Chapter 4, Good but definitely a few issues. (SPOILERS)

[Deseoso]

Spoilers

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So I am now right at the end of Chapter 4 and I've found one issue that is a real let down to a game that, up until now had fairly good realism. The issue is that I stashed weapons, warm clothing, food and ammo in the container next to the Workbench in the prison yard next to the prison bus. I then went back to the prison with the detonators. At this point Jace blows the detonators starting the chaos allowing you to escape, grab the case and get out into the yard.

From there I managed to slip past the prisoners on the tower and get back to my stash and collect my weapons, ammo and gear. So now, armed for a fight I took a few shots at the prisoners on one of the towers only to find that, not only do they not react to you firing the rifle but they are invincible and cannot be shot.

Talk about massive immersion killer!! If you don't want the players to fight the prisoners, then you should have done something to make the player lose his weapons before this scene starts. When you were tied up in the chair with Mathis, the developers could have made it so that he comments that they found your stash and at this point you would lose stuff stashed outside the main prison building. I would have been annoyed at losing all my stuff but at least it would be believable.

Letting you keep your stuff but then making the prisoners who are wearing only prison jumpsuits invincible totally destroyed the immersion at the end of the game. Especially when it gets to the final scene. A bunch of prisoners and Mathis walk into the power station armed with only one axe between all of them. I have a hunting rifle, a revolver and enough ammo to take them all on and yet there is no option to use it.

By this point in the story you have survived the bear in chapter two and god knows how many wolves. By comparison a few unarmed humans should be a piece of cake. If the developers wanted the chapter to end this way then they should have somehow made it so that it is simply not possible to get to this point of the story with a gun. As far as the story goes, I like it. I think the developers did a great job. Being able to get hold of your weapons after the explosion in the prison is the one major let down. You should either be able to get your weapons and be able to fight the prisoners or have no possibility of retrieving your weapons and then it doesn't matter if the prisoners cannot be fought as you have no weapons anyway.

[turtle777]

7 hours ago, Deseoso said:

If you don't want the players to fight the prisoners, then you should have done something to make the player lose his weapons before this scene starts.

Nah.

If you lost all your stuff, you'd be complaining nonetheless.

-t

[camel]

10 hours ago, Deseoso said:

A bunch of prisoners and Mathis walk into the power station armed with only one axe between all of them. 

...

By comparison a few unarmed humans should be a piece of cake.

so.. you want to murder a bunch of unarmed people? prosecutor, judge & executioner - style?

inside the prison too, they all man the lights, unarmed, you cant even see the "snipers" if one can even use that term (aim and so on)

yes there was the possibility to "end" the (already mortally wounded) dude in the barn... 

if you were one of them who pushed - you prob did him a kindness - dying by pierced gut is bad - like... really bad -

 

but outright murdering people... that doesn't seem to fit McKenzie's demeanor at all

this is his story of trying to save somebody he doesn't even know

a goal for what he flew, basically, to the end of the world to achieve...

and don't forget the people he helped along the way: prepping grey mother, saving the trapper & the forest talker, etc...

to be blunt: the entire story up 'til now is the exact opposite of what you are proposing, namely keeping civilisation afloat... one good deed at a time

 

if what you request should be a thing, so should be the option to just shoot the old lady in the face, same goes for any other npc...

what would that make you/McKenzie? the new Mathis/Donner? like.. exactly what you were trying to prevent all along?

I really don't like nor approve of where this is going...

Edited October 12, 2021 by camel
dang typos...

[Corso]

59 minutes ago, camel said:

this is his story of trying to save somebody he doesn't even know

 

I pretty much agree 100% but he knows Astrid, they clearly have history

[Deseoso]

I am sorry but Mackenzie's demeanor has very little to do with it. You are talking about a life and death survival situation. I would hate to hill someone but believe me if I am backed into a corner by a bunch of prisoners, one who has an axe and I have a hunting rifle, you can be pretty sure I am going to use it. Besides, I am not proposing anything. I wasn't suggesting that they turn this into a big shooter game. What I was suggesting is that the developers put in some kind of story line reason that makes Mackenzie lose all his guns and equipment during the final prison scene. Good game development is making a player think he can do what he wants but use story line to direct them where they should be going. 

If you give a player a gun in a game but then put them into a situation where it would be perfectly understandable for a player to choose to use it only the developer simply prevents you from using it by making the enemy invincible, it totally blows the sense of realism away.

[Lord of the Long Dark]

My issue was exactly the opposite. To avoid the frisking I was dumping all my possessions including all clothing into a car trunk across the entrance with the eternal fire. 
   So when I come to find the final part doesn’t even allow you to even enter the yard, I had to finish the game naked with not a single inventory item. Awkward meeting jace for sure. 

[turtle777]

23 hours ago, Deseoso said:

What I was suggesting is that the developers put in some kind of story line reason that makes Mackenzie lose all his guns and equipment during the final prison scene. Good game development is making a player think he can do what he wants but use story line to direct them where they should be going. 

If you give a player a gun in a game but then put them into a situation where it would be perfectly understandable for a player to choose to use it only the developer simply prevents you from using it by making the enemy invincible, it totally blows the sense of realism away.

Nah. It's a lose/lose situation.

Hinterland could have removed all guns / rifles from Blackrock region, and relied solely on fire / flares to ward off wolves. But then, plenty of people would have complained that it breaks the survival / sandbox play style they are accustomed to. You can never make everyone happy.

 And in the context of a game, it's pointless to bring everything back to "realism". There has to be a certain element of "unrealism". It's a game.

-t

[Lumiiyx]

I don't think Mackenzie would start shooting, he said that he can't be seen by them and needs to escape.  Considering his objective at that time is to leave with the case and get to Jace, I doubt he is stopping for his gear, since he is looking for stealth and speed to get away.  Also in Chapter 5, I doubt any of the gear he had would carry over.  He threw himself in rushing water, the last thing he wants is his backpack weighing him down when he needs to keep the case as it is.  For those reasons, I'd say that it's realistic enough that while YOU might go back for your gear, Mackenzie would not and that's how the story is played out.

Also it is just a game after all, a little unrealism is a good thing.  It's meant to be fun, not true to life.