Dark satelite map change O.o

[dogg1000]

See for urself. Unannounced update?
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_115707_001.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_115716_002.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_115732_003.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_115739_004.jpg
more changes in b2
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_120548_007.jpg
fence needs key now (dont think that was there)
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_120343_006.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_120338_005.jpg
leads to the area that used to have boxes
Most changes in b3 were spawn changes
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh120/astrodogg5/psu20090124_120840_008.jpg
two key gate
In b3 there was a big spawn change there were atl east x4 more large enemies
In b4 only change was they blocked off one of the side areas

[Katy]

I think this might explain some of the recent glitches going around trying to access Hive missions. They rearranged the stage slightly. Now there are more large monsters and less tedious walking back and forth after clearing certain areas (warps added reducing walk time).

And on a pointless note they arranged the end boxes from a square pattern to a now circular pattern.

[Golto]

Unannounced on the english site but they have something about this and some of the other colony missions being adjusted on the jpn 360 site.

[Para]

They must've made adjustments in preparation for GC GBR in the future?

[milranduil]

I'd like to add they have changed up Seed Awakened as well. The sides areas are now closed off and the enemies from those rooms now spawn on the main path. There are still a few side rooms open and they have enemies but it's a bit like Dark Satellite which I still need to try lol. A lot less Gaozorans too sadly...no more shielded ones except some of the kings either.

[darkante]

Sounds like they are trying to make those decent missions even easier...Gaozoran army is what makes Seed Awakening challenging for a V1 mission IMO.
But now even that dissapears.. Yeah that is gonna drag out the fun of it..boring.

[_Vyser_]

Interesting changes. I guess we can't have any missions left in this game that might pose a challenge.

[Neith]

Ugh, I loved the two 'long' HIVE missions too, they didn't even need changing :/

While more large enemies in Dark Satellite is good, removing a lot of the Gaozorans in SEED Awakened is lame. I used to enjoy running SEED Awakened solo for a bit of a challenge, looks like I won't be able to get that anymore.

[desturel]

While more large enemies in Dark Satellite is good, removing a lot of the Gaozorans in SEED Awakened is lame. I used to enjoy running SEED Awakened solo for a bit of a challenge, looks like I won't be able to get that anymore.


I just rant the new one. WAAAAY to easy for a gunmaster now compared to the old SA. :/

This is like when they hit Desert Goliath and Moonlight Beast with the nerf bat. Actually it's like that only coupled with the map reduction of Tunnel Recapture.

[Neith]

Well, I just ran both of the missions myself.. Opinions are mixed.

Dark Satellite is awesome. Loads more large monsters (I got an A map, which would usually start with 3x Deljaban, then after a few of those spawn 3x Sendillan. After that, a key would drop, opening a door to the right.) Now though, it's 3x Deljaban, and after a few more, 3x Jusnagun (yes, the huge batlike monsters). After those, a key dropped, opening a door to the left (right is now closed off). Generally, the map is a lot more difficult. I also noticed that many of the large monsters (mainly Dilnazen) were now ATP-buffed. I'm all for the Dark Satellite changes, though it does make soloing a pain for my Newman FM :lol:

SEED Awakened is another story. Many of the paths are now blocked off, making the mission itself much more linear and as a result, shorter. The main change in regards to monsters are the Gaozorans. While there's still quite a few, a lot have been removed. Generally, I found that any room which used to have 3 or more Gaozorans has lost at least 1 of them. Also, I only ran into one DFP-buffed Gaozoran, and that was a leader. There were no DFP-buffed regular ones. The mission for the most part was a lot easier, with the sole exception of a 2x Gaozoran + 2x ATP-buffed Dilnazen spawn I got in Block 2. Even the final room before the bos warp has changed, there used to be 3x large monsters, followed by another 3x large monsters. This time, I got 3x Gaozoran, followed by a lot of Deljabans. I don't really like what's been done to SEED Awakened, it's gotten the Desert Terror treatment and isn't as interesting anymore.

Also, have the MP rewards changed? I got 310MP for getting S-Rank on S2. I'm sure it used to be 340-ish?

Edit: And before anyone asks, no, Gaozoran are STILL melee-resistant.... :disapprove:

[desturel]

Dark Satellite is awesome. Loads more large monsters

Not really from what I've seen. I ran a map that I know twice just to make sure what I saw was correct. Basically here's what happened in the map I did (the map formally known as A-2).

All triple spawns of Gaozoran were replaced by either a single or double spawn of sword buffed Dilnazen. (notice you now have Seed Vitance and Dilnazen instead of Seed Vitance and Gaozoran.

