Burnout Paradise Catch-All

Certis wrote:
The simple solution is.......don't make wrong turns, sure it's easier said then done but the map is pretty detailed in game and the pre-game map is sorta your planning phase.

Wow. Thanks for that helpful tip. Don't make wrong turns ... well shucks. No wonder I keep losing!

Honestly, I don't think a wrong turn is that big of a deal. I did well on a lot of races, and not once made it from beginning to end without missing a turn the game suggested. Some were me deciding that a different path looked faster or more fun, but most were me just failing to react in time. The result wasn't a lost race. There's too many roads out there for there to not be multiple, comparable routes to the endzone.

I've never had more fun in a racing game before. The sheer number of things that need to be kept track of every single seconds is pure exhilaration.

During a race it feels like there's a drunken brawl in my mind between all the brain quadrants responsible for different tasks. Boost Acquisition just broke a bottle over Crach Avoidance's head, screaming, "Near misses are GOLD, b*tch!" Overtake Rivals sees an opportunity to leave Devmani in the dust, but Course Navigation meekly interjects that at the next light we might have to take a left, and perhaps we shouldn't be cruising at a orbital velocities just in case? Alternative Routes stares him down, declaring, "We're not taking a left." Boost Allocation points out that if we're not going to be taking that left after all, shouldn't we be shooting fire out our ass? Alternative Routes nods sagely, and begins to hum "My country, 'tis of the."

It doesn't really get any better than that. The only real negative of any consequence I see is the inability to unlock cars unless in singleplayer.

Man I really hope my copy shows up tomorrow...

Last I checked getting lost isn't supposed to be fun it's a punishment for deficiency of core racing skills. Those skills being mental acumen, quick thinking, and reflexes. Right now is the game at it's best when you can get lost and you don't know every turn and shortcut. The discovery phase is much better then the mastery phase in my opinion.

Check points are crap and are a complete handicap I don't like being told I have to hit a C.P in a street race before I can complete it. Give me open road anytime and let me figure out whats best for me, which again hits more on the discovery aspect of the game.

Wow, well, I come at racing games in a completely different manner, I suppose. I would not say core racing skills include memorization of routes or even exploration of a city. Maybe it's just that I'm hung up in the closed-loop sort of racing one sees on TV, but the open nature of it where I have to know somehow with few clues to take a left turn in two blocks just doesn't sound like a core racing skill to me.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

During a race it feels like there's a drunken brawl in my mind between all the brain quadrants responsible for different tasks. Boost Acquisition just broke a bottle over Crach Avoidance's head, screaming, "Near misses are GOLD, b*tch!" Overtake Rivals sees an opportunity to leave Devmani in the dust, but Course Navigation meekly interjects that at the next light we might have to take a left, and perhaps we shouldn't be cruising at a orbital velocities just in case? Alternative Routes stares him down, declaring, "We're not taking a left." Boost Allocation points out that if we're not going to be taking that left after all, shouldn't we be shooting fire out our ass? Alternative Routes nods sagely, and begins to hum "My country, 'tis of the."

That's some beautiful stuff right there.

Yeah, what Danjo said.

Nei wrote:

Tag: GWJ Racing Clan, although I don't recall who is managing it.

Can I do a search while online and submit a request, or do I just have to wait to get invited? If it's the latter an invite would be much appreciated.

Sorry, if this is basic knowledge. I don't know anything about how XBL clans work.

VicD714 wrote:
Nei wrote:

Tag: GWJ Racing Clan, although I don't recall who is managing it.

Can I do a search while online and submit a request, or do I just have to wait to get invited? If it's the latter an invite would be much appreciated.

Sorry, if this is basic knowledge. I don't know anything about how XBL clans work.

Here we go: GWJ Racing Clan. You should be able to log in and submit a friend request from the web.

