Story progression feedback (SPOILERS obviously!)
Loothoarder
Join Date: 2018-01-25 Member: 235725Members
Join Date: 2018-01-25 Member: 235725Members
I have been following the game's development for almost a year and I have been saving to play through the full "cure story arc" until full release. In general, the story has been very exciting for me and I like the puzzle work of putting different PDA information together to get the full picture of the events on the planet. For easier reference I decided to divide the game in three thirds (early-, mid-, endgame):
1) Early-game
This part consists of making the very first steps in the game where the player is mainly at the top ~300 m of depth and is collecting ressources for very basic tools. I think the story arc starts smoothly, because new players gets hints in a useful order: 1) Seaglide 2) Seamoth + hint at jellyshroom cave 3) Commander Keen and Floating Island 4) Finally Sunbeam arrives. In between the aurora explodes and it is suggested to go on a repair mission.
2) Mid-game
I consider this part to begin when the player starts constructing his first larger base, has a major amount of blueprints discovered and starts exploring the alien facilities at the mountains and the lost river. In my opinion the transition to early and midgame is is well done because the "infection event" at the QEP gives the player an incentive to go to the deeper biomes with more dangerous fauna. Because the most natural to explore stuff in a first time playthrough is via the seamoth (at least for me!) the player only gets to the cove tree at most and finds the second alien base which is hinting at the lava zone.
3) End-game
This part feels a little short: 1) Visit thermal plant 2) Visit Prison 3) Build the rocket and you're done.
I've spent a lot of time preparing the final expedition with cyclops and the prawn suit. When I parked my cyclops at ~1200 m I realized that the deep sea base I originally had planned was totally unnessessary. You just have to get the blueprints for the ion power cell, craft a second alien tablet, craft the depth module 3 for the prawn suit and you can finish the game with ease. I also had enough ressources to build the rocket immediately. The only thing left to do is to think of a cool time capsule (I really love the this feature!). Basically the player has to prepare a cyclops with rudimentary crafting cabability and the last expedition starting at the lost river entrance to the cure is literally done in less than an hour. I wish there was more to do in the final biome of the game. As an idea, this could be easily done if the player finds more mandatory technology blueprints only in the deepest biomes.
1) Early-game
This part consists of making the very first steps in the game where the player is mainly at the top ~300 m of depth and is collecting ressources for very basic tools. I think the story arc starts smoothly, because new players gets hints in a useful order: 1) Seaglide 2) Seamoth + hint at jellyshroom cave 3) Commander Keen and Floating Island 4) Finally Sunbeam arrives. In between the aurora explodes and it is suggested to go on a repair mission.
2) Mid-game
I consider this part to begin when the player starts constructing his first larger base, has a major amount of blueprints discovered and starts exploring the alien facilities at the mountains and the lost river. In my opinion the transition to early and midgame is is well done because the "infection event" at the QEP gives the player an incentive to go to the deeper biomes with more dangerous fauna. Because the most natural to explore stuff in a first time playthrough is via the seamoth (at least for me!) the player only gets to the cove tree at most and finds the second alien base which is hinting at the lava zone.
3) End-game
This part feels a little short: 1) Visit thermal plant 2) Visit Prison 3) Build the rocket and you're done.
I've spent a lot of time preparing the final expedition with cyclops and the prawn suit. When I parked my cyclops at ~1200 m I realized that the deep sea base I originally had planned was totally unnessessary. You just have to get the blueprints for the ion power cell, craft a second alien tablet, craft the depth module 3 for the prawn suit and you can finish the game with ease. I also had enough ressources to build the rocket immediately. The only thing left to do is to think of a cool time capsule (I really love the this feature!). Basically the player has to prepare a cyclops with rudimentary crafting cabability and the last expedition starting at the lost river entrance to the cure is literally done in less than an hour. I wish there was more to do in the final biome of the game. As an idea, this could be easily done if the player finds more mandatory technology blueprints only in the deepest biomes.