fragment in a laboratory on the ship that you cannot reach without the propulsion Canon. Or the vehicle mod station that you need to protect yourself from reapers hidden in a wreck you can't reach and is surrounded by reapers. Nobody wants to deal with that.
The spawn rates of the fragments and the locations they spawn in need to be adjusted if they want the game to get good feedback and sell well upon release.
You get extra tank, more battery for your laser cutter, calculate the time for cutting a door, figure out the structure of the wrecks for the best way out, it's like a space mission.
You'll love it, just do the preparation.