Thanks for a great series. I played through it
on normal mode and found that it was a good challenge. My speed
of play wasnt the fastest since I was exploring a lot, and I play
conservitavely (read "like a scardy-cat"). I finished in about an
hour and a half. I often had a glut of ammo, but almost no health
(50% most of the way though), and suit power was almost
non-existant. I like maps that way though. I have a
AMD2500+, 1G ram, and a 9800pro. The only slowing that I noticed
was during the final battle. Otherwise the levels looked and
played beautifully.
To answer your questions:
- Was the experience fun? What would make it more
fun?
I really enjoyed the experience. I found that
i spent a large portion of the time parinoid that something was gonna
jump out at me, or that I didn't see a well placed enemy that was about
to ambush me. I like that feeling, so it works for me. Only
in the very last scene did I feel like the odds were impossibly stacked
agianst me. If I didn't play like a coward I don't think I could
have beat it. I really like the balance of the enemies and enjoy
playing levels where I only average 50% health. As to what could
make it more fun, I love antlion battles and wouldn't mind a few more
of those. And maybe tone down the final scene. Not the
battle, just the lead in. (but that may just be me. Other
people may love it as is)
- Any non-progression issues (you are stuck and cannot
continue)?
I only found one area that you cannot get out
of. At the bottom of the stairs which lead into the room with the
power switches for the robot you can get caught between the stairs and
the wall. This is true for the stairs on both sides of the
doorway. I only found this because i was looking for more secret
areas. You have to either reload or noclip out of there. If
you need a better description I can get you a screenshot. Other
than that I did not find any issues this time through.
- Game flow, were you often confused about what to do.
Did the solution also confuse you?
The vault sequence confused me, I hadn't come across
the vault yet, so it was extremely confusing. But I think that
was just because of the pressure I was under (which was pretty
fun) in that area, but even when i was in a safe room it took me a
while to figure out that I needed to backtrack.
Also the aux. power/buttons confused me. I
though I would need to do three different tasks since there were three
buttons. Once I got the Grav gun and cleaned out that area I was
out of enemies and had to hunted around a while for a computer room (to
allow a reboot) or someother way to fullfill the other requirements
that the button messages gave. I went and did the power thing,
but didn't test the buttons since I thought i was still missing
something. (maybe a generic message for all three that power is
needed and then switch over to the other messages once that has been
fullfilled. Or just two lines, one with your current message, and
one with the power message.)
- Lighting issues and overall aesthetics, textures &
props
With the exception of two areas I liked the textures
and props throughout the series. Both of the exceptions are in
the first level, in the first courtyard, (the one with the tower in
it.)
First, the light on the floor beneath the tower
stops your movement dead. This seemed really awkward to me.
I might be biased since I was backing away from a fast zombie when I
discovered this, but maybe a nodraw spike over it to allow the player
to go over it, but keep the prop. (Admittedly I haven't tried
that, but I think it should work)
Second, I was huunting for secrets and found that
you can put a barrel in the corner next to the breakable grate, under
the cargo container, and hop up to try to get up to the container
platform. Once on top of the barrel you can see through the walls
since you are looking at the top of the shapes which appear (or not) to
be nodraws.
The lighting throughout felt right, at no point did
I pause and go, "wtf?" I also like your use of (I'm assuming)
displacements inside; the ground comming up through the floor at the
base of the elevator is a good example.
- How did you feel after beating it?
Mainly, I felt relieved. For the vast majority
of the game I had felt tension and I think that if it had ended more
traditionally I would have felt a fair level of satisfaction.
However, with all the insanity at the end I found that my only option
to get out alive was to press the button and be a coward. It
wasnt until the very end that I came out and had to fight. And
that took a few times before I knew what had to be done. Also,
the look of the mech itself was a bit underwhelming and its look didnt
seem to fully fit into the world you crafted. (I know you've had
more experience with mapping and that poly count is an issuem but could
you use models and get a bit more detail in?)
One last thing. I know that you said there are
some known issues that will probably not be fixed in the final release,
but I have to ask. What was up with the wierd dark blotches on
the dirt in the first area with antlions? I spent quite a bit of
time with them and could figure them out. Are they artifacts of
the antlions?
Thanks, -martinloki
(Sorry for the long post)
