The Ascent - Anyone playing tonight?

It's on Gamepass today. Figured I'd give it a try. Anyone want to group up for co-op? Will be on at 9:30pm EST tonight.

I'll definitely be firing this up tonight, though I probably won't be able to co-op.

YES

Been waiting a while for this.

So if you preloaded, you might want to reinstall. The preloaded version I played has options like HDR and DLSS, but if I tried to start a co-op session it would say that a patch is needed. I could not invoke an update, so I decided to reinstall. Now co-op works but HDR/DLSS options are not longer present. YMMV.

Well, this is probably the best looking game I've ever seen. Lots of repeated sections when wandering around the depths, but then something crazy/cool happens and I'm flattened. Seriously amazing visual design.

Couldn’t agree more, garion. I threw this on for the live stream the last couple nights and it’s the most visually sumptuous rendition of cyberpunk in games that I’ve seen yet.

They make use of some nice camera tricks that I hope more traditional ARPGs try to incorporate into their level designs.

I dinked with this a tiny bit the other night while doing other stuff, but gave it its first honest go today, and, yeah, I'm very impressed. Took a bit to grok the aiming just because it's been so long since I've played a game like this, but genuinely surprised at how much "feel" the environment has. Really good so far.

First thing I upgraded was the spread of my shots and whoa boy did it feel better.

I wonder if speccing into that makes the shotguns remotely useable…

Shotguns have been terrible so far.

garion333 wrote:

Well, this is probably the best looking game I've ever seen. Lots of repeated sections when wandering around the depths, but then something crazy/cool happens and I'm flattened. Seriously amazing visual design.

It looks good, but I think you can also tell "this is an Unreal engine game". Really impressive for such a small team, though.

It has a color blind mode WITH A SLIDER so you can adjust the severity. More of this in more games, please.

Text for me is borderline microscopic even on a 50" television from about 5-6 feet away. Subtitles can be adjusted, but some in-game UI and text is so tiny.

Controls are responsive, but for twin stick stuff I prefer when the aim stick and movement stick are completely independent. Instead, when you use the movement stick it changes where you're aiming too. That's down to personal preference, I suppose.

The map, like all 3D maps in the history of ever, is terrible. I like tracking down all the loot, and sometimes when I finally stumble across how to find it, it genuinely seems completely divorced from where I actually had to move in the game.

The map also kicks you out if you use the left stick at all. Since the left stick is the movement stick, I find myself instinctively trying to use that to pan around the map. Instead, when using the map the AIM stick moves it around. Since the D-Pad also swaps between map/loadout/etc., IMO they should change that. D-pad for switching menus, sticks for moving around the map.

If you don't care about obsessively picking up every last crate, there's a waypoint system and you probably won't even need the map much. You just tap up on the d-pad and it marks out where you need to go on the floor.

Performance is pretty great so far on my Xbox One X. This DF video on a pre-release build:

https://youtu.be/Ord2WDZyFx4?t=878

Clocked in 3 minutes to load, but on the version I installed today, running from an external SSD, it took literally 30 seconds (I timed it, haha). So either the external SSD made a huge difference, they patched it since the DF review, or both.

The weird camera hitching they mention is still present, but it's not really a big deal. It is interesting to know it's not related to FPS, since while playing that's kind of what I assumed, that it's just the occasional framerate drop.

Milkmandanimal mentioned in the game pass thread it reminded him of Crusader: No Remorse and that nailed it for me. I agree and couldn't at first remember what vibes it was giving me. Which is a huge compliment.

Totally got Crusader No Remorse vibes as well! Really dig this game so far.

jonnypolite wrote:

Totally got Crusader No Remorse vibes as well! Really dig this game so far.

I've been getting the same feeling too! It really bring me back to No Regret, that's the one I played.

So I haven’t seen anyone else talking about this so I don’t know how widespread a bug it is, but minor warning about PC/Xbox cross-save. My main save is on PC Gamepass. I downloaded to Xbox to try it out when I saw that it was cross-save capable, only to find that while my save did carry over, every item I didn’t have equipped had vanished, including all the cosmetic clothing and gun skins. I played for a bit and went back to the PC version to find all that stuff still missing, plus the handful of items I had gained on Xbox also missing. Aside from the cosmetic items it’s not a huge loss since my best gear had been equipped and I’ve only put in a few hours, but it’s still something to be aware of.

Cognitive Dissonance aside, why am I killing all of these people? I guess when I heard "cyberpunk ARPG" I was expecting some sort of loot system, not picking up the same 4 weapons and 5-6 pieces of armor over and over again. Is the only weapon upgrades, literally going to the vendor and upgrading your weapons? I'm not big on story, and this story doesn't seem to be holding it together, and while the gameplay is fun, there doesn't seem to be much more of it than hold down the auto fire until everything is dead.

Maybe I should have read more about it, but just based on the highlights here and what I saw online, I figured this would hold me a little longer. Currently level 11 or so, and rocking the same gun I've had since the beginning (with a few upgrades). Should I be expecting more at some point?

The number and type of weapons does open up as you progress. Upgrade often. Armour also varies with stats/bonuses. The duplicates are intentional, so sell them and make bank. Depending on where you are in the story, shooting everything that moves appears to have consequences. YMMV, story is subjective but I am getting what I want out of it so far.

