I would assume so. They let you swap back and forth between “episodes” already, and the game doesn’t really end per se even when you finish the main story line.
That’s great then, gives you reasons to keep playing.
Yes, it’s set 3 months after the main story finishes. You can do that first then this has a bit of plot exposition to tell you why you’re still fighting on Auroa.
It’s all pretty much hooey, but it’s fun hooey.
Fine by me. 10 hours in but apparently only 7% completed because it’s kinda like Skyrim. “I have this story thing 2 clicks away but ohhh what’s that big red blob?!” Snipey snipey and an hour later, “Hey that story thing is 3 clicks away now…”
It’s even more fun when you turn off the big red blobs and go immersive. You have to actually scout places, move carefully (though the constant chatter from the bad guys makes things a bit easier than it might be), and stuff doesn’t get auto-tagged and all that. Makes it 100x more cool. Well, it does if like me you’ve played through the story missions like twice already.
Yeah maybe I’ll do that once I go through everything else. I like all the blobs.
In fairness, the game sort of was designed with the default interface/markers/blobs in place, as many of the skills and tools you have become somewhat less valuable when you turn off all that. It’s really just a matter of taste.
I tried to get back into this after this thread was bumped. I’d made it to the hideout rebel area back when I first got this and left it due to far too many things to do. I had no idea what to try and do or how to get there. So many people and points of interest and quests on my hud. Even when I thought I’d finished one it stayed on the list of shit to do. Maybe I’ll just start over and hope the hud system clicks this time. Because as confusing as I found it months ago, it’s 100 times worse coming back to it.
I find only pinning one thing at a time and focusing on that really helps.
Makes sense. Part of my problem is I still haven’t really groked the UI. I’m using M/KB on my PC so maybe it’s easier with a controller. But I had trouble even opening/closing a menu last night, lol. Space bar? Mouse click? Tab? Who knows?
Escape usually takes you out of whatever menu you’re looking at, but you might have to hit escape a couple of times depending on what you’re looking at. I only use a mouse and keyboard and it’s a bit persnickity but not that bad overall.
Cool. Maybe I’ll just start over like I said and figure it out along the way. Only this time maybe I’ll get it.
The mission UI is IMHO goddam terrible. Scrolling round that giant screen wondering what you’re looking at. Ugh. What I actually tended to do was use the main map - then ‘B’ I think will show you the available missions in that region, and you can pin a couple from that much shorter list.
What @Alistair said. The UI is dreadful, with spacebar and escape being sort of used the same but in different contexts, and sometimes right click or left click, or maybe pecking with your nose while holding one foot over your head. It’s a mess.
Generally, though, from the in-game view, spacebar pins a task, though what it really does is open the task window where you have to use the arrow keys pretty much to select one of the two open slots (if you have no existing tasks it puts the new one in slot one automatically).
Sometimes it wants you to go to the Objectives page and drill down to the specific task and its associated evidence, where you have to “Consult” the new clue before it will advance the task. You can often get there with the “M” key from the in-game pop-up, but only if you are fast enough. Otherwise you have to drill down from the Objectives page. And of course, even if you do all this, sometimes the notifications stick around long after they need to. Oh, and the exclamation points or whatever notifying you that you have new things on a page (Objectives, Skills, etc.) often stay there when there is nothing visible that hasn’t been looked at. For Objectives at least, this is usually some random weapon accessory or collectible you have yet to peruse.
By virtue of my wife being away visiting her parents I can tell you the new Conquest mode takes 23 hours to complete :)
I liked it - the overall structure was fine, the new defensive gubbins like tripwires and mines were quite effective additions and the invisisuit was also fun. I felt like the guy in Patrick Lee’s novel Breach, who was notorious among the good guys for giving them some very bad days indeed.
23 hours for a new, free game mode ain’t nothing.
In playing through the Episode 1 main story stuff on my third character, to explore all the changes, I’m having a great time. With Immersive mode on, one weapon + hand gun, no insta-marked enemies, having to hunt for locations, etc. it’s a blast. I also (doh!) finally figured out why the Alt key to switch between ADS and the hip fire view is so valuable. Now in CQB situations I switch to hip fire and it is so much more responsive than ADS, which is great for medium-long range engagements. Also, the Darkest Night option is kind of neat, in that it makes thee vision goggles actually worth something. Thermal vision is still sort of meh though.
And while they did indeed make slipping and sliding a lot less prevalent, especially when crouched when it pretty much doesn’t happen at all, you can still do a downhill skiing impression a bit too easily. But it is better.
I do wish they had an option for toning down the constant enemy radio chatter and soliloquys. Even if you have only one guy left, he’ll go on and on talking to himself about how he has three weeks left, the comms blackout is bullshit, or whatever. And those patrols that are all over the island are easily avoided (or wiped out) because they. will. not. STOP. TALKING!
Thermal mode does let you see invisible people too :)
Why not Conquest mode?
Oh, I haven’t tried Conquest yet (that’s Motherland, right?). Except the first mission on one of my other characters. I am waffling between finishing the story stuff again and then going into the other stuff, or using my other characters to play the newer stuff. I never finished stuff like the Terminator or Sam Fisher stuff either.