ZylonBane on 28/11/2018 at 22:38
Quote Posted by Starker
Level design is one thing about the game that is great. The later levels are pretty huge with tons of verticality and nooks and crannies to explore.
(
https://techraptor.net/content/underworld-ascendant-review)
Quote:
Ascendant has the messiest level design I’ve ever seen, especially in vertical terms. In the later stages there’s a skill that allows you to jump higher and double-jump so you can eventually get to higher places you couldn’t at first. Except that those places rarely have anything worthwhile—always the same useless props and crates. It just doesn’t reward exploration, quite the opposite. You think: “Hey, maybe this path will lead to something interesting. I see those shapes out there, let’s check that out.” There’s nothing; it’s just a dead-end that seems to laugh at you.
Starker on 29/11/2018 at 00:02
Well, some people don't like complex levels, it seems, but there not being enough interesting content or secrets is separate from level design.
Twist on 29/11/2018 at 00:13
As far as layout, connectivity and atmosphere, the level design is often fantastic. If you can enjoy exploration for exploration's sake, there's good fun to be had.
Unfortunately, even at its best it's largely just an empty shell. Sure, there are treasure chests everywhere, but they're all randomly populated with the same mostly useless loot over and over (and over). Oh gosh -- my 50th pair of Deteriorated Leather Boots! Yay! When you see a relatively large number like 50, you might think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. I'm pretty sure I "found" one particular rune 100+ times.
If this game released to greater popularity, I'm sure we'd see Deteriorated Burlap Sash memes.
I've actually played this game all the way to its glitchy, confusing end, where I had 3 different characters' voices whispering in my mind at the same time. I partly pressed on because of the level design, but I partly finished it out of morbid curiosity.
There is fun to be had here -- especially for explorers -- but outside of the level design, the sort of fun advanced movement abilities, and the potential of the runic magic system (which feels incomplete and partly broken, even by the end), the game just isn't any good. There are too many fundamentally flawed design problems with its core systems. Large swathes of the game look and feel startlingly bad.
The discrepancy between the level design and the rest of the game is kind of startling. I really wonder what the hell happened here.
icemann on 29/11/2018 at 02:03
I'd say poor project management would be the root cause.
Them ignoring alpha and beta test feedback is a sure sign of it.
ZylonBane on 29/11/2018 at 03:16
Quote Posted by icemann
I'd say poor project management would be the root cause.
No. Even if they'd executed their design perfectly, they would have ended up with a game that was barely anything like Ultima Underworld. Since this was pitched on Kickstarter as a spiritual sequel to UU, that's about as root a failure as you can get.
I suspect that if they had set out from the start to deliver a proper UU-alike -- with good writing, actual characters, a cohesive open world, etc. -- people would be a lot more forgiving of it, even if the end result was just as sloppy and buggy. But a sloppy and buggy fetch quest fest? Nope. No mercy.
Starker on 29/11/2018 at 03:43
Lack of funds was probably a major issue. There's a lot they had to cut and the game could clearly have used several more months development time.
Renault on 29/11/2018 at 05:01
But a game that deviates so much from the original proposal, that doesn't sound like something suffering from lack of funds, something that was slapped together at the end to get out the door. Seems more like it was the plan from the start.
Starker on 29/11/2018 at 05:39
Game projects often change during development. Thief started out as a very different game, originally. I'm sure there is an explanation for every turn it took and no doubt there will be a post-mortem one day that answers at least some of these questions.
But most of the deviations from the initial pitch can be quite easily explained by a lack of funds, forcing them to cut things like factions, ecology, NPCs, dialogue, more complex quests, etc.
icemann on 30/11/2018 at 07:16
Who knows. Maybe most of the cash went on drugs and hookers. Wouldn't be the first time that's happed with a KS.
Starker on 30/11/2018 at 16:27
Nearly a million dollars might seem like a huge amount of money, but in software development, it's basically nothing, especially after taxes and reward fulfilment and all the overhead takes its cut.
Even if it was a team of 6 people with an average salary of 5000$ each, you could only afford two years of development at best.