My insight about Below Zero (relics of the past update) (Heavy spoilers about the early access)
Sorenzor
Madrid, Spain Join Date: 2020-04-04 Member: 259618Members
Madrid, Spain Join Date: 2020-04-04 Member: 259618Members
I think I did everything I could or most of it in this version of the game. I finished Sam's arc in the leviathan cavern, apparently she is dead and I have her necklace (I really hope she is not, it would feel anticlimactic), and I finished as much as possible Al-An's arc. He has his body and gave me some coordinates but nothing happens when I go there.
I didn't play the game for a few updates, what I want to discuss here and is new to me is:
1. First, those two arcs.
2. New places, statues, creatures.
3. Changes in the mechanics
4. How easy or hard the game is (blueprints locations, etc.)
5. The voice acting
6. The new characters
1. Story arcs
I loved what I saw. I was slightly afraid of Al-an's intentions, his attitude was strangely hermetic. When my character (can't remember her name for some reason) woke up and saw his alien feet before looking at his head, I thought "he is gonna kill me now, he is evil". It wasn't too rational, it was the way the entire situation made me feel. I loved it. And yeah, he ended up being nice and just strangely insecure.
The arc of sam was not so clean, she obviously pretends to be dead and that's cool for me, but the main character's reaction is strange. She went to that planet to discover something about her sister, and when she discovers she is dead, she barely reacts. She doesn't cry, ok, but she doesn't mourns either. She just... acknowledge how unfair the situation looks. For a few seconds. I mean. Ok. If my own sister dies I promise that I would be much more affected, like, being unable to move for a few hours. The thing is, the protagonist looked so worried about her sister, I can't understand her cold blood there. It's out of character, I think.
It may have something to do with the fact that the story is unfinished. Maybe we will discover a better reaction later.
2. New places, decorations, statues, creatures
I loved everything. The new creatures are smaller and help to create a much more credible environment, I love that. They are not very interesting though. The places, with statues and other natural landscapes were really great. I just kept looking and exploring, hoping to find something new here and there. I still think that the game lacks some optional biome. For now everything feels quite functional, like being there to be "played" but it seems quite a subjective feeling.
The decorations have some bugs. The sam and danielle's picture can't be place over any other surface than the floor in my game and some pictures on the wall get darker as I play, don't know why. Some items lack icons too. However, there is a lot of variety and I love my base with all of them, so, very cool stuff overall.
3. Mechanics
I like the new oxygen tank that allows you to sprint, however, it has less oxygen than the ultra capacity tank and it seems odd to me. Because the entire thing with that tank is that it can use its own oxygen to impulse. But then, shouldn't it have more capacity, not less? I know that it's a player choice: More oxygen to explore or more velocity to run from predators. Here is the thing: Nobody cares about predators anymore. The seatruck is invincible with the defensive perimeter. Nobody can kill it. I would use my oxygen tank to explore small places like the mercury or the mines, but there are no predators that can actually harm me in any of those places. I will come back to this later.
So, I used that tank for one hour and then left it to rot, I have nothing else to do with it. The ultra capacity tank is so good that there is no discussion. It's sad because I really liked the sprint but it's objecively inferior. There's no choice, not being realistic.
4. Difficulty
I understand that this game is not about enemies, it's about survival and exploration. I understand that. So the fact that you become invincible so fast in the game is not a huge problem for me. I am ok with that. But it makes the game definitely easier.
The location of the blueprints was where I used to find the high difficulty in this game: Some blueprints were insane to find, they were in absurd places where I was almost unable to reach by that point of the game or they were so scarce that finding them was a pain in the ass. Not anymore. Everything felt fluid, I found everything fast and intuitively. I kinda miss the times when I had to explore the spires for hours to find the seatruck fabricator but not so much as to ask its return XD
I enjoy the game this way but I am a casual player. More hardcore players could feel disappointed by how easy everything has become. The arctic spires, with the giant worm is the hardest part of the game. Because it's easy to get lost and lose track and the worm can kill you at any time. Usually he is just a nuisance but if you keep running for a few hours, he eventually gets to you and kills you randomly. There is not a fight and nothing to do for the player. There is no way to fight back. That's really frustrating, it feels like the game killing me for no good reason, just to pretend that it's harder than it actually is. It's not hard, it's unfair. It would be hard if there was a challenge but the "challenge" is just to not be randomly killed.
