Sorry this video wasn’t a normal style that I usually do, or wasn’t as long/in-depth but I’ve been out for a while and won’t be back until January 9th, but I didn’t want to leave you all with nothing! And don’t worry, I’m working on something p̵̮̈́r̷̛̩ë̴̤́t̷̰͗ṯ̴͋ỹ̴̭ ̵̯͌b̷̗̐i̷͓͝g̷͎̊ while I’m out here! It’s something I’ve been trying to get done for quite some time, and I’m excited for you all to see it!
You should have spent more time investing game play you could’ve backed up unfinished if you’ve spoken about the snow fox especially because there was a hotly debated removal of the cyclops submarine. The snow fox actually is a really nice vehicle and I really like using it but it’s unfinished because it is nothing like the trailer it’s clunky, and it controls like a ghost from halo because you can’t actually turn, unless you turn a certain distance, which is really annoying you can get past the spy go on a certain speed, but still he constantly falls to the ground But you didn’t really hit any of us home for unfinished, feel because the unfinished fuel is way more than just that the fact of the matter is the Seatruck is the only vehicle in the game (besides the PRAWN) I don’t even want to be careful with the PARWN because it’s busted in below zero… I want to talk about is the seatruck do you have some gameplay of it but you never talked about it and it’s differences from the first game. Didn’t take the time to explain what the void ended up having as well if you try to leave the map you also forgot about the reapers really sad replacement the Chelicerate what about the storage situation because they arguably made it worse in the second game than the first game ever will be you should’ve also the sea truck modules as well…. the storage module on paper is a lifesaver, but in reality 72, inventory slots that are divided in five separate lockers. That’s something you should’ve touched on because yeah it’s an issue each module makes the truck ungodly slow and there’s very little to undo it with its upgrades because the upgrades and selves are so freaking dumb… one of the storage modules is hardly the players inventory. In fact, it’s barely a full inventory mean you’re gonna have to make tons of these which make you , Gary, the snail, and completely traveling to any place on the map or real pain even if it’s a really short distance because at a certain point even with afterburner stacked with the horsepower upgrade, it’s better to just take the sea glide and booster tank and keep going because it’s faster than the truck itself even if you have the after burner active, you never mentioned any room upgrades, and you also failed to even go in depth about what the game actually did right because all you said was graphic, improvements, quality of life, changes and tons of buildings that were so good. They were added to the first game, but you failed to mention the sea truck dock this was added well over a year after the games “full release” Before this, you would have to disconnect your sea truck from the rest of the modules which immediately to cut the power for the rest of the train then manual we get back in the base via the truck to charge it… when you need to grab a bunch of stuff though and put it in lockers, you have to literally jump into the truck with your flashlight because you can’t even see you manually take every single thing you have, and transport it by hand into your base. keep in mind the rest of the train it’s not powered, so you’re basically on an oxygen timer that was the Silver bullet you missed…. Contractor should have been there long before the actual game released. It was an afterthought. They didn’t even try to think of a concept before the game is released and I’m not kidding what the dock was a little over a year after the initial release it’s complete bullshit because now you can finally do what you should have been able to do since the concept of the sheetrock had actually been proposed, which means walk through the truck and keep it powered as you transport the rest of the stuff you have into your base because before this, you would have to disconnect the entirety of the truck, which cuts off the rest of the power supply so you’re still on oxygen tanks it’s ridiculous. You also should’ve gave credit where credit was due, but you didn’t, and this is part of the new way to make upgrades you don’t need to be in the vehicle upgrade consul to make any of the vehicle upgrades this is for all three vehicles you can make them all at a standard fabricator. You still need a modification station in your base to make MARK 2&3 for the sea truck and PRAWN respectively…. Yet you failed to mention it giving credit again or credit is due there once whether that made the game feel really cool and like a real place. It also completely changed how to play because at some point you would unlock the teleportation module off again it’s for the C truck. You can only get it after scanning a certain amount of fragments from Allen. It lets you teleport yourself right back to the truck from wherever you are in the map as long as the truck is powered, this means you could make a second truck and switch between them instantly without having to backtrack at all…….. I also think you should’ve spoken a lot more on the wildlife and the differences of both games because they do function very differently the sea monkeys for example will take your stuff if you’re not hosting it, this includes a sea-guild which means it can smell doom. If you don’t have oxygen, and they take your seat line as you’re trying to escape somewhere you also should’ve mentioned that re- worked air bladder. But again, interesting video and I agree with you along with this, but I still think you should have done a lot more research and explored the void at least once and should’ve tried to talk about the vent garden which is the largest creature on the map in below zero what about the underwhelming squid sharks which did a terrible job for filling the crab squid rule… I think you really just jumped so far and missed the good and bad. You also completely missed the main part of the word unfinished field because the snow fox for example is unfinished it’s stupid it just falls through the floor half the time you’re using it..
9:07 actually the floating islands were important. One supplied players with important buildings and the other with story and resources. Allowing the player to get into further depths in the water. So they we’re actually really important with one technically being optional because of no main story importance
Honestly Degasi arc of the story was really cool and interesting to discover. And yes introduction to growbeds and expanding base rooms was what would get you prepared for mid game to lategame by giving you water filter, nuclear power and alien containment for food supply
Also, only one of the islands float. The Floating Island is where the Degasi crew set up one of their bases, and was the rendezvous point for the Aurora where CTO Yu and Officer Keen met up to devise a plan. There is also a secondary Architect teleporter here. The Mountain Island, on the other hand, is actually somewhere very important in the story. The Quarantine Enforcement Platform was built here, which is required to be disabled to launch the Neptune without being fried with raw energy. There is also all of the shale you could ever want and a primary Architect teleporter.
Spoiler: all dialog between Robin and Al-an: Al-an: You humans do a thing. We don't do that. It's stupid. Robin: It is in fact very, very good that humans do that thing! Al-an: I do not understand. Robin: Then maybe you are wrong for not doing that thing you don't do. or: Al-an: That thing that just happened. I will re-state that it happened. Robin: Yes.
I like how in below zero the entire plot about Sam and figuring out how she died, the reason the character came to the planet in the first place, is completely skippable. Like, once you find al an you completely forget about the reason youre even there. You can complete subnautica below zero without finishing the main plot line. Even subnautica, with what is barely even a traditional story plot, still requires you to finish it.
