The Early Impressions Thread

[PorcusHawk]

A new idea for the new forum.

I seem to remember that on the old forums many members (myself included) always put a fair bit of value into the opinions of fellow forumites when it came to early opinions of newly released games, especially if they themselves weren't entirely sure about buying the game, after all, gaming isn't a particularly cheap hobby.

Those 'early opinion' posts usually appeared (and sometimes got lost) in the 'Now Playing' or 'Recently purchased' threads so I figured it may be worth having a dedicated thread for posting early opinions, especially for just released games. Of course, I may be wrong and this thread may well die on its ass .

To get things started, I may as well post some early thoughts on Tales of Xillia 2 which arrived this morning, admittedly not a game that anyone on here is likely to give enough of a crap about to want to read early opinions but what the hell?

As some of you may know I'm a big fan of the Tales of..... franchise (and absolutely loved Xillia) so it may be a little difficult for me to remain unbiased but seeing as so few on here seem to enjoy the games anyway, any bias on my part really doesn't matter .

I've managed to stick a couple of hours into the game and early signs are very positive indeed. It always feels great to start a new Tales game anyway so that was probably a given. Once again, the real highlight of the game appears to be the combat system which manages to evolve just enough with each game to keep things feeling relatively fresh and a couple of minor additions look to add to what is already a fairly deep mechanic. What's great is just how fluid and responsive the system is and it feels like using artes (particularly linked artes and chains) is even easier than it was in the previous game. I'm already familiar with the core system but I still felt a little overwhelmed initially, especially when the game seemed to introduce new tutorials after each of the early battles but once things begin to flow the combat is honestly a thing of beauty.

The upgrade system has been changed slightly and I must admit that at the moment I still prefer the old Lilium Orb system, however, things aren't too dissimilar so it may just click once I've spent more time with the game. As expected with a Tales game there's still a tonne of character customisation options available, usually nothing more than cosmetic changes anyway.

I also like a couple of changes made to the Grade system. In the previous game it was made easier to see what you needed to do to acquire Grade and this has been expanded further with the addition of combat challenges which helps deepen the battle system further when you're encouraged to try a couple of new things to help build your Grade.

There looks to be a heap of additional side content to work on. I've already unlocked the core side quests (largely tied to the game's debt mechanic) and also some revised cat hunt thing, a way of reworking the Katz of old I guess. There also appears to be 'Epic' enemies to hunt down but I've not run into any yet and I've also heard that there will be sub-quests tied to the main characters in the previous game to expand on things further.

It's a little too early to comment on the story as yet, although it was largely a case of WTF? early on but things are slowly beginning to make sense so the potential is there.

A drawback for some could be the reuse of assets from the previous game but given the amount of time I spent with that game there's an element of returning to an old friend. Another potential issue could be the aforementioned 'debt mechanic', in that, you get saddled with a hefty debt early in the game and your bad credit rating means that you have limited travel options available until you've paid some of the debt off. Early on it hasn't been a problem yet but I do wonder if it may become a little grindy later on.

tl;dr If you enjoy the Tales franchise and moreso the previous Xillia and just want more of the same you will probably end up falling under the charms of this game.

[Odyssey]

Great idea for a thread. Kudos

[megablast16]

Good idea to take the old Now Playing and Recently Purchased threads and roll them into one, although it might take a while to really get going while the release schedule is so quiet, anyway I've just got The Swapper off PSN. It's a side scrolling puzzler set in a desolate space station with the central mechanic being the ability to create 4 clones of yourself and swap character control between them to solve puzzles and navigate the areas.

It's a pretty neat concept that starts easy enough but apparently evolves into some real head scratchers as the game develops. The look and sound design of the game is good too, imagine the atmosphere of Super Metroid with Lost Vikings style gameplay.

[PorcusHawk]

May as well keep this one as short as possible because there's even less (read fuck all) chance of anyone here being interested in my latest acquisition .

Yes, today is Madden day and I've managed to just play a couple of games as well as exploring some of the skills trainer, the latter of which is much needed seeing as I never picked up last years game and there's also been a couple of changes in controls since '13, which I was only playing recently. Bloody muscle memory.

