8 Reasons Why Subnautica Below Zero Failed
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ย. 2022
- This video has been replaced with a fixed audio version. Yes I know the background music is too loud so click here: • 8 REASONS WHY SUBNAUTI...
A constructive criticism video only. BZ is one of my favorite games but here is 8 reasons as to why the game failed in comparison to part 1. And one thing I wanna add: the original story in EA before it was changed was way better. If you have a PC and wanna check it out be sure to do so!
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Worst part about the iceworm is that it isn't an actual creature its just a set of animations that play in a set area. It doesn't have a physical presence below the ice it just pops up when needed
Are there any options for character customization? Can you play Subnautica: Below Zero as a male or as a White person?
@@normanmccollum6082 Neither subnautica games have an option for character customization. But i do think it'd be a pretty cool option for whatever game comes out next.
@@normanmccollum6082always one of those
@@josipmarinic9663
One of what?
It's also looks like a segmented penguin which reduces any scare factor even more
I like that someone else points out that the Reaper is scary because he has a freakin face. Even in the first game I found him scarier than the larger ones for this very reason. Anyways I just started Below Zero and I like it just fine as a sequel; we don't have to do the exact same things. I like the Sea Truck's modularity. Also like the vertical nature of this part of the planet.
Also the reaper really benefits from being in murky open water along with it's terrifying roars so you know you're in danger but don't know where it could be at all while in below zero everything is so bright you just see everything a mile away
In Subnautica you are forced to be alone on a hostile alien planet, and receive radio messages that lead you on journeys in different directions. After discovering different points of interest near these locations, you would follow a breadcrumb trail going deeper and deeper. You begin to find alien structures and discover more about what this planet is hiding. In Below Zero, you investigate what happened to your sister, and do underwater mazes to build the body of an alien while constantly repeating tedious tasks to be able to travel. There isn't a fear of the unknown, because the game doesn't try to hide anything from you besides the goD DAMN ALIEN BASES ITS SO ANNOYING WHO THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE FUN GAMEPLAY HOLY SH
The last part of your comment made me LOL. Yeah that fear of the unknown in part 1 was an incredible experience. I love exploring, and part2 was just a mission not as creepy
LMAO
Correction: Not mazes in BZ; corridors or rail tunnels. If you use sonar you can see it REALLY clearly, there are NO branching paths in BZ. Everything is a straight rail from one spot to another, as opposed to the spiderweb maze you could get lost in in Subnautica. The reason the last 2 alien bases gave you so much trouble is there is ONE entrance/exit to each of them (well, technically one on each end sometimes if it's a mid part of the rail tunnel system) but you don't have the 50 ways to accidentally stumble upon it like we did in Subnautica.
@@censorthiswokistlocustscum I got stuck for what feels like 4 hours navigating the stupid Arctic Spires. Worst part of the game by far. Just getting lost and going in circles because the map has no reliable visual indicators. Same with finding the Fabricator Cave. It's hard enough to find the entrance once, then again when you bring all the materials which you obviously read from a wiki because who the fuck is gonna do that back and forth again... Just a disappointing game.
@@Palatard I agree with your sentiment. I'm sorry you got lost in a rail tunnel with one entrance and one exit. I guess I was playing all through development so I got intimately familiar with the map before they added the visuals even. If you'd brought a compass with you it would have made it infinitely easy for you. The arctic spire area you're talking about is a single circle and because it's above ground the elevation changes matter a tiny bit. But it's a tiny little area. There is no spider webbing ANYWHERE in BZ. And I do mean, ANYWHERE. Once you realize how small and simple the map is you can never un-see it and it ruins the game completely. Because there is only 1 entrance and 1 exit to EVERY SINGLE TUNNEL once you recognize certain landmarks you'll never get lost again. The story and ending and rewrite of the aliens and lore was the worst part for sure, but the crappy linear map was a close second. Also helps I never used the snow fox, I just used my prawn suit. There is NO REASON to EVER make the snowfox.
I feel the shadow leviathan would work better in an area that is dark as hell, like the sear treaders path in the first game but darker.
exactly. He wasn't put into the right biome and his movements were subpar
yea wheres all the light coming from?@@leviathankraken
@dontstrawmanme2125 crystals wouldn't create light so idk it should in theory be pitch black down there
@@leviathankraken*bioluminescence entered the chat*
The only biolumiescent, non-organic substance I know of glows after shining a light on it, how can a rock emit light eternally unless it's a star?
W take. The game was pretty fun but i felt the story went in 30 different directions as your first goal is to try and find what happened to your sister but then next you gotta make alien parts to help some random alien you found
that's a good point about the story. frankly as I'm playing, all I care about is finding all the fragments to make a sweet sea truck build. oops
That's a super-generous way of putting it... You intentionally crash land with apparently no way of leaving, you say you'll "find a way", to investigate the death of your sister... You'd think you really care about it a lot, if you're willing to go to such extremes, but it turns out she actually just got her own dumb a** killed like the corporation said in the first place, and you've met the woman who is partially responsible, but that point, you're totally over it, and don't give a sh** even enough to bring it up in conversation. Instead, you decide you'd rather go run off with your new space bf you just assembled while having generic scifi Kirk/Spock dialogue about why humans are great, and live with him forever on a planet you don't even know if you can breath on, even though everything he's said has been super-sketchy up to this point, like when you ask him about his admitted responsibility for unleashing the plague, or if he wants to kill all humans or whatever, he's super-evasive, and though he claims to be remorseful, he doesn't care about curing the virus, even though you can do it as an optional side-quest for an achievement by rubbing two plants together, which only you are able to figure out, despite it not being your area of expertise, and apparently anyone could have done at any time, but this super-advanced civilization with its near-infinite resources couldn't figure that out... And that's not even half the plot holes. I'd call it a flaming garbage fire of story.
And the payoff to the sister storyline (the whole reason you're on the freaking planet) is not only disappointing, but it's also SKIPPABLE, YOU CAN FINISH THE GAME WITHOUT DOING IT! I don't know what they were thinking
Seriously like what's going on
Hate how the story is shoved down your throat.
Honestly I think below zero gave me a safe feeling. Like the seatruck had everything I needed, storage, fabrication and food plus the leviathans are just too easy to repel. All you need is the defense system and they stop attacking you. I just think below zero was just much easier to complete than the first game hopefully they make the next game better
a lot of people agree it was easier. I know the cold aspect added its own challenge but not enough. Plus too many air bubble plants
I barely used the truck. It was so slow and clunky, it punishes you for adding modules you need. However in the prawn suit I felt like an invincible spiderman as even the shadow leviathans take 30 hp and run away for some reason. I literally died once because I got greedy diving. Safety is boring.
you can literally make your entire base in the sub from the first game. Weak argument you got. Sea truck was weaker and carried less things too.
I had all my stuff in the sub of the first game and it survived through the entire game.
@@johnjoe69 Yeah I dislike below zero as much as the next guy but this is a really weak argument and if anything the original does this worse with the cyclops making you feel invincible by having everything you could need and being so bulky.
