The Alters: Last Variable

Peak

At first I was not sure about this DLC but I gave it a try and I do not regret. If you like the original game this DLC is an interesting addition, adding couple of new things and interesting story. Definitely worth the money :)

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To be honest... this DLC was not my cup of tea. As I mentioned before in my review of the main game, I am not a fan of base/resource management gameplay. Yet what made me stick with it initially was the storyline. Each Alter you brought to the table had their own personalities, hangups, and personal dramas to deal with, and I enjoyed that immensely. There was also so much time between Acts to deal with their situations that it felt more like an RPG with base/resource management elements, than the other way around. The DLC prettymuch goes the opposite route: It is far more about having your character do research and gather resources to ensure the success of your experimentation. It introduces four new Alters into the equation--each based off of different life paths the Scientist might have taken--but dealing with their personal hangups is so brief and unsatisfying. You barely talk to them, mostly just assigning them daily chores while you explore for even more resources. They even added a complex system of obtaining advanced liquids through piping them in very inconvenient pathways throughout the landscape. By the end of my playthrough, I had so many wires and pipes around me I often wondered how I was navigating it at all. With that said, it's still hard to give the game a complete thumb's down, even if I hated both ending choices. It's a beautiful game and anyone who actually enjoys base/resource management will probably find it a huge improvement as an expansion. However, unlike the main game, where you seemingly had a lot of time to explore and socialize with your Alters, Last Variable only gives you mere days between sunrise to get everything done before you have to go into cryosleep. And with each series of days having a magnetic storm to deal with, things felt real repetitious real fast even though I had new tasks every time. Once I got the improved automatic miners going, my Alters just felt like NPCs wandering around the base while I ran around trying to get things done. So yeah, it's a sideways thumb from me, dawg. Get it on sale, or go ahead and pay full price if you really liked The Alters but wanted to spend more time worrying about resources and efficient base module placement. I'm glad I went through the story, but it's going to be one of those books that will go on my shelf and never get picked up again.

This dlc was a very nice bow to the gift that 11bit gave us through the original game. If you were were a fan of Jan Scientist and bothered trying to 100% this game, it will give you a feel of what the other side will look like. If you ended up doing Jan Scientist ending, you get to explore what happens after the fact. A trip through understanding the oasis and creating new alters to help you. It however is no where near as deep as the base game (hence he price point). I believe that this studio and this dlc was a beautiful storyline for Jan scientist. Its a must if you enjoyed base game and got to Jan scientist ending and were wondering what happened to them. 9/10. Dialogue was a litter shorter between alters, but it makes sense when you think about the premise of the dlc.

Small review of version 2.2.0 I liked this DLC; it helped close one loose end from the base game, and it took me 12 hours to finish it. For only 15 euros, it's a good deal. Don't expect anything groundbreaking; it builds on the solid foundations of the base game. You will still manage the base, but this time not on wheels but underground. You only need one playthrough to create all the variants of Alters, even repeatedly. The story has an intriguing essence, and I was definitely surprised by the ending. I didn't expect such a twist. The graphics are beautiful, full of stunning details and effects. Nature is beautifully processed. The initial appearance of the landscape after terraforming is truly remarkable. However, the game's technical state is poor. The optimization desperately needs to be fine-tuned; there are frequent frame drops, image freezes, and loading screen freezes. However, I never experienced any crashes while playing the game.

