Mr.Duck on 26/10/2008 at 00:53
Game keeps surprising me with amazing sights like in Episode 6, where I reach the asteroid chunk that I have to release into outer space with the beacon attached to it.
Having a blast, even if I am seeing that eventually in later episodes I'll have to backtrack, I don't really mind. Not a deal breaker for me. No sir.
Also, what's your favorite weapon to use?, what have you guys powered up most with nodes?
Fought my first boss 2 episodes ago, pretty fun I'll say.
:)
Angel Dust on 26/10/2008 at 07:12
Quote Posted by catbarf
Not in-game. When I enabled VSync in-game, it killed my framerate and gave me mouse lag. Instead, I used NTune to force the game to use VSync, and now it's perfect. My hypothesis is that the in-game setting is causing the game to use a poorly-implemented in-game VSync, but NTune forces it at the hardware level, so it gets around the issue that the game has.
Kaleid- I felt the same way, but with this external VSync on the sensitivity jumped tremendously. Give it a try.
Thank you catbarf! Not having v-sync enabled was going to bug the shit out of me but this fix works perfectly.
Anyway I went and purchased this game yesterday and have so far put about 4 hours into it. I must say I am enjoying myself immensely. It looks great, the interface is aces (especially for video messages), the combat is great gory fun (mid-air slow-mo dismemberment FTW!), zero-G and spacewalk areas are nicely implemented and best of all is the light RPG elements.
I never saw this mentioned so it was a great suprise to find that you can upgrade your suit/guns/powers. Unlike Bioshock these upgrades are permanent which leads to many great "hmmm should I upgrade my flamethrower ammo capicity or my air level for my suit?" type moments. It's also nice that there is not always an instant benefit for an upgrade. To explain: the upgrades for each item are done by inserting 'power cells' into a node structure and you can only insert a cell in nodes adjecent to ones you have already. Not all nodes contain upgrades so sometimes you might pass on getting say an ammo upgrade for a weapon so that you can get a damage upgrade next time you find a power cell. I have also encountered a situation where I could choose to use one of these power cells to open a door, via powering the control panel, thereby sacrificing the upgrade but getting access to some items and a log I couldn't have any other way. It's not earth shattering stuff but it does give the game some depth I was not expecting.
As far as negatives go the story, while not bad, isn't exactly compelling although it still has it's moments and maybe it'll pick up later. Also while the game has an effective atmosphere it's not really scary and I'm not quite sold on the TTP yet. Sometimes it works but sometimes its a hinderance however I really do like the design of the suit. Obviously inspired by Bioshock but with the slight cartoony aspect of that game. I catch myself spinning the camera around to look at it from time to time!
Volitions Advocate on 26/10/2008 at 10:50
To give an example the upgrading is done the same way your leveling is done in FFX, if you've played it. I can't remember what they called in that game, I didn't play it much.. but yeah the levelling up is done the same way. Just less complicated because the "trees" are much more simple.
JohnnyTheWolf on 26/10/2008 at 13:52
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
Obviously inspired by Bioshock but with the slight cartoony aspect of that game. I catch myself spinning the camera around to look at it from time to time!
"Inspired by"? How?
catbarf on 26/10/2008 at 14:31
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
Thank you catbarf! Not having v-sync enabled was going to bug the shit out of me but this fix works perfectly.
I'm noticing that every once in a while, something screws up and the VSync becomes disabled. An easy fix is to go into the menu (so you don't get attacked), then alt-tab out of the game and alt-tab back in, and then VSync is back.
catbarf on 26/10/2008 at 15:19
After playing farther, the ship design seems rather silly. Why would a spaceship have big open spaces (like in the engineering bit where you refuel the engines)? Being on a space vehicle, where air must be conserved and every bit of room is expensive, should evoke claustrophobia. Instead, it's got rooms so big that fog prevents you from seeing the walls. Right now I'm in the control room, going to fix the centrifuge.
As for weapons, I'm not finding the line gun to be very useful, so I sold it. The horizontal shot makes it difficult to sever the limbs of the humanoid necromorphs. I'm mostly relying on the plasma cutter- I've upped its damage three times and capacity once, so it's now quite powerful. Two or three shots kills most necros even if I fail to dismember them. I'm steering clear of the assault rifle, since I'm reading logs of the people who got killed because they couldn't dismember with their guns. I just bought the ripper, and will give it a try on the bigger necros, but the plasma cutter is my staple.
By the way, I've been killing the humanoids by turning the gun vertical and shooting off their arms. Is this the best way to go?
JohnnyTheWolf on 26/10/2008 at 15:41
Quote Posted by catbarf
After playing farther, the ship design seems rather silly. Why would a spaceship have big open spaces (like in the engineering bit where you refuel the engines)? Being on a space vehicle, where air must be conserved and every bit of room is expensive, should evoke claustrophobia. Instead, it's got rooms so big that fog prevents you from seeing the walls. Right now I'm in the control room, going to fix the centrifuge.
Claustrophobia might be cool for the player, but not for an actual crewmember. Contextually, I suppose it makes sense that they designed the ship that way.
catbarf on 26/10/2008 at 16:25
Quote Posted by JohnnyTheWolf
Claustrophobia might be cool for the player, but not for an actual crewmember. Contextually, I suppose it makes sense that they designed the ship that way.
Every cubic meter of air is another 1.3 kilos that the ship needs to haul. A square room 500m to each side would be a total of 162500 metric tons of air alone, never mind the structural supports needed for such a space. When it comes to vacuum, comfort is secondary to cost. But even still, supposing that it would be considered cost-efficient to have open spaces for the crew- why have it in Engineering? Why not have something like the Groves in SS1, where the crew can unwind and have open space, without compromising the efficiency of the rest of the ship?
It doesn't make sense.
Gambit on 26/10/2008 at 16:37
Maybe engineers need open space because when a huge equipment malfunctions they can bring it there for repairing. Or because it´s the room where they can create the new huge equipment to substitute the damaged ones.
EvaUnit02 on 26/10/2008 at 17:15
Quote Posted by catbarf
Not in-game. When I enabled VSync in-game, it killed my framerate and gave me mouse lag. Instead, I used NTune to force the game to use VSync, and now it's perfect. My hypothesis is that the in-game setting is causing the game to use a poorly-implemented in-game VSync, but NTune forces it at the hardware level, so it gets around the issue that the game has.
Kaleid- I felt the same way, but with this external VSync on the sensitivity jumped tremendously. Give it a try.
Just be aware that driver-forced v-sync is no longer an option under Vista for D3D games (officially anyway, there maybe program along the lines of Rivatuner's D3DOverrider to force it). Another one of MS' bollocks terms to pass WHQL certification, I would guess.
