Mirror's Edge Catalyst Preview: Have a Little Faith

[s0osleepie]

I hope that it's really much harder for the opponents to hit you with their guns. I remember a few points in the first game where I always got hit by the enemies, no matter how fast I ran. With Faith made of glass, those points were very frustrating.

It honestly is. If you keep your momentum and flow going by not missing any chain maneuvers, you're practically invincible.

 

[s0osleepie]

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

To be honest, I can't really say if there is MORE combat simply based on the short amount of time I had with the game. We played through 4 modes, each taking 4-5 min. There was a short story mission scene which had combat toward the very end. Dash and Billboard Hack side missions do NOT have combat, while ALL Delivery mission do.

 

[s0osleepie]

...Haven't seen any footage myself yet, but I'm hoping they also ditch the excessive amount of drainpipe climbing.

I hope for one, and only one, giant drainpipe climb in the late game just after a boss battle. Climbing for about 5 solid minutes as the theme music slowly swells in the background

In 15 minutes, I encountered 2 drain pipes. Both very short. I cannot confirm or deny if these drainpipes were representative of all drainpipes in the game

 

[Kameburger]

The biggest failure in the original was the tendency of the NPCs to shoot an unarmed messenger girl in the back. While it is obviously a preferred style of interacting with their customers EA cannot seem to comprehend that fighting should be optional. Possibly even rewarded for avoiding it at all. Now, it is better. Because the unarmed messenger girl cannot even pick up a weapon to shoot back with. Perfect! See it's better already. Easy pickings, you EA scum.

I got the iOS game, but stopped playing when I had to evade a freaking attack helicopter. Again EA gunning down unarmed girls. They love shooting girls in the back. The victim being unarmed just makes it so much more like real life for EA producers. Removing all hope for small developer studios is like a treat to them, speaking of Prey 2. When it is coming out?

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or really railing on this game for being kinda violent?

 

[Kameburger]

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

To be honest, I can't really say if there is MORE combat simply based on the short amount of time I had with the game. We played through 4 modes, each taking 4-5 min. There was a short story mission scene which had combat toward the very end. Dash and Billboard Hack side missions do NOT have combat, while ALL Delivery mission do.

Side missions make it sound kind of sand boxy. Not that I need that, but is that the case at all? The original had you running so much that there didn't really seem to be any time for side missions.

In all honesty I played this game skipping through every single cut scene because of the weird animations they used, that completely didn't fit the amazing aesthetic. Are the cut scenes in this the same kind of thing or did they actually render them like in the trailer?

 

[Metalrocks]

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

To be honest, I can't really say if there is MORE combat simply based on the short amount of time I had with the game. We played through 4 modes, each taking 4-5 min. There was a short story mission scene which had combat toward the very end. Dash and Billboard Hack side missions do NOT have combat, while ALL Delivery mission do.

Side missions make it sound kind of sand boxy. Not that I need that, but is that the case at all? The original had you running so much that there didn't really seem to be any time for side missions.

In all honesty I played this game skipping through every single cut scene because of the weird animations they used, that completely didn't fit the amazing aesthetic. Are the cut scenes in this the same kind of thing or did they actually render them like in the trailer?

good question. not that these cutscenes bothered me with this comic style look but have to agree that it did look a bit out of place.

sounds like a nice change if the side missions have no combat. im sure it will make things more relaxing if you can just run around without any worries of getting shot at.

 

[Kameburger]

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

To be honest, I can't really say if there is MORE combat simply based on the short amount of time I had with the game. We played through 4 modes, each taking 4-5 min. There was a short story mission scene which had combat toward the very end. Dash and Billboard Hack side missions do NOT have combat, while ALL Delivery mission do.

Side missions make it sound kind of sand boxy. Not that I need that, but is that the case at all? The original had you running so much that there didn't really seem to be any time for side missions.

In all honesty I played this game skipping through every single cut scene because of the weird animations they used, that completely didn't fit the amazing aesthetic. Are the cut scenes in this the same kind of thing or did they actually render them like in the trailer?

good question. not that these cutscenes bothered me with this comic style look but have to agree that it did look a bit out of place.

sounds like a nice change if the side missions have no combat. im sure it will make things more relaxing if you can just run around without any worries of getting shot at.

