Here’s the video!
Have gone in a very tight manner to explain the game and give my personal experience with a link to the google doc, which contains more text.
I usher you to check it out on Youtube and for long readers to check the google Doc
Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1e9IwPmGeU&feature=youtu.be
Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18tDi_O6Mf_-k8Ly8OC8BeOi5EURGOqd6f8CnktBCkW0/edit?usp=sharing
This is a really honest and throught-out review. Well done 
Nice review. 
Though, only thing to say about it is when you talked about repeating houses.
Thing is, in Sweden, houses are exactly that. They repeat and there are a lot of similar houses IRL. Of course, you also mentioned the furniture placement inside them and with that i agree. Issue with this is due to the small dev team (about 30 people in total) and there wasn’t enough time and manpower to hand place all the buildings, including creating unique atmosphere inside each and every house/home. There are variations but i guess not enough for some.
Darn! You beat me to it! 
It is for some, that stick around the game, something that they can bear with or understand, but the repeating houses point is what other people describe the game and why they choose to review negatively.
At some point, I just wish that the Devs go through with a final revision, where they re-visit the whole map, one by one, fixing and tweaking little things and quickly moving on.
With the revisions, also a point I didn’t mention, is fences and how they float sometimes. The airfield is the brightest example I remember, but there were corners of fences that would be high above ground.
Though, if they were to fix that, I wouldn’t be able to go through certain fence areas and have to take a long way around… So, if that were to be a thing for devs to do, It wouldn’t be just grounding the objects, but also creating holes to walk through
Don’t know how much I’m asking for, but these at some point should be taken in consideration
I’m happy to discuss
My best guess, most people doesn’t know that in real life, houses repeat in Sweden. Sure, there’s not much to look at for repeating houses but real life sometimes is boring. And it’s not only in Sweden but other parts of the world as well. E.g Russia, Poland, Ukraine and many others all have one common type of housing that repeats over and over until you get sick and those buildings still continue on. I’m talking about those big 5x story flats, built during the Soviet era ('70 - '90). Even here where i live, Estonia, there are a LOT of those big flats around.
That being said, it would be difficult to make interesting looking game, buildings wise, that closely matches real life, unless you make a game that takes place in Las Vegas, since latter is purpose built with unique buildings to draw the crowd in.
Yes, object placement isn’t perfect in game, with floating trees, rocks, fences etc. But as people have reported those, devs have also fixed them according to their priority.
Avalanche Studios is a small team and people tend to forget that. For some reason, they think Avalanche Studios is one of the big studious, capable of producing AAA games. Maybe because Avalanche Studios produced stunning visuals and sounds for GZ, comparable to AAA titles.
What i like about Avalanche Studios is their passion and dedication for GZ. In few months, GZ’s anniversary comes and dev team has still stuck with the game, fixing it and adding content to it. Speaking of content, i still feel the Alpine Unrest DLC is underpriced, especially when considering the content in it.
I’d simply love seeing small, but concrete additions or fixes. Even if it’s just the airfield where a fence gets fixed, but a hole gets added, etc. They’re small things, but they would in that scenario save me time of running around. The game has a strong core, so I wouldn’t expect big steps.
Still, that DLC was marvelous and I’d say worth the price, but not over or under the price. There were very memorable core moments in the story that just shook my expectation from the studio. They were few in the story, but still very memorable that uplifted the rest. That said, I would’ve liked the DLC to be pricier if it meant that NPCs had more time spent on them to give them life. I was excited meeting them, but walking in triggers to make them talk and then actually meeting them was no different. They were like empty husks that are simply idle.
There were the interiors, greater detail, more to explore and read. As soon as I boarded the boat to the island, I didn’t leave it 'till every safe house was unlocked and side mission completed. It gave me days of exploring and wondering. Mysterious side stories that peaked interest… It’s value is up to it.
