: Sorry to respond only to your secondary issue, but it
: really struck a chord with me. I hadn't noticed the
: discrepancy you speak of, but I've always had a secret
: fear of mauls... well, you know what I mean. I think
: that in-game they're handled a lot better than the
: Myrks, which is a little paradoxical: after all, there
: was so much buildup on how nasty the Myrks were, how
: dangerous they were and how mad the Summoner had to be
: to bring them back... and by the time you actually see
: them, you already have Alric on your side (and later
: the Deceiver), so they just don't measure up.
: Alternatively, nobody ever heard of the mauls (prove
: me wrong!) until that first pre-game pic on the Stair
: of Grief level.
: And then... it begins. On that level, at least until you
: figure out you can get your dwarves up on the higher
: ground, you're doomed. The mauls smash you into the
: ice--no contest. It doesn't hurt that they're so much
: more massive than the Myrks, or that they have those
: nasty clubs.
: When I think of mauls I think of two levels: the Stair of
: Grief, and a Murder of Crows. How many times did we
: all watch our newly-freed archers running for their
: lives from a couple of maul guards? They made
: Soulblighter look like a wuss. The mauls are handled
: perfectly--not so tough they can't be overcome, but
: when you run across them you know you're in trouble.
: The Myrks, though sometimes they do catch you off your
: guard, are always encountered from a position of
: strength--how many of them get blown up without a
: chance to fight back? How many get KIKd without a
: chance to go berserk? Like the Shades and the Fallen
: Lords, they seem almost set up to fail or at best to
: act as figureheads, metaphors for trouble.
I agree that Mauls are usually employed in a more impressive manner than Krids, but I think that's necessary given their comparative abilities. Mauls are basically überthrall, gameplay-wise; tougher and stronger but slower and clumsier than most other valuable melee units. As such, the danger they pose is relatively easily anticipated and if you make a mistake while fighting them, you have time to correct yourself and still win the day. Krids, on the other hand, are so damn fast and ferocious that a single mistake, like letting one Krid get to your line of archers, usually gets half your army slaughtered. So for gameplay reasons, it's necessary to put you at a major advantage when fighting Krids; that's the only way the player can afford to make a couple of errors. If there were Krids on the Stair of Grief, you'd be saving every ten seconds in case your Dwarf's next cocktail was a dud and the pack reached your line intact and tore it apart. But because Mauls are so slow, you can afford to fight them in risky, exciting combat scenarios where you're sure to make a mistake or two but you can always work around it.
They could probably have done a better job, though, in reminding the player of this and driving home just how lucky you should feel to have so many defenses and allies when you're up against Krids. I'd like to see a few levels where you have to sacrifice a chunk of your army to distract a Krid pack; then you'd get to remember exactly how well humans do against Myrkridia when they're not protected by 20-foot walls or 18-foot Trow.
: So in response to your question: they do look huge in the
: pregame pics, but I've always taken that as just a
: metaphor for how nasty they actually turn out to be.
They do it with other creatures, though...Mauls are supposed to be 7 feet tall or larger, Krids are supposed to all be over six feet, Trow are supposed to be close to 18 feet tall. The Myrk giants should be a bit bigger too, IMO; remember how the one in the Redemption cutscene blocks out the sun? I think it may just reflect engine/memory limitations; the game doesn't do too well with extremely large units and increasing their size would require increasing their sprite resolutions, if they're to look as good.
: Anyway, that's what I think. You know what? It's kind of
: cathartic to post like this. Enough of the big grand
: theory competition--who's afraid of Fetch? :)
Well, here's my feelings on various.
Ghols, Mauls--I like 'em. Not afraid of either--I feel considerable affection for these guys who aren't actually evil but are just too impulsive/stupid to work with the Light, and never seem to do a really great job of fighting for the Dark either.
Krids--Well, a great deal has been said by unimpressed Mythers on how fur and floppy ears and rabbit teeth fail to terrify. Personally, I wish they were a lot more alien-looking, not just werewolf critters. But ability-wise, they're great. Fast, mean, and unfazeable--you really get a feel for why they could cause nightmares in a hundred generations of humanity. My only complaint would be that they should go berserk at a slightly lower vitality--it should be an occasional thing that makes you that much more creeped out by them, not a predictable weakness for players to exploit. (Though obviously that's a gameplay thing).
Fetch--How can you be scared of them? They throw lightning! And they're girls! I mean, sure, they can wipe out platoons of melee, but I think they inspire much too much awe and admiration to leave room for actual fear. Clearly, the dimension they've been yanked from is the dimension of heavy-artillery FPS's, and there is no place for thoughts of self-preservation in Quake.
Mahir--*These* are the scary ones. They're fast, they're silent, they're unstoppable killers, their names are weird, and until GURPS we had no clue what the hell they were. And of course we already got a chance to fear them in Pathways.
Ah, I'm all catharted out.
--SiliconDream