I feel like the introduction of other human lifeforms ruined the game the most not saying it was bad but the thing that made the first game unique was the constant feeling we were the only surviving human left from the crash with the only drive of finding a way off this oceanic world
I don't mind having an npc in the game but it broke the lore having her there and not explaining why the Kharaa didn't kill her.
speedy mouse made a theory how she survived
@@Just_Somebody_ I guess if I had to write a reason I'd go with the "she was one in a billion who had natural immunity". That way if you wanted to explore the character further it wouldn't entangle the plot for an explanation. But I doubt she makes it into the next one, Unless we play as her. :)
@@Hobodeluxe960 bro she holds the skull of the reaper leviathan, something as long as the statue of liberty is tall, and lives next to the shadow leviathan, I'm pretty sure she has her ways, also she probably doesnt go outside in the open without the prawn suit
@Hobodeluxe960 she survive kharaa because of the body of the reaper leviathan they are immune against kharaa
I hate how they made the game so easy. In sb casual player gets eaten at least once by a reaper, while in bz you get the perimeter defense system at the start basically making the only existing vehicle immune to leviathans (who only attack through overused grab animation). Ice worm is easily evaded using prawn, but if you decide to have fun with a snowfox you just get kicked out of it every 20 seconds making him more frustrating than scary. Your idea of ice worm randomly swimming between icebergs is amazing. Also let's not forget the sound every leviathan/creature makes when chasing you. That's just anticlimatic. I also didn't like the idea of talking and working with an architect at first, but now I find an alien depending on a primitive human to presumably revive its specie while also studying each other cool. Everytime Al-An speaks I get goosebumps, the way he calmly asks about simple human things using complicated words is amazing.
I have mixed feelings about Al-An. His kind were unsympathetic in the first game, but in Below Zero he is surprisingly chill (pun intended). Also, he has a lot of questions about humans that I would think the Architects already would have had figured out. One of the alien artifacts from the first game proves that Architects have visited Earth, presumably during the rise of the Mongol Empire. Since the Subnautica games take place in the future, the Architects have known about us for at least a Millennium, probably more. They habitually study every creature they come in contact with. It’s hard for me to believe that Al-An doesn’t know A LOT more than he is telling.
whenever I go to ice worm territory I don't get attacked just hear vibrating. I finished the game and the only time I saw an ice worm was when it came out the ground and ate a snow stalker but it didn't actually go after me. Shadow leviathans were scary at first but just became far more annoying than scary after a few trips to the crystal caverns and the chelicerate is just not a threat at all because you can avoid them so easily in most areas, I feel they don't live up to the same role the reaper did in the first game.
The Degasi storyline was complete, there was no need to bring back a presumed dead character... before announcing Margaret, we assumed she was dead for some good old 10 years prior of the events of Subnautica, now she pulled some deus-ex machina and managed, with limited to none supplies, to kill the Reaper that destroyed their seabase, using it's body as a boat to cross the entire void (them Ghosties are blind man) and reaching Sector Zero. Ok, lets say I'm ok with that (i'm not) but in the 7th Degasi's PDA Bart mentions they're infected, how does Marge got cured and survived +10 years with Kharaa in her system? I don't buy the "reapers are inmunne and she consumed their flesh" theory. Either way, I absolutely love Subnautica 1; but with BZ I just can't finish it man, I've a 40% save that every time I try to progress a bit, I just drop it again with little to no progress. Great video man, cheers!
Thank you! Yeah one weird fact is that they never explained her cure to Kharaa and while the best explanation is eating cured creatures and the reaper it's not a confirmed explanation. I love Margaret though, she is an amazing character I just wish they would have provided a bit more of a believable story. Drifting all the way to sector zero on a corpse without getting attacked by ghost leviathans or something else is hard to picture.
I tell you what: It was the cuddle fish
@@leviathankraken Not to mention we just leave her on the planet in the end. I would've loved if she was brought with us to the alien world; she could be amazing in a potential continuation of this story.
@@lindachristiansen1652 that is disappointing because she said in dialogue she wanted to get off of the planet. But knowing her she's very resourceful I'm sure she builds a rocket since in the game you deactivate the tracking satellite
I think there was something in the pda about enzyme peeper its enzyme is from a something inside large creature . Maybe there is enzyme inside the reaper which is enough to delay the bacterium for 10 years until the cure was released. And pda in below zero where she was inside the reaper she killed when it went to the void while still holdinh to it. Maybe sector zero was closer and it drifted there.
I definitely agree with your points. I hate how small the map is. What i dislike most about the map is how few of the major cave systems are connected. In Subnautica you could get to the lost river through 4+ ways and even then there was the ghost tree biome, the inactive lava zone and the active lava zone, and in some cases the blue ball biome, and that one really dark biome with those white, tall weeds . The only other major cave systems would be the mushroom caves. In BZ, we have deep biomes, but theyre all separate. The lily pad biome has that deep cave underneath the big rock but it ends quite quickly. We also have the deep twisty bridges, the cave system under the seaweed biome, under that yellow biome, and the entire land portion, but they dont lead to any other biomes. After exploring the region, we really have no reason to go back down there. Theres no feeling of something scary lying beneath you. That a huge leviathan could swim up the connecting cave system to eat you. I feel like if these biomes were more connected, less narrow, and deeper, we could have a more enjoyable experience and more use for vehicles.
I also agree with your thoughts on the leviathans. I feel like theres just no room for them and that the devs focused more on the design than the behavior. I love your idea with the shadow leviathan being able to scale walls and sneak up on your ship. If these changes were implemented it would be so much scarier and more enjoyable
You really made a good point there: having deeper and connected cave systems would have been scarier. I guess they wanted to keep players from reaching certain areas too soon but the crystal caves could have connected further. I think BZ was a bit rushed it does seem part 1 had more thought put into it
@@leviathankraken i feel like it could have been rushed due to covid. Maybe they felt if they waited longer and didn't come through on their promises, the game would flop
I played part 1 furiously again and again, and I still go back and start again every now and then. Subnautica BZ...I'm done, and I haven't even gotten to the end of the story.
I'd love part 1 to be remade on a much bigger map, of epic proportions really. And if at all possible, the different biomes being reshuffled every time you start a new game, along with the different shipwrecks, making part 1 replayable ad infinitum.
yeah but they dont want you to buy a game once and play it for forever
I would love just going on long sea journeys to truly unlock the full potential of the cyclops, because to be honest the cyclops is already too big and powerful for the first subnautica map. you could stack that thing with food and powercells and go for days without break. The first subnautica map is really well made and there is soo much content in such a small area and it really is part of what makes the game soo good. But in a way this makes the submarine is more of a hassle for most players and I've heard plenty people say they never used the sub to reach the lava zones, which is a shame.
Subnautica may be the only game in the world where I think having some stretched out areas with nothing really in them could be beneficial. Like if the dunes were 5 times the size and without the leviathans and the loot. Just sand, forming a void between biomes.
You know what? I think the strongest part of the story was something nobody intended to be. I refer to the side-plot of the Mercury II and their ill-fated crew. I was interested in the four characters we are introduced to, and piecing together what happened to them as we found pieces of the wreck with their PDA’s. I had problems with Maida’s side-plot and with Al-An as the game’s main goal. Sam’s tragic story has lots of holes in it, which is sad because that was what brought Robin to Planet 4546B. I enjoyed the game’s overall environment, but I wish the stories had been better weaved together than they were.
It felt like several things were happening at once and some elements of the story got ignored mostly
I was shocked we didn't discover more of these shipwrecks. M2 was fascinating. I also found someone blew up Sam's underwater lab, thought I should ask Marg about it only to spend an hour looking for her base and then she greets me with "You again?". Protagonist is not a mute like last game, but chooses to never speak when it's appropriate. It's just bad writing.
Below zero was a great disappointment. I finished the original Subnautica 5 times and each time I entered the rocket with heavy heart. Didnt want to leave the planet. Below zero was very different. Firstly, you are not alone. This was a big psychological of the original
i couldnt wait to leave in below zero
@@Tuvok_ShakurI’m at that point now. Just cured the frozen leviathan a couple hours ago, went back to my base, wondering if it’s worth putting off the portal. First game, I didn’t want to leave.
@@MyMarsham yep, this one just isn't as compelling as the first, and the more I read about it the more I think the first one was a happy accident
I have a mild claustrophobia. In real life. In videogames like BZ it just annoys me, how I get constantly stuck, etc.
