my August build 9hour playthrough
Boff
Sweden Join Date: 2018-08-12 Member: 242804Members
Sweden Join Date: 2018-08-12 Member: 242804Members
Just spotted a youtuber posting an October Build video...so I'm too late with these comments.
1) [GENERAL] Not fond of the computer voice, but that's just my attachment (and ergo preference) to prior variations. With more voice acting in October build, I might learn to like it.
2) [GENERAL] Geof's Oversized GPS is still blinking on that table
3) [STORY] Altera personnel log clicking sound - could be an SOS - this is a proofread issue as multiple story iterations remain in the Beta, but in August build, ALAN claims that Marg didn't respond to his SOS (something that was bothering me so thanks).
But He kept himself hidden from the Alterra personnel, why?
Soooo...... What great mystery befell the research team and made them disappear.
What makes ALAN come out of hiding to plea for help via a human-style SOS. What is he capable of perceiving in "storage".
4) [STORY] Robin discovers an SOS, her mindset is finding her sister, she knows her sister is out investigating a planet where the precursors were(or is that common knowledge)
But since her motivation is finding traces of her sister, she should be making incorrect assumptions or driving the player towards such a misconception.
4) [PACING] vehicle bay blue-prints are really hard to come by.
5) [PACING] Base Zero can be found if you know where to look for it, plenty of equipment to scan, but is denied so, Prawnsuit, sea-glide, Aquarium and windows seam to be missing scannable unlocks in the August build.
6) [PACING] Story Lull & lack of drive to get the player to Delta Base Dock on the island.
7) [BALANCING] the Brine fish frozen effect, stops the player in their tracks but stats still diminish at a normal rate (i.e. OXYGEN), the survival meters should slow down inversely to the to frozen effect.
So if you are low on oxygen you don't suffocate straight away.
8) [PACING / BALANCING ] The survival pod with it's solar panels, would be able to transmit power to nearby modules and have a bed.
9) Seatruck module storage....I haven't got that far but, you know, just in case it still hasn't been implemented yet
Although the limited storage does make the recyclotron super useful because it allows us to build complex items purely to store them and then "unpack" at a later time.
One plastasteal is 5 titanium and 2 lithium when that can be recycled to a base section with reinforcement.
11) [PACING] Ever considered staggering the blue-prints in "story mode" so the "this and the next" blueprints that are placed in the "blueprint" area would be the ones that would further the story more, and expand the players search radius, thus counter-acting any players learning and rushing to certain areas to get the required blueprints.
12) [GAMEPLAY] I've always thought since the brutesharks attack me or the sulphur creatures explode juuuusssst as I am getting AIR from one of those air-plants as they are a moment of safety for a player, (chomp chomp I'm dead).
I've always associated the explosion of bubbles to frighten an attacker or at the very least disrupt the "track" on the player due to noisy bubbles and cloud of bubbles masking the player just for a second or two.
13) [GENERAL - Gameplay] The big take away from August's build was
THE GLOW HIGHLIGHT EFFECT
This is one of those things that I've had in the back of my head for vehicles, as you could lose track of a vehicle when the surroundings (dark/fog) make it too hard to see, but you are too close for the beacon to show.
I thought the highlight glow effect would be good.
But now that it's there "in-game".....I'm starting to NOT like it.
Inside a base where there is a lot of objects to interact with, it makes an already cluttered screen even more cluttered.
That being said, I am enjoying it as it makes it very easy to find mineral deposits, too the point where I'm becoming very RELIANT and DEPENDENT on the highlight glow effect to find things. But Table Coral doesn't glow until after you have knocked it from the wall??? curse these inconsistencies of entities
SOOOO I'm suggesting a happy medium Tools in hand give the highlight effect.
The Scanner, when held, Highlights objects that can be scanned/and/or are still in need of a scanned (maybe different colors?)/and maybe can give you the information about the said item, so it acts as a secondary "hint" system. Point a scanner at battery charger, device screen/HUD(?) says we can put batteries in there to be charged.
