Too Human Demo up on XBLA

I played it once and I started to get used to the whole RS combat thing by the end of my run through. I started enjoying combat better at that point. I need to play it again to see if I'm really feeling it.

The human models, animation and lip sync are horrible in my opinion. It was kind of distracting when I was watching the cut scenes and I didn't pay much attention to what was going on. But I think the game could be a lot of fun in co-op and collecting loot is always fun in my book.

I will wait a couple weeks on this one and maybe some of you goodjer enablers will change my mind after it's released.

- Shallow Skill trees: I was really expecting more here. Most of the skills in the tree are passive and the options where much more limited than I'd hoped. I really thought there were two more pages of skills to scroll through ala diablo. Nope, that's it, what you see on that single page is what you get.

Were you able to delve into the human vs. cybernetic skill trees in the demo? That looked like an interesting layer to add to the 4 classes. And don't forget about your spider helper. I believe he has a skill tree or at least customizable role in combat.

As with anything in these games, if one class isn't working for you, try another, the previews on game trailers made them seem very distinct.

I want to try a bio engineer for the laser gun fighting and let my spider keep the monsters at bay. The commando would be my second choice. I'm much more into hit and run characters than the beefy brawlers.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

I feel bad for the goodjers that get something out of collecting boots of 2% more bootiness. It's like developers are abusing players' sense of accomplishment in order to make up for a mediocre game.

Oh, guys, I just found these awesome boots, they give me +2% to... umm... nevermind.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

I feel bad for the goodjers that get something out of collecting boots of 2% more bootiness. It's like developers are abusing players' sense of accomplishment in order to make up for a mediocre game.

Thanks for that. Some of us actually enjoy this kind of gameplay though. If you don't that's fine but I personally don't appreciate the snark.

I played the demo for about 30 minutes tonight. Not my cup of tea. It was ok, but I never really got a feel for the combat system.

It didn't seem like there was much difference between holding RS and tapping RS, and it didn't matter unless you were fighting something really powerful because almost everything seemed to die in one hit (which makes it hard/unnecessary to learn the controls). When I finally went up against a single baddy that was really tough (other than the first big dude you could target body parts on, because just staying the hell away and blasting away was full of win (and cheese)) had a shield and charged me, I got my ass handed to me. I didn't know how to really fight and kept finding the enemy in the blind spot of the camera.

I recognized the familiar feelings of frustration and anger and decided I'd had enough. I'd say I'd rent it, but who am I kidding, I don't rent anything. Back to clearing my pile.

So confused.

Killer story - I mean, Norse gods rock and all that. Unfortunately, it has a case of BMS (Bald Marine Syndrome) and a graphics engine that would seem clunky even circa 2006. The combat was a mixture of awkward and "holy sh*t that was almost kind of cool". The talent points and loot are a big redeeming feature, and will hopefully offer some co-op replay incentive.

That's some very quick and dirty impressions from only about 30 minutes of playing. I think a few more whirls in the polish machine would have worked wonders for the game, but hey, they all gotta come out sometime. I'll see how the reviews pan out, but I'm still leaning towards a day one purchase, if for the story alone.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:
Danjo Olivaw wrote:

I feel bad for the goodjers that get something out of collecting boots of 2% more bootiness. It's like developers are abusing players' sense of accomplishment in order to make up for a mediocre game.

Thanks for that. Some of us actually enjoy this kind of gameplay though. If you don't that's fine but I personally don't appreciate the snark.

I think the snark was directed at the developers and not the players.

Unfortunately, it has a case of BMS (Bald Marine Syndrome)

What does that mean?

Mex wrote:
Unfortunately, it has a case of BMS (Bald Marine Syndrome)

What does that mean?

Quote from a Naughty Dog dev talking about Uncharted..

"Looking at the landscape of next-generation games being developed it was clear that there were a gluttony of titles that featured bald, buff space marines wearing body armor and fighting aliens. Fortunately for us, we didn't have much interest in heading in that direction and we felt that we could work in a style that really excited us and stand out from the crowd at the same time."

I mean, I guess you couldn't take a guy with an Afro seriously

Botswana wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:
Danjo Olivaw wrote:

I feel bad for the goodjers that get something out of collecting boots of 2% more bootiness. It's like developers are abusing players' sense of accomplishment in order to make up for a mediocre game.

Thanks for that. Some of us actually enjoy this kind of gameplay though. If you don't that's fine but I personally don't appreciate the snark.

I think the snark was directed at the developers and not the players.

Definitely, and I apologize for sounding condescending towards you guys. It just seems like a manipulation of mildly addictive personalities to me, which is not cool.

Finished the demo tonight. Somewhat underwhelmed.
- I didn't feel like I had enough options in combat. I felt like the guns were fairly ineffective when dealing with large groups of creatures, and the mellee combat options were fairly repetitive. I'm not a huge fan of God of War-Ninja Gaiden style brawlers and I felt like they were trying to pigeon hole that combat style into an RPG, but with less actual attacks and just using the sticks.
- Inventory system was too complicated for a console game. I can deal with crazy menus when I can mouse around but it took too long just to change one piece of armor, or just look at the stuff I just got.
- Awful cutscenes, bad animations.
- Skill system seemed pretty shallow to me.

