Spider-Man Catch-All

thrawn82 wrote:

I bristle at the term "derivative" because it implies that it is a lazy or poor implementation of the concept, which it absolutely is not. "Inspired by" or "developed from" fits the context better

I mentioned that it is very derivative because a very large percentage of the game mechanics are near/exact copies from numerous other games in the genre, which includes more than just Assassin's Creed and Arkham Batman...

Combo/combat system: many exact copies from various combos in Batman, Prototype, and Infamous.
Gadgets: Batman
Skills: again, many exact copies from various skills in Batman, Prototype, and Infamous.
Map, side quest, collectibles system: pretty much every game in the genre

As I said, I love the game, but "derivative" IS the term. Outside of the suit/suit power system, I can't think of much (mechanically) that Spider-man is an original source for. Regardless, it wasn't intended to be a slam - it takes many things that have been done before, pulls them into a single game, polishes the hell out of them, mixes in a great story with perfectly written and spaced cutscenes, and provides a complete package that (as far as I'm concerned) does it better than any other game in the genre.

mrlogical wrote:

One small complaint about the city in the late-game, as I'm working on wrapping up all the districts before I do the last few story missions. Spoiler stuff below is just about details in the city after the end of act 2:

Spoiler:

I don't love the way New York becomes such a crappy place in the third act. Granted, this is a city where someone is engaged in some sort of crime every 30 seconds or so, but between having random snipers littered throughout the city now and the art change (I am perceiving correctly that, in act 3, it's always either night time or rainy and dreary during the day, right? this isn't random?) it's no longer the same kind of feeling where I feel like I could be Spidey swinging through the city forever. It's forgivable--I assume things will return to normal once I finish the story?--but it is wearing on me a bit.

OTOH, I discovered this hilariously plausible fake movie poster as I wandered the city this weekend:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnPRgXgWwAAEXY9.jpg)

Classic Norris Southers.

Re Third Act NY

Spoiler:

it is a pretty annoying place, but it is worth noting, those groups on the rooftops do not respawn after you skill them, so there is a palpable feeling of improving the city by killing them off which i really enjoy. I spent sevel hours 100%ing Hells kitchen and it is now a much nicer place to swing through then any other district because I also killed off all the rooftop sniper and rocket groups in the process

thrawn82 wrote:

I bristle at the term "derivative" because it implies that it is a lazy or poor implementation of the concept, which it absolutely is not. "Inspired by" or "developed from" fits the context better

Yeah to me it feels like a Blizzard game almost. They took a formula and polished the hell out of it with fresh story and character and the results are fantastic.

vypre wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:

I bristle at the term "derivative" because it implies that it is a lazy or poor implementation of the concept, which it absolutely is not. "Inspired by" or "developed from" fits the context better

I mentioned that it is very derivative because a very large percentage of the game mechanics are near/exact copies from numerous other games in the genre, which includes more than just Assassin's Creed and Arkham Batman...

Combo/combat system: many exact copies from various combos in Batman, Prototype, and Infamous.
Gadgets: Batman
Skills: again, many exact copies from various skills in Batman, Prototype, and Infamous.
Map, side quest, collectibles system: pretty much every game in the genre

As I said, I love the game, but "derivative" IS the term. Outside of the suit/suit power system, I can't think of much (mechanically) that Spider-man is an original source for. Regardless, it wasn't intended to be a slam - it takes many things that have been done before, pulls them into a single game, polishes the hell out of them, mixes in a great story with perfectly written and spaced cutscenes, and provides a complete package that (as far as I'm concerned) does it better than any other game in the genre.

See I get exactly the opposite feeling. A bunch of systems, particularly the skill tree and the "early warning dodge" system from batman that was always "spidey-sense" by another name shoe horned into batman to make the gameplay work. It always felt wrong for batman, something that never really made sense for the character but you had to just accept because otherwise the combat would not work. All those things fit naturally with spider-man and his power set.

I don't know, it doesn't feel to me like "has a map," "has a progressive skill tree," "has collectibles," or "has a dodge mechanic" makes the game derivative of Arkham asylum. If anything those standards make Arkham Asylum a derivative of older Spider-man games like Spider-man 2, and i don't think anyone would say that.

thrawn82 wrote:

See I get exactly the opposite feeling. A bunch of systems, particularly the skill tree and the "early warning dodge" system from batman that was always "spidey-sense" by another name shoe horned into batman to make the gameplay work. It always felt wrong for batman, something that never really made sense for the character but you had to just accept because otherwise the combat would not work. All those things fit naturally with spider-man and his power set.