First things first, the team has done a really solid job on presentation and the game actually looks like a next-gen game (I'd heard last year's was a pretty feeble port). A change-up in camera angles, stat overlays, brief NFL film clips of starting QB's and a little more 'story-telling' behind some players/teams makes the game feel almost as close to watching the real thing on Sundays. Only minor improvements may be needed in future but it's just a shame that the commentary on the whole lets the thing down. The crowd noise from the stadiums is far better than previously and the game feels more alive/immersive as a result, a pity the crowds still look like shit but hardly a big deal.

The reason I felt the franchise needed another chance was the promise of improvements to defense, something that has been neglected for probably around ten years. I've only played two full games so far but the team have clearly delivered on their promise and playing on defense really is fun again especially with the long overdue defensive camera, which admittedly takes some getting used to. You can actually rely on the defensive AI to be in position to make plays (assuming you've called the right play) rather than just doing whatever the hell they like although I'm sure that more playtime will reveal the occasional motionless player or inexplicable coverage breakdown.

Of course, improvements in defensive AI can work against you and I've really struggled to move the ball so far. Thankfully, there appears to be far less money plays and it feels like you really need to know your X's and O's to sustain an offensive drive. Both games I played were on All-Pro and I got dominated by the f'ing Niners in my first game (as the Seahawks of course) and the second was a close loss at the Bills in a snow game as the Jets. In previous years I'd usually use the sliders to find a middle ground between All-Pro and All-Madden because the former would be too easy and the latter cheats like fuck so it's nice to finally get a challenge on All-Pro.

Thankfully, the skills trainer has been expanded this year to help you learn more about football (yes football :p) concepts and strategies, identifying coverages and how to best beat them etc. I've always considered myself to have a fairly sound knowledge of core football concepts but even I've learnt a few things today. I'd like to think that providing this insight is an attempt by Tiburon to encourage players to play and understand proper 'sim' football as opposed to just playing 'video game football' but perhaps I'm giving them too much credit, especially as they're prone to changing their philosophy every f'ing year, more so when the tourney players and kids start bitching about how their money plays/AI exploiting brand of football is no longer a viable option. Then again, previous experience tells me that it won't be long (a couple of weeks at best) before any exploits are known and the game gets ruined again.

So far, so good but given that I have a love/hate relationship with this series, the usual 'early opinions' disclaimer counts for double with this game.

That was longer than I intended, so I'll piss off now in the hope to hit the skills trainer and finally win a game before even considering making this years debut online.

tl;dr Does anyone here really give a shit anyway?

[MarkySharky]

You're right... boring!

[PorcusHawk]

You're right... boring!

Thank you! You've given me something to copy and paste for when/if you post your first impressions of Destiny

[MarkySharky]

Haha! Touché'!

[Odyssey]

Elite:Dangerous

Still very much in beta. This sequel to the long standing Elite franchise is looking to set the bar on space sims.

This generation most of you will know is the return of the space sim. With the current hardware it is finally possible to create realistic space exploration withe all of the thrills of flight and fps combat, dynamic economics and actual space physics.

So how is ED shaping up.

Well its now in its 3rd stage of development now. The Alpha stage came with a £200 entrance fee, premium beta was £100 and now std beta for £50.

Theres alot to love already with ED especially for older elite fans. The immersion of flying in space in vast galaxies is trully special. Managing ship systems and the combat is thrilling.

So far there are approx 50 star systems to explore. The final release will be 400 million. All have trading routes and sub missions to complete.

At the moment because of the amount of people playing the economy is tight in terms of profit margins. This should be resolved with the increase in star systems.

The missions are a little hard as there not fully fleshed out yet so basically the game is a combat orientated experience as this is by far the best way to earn money.

With money you can buy materials to sell to get more money.
Money can be spent on ship upgrades, weapon upgrades, ship repairs and fuel. You can also purchase other ships like traders or fighters etc.

If you enter into illegal activity you may also want to pay off your bounty or risk every bounty hunter wanting a pice of you.

