Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Sep 09, 2021, 12:27:29 PM
https://media0.giphy.com/media/XV74ZvGRXcZdS/200.gif
Spoiler
Come on, you were asking for that one
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Sep 09, 2021, 12:27:29 PM
Wait a minute, increasing a game's difficulty makes it more difficult? This is revolutionary!!!
I was playing Intense & Extreme last night hooked up to a brain monitor and and my brain instead of it's usual 2% function, decreased to 1% brain function. So we have medical proof!
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Sep 09, 2021, 12:27:29 PM
So I played last night in Intense & Extreme modes and much of the game I stood in place and shot. Let me repeat this, for much of the game the enemies came to me and I stood in place and shot. Sometimes shoulder to shoulder. So this is a no-brainer guys that this aspect can be... a no-brainer!
You mean to tell me you haven't maxed your classes, yet there are no moments on extreme or intense where the Aliens break a defense line and you're forced to become more mobile?
This is some recent Intense difficulty gameplay where the rest of my fireteam had been killed, and I attempted to survive the final waves on my own. If I had stayed put, I really think I would've lasted much shorter than I did. I realize a good portion of this game is holding up and hiding behind cover, as is the case with many horde shooters, but you still need to build a proper defense line and maximize class synergy to strengthen that fortification, if you don't, you'll find yourself in a situation like I'm in here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDtzE63vtW8&ab_channel=RidgeTopQuote from: Voodoo Magic on Sep 09, 2021, 12:27:29 PM
Even once complete, some of my friends are the type of people that have the need to max out every class, every weapon - repeating missions as long as it takes. They need to 100% a game - it's an itch that needs to be scratched. Me, not so much. I just want to win it.
That's definitely Hicks and I, we're both max rank on all classes except for the new Phalanx. A big part of the game's depth comes from unlocking that full perk grid and tweaking the placements for ideal stats. If that's not really your type of game preference then yeah the longevity for this one may be less for you. The depth also comes from all the lore, the implementation of which surprised me, both in the text and the presentation of the Alien Universe. Every weapon in the game has a full text backstory.
As far as the shooting goes, yeah it's a shooter. I could play any almost any third person or first person shooter mindlessly and probably get by, but where's the fun in that? Just like other horde shooters such as Left 4 Dead, Gears of War, or World War Z can have a simple formula, they do it quite well and there's a lot to explore and different ways to play within that formula. They can be played quite casually on the easy and normal difficulties but once you enter higher level play or PvP things start becoming more dynamic.
Hunting Grounds for the most part has its formula, it does its formula quite well, and it has expanded upon it (not nearly enough, but it has). The PvP nature of that game does offer varying challenge depending on opponent skill, same as this game does even though it's PvE. I do hope they add PvP here though.
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Sep 09, 2021, 12:27:29 PM
It's stay in your lanes, shoot rows of bugs that come in predetermined paths often in straight ant lines, and use your specials as they keep recharging. Oh and run backwards and and call out dem big bulletsponges minibosses!
Sometimes the Xenos do line up a bit too nicely for my weapon, but I also found myself quite impressed with the pathfinding. How the runners can all scurry down columns while not colliding with each other is technically impressive. From what I've seen, they're not locked to a specific path, they may have a general one (get to the player), but how they get there varies from Xeno to Xeno. There are some conga lines where the xenos spawn but it's typically not long before they start diverging, moving to the walls, the ceiling, coming in on the flanks, and especially if they get up close. In any case, the pathfinding systems are definitely something Hicks and I plan on asking the Devs about.
The more tanky classes tie into stat tweaking directly, as what initially took a long time to kill can go down quite satisfyingly fast with a fully kitted out squad synchronizing their abilities.
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Sep 09, 2021, 12:27:29 PMBut in all seriousness though, the whole arcade check-your-brain-at-the-door shooter thing is not an insult. I repeat. Not an insult. It's the nature of these horde type games. It's why we've read the word "arcade" used so often to describe Aliens FTE in so many critics reviews.
The game is accessible and can be played casually for sure, but the reviews are mixed as well, with critics also offering different experiences:
"Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a surprisingly deep third-person shooter with tight, enjoyable multiplayer action that has enough variety to tease multiple return visits.
With a surprisingly deep progression system, consistently entertaining firefights, and engrossing presentation that keeps the action gripping throughout.
Each of the classes can be altered in similar ways, redefining their active abilities with appropriate pros and cons to give them more depth than their standard archetypes suggest initially. This makes spending time with each individual class rewarding as you start tinkering them to be both fun to play and effective as part of your team."-GameSpot
And this one definitely seems more along the lines of what you've been saying...
"Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a generic survival shooter with old-school arcade DNA. Fireteam Elite feels like an online, updated version of light-gun games like Area 51 or House of the Dead, complete with repetitive environments and sloppy hit boxes. The game is competent, but not dynamic. To put it simply — man, it's just a shooting gallery down there."-Engadget
Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Sep 09, 2021, 12:27:29 PMP.S. I do agree with everyone that without randomness and pvp, this game desperately needs a regular feed of content to survive, and it can't be classes, weapons & decals!
And here is where I do agree with ya. While I do think more of classes, weapons, and decals will help, the game does really need more meat, in the form of more story-based campaigns, new Horde Mode maps with more than one defense point, and hopefully some kind of PvP.