I don't know, it doesn't feel to me like "has a map," "has a progressive skill tree," "has collectibles," or "has a dodge mechanic" makes the game derivative of Arkham asylum. If anything those standards make Arkham Asylum a derivative of older Spider-man games like Spider-man 2, and i don't think anyone would say that.

I agree the Batman early warning is a better fit for Spider-man's spidey sense. I will also say that it's a fair point that some of these systems might have been first done in previous Spider-man games - possibly even before some of these others. I will be the first to admit that Prototype borrowed very heavily from various Spider-man and Venom concepts. So, PS4 Spider-man may be derivative of other games in the genre that were derivative of Spider-man and even older Spider-man games themselves.

Regardless, you're taking the derivative description as being derogatory and I'm not saying that at all. Spider-man uses a lot of the features that define the genre as a whole and again, in my opinion, does them better than anybody else.

My only complaint for the entire game is some of the redundancy that Spikeout mentioned. For me, the most blatant example was the implementation of base/base coin side activities.

Spoiler:

First you get Fisk bases, then you get Demon bases, then you get Sable bases... None of which really offer much in the way of variation between each base type or even within a specific type.

Of course, this applies to most of the activities you need to gain the various forms of currency to upgrade your skills, gadgets, and suits and is typical of this style of game as a whole. Overall, the game as a whole is a ton of fun and I'm far more likely to spend the time here trying to complete all activities and possibly even all PS4 Trophies than I am anywhere else.

thrawn82 wrote:

I don't know, it doesn't feel to me like "has a map," "has a progressive skill tree," "has collectibles," or "has a dodge mechanic" makes the game derivative of Arkham asylum. If anything those standards make Arkham Asylum a derivative of older Spider-man games like Spider-man 2, and i don't think anyone would say that.

I've said it already. Arkham just executed on it in a way that was easier to play with. When someone says a game plays like Arkham to me that means that
1) the enemies project their attack with a flash that is coded to the button I have to press to deal with that enemy/attack
2) my attacks home my fists in on the enemies such that my body practically teleports to their face.

Spiderman doesn't do #1, and Arkham took #2 from other action games like earlier Spidermanses.

It certainly looks more appropriate with Spidey. For Batman it looks like he's wearing the ice skates from the movie with Freeze in it.

While we're playing who-did-it-first, the 3D window shader thing was executed very well in Saint's Row 4. Can't remember if 3 had that or not.

This game has run great in general, but I encountered a rare exception last night: it was a research lab mission that features rain and periodic lightning strikes, and it was positively chugging for most of the mission, it felt like web-swinging through soup on my launch PS4. I wondered for a moment if it was supposed to feel like that, sort of a story beat, but I didn't hear any "gee, this lightning is making my webs move slower" and it really did just feel like bad framerate. A good reminder of how well the game runs the rest of the time.

Love this so much. Playing the last couple nights, finishing lots of side stuff.

Got back into a few story missions last night, up to the 2nd time you get to control MJ. Fun little stealth section.

The mission right after that with the elevator shaft was a ton of fun. Got to play with a lot of my gadgets for that.

I need to move the story along some it seems. Every upgrade available to me at the moment requires challenge tokens, which I haven't even unlocked yet.

those take a good while to unlock. you wont unlock all activity types until what I would gauge to be about 75-85% through the main story.

Yeah I'm still missing challenge tokens and like level 29 or 30 already

Challenge tokens are activated by a side quest I think. Its part way into act 2 they start to appear.

Agent 86 wrote:

I need to move the story along some it seems. Every upgrade available to me at the moment requires challenge tokens, which I haven't even unlocked yet.

Yeah, that is about where I am at. It is my jam to do side missions and grab collectibles while listening to podcasts, but now I have run out of those to do...like entirely. Grabbed all the backpacks, took all the cat pictures, did all the research stations quests, took all the landmark pictures, completed Fisk's hideouts, did all the thug fights, did all the demon fights, did all the demon warehouses, collected all of the pigeons, and am as far as I can get on the Octavius puzzles. So, yeah...time to do story stuff.

Actually the main mission I had would have unlocked challenge tokens if I'd done it last night. Whoops.

But I caught some pigeons instead.