It would be nice to have some kinda fun side quests, maybe some challenge mode kind of things. Now that I'm thinking about it though... I'm really scared it's going to be a bunch of Rescue person from dark ally muggers... and if that's the case they should just stop development immediately... The trailer was good enough in that case...

 

[Metalrocks]

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

To be honest, I can't really say if there is MORE combat simply based on the short amount of time I had with the game. We played through 4 modes, each taking 4-5 min. There was a short story mission scene which had combat toward the very end. Dash and Billboard Hack side missions do NOT have combat, while ALL Delivery mission do.

Side missions make it sound kind of sand boxy. Not that I need that, but is that the case at all? The original had you running so much that there didn't really seem to be any time for side missions.

In all honesty I played this game skipping through every single cut scene because of the weird animations they used, that completely didn't fit the amazing aesthetic. Are the cut scenes in this the same kind of thing or did they actually render them like in the trailer?

good question. not that these cutscenes bothered me with this comic style look but have to agree that it did look a bit out of place.

sounds like a nice change if the side missions have no combat. im sure it will make things more relaxing if you can just run around without any worries of getting shot at.

It would be nice to have some kinda fun side quests, maybe some challenge mode kind of things. Now that I'm thinking about it though... I'm really scared it's going to be a bunch of Rescue person from dark ally muggers... and if that's the case they should just stop development immediately... The trailer was good enough in that case...

never really thought about the side quests. lets hope they are diversive enough to keep them interesting. very possible it can contain some rescue missions/stop crime against some small crooks to maybe establish support from the public like in watch dogs.
lets hope we will get more infos about them in the next few months.

 

[s0osleepie]

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

To be honest, I can't really say if there is MORE combat simply based on the short amount of time I had with the game. We played through 4 modes, each taking 4-5 min. There was a short story mission scene which had combat toward the very end. Dash and Billboard Hack side missions do NOT have combat, while ALL Delivery mission do.

Side missions make it sound kind of sand boxy. Not that I need that, but is that the case at all? The original had you running so much that there didn't really seem to be any time for side missions.

In all honesty I played this game skipping through every single cut scene because of the weird animations they used, that completely didn't fit the amazing aesthetic. Are the cut scenes in this the same kind of thing or did they actually render them like in the trailer?

good question. not that these cutscenes bothered me with this comic style look but have to agree that it did look a bit out of place.

sounds like a nice change if the side missions have no combat. im sure it will make things more relaxing if you can just run around without any worries of getting shot at.

That section I played was "sand boxy" but I am unclear at how representative that is of the entire game. Basically, you were able to select any story or side missions that you wanted to do out of those available via the map by making the mission your destination. The game then dynamically generates a runner's view (the red highlighted environments) for you to that destination. The demo I played had one of each mission type on the map that we could select in any order from any starting point.

The cut scenes I saw were actually rendered like the trailer. They looked great imho.

 

[Neonsilver]

I hope that it's really much harder for the opponents to hit you with their guns. I remember a few points in the first game where I always got hit by the enemies, no matter how fast I ran. With Faith made of glass, those points were very frustrating.

It honestly is. If you keep your momentum and flow going by not missing any chain maneuvers, you're practically invincible.

Sounds good, in the first game I ended up knocking out or disarming on opponent and using his gun to shoot everyone else.

 

[Metalrocks]

edit: But that actually leads to another question: Is there more combat? The first game didn't really put an emphasis on it, although it got pretty bad in the later levels.
Reading that there was combat in a 15 minute open world playtest sounds weird. Were the enemies scripted fr presentation, or are there random enemies everywhere?

To be honest, I can't really say if there is MORE combat simply based on the short amount of time I had with the game. We played through 4 modes, each taking 4-5 min. There was a short story mission scene which had combat toward the very end. Dash and Billboard Hack side missions do NOT have combat, while ALL Delivery mission do.

Side missions make it sound kind of sand boxy. Not that I need that, but is that the case at all? The original had you running so much that there didn't really seem to be any time for side missions.

In all honesty I played this game skipping through every single cut scene because of the weird animations they used, that completely didn't fit the amazing aesthetic. Are the cut scenes in this the same kind of thing or did they actually render them like in the trailer?

good question. not that these cutscenes bothered me with this comic style look but have to agree that it did look a bit out of place.

sounds like a nice change if the side missions have no combat. im sure it will make things more relaxing if you can just run around without any worries of getting shot at.

