I am currently working on a video along the lines of “How to improve GZ on the macro scale”. It will be a feedback video on how to improve the game overall. It willl mostly focus on the gameplay aspects, but will have a small section for story and lore.
This kinda of video requires feedback from a decent sized part of the community. Which is why I am making this post. I want to know in overall terms, what you think should be done to improve GZ. I have already collected some data from some prominent members in this community. I am now trying to get the average player to weigh in.
Stuff I have so far includes UI improvements, animations, more options (depth of field, scope sens), weapon pack quality improvements, skill overhaul with respec, more testing of updates before release to catch more of the annoying bugs, fixing of old non-gamebreaking bugs, possibly longer update intervals for more time to iron out patches (I am not a game dev, so I cannot say how much, if at all, it will improve quality), and finally less of adding stuff in with a plan to fix it later. As this causes a lot of barebones features to be implemented. This is not all of it, but it gives an idea of what has already been given to me.
I thank all of you read through my post, and thank those who decide to leave their feedback here.
Gz obviously has something witth it keeping us here, but has a lot that makes people want to leave, and if those can get fixed, GZ can be that much better.
pitch in some two cents here, i’ll safely assume you’re gunna cover the obvious things of NG+ and the other notable community requests along those QoL features
But something i think would be an improvement on the macro scale would be going over past introductions and taking a thorough approach to flushing them out.
Bikes, prestige points, assignments maybe even DLC features. It’s all a very solid foundation, but if these things were flushed out, given more purpose, i think it would be a huge boost to the overall game experience.
Yep! These will be mentioned when I talk about the “add now fix later” stuff.
As these are some cool features that could greatly improve the game if they themselves were improved.
I think we maybe need some more fleshed out daily missions or just something more to do once you have done everything (other than wait for the next update). I mean the daily missions are alright, but it’s along the lines of something you do normally like blow up some tanks. Or maybe make the daily missions a little longer like killing those tanks gives you something and sends you on a little side quest.
Aim directly at the Sun/Moon
Look at the compass. Both Sun and Moon rise at the east and set at the west.
Depending on the compass needle position you can tell how much longer will the day/night last.
For example if it’s pointing south then you’ll have 50% of day/night left.
Besides what was said by @0L0 above, and if you want numerical value as well, then;
Meaning that when sun/moon is directly to the South, you have 1 hour, in real time, before day/night switches.
Also, day/night only advances when you’re in-game. Meaning that you can’t skip the time by closing the game and waiting the time out.
But overall, i agree. It would be nice to see the time in game, and not just clock on your HUD but when wearing certain apparel item.
Further discussion here: Apparel with bonus audio/visual effects
I totally agree. I would even prefer to have one thing being fleshed out to have the players shown that the devs are capable of doing so.
And when its overcast you can try to get a reflection of the sun/moon in lakes, puddles etc. This somehow works sometimes.
To the main topic: Difficulty drop: I have the feeling the game gets too easy the further you progress. While the South coast and higher machine tiers offer a climb in difficulty in total the difficulty drops dramatically with the instance you get your hands on experimental weapons and ammo. For me this breaks the late game. I don’t say the difficulty should stay always the same or even rises towards the end but I think a FNIX hunter should not be a proto hunter with different weapons and paint. I somewhere suggested to put the machines in some sort of overdrive mode when the player uses exp. weapons and/or ammo.
World revamp: A lot of the changes made with the revamps make no sense at all. While some houses become inaccessible is ok this has become the go to standard lately. Sometimes there is just a box, a bucket or a palette in front of a door. Like this would hinder anybody. Then there are destroyed houses. This makes no sense since you can hide in a building while being bombarded with the heaviest barrages and the house still stays intact. And what’s with all the large gas container tanks inside the demolished areas still being unaffected. Sorry to say this but to me the revamp feels very cheap.
Story line: Since the introduction of the resistence update the story line is thrown out of the window. While I think it was too difficult to put the home base on a new island surrounding Östertörn the push of the corresponding timeline to about 5 months later is bad. Especially with Elsa being the connection point between the old and the new timeline there is a major flaw with it. In a letter Elsa says she is at the Björntunet hotel on Himfjäll but what about the players who don’t have the DLC or didn’t visit Himfjäll already and didn’t do the missions there… especially the mission where Elsa gets to the hotel. Someone with the devs should be overlooking the whole storyline (actual and future additions).
