How to answer this question...

I am going to take an example from diablo I for this.


--> Why did we enjoy killing Goatman on Diablo I but hated killing skeletons. My question is how can one type of monster be more enjoyable to kill than others?<--

Go play some PoE and try to notice what monsters give you the reaction of "Nice!" and others "Not another one of these! Bahhh."

If we can make a list of reasons why you get enjoyment from killing monsters, GGG can help stimulate that feeling and in turn boost the level of fun.

It all goes to the gutteral hit sound, flesh seems more fun to cut on than a bone...

I did enjoy multiple arrows smashing up like 50 skellies at once though.

Interesting topic.

Monsters I enjoy killing:

Skeletons - even the annoying ranged ones are fun to kill. I think it it mainly the satisfying noise they make... their death rattle I guess.

Rock Monsters - They look terrifying and fight even harder than they look. It takes a lot to take one down, but when they finally die, it's fairly satisfying.

Bone Crunchers - I don't know what these things are. I'm not even sure what animal(s) gave the artist the inspiration for such a disturbing looking creature. I'm going to say it's a cross between a bear and an armadillo. Again, very satisfying to take down due to their toughness.

Monkeys and Squid Spawn - I love how both of these are fairly weak individually, but tend to swarm to the point where they can become dangerous. And the monkeys climbing out of the trees when they get called by alphas is pure genius. The squids are just the right amount of slimy and disgusting. And the noises they make are a wonderful cacophony of pure malice.

Monsters I dislike:

Sand Spitters/Crabs - I'm fairly certain these will be first on most people's lists. They seem to get a mention every 3 hours or so in beta chat, at least. They are an excellent CONCEPT for a monster. They look good and the "second stage" spitter is a cool idea... But they're a huge annoyance to almost every character I have ever played, and far too common. To use a military history analogy, they are like horse archers, only they're also heavily armored and can take a serious beating. Tone down either the skirmishing effect or the HP/armor, make them just a touch larger for easier targeting, and I think they'll be perfect. If the purpose of the things was to annoy the crap out of everyone, then well done.

Scavengers - They look ratty and disgusting, but other than that they are the most innocuous monsters in the game. Even the magic/rare/unique versions are mostly harmless. They need a little something to be more than just cannon fodder, but I am not really sure what.

Siren's Daughter - Sure, have a monster that uses ranged cold damage and is very hard to dodge. But does it have to have so much HP? Once I almost broke my keyboard when I had to fight 2 boss types of these at the same time because the first one ran away thru half the level, freezing me as it went. And I had an anti-freeze potion too. Maybe just remove 3/4 of its health and give it a larger energy shield so people can have a actual use for Chaos damage or have to focus on engaging them (they kinda have to already with the cold damage).

Maybe the ghosts could do a toned-down version of flicker strike occasionally. The Water Elementals and Hellions hit just a bit too hard. Goat Men use Leap Slam a little too much, but their headbutt attack looks amazing. Rhoas I feel are mostly just about right, but bandits are a little boring.

The tentacled beasts. Though they are easy to defeat. There death animation rocks. That and they just look cool and different.

I don't like the tentacled casters as much. I think it is because they are tougher.

I prefer annihilating groups of enemies. Don't much care for the one on one approach. So skeleton and human mobs are satisfying. As are the magical mobs. The rare and bosses aren't. Unless they come with a hoard to slaughter.

Captain graves was fun. Brutus wasn't. Marviel was nice.


Edit:
Don't post the same topic twice in two separate section.
Please

"

UristMcDwarfy wrote:

Sand Spitters/Crabs - I'm fairly certain these will be first on most people's lists. They seem to get a mention every 3 hours or so in beta chat, at least. They are an excellent CONCEPT for a monster. They look good and the "second stage" spitter is a cool idea... But they're a huge annoyance to almost every character I have ever played, and far too common. To use a military history analogy, they are like horse archers, only they're also heavily armored and can take a serious beating. Tone down either the skirmishing effect or the HP/armor, make them just a touch larger for easier targeting, and I think they'll be perfect. If the purpose of the things was to annoy the crap out of everyone, then well done.

Sand Spitters are like a hybrid car - half V8, half armoured tank. It goes really fast, if you hit it it does nothing, if you try and catch it it runs away, and it's really annoying.

Goatmen had that satisfying 'mace to flesh' thump when you hit them, combined with their goat-like moans and death cries, while Skeletons were just crackling, crunchy sounds. Fallen were also fun to kill.

In PoE, I haven't yet found anything that was satisfying to kill, that puts a smile on your face as you bash their faces in. This may be due to the lack of impact reactions from the mobs (cries of pain), or because some enemies just drop in a hit or two. I will say that I like the skeletons in PoE more than I have in D1/D2/TQ, but in all honesty I can't say why. I mean, they're all just skeletons, but in PoE they seem different somehow. I would like to see different variations (palette swaps), like D2's red and black skeletons, as you progress through the game.

The only enemies that are somewhat annoying are the armored spitters, especially in caves, since you have to re-click them when they shed their shell, and it can be a pain to see where they are with the limited lighting and non-see-through walls.

Overall though, I think that PoE's enemies need a few more things to do, different attacks and a bit more varied AI, but that's something GGG already knows and are working on.

Spitters have to be my least favorite since they are so hard to target and often run away so you have to chase them. There's to many areas with them in the game, I think they should only be found on beaches and wet caves since they seem to be some sort of crab.

There should also be more spider type monsters, the big ones should shoot webs onto the ground that slow your movement speed if you walk over them, or maybe spit small pools of acid that do damage over time if you stand in it. The smaller spiders in the game should move really fast and swarm you much like the monkeys in forest areas or the squid things in the caves.

I'm surprised the matter of these tangibles haven't yet surfaced amid so much discussion of the games fundamentals... then again it hadn't occurred to me either.

The best idea I've heard so far is a revamp of the Sand Spitters. I have always had difficulty targeting them -- enlarge them -- and they are much too common. They are an enemy I am annoyed to see. I am not worried or apprehensive, just annoyed. Such experiences ought to be altered or minimized.

I can't remember what dungeon it is (church dungeon maybe?), but my favorite enemy is the spiders that climb up the walls from below you and ambush you.

Also skeletons

Crabs that spit projectiles at me grind my gears!

I hate those little bastards. I hate the armored / transforming ones even more.

I love killing skeletons in any form. There's just something pleasing about them.

I also like having skeletons as minions (spectres). I don't know why, it just makes me feel badass.

I also hate having crabs as minions! So there's obviously some sort of link there!