Yarh, they need to release the Xbox update first. I think that’s like, priority one to make sure the game’s on the same level across all platforms. And I do believe it’ll come before summer’s over, possibly with other fixes along the way. We might be down for a mega-patch, who knows.
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Zesiiiiirrrr!!! They’ve already admitted that they just picked the most popular answers to the survey and did them! This isn’t in dispute. For the reasons I’ve given, that’s a bad way to do it. No brilliant game ever came out of a survey, did it? Name one. The best games come out of nowhere - they can’t be predicted.
If the average game player could produce a brilliant computer game, they would. Do they? No!
What people think they want isn’t what works. That’s the problem.
I’ve been on this forum since the beginning. At the start there were moans about the crashing, but we were all amazingly positive about the game itself. I don’t see that now. There are a hundred more moans than there were then! So, the more you give the player base what they say they want, the more negative they get. Why is that? It’s because David Ogilvy was right about this as he was about almost everything else he ever said. Surveys are a hopeless way to construct strategy.
What you ask for in the last sentence is vision. That’s what’s been lost, and don’t tell me I’m wrong - I’m a strategist - I know what I’m looking at.
The subject is: How to improve GZ on the macro scale, and the answer is to appoint a game director with a super-clear vision.
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Well this thread went about where I thought it was going to go.
I knew many of you would make posts about the general feeling of the game. That it took a turn towards more arcadey/mainstream. To the probably disappointment of many of you, I will not be make much of a mention about the subject in my video.
I do agree that the game should retain the unqieness it has. I already feel it still has it, considering I still play it. Just like everyone here, I hope to see some cool and unique features in GZ’s future.
My video was going to mostly be about how to improve what we have (not remove it), as well as some ideas on how further mechanic implementation could be done better with higher quality. This along with some QoL.
I thank you all for the feedback (and those who post some after this post), I have put some points down. I will make sure I post the video here when it is finished.
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To add to Booties response there is this From the GZ official website. The left part “A team effort” states
“With Generation Zero we want to do more than just release new content, we want to work in collaboration with you, our players - get feedback, improvement asks, and “wish lists” - as this will help us create content that you want. On top of that you can expect balancing, patches, and fixes to happen continuously”.
For me at least, on first reading it sounds like every “your feedback is valuable statement”, but the more I think about it, to me it sounds more like “we kinda have a plan but not really”. Note “wish lists” in the statement. This gives the impression that they had a vision for the base product that released in 2019 but not the future.
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Don’t get me wrong, for all my talk about a “classic” mode, I would only envision that running alongside what we have now / in the future, much like WoW has done. Absolutely, I don’t want them to remove anything, even the bits I don’t like. Just because they’re not my cup of tea I wouldn’t want them gone.
I genuinely love GZ (I’m sure all my posts read far more negative than I intend) but I just wish they’d stop with the “implement it now, fix it later” approach. As a software developer I fully understand the “release early and iterate often” ethos, but I feel that it’s doing neither Systemic Reaction or GZ any favours.
Instead of getting a polished experience which you would expect from a game +2yrs after release we get a game which, while elements of it are very polished (the visuals, audio and the setting still take my breath away today), a lot of it is a bit rough, bare-bones or in some cases, broken.
I.e. You would have thought that by now, after many MANY updates that the inventory system would be slick. (see also matchmaking)
Instead we have a system where the sorting makes no kind of sense, seemingly re-sorts stuff as you drop meaning you can easily drop the wrong thing or lose items. To me, this is a fundamental aspect of the game, something that you simply cannot play the game without interacting with. To my mind as developer, this would be priority 1; everybody uses it, fundamental to the game, people are repeatedly losing items and it’s a relatively simple thing to do in the grand scheme of things.
But instead we have countless tweaks to other aspects of the game, new features (some of which haven’t worked properly since they were introduced; assignments I’m looking at you) all the while the inventory has been left in this state after they (kind of) implemented ‘sorting’.