If it wasn’t 8 Eur, I’d be okay with 10 too, but I’d go higher if the npcs got worked on better to attach myself to. To be able to bump or walk up to them and they at least scoffed or said some one-liner to acknowledge me.
Sorry for the rant. I’m finding it interesting to discuss and share my perspective
If there’s something to rant about, then my rant is about game nerfs.
I’ve played GZ since launch and back in the good old days, you actually had to work hard for what you wanted to get. Few examples:
When you picked up a mission (main or side), only info you had was location name and primary goal (e.g go to X spot, find out what happened). Once at the location, you had to search and explore the area to find clues (mission items) to get more info what is going on. Once you picked up the clue, you actually had to read what it said, so you know in which direction to advance next. That made every mission a small treasure hunt, where you actually had to use your head and think what to do.
Now, there are POI icons: “go through that door”, “pick this item up” that spoon feed you into the right spot across the whole map. ONLY saving grace is that you can disable POI icons from Game settings. Which i’ve done since i don’t like spoon feeding.
Also, the missions themselves were much harder as well. For example:“Beyond the Barricade” (South Coast). At the end of the mission, there is gas filled house. And that gas was very, VERY deadly. The deadliest gas i met in game. I lost 20HP per second when i went in there! I had to constantly heal myself, find way through the gas, locate mission item and get out alive ASAP. Loved that mission.
Few months back, i helped friend out and he also did that mission. I did warn him about the very deadly gas and he went it. Somehow, he was able to be in there far longer than i was, so i also went into the gas and behold, i only lost 1HP per second. The essence what made this mission special was lost.
In the beginning, i had to explore and search for my gear, including ammo and first aid kits. That was fun. Machines did gave some ammo (specific ammo from each machine type, e.g 9mm Glock from military runners or .50 cal + rockets from FINX tank) and it was very rare to get advanced first aid kit from FINX harv.
Now, machines are walking treasure chests, almost completely eliminating any reason to search for the ammo and first aid kits.
Take down a runner and simple first aid kit is guaranteed in 90% of the time. Same with hunters - take it down and standard first aid kit is guaranteed in 90% of the time. Advanced first aid kits used to be very rare and valuable items but now, you can get one from every tank/harv you take down, making it common item.
Same is with ammo. It used to be where ONLY FINX hunters and tanks gave you .50 cal ammo and rockets. I had to use Ammo Packs that i found to keep my .50 cal and HE rocket supply up. Back then, there were ammo types that were rare: .50 cal, rockets, .44 Magnum and 5.56mm. Latter two didn’t spawn from machines at all while former two spawned only from the two most deadliest machines (FINX tank and FINX hunter).
Now, you can get rockets from multiple enemies: FINX runner, military hunter, all harv types, all tank types.
Ammo and first aid kit looting system was messed up by those lazy players who didn’t want to play the game as it was intended (explore, find loot boxes, collect your ammo from the world), instead, they wanted to get the loot from the machines they destroyed. So, the devs implemented the system where you can get first aid kits from enemies and 80% of wasted ammo back when taking down harvs/tanks.
I completed the vanilla game with vanilla weapons. Best i had was 4*. Did find 5* weapons post end-game, once i was brave enough to take on FNIX tank(s) on my own. And i was well rewarded for my effort, a 5* weapon with 5* mod.
Back then, it was 100% guaranteed that you got 5* weapon alongside 5* mod from FNIX tank and about 20% chance to get 5* weapon and 5* mod from FNIX harv. That was changed when “Machine Loot” came in June’s Update.
Also, the method experimental weapons are given to the players needs some serious rework. Right now, there are no restrictions whatsoever and low lvl player can get 6* weapon(s) before leaving Archipelago region. That messes up the game experience for players since there is no gradual introduction to weapons and their qualities as it once was.
In my opinion, experimental weapon drops should be locked behind final vanilla mission. Since players get those from Rivals, those too should be locked behind final mission. This way, players can do the vanilla game with normal weapons, gradually finding better quality ones. Once they finish the game, Rival spawns are unlocked and only then, they get their hands on experimental weapons.
