A lot of your issues seem to stem from setting your gamma too low in the graphics options. Also, the legacy campaign maps are still in the game, you have to get a gold medal on all the adventure maps in arcade mode to unlock them.

Originally posted by Californ1a:

A lot of your issues seem to stem from setting your gamma too low in the graphics options.

What? One of my lines could be affected by gamma.
Gamma does not change gameplay and good map design.

Thank you for editing your post.

Originally posted by Californ1a:

A lot of your issues seem to stem from setting your gamma too low in the graphics options. Also, the legacy campaign maps are still in the game, you have to get a gold medal on all the adventure maps in arcade mode to unlock them.

Now it looks like I did not read it all. :/

However. Thank you for the information.

I shouldn't be upset. I got more than I paid for with this game.
I remember playing the campaign three times in one sitting only to come back to it the same day.
I missed class assignments because ONE MORE TRACK.

Edit: I'll unlock the old maps and play those again. I just feel so strongly opinionated that things have changed for the worse. I hate to sound like an angry old man saying things were better in the good ole days.

3 or 4 of them could be affected by gamma/visibility. Of course the first one is obviously affected by it, but the visual cues, track transfers, and maps feeling good could also be affected by it. If you have the gamma set too low then you'd have a much more difficult time seeing the visual cues or track transfers; maps feeling good is more subjective but can still be related to the visibility of obstacles and whatever else in the maps, they won't flow as well for you if you can't see things as easily because of a low gamma.

As for the others, I'm not sure what you mean by core gameplay being gone - none of the mechanics have changed. Also, what things are animated that "don't need to be"? Nothing has to be animated, but it gives life to the story when certain elements are animated.

As for the difficulty curve, it was probably fine for you because you've played NR previously, and had a decent handle on the mechanics already, but when testing with brand new players (such as at conventions), they needed a much slower introduction to things like rotation jets, with more time between each ability unlocking so they have more time to get comfortable with everything you can do with that ability before adding on the next one.

It seemed to me that things after the addition of grip thrusters were paced very well. Each concept was introduced individually.
I really wish rotation jets were as easy to use now. Rolling between track segments seems pretty odd now with the track placement. They always feel misaligned. Trial and error.
To each their own.

To clarify, I meant the use of color and visuals. I feel like lots of flair has been removed in favor of dark, edgy atmosphere. Atmosphere that seemed to be present before the change.

Originally posted by duskesko:

I really wish rotation jets were as easy to use now. Rolling between track segments seems pretty odd now with the track placement. They always feel misaligned. Trial and error.

The mechanic hasn't changed, the rotation jets are the same as they've been since around late 2015 when they did the last physics changes. The slight misalignment of the transfers in the new maps is intentional so you have to learn the mechanic, instead of being able to be "caught" by side of the next road and not actually learning the mechanic in order to pass them.

Originally posted by duskesko:

To clarify, I meant the use of color and visuals. I feel like lots of flair has been removed in favor of dark, edgy atmosphere. Atmosphere that seemed to be present before the change.

The dark atmosphere has been the goal since day 1; they've always planned on a horror-esk story:
1 year before early access: https://twitter.com/torcht/status/421134066318970880
And from about 2 years ago: https://twitter.com/torcht/status/736263279916392448

You might like the Lost to Echoes campaign more - it's sort of a reboot of NR's story that you unlock after finishing the main Adventure campaign.

I'm sorry. I meant using the jets feels odd because of the track placement when jumping between them. I'm just trying to convey that things don't seem as well thought out this time around. The dark atmosphere and horror are awesome. Always have been. I meant the bits of color that help add detail around the track and above the player at times.
I'm not sure I know the correct words when it comes to map design in any game. It's a balance around the player to keep detail even. It's not critical, I was just surprised how well it was done before.

Gotta commend the new audio and voices. They have really fleshed out the horror atmosphere.

Originally posted by duskesko:

I'm sorry. I meant using the jets feels odd because of the track placement when jumping between them. I'm just trying to convey that things don't seem as well thought out this time around.

Maybe instead of "not well thought out" you mean overengineered because as I mentioned previously, there's been quite a lot of thought put into the placement of the transfers. You have to do the transfers correctly in order to progress now rather than having the track lined up perfectly like they were in the legacy maps (where you could easily be "caught" by the side of the next road if you didn't learn the mechanic and you did the transfer incorrectly). The devs looked at how people were getting through those legacy tutorial sections and improved them so you actually have to learn the mechanic in order to progress now rather than "getting lucky."

Originally posted by duskesko:

The dark atmosphere and horror are awesome. Always have been. I meant the bits of color that help add detail around the track and above the player at times.
I'm not sure I know the correct words when it comes to map design in any game. It's a balance around the player to keep detail even. It's not critical, I was just surprised how well it was done before.

Again, you might be missing some of that color detail in the new maps if you've got the gamma turned down too low because there is still quite a lot of that. Maybe some screenshot examples would help, where you think the new maps are missing this kind of detail?