Long lurker's impressions and feedback
VincentNZ
Germany Join Date: 2016-05-31 Member: 217829Members
Germany Join Date: 2016-05-31 Member: 217829Members
So I bought Subnautica over a year ago, right after I've seen a video on it in my favourite game magazine. From the very first moment I was gradually impressed how well the survival theme can fit into a hand-crafted world. At that time I was, like everyone, really into Early Access games and the Survival Genre, Subnautica is the only game I still log into regularly and always discover new things.
Subnautica has succeeded by creating a unique world with fresh gameplay mechanics and keeps it's players at bay with regular updates, as small as they may be. I am now on experimental for a week and within that time I discovered the Lava Zones, the Lost River biome and saw something new basically every day. Now before on stable it would be the same when playing once in a month after the big updates. It is hard to get over my reactions when playing Subnautica.
Anyway there are still things that I am not quite clear about, or that I have some issues with.
When I first get out of the Lifepod or into any Biome, it is usually full of fish, predators and such. So after playing a couple of hours though, the Fauna seems to not fully disappear but dwindle in numbers. Like having to actively look for Stalkers in the Kelp forest, while before there were always two around. Or the Gasopods that circle my base have left or it is only one instead of the two left wandering. It is the same with the herbivores. I get that they actively get killed by the predators, but even the safe shallows seem less populated after a couple of in-game days. I know that there is a respawn mechanic now in for killed Fauna, does this account for farmed mushrooms as well? And how does this respawn work? Does it only work for Fauna killed or eaten by the player? Is there a certain pool? Could predators potentially kill of all the fish in an area?
This emptyness carries over to the resources as well. Is there a respawn system planned in the future as well? I know the seatreaders could give out potentially infinite resources, but are the Devs working on "regrowing" limestone? Quartz in particular can be hard to get in the safe shallows by mid-game, but as it is a part of sand couldn't these crystals re-emerge? After a certain time there is not much left to do in the safe shallows although it is the most apeealing biome visually as of yet.
Concerning Biomes, I wonder which of these are in their final state? The safe shallows are awesome and the kelp forest seems very interesting as well with the small caves. I can not begin to describe what I felt when I first entered the jellyshroom caves, which is just so stunning. You can really take it in because of the great bioluminescense. The grassy plateaus and some parts of the kelp forests, which make up a large part of the map though, seem unspectacular compared to other biomes, apart from the caves, the plateaus in particular look quite sparse. Are these finished, or is there still stuff to be implemented. More reefbacks wouldn't hurt either, because they are just so stunning to look. What about the Crash Zone and the walls, ceilings in the Blood Kelp and the Grand Reef, are there plans to add some more textures on them to make them look less plain? Same goes with the mountains and even the mushroom forests, they do have a certain unfinished or unpolished look, when compared to the, again, stunning Safe shallows.
Also in order to appreciate the awesome look of the biomes better, are there plans to increase the bioluminescence? I explored the Grand Reef and the Blood Kelp Zone yesterday and it was awesome to look at with the Seamoth, but with diving or with the Cyclops it was less spectacular because of the low light in many parts. I think the lighting from both Fauna and Flora (together with increased numbers of them) would really enhance the visual experience. This would be cool across the board.
That said, it occured to me, while trying to find a way to the Lava Zone with my Cyclops, a source of lighting would work greatly. Basically I wanted to build a path of lightsticks to guide me. The first problem is that I have not located the fragment in one of the wrecks yet and the fact that, even with a battery charger, this would prove a tedious task. I wondered if, albeit unrealistic, make the lightsticks independent of a power source other than the one battery, with toned-down illumination, or that you could use power transmitters (which I still have not figured out how they work) to power them consistently.
I know that the hand-crafted world makes everything a lot more time-consuming, but I think Subnautica greatly pulls from the visuals and every starfish or coral helps to enhance the atmosphere.
And that is about it, the big issues I have with Subnautica compared to the greatness of the game overall.
Subnautica has succeeded by creating a unique world with fresh gameplay mechanics and keeps it's players at bay with regular updates, as small as they may be. I am now on experimental for a week and within that time I discovered the Lava Zones, the Lost River biome and saw something new basically every day. Now before on stable it would be the same when playing once in a month after the big updates. It is hard to get over my reactions when playing Subnautica.
Anyway there are still things that I am not quite clear about, or that I have some issues with.
