Quantum Break Catch All

It's out for both the Xbox One and the very broken PC Version (if you can even buy it).

Official Site

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/quan...

I have a vested interest in the success of this title if only to ensure we get to see Alan Wake 2. I patched up last night but had to deal with a fussy baby so I didnt get a chance to check out the Xbox One version. Early reviews suggest an ambitious if somewhat flawed title.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/4/1/1124...

Round up of reviews.. wow some sites really hated it

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-...

Thanks for creating this thread, I was thinking of doing so. Took way too long to install for a console title, but I stayed up late and managed to get through the first act last night.

Much like Alan Wake, if you're in it for the gameplay, you'll probably be a little disappointed; it's competent, a little novel, but by no means best in class or genre-redefining. However, these guys can build a world and tell a story like few other people in video games. It's a little pulp sci-fi but what a ride so far.

I've come across two Alan Wake references, at least one of which implies that this is the same universe as Alan Wake. No story spoilers and it all happens in the first five minutes or so, but just in case I'll tag it:

Spoiler:

When you first meet Serene he is wearing a "Stormcrow" t-shirt, and on campus there is a poster announcing a show for them and describing them as an "Old Gods Of Asgard cover band." The first stop for their tour is Bright Falls.

You can also, before you meet Serene, run across a TV in a tent that will show you what appears to be a promo for a show that looks like a cross between Alan Wake and The X-Files.

Gameplay-wise, I just got off of replaying the Uncharted trilogy, and my instincts to try hard for headshots are probably working against me. Subtle differences in aiming, enemy movement, and ammo availability-- not to mention the way your time powers change things-- seem to encourage just peppering the torso with bullets. Guys are a little bullet spongey but seem to frequently have helmets that mean you'd need more than one headshot, so better just to let loose. I'm playing on Normal difficulty so far and the balance seems about right for someone who is experienced with shooters but maybe not great at them. I usually die once or a few times in encounters, enough to make me think about my strategy and using my powers (instead of playing like a generic shooter) but not enough to get frustrated.

I love Remedy shooters.

I'm pretty sure reviews are straight up irrelevant for me on this one. I'll be starting it today when I get home from work.

Thin_J wrote:

I love Remedy shooters.

I'm pretty sure reviews are straight up irrelevant for me on this one. I'll be starting it today when I get home from work.

Agreed.. I was in no matter what.. I'm pretty much in on anything Remedy.. the combination of interesting if a bit pulpy type characters and story always gets me excited. Alan Wake was also one of the few games my wife was actually interested in sitting next to me on the couch to watch me play so she could follow along with the story.

I've done the first act and had to go to work during the first (lengthy) live action sequence. I'm still getting to grips with the powers. And probably spend too much time playing it like a cover shooter. It sounds like they're a lot of fun when you get the hang of them, and you can really do a number on the baddies.

I'm enjoying it so far (in a fairly undemanding way), though what I'd really like an HD version of Max Payne 1 - I kind of wish they'd spent less money on the big name actors and done that instead.

I have not seen any texture pop-in and it's been technically flawless for me so far.

Thin_J wrote:

I love Remedy shooters.

I'm pretty sure reviews are straight up irrelevant for me on this one. I'll be starting it today when I get home from work.

xbox one version right?

The "strategy guide" from Prima was delayed slightly and arrived today. If you are considering it as a collectible (they say there will only be one print run) or an actual game assist, some deets:

Paging through it is as much art book, behind-the-scenes, and Remedy Retrospective as strategy guide. So you Remedy fans might enjoy it even if you don't want a guide.

At the time of this writing I only see one Amazon review which knocks the quality of the paper/ink and says it is missing some info. I disagree about the paper quality; it's not art book quality glossy but it seems to be well made. The review also criticizes it for missing info which I can't speak to yet; I'd like to do my first playthrough without using it. (A code for an e-guide version is included. For the last Prima guide I bought with an included eGuide, they did make some post-publication updates to the e-guide with additional info. The eGuide might look nicer than the print version in some ways.)

