Ostriig on 27/6/2010 at 21:34

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New thread time, let's see if we can get anything organised. I put in some good hours into the Keys to the City open beta two weeks ago, and I fairly liked what I saw, so I pre-ordered from Amazon to take advantage of that sweet £25 offer ((http://www.amazon.co.uk/APB-All-Points-Bulletin-PC/dp/B002BWONNA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277673395&sr=1-1) still available, btw). Between my copy being dispatched July 2nd or 3rd, and my moving to a new place and having to get broadband, I'd probably pop on the week after next.

Beta impressions? Customisation's very good, some impressive symbols tech, and a decent number of assets available. It's not all it's hyped up to be, we'll have to see in what manner they add content later on, but even as is it's definitely more than what you've seen before and enough to keep you dicking around for a long time. Especially since, in "good" MMO fashion, a colossal amount of it needs to be unlocked through play. But hey. Gunplay has some shortcomings, not stellar, but it's serviceable, and if you can get into a crew with just a little bit of common sense and team-orientation it can be a load of fun. Tech's decent. Still some bugs to be ironed out, and it's colossally retarded that this is a power-hungry MMO that doesn't present individual graphics settings (at least so far), just a stupid slider, but, while the game looks very nice on max, you can go on low to get comfy performance and still look fine. If you wanna ask anything in particular, shoot, I'll try to answer.

Anyway, the servers were recently (http://eu.apb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13093) announced, so I figured that if there are any takers on TTLG we'd probably be best served to get a guideline for which to use for each faction so we can play together. Might I suggest:

EU:
Obeya for Enforcers
Patriot for Criminals

NA:
Zombie for Enforcers
LaRocha for Criminals

Or the other way around if anyone's got a different preference, whatever, the idea would just be to roll on the same side. It's really the sort of game that would probably benefit from playing in a proper team as opposed to a PUG, if you ask me.

Matthew on 28/6/2010 at 10:19

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Sorry, already in too many MMOs. Plus, the idea of having to sit through audio adverts in a game I'm paying monthly for rankles somewhat.

Ostriig on 28/6/2010 at 10:57

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Yeah, that would be a pain.


It irks me too, but apparently it would be only when starting up and if you switch districts after three hours of play. Plus, it's only for the VOIP component I think, it's their revenue, and I might be tempted to disable that altogether.


Frankly, that's kind of what I'm setting out with too. Knowing me, by the time I use up the 50 hours of action I'd probably have another 30 spent in social. 80 hours for 25 quid? Works for me, as for after that I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

SubJeff on 29/6/2010 at 20:09

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Shame. Looked so promising.

Trance on 30/6/2010 at 03:31

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I've made an absolute killing ripping off videogame tunes in their shitty little music editor and selling them en masse. I've made just about a cool million by now.

Apparently people really like the idea of having the MGS Game Over theme play when they kill someone.

BTW: LaRocha, Enforcer side.

EDIT: APB is not worth your money, I should mention. Out of the gate, it did not impress me at all. The only reason I'm even playing it now is because a friend preordered me a copy without asking and so I've endeavored to pay him back what he spent by earning him $50 worth of gametime through massive market activity. The driving bits are pretty neat, as far as how cars handle and such. Aggression rules are pretty dumb, as is the team balancing system for groups going head-to-head. There are several other issues with balance, mild crashing and lag issues, and the editors are a joke (you can make amusing, low-quality renditions of existing logos and tunes, and play Pimp My Ride, Dress Up or Tattoo Parlor. Fun fun!). The character editor isn't too good either. Overall the game is far too limited.