My crackpot theory on what determines whether someone will like AVWW.

[eRe4s3r]

Only thing I remembered of that is that humans don't see an expected reward as worthwhile to pursue when they have the option for an random reward. And it's not just humans, even applies for many animals.

This is why I think currently exploration, loot, combat, progression has it all backwards. We are told what rewards to expect when we do X (the only "good" function would be the enchant system) when to be fun we should only be told that there MAY be "rewards" to be expected when we do X, but not which ones.

Or put plainly, unexpected rewards are worth ten times more than expected rewards. It can literally make the difference of someone playing a game or not. (Because there are obviously other games with that hook people WILL play instead)

It actually baffles me we have to even say this because AI War had this system in place, and it works wonderfully there! Why is it not in AVWW ?

Well, the obvious answer is that AI War is a much different game/genre than AVWW and as such what works there, might not necessarily work here. But I digress.

What system are you referring to in AIW? because I'm not sure what you mean.

King

The ARL's and each single planet obviously Every planet is a chance for reward beyond the normal, golems, asteroids, resources but we can not expect a good planet nor good distribution, which is when such a event happens it is a reward! Every game that I consider fun has some of that (be it random huts, or random chests, or stuff) even random research break-thoughs, critical hits....

[chemical_art]

Interesting and true idea about the random loot idea.

The idea of getting random loot makes a compelling motivator.

It allows the same game to be played in 3 times with the bosses being played a dozens of times or more.


(I'm looking at you Diablo II)

[Professor Paul1290]

In this game I seem to wander aimlessly and the levels I've seen so far are pretty much the same flat levels with random houses and are a bit boring really.

If you're wandering around aimlessly I'd have to argue that might be the problem because wandering aimlessly tends to get you nowhere fast in the game.
It's fine if you want to take things very slowly, but if you want to get somewhere you usually have to be more deliberate than that.

From one of my posts elsewhere:

Every other sidescroller out there encourages you to explore every nook and cranny, so that can be a tough habit to break.
A Valley Without Wind does not work that way, you need to be more careful and strategic about how you explore and how you get what you want.

If you explore randomly then you'll be unlikely to find what you want. You'll be going into similar looking buildings over and over again and not really getting anything useful, or you'll be wasting time hoarding more of certain things than you'll ever need.

You have to think ahead and plan your trips more carefully, and the "Planning Menu" is VERY important for this. There is a reason why it is right there on the HUD where you can get to it easily. The Planning menu has item lists, information on resources, NPCs, common objectives, and so on. The Planning Menu has most of the information you need to figure out where you should be going.

Ideally, you want to plan your trips so that you will get as many things done at once as possible. Figure out a "shopping list" of stuff you need, and try go to places that will let you get the most of what you want/need per trip. Don't go out just to get common items like stash supplies or wood, you should get those on your way to more important things like secret misions, rarer spell materials, and important items like cold/heat suits.

By doing this you'll cut down on repetitive trips to get trivial things, get to visit more interesting places, and reduce your chances of being unprepared when things get more difficult later on.

[DesiQ]

I would say that anyone who likes utter unpredictability in their games should like this one. A penchant for permadeath doesn't hurt.

My favourite gameplay moment ever came from Far Cry 2, playing on Hardcore difficulty with Iron Man (permadeath by honor system) rules. I was happily driving along when I heard an engine rev up behind me. I had a look to see if my pursuer was a car, or a technical with a mounted .30 cal or what — and when I saw that it was a technical with a mounted grenade launcher I swore and veered off the road into the jungle. You haven't known gaming joy until you've careened down a narrow, winding jungle track while a volley of grenades obliterates a stand of saplings just a metre away from you, and catching just one grenade means that you have to hit Delete on your own save file.

After about a kilometre they finally hit a tree, and I doubled back through the jungle on foot to give them some presents from my shotgun. And from that day forward, I walked everywhere in Far Cry 2.

[chemical_art]

I would say that anyone who likes utter unpredictability in their games should like this one. A penchant for permadeath doesn't hurt.

My favourite gameplay moment ever came from Far Cry 2, playing on Hardcore difficulty with Iron Man (permadeath by honor system) rules. I was happily driving along when I heard an engine rev up behind me. I had a look to see if my pursuer was a car, or a technical with a mounted .30 cal or what — and when I saw that it was a technical with a mounted grenade launcher I swore and veered off the road into the jungle. You haven't known gaming joy until you've careened down a narrow, winding jungle track while a volley of grenades obliterates a stand of saplings just a metre away from you, and catching just one grenade means that you have to hit Delete on your own save file.

After about a kilometre they finally hit a tree, and I doubled back through the jungle on foot to give them some presents from my shotgun. And from that day forward, I walked everywhere in Far Cry 2.

But you see, I don't get that vibe in AVWV

If I am in an ice age region, I see the same ice age enemies. If I go to lava flats I see lava flat enemies.

If I go to a stash, I get the same rewards.

By continent 3 there is not a point where I go "WOW! This is new and unexpected!"

Enchantments get the random vibe somewhat. Because I can look forward to "spinning the luck wheel" and maybe getting a prize. Usually I don't, but I have the potential, and that makes it something to look forward to.

[DesiQ]

To be fair, AVWW is not what I play when I want that kind of challenge. For me this is a pretty relaxing game, with enough bullet hell to keep it interesting.

[Quaix]

I like the recent change of having bosses drop something (Upgrade stones). I wish it was enchant containers though, or if there was some way to trade in upgrade stones for enchant containers.

[DesiQ]

I like the recent change of having bosses drop something (Upgrade stones). I wish it was enchant containers though, or if there was some way to trade in upgrade stones for enchant containers.

In a related note, I wish it was possible to transmute two Enchants of the same type to get one Enchant back with its attributes randomly rolled, like you can do with Ember Gems in Archanoth's Torchlight Overhaul mod for Torchlight 1.