Stavrophore
Most trustworthy slavic man
More shit to do in deep caverns, and more loredump about the surface, the cataclysm.
where's the dog companion fit into this?Ah, the Codex. I disagree with 90% of the suggestions.
Anyway, here are the modifications I would do:
1) I would cut the Arke Powerplant, the lowpoint of the game.
2) I would move some of the DC areas/dungeons out of DC in order to make DC shorter. Eg, the forest.
3) I would offer re-arrangement options of the crafting screen to the player, as has already been suggested.
4) I would rework the unique weapons to make them situationally worthwhile (eg, very good against a specific enemy or with lower strength requirements).
5) I would cut all gear/feats that give real-time speed bonuses (eg, Tabi Boots, Interloper), and I would make the default speed faster (as if all those bonuses had been applied from the start).
6) I would rework the special bullets, because right now their worth is questionable.
7) I am not happy with the weapon mods, because usually there are clear best and bad choices. I would strengthen or replace the bad ones.
8) No respawning enemies. At all. Ever. OK, maybe I would place a couple of designated respawn areas out of the way.
9) I would cut most of the random events that involve combat. They make backtracking annoying.
10) I would strengthen some of the weaker builds, especially the ones that players tend to avoid.
11) I do not like the increase in enemy numbers with difficulty level, so I would try to rethink that.
(5) & (9) are two cases where I think Styg is harming his own game. For example, at some point random events were added in the area outside Blaine's shop. Therefore, I have to put on my heaviest armor and use stealth to travel through that area, making the process slower and the alternative of fast-traveling more appealing than ever. Then some of the random spawns started attacking and killing Blaine and his men, so Styg decided to lock Blaine's door every time the player leaves the area. So now I have to ring the doorbell through a dialogue screen every time I visit Blaine, making shopping there slower. One bad decision that made the game worse (random events that incentivize fast traveling) led to another decision that made the game even worse (locking Blaine's door and making shopping slower). Instead of locking Blaine's door, Styg should have accepted that it was a mistake to add random events there, and cut them from that area.
where's the dog companion fit into this?
And then we'll have a nonsensical situation where the facility still has some power even after (iirc) a hundred years or so. How would you go about accessing locked facility to find parts to repair the gate? Also, how would you give opportunity for characters that doesn't invest in Mechanics to repair the gate with the help of Arke's A.I?1) I would cut the Arke Powerplant, the lowpoint of the game.
But then, how would you get rid of the bio-mass blocking the gate from opening? If you'll suggest to just hint the player to bring out a big ass flamethrower, or use pyrokinesis spells, or just throw molotovs like it's candy, then we'll also need to start reworking the entire Tchort enemies to be extremely weak to fire to maintain verisimilitude.2) I would move some of the DC areas/dungeons out of DC in order to make DC shorter. Eg, the forest.
I'm not sure why this is still a problem. The respawns are timed, so it's not like you're going to clear area one time, and they literally respawn the moment you leave and re-enter the area (unless the timer is global and they'll respawn exactly as the timer dictated, in which case it's just bad luck if it actually happens). Also, if you pay attention, only certain zones has respawns.8) No respawning enemies. At all. Ever. OK, maybe I would place a couple of designated respawn areas out of the way.
I'm not holding this against you personally, but didn't we already have shit loads of complains about JSawyer and his 'balance', which he achieved the way you described here?10) I would strengthen some of the weaker builds, especially the ones that players tend to avoid.
To this I'm indifferent, since I haven't tried fiddling with the entire weapon mods, haven't seen any random encounters, nor have played on higher difficulties.7) I am not happy with the weapon mods, because usually there are clear best and bad choices. I would strengthen or replace the bad ones.
9) I would cut most of the random events that involve combat. They make backtracking annoying.
11) I do not like the increase in enemy numbers with difficulty level, so I would try to rethink that.
That's fucked...(5) & (9) are two cases where I think Styg is harming his own game. For example, at some point random events were added in the area outside Blaine's shop. Therefore, I have to put on my heaviest armor and use stealth to travel through that area, making the process slower and the alternative of fast-traveling more appealing than ever. Then some of the random spawns started attacking and killing Blaine and his men, so Styg decided to lock Blaine's door every time the player leaves the area. So now I have to ring the doorbell through a dialogue screen every time I visit Blaine, making shopping there slower. One bad decision that made the game worse (random events that incentivize fast traveling) led to another decision that made the game even worse (locking Blaine's door and making shopping slower). Instead of locking Blaine's door, Styg should have accepted that it was a mistake to add random events there, and cut them from that area.
