Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

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Dceased
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Dceased »

A checkpoint system is a love-it or hate-it scenario in horror games.

In my opinion, checkpoints should only be in games AFTER you have completed something very significant (killing a boss, figuring out a very hard puzzle, etc.).

When the developers make checkpoints after every new building you enter, it's stupid.
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Doctor Eggnog
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Doctor Eggnog »

^ Most buildings in Silent Hill games usually have a boss or a puzzle.

The idea of my progress being saved right after a tough boss does sound nice though.
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Patman
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Patman »

A checkpoint system is a love-it or hate-it scenario in horror games.
The reason I hate it is that it removes any "finish the game without saving/saving less than X times" challenge. Why force the saving operation on the player when a good old save point gives him a choice about it ?
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Tillerman
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Tillerman »

I still think that checkpoints only make sense for linear action-style games. For a non linear game, allow people to find save points, if nothing else it's one more thing that gives the player a sense of discovery.
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clips
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by clips »

It is kind of a love it or hate it position....when i first played ME2...i had it set on autosave, which kind of backfired on me towards the end of the game.....certain characters got killed because of my decisions and when i tried to go back to the beginning of the particular level, it zapped me back to the current checkpoint (where my characters died already) instead of back to the beginning of the level.

I even tried to go into the menu and load a game from there, but it still started me from the spot when those characters died....so i mean it's a good system overall...and in a way i'm not really mad at it because that's the way the game was made...you are supposed to live with your consequences....not try to go back in time and change them after the fact...:D....this same aspect applies to Silent HIl......:)
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Harrys_Girl
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Harrys_Girl »

I hate autosave for that^ very reason, but I think that is sort of the point. The game doesn't allow you to go back and change things, it makes you live w/ the decisions you made. While playing Heavy Rain, I only panickquit the game once before an autosave to save someone but that was far toward the end after I'd already made a dozen choices I was unhappy w/.

I don't mind so much being forced to live w/ choices I made, what I really hate is the fact that w/o the save screens, I just keep playing and playing and playing. I will not allow myself to stop playing because I subconsciously think A) It hasn't been that long and B) It didn't save. Take my first playthough of RE5. My sister and I played 15 hr.s straight, no breaks other than bathroom breaks here and there. Even though the giant SAVING... CHECKPOINT flashed many times, we both kept saying "We'll just play until we can save after this next boss fight. BUT THE SAVE NEVER CAME!!! So we just kept playing until it was 5 am and our accuracy was down to like 44%. Breaking the game up w/ saves helps to gauge how far through the game you are and keeps you feeling safe. Again, this could be intentional by game designers but I really, really hate it.
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KiramidHead
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by KiramidHead »

^I have the same problem. I once played Arkham Asylum for like 6 hours straight. WHAT A WORLD.

Also since, Tillerman brought this game up, I might as well mention something.. I purchased Amnesia on Steam today, and it won't work on my friggin laptop. Cock.
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by SPRINGS02 »

^stuff like that is why i think pc gaming is shit.
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AnastasisXD
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by AnastasisXD »

^stuff like that is why i think some people need to learn to set up a good system, instead of whining about games that can't run on it.
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stopped_clock
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by stopped_clock »

The only real problem with pc gaming is that it's held back from it's actual potential because all we seem to get any more are badly optimised console ports. I've had the same pc for four and a half years, apart from the GPU which I upgraded this year, and it runs every game, including Metro 2033 at the highest settings, but it can't run Lost Planet 2 because the optimisation is horrendous.

As for autosaves, I don't mind them in some games, as long as there is also an actual save function, or if the autosaves don't overwrite the previous autosave. In Fallout NV I lost 3 hours of gameplay because I got complacent with the autosave function and didn't save properly for 3 hours before stepping into a room in which I was instantly killed. Because the game autosaves in doorways and only has one slot for autosaves, with each new one overwriting the previous one the only point I could reload from was in the room where I got instakilled.

