Cybernetic pig wrote:To a certain extent this is true, but you still get broken limbs ect, and if you are low on healing items you can patch up vital parts via the interface but leave say a gash open, saving a bandage, and it will heal over time. Quickheal just takes some of the player involvement out of it and is best used in the heat of battle if in a safe enough spot.
Tell me, which difficulty were you playing on? Perhaps it affects AI accuracy? I know it effects how much health kits there are.
But you're never low on healing items - that's the point. Also, it's not just AI accuracy, it's everything about them. They're just dumb.
As for difficulty I was playing on Private Detective, which is the highest I could play without (I'm assuming) beating the game to unlock more. Which, for the record, I also think is stupid. Out of the 4 options it's the 2nd, so it's on the bottom end of a 'medium' difficulty - but it's not challenging
at all. I got to the point where I couldn't carry any more ammo and medkits - I had them to spare.
Cybernetic pig wrote:Some triggers that add to your sanity are set events, but the player can avoid the maority of them. Vertigo? dont look over the edge, if you have to do some activity near an edge just only look down every now and then to keep your footing. Trauma? dont stare at disturbing things for too long (this includes bosses, only 1 of which you have to take on head on (Marshe, who is human/just like the other standard enemies, so you dont experience blurring from looking at him too long) so its perfectly acceptable), and dont take too much damage in combat.
The sanity system is a rare additional challenge in a FPS, its just not for you, doesn't mean its badly designed. Yes I know this makes me a hypocrite on the random gen guns discussion, but not the other half of the argument about quests, which are badly designed.
Well for a start - most of this is completely incorrect and you clearly don't understand how the game works.
Vertigo is triggered when you're looking anywhere but horizontally/up - which means that you generally trigger it in the awkward beam-walking and jumping puzzles. Basically, they found a way to make jumping puzzles
even more irritating. Triggered sanity events are area based - it's mentioned frequently in
walkthroughs:
"The deity incurs massive sanity loss -- since sanity is done in an area effect manner, race past the tops of the stairs and keep far from the boss"
"What you want to do is up to you, but wasting him is probably better. You lose less sanity by doing it from as far away as possible -- sanity loss has a range."
Though, granted, that writer also makes frequent references to how shit the stealth system is.
"The ladder and ducking system (not to mention the stealth system) in this game sucks ass compared to Thief 2 Metal Age, and any game veteran will know it."
Plus there are also areas where you are locked in an area and lose sanity quickly. In general my issue is with the areas that force sanity loss like the boss fights, and the sheer strengh of the stupid blurry effects. I've never had a problem with sanity looking at 'disturbing things' - the system doesn't work very well in that respect.
(As an aside, I like how you see it ok to call quests you don't like 'badly designed', but you're absolutely steadfast that I can't call Cthulu badly designed because you happen to like it.)
Cybernetic pig wrote:
And characters are awful? "STOP your snooping around outsider". And what about Hoover? And Jack himself? The Deep Ones are awesome too.
The characters in the first areas of the game are fine. They're pretty badly implement seeing as they'll still yell
"TELL THE OUTSIDER NOTHING" to each-other when you're standing up to their face, but I liked the atmosphere they tried to build.
Hoover in particular was a fucking awful, flat character. And after the Marsh refinery he just disappears! At least they
tried to explain Jack's motivation occasionally.