I mean, yes but no. You do have to do the main story to complete the game, but it almost feels like 80% or the lore and story is completely skippable and something you have to actively search out
@@SoggyCoffeeAddict No, you don't. You only have to build Al-an's body, you can completely ignore the reason you're actually there, which is to find out what happened to Sam, and leave without doing anything about the Frozen Leviathan. Of course, even worse is you leave without any kind of cure for Kharaa, which is the entire reason Al-an was supposed to be there. So one character can ignore her main reason for being there and the other character has no way to even acknowledge his reason (he also disregards the functional Architect Caches that were established to exist all over the planet in the first game).
@@CruelestChris Yes you do. In the original subnautica you have to actively seek out the lore and actually read it! Besides that you can CHOOSE to do a few steps to end the game but you miss most of the lore doing so. Below Zero you do have to search out Sam's lore but the game has 2 different lores in one, the one with Al-an you don't have to search for it's kinda given to you through his voice lines that you can't really skip. Whilst Sam was why our character goes there in the first place Al-an is ultimately the main story (figuring out about Sam is more like a side quest) and the way to end the game. The first game also never made you end it..the second kinda pushes you to
Ikr, Robin even said "The research is everything to me" and yet completely forgets about it if the player doesn't care. It's so broken. Also, why do you "like" that, I think it's a terrible choice.
@@jakeymcsouse2772 Not only that, but the story the game guides you through is the Al An one. You have to make an intentional effort to find the Sam storyline by reading the lore downloads and figuring out where to go, which is something most players wont do. Not only is the main inciting plotline abandoned after less than an hour of gameplay, but it actually requires you to put in effort to even know how to progress in it.
Here's something to keep in mind. They rewrote the story completely half way through development, changing authors and ditching much of the established plot content. In many ways its two halves of two completely different games wearing a trenchcoat.
I'm surprised you didn't rip the shit out of the Sam storyline and only gave it a passing mention. Al-an's story feels like the main story, but Sam is such a jumbled mess of a tack-on. She's worried that Alterra is making bioweapons, but no part of the story gives any indication that this is true. In fact, there is tons of evidence showing that they are not making weapons. Sam's love interest and the lead scientist gives her word that the research is being used to cure cancer and other horrible conditions and after Sam's death, Alterra halts the project and lies about what Sam did to protect her reputation, even though they could have continued. Sam ignores all the evidence, the extreme security, and the care gone into obtaining and testing a cure and decides to go rogue. She creates a second cure in a matter of days, planning to inject it into the frozen leviathan to ruin the project. However, at this point, Maida intervenes and tells her that destroying the virus isn't enough. She needs to BOMB the facility. Sam agrees and abandons the nonviolent plan and while Maida is bombing the research base (and releasing the virus I might add), Sam accidentally kills herself and Parven with the bombs (because the trigger is motion-based for some reason) and fails to destroy the leviathan. Sam comes off as a lunatic eco-terrorist who is trying to stop cancer research and Robin just immediately sides with Maida despite knowing that she is responsible for her sister's death. Robin then follows through with Sam's original plan, which works just fine, and the rest of the cancer research is destroyed, but Kharaa is still loose in the wild. Presumably, the Emporer enzymes will take care of that, but still, good job hero. /s I know Alterra is supposed to be evil, based on the content of games OUTSIDE of Subnautica, but Subnautica only ever makes them seem at worst self self-serving. Releasing a bunch of bioweapons they can't control just doesn't jive with what Subnautica tells us about them. I can forgive most of the other design decisions, but Sam's story is just so glaringly AWEFUL I have no idea how it made it into the game.
If you read the employee literature in the first Subnautica, Alterra is clearly evil from the start. There's no reason to believe a company engaged in slave labor and the kinds of abuse they were up to deserves the benefit of even the tiniest doubt.
@@ikth7 Reading back through to refresh my memory, it wasn't as overt as I remembered, but you can see it in their Alms log entry, the Mongolian insurance agent's conversation with a crew member, and a few other places. Things aren't alright in Alterra.
@@Finvaara The Mongolians are a decentralized collective where every citizen has zero authority. Anyone outside of their government is a slave in their mind, but they aren't talking about literal slavery. If you get paid, you are a slave to your wage. If you own a company you are a slave to your shareholders. The fact remains that the only thing that makes Alterra "slavers" is that they pay their employees and insist they do a job. That is a FAR cry from the abusive and unscrupulous picture that Below Zero tries to suddenly shove at us.
@@ikth7 Sounds like you didn't go read the Alterra Alms log I mentioned. There's no charity in Alterra. If you can't work anymore, you get retrained, and the cost of your retraining means you're indentured to one of the investors of the Alterra Alms firm.
I was disappointed in Subnautica 2s story, but I enjoyed the gameplay just as much as the first one, there’s been worse sequels but I agree that it isn’t as good as the first game.
Subnautica 3 is confirmed to be Call of the Void, so it probably will not have many land sections. It may also not be as story-heavy as BZ, because I don't think you can assemble much of a story with such a desolate region. There might still be a breadcrumb trial to be followed with artifacts and such, but I think it will be more exploration-based. Hopefully, Unknown Worlds doesn't come up with some nonsensical story again.
@@jakeymcsouse2772 My man i don't know if you are joking or not but, Call of the Void is a mod for the first game, we don't really know much of the third game not even the name.
Honestly I started following the sequel from the demo and then when I found out they changed the story for the full release I just dropped it entirely, I didn't even bother with it. I was honestly just too upset that they changed it because I got attached to what was in the demo. Very stubborn of me looking back on it but meh
I also feel like those oxygen plants take away from the immersion in a way, like how I'm just playing a Mario 64 water level during those moments. I still love the sea truck, it's like a mini-cyclops that can fit in tighter spaces.
Absolutely loved this review. I’ve watched multiple reviews on below zero because I know how much the game is a downgrade from the original. However, I can’t help but feel this one is a lot better. The other reviews say things like, “Yeah, the story feels less directed because the character is voiced and the story is more directed and forces” which is fine, but what I noticed about this review is that it explains things in a LOT more detail and explanation . I love how he not only compared the second game to the first game, but also the first game to the second game. Also referencing to Minecraft was a great comparison. I’m losing my train of thought so I’m just going to leave this here.
