I really don't want to, but i think im going to need to give this a harsher review than i would otherwise like, because there are some things that simply need to be said.
The actual gameplay loop in missions? Its amazing, a lot of fun. The overall theme and mechanics? Also very good.
I see myself playing this to completion, but i know that all that time, there are going to be a lot of nagging things at the back of my head.
Let me elaborate.
So first and foremost, it does seem like some of my issues would have been solved if i had played the game earlier, but it seems in V2.0 of the game, a lot of things were redesigned that simply didn't need to be, or were otherwise redesigned in a VERY wrong direction, from what little i've been able to piece together.
In past versions, you worked to liberate the whole country, in one single overworld map. Now you don't. Now you liberate province by province, FTL style. It is very much on rails.
This isn't bad per se, but it does make me yearn for some of what was there before - The provinces get stale very quickly due to the time crunch. You go in to a province, do some missions on a VERY harsh time crunch to the point that it feels that you're being rushed, and then in between EACH singluar mission, you have the option of doing 3 contract missions for set rewards. The time crunch is what makes it exhausting to play, the contract missions is what makes it frustrating to play.
This is honestly one of my biggest problems, and is the reason why playing this game is starting to become more and more of a chore for me.
As everything is in a province, you're not connected to the country in a way that you presumably were before the 2.0 update. Its just some generic green terrain and then more generic green terrain. You do technically have a way of viewing the whole country at once, but its just a flat 2D image from a top down perspective, not even a 3D map that you can look around and see the topographical features. One of the earliest provinces you do is described as a pass of some sort, but ♥♥♥♥ if i don't see it!
I mentioned a time crunch. I was not kidding. In between and around mission sites are random POIs you can go to if you want...but due to said time crunch you can only ever go to maybe one, maaaaybe two per province to the point that they might as well not exist. In one province, i didnt even have any time to go to any of them. And then when you're finally NOT on a time crunch, they all disappear! So you cant even save them until after you're done all the time sensitive missions - You HAVE to ignore them, pretty much. What is the point of this? ♥♥♥♥ if i know.
Now, the actual missions where you take your own squad in? They're great. There is a lot of customisation you can do to your mechs, so much so that i'd argue that there might actually be TOO MUCH. Many items have identical names, but different stats, and it makes customisation a bit of a pain sometimes. Still, i appreciate the option.
Different stats for weapons is a gigantic pain though - One time, an gun might do NO damage to pilots, but then another one of the same name does 3 million pilot damage, able to one-shot enemy, or your own pilots. It makes preparing for an incoming enemy a gigantic chore. Thats a small issue compared to my issue with the missions however. Again, the ones where you use your own squad are great.
Here is the problem though, and honestly, my BIGGEST problem - After each mission you take your own squad in to, each time you make camp, using up some of that very, very valuable time to repair and rest, or each time you travel to a new province after liberating one, you get the option to do 3 optional missions where you take control of resistance forces to order them around, with no risk to your own pilots or mechs. You dont get salvage, but you do get set rewards.
Due to said time crunch, i feel like doing all these missions are NECESSARY to even stay affloat. However, because you're doing THREE of these missions for every ONE that your own squads go on, that is what most of your time will likely be spent doing. This is, a very, very big problem for many reasons.
Firstly, it gives the impression that the faction we're a part of isn't a resistance force, its a damn invading army. They have so many seemingly disposable forces, as you dont get punished for losing any of the mechs in those missions, so long as you complete said mission. It also makes me scratch my head why we went through the effort of getting a mobile base, if 90% of the fighting is done without it.
Secondly, and this is the real kicker - MOST OF THESE MISSIONS MECHS HAVE TERRIBLE LOADOUTS.
Mission to blow up some buildings? Here, have three mechs with swords, that cant do building damage.
A contract to kill 10+ enemies? Here, have TWO mechs and nothing else.
A mech with a shotgun? Lets make it move at a snails pace.
A mission underground? Lets give you nothing but missile weapons that will hit nothing but the ceiling rather than the enemy.
And dont get my started on the liberation missions - You're supposed to avoid destroying any houses and you get your own reinforcements coming in. Great, right? Thing is, they ALWAYS have indirect fire missile launchers. The dialogue even mentions that it can shoot over buildings. Great! ....No. Not really. Missile launchers are some of the highest building damage weapons in the game, and due to different weapons even of the same name, having different arcs of fire, it becomes a gigantic chore to avoid destroying buildings. I would much rather have a sniper mech or something.
Of the 23 hours or so that i've played of this game so far, i'd say easily 15 hours of that has been these contract missions. Why are there so many? Why do i spend most of my time doing these missions? Why are they so unfun?
Here is my suggestion to the devs on some design changes that might solve these issues.
1. Use the old map for the world map, or otherwise make a 3D map of the world map so that players can see the whole country if they want, see where the terrain starts and ends, and see where provinces are in relation to eachother, their size etc. Right now, provinces feel like a non-space in the void, with that fog of war around it. I did actually briefly look up the old map and it looks SO MUCH BETTER than the current world map. I would honestly be happy with that. 3D map be damned. You can even just make it function like the CURRENT world map, but at least you can actually SEE where the provinces are, how big they are, what shape they are etc.
2. Make POIs spawn much closer to missions in provinces, so you can actually realistically do them. Alternatively, significantly increase the mobile bases's, speed, reduce the penalties for using overdrive, or increase the time it takes for the enemy to "regroup" from 24 to 36 hours. In addition, when you click on a mission, display how long it would take to drive there.
3. Make it so you can only do contract missions DURING camp/rest time. One single mission. Increase the rewards SUBTANTIALLY to compensate. This will give the impression that the resistance is distracting the enemy to give you time, using up what little resources they have to keep the heat off of you while you rest and refit.
4. Give the resistance forces in contract missions mechs and tanks that are suitable for the task, and enough of them. Some contract missions feel too easy, where as most feel downright impossible considering what mechs and loadouts you are given.
5. Rebalance a lot of weapons so that they have predictable capabilities. I dont want to see one vulcan cannon that does zero pilot damage, and another that can oneshot a pilot instantly, like we currently do. One of the mechs i got in a contract mission had a vulcan cannon that killed 8 pilots in a single attack as it was shooting down a chokepoint. The next mission, i tried it again only to realise that that vulcan did ZERO pilot damage. It makes no sense.
