Pros:
- Anims were by far what I wanted to see. It's nice to see the CQC mechanics are improving, as well as new kill anims. Of course, the new sex anims are sweet, and which I'd love to see new variations (boobjobs, gangbangs, etc), I appreciate what the dev is doing. The environment-based anims are a nice touch as well.
- Idle anims, such as Julia shielding herself from the rain, or wiping dirt/cum off, is also appreciated.
- You can finally kill the fatty. Revenge is sweet. Of course, you need rockets/shotty/nades, which can only be unlocked via Mission 1, which presents another problem (see below).
- Smaller improvements (quest updates, item/quest markers, a compass-based navi) are very welcome. Would suggest the dev color-code the quest markers differently than item markers since it's super annoying to figure out which is which.
- Excited to see that dogs and fatties can jump over obstacles now, since I admit that cheesing them was really easy in previous releases.
- New weapons, yay! Nades don't do much, and I find I only use the shotty/rockets vs the fatties, but it's still nice to see variety. Again, with an asterisk given Mission 1's difficulty to actually unlock these things in the other levels.
- Slightly improved optimizations. I'm noticing better framerates and fewer stutters, but maybe that's just me. I also like that the game can be played in 2560/1440.
- Unlockables. I hate having to reset my progress, and not a huge fan of the newer stuff, but whatever. At least it's another reason to challenge oneself and adds to replayability.
Cons/bugs:
-Zs ragdoll physics are still WIP, it seems; when you kill them, they'll often stand up or fly around before vanishing.
- Mission 1 is essentially unbeatable for Patrons/non-Patrons. I get the tips - shoot Zs and headshots for time, sweet-spot the targets in different ways for extra points. But dogs and runners, especially in the limited amount of time AND trying to actually FIND all the targets, even when they respawn, make even getting the shotty impossible. Even with access to Patreon codes (e.g. crit rate bonuses) and "dynamic difficulty" (I didn't see any real benefits to constantly killing myself for slightly better crit rates, and even then, some Zs will take 4-5 headshots to go down while stumbling around), I couldn't get half the amount of points required for the first weapon; ironically, one of the tips is "cash in your progress after getting the first item because it isn't worth losing everything by attempting to unlock it all in one run". If I'm being totally honest, I'd challenge the dev to play his own game and try beating this level without cheats (CE/UU), saves, or Patreon codes, because it's obviously a paywall attempt. Without beating Mission 1/obtaining points necessary for unlocking, the weapons cannot be unlocked in other levels and therefore ruin a huge amount of this release's appeal.
- Mission 4 (originally Mission 3) is bugged/unbeatable. The Zs in the green carts are invincible. Even downing them, they'll remain on the ground or, if they fall inside the cart (and be unreachable to shoot), and they'll be unkillable, and therefore render the level unbeatable. I've humorously shot one of them with literally everything imaginable, and it STILL makes the Z moaning noise (loudly, so I know it's the only thing alive). And yes, I've played this level many times, esp since last release, so I've memorized where all the Zs are ... and I've also no-clipped out of the level and there aren't any Zs left other than the one. I've also been able to stick myself between the rocks+trash cart under the first overpass by dodging, and been unable to free myself even by trying to cheese the Zs into hitting me and trying to dodge out of the rocks.
- Accessing doors is bugged. Clicking too quickly when activating a door while you don't have the respective key (e.g. mansion doors or gate, sewer gate, etc) will freeze your character in place and require a reset.
- Your items/clothing reset/change after every stage advance. I've heard of players who were able to (inconsistently) bring their items across different stages, but it's frustrating to stockpile items and lose them all on the next stage. And yes, I've experienced that my clothing was removed/returned when moving to a new area between stages, so that's sorta odd.
- Camera is trash. Dunno what happened, but the camera view/angle is even worse this time. Would strongly suggest the dev implement a free-range camera or widen the angle of the fixed camera during sex scenes, because oftentimes, the camera will zoom to a completely random spot or into a Z's body, or too close to the "action" and completely miss a cumshot or something. Otherwise, I (and other F95Zone folks) are using UU to move the camera manually, which isn't ideal.
Personal opinion:
- Not a fan of healing items being 2x use; IMHO you get enough of them so that you don't need them clogging inventory, and more importantly, it's brutal when you need a quick health boost in a close quarters fight with dogs/runners and need to navigate around the menu to unequip the used health item properly.
- Julia's " long stumble anim" (yes, you know the one I'm talking about) takes forever. You basically wait about 8 seconds for her to drama-queen stagger around. It does nothing in terms of gameplay, aesthetics, or fun. It's the in-game equivalent of a loading screen.
- Some annoying things from last release are still there, which can confuse new players. I absolutely hate the woods area, because it's so large and with so few markers and nothing to do, you're essentially just wandering around until you stumble onto the mansion. Not only that, but you have to go through it twice (Mission 2-3). The L piece on the ceiling for Mission 3 is not a good placement for new players, because the pieces are so small and there are many, many areas you can search that nobody would look for a tiny spot on the wall for the last piece.
- Was sorta hoping for a gallery system. Maybe because Mission 1 was such a buzzkill for me, I would've rather seen it be an actual level (rather than a "target practice/unlockables" level). I sorta use it as a scene player anyway, but a gallery function at menu screen would be nice.
- Boob physics seem to be watered down yet again. I like bouncy boobies (who doesn't?), and while you don't really want anything past DOA physics, I think more jiggle would be better. There's essentially no reason to be clothed (other than damage resistance - which you can easily heal anyway with the 2x healing item effect - or aesthetics), because 1.) the fatties will infinity-charge you 2.) you won't get access to most sex scenes. 3.) The clothing models don't appear to be rigged, so there's 0 boob physics to them (I've only used one clothing option, so maybe I'm wrong here).