The Mineral Scanner again highlights the objects you are filtering for and highlights them at a much greater distance making it FAR more useful, tertiary minerals may glow dully in a separate colour and the distance is for that effect is greatly reduced
The Repair Gun, highlights the vehicle/base/module which can be "fixed"
The Laser Cutter highlights the door/panel that needs to be cut.
The Habitat builder highlights the module it can deconstruct.
1) [GENERAL] Not fond of the computer voice, but that's just my attachment (and ergo preference) to prior variations. With more voice acting in October build, I might learn to like it.
2) [GENERAL] Geof's Oversized GPS is still blinking on that table
3) [STORY] Altera personnel log clicking sound - could be an SOS - this is a proofread issue as multiple story iterations remain in the Beta, but in August build, ALAN claims that Marg didn't respond to his SOS (something that was bothering me so thanks).
But He kept himself hidden from the Alterra personnel, why?
Soooo...... What great mystery befell the research team and made them disappear.
What makes ALAN come out of hiding to plea for help via a human-style SOS. What is he capable of perceiving in "storage".
4) [STORY] Robin discovers an SOS, her mindset is finding her sister, she knows her sister is out investigating a planet where the precursors were(or is that common knowledge)
But since her motivation is finding traces of her sister, she should be making incorrect assumptions or driving the player towards such a misconception.
4) [PACING] vehicle bay blue-prints are really hard to come by.
5) [PACING] Base Zero can be found if you know where to look for it, plenty of equipment to scan, but is denied so, Prawnsuit, sea-glide, Aquarium and windows seam to be missing scannable unlocks in the August build.
6) [PACING] Story Lull & lack of drive to get the player to Delta Base Dock on the island.
7) [BALANCING] the Brine fish frozen effect, stops the player in their tracks but stats still diminish at a normal rate (i.e. OXYGEN), the survival meters should slow down inversely to the to frozen effect.
So if you are low on oxygen you don't suffocate straight away.
8) [PACING / BALANCING ] The survival pod with it's solar panels, would be able to transmit power to nearby modules and have a bed.
9) Seatruck module storage....I haven't got that far but, you know, just in case it still hasn't been implemented yet
Although the limited storage does make the recyclotron super useful because it allows us to build complex items purely to store them and then "unpack" at a later time.
One plastasteal is 5 titanium and 2 lithium when that can be recycled to a base section with reinforcement.
11) [PACING] Ever considered staggering the blue-prints in "story mode" so the "this and the next" blueprints that are placed in the "blueprint" area would be the ones that would further the story more, and expand the players search radius, thus counter-acting any players learning and rushing to certain areas to get the required blueprints.
12) [GAMEPLAY] I've always thought since the brutesharks attack me or the sulphur creatures explode juuuusssst as I am getting AIR from one of those air-plants as they are a moment of safety for a player, (chomp chomp I'm dead).
I've always associated the explosion of bubbles to frighten an attacker or at the very least disrupt the "track" on the player due to noisy bubbles and cloud of bubbles masking the player just for a second or two.
13) [GENERAL - Gameplay] The big take away from August's build was
THE GLOW HIGHLIGHT EFFECT
This is one of those things that I've had in the back of my head for vehicles, as you could lose track of a vehicle when the surroundings (dark/fog) make it too hard to see, but you are too close for the beacon to show.
I thought the highlight glow effect would be good.
But now that it's there "in-game".....I'm starting to NOT like it.
Inside a base where there is a lot of objects to interact with, it makes an already cluttered screen even more cluttered.
That being said, I am enjoying it as it makes it very easy to find mineral deposits, too the point where I'm becoming very RELIANT and DEPENDENT on the highlight glow effect to find things. But Table Coral doesn't glow until after you have knocked it from the wall??? curse these inconsistencies of entities
SOOOO I'm suggesting a happy medium Tools in hand give the highlight effect.
