Supernova difficulty. More nuisance than challenge?

[InfestedAdam]

I have played games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4 on hardcore, survival, etc. difficulty and more often than not it feels more of a nuisance than challenge. I don't deny that I do need to be smart about how I approach enemies since they hurt more and can take an extra beating but extra stuff like having to eat, sleep, drink, deal with durability, etc. seems more of a bothersome than challenge.

At the same time I feel the challenge is only at the start of the game and once properly geared up and having the appropriate skills and perks the challenge isn't quite there anymore and now the extra stuff is just a nuisance.

To those playing or planning to play Outer World on Supernova difficulty, how has it been for you thus far or do you foresee the nuisances not being an issue once you can buy food and water with ease?

Comments and opinions are appreciated,

Thank you

[It´sAllAimAssist]

I started out on supernova, will turn it down. MOSTLY because of the saves, I don´t want to have to replay to much because I mess up a fight. Also there is not save on exit, I like to be able to leave when I feel like and not have to run to some special place to save.

And while I feel the extra challenge in fights is fun I feel the other stuff like having to spend time or money on finding stuff like water is more of a chore than rewarding gameplay.
I played a large portion of fallout 4 on the hardcore super duper diff and I found it more tedious than fun after some hours.
Stuff like that works in some games but I don´t think this is one of them...not for me anyway.

But mostly it´s the saving, removing your ability to save just feels..meta.
Doesn´t make the game more tense for me..just more annoying. "oh great I have to replay this entire part again..whoopedyfingdoo".
Wish I could have the harder fights but keep the quicksaves.

[InfestedAdam]

Thank you for the response. I played about an hour on Supernova and it does feel more of a nuisance than anything. I do agree the limited save is becoming noticeable. Fallout 4 and its limited save was at least circumvented with the various sleeping bags lying around. If the game have inns to use as save points this might not seem as bad but as of now having to travel back and forth between the ship and quest area just to save is quickly becoming tedious.

[Double]

Much like Fallout 4's survival/hardcore difficulty, supernova will probably be much more fun when and if we get some mods for it. I went with hard mode initially because I knew there'd be issues with it.

[Arden]

Even with upgraded weapons and armor there are plenty of enemies that can get you if you don't play smart (move constantly vs primals, accurate shooting at weakspots, etc.). If you are a good shot and upgrade your weapons and armor the game is a breeze on supernova once you learn what to expect.

I'm still at the end of the first zone so these are my initial impressions. Most of the enemies are 1 or 2-shottable with headshots so there is nothing to complain there. The game saves on every load screen so the saves are not a problem.

[InfestedAdam]

Originally posted by Arden:

Even with upgraded weapons and armor there are plenty of enemies that can get you if you don't play smart (move constantly vs primals, accurate shooting at weakspots, etc.). If you are a good shot and upgrade your weapons and armor the game is a breeze on supernova once you learn what to expect.

I'm still at the end of the first zone so these are my initial impressions. Most of the enemies are 1 or 2-shottable with headshots so there is nothing to complain there.

Thank you for the insight. I'm plan to go with a solo charismatic sniper build so am hoping once I get a good long gun it will be easier to handle enemies.

Were you eventually able to obtain enough bits that regularly eating and drink isn't a major drain on your bits? The eating and drinking aspects of Fallout 4 Survival Mode quickly went away once you establish a settlement. I am hoping the same kinda applies in The Outer World once bits become more easily to come by.

Originally posted by Arden:

The game saves on every load screen so the saves are not a problem.

Good to know. I really wasn't sure when/what triggered the auto-saves.

[Arden]

Ye, bits are not a problem. I have bought 5 waters so far just to have some spare on me. There is plenty in the open world to loot. You have more than enough food. I'd say it's not an issue. The penalties can be totally ignored. Carry weight is a problem though so I'd spend some points into strength if I had to redo my initial selection.

I got a hunter rifle from one of the first lookouts. When I upgraded it a bit I started 1-shotting the weaker enemies. For the rest get assault rifle and upgrade it as well. It's even stronger than the sniper, especially with weakspot targetting. No need to buy anything, you will loot all you need.

I got enough money to upgrade the weapons by looting the town. Once I began clearing everything around it started raining money. I still got science to 40 - tinkering costs tend to skyrocket.

[InfestedAdam]

Thanks for the additional tip. Good to know certain nuisances quickly goes away once you've established your character.

[It´sAllAimAssist]

So I tried another char on supernova, aaand...the added stuff like drink quickly becomes non isses to the point they do not even matter, the combat difficulty I really can´t tell much difference between hard and supernova so I ended up turning the difficulty down because this combo

arbitrary saves+having to baby the AI companion.
is there a area transition close by ? fine just walk in and out the saves become a non issue , it might as well not be a feature.

