Am I The Only Person Who Hates Serious Sam:TFE?

[DRM-MAN]

Okay before i get lynchmobbed i'll explain myself, i don't like it i seriously dislike the same looking areas just with some new textures.

 

The enemy counts are horrendous, especially THAT part in metropolis then the ending part of it, oh and don't forget the marsh-hopper trap in oasis.

 

Now i can get behind arena shooters but holy fuck some moments are painkiller shit worthy for instance, the alley of the kleers, the music also gets very annoying very fast.

 

The laser-gun sound effect sucks.

 

The level design gets repetitive VERY repetitive to the point where i want to vomit and don't even get me started on the totally not predictable "secrets", they are beyond easy to find.

 

No power-ups/no actual engaging items.

 

Shitty fetch quests/running down long ass corridors(TSE also suffers from this)

 

In general and IN MY OPINION i detest this game i'd rather play the second encounter but even that game suffers from some of the same shit.

[Maggle]

Am I only one getting sick of these blatant bait threads?

 

...Wait, no I'm not. Everyone's sick of these! Especially ones that start with "Okay! Before you get your torches and pitchforks and lynch me with your hate-storm and you get your panties in a twist, let me explain myself for the trolls!", making it explicitly clear that it's just meant to get a rise out of people and not to contribute to any actual discussion. Even if it ultimately doesn't, the admission is right there in the first sentence. Stop it with this shit!

 

Move along folks, nothing to see here.

[DRM-MAN]

26 minutes ago, Maggle said:

Am I only one getting sick of these blatant bait threads?

 

...Wait, no I'm not. Everyone's sick of these! Especially ones that start with "Okay! Before you get your torches and pitchforks and lynch me with your hate-storm and you get your panties in a twist, let me explain myself for the trolls!", making it explicitly clear that it's just meant to get a rise out of people and not to contribute to any actual discussion. Even if it ultimately doesn't, the admission is right there in the first sentence. Stop it with this shit!

 

Move along folks, nothing to see here.

Pretty much missed the point fine sir, it's my opinion so get that psycho-analyze shit outta here you don't know me.

[hybridial]

Painkiller's worse. 

 

 

:P

[Redneckerz]

7 hours ago, DRMman said:

Okay before i get lynchmobbed i'll explain myself, i don't like it i seriously dislike the same looking areas just with some new textures.

 

The enemy counts are horrendous, especially THAT part in metropolis then the ending part of it, oh and don't forget the marsh-hopper trap in oasis.

 

Now i can get behind arena shooters but holy fuck some moments are painkiller shit worthy for instance, the alley of the kleers, the music also gets very annoying very fast.

 

The laser-gun sound effect sucks.

 

The level design gets repetitive VERY repetitive to the point where i want to vomit and don't even get me started on the totally not predictable "secrets", they are beyond easy to find.

 

No power-ups/no actual engaging items.

 

Shitty fetch quests/running down long ass corridors(TSE also suffers from this)

 

In general and IN MY OPINION i detest this game i'd rather play the second encounter but even that game suffers from some of the same shit.

Lets address this properly:

• Serious Sam is noted for its extremely expansive areas. Since it situates in Egypt for the most part, there is only so much you can do. Its also their first game. By that note, a game like Delta Force (1, 2 or Land Warrior) should recieve the same criticism.
• The enemy counts are part of what made Serious Sam memorable - Back in 2001, this was definitely not explored prior because massive amounts of NPC's till then mean't framerates tanked, subjectively speaking. (You obviously had MMO's back then and the first 3D GTA came around aswell, this is more about spawning a huge amount of enemies at once.)
• Music wise, well, that's subjective. I never had a problem with it, but i can see why you would say its annoying - Its definitely quite repetitive, for one.
• Regarding the laser: Again, subjective, but i feel this particular complaint valleys more into nitpicking territory than that it is a geniune overarching issue. No game truly perfects things (besides Doom, ofcourse) :P
• Serious Sam presents large arena's the player has to walk to. A huge open pit/arena remains a huge open pit. Its not top-tier level design, obviously, but it fits the overarching design of the game. I don't think its an actual problem, because if it were, it wouldn't be Serious Sam.
• Serious Sam TFE has several powerups like the Extra Large Armor and most importantly, the Ammo Pack which i always found a good powerup mechanic to have. Not just an ammobox for one weapon, but a stockpile of ammo for various weapons. Neat. The Serious Pack would max out all your ammo for all weapons, which is definitely powerup worthy stuff.
• Those fetch quests often saw you travel through temples where you would be trapped and you had to puzzle your way out, or to find a key. It is used to emphatize backtracking, which is a nod to games of old (Which Serious Sam clearly is inspired by). You have to understand, back in 2001, the gaming world was vastly different from to day. Gaming, although already popular enough that tournaments and eSports were held, was still considered a niche and not a social endeavour like it is today.

