I agree the maze maps certainly make things very claustrophobic and a bit more tense. Greatly reduced room for area and quite easy to get trapped!
I don't have a problem myself with shooting through walls. Everything about the basic rules seems quite clear to me after one game. If the bot is lit up, they can see you, will shoot you (if in weapon range) and you can shoot them (if in weapon range). If the bot has a red laser towards you, they will fire upon you. Given Chris's response in the player questions thread (the first one, in response to your question) it seems unlikely this is going to be changed, and it looks like it's an established option in terms of LoS mechanics. As I see it you're not shooting through walls exactly, but peeking around corners. Same goes for the enemy bots.
Hmm, I'd be fine with the "looking around corners" theory.... if I was actually NEAR a corner when this happens, which, almost all of the time, I'm not. Certainly not close enough for "peeking around" to make sense, anyway.
One of the main reasons why this bit is a problem is partly due to the nature of this genre. Roguelikes, particularly at higher difficulties, encourage very careful planning. In a game where weapons, weapon ranges, target selection, and both player and enemy movement, patterns, and AI differences come into effect, alot of the stuff that the player is planning around, and alot of the info that they are using, is based on the structure of the surrounding area. As it is, I'm never quite sure just when I'll suddenly be magically able to see a given foe until I'm already there; I cannot look ahead into a room that my sensors are hitting, and try to plan out how I'll go about it, because I just cant really be sure about when/where I'll be able to shoot at them from, or them shoot at me from. In some cases this isnt that important, but I've found that it can become VERY important when you're going up against something particularly dangerous. I had that one happen multiple times against things like Wyvernbots and Doombots. Had one Exo death entirely due to that in a particular mission, as I thought the line of sight would go to a certain spot, and moved to where I figured I should be, based on the number of tiles away the guy was and the fact that he was moving..... but when I got near that section, very suddenly he was in range, and the situation at the time meant that I couldnt really run away from him; I had to get up there and hit him hard before he got in firing range (which I had enough attack power to do). didn't work though, because of that.
Some of this will be based on the individual playstyle of each player; it drives me absolutely up the wall.... and will likely do so even more once I up the difficulty.... but others may not be as affected by it. I can see it very definitely being a sticking point in reviews though; it's exactly the sort of thing that reviewers like to point out and berate.
That's my views/opinion/thoughts on it, at least. It doesnt ruin the game or anything, but I do find it bloody annoying, and like I said, it will be pointed out over and over in reviews.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway. Aside from that, the current update is fairly good. It's hard for me to judge the difficulty level yet; the bot AI and the part where they actually realize that you're there and are supposed to do something is still really funky at times, and I'm about 5 missions into my current game, so that's not too far yet. Those missions up to this point have been quite easy though; the doombots presented the only actual threat. And sometimes a SilenceBot would get in a hit or two. For the most part though, my guys have so much health that aside from the Doombot mission, it often seems like I *cant* be killed. Particularly if there's also healing stations that I've found somewhere in the level, as there's never any threat in backtracking, as is often the case in this genre. This is all on Normal currently.
Some enemy bots though do seem like they could do with some tweaks in some ways, though I dont have specific suggestions at the moment. And some missions are easy because of the selection of bots; for example SilenceBots + WyvernBots are a very nasty combo, but Silencebots + Ammobots are.... well, they make me think of the old Lemmings games, with those little guys just waddling happily into chainsaws.
Yet to be seen how it'll go as I get further though!
And again, quite enjoying it. The gameplay is fun and the customization is interesting; min/maxer types will love that part, hah.
If I might make one suggestion on that: In the Inventory screen, divide it up somehow, so I can look at it and say "Ok, these are all the parts that can go in weapon slots, these others are the ones that go in shield slots, and these are ones that can go in multiple slot types". It'd really help when looking over the inventory to see what I just got from the last mission.
EDIT: Oh yeah, a question: How in the heck does regen even work? I could swear it doesnt do anything. Or if it does, I've never been in a position to notice it.
