This feels… ok, in technology and design terms, but it all seems so mean and dirty. Anthem was a welcome return to Science Fiction before it got dark and edgy. Soaring up a waterfall > cowering behind a flaming dumpster.
interestingly, early in the game when walking down the street I very much got a Walking Dead vibe
If you still have a PC key to the beta, I’d appreciate it.
I’ve also got two keys to the beta if anyone wants them.
I didn’t get further than the first big mission tonight (rescue the kid), but it feels very much like TD1 to me in a slightly different setting. Unfortunately I had quite a few technical issues. I disconnected three times with a few minutes of leaving the White House area, and it ported me back every time I reconnected. I also had some weird audio distortion. Nothing that I couldn’t hear what was going on, but just enough to know it wasn’t clear. I also had some severe performance issues crop up about halfway though the hotel. I’d be fine when just running, but as soon as bad guys showed up on the screen I’d either get a ton of stutter or the game would just lock up for a few seconds, and the audio would be really bad.
All right, I said earlier that I was reserving two of my keys to the private beta for friends, but they’ve both declined to take me up on them. So they’re up for grabs, PM me if you still need one.
Edit: and looks like the keys are specific to the platform the preorder was made on, so - I guess I have 2 keys to play this on Xbox One if anyone is interested.
If there are any PC keys available, I would be interested.
I have 3 PC keys available. PM me your Uplay name if you want one. I’ll update when they’re gone.
Had a chance to play a little more and wound up with a terrible sound bug in which the audio cuts out for a moment every 2-5 seconds. Maddening. Otherwise, it feels like a real improvement on D1. I especially love the little pop-up events and how much loot is hidden away in the world. Makes wandering feel fun and rewarding in a way that really works for me.
I’m not sure if your bug is related to mine, but I found a post on reddit that said to try disabling spatial sound (in Windows, right-click sound icon, should be listed in the menu). I did that while I was playing and my problem seemed to go away, but I won’t really know for sure until I play some more.
I know it’s a beta and all, but the patching experience for this on PC is fairly frustrating. I knew there was a patch after the maintenance this morning, but Uplay didn’t show it. So I kept launching the game, only to have it crash every time after loading Easy. I then did a verify and restarted my system, which allowed me to launch the game…only to have it tell me in-game after a minute or two of loading that there was a patch and it needed to restart. It then quits…and doesn’t restart on it’s own. So I started it again and was able to get in.
I read that spatial sound thing, but it didn’t work for me. I finally tracked my issue down to the microphone on my headset shorting out (?) so that windows registered it as inserted/removed every couple seconds. Everything works fine with the microphone jack unplugged, so I guess I’m in the market for a new headset.
This is probably why I won’t be getting the Division 2, then. The part about it being TD1 in a slightly different setting, that is.
It seems a bit pedestrian to me. DC streets and libraries aren’t that interesting so far. I’m going to use my sale copy of Far Cry 5 and my trial Anthem to fend off this and Metro for a while :-)
I don’t know. The engine looks just exactly the same but the benchmarks say it also runs significantly worse compared to D1. It’s really odd. Between this and Anthem (Frostbite) it seems like engines are regressing instead of improving. (and they’ve actually completely removed some advanced shadow rendering that was present in D1, probably because it was Nvidia only)
They might have improved the gameplay, I’ve also read the Dark zone is really fun and the best part of the game, whereas it was shit in D1.
But the game has no appeal to me, and I plan of playing D1, still. The setting is far less appealing (personal taste, but New York in the snow is much more interesting and better looking than the brighter but flat colors and boring grass and vegetation that makes this one look like every other generic game), the HUD seems more intrusive than ever to the point it looks like a MMORPG rather than something that at least attempts at immersion.
And from what I’ve seen in some streams, the beta is wonky. Plenty of graphic glitches, animations not working and weird stuff. I’ve also heard someone who was invited at a private event a while ago, and they removed stuff from the beta, like there was a key to automatically loot and equip a weapon.
In the broad genre made by Warframe, Destiny, The Division 2 and Anthem, it’s the first two that still seem more solid and with better long term expectations. And The Division 1 is still fine. If they backported some of the improvements of this 2nd (like enemy AI) to the 1st I’d be happier than buying a whole new game that isn’t any better.
How can you remove those annoying “Agent need backup” messages?
I wondered this too. Open the map, go to the screen that has the exclamation point surrounded by lines (it’s second from last on the upper left menu.) Hit F for “Disable on Call.” Viola, no more Agent needs backup notices.
Edit: Apparently we need to do this every time we log in.
Thanks, will try that. But what does it even mean?
You can call for help from other players. That is another playing calling for your help. IN VAIN.
But how do you help the other player?
I think you’re supposed to wait until they’re in a downed state then teabag over their face.
I use each downed agent notification to relish the fact that even with my crap aim I am still alive.
Preorder activated.