The Scanner, when held, Highlights objects that can be scanned/and/or are still in need of a scanned (maybe different colors?)/and maybe can give you the information about the said item, so it acts as a secondary "hint" system. Point a scanner at battery charger, device screen/HUD(?) says we can put batteries in there to be charged.
The Mineral Scanner again highlights the objects you are filtering for and highlights them at a much greater distance making it FAR more useful, tertiary minerals may glow dully in a separate colour and the distance is for that effect is greatly reduced
The Repair Gun, highlights the vehicle/base/module which can be "fixed"
The Laser Cutter highlights the door/panel that needs to be cut.
The Habitat builder highlights the module it can deconstruct.
Comments
One of the best things about the first game was the story, you knew exactly what was happening and what you had to do I.E. You are stranded on a planet because your ship exploded and you need to get home. Everything that followed was hung around that core pillar, it explained why you landed in the water, why you were scavenging for resources, why there were other escape pods and debris littered everywhere, and even as to why this planet, I also believe that the but I can't remember your character from the first one was an engineer which in my mind made sense as that's why they can repair and build stuff. Perfect.
In regards to sub-zero at the beginning of the game I had no idea what was going, why was I launching in a meteor storm, the ship seemed ok, was this the same planet as the first one, ~Why would I choose to operate in the water instead of land, Why is the suit I am wearing an environmental suit, why if I had prepped for this don't I have better stuff, the crash really doesn't explain why I have a few flares, bottles of water and rice crispy treats, why isn't there better stuff in survival pod. why don't I have a cold suit I knew where I would be landing.
So I read all the docs on the PDA to figure what was going on. ok so DEAD sister, I must be there to figure out what happened or bring her body home but from the letters, I can figure out that there are people here and there are active research stations and aliens, So if the planet has active research so why don't I have some sort of map?
I understand that some people enjoy this "figure it out story" and it allows for the gameplay time to be increased by forcing the player to spend hours slowly exploring and piecing the storyline together till they have the full story, but I don't.
8 hours in, and I had gone to the emergency beacon have found Alan and I was going off in random directions from my base trying to find stuff if I hadn't played and loved the first one I would be done. ( I was also getting a bit annoyed with finding so many sea glides) and why am I finding sea truck compartments before sea truck? Why is there so much debris everywhere (SEAGLIDES)
On finding the delta base abandoned for reasons? underwater bases abandoned for reasons, And the secret base underneath it accessed via a geothermal vent. I went back to the delta base to see if I could find any access point or that logo on it did I miss it? but yes I know early access Yes I did find the crashed ship. Was it a cargo ship full of sea glides?
So anyway my suggestion would be ( and this is done over voice-over) you could set up the world better by having Robins ship captain arguing with someone over the radio, maybe an interactive message ( let me talk to a human gad nabit) on the radio maybe another vessel, about being told to leave orbit or be destroyed in "insert appropriate time frame here", for reasons --- this is a quarantined planet, any landing vehicles will be destroyed, a natural disaster has rendered planet inhospitable for human life. -- corporate lies to keep the good stuff secret
Let Captain comfort, Robin, about not being able to retrieve sister's body / find out what happened to sister down there.
" I know your sister meant a lot to/ she was a great woman but she knew an alien planet would be dangerous", Then Robin can show off her engineering smarts by advising Captian that she could use meteor shower for cover to land, CAptain can reiterate "inhospitable to human life that meant people went down there and didn't come back up" Robin" yeah like my sister, Engineers can deal with anything that planet can throw at them/ I built that pod it can handle anything etc " and launches anyway but with actual supplies fit for a planned expedition
( why is the pod she brings with her smaller, I would have expected it to be the same layout as the first one, it always annoys me that if you open the side hatch of the base your base doesn't immediately flood with water, coming up from the bottom is explained via air pressure, entry via top would have caused first game pod to sink but that was explained via the floatation devices around it. But the animation of the water when going into the base via side hatch is just immersion breaking for me, same for going into sea truck-- if I open the top of a truck the air would escape and then would need to be pumped out. Also, why is glass invisible in this game )
Now the twist -- the pod is noticed and is fired upon some quick thinking from robin and she decides to release expedition supplies, and survival pod to hide her descent, which is then destroyed, well bar the survival pod which is built well for surviving, but " oh no the supplies are destroyed" this can explain why there are parts of equipment everwhere.
