TheCapedPillager on 19/3/2011 at 19:37
Given how many comments I've seen (not just here but on other sites) criticising the object highlighting, the lead designer is either being disingenuous or they've wasted a lot of time and money on 100+ playtesters who clearly don't represent the true target audience of their game. If they really never noticed that to be a problem then it makes me fear for the exploratory nature of rest of the game.
The third person ladder and takedown animations really do suck, but this late in development I don't see these as being optional. The developers clearly love showing off the takedowns (each of the three paths in this video demonstrated them) but they would just get annoying in a 10h+ game. I hope that there's at least some way to make a silent takedown in first person, but I'm not optimistic.
The thing that annoys me the most is that I like about 95% of what I see, but then they make silly design decisions like these and that's bound to grate my nipples when playing through this game.
Ostriig on 19/3/2011 at 22:29
What a shame.
Quote Posted by Briareos H
And I just can't get over the playtesting thing.
Yeah, it is the sort of thing that makes you wanna arch a dubious eyebrow.
Anyway, I get the idea of being "caught up in play", and I can think of something like Mirror's Edge, a game where I do believe highlighting was slightly less jarring when playing as opposed to seeing in a video. But I think that the main factor here is that ME's red highlighting wasn't genuinely jarring in the first place, since the red highlights were still in keeping with the setting, the objects still looked like they belonged in the game world. The highlighting
dynamic, the process of them swapping paint coats was non-diegetic but otherwise the objects looked perfectly at home regardless of whether they were red or another colour.
The highlighting we see here with DX3, on the other hand, fits indeed in the general art direction but not in the setting. It ends up looking...
"gamey". But where the problem really lies is in the fact that it's triggered in a very generous range, distance and angle-wise, not just the object in close focus.
At the end of the day it wouldn't exactly be a complex task to get a programmer to take 20 minutes to put a toggle in or an option for a reduced active range. But hey.
Quote Posted by TheCapedPillager
The developers clearly love showing off the takedowns (each of the three paths in this video demonstrated them) but they would just get annoying in a 10h+ game.
There's a possibility that won't be the case, though. I'm thinking about Fallout 3, when I initially saw the videos I thought VATS sucked and that I wouldn't want to use it much, but it actually worked out pretty well. We'll see.
Quote:
I hope that there's at least some way to make a silent takedown in first person, but I'm not optimistic.
Same.
Renzatic on 19/3/2011 at 23:47
Quote Posted by TheCapedPillager
I hope that there's at least some way to make a silent takedown in first person, but I'm not optimistic.
There is. I need to find the quote again, but I believe one of the weapons you can choose from at the start of the game is the tranquilizer gun. So unless the game goes into 3rd person bullet cam mode every time you fire a dart, you do have an option for first person stealth.
Though I think with the takedowns being what they are, I doubt we'll be seeing the prod charger in the game.
inselaffe on 20/3/2011 at 00:06
The orange highlight stuff looks okay, although a bit retina burning in the videos.
The problem is that it highlights all usable objects (within a large radius) rather than just the one currently in focus.
This really doesn't help for immersion - it just degrades the whole gameworld to appear somewhat superficial, no matter how lovingly it is constructed.
It's like playing an adventure game with the "item blink" button held down the entire time, rather than just when you get stuck.
Kaleid on 20/3/2011 at 00:15
Deviating from previous titles in the series, Human Revolution will use a regenerating health model. This change was made because the developers didn't want players to get into a situation where they were unable to progress due to low health, and would be forced to "scrounge for med packs."
= it's a mainstream game for the kiddies.
twisty on 20/3/2011 at 07:54
I just came up with a novel business idea: grates with holes on each corner that allow you to screw them into walls. I'm going to be rich in the future, I'm just sure of it -- every evil organisation in town will be after these.
Anyway, despite the modern take on loot glint, all the previews appear to indicate that this prequel will have a lot of complexity, so I take these previews with a pinch of salt. The purpose of this video was to show some of the gameplay features and it has done an effective job at that.
Briareos H on 20/3/2011 at 11:05
There are many good ideas but they find a way to nullify each one e.g.
* They manage to create an atmosphere of tension and seriousness but the next instant they show cringeworthy takedowns with cartoon sound effects.
* They want to reward exploration and the next moment they highlight a crate telling the player "YOU SHALL TAKE ME AND CLIMB ME" in order to take the "roof path" while there is already a ladder right next to the container allowing to reach the roof (look again at 6:00)
etc.
Dia on 20/3/2011 at 13:36
Loved it.
:laff:
sNeaksieGarrett on 20/3/2011 at 16:37
Quote Posted by Briareos H
There are many good ideas but they find a way to nullify each one e.g.
* They manage to create an atmosphere of tension and seriousness but the next instant they show cringeworthy takedowns with cartoon sound effects.
* They want to reward exploration and the next moment they highlight a crate telling the player "YOU SHALL TAKE ME AND CLIMB ME" in order to take the "roof path" while there is already a ladder right next to the container allowing to reach the roof (look again at 6:00)
etc.
If by ladder you mean that small one leaning up against the cargo container, my guess is that you can't use it, hence the crate stacking. I didn't see any other ladders, except for one more of the same kind further down but it didn't look like you could get up from there.
