Whereas I think that actively detracts from the game because it removes character skill from the equation and that’s an important - and positive - roleplaying game element. (Of course, I’m one of those people who in most contexts would prefer turn-based combat in an RPG because it shifts things even more towards character skill.)
I played only to the first checkpoint and my first impressions are best described as ugh right now. I think it’s mostly due to not getting the controls and still figuring out how to aim properly. I definitely need to practice a bit. I thought it’d have mechanics like ME, which I was able to handle fine, but targeting is a struggle for me for some reason. Fortunately, I get the hacking/lock picking mini-games so far, although I despise timed events. I knew the time limit feature was going to be an issue for me going in, though, especially in terms of the conversation choices; I prefer an approach that allows me to appreciate the gameworld, and I feel that timed events frustrate me instead of elevating tension in an enjoyable way.
Eye-rolling moment: trying to sneak out of the very first room, got discovered, and couldn’t understand why Mike was just standing there while the guard pummeled him to death even though I was clicking like mad. Turns out I had to set Mike to melee to actually fight (press E). I read it in the manual, of course, but didn’t even think it wouldn’t be a default when I’m otherwise unequipped. Too late for him by the time I figured it out. Restart. Fun times. I suck at this game so far.
Senjak
1683
In fairness to yourself, Mike sucks at this game in the beginning.
With a few ranks in the pistol skill you get new abilities like Chain Shot (freeze time while you line up a few headshots), and the ability to aim precisely and get a crit while still entirely hidden behind cover (which is useful in ways that the in-game description doesn’t convey). A few ranks in the stealth skill will start reducing enemy detection ranges, and gives you the Evasion ability, which is temporary invisibility that automatically activates if an enemy sees you, giving you a chance to get back in cover. You’ll also start accumulating Perks, which can help reduce enemy detection ranges, make you quieter, etc.
When the game starts, Mike’s bag of tricks is empty, so the player doesn’t have a lot options when facing a challenge.
A NOTE ON STEALTH:
For anyone having trouble with stealth, check the Sound Dampening stat of your armor.
5 or 6 = silent or really silent
4 = still very quiet, but be careful about moving too quickly when enemies are near
3 = not quiet, so move very slowly when enemies are at medium-ish range, and try not to move at all when they are closer than that
2 = loud, so just don’t move at all until after you kill everyone
0 or 1 = you probably make noise even when standing still, so you might as well start throwing grenades around
You’re definitely not alone with that prejudice, and clearly the market has spoken on which of those will have more traction. I just offered my counterpoint to suggest that it is a purposeful decision on the part of the designers, and if you can find a way to make your peace with it there’s quite a game in there. I say that midway through playthrough number 5, where doing things in a different sequence and buying no intel is making the missions substantially different in some areas (especially the arms dealer early on), enough so that I’m not particularly concerned about having explored most paths before in terms of decisions.
In fairness to Mike, the ability to be inaudible simply by crouching regardless of your speed just by sticking to your default garment (don’t go to the locker in the tutorial! It won’t let you switch back to the scrubs) is incredibly overpowered by the standards of RPGs of this nature. Silent Running is like a level 12 or 14 perk in Fallout 3, for instance, and therefore comes with substantial opportunity cost. Once you add in the silent movement ability, a little concealment, and your one hit KO from stealth, you have a real powerhouse relatively early. Alternatively, a character who concentrates on the behind cover shot or the assault rifle bullet time can clear most rooms in record time.
The game does reward specialization in character traits and diversification in mission choices (ie you want to be good at a few abilities, but you want to take full advantage of your dialog choices depending on how you feel about them even if it’s “inconsistent”). If you really want to push the system you do easy missions worldwide before concentrating on the harder missions (with the alpha on them). None of those things is obvious or well explained early on, so it’s worth mentioning.
Thanks for that and the tips. But really, I expect that most of my troubles right now are because of the player, not the character. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. I’m playing a Freelancer with Stealth, Pistols, and Sabotage. I debated going with Recruit, but since I suck I didn’t want to struggle too much as I’d likely drop it and play another game (World of Goo is crazy).
Quitch
1686
Recruit isn’t worse than anyone else (that I recall), it just gives you all your skill points to spend as you see fit, while the others are fixed templates.
I’m pretty sure the others aren’t fixed, they just give some starting points in predetermined spots but you can move them around. Recruit gives you no starting points, so it is marginally more challenging. IIRC, I haven’t played one of the other modes since the game first came out and I quit halfway through Saudi to go back and do recruit. Either way, I believe you still get to “specialize” and decide what your three priorities are later on, but I can’t say for sure.
Quitch
1688
Oh right, don’t you earn those points during the initial training or something?
