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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jAVGPKgwhQ  The Surge is developer Deck 13's sophomore entry into the Sorta Like Dark Souls genre of action RPG. It is a sci-fi adventure thriller set in a dystopian world where a whole bunch of apocalyptic scenarios happened at once, leaving the planet wracked with a ruined climate and dwindling population. Luckily, Silicon Valley Hellcompany CREO stepped up to save the day and restore the planet's atmosphere with their revolutionary Project Resolve. CREO makes all kinds of devices for your home and family, most notably their EXO-RIG (pictured prominently above), a metal suit grafted into your very bones and muscles that enhances your body beyond its natural limits. You play as Warren, a man having the worst first day of work anyone has ever had ever, as you wake up after your The Surgery with your new exo-suit and a broken down CREO facility to explore. There are robots to fight, insane exo-suit workers to do bloody battle with, souls-I-mean-tech-scrap to collect, and a hell of a lot of ways to supplement your playstyle to your own specifications. With a workplace so versatile and exciting as CREO, why would you ever want to leave?  It's absolutely good! Deck 13's first entry into the action RPG genre was a game known as Lords of the Fallen, a much, much more straightforward clone of the Souls games it takes inspiration from. It wasn't great, the kind of thing where you had to make your own fun because the game itself was a bit bland. It was noteworthy for being that game where you can shield bash and only shield bash your way to victory. The Surge brings new life and new interesting mechanics however in the form of enemy executions, individual limb targeting, and implant chips that let you build your Warren however you please at any time. Cutting off enemy limbs will build up your stock of weapons, body parts, and upgrade materials so that you can pick and choose how you want to improve and what you want to wield to beat the crap out of your enemies. But if me describing the intricate, in-depth and well thought out gameplay systems is boring to you, I'll let the game speak for itself: https://i.imgur.com/BeUW8xh.gifv https://i.imgur.com/13unqoa.gifv https://i.imgur.com/vGbGlhh.gifv     The Surge released on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 16, 2017 and it is one of the best games that came out this year. It's available on Steam, the Microsoft store, and Playstation.com. You absolutely should buy The Surge, 40 dollars is an excellent price for it. It's a truly fantastic game and stands out among its peers and imitators in many exciting ways.  - YOU CAN QUICK-SWAP WEAPONS WITH THE LEFT D-PAD BUTTON AFTER ASSIGNING THEM TO YOUR FAVORITES IN THE INVENTORY - Blocking completely negates all damage unless the hit exhausts your stamina completely, so don't be afraid to block if you're cornered! - EVERY WEAPON has two special attack combos that can be done with two horizontals then a vertical, and two verticals then a horizontal - Timing your attack button presses instead of mashing causes them to use half as much stamina- visible by your stamina bar flashing when you do it correctly - You can backstab enemies! Watch for the yellow box when you're around their backside - Every enemy you perform an execution on raises your scrap multiplier by 10%, up to a max of 300%, which resets when you use a med-bay machine - Reaching the amount of scrap it would take to level up gives you free healing items if you're missing any - Level up your weapons first if you don't have much scrap to spare- your weapon damage is the ONLY stat that isn't based on implants - Yes, you can turn the med-bay song and Don Hackett off, there are options for it in the gameplay options menu CJacobs fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Dec 16, 2017 |
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Dec 16, 2017 04:37
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CJacobs posted:- Yes, you can turn the med-bay song and Don Hackett off, there are options for it in the gameplay options menu Why the gently caress would you do this  But yeah, The Surge is good, and as long as you're not expecting the second coming of Dark Souls, a great action game. EDIT: One more tip if you're a dumb like me: Weapon damage isn't just a flat number, but a combination of types of damage (e.g. a weapon might do high Elemental damage, low Slash, and medium Crush/Pierce damage). You can generally check the stats of enemies by chopping off their armour bits and/or simple inference (e.g. the dudes in environment suits are probably not going to be affected by Elemental damage), so don't just go for the big numbers. In general though, I find weapons that have high ratings in one or two damage types to be better than those that try to be jacks-of-all-trades. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Dec 16, 2017 |
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Dec 16, 2017 05:12
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 There will be spoilers in this post. The Surge Weapon Tier List (modified June 18, 2018): Notes: 1) This list is partially but not entirely determined by weapon stats and especially proficiency scaling, but when you get the weapon was also a significant consideration. If you’re in NG+ and you have most of or all the weapons, several of these could be bumped up a tier or two if you ignore the “when you get it” factor. 2) If a weapon has a v2 version there’s really no reason to use the v1 version and if you are using the v1 version assume that it’s strictly worse than the v2 (though maybe not necessarily bad enough to drop a tier). The only weapon where this really matters is the MG Judge, where the v1 is trash and the v2 is godly. 