That section I played was "sand boxy" but I am unclear at how representative that is of the entire game. Basically, you were able to select any story or side missions that you wanted to do out of those available via the map by making the mission your destination. The game then dynamically generates a runner's view (the red highlighted environments) for you to that destination. The demo I played had one of each mission type on the map that we could select in any order from any starting point.

The cut scenes I saw were actually rendered like the trailer. They looked great imho.

thanks for the info. i guess all we can do is wait and see how the final version turns out. but good to hear we have some freedom what we like to do. this should make the game longer and diverse.

 

[Darkness665]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or really railing on this game for being kinda violent?

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. I loved the parkour and the clean yet oddly disconnected environment. The vistas were beautiful, being on top of buildings looking around. However, that wasn't game-like enough for good old EA.

So they shot Faith, an unarmed messenger girl running *away* from the police, in the back. Then sent in attack helicopters. The story sucked, the plot was a joke and the cut scenes were worse than loading screens. It was commented on that removing the story entirely would have improved the game. All exposition could have been done on the elevator (loading scene) displays.

EA is pushing for more (complex, rewarding, better at getting boys to buy it, PR checkbox) combat in the next game, and they won't even let Faith (aka you) pick up a weapon to defend herself with this time. Nope, NPCs don't want to get shot by a girl. Ewww.

Mirror's Edge showed great promise. Unfortunately, at release it was a classic failure of imagination. They had a great mechanic but had no idea how sell their PR department on the game. So they added in guns, combat, a hacked together story (after the fact, BTW) and failed at most of it. They did provided a free roam solution that was only parkour and that was a definite improvement. Although I would have preferred to not have to restart entire runs and the miss and insta-death was a bit much.

TL;DR:
To be clear, I love the game, hated the guns. I just have trouble shooting unarmed girls in the back. EA doesn't, never has. Gotta game? Gotta shoot. Bonus if it is in the back.

If we have to have combat, make it optional (as in a menu option - disable combat BS). The game was good without it, EA wasn't up to task.

 

[Kameburger]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or really railing on this game for being kinda violent?

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. I loved the parkour and the clean yet oddly disconnected environment. The vistas were beautiful, being on top of buildings looking around. However, that wasn't game-like enough for good old EA.

So they shot Faith, an unarmed messenger girl running *away* from the police, in the back. Then sent in attack helicopters. The story sucked, the plot was a joke and the cut scenes were worse than loading screens. It was commented on that removing the story entirely would have improved the game. All exposition could have been done on the elevator (loading scene) displays.

EA is pushing for more (complex, rewarding, better at getting boys to buy it, PR checkbox) combat in the next game, and they won't even let Faith (aka you) pick up a weapon to defend herself with this time. Nope, NPCs don't want to get shot by a girl. Ewww.

Mirror's Edge showed great promise. Unfortunately, at release it was a classic failure of imagination. They had a great mechanic but had no idea how sell their PR department on the game. So they added in guns, combat, a hacked together story (after the fact, BTW) and failed at most of it. They did provided a free roam solution that was only parkour and that was a definite improvement. Although I would have preferred to not have to restart entire runs and the miss and insta-death was a bit much.

TL;DR:
To be clear, I love the game, hated the guns. I just have trouble shooting unarmed girls in the back. EA doesn't, never has. Gotta game? Gotta shoot. Bonus if it is in the back.

If we have to have combat, make it optional (as in a menu option - disable combat BS). The game was good without it, EA wasn't up to task.

Are you advocating for more of a kind of parkour style platformer in the vain of portal?

I hear what you're saying of course, however I do feel a little surprised considering that Mirror's Edge is a relatively non-violent game about a distopian future in which the government has far overstepped its bounds in regards to its crack down on the public. In that case it seems completely realistic that they would use excessive force, as these regimes often do to crack down on anyone who may break their laws or rules with lethal force. If anything I kind of felt that the only real evidence of this being the fact that they were often shooting someone who was essentially committing non-violent crime.

I mean it didn't really seem fetishized and I don't really see any overt sexism in it. And the violence didn't feel tacked on at all, and if anything it was the only thing giving you any sense of urgency. If they wanted boys to buy it they would had her midriff showing, and made her pants a lot tighter. Probably would have made her a bit bustier too. They probably could have done a number of these things without even setting off red flags in the more progressive of circles.

