This is a continuation of my "Let's Take a Look at" series, targeting the Gameplay Environment right now. Each zone will be rated on Appeal/Aesthetic, Atmosphere, Gameplay Potential, and Lore Potential. All ratings will be on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm rating zones from Firefall to see what we want to carry over into Em8-er. This post concerns the Amazon Warzone and the Sargasso Sea. The next post will cover Antarctica and Diamond Head. Without further ado..
The Sargasso Sea:
The Sargasso Sea was arguably one of the worst zones in the game. What it had in graphics it lost in a lack of lore and reason to exist.
While the Sargasso sea was a beautiful zone as much as it can be, it lacked sorely in lore. Why are we there? The only cause I’ve seen is resources, and those could have been obtained elsewhere. I’ll give this zone a fair shot, but keep in mind here, I’m not a fan of it.
Appeal/Aesthetic: 6. The zone looks nice, and has a clear aesthetic, that of a heavily forested and tropical place, one in which mankind hasn’t stepped foot. But that’s all disrupted by our new presence there, which serves no purpose but to riddle the zone with explosions and disrupt the zone. The Melding repulsors are disruptive as well, and that disrupts the feel of the zone as well.
Atmosphere: 3. The zone is completely organic and undeveloped by humanity. It presented the atmosphere of a refuge from the war, a small bit of life in a world where life is corrupted and that’s about it. But that’s all broken by the presence of the Melding and Chosen attacks. The wildlife presents an atmosphere of naturality and danger that offsets the paradise-esque or retreat-esque nature of the forested area, but that only serves to detract from the zone. The theme of a zone should stay coherent, not be split, in my opinion.
Gameplay Potential: 5. This zone was undeveloped. The terrain was similar to what you’d find in the swampier regions of Coral Forest or the desert-ish regions of Sertao with the large structures you could stand on or shallow pools of water. There could have been objectives here, mainly focusing on farming and supplying humanity’s existence, I imagine, but none was capitalized on. The zone, due to its organic nature, gives advantage to anyone attacking from the outside of it in the form of cover, and as such that gives the Chosen an advantage. While that’s good from a gameplay perspective, it makes it hard for us to justify being in the zone. Why put ourselves in a weak position?
Lore Potential: 2. I see no reason for the Accord to have a presence here. None. We have a SIN tower there, and a few Melding repulsors. Sure, okay. There’s not even an Arcfold gate. A few barriers to serve as rudimentary cover exist, but that’s about it. Why are we here? I don’t know, and nothing in the game really points to a reason. A humanity fighting for its survival should not be one that makes forays into an area with little to no tactical value.
The Good:
-Uh..
-It’s pretty?
The Bad:
-Underdeveloped.
-The very concept of humanity being in the zone disrupts the peace and essence of the zone, which seems to be of a retreat from the war.
The Amazon Warzone:
Gameplay-wise, the Amazon is one of the best zones in the game. This is where the Chosen War gets real.
The Amazon Warzone is highlighted as being a Chosen stronghold that humanity is attempting to push them out of. The reasoning given for it is a bit poor, but it’s logical. The push-and-pull feeling of a warzone is really captured in this zone, and it’s done such that you need multiple people in order to take things. While I dislike this as a lone wolf, it’s relatively well-executed, however I will talk briefly about some of the flaws in the gameplay here.
Appeal/Aesthetic: 9. The zone aesthetically is extremely similar to Coral Forest and the areas near Shanty Town. While that’s not otherwise a problem, it’s more of the same. It’s well executed, and certainly looks like a warzone. There’s a large crashed Accord ship as well as multiple crashed Chosen and Accord vessels. Craters cover the land and provide the feeling that actual combat has taken place, alongside small barricades used as cover and underground bunkers. While not inherently extremely dark like some other zones, these little things give the idea that people fought there, that the zone is contested. Structures exist built into the trees as well that provide sniper platforms, and the zone is ripe with cliffs, trees, or buildings to jet down from and ambush enemies from. All of these things, in addition to how most major bases feature defensive emplacements, give the feeling that there’s a war going on.
Atmosphere: 9. The landscape here is dark, and the trees and hanging foliage provide a tangible element of suspense. The presence of Accord soldiers and bases show that the environment is indeed a warzone, as do craters and underground bunkers or tunnels. If I remember correctly there are some dead bodies as well-once again, extremely conducive to the feeling of a warzone. The swampier zones are well-made, and the barrenness of them is punctuated by snipers or juggernauts that keep you on your toes. The zone could be a bit darker with more Chosen structures, but that’s the only thing it leaves to be desired.