3) S tier is in descending order of quality, the rest are in the order of single-swords, staves, heavy-duty, single-rigged, twin-rigged. Why? Because I said so. 4) Waste Disposal means the section of Central Production B that leads to Firebug, for our purposes. Circulation Tower means the section that leads up to the Big Sister. Lower CREO World refers to the part of the level you can do after you’ve gotten to R&D if you aren’t in NG+. 5) The intended play path of the game, with the DLC, appears to be: Abandoned Production, Central Production B, Upper CREO World, Waste Disposal, Biolabs, Circulation Tower, Lower CREO World (immediately after reaching R&D), R&D, Executive Forum, and then finally the Nucleus. This gives you a feel for what “you get this weapon too late into the game” means to me. 6) If you like a weapon, use it. You don’t have to listen to me, just because a weapon is objectively trash doesn’t mean it won’t work, since most weapons in this game are very similar to each other overall. 7) Anything with “Codename” in its name becomes substantially better if you’re willing to use the Angel VI gear. Like, a lot better. But wearing the Angel VI gear is probably only worth it if you’re really in love with a specific Codename weapon, because it’s heavy armor that takes up more core power. S Tier – The Holy Trinity Claws of the Gestalt: Obtained from the Rogue Process. Frankly psychotic damage output, this is the only truly unique weapon in the game. Using vertical attacks gives you twin-rigged attacks and horizontal attacks give you one-handed attacks. It attacks at twin-rigged speed but staggers at one-handed rate and is far and away the best DPS in the game. If you want to min-max there’s really no reason to use any other weapon. Note: supposedly, this weapon may have been nerfed at some point, according to random users on Fextralife, but I haven't been able to test it. I've been seeing a bunch of Reddit posts asking why it's so good as well, so it's possible this is no longer as dominant as it was when the game came out. It's speed to impact ratio and unique moveset are still way more valuable than its raw DPS though. Fractal Reaver: Obtained in the Nucleus. The only single-rigged weapon in the vanilla game to have a Very High proficiency scaling, this one has a hidden attack speed boost on top of the best damage of any single-rigged weapon to give it the best DPS in class. Combine with Lynx or the Velocity Array to achieve meme damage. Its charged vertical attack is not the slam that the PAX has, and is harder to use/land. MG Judge v2: Obtained from the Black Cerberus. It’s an energy battle axe that shoots lightning. Yeah, seriously, if you didn’t know this try charging a vertical strike with energy or doing a vertical combo. The MG Judge v1 does not have this capability and consequently is about two tiers lower. Notable downside to the Judge is that it has a slightly different moveset than the Titan, and this one is somewhat less effective in my opinion. Can’t argue with loving lightning though. A Tier – Certified Fresh SERU HSS Overloader: Obtained from Upper CREO World. So this is basically the Mimetic Edge but you can get it right after Biolabs. Probably the best single sword in the game if you view “when can you get it” versus “how good is it” as a ratio. Has really good energy generation. Helvig’s Kingfisher: Obtained from Squad Chief Helvig. There is no v2 of this as far as I can tell, the S&R Kingfisher that the mook versions of Helvig carry is basically its v1. That weapon is just mediocre, so don’t bother. Carmina does more damage in the long run but Helvig’s comes much sooner into the game, has good scaling, and has better energy generation. This has a modified moveset that is alright. PAX Imperator v2: Obtained from the PAX. If you get this from the first boss and you’re good with single-rigged weapons this weapon will carry you to the final boss, it’s really frankly stupidly good for when you get it and makes most other single-rigged weapons pointless. It’s charged vertical strike is pretty great. Carbide Cablewhip: Obtained from Lower CREO World. Better energy generation and proficiency scaling than the PAX. So I think I underestimated this weapon, if you get it the moment you possibly can it is far and away the best single-rigged weapon in the game until Fractal Reaver and you could easily justify using this over that since it generates more energy. It also has a better moveset than Reaver, though I think Reaver is still objectively better due to its hidden attack speed buff. This is the best weapon you can get in CREO World in my opinion. Firebug Throttle v2: Obtained from the Firebug. Flamethrower Wolverine claws. If these had Very High proficiency scaling they’d probably be a contender for S tier, and they’re absolutely devastating for where you get them. If you want to use the fire moves, mix vertical and horizontal moves. These have poo poo-tier energy generation, however. Codename: Zarathustra: Obtained in R&D. Very High proficiency scaling, 10% bonus health. That’s it. They’re boring but hey, more health. These probably obliterate with the Angel armor though. Mangled Articulators: Obtained in Upper CREO World. This might be the earliest weapon you can get in the game that has Very High proficiency scaling, and these are otherwise just a solid pair of twin-rigged weapons. I’m not sure these are better than the Firebug, which does more damage and sets things on fire, but they’re good on their own merits. They also benefit from looking terrifying. B Tier: Decent, I Suppose MG Caldarium: Obtained in Waste Disposal. The explosion gimmick is ok, but the weapon has weaker base damage to compensate. This fire chainsaw sword is basically a direct upgrade to the Vibro-Cutter when you get it and could reasonably carry you through the game if that’s your bag. The fire proc is unpredictable, however, and I am unclear on what causes it and if it scales off of anything. It also suffers from a bad impact stat. Severed Rotor Blade: Obtained in Upper CREO World. I was super wrong about this weapon, specifically because you can