well, if I had a really limited budget I'd have to be uber picky about what I bought, too, I guess. let's face it though, there's no such thing as a truly new idea. Portal was awesome, but there have been portals in video games since god knows when. Ultima 1? this is just the first time someone built a whole game around them. a good game takes good ideas and puts them together in a way that really click. It's looking like Crysis does this. there's bad guys to shoot like in Doom, there's stealth like in Thief, lots of open space to explore, an immersive, lush environment like in Shadow of the Colossus, vehicles, fancy gadgets, human opponents and monsters, a story that looks decent enough for an action game, a level editor that sounds as cool as the game itself... multiplayer's probably pretty sweet too.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Oh, and I gotta ask Haze: Ever been playing an RPG and enjoying the latest bit of story only to suddenly be thrown back into the game where you think to yourself "Christ, now I have to beat the next dungeon and walk across a land filled with random encounters to see what happens" and then realize that the game really isn't any fun? Thats basically why I gave up RPGs. Well, that, and I hate grind.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
All the time. =P I don' t like final fantasy for the gameplay, I like it for the story. I usually get half way through before I chuck the controller away and call it quits. But an RPG with good gameplay and no story also falls flat - some games <i>need</i> to have story to be fun. If titan quest actually had something similar to a very awesome story instead of just "Go here, do that, now this happens, now they're unleashed, crap" then I'd probably be playing it right now.
<!--quoteo(post=1658319:date=Oct 28 2007, 10:44 PM:name=Haze)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Haze @ Oct 28 2007, 10:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658319"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->All the time. =P I don' t like final fantasy for the gameplay, I like it for the story. I usually get half way through before I chuck the controller away and call it quits. But an RPG with good gameplay and no story also falls flat - some games <i>need</i> to have story to be fun. If titan quest actually had something similar to a very awesome story instead of just "Go here, do that, now this happens, now they're unleashed, crap" then I'd probably be playing it right now.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> hate to say it but I'm almost the opposite. I relished long dungeon crawls in FF8 and FF12 and was sometimes annoyed when I knew I would be spending the next hour talking to idiots in town and watching cutscenes =p
Yay, this time I got a working installer. But I have to say, I'm not that impressed. There were some awesome moments, like running next to a manned MG jeep in Speed mode, switching to Strength mode, leaping into the air, shooting the machinegunner with akimbo pistols and finally landing on the jeep <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I'm still more excited about the new Dwarf Fortress version (which is released today or tomorrow! :O )
<!--quoteo(post=1658373:date=Oct 29 2007, 12:07 PM:name=Aldaris)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Aldaris @ Oct 29 2007, 12:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658373"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->A guy on the Crysis forums has been playing with the config files, and has made it even sexier than normal. Anyone fancy giving this a go?
When I have some free time I'm totally trying this. If you had told me Crysis could look even better and still be playable I would have laughed at your face before, but now... the options are limitless!
I hate to take the unpopular approach here but having spent a bit of time with the demo last night, I was happy to quit and play super puzzle fighter instead. It reminded me of all the things i hate about the original, with out anything except some guy calling me a Yankee in Korean.
I got to be sniped by machine gun wielding maniacs traveling on power boats in the water at more than a half mile. While in cover.
I got to be taken in by a fake physics trap. and nearly killed when the suspiciously pile logs don't roll down the hill.
I found a portion where the sky simply doesn't render.
And a Place where a concrete slab several hundred meters long vanishes as you walk around it.
Then walked though it an suddenly it appeared behind me.
I hate to agree with Skulkbait, but the demo i saw proved teh same thing the last game these guys made. the know how to write a very nice engine. but once they get that far they sort of wander off. But, not in the Serious Sam style of happy and enjoyably stupid, into this sort of masochistic military worshiping agony of a game.
<span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>Apparently the fact that a nearly nameless guy in a the same suit as me gets killed, off camera , shortly into the game. I am supposed to have a serious emotional reaction to him hanging upside down with blood streaming out of holes. He obviously meant a whole lot to everyone involved. I mean he get nearly a minute of face time with at least half of it being while he still has both arms. Then of course we, the good guys, vaporize him. Because, well he weighed a whole lot in that suit and...
