I've been enjoying the game so far. 17 hours in. Time flies when you play it.

There are some annoying bits. A lot of times the AI cheats and some have a lot of HP. Shirtless guys can take 4, 5 AK shots to chest and head and still rush you and one punch your merc.

The workshop already has some mods that fix some of this.

Some stuff has been dumb-down like shared ammo pool.

Looking forward to this.

Need to finish up Calisto Protocol first, which I am actually enjoying now that I have guns (the early melee combat is a bit unbalanced and awkward IMO). The game is not terrible, despite all the hate. The engine is very smooth (compared to the still rather glitchy Dead Space) and the story is very good. The visuals are stunning, and the game runs silky smooth. I'm getting a rock steady 95 FPS with everything on high.

Where it does fail is the overly linear parts of the game. There are a lot times when you aren't actually playing. You just press a key to start a sequence of events. For instance, any time you are crawling through a vent, climbing a ladder, or squeezing through a narrow space, you are essentially in a scripted sequence. It feels cheap and lazy, and ruins the immersion. I think it was a poor artistic decision at best, or laziness at worst. The other annoyance is if something jumps on you, combat changes to a childish game of tap the stomp key repeatedly until you shake it off, but there is no real feel to how to do this properly. You basically need to start bashing the stomp key immediately and fast enough to throw him off, or the game goes right to the you getting torn apart and killed scripted sequence. It feels like it's purely luck and nothing to do with any combat skill, so I just try not to get jumped.

It also suffers from some really annoying save game points. Sometimes you have to replay a huge area over again just to get back to the spot where some boss killed you, and then rinse and repeat several times until you beat that boss.

I'm enjoying it, and I can recommend it if you liked Dead Space, but it does have it's flaws.

J wrote on Jul 14, 2023, 04:05:
ACG has his review up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSl2eIY4O9U

I think I'll hold off for now.

That was a very good review I think. But I might be biased because he is my favorite reviewer. I forget just how damn difficult JA was; his review reminded me. The money thing especially. 9 times out of 10 if I was reloading a save it was because I was broke.

Yeah, but Mack from worth a Buy loves it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjw5HrIYdqo

But I'm biased. Have been waiting for a half decent JA game for over 20 years now, so I preorderd it yesterday.

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 18:59:

J wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 18:52:

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 17:39:
Okay then. Just checking. You sounded mad tho

EDIT: Oh, and it's AN anonymous keyboard warrior...

*On the internet.

Fun thread.

I quoted you but what I felt like mentioning was your sig. It has quotes from both Batman and nin. Those are names I haven't seen in quite a while. Never did figure out if they were the REAL Batman and Nine Inch Nails though...

They were originally quotes. I had to trim them down due to signature constraints. I've been on this board for a long time.

ACG has his review up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSl2eIY4O9U

I think I'll hold off for now.

J wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 18:52:

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 17:39:
Okay then. Just checking. You sounded mad tho

EDIT: Oh, and it's AN anonymous keyboard warrior...

*On the internet.

Fun thread.

I quoted you but what I felt like mentioning was your sig. It has quotes from both Batman and nin. Those are names I haven't seen in quite a while. Never did figure out if they were the REAL Batman and Nine Inch Nails though...

jdreyer wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 16:31:
African bees, or European?

Are there coconuts involved?

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 17:39:
Okay then. Just checking. You sounded mad tho

EDIT: Oh, and it's AN anonymous keyboard warrior...

*On the internet.

Fun thread.

Okay then. Just checking. You sounded mad tho

EDIT: Oh, and it's AN anonymous keyboard warrior...

This comment was edited on Jul 13, 2023, 18:11.

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 16:19:

Probably. U mad bro?

If you mean angry, to get me angry you'd have to be relevant in my life, not a anonymous internet keyboard warrior. That said, I use the word "fuck" a lot, it's very versatile. Me using it should not constitute my emotional level on your part. The more you know

This thread was tailor-made for BoP!! 😁

But, funnin' aside, I am happy this seems to be getting all around positive reviews. I'm watching a Let's Play of it right now on YouTube. This game has to capture the Jagged Alliance feel, and that is going to be hard to pick up from text.

So has anybody tried it? What's it like? There was something special about the first game, such as the quirky mercs you meet. Tex, the japanese cowboy in particular comes to mind with his chirps and Ivan the Russian. Haha. Their varying personalities is probably the highlight for me.