For a small team, this is a rough around the edges (looking at you UI) but impressive game (with a superb soundtrack).

Nimcosi wrote:

The number and type of weapons does open up as you progress. Upgrade often. Armour also varies with stats/bonuses. The duplicates are intentional, so sell them and make bank. .

Make bank for what? Other than augment / explody thing everything in the store that I see is the same thing I get while in the field. I would love to see something in the store that is an actual upgrade for me. There is the one thing that is kind of a gold sink

Spoiler:

taxi

, but will that currency come in useful down the road?

I'll keep going, because as everyone says the game itself is very pretty and runs well. Just to confirm.. no diablo-like loot explosions as I get further in?

This game is 90% twin stick shooter and 10% rpg.

Nimcosi wrote:

The number and type of weapons does open up as you progress. Upgrade often. Armour also varies with stats/bonuses. The duplicates are intentional, so sell them and make bank. Depending on where you are in the story, shooting everything that moves appears to have consequences. YMMV, story is subjective but I am getting what I want out of it so far.

For a small team, this is a rough around the edges (looking at you UI) but impressive game (with a superb soundtrack).

The sound design is excellent. I'm mostly shooting the Dirge and its sounds real meaty.

maverickz wrote:

This game is 90% twin stick shooter and 10% rpg.

I think this is actually a pretty accurate assessment.

Itemization and loot chasing is not the game's strong suit. The 90/10 split sounds about right to me. The thin veneer of ARPG is just enough to add some busywork to the proceedings and helps pad out the playtime as you stroll through the hubs checking in with all of those vendors.

I'm stuck hard at the moment in a main mission called Data Miner. It's recommended for Level 13 and I'm already over-leveled at 15. Still can't get past the "boss fight" which is really a wave-based horde sequence. After numerous attempts the vending machine that provides tactical recharge for Ucreds has run dry, so I don't even have the luxury of using my Sweet Justice all of one time during the fight. I've re-geared to bolster my Physical and Energy resistances as that seems to be the primary types of damage being dealt and I'm still getting wrecked. Re-speccing skills may help but the checkpoint's placed too close to the encounter and I don't have enough funds anyway.

Got maybe 95% of the way there one time. It's becoming one of those situations where the more I try, the worse I seem to be doing. Thinking about opening up my game for public co-op because it's starting to get to me.

Crusader No Remorse is one of my all time favorite games. Miss the old Origin games. I still remember trying to scrounge up enough money ($5) to buy No Regret from the EB Games bargain bin.

Yeah, it feels like Crusader a bit, but this is a lot more hectic and way faster paced. Crusader you had 3-5 enemies maybe at once. I felt like the controls for Crusader was better too lol. I'm just not a twin stick shooter guy.

Didn’t Crusader have keyboard-only controls? Regret was my jam back in the day. Somehow missed Remorse and went straight to the sequel.

Ascent looks and plays so much like a sequel to Ruiner that im just going to treat it like it’s canon.

Got through the Data Miner mission last night. What a relief. It was actually quite satisfying at the end, using the game’s mechanics against it to win the day.

Maclintok wrote:

Didn’t Crusader have keyboard-only controls? Regret was my jam back in the day. Somehow missed Remorse and went straight to the sequel.

Ascent looks and plays so much like a sequel to Ruiner that im just going to treat it like it’s canon.

I think they had mouse, gamepad and even a joystick control. I'm pretty sure I tried joystick...

Maclintok wrote:

Got through the Data Miner mission last night. What a relief. It was actually quite satisfying at the end, using the game’s mechanics against it to win the day.

It took me 3 tries to get through it. I had spider bots and the armed mono bot to help distract the waves of enemies, while I bounced around the room soaking up a ton of damage.

A few hours in now. I'm playing on Hard with a controller. How are the PC controls? I might switch over.

Really enjoying the game. While it is absolutely gorgeous with some very creative camera work, my eyes hurt and I get quite dizzy from playing it too long.

PC controls seem good and you can fully remap your keys from what I can see. LMB to shoot, RMB to aim high. WASD for movement. Space for dodge roll. Ctrl for crouch. R - reload, F - interact.

Q & E for Augs. And I believe G for Tacticals.

Can't beat the mouse aim for precision but I'm already used to the controller. Plus I dislike WASD-ing for movement in this kind of game.

I right there with you in terms of my eyes getting tired from the sheer amount of detail and prettiness on display in this game.

My co-op group fired this up a couple nights ago. It seemed fun, but we ran into a ton of bugs related to late level loading, incorrect objective signposting, connection issues, and a few hard crashes.

We're gonna give it a month or so to bake and then possibly revisit.

Maclintok wrote:

Plus I dislike WASD-ing for movement in this kind of game.

WASD is pretty annoying. It's almost enough to get me to try controller even though I'd prefer to keep the mouse aim. I wish you could tilt the WASD movement to match the camera angle.

You can adjust the difficulty? How?

Balthezor wrote:

You can adjust the difficulty? How?

Under "Settings"->"Gameplay"

So I have a question: what kind of weapon is everyone using?

Since I started getting excessive weapons (miniguns, rocket launchers, flamethrowers), I've started just to use those and haven't looked back. I'm curious how others' experience with the game has been later in the game with smaller guns.