Oh man. I feel like I make a valuable contribution to the team or else I a horribly animated death at the whim of a guy across the island. Freaking sweet, nothing like implied coercion to get that feeling of comradery going.</span>
<!--quoteo(post=1658396:date=Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM:name=Confused)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Confused @ Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658396"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hate to take the unpopular approach here but having spent a bit of time with the demo last night, I was happy to quit and play super puzzle fighter instead. It reminded me of all the things i hate about the original, with out anything except some guy calling me a Yankee in Korean.
I got to be sniped by machine gun wielding maniacs traveling on power boats in the water at more than a half mile. While in cover.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> you're kinda right, the AI is kinda sketchy with how they can spot you like you're wearing all orange and are on fire sometimes, and can shoot you with pinpoint accuracy, and sometimes they completely ignore you and can't shoot you for crap. <!--quoteo(post=1658396:date=Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM:name=Confused)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Confused @ Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658396"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I got to be taken in by a fake physics trap. and nearly killed when the suspiciously pile logs don't roll down the hill.
I found a portion where the sky simply doesn't render.
And a Place where a concrete slab several hundred meters long vanishes as you walk around it.
Then walked though it an suddenly it appeared behind me.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> allow me to be the guy that says 'it's a beta' - or pre-release demo, anyway. maybe those were just graphical artifacts on your end since no one else reported em. I didn't see that physics trap, and it doesn't sound like it was in the style of far cry / crysis, so maybe it was really just a pile of logs... but I'd be almost glad if the thing didn't work as predictably as you'd expect. unscripted is better. <!--quoteo(post=1658396:date=Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM:name=Confused)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Confused @ Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658396"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hate to agree with Skulkbait, but the demo i saw proved teh same thing the last game these guys made. the know how to write a very nice engine. but once they get that far they sort of wander off. But, not in the Serious Sam style of happy and enjoyably stupid, into this sort of masochistic military worshiping agony of a game.
<span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>Apparently the fact that a nearly nameless guy in a the same suit as me gets killed, off camera , shortly into the game. I am supposed to have a serious emotional reaction to him hanging upside down with blood streaming out of holes. He obviously meant a whole lot to everyone involved. I mean he get nearly a minute of face time with at least half of it being while he still has both arms. Then of course we, the good guys, vaporize him. Because, well he weighed a whole lot in that suit and...
Oh man. I feel like I make a valuable contribution to the team or else I a horribly animated death at the whim of a guy across the island. Freaking sweet, nothing like implied coercion to get that feeling of comradery going.</span>
Frankly, Retales is right. New dwarfs ftw.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> <span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>I don't think any part of the plot was suggesting you should have an emotional reaction to that dude dying. not even your fellow squadmates seemed to care. everyone's reaction was logical and self-serving - there's something scary going on on this island and we deserve to know what it is. also the bit about the suit/body vaporizing was clear foreshadowing that that whole concept will come into play later, probably as a threat by your C.O. or a villain or something. I thought it was a cool touch/concept. you don't like video game plots that put you in a crappy situation? better avoid, like, most games, then. certainly avoid all Tom Clancy games if you don't like even semi-'realistic' games in which people can easily kill you with their guns.</span>
<!--quoteo(post=1658383:date=Oct 29 2007, 01:27 PM:name=DiscoZombie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DiscoZombie @ Oct 29 2007, 01:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658383"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->wow, it really does look even more awesome. Does this mean Vista and DX10 are a conspiracy and don't really do anything? =p<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No, it just means it's offloading DX10 effects to the CPU instead of the GPU, which is worse performance wise (theoretically <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /> ) but still works.
<!--quoteo(post=1658401:date=Oct 29 2007, 05:06 PM:name=DiscoZombie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DiscoZombie @ Oct 29 2007, 05:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658401"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->allow me to be the guy that says 'it's a beta' - or pre-release demo, anyway. maybe those were just graphical artifacts on your end since no one else reported em. I didn't see that physics trap, and it doesn't sound like it was in the style of far cry / crysis, so maybe it was really just a pile of logs... but I'd be almost glad if the thing didn't work as predictably as you'd expect. unscripted is better.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I recall the original game doing a whole lot of glitching like the above. I under stand that its a demo, and that as such things happen that cant be explained well. But, the idea that I can throw a dumpster at a Humvee but not be able to push a log or two down a hill, bugs the hell out of me.