The franchise seems to have had some misses apparently with subsequent follow-ups and the IP seemed to have bounced between various companies doing those spin-offs.

Maybe it's nostalgia, but I'd be glad if 3 is better than what the other sequels have attempted.
I might just check this out...

GothicWizard wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 15:51:

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 14:30:
Curiosity made me check to see if IGN still inexplicably assigns number scores to games. If there was ever a site that scores mattered less on I don't know of it. In the past week alone, I have heard 3 separate jokes on unrelated videos about IGN scoring everything a 7,8,or 9. Whether or not the reputation is fully deserved is neither here nor there. The bottom line is that they could only benefit from ditching the pointless score imo.

Could you go any more off fucking topic?

Did you know your earlobes are the exact same width apart as your nipples?

That the dog in the original Children of the Corn was named "Sarge"?

That your mother wishes she had swallowed?

That the original Tucker Torpedo only had a longitudinally mounted V6 because of problems with the originally selected Packard running gear?

That while you sleep, microscopic mites eat all the dead flesh off of your body?

That dust is largely made up of dead skin cells and tiny bits of hair, only some of which is yours?

That the "Alt" key on your keyboard is a vestigial key and has no relation to its original function?

That, biochemically speaking, there is very little difference between semen and snot?

I could go on for days...

None of the linked reviews mention the quality of the multiplayer co-op feature that was announced a few days ago (except RPS', which only tags the game "multiplayer co-op" and doesn't actually talk about it). I know that the reviews were probably written before the announcement, but that's one of the most important features for me.

jdreyer wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 16:29:

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 14:30:
Curiosity made me check to see if IGN still inexplicably assigns number scores to games. If there was ever a site that scores mattered less on I don't know of it. In the past week alone, I have heard 3 separate jokes on unrelated videos about IGN scoring everything a 7,8,or 9. Whether or not the reputation is fully deserved is neither here nor there. The bottom line is that they could only benefit from ditching the pointless score imo.

But... but then I'd have to read.

Off topic. I'm reporting you to one of the moderators. Oh wait...

Quboid wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 15:59:

GothicWizard wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 15:51:

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 14:30:
Curiosity made me check to see if IGN still inexplicably assigns number scores to games. If there was ever a site that scores mattered less on I don't know of it. In the past week alone, I have heard 3 separate jokes on unrelated videos about IGN scoring everything a 7,8,or 9. Whether or not the reputation is fully deserved is neither here nor there. The bottom line is that they could only benefit from ditching the pointless score imo.

Could you go any more off fucking topic?

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.

How's that?

African bees, or European?

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 14:30:
Curiosity made me check to see if IGN still inexplicably assigns number scores to games. If there was ever a site that scores mattered less on I don't know of it. In the past week alone, I have heard 3 separate jokes on unrelated videos about IGN scoring everything a 7,8,or 9. Whether or not the reputation is fully deserved is neither here nor there. The bottom line is that they could only benefit from ditching the pointless score imo.

But... but then I'd have to read.

Quboid wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 15:59:

GothicWizard wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 15:51:

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 14:30:
Curiosity made me check to see if IGN still inexplicably assigns number scores to games. If there was ever a site that scores mattered less on I don't know of it. In the past week alone, I have heard 3 separate jokes on unrelated videos about IGN scoring everything a 7,8,or 9. Whether or not the reputation is fully deserved is neither here nor there. The bottom line is that they could only benefit from ditching the pointless score imo.

Could you go any more off fucking topic?

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.

How's that?

Along those lines they didn't figure out how a dog actually drinks water until they slowed down a video of a dog drinking to like 100,000 frames per second.

https://youtu.be/BMkDtzt-xo8

GothicWizard wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 15:51:

Prez wrote on Jul 13, 2023, 14:30:
Curiosity made me check to see if IGN still inexplicably assigns number scores to games. If there was ever a site that scores mattered less on I don't know of it. In the past week alone, I have heard 3 separate jokes on unrelated videos about IGN scoring everything a 7,8,or 9. Whether or not the reputation is fully deserved is neither here nor there. The bottom line is that they could only benefit from ditching the pointless score imo.

Could you go any more off fucking topic?

Probably. U mad bro?