I dont have thalassphobia nor megalophobia for that matter. Everytime I hear a reaper in the og game I nope the hell out of there.
That speaks for everything.
The Squidshark was a perfect Reaper "replacement" instead of the Chelicerate. Its design, the sounds it made and the way how it chased you are what could've made the Squidshark the Reaper of BZ, just scale up its size and boom, you have a much more impactful and memorable Leviathan creature.
For the chelicerate however, I think it would've been a better fit as a smaller creature that lives in packs like the Boneshark does. The chelicerates design also helps give that stalker and pack hunter vibe. just imagine you are in dark open area of ocean or a small claustrophobic maze-like area and there's a pack of chelicerates swimming around you watching you with their glowing beady eyes before they all decide to attack you. that interpretation sounds much more memorable to me.
At the very least I would be in favor of baby leviathans appearing. Maybe stumble upon a nest of baby chelicerates looking for their next meal
I just finished Below Zero. Was definitely fun. But I missed Ryley, I enjoyed the silent protagonist vibe.
Also my game bugged and the sea truck was unable to leave my sea truck dock. So I ended up using the prawnsuit a lot more. Then again I used the prawnsuit only during the end game of the original game.
The only time I felt true fear was when I was swimming around the purple vent area and was nearly chomped by the chelerate. Then had to carefully sneak out by de aggroing it then driving the sea truck for a few meters then hopping out into the storage container
Part 1 focused on the game itself, the fear factor the void that goes thousands of meters, the lava zone, reaper leviathan everything. Part 2 focused on the story and made it seem like you were playing as them, not being the character like in part one, as a result, Part 2 took away lots of the fear and even when I was going up agents deadly things in part 2 I just found them annoying, not scary at all
Yupp youve hit the nail on the head. The one thing I didn't like about BZ is that it FORCES you right into the leviathans. They just become annoying after a while. I loved BZ, but the main game never "forced" you into a leviathan. You'll encounter them, but it doesnt feel scripted and it keeps you on your toes
Edit: I was expecting the snowfox to operate similarly to a "weaponless" Ghost from the Halo franchise, which would've been great. But its just too clunky
Is it even possible to get through the fabricator cavern without at least 1 grap per Trip?
I definately prefer the first game, but mostly because BZ exploration was finding your way through small mazes which just got annoying when I got lost. Also, I hated the Seatruck, especially when exploring caves. It got stuck way too easily.
I pretty much agree with the vid though...except for the "horror" elements. I know there are tons of vids on youtube of people freaking out when they are attacked by a leviathan or just getting scared because of the ocean depths. Unfortunately I don't get any of that...which tbh always makes me feel like I'm missing out when playing games or watching films 😥
I can see BZ triggering claustrophobia in some but for me it was just annoying. I think almost everyone hated the seatruck. Sometimes I would get a little scared of the chelicerate he popped up out of nowhere one time but mostly part 1 was a lot more fear inducing
As someone who has thalasophobia and a fear of voids, I did struggle with fear in the first game. It wasn't the fish, not the feeling of being alone, or dying that scared me, it was the endless expands of dark, deep water. A feeling that's......bad. I still love the game And I am obsessed with biology, botany, and geology so Below Zero hit the mark for me. I like the feeling that other people have been there and the brightness of the game. I also feel very comfortable in tight places so basically its the opposite of claustrophobia. I dont expansive spaces and I think that the second game, personally, is better. I am pretty much a subnautica veteran. I've been playing it since the first game came out,so you know how much I must like Below Zero
Same, the first game was so empty and dark, I felt sad and apprehensive while playing, I couldn't get comfortable. I enjoyed BZ much more
@@Viper23859 Well, that's the point. Subnautica franchise is classified as a survival game and in those games you often need to challenge the environment to survive and thrive in the setting. Below Zero however distanced itself from that genre. It felt like childs play after finishing the first one-not because of leviathans or the overall difficulty, but it lacked the joy of challenging the environment with its guided repetitive objectives and the availability of communication from other people.
The dark and murky waters of Subnautica that makes you sad and apprehensive, is the fun for me. It lets me challenge the fear of unknown and some slight jumpscares are always welcome too.
@@efe75623 yeah i understand your point
pretty spot-on. I followed the development, and the linear story was my biggest reason for not purchasing below zero after loving the first game
I still think it's worth playing if you loved part 1. Definitely one of the most beautiful games I've ever played but just wish a few things were done differently
Personally I thought the whole sequence where you go deep into ice worm territory to find the alien mining site was absolutely incredible and captured what made the 1st game so great.
What blew me away in the first game was that aspect of constantly being pushed further and further into this incredibly inhospitable territory where not only almost all the fauna wants to kill you, but the territory is completely inhospitable and you're essentially in to deep to back out.
Reaching the depths of the main map just to find the lost river, just to discover the lava zone and further and further you're forced to push incomprehensibly deeper.
In BZ, you're trying to find your way about what is essentially a maze within a wasteland, while an enormous monster explodes out of the ground beneath your feet. If your vehicle goes down, instead of drowning, you freeze to death. The heavy blizzard makes it impossible to see further than 10 feet in front of you. You easily lose your sense of direction and end up passing the same landmarks dozens of times, to the point you can't even get out if you tried.
It's a completely hopeless situation bound to invoke dread. By the time you finally make it through that mess, you feel like a changed man lol.
Frankly the first game didn't have anything that came anywhere as close in terms of intensity. The only thing that could match the despair and elimination of your senses and bearings is if the crash zone region was increased by like 5x its current size, and you were forced to find a small cave inside of it to progress the story. Constantly while reapers swim around you, dipping in and out of vision through the murky water. But instead of being like 60 meters deep, it's at least 400.
I suppose I'm biased in the fact that I hate cold weather, but the land area for me was dreadful indeed. Not fun at all. It created a real survival experience for sure, just not an underwater experience. The blizzard aspect is cool, I wish the hail would have done damage to the character so that you'd be forced to take shelter.
You... what? Your favourite part of the underwater building survival exploration game Subnautica's sequel: Above ground weather simulator Below Zero expectations, was the part where you were in an ice desert devoid of any water wandering around from point to point doing no exploration, no building, and no survival, because it ?????REMINDED YOU OF SUBNAUTICA??!?!?!?!???? WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! That doesn't even make any SENSE. But I guess expecting SENSE from somebody who enjoyed BZ is asking too much.
The snowstorms fucking sucked lmao. I spent WAY too much time just walking in circles until I turned off the weather effects, did what I had to do on land, and never went back there. By far the worst part of the game.
Sauce for the Music used in the Video? Please 🥺
I think the main problem with the leviathans in below zero is that they aren't that scary... What made them scary in the first game was just how _huge_ and _long_ they were. The Shadow Leviathan is the only one that even comes close to that level of fear factor, but because its in such an enclosed space there's nowhere to run which (in a backwards sort of way) actually makes it less scary. The rest of the ones in below zero are actually really _small._ They don't have that creepy snake-like appearance that most of the leviathans have, and they feel more like regular wild animals instead of unsettling forces of nature.
I agree that BZ's Leviathans are less scary, but I don't think it's necessarily related to size. The design is also very important, the proof is that the biggest Leviathan in SN1 is the one in the lava zone, and it's not the one that scares you the most (for me at least, the Reaper is worse).
And then personally the creature that I am most wary of is the Warper, although it is not very big
@@nawack2774 The thing is that the Leviathans in BZ are smaller in general.
The biggest Leviathan (Not counting the Ice Worms, which nobody does because they're barely a thing.) in BZ that you encounter during normal gameplay (Not swimming out into the void) is the Shadow Leviathan, at 60m.
The only other hostile Leviathan is the Chelicerate, which is 40m.