Gameplay Potential: 10. The bases here are very well designed, all of them being relatively defensible. Their resupply stations are well-placed. Their largest drawback is the placement of their SIN towers-they’re right out in the open and extremely vulnerable to gunfire. However, due to enemy AI, you can typically stay alive and keep them focused on you. The multi-room, cover-heavy nature of bases in this zone ensures that you can actually use the cover against your enemies. Some of that is lost due to how the enemies path here-getting attacked by a conga line of ten Chosen is hardly cause to use cover-but the zone has quite a lot of potential.
The supply chain quests that are run between bases, while the right idea, could be executed better-the Chosen attacks to stop them are too easily fended off and too predictable. More importantly, getting a base or supply depot operational takes too many of these caravan runs. A better approach would be to do 1 caravan run with multiple vehicles to defend, all of them meeting heavy(or at least heavier) resistance.
The Chosen in this zone feature multiple units that are interesting to fight. Smaller dropships provide a use for the defensive guns, but they take too much to kill and leave too quickly to be worth it. It’s faster to just mow down their deposited troops as they spawn. Chosen Drones present an interesting concept-an enemy that if you don’t run over to and dismember, will get back up and keep fighting. It’s a good concept, but their damage could stand to be reduced. The rest of the enemies need a spawn rate boost. I’d rather see one stronger enemy with an interesting combat mechanic than four weaker ones. Quality over quantity here!
Lore Potential: 9-10. There’s a load of crashed ships here, as well as other elements that suggest that fighting here has been going on for some time. Bases, refineries, and supply depots in the area suggest that resources played a role in motivating the Accord to break back into the Amazon, but the sheer amount of fighting that seems to have been going on-crashed Darkslips, a large crashed Accord ship-show that keeping the zone might be a morale thing-the Accord doesn’t want to lose a zone it’s put so much effort into. Whatever the reasons were, the zone had options available for the lore to go down, and that it what matters.
The Good:
-The zone has a lot of potential for lore. Crash debris, Accord bases, and Chosen presence leave the area ripe with potential lore snippets.
-The bases in the area are designed in such a manner that combat using them allows and encourages their use as defensive structures.
-The place looks like a war zone. It could be a bit darker with a few more signs of Chosen occupation, but it’s still good.
The Bad:
-The zone’s combat favors populations far above what it actually receives. The interesting combat encounters and newer enemy types only spawn with larger amounts of people in one place than the zone typically has in it at one time.
-Certain encounters in the zone aren’t very challenging and just become tedious, while others don’t scale well to a smaller number of players and are far too challenging.
Any and all discussion is welcome!
Cheers!
AdmiralStryker
The Sargasso Sea:
The Sargasso Sea was arguably one of the worst zones in the game. What it had in graphics it lost in a lack of lore and reason to exist.
While the Sargasso sea was a beautiful zone as much as it can be, it lacked sorely in lore. Why are we there? The only cause I’ve seen is resources, and those could have been obtained elsewhere. I’ll give this zone a fair shot, but keep in mind here, I’m not a fan of it.
Appeal/Aesthetic: 6. The zone looks nice, and has a clear aesthetic, that of a heavily forested and tropical place, one in which mankind hasn’t stepped foot. But that’s all disrupted by our new presence there, which serves no purpose but to riddle the zone with explosions and disrupt the zone. The Melding repulsors are disruptive as well, and that disrupts the feel of the zone as well.
Atmosphere: 3. The zone is completely organic and undeveloped by humanity. It presented the atmosphere of a refuge from the war, a small bit of life in a world where life is corrupted and that’s about it. But that’s all broken by the presence of the Melding and Chosen attacks. The wildlife presents an atmosphere of naturality and danger that offsets the paradise-esque or retreat-esque nature of the forested area, but that only serves to detract from the zone. The theme of a zone should stay coherent, not be split, in my opinion.
Gameplay Potential: 5. This zone was undeveloped. The terrain was similar to what you’d find in the swampier regions of Coral Forest or the desert-ish regions of Sertao with the large structures you could stand on or shallow pools of water. There could have been objectives here, mainly focusing on farming and supplying humanity’s existence, I imagine, but none was capitalized on. The zone, due to its organic nature, gives advantage to anyone attacking from the outside of it in the form of cover, and as such that gives the Chosen an advantage. While that’s good from a gameplay perspective, it makes it hard for us to justify being in the zone. Why put ourselves in a weak position?
Lore Potential: 2. I see no reason for the Accord to have a presence here. None. We have a SIN tower there, and a few Melding repulsors. Sure, okay. There’s not even an Arcfold gate. A few barriers to serve as rudimentary cover exist, but that’s about it. Why are we here? I don’t know, and nothing in the game really points to a reason. A humanity fighting for its survival should not be one that makes forays into an area with little to no tactical value.