I just worry that the vast majority of the above won't be fixed in the final product and i will thus be forced to be playing the engine instead of the game. the whole "look if i do x the game breaks horribly and i can just kill all of those guys" or the feeling that "If i was a The developer what would i be making the player do here?"
QuaunautThe longest seven days in history...Join Date: 2003-03-21Member: 14759Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
Skulk, what makes Crsis different here:
Okay, so we've got usual FPS, but now all of a sudden, everything that has been new in the last few years comes together.
Visuals contribute to gameplay- I don't mean they just make ###### look better, but they make the gameplay make sense. For example- you can tell looking at half of the huts in the game that you can bring them down yourself. I nearly died in one of the little outposts from a guy shooting at me wildly and hitting one of the main pieces holding up the ceiling in that corner- the entire thing nearly collapsed in on me.
Physics is a part of gameplay, and not just because a Gravity Gun exists or because people are standing under ######.
Not to mention, the way you can abuse the suit is awesome(not that new, but fun). I was a ninja the entire time- skulking through grass til I had to come out, cloaking, getting up behind someone, strength PUNCH, and start maiming the ###### out of the rest of the base. The enemies were smart, grouped up if they could and once I threw one nade, one yelled "######, grenades!" and they stopped grouping up but instead surrounded and converged on me. They alter tactics and beat the ###### out of you, basically.
First of all, there is no way you can seriously suggest that the visuals of, say, the HL1 era wouldn't be sufficient to convey the same information this game does. Physics has been part of just about every FPS since 2000, to varying degrees. You could argue that this one takes it to a new level, but with one poster complaining they couldn't roll logs down a hill I think you'll have a difficult time with that. Its the same with AI. And ultimately it's still the same "linear romp where protagonist single-handedly (or damn near) kills mass amounts of bad guys with cool weapons" that nearly every other FPS is. And yeah, I judge FPSs more harshly than other genres, but only because there are about 200,000 of them released every year.
QuaunautThe longest seven days in history...Join Date: 2003-03-21Member: 14759Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1658602:date=Oct 30 2007, 11:56 PM:name=SkulkBait)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SkulkBait @ Oct 30 2007, 11:56 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658602"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->First of all, there is no way you can seriously suggest that the visuals of, say, the HL1 era wouldn't be sufficient to convey the same information this game does. Physics has been part of just about every FPS since 2000, to varying degrees. You could argue that this one takes it to a new level, but with one poster complaining they couldn't roll logs down a hill I think you'll have a difficult time with that. Its the same with AI. And ultimately it's still the same "linear romp where protagonist single-handedly (or damn near) kills mass amounts of bad guys with cool weapons" that nearly every other FPS is. And yeah, I judge FPSs more harshly than other genres, but only because there are about 200,000 of them released every year.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And yet you have played <i>none of them whatsoever</i>, so you can really tell what makes this one 'just the same' as the last...you know, even though you haven't played any new FPSs in the last 3 years(assuming, 'cause if you haven't played HL2 that basically sets the precedent).
And for starters- I wouldn't call it linear. More open world than linear- yeah you must go to certain places at times, but how you get there is up to you. I did not have to engage ANY of those enemies, really- I could've swam most of the way and had been fine. I just was experimenting, really. And yeah, I WOULD suggest that. There is this little thing called "Texture Resolution", and general "Engine Limits", where specificality becomes a serious issue. How could you tell in the HL1 engine that a hut was relatively weak enough that you could shoot it down(despite being made out of various scrap metals and the such), without at least illistrating a lack of screws, things hanging oddly, etc?
And as to the poster not getting logs to roll down, I honestly don't know why it didn't work.
Honestly, I think what it comes down to Skulkbait, is that you've turned yourself uber jaded because you haven't upgraded your system in years, or perhaps because you just hate video games and they were a temporary diversion. Basically what you've managed to tell us in this thread is "I haven't played a game that I liked in quite a while, except Portal" which you didn't even seem so enthusiastic about. I'm all for having an opinion, but you <i>don't even have that</i>.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There is this little thing called "Texture Resolution", and general "Engine Limits", where specificality becomes a serious issue.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Rarely as big a deal as it is made out to be. How close do you have to be to notice how weak the huts are? I doubt its close enough to notice that screws are missing. If the art is done right then the hut should just scream weakness from a good distance.
