Great ambience and mood sound and visuals update!

[karmic jackal]

I see it got some negative feedback so I wanted to make sure to add my voice.
Really like the locations updates, the new weird stuff, the darker, greyer, more desolate feel coming back. Stepping into the forest feels much more like the pechorsk radius I remember and love! I feel like the sound is more ominous and desolate like the original 1.0 also. Really cool.
Anomaly updates are fun. A lot of look and feel starting to hit a stride.

Liking the voice lines adjustments on mimics and it was nice to hear some old ones coming back.

I do miss the glowing eyes/jaws on mimics, which made it possible to fight them in the dark, not to mention being weird and scary. I think it was a nice touch but I understand maybe it's a difficulty thing. Maybe it can be an option?

The fragments, I haven't seen any of the new type yet, but...
Do they no longer jerk around like stop motion? That was WILD and should not be removed. one of the most unsettling things ever. Bring back the .12 fragment walk!
Please don't lose that creepy walk. Please.

new creep type is cool. Nice sound effects of the broken bike thing. I did NOT know what that was and was very heightened by it!

The rig customization seems excellent. A little hard to understand at first and there is clearly some clunk in it right now... but I think it seems good.
I wasn't able to get the backpack to switch to a new one (seems like a bug) so I didn't get to try out my custom backpack, but the rig went well.
I will say it seems like the costs of parts is a bit... very high? The little clip that you use to add an attachment point for 200? That seems way off. Like it could be fair at 50 or something.

After a little trip into each location to see the sights and battle some things I'll let it cook.
The lag spike that piles up when grabbing things or backpacks or anything is really rough so I will wait for this to go full release.
Hope this helps!

[rapid acorn]

I believe the mimics still have glowing eyes

[karmic jackal]

Not any I saw!
Hunter, Commando, police, sniper: none had any glowing.

[flat solar]

You need to hold the gear button to take off the backpack properly (same way you take off the vest)

[karmic jackal]

Is that new?
I’ve gone through the EA content fully 4 times over the months and obviously upgraded backpacks, never did it like changing a rig.

[open kindle]

Its new ya

[flat solar]

It is not new, this has been the proper way since launch

[open kindle]

no

its not

you used to be able to put the backpack on the backpack holder and it'd stick and let you put a new one on

[primal condor]

idk what game you've been playing, but the new 0.13.0 visuals are nothing like any previous iteration of the radius

I personally think the new visuals are HUGE downgrade and massive departure from what ITR has done before

I can respect others' opinions if they think it looks good, but I certainly wouldn't say it's the radius you remember and love

every single iteration of the radius has been pale, bleak, grey, and arguable bright and sunny...with only the occasional burst of color here and there during sunrise and sunset

the new 0.13.0 visuals not only stripped out a lot of trees and vegetation, but the palette is far too dark, saturated, and muddy to be compared to and other iteration of the radius

this is the radius I love

not this

this

not this

this

not this

this

not this

this

not this

this

not this

this

not this

[flat solar]

I see what you mean, the ITR2 pallet is currently shades of evil, whereas 2.0 (especially 1.0) has more of a serene ambivalence

[primal condor]

I think every previous iteration of ITR2 was a LOT closer to ITR1

it just needed some ashfall in the air

and some variation here and there with color, paleness, fog...

[flat solar]

If they kept the evil style as a special weather effect instead of the default that would be good, I wonder how the updated map would fare with itr 1 style lighting

[primal condor]

YES! I would be all for that

I just want some respite from the muddy, saturated, wildfire, volcano apocalypse in 0.13.0

[flat solar]

Yooo Imagine grabbing a special artifact and the sky turns red

[primal condor]

it's WAY too much, in my humble opinion

[primal condor]

that would be sick!

almost like grabbing an anchor in Pacific Drive

This kind of saturated, muddy hellscape would be good for like an anomalous storm

but for just midday in the radius 20 years after the event...on the outside of the zone...

it's way too much

I think the devs should have leaned GREYER with the lighting, not more saturated

I still think what they had looked WAY better

[flat solar]

What happens if you just desaturated the ITR2 photos here?