And then we'll have a nonsensical situation where the facility still has some power even after (iirc) a hundred years or so. How would you go about accessing locked facility to find parts to repair the gate? Also, how would you give opportunity for characters that doesn't invest in Mechanics to repair the gate with the help of Arke's A.I?
Instead of cutting it off completely, I'd suggest making it completely unnecessary to backtrack to the power plant every time we want to access certain areas of the facility. Make it a one-time trip of simply cutting off power from the security system of the power plant and divert it completely to the rest of the Hollow Earth facility.
But then, how would you get rid of the bio-mass blocking the gate from opening? If you'll suggest to just hint the player to bring out a big ass flamethrower, or use pyrokinesis spells, or just throw molotovs like it's candy, then we'll also need to start reworking the entire Tchort enemies to be extremely weak to fire to maintain verisimilitude.
I can see getting hints or a quest to retrieve it before going down to DC, but I think it would spoil the surprise down in DC for first timers, no?
I'm not sure why this is still a problem. The respawns are timed, so it's not like you're going to clear area one time, and they literally respawn the moment you leave and re-enter the area (unless the timer is global and they'll respawn exactly as the timer dictated, in which case it's just bad luck if it actually happens). Also, if you pay attention, only certain zones has respawns.
As for respawns in DC, they only appear once the Eye stacks is maxed, and even then you can notice the holes in which the tchortling appears. There are also multiple measures to avoid getting the stacks maxed.
I'm not holding this against you personally, but didn't we already have shit loads of complains about JSawyer and his 'balance', which he achieved the way you described here?
a) But why would they? What would they really gain from helping you, especially if they haven't confirmed if you're an ally or an enemy? Now, if after our character's mind is read by their Mindreader and they confirmed we're an ally, and from there we can convince them to help us dealing with Arke to restore power, one way or another, I can see that working.Two possible solutions here:
a) The Faceless are there. It can easily be assumed that they did this work for you.
b) A less dramatic solution would be to keep Arke's final battle (and the 130 Electronics check, the highest in the game). But the rest of Arke does not offer the game anything, it is just really-really annoying.
If there's any part that's need to be cut to make DC shorter, it's the labyrinth section. The mushroom forest only really felt annoying because of such convoluted way of getting into there, it's not annoying to go through thanks to biohazard suit. Arke's only annoying because of the backtracking, like I said. The labyrinth, though, it's only there to act as a place where they place one of the parts, for ""reasons"". Either cut the labyrinth and move the parts in there elsewhere, or rework it so it's not a labyrinth and just yet some another huge section of Deep Caverns where another Monolith is located.I didn't get into that much detail in my post, but the presumption here is that in "my version" you wouldn't need all the parts you now need to get to Tchort. I want to me DC shorter. Another quick and dirty solution would be Six providing you with some of the parts.
I really don't understand this need to just walk around the maps even though they're empty. Maybe it's just me, but when I see an opportunity to just go to a place instantly for quest-related reasons, I'd to take it any day over being forced to walk there, respawns being there or not. This is why I really hate the Foundry questline, because for some reason I still need to backtrack to Ezra one more time. If I want to walk around some maps, I'd like to have something that makes me experience the major gameplay loop that the game meant to offer.I am not including tchortlings in the respawns, they are different gameplay-wise.
I do not like respawns, why do I have to beat the same exact enemies I have beat before in the same place as before? I have already won that battle, why are you making me fight it again in the same playthrough? Take the rathounds on the way to GMS for example or the beetles on the way to Junkyard. Let me walk your maps, don't force me to take the boat (in the Junkyard case) out of mere annoyance.
Throwing skill was originally intended as a complementary combat skills to the rest, which are Guns, Melee, and Crossbow. I'd say it's because grenades are rather OP, especially when it's paired with crafting skills, hence its further restriction with cooldowns. Still, I remember Styg promising to look into Throwing and make it a viable main combat skill. And iirc in one of the update they increased the amount of throwing knives stack you can carry. It's now 30, I can't remember exactly how many you can carry in earlier patches, but I'm pretty sure it was much less than 30 back then.Builds do not have to be perfectly balanced, and I am definitely not advocating for Sawyer's "all builds the player may come up with should be viable". But if people are not playing one of the builds that you intended them to play (eg, the Throwing Knives build is an extreme example), it probably needs a buff or some feats to make it more fun.
third dimension of course
goddamn firearm cartridges have length as well as diameter - 7.62x25 Tokarev is not the same as 7.62x39 AK 47 ammo, not the same as 7.62x54R in a Dragunov, not the same as 7.62×70 Lapua Magnum - not the same, you hear me?
