railway
Educated
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2013
- Messages
- 49
It's kind of embarrassing but after dozens of hours spent with the various Early Access versions, I just realised now, during my first playthrough of the released game, that you don't have to be in stealth for successful pickpocketing. Now I finally get the comments about how good pickpocketing is. 
Considering there's not much C&C or divergent storylines, I'm surprised how much fun I still have with the game even though I played through most of it a couple of times already. Big part of it is of course great combat. I share some of the criticism brought up in this thread, like the dislike of skill cooldowns
deadhorse, but nothing comes even close to being a dealbreaker for me.
Another strong point is the exploration and I'm glad I spared some content for my first proper playthrough. I never did the Protectorate/Free Drones and Oculus quest lines before. Still those quests appeared to be a little unfinished, or not as much unfinished (there's closure to all major threads in the end) as cut short. As if at some point during development there was supposed to be more content which was cut to prevent feature creep and finish the game. Which, if that's the case, is of course a rational decision and I can't help thinking this way of "playing it safe" is one (maybe the) major difference, for better or worse, between Underrail and various "rough gem" classics beloved by the Codex.
I went with the Free Drones in my playthrough
The Oculus
In my current playthrough I just reached Deep Caverns. So far I don't understand the heavy criticism this area gets everywhere but admittedly I haven't seen much of it yet. I visited the faceless, explored the nearby power station and had a little chat with an AI.
The higher combat speed from the last patch is a real blessing, making a great game even better.
Another quality of life improvement I'd wish to see eventually is some kind of mark on containers I opened before. I already thought about this before coming down there but DC with its areas full of dozens of shelves and lockers make it especially easy to lose track of what I already searched.
Considering there's not much C&C or divergent storylines, I'm surprised how much fun I still have with the game even though I played through most of it a couple of times already. Big part of it is of course great combat. I share some of the criticism brought up in this thread, like the dislike of skill cooldowns
deadhorse, but nothing comes even close to being a dealbreaker for me.Another strong point is the exploration and I'm glad I spared some content for my first proper playthrough. I never did the Protectorate/Free Drones and Oculus quest lines before. Still those quests appeared to be a little unfinished, or not as much unfinished (there's closure to all major threads in the end) as cut short. As if at some point during development there was supposed to be more content which was cut to prevent feature creep and finish the game. Which, if that's the case, is of course a rational decision and I can't help thinking this way of "playing it safe" is one (maybe the) major difference, for better or worse, between Underrail and various "rough gem" classics beloved by the Codex.
I went with the Free Drones in my playthrough
and going after Fort Apogee seems like an organic follow up. Granted, the game acknowledges this and gives you a reasonable explanation for why it's not done at this time (FD forces spread too thin and many terrorists freedom fighters were lost already) but at least some kind of comment after taking out the fort yourself would have been neat. 
What does actually feel cut short however is the whole traitor arc, which is a big deal in the beginning only to be dropped entirely in the end. I know the amnesiac woman in the Hanging Rat is very likely the missing Free Drone and it's implied she also might have been the traitor but the first dialogue with the Free Drone leadership kind of implied information continued to leak until shortly before you arrival while the woman's missing for weeks AFAIR.
It's aso a little strange that you can confront her with those suspicions regarding her identity but apparently there's no way to talk with the Free Drones about it.
Some form of quest similiar to the murder investigation you do for Jack Quicksilver would have been nice. I'd love to see more quests in this vein in general.
What does actually feel cut short however is the whole traitor arc, which is a big deal in the beginning only to be dropped entirely in the end. I know the amnesiac woman in the Hanging Rat is very likely the missing Free Drone and it's implied she also might have been the traitor but the first dialogue with the Free Drone leadership kind of implied information continued to leak until shortly before you arrival while the woman's missing for weeks AFAIR.
It's aso a little strange that you can confront her with those suspicions regarding her identity but apparently there's no way to talk with the Free Drones about it.
Some form of quest similiar to the murder investigation you do for Jack Quicksilver would have been nice. I'd love to see more quests in this vein in general.
The Oculus
questline was incredibly fun all in all. It has some of the game's best quests IMO, like the jailbreak mission in Foundry or the aformentioned murder investigation in SGS. The reveal of their base at the end was a great moment and very unexpected even though I had already met Six in my EA playthroughs.
While getting some more information on Underrail's history and lore through their computers and the mainframe was a rewarding end to this questline, this place left the impression on me, that there was supposed to be more content at some point, more than anything else. You get introduced to this new base, several new characters and a new secret organisation with seemingly limitless potential but they're not really utilised for anything, the big reveal stays mostly inconsequential.
You get one last quest that doesn't really lead anywhere either (unless you can get your hands on Thallo's documents somehow after all?) and then that's it. In the official Underrail forums I stumbled upon a thread discussing some dialogues in the game files but not actually utilised in the game itself which would expand this quest a bit, requiring the support of other characters in the Oculus base, so there was supposed to be more to it apparently. Maybe this is one of the things that get expanded upon with the additional content Styg has been talking about?
Abram's summaries of Underrails current political situation also left me with the impression that the faction mechanics were supposed to be much more dynamic.
While getting some more information on Underrail's history and lore through their computers and the mainframe was a rewarding end to this questline, this place left the impression on me, that there was supposed to be more content at some point, more than anything else. You get introduced to this new base, several new characters and a new secret organisation with seemingly limitless potential but they're not really utilised for anything, the big reveal stays mostly inconsequential.
You get one last quest that doesn't really lead anywhere either (unless you can get your hands on Thallo's documents somehow after all?) and then that's it. In the official Underrail forums I stumbled upon a thread discussing some dialogues in the game files but not actually utilised in the game itself which would expand this quest a bit, requiring the support of other characters in the Oculus base, so there was supposed to be more to it apparently. Maybe this is one of the things that get expanded upon with the additional content Styg has been talking about?
Abram's summaries of Underrails current political situation also left me with the impression that the faction mechanics were supposed to be much more dynamic.
In my current playthrough I just reached Deep Caverns. So far I don't understand the heavy criticism this area gets everywhere but admittedly I haven't seen much of it yet. I visited the faceless, explored the nearby power station and had a little chat with an AI.
The higher combat speed from the last patch is a real blessing, making a great game even better.
Another quality of life improvement I'd wish to see eventually is some kind of mark on containers I opened before. I already thought about this before coming down there but DC with its areas full of dozens of shelves and lockers make it especially easy to lose track of what I already searched.