On the other hand, Serious Sam did a lot of things right:

• It was one of the first wave based shooters where despite the killcount you actually had to plan your tactics well ahead.
• Serious Engine was one of the first game to really throw in some impressive NPC counts without tanking the hardware too much. The only other game that implemented something similar was 2005's Starship Troopers and its Swarm engine.
• Visually it was a treat to behold and it was used as a benchmark program for quite some years. Being visually competitive without being Epic Games or id Software was quite a deal back then.
• It shipped with a level editor. Now, this isn't a new thing (Unreal did this prior obviously) but for a game by a then rather unknown company, this was pretty something
• The Second Encounter demonstrated Serious Engine 1.x's exclusive features some more with the infamous gravity room where gravity was altered on a per-sector basis. Its definitely a memorable level even today.

So although its a shame that the original game didn't entice you, i don't feel all your points carry an equal amount of weight. Some things are definitely your opinion, but others aren't that overencompassing.

Likely this style of shooter simply isn't for you.

6 hours ago, Maggle said:

Am I only one getting sick of these blatant bait threads?

This isn't a blatant bait thread.

I agree that a lot of general threads lately have a samey feel to them as most ask what the audience thinks about a specific game or mechanic or ask a question that has been answered before regarding Doom.

Those too aren't really bait threads, but they are rather superfluous, because the answer is usually found when using the search button. That used to didn't work in March till the end of April so i can see why they were asked instead, but in general, yeah, a lot of threads get sarcastic commentary primarily because it has been asked before.

... Which also isn't a good thing if you ask me, but hey. I've learned rather quickly not to go against those barricades and only post when i feel it has any merit, usually with a link or two as examples. That's usually the better option any way.

 

[DynamiteKaitorn]

Personally I don't fully disagree with you. TFE was croteam's first FPS game I believe and as such had to do something unique (especially since the 2000's was filled with call of duty rip-offs). At the time TFE could be considered quite a strong feat in engine design since the game has ludicrously high enemy counts and some exceptionally long levels that kept pushing you ever onwards to kick Mental's arse.

 

With that being said, I do agree TFE hasn't aged the best out of the game since I find the Egyptian theme really dull by the time I finish Dunes and by the time the great pyramid rolls around I just give up half the time (doesn't help the final boss is really janky). In fact, this Egyptian theme problem is just one of the MANY flaws I have with SS3.

 

One last thing I want to mention is all Serious Sam games are long as all heck. TSE's final level I think has a par time of like 1:30:00 . Personally though if you don't like very long Serious Sam level than I don't recommend the second one as that game is incredibly lengthy with many levels to barrel through. (Mentalopolis being one hell of a headache).

[Nevander]

Serious Sam has always been one of my favorite series. In direct contrast to the thread, TFE is my favorite.

[DRM-MAN]

Well if i'm gonna post to this again, i like the second encounter more then the first.

[Redneckerz]

2 hours ago, DRMman said:

Well if i'm gonna post to this again, i like the second encounter more then the first.

Here i was thinking you wanted to discuss differing opinions. :/

[Boaby Kenobi]

Painkiller and Serious Sam are excellent games. Serious Sam especially felt to me more like Doom.