It is universally known that the villain in every story/game/etc. must be fearsome. Really fearsome, not kindergarden monsters. Because then players would enjoy time eliminating them.
Yet this important rule in Phoenix point have a room to improve.
First of all - voice acting is not serious. It obviously is “acting”, acting as if, rather than leaves impression of real-life situation. This is true for both Pandorans and rest of the factions. I mean - what seriousness is this, when I order a soldier to move, and his reply includes “ha ha”? I mean - it’s not a life and death situation, clearly. It’s playing around.
Secondly - Pandorans could be more fearsome. Invest some time and imagination in this.
Take example from a golden standard. For example Starcraft 2 - is zerg fearsome? Oh, yes, it is. Do you like eliminating them/playing them? Hellyeah! The same with DOOM: are those monsters cool? YES! Do they have character? Yes! And who doesn’t love cocodemon?
If you want to establish Phoenix point as one of those large game titles that stands the test of time (Like DOOM, for example, Resident Evil, Starcraft, Fallout, etc.) you have to invest in this and make people remember (and love) your monsters or characters in general.
You have to make gameplay time feel like the world is in crisis, a real, existential crisis. So the soldiers voice acting must be illustrating this, they also must have fear like every living being has, so the player too could have anxiety and sense of accomplishment.
Come on guys, so much work with Phoenix point and yet a job that is far easier done than programming is left unchecked. Pheonix point could be better than XCOM, everything is there for it to be. But improve on your characters! Make this feel serious, not like playing around.
Problem is that these monsters would be fearsome if not the power, which player gets on his disposal - many classes and skill combinations make many enemies expendable, even with the strongest Scyllas and/or Acherons. Making monsters stronger would only make less skilled players hate the game more.
That is true, but changing it now would be waste of time. Game is not in beta stage, where you design enemies and general mood. And along with enemies alone, several other aspects would need to change, for example when we spot enemies, how much do we see around us, etc.
I hope that developers will take a look at your feedback. But what they will make, is to take that information to improve the sequel. Current game is at the end of development process, and it is unlikely to include any serious changes. And making new sounds, improving enemy models and animations count as such changes.
I didn’t mean to improve their damage or power, not at all. The difficulty settings may remain as they are, I am not going into the dispute about game balance. I am talking just game design. I acknowledge your later point about that game is in the late stages of it’s development. But I needed to post my feedback nonetheless.
I don’t know why you have inferred that conclusion, no indications about it at all, SG just created a game with a few interesting mechanics, nothing more
Well, I just assumed the developers would love to have those billions of dollars that legendary game titles bring to the studios. But I guess you’re right and I was wrong - they do not need the money.
Oh, they love money, no doubt : https://aithority.com/gaming/embracer-group-acquires-snapshot-games/
I mean they had that. The pre-alpha arthrons with the human faces and the big female Scylla was like John carpenter’s the thing kind of terrifying.
Like the atmosphere was just amazing.
And then they got rid of all that, and I love the game but it’s like they took the atmosphere that made me want to play it so so much and just stepped back from it. From creepy crab human hybrids to just crabs, from horrifying spider woman to generic big spider boss.
For a game about mist coming in bringing the end of the world, there’s no atmospheric mist in the battles. And you only see the wastelands in scavenging missions almost. And haven fights never have bodies or fires or destruction, it’s all very clean.
What Phoenix point lacks is atmosphere.
And if they added that horror element back in, man, it would put x-com to shame.
X-com is currently scarier with the lost missions. Like I want to see the abandoned cities in Phoenix point, filled with mutations. It’s less that it lacks an enemy so much as they had an amazing enemy and just… removed it.
And I don’t get it. Love the game. But that pre-alpha hybrid body horror stuff would have made it iconic.
What yokes says is half true, but the monster designs they replaced the original designs with are pretty uninspired.
Looks and style goes a long way.
Seriously, this is the Phoenix point I wanted to play for so long:
I was so bummed to discover that Scylla didn’t make the final game.
Like THAT is scary Scylla. The atmosphere was amazing.
This is the game I paid for. But it was nothing but a hoax.
Wow, those Pandorans taking damage, also humans receiving RF, with sounds and shaking, they look so alive
I mean the current product is a hell of a lot of fun, but with a little paint and that john carpenter vibe, I don’t think snapshot realizes how iconic this game could truly become.
Atmosphere and horror vibes are what we’re lacking right now. Great game but my god the potential for what it could be.
I think they need some scripted missions as well as random ones, like I just did the command Center mission with Tobias west. It was just a haven defense with a dozen or so random bad guys… I feel like it could be more, a big epic fight.