The Reaper Leviathan is 55m, only 5 less than the biggest BZ has to offer and larger than the Chelicerate by 15m. There are only four Shadows and four Chelicerate in BZ. There are /twenty five/ Reapers in Subnautica, and they can be encountered within the first 5 minutes of gameplay if you swim in the wrong direction. Entire biomes are littered with the things, including the one RIGHT NEXT to most of the spawn points for the pod on the map.
Further, the other two major Leviathans, one of which functioning as a "final boss" for the game and the other of which is treated the way that the Leviathans in BZ are treated (very small number, only found in specific static places in an environment designed for it to be highly likely you will be forced to engage with them), are BOTH just shy of twice as big as the Shadow, and almost three times the size of the Chelicerate.
There are definitely factors at play other than size. The designs of the Leviathans in BZ are just less frightening, particularly in regards to sound. The roar of a Reaper sends a chill down your spine and triggers immediate fight or flight. The Shadow and the Chelicerate sound less intimidating than the Ghost, and the Ghost doesn't even grab or one-shot you.
But still, the point is that the Leviathans in Sub felt like true horrors of nature. Things that sparked that enigmatic terror of the ocean, the idea that something large beyond the scope of what we consider reasonable could not just exist, but be the /norm/ down there.
I found that (in my play through at least) another thing that detracted from the experience was the addition of the jukebox (mostly the sea-truck one but maybe the base one as well). While I think the music is great and sounds good it greatly detracts from an aspect that below zero was already heavily lacking, the scariness. This is because a very large part of scary media is reliant on the music and audio that goes along with it, when you can just turn on a song with some guy singing about waves on full blast it gets rid of all the tension. I always made sure that if I was going somewhere scary I had the jukebox on because it didn’t matter how dark it was or what could be lurking in the darkness because instead of ominous music and creepy sound effects I had some chill beats. I feel like no one notices this even though it was responsible for why I and probably a lot of others didn’t find the game as scary as it could have been. Another thing it probably also detracts from is the also lacking feeling of isolation, if you’re constantly listening to a person singing you will feel less lonely.
The game was better when the MC didn’t have a voice or background. That way I can project whatever I want on to him.
Being forced to give a shit about her sister and random aliens wasn’t it man.
"Being forced to give a shit about her sister and random aliens wasn’t it man." - absolutely true!
In Sub 1 you could have settled down on the floating island and be forgotten forever in peace with your cuddle fish and a bunch of tasty melons. (I have serveral saves without even building Neptun).
In BZ it is like: DO THIS DO THIS .. a btw you've got something in your head which is commenting your dreams and your poop on the toilet to remind you to DO THE MISSION !!!
Ain't it chief!
Greetings. It's the intro meant to destroy the ears? I had to swiftly bring the volume down to less than 20%. The rumble was unbearable. I just suggest to check the sound before uploading. By the way, it's the first time i visit this channel, it appeared among the "suggested videos", but the title caught my attention, for I agree with it even before watching the content.
thank you for watching and yeah sorry about the sound I use a program called Animotica and for some reason it doesn't play the music volume correctly and I assumed it was correct when I uploaded. Won't make that mistake again cause it kinda ruint one of my best videos
I wish video game critics would stop saying "Oh this game *FAILED* because of this thing." like dude. the game developers do what they can to make their games as good as they can make them. they have a budget for these kind of things you know. in the words of a wise man: "It is what it is" its THEIR game. they can do what they want with it,
I 100% agree with of your points and like you I like the game...I think the big issue for me was the story...it was the relationships between characters not being settled or progressed in what felt like a nautral way...that being said I hope they hear us and the feedback and I have hope and excitement for Sub 3..D
I agree with the fact that the game is visually outstanding, but I play it from time to time while ignoring the "forced down the throat" story line, ignoring the cues, messages and I go by imitating the style of the first subnautica: Only human survivor, no other people's voices (breaks immersion), just PvE style.
yep this "shoving down the throat" is annoying to me as well. In Sub 1 you could have settled on the floating island for the rest of your life and wouldn't even got bothered by anything as far as you are well fit with melons :D
BZ is more like: DO THE MISSION DO THE MISSION DO THE MISSION .. there is an alien base ANYWHERE on the map .. Gee -.-
Just finished the game today and kept waiting for the need to build the PRAWN suit, but there isn't a need. In fact, I built the replicator and teleporter cabins for the sea truck and never used either of them. I didn't even bother with the alien containment. Heck, my only base was three stacked MP rooms, a sea truck dock, and a moon pool that I only built for the vehicle upgrade station. I felt no desire to build a cool base, even after finding all the extra components like the stove and toilet. I just wanted to finish the game ASAP for fear it would make me wander around on the surface, lost in an endless maze of ice canyons again.
For me it's the amount of dialogue you get in this game. And I mean actual conversations with different characters. In the first game all you had was the soulless voice of the PDA and recordings left by those who met similar fate as you, and who were already way beyond your help. In Below Zero you get to meet other characters, so the sense of loneliness and hopelessness is gone. Another thing I felt BZ lacked was the variety in biomes. You could just feel like this game was built with plan B-ideas. Nearly nothing stood out, while in the first game every new biome had its own feel to it, and discovering them for the first time filled you with a sense of wonder, as well as dread for what might be lurking there. Oh, and let's not forget that the game pretty much hands you some really useful and important stuff without much effort from your part.
I still return to the original Subnautica once a year or so, beating it and enjoying it every step of the way. Below Zero I could hardly beat even once. The core game is good, but the little annoyances just pile up and end up making it a chore to play. I really hope the next game in the series manages to recapture the magic the first game had. Then again, I hear it's going to be a multiplayer game, so I guess the sense of isolation is dead and buried at this point.
I don't think multi-player will ruin it they made it clear that it's just optional the game won't revolve around multi-player. The biome placement and map of bz was definitely the biggest issue
What linear? i am lost after I visited all the bases and alterra sites. Got the tissue, bones, and organs. Got into greenhouse and revisited marguarit. But I have no new pointers. All als said is that I can create him in lab in depth. I am actually lost. But love the base building.
Absolute W Take, you literally just named every point that I had a problem with. It's like you read my mind
I think it would've been more interesting of Alan was only able to tell you when something was close by, but ONLY when you get pretty close (in case you'd normally swim by it on accident?)
Doesn't make sense that, in YOUR brain, he can randomly locate things when NOWHERE NEAR them
YES! He should be limited to the capacity of the human brain not able to practically scan things
@Leviathan Kraken indeed
Though, the game would still *somewhat* need those artifact beacons somehow (which could instead just be SOMEWHAT near the parts, instead of directly on them)
Maybe, *somehow*, Alan remembers some info for Robin to create a device that can track them down (though, it'd require you to at least be in the same region as it. And has a specific "range", where u still HAVE go explore a bit
Good idea. That would've added more depth to the game and made exploring more legit instead of exact locations pinpointed
see, in bz i never used the seatruck, didnt bother building a larger base, didnt bother curing the frozen leviathan because rather than being a part of the game those things felt like a chore. and the cold suit, snowfox and thermos didnt really have much use to me, they kinda just sat there
7:26 The Void Chelicerate is so much more terrifying than the regular one.
The Sea truck is a cool vehicle, however it should not have been a replacement of the Seamoth and the Cyclops - it should have been an addition.
There where too many land areas and too few sea biomes.
The availability of the oxygen plants was way too frequent, taking away the very real possibility of drowning.
They absolutely should have kept the Ice Dragon, and unfortunately the Ice Worm was very lackluster because it's impossible to real interact with it at all - it doesn't even have a hit box.
Many of the biomes are too bright - there are no dark biomes at all. If you are exploring the Dunes or the Mountains in the first game and you're surprised by nightfall it becomes pitch black and all you have is the sound of Reapers around you - that is so much more terrifying.
