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Re: Subnautica

#17
Talvieno wrote:I've looked at it every now and then. It looks like a pretty awesome game. Doesn't seem to have much in the way of replayability yet though.
That's my main gripe with it. The world is static, as is the tech tree. You pretty much play through it once and have seen it all. Non-respawning resources and a VERY finite play area don't invite for experimenting or repeated play-throughs. I'll wait until it's feature-complete, then give it another go.

-Hardenberg
Hardenberg was my name
And Terra was my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
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Re: Subnautica

#18
Subnautica left early access last week. They even got a shiny trailer up.



I gave it a go.

It is almost a pure explorer-type game, with survival elements neatly meshed into it. It works surprisingly well. Usually survival is about making a single "home" and trying to stay alive as long as possible. Subnautica's mechanics (and breathtakingly beautiful world) encourage you to go all the places you've never gone before - although to begin with, you'll be afraid to stray far from your base, which I think is exactly what they'd intended. As the game progresses and you build yourself better gear, you become brave enough to venture out of the shallows, gradually working your way toward the deep, dark depths of the world, where terrors roam and hunt.

As far as science goes, it does an all-right job. There are places where I'm impressed at the detail (the creatures, the ecosystems, the incredible attention to detail) and places where I'm... less than impressed (the fact that you can build horizontally-entered hatches on the walls of your undersea bases, and the general lack of chemistry knowledge). If you need a realistic game to be happy, and anything less than perfect realism drives you mad, Subnautica is a game you'll want to skip. It's sci-fi meshed with a fantasy alien world.

As far as the feeling of underwater exploration, trailblazing and pioneering goes, it is outstanding. It is intensely satisfying to be able to explore places you were no longer previously able (or brave enough) to visit. The pacing of the game is near-perfect in my opinion, although there isn't a constant stream of "what do I do next" like there is in a game like, say, Factorio. I always had a few different things I knew I needed to accomplish, and as I accomplished those, I always found several more things to take their place.

As far as the story goes, it is mildly lackluster and takes an intentional backseat. The point of the game isn't the story. As far as I can tell, the story exists purely to encourage you to explore new places - and this works very well. There's enough variety of life on the planet - and a big enough map - that you could be exploring for many hours before you come anywhere close to discovering everything - and it always feels rewarding to discover them. There are a few major plot twists to discover, though, and I'm not going to spoil them here.

Base-building in particular is something I find very fun. I have one "main base" and a variety of other, smaller bases scattered around the map in difficult-to-get-to places. I'm not usually the type to build bases, but it's fun here.
Spoiler:      SHOW
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Overall: I think it's a great game and would heartily recommend it, especially to anyone that's thought underwater exploring sounded neat - or perhaps just enjoys exploring in general. It's certainly a lot better than I expected it to be. If you do play this, I would 100% recommend avoiding wikis and spoilers at all costs. Subnautica does an excellent job at making sure you understand everything, and the wiki isn't really needed.

Now, on the subject of procedural generation...

At this point I'm almost completely sure there is no procedural generation at all. I think every rock, pebble, and strand of seaweed was hand-placed. And that's okay! I wouldn't have thought so before, but at this point I think it's entirely okay. This is a game that you can't vividly enjoy more than once. The thrill is in the exploration of the crafting trees, the species, and the biomes. Even if the terrain was procedurally generated, the biomes, crafting trees, and species would be the same. The only way to get them to actually "work" for replayability would be to fully procgen everything - and I think at that point it would lose something that makes it special: how perfectly everything seems to go together.

I didn't think I'd be saying that. A year and a half ago, I was writing it off because it didn't seem to be procedural. Sometimes you can only play a game once, though, and that doesn't mean it's any less worth it (at least, in my opinion).


tl;dr: :thumbup: great game for people that like exploring.
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Re: Subnautica

#24
And here is video #3 in which Jingles isn't paying attention to his oxygen levels and dies before he can get back the his Sea Moth submersible. https://youtu.be/yFpk_XDhzbg
Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I have seen, it seem to me most strange, that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.
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Re: Subnautica

#25
You miss out on a lot, I think, by not going in blind. Watching guides/playthroughs or reading tips or wikis would probably destroy most of the feeling of exploration, and spoil a lot of things. I think anyone that has any thoughts of ever playing this game probably should go in blind, if at all possible. I definitely gained a lot by it.
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Re: Subnautica

#27
Talvieno wrote:
Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:20 pm
You miss out on a lot, I think, by not going in blind. Watching guides/playthroughs or reading tips or wikis would probably destroy most of the feeling of exploration, and spoil a lot of things. I think anyone that has any thoughts of ever playing this game probably should go in blind, if at all possible. I definitely gained a lot by it.
True, Tal. I don't play games like this but I love watching Jingles play them. I find his narrative style very entertaining.
Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I have seen, it seem to me most strange, that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.
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Re: Subnautica

#28
Well, if you don't play that kind of game yourself, I'd say it's 100% worth to watch a playthrough. :D If you enjoy watching playthroughs at least. I'll have to check Jingles out - but I'm afraid to do so until after I've finished the game. Just in case he discovers something I didn't, you know. :)

Edit: As of Sunday, February 4th: I've finished it! It was very good all the way to the end. :thumbup: And I typically only finish one game out of five, too.
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