Alpha 3 Neighbor is WAY too aggressive + Alpha 2 house more interesting than Alpha 3 house

[WarriorDan]

To preface this: I loved the pre-alpha, and Alpha 1 & 2, with Alpha 2 being my favorite so far, but this for every improvement that these versions brought with them, Alpha 3 is an equal step backwards. The neighbor AI, while improved, is far too aggressive, completely replacing the previous metagame dynamic of tricking the neighbor, to now just trying to outrun him, which is nowhere near as difficult, fun, or rewarding.

Where did the day/evening/night cycle go? The controls are now more broken then ever, with items not even responding most of the time I try to pick them up.

It now feels like a chore to deal with the neighbor, rather than a fulfilling stealth-based experience that leaves me satisfied.

Please bring back some of the more-open-ended gameplay we saw in earlier alphas, rewarding players for good timing, critical thinking, and using nearby objects to their advantage, instead of focusing on maintaining a never-ending running contest with the neighbor that makes me feel like the road runner from loony tunes.

Also, adding onto that, what happened to the house? It went from feeling spacious and eery to now feeling restrictive and limiting. While physically it's a big house, it doesn't feel like there's that much to do in it.

You guys can build beautiful enviornments, which I applaud you for, but from a gameplay perspective, this update feels like a backfire, no offense.

[Clord]

Then again, this is what a proper alpha development is especially with the big companies. It's not unheard of game making a genre switch during the development and stuff like that.

So yeah, it seems to me that they're struggling with the concept. It's good on paper but it's hard to have one persistent enemy that tries to hunt you down without being too effective or ineffective.

They will probably use ladders or something as "checkpoints."

[SpookyCrow]

I couldn't agree more, I really they listen to our feedback, because the direction they went on this alpha wasn't very good, sadly.

[WarriorDan]

Originally posted by Clord:

Then again, this is what a proper alpha development is especially with the big companies. It's not unheard of game making a genre switch during the development and stuff like that.

So yeah, it seems to me that they're struggling with the concept. It's good on paper but it's hard to have one persistent enemy that tries to hunt you down without being too effective or ineffective.

They will probably use ladders or something as "checkpoints."

I completely agree. The reason I'm posting this isn't just to bash Hello Games, but to provide some honest, reasonable, down-to-earth feedback, which hopefully the amazing Hello Games team will see, and take into consideration when making changes for Alpha 4 in response to player feedback.

I wish Hello Games nothing but the best moving forward, and just hope they can fix some of the current issues in the Alpha, so we can better enjoy the otherwise-amazing experience they've created for us thus far.

[RetroDiskette]

And about the controls, MOST OF THE TIME I CANT EVEN OPEN A DOOR WITHOUT IT MAKING THE *Creak Open, SLAM SHUT* sound without it even opening OR closing

[RMJ]

Yeah, i just got access to it today. Not yet played Alpha 1 or 2.

but damn that aggressive ai, he comes charging at me, even when im near the spawn at my own house.

Surely this must be a bug or broken or whatever. Fun it is not. But its hilarious how twitchy and aggressive he is. So much so that he gets stuck in the road lol.

The controls are definitely not good. they are sticky, often times not responding. they should respond when pressed once.

I hope there is a hotfix for this alpha sooner rather than later :)

[BeetleDude]

Originally posted by WarriorDan:

To preface this: I loved the pre-alpha, and Alpha 1 & 2, with Alpha 2 being my favorite so far, but this for every improvement that these versions brought with them, Alpha 3 is an equal step backwards. The neighbor AI, while improved, is far too aggressive, completely replacing the previous metagame dynamic of tricking the neighbor, to now just trying to outrun him, which is nowhere near as difficult, fun, or rewarding.

Where did the day/evening/night cycle go? The controls are now more broken then ever, with items not even responding most of the time I try to pick them up.

It now feels like a chore to deal with the neighbor, rather than a fulfilling stealth-based experience that leaves me satisfied.

Please bring back some of the more-open-ended gameplay we saw in earlier alphas, rewarding players for good timing, critical thinking, and using nearby objects to their advantage, instead of focusing on maintaining a never-ending running contest with the neighbor that makes me feel like the road runner from loony tunes.