I'll be the first to admit I'm jaded, but it doesn't have to do with not upgrading my system (much), because I'm jaded about console games too. Take Metroid Prime: Corruption. I'm not even going to play it. I loved Prime, but Echos was just more of the same (actually, I found some design choices to be quite a bit worse) and I'm not going to fall in to that trap again just to be able to play it with the Wiimote.
And really people what is with this "SkulkBait hates games!" nonsense? I'm disappointed in the state of PC gaming, mostly because its pretty much all FPSs and MMORPGs (possibly the one genre I genuinely hate), and you're expected to pay hundreds in upgrade every year (or more!) to play them. Thats why I generally don't play commercial PC games anymore. And trust me, my enthusiasm over Portal was about as high as it gets. I bought Portal on release day (or pretty close, can't remember), and I bought hardware just to play Portal. I know that doesn't mean much to people who drop $300/yr+ to play the next installment of HL2, but to me thats huge. Its the only game I genuinely anticipated this year. I sorta had my eye out for Bioshock, read what people were saying about it, found out it was basically a dumbed down SS2 (with significantly similar plot twists no less), and ignored it.
Portal was very awesome, and might have had the most fun-per-minute of any game this year... but it was so short. I certainly wouldn't have upgraded my PC for less than 10 hours of gameplay. If I could hardly afford any games, I'd probably be looking for value over short-term coolness. I'd probably have gotten TF2 instead, which I've played for a good 100 hours or more at this point I think, and been entertained for every one of those hours. but I guess that's because I consider games a big part of my life, and they sound like something you watch from afar more often than you play them. Sounds like you appreciate them from more of an academic standpoint - rather than looking for sustained fun, you just admire innovation for the sake of innovation. I too wish every game could be as innovative as Portal, but I can also appreciate when others make the best of tried-and-true formulas that are popular because they work so well. I mean, as I've said before, there's really no such thing as a new idea; it just depends how far you want to go when stereotyping things. I'm sure there are people out there who say no game past, like, Spacewar! is worth playing because they all just copy the tired mechanic of pushing buttons to achieve a goal.
The main Portal game is pretty short. Hell, even all the challenges only add a few hours. What I'm really looking forward to is custom maps. I've seen the amazing things fans can do with a good puzzle game and a decent editor (see: Jumper 2 community), and so I expect to see some good stuff from the Portal community.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I can also appreciate when others make the best of tried-and-true formulas that are popular because they work so well.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Maybe thats the problem. I don't think the typical FPS formula is actually a good one. Clearly the masses disagree.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sounds like you appreciate them from more of an academic standpoint<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I can see how you might get that impression. I enjoy gameplay in its rawer, less-abstracted, forms. So puzzle games usually rank pretty high with me, being the least abstracted genre. When a game innovates, and forces me to think in ways that are new and different (Kiki the Nanobot did this very, very well), thats really the height of good gameplay for me. Portal was pretty good at this too. We don't normally think in non-euclidean space, but Portal forces us to. By the end of the challenges, you'll go back to the main game and find new solutions to the puzzles that are so obvious now because the game has trained you to think in a new way. And thats really really fun for me. FPSs rarely challenge me to think and solve puzzles in a new way.
Multiplayer games are very different from single-player, since most of the interaction is provided by other human beings. I've heard a lot of good stuff about TF2, it seems like they've done a fantastic job of balancing the gameplay between the classes. I just have to convince myself that its a good idea to drop $30 on it considering it will probably do bad things to my schoolwork.
I'll buy the game jsut for the editor, make a waterfall with 1 bridge going acrossed it, than give them a helicopter, a tank, 10 soldiers, and make a little village for me to defend XD now that's what i call pure awesomejuice.
Private_ColemanPhD in Video GamesJoin Date: 2002-11-07Member: 7510Members
<!--quoteo(post=1659575:date=Nov 6 2007, 03:18 PM:name=sgt.waffles)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sgt.waffles @ Nov 6 2007, 03:18 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1659575"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'll buy the game jsut for the editor, make a waterfall with 1 bridge going acrossed it, than give them a helicopter, a tank, 10 soldiers, and make a little village for me to defend XD now that's what i call pure awesomejuice.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<div align="center">Actually for pure <a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/252058" target="_blank">Awesome Juice</a>, you need:
5 medium carrots (or 50 baby carrots) 1 bunch red grapes 1 medium honeycrisp apple 1 medium pink lady apple 6 medium strawberries 1/4 lemon</div>
Having finished the game, my initial impression remains. Not free of criticism (The ending! I hate EA and episodic content!), but nothing major. GOTY for sure <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/nerd-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::nerdy::" border="0" alt="nerd-fix.gif" />
Having shamelessly bought Crysis without playing the demo and purely for its hyped-up looks, I was (once again, shamelessly) upset to find that I couldn't run it at max settings.
