@mrmazz: Hey, great blog post. After playing for a while, I'm not really sure what they were thinking with this F2P model – it just doesn't seem like a great business decision. It really is set up just like an arcade – keep winning and you get to keep playing for free, lol. The game is more inviting for newcomers but also punishes their wallet at the same time by making them pay if they keep losing. If their main goal is to grow the userbase this seems like a terrible method.
I like the potential of a F2P model for fighters, but this system probably isn't the way forward.
Just curious, does anyone ever get regular online matches on any 3D games other than Tekken? Been going back to some of my 3D fighters from last year (Soul Calibur, DOA, VF) and they all seem like ghost towns online. Kinda sad, because I feel like it's a waste to play a fighting game if all I can play is the CPU. Seems like all the casual/intermediate players have vacated these games.
Going forward, I hope these companies start to support their games on an ongoing basis so that hopefully the player base sticks around. Seems like unless it's a huge game (Street Fighter or Tekken) that people stick around for a month or so and then just jump over to the new thing. Think if they supported their games with continual DLC or additions that maybe they can keep the excitement going a little longer.
Wow, finally beat the last boss for the first time after 2 hours. Feels really good! Similar feeling to beating Ornstein and Smough for the first time in Dark Souls. Just posting some thoughts in case it helps anyone that is struggling. Such a great game and I'd hate to see this final boss ruin anyone's experience.
You can just ninja run under the projectiles he throws but on Hard I found this leaves little room for error if you don't start with a full supply of nano-pastes (I had 2 at the start of the battle). Learning how to do the blade mode segment (at least once) makes this fight very manageable because it drops 4 nanopastes if you do it right.
Some tips that helped me.
Breaking it down into manageable parts really helps. You try to do everything at once and you'll panic and goof it all up.
First thing is getting your blade mode press done consistently. Wait till you see the projectile coming towards you before pressing it. Once you press it down once you can hold through the whole thing.
90% of your concentration should go to the right stick to get the angle right. The thing that I found tricky was how fast you need to do it. What helped is just focusing on the right side of the angle and noting it's position like a clock hand. Then quickly pushed that direction on the right stick. For most of the time this lines it up right way.
Maybe once out of every group of projectiles you won't be lined up even though your angle is correct. Only then do you use the left stick to move everything up or down.
Other than that, it's just learning his patterns in the normal combat. What helped me was not staying too long right next to him. Dodging back away after a few hits kinda reset things to neutral and gave my mind a breather. Like someone else said his patterns aren't hard but some have tight timing to dodge and you have to perform them repeatedly to be succesful.
@syzygyeolith: Totally understand. You did go the wrong way though if you were fighting the skeletons, those are for much later in the game. Seen many people make that mistake and I feel FROM made a bad design decision with how they drop you in that first area. The correct way is up the side of the cliff and into the old city. Basically if you run into a extremely difficult area you're usually in the wrong place. I think it's totally fair to expect the player to figure that out, but it has to be more clear that the player has multiple choices. The skeleton area shouldn't have been so accesible with the correct path semi-obscured. Later in the game that would have been OK, but not right at the start.
This game is incredible. IMO, this is Platinum's 2nd best game and I'd rank them Bayonetta>MGR>Vanquish. More development time and it could have been their best.
Once you bump the difficulty up a little and dig into the systems it's great. Takes a while to get the proper feel for the game though. You have to learn to play really aggressive and always be on the attack. At first I thought this felt like Ninja Gaiden and a more defensive game, but it's really not like that at all. The only negative to me is the camera. It definitely has problems, but nothing that can't be worked around. You just have to actively manage it and use the lock-on at the right times to keep enemies on screen.
I really like this game, but have had a few things that have been causing me some issues which are frustrating. Just wanted to pass on some tips that have helped me in case there is anyone else struggling with them. Playing on hard BTW, feels like a solid step up from the demo in difficulty.
I do think the camera has some issues. Would like it a little further back ... I think that would help. Don't think it's terrible as much as the frantic gameplay just makes it so any camera solution would probably be a little problematic. The biggest thing I can suggest is learn to use lock-on (back right trigger). Especially during boss battles. This helps tremendously and really helps with bosses jumping off screen and then not being able to block/parry them. With the first wolf fight, I was able to keep it in on screen consistently this way. This is a must use feature IMO.
Second is just to really pay attention to what direction you're pressing the stick when you are parrying. I was having a lot of problems at first but realized I wasn't being nearly as accurate as I thought. You have to accurately point the left stick towards the enemy. It's a very solid and reliable system, you just have to learn to see where the enemy is and make sure you're left stick is pointing towards them precisely. The camera makes this difficult but it does get much more natural over time.
Have you never played a game from this genre? They are all in the 6-9 hours to clear though once to promote multi-playthroughs.
You also forgot to mention that the timer doesn't count restarts. The consensus on GAF is that the actual playtime is close to 8 hours just like pretty much every action game.
Short answer, pretty awesome. Saw Aliens 3 many years ago and thought it was a pretty entertaining movie but it never made me want to go back and watch 1 or 2. Last year, I saw Prometheus. I had low expectations because I heard so many negative impressions. Maybe because of that, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Yeah, the plot had some holes but I was really fascinated by the mythology and the creepiness of the creatures. This is what finally got me to go back and watch Alien and Aliens. Alien, I was mostly really impressed with. I thought it had amazing atmosphere and really enjoyed it's more serious tone. Aliens was entertaining but I really didn't like the action approach near as much. The biggest thing that jumped out to me was how bad/dated the actual xenomorphs were depicted in both movies. In the first one, you don't really see much of it until the end and once you do the presentation is really dated. They did do a good job though of sustaining the feeling of the xenomorph being this terrifying creature though, so I do give it credit there. In Aliens, it's like the xenomorphs are cannon fodder. They don't seem to be particularly fast or dangerous on their own. The danger comes from the their number and insect colony like nature. Not to mention the Queen at the end is really laughable now, it looks like a float in a parade. Overall, I think the mythology and world of the Alien franchise is the best part of it. It has this dark, heavy, dirty tone to it that it does so well. When done right, the xenomorph is an awesome creature and truly terrifying.
Demo doesn't explain much. Had a lot of fun with it, but only after figuring out everything it doesn't tell you. After looking up some things online and playing through the demo a few times, the gameplay became much more fluid. Some things I've seen some on here mention and just thought I'd pass on some things I figured out.
1. There is a dodge, it's X + Square. You can also input a direction to control which direction to dodge, otherwise you just do a standard dodge. 2. In blade mode, you don't have to use the analog, you can you us the face buttons. X and Y execute vertical and horizontal slashes in Blade Mode. You might be need to use the analog if you're trying to line up a specific slash like cutting the arm off, but otherwise you can usually bypass the analog stick. 3. Ninja Run, hold down R1 to ninja run. This deflect bullets, auto-jump over things, and give you access to a few moves out of it. The most over-powered move in the demo is probably Ninja Run, press Y to slide and then active Blade Mode to finish off.
After learning the whole repitoire the combat really opened up. At first I was going around parrying and staying sort-of stationary. With ninja run and dodge you can really play with more of a flow like Ninja Gaiden and be really mobile.
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