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 Hi there, and welcome to the Wipeout series! If you never heard of them, well, firstly, shame on you, because they were an excellent set of games that, unlike it's close cousin F-Zero, focussed on technique over sheer speed (although both series had elements that recommend them to players). Also, please don't confuse it with the series of Wii games based on that gameshow, they're really nothing alike. For obvious reasons. There are only a few elements that are definitely consistent within the entire series, but they're pretty much iconic to fans: Venom, Rapier, and Phantom speed-classes, tight corners that require the use of airbrakes, weapons that require running over corresponding pads to temporarily activate (don't ask how they fit them all in) and, of course, the basic idea of the craft themselves. What's that basic idea? They're anti-gravity hovercraft with jet engines strapped on, and armour plating that can somehow survive collisions with solid objects at 500+ MPH. Okay, okay, there's shields involved too, but hard science definitely isn't the focus here, it's going fast and blowing poo poo up. I'll be going through each game in the series up to the PSP era (no PS3, no PS Vita, although that may change, or others might take up the torch when we get there, we'll see how it goes), first showing off the tracks and teams with time trials and single races, then doing the hardest tournament I'm able to finish, holding a goon-race somewhere in between. Due to the way later games work, this formula may get changed up from Fusion onwards. I'll also be showing differences between race classes where there's actually something to show off. Thread Rules - There's no such things as spoilers in this game or series, with one exception: The "plot" of Fusion. Apart from that one element, go hog-wild with the discussion of teams throughout the series, favourites, all that jazz! - More importantly, while I'm good enough at the series to LP them (especially the later games), my name is neither Ami Nakajima or Hellfire of Wipeout Zone, so cries of "Ye're shite!" and suchlike are not appreciated. Especially with the craft in the series that are not well known for their steering abilities. Games List Wip3'out" Wipeout 2097/XL, Wipeout 64 Wip3out Special Edition History of the Series and Intro Vids Wipeout 1 Wipeout 2097 Wip3out SE Timeline of the Universe, According to Jay Part 1 - Before the F3600 Part 2 - A Short One (F3600-F5000) Part 3 - Where the Fun Begins (F5000-F7200) Support Some of the Team! A little segment introduced because people bring interesting things to the thread's attention that help support the people who contributed toward this classic series. JetGrind posted:I haven't seen anyone mention it, but if you're interested CoLD SToRAGE is selling remasters of all of his music from the first two Wipeout games on bandcamp. JamieTheD posted:Ah, here's another feller we've definitely forgotten in giving props to... Andy Whitely. Andy is pretty much responsible for most of the designs in Wipeout 3, and also for a track that we're going to love to hate (among others). So go visit his site, look at his amazing animations, and give props, a'ight? JamieTheD posted:Aye, working on putting together the two most important vids before prototypes, but in the meantime, something that's going to be added to the thread, for everyone's enjoyment. As part of the 20th anniversary of Wipeout, WipeoutZone got a lil' prezzie from an ex Wipeout dev: The original Design Document. You can find it Here, and it's a helluva read. Especially of note are the technical designs... See, there are differences between the craft! Future Racing Is Weird A little segment in which I and a co-commentator go through some of the "greats" of Futuristic Racing, mainly those to do with hovering vehicles in some fashion. Part 1 - Hi-Octane and the Slipstream GX Oct '13 Demo Part 2 - MegaRace and P.O.D. Part 3 - Pyroblazer and Slipstream 5000 Part 4 - Jet Ion GP and Future Racer Part 5 - Gear Grinder/Sledgehammer Part 6 - LocoCycle Part 7 - Hover Ace and Nitronic Rush Part 8 - Quantum Rush: Champions (Stream) LPer's Note Due to a combo of RL and the Dreaded LP Curse, the rest of the series has been delayed. One day, perhaps, I will return to the Wipeout series. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Sep 25, 2016 |
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Sep 21, 2013 01:52
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Wipeout (1995 [PS1, PC], 1996 [Saturn], Psygnosis Interactive and The Designers Republic) When it first came out, Wipeout was a sensation, almost instantly hitting Number 1 on every format it came out on. Even though it's been largely forgotten except by a handful of hardcore fans, the first game still ages well, gameplay wise, and shows many of the features, in-embryo, that would go on to make the series great: Handling that's deliberately slightly floaty, mostly wedge shaped Anti-Gravity rocket-cars shooting round a specially constructed track blowing the poo poo out of each other, and the importance of air-brakes. But, since this was the first game, then developers Psygnosis and the Designers Republic hadn't entirely got their poo poo together, both in terms of gameplay and track design. Weapons don't kill, they only stall, and hitting the walls can be perfectly fine so long as you don't hit them too hard. You can also catch a ride on a boost pad immediately afterwards, but this game contains not one, but two extremely unfair tracks out of its seven track repertoire. It also didn't have all the speed classes of the later games, instead only having Venom (slowish) , and Rapier (which is a fair bit faster). Little changes except the viciousness of the AI and the speed, but that's enough to make this game extremely challenging. The game, afaik, has been available on the PSP and PS3's PlayStation Network since 2007. So, How's This Gonna Go? Firstly, I'll be demonstrating the tracks, one each update (time trial and single race), and using a different craft for the first four. Then I'll be switching to the other pilots of each team for the last two normal tracks (God help me), then we'll be racing for the championships, and we'll have the Update List Wipeout 1 History and Intro Individual Tracks Track 1: Altima VII, Canada (Paul Jackson, 2nd Pilot FEISAR) Track 2: Karbonis V, Japan (Arial Tetsuo, Lead Pilot, Auricom Industries) Track 3: Terramax, Germany (Arian Tetuso, 2nd Pilot, Qirex) Track 4: Korodera, Russia (Daniel Chang, 2nd Pilot, AG Systems) Track 5: Arridos IV, USA (Anastasia Cherovoski, 2nd Pilot, Auricom) Track 6: Silverstream, Greenland (Sofia De La Rente, Lead Pilot, FEISAR) Track 7: Firestar (Kel Solaar, Qirex) Tournament The Rapier Tournament (John Dekka, Lead Pilot, AG Systems) Important