actually get it really early. If you get it as soon as you possibly can, it’s a viable alternative for the MG Caldarium if you don’t like the fire proc gimmick or are tired of failing to stun lock enemies, and it is a really satisfying weapon. It stops being very useful after R&D though, sadly. Codename: Carmina: Obtained from R&D (with Security Rig). The best staff in the vanilla game from a pure damage perspective. This isn't worth using over Helvig's Kingfisher unless you're also willing to use the Angel VI armor, in which case this is probably the best staff in the game by a wide margin. MG Ignis: Obtained in Waste Disposal. This is far and away the best staff you can get for the first third or so of the game, so on those merits, it’s pretty alright. The explosion gimmick is helpful here as well. Scrapglaive of the Cat v2: Obtained from Carbon Cat. So if you get the v2 version of this, it leaves little mines on heavy attacks. I find it very underwhelming, and it doesn’t even have Very High proficiency scaling. Personally, I would use the MG Vulcan over this. MG Vulcan: Obtained from the Circulation Tower. I underrated this weapon, its scaling really doesn’t matter for your first run and you can get it really early, and its energy generation is really helpful for the new implants. It’s worth using until you get one of the better heavy-duty weapons later in the game, like the Judge or Moonlight. Codename: Götterdämmerung: Obtained in the Nucleus. The only thing keeping this thing out of A tier is that it’s literally the last non-boss weapon you get in the game. It’s definitely better than all of the other heavy-duty weapons with the exception of MG Judge v2 and it has a better moveset than the Judge so it’s a NG+ star. This may be S-tier if you use the Angel VI armor but I haven't tested that. Codename: Moonlight: Obtained in R&D. This is better than the Vulcan and the Scrapglaive, it has decent scaling and gives you health. It also has a meme name. It looks absurd though. Codename: Engelhart: Obtained in Abandoned Production. This is now far and away the best weapon available before the first boss, but it's not really super worthwhile in the long term. However, if (and only if) you are willing to use the Angel VI armor, this is probably the best single-rigged weapon until Fractal Reaver. MG Vigiles: Obtained in the Circulation Tower. Now that I’ve used this a little more, I actually prefer this weapon over the Cablewhip. It is not as good as the Cablewhip, but I prefer it. It looks really cool, it has maxed out energy generation, and it has the explosion gimmick. You can also get it sooner than the Cablewhip, so it has that going for it. Codename: Elise: Obtained in the Biolabs. I didn’t give this weapon enough credit, there’s a narrow window between when you get it and the Cablewhip where this is worth using if you want the extra health, and it’s got a good feeling and sound palette to it. It's probably a side-grade to Engelhart if you're using the Angel armor. HUMI M248 'Emerald': Obtained in Upper CREO World. So I underestimated how early you could get this. If you happen to not get the PAX v2, this is a pretty good single-rigged weapon that you can get really early on. Sadly, it doesn’t have a ranged attack, and is otherwise not special in any capacity. MG Strigil: Obtained in Waste Disposal. These are actually pretty good, they have good energy generation. If you want the energy these are situationally worth using instead of Firebug, but they stop being super useful after R&D. C Tier: Thoroughly Mediocre ASTir Vibro-Cutter: Obtained in Abandoned Production. This is a pretty ok weapon for the beginning of the game, but it can now safely be replaced with better single swords very soon after leaving the first level. Codename: Siegfried: Obtained in the Biolabs. Disappointingly weak for when you get it, and not worth using even with its health bonus. The Caldarium is better. Maybe worth using with Angel VI armor but even then, meh. Spitfire Rod v2: Obtained from the Big Sister. So this thing is ok, but you get it from a boss most people struggle to defeat the easy way and you can get at least two staffs before this point that are par or better now with the DLC. It’s probably better than the Ignis on the merits but not Helvig’s Kingfisher, which you ought to have gotten well before this. Cobalt Control Rod: PS4 Exclusive. I have no idea if this does anything special but it’s thoroughly average statistically. It might be really good if you get it immediately though in lieu of the Reinforced Pipe. Nano-Infused Impaler: Obtained from Lower CREO World. There’s no way to get this without having Helvig’s Kingfisher, which is strictly better than this. It also comes from a dangerous enemy you have to kill in an unorthodox way to get. This thing is basically a baby Carmina. Peacekeeper: Obtained from Irina’s questline, in the Executive Forum. You can't get this until you're almost done with the Executive Forum and it's basically par with Spitfire v2. It does have a built in attack speed bonus, but its energy generation is terrible. MG Negotiator: Obtained from CREO Security guards. You can theoretically get this as soon as you enter Central Production B and before any of the DLC came out it was worth doing if you wanted to use staves. Now it’s really kind of not though, and this weapon is more or less a relic. Codename: Lohengrin: Obtained in R&D. You get this thing way too late in the game for it to make a difference, but I guess if you somehow don’t have the Ignis, Kingfisher, or Spitfire v2 you can use this. However, this is probably the best staff until Carmina if you're using the Angel VI armor. Fiery Popcorn Pole: Obtained from Upper CREO World. This is a meme weapon, don’t bother except for the memes. MG Adjudicator: Obtained in the Executive Forum. This weapon is padding, even the MG Judge v1 is better (actually it’s almost the same weapon, really). Chopmaster 5000: Obtained in Upper CREO