I just got a chance to download beta 22 this morning, and have just finished a
game. My thoughts are as follows:
I personally preferred the weapon sounds from beta 18. For me, the new ones
are far more sci fi, and far less realistic. In particular I preferred the
sounds for the pistol, spear (it sounds like stepping on some kind of gore) and
especially! the shotgun (that was my favorite sound in the game when combined
with the particularly comical sound of a zombie dying). Also, the new door
sounds sound like a haunted house rather than an ancient temple. The older ones
(a stone door) really make the ambience authentic.
The ability to jump continually (from beta 18) was an invaluable aid in
making my times with the levers, and getting over the fire pit in level one and
the chasm in level two.
Also on the subject of jumping, if you jump once, and don't directly after
and instead try to jump again, the character will only move one square if at
all.
I really preferred the previous sound for nearing a spike. I've found the sound
since beta 19 rather hard to here, particularly near statues.
When picking up objects, you have to press enter on the object rather than
holding it down. While I do see the practical application of this (stopping
people from just winning the game without ever using a torch) it really helped
me when I need to run through a room and quickly grab a weapon because I ran
out of ammo. It also really helps when I need to get something in the last room
of level two on higher difficulty levels, because I usually only have a few
seconds to get out of the room.
I really liked the switch of voices. While tom had a louder voice and was a
little more understandable, this new one talks more quickly, and (at least for
me) sounds less synthetic.
Another major plus I found was the the centaurs don't always shoot me with
fire! I can't tell you how happy I was to learn that they couldn't just drop me
in a few hits anymore.
A possible bug: when running, the character moves more quickly, as well as
sounds looping more quickly (though the latter might be to shortening the
file). Particularly the running may warrant a look, as the character nearly
flies through rooms, and it's not that hard to miss objects (I'd hate to play
like that on speakers).
I know that this email's getting a little long, but I thought of one more
suggestion when about to send: right now, it's not that hard to blast my way
through all the monsters in the game without getting hurt. The enemies with
bows and fire spells are usually the only ones to hit me, seeing as I can just
shoot the others before they get close. This leads into the suggestion: it
might add a level of difficulty (perhaps in later levels, or in all of them if
you like) to have more than one monster in a room. This way, the player would
have to focus on more than one target, and, if the targets were in different
locations in the room, would force the player to choose who they wanted to
target and add another layer of strategy to the game.
Overall, while beta 22 has some nice features, I think I still prefer beta
18.
P.s:
I don't mean to sound harsh, and could be writing this a little early, but I
doubt I'll be able to play again for a week or so, and wanted to write out this
email before I leave for camp.
---
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