- Ultimately, hard to judge from a demo. It's possible I could enjoy it later on in the game with more variety unlocked or if I got a better understanding of combat strategy, but I feel a bit of "mmo levels 1-10" syndrome.
Does the game have 2 person split-screen, or just online? I could be sold on a split screen game (god those are rare these days) since I can see how co-op would be great, but I'm not sure how much I would play it online.

Combat was very meh. Dialogue was hammy, voice acting was better than usual, but not good enough to totally sell the writing style. I'll probably pick it up after the price drops.

This game has some of the most jilted unpolished animation I've ever seen in a 3d game. The combat couldn't look any more ridiculous. The combat in general was really poor. It was ridiculously easy, the "challenge" rooms were anything but and the level design consisted of nothing but "Big grey hallway" over and over again.

The loot system seems decent, I got plenty of nice items, even crafted 3 purple items from recipes I found. That aspect of the game is definitely there and has some depth, it's just a pity everything else is such a mess.

Also, why exactly in the flashback cutscenes was I wearing the gear I found in the present time dungeon environments?

IMAGE(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/Sinatar/rvh75l-1.jpg)

Right now, I feel like I enjoyed the combat enough to get the full version and have a good time with it. I can't remember, is coop the full story-campaign or just a series of levels?

I believe they said coop is the campaign with all the actual campaign stuff stripped out of it.

Certis wrote:

Right now, I feel like I enjoyed the combat enough to get the full version and have a good time with it. I can't remember, is coop the full story-campaign or just a series of levels?

I agree, and coop is the full campaign...

It took me a little while but before long I was air juggling and all that fun stuff... Actually managed to finish both 40 second challenges on the first try ... the first one I even had 14 seconds left..

Certis wrote:

Right now, I feel like I enjoyed the combat enough to get the full version and have a good time with it. I can't remember, is coop the full story-campaign or just a series of levels?

It's the whole game, but all the story elements and I believe the cyberspace stuff (aka the forest bits) are removed.

Played it earlier. It's almost a mix of Diablo and Phantasy Star Online. The camera and controls are a little frustrating but I'm willing to get used to it. The story is meh, but that's fine as long as the looting and the leveling continues to satisfy. I'm looking forward to the full release.

I really had a good time and was pleasantly surprised how substantial the demo was.

There was quite a bit of gameplay to digest in the demo but I liked the depth and loved the setting. unlike some folks, I don't have a problem with the models or the story and I'm happy with how they are weaving the tech and culture together.

Leaning toward a day one purchase now.

Solid rental. Onto the GameQ(tm) it goes.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

This game makes me think you could make a really fun melee system with the right stick like this, and you could really run with a techno viking setting,

Did somebody say TechnoViking?

Played through the demo. Love the cyber take on Norse mythology but, the cut scenes were a bit disappointing in the graphics department.

I'm still not sold on the control scheme. I felt like most of the moves were too automatic and didn't let me really control the character or action.

Also, the menu/equipment system is crazy busy and not very user friendly. Nothing game ending, but a small thing that was annoying to me.

Overall, I think this will be a solid rental for me. The co-op should add some fun as well.

One thing on the subject of the menus - I noticed I wasn't registering any of the pistol pickups that I was collecting - a limitation of the demo (or being limited to the one class)?

...or am I just not reading the menus right?

I dont' know, i liked how the combat started feeling more like an arcade game/pinball machine, but we hardly scratched the surface in the demo, it seemed.

Seemed to work fine for me - go into the equipment menu, down to the bottom of the first page is the pistols tab, move RS right to identify new pickups then press A to put them into your sweaty hands.

It was the runes that I couldn't follow, but hopefully a semi-decent manual or tutorial would sort that out.

davet010 wrote:

It was the runes that I couldn't follow, but hopefully a semi-decent manual or tutorial would sort that out.

Here is a PDF for a game manual. Link to File

Ok, so I thought it was a terrific demo. Of course, I went in expecting to enjoy it, and wasn't disappointed. Controls were unique, but the learning curve felt pretty smooth. Action felt good; challenging without getting annoying. It feels like the kind of pace you want with a skill-tree based, item collection game. It is what it is, and I plan on picking it up right away.

I don't buy into the complaints about the visual engine. It seemed no better or worse to me than Mass Effect or Halo 3.

Elysium wrote:

I don't buy into the complaints about the visual engine. It seemed no better or worse to me than Mass Effect or Halo 3.

Thank god someone else was saying this. I was thinking the same from screenshots and though i can't get the demo at the moment and had seen comments saying that it looked worse in motion... i thought maybe i was wrong.

Yeah, in general people seem to be hyper-sensitive on the graphics front with this one. Could be baggage thanks to suing Epic and all that floating around in the back of minds. It's not the greatest thing ever, but it's more than suitable for a 360 game.

The animation though, while improved from older videos, is still a bit robotic.

Elysium wrote:

I don't buy into the complaints about the visual engine. It seemed no better or worse to me than Mass Effect or Halo 3.

Yeah, I thought it looked fine but then I'm playing it on SD.

One serious problem I found was in the inventory screen. If there was a lot of stuff on the screen at once it ran at a pretty good framerate but if I'd then bring up my inventory the controls would lose some responsiveness. I'd have to press a direction multiple times or hold it in order to switch my gear. That was disappointing.