Big open landscapes..can't fill it with fluff...then fill it with Giants.

[(PSN)FriendSharkey]

Just a observation I'd share..I was going through the codex and found myself looking at the designs for the Ghouls. It dawned on me that I never could really make them out when fighting them on the plains, it's based more on their sound prompts, radar, and those quick flashes of motion and gunfire...

You can sorta make out the larger Ghoul Devourer just due to his slightly larger mass, but the others sorta blend into each other while you miss out on the finer details. They blend so much that for me anyways I feel like the Ghouls should really be Nox, the Rictus Alpha, and the Devourer and you just change up the Rictus's weapons ensemble  for the other Ghouls not mentioned. And then...you make them far larger.

The enemy on the plains seem visually tiny..the grass obscures them, they are at times indistinguishable from each differing unit and a lot of the art design is lost on the scaling. On watching Jim Sterling's criticism of large open maps and content...and how POE is falling into that trap...I find myself thinking about games like Lost Planet 2 and Shadow of The Colossus. If you can't fill the game with mass amounts of NPC quest line content..you can fill it with Giants and Monsters that have a lasting effect on the player.  

Larger units are coming with the Cone Grineer Tank, Corporus Spider Tanks on Venus, and new Eidolons,...that's great..I find myself quickly hating the Grineer flying ships on the plains...to me that's a good sign that these enemies cause pause and break the normal routine from time to time when they are higher ranked...because they are larger each unit poses a differing profile and threat level, ...they are easily recognizable.

Perhaps ground based vechicle threats are in order as we go forward. Many of us have fought plenty of Covenant Wraiths, Scarabs, Scorpions to Battlefield's brand of heavy tanks and fast attack platforms...a good fight against a powerful enemy can make a large open space feel not as empty...

So maybe consider enlarging the enemy infantry...I find the Nox on the plains actually stands out and signals a threat..his details are not missed and that goes a long way on allowing players to form a emotional response to the enemy content provided.

 

anyways thanks for reading..and cheers.

Edited March 13, 2018 by (PS4)FriendSharkey