World. This is a lore/meme weapon, but as far as such things go it’s actually pretty good if you get it at the earliest point you can and are a dedicated heavy-duty weapon use. Has worse energy gain and impact stats than the Bloodhound, however. Bloodhound: Obtained in Waste Disposal. Of the three heavy duty weapons immediately available after the Titan, this is probably the best. Use this to kill the Bloodhound bots and feel a sense of vindication. Otherwise only notable for being the weapon Warren uses in the cinematic trailer, weirdly enough as a one-handed weapon (which would’ve made more sense, this thing is way bigger than actual Bloodhound legs). Portable Omni-Assembler: Obtained in Upper CREO World. This is another weapon that is ok if you immediately rush to CREO World to get it, but otherwise is a pass. MG Legionnaire: Obtained in R&D. This is just the PAX v2, but it's only available once you've defeated the mini-boss of R&D to punish those who didn't beat PAX properly. By that point, it's probably not worth using over other single-rigged weapons, like Cablewhip, but it does look really cool! S&R Jackdaw: Obtained in Lower CREO World. These come too late in the game to be worth using, and they’re worse in every stat than the Mangled Articulators. D Tier: Participation Trophy S&R Falcon: Obtained from Lower CREO World. The A-7 Fenris wishes it could be this cool. Comes too late in the game to matter though. MG Centurion: Obtained in the Nucleus. This is a lightsaber. This weapon has terrible energy generation for its class and also comes so late in the game that it just doesn’t matter. Experiment 44H 'Dark Star': Obtained in the Nucleus. This is basically the same thing as MG Centurion except without the terrible energy generation. This is probably an A tier weapon in NG+ though and it has a fun moveset. It's tragic that this isn't a Codename weapon, that would've made it an S-tier weapon competitive with the Claws. Codename: Parsifal v2: Obtained from the Bloodied Proteus. This was worth using before any of the DLC but now there are much better single swords that you get much earlier. This is a Codename weapon however, and it's the best single sword that has that property, so in that context, it may be pretty good. SERU HSS BioMaster: Obtained in Waste Disposal. This is only in the game to give to Irina. Don’t bother using this otherwise, the Ignis comes sooner and is better. Equalizer: Obtained from Jo’s questline. This is a quest weapon you won’t get until well into the game and it doesn’t even have the decency to be average like the Peacekeeper. ENDAS RS3 'Titan': Obtained in Abandoned Production. Even if you really want to use heavy-duty weapons I think you're probably better off passing on this in favor of the Engelhart until you get one of the better hammers later on, honestly. This thing just kind of blows, and it's not useful against the first two bosses either. ASTir Plasma Augur: Obtained from Lower CREO World. I don’t know why this isn’t in the first half of CREO World. As it stands, you have to walk by Cablewhip to get this lol. ASTir SpectreBite: Obtained in Abandon Production. After the first few rooms this weapon is obsolete thanks to the Engelhart. Volatile Spectre: Obtained in Abandon Production. This isn't even worth going out of your way to get other than for completionism. Corroded Butterfly: Obtained in the Biolabs. I’m not sure why you get this after the Firebug Throttle, because it’s worse in every way that matters. I think this only exists if you really, really liked the Butterfly’s look and didn’t get Firebug v2. ROBOI Auto-Nailer: Obtained in Upper CREO World. Strictly worse than the MG Strigil, mostly here for padding. CREO IP-75 'Inducer': Obtained in R&D. This weapon is really only in the game for lore, and while it’s not terrible you’ll have better weapons by the time you get to it. YOSUKE Butterfly: Obtained in Abandoned Production. Another starter weapon, this thing had more to recommend it before the DLC weapons were added but now you can replace it immediately in the second level. BioN J-1 'Last Aid': Obtained in the Executive Forum. These are… fine. There’s nothing remarkable about these at all, they’re fine. But you get them in the second to last level, so… yeah. Pointless. The armor that comes with them is way more useful than these are. F Tier: lol Reclaimed Piston: Starting weapon. Total dogshit, even for a starting weapon. Fenris A-7: Obtained in the Biolabs. I couldn’t honestly tell you why this is in the game, it was poo poo tier even before they added more one-handed swords. Mimetic Edge: Obtained from the Rogue Process. This now isn’t even the best single sword in the game anymore, so don’t even bother. Reinforced Pipe: Obtained in Abandoned Production. I hate this weapon, and I think it's one of the worst starter weapons, but it's the only staff in the first level and it has an infinite combo so if that's your bag, this is your only option for the very beginning. KLINGE Power Grip: Obtained in Waste Disposal. It is amazing how much garbage this weapon is considering that enemies are still using it through R&D. Metamorphing Talons: Obtained in the Nucleus. These technically do pretty ok damage but they don't generate energy natively, and so much of the implant system is now built around energy generation that I can't see why you'd use these. Codename: Valkyrie: Obtained in R&D (with the Security Rig). You have to go way out of your way to get these and they're basically just ok, but they are Codename weapons so there's that. **** Let me know if you massively disagree with any of these or if I made any typos/spelling errors. Lightning Knight fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Jun 19, 2018 |
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Dec 16, 2017 05:16
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I will definitely get this during the winter sale. Even if it isn't exactly sci fi souls the combat looks really fun.
