Chapter 4: Donner Needs fixing

[Seriously Unserious]

I finished the Donner chapter and it was the most frustrating thing I've dealt with in a LONG time. The main issue I have with it is all the timer sections which go on through a maze FOREVER with no air pockets to catch a breath, all the while the screen is blurring to the point where I only have about 1/2 to 2/3 of the timer where I can effectively navigate the maze. It's just a frustrating exercise in trial and error, where the ONLY way through is to already know the "correct" route before you even start this mission. That means either resorting to walkthroughs or repeatedly doing it over and over and over and memorizing the correct path bit by bit. Neither of which are much fun.

The in game info needs to either prompt us with better cues as to where we're supposed to go, or give us some air pockets along the way to catch our breath or reduce the blur effect so it's at least possible to still see SOMETHING besides a caleidoscop of random useless colours for the last 10-15 seconds of our timer.

There needs to be enough time to actually see, look around and evaluate where to go next, and not get blinded so fast or with no way to reset it more frequently.

The first 3 chapters were fine as they presented challenges that were possible to overcome without forknowledge of the solution, but were challenging to complete. I never really found myself being frustrated with having to repeat the same thing over and over to find how to survive it. The poison gas mechanic in the mine was also fine, as it followed the thing I talked about, of having sufficient places to catch our breath and reset the suffocation timer. Make the Chapter 4 suffocation timers more like that.

[Metro]

Easily the most poorly designed segments of the story mode.

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

The gas part was atrocious you had to pretty much keep dying until you remembered where to run, whilst downing energy drinks and sonic-ing your way through the maze. There was some parts that I did like about Episode 4, but the gas, the steam / the puzzles, and the never ending onslaught of wolves killed it for me.

[Seriously Unserious]

The wolves I can manage, there are tactics from guns blazing to getting good at stealthing them or using the fear tools to keep them at bay are all ways you can learn to manage them, but the repeat until you find the right path sections, there's no way to manage it other then to memorise the solution bit by bit through past failures or read a walkthorugh. Games should not be designed to require a walkthrough just to complete them.

A few air pockets in the middle of those long smoke/gas sections would solve this issue as we'd have the time to breathe a moment and plan out our next path, and go back to catch our breath if we took a wrong turn, without being blinded by the blur effect with still about 20 or so seconds left on the meter, where it's basically impossible to see where you're going so that's not really useful time on the meter.

[๖ۣۜMk137]

I understand why people hate the suffocation parts but I don’t understand why people are finding it so difficult. There really aren’t that many paths to take. Why would it ever take more than 2-3 tries to make it through successfully?

[๖ۣۜMk137]

Originally posted by nextgengranny:

Originally posted by ๖ۣۜMk137:

I understand why people hate the suffocation parts but I don’t understand why people are finding it so difficult. There really aren’t that many paths to take. Why would it ever take more than 2-3 tries to make it through successfully?

Okay, now I agree w/ mskitty.

Congrats

[Seriously Unserious]

Originally posted by ๖ۣۜMk137:

I understand why people hate the suffocation parts but I don’t understand why people are finding it so difficult. There really aren’t that many paths to take. Why would it ever take more than 2-3 tries to make it through successfully?

The main issue for me was the excessive blurring effect so I couldn't see where there even was any paths, just a meaningless blur of colours by about 20 seconds remaining. and there are dead ends and hazards you need to avoid otherwise it's GG since you have just BARELY enough time to get through if you do a perfect run (also taking into account the over done blur effect that takes much of the time away from you as useful time.

[ProsPex]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

...whilst downing energy drinks

It didn't occur to me to use the energy drinks... did drinking them increase the amount of time you have to find your way through, or at a minimum reduce the poor vision effects?

[Seriously Unserious]

Originally posted by ProsPex:

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

...whilst downing energy drinks

It didn't occur to me to use the energy drinks... did drinking them increase the amount of time you have to find your way through, or at a minimum reduce the poor vision effects?

No, but it does restore your vitality (sleep meter) which means you can run for longer without getting tired and recover your stamina (sprint) meter more quickly, and prevents being unable to run at all if your vitality goes down to 0.