Subnautica: If you're looking for me you better check under the sea

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Subnautica: If you're looking for me you better check under the sea

Anaxite: Jan 16, 2009; What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

I bought Subnautica last night and gave it a try.

It's not bad; a lot of the mechanics seem relatively simple, which makes it easy to work with. I wasn't sure how a non-random map would work but there's enough variety in the world to experiment. The base-building mechanic seems like it could stand to have more polish but, to its credit, it works.

Some good:

Hasn't crashed yet.
Looks pretty! The water effects they recently overhauled work really well, and the underwater vegetation seems well-modeled.
You can build some pretty-neat looking bases. And thankfully, you can put blueprints down or start building before you have the materials. I'm still experimenting.
I appreciate the different game modes, especially since food and water may get really tedious to some people after a while.

Some bad:

The usual list of unpolished bugs that an early build has: collision detection, missing in-game effects, lighting inconsistencies...
Pop-in. Oh god, the pop-in. Why is it blocking I/O? The most tense part of the game was not what horrors may lurk in unknown areas, but whether the game will pop in something really dangerous or annoying right in my face; the game freezes when it loads visual assets and terrain. It doesn't help that assets aren't loaded in while they're still out of visual range, in the fog! Someone really should tweak the LOD settings before release.
~~Can't make a saddle and ride my space manatee~~

# ¿ Feb 5, 2016 20:11

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 22:51

Anaxite: Jan 16, 2009; What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Yeah, some guy recording a playthrough said the same thing. Experimental is a bit better, but could still stand to be improved.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2016 20:16

Anaxite: Jan 16, 2009; What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

It's unfortunate that aside from the Wreck parts, there aren't really renewable resources yet -- or if there are, I've yet to find them.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2016 07:27

Anaxite: Jan 16, 2009; What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Yestermoment posted:

Had an interesting bug happen to me. I somehow bugged and fell through the floor of my base and i fell to the floor of the ocean and the game is still acting like I'm above water...

You're not the only one. It happened to me with the floor of my moonpool. I don't want to imagine this happening outside of the Safe Shallows...

# ¿ Mar 26, 2016 07:11

Anaxite: Jan 16, 2009; What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Yestermoment posted:

I took a wrong turn and fell down a hole alllllll the way down into that biome with the big pink mushrooms all over the place before I restart because I had NO way of the game recognizing me as being underwater. Aggressive fish recognized I was there and would even get in my face but I was invulnerable for some reason?

There's a way to get out of walking mode, as long as you have the materials to create a hatch and corridor, or if there's a hatch nearby. The moment you try to enter the hatch it should kick you back to the water in swimming mode. If you don't have the materials or your base is too far for your oxygen you're boned, but it's something.

It looks like the game has at least two states for the protagonist: walking and swimming, triggered by using hatches or passing surfaces designated as water surfaces. Maybe it also tracks being inside bases as a third state. This system would explain how the moonpool transition works, and that it's just a change in physics and available controls. Maybe some creatures are set to only hurt the player in swimming mode?

# ¿ Mar 27, 2016 09:15

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