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CAPT. Rainbowbeard
Apr 5, 2012

My incredible goodposting transcends time and space but still it cannot transform the xbone into a good console.
Lipstick Apathy

BobTheJanitor posted:

Remedy's never had a really good track record on boss fights. Max Payne's bosses were basically just normal mooks but with like 10x the HP and a unique face texture. Alan Wake didn't really have any boss fights I can think of, outside of the imaginary Barry fight in the 2nd extra episode, and again that was just a normal fast Taken but with oodles of HP. Although really the boss fight was the terrible, terrible floating platforming section combined with Alan's wonky camera angle and unreliable jumping physics. Control has some of the most unique bosses they've ever tried (not a high bar to clear), and even then that's mostly the side quest bosses. All the rest were, surprise, normal enemies with a bigger HP bar.

At this point I'd be happier if they would just stop trying to do boss fights or even focus on combat much at all. They hit combat gold one time with Max Payne and those sweet bullet time effects. Everything since then has been barely functional at best. World building and storytelling are where they shine, just lean into that more and just let the combat be something easy and forgettable that comes between story beats.

Like Quantum Break? The only combat in that game that even APPROACHED difficult was the final boss, and once one figured out how to evade the death zones it was just as easy as the rest of the game.

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Eau de MacGowan
May 12, 2009

BRASIL HEXA
2026 tá logo aí
I loving hate the threshold kids

HMS Beagle
Feb 13, 2009



Eau de MacGowan posted:

I loving hate the threshold kids

This can't be right. Everybody loves puppets.

Evil Kit
May 29, 2013

I'm viable ladies.

Threshold Kids has this great progression of :stare: to :stonk: to suddenly :dogbutton: where you are suddenly questioning if whoever made this is sane and even knows what actual children can relate to or if it somehow the concept of Threshold Kids itself became an altered item whose only purpose is to creep you the hell out.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

The Mr. Bones episode with him screaming at her every time she responds during his fatherly chat about how everybody is different is a hell of a thing.

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


Everybody wants the big chair, Meg!

CJacobs
Apr 17, 2011

Reach for the moon!

the_enduser posted:

I was super disappointed with the side missions in AWE. Eagle Limited could have done some cool poo poo with it why not transport you onto a moving traincar etc instead of the blank voidspace, and same with the item retrieval for Fra Mauro. -_-

Believe me when I say that nobody should ever want to go to bloomington, illinois. they did you a favor

Captain Hygiene
Sep 17, 2007

You mess with the crabbo...



Welp I got sucked into starting the game from scratch again. This time I decided to just play around with the difficulty settings and tuned Jesse's damage down a bit from the start. I know I can beat the game, and there aren't too many huge sticking points (especially after my first bumbling playthrough), but it just feels less aggravating - still a challenge, just less tedious retries. Normally you feel just a bit weak healthwise for what I'd consider a normal challenge, something that used to be tough to deal with when there's not an explicit difficulty setting. Now it feels just about like the difficulty balance I'd choose on my own.

Captain Hygiene
Sep 17, 2007

You mess with the crabbo...



CJacobs posted:

Believe me when I say that nobody should ever want to go to bloomington, illinois. they did you a favor

I really want to make a joke about a particular worthwhile restaurant there but it'd be too revealing :sweatdrop:

CJacobs
Apr 17, 2011

Reach for the moon!

Captain Hygiene posted:

I really want to make a joke about a particular worthwhile restaurant there but it'd be too revealing :sweatdrop:

I mean what do you think the dinner being served on the train was? They had to stop there for a reason after all.

Captain Hygiene
Sep 17, 2007

You mess with the crabbo...



New head canon, the train wreck was caused by everyone getting too distracted in their enjoyment of delicious REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED

BobTheJanitor
Jun 28, 2003

Captain Hygiene posted:

Welp I got sucked into starting the game from scratch again. This time I decided to just play around with the difficulty settings and tuned Jesse's damage down a bit from the start. I know I can beat the game, and there aren't too many huge sticking points (especially after my first bumbling playthrough), but it just feels less aggravating - still a challenge, just less tedious retries. Normally you feel just a bit weak healthwise for what I'd consider a normal challenge, something that used to be tough to deal with when there's not an explicit difficulty setting. Now it feels just about like the difficulty balance I'd choose on my own.