Sooo, basically does anyone know any tweaks that actually give a significant boost to fps? Googling didn't help much.
I've a Q6600, 2Gb, 8800 gtx, so I'm being justifiably snobby with the graphics......... right? :S I've also got the latest certified drivers.
<!--quoteo(post=1661143:date=Nov 19 2007, 11:06 AM:name=Zor2)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Zor2 @ Nov 19 2007, 11:06 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1661143"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Having shamelessly bought Crysis without playing the demo and purely for its hyped-up looks, I was (once again, shamelessly) upset to find that I couldn't run it at max settings.
Sooo, basically does anyone know any tweaks that actually give a significant boost to fps? Googling didn't help much.
I've a Q6600, 2Gb, 8800 gtx, so I'm being justifiably snobby with the graphics......... right? :S I've also got the latest certified drivers.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Don't bother doing "TEH MAX" graphics, it's pretty enough even on medium, and besides, when you get to a certain area it will automatically halve your fps anyway. Try lowering things like "volumetric lights", AA and soft shadow (they kill the fps without making too much a difference, unless you like to stare on bushes while sitting down in it).
<!--quoteo(post=1661170:date=Nov 19 2007, 12:25 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Nov 19 2007, 12:25 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1661170"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What resolution are you running? My E6700 and 8800GTS 640MB runs everything on High at 1280x1024.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
1280x1024 aswell. Maybe I am expecting too much from my spec. I get 15-20fps with everything on Very High DX10 64bit except for Shaders <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Just completed the game and WOW. The graphics definitely lived up to the hype with a continuous stream of jaw-dropping visuals. What I really didn't expect however was how fun the gameplay actually was. The basics aren't that deep with the nano-suit functions quickly coming box-standard stuff. However, almost every level/map in Crysis is really different in terms of objectives, atmosphere and scenery. The game definitely picked up for me after the first few levels and although the final map wasn't as epic as I expected, it was another unique setting to be playing in.
Also, the following tweak gave me a fantastic performance <i>and</i> graphical boost (no idea how...):
<a href="http://stargate.eliott-ness.com/crysis/crysis_very_high_tweaks_by_divide.rar" target="_blank">http://stargate.eliott-ness.com/crysis/cry...s_by_divide.rar</a> (I applied the "normal" settings and remember to follow the readme instructions)
I just finished this sucker too. Very cool overall. The suit functions are a little gimmicky tbh - they want you to think there's multiple ways to approach a situation, but really, if you try to use your strength or speed for anything in combat, you're going to die, plain and simple. it's kinda like bioshock in that respect - all these cool powers, but if you're trying to be efficient and not die, you'll find you're using just 2 or 3 things throughout the game.
combat essentially amounts to cloaking, assessing the situation, headshotting people, and hiding to recharge so you can do it again. the plot was pretty meh and ended really suddenly, but you don't play this kinda game for the plot I suppose. it was standard action movie plot, which is fair enough. seriously though, I wish there was some kinda conclusion - it basically ends as soon as it seems like it's about to get interesting. seemed pretty short too. all in all though, it was quite fun, had unique mechanics and enemies, was gorgeous of course, and was overall quite satisfying. my PC only came down with the terrible framerates in some icy areas near the end with a ton of particle effects or what have you. there was one sequence that reminded me of the Descent games, and made me nostalgic - we could use a new Descent game...
<!--quoteo(post=1664565:date=Dec 19 2007, 06:59 AM:name=DiscoZombie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DiscoZombie @ Dec 19 2007, 06:59 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1664565"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->[...]seriously though, I wish there was some kinda conclusion - it basically ends as soon as it seems like it's about to get interesting. seemed pretty short too.[...]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Watch out for the full-retail priced sequel!