The leviathans in the first game are so much more fear inducing than the Leviathans in Below Zero (the Ice Dragon could have changed that). Shadows and Chelicerates simply can't keep up with Ghosts and Reapers. Funnily enough the most dangerous leviathan in the first game, the Sea Dragon, is actually the one I found the least frightening - probably because you're usually in the prawn suit when encountering them as compared to mostly driving the Seamoth when encountering Ghosts or Reapers.
The biggest problem with the land mass in Below Zero is that it completely takes away the alienating feeling of being in a three dimensional space. Land is simply too familiar.
All that said: Below Zero has one part that is actually even better than Subnautica and that is the expanded base building.
I have fun playing Below Zero, but I have spent so much more hours in Subnautica.
Void chelicerates are scary indeed. I think anything coming at you out of the void is scary though lol. At first I liked the seatruck but imo most of the attachments are worthless and the seamoth should have been another option. I never drown in part 2, and part 1 at least a few times. Ice worm yeah he's too fast to even get close to. You're right 0 interaction. The brightness I agree, nothing a shader on pc won't fix though ;) Sea dragon was not scary at all for me either mainly though because he moves so slow. I would always punch him in the face with my prawn suit like gtfo I'm not scared! Land you're right is familiar to us. That part of the game feels more like a chore than a fun biome to explore
@@leviathankraken The land biomes could have been better if the Ice Worms and the Snow Fox hadn't been such letdowns.
That said - I'm not playing Subnautica to explore a lot of land biomes.
Subnautica is different from other survival games because it is in the ocean - and because you don't have weapons (yeah I know that it is super easy in both games to take down Leviathans - I've done that myself using various methods).
The Sea Truck....well I think it is actually a fun vehicle, however in my opinion it would simply have been better to choose between different options. You want to go to a specific location quickly to check something? Take the Seamoth. You want to do some ressource farming? Of you go in either the Prawn Suit (which was more fun in Subnautica than in Below Zero because of the changes to jumping) or the Sea Truck with one or two storage modules. You want to do a long trip in your moving base? here goes the Cyclops (granted, the Cyclops would have been a bit oversized for the size of Below Zero...but with 2 or 4 biomes added....).
Maybe even a bit more variety, added in with more specialized biomes, like a small submarine for deep dives but at the cost of a bit of speed when compared to the Seamoth, that sort of thing.
@@HH-hd7nd sadly yeah the cyclops would have been too limited with its mobility and probably would have gotten players stuck a lot. I spent most of my time in the prawn suit the entire game it was just perfect for such a cramped map and I rarely used it in part 1.
@@HH-hd7nd and if those ice worms could have come out of the ground under water then I'd be scared
@@leviathankraken Wouldn't have been better if it would still be impossible to interact with them.
I'm fine with the ice worms being land only, however they don't feel like a creature, the feel like a silgthly annoying terrain hazard and that's not good. That is not how a leviathan should feel like, especially not the largest one in the game (not counting the Ventgardens which unfortunately also don't really feel like creatures).
On the plus side - the interactivity with the glow whales is great.
Love the video, I was so confused why I wasn't as anxious in the second game, while playing the first for the 7th time still scares the hell out of me
i love subnaticas story telling because they make you search for it, they don't really tell you whats going and it makes you feel like you're playing this survival game like minecraft but in reality you're playing a story game like Elden ring
I’m sorry but subnauctica shouldn’t be all about horror. I think the creatures are fine but however first one had much more options to the player but if a game is to much of phobia triggers the it makes players not wanna play so I like how the devs made one for full on terror and the other more new player friendly. Just wish there was more to enjoy in below zero
I'm sorry but I think that the horror aspect is what makes Subnautica special. Even though I was shitting my pants while playing that's what made me enjoy it, if you know it's gonna be safe outside then there is no mystery, rendering the game unfun, at least for me.
I can definitely agree to a point it's also about exploring and having fun not exclusively horror. But the terror part one triggered in many is what kept them coming back. We love to torture ourselves lol
Horror is what made the game popular. All those thumbnails about TH-camrs crapping their pants over the reaper brought everyone in
@UCx5u0nCRbfEuJMxhqtuT_fw as a subnautica veteran I wasn't scared the whole time I played below zero. The first time I saw the chelcerate I started making fun of how it's colored like a shrimp.
@@apyr1055 literally every other game is a horror game. That wouldn’t make it special.
It's actually spelled (and also reads as) thalassophobia. Thalassa meaning sea in ancient Greek
I mostly agreed with your Opinion. I really love the first Subnautica game and the way the gameplay let you to explore the deep waters of 4546B and while you are exploring you just have found an massive alien facility.
That feeling of reward for exploring the map is lost on the second game. That and the massive dialogs of your character is what make me lost the inmersion of this game. I like more the Ryley way and let me do the dialogs that i feel for every scenario that I am.
Great video keep it up ❤
Below zero needs more biomes it feels like it has no biomes imo
well it has biomes lol but the one surrounding the island was a bit lacking
@@leviathankraken subnautica had so many unique biomes but below zero has so many unique cave biome
@@D0qy since the map was much smaller they decided to make more caves, nooks and crannies to make the game feel bigger. So yeah its biomes were more cave oriented
@@leviathankraken Just make the map bigger simple
The crag field was boring, so was that one near the underneath of the glacier where you find those eyeball jellyfish things.
The one with all the purple exploding things is visually cool, but pretty empty.
Lily pads and whole area underneath is cool, shipwrecks there are epic too.
Sea monkey caves, great. Vent gardens, great.
But even of the cool ones, outside of a few notable spots, it's pretty empty.
Solid and valid points and arguments bro but please lower the bg music i couldnt make out what u were saying at all during the story section
But i really hope the devs see this tho and take their time with the third game
Thank you yeah that bg music accidentally was left too high
I don't know why but I never got even a little bit excited for below zero eventhough I loved Subnautica. I felt like below zero was not iterating on the strengths of the first game. You are really making some good points in this video.
I will never think that SB Bellow Zero will be bad. Definitly worst than the first game, of course, the first one its just legendary. But i will always see the second one as a different oriented game, a game that wasnt going for what the first one meant because they had to make it an actual game after they saw how big and different it was going to be, and thats part of what i like it.
The two games are really different from each other and i like that, if subnautica bellow zero would still be scary and very similar to the first one, i wouldnt like it, i would preffer it to still stay a DLC. But making it a whole game and changing its whole orientation of world building its the best decition they could make to reason as for why the game isnt a DLC anymore.
it is a good game, certainly not bad but just in comparison it didn't resonate with fans as much. I like when creators go with their artistic passion and ignore the money making formula, but BZ ran into some issues with the story line being changed and the decision to keep the map small and cutting content to save time kinda ruined it.
I think the Cryptosuchus kind of dulled the fearfactor of the Chelicerate. Or the one near the purple vents at least
The cryptos are so loud you become desensitized to the noise, so you don't have the building sense of dread like tiu did with the reaper
I agree, and I've heard others say the same thing. It takes the suspense away from the leviathan
Background Music is a touch too loud. Hard to hear you at some points
I basically speedran the game it was so easy, the first time I went to crystal caves the shadows had me in awe and werent scary at all, the second time i beat the game on and by then I had the broken seatruck defense module so I just ran it straight at them for fun because I knew that I couldnt be hurt by them whatsoever. I did avoid the prawn thing but I wasnt scared of it like I still am by reapers.