Info Opposite Braking Explained Why Silverstream Just Ain't Fair What Little Is Left (Cheats, Version Differences) Bonus Videos Why I Hate First Person (Wipeout 1) Weapons of the Game  MINES - Five mines, laid out one roughly every .3 seconds. Low speed loss individually, but racks up quickly. SHOCKWAVE/ELECTRO BOLT - Adds control lag, and slows down the craft. Only really useful in two-player mode, as the AI doesn't get affected by the control lag. Otherwise, locks on like the missile, below. MISSILE - Hands down the most dangerous weapon in the game. Sure, it only does medium slowdown, but it locks on, and in less than a second, at that! Only way to avoid these is to put a corner between you (it doesn't turn so good), another racer between you (doesn't always work), or speed out of range before they fire (unlikely, but it acts like a dumbfire rocket in those cases). SHIELD - Possibly the most useful powerup in the game. 5 seconds of a shield that blocks all weapons fire, and mitigates crash slowdown somewhat. Really annoying sound, and an extremely annoying filter in first person though. It doesn't help that you can't use any other weapon or utility when it's on, too. But hey, it might save your bacon. DUMBFIRE ROCKET - Goes straight ahead, effectively brings what it hits to a complete halt. Remember, though, it spawns under the ship, so you shouldn't do it at the end of a jump or with your nose down, as that makes it hit the track to no effect. TURBO BOOST - Only other utility pickup. Gives the effect of 3 boost pads for about three seconds. Since it's only situationally useful, it's less useful than the Shield. But not by much, since a good turbo can win you races. REVCON - If you use this in two-player, you are an irredeemable dickbag. Why? Because it reverses the controls for five seconds. Only exists in two-player mode. ECM - Winner of "Best Icon In The Game", the ECM disables the other player's ability to use and pick up weapons for five seconds. Only exists in two-player, and makes me sad that this is so. The manual only states "What's this?!?" for a description, allowing players to troll and claim "They didn't know what it did."
JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Nov 14, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 01:53
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Track 1: Altima VII Text Link (YouTube) MUSIC: Messij, by Cold Storage (YT Link) Altima VII, in Canada, is Babby's First Track. It shows the basic concepts of how various track features work, like tunnels, climbs, and jumps, and begins to induct you into the dark art of good attitude control (As we'll see, there are many Dark Arts to be learned.) It's also a fairly wide track for Wipeout, with very little narrowing, and no splits. However, as we'll see, it already has a few tight curves. Pilot: Paul Jackson, FEISAR  I won't even try defending the character art. This is one of the reasons why... It doesn't matter which pilot you pick, but if you want something that can handle all but the tightest of corners without air-brakes (thus giving you bad habits), the Feisar LS-5600 Mk IV is the craft for you. It's got high acceleration, allowing you to recover from mistakes quickly, and while it can't literally turn on a dime, it's one of the few craft that can take a lot of corners without airbrakes. Unfortunately, it also has the worst top speed, and the low mass means that attitude control is extremely important to handle it properly. As a pilot, Paul Jackson is only remarkable because, beyond his birth year of 2016, nothing is revealed about his history. He's the 2nd Pilot for Feisar, and supposedly their best kept secret. Jay's FEISAR FactSheet How do you play with a Feisar? Dirty. Dick over your opponents in any way you humanly can, because the only team that has better acceleration than you is AG Systems, and everybody has a better top speed. Use your mobility to its limits, hone your racing line, and remember: FEISAR craft only win in Rapier tournaments with aggressive combat tactics! JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Sep 21, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 01:54
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Woot! Seen a lot of these (although never in any real depth) but never got to play them. Cheers, sir! 
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Sep 21, 2013 03:42
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Samizdata posted:Woot! Seen a lot of these (although never in any real depth) but never got to play them. Cheers, sir! Well, you're in luck, because Wipeout 1 is fairly cheap to get hold of (for PS1, at least), and, even if you don't have a PS1, the latest version of PCSX-Reloaded not only emulates it very well, but can actually improve the graphics (as seen in this vid) and has link play capability (admittedly, via direct IP, but it is there). Remember folks, you can't emulate stuff legally without having the disc for real, and preferably also having the console you emulate for real too. So, for those who want to play along, it's never been easier... In fact, I'm relying on some of you lovely goons to be willing to play along and record yourselves, because, as I mention in the OP, there's going to be a goon-race! It'll be in two brackets per speed class, with 7 players (plus me) in each class. I'm not going to say what tracks are going to be raced yet, but there'll be one relatively easy track for the class (Bracket 1), and one harder track (Bracket 2). Rapier Bracket 2 goons be warned, it's going to be a hard run, for reasons that will become clear (and you will hate me, slightly less when you realise you're probably going to show me up in that one rather badly) Also, if anyone wants to post their attempts at link racing with a mate on any of the tracks we've already covered, I'd be happy to note them down as bonus content, and, while I'm not promising anything, there may be avatars in the future of both winning/losing goonracers, and some of the link-racers. We'll see how that (and my bank balance) goes. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Oct 5, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 03:53
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JamieTheD posted:Well, you're in luck, because Wipeout 1 is fairly cheap to get hold of (for PS1, at least), and, even if you don't have a PS1, the latest version of PCSX-Reloaded not only emulates it very well, but can actually improve the graphics (as seen in this vid) and has link play capability (admittedly, via direct IP, but it is there). Remember folks, you can't emulate stuff legally without having the disc for real, and preferably also having the console you emulate for real too. Let me see what I can do shopping and emulationwise. As long as you promise me there's no way to burn myself alive...
