The other night my crew and I started and completed Tall Tale Chapter 9 for the second time since it came out. While during our first run, we were full of excitement over this new thing, this time around my crew were less than amused with the fight, unfortunately :c Even though I was mostly fine with this chapter, I feel compelled to write down their critiques/suggestions on their behalf to hopefully help improve the experience for other people who might feel the same way!
Note: we were a 4 man galleon.
Critiques
- A crewmember was far from a fan of the platforming part. It was thought that it belonged in a game with more elaborate jumping and climbing than what we have in Sea of Thieves.
- We thought that ringing the bell would signal that a check point had been reached and that the crew members who had fallen ahead would respawn at that check point if they died. This was NOT the case and added to the frustration of those who hated the platforming part.
The final fight with the Goldhoarder received the most critique out of every other part of the final chapter.
- The fight went on for too long. Those of us who had done this before also felt like it took even longer than the first time we did this.
- The fact that there are only 3 moves the Goldhoarder makes (teleporting, smashing and summoning other skeletons), made it repetitive and probably added to this idea that the fight was going on for too long.
- Crewmates lamented that they could not interupt any of said moves in any way possible.
- There was no visual indication how low the Goldhoarder's health was. After he was eating the first banana, we felt like we were close but this turned out to be only halfway through (or so it felt). He ate like 4-5 more bananas after the first one.
- Crew members also lamented not being able to interrupt the Goldhoarder from healing up.
- While there were numerous barrels around the room, the point was made that in this case, the barrels should not spawn/contain any planks or cannonballs unless they're necessary for a mechanic in this fight. Food is scarce enough already as is with 4 man trying to beat down a powerful skeleton.
- While my crewmate and I were on the Ferry, the Goldhoarder got killed in the mean time. Upon respawning, we spawned on the ship instead of the room to witness the final part to the chapter (much to the dismay of my crewmate, who had missed out on this part as well the first time we did it. Lots of cursing ensued).
Suggestions
- Regarding the platforming part: when 1 crewmember (regardless of the size of the crew) rings the bell ahead or passes a mermaid statue, ensure that when the other crewmembers die, they spawn at that point. While this does make it so that some people can sit back and wait on one person, it will ensure a lot less frustration, as it is true that platforming can really ruin some people's day. Those who will want to (try to) platform will do it regardless.
- Regarding the Goldhoarder fight, please add a more clear visual indication as to the state of the Goldhoarder himself. Is it possible to stain his clothes after x% health or add grime to his face? Possibly some neat smokey particles of him slowly disintegrating or tweaked animations?
- Remove planks and cannonballs from spawning in the barrels in the room unless they're used for mechanics in the fight.
- Speaking of which; additional new mechanics? You have introduced this amazing new system of being able to bring masts down on ships and the like. A suggestion would be having him spawn on top of wooden scaffolding and there being a broken-ish cannon in the room that you got to use to bring the scaffolding down in order to continue the fight.
- An additional new mechanic suggestion would be using the planks to build ladders to reach the Goldhoarder who might spawn on top of wooden platforms up high, while he takes some shots at you and your crew (so they could take cover but still note who the Goldhoarder is aiming for so that those who aren't being targeted can go get the ladder built, climb up and stop him).
- Finally, please ensure that players who are dead while the Goldhoarder is getting killed are able to respawn right into the room. I believe you have already once said in patch notes that you have ensured this, but in our case it seemed not to have worked, unless the window of opportunity is very, very small.
That's all! Quite a bit. Thanks so much for reading (hopefully!) and for your hard work. I love the Tall Tales and chapter 9, while clearly not the favourite chapter of my crewmates, I continue to find absolutely stunning. Can't wait to see what else you have in store!