It’s such a shame that people starting the game fresh may well run into relatively new bare-bones features, or old bugs, before they get to see more of the games better aspects, leaving them with a rough impression. How many people haven’t seen past some of the rough edges? I know of all the people I’ve introduced to Östertörn only a handful stuck around, citing bugs and other issues as their reason for leaving.
There are a myriad of flourishes or quality of life features I would love for them to add. (I was constantly baffled why we didn’t have fake Casio digital watches that worked to tell the in-game time) but ahead of any wish lists or QoL features I’d like them to take stock of where GZ is now and fix / polish the existing parts of the game we have. Please.
For me, taking stock, fixing / polishing what we have is how to improve GZ, ahead of anything else.
Beyond that, make the game as different as you can from the other games of this type. The game needs to be as Swedish as it can be, that’s the USP for GZ. There is no other FPS set in Sweden, embrace it. Lately it feels like they’re pulling away from that with the US and Soviet weapon packs. While variety and more weapons is good, there are countless games where I can fire an M16 or a Dragunov, I’m sure that there must be a wealth of Swedish military history that could be exploited here.
The FNIX structures and war torn look also I feel detract somewhat from the Swedish aesthetic. Give us more authentic Swedish architecture / municipal buildings, make it feel MORE like an actual place. Much like City 17 and HL2+ the landscape in GZ is one of GZ’s strongest assets and I feel that lately we’ve lost some of that. The Combine structures in HL2 / HL:Alyx for example feel like they have a purpose, and they contrast really well with the urban setting. They feel like something growing and embedded within the environment slowly taking it over. By contrast, a lot of the FNIX structures just feel like they’ve been dropped on the map and logically serve little to no purpose, either functionally or within the narrative. Better placement / integration of these could improve the atmosphere.
I think at heart I want a “deeper” version of the game we have rather than a “broader” one, if new features are to be added I’d rather they were added in a more finished state. Longer development and (at least as importantly) testing times, with new headline features as paid for DLC. I.e. I’d far rather have a fully-featured, paid for base building DLC, than a free bare-bones approach that may (or may not) be iterated upon.
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Okay, let’s break this down for once. But I’m not getting myself dragged into an endless “yes-and-no” argument here, alright?
Fair points, but I disagree.
I don’t see what that has to do with anything.
According to you. That’s what I mean by this being a biased opinion.
I’ve been on this forum since the beginning. At the start there were moans about the crashing, but we were all amazingly positive about the game itself. I don’t see that now. There are a hundred more moans than there were then!
Speaking from a moderator’s perspective, with all my uh, all-seeing powers and whatnot, I don’t agree with this at all. I was also here from the beginning and if I recall correctly, it was much, much worse back then. Mostly because the game had a rocky launch and people wanted it to take off in different directions.
Quite frankly, most of the “moaning” these days comes from a few select users (you included) who aren’t happy that they’re not getting the game they got at launch. And I use that term very carefully, because it’s not a very nice thing to say about others who just want different things than you.
Again, your own opinion. Surveys have done much to improve the game and getting people content that they want, including story, gameplay elements and improvements to the game world.
All the surveys do is offering another way for the players to communicate with the developers, just like the forums. The difference is, the former is an easier way to do it and it involves the community more actively.
What you ask for in the last sentence is vision. That’s what’s been lost, and don’t tell me I’m wrong - I’m a strategist - I know what I’m looking at.
The subject is: How to improve GZ on the macro scale, and the answer is to appoint a game director with a super-clear vision.
In my opinion, you’re wrong. The developers clearly have a vision for this game, otherwise they wouldn’t be slaving away to make sure the content they make will please as many as possible.
It’s been a few hard years for the software development industry and they’ve no doubt seen their fair share of hardships so far so I can’t really blame them for holding off on heavier content and doing what they can to please as many as possible with what can be done.
Can they do better? Of course. But they could also do a lot worse. And from what I’ve seen they do care about this game, and the input of the community.
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No, I don’t want a “yes-no” discussion either, but I’ll expand a couple of points.