Moreover, currently, there is no reason given within the game why rivals appear in the first place. Though, it’s easy to tie Rivals appearance reason(s) into the main story at the end of story line. But i can’t discuss it without spoilers.
GZ was intended to be harder than the average game where you play it with your buddy (co-op) but which can be played in Single Player as well (with added difficulty, e.g no backup in combat or no-one to discuss with how to advance in missions).
At current point, GZ is in the state where it spoon feeds players through missions and gives instant rewards to players so that they don’t have to think nor work hard for their loot. Except weapon drops from tanks/harvs, that was made into tedious grind.
I guess it’s the current trend with new games, wanted by the newer (younger) generation of gamers, who want instant gratification, by giving players very easy pass through the game but at the end, making the best items near impossible to get.
I am sad that the GZ has strayed from the path it was, when i bought GZ week after it’s launch.
What i am happy about, is that i got to enjoy GZ and finish all my main and side vanilla missions before those game nerfs came that i described above.
I see your point about spoon-feeding, but if there is such a massive gripe for having quests spoon feed locations, you could turn off the overlaying icons that direct your attention in the settings. I’ve done it and certainly have had more fun that way. Not all of us are the same and Generation Zero has attracted people that play more lightly and share scenery most often on Discord.
That whole discussion about quests also used to be that they’re indirect. Quests being ominous and descriptions not being helpful, but I believe it’s just perspective. Our inputs of harder questing would again oppose those who want it to be lighter, so before we lose one or the other side… grant choice. Choosing at the start of the game whether you want quest icons to appear or to inspect clues on your own.
One point I didn’t know is that you could seriously be a fresh meat and instantly have the CHANCE to find experimental gear. I was planning to start a fresh character and go through the first tough moments, but now I see that if what you say is true, there’s not much challenge posed. Are experimental weapons that common, though? I’ve gotten the drop of an experimental only twice through-out… and they’ve both been the same weapon.
Walking treasure chests point is quite understandable. I haven’t really found a day in my ‘endgame’ character to actually have the threat of running out of ammo. Health sometimes is hard to get by, but I’ve recently just begun using suppressors more and starting with weak enemies that tend to chip away at my health.
I heard of people doing an ironman challenge on themselves that if they die, with no adrenaline left, they delete the save and start over. This idea really interested me and soon I’m thinking of doing that too. I wouldn’t like to make the game harder for others just because I’m not getting enough difficulty, but rather… again, have the choice to make it harder. I’d choose to make death an impactful mechanic to make me consider fights more cautiously as I seek for the thrill I met in the very first hours of the game.
To get 6* weapon, you need to ice a Rival. And to spawn a Rival, especially in the beginning, is very easy. Most likely you get kill spawn 1st rather than score spawn. And you can have up to 8x Rivals per region with spawn cooldown timer of 2x in-game hours. So, in theory, after 16 in-game hours, you could have full amount of Rivals in one region.
Also, 6* weapon drop from Rivals should be like so:
Rival lvl1 - 10% chance
Rival lvl2 - 15% chance
Rival lvl3 - 20% chance
Rival lvl4 - 25% chance
Percentages are estimations since devs haven’t released exact numbers. Devs only said that higher lvl Rival increases weapon drop. But that doesn’t work. I’ve gotten several 6* weapons from lvl1 Rivals while lvl4 Rivals don’t want to give weapon drops. It could be due to the RNG.
I remember seeing few topics where people have gotten 6* weapons early on. Here’s one example;
So, yeah. Ability to get 6* weapon so early on, while what you have at most are 2* weapons, is game breaking. Sure, Rivals are good bullet sponges with different tactics than their normal counterparts but that doesn’t deter all people going after them. Especially if you know there’s great reward from the “mini boss”.