catbarf on 1/9/2017 at 15:28
Just chiming in to say that I got this on sale, I love it already, and it's absolutely the closest I've seen to a System Shock 3. The way the game balances extremely capable, lethal enemies against powerful combos and abilities is really intense, and the immersion is simply incredible. I'm five hours in and I've only just reached the GUTS, so I gather I haven't made much of a dent on the story thus far.
I'll admit, when I saw this at PAX with the pun tagline 'Only Yu Can Stop The Typhon', I dismissed it as a generic reboot shooter. Instead, it's everything Bioshock should have been and I'm extremely impressed.
froghawk on 1/9/2017 at 18:23
I actually think the writing is better than Bioshock's as well. It's quite a convoluted little plot once you reach the end, but Bioshock had a good idea and little followthrough post-golfclub scene. Granted, everything being run by a mobster IS the logical outcome of that story, but it could have been executed in a much more exciting way than having you fight the silver surfer. The momentum completely died.
Whereas Prey continues to throw curveballs up until the final moment. It feels much more populated in every way - the game mechanics are more complex, the plot has more unexpected twists, the environment is more filled with secrets... it may not have the political angle, but it feels deeper in every other way.
P.S. anyone found a way into the IT supply closet on a non-homicidal run?
Jason Moyer on 2/9/2017 at 08:36
Apparently if you kill everyone, there's a way to get in there after Dahl arrives. So yeah, doesn't seem possible on a non-homicidal run.
What's weird though, is that on my non-homicidal playthrough I managed to find everyone that's listed in the station database other than the one character that's listed as off-station (OMG DLC?) so I must have gotten in there somehow...
froghawk on 3/9/2017 at 07:39
There's too many damn loading screens in this game when you start madly running around the station mid-late game. You'd think games would be past that problem by now... if Bethesda can make their worlds continuous with their crap tech, then why can't a game as small as Prey do the same?
Thirith on 3/9/2017 at 08:08
Bethesda and continuous worlds? Aren't their games (if we are talking about the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games) the ones where you face a loading screen every time you enter a building or dungeon?
Starker on 3/9/2017 at 11:38
Quote Posted by froghawk
There's too many damn loading screens in this game when you start madly running around the station mid-late game. You'd think games would be past that problem by now... if Bethesda can make their worlds continuous with their crap tech, then why can't a game as small as Prey do the same?
It's not the size of the world, it's the stuff you need to keep in memory. Players expect a lot of detail and variation in assets these days, especially in games nearer to the photorealistic end of the spectrum.
froghawk on 3/9/2017 at 18:00
Fair enough. But Prey is a pretty small, lightweight game by modern standards. Relatively low system requirements, only 20gb, no ultra setting that will make a decent modern system chug...
Quote Posted by Thirith
Bethesda and continuous worlds? Aren't their games (if we are talking about the
Elder Scrolls and
Fallout games) the ones where you face a loading screen every time you enter a building or dungeon?
I thought they fixed that in the last generation of games? I didn't play Skyrim or FO4 (quite sick of their approach of sticking a ton of stuff in their games but doing all of it poorly), but I remember playing Oblivion with a mod that took away the loading screens, at least for entering cities.
Starker on 3/9/2017 at 21:26
I think the new upcoming non-volatile memory will do a lot to mitigate this. Having just one single layer of memory is huge. It would be like running games from a RAM drive.
Sulphur on 4/9/2017 at 03:02
Quote Posted by froghawk
I thought they fixed that in the last generation of games? I didn't play Skyrim or FO4 (quite sick of their approach of sticking a ton of stuff in their games but doing all of it poorly), but I remember playing Oblivion with a mod that took away the loading screens, at least for entering cities.
You're talking about a dev team that's been content to use the same engine framework for the past 15 years people despite complaining about this since Morrowind. No, it has not been fixed.
Thirith on 8/10/2017 at 11:22
I finally got started on this on Friday, and I like it a lot so far. Exploration is interesting and feels dangerous, and I like how this both captures and updates the gameplay and atmosphere of System Shock. In fact, since there's a whiff of art deco to the art design, I can't help thinking that I wish Bioshock had been like this: not a shooter first and foremost but a game that puts you in a fascinating environment and gives you a whole range of tools to survive. I would've loved Rapture if it hadn't been solely about shooting people in the face.