The Good:
-Uh..
-It’s pretty?
The Bad:
-Underdeveloped.
-The very concept of humanity being in the zone disrupts the peace and essence of the zone, which seems to be of a retreat from the war.
The Amazon Warzone:
Gameplay-wise, the Amazon is one of the best zones in the game. This is where the Chosen War gets real.
The Amazon Warzone is highlighted as being a Chosen stronghold that humanity is attempting to push them out of. The reasoning given for it is a bit poor, but it’s logical. The push-and-pull feeling of a warzone is really captured in this zone, and it’s done such that you need multiple people in order to take things. While I dislike this as a lone wolf, it’s relatively well-executed, however I will talk briefly about some of the flaws in the gameplay here.
Appeal/Aesthetic: 9. The zone aesthetically is extremely similar to Coral Forest and the areas near Shanty Town. While that’s not otherwise a problem, it’s more of the same. It’s well executed, and certainly looks like a warzone. There’s a large crashed Accord ship as well as multiple crashed Chosen and Accord vessels. Craters cover the land and provide the feeling that actual combat has taken place, alongside small barricades used as cover and underground bunkers. While not inherently extremely dark like some other zones, these little things give the idea that people fought there, that the zone is contested. Structures exist built into the trees as well that provide sniper platforms, and the zone is ripe with cliffs, trees, or buildings to jet down from and ambush enemies from. All of these things, in addition to how most major bases feature defensive emplacements, give the feeling that there’s a war going on.
Atmosphere: 9. The landscape here is dark, and the trees and hanging foliage provide a tangible element of suspense. The presence of Accord soldiers and bases show that the environment is indeed a warzone, as do craters and underground bunkers or tunnels. If I remember correctly there are some dead bodies as well-once again, extremely conducive to the feeling of a warzone. The swampier zones are well-made, and the barrenness of them is punctuated by snipers or juggernauts that keep you on your toes. The zone could be a bit darker with more Chosen structures, but that’s the only thing it leaves to be desired.
Gameplay Potential: 10. The bases here are very well designed, all of them being relatively defensible. Their resupply stations are well-placed. Their largest drawback is the placement of their SIN towers-they’re right out in the open and extremely vulnerable to gunfire. However, due to enemy AI, you can typically stay alive and keep them focused on you. The multi-room, cover-heavy nature of bases in this zone ensures that you can actually use the cover against your enemies. Some of that is lost due to how the enemies path here-getting attacked by a conga line of ten Chosen is hardly cause to use cover-but the zone has quite a lot of potential.
The supply chain quests that are run between bases, while the right idea, could be executed better-the Chosen attacks to stop them are too easily fended off and too predictable. More importantly, getting a base or supply depot operational takes too many of these caravan runs. A better approach would be to do 1 caravan run with multiple vehicles to defend, all of them meeting heavy(or at least heavier) resistance.
The Chosen in this zone feature multiple units that are interesting to fight. Smaller dropships provide a use for the defensive guns, but they take too much to kill and leave too quickly to be worth it. It’s faster to just mow down their deposited troops as they spawn. Chosen Drones present an interesting concept-an enemy that if you don’t run over to and dismember, will get back up and keep fighting. It’s a good concept, but their damage could stand to be reduced. The rest of the enemies need a spawn rate boost. I’d rather see one stronger enemy with an interesting combat mechanic than four weaker ones. Quality over quantity here!
Lore Potential: 9-10. There’s a load of crashed ships here, as well as other elements that suggest that fighting here has been going on for some time. Bases, refineries, and supply depots in the area suggest that resources played a role in motivating the Accord to break back into the Amazon, but the sheer amount of fighting that seems to have been going on-crashed Darkslips, a large crashed Accord ship-show that keeping the zone might be a morale thing-the Accord doesn’t want to lose a zone it’s put so much effort into. Whatever the reasons were, the zone had options available for the lore to go down, and that it what matters.
The Good:
-The zone has a lot of potential for lore. Crash debris, Accord bases, and Chosen presence leave the area ripe with potential lore snippets.
-The bases in the area are designed in such a manner that combat using them allows and encourages their use as defensive structures.
-The place looks like a war zone. It could be a bit darker with a few more signs of Chosen occupation, but it’s still good.
The Bad:
-The zone’s combat favors populations far above what it actually receives. The interesting combat encounters and newer enemy types only spawn with larger amounts of people in one place than the zone typically has in it at one time.
-Certain encounters in the zone aren’t very challenging and just become tedious, while others don’t scale well to a smaller number of players and are far too challenging.
Any and all discussion is welcome!
Cheers!
AdmiralStryker
