Overall Expedition is mediocre at best for multiple reasons:
By what standard are you calling it mediocre?
- the new enemies design is boring and there is nothing clever as a death stalker, but they all have bloated hp,
The humanoid enemies throughout Expedition are not boring, though I don't know if that's what you're referring to. I like the Spiders, with the Webbers pinning you down and shooting you from afar while the Creepers come to finish you up close. The rest aren't particularly inspiring I'll admit, but they're interesting the first time around and there is enough variety with the Natives and Pirates for Expedition to still be fun.
- the encounters design is garbage or non-existent, the amount of trash encounters is simply soul crushing,
Hard disagree here. The Native encounter after exiting the Joint Security Headquarters, the Strongmen and Maiden encounter at the Health Center, the Native/Wildlife encounter at Blistering Shores, the Native Boss Fights in general and assaulting the Pirate Base are all examples of great encounters. Let it be noted that the Grey Army Base mission was also added in Expedition and is great as well.
- the jet ski mechanics are gimmicks which become boring quite fast,
It's added content on an already massive game, and if you go down the Pirate quest line, there is some good fun to be had.
- no improvements in quests design, in fact the dlc lacks sidequests and you are railroaded based on a binary choice,
It's hard to improve on already great quest design. JSHQ, Abyssal Station Zero, Dude's Quest, and Rescuing Professor Oldfield are four amazing quests, with the rest not being bad at all. The whole Pirate faction is a side quest, and there is also the quest to find the Torch and deal with Yngwar which are both great side quests.
- if you choose poorly then you are pulled out from exploration everytime the natives have an erection,
Meh. Has never been a problem with me. You can get by on dominating by only doing two encounters and auto resolving the rest to be honest, and once you get the mines it ceases to be a problem. You only need to survive five raids for the raids to stop completely.
- the dlc story goes into lovecraftian territory + pirates, signs of creative bankruptcy,
The story now weaves into the existing setting quite well actually with all the added improvements and connections to the base game which is a sign of utilizing existing ideas/motifs well to enhance a setting.
I thought the ending was fantastic. Discovering what the Godmen were finding and uncovering the truth of what happened in Lemuria as well as learning more about the Big Organizations that ran Underrail was very satisfying.
Still enjoying the game mostly, but in Expeditions, the bullshit at Joint Security Headquarters was utter crap. When you lose all your equipment and have to use stealth and other bs when you aren't specced for it necessarily.
I figured out the basic idea (sneak into the section to the west, trap the 2 robots in the spider area between the gates, get the TNT there, and sneak back and blow up the wall to get the equipment) pretty quickly, but to actually do it successfully took so many effing reloads. The stupid cameras are so unpredictable and always aggro in some loads.
Other than that, my build is coming along nicely. Crafted Infused Leather Overcoat with +11% crit chance, and Seeker Night Vision Goggles with +17% crit chance, so my total crit chance is 59% now, and 62% for humanoids. With almost fully specialized critical power and .44 Hammerers, it's a thing of beauty, blowing up Naga Destroyers like Pepsi bottles.
It's a great encounter that came out of left field. You can also use hacking to get your equipment back which is my go to. Finally, the encounter at the end is great.
1) the way you deal with the natives is unrealistic, there should have been an option to assault with allies
Great critique.
2) I almost feel like it should be near-mandatory for the expedition to end in catastrophe. A “The Terror”-like feel would suit the DLC better, unfortunately my expedition never really ran into resource problems
Great suggestion as well.
So... did anyone tried to experiment the minigun with contaminated bullets? Seems like a interesting way to pepper the whole screen with toxic clouds.
I saw some photos from the Discord and it is indeed as insane as it sounds. Just expensive to get the bullets for.
