Jason Moyer on 3/6/2010 at 02:59
Thanks for the link. I'll try those out.
I'm in the third Saudi mission (doing all 4) and the more I play this the more I think the people who reviewed it are fucking retarded. I levelled up halfway into the last mission, and as of that point I have: bonuses to the minigames, bonuses to sneaking, tactical armor with digital camo, a silenced pistol with a laser sight, bonuses to pistol accuracy, perks galore (including one for this mission for being a prick to Darcy), the ability to see enemies and the direction they're looking through walls passively, and the ability to do a conviction-style slo-mo chained pistol attack. Since almost review mentions how useless stealth and pistols are, and how hard the hacking minigame is, all I can say is: WTF.
Xenith on 3/6/2010 at 08:42
Awesome, thanks for the link, really helped.
Quote:
Since almost review mentions how useless stealth and pistols are, and how hard the hacking minigame is, all I can say is: WTF.
Add another WTF from me. People should bitch less and play more.
Judith on 3/6/2010 at 11:14
Stealth was very useful for me through the whole game, and the pistol was as well. I killed like 3-4 people (I tranquilized Darcy but got the message I killed him, which was weird), the rest was taken down by hands or tranquilizer ammo. The cover mechanics is a bit broken (some covers are too low and the AI can sometimes spot you through them, the level design is lazy, some object used as a cover in one location cannot be used in another) and I hate those limits to where you can jump off roof or ledge only in a designed spot, it makes no sense.
On my first play-through (Moscow>Taipei>Rome) I was trying to be nice to all characters and I spared everyone (which turned out to be good and bad in a way). Now I'll try to change the location order and be annoying self-important jackass ;)
Anywho, I loved how the game maintained the illusion that my choices really mattered in this world.
mothra on 3/6/2010 at 17:32
well, i meant stealth in the "no-detect" and "no kill, not even takedown" way. that is broken. using stealth to get a drop on enemies does work. anyways, finished it, replaying as kung fu/toughness character which is seriously overpowered - but fun :)
we'll see if I can make it through the game without guns.
btw, I restarted on normal and now I know why i hated hard that much. normal is about 3 times easier. cameras are slower, enemies have less body armor and most of all: they only throw grenades every 10 seconds instead of EVERY 2 second on hard.
now I'm gonna see how I can play using other factions. damn, i think i will have to kill lovely sis to get substantial bad rep with albatross......
the dialogue failed a little at the end, thornton was too cocky even on using professional but the myriads of options fell beautifully into place.
Xenith on 4/6/2010 at 15:56
I just finished it and I think the game was definitely worth it's time spent on. I just wish it was a bit longer, since I haven't really spent time all that much with all characters. Sie, for example I've only met in Moscow and... that was about the only time I saw her in person. Maybe had I taken a different story path..
Oh well, I was expecting to see everything from a first run, especially since there are a lot of direct "this over that or the other way around" choices.
So now I've got Veteran unlocked and will probably try it out. My ending was leaving the island with Scarlett.
*if some spoiler tags appear weird... well, I don't know why they do...
*EDIT: thanks for the explanation Tonamel
Tonamel on 4/6/2010 at 17:57
"Spoiler" tags [SPOILer]put them in their own block.[/SPOILer]
"Spoil" tags keep them in line.
Jason Moyer on 4/6/2010 at 20:46
So I read all these reviews about how bad the AI are and how they'll rush you before they shoot. And I play through Rome/Tapei wondering when I'm going to see this behavior. And now I'm in Moscow, and I have a Dossier on a specific faction that says they like to gangrush people before shooting them. And hey, they like to rush in for close combat, and are skilled at martial arts, just like their dossier says. Just like the factions who are "agile and like to use cover and fight from a distance" are agile and like to use cover and fight from a distance.
Are all gaming journalists fucking retarded or what?
Jason Moyer on 4/6/2010 at 20:50
Quote Posted by mothra
well, i meant stealth in the "no-detect" and "no kill, not even takedown" way.
By that definition the first 2 Thief games are also broken.
I don't think I've ever played a stealth game where it was possible to ghost the entire game without taking advantage of unintentional glitches in the AI. I don't really think AP is supposed to be a stealth game though, either. Especially considering the description of the game's stealth class, the "Spy", says something about disabling people silently rather than slipping in and out unseen.
Zygoptera on 4/6/2010 at 22:43
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
Are all gaming journalists fucking retarded or what?
Magic 8-ball says... most all. What were their main criticisms again?
Bad AI? Certainly no worse than most, and better than some
Bad balance? Suggestion: maybe it ain't a good idea to try using something you have no skill in- reality is broken and I want my money back, I seldom hit what I aim at with a rifle in real life despite making sure I get the reticle right on
every time, and there are a bunch of bunnies alive today to prove it. "RPGs" like ME2 have a lot to answer for here with their no harm no foul no differentiation everyone's a special snowflake competent at everything please feel free to not do anything to your character you can still win would you like a cookie now approach.
Bugs? One found, the standing switch at the start of the airfield Saudi mission making you immediately visible if you reload. Next most serious I've found is an obligatory funky Havok someone got stuck in a door twitching amusingly after I killed them. I haven't even had mouse/ control/ camera problems despite my graphics card being min spec, though I've seen enough reports that it is a real issue.
Bad dialogue? On crack one would be to say so, to quote the great philosopher Yoda. They could perhaps have renamed the "suave" options as "smug" and "aggressive" to "arsehole" to be more accurate, but that and the tendency to be able to "win" conversations just by picking and sticking to the appropriate stance (which is hardly unrealistic) is about the extent of the criticism I have so far.
Graphics? Animation? Aren't great, aren't noticeably bad either.
Minigames? I must be the only person on the planet to find the lockpicking minigame more difficult than the hacking one. They are annoying, certainly, but that's hardly a stop the presses revelation seeing as every minigame in existence is annoying.
There's a bunch of ways it could be improved to be sure, but that's true of just about every game I've ever played.
Jason Moyer on 4/6/2010 at 22:55
I don't think the AI is that bad in context of what they were trying to accomplish with it. Every "boss" and faction in the game has a specific combination of fighting styles they use. I won't say if that was a great design decision given Obsidian's lack of action game experience, but it's certainly more ambitious than the AI in most shooters I've played.
