I found the first wolf very scary but after a while when you learn the mechanics and the music it is easy to spot the enemies.
Think you should take a maze like "Underground Area Tunnel 4" (lots of loops) and add an entrance from which a new offensive wolve occur every minute or so. The wolves should try to sneak in on you and the music should be a bit random such that it does not help too much. (Somewhere in the maze might be a small hint about you should block the entrance)
(you should use physics traps to take them out and the axe should be clearly useless - hitting them many times to kill is a dull way to learn not to do so)
Generally I think there should be fewer and more dangerous wolves (you should not be able to survive if you are spotted at close range unless you jump to a box).
tkrogc Wrote:I found the first wolf very scary but after a while when you learn the mechanics and the music it is easy to spot the enemies.
I agree. It was pretty (maybe too) easy to beat the dogs.
Developers should do the dogs harder into next Episodes! :)
Or you could just play on hard. I tried 'hard' difficulty for the first level, but my perfectionist attitude drove me insane; it took me forever to kill just one lone wolf, and another had crept up on me...I died like 20 times. :(
From the first few levels, if you even had the ability to kill a wolf, my first thought would be that you are not playing it on 'hard' difficulty. Once you have beaten the game on 'hard', and still find the wolves easy to deal with, then we can most certainly improve that aspect.
However, I agree with the music. I noticed that whenever a wolf was within a certain radius of you, the generic creepy music would play. It would be interesting to look into some sort of mechanic, where the generic 'creepy/sneaking past wolf' music in Penumbra would play only if you had spotted the wolf's body...something more jolting and sudden would come in handy if you had juuuust turned the corner, and there was a wolf breathing down your face. ;)
You are right, I have only completed the game on medium. Still I expect the medium difficulty to motivate the gamer to play the game as it was thought by the designers. I also tried the game at hard and still you are able to escape the wolves when you are spotted at 2 meters distance (though there are probably other parts of the game which are too difficult for me on hard - I am just a casual gamer).
btw.: an extra reason for my "offensive wolves" post was to get the fear of wolves sneaking in from behind - I had that fear when I struggled with the first wolf :)
Yeah, I was scared to death of the first wolf, too. *think happy thoughts*
and regarding the music they still might have some tension music before you see the wolves as long as it is unpredictable. Think they made it very well in the good old Rainbow Six: Roque Spear without strategy support - they had some scripted areas where they knew the player were unable to cover all angles, in these areas there was a good chance to tricker tension music and also a good chance to meet enemies (but only chances!). I found the first level scary even after completed it more than 30 times as terrorist hunt (due to the randomness and enemies sneaking in from behind). Definitely the highest replay value I have seen in a singleplayer fps game.
I think if you run a straight line for long enough, a dog chasing you would be able to pounce you and knock you down, and you would have to fight to get up again. Perhaps either you would turn on your back automatically so you get a chance to swing at the dog to knock it off you, or you would have to turn around manually.
Now that I think about it they should be able to pounce you and knock you down from ahead too, putting you directly into the perspective where you are on your back and wrestling with it.
Another thing that would make the dogs a lot more formidable were if they moved around in groups, just patrolling two together would make an attack on them much less feasible. You could use this to your advantage as well though and throw those two a beef jerky and as both want to eat it they may fight eachother over it for a little while. And if you want to take out both at once, wrap some jerky around a stick of dynamite before you throw it at them. *grins*
I hated the dogs and the spiders. It was difficult for me to off them. I just couldn't get the hang of the gas canisters.
I figured out a way to get near the end of the hallway, put a drum up next to the chain link fence and kill the dog with the pick through the fence, or whack him when/if he comes around the fence to you. Another reason for being in the corner like that... those dogs.. as big as they were... were kicking in doors and knocking over the drums I was on... should they be able to do that? They aren't that big.
At any rate, I whacked all of them so I could roam around freely. I cannot solve something and have to skulk around from something that can kill you in two hits.
Yeah the pick kills were boring - though I think the "puzzle" kills were fine - fun to lure the dogs into a trap while you are standing at box without any bait for the dogs (gives extra tension when the dogs push to the box). But annoying when you have trapped a dog and it is spawned outside the trap next time you enter the maze.
I think it is ok there are some obstacles which the dogs can smash whereas other obstacles like some boxes are solid (though it might be a good idea to let the drums look more weak)
Quote:At any rate, I whacked all of them so I could roam around freely. I cannot solve something and have to skulk around from something that can kill you in two hits.
Think you were safe at most of the puzzles (since they were outside the mazes). To me it is ok that you have to solve a few puzzles where you are in danger.
i think that the idea of hitting wolfs like 3-5 times to death is a little bit bad. if you (P.O. crew) try to make the game most realistic and scaryiest ever, you should try to make some skind damage, like, when u hit wolf with pick, would be great special effects if the pick stucks in the body, and then u have to pull it away with all the guts on pick left :D :D :D god i like this stuff. about the music, thank god it exists! it would be not good if, like the simple music plays and behind you comes out rockworm or more than one wolft to eat you... i think everyting is good yet, except the damage enemies take, you hit wolf in face, and he stands still like little wind blowing to it... not cool..