Just Cause 2 Catch-All

Just got done with my 4th playthrough of the demo. I am loving this. There's a really cool attack helicopter at the northern most military base. I suggest taking out the SAMs with grenades prior to hopping in though. The choppers are extremely effective against the Colonels, who seem to shrug off bullets like nothing. A couple of blasts with the rockets will put those guys down quick.

The game runs great on my PC at 1680x1050 and looks beautiful. I'll be picking this one up on Steam once it comes out.

Stylez wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

"He got me with his wire thing!" Great dialog.

By the way guys, there's a radar base at the end of a windy mountain road not too far from the starting point. On the way to that base there's a security checkpoint. In that security checkpoint, a vacant tank.

Stylez wrote:

Looks like the slowdown was related to either shadow settings or GPU based water. Runs like a dream now

Both of those things were upgraded by nVidia techs for the PC version. If you're using an ATI card it might not work as nicely? I don't know if they're keeping it proprietary or anything.

GTX 280 1GB Ram. I think that it takes so much processing power to push the crazy good looking water (and it does indeed look crazy good) that it does some goofy sh*t with the input. It doesn't feel like the framerate sucks, it's just the mouse lag. Maybe that'll be fixed in a driver.

I can live without flowy-looking water. The Explosions are great!

I wish they would label which graphics settings were more CPU dependent and which were more GPU dependent. I've got an ATI 4850 and a E6400 - I can run most games decently, but I need to really tone down the CPU dependent effects. Sometimes it's a pain to figure out which settings are hurting my performance. L4D(2) did this and it was really helpful in getting the games to run great.

So, any word on the plot?

I've only had a chance to play a few minutes of the demo, but it looks like the main character is working for communists. Any chance you get to crawfish on them later and start causing trouble?

That was my favorite part of Mercenaries 2.

Podunk wrote:

Dammit, I thought we were supposed to be into the dry spell now. Now we get Bioshock 2, BF:BC2 and JC2 all three weeks apart? I haven't finished my stack from last Fall, how am I supposed to play all these awesome games?!?

Man, I'm still working through 2007's awesome releases.

After playing the demo 5 or 6 times this weekend, I broke down and pre-ordered the game. I can already tell this is going to be one of those games I keep coming back to again and again.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

So, any word on the plot?

I've only had a chance to play a few minutes of the demo, but it looks like the main character is working for communists. Any chance you get to crawfish on them later and start causing trouble?

That was my favorite part of Mercenaries 2.

I didn't really notice any overt "communist" stuff other than the whole "power to the people" motif. It's really too bad that that's such a sticking point for you since you might be one of the only people to even notice the plot. The nice lady you meet in the demo has some of the worst voice acting in the universe and I'd love to turn on her just to shut her up.

There's an ingame database where you can find backstories on all the main characters you've met, including the Bolo Santosi woman. According to the profile she is "obsessed with the communist history of the Chinese people" - and she does call you "Comrade" so I guess you can draw your own conclusions about her faction.

I think you can work for 3 different factions on the island. Although you're really working for the CIA.

Although you're really just causing apesh*t mayhem regardless of the so-called "plot".

LobsterMobster wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:

So, any word on the plot?

I've only had a chance to play a few minutes of the demo, but it looks like the main character is working for communists. Any chance you get to crawfish on them later and start causing trouble?

That was my favorite part of Mercenaries 2.

I didn't really notice any overt "communist" stuff other than the whole "power to the people" motif. It's really too bad that that's such a sticking point for you since you might be one of the only people to even notice the plot. The nice lady you meet in the demo has some of the worst voice acting in the universe and I'd love to turn on her just to shut her up.

Got a big kick out of the "My name is [INSERT NAME], and I believe [INSERT MOTIVATION]," structure of her dialogue. Let's me know how much I should pay attention to the rest of the story.

The demo was fun, once I got the hang of it. Not fun enough to muscle its way into a purchase this month, it's just way too crowded. I'll look at it in the future, though.

chaosmos wrote:

There's an ingame database where you can find backstories on all the main characters you've met, including the Bolo Santosi woman. According to the profile she is "obsessed with the communist history of the Chinese people" - and she does call you "Comrade" so I guess you can draw your own conclusions about her faction.

I think you can work for 3 different factions on the island. Although you're really working for the CIA.

Although you're really just causing apesh*t mayhem regardless of the so-called "plot". :-)

OK then, so there's that. Guess it was foolish of me to think that just because she acts like a stereotypical communist doesn't mean she's necessarily a stereotypical communist.

chaosmos wrote:

Bolo Santosi

This name has already become a joke around the house.

