I played through on hard with the ol' KB&mouse. I didn't find the game difficult, I just thought there were a lot of design decisions that changed feelings on combat from positive to getting annoyed. Any little skirmish with the regular human guys always went great and I had fun, but the tougher enemies don't really scale well with the weaponry.
God Only Knows barbershop quartet
Shiny Happy People
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Tainted Love
some Sinatra song
the vocals-only part of Fortunate Son
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
1. Vigors
Like I said in the post above, I played through the entire game without realizing I could switch back to previous vigors. I tried to swap them out in the equipment menu, but that's not an option there. I thought it was weird I couldn't and I was right, apparently.
There should have been a specific in-game tutorial or event the instant you get Vigor #3 to explain it.
There is one. I saw it pop up quite a few times, telling me I can hold Q to access the vigor menu.
There's no plan, there's no race to be run
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
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BrocksMulletInto the sunrise, on a jet-ski. Natch.Registered Userregular
How do Hard and 1999 mode differ? Is 1999 mode just more difficult, or does it do something like Metro 2033's Ranger Hardcore, make everything do more damage, to you and enemies, resources are scarcer, etc?
On hard, there's no one hit kill headshots for anything outside of the sniper rifle and hand cannon. I never really found the game 'hard', but there were times where I have to cheese the hell out of enemies cause their health bars would just not go down.
Shotgun blasts to the head and/or on vulnerable enemies pretty much one shot common enemies. There's also plenty of opportunities to use the shotgun's excessive force and bucking bronco to just launch enemies into the abyss.
it only turns on if you edit a config file or if you have a 360 controller plugged in
Actually, by default on the PC aiming down the sights will lock to a target within a small area (slightly larger than an upgraded shotgun's spread size as far as I can tell). It's mildly useful for a few situations, especially since it pretty much instantly locks you to Handymen's heart.
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
1. Vigors
Like I said in the post above, I played through the entire game without realizing I could switch back to previous vigors. I tried to swap them out in the equipment menu, but that's not an option there. I thought it was weird I couldn't and I was right, apparently.
There should have been a specific in-game tutorial or event the instant you get Vigor #3 to explain it.
There is one. I saw it pop up quite a few times, telling me I can hold Q to access the vigor menu.
Then I missed that entirely somehow.
There's no plan, there's no race to be run
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
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firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
Regarding the music (early-ish pre-Elizabeth spoiler):
When she opens that rift to Paris, I was all holy whoa! Then I saw the marquee and was even more wowed.
Then I realized I was hearing Tears for Fears and had to scrape my jaw off of the floor.
Honestly I'm so glad I knew next to zero about this game going in. Would have been a bit less impressive if I knew that stuff was in there I think.
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
1. Vigors
Like I said in the post above, I played through the entire game without realizing I could switch back to previous vigors. I tried to swap them out in the equipment menu, but that's not an option there. I thought it was weird I couldn't and I was right, apparently.
There should have been a specific in-game tutorial or event the instant you get Vigor #3 to explain it.
Uh...yeah the game tells you as soon as you get your third vigor.
had the game glitch while unlocking a door and then combat started while elizabeth was doing it (i guess thats what happened?). once combat ended the door wasnt unlocked even though the lock was off of it. then when i restarted the checkpoint it booted me back about an hours worth of wandering around
emporia
and collecting everything. so... i guess i'll finish the game off another day. kinda killed the momentum for me.
I'd suggest you mark when your spoiler tag is a spoiler for an entirely different game, Beltaine.
Seriously
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firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
Just checked and my final playtime on normal was just over 16hrs.
Which means I am slow and did a lot of wandering. I also had a number of moments where the game wanted me to do things that I didn't want to do but had to to progress. So I sort of just sat there.
Also I think I'll play up to a certain point involving dancing and just leave it there so she's happy for ever and ever...
I clocked in at 13 hours and I feel I explored the game and environments pretty thoroughly, watched whatever little vignettes and environmental curiosities I found.
I've heard people say 18-22 hours if you "take your time" and that seems like horse shit.
Scosglen on
+1
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Big DookieSmells great!Houston, TXRegistered Userregular
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
...
2. Railways
Why can Booker jump so high?
...
All that bitching aside, I had a blast.
