Removing the Islands
Pentapox
Join Date: 2015-09-27 Member: 208183Members
Join Date: 2015-09-27 Member: 208183Members
Felt I needed to make a thread of my own after reading a post by JudgeRhadamanthus.
When I first found the islands, I thought, "Wow, this should really be visible from much further away." After recently starting a game in experimental mode, it was a bit jarring to see the draw distance had increased and both islands were visible from the life pod. At that point, I realized I was wrong. I felt like my nifty waterworld had been somehow violated. The feeling I had when I first played, climbing out and looking at endless waves in all directions, with the Aurora as my only reference point, that's what I loved. The islands will spoil that experience for every new player once this next update is released. Barring a huge graphical upgrade, they also won't look right from a distance at all. Weird and clunky.
I suppose it would help if I had higher hopes for the future of Subnautica's above-water gameplay. The underwater mechanics work so well that they make walking on land feel incredibly awkward. It's not a problem inside bases, because the floors are all flat. But navigating natural terrain geometry makes me feel drunk, with invisible bumps and walls, water-to-land transition issues, and a general feeling akin to wearing cement shoes on the moon, all while blinded by the bloom effect on the sand and being attacked by headcrabs. I swear, thirty seconds up there and I was ready to jump back in the water and tangle with the reapers.
I'd say at the very least, they should lose the mountain island. Nothing wrong with a gargantuan underwater mountain guarded by reapers, but it shouldn't break the surface. The floating island is kinda neat, but if it was removed in the next version, I honestly wouldn't miss it. And if they scrapped them both, the developers could focus all of their attention on expanding and refining the underwater experience; the part of the game that matters most. Subnautica does a lot of things really, really well. Islands just aren't one of them.
When I first found the islands, I thought, "Wow, this should really be visible from much further away." After recently starting a game in experimental mode, it was a bit jarring to see the draw distance had increased and both islands were visible from the life pod. At that point, I realized I was wrong. I felt like my nifty waterworld had been somehow violated. The feeling I had when I first played, climbing out and looking at endless waves in all directions, with the Aurora as my only reference point, that's what I loved. The islands will spoil that experience for every new player once this next update is released. Barring a huge graphical upgrade, they also won't look right from a distance at all. Weird and clunky.
I suppose it would help if I had higher hopes for the future of Subnautica's above-water gameplay. The underwater mechanics work so well that they make walking on land feel incredibly awkward. It's not a problem inside bases, because the floors are all flat. But navigating natural terrain geometry makes me feel drunk, with invisible bumps and walls, water-to-land transition issues, and a general feeling akin to wearing cement shoes on the moon, all while blinded by the bloom effect on the sand and being attacked by headcrabs. I swear, thirty seconds up there and I was ready to jump back in the water and tangle with the reapers.
I'd say at the very least, they should lose the mountain island. Nothing wrong with a gargantuan underwater mountain guarded by reapers, but it shouldn't break the surface. The floating island is kinda neat, but if it was removed in the next version, I honestly wouldn't miss it. And if they scrapped them both, the developers could focus all of their attention on expanding and refining the underwater experience; the part of the game that matters most. Subnautica does a lot of things really, really well. Islands just aren't one of them.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
You continue the discussion in the thread it was started in.
And it at the introduction stage that it is fair and constructive to share opinion. Reading through my original thread you can see some agree with me. Some do not; and I find that the reasons presented by both sides are valid. I can see why those in opposition favour land. The positive case was well presented, and I think the reasons presented for removal were equally well presented and supported.
The developers encourage feedback and here it is. Any action they may take, should they even read my thread, is theirs to make; and having presented my case I have played my role in the games development process.
Do we need this duplicate thread though?