My main issue with the evolution of the world “Östertörn” is not what it’s evolving into, it’s the way it’s presented. Or, not presented to be more honest.
I played GZ from release, so I need to try and see things from an adapted perspective.
I don’t mind the destruction, but we have to be able to imagine that some of it has occurred after the cataclysm. So yeah, it takes a lot of imagination…
We can assume that in october of ‘89, the player was gone for at least a weekend. 2-3 days should be enough time for the amount of destruction we currently see to happen, if an all-out war breaks out and heavy, desperate fighting ensues. I wonder, how far away was the player really, since they didn’t even hear it happening?
As a new player proceeds onward from Yttervik, the signs of war and abandonment become more and more visible. Scattered, improvised barricades makes sense, but locked-down and boarded-up houses makes you really question the narrative that civilians were evacuated in a hurry. (Open houses, lights on, food on the tables.) Boarding windows and doors takes a lot of time, time they didn’t have.
The Resistance is the first major logical error, and you encounter it after just a few hours, upon leaving the Archipelago. That Resistance base (and the possibility to start FNIX Rising should NOT be there at this point in the game! This, along with all other signs of the Resistance and FNIX structures, should not appear at all before the player has completed Alpine Unrest. We need to be given a believeable span of time for this to take place.
Further onward, as I have pointed out before, the dead Soviet troops with no obvious explanation as to why they are there, are also a logical error. As the “vanilla” story comes to a conclusion, we are told that the USSR are “closely monitoring” the situation and have offered help. But sending in their troops to be killed and left behind tells a different story.
After completing Behind The Curtain, the screen goes to black, and the player finds themselves a safe distance away. At this point, if it was my game, I would have made a time jump to december ‘89, and only after this, you would now be able to start Alpine Unrest. Only now, after this time jump, a few Resistance structures and dead fighters would appear in scattered locations across the map.
Upon completing Alpine Unrest, I would implement another time jump, to late december ‘89. This could happen with the player supposedly being wounded defending the Hotel, and needing time to recover. Now, and not earlier, FNIX structures should have appeared in the South Coast, and the Resistance bases on and near Måsskär should have been built and been attacked. Now is the time you should be able to start FNIX Rising. Also, The Reaper shouldn’t appear until now.
Upon completing FNIX Rising, I would find another smart way to excuse a time jump. This time, up ‘till where we are right now, march ‘90. During this time jump, even more Resistance structures and set pieces would be put in place, along with the FNIX base on Tylöveden.
Could it not have been done somewhat like this? Would that not have been so much more believeable, and less confusing for new (and old) players?
Another thing. We’re suddenly in 1990, and not just january but march! This means winter is for the most part over, or very soon over, depending on annual meteorological factors. As we eventually get more DLC for GZ, and I suppose we again move ahead in time, it does make me wonder if the map will one day be cleared of snow, and we’ll see spring come to Östertörn. Or will the devs be bold enough to move into april and even may, while keeping full winter foliage in place?
I have questions! Lots of them, but that’s enough for now…
This isn’t a complaint, BTW.
Still love the game.