It is almost weird enough to make one think that maybe most Internet ads are context aware using some kind of fancy keyword algorithms or something… almost!
Got to the boss on the junk planet.
Holy fuck that’s annoying. Normally I can target just fine when the camera is behind me. But during the boss fight, when the camera switches to an “all encompassing” mode, forget it. I couldn’t hit shit, not even the titan.
My opinion of this game has now plummeted.
Auto-lock, and spam jumping and lightning.
It seems like once they get down to a certain level of health they become impervious to damage.
Of course, at this point I’m trying to get through both boss battles and regular battles - so I’m not sure what I’m playing for anymore.
I only played the demo, but it sounds like the full game is generally indicative of some of the problems there. Mainly that the targeting is terrible for what you want to do. After playing it I kind of felt that it failed at being at least as good at Psi-Ops at the telekinesis while also failing at being as good as DMC/GoW/NG in the 3PA aspect.
OK, I just got to the star destroyer and I can’t figure out who let this through.
It’s excruciating. I can’t even tell if I’m ever doing the right thing.
Holding your blade in a reverse grip stance is usually to conceal what weapon you’re using (or the length of the blade).
Not sure why this upsets so many. It is a valid technique which has both strengths and weaknesses.
Plus it makes you look cool (+1 cha)
Where is that a valid technique? In the Star Wars universe where all Jedi and most Sith have lightsabers of exactly the same size? I don’t think so…
Ha ha, well put.
As for Starkiller’s lightsaber style, I actually thought it was pretty cool. I’ve long since given up on the practicality of how you’re supposed to handle a lightsaber that can cut through solid metal. But keeping it tucked behind your back to you can wave your hand around doing various jedi stuff looked great to me. For the most part, I really liked how they animated him, and now I’m keen to figure out how to unlock the dude in Soulcalibur.
As for Starkiller’s name, however, that’s an entirely different matter. I mean, I know it was supposed to be the name of the main character in Star Wars, but wasn’t there a reason it was replaced? Like, oh, say, because it’s really stupid?
-Tom
This thing is still going to sell a gabazillion copies and Lucas Arts will (rightly?) hail it as a step in the right direction.
I don’t have a problem with the behind the back, and I agree that he’s animated pretty well. But now and then I feel overly conscious of a misstep, as I might at seeing someone juggle swords on a tightrope.
As for the star destroyer thing, I keep dying around the second fighter pass, wherein my apparent options are to stand out like an ass and take lightning potshots as they make their runs, or to stand behind a column and wait forever for one of those engines to slooooowly make its way to me.
Seeing as I’m not sure what the success state is for the destroyer, I find myself trying to hold on for too long (and do I just hold down steady, or am I supposed to flick down repeatedly, or match the on-screen indicators?!?) and end up with just a sliver of health. So I take out all of the primary fighters, and there are two left doing languorous passes by me, while I wait for equally languorous volatile engines to float by (for whatever reason), with no ability to recharge my health. I might spend a long time doing this, and missing repeatedly with the engine missile as there are only two targets left and sometimes the thing likes to arc just over them, only to die from a fucking lucky blast that just went around the column.
I have to believe that I’m playing this segment wrong, or that it just hasn’t clicked, because it’s absolutely HORRIBLE the way it was going.
Or you could zap the TIE Fighters with lightning…
That’s the part where I stand out like an ass and make potshots.
It works if I have full health and I manage to take a few out, but invariably they score a few hits on me and I’m down to almost no health. I can’t recharge my health, apart from actually destroying the fighters, which means I either risk dying and starting over, or I hang around in cover and wait for one of those innocent but unstable engines to meander by, on their way to the market, or something.
Dying, just about anywhere, feels really punishing between the ‘LOADING…’ and the unskippable cutscenes.
Anyhow, with enough patience I can take out the TIE Fighters, but what I don’t know is whether I’m actually tugging the destroyer properly. Am I supposed to follow the on-screen cues? Am I supposed to yank down like crazy, or in measured paces? Do I just hold them down? It seems to move quite a bit at first, but then slows down to where I feel like nothing is happening. And why multiple fighter passes?
Try multple pulls.
