MARK of the VOID... Seriously needs altering

21

Actually, come think of it, for me, MotV and traversing the Valley is quite good. There are different ways to go about it and the MotV and the reinforcements keep it interesting.

It’s the first 2 parts that I dislike: the Gatekeepers and the explosive Chirons on the cliffs + praetorian Tritons and Sirens as soon as the Gate opens.

The Gatekeepers because it’s a first turn strike clickfest - either you kill enough of them to panic the rest, or there is nothing you can do. The explosive Chirons and the praetorian Tritons and Sirens because you just stay put and destroy where they are/wait for them to approach you.

22

Which is probably why I enjoy the final mission more than you do, because I don’t allow myself to do FTS on principle. So I have to lure the Gatekeepers round the corner and take them out one wave at a time, which is much more interesting.

I find the DIII makes the explosive Chirons trivial - 2 turns and they’re done before they even know we exist.

But I must admit, figuring out how to deal with MotV without taking massive casualties was interesting.

I still wish the Big-Yin was more mobile and could MC my guys though. That would make it much more of a challenge :laughing:

23

Yes, really. Sure, we can argue about semantics, but MoV doesn’t bother me much. :man_shrugging: Lack of balance make it irrelevant short term, and you don’t have to deal with it long term.

I stand by my opinion: MoV doesn’t fulfill its role well. If you know what you are doing it is irrelevant, if you don’t it is close to impossible to deal with. It doesn’t increase mission challenge, it is more like metagame binary gate.

I would love to have final mission more challenging but MotV is good example of lack of balance. It is, in fact, very OP skill that doesn’t encourage you to engage in prolonged fight, and with boss carpace doesn’t encourage long range fight. So you deal with it like with everything in game that may pose a threat: you don’t allow it to become a threat. :man_shrugging: I don’t feel the thrill like ie. fighting the first scylla, before getting the tools to dispatch her as I would late game. I can’t say MoV adds a challenge to the fight as I have means and knowledge of not having to be concerned by it much.

So yes, for me MotV doesn’t make the fight challenging. It adds a layer of meta complexity that makes some tactics not so viable, but options left are by far the best anyway how to deal with entity.

I will use exaggerated example what I mean: it is like wearing a thick black hoodie during hot, sunny summer day while engaging in a gunfight with anteater. Sure, I would feel much more comfortable in white t-shirt so in theory black hoodie adds a challenge, but… I am in the middle of a gunfight. Against anteater. So the challenge is to figure out anteaters are not the best gunslingers.

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24

And in my opinion MotV should stay as it is. Entity should have some additional abilities to add to that MotV. :slight_smile: I like that it forces player to race towards that final boss.

Probably solution of Mike is optimum, but I don’t use heavies with rage burst so much. I prefer assaults disabling thing’s eyes and then taking it out also in few turns.

MotV just forces player to deal with the enemy in not prolonged fight. How he will do it is his way of doing it. I would just wish for it to have some defensive shield to cast, so it would choose to threaten my soldiers or to defend itself with resistances (except that inpenetrable wall). Or maybe something else. Forgot what I wished here… And I don’t have time right now to bother with being creative again in this matter.

25

Pandas down and provide Onslaught to my executioners.

26

It does, thought Im not sure it should. And imho is not a good way of doing it.

I agree. I had to actually reload the game 30 times and look a guide the first time I encountered the mission.

Most importantly the game does not tell u how MoV works, and whats worse. If you take a bad squad composition, can be very hard to counter.

Some weapons, classes and ranges are very effective, some are really not against it. Which u will only find out at the end of the longest mission of the game…

Also, parts of the mission were bugged for me every time i played it. Like enemies on the big hall activating before crossing the doors, or artillery getting stuck and not activating… .

The map design is also kind of bad. As there are map points that allow you to cheese the enemy, but also the artillery could bypass the wall that was supposed to give u cover (though I guess this is only bad if they activate before you cross the hall doors, which I think was a bug).

A couple of the things in the mission are better now. It is still too long, still too much of a step up in difficulty, and I still think throwing at the player a new ability so powerful, not explaining how it works, and basing the entire boss on it, is bad.

A mission that changes rules after more than half an hour, potentially leaving some players in an almost impossible to win state is a terrible idea. A map that either you play the one optimal way, providing almost no challenge, or every other way, providing just frustration and pain. With very little room for decission in between is just bad design. However maybe the worst part of it, is that is a bit boring, honeslty.

How to solve it?

  • The map should have a resuply point before the final area so u dont reach it without enough ammo or health. Or the mission should be broken into stages.
  • The map should be worked on a bit, remove the chese points and giving it more flavour and more creepy and unique visual elements.
  • Also the map needs to have more than one path or provide some choice even if small, and to have some small changes according to the ending u go for (such some soldiers of the corresponding faction that support you).
  • MoV should not be the only offensive ability of the boss, it should have an array of tactics and habilities so the fight is not reduced to counter one speciffic trick, and so there is not just an optimal way of doing it.
  • The shield should not be the only deffensive ability either, for the same reasons.
  • Continuously spamming enemies is an annoying trick for a boss fight, is ok to do it ocasionally or on one stage of the fight. But this is only a one stage fight, after a long level filled with enemies, it feels unispired.
  • The boss should have at least 2 stages, and at least have some interesting variety on its attacks. Things such as tetacles coming from the ground u can attack, an attack that can actually be avoided, parts of the boss detaching, a final stage of the boss coming entirely of the ground as a mobile monster, parts of the map changing… anything.
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27

I understand that you are talking about the last boss in the game with the void mark.
Did you know that it is easily deactivated. His ability, not an attack, depends on will points. If you throw a lot of virus, it will stop attacking at all.

28

I would say it is easier to put him down, than to apply a lot of viral damage :slight_smile:

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29

Now that is interesting… Suicide “go-for-the-eyes” team and pick the bastard from safe distance?

30

When his eyes are dead then he already is close to death. But maybe some players will find it helpful to survive there.

31

True, but I thought to make sense out of it, eye health/count would have to be altered as well, right? Or is it just a cosmetic change to please people with “look, we’re trying things”? :stuck_out_tongue:

33

I don’t know. I haven’t tested it, so it is hard for me to tell how it will play out.