One opinion I have that I don't really see other people talk about regarding the Creatures of SN1 and SNBZ is respect for the wildlife. In my first playthrough of Subnautica 1, and in all subsequent playthroughs, I never bothered the wildlife more than I had to. I hunted, ate, and bred the small edible fish sure, but I didn't just kill them for fun. The hostile wildlife demanded respect due to their danger and fear factor. You hear a leviathan, or even a stalker, sandshark, or crabsquid, you think "oh shit, I need to steer clear of these things." In Below Zero, I would see a sea monkey and intentionally kill it because I didn't want it to steal my items and waste my time. I would smash into the hypno things in the lilypad zone because once you get hypno'd the first time you know to just avoid them or kill them to not have to deal with it a second time. The leviathans in BZ are sort of the same. After your first few times getting grabbed by the shadow leviathan it just becomes a chore to deal with them, with many of the times I got grabbed the words leaving my mouth weren't some form of panicked swearing, it was more commonly "can you fuck off already?"
I've been known to ram a seamonkey once or twice lol. And yea the shadow leviathans could have been scarier if they were actually avoidable and not repeatedly thrown in your face
I never realized this on my first few play throughs but the fact you dont even need to find out about your sister in the story and can leave the planet without curing the big leviathan
It'd sad that the reason she goes to the planet in the first place ends up being a side quest
@@leviathankraken exactly
when are they gonna add the bone Leviathan
Bone leviathan? You mean the gargantuan leviathan?
@@leviathankraken no it a fan made leviathan
@@leviathankraken the Bone leviathan
I mostly agree with the vid, only thing i can think of that i disagree on is the chalicerate, to me that thing is just as terrifying as the reaper, its mouth is terrifying and when i see it off in the distance i am just like, "Nope time to turn around and find another route" Also the squid sharks *shudder* two things i am terrified combined into one, anything with tentacles terrifies me, and sharks terrify me, a shark with tentacles AHHHHHHHHH. And also this games version of the stalkers that hang around the heat vent area, i forget their name, but their sound is quite terrifying and the first time i saw I was also like "nope time to go home" but after i figured out that if you hit them once with your knife and they turn and run away they kind of lost their scare factor.
I think the point was to make Alan and his plotline the mechanism of opening up some vastness or potentiality which was otherwise not available and contrary to the rest of the game and it's atmosphere.
Except it didn't do that, and in trying to make it so they binned everything which had made the previous game work.
Love this game. First one is my favourite of all time, but BZ was also very good. I did feel there was too much land and Id get bored quickly. So I used the spy pengling to get creative. The leviathans have made me jump and the void boys gave me a rush of adrenaline. But Unknown Worlds didn't leave too much in the way of creativity with BZ. this video was super enlightening though. Thnx Kraken
It didn't help that there were basically 3 stories in there, the sister investigation, AL-AN, and Maida. Marguerit, while a fun easter egg for players of the first game, was entirely unnecessary. And the other two story lines were so disconnected, literally no PoI's of either were in the same location, or related (2 of the body parts were deeper than any Sam related base, and the third one was in the opposite area of the glacier).
I for one preferred the direction the early access story was going.
before the video even starts I just want to say that I love the game, I just really wish that the map were a lot bigger. It really felt like the first one had a bigger and deeper map. It may have just been that a good portion of Below Zero is on land, but That is still how it felt.
It's thalassaphobia
Lol oops
No wonder why I don't fear anything on BZ compared to the first one, the fear of the unknown is just isn't really there anymore but I still love both games equally.
great video man. i enjoyed the game and the exploration onto terrain instead of being stuck in the ocean for the majority of the game. however, i feel the game was more sci fi/adventure than adventure/horror compared to the original subnautica. i never felt a sense of terror or fright in the ocean. it may be because i'm more used to what to look for, but the creatures and zones seemed a lot less frightening than the ones in the original. i never had a shitting my pants moment like i did in subnautica when encountering a ghost leviathan for the first time or seeing a sea dragon leviathan
this definitely helped gimme some pointers for if i do a series on it. i'm on console (atm) and if the snow fox isnt necessary then i might not waste time looking for it. ansd personally i would rather this biome to explore where i can see what's under me instead of looking down and seeing nothing. and from what i have seen, the story in below is pretty good and has some impressive scenes (including the ending). I'm not too big on the voiced character since in 1 the player WAS you, but due to the story i can let it slide a lil more. overall, from what i have seen, the game looks good and i'll still give it a try one day and maybe do a series on it.
It's a beautiful game and story is cool I just wish they had kept the original voice actor and story in early access. You'll love it for sure but you will notice the overall vibe is much different
the story would be okay if wasn't the bad dialogue and the fact that every character has completely comflicting motivations and actions that make no sense both for their lore and for the plot
Something else about Below Zero, is that it's really difficult to find anything without AL-AN's help, sure there's the small pillars that form a path, and it might just be that I'm stupid, but I found myself wandering for hours not finding anything until I end up pressing against the floor and trigger AL-AN to tell me that he found something, there's also the fact that the ONLY required things to do in the game are finding AL-AN's body parts and then making his body, other than that you can just make his body and then go to the warp gate and finish the game, it doesn't even have proper sequencing, I found a structure that the game clearly wanted me to find sooner, because I had already transferred AL-AN to his body and then dialogue as if he was still in my head started playing, ruining the emersion, since I knew he wasn't in there anymore, and yet he was still talking from my head, I also remember a giant frozen leviathan from TH-camr playthroughs, and I completed the game without ever finding it, so who knows what else I missed for the story
Lol I think this happened to me once too he was talking as if in my head but I had already finished the game mostly. And yes its irritating that the main reason you goto the planet ends up being a side quest basically
Nice video :) in the vein of constructive criticism I'd say lower music volume a bit next time. Also, it's thalassophobia, not thassalophobia ^^"
I completely agree with you. When I played Below Zero I had the feeling that sometimes it really shouldn't look like this. I mean yes, the game is still great, but the main problem is the overall design and too small map. It took me something around 50-60h to complete the first game, BZ ended up taking 30h. The main problem is the map and exactly as you said,it is too small. I had no way to make full use of the world and options, because it was pointless. Base building in Subnautica games is great, in the first game the map is big, we have many biomes and many options to build a base, while in BZ I didn't see the point of building more than one base. The map was simply too small to build more bases. When I built my house near the island, I was almost in the center of the small map, so everywhere was close. Besides, the map of the first game was more open which was more intimidating, while here we have cramped corridors which in the long run only annoy. This gives another problem that you mentioned. When the map is small, there are no large vehicles, so instead of having a mobile base as a sub and a small ship to explore, we have these two combined, making the seatruck too big for small caves and too small for a full-fledged base. I used the snowfox a few times and it wasn't too bad. The biggest disappointment was Prawn. In the first game it was really something, it was useful, gave a lot of options to do certain things and we got part of the game when we could live without it and the rest when it was really necessary. In BZ I got the prawn quite late, because I didn't need it and eventually used it only a few times finishing the game.
Also the storyline is not very good. I liked Alan, but I prefer when we are completely alone and have to figure out what to do next, rather than when I have information in my head where to go. One of the biggest disappointments was the main goal of the game. We go alone to the planet to find out what happened to our sister, but this thread gets lost because of Alan's situation. That's why I was a bit shocked when I saw the end credits and didn't know what happened to my sister xD
In addition, the game was too easy because the seatruck has everything we need in a given situation, a large sotrage, fabricator, etc. while the seamoth only has a small magazine and torpedoes. Leviathans are easy to kill and just not scary. In the first game you had to kill a few of them to have calm gameplay later, there I only killed shadows so I had peace of mind. Killing them is easy because all you have to do is attach to them with a Prawn's hook and attack with a drill. Large shrimps (chelicerate) were not a problem, because they are easy to get and do not protect important places.
The only thing remember from BZ is a lot of stories (which happens to be my favorite kind) but a lot of headaches compared to the first. I think it's because of what you said: the focus on claustrophobia, maze-like land and that damn Iceworm which detected my snowfox with no problem even with the module. While I do appreciate Al-an giving directions, somehow they made it worse.