or the storm destroys the gear on the decent but would use a radio link/voice over to relay this to the player. " oh they really don't want you going down there, "
I would then knock her out and have her wake up on the ship. I wouldn't have the survival pod appear on hud immediately, I would have her pick up a damaged mask that would then show the location of the survival pod, but no comms as she can't contact the captain she made it, she can thank the captain, maybe look up at the ship in the blue sky see it jump away
After landing on the planet I would progress the story in a similar way to the first one by using radio communications, but due to being at a magnetic pole you only have a 200-meter range which you can upgrade by finding upgrade parts at specific or the scanner, but I feel that you need to guide the player a bit better to certain area's. But this can be done via voice logs, being at 300 meters and 30 seconds of air left is not a good time to be asked if you want to read something and then that notification disappears.
( which is really annoying as then you have to go through the pda to find what came up )
Let's talk about Alan, shall we? ( Sorry about this )
So with the conversation tips coming up with " a conversation about how the architects and humans are similar" I immediately thought great this is going to be a pretentious discussion about the duality of humanity possibly a devs idea of trying to make the video game more high brow by introducing something to make the player think stuff on a deeper level or how about let's talk about the ecology and how fragile nature is and how the humans destroyed it on their planet or the architects destroyed it etc.
I don't play video games to be reminded that we all could do more for our planet or maybe I do it is a great medium for all sorts of stuff OR maybe its because I watched Needs gaming subnuatica series when I was looking to scratch the subnuatica itch left by the first one. And the voice of neebs in the main character's ear was hysterical that entire series was hysterical each episode got over a 1.5million views and the 9 hour special off all episodes got similar views.
Anyway, my thought was if ALAN, an alien consciousness, made up of many alien consciousnesses is downloaded into her head, this consciousness could be funny and here is my thinking on it
In order for Alan to communicate to Robin either
A) Alan is separate from Robin while still occupying her body her thoughts are her own. the only way information is relayed is directly via chat. And Alan can be removed if needed.
OR
Option B would allow you to bring in humor to the character. Think flight of the navigator( yes I am that old) , what happens to the ship when it downloads the data. it gets a bunch of other data baseball, slang, knowledge about recipes.
In this case, the character of ALAN could be formulated from the memories of Robin, Alan could be based on the memory of an ALAN she knew, Maybe the only way ALAN can learn about robin is by reliving her memories so only interacting with her after he has relived the first day of college, her first drink, her first bong hit, the first time she watched the classic star wars. But the more he does this the more the soup is mixed. They are no longer Robin's memory they are shared then.
You can still do the conversation about similarities conversations but it can be it took your species x amount of time to do that pfft we did it in x, WHOA those dark ages you had where dark, holy crap glad we never invented social media, a man finding your grannies only fans account must have been hard. lol pun intended. " hey " "hey what my responses are based off your memory if i am a pervert then that's on you "
Also since ALAN is in her head you could have alan show her what the alien world looked likes thousands of years ago, the temple in its prime, Now robin can read ancient alien languages, etc.
Since Alan can be anyone based off her memory if the story has the sister dead then she could say goodbye to her via alan using her memories,
I mean so many options
oh if you could get neebs to voice Alan
. Sorry for getting off the point, anyway I have to go Daddy daycare to run and all that.
hope my feedback helps or doesn't, sorry for bad grammar and spelling and randomness.
I'm 5 hours into the "Relics" and the voice-over work helps sell a lot.
There are multiple scenarios where you can have Alan with your or not which play out differently.
So far I'm
There is a frictional games.