5. Voice acting:
Loved it in general, nothing to say here. I loved the actors. Some phrases are said with some less interest than others but in general the work seems really good to me. I would enjoy some stranger accents or so, they all are very well educated and have very good manners. It may feel slightly artificial but it may have more to do with the script. Not very imaginative if you ask me but it works right.
6. The new characters
I liked almost all of them. I can't find any "evil" character, I can like more some than others but I can get behind any of them. To be honest, studying the kharaa seems like the right thing to do. Sam's actions seems disproportionate to me, she thinks she knows more about genetics that the genetics themselves. I understand that the game is pretending that Sam is right but Kharaa is a big menace, pretending it doesn't exist and destroy it, when it ended up in so many worlds is STUPID AS HELL. Studying it and making it an ally instead of an enemy by transforming it is the right thing to do, fuck, it's the logical thing to do. Sam acts driven by fear and creates a big danger: She could end up being the reason of a new kharaa outbreak.
Of course my less liked character is Emmanuel. I don't like the hypocrisy of the relationships in this universe, like, "I don't wanna see you again but I love you so much", and I think that's deliberate from the developers. So it's ok, we have to slightly dislike Emmanuel. He is the highest rank from Alterra so he represents them, right? Alterra is EA in all of this, so everything is right in this front.
It's interesting that in this department Sam, one of the most important characters, seems to be one of the worst aspects of the game for me.
That's all I can say for now. I am enjoying the ride a lot. There would be much more to talk but I doubt anyone read this. I just want to put my grain to make this great game even better and giving feedback seems the best way to do it.
I didn't play the game for a few updates, what I want to discuss here and is new to me is:
1. First, those two arcs.
2. New places, statues, creatures.
3. Changes in the mechanics
4. How easy or hard the game is (blueprints locations, etc.)
5. The voice acting
6. The new characters
1. Story arcs
I loved what I saw. I was slightly afraid of Al-an's intentions, his attitude was strangely hermetic. When my character (can't remember her name for some reason) woke up and saw his alien feet before looking at his head, I thought "he is gonna kill me now, he is evil". It wasn't too rational, it was the way the entire situation made me feel. I loved it. And yeah, he ended up being nice and just strangely insecure.
The arc of sam was not so clean, she obviously pretends to be dead and that's cool for me, but the main character's reaction is strange. She went to that planet to discover something about her sister, and when she discovers she is dead, she barely reacts. She doesn't cry, ok, but she doesn't mourns either. She just... acknowledge how unfair the situation looks. For a few seconds. I mean. Ok. If my own sister dies I promise that I would be much more affected, like, being unable to move for a few hours. The thing is, the protagonist looked so worried about her sister, I can't understand her cold blood there. It's out of character, I think.
It may have something to do with the fact that the story is unfinished. Maybe we will discover a better reaction later.
2. New places, decorations, statues, creatures
I loved everything. The new creatures are smaller and help to create a much more credible environment, I love that. They are not very interesting though. The places, with statues and other natural landscapes were really great. I just kept looking and exploring, hoping to find something new here and there. I still think that the game lacks some optional biome. For now everything feels quite functional, like being there to be "played" but it seems quite a subjective feeling.
The decorations have some bugs. The sam and danielle's picture can't be place over any other surface than the floor in my game and some pictures on the wall get darker as I play, don't know why. Some items lack icons too. However, there is a lot of variety and I love my base with all of them, so, very cool stuff overall.
3. Mechanics
I like the new oxygen tank that allows you to sprint, however, it has less oxygen than the ultra capacity tank and it seems odd to me. Because the entire thing with that tank is that it can use its own oxygen to impulse. But then, shouldn't it have more capacity, not less? I know that it's a player choice: More oxygen to explore or more velocity to run from predators. Here is the thing: Nobody cares about predators anymore. The seatruck is invincible with the defensive perimeter. Nobody can kill it. I would use my oxygen tank to explore small places like the mercury or the mines, but there are no predators that can actually harm me in any of those places. I will come back to this later.
So, I used that tank for one hour and then left it to rot, I have nothing else to do with it. The ultra capacity tank is so good that there is no discussion. It's sad because I really liked the sprint but it's objecively inferior. There's no choice, not being realistic.
4. Difficulty
I understand that this game is not about enemies, it's about survival and exploration. I understand that. So the fact that you become invincible so fast in the game is not a huge problem for me. I am ok with that. But it makes the game definitely easier.