Al-An (character, not the hand-holding aspect) and the QoL is literally the only saving grace for me. Otherwise, it's hot garbage. Nothing endeared me to Robin. I'd rather have the EA version.
Below zero was meh to okay It was cool yo see new creatures and environments but all in all it was okay Makes me wonder what they gonna do with 3, they already did a tropical environment and an ice one so what, a desert? Well no right?
The first game is so good I've played through a bunch of times. I'm at the end of a hardcore run rn and I don't want to leave in the rocket. Unfortunately I couldn't get through below zero. The chatty protagonist and Alan constantly talking ruined it for me. She sounds like a latte drinking millennial woman and not some badass capable of surviving on an alien world.
You say this game ruins the feeling of isolation the first game established, but thats the thing. Youre expecting it to be the just like the first game, with that mentality anyone who thinks the same thing were doomed to be disappointed and thats just one example. No one has ever been able to explain to me why they dont like it without every example basically saying "i dont like it because its not exactly like the original". So it was doomed from the start. Im kinda starting to think its a little condescending. Like going into it understanding its different is waay too much this isnt aimed at anyone in particular just something i see alot
i fucking hate when a game that could be you making your own adventure becomes a game where you have to force yourself to play along with a very amateurly written story.
Watching this video as I am scared the new Subnautica will be worse than Below Zero. Subnautic was one of my favorite games growing up and I hope to god they do this game well. Cringe but I literally prayed over this game hahahaha
Dude remember when you asked for theories in your latest gravity falls theory and I made a comment/question/theory pls check it out and make a video about it
I actually very much enjoyed below zero, they were very story focused which I thought the story was great. I thought the map was significantly smaller though, thought'd be bigger.
Simple: They gave us less of the enjoyable content from the first game, and insisted upon a bullshit story with bullshit characters as a sufficient replacement for exploration and discovery. Some games are meant to have plots. Some games are gameplay games. This is a gameplay game. Focus on that.
The talking in this game was atrocious. The sounds that she made while eating made me want to get a refund. All I all, the devs weee completely out of touch with what made the first game so great. It feels like they are doing the same to this game as what Kennedy did to Star Wars.
They're very different, one sandbox driven the other story driven..if you went into Below Zero expecting the same experience and feelings the original Subnautica gave you then you'd be disappointed for sure; but I think it's great as it's own thing, as something different I do agree the biomes could of had more to them (though the planet is like cold asf..what else WOULD go in those area? Plants?? It's too cold for standard seabed plants..and it'd take a bit to develop new life just to fit the theme of Below Zero) but besides that the only reason it flopped was because Subnautica players were expecting, well, Subnautica! They got something different, something they didn't want, and didn't like it; which is fair, when you raise up a specific audience changing your genre can lead to it to flopping hard as the audience you built wanted the genre of the first game and weren't interested in the change (take Hello Neighbor for example; The earlier builds set up a specific audience, when they changed it to story driven platform game that audience became unhappy as it no longer met what they wanted so the game became kind of devoid of fans afterwards and had to rebuild a fanbase for the final platformy game it became)
Personally, I don't blame them for having tried something different, but for having implemented it very badly... I understand your point but I don't necessarily agree that the players are disappointed because the experience is a little different than Subnautica. It's not changing stuff that's the problem, but it's the way it's done. It could have been different, but well done, but I think that's not the case at all (for a lot of players anyway, but everyone can have a different feeling of course). The story and the narration are quite abysmal, and normally it's really not that aspect of a survival game that interests me, but in BZ it's so visible that it becomes problematic. The underwater map is smaller, and I find it less interesting overall (even if the game is prettier and there are beautiful biomes). And next to it the land map is bigger, and really... really boring. For a sequel to a game called "Sub-nautica", this is an incomprehensible decision to me. I'm not going to do another complete recap because there are a lot of things to say, but apart from the graphics which are prettier, the only point which for me is better than in Subnautica is the few additional construction possibilities, and 1-2 crafts (quantum locker for example). For the seatruck, I find it hard to have a definite opinion on it, it's not bad, but it's not incredible either, "meh". It's not huge honestly, plus some additions are very bad (the spy penguin or the snowfox for example... their contribution to the game is a huge mess) or just gadgets without much interest.
I'd rather play BZ over the first any day. The last level / zone of SN1 was the worst level design I've seen in my life. It brought a near perfect experience down to a game I have no desire to finish.
Maybe I don't understand, but I think it's kinda dumb that he said that Margaret's bases were stupid for being safe. Then when the game gave him the perfect area for what he was talking about then, he said it was bad that there's no safe space against the shadow leviathans. Everything else though I do mainly agree with, the games feel very similar to 7 days to die in a way. Like they're never truly finished and will never truly make it out of alpha, and be a finished game
That's because you misunderstood. The problem with Marge's bases is that they introduce a location where you feel safe because you are in the home of another living person. The Fabricator Caverns are a problem because they force you into tight spaces with Shadow Leviathans where you can't really avoid them: since they can only boop you for about 30 heath and you'd have the Perimeter Defence module at that point, though, it's just annoying rather than scary. I ended up killing the two outside the base down there because I just couldn't find anywhere to park my Seatruck where they wouldn't aggro to it and eat it while I was making Al-an's body, and you never had to kill the Sea Dragons in the Lava Zones. It's scary when you're _barely able_ to avoid a monster, it isn't scary when you're _incapable_ of avoiding it.
Honestly that game reeked of the worst female behaviors. Constantly emotional, self centered, self loathing. Hey I already have a wife and daughter. Unless you're them, I'm deeply sorry, I really don't care about your non issues and emotional issues. You'd think Altera would pick someone who is focused on their mission instead of their feelings but I guess altera wants to be inclusive lol Seriously remember the first one where you literally get green dots all over your body, your character screams and... that's it? That was so nice! I love women and this game is actually making me mysoginistic lmao. Seriously stop being a victim!