Early game spoiler:
He mentions when he attempts his first hook how it pulled him toward it, and he speculates that the hooks and railways are magnetized. It still doesn't entirely explain the acrobatics he uses in these skyline sequences, but I'll give them credit for at least making an attempt to explain it.
Does anyone know how to get to that piece of clothing behind the gate in the graveyard? I want that damn piece so bad but I can't tear a lock on there or anything.
Does anyone know how to get to that piece of clothing behind the gate in the graveyard? I want that damn piece so bad but I can't tear a lock on there or anything.
I was wondering about that one too.
There's no plan, there's no race to be run
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
My playthrough was about 15 hours and according to the achievements I missed more than a few audio logs and stuff, so I think 18 is reasonable.
Apparently they do expect you to backtrack to get some stuff too.
I found the Vox codebook and expected that I would return to the code on the wall at some point - never did. Arg.
For people looking for good clothing, from reloading from checkpoints I found out that the clothing is at least somewhat random. It's always in the same place, but you can get different pieces if you reload.
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
1. Vigors
Like I said in the post above, I played through the entire game without realizing I could switch back to previous vigors. I tried to swap them out in the equipment menu, but that's not an option there. I thought it was weird I couldn't and I was right, apparently.
There should have been a specific in-game tutorial or event the instant you get Vigor #3 to explain it.
2. Railways
As cool as the railway mechanic is, I barely used them unless I had to. Mostly because shooting while moving on the railway was just not an option for me. I'm a bad enough shot on the ground, I'm terrible while flying around on the lines. Plus it was halfway through the game before I noticed the tutorial about changing movement speed. Also, what is the point of giant loops of rails that don't go anywhere? In most cases it seemed there weren't even obvious loading points for moving stuff around an area, so no logical reason for them to be there aside from the combat. I would have liked some longer, more logical shipping route type lines with chase sequences, switching rails to avoid shipping cars, and the like.
Why can Booker jump so high?
In addition, I found a lot of the time that the rails themselves got in the way of my shots, because of the way they dipped and rose. I'm not sure if the solution to that would be better rail pathways, or better enemy positioning (airboats especially)
The dismount attack was fun as hell though.
I agree that the vigor swapping could use a better explanation, but they definitely told you it was possible to swap vigor, I just didn't realize you could swap them on the fly without going through the vigor menu.
I used the railway to zoom around the battlefield a lot. I got used to shooting while moving on the railway so it wasn't that big of a deal. I liked that you could drop off raise some hell and then jump back on and zoom away. In my head I imagined the enemies just running frantically trying to avoid death from the railways above. I feel like they said the rails are are for maintenance people and cops so they could move around quickly. Booker can jump so high because the hook is magnetized. He made a comment about it the first time you jumped, but could also use more information in a log maybe?
I don't know how you could miss the tutorials unless you weren't paying attention to where they were on the screen, which is understandable since the game is beautiful. I do agree with your other points.
Edit: Now that I think about it, I don't remember them telling me I could pull up a game menu with my gear, vigor, logs, and objective. But I'm sure I just overlooked them telling me somewhere along the line. I figured it out eventually, not that I really needed to go into it a lot.
I don't know how you could miss the tutorials unless you weren't paying attention to where they were on the screen, which is understandable since the game is beautiful. I do agree with your other points.
That is entirely possible, considering I probably went right into combat at that point as well. I wish it had been a bit more explicit somehow.
MuddBudd on
There's no plan, there's no race to be run
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
im near the end of the game and it still pops up tutorials all the time like "hold down L2 to change your vigors!" and "don't forget to use your vigors!". its actually real annoying. theres probably a way to turn that off, but i havent messed around with it.
I would like the skyhook more if there was just an independent button for it. Hitting space to attach only works when you're on the ground in a certain area by it. You can't for instance, use it to save yourself from falling, or hook on while jumping or anything like that.
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BrocksMulletInto the sunrise, on a jet-ski. Natch.Registered Userregular
im near the end of the game and it still pops up tutorials all the time like "hold down L2 to change your vigors!" and "don't forget to use your vigors!". its actually real annoying. theres probably a way to turn that off, but i havent messed around with it.
im near the end of the game and it still pops up tutorials all the time like "hold down L2 to change your vigors!" and "don't forget to use your vigors!". its actually real annoying. theres probably a way to turn that off, but i havent messed around with it.