Also, adding onto that, what happened to the house? It went from feeling spacious and eery to now feeling restrictive and limiting. While physically it's a big house, it doesn't feel like there's that much to do in it.

You guys can build beautiful enviornments, which I applaud you for, but from a gameplay perspective, this update feels like a backfire, no offense.

I have good news and bad news. Good news is they said this is will not be the final house and that the Neighbor AI as of right now was made smarter, but doing that also broke tricking him which they said plan to fix soon. Bad news though, is they said the Alpha 3 house plays very similiar to how the final house will look :/

[kronvraket]

I agree, I would hope something like alpha 2 makes it into the final game

[WarriorDan]

I liked some of the things they did with the Alpha 3 house, but I certainly hope that it won't be the final house. I'd prefer something a little bit larger on the inside. The building is certainly tall, but in Alpha 3, it just doesn't feel as occupied as Alpha 2 did. In Alpha 2, almost every room had a purpose and felt interesting. In Alpha 3, it just all feels disorganized and haphazzard. I'd like to see more alternate routes around the house added in, for two purposes: to vary up the neighbor's daily movements, and also to give us more to explore.

The developers should take a few cues from games like Alien Isolation, in terms of how alternate routes can be used to vary up the AI's behavior and give the player more open-endedness in how they move about the map. Imagine if in Hello Neighbor, you could make your way through air vents, and drop down from the air vents into certain rooms, or use the air vent to hide from the neighbor. For an example of what I mean, look at what Outlast did with its weird hiding system.

I have a lot of respect for Hello Games, and it's only because I want this game to reach its full potential that I'm posting this criticism and suggestions on how to resolve it.

[RMJ]

A good house, should imo feel larger on the inside, than it looks on the outside. Its currently the opposite.

Also, why not have more houses, like there should be smaller ones and bigger ones than the current. Would be cool to have a simple house with a basement and 1 story above it. But also having a huge wacky crazy mansion.

[WarriorDan]

Originally posted by RMJ:

A good house, should imo feel larger on the inside, than it looks on the outside. Its currently the opposite.

Also, why not have more houses, like there should be smaller ones and bigger ones than the current. Would be cool to have a simple house with a basement and 1 story above it. But also having a huge wacky crazy mansion.

I am hopeful that we won't just see one house, but several houses, in the final game. I do believe the developers did say something about the final game having multiple explorable houses at one point, so I imagine the game will start to be a bit more open-ended as we get closer to the game's release.

[RMJ]

Originally posted by WarriorDan:

Originally posted by RMJ:

A good house, should imo feel larger on the inside, than it looks on the outside. Its currently the opposite.

Also, why not have more houses, like there should be smaller ones and bigger ones than the current. Would be cool to have a simple house with a basement and 1 story above it. But also having a huge wacky crazy mansion.

I am hopeful that we won't just see one house, but several houses, in the final game. I do believe the developers did say something about the final game having multiple explorable houses at one point, so I imagine the game will start to be a bit more open-ended as we get closer to the game's release.

I sure hope you are right. Because that would really add to the replayability. Not to mention able to tell different and more stories. Having bigger / smaller houses. some set in day, others in night, maybe winter. Or day and night cycle that people are talking about.

I would definitely be sad, if they just limit it to one house :S

[WarriorDan]

Originally posted by RMJ:

Originally posted by WarriorDan:

I am hopeful that we won't just see one house, but several houses, in the final game. I do believe the developers did say something about the final game having multiple explorable houses at one point, so I imagine the game will start to be a bit more open-ended as we get closer to the game's release.

I sure hope you are right. Because that would really add to the replayability. Not to mention able to tell different and more stories. Having bigger / smaller houses. some set in day, others in night, maybe winter. Or day and night cycle that people are talking about.

I would definitely be sad, if they just limit it to one house :S

I completely agree. Personally, I'd really like to see a day/night cycle, like what we've seen in earlier alphas, with the neighbor having different pathways in response to the time of day, like a morning pattern, an afternoon pattern, and a night pattern. We kind of see something like that now, but it'd be nice to see it expanded a bit more.