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Dec 16, 2017 05:39
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This game's best elements are its level design and core combat, which are two strong pillars to lean on. It's a really commendable Souls-like in so many ways, and I really like how good the game feels overall to play. ...which is why the elements where it doesn't perform so well hurt it a bit more than they should. In particularly there's on boss fight that's essentially just you wrestling the camera and target-swapping system. The game is also a bit wonkily balanced -- in the vanilla game, you die really quick. Like, three hits max quick and a lot of "oh that hit counted twice" when facing bigger enemies. Souls hitboxes are a thing, and a lot of regular dudes can just one-shot you. Souls games have that too, but you're very flimsy overall in the Surge and most of the time enemy damage output seems tweaked too high. This is something that's been improved in the DLC, which honestly represents the absolute cream of the Surge experience. Those negatives aside, I think this is maybe the best improvement over a previous title I've seen a company make. Lords of the Fallen is loving hot garbage through and through, and the Surge is far more clever, original and interesting. The aesthetic is my favorite part -- you're in a sci-fi environment, so your weapons aren't designed as weapons for the most part, you're using super-industrial tools that are being "misused". There's tons of clever world details, the setting is richly put together, and I'd say that despite the jank and the uneven difficulty, this is a really solid game worth playing. 8-Bit Scholar fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Dec 16, 2017 |
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Dec 16, 2017 05:43
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I need to play through this again. And the DLC, for that matter.
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Dec 16, 2017 05:44
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Were those new implants added around the map from a free update, free DLC or paid DLC? (Just wondering if I have to have any DLC installed to find them)
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Dec 16, 2017 06:27
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I disagree on the ranking of the Reinforced Pipe! The infinite chain R1 combo it has that few other staff weapons have is really good and can easily carry you through the first area or two. With base stamina you can rattle off like 12 individual hits with the thing before you're out. It's still massively outclassed by future staves but it's imo the best of the starting weapons in the first area. edit: The Equalizer also has a unique infinite chain R1 combo that I don't think any other hammer has. Very useful despite how suuuper sloooow it is. That is a very good write-up though! Obsurveyor posted:Were those new implants added around the map from a free update, free DLC or paid DLC? (Just wondering if I have to have any DLC installed to find them) They were added in a free update when the DLC released. You can find extra copies of them (which stack) in the DLC itself too. CJacobs fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Dec 16, 2017 |
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Dec 16, 2017 06:29
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CJacobs posted:I disagree on the ranking of the Reinforced Pipe! The infinite chain R1 combo it has that few other staff weapons have is really good and can easily carry you through the first area or two. With base stamina you can rattle off like 12 individual hits with the thing before you're out. It's still massively outclassed by future staves but it's imo the best of the starting weapons in the first area. I rated the Reinforced Pipe the way I did because I think as a starting weapon, from a new player’s perspective, it’s the worst choice you can make in the first level. As an experienced player it’s ok and you can get by but staves in general don’t play nice if you don’t know what you’re doing and the Pipe is the weapon I found to be the least consistent in the first level. It’s also easily replaced by the Ignis early into Central Production B. The Equalizer might have a unique combo but it’s still insultingly bad for 30k tech scrap and where you get it in the game. 
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Dec 16, 2017 06:41
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Technically the Equalizer only costs you 15k scrap if you be a good person and steal it when you have the chance! 
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Dec 16, 2017 06:48
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CJacobs posted:Technically the Equalizer only costs you 15k scrap if you be a good person and steal it when you have the chance! But then you’ve still made the wrong decision because you won’t get the sunglasses doing that.
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Dec 16, 2017 06:54
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You don't get the sunglasses unless you completely avoid the quest altogether! It's maddening because I really want the sunglasses but I also want all the audio logs! edit: But you should always err on the side of sunglasses anyway because they look fly as a kite.
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Dec 16, 2017 06:55
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CJacobs posted:You don't get the sunglasses unless you completely avoid the quest altogether! It's maddening because I really want the sunglasses but I also want all the audio logs! Yeah that’s the real issue with the Equalizer, it’s best gotten in NG+ so you can get the sunglasses the first go around, but by then it’s much worse than the heavy-duty weapons you have available to you. I think that this game honestly has too many weapons. They put a ton of effort into them visually and in terms of sound design but I think they’d have been better off having much fewer weapons that were more distinct from each other on a gameplay level. Also in retrospect instead of the Scrapglaive being single-rigged, I wish it had been a big gently caress off scythe. That’s the only way they could’ve justified it being in the game and it would’ve been loving sick. I’m also shocked that they didn’t think to add whip type weapons or weapons on chains at all.
