the_grip on 17/5/2006 at 00:43
RPG would have been better... however, the atmosphere is spot on - that's what i was trying to say. A modern feel of Lovecraftian horror is all over the place in this one.
However, if you made it an RPG, you'd have to have a whole party of investigators - online multiplay would be fabulous (not MMORPG).
Eye on 18/5/2006 at 02:11
I'm about 75 percent of the way through based on the percentages supplied to the player. For what it's worth, here are my thoughts in no particular order:
as someone noted, the inner monologue when you examine things is often entirely inappropriate for what's going on. (i don't agree that the same problem existed in Thief, since there was no reason to believe Garrett was actually speaking the words, only thinking them) in CoC, you're sometimes trembling and mumuring half insane thoughts in your head and then bust out with a loud, uninflected, "JUST A BUNCH OF BOOKS AND PICTURES, NOTHING TO SEE HERE." i'm sure they thought they had bigger fish to fry trying to get this game out before headfirst went under, but it really undermines the otherwise convincing sanity effects. (seems like they could have at least recorded two versions)
there really is only one way through the levels, something that i think matters a lot for those of us pining for a more thief-like experience. the atmosphere of the game and some of the gameplay elements make you want to play it like thief, but it's pretty much paint-by-numbers (in fact, there is one level where i went through it twice without success, but came across some things that appeared to have no purpose. after reading the walkthrough, i discovered i had done one little thing "wrong," blowing the other elements that were put there to be used when it was done "right.") definitely not open ended.
as noted, sneak only works on sound, which is fine once you figure it out, though obviously it would be better if light, distance and movement mattered.
i prefer a save-as-you-go system, but i didn't find the save points to sparse or poorly placed. this game wasn't designed for save-as-you-go, so as someone mentioned, it would be ridiculously short that way.
the atmosphere is fantastic
pc controls are fine, much better than xbox. had a hell of a time on my friend's xbox with the bolted doors issue, but i rarely, if ever, screw it up with the keyboard and mouse. the lean beats the one in T:DS by a longshot, but there isn't much reason to use it, since it's so easy to be seen.
headfirst gets credit for trying on the innovative health system, but it just isn't interesting or relevant enough. i've used the quick, heal-all button almost from the get-go, i'm afraid.
the sanity effects themselves are very well done, but the entire system is a little disappointing because i'm almost never in a super tense situation where they can be fully appreciated. i'm either completely alone, under everyone's radar or all hell is breaking loose. think of how great they would be in a super-tense, thief-style hiding situation.
there have not been anywhere near enough monsters for my taste, though hopefully that will change as i keep going.
all in all, this game is a good time and definitely worth $30. i'm glad i got to contribute to the bottom line of someone who was trying to do something different. i've always felt that the initial development of gaming in the first-person perspective opened up a world of possibilties that have been ignored almost without exception (Thief) over the last two decades (or whenever the hell doom/wofenstein/ultima underworld came out). instead, we've had years of developer and player distraction with gunplay. one of the things you hear a lot with CoC is some variation of the phrase "i've been watching this game for four years" and i think what we all, particularly Thief fans, recognized is that someone who seemed to appreciate this was finally coming along once again and trying to make a game that explored some of these possibilities (chiefly the sanity system, but also the lack of a HUD).
anyway, sorry for the ridiculously long post. i play and enjoy a lot of FPS games, but Thief was the first game i bought and it kinda ruined me in terms of my outlook on the genre.
Eye on 18/5/2006 at 02:25
oops. one more thing...
the music and the quality of the sounds that were in the game were well done, but some audible footsteps by the enemies would have been nice. really nice.
[SPOILER]i'm running through the damn boat getting chased by giant 500 lb. sea monsters and their footfalls don't make a sound.[/SPOILER]
242 on 18/5/2006 at 07:37
Quote Posted by Eye
as noted, sneak only works on sound, which is fine once you figure it out, though obviously it would be better if light, distance and movement mattered.
Sneak works on distance, I described how sneaking mode, crouching and combo of them worked for me, see one of my posts above. This was thoroughly tested :)
I don't know why you say that sneaking works on sound, it didn't work for me at all. I could freely run behind backs of enemies and they didn't notice.
the_grip on 18/5/2006 at 15:27
Sneak also works with lighting. However, not all dark spots are dark enough to allow for it. There have been points in the game that i was sneaking in darkness right in front of an enemy, even shooting them, and they didn't see me. Several walkthroughs actually detail spots where you can sneak and fire from hidden safety.
Dirty_Brute on 22/5/2006 at 03:29
I started experiencing an inventory bug right after using the [SPOILER]electrodes on that blob Cthulhu creature[/SPOILER]
After saving, I would go into the inventory screen and it's very slow. The inventory screen is dark and it would slowly light up as I moved the mouse pointer over an empty and filled inventory slot.
Trying to apply first aid is even worse. Jack's model on the right side barely moves. It's takes forever to get him zoomed in so I can apply the right firstaid stuff.
I am thinking it might be a dual core issue so I will try and disable one of the cores while playing via Cntrl+Alt+Del.
WingedKagouti on 28/5/2006 at 19:00
I've been trying to play it, but the gameplay mars an otherwise excelent atmosphere.
The controls feel like someone said "We'll just use these standard FPS controls while we try to figure out how to do stuff, it'll be a temporary fix." The inventory/journal system seem as if they were added by an entirely different development team than those working on the rest of the game.
Then there's the feeling of complete and utter linearity; do this then press that button at this exact time or you won't be able to progress and you'll likely have to repeat the last 5 minutes too. I thought we put that kind of gameplay behind us with Don Bluth and Dragon's Lair.
While I'm happy that a CoC game was made I'm not happy about this game.
MsLedd on 28/5/2006 at 23:52
Anyone heard anything about what's happening with this one: (
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/callofcthulhudestinysend/index.html) Call of Cthulhu: Destiny's End?
Dirty_Brute: Though this won't help you with your issue, just thought I'd mention that you don't have to zoom in on the pictured injuries to heal them. Just click the highlighted boxes in the chart.
Dirty_Brute on 29/5/2006 at 04:20
I was reading the forums over at COC's website and it seems the inventory bug is not quite as common. Some people experience it, and some people don't.
Anyway, I figured it out. My 7900GT's memory tends to overheat at it's stock settings causing artifacts and other weird stuff. So I ended up using Coolbits 2.0 to underclock the memory frequency from 750 to 600. All my games are stable so far and I no longer get a slow inventory screen in COC.
I am finally at Devil's Reef now and I am trying to figure out the Blue/Red gem puzzle. Anyone got a simple hint?
242 on 29/5/2006 at 08:12
Quote Posted by WingedKagouti
Then there's the feeling of complete and utter linearity; do this then press that button at this exact time or you won't be able to progress and you'll likely have to repeat the last 5 minutes too. I thought we put that kind of gameplay behind us with Don Bluth and Dragon's Lair.
It's about as linear as Doom3 or Splinter Cell games. And comparing to others, it's really difficult which I like a lot along with story, atmosphere, and puzzles.
Inability to save anytime is good too in my opinion, it's a survival horror game after all, not a walk in the park :)