Is there not ? I meta game , as in I go around looking for a place to save instead of focusing on the gameplay OR I fast travel back to my ship save and then have to run back to where I was , which doesn´t add any challenge or gameplay it just takes time.

why do I need to save?
Do I die ?
NO the stupid AI partner whom I want to keep around to listen to banter and for story reasons insists on running in and facetanking entire marauder camps .. she goes and stands in the open waving her hammer around and getting perma killed every so often unless I baby sit her.

so I guess the fix is to tell her to go stand in a safe corner while I kill everything which is no problem. Or I can maybe gear her up to the point where..it becomes a non issue.

so basically out of all the supernova "features" every single one of them turns into a non issue that has zero effect on the gameplay.

Exept for the saving and sleeping which just adds extra travel time.
don´t think it´s a very thought out and well designed game mode.
Not more challenging just filler traveling. Or if you think "well the saving is a non isse because X"
then ..the game mode is what? enemies take one extra bullet to kill? And if your AI decides to go full on Rambo you can either just miss their story or replay a few minutes since the last save?

For me it´s totally not worth it.
(yes this was a bit ranty but I just lost about 20 minutes I have to replay becase as I was finishing up a quest before going to save I walked into some marauders and after I had killed them all without barely loosing any health myself ,I realised parvati had kamikazed into them trying to melee 6 people with auto riffles so I had to reload)

[Nite69]

supernova is like hardcore mode in fallout, I wouldn't use it just in case the game is buggy where ya can't save

[Dixon Sider]

If a game wants to disable saving it should be for all difficulties imo. Doing it for just one difficulty NEVER feels balanced. But when all difficulties dont allow saving the game is made for that from the ground up.

It's the standard case of trying to please too many people. Trying to please too many will always hurt games

[CitizenX3639]

Wait for steam release when it will be patched to 1.0

[psychotron666]

Originally posted by GamepadAfficionado:

So I tried another char on supernova, aaand...the added stuff like drink quickly becomes non isses to the point they do not even matter, the combat difficulty I really can´t tell much difference between hard and supernova so I ended up turning the difficulty down because this combo

arbitrary saves+having to baby the AI companion.
is there a area transition close by ? fine just walk in and out the saves become a non issue , it might as well not be a feature.

Is there not ? I meta game , as in I go around looking for a place to save instead of focusing on the gameplay OR I fast travel back to my ship save and then have to run back to where I was , which doesn´t add any challenge or gameplay it just takes time.

why do I need to save?
Do I die ?
NO the stupid AI partner whom I want to keep around to listen to banter and for story reasons insists on running in and facetanking entire marauder camps .. she goes and stands in the open waving her hammer around and getting perma killed every so often unless I baby sit her.

so I guess the fix is to tell her to go stand in a safe corner while I kill everything which is no problem. Or I can maybe gear her up to the point where..it becomes a non issue.

so basically out of all the supernova "features" every single one of them turns into a non issue that has zero effect on the gameplay.

Exept for the saving and sleeping which just adds extra travel time.
don´t think it´s a very thought out and well designed game mode.
Not more challenging just filler traveling. Or if you think "well the saving is a non isse because X"
then ..the game mode is what? enemies take one extra bullet to kill? And if your AI decides to go full on Rambo you can either just miss their story or replay a few minutes since the last save?

For me it´s totally not worth it.
(yes this was a bit ranty but I just lost about 20 minutes I have to replay becase as I was finishing up a quest before going to save I walked into some marauders and after I had killed them all without barely loosing any health myself ,I realised parvati had kamikazed into them trying to melee 6 people with auto riffles so I had to reload)

This is my biggest concern going into it. I've just started the game basically, and I'm hoping I don't have to keep reloading because of companions getting killed, as I built my character as a leader talker guy who will rely on companions

[InfestedAdam]

Originally posted by GamepadAfficionado:

*snip*

Thank you for taking the time to give the additional feedback about Supernova difficulty. I plan to solo for my first playthrough so will probably save the companion interaction for my second playthrough on Hard difficulty.

On another note, with all the extra walking back and forth, an autorun feature woulda been nice to have.

[Revolucas]

I didn't choose it because it looked blantantly annoying more so than challenging. I wish you could tweak the settings like you can in Pillars of Eternity.

[Nite69]

Originally posted by InfestedAdam:

Originally posted by GamepadAfficionado:

*snip*

Thank you for taking the time to give the additional feedback about Supernova difficulty. I plan to solo for my first playthrough so will probably save the companion interaction for my second playthrough on Hard difficulty.

On another note, with all the extra walking back and forth, an autorun feature woulda been nice to have.

I have run set to the right shift, since I use arrow keys for movement, no issues