One of the things that was ground-breaking about the game was the fact that missions gave you no help at all. You had to find them and work them out. Commentators suggested that this might challenge the whole genre. Now what’s happened? Players demanded that they be made simpler so now they’re on the HUD and no challenge at all. They simply become a source of XP. Does that make the game better? Well no, because due to the XP cap, actually you don’t need XP - it comes fast enough from conflict, but now all the mystery is gone.
The game was about the mystery, and the machines were the problem. But if you take out the mystery, then the machines are the game and the story is just a process of getting XP and weapons. Thus, you’ve lost something unique and only gained something temporary.
I used to play for four or five hours just looking for and solving missions. You needed to look everywhere - every house was a possibility.
This is what I mean by saying that the players are a rotten source of game strategy, 'cos they’re no good at it.
If they’d kept the missions and the story centre stage, I’d buy DLC of more missions and more story once a month if it were only a couple of quid! All the single players would, and there’s your ongoing income.
I realise that there are only a few of us, but lots have gone away and many of them because of the feeling that there’s no one on the DEVs team on our side. I’d like to see a balance between the two.
You think there is a big vision which they just haven’t told us about - I think the big vision is gone. I’m not moaning, I just think it is a missed opportunity. We’ll see more in the next update…
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Thanks for clarifying 
I still think they’re trying their best to balance out the game as it evolves to a wide audience as possible, all the while trying to hold onto as much of the original vision as they can. That sounds like a very hard thing to do, but I keep finding myself surprised at what comes around the next corner.
Yes, indeed… But hey, at least there aren’t any lootboxes 
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@MarkNcheese42
My “ideas”, hope you put some on the video, i honestly believe it will keep more people interested.
- Fixing the crashing and major bugs still ongoing (like many players having the game crashing on the only “real” DLC the game has, Himfjall Island.
- Improvement to the sorting inventory system, it´s a mess to know what attachments you are using or not in the Plundra.
- Small UI improvements
- Fixing and re-balancing the latest 3 weapons packs(including the future one).
Many wish to have more story, lore and DLCs, Unlocking those islands would be good but they require money and total concentration by the Team, they take months to revamp part of an area so that is not realistic , so to fill this gap I suggest.
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Replayability of any side or main mission.
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Introduction of FMTEL advanced missions (little side quests as admiralgamer said), more siege and survival missions to hold certain areas from machines.
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Introduction of at least 2 new enemy types that make sense to the game, envisioned by the devs, not players.
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And of course, a very needed upgrade to the Skills system, not to make players gods, but adding a few more points, not having the need to choose an unwanted skill to advance in the skills tree and giving some utility to Support skills and Hacker specialization.
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A survival mode difficulty, with extra machines and less resources and some other variations from the normal game modes, something some players seem to want, the only thing not needed is to give even more health to the machines, that only makes the game feel like any other generic PVE and MMOS/ MORPG games.
Just as a side note, they are extending the Plundra in a balanced way which is good, most people wanted more space, at least now only the big hoarders will keep complaining.
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Thanks you for the feedback. I am sure you will be glad to hear I have all of these, if not very similair, points in my notes.
I will also be talking about improving the FMTel and other somewhat bare features. Skills will be a main point, including rebalancing and respec. I also have noted down to increase the amount of machines in general, wether it be through by players or difficulty. This along side with increasing difficulty towards end game.
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Holy shit this escalated. What’s the timeline on the video Mark, we talking weeks or months?
Good question.
short answer: I do not know.
Long answer: Just like all my other videos, it will be as long as it needs to be. I have not made a video similair to this at all. I will be taking notes of what players want, turning it into a script, possibly getting footage, maybe getting some others to say some things in it. Then editing it all together.
I would not like any one to get their hopes up for a magnus opus. It will be concise with the information it needs. The editing will be what it needs to be, if rough.
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Well, having done the same setup with vision getting multiple sources to one point - best advise I could give is have a pen and paper to hand. You never know when an inspirational idea may come. I’ll be there when it’s done, good luck.
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Maby a option to sleep and to a small trailer on a bike to cary stuff around
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Man there alot to read on this page.
This is all just my Opinion
I miss the feeling of being out classed by the machine.
Gorilla difficulty only does so much when you’re character maxed out with experimental weaponry. Not saying Gorilla is easy.