I do agree. It looks way too much into there emotions and everything instead of thinking about a actual story. Plus Alan feels like a robot and not even a real person. Marguerite at least didn't bother us with what she felt about anything and simple said what was needed. I'd prefer to learn more about her then Sam and Robin
I'm afraid that I have to respectfully disagree with you. While I love both Subnautica and Below Zero, I always found Below Zero to be the better game, overall. The basic gameplay felt a lot more polished (which is obviously due to what the developers learned during the first game) and while I will not deny the story development arc is almost the exact same, I appreciated it. The psychic communication, while a tad annoying, gives you actual direction instead of leaving you to google what to do next. Yes the story paths are marked, but that doesn't always make it clear where you need to go or what you need to do. The story of the sequel made more sense to me, story wise, and felt like more of an actual GAME where the first Subnautica felt like more of an underwater survival experience than any kind of a story driven adventure. The second game actually felt like it had some sort of momentum you were building on, trying to reach an actual goal. The first game's goal was mostly just this arbitrary "You crashed, get off the planet" and felt very hollow and lacking of any depth. Sure the encounters were interesting, and the were neat places to visit, but it didn't feel cohesive. The environment could feel disjointed at times, connecting completely different biomes in ways that don't always make a logical sense. In Below Zero, while they clearly didn't spend as much time on the level designs, they at least felt like a single cohesive section of the world. The things that I preferred about the first game over the second were mostly things like missing the seamoth and the cyclops, not any sort of nostalgia for the first game's story plot. But this is simply my two cents, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions on a game. I might disagree, but still a good video.
I actually really agree! It feels more structured in Below Zero. You also don't have to sit around waiting for Radios unsure where else to go as Below Zero has a plot and places it marks you to visit, the story is more expansive in it as well! The game mostly didn't do as well not because it's bad but because it's different from the first..the first built a specific audience, changing the formula meant it clashed with it's main audience (people who liked sandboxes, liked the difficulty of finding the lore or being able to skip the lore, obviously they weren't too thrilled to get the opposite of what they liked..but those of us who did saw the second as somewhat better)
Maybe you like to be more directed, guided, and that's why you prefer BZ, that's what comes out of your message anyway, and no problem, everyone has their own tastes. Same for tester wulf, when I read that some were waiting for radio messages to know what to do, I don't think we have the same expectations and approaches to the game at all, because many players were just guided by their curiosity without waiting for the game tells them what to do, and Subnautica offers a lot of freedom on that side. The "problem" is that for many players what made Subnautica's strength and charm was precisely this feeling of loss and freedom that you don't seem to appreciate too much. What you raise as an "absence" (the fact that the story is more discreet and that our character has little or no background), it is seen as a positive point by many because it allows us to really immerse ourselves in the game. You don't embody a character, but you can really take his place, it's our experience and our story, we can set our own goals. When in BZ you embody a character who comes with his own story, and the story is unfolded in a more visible way, too much for some people because the game guides the player more openly. And it's not very well done... Between AL-AN who tells you to go to markers, the completely optional "main" quest... An indigestible narration, and Marguerite who brings nothing, there are plenty of problems just for progression, immersion and the story. I could have accepted these changes if it had been interesting and well implemented, but it looks like a draft. But we need all kinds of games for all players I guess, let's hope that Subnautica 2 (3 if you count BZ) will succeed in convincing everyone :)
Not gonna lie the story for this game is shit tho. There kick Sam's story off a cliff as soon as you learn she was basically insane and ended up killing herself and a innocent worker. And Robin and Alan are like a wattpad story with how it's written. The gameplay is too short and the map is too small for any creature to feel special to a certain part. The scanning is a bit more simple in this game compared to the wrecks in the first game. but that's mostly it
I too have to respectfully disagree with you. In the first game the obvious goal was to get deeper to get what you need to escape. If you stumble onto a location that is too deep it was an obvious sign that the player needs to explore more since they are missing something. And even without a map there was a perfect landmark on the surface to tell where you are, where you have been and where you haven't been based on the position of the Aurora in relation to your own. The Aurora wrecks were also obvious enough to find them when you are in a biome but subtle enough to where the devs didn't need to place a green dot for you to find. In Below Zero the devs either don't trust the player to be able to navigate their way to the end goal or they don't believe they designed the game in such a way where a player would be able to navigate it without the devs holding their hand. Thus spamming green dots and voice lines from Al-an. The story also barely makes sense. You come to the planet trying to find what happened with your sister, which you can, but can also be completely skipped and instead leave the planet with your new alien boyfriend. And when you search you find out that it wasn't a Alterra coverup, she was just paranoid, insane and blew herself up, killed an innocent collegue and didn't even achieve her goal of destroying the frozen leviathan. And it is still treated as if Sam was in the right somehow and not completely nuts. We also learn that Marguerit basically enabled Sam and we don't even confront her with that knowledge, instead we just leave and that's that. The dialogue between our lead and her alien bf isn't much better either. Al-an can't decide if his species is an individualistic one or a collective one and acts like a total tool for the rest of the dialogue. Robin spouts 1st grade philosophy acting like humanity is the greatest thing in the world and barely even inquires into details about the architects even though she is supposedly a xenobiologist and Al-an is the first sentient alien species humanity has encountered.
Sorry this video wasn’t a normal style that I usually do, or wasn’t as long/in-depth but I’ve been out for a while and won’t be back until January 9th, but I didn’t want to leave you all with nothing! And don’t worry, I’m working on something p̵̮̈́r̷̛̩ë̴̤́t̷̰͗ṯ̴͋ỹ̴̭ ̵̯͌b̷̗̐i̷͓͝g̷͎̊ while I’m out here! It’s something I’ve been trying to get done for quite some time, and I’m excited for you all to see it!
