Metro 2033/Last Light, missed opportunities.

[diligentscribbler]

The more I reread the novels the more I can't help but feel that so many opportunities were missed in 4A's approach to the source material. I feel most elements from the novels were-raided to be thinly hammered out into a conventional action narrative padded and enhanced my an incredible sense ambiance. Though the books content is often unsuitable for game adaptation most of the things that brought the Metro books to life for me were missing from the games.

Things like:

Inaction and Helplessness- In the books even the action heavy sequel the metro dwellers are always ill equipped to deal with the mainly psychological horrors of the metro, navigation was often the key to survival.

The life in the metro- the games were to scripted to fully capture folklore, politics and reality of life in the metro, more freedom to interact and navigate and who you know seem more in spirit with the books.

the metro as antagonist- I hated that the games needed a human face for our enemy, the Red line and Nazi's really shouldn't be a big deal. In the books the metro is depicted as the circulatory system of a vast beast and its denizens as antibodies eradicating a virus(humans, surviving the horror of the metro on a day to day basis is all there is.

but maybe I'm to close, maybe the books finer points are not game material.

(And maybe an open world version of Amnesia in post apocalyptic Russia's metro tunnels is not a feasible)

 

[OneCatch]

My main grouch was the linearity, though given one of the main emphases of the book is how Artyom basically just gets pushed around by larger events, the game's linearity is oddly appropriate!
That said, I'd love to see an openworld survival game with limited RPG elements (mostly equipment based, perhaps some learn-able skills) set in the Metroverse. Being able to scavenge and travel aboveground freely, or join human factions and operate underground would be brilliant.

In the books the Reds and Nazis are the antagonists at various times. Perhaps Last Light did take it a little far with the Reds, but I thought the redemption ending was fantastic in spite of that.

Gameplay-wise, I agree that wading through hundreds of humans through the course of the games was a little daft - fighting a few clusters of terrifyingly experienced and well-armed human enemies would have been more immersive and in-line with the setting - kind of like the rather tough ambush where you fight

Spoiler

Pavel

towards the end of LL.
And perhaps remove a few of the easier Red stealth sections as well - they're difficult by normal stealth standards, but by definition empower you and trivialise human opponents. Moar stealth sections involving librarians or demons! They're actually scary and there's a real reason to stay hidden from them - which is more disempowering and thus the survival/horror aspect comes to the fore.

I thought that the various paranormal apparitions that affected the player were really effective scenes, especially for an in-game segment. I agree that it would have been nice to have seen the psychological horror aspects affecting the people and populations around you a little more, but that would be incredibly difficult to pull off effectively so I'm not too bothered about it.

Incidentally, I'd have loved it if they'd included a single gameplay feature relating to being unable to look at the Kremlin while outside. In the book, looking at the Kremlin for more than a few seconds captivates a person and causes them to mindlessly walk towards it (to their presumed death).
Having a feature which caused you to start losing visual focus and then start moving towards it if you looked in it's direction for more than a few seconds would have been epic. Especially if you had to avoid accidentally looking while fighting a few Watchmen or something.

Out of interest, do you know if there's an English translation of Metro 2034 yet?
EDIT: Never mind, just found an English translation on Amazon. That's going on my reading list right now!

 

[Goliath100]

I gonna repeat what I have said in the past:
Open World Life simulator about Anna as a alone mother mercenary, with some Metrovaina-, and survival elements thrown in. And the Stealth systemfixed by using 5 light conditions (Red: You are in the open, Orange: You are viewable with 15m, Yellow: 10, Green 5: Blue:invisable) instead of 2. Now add some elements from the book, and done, you got your Game of the Year nominee.

 

[Kyrdra]

[...]

Out of interest, do you know if there's an English translation of Metro 2034 yet?
EDIT: Never mind, just found an English translation on Amazon. That's going on my reading list right now!