Also according to the lure of that world the guys get unfairly shot at as much as the women do, and they never make a big deal out of her being a girl. There is no "oh she almost gets raped" scene, there is no sexually objectifying gratuitous shorts of her ass, and even in the marketing she's not conforming to any sort unrealistic standard of beauty and neither is any other female character in the game to begin with.

I guess what I'm saying overall is that I don't quite think I agree with your assessment of the games development.
The violence that is present in the game (and I didn't particularly feel that there was that much) was integral to the story of the game (which again there wasn't much of). The story was pretty bad, but that didn't exactly seem like studio interference as much as it just seemed low priority.

For the new game too, I don't really understand where you are getting the idea that it is EA's influence that is the cause for combat to be included in the game. The gun's in the first game, were often more of a hindrance then a help in the first game, and having her not use them is fine with me.

I feel like you are kind of asking for a game without any conflict, like a sports game or something. But any story needs some conflict, and with Mirror's edge I really don't see any reason to believe that it wasn't exactly how they wanted it designed.

And I'm not trying to be mean here, but do you have any evidence for what you're saying?
If this game is anything but a triumph for feminists in gaming I give up, cause there is no pleasing anyone.
And if this is what counts as tacked on pointless violence I'm at a similar point.

 

[Darkness665]

Are you advocating for more of a kind of parkour style platformer in the vain of portal?

And I'm not trying to be mean here, but do you have any evidence for what you're saying?
If this game is anything but a triumph for feminists in gaming I give up, cause there is no pleasing anyone.
And if this is what counts as tacked on pointless violence I'm at a similar point.

Wow, you really went off the deep end. No, I am not saying anything about feminism. And nothing in relation to Portal (either in the vein or the vain). Exactly what do you do during the day (or night) that convinces you to read so much into a simple complaint? Maybe you got your fussy self all a twitter because I was complaining about a game with a girl lead but wasn't ... something about feminism and never being satisfied. Whatever.

My point was the game was originally pushed showing the parkour. It was interesting and nobody else had come up with a reasonable mechanic previously. But they did, EA and DICE.

However, the story sucked. Later interviews show that it was tacked on after the fact. They had a game but EA (and their PR droids) didn't know what to do with it. So they added a story, and guns! Cause what is an EA game without guns? I mean, seriously, how can an EA PR hack/puke cough up an ad for a game with A: a girl lead, B: without guns, C: girl that doesn't use guns. Sadly, those poor little brained EA PR hacks got their solution. Cause the game got the bad story, the horrible comic style cut scenes and guns. Even with a male lead, they couldn't do it, so drop the feminism kick @Press guy.

The development was documented, I read the interviews and low and behold they didn't know what to do with the game because ... no guns. So they added guns. And a story that was tacked on. And bad. And worthless. The original messenger bag was supposed to be more complex (its in the game art) but that never went further.

The sequel has been mentioned, in a backhanded way, from EA ever since: "When we feel we have a compelling story for Faith we will do the next Mirror's Edge." Because just having fun, doing parkour, delivering packages and not shooting people isn't compelling on its own. EA only understands guns. Guns sell games. EA games.

Trust me, during that period there was plenty of blame to be had in screwing up any EA published game. EA was always there pushing for Project $10, always on internet, multi-player and other John Riccitiello-isms. At least he's left EA. Two years of the worst company in the world seems to have gotten the message through. We will see how that turns out, until there is a definite change EA still sucks and leads my Don't Buy From This Company list. Followed by Ubisoft.

 

[Kameburger]

Are you advocating for more of a kind of parkour style platformer in the vain of portal?

And I'm not trying to be mean here, but do you have any evidence for what you're saying?
If this game is anything but a triumph for feminists in gaming I give up, cause there is no pleasing anyone.
And if this is what counts as tacked on pointless violence I'm at a similar point.

Wow, you really went off the deep end. No, I am not saying anything about feminism. And nothing in relation to Portal (either in the vein or the vain). Exactly what do you do during the day (or night) that convinces you to read so much into a simple complaint? Maybe you got your fussy self all a twitter because I was complaining about a game with a girl lead but wasn't ... something about feminism and never being satisfied. Whatever.