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Sep 21, 2013 05:27
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And is this an okay point to bring up the semi-cameo?
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Sep 21, 2013 05:33
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I came expecting obstacles and water and left with a lot of nostalgia. I remember this game well.
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Sep 21, 2013 05:47
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Samizdata posted:And is this an okay point to bring up the semi-cameo? I've got no problems with it, I'm going to be showing off what I can eventually, and, as the thread says, only one thing in the series isn't for spoiling. Samizdata posted:Let me see what I can do shopping and emulationwise. As long as you promise me there's no way to burn myself alive... In real life, I'm pretty sure there isn't any directly connected with this (please don't prove me wrong). In the game? Yeah, definitely no 'sploding yourself, that's the next game onwards. And believe me, from Gare D'Europa (XL) onwards, there will be 'sploding myself. If only because it's entertaining! JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 10:29 on Sep 21, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 10:21
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Does the real game have this much slowdown? I'm noticing a lot of hickups on straightaways.
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Sep 21, 2013 13:31
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YourAverageJoe posted:Does the real game have this much slowdown? I'm noticing a lot of hickups on straightaways. Not as much, no, although the graphics quality is much lower on anything else except the OEM edition for the Sony Vaio laptops with Rage 3D cards (which has its own problems, and is a bitch to find in any case). Most of the slowdown you see is, to be fair, due to FRAPS as opposed to the emulation itself. Also, some of these hiccups are not actually slowdown, but graphical glitches that would not normally be noticed without sprite smoothing. The leadup to the starting grid, for example, is an interesting one, as it's quite clear the mesh isn't drawn quite right on that approach, but it's only noticable when, as mentioned, the sprite smoothing is enabled. Generally, though, the game is mostly at this speed, regardless of frame rate (PCSXR without sprite smoothing pulls around 50 FPS, with, it still manages 35, with no noticable overall speed loss. It does, as you say, hiccup occasionally) I do promise that you're getting, overall, around the same experience as you would get with the original game on Venom class for PS1, trading quality for a small amount of speed loss. As a side note, I would not recommend the PC version to people: It's not very hard to run in DOSBox, but the 320x200 resolution is acutely painful, pixellating the track more than the original PS1 version, and making that hard right before the left into the tunnel nigh unreadable. The Saturn version apparently had similar problems, which surprised me somewhat. EDIT: But at least it's not XL, whose PC version had no futureproofing whatsoever (a common thing for the period, sadly), requiring you to jump through way too many hoops for the final experience compared to the PS1 release. EDIT 2: However, something that may be giving the impression of slowdowns is the somewhat awkward way it copes with the low draw distance of the PS1... I've noticed that a lot of the places where it looks like a hiccup, it's exactly when the newest grid section of the track is being drawn, which definitely looks jerky if you are, like me, looking ahead towards where you're supposed to be going on straights. Essentially, what I'm saying there is that the track suddenly appearing in chunks, as opposed to smaller, more discrete segments, makes it look choppier than it is, and this graphical effect is, sadly, definitely on all versions of the game except the PC one (which has its own problems, as I mentioned) JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Sep 21, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 14:09
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JamieTheD posted:I've got no problems with it, I'm going to be showing off what I can eventually, and, as the thread says, only one thing in the series isn't for spoiling. Well, in the movie Hackers (which I admit is a guilty pleasure of mine), the infamous video game scene was a prototype of Wipeout running on SGI gear.
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Sep 21, 2013 18:34
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JamieTheD posted:The Saturn version apparently had similar problems, which surprised me somewhat. I am not entirely surprised. I think one of the reasons the Saturn failed was that the developers for it seemed to be lazy with the potential the platform offered. I am not saying the Saturn is the end all be all of consoles, but in my opinion, the games I saw versus what it seem the Saturn could offer were all that impressive over all. EDIT: quote:EDIT: But at least it's not XL, whose PC version had no futureproofing whatsoever (a common thing for the period, sadly), requiring you to jump through way too many hoops for the final experience compared to the PS1 release. I loved Psygnosis, but by and large, IMO, once the Amiga faded away, their non-Amiga games really didn't seem to rock the house like the Amiga ones did.
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Sep 21, 2013 18:38
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Oh, hell yes. Wipeout was one of my first racing loves and to this day I still love the series as a whole. A friend picked up a Vita and the Wipeout game it launched with and I loved the opening for it. I am going to be watching this thread very closely.