Comments
All the time. =P I don' t like final fantasy for the gameplay, I like it for the story. I usually get half way through before I chuck the controller away and call it quits. But an RPG with good gameplay and no story also falls flat - some games <i>need</i> to have story to be fun. If titan quest actually had something similar to a very awesome story instead of just "Go here, do that, now this happens, now they're unleashed, crap" then I'd probably be playing it right now.
hate to say it but I'm almost the opposite. I relished long dungeon crawls in FF8 and FF12 and was sometimes annoyed when I knew I would be spending the next hour talking to idiots in town and watching cutscenes =p
I'm still more excited about the new Dwarf Fortress version (which is released today or tomorrow! :O )
<img src="http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2006/20060905.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<a href="http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=11837.0#msg203789" target="_blank">http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.p...837.0#msg203789</a>
<a href="http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=11837.0#msg203789" target="_blank">http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.p...837.0#msg203789</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
When I have some free time I'm totally trying this. If you had told me Crysis could look even better and still be playable I would have laughed at your face before, but now... the options are limitless!
Vista -1 point.
I got to be sniped by machine gun wielding maniacs traveling on power boats in the water at more than a half mile. While in cover.
I got to be taken in by a fake physics trap. and nearly killed when the suspiciously pile logs don't roll down the hill.
I found a portion where the sky simply doesn't render.
And a Place where a concrete slab several hundred meters long vanishes as you walk around it.
Then walked though it an suddenly it appeared behind me.
I hate to agree with Skulkbait, but the demo i saw proved teh same thing the last game these guys made. the know how to write a very nice engine. but once they get that far they sort of wander off. But, not in the Serious Sam style of happy and enjoyably stupid, into this sort of masochistic military worshiping agony of a game.
<span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>Apparently the fact that a nearly nameless guy in a the same suit as me gets killed, off camera , shortly into the game. I am supposed to have a serious emotional reaction to him hanging upside down with blood streaming out of holes. He obviously meant a whole lot to everyone involved. I mean he get nearly a minute of face time with at least half of it being while he still has both arms. Then of course we, the good guys, vaporize him. Because, well he weighed a whole lot in that suit and...
Oh man. I feel like I make a valuable contribution to the team or else I a horribly animated death at the whim of a guy across the island. Freaking sweet, nothing like implied coercion to get that feeling of comradery going.</span>
Frankly, Retales is right. New dwarfs ftw.
I got to be sniped by machine gun wielding maniacs traveling on power boats in the water at more than a half mile. While in cover.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
you're kinda right, the AI is kinda sketchy with how they can spot you like you're wearing all orange and are on fire sometimes, and can shoot you with pinpoint accuracy, and sometimes they completely ignore you and can't shoot you for crap.
<!--quoteo(post=1658396:date=Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM:name=Confused)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Confused @ Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658396"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I got to be taken in by a fake physics trap. and nearly killed when the suspiciously pile logs don't roll down the hill.
I found a portion where the sky simply doesn't render.
And a Place where a concrete slab several hundred meters long vanishes as you walk around it.
Then walked though it an suddenly it appeared behind me.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
allow me to be the guy that says 'it's a beta' - or pre-release demo, anyway. maybe those were just graphical artifacts on your end since no one else reported em. I didn't see that physics trap, and it doesn't sound like it was in the style of far cry / crysis, so maybe it was really just a pile of logs... but I'd be almost glad if the thing didn't work as predictably as you'd expect. unscripted is better.
<!--quoteo(post=1658396:date=Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM:name=Confused)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Confused @ Oct 29 2007, 04:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1658396"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hate to agree with Skulkbait, but the demo i saw proved teh same thing the last game these guys made. the know how to write a very nice engine. but once they get that far they sort of wander off. But, not in the Serious Sam style of happy and enjoyably stupid, into this sort of masochistic military worshiping agony of a game.
<span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>Apparently the fact that a nearly nameless guy in a the same suit as me gets killed, off camera , shortly into the game. I am supposed to have a serious emotional reaction to him hanging upside down with blood streaming out of holes. He obviously meant a whole lot to everyone involved. I mean he get nearly a minute of face time with at least half of it being while he still has both arms. Then of course we, the good guys, vaporize him. Because, well he weighed a whole lot in that suit and...
