User blog:Tecku/TT: Lost City Second Impressions

Well, this is a first. While my impressions for the Dark Ages, BWB, and Frostbite Caves remained fairly similar to the first impressions, my opinon on Lost City has changed dramatically with more gameplay. This is going to be a short blog, but a necessary one.

Now, the entire reason for a first impressions blog is to provide, well, initial impressions. Anaylsis through deep gameplay usually comes later. However, since most of my first impressions blogs provided deep anaylsis AND had represent my opinion very well even now, I think it only fair to call the odd man out. Let's begin.

Plants:
 * Red Stinger is still quite potent when used on the leftmost columns, and has better firepower/sun cost than Peashooter or Repeater. However, I do think his defensive nature could use little boost. However, his originality still makes me hold him in high regard.
 * A.K.E.E. is a really good plant... but unfortunately, it forms a Laserang Conundrum (with Bloomerang, ironically). Still, it is nice to have potent plants.
 * Endurian is really nice for dealing with Parasol Zombie and other "immunity" zombies like Jester and Snorkel Zombie. However, almost every world has a zombie that will let zombies bypass it, like Explorer, Wizard, Octo, and Excavator. Couple this with the lack of crowd control for its mechanic and this baby doesn't exactly dominate. I still say it should deal more damage when healthier.
 * Lava Guava is fantasic. The explosion is great is you need crowd control right then, but Ghost Pepper has more range for its main attack. A well balanced, fun plant.
 * Stallia is a very useful plant. The free cost and multi-lane hit gives it its own identity, and keeps it fun.
 * Toadstool is a lot better than Chomper, but I don't know what to make of it in relation to the other plants. I intend to update this entry later.
 * Gold Leaf is very unique and very balanced. It's a blast to use in worlds like the Dark Ages where sun is in short supply, or the Pirate Seas where space is limited. At least, it would be, if we could use Gold Leaf there.

Zombies


 * Excavator and Parasol Zombie are both balanced, but they can be a pain when put together. In particluar, I hate having Parasol Zombie protect Excavators behind her from A.K.E.E.


 * Bug Zombie is much tougher than anticipated during later levels. I think I'll update my Great Balancing Take 2 on him.
 * Lost Pilot, Relic Hunter, and Imp Porter are all balanced, but they all seem to be based around the same idea- zombies that start further in the lane. I think you could probably cut one them out, preferably Lost Pilot since he has no set counter.
 * T. Skull Zombie has just a bit too far a reach for my tastes. I think 2 squares of range with his laser is plenty.

Now, let's talk about the Zomboss fight. Last time, I said the Zomboss fight made me upset. Now, let me explain something that seems contradictory. I think the LC Zomboss is probably the best boss fight in the game. Yeah, you heard right. It has a great mechanic, and forces you to play it differently. It's fun, it's balanced, it's challenging, it's great.

So why was I upset? Becuase this fight symobolizes that every PvZ fight we see is going to be the same thing. Every boss fight is going to be a Special Delivery level where we fight a Zomboss contraption that summons small zombies, and occasionally does an attack that kills some plants. We must kill him with the plants, and have no interaction besides putting the plants down. We even have trap tiles in this level, but we can't hurt Zomboss with them- only the little zombies.

For once, I'd like to see an idea that breaks away from the formula- a Last Stand or Locked and Loaded level, or a fight where we have to interact in ways besides placing plants. I've come up with some ideas on how to do this- heck, there's even a few boss battles in Chinese PvZ game that break from the formula.

So was it wrong for me to criticize not being original enough? I think it's still a bit of a grey area. I was being fairly ungrateful, and I do apologize for that. However, I do not think it's wrong to encourage the developers to push the envelope on what a boss fight can be. So I do hope they they're willing to keep going with the originality. But as is, they are experimenting with new things, and I am grateful for that. Either way, I look to the future on what PvZ bosses may hold!