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Sep 21, 2013 21:27
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Timeline of the Wipeout Universe Part 1: Before the F3600 Now, although it's rarely, if ever noted in game, the Wipeout series does have an interesting world with some deeply implied backstory, mostly told in the manuals for the games, press releases, and the (mostly defunct) game websites themselves. Wipeout Central, the wiki for the series, put together a mostly complete timeline, but I'm going to add some of the things they missed, such as racer birthdates and the like. Note that most of these "events" are only noted by year, as this is the way they were noted in the manuals. So, here's a rough key as to what comes from where: (WO) is from the Wipeout 1 Manual, while (W48) is from Wipeout 2048. These are our only two real sources for the events leading up to F3600 Anti-Gravity Racing League, and it covers both games (even though I'm most likely not). Also, sometimes I will have informative or tongue in cheek (fake) additions, noted like this. Please note, though, I do love the series (I wouldn't LP a game unless I loved or despised it), and thus, this is mostly friendly ribbing. (WO) ???? - Anastasia Cherevoski is born in Russia. The Russian government, already knowing how scary and dangerous she is, immediately denies all knowledge of her birth. (W48) 2004 - Pierre Belmondo, auteur, inventor, and pioneer of Anti-Gravity vehicles (with the side effect of the AG Racing Leagues) is born in the Poitiou-Charentes region of France. It is said that chubby, neckbearded angels heralded his coming with a combination of beatboxing and brightly coloured glowsticks. (WO) 2012 - Kel Solaar, ace pilot, weapons expert, and herald of the End Times is born in Russia. He protects his mother from a bear by headbutting it to death. (WO) 2014 - John Dekka is born in Amurrca. Nobody cares, because his background is boring. (WO) 2017 - The mysterious Paul Jackson is born. Even his mother isn't sure what the hell happened. (WO) May 4th, 2018 - Dr. Fraser of the World Technology Symposium tells the collected crowd that UFOs spotted in recent times are, in fact, anti-gravity craft being developed by certain groups to "enhance weaponry capabilities". He declares this with the hope that peaceful research will follow. He is laughed out of his job, although Michelle De Silva, science writer for The Times, covers the story. It was the beginning of the silly season, after all, and no otters on skateboards had been seen recently. (W48) 2021 - Pierre drops out of university to join what was then considered a crackpot organisation, the Foundation for European Industrial Science and Anti-Gravity Research. Belmondo is named director of the Anti-Gravity Research division just three years later, in 2024. (Note: This canonically conflicts with the rest of the timeline, so it's safe to assume that FEISAR is, at this point, the EU branch of AG Systems.) (WO) 2024 - Not just one, but three AG racers in waiting are born! Sophia De La Rente, in France, and the Tetsuo twins, in Japan. Arial and Arian's rivalry begins here, with Arial being born first. A common phrase from Arian is "Stupid Arial, doing everything first!", pretty much throughout her lifetime. (WO) November 25th, 2024 - Seeing as Dr. Fraser is no longer with them, the World Technology Symposium denounces anti-gravity research as "inefficient", "unsuitable for mass transport", and "not 'cost effective'". Tessa Deakin of the Future Transport campaign makes a counter-accusation that this is directly linked to a hike in fuel taxes by a government clinging to fossil fuels. Republicans and Conservatives alike snicker at such a statement of the obvious. A memo sent from the North American AG research team to Pierre Belmondo the next day (revealed a few years later) pretty much says "Y'know, gently caress 'em, we can do this. NA AG is behind you 100%." (WO) October 24th, 2034 - Unsurprisingly, the Amurrcan government is a little slow to realise this, but when it does find out, a PR rep (Geena Dawkins... No relation) goes on "Hello USA!", a popular talk show, and publicly both denounces AG Systems, and calls for a public audit of the corporation. AG Systems researcher Claude Mantelberger sadly dies... Choking on his cheeseburger due to laughing so hard. (WO) April 15th, 2035 - The first prototype AG racer, the Nx-1000, is demonstrated in the Nevada desert. Government officials poo poo themselves left, right, and center, as they realised they hosed up bigtime. Big Oil feels a disturbance in the Force, as if millions of tax-dollars had cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced (this is actually semi-serious, as the next government related historical note shows.) Michael McDonald, science journo for The European Daily Comment, leads the cries of "Who are the fraudsters now?". It's actually a well written paragraph of purple prose, I'd recommend finding the manual just for that!. The Amurrcan government is forced to repeal its fuel tax on May 30th, 2035, and other governments are expected to follow now that affordable flying (well, hovering) cars are going to be a reality soon. If Nitronic Rush were a part of the Wipeout universe, its time would sadly end around here. (W48) 2036 - FEISAR is officially formed (As opposed to when it blatantly formed earlier.) It will, in a very British way, shut down 6 years later, and then reform itself once another country takes America's dominance of a product away from them. (WO) February 2nd, 2038 - Tessa Deakin turns the  dial up to 11, as both the World Technology Symposium and the American government collapse under the weight of equally crushing debts and accusations. It is deeply implied in the rest of the series that this was where we welcomed an age of Corporate Hegemony. Unconfirmed reports also had worldwide rain, spontaneous opening of noodle shops run by bald, bearded japanese men, human-like androids that only lived 5 years, and widespread combat between corporations and "Cyberpunks" at this time.(W48/WO) 2040 - AG Systems is officially founded. Pierre Belmondo is named its CEO. (W48/WO) 2042 - The european team who became FEISAR shuts down. In the same year, AG Systems is acquired by a Japanese consortium, and Pierre Belmondo happily goes with them. This leaves both America and Europe in the lurch, and Europe is the first to respond by forming FEISAR officially. Unfortunately for them, they were the European Confederation by then, and so the team forever after suffered because the pencil pushers of various countries couldn't agree on where the HQ should stay. Little known fact: Many FEISAR researchers are taken from nomadic tribes. There's less culture shock that way, as they have to move their entire operation every few months. (W48/WO) 2044 - Two things happen at this point. Firstly, a small Brazilian company called Pir-Hana (a merger of two separate companies) forms. They then have a meeting with Pierre Belmondo, proposing the idea of an Anti-Gravity Racing Championship. Pierre, loving the idea of a peaceful application of his technology which also entertains people, immediately sets this into motion, and the AG Racing League is formed. Datacast celebrity Dirk Breakwater is hired as Director of the League Commission. He not only does a fair job during his tenure, he's photogenic too! (WO) June 8th, 2044 - By this time, the allure of AG vehicles for racing purposes had become widespread. An example of this came from racing fanzine "Race Dayz", with writer "Biz News" (I