Heh. Well, darkentrees, I'm not ready to say that everyone won't enjoy the lantern oil management.
Case in point, the review which lists as a strong point: "oil is a neat resource to deal with" (
http://jaguarusf.blogspot.com/2007/1...sa-review.html)
However, ya, that was my reaction to the demo, too. I like much of the overall design, but don't enjoy the oil aspect, which seemed like the most challenging part, in a way I don't enjoy. I don't really like being rushed through things on fear of running out of oil which must be found in the dark unknown.
Nethack is a common reference point which shows how lighting can be an interesting element without an overshadowing one:
* Many areas are lit by things other than the player. (In the Scallywag demo I didn't encounter any light sources except my own lamp, which didn't seem to make much sense.)
* Being in the dark can be dangerous, inconvenient, frustrating, but it just has certain logical effects, not insta-death.
* There are many ways to acquire light sources, and players can make decisions with tradeoffs to focus on lighting or not.
And personally even in Nethack, I find the lighting and food resource requirements overly steep and sometimes frustrating.
I also wish combat were more tactically interesting and less of a hitpoint exchange contest. Also I was really not looking forward to gathering rocks and using a sling for improved ability to fight flying monsters - seemed like a pain and not logical - it seems like it'd be obviously much easier to hit a bat with a stick than by trying to use a sling in the dark, unless it's stationary.
But, my conclusion was that this looks like it'd probably be a fun game for players who are more casual gamers and aren't FRPG grognards like myself.
PvK
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