When I first get out of the Lifepod or into any Biome, it is usually full of fish, predators and such. So after playing a couple of hours though, the Fauna seems to not fully disappear but dwindle in numbers. Like having to actively look for Stalkers in the Kelp forest, while before there were always two around. Or the Gasopods that circle my base have left or it is only one instead of the two left wandering. It is the same with the herbivores. I get that they actively get killed by the predators, but even the safe shallows seem less populated after a couple of in-game days. I know that there is a respawn mechanic now in for killed Fauna, does this account for farmed mushrooms as well? And how does this respawn work? Does it only work for Fauna killed or eaten by the player? Is there a certain pool? Could predators potentially kill of all the fish in an area?
This emptyness carries over to the resources as well. Is there a respawn system planned in the future as well? I know the seatreaders could give out potentially infinite resources, but are the Devs working on "regrowing" limestone? Quartz in particular can be hard to get in the safe shallows by mid-game, but as it is a part of sand couldn't these crystals re-emerge? After a certain time there is not much left to do in the safe shallows although it is the most apeealing biome visually as of yet.
Concerning Biomes, I wonder which of these are in their final state? The safe shallows are awesome and the kelp forest seems very interesting as well with the small caves. I can not begin to describe what I felt when I first entered the jellyshroom caves, which is just so stunning. You can really take it in because of the great bioluminescense. The grassy plateaus and some parts of the kelp forests, which make up a large part of the map though, seem unspectacular compared to other biomes, apart from the caves, the plateaus in particular look quite sparse. Are these finished, or is there still stuff to be implemented. More reefbacks wouldn't hurt either, because they are just so stunning to look. What about the Crash Zone and the walls, ceilings in the Blood Kelp and the Grand Reef, are there plans to add some more textures on them to make them look less plain? Same goes with the mountains and even the mushroom forests, they do have a certain unfinished or unpolished look, when compared to the, again, stunning Safe shallows.
Also in order to appreciate the awesome look of the biomes better, are there plans to increase the bioluminescence? I explored the Grand Reef and the Blood Kelp Zone yesterday and it was awesome to look at with the Seamoth, but with diving or with the Cyclops it was less spectacular because of the low light in many parts. I think the lighting from both Fauna and Flora (together with increased numbers of them) would really enhance the visual experience. This would be cool across the board.
That said, it occured to me, while trying to find a way to the Lava Zone with my Cyclops, a source of lighting would work greatly. Basically I wanted to build a path of lightsticks to guide me. The first problem is that I have not located the fragment in one of the wrecks yet and the fact that, even with a battery charger, this would prove a tedious task. I wondered if, albeit unrealistic, make the lightsticks independent of a power source other than the one battery, with toned-down illumination, or that you could use power transmitters (which I still have not figured out how they work) to power them consistently.
I know that the hand-crafted world makes everything a lot more time-consuming, but I think Subnautica greatly pulls from the visuals and every starfish or coral helps to enhance the atmosphere.
And that is about it, the big issues I have with Subnautica compared to the greatness of the game overall.
Comments
Killed fish, whether by the player or a predator, are supposed to respawn now, but I'm not entirely sure they do and I definitely don't know how the game responds to you capturing a fish and killing it thereafter. gasopods definitely leave for no reason whatsoever. They remain in the biome, but for some reason settle along the borders. That said, hatched fish remain in the area which they are released in, so it's possible to create a new herd nearby. I'm not sure if stalkers act the same way as gasopods do or if they are programmed to move to areas with more (scrap) metal.
Resources other than seeds, salt, teeth, and manure are currently not respawnable, although it does seem the game may not spawn everything at once and therefore some things may seem to renew when they're just delayed. The devs are aware of the matter and especially quartz is a hugely discussed topic, so something will likely be done in the future. It is not currently a priority though.
Many of the biomes are still being worked on, like new creatures, resources, sub-areas, and unique effects being added. There's even two new surface biomes in the work. I don't think you should expect big changes for the Grassy Plateaus - and, I like them as a more "desolate" counterpoint to the Kelp Forest and Safe Shallows - but it is not out of the question they get something new added in the future. Also, various behaviors and purposes for the lifeforms are being brainstormed.
Power transmitters only go from external power sources to bases. If the distance between them is too big, you can put a power transmitter inbetween (you should visually see if the power transmitter picks up the power by means of a small beam). The power transmitter than will look for the nearest base or other power transmitter to send the energy too next. Your wish for a path doesn't work due to this, although I think you could build minibases (a corridor each), hook them up to a power supply (each their own), and then attach spotlights to the minibases. That should work, even if clunkily.