If/when you *do* use this as a game guide, glancing through Act 1, it is formatted mostly to guide you through getting all the collectibles it seems. Nice simple step-by-step directions for getting from one collectible to the next with all the plot-required actions in between. Strategy for fights does not seem to be emphasized, and it does NOT offer any assistance about the "Junction Point" decisions. You'll just have to pick one, live with the consequences, and play through again if you want to see the other choice. I'm... actually kind of happy about that, less temptation, I really want to do my first playthrough unspoiled. Also no plot recap of what happens in the live action parts, if you wanted that.

Well I'm doing the 75 GB download to see if that fixes my frame stutter issue. This could take a while.

Anyone get their code for PC? I hope they get it at least playable by a week from now, have a work trip and was hoping to play on my laptop.

Docjoe wrote:

Well I'm doing the 75 GB download to see if that fixes my frame stutter issue. This could take a while.

Anyone get their code for PC? I hope they get it at least playable by a week from now, have a work trip and was hoping to play on my laptop.

According to a Microsoft post I read, they plan on distributing the codes in waves over the next week to 10 days. I've heard a lot of reports of trouble with the PC version, and maybe they're hoping to get it patched up a bit before giving out all the codes...

Gumbie wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I love Remedy shooters.

I'm pretty sure reviews are straight up irrelevant for me on this one. I'll be starting it today when I get home from work.

xbox one version right?

Yeah. I dug a little deeper and they specified that the PC codes for Xbox preordering people would be delivered sometime in the 11 days following the Xbox release.

Ended up not getting to start yesterday though. Adulthood is stupid sometimes.

The frame pacing in the PC version is attrotcious. Reminds of Arkham Knight when it first came out. Either this was a massive rush job and the problem is the game itself or Microsoft's UWP is doing something that's affecting the game.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/kTCmGzd.jpg)

Wasn't this supposed to be a TV show as well, by some famous director, who was there at launch party for Xbox One, where this was supposed to launch as well?

Docjoe wrote:

Well I'm doing the 75 GB download to see if that fixes my frame stutter issue. This could take a while.

For reference, for anybody not following along in the general Xbox One thread, said download is an "offline movie pack" so the TV show portion is local instead of streaming. I downloaded it, and watched the first "episode" of the live action show last night, and it looked beautiful. I hope you have the same experience, Docjoe.

Razgon wrote:

Wasn't this supposed to be a TV show as well, by some famous director, who was there at launch party for Xbox One, where this was supposed to launch as well?

I don't recall a "famous director" being attached, but they were pretty vague early on, just saying that this would be both a game and a TV show and your choices in the game would change the show.

To be clear, if you aren't familiar with how this ended up: the game is split into five "Acts," and between acts, you watch a filmed live action show (probably about 20 minutes?) featuring characters from the game. The show changes somewhat based on things you do in the game; not always in major ways, but the changes are obviously there. The show is more focused on the point of view of the "villains" of the game. The director is Ben Ketai.

(According to the game's official website: "In partnership with Remedy and Lifeboat Productions, “Quantum Break’s” stellar cast is headed by Executive Producer Jaime Burke, writers Ron Milbauer, Terri Hughes and Josh Corbin, Director Ben Ketai, Director of Photography Timothy A. Burton, and the Production Designer Gabor Norman, as well as the team at Remedy headed by Sam Lake.")

At first I'd thought that the television show was going to be a major, more standalone property, and I don't know if that was naivete or if they just weren't sure what they could pull off at the time.

PC port is even worse than I thought

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...

It's currently impossible to hit 60fps on ANY hardware at ANY setting. Yes you heard right it's impossible to hit 60fps with a Titan X on low settings, at 720p. It seems like there's a hard lock of 50fps.

Gumbie wrote:

PC port is even worse than I thought

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...

