Hero-of-Time Posted November 18, 2019 Posted November 18, 2019 The Force Unleashed games were great and I think they are more fun and much better games than this. Interesting story and characters, great set pieces and stupidly fun force powers to use. Let's just forget about the segment where you have to bring down a Star Destroyer. No idea what the developers were thinking with that.
Ganepark32 Posted November 20, 2019 Posted November 20, 2019 Plugging away at this and while its definitely gelling more for me, it's still not reaching the heights that some people (journalists and otherwise) have said it does. It's a good game, marred by a lot of technical issues and at times, mishmash of gameplay styles that don't all coalesce together perfectly. It does speak as a game that's looked at what other similar style games have done and tried to ape those but hasn't implemented them in a way that's conducive to fluid gameplay and progression. That being said, I am enjoying it, warts and all and believe me, there are some rough patches. I had a moment where I rounded a corner and none of the level had loaded. The game came to a juddering stop as it tried to quickly load things in leaving me stuck while it loaded for about a minute. Optimisation isn't great on that front and the frequent texture pop in shows this as well. It's very much reminding me of the original Mass Effect on the 360. That game had similar optimisation issues and frequent pop in of textures due to the Unreal Engine at the time being troublesome from what I remember. It hasn't all been that jarring and for the most part, even in the base Xbox One, it does look good (though the Wookies don't look great on any platform). My enjoyment has been massively helped by a certain upgrade I got earlier in the game which has made combat more fun and enjoyable, even if the dodge doesn't work well when locked on to enemies especially some of the bigger monsters you come across. Spoiler I've returned to Kashyyyk and I'm making my way to the Shadowlands now. I wasn't massively keen on having to backtrack to Zeffo land in a way, I'm not liking then having to backtrack to Kashyyyk again after that. While that does make more sense given the Intel needed for the meet up taking time to gather, it still feels a little unimaginative to have you simple bounce between the two locations. Sure, I've returned to Bogano and Dathomir but I can't do any more at either location, the latter because I need an ability to reach the next area. I'd have just liked a bit more than the bouncing around is all. Even the bounty hunter but felt middle of the road and just seems to be there to slow progress with the story. Did Greez give you up, as that's what it sounded like from what was said there but it's not exactly clear and now the story ha smoved passed it so it just seemed odd. I did enjoy going back to Zeffo for the story. Finding out the Second Sister was Trilla was something I suspected might come up but it's put an interesting spin on why you're looking for the holocron now and I'm very interested to see how that plays out. The fight with her did feel a bit cheap at times though, with some of her attacks. Again, the dodge doesn't work great at times but thankfully going with the double sided lightsaber helped out and I managed to push through. Hoping the finish it by the weekend and it feels as though that should be easily achievable. Like I said, it's good but there are definitely areas that could do with improvement and will likely see that improvement in possible sequels going forward (I saw Jason Schreier suggest that may well be what Respawn are set to work on with this out the door and doing well). Hopefully it'll stick the ending after what I've seen so far. 1
ArtMediocre Posted November 20, 2019 Posted November 20, 2019 Ow, speaking of Mass Effect and loading... I just remembered the greatest loading screen of all time. The Citadel elevator <3 So many awkward conversations. That lovely music.
Ronnie Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 Finally started this tonight, I think there's been a patch this week that's hopefully made the game a bit more stable, but it was getting to the point where IGN were putting spoilers all over their YouTube so I decided I should probably get a move on and play it now. Very impressive opening, visually stunning (at least on the One X), fun traversal, challenging combat. I was a bit all over the place with the lightsaber, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. So many little touches for Star Wars nerds. Cutscenes were fantastic. Loved walking around the ship and interacting with the guitar thing, nice little touches. Oh and the cockpit when in hyperspace is f-ing cool. Just got to the first planet, decided to stop there and carry on tomorrow 1
Ronnie Posted November 24, 2019 Posted November 24, 2019 I've basically got the biggest grin on my face pretty much the entire time playing this game. Been running around and exploring the first planet you visit and got to the first main story checkpoint. It plays like a dream, love the traversal, it's so much fun finding all the secrets and collectibles, love BD-1 and I'm finding myself surprisingly invested in Cal. Cutscenes and facial animations are top notch, great performance from Monaghan too. Storyline sounds pretty intriguing so far. Also, I've got this weird obsession with menus, so I tend to pay attention to UI a lot, the interface in this game is lovely. Can't wait to play more tomorrow night 1
