Gameplay Vs Atmosphere
KMO
Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7617Members
Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7617Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Hopefully some constructive criticism</div> Hopefully this is going to be a little more constructive than "This game absolutely blows now"...
Before we start, my opinions may be coloured by the fact that NS2 has virtually halved my FPS from what was a pretty grim figure to start with, so I've not found playing NS2 a terribly rewarding experience so far. I don't feel in a position to comment on balance or gameplay, as I know the fact I can hardly kill anything any more is just my PC performance problem. This has finally forced me to order a new PC. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Also, because NS2 games last so long at the moment, I've usually only managed to play 1 or 2 maps in each session, so I still haven't seen some maps, eg Eclipse and Bast. I'm just commenting on what I have seen.
My primary whinge is that I think NS2 has lost a lot of atmosphere from NS1. It seems to feel like more of a game, and has lost its realism, and hence what used to be a genuine fear factor for marines. This seems to spring from a number of things, many of which are map related.
* More brightly lit maps. The new vents in caged are an extreme example. They look as if they were compiled with fullbright or designed by some sort of "fun" mapper. Presumably someone complained about difficulty in navigating the vents, but the "solution" looks totally unrealistic. Nancy solved this problem in a more realistic fashion. Other old maps seem to have become generally more "cheery" and don't feel like the old NS.
* "Stripped-down" maps. The new Tanith, for example, really irks me. Who nicked all the doors and lifts? It looks like some performance-crazed admin has gone through with an entity stripper. Didn't we appreciate being a group of marines nervously grouping up behind a door or in a lift, waiting with trepidation for someone to press the button, trying to ignore the chuckling sounds beyond? Nancy's door to Mess Hall and Tanith's to Cargo Bay were absolutely great. I've heard comments that Eclipse has had the same thing done to it.
* "Simplified" maps. Not so many examples of this, but for example the double res replacement for Freight Elevator. Now the old freight was imaginative and unique. Now it's just another double res point (yawn). I've also got a few doubts about various vents being removed in other maps. Are the maps losing character and depth?
* Sound effects. Maybe its just me, but the new effects just sound more cartoony. The gun sounds don't seem to do it for me, and the marine death noise is unconvincing. A minor point, but it adds to the incremental puncturing of the atmosphere.
* Alien communication. Removed because "no-one used it". Aaarrggh! Again, it seems that the NS "world" is being pared down to fit the NS "game". Alien calls were one of the atmospheric details that I enjoyed, and I for one was quite capable of using and understanding "Attack" and "Need healing" at least. If no-one was using it, it was because it wasn't capable of attracting someone's attention out of sight. Surely it should have been improved, not stripped out. All it needed was "Fade needs healing" etc to come over the hive-voice and the hive sight blob to light up more notably to make it really come alive.
Now, many have previously discussed "gameplay versus realism", and I understand that there is a tradeoff to be made. In the context of alien abilities, I can accept pretty much alien ability, as, well, they're aliens.
But when it comes to "gameplay versus atmosphere", I have a very bad feeling that NS2 has pushed the envelope firmly towards the former, and away from some of the design objectives published in the original NS proposals.
Does anyone else have any (constructive) thoughts on this?
Before we start, my opinions may be coloured by the fact that NS2 has virtually halved my FPS from what was a pretty grim figure to start with, so I've not found playing NS2 a terribly rewarding experience so far. I don't feel in a position to comment on balance or gameplay, as I know the fact I can hardly kill anything any more is just my PC performance problem. This has finally forced me to order a new PC. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Also, because NS2 games last so long at the moment, I've usually only managed to play 1 or 2 maps in each session, so I still haven't seen some maps, eg Eclipse and Bast. I'm just commenting on what I have seen.
My primary whinge is that I think NS2 has lost a lot of atmosphere from NS1. It seems to feel like more of a game, and has lost its realism, and hence what used to be a genuine fear factor for marines. This seems to spring from a number of things, many of which are map related.
* More brightly lit maps. The new vents in caged are an extreme example. They look as if they were compiled with fullbright or designed by some sort of "fun" mapper. Presumably someone complained about difficulty in navigating the vents, but the "solution" looks totally unrealistic. Nancy solved this problem in a more realistic fashion. Other old maps seem to have become generally more "cheery" and don't feel like the old NS.
* "Stripped-down" maps. The new Tanith, for example, really irks me. Who nicked all the doors and lifts? It looks like some performance-crazed admin has gone through with an entity stripper. Didn't we appreciate being a group of marines nervously grouping up behind a door or in a lift, waiting with trepidation for someone to press the button, trying to ignore the chuckling sounds beyond? Nancy's door to Mess Hall and Tanith's to Cargo Bay were absolutely great. I've heard comments that Eclipse has had the same thing done to it.
* "Simplified" maps. Not so many examples of this, but for example the double res replacement for Freight Elevator. Now the old freight was imaginative and unique. Now it's just another double res point (yawn). I've also got a few doubts about various vents being removed in other maps. Are the maps losing character and depth?
* Sound effects. Maybe its just me, but the new effects just sound more cartoony. The gun sounds don't seem to do it for me, and the marine death noise is unconvincing. A minor point, but it adds to the incremental puncturing of the atmosphere.
* Alien communication. Removed because "no-one used it". Aaarrggh! Again, it seems that the NS "world" is being pared down to fit the NS "game". Alien calls were one of the atmospheric details that I enjoyed, and I for one was quite capable of using and understanding "Attack" and "Need healing" at least. If no-one was using it, it was because it wasn't capable of attracting someone's attention out of sight. Surely it should have been improved, not stripped out. All it needed was "Fade needs healing" etc to come over the hive-voice and the hive sight blob to light up more notably to make it really come alive.
Now, many have previously discussed "gameplay versus realism", and I understand that there is a tradeoff to be made. In the context of alien abilities, I can accept pretty much alien ability, as, well, they're aliens.
But when it comes to "gameplay versus atmosphere", I have a very bad feeling that NS2 has pushed the envelope firmly towards the former, and away from some of the design objectives published in the original NS proposals.
Does anyone else have any (constructive) thoughts on this?
Comments
ns_nancy ... I'm so sad it's been taken out, but ns_nancy had more then it's share of this and this added a lot to the atmosphere ... bent doors and grates, malfunctioning doors, etc.