[primal condor]

I think magical things happen

looking at these, I think the devs just needed to add some ash in the air, and make the skybox / lighting more pale and grey

but they made things WAY more muddy and saturated

[flat solar]

They already added lots of ash, it's just too dark due to the lighting

I think those weird hand things are supposed to be ash

[primal condor]

sorry, I meant ashFALL

not on the ground

just in the air

[primal condor]

yeah...I think it would be cool to spot a few of those throughout a playthrough, but they seemed so common

[flat solar]

Ahh, they can skip that tbh. It ruins the video compression for anyone on quest

[primal condor]

would be better if they were randomized spawns

[flat solar]

Slightly less saturation and cooler lighting

[primal condor]

looks so much better!

now some ashfall

mayeb some haze...

I suppose the forest visuals are somewhat like the castle

but that was a special end-game map and the center of the radius

[rapid acorn]

Imo .12 was almost perfect for sky color etc. but the new fog is definitely an upgrade from .12

Each map hopefully will vary in color so I'm fine with .13s changes but I still prefer the sky colors from .12

Again I love the fog though

I do think itr2 is starting to rival 2.0 in atmosphere

[karmic jackal]

It seems I set AA on fire there

I said this is the most desolate itr2 has felt. It’s the most grey the landscape has ever been, so I think it’s the most like the mood of itr1. And I stick by that.

I didn’t say it looks like itr1.0…. But I think this is the closest yet to that mood.
Red sky is another thing, the landscape is most barren here and I dig that. The green and yellow vegetation seems more like earth. I like the direction this is going.

[primal condor]

”Stepping into the forest feels much more like the Pechorsk radius I remember and love!”

[primal condor]

I simply have a different opinion, which is fine. I just provided screenshots to demonstrate that opinion. Nothing is on fire, other than the Forest map, apparently

[primal condor]

It could have been more pale, but I was perfectly happy with the 0.12 visuals how they were, but fog is good as long as it isn’t just a bad method of limiting view distance to accommodate parity with the quest 3 port

I noticed the “fog” that was stuck to my face

[primal condor]

I generally agree with this, but still think that the visuals are waaaaaaay too harsh and extreme for a map that you spend so much time in

Each map in ITR 2.0 had its own palette, but the maps all still were similar enough to each other

I would be happy with more variability in sky / color / weather, as long as it doesn’t permanently look like I’m stuck wearing diarrhea-colored glasses for hours on end

[karmic jackal]

I woke up to enough messages the “load more messages” got tapped 3 or 4 times!

[rapid acorn]

I think it is clearly not for parity with quest, people have wanted denser fog for the longest time and it looks much closer now to how it looked in itr1 now

[primal condor]

I personally think it has more to do with quest, I have some screen shots at home that show the jank of it, but either way, fog is good, as long as it isn’t janky

[wide agate]

The dim red lighting in the Forest feels like playing DOOM in VR. That's by no means a bad thing; I always bump up the enemy count for heavy firefights. Though, it does kill the surreal feeling ItR1 had.

That said, there is serious potential here; I agree with the prior point that this would make a fantastic weather or mission event. So, here's an idea from atop the porcelain throne:

Briefcase mission in Sanatorium for security level 3. After going through the hell that is infiltrating this place, the player secures the mission item. Everything seems normal, and since the player cleared enemies on the way there, it should be an easy walk home.

However, upon crossing over the wall to leave, the sky suddenly goes blood-red; thunder from the Radius intensifies, and the briefcase begins to emit red particle bands, like blue/purple glowing mission artifacts. Enemies now line the path back to base on the south-western side of the river, doing everything in their power to stop the player. What could be so valuable that the Radius throws everything it has to stop them?

After returning to base and completing the mission, all seems normal. When the player walks towards the Radius entry again, the player can see a red light emitting from the fog wall, accompanied by a quiet, disembodied, alien noise. Walking closer, the noise grows louder, sounding like whispering, and the light grows brighter. Once the player walks close enough to the fog wall, the noise quickly stops, and the red light vanishes; all is silent and calm.

From here on, the sky going red is a periodic weather event in every zone. This could just be visual, or perhaps have strange effects, e.g. enemies and the player gain passive healing.

Enemies already spawn on the route home, so this should not be too invasive of a change, assuming the tone is compatible with the desired narrative.

This would have a stronger effect if this is the first time such a thing happens: the player starts fearful, grows out of that fear and begins a routine, then feels the tonal whiplash as the game puts them back in their place.

[lucid ginkgo]

@rotund pewter