Be prepared to be a bit let down. At least that was my impression after reading it

 

[Ml33tninja]

I would like the metro to take a front seat rather than humans if a sequel is made. The book made the metro a very terrifying and alive creature. Also make the creatures tougher to kill would be a big plus. I do not just mean them taking more bullets to kill. I am talking about fighting packs and them attacking you from all sides they can. Them going through windows or breaking a weak wall to get to you. One of the biggest problems with games today is that devs give the player more mobility and tactics options then ever before but they forget to improve the enemies and creatures so as to level the playing field.(one of my biggest problems with RE6) If you don't the balance is lost and you have creatures attacking like humans which (for me at least) hurts the experience. Still the Metro series is one of my favorite shooter series and hope a sequel is in the works

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Yeah, I like the game (not played Last Light) but it really doesn't feel anything like the book. While many elements would still need to be changed, I feel that you could have captured the book's core essence in a more traditional survival horror game. Most of the things OP mentioned would work better in a first-person Silent Hill-type game than an FPS.

Still, it's a decent FPS and I probably wouldn't have read the book if I hadn't played it. It's still pretty damned creepy, even if you're well armed, too.

 

[Eve Charm]

Eh Be lucky The metro games turned out to be good at least. You have a very small developer working under a big developer/publisher, with a bought source material and the small budget that they were given. A big company isn't going to take the leash off a small developer and tell them to go wild, they most likely told them to make a FPS, they put some easy rpg elements in on there own and it got approved.

maybe another one or another game they'll get a decent size budget or try to self publish something now since THQ is gone, But be glad you got something good out of basically a handful of change and some books to pull from when you have crap like Shadowrun, rouge warrior and everything else southpeak touches.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've not read the books, but I've played both games, and they both felt like half a good game to me. They're both shamelessly on rails (quite literally, in some sections), and the horrible stealth mechanics in the first game made this occasionally insufferable. Last Light was better by a good measure, but I couldn't tolerate that fucking swamp level. I can't remember the last time a single design decision made me instantly drop a game I was otherwise enjoying, but that did it.

Both games are veritably swimming in atmosphere, though. Someone rich should just throw money at the Metro guys and the STALKER guys until they agree to team up and create the definitive gloomy post-apocalyptic game.

 

[senordesol]

I did hate that I felt like I was being pushed out of the towns as soon as I arrived. Seems to me that there should be some compulsion to stay and look around a little bit.

Deeper equipment management, and more options to resolve your circumstances would be welcome as well. Toward the end of LL, the surface bits just got a little *too* comfortable for me. In fact, they kinda felt like a joke at times (like the hell pits with the grasping hands) --I wasn't able to finish the novel (God, that thing drags) so I'm not sure if that's consistent with the story or not; but it really doesn't work in-game.

I *did* like the bits where you had to use light as a weapon. That was so creepy and atmospheric and tense; LOVED IT! More of that type of game design please!

 

[Poetic Nova]

While I like both Metro games, I do have to agree with the OP.
And I aswell hope for a open world Metro game in the future.

 

[Goliath100]

They're both shamelessly on rails (quite literally, in some sections), ....

Elaborate please. What was it specifically.(and no they are not, that why I need you to elaborate)

and the horrible stealth mechanics in the first game made this occasionally insufferable.

Elaborate please. What was it specifically.

... but I couldn't tolerate that fucking swamp level. I can't remember the last time a single design decision....

Elaborate please. What was it specifically.

Someone rich should just throw money at the Metro guys and the STALKER guys until they agree to team up and create the definitive gloomy post-apocalyptic game.

4A was started by people who worked on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

the metro as antagonist- I hated that the games needed a human face for our enemy, the Red line and Nazi's really shouldn't be a big deal. In the books the metro is depicted as the circulatory system of a vast beast and its denizens as antibodies eradicating a virus(humans, surviving the horror of the metro on a day to day basis is all there is.