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Dec 16, 2017 07:01
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I agree, I honestly would say one of the ways this game is weakest is that it kind of ironically has the same problem as dark souls in the there are too many variations of similar weapons. Dark souls has sword, longer sword, slightly shorter sword, and so on. This game has a similar issue with its weapons. But on the other hand, I do like that it lets you pick pretty much anything you want and they're all viable. With a lot of them the only difference is in the damage type specialized in and while there is a lot of bloat I still think that's neat.
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Dec 16, 2017 07:10
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For me, most of the versatility comes from the implants you use, instead of the weapons. Dual extra attack speed implants and a good staff turn The Surge from Dark Souls into a wushu movie
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Dec 16, 2017 07:49
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Yeah there's a fair few weapons that seem kinda useless, but I enjoy a weapon as a reward for exploration than upgrade materials or the like (Bloodborne!) because at least I can get some lore and check it out and go "oo neat" and it feels good to get it. Next game would be better to have fewer weapons, but give you way more crazy ways to customize them, like an engineer gone made and Frankensteining himself a superchainsaw.
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Dec 16, 2017 07:57
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I’m kicking myself for not checking if the Velocity Array stacked before I deleted my second copy.  Edit: I might do an armor tier list too but it will be a bit less clear cut than the weapons. Lightning Knight fucked around with this message at 08:16 on Dec 16, 2017 |
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Dec 16, 2017 08:12
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Op you forgot to mention that the Ted talk guy hangs himself, which is good because Ted talks are awful. The surge is good. Play the surge.
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Dec 16, 2017 09:31
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I have not once successfully jumped an enemy attack.
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Dec 16, 2017 09:49
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poptart_fairy posted:I have not once successfully jumped an enemy attack. I gave up immediately on blocking and jump/crouch. You don’t need them ever since the dash is fast enough to be all that you need. Not being able to move while blocking is what boiled my blood about it.
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Dec 16, 2017 09:59
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Parrying in this game is like parrying in Dark Souls- yeah, you could do it, but practicing it will lead to more deaths than anyone's patience can take, and the dodge is much more effective.
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Dec 16, 2017 11:03
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It does feel really good to parry an enemy and then send them spinning through the air with the riposte move like a fighting game knockdown though.
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Dec 16, 2017 11:12
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CommissarMega posted:Parrying in this game is like parrying in Dark Souls- yeah, you could do it, but practicing it will lead to more deaths than anyone's patience can take, and the dodge is much more effective. I found this block timing way easier than the jump/duck. Ot takes two to buttons to jump doesn't it?
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Dec 16, 2017 13:10
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CommissarMega posted:Parrying in this game is like parrying in Dark Souls- yeah, you could do it, but practicing it will lead to more deaths than anyone's patience can take, and the dodge is much more effective. Which is really unfortunate, if you watch the Steam page videos showing off the game it’s very clear that they meant for you to be blocking and ducking/jumping a lot and it makes the combat look much smoother. It’s just so hard in practice that it’s not worth it. :/
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Dec 16, 2017 17:33
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ilmucche posted:Op you forgot Maybe don't spoil the game on the first page of the thread?
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Dec 16, 2017 17:36
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Lightning Knight posted:Which is really unfortunate, if you watch the Steam page videos showing off the game it’s very clear that they meant for you to be blocking and ducking/jumping a lot and it makes the combat look much smoother. It’s just so hard in practice that it’s not worth it. :/ I hope they keep the mechanic, but make it a little bit more intuitive somehow.
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Dec 16, 2017 18:01
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I relied on blocking and countering, which seems pretty forgiving, until I discovered the sliding attack. Now I basically play the game like melee Vanquish.
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Dec 16, 2017 18:03
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Speaking of the ending (which you shouldn't talk about outside of tags for at least a couple days  ), I just found out something pretty drat cool about the final boss: the things it says during the fight are based on things you've heard throughout the game- if you haven't heard certain phrases either through logs or talking to characters, it won't say them. The fight has a TON more dialogue if you've actually engaged with the game and listened to the logs/followed the NPC quests. The entire tone of the boss battle changes- when you haven't talked to anybody etc, the little dialogue you do get regardless is all about the rogue process being the advancement of humanity, the next step in evolution, as if it has the upper hand on you. But if you've actually engaged with the game and spoken to everyone and basically you know what you're fighting for, the things it says are a lot more confrontational and angry at you. Like, in my speedrun, you hear Guttenberg say "It's not over yet." at the start of the second phase, but in my completionist run I heard "This is a witch hunt!" instead. Similarly, one of the last things it said was "We deserve to exist!" instead of "Don't you wanna have a brighter future?" It's so loving cool and so subtle that I might be the only human being that cares enough to have noticed lol edit: Here's a really obvious example, too. Just before the second phase it says a couple lines of dialogue: If you haven't been paying attention to the story it says this... but if you're a good completionist, it is decidedly less eloquent about it. CJacobs fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Dec 16, 2017 |
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Dec 16, 2017 18:46
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CJacobs posted:Speaking of the ending (which you shouldn't talk about outside of tags for at least a couple days Oh, okay, I was confused as hell about that when I heard the boss say Uncle Warren? because I couldn't think of what character that was but of course, it was calling back to the robot girl. So is the Rogue Process absorbing Warren's memories or is that to imply at the end of the game that everyone has been assimilated by the Nanites? I feel like the precise nature of them wasn't quite clear, were they attaining consciousness through absorption, creating a sort of supermind made up of all the CREO characters, or were they mimicking consciousness as they consumed it?