The location of the blueprints was where I used to find the high difficulty in this game: Some blueprints were insane to find, they were in absurd places where I was almost unable to reach by that point of the game or they were so scarce that finding them was a pain in the ass. Not anymore. Everything felt fluid, I found everything fast and intuitively. I kinda miss the times when I had to explore the spires for hours to find the seatruck fabricator but not so much as to ask its return XD
I enjoy the game this way but I am a casual player. More hardcore players could feel disappointed by how easy everything has become. The arctic spires, with the giant worm is the hardest part of the game. Because it's easy to get lost and lose track and the worm can kill you at any time. Usually he is just a nuisance but if you keep running for a few hours, he eventually gets to you and kills you randomly. There is not a fight and nothing to do for the player. There is no way to fight back. That's really frustrating, it feels like the game killing me for no good reason, just to pretend that it's harder than it actually is. It's not hard, it's unfair. It would be hard if there was a challenge but the "challenge" is just to not be randomly killed.
5. Voice acting:
Loved it in general, nothing to say here. I loved the actors. Some phrases are said with some less interest than others but in general the work seems really good to me. I would enjoy some stranger accents or so, they all are very well educated and have very good manners. It may feel slightly artificial but it may have more to do with the script. Not very imaginative if you ask me but it works right.
6. The new characters
I liked almost all of them. I can't find any "evil" character, I can like more some than others but I can get behind any of them. To be honest, studying the kharaa seems like the right thing to do. Sam's actions seems disproportionate to me, she thinks she knows more about genetics that the genetics themselves. I understand that the game is pretending that Sam is right but Kharaa is a big menace, pretending it doesn't exist and destroy it, when it ended up in so many worlds is STUPID AS HELL. Studying it and making it an ally instead of an enemy by transforming it is the right thing to do, fuck, it's the logical thing to do. Sam acts driven by fear and creates a big danger: She could end up being the reason of a new kharaa outbreak.
Of course my less liked character is Emmanuel. I don't like the hypocrisy of the relationships in this universe, like, "I don't wanna see you again but I love you so much", and I think that's deliberate from the developers. So it's ok, we have to slightly dislike Emmanuel. He is the highest rank from Alterra so he represents them, right? Alterra is EA in all of this, so everything is right in this front.
It's interesting that in this department Sam, one of the most important characters, seems to be one of the worst aspects of the game for me.
That's all I can say for now. I am enjoying the ride a lot. There would be much more to talk but I doubt anyone read this. I just want to put my grain to make this great game even better and giving feedback seems the best way to do it.
Comments
There's lots that properly doesn't make sense yet - there's no reason other than colours that I can see to build a vehicle upgrade console for example. I've made max depth modules for truck and prawn, grappling arm and drilling arm without using it as far as I remember. The story being pretty bog-awful and full of holes is a worry as it's been announced as fully voiced (so finished), the rest though - hey it's a Beta, that stuff will get ironed out
Your acting is not logical from a normal player perspective. If I get there for the first time it's because I want to explore that place. Giving me a useful item ONLY if I abandon my adventure to go back to my base THAT MAY BE ANYWHERE, and get the resources to build the item, then get the item, all of this without knowing how it actually works or how useful it is, then pretending to find again the same place where I was in a game without a map and in an area that has maze design that probably I found just once...
It's just not normal. Even if I do it because I am that cool, it's interrupting the pace of the game.
That's all well and fine, but I do have to agree with the OP that the ice worms are the most infuriating thing I've experienced in either Subnautica game.
Every other enemy gives you leeway to be able to avoid/juke without having to build "traps" but this guy just springs up and constantly knocks you off of your Snow Fox and often traps you in between rocks so that you can't even move and decimates you with no counter play at all.
I do hope they look more into this interaction.
But biggest complaint has been that I've literally had no use whatsoever for the Prawn.
I had my MK3 Depth upgrade for my Sea Truck not long after building my initial Prawn, and I never ran into an area where I needed to go below 1,000 feet of depth.
I also never had a need to mine the larger mineral deposits. I was able to get everything I needed pretty easily from the loose deposits.
My hope is that the end area I've made it to isn't really the end area, and that's there's a deeper and more Prawn-oriented biome on the way.
Yeah that's absolutely true -- while the world and story are getting nicely fleshed out, the balance of resource/vehicle/depth management compared to the first one is not good at all. It doesn't take long to realize you might as well just truck along in the Sea Truck with zero modules and not bother with any other vehicle for almost the entire game currently.
Not sure how far you've made it, but the current area seems pretty clear it's supposed to wrap up the game -- I think maybe they might just adjust the depth level of upgrades and the biomes to make it a bit more challenging? We'll see.