Subnautica: Released (SPOILER WARNING past Post #1)

[Unkillable Cat]

The only place where you'll find leviathans in the immediate vicinity of a wreck is in Dunes and Mountains biomes. You can complete the game without exploring those...

If random chance doesn't screw you over and leave a vital data fragment in those particular wrecks... then yes, you can.

 

[dextermorgan]

The only place where you'll find leviathans in the immediate vicinity of a wreck is in Dunes and Mountains biomes. You can complete the game without exploring those...

If random chance doesn't screw you over and leave a vital data fragment in those particular wrecks... then yes, you can.

Hasn't been a problem in 2 full playthroughs for me. There's 23 large wrecks and a crapton of small wrecks in the game. Of those, only 2 large wrecks are located in immediate vicinity of leviathans, and even those are outside their aggro range (meaning parking a Seamoth next to a wreck you won't attract a leviathan, unless you aggroed it on your way to the wreck). The only reason I had for exploring these was to get

Spoiler

the Stillsuit

, which is a novelty item anyway and fairly useless late-game.

Your biggest problem when exploring wrecks are actually amp-eels and bonesharks. Well, those and the lack of in-game map.

 

[what am i doing]

I have to say I liked it best in the early stages of development when it was mostly a reef exploration simulator. As they started to add in vehicles letting you cross the map more quickly, larger and larger sea creatures and deeper and deeper zones, alien ruins, and all sorts of story stuff, along with more conveniences in basebuilding, I found myself enjoying the game less and less.

I think my opinion is probably an unpopular one. But I had the most fun when I was balancing oxygen vs storage space to check out cave systems in the Safe Shallows, and going out to collect mushrooms to replace my non-rechargeable batteries. More of a story-less, sort of abstract reef exploration game. I had also, initially, thought the map was randomly generated.

I realize they had to give it a win condition and that large portions of the fan base were clamouring for sea monsters and story stuff. But, personally, I didn't like the direction it went in the end. Had fun, think it was a good project overall especially the early stages of development. Probably won't reinstall to try the finished version.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I have to say I liked it best in the early stages of development when it was mostly a reef exploration simulator. As they started to add in vehicles letting you cross the map more quickly, larger and larger sea creatures and deeper and deeper zones, alien ruins, and all sorts of story stuff, along with more conveniences in basebuilding, I found myself enjoying the game less and less.

I think my opinion is probably an unpopular one.

Not at all. The start of the game is well balanced and challenging, which is why it's fun. It's the mid- and end-game that are unbalanced and mostly devoid of challenges that drag down the fun of the game. Once you get the Seamoth you've pretty much won the game, you just need to cross the dull obstacles laid down by the devs in order to advance the story.

Case in point, when I finally beat the game (played it well enough during Early Access) I didn't build a PRAWN nor a Cyclops. The maximum depth range of the Seamoth is more than half the maximum depth in the game, meaning that with some planning one can take the Seamoth to the very edge of its depth limit, then use the Seaglide to race through the end areas to reach places that have air in them. As long as the player remembers to grab a few essential items along the way this journey only needs to be undertaken once.

The fact of the matter is that Subnautica was released in an unfinished state and needed a few more months in development before leaving Early Access. But as has been pointed out, the devs aren't very smart creatures.

 

[dextermorgan]

Case in point, when I finally beat the game (played it well enough during Early Access) I didn't build a PRAWN nor a Cyclops. The maximum depth range of the Seamoth is more than half the maximum depth in the game, meaning that with some planning one can take the Seamoth to the very edge of its depth limit, then use the Seaglide to race through the end areas to reach places that have air in them. As long as the player remembers to grab a few essential items along the way this journey only needs to be undertaken once.

Yes and no. You can only really do this if you know exactly where you're going, otherwise you WILL die, which means it's essentially impossible on a first playthrough. And while I agree that the mid-late game story goals and non-evolving mechanics are somewhat lacking, it is also somewhat compensated for if you're fully engaged in the exploration/basebuilding aspect.

 

[Ivan]

Yay I just built the Prawn suit, very anticlimactic once you feel how turgid it feels. At least I can go deeper now

 

[dextermorgan]

Yay I just built the Prawn suit, very anticlimactic once you feel how turgid it feels. At least I can go deeper now

Becomes much more fun once you have some upgrades for it, especially the grappling hook and jumpjet upgrade. With those the Prawn can move faster than the 'moth.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Case in point, when I finally beat the game (played it well enough during Early Access) I didn't build a PRAWN nor a Cyclops. The maximum depth range of the Seamoth is more than half the maximum depth in the game, meaning that with some planning one can take the Seamoth to the very edge of its depth limit, then use the Seaglide to race through the end areas to reach places that have air in them. As long as the player remembers to grab a few essential items along the way this journey only needs to be undertaken once.