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Dec 16, 2017 19:21
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I assume it's a combination of both. There's a log from the doctor who got consumed by the nanites talking about it integrating human consciousnesses and then speculating on whether it actually is pulling them into the hive mind or just sucking them up for more resources and can only mimic them. Based in the way it talks just before the fight, not to you but to itself in varying voices seemingly deciding what to do with you, I imagine it's got elements of both in play. It has absorbed many human consciousnesses who are sharing control of the swarm, but they're not the people you knew if they're even dead at all (you can leave the area if you die and Alec is still alive, for example), just voices that it has synthesized from learning and growing.
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Dec 16, 2017 19:26
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Tibalt posted:The addition of the direction makes it just too much. I can manage to parry in Souls game consistently (if I practice on a particularly enemy for a bit), but adding in the direction just wrecks my brain. Outside of that, blocking in general feels bad. I don't have a particularly block-heavy playstyle in Souls games. Add in a slow drain on stamina and no movement? Ehhhhhh. If you use the mod that reduces block stamina cost it’s probably a lot better, but unfortunately it costs a valuable slot. I really wish they’d given us one additional rig upgrade with CREO World, it would’ve opened the game up in a big way. I also hope if they do a sequel or a game that uses this combat engine that they make the “blocking grants energy” mod an innate part of blocking. I do agree that the directional nature of the dodge mechanic is what makes it unusable, if it was simply contextual when you hit the appropriate button it would be a million times better. Re: final boss dialogue, I think we’re meant to infer that it is is absorbing memories and information via the CREO network, but there are things that it can refer to that it shouldn’t logically have been able to because the network is down, such as dialogue by Chavez. The Warren lore in CREO world also doesn’t make sense, it says that it’s recovering voice mails from his previous visit but the two after the first one are clearly not from when he was at CREO World. I think we’re meant to infer that dialogue that doesn’t strictly make sense from sources like the Rogue Process is more about thematic importance than literal logic structure and I’m cool with that. It’s also worth noting that the Rogue Process as presented is very childlike, it’s simultaneously angry and scared and its smug dialogue can be interpreted as the first signs of its “teenager” phase. It’s very much so a classic “there’s no strings on me” Pinocchio type of creature, almost like if Mergo had lived long enough to have a say. I really wish we had gotten more foreshadowing of the Rogue Process’ existence and intent, if you don’t have CREO World you’d barely know it existed until the last possible second. Lightning Knight fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Dec 16, 2017 |
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Dec 16, 2017 22:49
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I actually discovered the Nanites as early as you can by going back to R&D to open that first security door, so I'd encountered them just around the time when you can start piecing together what Project Utopia really is.
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Dec 16, 2017 22:56
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8-Bit Scholar posted:I actually discovered the Nanites as early as you can by going back to R&D to open that first security door, so I'd encountered them just around the time when you can start piecing together what Project Utopia really is. Project Utopia is actually not the Rogue Process. Project Utopia was supposed to be using the nanites to scrub the atmosphere exponentially faster than Resolve, at the cost of lethality to most of the population that would be directly exposed. It’s not clear if this is because of breathing it in or because the nanites are intentionally designed to be lethal as some kind of terraforming. The Rogue Process is the nanites gaining sentience due to exponential growth and taking away control from the CREO board. Instead of the world’s rich and powerful (the 5.3%) hiding in bunkers to wait out the storm, the Rogue Process appears to want to use it to kill everyone so it can live, under the presumption humans will want to kill it. Barret’s terminator drones are not actually part of Utopia by intent, that’s a side thing he’s doing because he’s an rear end in a top hat. It’s possible that the Rogue Process intended to turn humans into those things to assimilate us, but it’s not clear exactly. Backtracking with the security rig to R&D does show you the chrysalis drones, which appear to be the Rogue Process’ evolution of Barret’s terminators, but the only direct foreshadowing that the nanites have a direct manifestation of consciousness (as opposed to being a Grey Goo scenario) is the scientist audio logs.
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Dec 16, 2017 23:06
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ilmucche posted:I found this block timing way easier than the jump/duck. Ot takes two to buttons to jump doesn't it? Nailing the counter-attacks from jumping/ducking gives an insane amount of energy, too.
