I've gone as far as I can go in Metro: Last Light.
I am where I have to wait for the NPC to bring the raft so that there's an exit to the area I am in.
While I wait I am mobbed by these giant dog things.
They overwhelm me while I reload. They run faster than I do so I cannot run away while I reload.
There are too many to lock myself in a corner and blast them as they get close because they mob me while I reload.
Nothing about the game up to this point gave any preparation for this scenario and the sudden spike in difficulty and the change from sneaking to hair-on-fire melee is frustrating.
It's especially irritating to know enough about game design to know that the time it takes for the NPC to arrive is programmed into the game and the endless bad-guys is a decision they made.
The purpose of this section is...?
The main reason that this section is especially jarring is prior to this the number of bad-guys is finite. You can eventually get them all. Which becomes triply irritating when it sinks in that you have infinite time to solve the finite bad guys, but this level is a new bad buy for as many minutes as it takes for the programmed stop to end.
There's no puzzle to solve. It's a dexterity / hand-eye coordination / reflexes / stubbornness test. I'm still sick of the last one from Call of Duty. Levels like this continue until you get lucky and are not dependent on skills. You have to keep plugging at them until the dice roll your way.
I'm done with this game.
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A tip, I believe Last Light uses the same difficulty system as 2033. In 2033, difficulty is controlled by scaling up both the players AND the enemy's health bars. I played a bit, and will be restarting it on Realism Mode, where you and everything else die in 1-3 hits, because guns. I had a lot of trouble with big swarms, because while I had enough ammo and could get rounds on target quickly and accurately, it simply took too long to kill each bit of the horde because everything could soak up so many bullets. Check and see if Metro: Last Light does something similar, and try going up a difficulty level or switching to realism if available, because it might actually make things easier.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought. I agree about the random change of pace being stupid, though.
While I agree that this is an example of pretty extremely uneven difficulty, and that generally a game should build the player's skill incrementally, I also feel there's something to be said for the occasional challenging section or difficulty spike. Much like GMing, I'm sure it can be hard to anticipate what the players will find to be an appropriate level of challenge.
ReplyDeleteI still vividly recall the "wait for the raft" scene in Metro, because it was the section of the game where my pulse most distinctly jumped. It was challenging, and took a handful of retries, but it was also very intense and exciting. The beasts growling and calling among one another sent shivers down my spine, because I genuinely felt hunted.
If a game's difficulty is perfectly even, it tends to lack such intense moment of thrill. It must be challenging for developers to deliver that shot of adrenaline without frustrating some portion of the audience, and I concede that Last Light is far from perfect in this regard.
I'm sorry you're having particular difficulty with this section, and I'm sad it has caused you to quit playing. I found it to be one of the most memorable moments in the game, because I was challenged. (My strategy was to stay near the dock and shoot them as they leapt from pillar to pillar until I got overwhelmed and could not sustain that strategy anymore. Then I backed toward a small alcove in the wall (on the right as you face the dock) and shoved my boomstick down each one's throat as it closed.)
I'm in agreement that this is a "shooting gallery" challenge. (Perhaps it would be beneficial to frame it like that? Simply stand and shoot each duck as it appears.) Technically it's not "infinite bad guys". There's a finite number that enter in each "wave", and a finite number of waves. But I concur that it's qualitatively different from entering a room with a known and fixed number of enemies.
If it were only a "handful" of retries I wouldn't be complaining. Several hours pass from my gchat message and this post, you may note. Time spent trying to find the mythical combination that permits getting to the end.
DeleteI deeply detest games that run hot and cold like this. Too easy, too easy, too easy, OH FUCK IMPOSSIBLE.
Gimme the cheat codes.
I double checked... Two DAYS of real time trying to get past this.
Delete"The purpose of this section is...?"
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the purpose of this section is intensity. It left me out of breath and feeling hunted.
Rather than confidently striding into the next section of the game, cavalierly dealing death to hordes of mindless enemies, I ran with my head down and prayed they didn't catch my scent. Which is one of the reasons I recommended the game to start with, rarely has a game succeeded in producing such an emotional response in me as a player.
In Call of Duty, I slay uncounted masses of the enemy and wade into the next group without a second thought. In Metro: Last Light, I cringe when I hear the hounds baying as they close their pursuit.
We will give the player three minutes of ammunition and a five minute wait for the end of the mission.
DeleteAt least when CoD pulled that shit with Pavlov's House I could exit the kill zone and wait it out.
This time exceeds the ammo supply thing bugs me. The whole your weapon has two kills before needing a reload; so let's throw three PLUS bad guys at you.
Success hinges on getting lucky ONCE. On happenstance, not skill, not preparedness. Luck. Luck and perseverance. Some people like to hit their head against the wall until it falls over. All I get is a headache and a bloody stain on the wall.
If _I_ was standing there _I_ could climb back into the fucking rail car. _I_ could make up the ruined stairs to that office overlooking the lobby area. _I_ could make the jump to the man-safe walkway beyond the boat launch. The character can't because the purpose of the level seems to be to make me waste time trying over and over to find the lucky combination and make sure I've depleted my supplies for the next level.
If you're going to make me a spectator, then do what you did at least ten fucking times previously and take control of the character! I'm sure as fuck not a participant anymore.