I can't wait to see it
You should have spent more time investing game play you could’ve backed up unfinished if you’ve spoken about the snow fox especially because there was a hotly debated removal of the cyclops submarine. The snow fox actually is a really nice vehicle and I really like using it but it’s unfinished because it is nothing like the trailer it’s clunky, and it controls like a ghost from halo because you can’t actually turn, unless you turn a certain distance, which is really annoying you can get past the spy go on a certain speed, but still he constantly falls to the ground
But you didn’t really hit any of us home for unfinished, feel because the unfinished fuel is way more than just that the fact of the matter is the Seatruck is the only vehicle in the game (besides the PRAWN) I don’t even want to be careful with the PARWN because it’s busted in below zero… I want to talk about is the seatruck do you have some gameplay of it but you never talked about it and it’s differences from the first game. Didn’t take the time to explain what the void ended up having as well if you try to leave the map you also forgot about the reapers really sad replacement the Chelicerate what about the storage situation because they arguably made it worse in the second game than the first game ever will be you should’ve also the sea truck modules as well…. the storage module on paper is a lifesaver, but in reality 72, inventory slots that are divided in five separate lockers. That’s something you should’ve touched on because yeah it’s an issue each module makes the truck ungodly slow and there’s very little to undo it with its upgrades because the upgrades and selves are so freaking dumb… one of the storage modules is hardly the players inventory. In fact, it’s barely a full inventory mean you’re gonna have to make tons of these which make you , Gary, the snail, and completely traveling to any place on the map or real pain even if it’s a really short distance because at a certain point even with afterburner stacked with the horsepower upgrade, it’s better to just take the sea glide and booster tank and keep going because it’s faster than the truck itself even if you have the after burner active, you never mentioned any room upgrades, and you also failed to even go in depth about what the game actually did right because all you said was graphic, improvements, quality of life, changes and tons of buildings that were so good. They were added to the first game, but you failed to mention the sea truck dock this was added well over a year after the games “full release”
Before this, you would have to disconnect your sea truck from the rest of the modules which immediately to cut the power for the rest of the train then manual we get back in the base via the truck to charge it… when you need to grab a bunch of stuff though and put it in lockers, you have to literally jump into the truck with your flashlight because you can’t even see you manually take every single thing you have, and transport it by hand into your base. keep in mind the rest of the train it’s not powered, so you’re basically on an oxygen timer that was the Silver bullet you missed…. Contractor should have been there long before the actual game released. It was an afterthought. They didn’t even try to think of a concept before the game is released and I’m not kidding what the dock was a little over a year after the initial release it’s complete bullshit because now you can finally do what you should have been able to do since the concept of the sheetrock had actually been proposed, which means walk through the truck and keep it powered as you transport the rest of the stuff you have into your base because before this, you would have to disconnect the entirety of the truck, which cuts off the rest of the power supply so you’re still on oxygen tanks it’s ridiculous. You also should’ve gave credit where credit was due, but you didn’t, and this is part of the new way to make upgrades you don’t need to be in the vehicle upgrade consul to make any of the vehicle upgrades this is for all three vehicles you can make them all at a standard fabricator. You still need a modification station in your base to make MARK 2&3 for the sea truck and PRAWN respectively…. Yet you failed to mention it giving credit again or credit is due there once whether that made the game feel really cool and like a real place. It also completely changed how to play because at some point you would unlock the teleportation module off again it’s for the C truck. You can only get it after scanning a certain amount of fragments from Allen. It lets you teleport yourself right back to the truck from wherever you are in the map as long as the truck is powered, this means you could make a second truck and switch between them instantly without having to backtrack at all……..
I also think you should’ve spoken a lot more on the wildlife and the differences of both games because they do function very differently the sea monkeys for example will take your stuff if you’re not hosting it, this includes a sea-guild which means it can smell doom. If you don’t have oxygen, and they take your seat line as you’re trying to escape somewhere you also should’ve mentioned that re- worked air bladder.
But again, interesting video and I agree with you along with this, but I still think you should have done a lot more research and explored the void at least once and should’ve tried to talk about the vent garden which is the largest creature on the map in below zero what about the underwhelming squid sharks which did a terrible job for filling the crab squid rule…
I think you really just jumped so far and missed the good and bad. You also completely missed the main part of the word unfinished field because the snow fox for example is unfinished it’s stupid it just falls through the floor half the time you’re using it..
9:07 actually the floating islands were important. One supplied players with important buildings and the other with story and resources. Allowing the player to get into further depths in the water. So they we’re actually really important with one technically being optional because of no main story importance
Honestly Degasi arc of the story was really cool and interesting to discover. And yes introduction to growbeds and expanding base rooms was what would get you prepared for mid game to lategame by giving you water filter, nuclear power and alien containment for food supply
Also, only one of the islands float. The Floating Island is where the Degasi crew set up one of their bases, and was the rendezvous point for the Aurora where CTO Yu and Officer Keen met up to devise a plan. There is also a secondary Architect teleporter here. The Mountain Island, on the other hand, is actually somewhere very important in the story. The Quarantine Enforcement Platform was built here, which is required to be disabled to launch the Neptune without being fried with raw energy. There is also all of the shale you could ever want and a primary Architect teleporter.
So you could say this experience left you a bit...
Cold?
...
Maybe below zero?
Spoiler: all dialog between Robin and Al-an:
Al-an: You humans do a thing. We don't do that. It's stupid.
Robin: It is in fact very, very good that humans do that thing!
Al-an: I do not understand.
Robin: Then maybe you are wrong for not doing that thing you don't do.
or:
Al-an: That thing that just happened. I will re-state that it happened.
Robin: Yes.
I swear it was written by a 12yo girl
Plus there end up going on about hope and people think this was cute. It's the most shit writing that I probably could have written it
I like how in below zero the entire plot about Sam and figuring out how she died, the reason the character came to the planet in the first place, is completely skippable. Like, once you find al an you completely forget about the reason youre even there.
You can complete subnautica below zero without finishing the main plot line. Even subnautica, with what is barely even a traditional story plot, still requires you to finish it.
I mean, yes but no. You do have to do the main story to complete the game, but it almost feels like 80% or the lore and story is completely skippable and something you have to actively search out
@@SoggyCoffeeAddict
No, you don't. You only have to build Al-an's body, you can completely ignore the reason you're actually there, which is to find out what happened to Sam, and leave without doing anything about the Frozen Leviathan. Of course, even worse is you leave without any kind of cure for Kharaa, which is the entire reason Al-an was supposed to be there. So one character can ignore her main reason for being there and the other character has no way to even acknowledge his reason (he also disregards the functional Architect Caches that were established to exist all over the planet in the first game).