swear, I'm not making this up!) claiming "Be assured, Motor Racing is DEAD - You can ride 'em to work or ride 'em into the ground... Just make sure you're riding one somewhere!" I can only assume he had a side job with "HALLOOO (NURSE)!" magazine... (WO) 2045 - Delia Flaubert and Holst McQueen, both head researchers at AG Systems, are kicked out of the company due to their long standing and extremely disruptive row over the direction AG Systems should take. Holst McQueen believes in a more profit led existence (somewhat offending Belmondo's utopian ideals), while Delia Flaubert takes a stance somewhat closer to her boss's. Regardless of sympathies, both are forced to take their Golden Handshakes, and form their own companies. Holst moves to Russia and forms Qirex Industries first (backed by the Russian government... Which totally won't bite Qirex in the arse later on...) Delia is a little more deliberate, forming Auricom Industries in good ol' Amurrca. The two now have entire corporations at their disposal, and continue their bitchfit at each other on a larger scale. Pierre Belmondo's facepalm is heard around the world, with the exception of two people. (W48) 2048 - The first Anti-Gravity Racing Championship (the AGRC) is held in Nova State City (Basically Neo New York). This is where Wipeout 2048 is set. (WO) 2050 - Pierre Belmondo, seeing people make all kinds of god-drat craft for the AGRC, calls for standardisation (much like the F1). As such, the F3600 is created. Dirk Breakwater introduces the first tournament, claiming it to be bigger than the World Cup or the Olympic Games in June, 2050. Football hooligans all over the world see the writing on the wall, and weep openly at the forthcoming demise of 'The Greatest Game' (The Hooliganism World Cup 2050 is cancelled, and the rest of the football fans sigh in relief). (WO) 2052 - This is where Wipeout 1 begins. So no more history until we're done with this game. Pir-hana mysteriously pull out of the F3600 before we can even see them, but provide braking technology to both AG Systems and Auricom. Nobody views this as suspicious in any way. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 03:55
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So you can't have hovercart racing without crushing corporate dystopia? Man, Mario Kart just got really bleak.
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Sep 22, 2013 05:14
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Okay, so I finally got the history and intro video up, enjoy! Well... If that's the right term. 
JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 17:05
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This seems incredibly chill for a high-speed anti grav battle race. I'm intrigued!
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Sep 24, 2013 07:17
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Danger-Pumpkin posted:This seems incredibly chill for a high-speed anti grav battle race. I'm intrigued! Just wait until we get to the later games. You will see how mistaken you are. 
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Sep 24, 2013 08:31
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Bloody Pom posted:Just wait until we get to the later games. You will see how mistaken you are. To be fair though, the lowest difficulty has always been pretty chill, sometimes to the point of not really being much of a race. Still, because I'm off tomorrow on a wonderful dentist/job interview adventure, I'll be posting the second update now, instead of Fridays when I usually would. So enjoy Karbonis V, in the mountains of Japan! Track 2: Karbonis V  Text Link (YouTube) Music: Operatique – Cold Storage Karbonis V is the first time you realise that airbrakes are important, as the corners here are tight, there are quite a few chicanes, and some of the thinner sections mean that the AI's shenanigans will definitely screw you over if you're not on the ball. A skill not really mentioned in this video, but one that will remain useful throughout the entire series, is opposite braking. I'll do a post on the braking mechanics of this series later in the LP. As a side-note, the maps in the loading screens never outright lie, as such... But as we'll see in later races, they sometimes give you an impression of being easier than they are...  Not the best picture of Arial, really... Pilot: Arial Tetsuo, Lead Pilot, Auricom Despite Feisar being the grand-daddies of AG Racing, Auricom are often considered to be the “Good Guys” of the Wipeout series, and Arial Tetsuo is at least part of the reason. She's bouncy, she's bubbly, and by the time of Wipeout 2097, she became politically successful after retiring from AG Racing in the mid 2050s, was almost universally loved, and then she got assassinated, while opening (of all things) an egg bar. We'll see a little more of her next game, despite this. She's also stupidly young for a racer , at 22, and her twin sister is 2nd Pilot for another team (Qirex), making them bitter rivals. Now, the Auricom AG racer is... Pretty blah. It's called the A.R. 2700 Model B, and it has a lovely turning rate, requiring air-brakes for some really simple corners, it's got crap acceleration, which means you have to be skilled, and it's the heaviest craft of all, which is both an up- and a down-side. On the up-side, it doesn't bounce as much when you hit the ground, and doesn't fly as far from a jump. But that last bit can be a killer if you gently caress up on some tracks. To make up for that, skilled pilots will find it has the second highest top speed, which means that they'll be pushing the competition into the dirt if they can go a while without getting stalled. And that is the trouble. As far as racing style goes? Technical racing is the way to go with the Auricom. It's not as nippy, handling wise, as the AGS or the FEISAR craft, but, unlike the Qirex, it can still dodge craft if you're handy with the controls. There is one little gem among the specifications for this craft and the AGS one that doesn't seem important, but will become so in the context of the next game in the series: Both their air-brake models are by corporation from Brazil called Pir-hana (later Piranha). Jay's Auricom FactSheet! EDIT: An important qualifier to the Fun Fact in this FactSheet - When it comes to Qirex, or anyone they see as "corrupting" AG Racing, all bets are off! JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 12:01 on Sep 24, 2013 |
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Sep 24, 2013 11:45
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I just realised something... We're drifting down a mountain-side, in Japan, in the 90s. That would inevitably make this track the better soundtrack choice. 
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Sep 24, 2013 12:04
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It's interesting seeing a curve that you have to work out how to take three-dimensionally.
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Sep 25, 2013 02:22
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It'd be interesting to see you go through something like Eau Rouge/Radillon while having to maintain pitch control, actually... Psygnosis have to have put such a corner in, surely. For anyone unfamiliar with it (and the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit), it's a sharp S-bend at the bottom of a depression, so you flick left-right-left with the first turn being downhill and the second uphill. You can also add me to the people who expected Wipeout to be, well, faster.
