From Dust

AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Good God-game</div>Came out on PC recently. Bit of a half-assed port, with little in the way of graphics options, console controller HUD, and cumbersome controls. Also DRM so you get to login twice.
And yet, a lot of fun despite all that.

You are "the breath", a snake-shaped sort of thing that moves along the ground (at a fixed speed, so kb+mouse isn't much of an improvement over gamepad) and interacts with the world - moving soil, quenching fires, making walls with lava...
You do all this for the sake of the Men, a tribe you try to ensure the survival of by having them build villages around markers left by the Ancient.

Ideal game for people who enjoy terraforming.

Comments

  • RichardRahlRichardRahl Join Date: 2011-06-15 Member: 104594Members
    Sounds like a bad version of black and white.
  • JediYoshiJediYoshi The Cupcake Boss Join Date: 2002-05-27 Member: 674Members
    Double dipping DRM was unplanned. Valve is refunding money if you bought it and complain about it.
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    edited August 2011
    It's not really like black & white. But it probably wouldn't be worth paying as much for as B&W was when that came out... so it's a good thing it's not even half that.
  • SvenpaSvenpa Wait, what? Join Date: 2004-01-03 Member: 25012Members, Constellation
    The lack of interaction with your tribesmen besides "Go populate that or transcribe that stone" is disappointing, and their pathfinding can be quite "wat are you doing, don't go THERE" *dies of lava/flood* ">:(". This has however only happened a few times when the map really forces you to manually manipulate different flows temporarily (like absorb all), instead of redirecting the flow at the source.

    Technically I'm amazed by it. It took the entire campaign before I got a bit bored with how the different materials seamlessly floated around and fused with the world. I really hope they can make something more like B&W or completely different but the sales are probably going bad nowadays with steam handing out refunds. Also, Ubisoft plainly lying about "no constantly online DRM, only one time at first activation" and lots of crashes for other people at the menu.

    I think I broke the physsicz at the last map by creating gigantic pillars of rock were I could not see the top from any part of the map. For people new to the game all I can say is: Don't place explosive plants in a lavaflow and then leave them, they will regrow forever and create a bottomless pit eventually. Unless, of course, you want a bottomless pit.
  • X_StickmanX_Stickman Not good enough for a custom title. Join Date: 2003-04-15 Member: 15533Members, Constellation
    Got incredibly frustrated at the pathfinding at moments. At times they go beyond "poor AI" and way into "deliberately, maliciously stupid".

    Aside from that it's actually pretty fun. I'd love to see a Black and White game made with the same technology.
  • lolfighterlolfighter Snark, Dire Join Date: 2003-04-20 Member: 15693Members
    edited August 2011
    There is a tiny pebble there I might stub my toe on it I'm not moving until you do something. What do you mean you can't see it it's right there. Look just do something about it pebbles are dangerous man I don't have all day. Look we both know I am going to stand here pestering you about it every five seconds until you do something about it so why don't you get your windy ass in gear and do my bidding ab- OH GOD LAVA WHY IS THE BREATH DUMPING LAVA ON ME OH GOD MY FACE THE ENTIRE LAND IS ON FIRE OH GOD EVERYONE IS DYING WHAT IS GOING ON HOW DID THIS HAPPEN x_x

    Mind you, that part isn't fun either. Mans are not a finite resource, if you have villages you have any number of mans you need, and they're so anonymous that taking out your frustrations on them isn't satisfying.

    When the game is fun, it's fun, and the pathing issues are USUALLY overcome pretty quickly. But frankly, this feels more like a tech demo than a game.
  • ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    It's a very good game, shame that the port isn't great, but that doesn't stop you from enjoying the game. :)
  • Chris0132Chris0132 Join Date: 2009-07-25 Member: 68262Members
    I remember seeing the tech demo for it quite a long time ago.

    I saw the trailer much more recently, and it looks pretty much the same.

    This is not a good sign.
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    You mean because it looked ho-hum in the first place?
  • Chris0132Chris0132 Join Date: 2009-07-25 Member: 68262Members
    Actually it looked like a very impressive tech demo.

    The problem is that it still looks like a very impressive tech demo, not a game. The technology is certainly interesting, but the gameplay appears to be describable as 'lemmings 3d'.
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    It's pretty simplistic, yeah. But with the low price, it feels about right. Though possibly you have to be a specific kind of gamer to like the sandbox-like gameplay.

    On an unrelated note, I recently found out that the Tides level isn't supposed to be so damn hard; it's because of the clock speeds or whatsit being so much higher for PCs than consoles, so the water keeps going in and out constantly.
  • DiscoZombieDiscoZombie Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18951Members
    Ubisoft just patched the (extra) DRM out of the Steam version of the game. I'm tempted to buy it now and vote with my dollars for DRM-free games. If enough people did this, it might make a blip on their fancy sales charts - but I doubt it.
  • MonkfishMonkfish Sonic-boom-inducing buttcheeks of terrifying speed&#33; Join Date: 2003-06-03 Member: 16972Members
    It took them, what? Nearly a month to patch out the DRM? You'd think they'd have done some other stuff as well. Like improving the frame rate, adding anti aliasing, making the mouse controls actual mouse controls instead of emulating an analogue stick. But nope! I doubt it'll ever see any more patches after this one :C
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