The thing is that I kept forgetting to use my vigors. Then they reminded me and I used them for a fight and started to forget again.
The only time I heavily used vigors was during (late-game spoilers)
The vox attack on The Hand of the Prophet and during Comstock house
Mechanized Patriots are like something straight out of Doctor Who. I stink at fighting them though. I stun em with Shock Jockey, but they turn around too fast. Haven't tried Bucking Bronco on em, that might be better.
I'm finding that I'm just sticking with Shock Jockey and Possession. Just got Charge and Undertow last night. Haven't tried Undertow, but Charge was underwhelming. I was excited to use it too... I thought it would turn Booker into a Mass Effect Vangod.
There's an upgrade for charge that refills your shields when you use it, basically makes you into a vanguard. Wear that and the pants that shock enemies and you can melee a patriot to death on hard, and crows are a piece of cake. Doesn't seem to work against handymen though.
Interesting!
I already have pants, or shoes that give me health on melee kills too... that plus the badass shotgun... Mmm! I might have to keep Charge around.
Vangod DeWitt!
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
Look what I found. There's apparently someway to get at this music cause this guy has a bunch of it.
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
1. Vigors
Like I said in the post above, I played through the entire game without realizing I could switch back to previous vigors. I tried to swap them out in the equipment menu, but that's not an option there. I thought it was weird I couldn't and I was right, apparently.
There should have been a specific in-game tutorial or event the instant you get Vigor #3 to explain it.
Not to pick on you specifically, but this is why developers put such exhaustive and annoying tutorials in games...because even us experienced gamers can completely miss a popup that tells you exactly how to switch your Vigors.
I rarely was able to move around a Patriot fast enough to shoot his gears, and shooting the Handymen in the heart didn't seem to do significantly more damage. Not that I had time to try and aim at it, they were pretty goddamned fast for such big buggers. Also why would you put the heart behind glass when the rest of him is metal. Seriously.
Hit them with lightning. Freezes them in place for a good 2 - 3 seconds, and you can just causally get behind them.
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
1. Vigors
Like I said in the post above, I played through the entire game without realizing I could switch back to previous vigors. I tried to swap them out in the equipment menu, but that's not an option there. I thought it was weird I couldn't and I was right, apparently.
There should have been a specific in-game tutorial or event the instant you get Vigor #3 to explain it.
Not to pick on you specifically, but this is why developers put such exhaustive and annoying tutorials in games...because even us experienced gamers can completely miss a popup that tells you exactly how to switch your Vigors.
I rarely was able to move around a Patriot fast enough to shoot his gears, and shooting the Handymen in the heart didn't seem to do significantly more damage. Not that I had time to try and aim at it, they were pretty goddamned fast for such big buggers. Also why would you put the heart behind glass when the rest of him is metal. Seriously.
Hit them with lightning. Freezes them in place for a good 2 - 3 seconds, and you can just causally get behind them.
They still recovered faster than I could move around them.
There's no plan, there's no race to be run
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
im near the end of the game and it still pops up tutorials all the time like "hold down L2 to change your vigors!" and "don't forget to use your vigors!". its actually real annoying. theres probably a way to turn that off, but i havent messed around with it.
The thing is that I kept forgetting to use my vigors. Then they reminded me and I used them for a fight and started to forget again.
The only time I heavily used vigors was during (late-game spoilers)
The vox attack on The Hand of the Prophet and during Comstock house
Man, upgraded Shock Jock that chains to nearby enemies is soooo good, I can't imagine ever forgetting to use it. It makes entire sections of the game humorously trivial. It's chain range is ridiculously huge, and it will actually arc off of metal objects near various chain points, allowing you to extend the chain to basically entire rooms.
So I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the gameplay now that I am done. No ending spoilers, mainly mechanics stuff, and mainly minor quibbles.
1. Vigors
Like I said in the post above, I played through the entire game without realizing I could switch back to previous vigors. I tried to swap them out in the equipment menu, but that's not an option there. I thought it was weird I couldn't and I was right, apparently.
There should have been a specific in-game tutorial or event the instant you get Vigor #3 to explain it.
Not to pick on you specifically, but this is why developers put such exhaustive and annoying tutorials in games...because even us experienced gamers can completely miss a popup that tells you exactly how to switch your Vigors.