I tried something like this for a little while, but with it set at a 50% reduction the end game enemies still seem to run the range from 'barely chips your HP with each hit' to 'you are already dead'. It seems like not only do you need a damage taken reduction multiplier, but also an option to cap the amount of damage you can take in a certain amount of time. It's funny that something as ancient in game design terms as 'flashing invulnerability for a few seconds after taking damage' would actually go a long way towards making the combat more bearable.

Unrelated, I was poking around old Alan Wake adjacent stuff and came across an old blog that was part of a promotion for either the failed Alan Wake 2 that was going to be released back then, or maybe for the American Nightmare spinoff game that eventually came out of that (not clear which, but it was confirmed to be something from Remedy, not just a random blogger). Mostly just some marketing world building, person moves into house, finds shoebox with strange poems, dreams about shadow people, etc. The one thing that I found interesting was in this entry where the author had a dream about a federal agent visiting and asking for the shoebox. Specifically this one line: "When I think back about the dream, it didn’t say “FBI” on his badge; it said “AWE”."

I'm betting if that were written today, it would have said FBC on that badge, but still an interesting hint that Control was already starting to take form as something in the Wake universe even back in 2012.

Edit: The fictional blogger's house is also in Ordinary, of course.

CJacobs
Apr 17, 2011

Reach for the moon!
Holy poo poo, a mod just released that allows you to swap weapons freely with 1-6 on the keyboard or the d-pad on controllers. :eyepop:

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

This game can be really pretty sometimes:

CJacobs
Apr 17, 2011

Reach for the moon!


My only photo mode screenshot is this one, to celebrate finally reaching that god drat hidden area on top

HappyCapybaraFamily
Sep 16, 2009


Roger Baolong Thunder Dragon has been fascinated by this sophisticated and scientifically beautiful industry since childhood, and has shown his talent in the design and manufacture of watches.
It was a lot easier until they patched out Slamming above your current height for the Foundations DLC :argh:

BobTheJanitor
Jun 28, 2003

CJacobs posted:



My only photo mode screenshot is this one, to celebrate finally reaching that god drat hidden area on top

I just bounced off a convenient floating possessed office guy. :v:

CJacobs
Apr 17, 2011

Reach for the moon!
"Oh hey I managed to pause while a Hiss Distorted is visible and about to barf on me I wonder what they look likeaaaaaAAA



AAAAAAA




AAAAAAA

haveblue
Aug 15, 2005



Toilet Rascal
Yeah the game gets poo poo for "all the enemies are just twisted glowing dudes" but there's a lot of disturbing places you can take the concept. Too bad that's the one enemy that's hardest to get a good look at.

Impressive that it can chase you down in those heels though

RareAcumen
Dec 28, 2012




She is rocking those heels though

CJacobs
Apr 17, 2011

Reach for the moon!
She's gotta be the talk of the office, those gams go all the way up. And I mean like, aaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll the way up. Like way, way too far up.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Holy poo poo Swole Darling in the multimedia section :vince:

And then in the hotel I finally figured out where the thread title comes from :allears:

Finished the main game, still have Foundation to do. What a blast, and I am super-pumped up for a sequel to this and ESPECIALLY for Alan Wake.

Inexplicable Humblebrag
Sep 20, 2003

NO INTERRUPTIONS

Squiggle
Sep 29, 2002

I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.


Jerusalem posted:

Holy poo poo Swole Darling in the multimedia section :vince:

And then in the hotel I finally figured out where the thread title comes from :allears:

Finished the main game, still have Foundation to do. What a blast, and I am super-pumped up for a sequel to this and ESPECIALLY for Alan Wake.

