Different Difficulties
SamNautica
Join Date: 2016-08-22 Member: 221596Members
Join Date: 2016-08-22 Member: 221596Members
People are complaining about the game being either too easy or too hard and I see only one solution. This game needs various difficulty settings.
I'm not going to force this to the devs seeing as it would obviously be very tough to make but difficulty settings, but it would definitely make the game more enjoyable for everyone. Here is what I am suggesting:
New Player: You start with all the blueprints and receive in-game tutorials.
Easy: Slower fish, dangerous creatures more rare and less aggressive.
Medium: What we have now.
Hard: Faster fish, dangerous creatures stronger, more common, and more aggressive
Custom: This one is really pushing it, but it would be cool to be able to alter different settings independently. For example, you could have dangerous creatures be less powerful, but more aggressive.
For those who may think this like Hardcore, Survival, and Freedom, it's really not. For example, someone who is not as good at it but loves the challenge presented by hardcore, they could play it on easy mode.
Feel free to leave questions, comments, suggestions, or insults.
I'm not going to force this to the devs seeing as it would obviously be very tough to make but difficulty settings, but it would definitely make the game more enjoyable for everyone. Here is what I am suggesting:
New Player: You start with all the blueprints and receive in-game tutorials.
Easy: Slower fish, dangerous creatures more rare and less aggressive.
Medium: What we have now.
Hard: Faster fish, dangerous creatures stronger, more common, and more aggressive
Custom: This one is really pushing it, but it would be cool to be able to alter different settings independently. For example, you could have dangerous creatures be less powerful, but more aggressive.
For those who may think this like Hardcore, Survival, and Freedom, it's really not. For example, someone who is not as good at it but loves the challenge presented by hardcore, they could play it on easy mode.
Feel free to leave questions, comments, suggestions, or insults.
Comments
I think difficulties would be a great idea actually. I've been playing the hell out of Subnautica the past few weeks(accrued about ~90 hours of play in those two weeks). When I first started playing, the game was eerie and terrifying. I have mild-to-severe thalassophobia and this seemed like a good game to confront/explore that phobia. Heres the thing though.. the game rarely gives me that feeling anymore. It's understandable because the biggest aspect of my phobia is the 'unknown' element. What's over that next dark, murky sand dune? What kind of creature is that I see in the distance? What kind of creepy biome is this? OHMYGOD ITS DARK WHY?! (Full solar eclipses still get a scare from me cus I never notice them coming).
After 90 hours I've gotten to the point where I can get my Seamoth and PRAWN suit on hardcore mode in just under 4 hours(I did it as a challenge). I dive and swim from objective to objective fearlessly(mostly) because the game is now very familiar and known to me. I know what creatures exist in the game, which ones are actually dangerous, and where they are mostly located. The reaper still freaks me out a bit though. So here's a few ideas for a solution.. Difficulties.
Sure we already have Survival, Hardcore, Freedom etc.. but these aren't really difficulties per se, just modes. They do tweak the challenge of the game in their own way, but imho they don't tweak the things which may matter the most. Even the threat of permanently dying isn't difficult to deal with when you know the game front and back. Adding a difficulty selection would allow for a (I assume) cheap/easy-to-code but effective way to add a little more challenge and 'unknown' elements to the game without taking existing choices away. Here are some ideas on how it might work. Assume an 'easy' mode just does the opposite of what I list:
With regards to Fauna
- Tweak aggro radius for aggressive creatures to be larger.
- Damage multiplier w/o console editing.
- Maybe tweak some other stats like speed and accuracy of attacks.
- Modify spawn frequency/numbers
With regards to vehicles
- Increased power consumption
- More fragile/take more damage from threats and environment
- Allow Cyclops to be destroyed
- Allow more types of fauna to deal damage to them(Stalkers, Sand Sharks)
- Perhaps tweak crush depths.
With regards to seabases
- Higher power demands/less power generation?
- Easier to sustain damage. Modifier to increase penalty to structural integrity?
- Penalties to integrity at depth.
- Basically things which increase overall running costs in lithium and power mostly.
Stuff which might be harder to code but would be awesome. Maybe optional tweaks in the above mentioned 'custom' mode if such a thing existed.
- Allow creatures not normally present in a biome to spawn there occasionally. Wandering crabsquid patrolling near a wreck in the grassy plateau. Reapers in the grand reef. Etc. I think this would be great because it adds some of that unknown element to the game. You can't be sure what you will run into and where. Probably a lot harder to code though, if possible at all. Might be restricted a special game mode even.
- Randomize fragment locations a little bit. There should be some logic to make sure my seamoth parts dont wind up littering the deepest areas of the game. Basically ensure that tech tied very closely to depth progression don't end up in exceedingly deep areas. But for me a lot of the fun of playing the first time was that I didn't know what i'd find in a new biome. I just explored and took whatever came my way and adapted from there.
Anyways I wouldn't want any features like this to come at the expense of people who are less familiar with the game or just want an easier experience. It's why I like the idea of these being difficulties or even just selectable tweaks like in the new X-COM game. Want aggressive creatures that deal high damage but don't wanna deal with harsher base management? Select those two options and leave the rest alone. Anything to customize the game experience would be awesome, especially in lieu of a modding scene for the game.