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Sep 25, 2013 10:33
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I think it might seem faster if we were controlling it? I mean, from our perspective, it's a vehicle hovering around a track. We don't have to make all the little control calculations that Jamie does when he plays, so the impact of the speed is diminished. I think it's relaxing and groovy though, so I don't mind.
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Sep 25, 2013 19:52
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Keep in mind that this is the venom class and in the rapier class all the stats are increased.
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Sep 25, 2013 20:21
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Ahh, good, speed talk! This is good talk, and is a good point to reiterate part of the plan, and talk about speed classes!Major_JF posted:Keep in mind that this is the venom class and in the rapier class all the stats are increased. Not just that, Major... As far as I am aware, for this game only, all speed stats are doubled. This means several things. The most obvious is: You go real fast, but slightly less obvious is the fact that the handling stats do not appear to be increased that much at all. They are increased, but definitely not by as much. How do I know this? The Qirex is just as bricky as before (and, as we'll see next vid, it's bricky), so no noticable improvement, but the FEISAR craft? Not only is the speed gap between the FEISAR and the leader (Qirex) larger than before (making you literally the slowest thing on the track), the FEISAR's already dream like handling becomes over-responsive. So the FEISAR, in Rapier, is suddenly much harder to control than say, the Auricom craft. I will be demonstrating the Rapier class (all seven tracks in one go, no less!) with the AG Systems craft (because I know I'm not skilled enough for Silverstream with a Qirex), so you will get to see how fast this game gets. But it is definitely not the fastest the series ever gets, as, while these speed classes are technically in the middle of the road (It goes, for most of the series: Vector (poo poo) -> Venom (Average) -> Rapier (Fastish) -> Flash (Not always in the games, but fast) -> Phantom (FUUUUUUUU-)) , Venom in this game is equivalent to Vector in the rest, and Rapier is equivalent to Venom. So it can get quite fast, and we'll see a lot more of that as the series goes on. Since craft explosions are a thing from the second game onwards, expect death montages for certain tracks... Ilanin posted:It'd be interesting to see you go through something like Eau Rouge/Radillon while having to maintain pitch control, actually... I am pretty sure there is indeed such a painful chicane, but it is, as far as I'm aware, in one of the games where the controls are at their most responsive (the PSP games). If I recall, it's still a pain in the arse, though, and only gets harder on higher speed classes. Anyways, next update will be Friday, and we'll be facing Terramax in the Qirex... Where we'll be demonstrating both how forgiving Venom is in this game, and how your race can (potentially) go from won to lost, in just one jump... EDIT: Also realised what part of the problem is. Recording something, be back tomorrow to show you... JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Sep 28, 2013 |
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Sep 28, 2013 14:08
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Okay, so, while this game definitely isn't the fastest in the series (that would be Wipeout XL on PC without the frame limiter patch, which makes it seem like you start on Rapier), it does have something every game in the series has, and I hate this feature with a passion, especially in the first game. It redeems itself a little in later games, but not enough for me to like it. So, here it is, folks... Wipeout 1 Bonus: Why I Hate First Person Music: Doh-T, by Cold Storage Tentative, also by Cold Storage To sum up the most salient points: - The Qirex and Auricom have slightly more finicky hitboxes, which, in first person, gimps you a bit, along with the handling. - Because of the camera position (centre underside of the craft facing forward), it's hard to judge some corners and jumps. - There is no cue at all for being Shockwaved/Electro Bolted, and the visual cue for being shielded is annoying as hell.
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Sep 29, 2013 10:07
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Okay, Rapier is definitely faster. And 1st person makes the whole thing seem more disorienting and intense. Possibly to the point of confusion!
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Sep 30, 2013 01:40
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Oh drat yeah, the WipEout games. I feel bad for finding the thread so late! The nostalgia this thread is filling me with...I can't think of a more appropriate series for positing where teenaged Choco's mentality was at. For a hot minute the cyberpunk movement was completely where it was at for the kids, and I recall the days in high school with me and my friends trying to out-impress each other by the stupidest little not-quite-legal bits of information we would mine from the bbs and newsgroup wild west era of the 'net, harmless things like drug use tips and phone phreaking ideas (funny how that concept is pretty much a dinosaur in the world of wireless,) both of which mostly just gleaned from "The Anarchist's cookbook" written a long time earlier, thinking we were so edgy, and sticking it to the man, just because we could do change the screen-saver on the school computer labs (Read: Typing class on Windows 3.0 systems) to "Hack the Planet". (In truth, I could barely find my way around a rar file at the time). "Hackers" was like, speaking to us, man! "Electronica" music (nobody who actually listened to the various dance sub-genres actually used that MTV-created umbrella term) was the stuff they didn't play on the radio, but would be the soundtrack to your all-night jolt-cola fueled chat room adventures. Parents didn't understand what you were doing, and that's how you liked it, you were a rebel, man! In truth, you were hoping that maybe you'd meet a girl or two, and maybe look cool. We really had no idea what we were doing. But still, the WipEout series seemed to be on the cutting edge of trying to grab that subculture and run with it. (And lurking behind that, gasp! A REALLY good racing series!) They managed to start snagging in top name bands in the techno field for the soundtrack, and a full fledged soundtrack in the PS1 era was pretty much unheard of. These were real bands, with real professional music videos and tours and everything. And they were bands I was already listening to. The game had my attention before I started playing it. Here's where things start getting funny in my personal history. I was never a racing fan, not really. Also, after the NES, I was a Sega kid. I had the Genesis, and all it's inbred offspring of systems. I never played F-Zero, so I had no experience with futuristic racing. Then, I chose Saturn in that generation. WipEout was pretty rare in my neck of the woods on Saturn. Instead, I got the Saturday Morning Cartoon version in Cyber Speedway, not in and of itself a terrible game, but weak in every way to the far superior series. Finally, eventually I jumped ship and got a PSX after Final Fantasy VII started making the system a household name, and by that point WipEout XL was already on the shelves. So I never got much of a chance to play the original. But holy poo poo did I play the hell out of the next 2 games. I'm still not much of a race fan, but I love WipEout. In my neck of the woods, the games were actually often rare to find. I've barely dabbled in Fusion, and I never had any of the other systems the games came out on, so I mostly stuck to Wip3out XL and Wip3out. Both games are incredible, and I try to play them every now and again. Though I've moved 4 times since originally having a playstation, my copies still sit on the shelf behind me as I speak. If you're still running races after you're through with the first game, I might be tempted to jump in. On the other hand, I'm hardly an expert at the games. Hell, all these years, and I don't think I ever actually realized that pitch was that important. But then again, I also constantly race in first person, so what do I know?