I rarely was able to move around a Patriot fast enough to shoot his gears, and shooting the Handymen in the heart didn't seem to do significantly more damage. Not that I had time to try and aim at it, they were pretty goddamned fast for such big buggers. Also why would you put the heart behind glass when the rest of him is metal. Seriously.
Hit them with lightning. Freezes them in place for a good 2 - 3 seconds, and you can just causally get behind them.
They still recovered faster than I could move around them.
Did you have fully upgraded Shock Jock with the chain and stun duration augmentation?
I do too, but none of the covers / rag-time remakes are on the soundtrack. It's just the original orchestrated score. Which is fantastic, but I want it all gawsh darnit.
im near the end of the game and it still pops up tutorials all the time like "hold down L2 to change your vigors!" and "don't forget to use your vigors!". its actually real annoying. theres probably a way to turn that off, but i havent messed around with it.
The thing is that I kept forgetting to use my vigors. Then they reminded me and I used them for a fight and started to forget again.
The only time I heavily used vigors was during (late-game spoilers)
The vox attack on The Hand of the Prophet and during Comstock house
Man, upgraded Shock Jock that chains to nearby enemies is soooo good, I can't imagine ever forgetting to use it. It makes entire sections of the game humorously trivial. It's chain range is ridiculously huge, and it will actually arc off of metal objects near various chain points, allowing you to extend the chain to basically entire rooms.
I learned this pretty late in the game. The upgraded crows also worked because killing a crowed enemy turned it into a crow's nest for all the other enemies around it. Electric Crows were the best.
Also I found lightning to be more or less ineffective against Handymen. Fire was the only thing that felt like it did something. Maybe I'll try crows next time.
How do Hard and 1999 mode differ? Is 1999 mode just more difficult, or does it do something like Metro 2033's Ranger Hardcore, make everything do more damage, to you and enemies, resources are scarcer, etc?
I too would like to know the answer to this question. I'll probably pick this up tonight or tomorrow... And will probably want to play either Hard or 1999.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
im near the end of the game and it still pops up tutorials all the time like "hold down L2 to change your vigors!" and "don't forget to use your vigors!". its actually real annoying. theres probably a way to turn that off, but i havent messed around with it.
The thing is that I kept forgetting to use my vigors. Then they reminded me and I used them for a fight and started to forget again.
The only time I heavily used vigors was during (late-game spoilers)
The vox attack on The Hand of the Prophet and during Comstock house
Man, upgraded Shock Jock that chains to nearby enemies is soooo good, I can't imagine ever forgetting to use it. It makes entire sections of the game humorously trivial. It's chain range is ridiculously huge, and it will actually arc off of metal objects near various chain points, allowing you to extend the chain to basically entire rooms.
I learned this pretty late in the game. The upgraded crows also worked because killing a crowed enemy turned it into a crow's nest for all the other enemies around it. Electric Crows were the best.
Also I found lightning to be more or less ineffective against Handymen. Fire was the only thing that felt like it did something. Maybe I'll try crows next time.
Yeah, Shock Jock did almost nothing to Handymen. It's why I had Devil's Kiss and Shock Jock as my two primary powers, fully upgraded, because Devil's Kiss is way more effective against handy men, but Shock Jock is more generally useful throughout the game.
I do too, but none of the covers / rag-time remakes are on the soundtrack. It's just the original orchestrated score. Which is fantastic, but I want it all gawsh darnit.
i guess i should rephrase and say i want to buy a theoretical version of the soundtrack which has the stuff that i actually care about on it.
I think Crows was the MVP for Vigors for me throughout the game. Huge area coverage, get the perk that makes dead enemies set up more traps, plus the pants that generate a big shock when you overkill enemies and you have just hilariously massive area control every time you pop a guy.
Posts
It has
Shiny Happy People
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Tainted Love
some Sinatra song
the vocals-only part of Fortunate Son
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Steam: BrocksMullet http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972421669/
Shotgun blasts to the head and/or on vulnerable enemies pretty much one shot common enemies. There's also plenty of opportunities to use the shotgun's excessive force and bucking bronco to just launch enemies into the abyss.
Actually, by default on the PC aiming down the sights will lock to a target within a small area (slightly larger than an upgraded shotgun's spread size as far as I can tell). It's mildly useful for a few situations, especially since it pretty much instantly locks you to Handymen's heart.
