by windebieste » Fri May 19, 2017 5:57 am
I've been playing the DC version of the game and been completely entranced by it. That is, up to a point.
As that point is really easy to define, it's easy to note but it comes in 2 parts:
Firstly, following the campaign, I reached a point where the player gets to use a car for the first time. Honestly, there's so many problems here, so I'll just note them down quickly:
Up until this point, the game eases the player into all the systems and mechanics available throughout their experience with no rush. Everything, more or less, except vehicle use. Once the player does find the car just outside the Monolith HQ, they have to learn the new driving interface, become acquainted with the driving and physics idiosyncracies, drive an obstacle course and do all this under pressure while being gunned down from above by a helicopter. All this after fleeing from the monolith base under heavy gunfire. All the driving features are thrust upon the player with no opportunity to become familiar with it and you have to be good at it from the get go. It's just a bit much and it's out of tone and character with how the rest of the game introduces its systems and challenges.
I'm thinking a relatively simple solution to this problem is to allow the player time to adjust to the new mechanics. Delay or trigger the helicopter later in the sequence. Hell, even a 30 second delay after the player has turned the key and started the car would be ideal. It just needs that little extra time for the systems to sink into the player before they are being mercilessly pursued by a gunship. lol.
Secondly, and this is a big problem and much more important, driving the car, the player enters a new map. Holy shit, Man! This new map is so goddammed laggy! Really. The rest of the game runs super smooth on my machine, but this fucking map is shit. I don't mind saying it out loud, either. I don't know what the problem here is but it needs to be fixed. Maybe it's not optimised right - or the occlusion and engine visibility is unfavorable or whatever.
It looks great but damn! It runs like shit through a blocked sewer. Even if you have to cut it in half to make it run better, please do so. A 10 second loading screen is much, much more favorable than a map that chugs out at 15fps.
The point I am in the game right now, I've exited that map and the fps has gone back up again, so I know it's the map. The problem is, I know I'm going to have to re-enter that map at some point soon. I'm not really finding that prospect very attractive. Please fix that map.
Other than that, this release is solid. I've only had 1 crash in about 10 hours of play. Well done. The new ambience is great. I love that you've concentrated on making the whole zone more lonely, inhospitable and filled with mutants. The new artifact detectors are great. The upgrade system works. I hate going out into the zone at night - as it should be. There's so much on offer here to make (yet another) visit to The Zone a rewarding experience like no other.
Thank you for all the great work.