It's currently impossible to hit 60fps on ANY hardware at ANY setting. Yes you heard right it's impossible to hit 60fps with a Titan X on low settings, at 720p. It seems like there's a hard lock of 50fps.

This is beyond embarrassing for Microsoft as a good deal of the issues are stemming from UWP and/or DX12. Microsoft needs to pull the title from the Windows Store issue refunds and figure out how to get UWP working properly.. if that means going hat in hand to Nvidia and AMD and spending the next month or two sorting out exactly how UWP will work then so be it. Right now they are falling on their face hard and will create a situation that will permanently stain any attempts to unify the platforms.

I'm concerned there's nobody running the ship over there that has enough juice to get things fixed and fixed fast.

Posted in the Xbox Thread as well.

The Alan Wake DLC is free right now. Not sure if this is a limited time thing or not.

I'm really bummed with how the PC rollout has been such an epic fail. This is going to really not raise hopes for the future of cross platform gaming and is really making the walled garden of the Microsoft Store raise visions of GFWL. Really feels like MS just can't figure out PC gaming which is just baffling.

The Xbox One version of this game seems fine so far but very few people playing it on my friends list which can't bode well.....

Some good news at least on the Xbox One it's selling well its first week.

https://www.vg247.com/2016/04/11/qua...

Topping the UK charts is good news. Best selling new IP this generation could be faint praise because I'm trying to think of what it's competition is. Sunset Overdrive? Ryse?

The conversation has been really quiet here but that's probably reflective of the small Xbox following. And it's linear and story driven plus nothing really innovative besides the tv shows so probably not too surprising.

I played the first act which was good but now got distracted by Dark Souls 2 of all things. Will get back to it at some point I'm sure.

Not sure if the inability to keep me engaged past the beginning of the game is commentary on a weak story or my ADHD.....

I got my PC code via Xbox message.. not even going to bother to try and play it until it's various technical issues are sorted out.

I'm glad to hear the game is successful for them. I didn't pick it up because Dark Souls 3 but otherwise I probably would have given it a shot.

It's a real bummer that the PC version has been such a debacle. I considered pre-ordering just to send a message that giving people both versions for one purchase at launch is a Very Good Thing. I still like the idea, it's just really too bad that the execution has been so lacking.

Update from Remedy

http://community.remedygames.com/for...

sucks that things like SLI/Crossfire will just never be supported.. on the PC being able to play in 4K is a benefit of the platform..but trying to do that on a single GPU is difficult to maintain a smooth frame rate.

As well.. the rendering method using the same tech as the Xbox One is an interesting decision.. One guesses again beyond the scope of the PC port.

Whew, the last battle is brutal! I finally beat it on Normal and I don't think I'm going to try Hard. I think I probably died close to twenty times.

If you get there and get frustrated, some small tips:

Spoiler:

Right before triggering the final battle, there is a "Full Auto Shotgun" (the first in the game?) you can grab in the pool.

You only have to shoot him twice. (I kind of expected a boss battle standard of three times.) It is telegraphed when he is not invulnerable and you can actually take a shot.

It's hard tot tell what is going on, but he is throwing time blasts at you that will seriously hurt or kill you if they detonate near you. Basically, if the blue ripples you see when you move are red, you are in range of one and should move. Between them and the enemy soldiers, I was running around in circles almost nonstop by the end; standing still for more than a few seconds usually ended with me dead.

Unless you're great at shooters, my tactic was a lot of Time Rush/Shotgun when I happened to be close enough to somebody and not fleeing a time blast. Shield would give you a few seconds to run away if you got caught in an "oh sh*t" crossfire moment. Time Stop and Time Blast were ineffective against most of the enemies and rarely worth the bother of trying.

I finished this game just last night! That last boss battle is a bit of a doozey, even on Normal. I must have died 7-8 times from attacks I just didn't have the scope to avoid at the time.

Gotta be honest; the gameplay was great and really flowed well once you got to grips with the powers, but the live action stuff was so cheesy.