Then I missed that entirely somehow.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Then I realized I was hearing Tears for Fears and had to scrape my jaw off of the floor.
Honestly I'm so glad I knew next to zero about this game going in. Would have been a bit less impressive if I knew that stuff was in there I think.
He wasn't already dead, but he did kind of pull a Spec Ops, still.
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
Uh...yeah the game tells you as soon as you get your third vigor.
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
Which means I am slow and did a lot of wandering. I also had a number of moments where the game wanted me to do things that I didn't want to do but had to to progress. So I sort of just sat there.
Also I think I'll play up to a certain point involving dancing and just leave it there so she's happy for ever and ever...
Man. This game!
I've heard people say 18-22 hours if you "take your time" and that seems like horse shit.
Early game spoiler:
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
I was wondering about that one too.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Apparently they do expect you to backtrack to get some stuff too.
For people looking for good clothing, from reloading from checkpoints I found out that the clothing is at least somewhat random. It's always in the same place, but you can get different pieces if you reload.
I agree that the vigor swapping could use a better explanation, but they definitely told you it was possible to swap vigor, I just didn't realize you could swap them on the fly without going through the vigor menu.
I used the railway to zoom around the battlefield a lot. I got used to shooting while moving on the railway so it wasn't that big of a deal. I liked that you could drop off raise some hell and then jump back on and zoom away. In my head I imagined the enemies just running frantically trying to avoid death from the railways above. I feel like they said the rails are are for maintenance people and cops so they could move around quickly. Booker can jump so high because the hook is magnetized. He made a comment about it the first time you jumped, but could also use more information in a log maybe?
I don't know how you could miss the tutorials unless you weren't paying attention to where they were on the screen, which is understandable since the game is beautiful. I do agree with your other points.
Edit: Now that I think about it, I don't remember them telling me I could pull up a game menu with my gear, vigor, logs, and objective. But I'm sure I just overlooked them telling me somewhere along the line. I figured it out eventually, not that I really needed to go into it a lot.
PSN: ChemENGR
That is entirely possible, considering I probably went right into combat at that point as well. I wish it had been a bit more explicit somehow.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Yeah, you can turn that off in the menu.
Steam: BrocksMullet http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972421669/
The thing is that I kept forgetting to use my vigors. Then they reminded me and I used them for a fight and started to forget again.
The only time I heavily used vigors was during (late-game spoilers)
PSN: ChemENGR
Interesting!
I already have pants, or shoes that give me health on melee kills too... that plus the badass shotgun... Mmm! I might have to keep Charge around.
Vangod DeWitt!
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Not to pick on you specifically, but this is why developers put such exhaustive and annoying tutorials in games...because even us experienced gamers can completely miss a popup that tells you exactly how to switch your Vigors.
Hit them with lightning. Freezes them in place for a good 2 - 3 seconds, and you can just causally get behind them.
They still recovered faster than I could move around them.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Man, upgraded Shock Jock that chains to nearby enemies is soooo good, I can't imagine ever forgetting to use it. It makes entire sections of the game humorously trivial. It's chain range is ridiculously huge, and it will actually arc off of metal objects near various chain points, allowing you to extend the chain to basically entire rooms.
Did you have fully upgraded Shock Jock with the chain and stun duration augmentation?
I do too, but none of the covers / rag-time remakes are on the soundtrack. It's just the original orchestrated score. Which is fantastic, but I want it all gawsh darnit.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
I learned this pretty late in the game. The upgraded crows also worked because killing a crowed enemy turned it into a crow's nest for all the other enemies around it. Electric Crows were the best.
Also I found lightning to be more or less ineffective against Handymen. Fire was the only thing that felt like it did something. Maybe I'll try crows next time.
PSN: ChemENGR
I too would like to know the answer to this question. I'll probably pick this up tonight or tomorrow... And will probably want to play either Hard or 1999.
Yeah, Shock Jock did almost nothing to Handymen. It's why I had Devil's Kiss and Shock Jock as my two primary powers, fully upgraded, because Devil's Kiss is way more effective against handy men, but Shock Jock is more generally useful throughout the game.
i guess i should rephrase and say i want to buy a theoretical version of the soundtrack which has the stuff that i actually care about on it.