As for playing Arkham Asylum for 6 hours straight, I would do that regardless of how the save points were set up because it's such a good game. Not so much RE5, I struggled to play that for more than twenty minutes at a time without wanting to turn it off and call Capcom to shout at them for being dicks.
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KiramidHead
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by KiramidHead »

It has nothing to do with how I set things up. This laptop is less than a year old. Frictional Games developed Amnesia in such a way that it doesn't work with Intel graphics drivers, and Toshiba (who makes my laptop) set things up in such a way that I can only get new drivers from their support site, and all they provide is Intel. It's a vicious cycle, we must kill it.
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Typographenia
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Typographenia »

Intel graphics don't really support much in the way of gaming. That's not really the fault of Frictional.
From what I could find, source based games are pretty much the only ones compatible because they have the means to support it.

I have a laptop, and I can definitely understand not being able to play stuff with it. However, laptops, in general, are not good for dedicated gaming platforms.
Remember, most people want laptops for on-the-go work stuff, not to play games, and they're made accordingly.
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KiramidHead
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by KiramidHead »

I see what you mean. I just assumed it would be fine because Portal. Half Life 2, and Doom 3 all work fine on the laptop. It just sucks that I don't have a regular computer.
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stopped_clock
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by stopped_clock »

KiramidHead wrote:I see what you mean. I just assumed it would be fine because Portal. Half Life 2, and Doom 3 all work fine on the laptop. It just sucks that I don't have a regular computer.
Those games are about 6 years old though, a lot of progress has been made in pc gaming since then and as such, even though Amnesia doesn't look that great compared to the above games, there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that requires a pretty decent graphics/physX card to run it.
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SPRINGS02
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by SPRINGS02 »

Console gaming: Where playing a game is as simple as putting in the disc and starting.
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Typographenia
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Typographenia »

KiramidHead wrote:I see what you mean. I just assumed it would be fine because Portal. Half Life 2, and Doom 3 all work fine on the laptop. It just sucks that I don't have a regular computer.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I can run amnesia, but it really doesn't perform well. I've turned the settings way down, despite sites saying I could run it higher, and it still gives me issues. I'm waiting until I upgrade before trying to seriously play it.
SPRINGS02 wrote:Console gaming: Where playing a game is as simple as putting in the disc and starting.
Console gaming is nice in that regard, but pc gaming still has a lot going for it.
With PC, most games have a far greater amount of replayability and customization with mods, more dedicated user groups (for the most part), it's easier to find old titles with sites like GOG, you have less things taking up room in your residence (although, I really enjoy that stuff), and price of games is far cheaper. Tell me next time you find stuff on sale in stores that is going for as cheap as steam and d2d have it. I just bought Dead Space on pc for $5 two days ago. That's amazing!

Console gaming is definitely more of a pick up and play, and that really works out well for a lot of people. There's just some of us that really value what the pc market has to offer, and we prefer that. Believe me, if I had a dedicated rig I would spend far more time on pc gaming than console gaming. Consoles just have a few exclusives here and there that keep me coming back, but I still like them.
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KiramidHead
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by KiramidHead »

Funny, I tend to forget how old games are if I like them.
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Vestu
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Vestu »

SPRINGS02 wrote:Console gaming: Where playing a game is as simple as putting in the disc and starting.
I don't remember the last time I had to put any kind of disc into my PC to play a game ;p

PC gaming: Where playing a game is as simple as clicking an icon.
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Skele
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Skele »

^yeah, PC gaming is something i was sort of interested in at one point, but i don't want to spend $1,500+ for a gaming rig... consoles are cheap, and you don't have to worry about upgrading them all the time. Plus the games are good looking enough to forget about pc gaming. also, the next gen consoles will be pretty sweet..
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Vestu
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Re: Worried that Downpour will be too "casual."

Post by Vestu »

Skele wrote:^yeah, PC gaming is something i was sort of interested in at one point, but i don't want to spend $1,500+ for a gaming rig... consoles are cheap, and you don't have to worry about upgrading them all the time. Plus the games are good looking enough to forget about pc gaming. also, the next gen consoles will be pretty sweet..
Well, actually most of the time you only need to update your motherboard, cpu and gpu in like 2-3 years. Recently that time interval is getting longer and longer due to the limits of the current console gen. I have a 2,5 years old system and I run Crysis 2 all maxed out 1080p. HD4870x2 is still pretty fast display card.

But oops this got way offtopic now :D

On topic: I have to say I prefer free save games but quick load and quick save options tend to make playing too safe. It's also ok if saving is not allowed in certain areas or phases.
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