Post by anonthemouse on Jul 5, 2019 11:06:33 GMT -6
Hold on, anon...the map? Surely you can't have a problem with the map! It's the classic, standard map! It's been in every Igavania since Symphony of the Night! How could there be anything wrong with the map?
Well, believe it or not, there are a few problems with the map itself. On the surface, it's the standard map that fans know and love, but there was clearly an attempt to modernize it. You can see that with the marking feature. Yet, for some reason, it looks like work on the map might have been abandoned. Why do I say that? Well, there's certain things missing.
Like what, you ask? Well, maps for one thing. The concept of picking up an item that shows you more of the map is introduced on the Minerva, but then never comes up again. For the rest of the game, where are the map items? You don't find them in any areas you visit. They aren't sold in the shop. Not even OD has a map of the castle in his collection. The concept is introduced right in the tutorial, but then after that, it's never used.
Then there's the map marking functions. Yes, functions. Quests are marked on the map, but only kill quests (this is understandable, as other quests offer less certainty on where the requirement can be found), and there doesn't seem to be a way (at least that I found) to filter them to differentiate different quests, or at least show just one quest at a time. You can put any number of custom markers on the map, but not label them, or differentiate them from each-other. Save rooms and teleport rooms get colour-coded, but Todd's and OD's rooms have no indicator to show that there's a special NPC there. Every other friendly NPC gets marked, but Benjamin's markers stay in every location he's ever been, even after he leaves. Chest markers are fine, but there's no difference between a marker for a respawning blue chest, and any one-time chest. Plus, they just don't work all the time.
To be honest, it's kind of a mess.
So, what can be done?
Well, believe it or not, there are a few problems with the map itself. On the surface, it's the standard map that fans know and love, but there was clearly an attempt to modernize it. You can see that with the marking feature. Yet, for some reason, it looks like work on the map might have been abandoned. Why do I say that? Well, there's certain things missing.
Like what, you ask? Well, maps for one thing. The concept of picking up an item that shows you more of the map is introduced on the Minerva, but then never comes up again. For the rest of the game, where are the map items? You don't find them in any areas you visit. They aren't sold in the shop. Not even OD has a map of the castle in his collection. The concept is introduced right in the tutorial, but then after that, it's never used.
Then there's the map marking functions. Yes, functions. Quests are marked on the map, but only kill quests (this is understandable, as other quests offer less certainty on where the requirement can be found), and there doesn't seem to be a way (at least that I found) to filter them to differentiate different quests, or at least show just one quest at a time. You can put any number of custom markers on the map, but not label them, or differentiate them from each-other. Save rooms and teleport rooms get colour-coded, but Todd's and OD's rooms have no indicator to show that there's a special NPC there. Every other friendly NPC gets marked, but Benjamin's markers stay in every location he's ever been, even after he leaves. Chest markers are fine, but there's no difference between a marker for a respawning blue chest, and any one-time chest. Plus, they just don't work all the time.
To be honest, it's kind of a mess.
So, what can be done?
- This is cheating a little, as it's not a proper suggestion, but clean up the map errors. Make chest indicators more consistent, and make Benjamin's marker disappear from its current location when he uses a waystone (or at least change to something that indicates he's not there any more). Do something about the glitch that makes map edges disappear and causes people to go crazy thinking there's more to explore in an are they've filled in completely.
- Put item maps into the game for the rest of the castle. At least for the main body of the castle. It's a little late to add them to chests, but having them unlock in the underused Key Items section of the shop as you make progress is still an option, even post-launch.
- Colour-code NPC rooms. With more characters and more modes on the way, Todd and OD may not be the only characters living in the Hellhold for ever, and the map does include Arantville anyway. At least with Arantville, we know that all the NPCs have a role, but just in general, it should be more obvious where there's services to take advantage of. Marking out Todd, OD, Johannes, and the shop in a different colour would be the bare minimum I'd expect here, since they all can be considered a service NPC.
- Add more ways to mark the map. Instead of just popping down a generic stamp on the map, let's have a waypoint interface. Naming points would be ideal, but at the least give a few different types of markers, like one to indicate dangerous hazards (traps), one for powerful enemy/boss, one to indicate valuable items, maybe a few colours of shard stamp, as well as just a general "go here next/come back later" point of interest stamp. Just give us any kind of help in remembering why we wanted to mark that location in particular.
- Give blue chests their own icons. Yes, icons. Plural. One for closed, one for open. Make them default to always on once discovered, with a toggle to turn them off like the player trail can be.
- Give the ability to tag items on the map. I talked about this in my Blue Chests topic. Give us a button on the Items list that will add markers to rooms where an enemy we've gotten an item off before spawns, or highlight blue chest markers in areas we've confirmed the item comes from chests in.
- Make the quest markers more convenient. Say, by tagging the scrolls with the initial of the person to be avenged? Or even colour-coded? Give us some filter options? At the least, have it pop up text saying "Avenge X the Y" when you have your crosshair over a quest marker.
- Offer a bit more explanation on how some of the map functions work. Susie never tells you that your map will indicate where target monsters are, and nothing ever explains the custom marker feature. A line of dialogue and one more bookcase on the Minerva could have saved a lot of confusion here.
yey