I like story too. I'm a huge fan of metroid other M and I know most hated it, but bz could have at least got the rest right
1oo% agree and also i feel like Robin got over the reason why she was there in there first placeway too quick. everything seemed like it was trying to speed run the game. I spend 100 hrs in the original and just completed BZ with 30. that's a huge difference. I agree with you fully on your criticisms and i have the same judgement. i really liked BZ but i absolutely loved the OG
Something I was thinking about, was that in subnautica below zero, there isn’t very many places on the map that you can go deeper, most of the areas are mostly 200-300, maybe 400 meters below sea level, and when you need to go deeper, you have to spend a long time trying to find the different caves like the one with maidas base, and then mark it cuz if you don’t it’ll just take longer and waste power. Subnautica gave the feeling of isolation and terror, and forcing you to scan along the sea floor like, 600 meters down to find different fragment, with the only light source being your flashlight, and sea moth.
Yeah too many caves and shallow waters. Open deep water is more terrifying
I think it didn’t deliver because ppl already knew subnautica.
It was the "playing subnautica for the first time" effect.
The first game was such a great experience because i never played anything like it before. I had no idea where i should go first to get stuff.
In the second game i knew i just need to go to point A, then B then C and so on and it had less impact on me.
storyline was way to confusing to follow, subautica one u got the radio calls, looking at the pda to find out u have to go down to over 1k meters, but below zero u start tryin to find ur sister, then meet an alien, go to the artifacts, go to delta place, go to the greenhouse, but when ur doin the land part of the storyline u get little to 0 direction on what the hell u have to do next
I ran in circles for hours on that land part. Boy that radio in part 1 freaked me out when the warpers were talking. And the pdas being the only form of human interaction added to the terrifying mystery
Game was good, but it had a completely different theme from the original...
Subnautica - explore the ocean as the only survivor, fight your fears and survive your loneliness by talking to hover fish
Below Zero - explore the ocean to learn more, fight the elements of weather, survive bright lights and over dosing on oxygen everywhere
Below zero is for a Subnautica fan like morphine is for a heroin addict. It helps with the pain of not having the drug, but it never gives the feeling release
I don't care about the fear aspect. But the fact I got through the entire thing with a sea truck mk2 with 1 storage module was kind of meh. So I agree it should have been bigger to make you commit more to going and doing things. I put food and water in my storage once and I never emptied out what I put into it lol.
I got to the crystal caves via youtube after failing to figure out what i'm supposed to do. I was running around the ice spires for hours with absolutely no idea I had to go to where I went to get more story progression. Then when I reached the place to create the organs I just spawned the parts. I'm not spending 3 hours gathering at that point. Just spent like 5 snowmobiling lol.
Lots of time I was lost where I didn't know what to do and I just happened to stumble near somewhere I needed to be. I never would have found the crystal caves on my own as I wasn't interested in exploring so much.
The ice worms were scary but just not a threat. If you keep running you just won't be hit or anything. In fact, that entire ice spire biome... I did everything critical on foot without any artic gear. So all my time with the fox was just wasted hunting/exploring for something (didn't know what) that wasn't there.
Overall my complaints are map was too small, sometimes you don't know how to progress, and it was easy. I agree on the scariness of the leviathans.
I loved the game though. The ending really got me juiced up for more. I have critiques but I still think its a really solid game. I only experienced 2 bugs in the whole 20 hours I played.
I probably will come to this over subnautica if I just want to do some underwater base building stuff in vr. It just feels better in this version. Unique peaceful vr. I do the same in valheim... though less peace.
Ill be real, I agree with all these points you made (besides the snowfox I unironically found it really fun to use) and the cut content and story redos were a huge disappointment/annoyance. I'm hoping the next title goes back to the larger scale maps and having more horror elements as well. Multiplayer would be a cool addition too but I hope it doesn't come at the cost of immersion. Ill also add this, the audio mixing of this video is awful, background audio and sound effects are way too loud. I'm sure you've improved this in your following content due to this videos age but I cannot overlook it sorry 😆
The original concept for the game felt so much better, it was so much more interesting. I hate that they changed direction with it.
I really loved below zero,but your reasons are right,classic subnautica just hit different
i agree completly with most of this. taht being said, one thing i like is the story. the story was a big improvement with more characters and cinimatic moments.
but yes, claustrophobia and cryophobia are the main points of the game here instead of the ocean fear which was MUCH stronger in the first game. the small caves and the like were also much harder to navigate and i also agree with the maze areas.
now for me, the leviathans were annoying for my seatruck because i managed to snag a seatruck permiter defense module early on. with that, as soon as they began their attack animations, i was just like "no." and zapped them to leave me alone with minimul damage. that worked for the reapers, sure, but not the ghosts. and the seamoth couldn't even go deep enough to worry about the sea dragon.
The map size is, actually, not an issue _at all._ The problem is the _perception_ of the size, and _that_ comes about because of the surrounding mountains of ice. What made Subnautica 1 was that you were isolated and yet 'seemed to' have infinite freedom in every direction, even down. It was the feeling of being lost in an untracked wasteland. A desert, just one covered with water.
I _do_ agree that AL-AN was a _major_ mistake. What made the first one _terrifying_ was that everything was in your hands, _you_ drove it all, and had only yourself to rely on. I'm hoping that in 3 they return to this idea of survival horror.
ok but the map in bz is much smaller than sn1
@@leviathankraken
Sure, it is, but I think if it had been the same size and instead of the ice stuff being on the outside it had been islands in the middle with nothing but ocean everywhere outside it, _or_ if the ice parts had their own 'void' (think a wide open wasteland of pure white guarded by infinite Ice Worms the way the void is guarded by Ghosts or... whichever it is that guards it in BZ), it'd have _felt_ huge anyway, not contained as much, and left us feeling more alone in a massive world.
I didn't say it wasn't smaller, I said it was _perceived as_ smaller. I think this has less to do with _actuality_ than instantiation. Maybe someone could make a mod to check this out, raising the walls of the crater of the first Subnautica so the reason you can't leave is because there are literally walls in the way. I think that'd make the whole thing feel a lot smaller, being able to run into a physical wall you can see instead of just an area of danger you can't survive.
Another thing that would make it feel smaller is that the land, which everyone was annoyed with, taking up _so much_ of the map made the _fun_ bits, in the water, much, _much_ smaller. It'd be hard to mode BZ to fix that, maybe change the water level or something, but... too much land for the amount of water would make it seem even smaller.
A void of endless land and ice worms... that actually sounds terrifying. Adding walls around the map of sn1 would probably lag the game, I understand what you're saying but regardless bz was not as deep, lighter in colors which also makes it appear smaller, and overall smaller radius compared to sn1.
@@leviathankraken
Not sure why it would lag the game to have the walls there. Things at a far enough distance just aren't rendered at all. For instance the two islands. They cover them in a 'fog', but if you _remove_ the fog, they just aren't _there._ I figure the same would be true of a wall.
As for the depth... I'm not certain you'd be able to _tell_ if it weren't for the depth gauge. That gives you concrete numbers to compare with. Otherwise you can only base it on how hard it is to get down to that sort of depth, and in BZ it is, I think, actually _harder,_ a _much_ worse trackless path than the much simpler way to go with SN. Seriously, just head for the Bloodkelp Trench in the southwest, take the northeast entry to the Lost River, and stay left. You'll easily get down to the Inactive Lava zone. There's nothing _stopping_ you from going down, easily, nor finding your way down there. Doing the same with BZ... I don't recall finding an easy, trivial way down to the depths, and once you're _down_ there it isn't wide open, either, making even navigation _at_ the bottom harder. It's possible that, without the number to guide you, you might have _felt_ the map was _deeper_ even though it was shallower.