dan-likes-trees Posted November 24, 2019 Posted November 24, 2019 8 hours ago, Ronnie said: I've basically got the biggest grin on my face pretty much the entire time playing this game. Been running around and exploring the first planet you visit and got to the first main story checkpoint. It plays like a dream, love the traversal, it's so much fun finding all the secrets and collectibles, love BD-1 and I'm finding myself surprisingly invested in Cal. Cutscenes and facial animations are top notch, great performance from Monaghan too. Storyline sounds pretty intriguing so far. Also, I've got this weird obsession with menus, so I tend to pay attention to UI a lot, the interface in this game is lovely. Can't wait to play more tomorrow night Agreed on this. It feels so fluid and tight to play, I haven't had this much fun with a game in ages! Even considering how blatant the 'inspirations' are (even down to the camera pulling focus on your distant geographical objective a la unchartered) it's so fun and so star wars-y. Great art direction on all the designs of the levels. It most reminds me of God of War, though I found that game's settings and characters often a bit obtuse / too abstract or something. This one feels really easy to connect to, even if the story is pretty standard. Not sure I share the love for Cal, he's alright but I feel the game would've benefited from not having yet another young male Han-ish type. But the cutscenes are done really well so meh. Obviously wasn't paying attention to what was said when I first picked planets. Went to that Dathomir which was astoundingly hard even on normal. Had a right old 'aaahhhh riiiight' moment when I went to the other planet 1
Ganepark32 Posted November 24, 2019 Posted November 24, 2019 Finished it this afternoon and despite there still being some nagging issues towards the end (I had the game lock up on me several times, with one crash back for the dashboard on my Xbox One, and the poor streaming of assets into the game which lead to plenty of stutters and elongated elevator rides as the game froze and struggled to load everything in), I very much enjoyed where it got to by the end. I think Cal and the cast of characters came into their own by that point and there was good character growth all around there and just generally speaking, without spoiling anything, I liked what the game did with the last couple of missions and such. I'd definitely agree with the sentiment that's gone around that the game is a little slow out of the gate but the pace certainly picks up in the latter half. I don't know if the game stuck the landing on the ending as it did seen to rush through a lot there and felt a little flat but it was a hell of a ride with that last portion. There's a strong foundation for Respawn to work with going forward with more Star Wars games and if they can iron out some of the gameplay quirks that don't quite work then I can see their next Star Wars title being phenomenal. The meditation circle/bonfire system, for instance, could be looked at as having all enemies respawn doesn't quite feel right. Have some types respawn (like stormtroopers for instance) but not all. Some tightening of the combat system would be nice as well. Also, with regards to one character late game (BIG SPOILERS so tread carefully): Spoiler I felt they didn't do Nightsister Merrin justice. It felt as though her joining you should've happened earlier or should've been fleshed out more because she seemed to be a genuinely interesting character and seeing that dynamic with Cal develop would've definitely been a plus point for the game. As it was, she gave a couple of conversations towards the end but didn't add a huge amount beyond rescuing you after saving Cere and escaping Vader which is a shame. Maybe in a sequel or something or even some additional DLC they could go into things a bit more. All small things in themselves but sorting them out would have turned this into a truly fantastic game. Even still, as I said, I very much enjoyed it at the end there and getting to feel like a true Jedi knight with all your force powers and such and dominating all the enemies felt great. I'll miss journeying with BD-1 and Greez (I loved how Cal poked and prodded him at times with their banter, nicely done I thought). A flawed but good game, one worth experiencing though. A sentiment that holds true for a lot of great games this year.
Ronnie Posted November 26, 2019 Posted November 26, 2019 I'm finding scout troopers really challenging on the second planet you visit, even on normal difficulty. Especially when there's a couple of them, it's hard to focus on parrying their hits when you have both of them melee-ing you at once. I just end up button mashing. The combat definitely takes some getting used to, but it was the same for God of War I suppose.
Ronnie Posted November 27, 2019 Posted November 27, 2019 Got to the first "dungeon" of the game, and probably did about half of it, until I got to a story beat. I didn't even know this game had dungeons. So much fun. Put the game down for the night but can't wait to play again tomorrow night and explore all the newly open paths.
Happenstance Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 So roughly how long is the game? Just started it this morning. Definitely noticing stuttering in certain areas on Xbox.
Hero-of-Time Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 1 minute ago, Happenstance said: So roughly how long is the game? Just started it this morning. Definitely noticing stuttering in certain areas on Xbox. It depends on whether you go exploring or not. If you just go straight through the story then you are probably looking at around 15 hours. 1
Happenstance Posted December 8, 2019 Posted December 8, 2019 Still slowly working my way through this, just made it to Kashyyyk. Got to admit though, I'm finding it hard at the moment to feel invested in the story or characters.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 8, 2019 Posted December 8, 2019 37 minutes ago, Happenstance said: Still slowly working my way through this, just made it to Kashyyyk. Got to admit though, I'm finding it hard at the moment to feel invested in the story or characters. How are you enjoying the PS2 looking wookies? I'd love to know just what the hell happened when they created those NPCs.
Happenstance Posted December 8, 2019 Posted December 8, 2019 5 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: How are you enjoying the PS2 looking wookies? I'd love to know just what the hell happened when they created those NPCs. Lol yeah I did think they looked weird.
