So, I was replying to this thread with a couple of questions on things I found annoying about this TC, and I ended up writing a decent length opinionated rant about what has annoyed the shit out of me so far with very little positive feedback thrown in. It's nothing personal, in fact I consider DeeperThought to be a good friend of mine these days, but I've decided to post it anyway because I still think it's valid feedback. Here it is:
Why does everything in this TC have some lasting effect that keeps damaging you for 15 seconds every time you get hit? It's really goddamn annoying. I'm playing the first boss battle or whatever, and it's just stupid... you either get hit by spider webs, which stick you in place, or you get poisoned, which drains your health, or you get set on fire, which also drains your health, or you get frozen, which presumably slows you down while draining your health.
And then there's the fact that whatever health draining affliction of the second will actually kill you, instead of just dropping your health to 1 like every sane game ever made. What the fuck? I understand gameplay concepts like these, but they come from games where the player can carry around a ton of health flasks and heal himself at the drop of a hat. You'd think the player could at least be thrown a bone here... more health packs, maybe some armor, spawn "Doom Health" in the middle of the arena when the boss changes from fire to ice, whatever. But no, there's nothing like that, just more annoying shit that spawns.
This just seems really poorly balanced. I feel like I can't even throw a pipebomb half the time, because there is a ridiculous amount of shit just constantly shooting from all directions. The pipebombs actually seem to have detonated in mid air because of it on more than one occasion.
And then, even when I killed the boss there was no health buff or anything as a reward... just more stupid spiders all over the place (seriously, is killing the boss a trigger for spawning more of them or something?), more stupid afflictions that keep draining your health, and more frustration. I don't think there were even any health packs or anything to replenish what was lost in the battle before being made to fight another swarm of shit shooting from all directions in the beginning of the next map.
So, congratulations on creating a mod that is simultaneously both one of the coolest I've played and the gayest thing ever. Been playing shooters since I was a little kid and I have never been this irritated with a game. How is it that I can have nearly 100 health but as soon as I get hit
once during some battles I know I'm going to have to quickload because of all the ridiculous faggotry going on? I get the feeling you guys tested this mostly on lower skill settings or with god mode or other cheats enabled way too often. And it's not like I suck, either; ask anyone who has ever had the misfortune of deathmatching me what happened and they will probably try and press charges against me for forced sodomy with a virtual firearm.
Good thing I never granted your request for a feature to stop the player from saving whenever he wanted!
Sorry for the negative review, the TC just needs a bit more work in the gameplay balancing department in my opinion. Otherwise, I really like it... I'm impressed with the mapping, the sprites (they're very good rips/combinations of existing artwork), the sound is good, and the majority of the CON effects have been awesome so far. I'm still gonna play it through to the end, but I have to take breaks often because of how irritated some of it is making me.
Edit: okay, so I just played most of the second level and I wasn't really annoyed at all. In fact, it was pretty bad ass. Maybe it's just that first boss battle that pissed me off because absolutely everything that hit you would penalize you for so long. *shrug*