The game is best played using a hotas and a trackir or a Oculas Rift. This makes getting the most out of the game an expensive hobby.

Looking to the future The devs Frontier have promised planetside activities including FPS combat.

The cost of the game coupled with the peripherals that id recommend tirn this from a hobbyist game into a enthusiasts experience.
The only real competitor to ED comes in the form Star Citizen but as SC is so far away from completion ED is without peer.

If space is your thing then look no further.

The price of the beta also comes with the full product at release.

Peripherals recommend are the Saitek X55 Rhino HOTAS or the cheaper X52.

Track IR or Oculas Rift.

[PorcusHawk]

May as well use this thread (seeing as no-one else is :p) rather than the actual game thread.

Managed to put a few hours into Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and I'm loving every minute of it.

First I'll get to what some may consider to be criticism out of the way and that would be a considerable lack of originality. The game is pretty much a complete rip of Assassin's Creed (stealth, moveset etc) and the Arkham series (combat) and it's pretty much those two games with a Middle Earth skin, then again, if you're going to riff of two games then it may as well be two that do what they do so well.

I've not really done much of the main story at all because I've been too busy dicking about, mostly with the Nemesis system (which may result in my fucking up my playthrough eventually, more on that in a moment), so I can't really comment on the narrative.

The environment looks stunning, decent soundtrack, great (albeit subtle) use of the Dualshock speaker and enough side stuff to do, without being overwhelming. I also like how the levelling is handled and the weapon improvement options made available by the runes you collect for toppling a Captain.

The real star of the show and what sets the game apart from anything else in the Nemesis system and whilst it sounded a little too ambitious at first early signs point to Monolith really pulling it off. If it continues as it has, this is the sort of in-depth AI stuff that I wanted/expected from next-gen so I really hope to see other developers embrace and expand further on the idea.

I won't go into too much detail about the Nemesis system as anyone who has read any p/reviews will have a basic grasp on what Monolith are trying to achieve with it, that and I'm still exploring the early possibilities of it myself and I don't have access to all the skills as yet. I will say that even after only a few hours I have now built up a pretty tense love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with a couple of Captains in particular and I look forward to further encounters with them, not easy when the bastards seem to have adopted the habit of rolling with one another.

It's with the aforementioned relationships where I am in danger of fucking up my playthrough (or at least making it extremely difficult). I've fallen victim to these two particular guys a number of times and with each victory they grow stronger so unless I'm able to stop my need for vengeance getting me into ever increasingly dangerous situations, these particular bastards are going to be tormenting me throughout the game and could well become complete powerhouses by the end. Perhaps I should stop dicking around and do a few more main story missions first and level up a little more. Then again, maybe I'm just ensuring that they level up to huge levels so that I can grab a better rune for when I do eventually get the bastards dealt with. Either way, I do (sort of) look forward to meeting these guys again, if only to let the piss-taking SoBs trash talk me.

The system also provides you with missions that give you an opportunity to take on these Captains when they're in a slightly more vulnerable situation, although I've not yet been able to capitalise on that as yet.

If you're a fan of either the AC or Arkham franchises and/or have a love of the lore of Middle Earth then you really do need to check out this game, anyway why buy two (pretty shit sounding) Assassin's Creed games this year when you can get this instead :p. Failing that, IMO the Nemesis system alone is worthy enough to warrant a purchase of the game.

[sorenlorensen]

Sounds great (and from your tweets), TPM.

On topic, my first impressions of FIFA15 (360) are a bit mixed. I almost always play as the finest team in London (West Ham Utd  ) and it is surprisingly great  to play at the Boleyn Ground rather than a generic stadium. Play wise, I'm having some trouble with the control - some players seem like 'Bambi on Ice' and never fully in control. When it works though, it does seem easier to get round he opposition (so, more emphasis on the attack side, than the defence than in previous editions perhaps). I wonder if this may be a reflection of an over emphasis on the skilful players/teams (who I'm sure aren't like baby deer) but that when you choose a team outside the CL and the players don't have the fluidity of Messi, the shine goes off. And, as the song goes, I'm West Ham til I die, so I'm not going to change teams!

