downwinder on 29/6/2017 at 02:45
i so enjoy traveling far in a mission ,the adventure of not just being in once place whole mission makes me enjoy a mission more
how do you all feel about long distance missions/travel far,say compared to being a single location
a great example offhand is bbb he makes missions where i feel like i am accomplishing a lot
there are a lot of others too,but cant think of names right now
slavatrumpevitch on 29/6/2017 at 03:22
It's all about trade-offs; careful balance is what does it for me. I love when there's a lot of variation in a mission, but at the same time I really dislike the tedium of traversing large distances (if there isn't much to do along the way). In my experience, a very large mission often starts out great, when the quantity of content is more than enough to offset the sheer size. But then, as you're nearing the end (found much of the loot, KO'd a lot of the guards, etc...) and you just need to track down a few more pieces of loot, or that next key, or what have you, it can feel like you're just sprinting mindlessly through endless corridors without much satisfaction. For this reason, I often find that compact but clever FMs offer the best experience from start to finish. (Though, admittedly, it's the huge ones that offer the best replay value).
Perfect balance, in my mind, is when the map starts out feeling huge but seemingly shrinks down around you as you progress. Lady Rowena's 7 Sisters is the perfect example of this. It's a large (not enormous) map, with TONS to do. When you first start, many obstacles prevent you from roaming freely (locked gates, lack of rope arrows, lack of keys, etc...). This makes getting from point A to point B challenging (in a good way!!). But once you finally get to point B, you get a key or open a gate, etc... and it makes subsequent travel between points A and B (and vice versa) fairly painless. By the time you're ready to complete the mission, you can actually get between any two locations in only a minute or two, tops. This removes the frustration which often creeps in at the end of complicated missions. Another great example would be Broken Triad, which has a similar style.
Compare that to missions like Mirror of Return, or Mines of Margroth. Both highly enjoyable missions, don't get me wrong. But my on my first play through, I literally spent hours just roaming around between already accessed locations. Once you had successfully gone from point A to point B (which may have taken 20 minutes), there's no revealed shortcut for subsequent trips. This can lead to tedium, especially if the player isn't laser focused on efficiency.
Thinking Robot on 29/6/2017 at 11:35
In my opinion it depends of the Fm's type and its general setting.
In example, the first mission of Kings Story is a great mission for just wandering through the landscape. Traveling around large distances in this FM was great, because it was mainly linear. Another example could be the second mission in the Godbreaker campaign. It was huge, but had clear sections - thus making the map despite its enormous size relatively easy for orientation.
In general I like long ways to wander in outdoor-themed FM's or inside a huge city.
I don't like maze-styled missions like Mines of Margoth and others due to their enormous size, making it nearly impossible to maneuver and getting lost quickly causes frustration. (In addition, Mines of Margroth was too dark, it made me wandering around by throwing the prior stolen light gem often. Also, the tunnels were full of zombies and equipment was lacking...) The problem of these FMs is that all tunnels look similar. Or try another example like The mission Forest of Despair in the TROB-campaign which also has mean teleporter traps. Mazes are just for the masochistic kind of player who likes to be teased and wants to feel excruciating pain caused by getting lost - well, at least not my personal preference... :sweat:
Dia on 29/6/2017 at 12:31
I have to say that I have always enjoyed the non-linear, sandbox-type maps in any game, but especially in T2 FMs. I'm playing 'Behind Closed Doors' right now and it didn't bother me in the least that at one point I had to run clear back to the beginning area in order to progress to the next area; I actually found some loot that I'd overlooked the first time through that area. I think that's one of the major reasons I disliked TDS so very much; the devs practically held your hand by directing you from point A to point B. Yep, give me a huge map to explore, preferably a city map with lots of rooftop travel, and I'm happy as a bug. The exception might be forest maps where you have to travel through large areas; that can get pretty boring pretty quickly. (I've never been a big fan of missions that center around pagans.)
Quote Posted by Thinking Robot
I don't like maze-styled missions like Mines of Margoth and others due to their enormous size, making it nearly impossible to maneuver and getting lost quickly causes frustration.
I agree wholeheartedly!! That's one of my pet peeves with tunnel/mine missions that turn into a maze-type quest; I don't like the frustration of wandering around and realizing you've been travelling in circles. That type of prolonged frustration ends up making me rage-quit.
Random_Taffer on 29/6/2017 at 17:19
Quote Posted by Dia
Yep, give me a huge map to explore, preferably a city map with lots of rooftop travel, and I'm happy as a bug. The exception might be forest maps where you have to travel through large areas; that can get pretty boring pretty quickly. (I've never been a big fan of missions that center around pagans.)
You would both love and hate Godbreaker. :)
downwinder on 29/6/2017 at 18:39
i did god breaker, great missions,i still love all missions just prefer more distance
also i want to be clear this board is NOT bashing smaller missions at all
i just prefer long style missions
Motley Fool on 30/6/2017 at 06:16
Quote Posted by Thinking Robot
Another example could be the second mission in the Godbreaker campaign. It was huge, but had clear sections - thus making the map despite its enormous size relatively easy for orientation.
Wow, you played a much different "second mission of Godbreaker" than I did. ;) Even with the hand-made maps that Ricebug produced, I
still got hopelessly lost in that swamp.
And I don't know
how many times I had to go from one end to the other, because it turned out that I needed something at the tomb that came from (say) the village. I couldn't wait to get done with that mission.
Level 4 made up for it all, though.