Yes and no. You can only really do this if you know exactly where you're going, otherwise you WILL die, which means it's essentially impossible on a first playthrough. And while I agree that the mid-late game story goals and non-evolving mechanics are somewhat lacking, it is also somewhat compensated for if you're fully engaged in the exploration/basebuilding aspect.

Reading comprehension fail.

Tone down your enthusiasm.

 

[dextermorgan]

Nothing of value

K

 

[Ivan]

Progress report:

I'm not the type to willingly refer to wikis, so I don't know the "names" of the biomes I explore. I made great progress after I upgraded my Seamoth to go to its deepest depths and armed with torpedos to ward off Reapers.

Made great progress and found some cute little octo-metroids. Even found an angelic leviathan that's really pretty and non-aggressive. This game is a beauty, it seems I'll need a bigger boat if I want to descend further. I will be back! (reminder to pack more water bottles....)

 

[Country_Gravy]

Pack more water bottles

 

[dextermorgan]

So Ivan , how's it going?

 

[Ivan]

Beat it. Ending was a slog with all the fetching. It's funny how up until this point I had forgiven the game for all of its technical issues but felt them as heavily at the endgame.

I definitely love the first third of the game, I grew skeptical when I found the first

Spoiler

alien base

, and my enthusiasm only waned after that.

As a gamer who was traumatized by early 3d water levels on the N64, this wasn't so bad. Reaper Leviathans are easily the most frightening thing in the game, and after the first encounter it's not so bad.

Again, my hopes for the sequel are aligned with more of the survival aspects from the first few hours one goes through in the game.

 

[dextermorgan]

Yeah, the plant sample fetch-quest was pretty flat, even with the portals allowing you to get each fairly quickly. Hiding

Spoiler

the resource cost for Neptune parts until after you've built the launch platform

was downright dickish. It would have been much better if they'd expanded deep diving mechanics / undersea threats to gate off the resources needed to find the cure/gtfo the planet instead.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

The fact of the matter is that Subnautica was released in an unfinished state and needed a few more months in development before leaving Early Access. But as has been pointed out, the devs aren't very smart creatures.

You do realize they sold absolute shitload, sit at Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam, had a successful console launch and got paid further shitload by Epic to promote the Epic store. Pretty sure they've picked just about perfect time to launch.

 

[Ivan]

I'm looking forward to the devs talking about how they're taking the criticism to heart for the expansion. I don't think it needs to be as large of a play space as the base game. Also hoping it doesn't sit in Early Access for as long as the base game did...

 

[Unkillable Cat]

You do realize they sold absolute shitload, sit at Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam, had a successful console launch and got paid further shitload by Epic to promote the Epic store. Pretty sure they've picked just about perfect time to launch.

Fully aware of that. Doesn't change my words at all.

Imagine how much more money they would have made if they'd developed it further for at few more months, made the game solid through and through. Then they'd have a solid breadmaker of a title that would earn them a longer and steady flow of moneyz, instead of watching the inevitable sales drop-off and having to turn to Epic just six months after release to get any decent moneyz from the game again.

Also keep in mind that Subnautica, like Prey (2006) is what is known a weighted game, one where all the effort and quality is placed at its start, the part that most players will see... but once you're past the weighted part the game doesn't have as much to offer.

It is for that exact reason that I'm not gonna bother with the expansion until it's out of Early Access (which last I checked it hasn't even entered yet).

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Here's a good one:

>Find underwater cave full of air (one of the caves with a precursor portal)
>Build a base inside the cave
>Place too many windows in the base, therefore putting its hull strength in the negatives
>Watch as the base fills with water
>???

 

[sullynathan]

Expansion coming in Early Access January 30th: Subnautica Below Zero

Livestream in 4 days

 

[Ivan]

I'm excited to see how they apply the criticism from the base game.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Had a look at Below Zero. It doesn't interest me as much as the original, for various reasons.

X The original had a truly open space, the lack of scenery gives it a sense of massive size.
+ Below Zero has scenery in almost every direction that both blocks the view and player progression. It makes for a nice-looking horizon with mountains and glaciers, but at the same time it really cramps on the scale of the game and gives all-too easy landmarks to navigate by.