Nyxs Optare wrote:

The aftertouch is still there. Once you start the "showtime" crash, you can still control your tumbling car with the left stick. While doing that, you can tap the A button to burn up any boost you have left to keep the car moving and crashing into other stuff. Also, the more things you crash into will recharge the boost and allow you to continue your crash even further.

I realize you're probably referring to being able to control your car in race mode though, and yes, it would have been nice.

Indeed, I was not speaking of this. I mean when you crash you can still take down other racers if they are close enough, or also some of your takedowns can combo into racers that are too close to their wreckage.

VicD714 wrote:
Nei wrote:

Tag: GWJ Racing Clan, although I don't recall who is managing it.

Can I do a search while online and submit a request, or do I just have to wait to get invited? If it's the latter an invite would be much appreciated.

Just send a friend request to GWJ Racing Clan... and perhaps a PM to Chrometech since I don't know how often he checks the account.

-edit-

I guess LupusUmbrus beat me to it.

While we are complaining... but this is nothing new... I really don't like taking my eye off the road, so interrupting my racing session to emphasize that YES, the Guy I just sideswiped at high velocity in the middle of a tight turn did indeed hit that barrier with enough force to take him out, is amazingly distracting. That the game then auto-corrects my course before relinquishing control adds insult to injury. In severe cases it feels like it teleports me. I can be flying towards a pillar in an uncontrolled slide... but as long as someone dies and I get that Takedown cutscene, when the game comes back I'm in the center of the lane in full control.
Tonight I will try to turn this off, as I did in the previous games.

Lupus and Nei.

Thanks for the Racing Clan info, guys.

I went ahead and sent in my request.

firesloth wrote:
Last I checked getting lost isn't supposed to be fun it's a punishment for deficiency of core racing skills. Those skills being mental acumen, quick thinking, and reflexes. Right now is the game at it's best when you can get lost and you don't know every turn and shortcut. The discovery phase is much better then the mastery phase in my opinion.

Check points are crap and are a complete handicap I don't like being told I have to hit a C.P in a street race before I can complete it. Give me open road anytime and let me figure out whats best for me, which again hits more on the discovery aspect of the game.

Wow, well, I come at racing games in a completely different manner, I suppose. I would not say core racing skills include memorization of routes or even exploration of a city. Maybe it's just that I'm hung up in the closed-loop sort of racing one sees on TV, but the open nature of it where I have to know somehow with few clues to take a left turn in two blocks just doesn't sound like a core racing skill to me.

Never once did I say that route memorization, or exploration is a skill for racing. I was making a point that it's twitch gaming as well as the ability to calculate your "route" quickly. Even with racers like Gran Tursimo, F1 and Nascar. In your mind you are plotting your course on the fly. High and outside, or low and inside on turn 4, downshift and break 50 yards or at 20 yards before the hairpin. Your mind is racing just as fast as your car as you sort through the information to make split second decisions. So it is there that I bring up core racing skills as I did in the post before.

My local place was sold out. Argh! Am I dumb enough to go across town to snag it, given that this is the last day my wife is out of town and I'm a free, unfettered man? Of course!

Poppinfresh wrote:

My local place was sold out. Argh! Am I dumb enough to go across town to snag it, given that this is the last day my wife is out of town and I'm a free, unfettered man? Of course!

See you Paradise City!

I will be visiting Paradise City tonight as well. Game in hand.

Hello, folks. If you're short a car, I'd love to get in on the fun as well. Feel free to shoot me an invite. I'll also throw an invite at the clan list linked above.

Is there anyway to shut off the takedown cam? I know you could in previous iterations. It's amazingly annoying and I can't find any way to turn it off this time.

Barring that minor niggle the game is amazing. Quite possibly the best racing game ever.

Grrr! My 360 keeps locking up. I wonder if this is the game that will bring the RROD. Did I mention, Grrr! ?

Nimcosi wrote:

Grrr! My 360 keeps locking up. I wonder if this is the game that will bring the RROD. Did I mention, Grrr! ?