If the Hunter could select multiple targets with both its shoulder mounted weapons and its main gun, and could hop fences or traverse turrain more easily.
If the tank was more destructive and persistent.
If the Bunkers were dangerous places, and hard to capture instead of being for the most part lifeless and without danger. I like the Bunkers but they kinda fell flat (didnt feel like a conqueror when clearing them out) when finding them, at the beginning of the game they were fine just the way they were but there is alot of un-used space in them.
The machines especially in the upper teirs could be more decisive.
The FNIX structures could be more guarded or even have its own machines (construction Robots) maybe a hunter with a large Chainsaw for clearing forested area’s and harvesters with excavator armes etc…
FNIX class hunters are not as dangerous as military class hunters, I would argue they are about equal footing too the prototype class hunter. Apocalypse class hunters are an almost perfect example of what anti-human weaponry should be.
I would love to see new machines but they can do so much more with the machines they have already.
The bazaar yet cool industrial dysigns is my favorite thig and i would like to see more of it.
It would be cool to see a gun ship or drop ship for the machines because the only thig that flys are those darn seekers.
As for the map itself, i havnt been able to walk around in hospitals or schools…i dont even know if there are any. And I want to see more of Sweden “things” that make sweden…well…Sweden.
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I would like to collect some opinions on attachments within the game. Right now I have some ideas down for more attachments types, such as front grips. As well as bipod use.
Just want to see if anyone has any ohter ideas on this.
- Grenade launcher attachments for the N16 and the AL76
- Extended magazines for the 2 hunting rifles
- Implementation of a better Red Dot, the one in use is just a red dot “paint” on the scope it has no light as red dots usually have.
- Double ammo clip attachment for AG4 and AG5
- Burst mode modification attachment for the Möller and Klaucke pistols.
Note- Grenade launcher attachments could use the same ammo as the upcoming m79 grenade launcher.
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Replay Value / Player Retention / Prestige Point use
This seems like a great topic. In order to keep this on a macro scale as the topic suggests, we do need to avoid being too detailed with things.
This game grabbed my attention from the start and my only regret is not having enough time to be around the forums and experience it all with the rest of you since I’ve been around for a long time. With that being said, from the perspective of someone who hasn’t been involved with this game for a little while I think the best thing to happen would be a GZ2.
I think that after awhile, update after update after update becomes dubious (maybe not the right word, but close). I feel as if the main piece of the game that allows for replayability is its core story and it’s flexability, not the extra content updates. Regardless of what weapon you’re using, what clothing you’re wearing, or how you are traveling… none of it changes the primary experience of the game and the storyline you follow. I can understand that others may disagree and I can see the other side of this perspective, new weapons/features/storage/travel methods can completely change the play style of the game. However I highly doubt what hooked any of us on this game was the thoughts about guns or travel methods, it was about fighting these weird and large robots to learn about where they came from and searching out other survivors. The story is what makes a game like this fantastic.
Since I feel the way I do about games that provide seemingly endless updates, a second game to somehow continue this story would be a blast. I’m all for the continuation of the story, or maybe the same story from another perspective. Prequal? Sequal? Whatever the case may be, the world that this game has created is pretty cool and I hope they continue to build on it with a second game. I think that is a great option when considering how to improve the world of GZ on a macro scale that wouldn’t only bring back players who have stopped playing, but to bring in new players as well. It’s an opportunity to improve upon many things, and take more risks to see what they can bring into the world.
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Thanks for the feedback everyone.
I have decided to cut down the video a bit and remove some of the things I was going to discuss, as they were mostly a bit too specific for the video.
I will however consider splitting those off into smaller videos in a series. Stuff like attachments, weapons, etc.
I want the main video to be on how it improve the game overall, with QoL being the main thing, along with soome thoughts on the grind of the game. If I just put everything in there, it will just be echoing what the forums are already saying.
I may also turn thie video idea “How to improve GZ on the macro scale”, instead into a series with the same title. Each video touching on a specific subject.
This will allow me to seperate each of the ideas and make creation easier.
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