*sits down at dinner table, announces "MY NAME IS BOLO SANTOSI"*

I was one of the (apparently) few people who were able to get over the shortcomings of the original Just Cause and love it for its amazing strengths. As such, I would have been satisfied with a new game that didn't screw up what was awesome about the first one, and from the early press I was was getting pretty excited at the prospect that they had done just that while adding in the cool but somewhat gimmicky new mechanic of being able to tether things together.

It took about two runs through the demo, but now that I've figured out the implications of one of the biggest changes they've made in the sequel I'm even more excited than I was before.

See, one of the things I loved most about Just Cause was that it was unashamed of the fact that it had a gigantic procedurally generated world. It made the gamble that the thrill of having an environment that felt truly real in scope would make up for the fact that (as in the real world) there were vast expanses of wilderness with nothing really to do in them. So one of the biggest annoyances in the game was that you could essentially get stranded out in the wild, and the bandaid solution was that you had the ability to either airlift in a vehicle or airlift yourself out to one of your captured bases. So that's fine and dandy, but it still leaves those vast wildernesses as places that weren't fun to be.

So the change that I expect will fix this problem is the way that the grappling hook and the parachute now work. In the first game they were just tools to facilitate quick movement from one type of vehicle to another -- the hook was only used to attach to vehicles, and it was a proximity based automatic button press sort of thing. Now, though, you can use your hook as a form of locomotion, and that changes everything. Once you learn the mechanics of it and see the amazing freedom of movement it offers you, cars stop looking so much like modes of transportation and look more like explosives on wheels to be dropped down on and sent at breakneck speeds into destruction targets. And more to the point, there is no more stranded in the wilderness, but rather having an opportunity to explore a large world with an incredibly fun and versatile transportation mechanic.

Man, if they had only been able to build co-op into the game... well, here's hoping for Just Cause 3.

The original Just Cause was a pretty basic game. Extremely fun, but very basic. This go around it really looks like they stepped up all aspects, hell, even the godawful cutscenes are infinitely better than the unbearable ones in the original (though I still skip them.) They've done some amazing work on the graphics, the mountains from up high looks absolutely amazing. And more importantly, they really tweaked the gameplay to provide a better mix of things to do. Shooting is much improved, the grappling hook is an amazing utility for everything from melee attacks, moving quickly from place to place, and helping dangle explosives at just the right height to destroy your targets. Everything is very much improved, if you could see the potential of the original but were put off for some minor aspect (and trust me, pretty much everything in the original aside from the gameplay were minor aspects) then this is the game that you were really looking for. The story will surely be forgettable, the cutscenes and voice acting atrocious, but god-damn if this isn't going to be one of the funnest games of the year.

chaosmos wrote:

There's an ingame database where you can find backstories on all the main characters you've met, including the Bolo Santosi woman. According to the profile she is "obsessed with the communist history of the Chinese people" - and she does call you "Comrade" so I guess you can draw your own conclusions about her faction.

I think you can work for 3 different factions on the island. Although you're really working for the CIA.

Although you're really just causing apesh*t mayhem regardless of the so-called "plot". :-)

I'll keep track of it-- if this turns out to be another one of those "turns out your bosses are actually the bad guys, sucker!" games I'll probably give it a pass. I have no interest in yet another "America = teh suxxors" game.

If it plays out like Mercenaries 2 (in which America was by no means the shiny force of righteousness, but the plot was thin enough to ignore it) then I'll probably eat it up like cracker-jack. Or, at least, I will this Christmas when I actually have a budget to buy games.

No new games for me until I do something about the current pile of discount games I got with my 2009 Christmas money.

Also, apropos of nothing, did anyone else get the impression from the demo that this is what that new Bionic Commando game should have been?

Nothing beats jacking a helicopter, taking it to what feels like the apex of the screen, and hopping out of it. It takes a long time for you to hit the ground, and there's so much to see, as long as you don't drift out of the demo area.

doubtingthomas wrote:

I have no interest in yet another "America = teh suxxors" game.

I'm not going to say it's not really communism but that doesn't mean it's necessarily anti-American either. The opposite of communism is not "America," nor is America the only nation in the world to ever have a problem with communists.

I would say that if you the story in this game matters to you at all, you might be doing it wrong. I'm a guy who usually follows even the silliest of stories in games, but if the first game was any indicator this will be one of the few where I just want there to be no cutscenes or motivation or character or story, just cool sh*t to do and big stuff to destroy.