I think they made some poor choices on the sound design, the leviathans are much quieter, while the "dog" sharks are far too loud and they never shut up. Even the voice of the PDA was strange, and there was a distinct lack of humour in her pronouncements. I absolutely agree about the size of the landmass, it was too big and largely devoid of features and life.
The story was supposed to be about what happened to the sister, but you could totally ignore it if you wished, and it made no sense that a cure for Kharaa was so easily discovered, particularly when she wasn't even a disease specialist, but an engineer.
The cure was found way too easily. Didn't think about the engineer part, good point. And lmao those squid sharks are pretty loud. They kinda remind me of the sound the raptors made in jurassic park in one scene
I wish it had the old PDA voice
I loved the story but I agree BZ just felt too... safe? It wasn't really survival anymore seeing how literally you could play the entire game without feeling an ounce of fear or worry that a leviathan is going to ruin your ship. Even the huge ones down below you could just shock and they'd go away. But I love Al-an even if he wasn't the reason we went down there.
I can fully agree on this video.
The map size is crucial and its flaws are a ton of reasons why BZ rather seems like a DLC than a own game. It would be could if they could "DLCing" it into Sub 1. Like getting a Cyclops fully charged driving to the north and get into BZ or something like that. Not with some coding trickery, let it be a 20mins travel in the direction, you need energy and food for the trip and the Cyclops can show its full potential. Then setting up shop in BZ for resources you need for Sub1. Getting stuff done and combine resources from Sub 1 area to BZ area (and vice versa). That'd be awesome. Sure by traveling to the lava lake you need proper capabilities of the Cyclops (but you can do much with the Prawn also) but having a true trip to BZ with your Cyclops would be on another level.
I see a ton of missed opportunities and I'm sure there are reason for it, we don't even know. Staff changes are just one of the symptoms.
How about rebuilding the Aurora with resources from both areas, instead of building the Neptun (which isn't that challenging after roaming the lava lake, imho). Like extending the game play and having an use with all the achieved tech for traveling to BZ (or even another area which can be DLCed on to it like in Anno 1800 where they have made proper DLC's with new areas).
This would lead to a conceptional redesign of BZ and not having the issue of the size (I'd extend the size by at least another 50% tho). And the easy of adding new maps to the game via DLC's. Then you can have a proper map variety, some with more land others without land, some with ice (or a completely out of this world stuff) and so on and so forth. I hope Sub 2 will be more modular it would be great for the fans and for the company as far as their DLCs having a proper content of course. No one like rip offs ^^
I heard that BZ was originally supposed to be DLC for part 1 but when that idea was scrapped they should have just redesigned a larger map
@@leviathankraken I ve heard that too and it actually seems that way. Agree!
to be more specific, below zero is less than one-fifth of the size! it's not just too small compared to the original, it's too small period!
Another factor for why the shadow levithan wasn't so scary is because the area it is found in is very bright.
I really enjoyed Below Zero. It was very well made, and the exploration aspect was very unique. With that said, I loved the original game more, and I think Below Zero would've been more successful, if it wasn't part of the Subnautica franchise. There were too many plotholes that went against the original storyline, as well as the story just feeling very rushed. And while I loved Ben Prunty's music as the soundtrack, Simon Chylinski's music in the first game fit the vibe way better, and the feud between him and Unknown Worlds was ugly and stupid
Yeah I'm not fond of seeing petty political issues worming their way into video games. Especially subnautica. I still love the music in BZ though. The story was rushed and imo it was better before the change.
Let's hope Subnautica 3 can take the best things from both games
Honestly I think the main problem about the leviathans is that the leviathans are way too limited. the cheli is only found in like 2 small biomes and the shadow is only in a tiny biome.
True and that all kinda goes back to the issue of the map being too small
I really loved the sea truck in this game. Love the concept of having a small starter vehicle and looking for parts to expand on it. It was so exciting to get the final fragments for the fabricator and storage modules, as they changed the gameplay a lot. Plus, I really enjoy systems like this where you have to weigh pros and cons; you have to decide if having a fabricator, extra storage, or other modules are worth the reduced speed and maneuverability.
I do agree with most of your other points though. The linear story, the mazes, the isolated land. All very meh. The biggest problem I had though was that the end game was so short. I remember in the first game, I set up a base in the lava zone and used the prawn suit to collect materials so I could get to the bottom base. In BZ, I literally never once used the prawn suit. There just wasn't a need for it. By the time I got the materials to allow for the prawn suit to go deep enough, I already had everything I needed to beat the game. I only went to the crystal caves once and never had to go back. Very disappointing ending in that regard, although I loved the progression up until the end game.
Ive heard a lot of people say the same thing that they never used the prawn suit in BZ. But in my case it was the opposite. I used the prawn more than anything. I used it to explore the land area without issues from the cold. It made exploring the tight spaces of the deep twisty bridges etc much easier than a bulky seatruck plus it's crush depth was higher. Sea truck was alright, it had a good concept but I found myself skipping most of the attachments during playthroughs and never feeling like I needed them
really loud background music:(
My bad I'll be sure to make it lower on my next videos
One thing I haven't seen yet down here in the comments. You all remember how loud and scary Stalkers were when first starting subnautica? A fresh player hearing just roars coming from the kelp and eventually you muster up the courage to go investigate and they can be a little intimidating, but you realize pretty quick they can't hurt you much and you deal with them. Cryptocochus serves much the same function in below zero with 1 major difference... they're louder and live in the same biome as the leviathan you're supposed to respect. When you're surrounded by silence and then hear a reaper, it's terrifying. When I'm being constantly bombarded by the stupid bird cow roars then I see a Chalyssarid I just think, Oh thank goodness maybe you can help me shut these things up
yea the cryptosucas things start off kinda scary at first but they quickly get annoying. Too much noise all at once
It's less like separate reasons and more that when they come together what you get is less horror, less fear, less of a feeling you're alone on an alien planet. That's what people want, that's very clear from the mods made and the other fan content. I get that they didn't want horror in the first game and it was kind of an accident but it clearly worked so I'm not sure why they moved away from it.
the more terror the bigger the adrenaline rush that people crave
I went from the red crystal cave place to base (near the starter pod) and back with the prawn faster than a sea truck with a fabricator, prawn mover arounder and a storage (lmao) module got me there in the first place. I like the game and have got platinum twice (ps4 and 5) but it's not a touch on the original, I miss my cyclops, im gonna download it again now, got 2 platinum on that as well but it's awesome. Happy diving people
the first one caused so much anxiety I cried, I got so disorientated I freaked out, part two it's more awe of the the creature beauty
it is a beautiful game especially crystal caverns
I do agree with the reasons. Good video 👍
Personally, I find the smaller map to be perfect since this isn’t supposed to be full-on subnautica 2, and instead a side game, so it’s going to be smaller.
Reminds me of Spider-Man: Miles Morales and how’s its smaller, not in scale, but in scope
You can see the shadow lev from miles away cuz it glows underneath
one of the things I hate about bz is that there isn't any really cool new biomes. I was hoping the bz was going to add all these cool new biomes that could be beautiful and scary and the same time. I was more then slightly disappointed when most of the biomes were boring, or I had already seen them in videos.
BZ's biomes are beautiful though, just not scary. Sadly the ice dragon's biome was cut and that sux
The biggest issue I have with the ice worm is that it never does anything except knock you off your snowfox and stop your momentum dead... every ten seconds.
I don't think it even harms you when it does it, nor does it have to be anywhere near you.
it can still harm you tho. It can also one shot you with the eaten animation
Huh, I can't recall ever running into such an animation.@@leviathankraken
I think it like flings you into the air and into its mouth
YOOOOO! i agree. i hope devs see this also
Never played it, but i would rly like to. The seatruck looks very cool.