All triple packs of Deljaban was replaced by Dilnazen and Bel Pannon. In fact I only remember seeing 6 total Deljaban before the fourth floor. I saw NO Gaozoran on A-2 which is crazy since there use to be at least 12 Gaozoran on that map.

Basically they took a large dangerous monster and replaced much less dangerous creature with a bit more HP.

This is great news for FF. I ran through this map with my human acrofighter in about 20 mins. The Gaozoran map use to take me about 30 mins as a human acrofighter. Plus I used only three trimates for the first three blocks of the run (the Carriguine still took the same amount of trimates).

This is horrible news for GM and fG. You are replacing a large amount of non-bullet resistant creatures (Deljaban and Gaozoran) with large bullet resistant creatures. Not only that, but they come out in ones or twos instead of threes. This is definitely meant as a map setup for a paradi nerf, but it has the bonus of killing non-cast gunners speed too. Beast (gunner or fighter) gain a some amount of speed as Nano would be increasingly useful in the run, but for a beast gunner, it means rushing to build up your Nanoblast in order to take care of two or three spawns of Dilnazen instead. Plus less Deljaban = less chance to line up things with laser cannons.

For techers, the mission hasn't changed all that much. It's actually a bit easier as nosdiga and foie are much better than plinking away at Gaozoran with a longbow, cards, or (if you are a MasterForce) noszonde (as long as they all spawn together).

Altogether they have doubled the run time for 2/3s of the classes in the game, all because they made Paradi too damn strong for it's own good. Sure it's easier (fighting Dilnazen is much easier than fighting Gaozoran), but it's more time consuming (not running the map wise, but creature spawn wise).

Now this is just my observation from two runs of a particular map spawn. I'm sure there's a map spawn that's all Gaozoran, but for now, I'm giving the map changes a solid "meh".


*edit*
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention that I did like was that they changed it so that every time you have an option of which direction to go in, they've placed a lock with key so that you know which direction is the optional direction.

[Clunker]

Hm, doesn't sound good at all for gunners... and I consider myself one.

Has "Dark Satellite" also changed?

[garjian]

why dont they just lower the damage of paradi..?

[Neith]

Not really from what I've seen. I ran a map that I know twice just to make sure what I saw was correct. Basically here's what happened in the map I did (the map formally known as A-2).


Hmm, strange, I saw a lot of Deljabans on the pattern I did (the A map that starts with 3x Deljaban). In that map, there were quite a lot of Jusnagun (seemed like more than there used to be (although it was usually Dilnazen on that A map)). I definitely found it harder than it used to be (and my clear time reflected it too, a good few minutes longer).

I didn't really get a map that was Gaozoran-heavy, so I can't comment on those. I just know I saw a lot more Jusnagun than there used to be.

Anyway, a couple of pics:

First room of Dark Satellite ('A' map variation), after the initial Deljabans are killed:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b292/urikobb3/DarkSatelliteFirstRoom_01.jpg

The 'fork' road (where you used to go right for some extra monsters):
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b292/urikobb3/DarkSatelliteForkRoadChange_01.jpg

I checked too, SEED Awakened is definitely 310MP now, and Dark Satellite was along the lines or 21X MP, so those seem lowered.

[Kazemi]

they adjusted these missions on JP back at the beginning of the last GBR but they didn't announce it. they adjusted them again afterwards reducing the MP reward by a half (S2 did give almost as much as S3). they also tweaked the first rykros mission a bit. mainly just removing some traps and putting the clear boxes in a circle. DS should drop some rare weapons in the clear boxes now as well.

[desturel]

Hmm, strange, I saw a lot of Deljabans on the pattern I did (the A map that starts with 3x Deljaban). In that map, there were quite a lot of Jusnagun (seemed like more than there used to be (although it was usually Dilnazen on that A map)). I definitely found it harder than it used to be (and my clear time reflected it too, a good few minutes longer).

So the Gaozoran heavy map had lots of Dilnazen and the Dilnazen map has lots of Jusnagun. I wonder if the Jusnagun map has lots of Gaozoran? For some reason I doubt it.

It's easier, but more time consuming thanks to less Gao, but more Jusnagun and Dilnazen. It's about the opposite that they did to Demons Above when the removed 90% of the Tengohg or Desert Goliath when the removed all but 3 Grinna Bete C and all of the Grinna Bete S on the rare map.

I think the reduction in MP is fair considering the reduction of Gao, thus the reduction of difficulty.


Has "Dark Satellite" also changed?

Dark Satellite was the mission I was referring to in my intial post.