Ending Feels Anti-Climactic?

[sgt johnson]

Just finished the game and was so happy with how hype the Dragonzord fight + ensuing cutscene were, but after completing the following final stage, I have to admit I was a bit shocked at how the game just kind of ends!

On the story-front, I was kind of left wondering where the real Rita had gone because she never appeared despite me rampaging through her palace. This wasn't a huge deal but it definitely felt weird to see the credits roll when my brain thought there were still loose-ends that'd be wrapped-up. Even if Rita just appeared at the start of the last fight just to bail on Robo Rita with a "Useless fool!" or something before the fight actually starts, it would feel better than just not hearing from her at all in her own palace.

While the story wrap-up isn't perfect (but could be better with that slight addition!) I think the main thing that really left me with an odd-feeling come credits was the gameplay/spectacle of the final stage/boss. I could see what was being aimed for with the reused enemies from each stage to fight in succession, but two-or-three putties with the occasional bird thrown in didn't feel like quite enough to pull that kind of "take everyone on!" feeling you get in other games where this kind of gauntlet before the final-boss idea is used.

After clearing the gauntlet and reaching Robo-Rita, I thought it was fun to be back in the room you're in at the beginning of the game and quickly understood I needed to take the generator-things out, but that was unfortunately about the end of the intuitive-feeling boss-fight mechanics. It took me several times being struck by lightning after destroying the last generator to realize that Robo-Rita always fires an instant lightning-bolt upon the destruction of the second generator. After she teleports to the ground, the game mercifully puts the word "hit" above the orb she fires, but the hit-box and/or detection on the orb is such that I was left wondering if I was really supposed to just punch it after several attempts ended with what looked like the orb just going by me despite what looked like an obviously connected hit. I just realized I didn't mean to make this a breakdown of what needs to be improved in the fight, so suffice to say that after some more orb hit-detection fun I literally looked up a video to see what I was supposed to do in the arcing-orbs phase and then wrapped it up pretty easily from there.

Finally, after taking her shield out a few times to chip away at her healthbar, I managed to get the one more string of hits I needed to get her down to zero, she exploded, there are a few lines of dialogue between the rangers, Zordon, etc. and the credits roll. After so many of the other scenarios concluded with an awesome bike, Zord, or Megazord section, I was pretty shocked to end the game with the same string of normal punches that I'd been using to wear down Robo-Rita throughout her entire fight. It feels like it would have been a perfect two-for-one to have had original Rita trying to escape the rangers and create the distraction she needs by throwing her staff to make Robo-Rita grow. This would fit Regular Rita in at the end and make for an amazing, climactic battle between the Megazord and a giant Robo-Rita on the moon (On. The. Moon!).

Of course, all of this is just me describing the feeling the current ending left me with, so it might very-well be different for everyone else, but especially after the absolutely awesome spectacle that was the Dragonzord fight, which just had so much cool-looking stuff going on during it and then the scene of the rangers in-front of the Megazord's head, its eyes flashing, and then them teleporting to the moon, I was expecting that the final fight was going to be just as if not even more bombastic than the build-up from the mission leading up to it.

One last thing tacked-on to this already long post: I was very surprised to see that there was never a situation in which the rangers combined their weapons for a final blast in a fight. It might be a very doable addition to simply have the other ranger's sprites appear and whip up a quick sprite for the combined blaster to fire at Robo-Rita once her healthbar is empty; this would definitely go a long ways to send players to the end-credits with that climactic "BOOM!" they're looking for!

Apologies for the long post; I just finished the game and guess I got a little carried away putting my thoughts/hopes/etc. down!

Thanks! :D

[DanAmrich_DE]

Hey, uh, you know, there are spoiler tags here on Steam. :)

Also, we're open to your feedback but it'd be great if you could put them all in one post...? Thanks!

