Post BAYTJht6KofkYyXoRs by japananon@mitra.anon-kenkai.com
(DIR) More posts by japananon@mitra.anon-kenkai.com
(DIR) Post #BAYTJht6KofkYyXoRs by japananon@mitra.anon-kenkai.com
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Tonight... they better have a full house, 'cause I don't flushRE: https://mitra.anon-kenkai.com/objects/01a0aa9d-e5db-70b1-9f03-df8031a6bbf7
(DIR) Post #BAYUF7PQ7UDiDq2NRA by Suzu@detroitriotcity.com
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@japananon oh, Fallen Aces is pretty awesome.
(DIR) Post #BAYUF7gR6Dpb4bzxxY by japananon@mitra.anon-kenkai.com
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@Suzu I really enjoyed Chapter 1, been looking forward to this for a while
(DIR) Post #BAaOzzv9jxIqNt3Ss4 by japananon@mitra.anon-kenkai.com
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After running through the first 3 levels of Fallen Aces Chapter 2 last night, I'm sorry to say that it's a bit of a let-down. As I said on stream, the same ingredients from Chapter 1 were all there, but they weren't mixed right and the overall package needed more time in the oven.On a superficial level, there was a lot of basic brushwork errors in the levels... multiple untextured surfaces creating gaps into the skybox, floating props, etc. Working on DarkMod maps in DarkRadiant has made me sensitive to these things, sure, but they should absolutely be caught in testing and QC before release. Even I know that, and my maps are a free download, so New Blood releasing this and asking money for it is a bit embarrassing.Audio mixing was occasionally messed up, with some character voices almost too quiet to hear against background music. Objective structure was also fucked.. a starting objective of "find your stolen wallet" turned into a confusing mess when I managed a sequence break, finding clues out of their intended order and suddenly being told to open a bank safety deposit box while having no clue what was going on. Another had a guarded elevator in a hotel that I could just walk into and use without any guards going hostile or warning me away, letting me stumble into a room of suddenly hostile mooks in what imagined was a safe public area.Chapter 1 did a great job of making the levels open and easily traversable, with multiple ways in, out, and through all locations. This was present in Chapter 2's first area, but the second had way too many bottlenecks where going loud was almost unavoidable. Given I could stealth almost everywhere in Chapter 1 with minimal combat, this felt more than a little frustrating.The new car driving segments are also not great. The car handles like a shopping cart, and the environments are sometimes too dark to catch the sharp turns and ramps they expect you to make. I don't need yellow paint or Wolverine style auto-pilot, but telegraphing things a little more clearly would have been nice.Chapter 2 is in desperate need of another pass or two in QC and playtesting, and until they patch it up some more, I'd say you're better off waiting a bit before you play it.
(DIR) Post #BAbRetQHCNqpAcCPPE by japananon@mitra.anon-kenkai.com
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I did nothing but play the rest of Fallen Aces Chapter 2 today, and the situation did improve somewhat further in. Part 4 is probably where it found its legs the most, a prison break mission where you have to infiltrate the police station in disguise and break a guy out... plenty of different ways in, lots of environmental shit you can do to prep for and ease your escape. Probably the most fun out of the lot.Part 3, where you sneak around a policed gated community to talk to an important witness/NPC had a lot of the right setup, but suffers from too jokey a premise... you can only get in to see him after you find his missing garden gnome, and solve the mystery of its theft by another resident with a gnome collection. Given the hard boiled characters involved, it seemed ridiculous they wouldn't just kick the door down and rough him up for answers. Premise aside, though, the map was at least well structured.The finale (chasing the BBEG onto a train, then chasing him up it while fighting goons as the train catches on fire and almost derails) encapsulated the problem with the way Chapter 2 is built, imo. Too much emphasis on story beats and set pieces, and not enough emphasis on giving the player a sandbox to accomplish fixed goals in. All the best immersive sims put story beats in cutscenes or briefings between missions, and let the missions themselves just be an environment with goals to accomplish and multiple ways to go about them. Chapter 1 of Fallen Aces understood the assignment... none of its missions every railroaded you or interrupted gameplay to tell the story at you. Chapter 2 has faint glimmers of awareness, but gets too excited about its story and ends up tripping over its feet with the gameplay.I still want to see how it ends, and I'm hopeful that they can get back to what made that strong first Chapter good again. But I'm definitely more cautiously optimistic than just straight up optimistic this time. I really hope Gloomwood, another New Blood favorite, doesn't end up falling into the same slump.