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Sep 30, 2013 03:27
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Yeah, Rapier is indeed faster, but as I've said, this is not the fastest game in the series. It's gonna get fun later on! Choco, that was a great story, thanks for sharing it! You're perfectly welcome to race from XL onwards, although I do think you're a crazy man for racing first person.  Yeah, fun fact, the reversed E is often in the series, but, to confuse people, Wipeout 3 is literally called "Wip3out" (hence adding the quote marks in the thread OP). That game is, afaik, the one with the biggest number of team choices. As to Fusion... Weeeelll, we'll get to that. I personally like it, but that game was divisive as hell, for a number of reasons. In other news, some people have requested I get a co-commentator, and lo, your prayers shall be answered! Dunno if he's gonna be with us the whole way, but either way, you're hopefully going to get the same amount of info with a lot less "um"! And we shall learn about the thing a Wipeout player needs... And the things they dread.
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Sep 30, 2013 11:01
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Wipeout Pulse/HD Fury have the biggest selection if you don't count Pure's DLC packs. It's a drat shame you aren't planning to do HD Fury, because I've played this series since Wipeout 2097 and it's my favorite by a wide margin.
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Sep 30, 2013 20:42
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Okay, guess who forgot that he had a dentist appointment this Friday, and so is updating early again? Yep! Track 3: Terramax  Text Link MUSIC: Wipeout (Petrol Mix) – Orbital GUEST COMMENTATOR: The Mighty Biscuit Terramax is one of the nastier tracks in the game, because of a particularly demanding jump at the end of each lap. Get hit anywhere near it, and it's a lot of time loss for you! There's also one blind corner, but once you learn the trick of it, it'll never trip you up again. It doesn't help that the AI can and will play it Kamikaze-style, dicking both themselves and you over just so you don't get first if they get the chance. Don't ever give them that chance. Pilot: Arian Tetsuo, 2nd Pilot, Qirex  Arian is, sadly, only really notable because of the bitter rivalry with her twin sister, the ultra popular Arial Tetsuo. Seeing as the canonical winner of this tournament was Auricom, we can safely assume that her description of “Bitter rival, underdog, and twin sister” is all that people remember, although, again canonically, this rivalry, and the one between Kel Solaar (lead, Qirex) and Anastasia Cherovoski (2nd pilot, Auricom) boosted AG Racing very much into the public spotlight. After all, half the reason american wrestling is popular is because it's got the same rivalries (albeit mostly scripted), right? The Qirex craft (Quantax Design Model 4) is the “hard mode” of the game. Terrible acceleration and turning speed means that air brakes are a must, but its top speed is the best in the game, and it's only slightly heavier than average. If you can master this one, you're going to win despite staying near the rear for most of the first lap. Personally? I loving hate the thing. It steers like a god-drat barge, and opposite braking (a skill we'll discuss below) is a must. Still, if you're going to take on the Rapier tournament, Qirex is pretty much the best choice, as the differences in top speeds only becomes bigger, the faster the class. Style wise, the Qirex requires you've mastered pretty much every skill in the game, including the final “Dark Art” of the game, Opposite Braking. I've illustrated it below, but basically, if you've got quick fingers, you can shift directions on the air-brakes to swiftly correct an oversteer. It's an extremely drifty craft, and timing is essential. Due to its lack of acceleration and maneuverability, it's also extremely important to know how to fire your weapons in such a way that you can successfully pass a racer instead of slamming into them after they're hit... Fail in this, and they're better off than you are, even if it's another Qirex you just rammed. Jay's Qirex Fact Sheet Opposite Braking Explained Opposite Braking is the final "Dark Art" of the game, and it's an essential skill if you want to beat higher race classes throughout the series. Now, even though this is pretty logical, it does deserve a bit of explanation. The airbrakes in this game work in a very specific way, a very logical way, but not necessarily an intuitive way. It goes as follows:  Airbrake in the same direction as you turn, and you turn more sharply. You lose speed, but the point is to actually take the corner instead of losing more speed by hitting the wall and/or another racer, and making up some of that speed by covering less actual distance. You can also turn with air-brakes on their own, but the effect is actually kind of pathetic, and also loses you speed. Never do that last one, it's poo poo. Also, reserve your airbrakes for turns of more than 60 degrees, unless there's a boost pad along the way. You won't be doing yourself any favours by ignoring that as a general rule (obviously, exceptions exist. They're called chicanes.)  Airbrake the opposite direction to your turn, and you lose a little speed and a lot of turning capability. This is so rarely useful, but so easy to do without practice, that it's more an excuse to throw your controller at the TV than anything else. But, as we'll see, it does have a use. Every other time, it both slows you down and fucks your turning circle.  If you make a sharp turn with the air-brakes, you will also be moved laterally (that is, sideways) in the opposite direction of the one you're turning in. The higher the ship's mass, the more pronounced this effect is. So far, so still reasonable. However, as we see in this video, hitting a wall when turning or sliding, especially in a tunnel, means lots of "fun" (Yes, the bad kind of fun.)  So the ideal method of Opposite Braking is to (using the example of a sharp left), hard air-brake turn left, then quickly hammer the opposite air-brake to cut your sideways motion into the leftmost wall. Time it just right, and you will suddenly straighten out with relatively minimal speed loss. Time it wrong, and you'll cut your turn too early, smacking into the wall head on. The precise timing is exactly why I call this a Dark Art (IE- A mystery to newbies, and even the average player) Some people take Opposite Braking to mean that you quickly change directions of the turn, but, more often than not, this means that instead of hitting the wall with the side of your craft, you suddenly slam head on into it. This is a Bad Thing. The only reason you quickly change both turn and airbrake is when you have a particularly nasty chicane series. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Oct 3, 2013 |
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Oct 3, 2013 02:28
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When I saw the first video I was super confused. See when I was a kid, I had a hover racing game for the PS1. This did not look like it at all, wasn't till I combed wikipedia to find out the one I owned was Jet Moto. The 90's were a weird time where there was room for two franchises of near future hover racing games with fictional megacorperations behind the scenes. Looking forward to seeing your LP.