Oh man. I feel like I make a valuable contribution to the team or else I a horribly animated death at the whim of a guy across the island. Freaking sweet, nothing like implied coercion to get that feeling of comradery going.</span>
Frankly, Retales is right. New dwarfs ftw.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>I don't think any part of the plot was suggesting you should have an emotional reaction to that dude dying. not even your fellow squadmates seemed to care. everyone's reaction was logical and self-serving - there's something scary going on on this island and we deserve to know what it is. also the bit about the suit/body vaporizing was clear foreshadowing that that whole concept will come into play later, probably as a threat by your C.O. or a villain or something. I thought it was a cool touch/concept. you don't like video game plots that put you in a crappy situation? better avoid, like, most games, then. certainly avoid all Tom Clancy games if you don't like even semi-'realistic' games in which people can easily kill you with their guns.</span>
No, it just means it's offloading DX10 effects to the CPU instead of the GPU, which is worse performance wise (theoretically <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /> ) but still works.
I recall the original game doing a whole lot of glitching like the above. I under stand that its a demo, and that as such things happen that cant be explained well. But, the idea that I can throw a dumpster at a Humvee but not be able to push a log or two down a hill, bugs the hell out of me.
I just worry that the vast majority of the above won't be fixed in the final product and i will thus be forced to be playing the engine instead of the game. the whole "look if i do x the game breaks horribly and i can just kill all of those guys" or the feeling that "If i was a The developer what would i be making the player do here?"
Which is to say, I won't be buying the full game.
Okay, so we've got usual FPS, but now all of a sudden, everything that has been new in the last few years comes together.
Visuals contribute to gameplay- I don't mean they just make ###### look better, but they make the gameplay make sense. For example- you can tell looking at half of the huts in the game that you can bring them down yourself. I nearly died in one of the little outposts from a guy shooting at me wildly and hitting one of the main pieces holding up the ceiling in that corner- the entire thing nearly collapsed in on me.
Physics is a part of gameplay, and not just because a Gravity Gun exists or because people are standing under ######.
Not to mention, the way you can abuse the suit is awesome(not that new, but fun). I was a ninja the entire time- skulking through grass til I had to come out, cloaking, getting up behind someone, strength PUNCH, and start maiming the ###### out of the rest of the base. The enemies were smart, grouped up if they could and once I threw one nade, one yelled "######, grenades!" and they stopped grouping up but instead surrounded and converged on me. They alter tactics and beat the ###### out of you, basically.
And yet you have played <i>none of them whatsoever</i>, so you can really tell what makes this one 'just the same' as the last...you know, even though you haven't played any new FPSs in the last 3 years(assuming, 'cause if you haven't played HL2 that basically sets the precedent).
And for starters- I wouldn't call it linear. More open world than linear- yeah you must go to certain places at times, but how you get there is up to you. I did not have to engage ANY of those enemies, really- I could've swam most of the way and had been fine. I just was experimenting, really. And yeah, I WOULD suggest that. There is this little thing called "Texture Resolution", and general "Engine Limits", where specificality becomes a serious issue. How could you tell in the HL1 engine that a hut was relatively weak enough that you could shoot it down(despite being made out of various scrap metals and the such), without at least illistrating a lack of screws, things hanging oddly, etc?
And as to the poster not getting logs to roll down, I honestly don't know why it didn't work.
Honestly, I think what it comes down to Skulkbait, is that you've turned yourself uber jaded because you haven't upgraded your system in years, or perhaps because you just hate video games and they were a temporary diversion. Basically what you've managed to tell us in this thread is "I haven't played a game that I liked in quite a while, except Portal" which you didn't even seem so enthusiastic about. I'm all for having an opinion, but you <i>don't even have that</i>.
Rarely as big a deal as it is made out to be. How close do you have to be to notice how weak the huts are? I doubt its close enough to notice that screws are missing. If the art is done right then the hut should just scream weakness from a good distance.
I'll be the first to admit I'm jaded, but it doesn't have to do with not upgrading my system (much), because I'm jaded about console games too. Take Metroid Prime: Corruption. I'm not even going to play it. I loved Prime, but Echos was just more of the same (actually, I found some design choices to be quite a bit worse) and I'm not going to fall in to that trap again just to be able to play it with the Wiimote.
