Two suggestions

[frickenmoron]

without having read spoilers I totally would have ignored/missed Li. I also found him annoying/intrusive for the general "feel" of the game. It just felt weird/awkward to have a sudden love story thing happen without proper explanations/reasons.

I wonder if most people would feel the same way if you played a male character that found a female companion? Oh well, i would have preferred if you had stayed alone rather than have a zero personality guy being your random love interest.

About bosses, I had to read up spoilers for almost every puzzle involving boss to keep me from being frustrated. I guess I'm more for the pattern dodgy bosses with obvious weak-spots and timing based vulnerability

[Terry]

Wow - I actually just meant from a gameplay flow perspective. I didn't realise so many people outright disliked him.

[2muchcomputer]

being limited to seeing only the room you're in really dampens the enjoyment level.

I'd posted this in another thread, but as far as the map goes, from the map screen:

1. Hold the right mouse key down to drag the map around a view areas you've been to, and

2. using the wheel on the mouse allows you to zoom in and out to see more or less of the map.

I discovered this accidently when I was shooting at something on the lower right corner of my screen and accidently activated the map. Next thing you know it was moving the map around! Yay me!

The map save points seem to appear either when you have explored for a long time and need to save about an hour's worth of gameplay (in which case they appear in a random spot)  ---OR--- they appear right before a large boss (which allows you to "fuel up" on health points and when you fail to beat the boss on the first try, it's not such a long way back.)

Personally, I would like the ability to save the game without the use of a save point. Here's why: I have a laptop and I play the computer in bed wrapped in a down comforter--it gets cold in the winter here.  It gets late and I fall asleep staring at the screen. When I'm getting that tired, I can't pay attention to the kelp monsters and the silly little "hamburger" monsters that lunge at me...Those are the times I just want to exit the game and be back where I was the next time I pick it up.

[yodanut]

SPOILERS follow.

I think criticisms of Li as a character are valid (although since I'd discovered the Sun Temple memory long before I found Li I understood the connection and the encounter didn't seem quite so random) but as a gameplay element he is necessary and thus should be unmissable. I think it's clear some people just naturally decided to follow him, but given that he provides zero prompting to do so it's hardly surprising many of us missed him. I think since we can presume one thing he was looking for was Naija herself, maybe he could provide the prompting for you to follow him in his animation, maybe having Naija sigh as she does when she's impressed by something when she first spots him. That would give him a bit more character as well, I think. All I know is that as it is right now, his significance is not really obvious at all when you first spot him, and that leads to needless frustration.

being limited to seeing only the room you're in really dampens the enjoyment level.

I'd posted this in another thread, but as far as the map goes, from the map screen:

I actually figured out those things about the map pretty early on in the game. I think what we're referring to is the fact that you can only see an outline of the rooms you're not in and not the details of what sections of those rooms were actually accessible to you or not. The few icons you can see don't save you from aimless wandering.

[Lim-Dul]

I actually figured out those things about the map pretty early on in the game. I think what we're referring to is the fact that you can only see an outline of the rooms you're not in and not the details of what sections of those rooms were actually accessible to you or not. The few icons you can see don't save you from aimless wandering.

Precisely what I meant.

[Nypyren]

The initial Li 'encounter' could probably be helped by just making the camera lock onto him the moment you see him 'outside', and script him to swim to his cave without having to chase him.  Leave the camera locked onto him until he enters his cave, and it should be obvious to most players to go in after him.

[yodanut]

The initial Li 'encounter' could probably be helped by just making the camera lock onto him the moment you see him 'outside', and script him to swim to his cave without having to chase him.  Leave the camera locked onto him until he enters his cave, and it should be obvious to most players to go in after him.

That would be an elegant solution, I think, and presumably one that could be applied fairly simply.

The map could be improved simply by having a particular area be highlighted as if you were there when clicked on. That would go a long way towards alleviating moments of tedium and could also presumably be added more simply than a notes feature or additional icons.

[Lim-Dul]

The map could be improved simply by having a particular area be highlighted as if you were there when clicked on.

Why not implement 4 shades of grey instead - don't tell me that it's too difficult to code. =)

2 shades (white and grey) for the active region as usual and a darker color scheme with two shades of grey for inactive regions...

I still think that implementing a "map-scribble" feature would be interesting. I hear the Zelda comparisons coming. :-D

[silverkitty]

more than 4 shades - more like 6 or 8 because map sections can overlap