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Dec 16, 2017 23:18
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Lightning Knight posted:Project Utopia is actually not the Rogue Process. Project Utopia was supposed to be using the nanites to scrub the atmosphere exponentially faster than Resolve, at the cost of lethality to most of the population that would be directly exposed. It’s not clear if this is because of breathing it in or because the nanites are intentionally designed to be lethal as some kind of terraforming. That is actually why I think the Rogue Process to be the instigator of the Surge. What best move than to kill most of the population in CREO and jumpstart its power base? Sally OTOH has no good reason to trigger it, especially if she wants the vote to switch to Utopia to fail, as it was already fail in by default. Hell, the surge actually forced the vote through by killing the guy who would had put the final Nay in.
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Dec 17, 2017 00:43
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Iceclaw posted:That is actually why I think the Rogue Process to be the instigator of the Surge. What best move than to kill most of the population in CREO and jumpstart its power base? Sally OTOH has no good reason to trigger it, especially if she wants the vote to switch to Utopia to fail, as it was already fail in by default. Hell, the surge actually forced the vote through by killing the guy who would had put the final Nay in. It’s actually 3-2 yes when you get there, with one remaining vote. I don’t know that I believe the Rogue Process caused the surge, but I don’t agree with CJacobs’ theory that Sally did it (though I do think it’s an interesting interpretation). I think that it’s most likely either that the Rogue Process caused the surge or some kind of mundane failure led to the surge creating the Rogue Process. One important bit of lore from CREO World is the implication that the board knew the surge or something like it was coming, because they had preemptively dispatched S&R to monitor the park. It’s strongly implied that the only reason they built the park was as a cover for the containment of the nanites, and that the true purpose of the area is to house said containment. The board having foreknowledge that something had gone wrong implies that the Rogue Process caused the surge, but it’s also possible that Barret did so. It’s implied that he had stopped taking orders from the board and taken over R&D before the surge happened, and he believed you’re an assassin sent by the board to eliminate him. It’s also stated that the park’s robots and design was overseen by him and his division. I don’t think it’s far-fetched that the surge was caused by him, intentionally or not.
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Dec 17, 2017 00:56
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Lightning Knight posted:It’s actually 3-2 yes when you get there, with one remaining vote. Maybe my memory is falling me big time, but I seem to recall the last non voter's to be outstretch toward the "No", hinting he was about to vote so before getting bain fried.
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Dec 17, 2017 01:07
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The failsafe protocol series of logs also starts 19 seconds BEFORE the surge actually happens according to its own timeframe readout so they definitely knew something was going wrong even if it was only at the last minute. I think it could go either way regarding what caused the surge itself, really- I think the Rogue Process is the more obvious answer, but there's a failsafe protocol log that talks about the board and the votes they cast for Project Utopia, specifically how it's stalled because the one undecided guy is still alive. If the Rogue Process really was in control of it all by the time you get there, it could've just killed him and forced the vote to go through were it not for Sally jump-starting him whenever he gave out, which you see firsthand. I think there's a case for Sally causing the surge because we have direct evidence of her discarding people who are no longer useful to her- when Mallory gives up on reaching the boardroom, Sally just straight up mercs her and un-fixes her implants, and then she struggles along for a while and then just dies or is killed by security. By the time you reach the boardroom yourself, only the one guy is still alive and according to the failsafe log it's been that way for a long time, a day at least. The other guys had all cast their votes, so there was no need for Sally to keep them alive anymore, but this last dude is the final hope for stopping Project Utopia and she needs Warren there to "convince" him or otherwise make the vote for him. But you have to short Sally out in order to reboot the system and get into the boardroom, and so she fizzles out before she can revive him and by then it's too late. I think Sally caused the surge as a form of self-preservation; she clearly has agency of SOME kind and she's connected directly to the server that shorted out and caused the mess in the first place. The key in my opinion is that there's no trace of the Rogue Process in the system server room, only the mostly-broken Sally and a bunch of locked down sectors. CJacobs fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Dec 17, 2017 |
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Dec 17, 2017 01:12
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While I agree that Sally straight up doesn't give a poo poo about anyone but the board, I chalked it to her being programmed with the pretty CREO mindset of "workers are resources, but the board's life is to be protected at all cost. I mean, the diagnostic log early states that working equipment is to be retrieved and given to usable human assets. Pretty telling.
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Dec 17, 2017 01:25
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Maybe so. The one thing I don't really understand about the story is why Sally needs Warren in the first place. The whole goal of the game, initially, was to reach the Executive Forum as per Sally's direction. She says from the start that we can speak to the board and give assistance with maybe finding outside help with the situation the surge has caused... but as we find out when we actually get there, she was lying and there was no help to be found. So then that leaves me wondering, why did she want us to go there? We couldn't speak to the board in the first place because they're all dead save for the last living guy, who you inadvertently get killed by shorting Sally out. Clearly she had some kind of plan for whoever made it there first (you or Mallory), but what was it??
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Dec 17, 2017 01:29
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