[sgt johnson]

Originally posted by DanAmrich_DE:

Hey, uh, you know, there are spoiler tags here on Steam. :)

Also, we're open to your feedback but it'd be great if you could put them all in one post...? Thanks!

Ah! I hadn't even thought of spoiler tags! I don't know if I've ever actually used them before! O.O' I do hope though that nobody clicks on a topic titled as such without having gotten to the ending, though! XD

One of my earlier posts was actually inquiring as to how you wanted feedback structured, though. Most of the things I most wanted to report were what I would have considered "bugs", but usually with most games I've seen, they have a bug report thread sticky and then another for non-bug related feedback. The thread was titled "Further Support?" but before any devs got a chance to respond and explain how they would like things structured, it was a bit hijacked by some random guy who just spouted-off some random misinformation (you replied to him much more politely than I did; good job! XD) so it would be nice if we could get an official thread for bug and non-bug related feedback.

With regards to the "...?" after "all in one post": I get it, I made a lot of threads! XD

I'm not usually a big forum guy and really just tried to force myself to get anything I encountered written down as soon as possible, but that coupled with not seeing any preferred structure laid out for feedback left me unsure if I would effectively just be hiding a bunch of completely unrelated issues in a patchwork thread of entirely disparate posts. I'd definitely be willing to try to find all my previous posts' reports and compile them to post into an official feedback thread if that is something you might be able to post!

Lastly, thanks so much for responding; I really appreciate you taking the time to get back to me! I wanted to say that you guys did an amazing job with this game, even if publishers may have made your job that much more "fun" by pushing things before they were completely ready. I was playing Shredder's Revenge recently and was appreciating just how much budget went into it to get that perfect, classic feel but at the same time, that also made me appreciate all the more just how creative you all were with how you utilized such interesting (AKA way cool) visual tricks and techniques to give Power Rangers its own very unique flair! It feels like a classic style that pushes its own "limits" in such a genuine and authentic to its era's way!

Thanks!

[Sneeeedle]

It's obviously the devs wanted to put Lord Zedd in given how heavily he's teased (His shadow behind the Ritas and Green Ranger in the intro, Robo Rita mentioning she's "going to find another ally", and the post-credits stinger) but are saving him for a DLC campaign with a playable White Ranger.

[sgt johnson]

Originally posted by Sneeeedle:

It's obviously the devs wanted to put Lord Zedd in given how heavily he's teased (His shadow behind the Ritas and Green Ranger in the intro, Robo Rita mentioning she's "going to find another ally", and the post-credits stinger) but are saving him for a DLC campaign with a playable White Ranger.

I feel it might be too much of a stretch to view the tease as evidence he was planned or hoped to be put in the base-game, but I certainly would be excited to see him! While I wouldn't argue against his inclusion in the base-game, I do think if I were planning things out, I'd feel a little worried about his presence being a little wasted when the story is otherwise so tightly centered on Rita and the rangers. If my game has DLC/expansions planned, I'm definitely going to want to save him for that and keep the base story tight.

While there are a lot of things that should have been handled differently, I wouldn't mark this one up as any kind of nefarious "Corporate Commander"-ing just because it seems sensible enough to me beyond just "money! >:D".

Regardless, I'll just be happy if we get any more content, whatsoever, as I'll be excited for pretty much anything it gets! XD

[DanAmrich_DE]

Originally posted by Sneeeedle:

It's obviously the devs wanted to put Lord Zedd in given how heavily he's teased (His shadow behind the Ritas and Green Ranger in the intro, Robo Rita mentioning she's "going to find another ally", and the post-credits stinger) but are saving him for a DLC campaign with a playable White Ranger.

There is no DLC campaign in the works. Our story ends with the arrival of the Green Ranger, so please do not expect anything beyond that original scope!

We certainly have ideas and other things we'd love to do at some point in the future if given the opportunity. We learned a lot from this, both from our choices and your feedback, and we'd like to build on it. But we have other projects in the works at DE for the foreseeable future.