X While the original had a few artificial gates in place to guide the player's progression, it also played on its own open-worldness and allowed for surprising flexibility that rewarded smart players.
+ Below Zero seems to do away with all that by having even more artificial gates in place. Even in the first open underwater area I feel boxed in and waiting until the plot finally permits me to go elsewhere.

X The original suggested places for the player to go, and wouldn't be that bothered if the player just dicked around.
+ Below Zero commands the player to go there and do this in a seemingly exact order.

X The original didn't have fixed characters, the protagonist is a Tabula Rasa for people to build upon themselves. This makes for better immersion as players feel as if they're truly there*.
+ Below Zero has fixed characters. This would be cool if they were interesting, but so far the protagonist is a British skank, her twin sister (who replaces the computer from the original) is a social media 'influencer' and the third character (won't spoil it) is Wheatley from Portal 2 (oh wait, guess I did spoiler it). In fact, with these characters constantly droning on in the player's ears one can't help but feel like this is Portal 2. Or a walking simulator. Ugh.

X The original played on the theme of loneliness, solitude and being shipwrecked in the middle of nowhere with nothing but an emotionless PDA to talk to. It was a rare approach to a video game and was one of the reasons why Subnautica stood out.
+ Below Zero can't seem to go two minutes without someone blabbering in the player's ear. Because of that there's no sense of loneliness and solitude, and Below Zero feels like just another 'narrative' FPS game. We've seen plenty of those over the past 20 years. Yawn.

X The original allowed the player to scan almost everything to learn more about the environment.
+ Below Zero does away with all that, the player can only scan precursor tech, relevant gear and lifeforms. No more scanning plants and other 'trivialities'.

There are probably other points I'm missing, but the point is the devs seem to have done away with everything that made Subnautica unique, and replaced it with stuff that can be found in every other FPS game out there to the point that the game now feels bland. The only clear improvement I've seen that Below Zero has over the original is weather patterns.

While the normal caveat applies that this is all based on its current Early Access status, keep in mind that I'm talking about basic game design decisions here. The devs would have to go back to the drawing board to change some of this stuff. Let's wait and see what happens.

*INB4 the raving SJWs droning on about how the protagonist of the original is a white male and that not everyone can associate with that. The blame for the white male protagonist in Subnautica can only be put on the shoulders of the developers. During its development the devs were often asked to allow for more and varied character models, and they even promised they'd do so. However their own incompetence got the better of them so everyone got stuck with the single low-effort character model. But at the end of the day it's still easy to look past all that and just have conjure up their own headcanon as to who's trying to survive down on 4546B.

 

[Zombra]

*INB4 the raving SJWs droning on about how the protagonist of the original is a white male and that not everyone can associate with that.

Not sure if serious, Subnautica's protagonist was a mocha-skinned guy who was somewhat androgynous ... I didn't see any complaints about his white maleness and plenty of complaints about how he wasn't white enough or masculine enough. Even on sites other than the Codex!

Don't mean to diminish the rest of your informative and balanced post, thanks for your information. Looks like I won't be bothering with this one.

 

[dextermorgan]

X The original allowed the player to scan almost everything to learn more about the environment.
+ Below Zero does away with all that, the player can only scan precursor tech, relevant gear and lifeforms. No more scanning plants and other 'trivialities'.

This is likely to be added later in development. Mostly agree with the rest, pretty meh so far. Also, scanning fragments makes no sense as your PDA was not damaged in this one so it should have all the schematics from the get go.

 

[cvv]

Wasn't the original limited only to the shoals when it first entered EA? I think with these devs when they say "early access" they mean it.

 

[Drakron]

Not sure if serious, Subnautica's protagonist was a mocha-skinned guy who was somewhat androgynous ... I didn't see any complaints about his white maleness and plenty of complaints about how he wasn't white enough or masculine enough. Even on sites other than the Codex!

Don't mean to diminish the rest of your informative and balanced post, thanks for your information. Looks like I won't be bothering with this one.

Serious since some people decided to troll the Steam forums about being forced into playing a grill and queue the moral signaling.
Also Subnautica had a female model on their model page (forgot the name) and people did expected that male/female would be a choice, in fact this whole thing seems to be just parts planed for Subnatica that never happened as I do recall there was planed another biome that never materialized.

Also I am not surprised this is basically linear as that was the problem I had with the original were the "do things in what order you wanted" became more ... guided as it progressed, also I never minded the base building aspect but that got nowhere more or less.