I probably won't be attempting this one on hard either.

Yohdan wrote:

I finished this game just last night! That last boss battle is a bit of a doozey, even on Normal. I must have died 7-8 times from attacks I just didn't have the scope to avoid at the time.

Gotta be honest; the gameplay was great and really flowed well once you got to grips with the powers, but the live action stuff was so cheesy.

I probably won't be attempting this one on hard either.

Since finishing it, I've gone back and replayed it, and... it got way easier. Probably partly practice, but, picking up all the chronon sources and upgrades certainly helped. I don't care enough to try it on Hard, but, if you're stuck, replaying chapters where you missed chronon sources probably helps.

At the risk of being contrarian, I liked the live action stuff, maybe because it really embraced the cheesy. Totally a matter of taste, but, I think the story was at its best when played over-the-top.

Related: having now replayed and made all different Junction decisions, there's a lot to be said for the fun of the "wrong" choices (where Serene is evil or stupid).

I suppose each to their own. I would be interested to see what the other choices did so maybe I will go back and collect everything and replay the Junctions.

Practice probably does help, it was only really some of the early game sections, as well as some of the very end missions that I struggled with.

Overall though I did enjoy the game, just for me I don't think there would have been anything missing from the experience had the live action sections never been there.

Wow this is a quiet thread for a AAA new IP! So just wanted to see has anyone tried the PC port yet? I got my code but think I'll need to upgrade my GPU. Didn't know if Remedy has patched anything yet.

Docjoe wrote:

Didn't know if Remedy has patched anything yet.

I haven't installed it yet for this reason. I was waiting to see what kind of updates it gets before bothering.

Docjoe wrote:

Wow this is a quiet thread for a AAA new IP!

Yeah, I wish I had more to say about it! My quietness does not reflect the enjoyment I got from this. But, the mechanics are fairly simple, and there is not much to any of the puzzles/navigation, so discussing mechanics would be pretty boring. The story is fun but cheesy and doesn't really drive me to analyze it looking for deeper meaning. No real bugs to complain about. Just a solid good time.

Did everybody notice the way the timeline works to help you find collectibles? (They are presented in the order you should find them and spaced out in such a way that you should intuit which ones are clustered near each other.) There are some slight differences in which collectibles are available based on Junction choices, but the timeline will only show the ones available to you for your choices.

Is anybody interested in my analysis of the different weapons, or where to spend your upgrade points?

Beep I think there just isn't that much to talk about with this game. In the end it is a pretty shooter with below average shooting mechanics and some neat super hero powers wrapped in a competent story with some really long cut scenes. It ends in what is a really poorly designed boss fight.

Overall it's fine but nothing memorable. Probably a one and done kind of game. The frame rate is pretty choppy for me on XBO but it sounds like others aren't experiencing that. Would be interesting to see it if they get PC fixed but probably not worth a second playthrough.

Now back to a truly compelling gaming masterpiece worth devoting dozens of hours - Shop Heroes!

Just finished. It's... not the worst. I enjoyed the mixed media aspects, not to mention the relatively large cast of characters. It's been mentioned before elsewhere but this really does feel like a cheap Cable television program. I happen to be into that sort of thing and it worked for me.

The gameplay was far less interesting, and I honestly could have done without. I think if I do play this game again I'm going to drop the difficulty down to Easy and spending far more time exploring the environment than I did the first time through. At least on Xbox One.

Should the PC version ever get a stable 60fps I feel like the game would be a lot more fun to play. As it is the game felt too sluggish for my comfort, and I got very frustrated with overshooting on targets because of the control delay.

About that ending...

Spoiler:

I like that they left it open for a sequel or follow up story of some sort. I think ending with Jack at a junction point was an interesting twist, while also being a useful call back and potential continuing mechanic as they move forward with the franchise. Heck, as long as they can keep Lance Reddick employed, I'll be happy.

Overall, I'm happy with the game. It just has no chance of getting anywhere near my GOTY list.