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Oct 3, 2013 12:02
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To really blow your mind then, I played a different hover car racing game to Wipeout AND Jet Moto. The one I'm thinking of is Hi Octane. The 90s were a strange strange time.
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Oct 3, 2013 12:21
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Go back and read my post where I mention Cyber Speedway on the Saturn. That's at least FOUR hover-car racing games at the same basic time.
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Oct 3, 2013 16:45
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Veloxyll posted:The 90s were a strange strange time. The '90s were an awesome time, precisely because of weird stuff like that. Daytona USA became the most profitable arcade machine in history, and so everyone wanted to create something that captured that same spark. Racing was fast, larger-than-life and often surreal. Not only was there a lot of fast hover racing games, you had games like Rush 2049 and the Hot Wheels games, where your car could freely rotate in the air to perform tricks. I miss that time. 
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Oct 3, 2013 17:02
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Goons posted:The 90s and Future Racing Games Ah yes, the 90s were indeed a wonderful, terrible, and strange time overall. In roleplaying, "90s RPG" is a mostly derogatory term (usually for the many, many imitators of White Wolf's products), and, as far as racing games go, and, to a certain extent, games in general, the far future (generally somewhat dystopian, often cyberpunky) was pretty much de rigeur. Good example: F-Zero was 1991. The second in the series was around the same time as Wipeout 3. Hi-Octane was indeed a thing (and an odd game it was too!), as was Cyber Speedway, Jet Moto, Megarace (which, imo, was godawful), and AB Racer. And that's definitely not counting the ones that flew under most peoples' collective radar. Still, it might be worth an interlude update to do a sort of Let's Try (or Re-Try, in the case of MegaRace. That was another game I found on a PC Gamer coverdisk) of some of them (except F-Zero, which has a fairly good Let's Play already of the series on the Archives). Actually, speaking of F-Zero, we must remember that the Wip3out Series and the F-Zero series were, for their time, in the same sort of unrealistic comparison battle that Sonic and Mario went (and still go) through. Let's sum up what was in common, and somewhat different between the two, shall we? What Was Similar - They both had hovering jet propelled craft. - They were both pretty drat fast (F-Zero is marginally faster at the top end compared to Wip3out) - They both have pit-stops (of a sort) that auto repair the craft to some extent. - They both have combat, and, later, player loss through ship destruction (and presumably death.) What Was Different - F-Zero had wider tracks, a reliance on quick reflexes, and a lot more vehicles involved (Wip3out rarely has more than 16 as default) - Wip3out saved its right angle turns for later tracks, whereas F-Zero seems to be something like 75% right angle turns (especially in the early days) - F-Zero's universe is Saturday AM Anime in tone, whereas Wip3out was more subtly nuanced (stop laughing!). Wip3out's universe is also smaller, as the furthest canonical racetrack from Earth is on Mars. Which Is Better? Silly question. Firstly, the two are almost entirely different in focus, although they share some basic mechanics, so the "rivalry" was, as was often the case with vidya game rivalries of the time, almost entirely in the minds of the critics, as opposed to anybody else. Secondly, and just as importantly... Which thread am I writing again? There's your answer for me, personally. 
JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Oct 4, 2013 |
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Oct 3, 2013 18:37
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Yeah, it's funny, I could never really get into F-Zero, while I love Wip3out. Despite having a surface similarity of high-speed future hovercar racing, they're very different flavors of racing games, that are very difficult to put into words as to why they're different. I remember not too long ago I started looking around to try to find a Wip3out style racer for the DS, and I couldn't find one. There were several F-Zero type racers meanwhile. The closest I could get was the tie-in game to the live action Speed Racer game, which ruins things by having this weird QTE "Car-Fu" thing happen every time you pass someone, pulling you straight out of the race, when simply having it happen in-race would have been smooth and natural.
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Oct 3, 2013 19:02
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JamieTheD posted:Opposite Braking Explained Huh, that's some sick strats you got there. Are those Twingalaxies verified? If we're talking about hovercar racing games, I have to mention Hypersonic Xtreme for the PS2. It wasn't that well known at all, and it certainly feels like a very average F-Zero clone, but the track editor in that game was absolutely fantastic. It will let you do basically whatever you want - sort of like the Roller Coaster Tycoon of racing games. It was also set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future, so yup, batting 1000 there.
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Oct 4, 2013 14:41
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I haven't seen anyone mention it, but if you're interested CoLD SToRAGE is selling remasters of all of his music from the first two Wipeout games on bandcamp.
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Oct 4, 2013 18:56
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