Ronnie Posted December 8, 2019 Posted December 8, 2019 (edited) The game looks so beautiful, it's so weird the Wookiees look terrible lol Can I ask for those who've finished it, two things: 1. how far into the campaign I am Spoiler Just finished the second tomb and been caught by the bounty hunter. I stopped after the "Reawaken" screen (after lol-ing) 2. How people found the time to backtrack and find secrets/new areas to explore? At the moment I just seem compelled to follow the main quest and it's not giving me much chance to breathe and look around or revisit old areas with new abilities. Does the game open up later? I know I can do it whenever I want but it just feels like you do one objective and then you just stumble on another. Edited December 8, 2019 by Ronnie
Hero-of-Time Posted December 8, 2019 Posted December 8, 2019 You still have a fair few hours to go, @Ronnie. As for exploring, as you said, you can explore whenever you want. Personally, I waited until I had unlocked all of the story abilities before jumping back to look for loot. I figured it was best to have everything at my disposal otherwise I may delved deep into a level and come across something I couldn't access yet. 1
Ronnie Posted December 8, 2019 Posted December 8, 2019 Spoiler The encounter with the Second Sister just before the second tomb was fantastic. She's fantastic, I loved the reveal, just the right amount of menace and a great performance from the (voice) actress.Loving the cutscenes, just wish there were a few more like that.
Ronnie Posted December 9, 2019 Posted December 9, 2019 No spoilers but should I go to Dathomir after the second tomb or will the campaign take me there eventually and I should wait for that?
dan-likes-trees Posted December 9, 2019 Posted December 9, 2019 36 minutes ago, Ronnie said: No spoilers but should I go to Dathomir after the second tomb or will the campaign take me there eventually and I should wait for that? Have you been there atall yet? I just beat the second tomb (I think it was second) but went to Dathomir by accident as soon as the game gave the option - you can't progress that far in Dathomir until you have certain abilites later in the game - I guess the game nudges you that direction later on. But it's cool, there's some things to find there if you're up for the challenge. So you won't be spoiling anything for yourself by going there now if you want to check it out. Hope that keeps it vague enough. I'm not at the stage where I've been sent there and I think I'm roughly where you are. Also agreed re your above post, that stuff is great! 1
Ronnie Posted December 9, 2019 Posted December 9, 2019 5 hours ago, dan-likes-trees said: Have you been there atall yet? I just beat the second tomb (I think it was second) but went to Dathomir by accident as soon as the game gave the option - you can't progress that far in Dathomir until you have certain abilites later in the game - I guess the game nudges you that direction later on. But it's cool, there's some things to find there if you're up for the challenge. So you won't be spoiling anything for yourself by going there now if you want to check it out. Hope that keeps it vague enough. I'm not at the stage where I've been sent there and I think I'm roughly where you are. Also agreed re your above post, that stuff is great! Thanks for that. I’ve not been to Dathomir at all yet and feel like I’m over halfway through the game and just wondered whether to go now or now. It’s the same as in Red Dead 2, I didn’t go near St Denis until the story took me there. As an aside, watching the Mantis jump to hyperspace while you’re in the cockpit NEVER gets old.
Rob3008 Posted January 16, 2020 Posted January 16, 2020 It looks gorgeous and is fun at times but the amount of backtracking is unbelievably tedious. Having to make your way back through the maze-like levels just to reach your ship to get to the next level really hampered my enjoyment.
Hero-of-Time Posted January 31, 2020 Posted January 31, 2020 I'm happy it's done so well. Whilst the game did end up disappointing me, these sales show EA that there is a high demand for a narrative driven Star Wars game. Hopefully we'll get more from them before the licence expires.
Ronnie Posted February 1, 2020 Posted February 1, 2020 Finally finished this last night, and 1000/1000'd it. Not had as much time to play games these past couple of months so it took me an age to get round to it. Overall brilliant fun. As a Star Wars story it was absolutely fantastic, as a game it was pretty great. The former was surprising though, Respawn obviously worked VERY closely with the Lucasfilm story group. Obviously not without its flaws and technically it was very rough but I had a great time overall. Loved collecting bits of lore, loved the combat, traversal, story-telling, cutscenes, characters, force powers. Good mix of planets. Great story-telling with flashbacks, performances etc. Loved the second sister especially, she was great. Spoiler People seem to have adored the end with Vader, in the same way they adored that scene in Rogue One, and really seem to get off on Vader being a "badass". I don't know why but both didn't really do it for me, can't explain why. Also the ending was really, really abrupt. I hate it when games/films/tv series do that. Just take an extra couple of minutes and end it properly! But yeah, great job Respawn.
Ronnie Posted February 1, 2020 Posted February 1, 2020 (edited) Also I loved the confirmation that... Spoiler became... Spoiler Explains the destructive power of Starkiller Base Edited February 1, 2020 by Ronnie
dan-likes-trees Posted February 13, 2020 Posted February 13, 2020 Finally getting round to finish this off after pausing it for christmas and then the outer wilds. Am I just a bit shite at this kind of game or does the difficulty seriously spike at times? I was finding it all quite enjoyable until the fight with Spoiler The griffin thing, which was about doable, and then taron malicos, which I had to drop the difficulty right down to story for from jedi master. Now I'm on the final boss (I think - Trilla) Don't want to drop it to story difficulty again as it was way too easy and anti-climatic, but also can't really be arsed to spend ages getting gud enough to finish it. Some of her moves seem a bit cheap (plus that crap robot the spawns halfway through thats a pain in the arse to kill because of the lock on. Basically the difficulty spikes have soured it for me a bit because the rest of the game doesn't feel like those overly tough frustrating experiences until now
Recommended Posts