So I platinumed the game last night. It left me wanting for more, especially after the cumulation of the game's subplots in the mid-credit and post-credit scenes.

Had a blast with the game and enjoyed just about everything in it except for the drone and bomb challenges (timed, precision web slinging just sucked the fun of of traveling and replaced it with flustration). They did a great job establishing their own Spider-Man world and making it feel fleshed out and populated.

Just got my first legit platinum.

One of the best video games I've ever played.

After my wife's car wreck last Friday, I ended up renting it from Redbox instead of buying. I completed about 85% of the main story, but I'm somewhere around 50% total completion having just played over the course of last weekend. Had to return the game; so, I'll probably have to wait for it to deliver from my Gamefly queue so I can finish. Like some of you, this will be the first game that I have even attempted/intend to get platinum on.

Sitting at 93% completion now. I have completed all of the side objectives, with the lone exception of about 15 or so of the various street crimes, spread across 2 districts. Tonight I intend to 100% all districts and then see if I can finish the story in one night (my guess is I have 2 bosses left to fight, so 2-3 missions?). When does the DLC come out?

mrlogical wrote:

When does the DLC come out?

October 23rd for the first one. The second and third are supposed to be in November and December.

Mantid wrote:

So I platinumed the game last night. It left me wanting for more, especially after the cumulation of the game's subplots in the mid-credit and post-credit scenes.

Had a blast with the game and enjoyed just about everything in it except for the drone and bomb challenges (timed, precision web slinging just sucked the fun of of traveling and replaced it with flustration). They did a great job establishing their own Spider-Man world and making it feel fleshed out and populated.

Do you have to 3 star all the challenges and complete it on the hardest difficulty to platinum?

I'd like to try to platinum this one, but my twitch skills are such that it's basically pure luck if i get better than 2 star on the drone/bomb challenges.

thrawn82 wrote:

Do you have to 3 star all the challenges and complete it on the hardest difficulty to platinum?

I'd like to try to platinum this one, but my twitch skills are such that it's basically pure luck if i get better than 2 star on the drone/bomb challenges.

I didn't. Think I had a handful of 3 starred (the stealth and combat), and the rest 2 starred. Couldn't get all the suit upgrades, because I had to get all the suits, though.

And, thankfully no difficulty-related trophies.

Aeazel wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:

Do you have to 3 star all the challenges and complete it on the hardest difficulty to platinum?

I'd like to try to platinum this one, but my twitch skills are such that it's basically pure luck if i get better than 2 star on the drone/bomb challenges.

I didn't. Think I had a handful of 3 starred (the stealth and combat), and the rest 2 starred. Couldn't get all the suit upgrades, because I had to get all the suits, though.

And, thankfully no difficulty-related trophies.

Yep. I had gold on the fighting and stealth challenges, and silver on all the others. I was able to fully upgrade my gadgets and buy all the suits, but there were two or three suit upgrades I couldn't afford.

SPIDER-MAN PS4 (Honest Game Trailers)

Yeah I checked for difficulty trophies before starting and was glad n just been playing on medium difficulty and die very occasionally.

Sweet, i might actually get a plat trophy.

Platinum complete. Very happy with it. Glad that the DLC is at least a month out...I think I slightly oversaturated myself with Spider-Man on the last few nights, but it'll be fun to come back in a few months if reports on the DLC are good.

A few more story missions tonight, and after a couple of challenges, had a fight continuing that side story.

Very fun.

Also I got Iron Spider suit and wow. May not change again.

Closing in on the end game and platinum trophy. I’ve got two main missions left, all the side content already done, and a couple trophies to go after. Absolutely phenomenal experience, ranks right up there with Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Bring on the DLC and sequel!

Yeah this game is basically Arkham Asylum with slightly less busywork (the Spider-Man collectibles never get to the tedium of the Riddler stuff, which wasn't terrible in the first game but got crazy excessive as the series went on), and with a lighter, more pleasant tone.

I find the rarity of the Platinum trophies for this game to be so impressive--the game has been out for, what, 3 weeks?, and something like 8% of players have earned a Platinum in it. It's not data I've reviewed for other games before, but that's gotta be incredibly high for these circumstances.

I feel like the platinum trophy is probably "easier" than usual, since it doesn't rely on high precision twitch skills.

That's not a complaint, i am super excited to have a plat trophy within my reach, i hope more games go this for forgiving route.