Also, apropos of nothing, did anyone else get the impression from the demo that this is what that new Bionic Commando game should have been?

Yes, I did. In my mind's eye as a child, this is very close to how I imagined a 3D Bionic Commando would be.

Won't play the dead children game, won't play the America hating game, what exactly do you do for fun, DT?

If Bolo Santosi can't convince you, nothing will.

LobsterMobster wrote:
doubtingthomas wrote:

I have no interest in yet another "America = teh suxxors" game.

I'm not going to say it's not really communism but that doesn't mean it's necessarily anti-American either. The opposite of communism is not "America," nor is America the only nation in the world to ever have a problem with communists.

I was unclear. The protagonist works for the CIA, and I'm not keen on having them pull a "Haze" twist and have you duking it out with your old controller because it turns out America is actually the bad guy in the game.

Communism was just a red herring. (Badump, cha!)

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Won't play the dead children game, won't play the America hating game, what exactly do you do for fun, DT?

Mostly play old games nobody heard of (Gungrave: Overdose), or new games that nobody likes (Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazzard).

I didn't know that. I thought he was just some jerk mercenary who bought some grappling hooks off the back of a comic book. Would the CIA really name an agent "Scorpio?"

That said, yeah, turning on the CIA would be an obvious twist. I think a more obvious twist would be getting the rebel faction into power, only to have them turn on you (maybe at the end, paving the way for Just Cause 3?).

Now, you might say that fighting a faction the CIA boosted is the same as fighting the CIA. Our current war would suggest the CIA does not necessarily share this opinion.

I have to give some mad props to anyone who was able to suffer through JC1 to see the good in it. After playing the JC2 demo I thought I'd try the first one as well. I couldn't get through playing 10 minutes of it maybe the JC2 one spoiled me but JC1 controls so bad...

Anyway I've played the Just Cause 2 demo about 10 times or so now.
I was getting annoying mouse lag but turning off the motion blur seemed to stop it, or at least make it seem better.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I didn't know that. I thought he was just some jerk mercenary who bought some grappling hooks off the back of a comic book. Would the CIA really name an agent "Scorpio?"

That said, yeah, turning on the CIA would be an obvious twist. I think a more obvious twist would be getting the rebel faction into power, only to have them turn on you (maybe at the end, paving the way for Just Cause 3?).

Now, you might say that fighting a faction the CIA boosted is the same as fighting the CIA. Our current war would suggest the CIA does not necessarily share this opinion.

I would have no problem with the latter twist. Realpolitik is always about the lesser of evils, and allies that are useful today may become dangerous tomorrow. Thinking otherwise means you think that any given war is The Last War Evar, which simply runs against human nature.

Regardless, I'll wait and see. I've made no bones about how much I enjoyed Mercenaries 2. If the game plays out like that one in the plot department, I won't be unhappy.

I'd bet real money that if there is a twist that pits your character against the CIA, it happens because your handlers are crooked, not because America is Bad.

It cracks me up that we are actually discussing story in this game as the main theme of this thread. Not complaining, just find it humorous.

JC1 was a sandwich filled with a host of excellent ideas. Unfortunately, the bread was made of crappy design decisions.

Bacon wrapped in poop still tastes sh*tty.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

I would have no problem with the latter twist. Realpolitik is always about the lesser of evils, and allies that are useful today may become dangerous tomorrow. Thinking otherwise means you think that any given war is The Last War Evar, which simply runs against human nature.

IMAGE(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_codMg03Js-Y/SwWpZrGazPI/AAAAAAAAAIE/nXQRXpviMWw/s1600/ghost+wars.JPG)

Good read.

There's a story in Just Cause 2? Maybe it will explain why it seems I'm running around in a Spanish territory (I guess), with women in burka, some of the military announcements sounding semi-Asian, etc.. But in reality, it's all about causing chaos, which is enjoyable, especially when you're in a chopper and take down those giant cranes.

I really wanted to like this game, but I just don't.

The controls feel off.

The vehicles don't feel like they have any kind of real weight and mass.

polq37 wrote:

The controls feel off.

This was my reaction, too. Maybe I've just been playing too much Mass Effect and Dragon Age these past few weeks, but the third person controls in JC2 feel weird and strange to me.

polq37 wrote:

I really wanted to like this game, but I just don't.

The controls feel off.

The vehicles don't feel like they have any kind of real weight and mass.

I did not get this at all. The controls feel very natural to me. PC version FWIW.