The only reason I mentioned Feminism is for you taking offense to a girl being shot in the back as if this was some how part of some kind of social justice. Before I continue though, I don't recall saying anything to justify you calling me fussy, but if you were to accuse mirror's edge of being sexist, I am simply saying, that this would not make sense to me.

And I'm so fascinated as to your phrasing and word usage. It's so aggressive. I asked about Portal because it was a platforming puzzle game that hinged on its interesting movement mechanics. Mirror's edge without guns I feel would be an enormously similar game at least in spirit. Hence me bringing up that game.

I don't really feel from the beginning of your reply that you quite understood what I was asking, and maybe that is partly because I read into your criticism incorrectly, or you've just come out ready for a fight because that's how we've been conditioned, but I implore you to reflect on what I have written previously as I am not trying to accuse you of holding any belief, I'm just asking questions about your beliefs.

My point was the game was originally pushed showing the parkour. It was interesting and nobody else had come up with a reasonable mechanic previously. But they did, EA and DICE.

However, the story sucked. Later interviews show that it was tacked on after the fact. They had a game but EA (and their PR droids) didn't know what to do with it.So they added a story, and guns! Cause what is an EA game without guns? I mean, seriously, how can an EA PR hack/puke cough up an ad for a game with A: a girl lead, B: without guns, C: girl that doesn't use guns. Sadly, those poor little brained EA PR hacks got their solution. Cause the game got the bad story, the horrible comic style cut scenes and guns. Even with a male lead, they couldn't do it, so drop the feminism kick @Press guy.

Again I would ask that you stop being so aggressive with your responses. I don't think I deserve it. I had heard that Rhianna Pratchett said that she felt the game's story was a victim of the development process, but she never said anything in regards to being forced to ad violence into the title, and I don't recall any mention in regard to guns. The games story is quite bad, and I honestly skipped through a good portion of it.

The development was documented, I read the interviews and low and behold they didn't know what to do with the game because ... no guns. So they added guns. And a story that was tacked on. And bad. And worthless. The original messenger bag was supposed to be more complex (its in the game art) but that never went further.

Can you link to some of these interviews? I'm curious how this actually played out.

The sequel has been mentioned, in a backhanded way, from EA ever since: "When we feel we have a compelling story for Faith we will do the next Mirror's Edge." Because just having fun, doing parkour, delivering packages and not shooting people isn't compelling on its own. EA only understands guns. Guns sell games. EA games.

I feel like a link to those interviews you mentioned, may clear that up, again the game play seemed well designed enough that the violence didn't seemed tacked on and felt very natural.

Trust me, during that period there was plenty of blame to be had in screwing up any EA published game. EA was always there pushing for Project $10, always on internet, multi-player and other John Riccitiello-isms. At least he's left EA. Two years of the worst company in the world seems to have gotten the message through. We will see how that turns out, until there is a definite change EA still sucks and leads my Don't Buy From This Company list. Followed by Ubisoft.

I don't think I would argue with you there, and there is no love lost between EA and myself, however, while what your saying is not entirely unbelievable, the game itself didn't feel so tampered with, and felt very intentional in its use of violence. The story seemed quite dumb, and the comic cut scenes were just bloody awful. I felt like the combat seemed well though out enough and part of the game enough that I find it difficult to believe that the violence itself is all studio meddling. I'm also not saying I'm not willing to believe it, I'm just saying, that there is some citation needed.

 

[Darkness665]

As to 'fussy' you want to have a conversation with me but only if I use words and phrases that don't offend your tender ears. If fact, you really wish I wouldn't be so aggressive enough to mention it yet again. Reading your comments once again results in me viewing them as nearly completely disconnected from what I said.

You pushed for feminism (into manism then?) and mentioned portal as an option. Been there, played that, completely different game and context for said game. You mention not wanting to be mean which I took as assuming your comments are mean and you want to escape criticism you felt they were probably due.

If you cannot google on your own I am not going to help you find old interviews from a game long gone. It is old news, and EA is going to replay it again with the new Edge. I will spare a hint: look for the author of said 'story'.

Whether the game was mismanaged or what no longer matters, it is dead. Only now EA wants to do another spin at it while missing the obvious fun available in the game. That is what is so frustrating to me. They had nearly everything in place for a spectacular game. But, they had to have their guns. So a bad story was foisted on the players that was actually a disservice to them and the game itself.

Now it is time to move on with your life.