Front end is polished, as ever but they've made a change to how you pick formations, which looks more 'shiny' but is more time consuming and all you really need from a formation screen is a list (pedantic I know, but it is really bugging me).

No idea how UT is playing - never play that mode.

[PorcusHawk]

Managed to stick a few hours into Lords of the Fallen this weekend (albeit not as many as I'd have liked) so thought it was time for some initial impressions, I can pretend that someone cares .

First and foremost, there's no denying that this game is a virtual clone/complete rip of the Souls series, admittedly a major selling point for me. Then again, if you're going to clone any franchise you may as well try to take off the best one out there.

Character movement, weapon movesets, hitboxes, level design, atmosphere (albeit, a little less foreboding) and the controls are virtually identical to FROM's masterpieces. However, before you all run off, whilst the game seems to be challenging in places, it is also a lot more forgiving than the profanity-inducing adventures in Lordran etc.

The narrative isn't quite as obtuse as the Souls games but thankfully the developers have still managed to avoid hand-holding so you are still pretty much free to explore at your own pace, with just the occasional locked off areas.

Combat is also very similar to the Souls games with the stamina management block/dodge, attack when possible, block/dodge mechanic being essential to survival. You also have the ranged options as well as class specific magic attacks too, it's also very simple to switch things on the fly, whether you want to go sword and board, double handed weapon, or melee and range. The few bosses I've taken on have been creative and inventive enough, with certainly a lot more effort put into them than those in Dark Souls II.

Levelling is done really well IMO, in that you can chose to spend your XP on building up attribute points or magic points, although you will need those attribute points foremost as wielding magic has minimum requirements (at least in the warrior class which I'm playing as, it's likely different for other classes).

Regarding the XP, the developers have expanded on the 'do I spend or keep my XP' premise in the Souls games. Each enemy you kill adds to your XP multiplyer (capped of course) and this continues until you die or unless you chose to bank that XP at the next checkpoint. You can still access the checkpoints without banking your XP and I love the fact that this mechanic really adds to the risk/reward element of the game. You'll also need that XP to unlock the runes that you collect on your journey, should you wish to add them to your favourite weapon.

I've run into a couple of minor issues, namely the NPC dialogue went silent for a while, however this was solved by a quick reload and the game has crashed once as well, could be any reason for that though and I've not stumbled upon anything game-breaking......yet.

It's fair to say that I'm absolutely loving the game at the moment, if that continues, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that some of you lot pick it up.

Will leave you with a couple of videos, nothing too exciting but just something to give you an idea of what to expect.


Just some exploration from after beating the first boss:




Boss spoilers in this (fourth boss IIRC), but gives an idea of what to expect and what not to do, similar in the vein to what happens when you try to get greedy to Demons/Dark Souls:




And a small side mission (missing the start) with a little more focus on combat with general enemies:




There's also a 15 minute video (which I've not uploaded) of me struggling through enemies that I clearly wasn't levelled enough for, only to get through the fuckers and be meet by a locked door. However, I'll spare you enduring that, whilst saving face in the process

[megablast16]

I care! 

A more forgiving Dark Souls sounds good to me, cool videos too. I might give the game a try.

[CPC6128]

CoD:AW

Single player is great - massive improvement over Ghosts. It's like playing CoD in a the Deus Ex universe. The opening mission was a really good introduction to the game and has set the tone very nicely.

However, the multiplayer is mental. It is so flipping fast. The jumping and leaping takes some getting used to - I'm not sure I'll play much of it. At least Sledgehammer haven't just crapped out a Black Ops clone and tried something different. Knowing how CoD purists are so protective of their game this was quite brave of them.

[PorcusHawk]

Tales of Hearts R arrived earlier today and I've managed to stick a couple of hours into it.

I'll keep this short because no-one here will give a crap but early impressions are very good, albeit coming from a self-confessed Tales fanboy.