@@CruelestChris Yes you do. In the original subnautica you have to actively seek out the lore and actually read it! Besides that you can CHOOSE to do a few steps to end the game but you miss most of the lore doing so. Below Zero you do have to search out Sam's lore but the game has 2 different lores in one, the one with Al-an you don't have to search for it's kinda given to you through his voice lines that you can't really skip.
Whilst Sam was why our character goes there in the first place Al-an is ultimately the main story (figuring out about Sam is more like a side quest) and the way to end the game.
The first game also never made you end it..the second kinda pushes you to
Ikr, Robin even said "The research is everything to me" and yet completely forgets about it if the player doesn't care. It's so broken. Also, why do you "like" that, I think it's a terrible choice.
@@jakeymcsouse2772 Not only that, but the story the game guides you through is the Al An one. You have to make an intentional effort to find the Sam storyline by reading the lore downloads and figuring out where to go, which is something most players wont do. Not only is the main inciting plotline abandoned after less than an hour of gameplay, but it actually requires you to put in effort to even know how to progress in it.
Here's something to keep in mind. They rewrote the story completely half way through development, changing authors and ditching much of the established plot content. In many ways its two halves of two completely different games wearing a trenchcoat.
I'm surprised you didn't rip the shit out of the Sam storyline and only gave it a passing mention. Al-an's story feels like the main story, but Sam is such a jumbled mess of a tack-on. She's worried that Alterra is making bioweapons, but no part of the story gives any indication that this is true. In fact, there is tons of evidence showing that they are not making weapons. Sam's love interest and the lead scientist gives her word that the research is being used to cure cancer and other horrible conditions and after Sam's death, Alterra halts the project and lies about what Sam did to protect her reputation, even though they could have continued. Sam ignores all the evidence, the extreme security, and the care gone into obtaining and testing a cure and decides to go rogue. She creates a second cure in a matter of days, planning to inject it into the frozen leviathan to ruin the project. However, at this point, Maida intervenes and tells her that destroying the virus isn't enough. She needs to BOMB the facility. Sam agrees and abandons the nonviolent plan and while Maida is bombing the research base (and releasing the virus I might add), Sam accidentally kills herself and Parven with the bombs (because the trigger is motion-based for some reason) and fails to destroy the leviathan. Sam comes off as a lunatic eco-terrorist who is trying to stop cancer research and Robin just immediately sides with Maida despite knowing that she is responsible for her sister's death. Robin then follows through with Sam's original plan, which works just fine, and the rest of the cancer research is destroyed, but Kharaa is still loose in the wild. Presumably, the Emporer enzymes will take care of that, but still, good job hero. /s
I know Alterra is supposed to be evil, based on the content of games OUTSIDE of Subnautica, but Subnautica only ever makes them seem at worst self self-serving. Releasing a bunch of bioweapons they can't control just doesn't jive with what Subnautica tells us about them.
I can forgive most of the other design decisions, but Sam's story is just so glaringly AWEFUL I have no idea how it made it into the game.
If you read the employee literature in the first Subnautica, Alterra is clearly evil from the start. There's no reason to believe a company engaged in slave labor and the kinds of abuse they were up to deserves the benefit of even the tiniest doubt.
@@Finvaara Huh? When did they ever do that? Which log was it? Their employees were always paid in what I read.
@@ikth7 Reading back through to refresh my memory, it wasn't as overt as I remembered, but you can see it in their Alms log entry, the Mongolian insurance agent's conversation with a crew member, and a few other places. Things aren't alright in Alterra.
@@Finvaara The Mongolians are a decentralized collective where every citizen has zero authority. Anyone outside of their government is a slave in their mind, but they aren't talking about literal slavery. If you get paid, you are a slave to your wage. If you own a company you are a slave to your shareholders. The fact remains that the only thing that makes Alterra "slavers" is that they pay their employees and insist they do a job. That is a FAR cry from the abusive and unscrupulous picture that Below Zero tries to suddenly shove at us.
@@ikth7 Sounds like you didn't go read the Alterra Alms log I mentioned. There's no charity in Alterra. If you can't work anymore, you get retrained, and the cost of your retraining means you're indentured to one of the investors of the Alterra Alms firm.
I was disappointed in Subnautica 2s story, but I enjoyed the gameplay just as much as the first one, there’s been worse sequels but I agree that it isn’t as good as the first game.
Hopefully the Third will still have the feel as the first but not the same. But then again It'll be like below zero and probably nothing different.
Subnautica 3 is confirmed to be Call of the Void, so it probably will not have many land sections. It may also not be as story-heavy as BZ, because I don't think you can assemble much of a story with such a desolate region. There might still be a breadcrumb trial to be followed with artifacts and such, but I think it will be more exploration-based. Hopefully, Unknown Worlds doesn't come up with some nonsensical story again.
@@jakeymcsouse2772 please correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t call of the void a mod
@@jakeymcsouse2772 My man i don't know if you are joking or not but, Call of the Void is a mod for the first game, we don't really know much of the third game not even the name.
@@jakeymcsouse2772lmao no it’s not 😭
@@jakeymcsouse2772that's a mod little bro
In all fairness, the devs said this game wasn't a sequel, more of a story expansion of the first subnautica. Like Subnautica 1.5
Should cost .5 as much then
@@mack-attack-420it was a small indie game from the get go, this isn’t a situation where a AAA developer is pricing a smaller expansion at 60 dollars.
@@tejaswiraj6610 They should've kept this as dlc tbh. Making it standalone was a mistake
"Cold Subnautica, but done much worse."
Honestly I started following the sequel from the demo and then when I found out they changed the story for the full release I just dropped it entirely, I didn't even bother with it. I was honestly just too upset that they changed it because I got attached to what was in the demo. Very stubborn of me looking back on it but meh
I also feel like those oxygen plants take away from the immersion in a way, like how I'm just playing a Mario 64 water level during those moments. I still love the sea truck, it's like a mini-cyclops that can fit in tighter spaces.
And also, I think that the Ending is way weaker than that the original game
Absolutely loved this review. I’ve watched multiple reviews on below zero because I know how much the game is a downgrade from the original. However, I can’t help but feel this one is a lot better.
