My feelings about playing on Normal after build 1.0.3.13 (5.01.2018)

[Wloczykij]

Hello Everyone, nice to be here.

I'm kind a "returning" player - beat the game on normal about year ago - pure Psi build, high Con thou. And ever since waiting for the Expansion. And waiting. And... Yeah...

(sorry for my not-perfect english, not my native)

So - I'm looking from time to time at Dev log - waiting for... You know it.
Anyway - I just thought that last patches / changes are big enough for me to play again and test : "what's new" in practice.

And yes - on Normal. I don't have so much time / stuborness (?) and perhaps skills / knowledge of game mechanics to fight on hard, etc. And I enjoy the Story and quests and so on - i'm not here for fighting. (If I wanna to kill, I'd prefer God of War saga..)

So, normal testing, psi build. (3,4,3,10 (thick skull),5+snooping, 8,7); will + int to lvl up, some basic crafting maybe - lest's play and find it out.

And with this settings I was able to beat the game (thank you emp grenades....) - but it's "only" normal, so nothing to excite for.   (hmm - whole Game to excite !   )

Very minor spoilers here - to describe my situation.

We start normally, getting some basic psi skills, little better armor (4/mech) and go down to retake some buildings. (we would try to get all of them).

Some first rat hounds, trip to medic, etc - first area. Very first. Cleared. Now I turn "left" -> to Flux building (you know what I mean).

Oooops. As soon as I moved to next area ALL hounds noticed me and started to rush (and I didnt knew that it were ALL - I just thought only the 2 I saw throu fence / door).
So hounds attacked, i killed 2 but 4 more to kill. They easilly surrounded me and killed. Ok, I could give them some granade or sth - but how could I know that ALL would come ?

Reload. Killed 2, transition. ooooo. No points. Dead.
Reload. Killed 1, transition. Medic. Transition. psi build -> i'm last (initiative), 5 around me = fast death. (they crit on normal too...).
Reload. This time went "right". 2 honuds, they dead. One near building. Dead. But when I get little further - quess what happened ? Yes, ALL remaining hounds rushed...
(blocked 1 with stunning fist in the narrowest part of corridor and escaped) 

Anyway - i lvled up, bought some granades and managed to clear all the first areas.

That's all for yesterday, today I'll have a new adventures

So - why I wrote it ?

In my opinion - sth wrong. It's waaaay to hard now. ON NORMAL
Are those hounds really supposed to notice me ALL ? From that far ?...
i wonder how I will fight ALL the burrowers...

And the second thing - the AP cost of transition (to other area) is too much. 25 AP = half of my AP. (PSI build, perhaps you have more...) Anyway - 25 => way too much.

I talk about NORMAL diff.

Perhaps it could be sth like:  easy -> 0. (5?); normal - 10 AP; hard - 20; Dom - 35. ?
Or whatever you wish at higher lvls - but in my opinion 25 AP on Norm is harsh.

Or even the option to swich on/off the AP cost ? (at least on easy / normal)

I believe any: first timers / casual players /so on -  will have too hard time now on Normal.

Anyway - happy New Year ! and try not to got old while waiting for the Ex.... That's right Styg - it's to You

(sorry for my grammar, etc - I tried much !)

[MirddinEmris]

And I enjoy the Story and quests and so on - i'm not here for fighting.

Then you are probably playing wrong game.

Besides, if Normal is too hard there is always Easy, if you are not here for fighting, than it's only logical that you should play on lowest difficulty, right?

[Wloczykij]

Te point is this Normal (1.0.3) is much harder than previous Normal.
And the question is - was it intended ?

[TheAverageGortsby]

Te point is this Normal (1.0.3) is much harder than previous Normal.
And the question is - was it intended ?

I think yes.  To some extent, UnderRail doesn't want to be a game where "whatever you do is right".  It wants to be a game where "Whatever choices you make, there will be a right thing that you can do" and that's a big difference.  For example, those rathounds that give you trouble?  You do not describe using the fences to your advantage.  If you are pure psi, then you should have the first, free Thought Control ability that does damage - you can cast it through a closed fence.  Rathounds cannot open fences.  Thus, you can easily move yourself to safety.  Because there is a right thing you can do, but you must find it.

I can see why someone might not want to play a game where they can make wrong decisions, but UnderRail is not a game for "press A to win" players.  Sometimes I like "Press A to win" games (Skyrim, for example), but UnderRail wants you to think about how to succeed with the tools at your disposal.  You don't always have the same tools I have, so your solutions aren't always the same.  But there's always a solution.  You just need to figure it out.

[Wloczykij]

When you "turn left" to Flux building, enter area - you will see a fence, ok. And normally there some rats there, and you can simply kill them by not opening the fence. Ok. But what had happened - rats saw me, alarmed the whole area and came to me - those rats who are some space latter (next corridor) came too. And that was surprising.

Anyway - I found other chars/mobs have greater area of helping each other (for instance - in sub-underways, there are some hiding mobs - they will now come together is some attacked)

And that's ok now - I simply use some more tools of mass destruction (grenades....).

But I still believe the game on Normal could be too harsh for newcomers.

Time to visit Depot A.