Even this early, I'm absolutely loving the characters and there's already some great banter between them so I can't wait to see how their relationships develop. The combat is typically Tales (always a good thing) and is fast-paced and even the presence of random battles, something that always irritated me with JRPGs of old, hasn't bothered me. There is also a fair amount of depth in there, especially when it comes to setting up tactics for AI companions. So many differing options for micro-managing them, if you're into that sort of thing, I am so that's a big plus, whether it'll actually be needed it's far too early to tell.

The narrative has had me gripped from the start too, frequently a rarity in JRPGs so that's also a positive start.

I love the fact that there's the Japanese voice-overs (in fact no English dub option exists) and this is how I feel these types of games should be played, it's always my first port of call if dual audio is present. It's disappointing to see that some fuckwits out there are stating their intentions to boycott the game due to it having no dub, as that may limit the prospect of futher games in the series getting localised.

[sorenlorensen]

I much prefer playing a Japanese language option on an overtly Japanese game

[Odyssey]

CoD:AW

Single player is great - massive improvement over Ghosts. It's like playing CoD in a the Deus Ex universe. The opening mission was a really good introduction to the game and has set the tone very nicely.

However, the multiplayer is mental. It is so flipping fast. The jumping and leaping takes some getting used to - I'm not sure I'll play much of it. At least Sledgehammer haven't just crapped out a Black Ops clone and tried something different. Knowing how CoD purists are so protective of their game this was quite brave of them.

Thats interesting mate as Im finding it much slower than the usual CoD. In fact I think its rather special. I liked Ghosts (not many did) but that game was too octane fueled. Fun for what it was though with decent enough maps. 

CoD AW is as good as a entry as there as ever been. I put it up there with CoD 4 MW and MW2. Sledgehammer have nailed there first attempt. 
I also love the battle packs opps I mean Supply Drops and I love the idea behind the loot. Theres a lot of MP game here what with the All the different modes as well as co-op modes, and with Zombies still to come...yep Im happy with it.

Also PC gamers can get this for £10 using a VPN code.

[Moozo]

It's with the aforementioned relationships where I am in danger of fucking up my playthrough (or at least making it extremely difficult). I've fallen victim to these two particular guys a number of times and with each victory they grow stronger so unless I'm able to stop my need for vengeance getting me into ever increasingly dangerous situations, these particular bastards are going to be tormenting me throughout the game and could well become complete powerhouses by the end. Perhaps I should stop dicking around and do a few more main story missions first and level up a little more. Then again, maybe I'm just ensuring that they level up to huge levels so that I can grab a better rune for when I do eventually get the bastards dealt with. Either way, I do (sort of) look forward to meeting these guys again, if only to let the piss-taking SoBs trash talk me.

Does this actually become a problem, PH?

In the hour or so I put in to begin with I was just going after the same two over and over without much luck. I haven't done too much damage yet but I'm just wondering if I could cause myself a major problem by doing it?

[kerr9000]

One orc on mine has become a total bloody git.. Problem is If I could get him alone I could probably take him but he always turns up when I am stuck fighting a bunch, cant seem to get ro him without getting into some form of issue.

[cal_el]

You'll hit walls of difficulty periodically because the Orcs keep getting stronger. I suggest doing story missions and picking off the weaker leaders to get better upgrades. The key to victory against the stronger Orcs is to plan for them like crazy. Go all Batman on there ass and work out the best runes loadout you need to beat each one, where to trap them or run too when they appear. 

Also use Shadow Strike Kill during combat! Trust me!

[PorcusHawk]

Does this actually become a problem, PH?

In the hour or so I put in to begin with I was just going after the same two over and over without much luck. I haven't done too much damage yet but I'm just wondering if I could cause myself a major problem by doing it?

Not particularly although one of them did continue to give me problems for a while. As Cal said, just continue to level up as best you can and you'll soon get the opportunity to beat the more problematic Captains, be it through increased combat abilities or other skills that will allow you to manipulate other orcs into undermining them.

[MarkySharky]

Really intrigued by No Man's Sky but also very daunted by the prospect of playing it too!

Space games haven't exactly been my thing but I'm finding them more interesting recently for some reason.

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