The other reviews say things like, “Yeah, the story feels less directed because the character is voiced and the story is more directed and forces” which is fine, but what I noticed about this review is that it explains things in a LOT more detail and explanation .
I love how he not only compared the second game to the first game, but also the first game to the second game. Also referencing to Minecraft was a great comparison. I’m losing my train of thought so I’m just going to leave this here.
Below Zero is just a standalone expansion to Subnautica
Al-An (character, not the hand-holding aspect) and the QoL is literally the only saving grace for me. Otherwise, it's hot garbage. Nothing endeared me to Robin. I'd rather have the EA version.
Below zero was meh to okay
It was cool yo see new creatures and environments but all in all it was okay
Makes me wonder what they gonna do with 3, they already did a tropical environment and an ice one so what, a desert? Well no right?
Subnautica 3 is officially the sequel of Subnautica.
The first game is so good I've played through a bunch of times. I'm at the end of a hardcore run rn and I don't want to leave in the rocket. Unfortunately I couldn't get through below zero. The chatty protagonist and Alan constantly talking ruined it for me. She sounds like a latte drinking millennial woman and not some badass capable of surviving on an alien world.
You say this game ruins the feeling of isolation the first game established, but thats the thing. Youre expecting it to be the just like the first game, with that mentality anyone who thinks the same thing were doomed to be disappointed and thats just one example. No one has ever been able to explain to me why they dont like it without every example basically saying "i dont like it because its not exactly like the original". So it was doomed from the start. Im kinda starting to think its a little condescending. Like going into it understanding its different is waay too much this isnt aimed at anyone in particular just something i see alot
facts. and this dissapointment receives a "very positive" status on steam.
i fucking hate when a game that could be you making your own adventure becomes a game where you have to force yourself to play along with a very amateurly written story.
Watching this video as I am scared the new Subnautica will be worse than Below Zero. Subnautic was one of my favorite games growing up and I hope to god they do this game well. Cringe but I literally prayed over this game hahahaha
Dude remember when you asked for theories in your latest gravity falls theory and I made a comment/question/theory pls check it out and make a video about it
hi i loved your dhmis series also my dog is named fluffer-nutter
I actually very much enjoyed below zero, they were very story focused which I thought the story was great. I thought the map was significantly smaller though, thought'd be bigger.
Which one the side one that there kick off a cliff or the one with the two emotionless characters with rubbish writing?.
Fluffer Nutter matpat sent me
Damn your content is actually so good
Danke
Deutsch?
Simple: They gave us less of the enjoyable content from the first game, and insisted upon a bullshit story with bullshit characters as a sufficient replacement for exploration and discovery. Some games are meant to have plots. Some games are gameplay games. This is a gameplay game. Focus on that.
Somthing Funny
Can you catch me up on the fortnite storyline
The talking in this game was atrocious. The sounds that she made while eating made me want to get a refund. All I all, the devs weee completely out of touch with what made the first game so great. It feels like they are doing the same to this game as what Kennedy did to Star Wars.
HIIIIIII
Hello!
They're very different, one sandbox driven the other story driven..if you went into Below Zero expecting the same experience and feelings the original Subnautica gave you then you'd be disappointed for sure; but I think it's great as it's own thing, as something different
I do agree the biomes could of had more to them (though the planet is like cold asf..what else WOULD go in those area? Plants?? It's too cold for standard seabed plants..and it'd take a bit to develop new life just to fit the theme of Below Zero) but besides that the only reason it flopped was because Subnautica players were expecting, well, Subnautica! They got something different, something they didn't want, and didn't like it; which is fair, when you raise up a specific audience changing your genre can lead to it to flopping hard as the audience you built wanted the genre of the first game and weren't interested in the change (take Hello Neighbor for example; The earlier builds set up a specific audience, when they changed it to story driven platform game that audience became unhappy as it no longer met what they wanted so the game became kind of devoid of fans afterwards and had to rebuild a fanbase for the final platformy game it became)
Personally, I don't blame them for having tried something different, but for having implemented it very badly... I understand your point but I don't necessarily agree that the players are disappointed because the experience is a little different than Subnautica. It's not changing stuff that's the problem, but it's the way it's done.
It could have been different, but well done, but I think that's not the case at all (for a lot of players anyway, but everyone can have a different feeling of course).
The story and the narration are quite abysmal, and normally it's really not that aspect of a survival game that interests me, but in BZ it's so visible that it becomes problematic.
The underwater map is smaller, and I find it less interesting overall (even if the game is prettier and there are beautiful biomes). And next to it the land map is bigger, and really... really boring.
For a sequel to a game called "Sub-nautica", this is an incomprehensible decision to me.
I'm not going to do another complete recap because there are a lot of things to say, but apart from the graphics which are prettier, the only point which for me is better than in Subnautica is the few additional construction possibilities, and 1-2 crafts (quantum locker for example). For the seatruck, I find it hard to have a definite opinion on it, it's not bad, but it's not incredible either, "meh".
It's not huge honestly, plus some additions are very bad (the spy penguin or the snowfox for example... their contribution to the game is a huge mess) or just gadgets without much interest.
@@nawack2774 Well, often times being simply different can get a pass even tho the issue is it's not just different but it's also not good
I thought the gane was fun
I'd rather play BZ over the first any day. The last level / zone of SN1 was the worst level design I've seen in my life. It brought a near perfect experience down to a game I have no desire to finish.
Curious why?
What's wrong with the lava zone?
Maybe I don't understand, but I think it's kinda dumb that he said that Margaret's bases were stupid for being safe. Then when the game gave him the perfect area for what he was talking about then, he said it was bad that there's no safe space against the shadow leviathans. Everything else though I do mainly agree with, the games feel very similar to 7 days to die in a way. Like they're never truly finished and will never truly make it out of alpha, and be a finished game
That's because you misunderstood. The problem with Marge's bases is that they introduce a location where you feel safe because you are in the home of another living person. The Fabricator Caverns are a problem because they force you into tight spaces with Shadow Leviathans where you can't really avoid them: since they can only boop you for about 30 heath and you'd have the Perimeter Defence module at that point, though, it's just annoying rather than scary. I ended up killing the two outside the base down there because I just couldn't find anywhere to park my Seatruck where they wouldn't aggro to it and eat it while I was making Al-an's body, and you never had to kill the Sea Dragons in the Lava Zones.