Yep, all this, managed to not spoil myself on anything and after finishing it last night I want to marry Casper Darling

Bust Rodd
Oct 21, 2008

by VideoGames

CJacobs posted:

"Oh hey I managed to pause while a Hiss Distorted is visible and about to barf on me I wonder what they look likeaaaaaAAA



AAAAAAA




AAAAAAA

actually I think you'll find the enemy designs in control to be REPETITIVE AND BORING :smug:

site
Apr 6, 2007

Trans pride, Worldwide
Bitch
Looks weird and cool imo

RareAcumen
Dec 28, 2012




Bust Rodd posted:

actually I think you'll find the enemy designs in control to be REPETITIVE AND BORING :smug:

It being a fairly uncommon enemy that spends most of the time invisible really doesn't help things

acksplode
May 17, 2004



Bust Rodd posted:

actually I think you'll find the enemy designs in control to be REPETITIVE AND BORING :smug:

Hey guys here's a screenshot of the single most annoying enemy in the game having sick gams, which absolutely none of you noticed because it's a piece of poo poo design. Care to rethink the opinions you formed over dozens of hours of play? Now to ironically use the smug emoticon

Captain Hygiene
Sep 17, 2007

You mess with the crabbo...



LOL I didn't look closely enough so I thought it was superimposed over Jesse and was wondering where she got such sick heels. Literally never saw it closely enough in the game to notice it was recognizably human.

BobTheJanitor
Jun 28, 2003

Most of the time it's invisible or it's blowing a blast of particles and screen effects in your face, or else it's covered by that weird blurry smoky dust cloud effect that looks like someone smeared lube on the screen. No idea why they use that effect so much, in a big fight it's everywhere and really doesn't make it easy to tell what's going on. So, yeah, I guess it's unique, but then so is having your toes bitten by a parrot. Doesn't make it a good experience either way.

CJacobs
Apr 17, 2011

Reach for the moon!
Enemies in this game don't last long before they're a smoky smear on the floor and they despawn soon after so I don't mind that most of them don't have super complex intricate designs. I care more about recognizable behavior and silhouettes (and sounds) and they nailed those. Enemy running straight at you with no regard for cover? It's a shotgunner. Guy in a hardhat running away from you? It's a rocketeer. Horrible series of never ending screams? There are exploding co-workers coming to make an HR complaint. Dude that's approximately 10 feet tall surrounded by a tornado? You probably should just come out in the open and let him throw a trash can at you. Fluttering cape? It is the bane of my existence machine gun ranger guy and I should just quit the game now

CJacobs fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Sep 14, 2020

Bust Rodd
Oct 21, 2008

by VideoGames
Yeah I think this game has a fine variety of enemies. I don’t think the game would maintain its mystery if there were bizarre eldritch amalgams lurking in the sewers and vents. I like that they are special. We have some kind of astral aboleth in the Former, we have a Hypercube in The Board, and we have a self-replicating sonic virus that infects you based on a frequency instead of through viral bacteria. I like the creative way they contort the bodies to make them seem otherworldly.

John Murdoch
May 19, 2009

I can tune a fish.

Jerusalem posted:

This game can be really pretty sometimes:

Can be?? Sometimes???

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

John Murdoch posted:

Can be?? Sometimes???

Sometimes I have to stop playing and turn my computer off :smith:

site
Apr 6, 2007

Trans pride, Worldwide
Bitch
Says who

Johnny Joestar
Oct 21, 2010

Don't shoot him?

...
...



i'm super glad i never looked into control until it came out as a 'full' edition a little bit ago. i easily could have checked out some let's play or whatever since i watch/read those a lot, but i enjoyed alan wake so much that i wanted to wait. i genuinely had NO idea what to expect barring very minor setting details such as it cribbing from SCP stuff pretty hard and also vague things like twitter screenshots of people talking to office plants or whatever.

i'm also glad it gave janitors some good rep, since i worked as one for three years. the moment i got that janitor's outfit i never took it back off. ahti rules.

AngryBooch
Sep 26, 2009
Same here, very glad I waited until the Ultimate Edition was out before diving in. Reading back through the thread and hearing some updated podcast opinions on it, not only did I get to play the DLC with sharp skills and all the bugs fixed, but checkpoint changes, more control points, and some more streamlined boss fight geometries made the game much better than it was before I think.

Very much love this game, devoured it all in like 4 days.

Bust Rodd
Oct 21, 2008

by VideoGames
Control was easily my GOTY for 2019 and Jesse pretty handily became my 2nd favorite protag in gaming (after Raziel)

HMS Beagle
Feb 13, 2009



I love how Jesse is just totally into all this poo poo that is happening.

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Captain Hygiene
Sep 17, 2007

You mess with the crabbo...



I appreciate that Jess (a) accepts constant paranormal poo poo, and (b) likes plants

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