Posted July 23, 2015
I remember playing through the game on release and found the enemies to be what I like to call a 'Build Engine Nightmare', in other words the enemies would all immediately snap to the player and fire almost unerringly as soon as the player entered the room.* It was annoying and straight bad design in the Build Engine games and with RoTT 2013, at least on release, it combined with video issues to make smooth play a real pain in the ass. And when it comes to being a pain in the ass the end boss was a pretty buggy affair.
I always told myself that if they fixed those issues I'd be game to play it again because it really did carry the charm of the original release, even if in a much more 'modern', corridor shooter fashion.
Fast-forward to now and v1.5.5.
The first thing I noticed was that the video issues were all but completely solved, allowing a much smoother experience. The second thing I noticed was that I had time to react upon seeing an enemy, that I was no longer stuck in the 'Build Engine Nightmare'. The only problem with this was that the pendulum seemed to swing a full 180: now the enemies seemed to react too slow on Medium.
Sure, I can always say that I remember a certain section well or I'm just playing better but...well, over the last five years I've seen example after example after example where it's not the player who is necessarily skilled or unskilled but a development error or oversight that confuses that assessment. Am I in the minority noticing that the enemies seem to react too slowly when before they reacted too quickly?
All things considered, I'll take the state of the game this way than the way it was before. Now -currently at 2-1, so we'll see how it goes- I have no video issues and I'm actually able to line up a shot when I enter a room. If the enemies are dumber (read: had their enemy recognition radi reduced, the crudest fix) then I'd be glad to chalk it up to the Cultists and drinking too much of the Kool-Aid. And when it comes to those Cultists I'll see various enemy types react differently -I noticed that General Darian was slower, too, so that potential change may have been a global change.
Update #1
-Sebastian Krist (Boss 2) is still horribly bugged insofar as the player's ability to get stuck in the doors and on absolutely anything at all during the fall before the final phase of the battle. I've found no 'noclip' cide, which means this potentially fun battle is still a terrible exercise in frustration. This isn't an enemy change, per se, and that's unfortunate. Fixing the gross issues with the player getting stuck would be a change to the boss encounter...but beating the floating little bugger is still pretty damn satisfying.
_____
*I call it 'Build Engine Nightmare' because that was an ever-present issue in the Build Engine games and made me think that I was playing as Elmer Fudd: 'be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm twying to FPS, huhuhuhuhuh.'
I always told myself that if they fixed those issues I'd be game to play it again because it really did carry the charm of the original release, even if in a much more 'modern', corridor shooter fashion.
Fast-forward to now and v1.5.5.
The first thing I noticed was that the video issues were all but completely solved, allowing a much smoother experience. The second thing I noticed was that I had time to react upon seeing an enemy, that I was no longer stuck in the 'Build Engine Nightmare'. The only problem with this was that the pendulum seemed to swing a full 180: now the enemies seemed to react too slow on Medium.
Sure, I can always say that I remember a certain section well or I'm just playing better but...well, over the last five years I've seen example after example after example where it's not the player who is necessarily skilled or unskilled but a development error or oversight that confuses that assessment. Am I in the minority noticing that the enemies seem to react too slowly when before they reacted too quickly?
All things considered, I'll take the state of the game this way than the way it was before. Now -currently at 2-1, so we'll see how it goes- I have no video issues and I'm actually able to line up a shot when I enter a room. If the enemies are dumber (read: had their enemy recognition radi reduced, the crudest fix) then I'd be glad to chalk it up to the Cultists and drinking too much of the Kool-Aid. And when it comes to those Cultists I'll see various enemy types react differently -I noticed that General Darian was slower, too, so that potential change may have been a global change.
Update #1
-Sebastian Krist (Boss 2) is still horribly bugged insofar as the player's ability to get stuck in the doors and on absolutely anything at all during the fall before the final phase of the battle. I've found no 'noclip' cide, which means this potentially fun battle is still a terrible exercise in frustration. This isn't an enemy change, per se, and that's unfortunate. Fixing the gross issues with the player getting stuck would be a change to the boss encounter...but beating the floating little bugger is still pretty damn satisfying.
_____
*I call it 'Build Engine Nightmare' because that was an ever-present issue in the Build Engine games and made me think that I was playing as Elmer Fudd: 'be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm twying to FPS, huhuhuhuhuh.'
Post edited July 25, 2015 by TheBitterness