I can’t answer the question about multple fighter passes. The designers wanted to create something that felt epic, but obviously missed.
I dig - and really do I want it to work. I’m not trying to bag on the game, but I am frustrated because I really like so much of it, style-wise … I’m not playing until late in the evening because I want to be unhappy with it. But I’m also not exactly pleased at the point I do decide to quit playing.
At the very least, I hope we see the engine getting further use. There’s plenty that could be explored with it.
Thanks, Menzo.
The designers have always said they chose that grip because it allows the player to see their saber clearly at all times, which seems to be as good a reason as any.
I hear you, dude. This fight took me nearly 15 minutes the first time I ran into it, and I couldn’t believe I wasn’t missing something obvious, but as far as I can tell, this is how you do it:
When the first wave of TIEs comes in, zap them with lightning. The best way to do this is to wait for one to begin its peel off to one side, jump in the air and hit lightning as soon as you see the little targeting box (randomly) appear on the fighter. It will usually work. Do this repeatedly and you will almost certainly not be hit and have plenty of life.
When you have to rotate the ship, follow the prompts as best you can, but know two key things: To get the “down” command prompt the ship has to be positioned pointing almost exactly at you, and you also have to let go of the analog sticks (or at least recenter them) briefly to let the command prompt shift to “pull down.” If there’s a way to make it switch without doing this, I have not found it. I just hold them down. Tapping as the command prompt seems to indicate you should doesn’t seem to help.
Rinse and repeat. As the Star Destroyer gets closer to the ground, the command prompts for rotating it seem to get less and less accurate. Near the end I find the green analog glow means almost nothing and you tend to have to rotate the ship upward into the red to get the down prompt.
I would love to see a post-mortem or something on that fight, because I can’t figure out how anyone would find it acceptable, let alone fun to play. I know it was an iconic image from the teaser, but if there was no way to work it into a good gameplay sequence, why bother?
I would have liked to have seen a sequence (or maybe full stage) in which a Star Destroyer has been disabled by the apprentice and is going down, falling from the upper atmosphere to the ground, and you bust out of the bridge windows and fight your way up the surface of the ship to the prow, battling turbolaser turrets, EVO Troopers, TIEs, and Purge Troopers as it plummets, culminating in a crazy QTE sequence in which you pull mind-blowingly awesome Force-assisted acrobatics to survive the crash and resulting destruction.
I think it might’ve worked well as a siege-style level, wherein a battle is raging, with allies to you and enemies streaming over the wall, and you have to take occasion to fight them off between tugs, and the final result is the destroyer smashing into their legion, ending the siege.
You know, I’ve been doing this jump-electricity spam move for most of the game. For some reason on this one battle I’ve been completely grounded. I guess because of the sense of security of my cover. I’ll try jumping, because the rare lucky hits from the ground just don’t get me anywhere.
Thanks, Matt.
Oh, it was much, much higher than $35 million. Although budget would be the wrong word, cash hemorrhage would be more apt. Even across 7 SKUs, I don’t think they’ll ever recoup. Yet I still can’t bring myself to feel sorry for George.
I think it would be appropriate to write some of that off as research and discovery.
Do you work at LucasArts or something?
[Note from the ed: this is meant in a playfully mocking tone, rather than angry flames!]
Eh? What sword fighting style are you thinking of when you call it “legitimate technique”? Even if “concealing the length of your blade” is a huge priority, consider the surprising fact that you can hold your blade away from your opponent when you grip it the right way.
This “stance” is doubly lame for light sabers, which should be all about reach and control, and were much cooler when they were based on Kenjutsu – something that was fitting, rather than purely being jury-rigged in for the “+1 Cha” bonus amongst the Sideways-Gat crowd.
Does this really matter? Well, of course not! [Nerd Rage Off! ;-)] I do think it’s indicative of the designers’ priorities though, and likely indirectly part of why obvious things like targeting got left out of the game. Speaking seriously here, I’ve found this to be one of the best filters for figuring whether a game will be any good.
As an example, I’ve a question for Tom here, would you have been ok with backward sword grips in LotR online? If not, why? To me these are very similar settings, despite the Starships and Droids.