So for the past two weeks or so I've been putting some time into Too Human.  Serious time.  I've got 5 level 50 characters, last week I was #9 on the leaderboards for most items collected, I've probably put more time into the game then every reviewer from every major publication outlet combined.  But enough bragging, let me get to the point.

Too Human's biggest problem isn't its animations, or it's story, or setting, or control scheme or camera or any of that.  Too Human's biggest problem, by far, is its completely busted and broken endgame. 

For those who don't know because they haven't played, the real motive to play Too Human is to find ultra rare items once you reach the level cap.  Getting these items is tedious, time-consuming, and uncertain to the extreme.  You can run a level 10 times, theoretically it could even be 1000 times, and never find a rare item.  That would make you think that once you find these ultra-rare, extremely difficult to obtain items they would be pretty kick-ass, right?

Wrong. 
Let me give you one example; my defender has a skein of ablation and several pieces of equipment with ablation bonuses, giving him a chance to absorb any damage he takes.  When I found his first rare armor item, I was pretty excited.  Until I looked at it.  A chestpiece with aggression, blunt, slashing, and piercing resistance, and that's it.  Then I found his epic weapon; a generic two-handed sword that any class could use but a part of the specific set for my hammer-and-shield wielding defender.  Great. 

That's it.  So now there's no reason for me to play the character.  Why grind for hours to find equipment that's less effective than what I currently have, that I had to scavange the pieces together for and craft myself?  The really sad thing is, the epically dissapointing end-game gear is not specific to the defender.  My bioengineer, champion, and commando have hit the exact same wall.  

So now i'm left with my human beserker; the only character whos epic gear is somewhat suitably epic.  I'm finding it's just not worth it, to invest the time into the game and your character to find out that what the designers of the game intended to be the ultimate prize at the end of the tunnel for you is just a bad joke.  Hell, the cybernetic chamption epic suit has a defender skill in it, completely useless to him!  

Forget the reviews, forget what you've read, what you've heard.  Too Human sucks, yeah, but not for the reasons you might think. 

 

Says your opinion. It sucks to me completely, and thats the end of it.

the braying jackass only gets the last word if the rest have already gotten bored and left.

I don't see how you could play the game for what it seems like 150+ hours at least and now just figure out that it sucks...

Personally I like the game, I have a 36 Cybernetic Champion and i've finished the game and had a stuff around with a few more levels (by no mean a big playing time).. But i found it extremely enjoyable, and i'll definitely get him to 50... I'm not goin to bother getting the epic sets or anything like that, it doesn't really change my life if it does.. But as i said, you think that you would have relised that the game sucked about 20 hours through at the latest?

That's the thing though.  I actually really enjoyed the game.  I'm still playing it, because I want my commando to get his full set anyways, rifle damage be damned.  I'm dissapointed in the endgame simply because the rest of the game was so enjoyable for me.  Something about the endless tweaking of skill points, item slots, and even filling the charms was really addicting.  I've actually got over 200 hours into the game, and I didn't even have it for the first week it came out.  I guess I wanted to rant about the terrible gear, because if the epic gear had indeed been epically awesome, I would have probably completed a set for every character and put 1000+ hours into the game. 

I understand what you are saying and it is a very valid point. Players need a valid carrot on a stick to keep on playing at higher levels, and if it is an uber armor set with killer set bonuses then so be it. I really enjoyed the game as well but have yet to get a character up to level 50.

Maybe this is a difference of perspective, and maybe this is just me being masochistic, but this is exactly the breed of argument I needed to hear to help me determine whether I actually want to own the game.

This is exactly the kind of argument that helps me decide that, in fact, I do want the game.

You see, what you want (if I've gathered your argument correctly) is an uber-set that stands, relatively speaking, head-and-shoulders above the other sets in the game.  In my experience, it is this sort of thing that brings me inevitably to boredom with a game like Oblivion, in which the Glass/Daedric (or, if you have the expansions, Amber/Madness) tools of the trade are clearly better than the other armaments available.  Once you reach this summit, there is a sense of accomplishment, sure, but it is flanked by a glass ceiling.  A barrier that is inconceivable to cross.  It just can't happen, for the game's design makes that impossible. 

Conversely, the problem you claim is inherent in Too Human is the very reason I play Diablo II to this day.  At a glance, it seems as though the armor and weaponry are nothing more than the same, rehashed, refurbished items slapped with a different name.  There are ultra-rare items in Diablo II as well, but their benefits can be eclipsed by other items found amongst the remains of your slain enemies.  Customization stays rather constant, and the hunt for loot and the desire to find the equipment that best befits your character never dulls.  At least, not for me. 

Um, something seems terribly inconsistent with this post. You put all that time into the game and you haven't figured out there are multiple EPIC sets per class. I have two level 50 EPIC hammers and two lower level EPIC hammers for my Defender. Unfortunately my best hammer (damage wise, buffs arguable) does not belong to the same set as the other four EPIC armor pieces I have. There is also the Aesir armor sets that allow you to make them as Powerful as you want granted you exercise the discipline to save your EPIC runes until you can manage to find one. I haven't yet and I'm a 102 hours in with one character. No end game? I'm still enjoying the game and seeing how much more badass I get with loot, runes, and strategic understanding. Gonna have to disagree on this one.

Alright, so I've figured that the epic sets were made slightly off skew to motivate players to customize thier own aesir epic set.  The problem is though, that many of the sets have bonuses that either cap with one piece of the armor, or are useless to the class that can use it.  For example, I know that a red hammer and shield for a cyber defender doesn't exist.  I guess there's a reason downloadable content exists?

My point with the post was that the epic sets, by and large, usually aren't worth the time and effort it takes to obtain them.  Although, high-value armor will increase the chances of having multiple high-level enemy spawns.  I've gotten 3 skimmers to appear when there's usually only one, and one that has only spawned in that specific place one time.  Aesir armor can be made to be 20 times the value of red armor, even more with the right runes.

I'm going to sleep, been playing too much Too Human.  Had a dream I found an ablative shield rune. 
The quest for a red anti-missle spider duration rune and red ballistic juggle-time rune must continue tommorow I suppose.