Dead ends in huge "labyrinths" cause frustration

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BrecMadak wrote:

This month had it all kind of weirdness, and absurdity going on at best. I've doubts for further months if they ever could beat 2011 november, related of hilarious threads.

We indeed need some more kind of topics like these for big loud laughs.. Ok maybe its not to do a joke about this "ironic" moments, but these moments also make people from getting rid of all their daily stresses, to some live their angry moments at top level !

Unfortunately, there is nearly nothing to do about helping kids that their future going on like this, really sad.

But to sum it all, unbeatable;

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maryn wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ZtBCpo0eU

lol you're adorable, deciphering your posts is a quest, an adventure. I mean that in the nicest way possible!

Your post represents so much of what's wrong with the videogame industry nowadays, and the fact that you're posting such things as an attempt to influence what I consider a beacon of hope specifically in the arpg genre, towards such an awful end, just makes it all the worse.

I admit, my first instinct was to bash you, although I now freely admit after playing a fairly short while into the game, I think you may have a point.

Perhaps this is a bit too much of a good thing.

I just spent over an hour FAILING to find a path through the second level of submerged passageway. I ended up giving up. I'll try again tomorrow.

It would help if the map was more useful, as is, it's kind of an indecipherable blob. So even though I had pretty much the entire area mapped, I still couldn't see a way out. I ended up surrendering for tonight, I'll have to try again tomorrow.

If the mazes get so impenetrable that it takes an hour (or more) to get through them, it's going to drive away casual gamers who don't have that kind of time to play. This could be a problem.

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unsane wrote:

"

BrecMadak wrote:

This month had it all kind of weirdness, and absurdity going on at best. I've doubts for further months if they ever could beat 2011 november, related of hilarious threads.

We indeed need some more kind of topics like these for big loud laughs.. Ok maybe its not to do a joke about this "ironic" moments, but these moments also make people from getting rid of all their daily stresses, to some live their angry moments at top level !

Unfortunately, there is nearly nothing to do about helping kids that their future going on like this, really sad.

But to sum it all, unbeatable;

"

maryn wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ZtBCpo0eU

lol you're adorable, deciphering your posts is a quest, an adventure. I mean that in the nicest way possible!

They really made me to write in this vein, nothing could help me to change, i am sorry.

I really wonder how they could ever made it to an end, if they ever dive into the Diablo II's jungle ruins. I think they would already had suicide. I can't think any better moment than this, unfortunately :)

More importantly, what is sad for them that they can not see/understand actually the joy/fun takes its power from the most complex labyrinths. And they want to change this puzzle style into a dull, inspired one-way exit boring looser's way.

People here might be interested in this old dev diary

Uff, I hated Act 3 jungles in D2 with all my heart :D

In PoE I only mildly hate Crossroads (way too big), and Ledge (way too linear and boring; it needs higher and lower parts and enemies jumping from above at you).

I didn't bother to do a /debug on my first run of submerged passageway because it was . . . my first run. And I was remaining open to the possibility that my own idiocy was at least partially to blame for any difficulties.

I have since gone back and run through the place, and honestly? It seems to be okay except for the map issue.

The map while usually good, really fails in submerged passageway because it textures some parts of the map which ends up burying everything in this blob of dots making much of the map completely unreadable.

Another possible problem area is crossroads and several neighboring zones. In this case it is simply because the zones are REALLY big and the map scales with this to the point where it becomes largely useless again.

I would recommend improving the map, adding zoom features, and cleaning up texturing issues in submerged passageway (and any other zones that may have similar issues) that interfere with the readability of the map. Also look at scaling issues in larger zones so that the default scale of the map is more usable.

I suspect you already have plans for map improvements anyhow since the current version of the map is a bit primitive. So I'm not too worried just now. I'll wait and see what unfolds.

I really liked playing in Prison, it's a lot more fun than Chamber of Sins lvl 2. I think the size and shape is just right.

I don't know why, but I don't like the Submerged Passage at all. I think it's a combination of it being really dark, and having those camouflage colored "Rock Shitters" and caster mobs. Maybe you could make them white/pale, so they are easier to see?

Another map that I don't like is the River Crossing. It suffers from the same as "Crossroads", it's to big and to square. I think it could benefit from being made more narrow and shaped like Prison.


Thanks for your attention :-)

It's kind of native to the genre isn't it?

I thought the first prison floor was kind of annoying (you can go either way , a long way, one way is a dead end with nothing there along the way but some normal chests and boxes), but the other maps seemed fine so far.

A bit of variation is nice, though for the OCD inclined I guess it can be annoying to search every nook and cranny.

Forming a mental map of the place (not like you have to with the map overlay) is part of the charm.


I can't be the only one to have grown allergic to corridor maps in these last five years though, can I?
I'll take a good old fashioned maze over those any day.