But why would they? What would they really gain from helping you, especially if they haven't confirmed if you're an ally or an enemy? Now, if after our character's mind is read by their Mindreader and they confirmed we're an ally, and from there we can convince them to help us dealing with Arke to restore power, one way or another, I can see that working.
Now, I realize the whole sequence could be done better. But like I said, just cutting the area/content completely is kind of a waste.
If there's any part that's need to be cut to make DC shorter, it's the labyrinth section. The mushroom forest only really felt annoying because of such convoluted way of getting into there, it's not annoying to go through thanks to biohazard suit. Arke's only annoying because of the backtracking, like I said. The labyrinth, though, it's only there to act as a place where they place one of the parts, for ""reasons"". Either cut the labyrinth and move the parts in there elsewhere, or rework it so it's not a labyrinth and just yet some another huge section of Deep Caverns where another Monolith is located.
I really don't understand this need to just walk around the maps even though they're empty. Maybe it's just me, but when I see an opportunity to just go to a place instantly for quest-related reasons, I'd to take it any day over being forced to walk there, respawns being there or not. This is why I really hate the Foundry questline, because for some reason I still need to backtrack to Ezra one more time. If I want to walk around some maps, I'd like to have something that makes me experience the major gameplay loop that the game meant to offer.
And so, to compensate for its size in context of giving players opportunities to experience the major gameplay loop of his game, Styg resorted to respawn mechanics. Fortunately, because he's aiming to crafting a living, breathing RPG world, Styg only limited the respawns to organic creatures such as animals and mutants, but NOT human enemies and bots. Do you see Lunatics/Lurkers you cleared in that part of the metro respawn? You don't. Same with bots, with the exception of the bots in Arke.
Anyway, what other builds aren't being played? Crossbow got some good buffs like new feats and special bolts stacks increased all the way to 99 (iirc). But yeah, I can see that Throwing in particular has very small amount of feats compared to other combat skills, even though the other combat skills has multiple type of weapons like Guns has sniper rifles, assault rifles, SMGs, pistols, and the upcoming shotguns.
Look at the picture for 2 seconds and you have the answer: auto-sell feature.
Now, I know retards will sperg about realism and shit but let me give you are couple of reasons why that feature is a must-have:
1) It will reduce gameplay time to 50%: you will simply press a button instead of going around like a retard looking for traders to buy your shit.
2) It makes sense to be able to radio communicate with merchants in Underrail's world: highlight items you have buyers for.
3) I like the game but, after a couple of runs, I just want this shit out of my way: there is no challenge in doing trading runs.
4) I do deserve that loot because I fought for it but I will probably give up on it because there is no fucking way I will do 3 trading runs.
Look at the picture for 2 seconds and you have the answer: auto-sell feature.
Now, I know retards will sperg about realism and shit but let me give you are couple of reasons why that feature is a must-have:
1) It will reduce gameplay time to 50%: you will simply press a button instead of going around like a retard looking for traders to buy your shit.
2) It makes sense to be able to radio communicate with merchants in Underrail's world: highlight items you have buyers for.
3) I like the game but, after a couple of runs, I just want this shit out of my way: there is no challenge in doing trading runs.
4) I do deserve that loot because I fought for it but I will probably give up on it because there is no fucking way I will do 3 trading runs.
Just leave the stuff on the ground and edit your coin stack with how much it would be worth.
Thankfully there is enough money even on DOM that after Depot A you can just ignore corpses. The current system of each trader having a huge pile of your items at their feet, which you sell each time you pass by, is kinda retarded.
1. Add romances
2. Add 'skip combat' button
3. Add more romances
4. Add tons of pointless dialogue where NPCs verbally jerk off the protagonist
5. Make combat realtime with pause
6. Add BioWare logo to the startup screen
Look at the picture for 2 seconds and you have the answer: auto-sell feature.
Now, I know retards will sperg about realism and shit but let me give you are couple of reasons why that feature is a must-have:
1) It will reduce gameplay time to 50%: you will simply press a button instead of going around like a retard looking for traders to buy your shit.
2) It makes sense to be able to radio communicate with merchants in Underrail's world: highlight items you have buyers for.
3) I like the game but, after a couple of runs, I just want this shit out of my way: there is no challenge in doing trading runs.
4) I do deserve that loot because I fought for it but I will probably give up on it because there is no fucking way I will do 3 trading runs.
Just leave the stuff on the ground and edit your coin stack with how much it would be worth.
Thankfully there is enough money even on DOM that after Depot A you can just ignore corpses. The current system of each trader having a huge pile of your items at their feet, which you sell each time you pass by, is kinda retarded.
Never done this. Just select the most valuable loot to take with you and ignore the rest.