And really people what is with this "SkulkBait hates games!" nonsense? I'm disappointed in the state of PC gaming, mostly because its pretty much all FPSs and MMORPGs (possibly the one genre I genuinely hate), and you're expected to pay hundreds in upgrade every year (or more!) to play them. Thats why I generally don't play commercial PC games anymore. And trust me, my enthusiasm over Portal was about as high as it gets. I bought Portal on release day (or pretty close, can't remember), and I bought hardware just to play Portal. I know that doesn't mean much to people who drop $300/yr+ to play the next installment of HL2, but to me thats huge. Its the only game I genuinely anticipated this year. I sorta had my eye out for Bioshock, read what people were saying about it, found out it was basically a dumbed down SS2 (with significantly similar plot twists no less), and ignored it.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I can also appreciate when others make the best of tried-and-true formulas that are popular because they work so well.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe thats the problem. I don't think the typical FPS formula is actually a good one. Clearly the masses disagree.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sounds like you appreciate them from more of an academic standpoint<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I can see how you might get that impression. I enjoy gameplay in its rawer, less-abstracted, forms. So puzzle games usually rank pretty high with me, being the least abstracted genre. When a game innovates, and forces me to think in ways that are new and different (Kiki the Nanobot did this very, very well), thats really the height of good gameplay for me. Portal was pretty good at this too. We don't normally think in non-euclidean space, but Portal forces us to. By the end of the challenges, you'll go back to the main game and find new solutions to the puzzles that are so obvious now because the game has trained you to think in a new way. And thats really really fun for me. FPSs rarely challenge me to think and solve puzzles in a new way.
Multiplayer games are very different from single-player, since most of the interaction is provided by other human beings. I've heard a lot of good stuff about TF2, it seems like they've done a fantastic job of balancing the gameplay between the classes. I just have to convince myself that its a good idea to drop $30 on it considering it will probably do bad things to my schoolwork.
<div align="center">Actually for pure <a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/252058" target="_blank">Awesome Juice</a>, you need:
5 medium carrots (or 50 baby carrots)
1 bunch red grapes
1 medium honeycrisp apple
1 medium pink lady apple
6 medium strawberries
1/4 lemon</div>
Not free of criticism (The ending! I hate EA and episodic content!), but nothing major. GOTY for sure <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/nerd-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::nerdy::" border="0" alt="nerd-fix.gif" />
Sooo, basically does anyone know any tweaks that actually give a significant boost to fps? Googling didn't help much.
I've a Q6600, 2Gb, 8800 gtx, so I'm being justifiably snobby with the graphics......... right? :S I've also got the latest certified drivers.
Sooo, basically does anyone know any tweaks that actually give a significant boost to fps? Googling didn't help much.
I've a Q6600, 2Gb, 8800 gtx, so I'm being justifiably snobby with the graphics......... right? :S I've also got the latest certified drivers.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Don't bother doing "TEH MAX" graphics, it's pretty enough even on medium, and besides, when you get to a certain area it will automatically halve your fps anyway. Try lowering things like "volumetric lights", AA and soft shadow (they kill the fps without making too much a difference, unless you like to stare on bushes while sitting down in it).
1280x1024 aswell. Maybe I am expecting too much from my spec. I get 15-20fps with everything on Very High DX10 64bit except for Shaders <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Edit: thanks Svenpa, will try those settings
Also, the following tweak gave me a fantastic performance <i>and</i> graphical boost (no idea how...):
<a href="http://stargate.eliott-ness.com/crysis/crysis_very_high_tweaks_by_divide.rar" target="_blank">http://stargate.eliott-ness.com/crysis/cry...s_by_divide.rar</a> (I applied the "normal" settings and remember to follow the readme instructions)
which I got from this thread:
<a href="http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=13969" target="_blank">http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=13969</a>
Managed to get a constant 30fps (with minor stuttering) at visuals on par with Very High.
combat essentially amounts to cloaking, assessing the situation, headshotting people, and hiding to recharge so you can do it again. the plot was pretty meh and ended really suddenly, but you don't play this kinda game for the plot I suppose. it was standard action movie plot, which is fair enough. seriously though, I wish there was some kinda conclusion - it basically ends as soon as it seems like it's about to get interesting. seemed pretty short too. all in all though, it was quite fun, had unique mechanics and enemies, was gorgeous of course, and was overall quite satisfying. my PC only came down with the terrible framerates in some icy areas near the end with a ton of particle effects or what have you. there was one sequence that reminded me of the Descent games, and made me nostalgic - we could use a new Descent game...
Watch out for the full-retail priced sequel!