Bottom line: Before anything new story-wise is implemented, all the inconsistencies have to be fixed. Maybe bring the timeline back to Nov 89 or make the time progress while you’re underway.
Bringing back the timeline to the 80s would be very nice, mainly because there’s not really any reason for the game to progress itself into the 90s considering that story really hasn’t been moving forward since FNIX RISING. The resistance update trailer made it seem like a big deal, but for what reason? The 80s aestechtis won’t suddenly disappear and turn into the 90s. Lore wise nothing changed other than FNIX being FNIX and the resistance forcing us to do their work for them. What even is the story now? Is there even someone in charge of it?
I agree with you, there is some stagnation. There is no active development of the game and this is very bad, because the project will not last long on old ideas.
The problem here is that the DEV team have done a survey and simply added everything asked for. This has destructed all the cohesion, and made the game ten times easier, since that was what the majority of respondents asked for. You do, but often you don’t like it when it’s given to you, because it gets too easy and the story is gone. So now it’s a shoot-em-up. Well, what will the next survey come up with? Well, it’ll be comments on what is now a shoot-em-up, which will take it even further from the brilliant original concept.
I think the DEVs need to make a long-term decision. Are they just going to give the noisiest players everything they ask for, or are they going to rethink the concept to get it back where it started? We need a conference!
Oh God no. That’s where all of this mess started. It’ll be whatever features they can crib from Rust / Outriders / Destiny 2 or countless other titles that are in vogue. I don’t get it, why request stuff to make GZ more like ‘Game X’ or ‘Game Y’. Just go play those.
I’d far rather the devs doubled-down on what made GZ different. Make it unique, not some homogenised Frankenstein of a game, with bits tacked on that you can play better implemented versions of elsewhere.
The devs must have internal analytics / metrics on how the player base spend their time (Xbox players are currently sat twiddling their thumbs) or some original design documents.
Maybe bring the OG product manager / game director in for an internal meeting and find out what the original plans were, because whatever GZ is now, I almost guarantee that this [gesticulates wildly at GZ] isn’t that.
I’d love this to happen, more than anything else.
Or a way to roll back the updates and have a more hardcore “classic” version with actual machines wandering around & patrolling. The current Xbox build is almost a walking sim it’s that sparsely populated.
It may be that the bulk of players prefer GZ now, to the earlier builds and I’m just an old fart. I know I am , but I’d hope that they can continue to make money from GZ. I’d like to see it thrive, so we may one day see a sequel.
I think I’ve all but lost hope that GZ will see a return to form, maybe it’s time to pin my hopes in it one day (maybe) getting a sequel.
I think the Generation Zero experience is the perfect example of the fact that following a “feedback survey” is a rotten strategy tool.
As David Ogilvy (a brilliant strategist) said: “people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say…”
This is what is wrong with strategy by survey. This is the mistake Gen Z has made. The only way back is to give control to a project director with a vision. Like whoever first thought of it. Who was it, and where is he now?
@Gysbert, dear, I was one of the fiercest fans of the game I bought and the prospect I believed it held. Unfortunately the way the game developed killed my mood. If others feel the same I fear that one day you might be quite alone in here … but hopefully in a good mood
I think you’re being a bit biased. Just because you happen to disagree with the game in it’s current state doesn’t mean the devs aren’t simply obeying to every demand. And I’ve stated this before, you’re in no position to argue for any part of the playerbase, so please try to be a bit more constructive. That goes for everyone.
As for what’s ahead… I would not mind a letter from the devs with some hints about the future. Not just upcoming content updates, but actual story progression would go a long way, I think.
, but I’d hope that they can continue to make money from GZ. I’d like to see it thrive, so we may one day see a sequel.
Anyway, Annika keeps me more than busy so no worries 
Agree! In that beautiful event I might even consider giving Annika a few days off and revisit Östertörn …