I have a Recruit run going right now. I stopped it during the final sequence because, really, those “boss” battles are just dreadful, especially for particular builds. One day I hope to summon the will to finish so I can do my Veteran run.
I don’t remember with any certainty, but I think you can get level 1 and 2 points regardless of your choice in the intro. That puts the recruit at 0+20 and the others at x +20. I’m going to mess with it again, but I seem to recall being able to really exploit that by dumping all of the points into stealth since they are considered 1:1 for the purpose of initial setup.
I have a Recruit run going right now. I stopped it during the final sequence because, really, those “boss” battles are just dreadful, especially for particular builds. One day I hope to summon the will to finish so I can do my Veteran run.
I feel your pain. At this point, I have every boss memorized to the point where they are trivial, but I still had a surge of annoyance when I got the to the embassy finale and I’m sure some of those shit shows at the end will be as annoying. There are a few spots that are beneficial to virtually any build (if you only have shotguns I probably can’t help that much) in the big fights at the end, so be sure and speak up if it will get you through. The last few dialogs are a great payoff.
Wolff
1690
You only get 10 AP during the training as a recruit. I found recruit as an assault rifle by the book guy (lots of endurance perks) was great for a first playthrough. Got master awareness, 2 in sabotage, rest in assault rifle, toughness, martial arts.
Did you level once or twice? I definitely got to level 2 in the training this last time, for example, and I’m not positive but I thought I got the full 10 points each time.
Senjak
1692
Correct, when you hit the specialization point you can choose any 3 skills, even if you chose a class with pre-set priorities during character creation.
I don’t think you get all of them, but if you choose the Recruit dialogue option enough times, you get Perks that give you up to 10, so that takes a bite out of the missing 31.
Spoiler Warning - these links have spoilers:
There’s a useful chart of Perks here.
Assault Rifles
Pistols
Gadgets
Armor
Senjak
1693
Ya, the embassy finale is a massive PITA if you fight from the ground, and Brayko is even worse until you design a fight strategy just for him, at which point he becomes trivial.
The only times it’s been easy for me are the first time, when I did it as my last setting and had almost max stealth and brilliance available so I could judo chop to my heart’s content, and this last time when I got lucky with spamming all five incendiary grenades (the 25 people killed with fire perk in like a 25 second window or something). Sergei’s fragility on hard was a nightmare in the second playthrough, and I’ve never done it successfully from the rooftop since I’ve never been very good at assault rifles.
My fight strategy for brayko is still the same one: have chain shot at 5 when I go there and some steel core bullets. It’s the only way to be sure he’ll be dead before he gets off the stage.
stusser
1695
I just started playing and man oh man, the complaints about that hacking minigame are right on. It’s simply unacceptable. I immediately downloaded a trainer to make it easier. Unfortunately the trainer breaks other stuff, so every time I reach something that requires a hack I need to activate the trainer, get to the next checkpoint, then quit and restart the game. This fucking sucks.
Is there any way to permanently remove hacking? I’m obviously more than happy to cheat like a little bitch. With that hacking mini"game" in I just don’t find AP to be playable, period.
That does sound like a terrible experience. I don’t know of any way to fully excise the hacking game, but I do know that putting two points in Sabotage and either implementing the mouse control tweaks or switching to a 360 controller solve most mechanical problems (speed, namely). Other than that, I think a lot of people try to match the numbers instead of just moving down the numbers into the grid while you look for static blocks, and just remembering the first couple of letters from one of them is all you need.
malkav11
1697
There are a bunch of things that make it easier (and honestly it’s not that bad once you get used to it), like pumping the relevant skill and using relevant armor modifiers, or using a 360 controller. It can also simply be skipped by investing in one or two ranks of Sabotage (I think one, but I’m not sure) and using an EMP grenade to skip it when prompted. Sometimes there’s more hackable computers than EMP grenades, though. Still, there’s usually only a couple of plot critical computers at most. The rest just give you intel and/or cash.
maxle
1698
When I first encountered hacking I was convinced it was going to be a game-breaker, that it was impossible. A couple hours later it was fairly routine. But Jesus, that first time. That sucked. So much. The second time, too. And the third.
Cubit
1699
Huh. I didn’t have any trouble with the hacking using a 360 controller.
malkav11
1700
It’s the only thing that seems (to me) to be reliably broken with the mouse and keyboard setup. The mouse cursor is way off from where you’re actually moving that side of the hacking, and it’s floaty to boot. It looks like it would be much more intuitive with dual joysticks. Then again, lockpicking is a breeze with mouse and keyboard and is apparently actually semi-challenging on the controller.