On the other hand the books also make a sold point about humanity being the biggest threat to humanity. A lot of Artyom's encounters in 2033 shows him how the people around him will do anything to improve for themselves, even if it means hurting or putting others at risk. During the few scenes in which humanity triumphs it is always because people band together (the defense of the broken station door at night, the fight through D2 towards Kremlin) and put the collective good above their own best interest. The red line and reich are just the embodiments of human greed and unrelenting ambition and their role in Last Light is to remind the player that even if humanity can survive external enemies we are chance less if we fall to infighting instead of uniting to survive.

 

[sextus the crazy]

... but I couldn't tolerate that fucking swamp level. I can't remember the last time a single design decision....

Elaborate please. What was it specifically.

I agree with Bloat's sentiment. I like the fact that the swamp level is hinted at in the beginning, which rewards you for listening to the world, but I found the swamp to be incredibly frustrating, as it's very easy to get lost and not know what to do.

 

[Goliath100]

.... but I found the swamp to be incredibly frustrating, as it's very easy to get lost and not know what to do.

But that it what makes it great: It's a real bit of horror, where you don't know where to go and you are on a timer. Should not navigating unknown territory be frustrating? Should it not be hard to get losted? And this is coming from someone that had to restart that level. It's a great level because the reasons you use to condemn it.

Edit: Doesn't that level become the closest to the whole "The Metro" as the enemy thing people are talking about?

 

[diligentscribbler]

On the other hand the books also make a sold point about humanity being the biggest threat to humanity. A lot of Artyom's encounters in 2033 shows him how the people around him will do anything to improve for themselves, even if it means hurting or putting others at risk.

I loved that about the books too, but I felt it was poignant that corruption and bureaucracy were the most frequent avenue for humans to look out for themselves. I don't remember Artyom needing his automatic as often as he needed cartridges or a companion who is corrupt. I think that would have made for interesting play and contrast to the psychological horror of the tunnels.

 

[diligentscribbler]

Humans are basically the antagonists in both books as well as in many of the spin offs.

though I hear that alot from fans of the books I just don't see it, especially in 2033.

Artyom's story reminds me of Tom sawyer or Captain Willard (in apocalypse now), sane men trying to make sense of a world that is loaded with the baggage and insanity of a humanity from which they are estranged.

While I can see the books are about humans as humanities greatest threat I think the metro is the other side of that coin exerting the concerns of the dead on the living and I found that fascinating.

But i suppose 'Antagonist' is so inappropriate in the metro novels because there isn't some big bad guy out to get you, that you can defeat by strength of arms. There is the Metro and Human Nature neither of which support humanities continued existence.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

I personally wish Metro was less humans (and in case of LL, less outside) and more creepy nothing and dark tunnels.

The parts I enjoy most in both games is those where you are left alone without human companions, or with only a handful. Although the human vs human combat is enjoyable in both metro games, there is too much of it. Especially the big combat scenes feel out of place in a world that has little humans left.

Now if the game had more sections like the begin of Metro 2033.. or Khan's ghost tunnel, or the exploration of D8 at the end of M2033.. Last Light did incorporate more scary things, but most of them are very unsubtle and perhaps a bit too much, whereas M2033 had mostly the ghost shadows.

 

[Fsyco]

I thought the Metro 2033 game was a pretty good, pragmatic adaption of the book. Especially since the book got into some really...weird territory that I don't think would have translated well into the game (like that whole business with the worm cult and the subsequent journey through the old Kremlin, or the part where Artyom is briefly inducted into a Christian cult). All this talk of nonlinear psychological horror is all well and good, but it's a lot harder to pull off well because there's so many metaphorical moving parts. A Rust/DayZ clone set in the Metro sounds awesome, but those games are still in development because of all the work it takes to make something like that. It reminds me of that thing Jim mentioned about asking people what they want.

I really don't get why people are saying that humans aren't the enemies. One of the major themes of the book was how even in the post-apocalypse, people will act like dicks because that's just human nature (or rather, a jab at Russian society). I'm not sure there's any decent way to pull off the Metro itself as the antagonist. I got the impression that the Metro system was just a big, dead, cold place.

I should also probably qualify all this with the fact that STALKER is easily the worst game I've ever played. Metro 2033 was so much better.