It's scary when you're _barely able_ to avoid a monster, it isn't scary when you're _incapable_ of avoiding it.
Honestly that game reeked of the worst female behaviors. Constantly emotional, self centered, self loathing. Hey I already have a wife and daughter. Unless you're them, I'm deeply sorry, I really don't care about your non issues and emotional issues.
You'd think Altera would pick someone who is focused on their mission instead of their feelings but I guess altera wants to be inclusive lol
Seriously remember the first one where you literally get green dots all over your body, your character screams and... that's it?
That was so nice!
I love women and this game is actually making me mysoginistic lmao.
Seriously stop being a victim!
I do agree. It looks way too much into there emotions and everything instead of thinking about a actual story. Plus Alan feels like a robot and not even a real person. Marguerite at least didn't bother us with what she felt about anything and simple said what was needed. I'd prefer to learn more about her then Sam and Robin
I'm sorry but those arguments are all bad , L
Please please please. Go watch Perscop. It's amazing.
I'm afraid that I have to respectfully disagree with you. While I love both Subnautica and Below Zero, I always found Below Zero to be the better game, overall. The basic gameplay felt a lot more polished (which is obviously due to what the developers learned during the first game) and while I will not deny the story development arc is almost the exact same, I appreciated it. The psychic communication, while a tad annoying, gives you actual direction instead of leaving you to google what to do next. Yes the story paths are marked, but that doesn't always make it clear where you need to go or what you need to do. The story of the sequel made more sense to me, story wise, and felt like more of an actual GAME where the first Subnautica felt like more of an underwater survival experience than any kind of a story driven adventure. The second game actually felt like it had some sort of momentum you were building on, trying to reach an actual goal. The first game's goal was mostly just this arbitrary "You crashed, get off the planet" and felt very hollow and lacking of any depth. Sure the encounters were interesting, and the were neat places to visit, but it didn't feel cohesive. The environment could feel disjointed at times, connecting completely different biomes in ways that don't always make a logical sense. In Below Zero, while they clearly didn't spend as much time on the level designs, they at least felt like a single cohesive section of the world. The things that I preferred about the first game over the second were mostly things like missing the seamoth and the cyclops, not any sort of nostalgia for the first game's story plot. But this is simply my two cents, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions on a game. I might disagree, but still a good video.
I actually really agree! It feels more structured in Below Zero. You also don't have to sit around waiting for Radios unsure where else to go as Below Zero has a plot and places it marks you to visit, the story is more expansive in it as well! The game mostly didn't do as well not because it's bad but because it's different from the first..the first built a specific audience, changing the formula meant it clashed with it's main audience (people who liked sandboxes, liked the difficulty of finding the lore or being able to skip the lore, obviously they weren't too thrilled to get the opposite of what they liked..but those of us who did saw the second as somewhat better)
Maybe you like to be more directed, guided, and that's why you prefer BZ, that's what comes out of your message anyway, and no problem, everyone has their own tastes.
Same for tester wulf, when I read that some were waiting for radio messages to know what to do, I don't think we have the same expectations and approaches to the game at all, because many players were just guided by their curiosity without waiting for the game tells them what to do, and Subnautica offers a lot of freedom on that side.
The "problem" is that for many players what made Subnautica's strength and charm was precisely this feeling of loss and freedom that you don't seem to appreciate too much.
What you raise as an "absence" (the fact that the story is more discreet and that our character has little or no background), it is seen as a positive point by many because it allows us to really immerse ourselves in the game. You don't embody a character, but you can really take his place, it's our experience and our story, we can set our own goals. When in BZ you embody a character who comes with his own story, and the story is unfolded in a more visible way, too much for some people because the game guides the player more openly.
And it's not very well done...
Between AL-AN who tells you to go to markers, the completely optional "main" quest... An indigestible narration, and Marguerite who brings nothing, there are plenty of problems just for progression, immersion and the story.
I could have accepted these changes if it had been interesting and well implemented, but it looks like a draft.
But we need all kinds of games for all players I guess, let's hope that Subnautica 2 (3 if you count BZ) will succeed in convincing everyone :)
Not gonna lie the story for this game is shit tho. There kick Sam's story off a cliff as soon as you learn she was basically insane and ended up killing herself and a innocent worker. And Robin and Alan are like a wattpad story with how it's written. The gameplay is too short and the map is too small for any creature to feel special to a certain part. The scanning is a bit more simple in this game compared to the wrecks in the first game. but that's mostly it
You must be smoking some premium shit to think Below Zero is better. It just isn’t.
I too have to respectfully disagree with you. In the first game the obvious goal was to get deeper to get what you need to escape. If you stumble onto a location that is too deep it was an obvious sign that the player needs to explore more since they are missing something. And even without a map there was a perfect landmark on the surface to tell where you are, where you have been and where you haven't been based on the position of the Aurora in relation to your own. The Aurora wrecks were also obvious enough to find them when you are in a biome but subtle enough to where the devs didn't need to place a green dot for you to find. In Below Zero the devs either don't trust the player to be able to navigate their way to the end goal or they don't believe they designed the game in such a way where a player would be able to navigate it without the devs holding their hand. Thus spamming green dots and voice lines from Al-an.
The story also barely makes sense. You come to the planet trying to find what happened with your sister, which you can, but can also be completely skipped and instead leave the planet with your new alien boyfriend. And when you search you find out that it wasn't a Alterra coverup, she was just paranoid, insane and blew herself up, killed an innocent collegue and didn't even achieve her goal of destroying the frozen leviathan. And it is still treated as if Sam was in the right somehow and not completely nuts. We also learn that Marguerit basically enabled Sam and we don't even confront her with that knowledge, instead we just leave and that's that.
The dialogue between our lead and her alien bf isn't much better either. Al-an can't decide if his species is an individualistic one or a collective one and acts like a total tool for the rest of the dialogue. Robin spouts 1st grade philosophy acting like humanity is the greatest thing in the world and barely even inquires into details about the architects even though she is supposedly a xenobiologist and Al-an is the first sentient alien species humanity has encountered.