Did you get this in the demo as well? I keep getting the demo to lock up my 360, and I am waiting on a rental to see if the game does the same thing. I can usually get 5-10 minutes of driving before it happens, and it seems to be related to the banners that pop up (at least in the demo) such as "All Drive Thrus Found" or "Super Jump".

Wow, it's like I said the game would cure breast cancer. Forget the Negative Nancies, you owe it to yourself to spend an extra hour with the demo. This is the seventh Burnout game, it's a proven franchise and not a new, untested formula. Paradise drives like Burnout 3, plain and simple.

I made some pictures showing the navigation system, which I missed until Zero pointed it out to me. Once I saw it, I didn't have a problem with navigation. It shows the best path on regular streets, it's up to you to find a faster way in all the short cuts and jumps.

IMAGE(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/souldaddy109/GWJ/Picture5.png)

The 2 smaller sides with get closer to the center sign to let you know how close the intersection is. When the navigation system wants you to turn, you will only see one sign. It will be flashing with a corresponding sound. Once you see it you can't miss it.

IMAGE(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/souldaddy109/GWJ/Picture4-1.png)
IMAGE(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o119/souldaddy109/GWJ/Picture3-2.png)

Sorry, my Keynote-fu is horrible.

Just so we're clear, I was already well aware of how it works before I made my post. /negative Nancy

Certis wrote:

Just so we're clear, I was already well aware of how it works before I made my post. /negative Nancy

I certainly hope so. I read next to nothing about this game before buying it (I'm a Burnout whore) and I still figured out the navigation system within thirty minutes.

Tomorrow I will be learning to make an effective pivot chart of all the asses I kicked tonight.

I did not understand that there was a navigation system during my playtime last night (on the PS3), so thank you for that. Kept hitting Select to check out the large map, which takes an annoyingly long time, too. I also had the game crash on me during the first five seconds of trying the multiplayer.

Fab game, tho. I have a feeling it might top Burnout 3, but we'll see over extended play. I'm a little worried about how the notoriously on-rails handling mechanic handles high speeds, since before this Burnout has always counted on the invisible energy barriers to keep you going.

So what's the recommended system for everyone? 360?

I am wanting to pick this up but I don't know if I should wait till i get my 360 back or not.

Sinatar wrote:

Is there anyway to shut off the takedown cam? I know you could in previous iterations. It's amazingly annoying and I can't find any way to turn it off this time.

Barring that minor niggle the game is amazing. Quite possibly the best racing game ever.

God damned sparkling niggles..

Sorry for ignoring all y'alls invites last night. I had a date last night and he and I were playing burnout together. Didn't think he'd want to be exposed to the GWJ clan just yet

I have to say that Burnout: Paradise is almost as fun to watch someone play as it is to play. Normally I can't watch someone else play a video game. I'm always fighting the urge to take the controller and show someone "how to do it right" or I just get too bored because I'm not interacting.

Last night I noticed that as we'd trade the controller off, the non-player would become the navigator. Looking for gates to smash (we're at 211!) or billboards or just cool jumps that we'd missed.

Picking up mine on the way home from work today, albeit for the PS3. if there's any european GWJ'ers out there my playstation ID is Bevesocth, throw me an invite or so

Great fun last night guys. I enjoyed the game of tag and the races quite a bit.

An observation about the open map and the racing specifically though:

There was a point in one of the races last night where a group of cars was running in a tight pack. The leader of that group decides he needs to make a turn (a wrong turn). Now I realize that once we become accustomed to the map, these wrong turns will become fewer and fewer. The interesting thing was though, the rest of the group following him fell right into the herd mentality and took the wrong turn as well. It struck me as very funny to watch several little triangles make an abrupt 180 once the error was discovered.

Also, unless more people start showing up with the camera thing, the only pic's you will be getting from me will be of the still life in my office.

Thanks for inviting me to play along gentlemen,
Nyxs

I should be on tonight after a date at the wonderful Chinatown Buffet. Say.. 8 or 9?