[h1] 스스로 남겨진 과학자얼터의 태양풍에 파괴되지 않는 오아시스 관측과학일지 [/h1] [h2] 이번에도 유?능한 얼터스키들이 나타난다! [/h2] 본편의 엔딩부분에 과학자스키가 어느 오아시스를 발견하고는 비밀을 파헤치기 위해 잔류를 결심합니다. 여전히 혼자서는 모든걸 해낼 수 없기에 다른 얼터스키를 만들어야 하는건 똑같습니다. [b] 1. 이번 얼터스키는 유?능하다. [/b] 이번 DLC의 주인공은 과학자스키로 진행이 되며 과학자가 다른 분기를 선택한다면 어떤 학자스키가 될까 하며 나타납니다. 아쉽게도 본편의 반토막난 얼터스키의 종류지만, [b] 혼자서 두가지 특성을 가진 [/b] 학자스키들이기에 의외로 유능함을 겸비하고 있습니다. 과학을 탐구하며 목표에 몰두하는 과학자스키에서 비롯된 얼터이기에 지금 하고 있는 프로젝트의 도우미로 나타나는 얼터는 분명 분열없이 유능함만 보일거라 자부하더군요. [i] ...직접 그 얼터들을 마주하기 전까진... [/i] [b] 2. 연구도 직접 한다. 물론 다른 학자스키를 활용해도 된다. [/b] 본편에선 연구는 오로지 과학자스키만 가능한 기능이었습니다. 허나 이번엔 과학자스키가 주인공으로 있기에 본인이 연구를 진행할 수 있지요. 그럼 다른 학자스키들은? 다른 연구를 진행할 때 특정 학자스키를 연구실에 넣는다면 '더 빠르게' 연구를 진행할 수 있는 프로젝트가 있습니다. [spoiler] 그리고 얼터학자스키들의 이야기들을 들어주다 보면 더 유능한 연구도 개방됩니다!! [/spoiler] [spoiler] [b] 심지어 이상현상을 역이용하는 발명품까지!! [/b] [/spoiler] [b] 3. 이젠 이사가지 않는다. 탐험구역을 확장시키는 '테라포밍'!! [/b] 이제 지하에 기지를 건설하여 살고있습니다. 특히 태양일출이 다가오며 모든게 휩쓸릴때 기지에서 [b] '동면실' [/b] 을 제작하여 한 분기를 넘길 수 있기에 회수에 대한 부담이 조금은 덜어졌습니다. 그리고 테라포밍 작업을 통하여 새로운 탐사구역을 해방할 수 있으며, [b] 태양풍이 다가와도 건설한 채굴기지 등등이 날아가지 않습니다!!! [/b] 거기다가 처음엔 다가갈 수 없던 구역도 하나 둘 해금되면서 탐사구역을 해방시키는 기능도 생겨 기존에 있던 다양한 자원지대 구역을 찾아다닐 수 있습니다. [b] 4. 개방된 탐사구역에서 표본을 채취하라 [/b] 테라포밍을 통해서 황폐화된 구역은 점점 식물들이 자라나며 풍요로운 모습을 보입니다. 그런 와중에 연구를 위해 수집 및 분석해야하는 '표본'들이 생성됩니다. 이 표본들을 모아서 실험을 진행하게 된다면 이 역시 새로운 기능이 해금되어 플레이가 조금씩 쾌적해집니다. [b] 5. 스토리가.... 어.... 예??? [/b] 과학자의 탐구중심으로 일어나다보니 뭔가 과학적 측면으로 좀 더 전문성이 가미된 것을 어째어째 알아듣기 쉽게 짜여져 있지만 뭐 대부분 멍해집니다... 그와중에 흥미가 조금 생기는건 연구실의 '화이트보드' 라는 기능을 통해서 현재 연구가 어디까지 진척이 되었는가? 를 정리한 내용을 엿볼 수 있고 [i] 여러 얼터들이 엮이면서 뭔 자잘한 일이 있는지에 대한 깨알 메모지도 있습니다. [/i] 흥미로운 주제를 따라가는 것에 관심이 있다면 어느새 본인도 분석에 열중하는 모습이 나타날지도 모릅니다. ^^7 [b] ...번역문제는 여전히 있습니다... [/b] 갑자기 존댓말이 튀어나오거나 번역이 안되서 영어원문이 나타나질 않나 어색한 문장이 아직도 남아있는 현상이 있습니다. 그럼에도 우주행성을 탐사하며 기지를 건설하고 탐사를 나서는 것을 좋아하시는 분이라면 여전히 이 게임은 재밌으실 겁니다.

If you enjoyed the base game, you'll probably also enjoy this, [i]as long as you lower your expectations[/i]. It's simply not as good, but for me it was good enough. The Alters is a great game because of its strong compelling characters. Not only were you bonding with the Jans, you were choosing [i]which[/i] Jans you surrounded yourself with, and making choices that impacted all of you, while under great pressure to survive. And building a base and outposts was also fun. I think it's a shame that Last Variable does away with so much of that: There are no high stakes for failure, the Jans have much less depth and character, and there's no pressure to favour one Jan over the other. That doesn't mean Last Variable is bad, it's just not as good as the base game. The outpost building has expanded significantly with the introduction of pipes and all sorts of other resources and machines, and these kept me occupied for the majority of the time. So overall, I still thought it was worth it.