Sleeping Dogs: score attack

[Danceofmasks]

(I already posted this elsewhere)

Ok, so I like this game. A lot. It's solid on most fronts, with the exception of fighting the camera at various times.

I figured awhile back that there's a problem with the scoring system.
Using different moves gives you points.
Each type of move gives diminishing returns (except "winning" moves such as headshot, enemy down, environmental attack, vehicle destroyed, etc) unless there's a lull in the action (which resets the scoring).

So scoring has to do with using a variety of moves. Cool, right?
Not quite.
See, the problem is, once an enemy is down, you can't hit 'em anymore.
Meaning, the more damage you do, the less moves you get to use.

I just completed a scoring run, and got a much higher score on most missions than I previously did.
By ... avoiding all damage upgrades.
That means not spending points on one half of the triad tree ('cos the first point gives you more strike damage), not getting face level 9 (which gives you kickass upgrades whenever your face meter powers up), and avoiding the end of the cop trees (firearm damage upgrade and vehicle ram damage upgrade).

Anyways, now that I'm in the postgame, I'm cool with going back and doing the side missions to get cop and face levels up to 10 (triad is already on 10, but with 5 unspent points).

Maybe this is just my long winded way of saying, "game designers: your players should want to grab upgrades, not avoid them."

I guess those Batman games also have this issue, though mainly in the challenges.
I mean you could do it in the story mode too, but then you end the game with thousands more xp than you need to unlock everything.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

The Batman games get around this problem by not having general "do more damage" upgrades. You instead unlock moves that either do heavy damage or instantly take down. These moves give more points than your average hit, but usually end your combo on that particular enemy, so the high scoring tactic is to smack an enemy around to build a large combo before using a takedown. Since points are multiplied based on your current combo, you are encouraged to use these moves late in the fight to "cash in" on your multiplier before all the enemies are beaten.

The scoring system could have used something like this, with moves providing more points depending on how long you can fight without getting hit, or rewarding overkill by using your strongest moves on weakened opponents (which, really, would fit into the Triad mindset of encouraging brutality on your opponents).

Though, at the end of the day the game is a brawler, and the combat system is more of a means to an end rather than anything. If it was more physically rewarding, then it would be too easy to "game" the system and acquire upgrades too quickly.

 

[Danceofmasks]

The Batman games get around this problem by not having general "do more damage" upgrades. You instead unlock moves that either do heavy damage or instantly take down. These moves give more points than your average hit, but usually end your combo on that particular enemy, so the high scoring tactic is to smack an enemy around to build a large combo before using a takedown. Since points are multiplied based on your current combo, you are encouraged to use these moves late in the fight to "cash in" on your multiplier before all the enemies are beaten.

Oh I know how the batman system works, I have videos on youtube with some decent scores.
They're nowhere near the highest I've scored though, seeing as optimum scoring involved getting 7 variations early, then using nothing but triple batclaw + ground takedown when left with 6 enemies remaining.
But that method looks way too cheesy, so I never uploaded them.
At least in Arkham City they changed the points around abit, so blade counters give you the highest multiplier ... so sandbagging a stage doesn't look quite so ugly.

 

[Goofguy]

I haven't really been too worried about the points in Sleeping Dogs. I have yet to beat it but thus far, I've maxed out all of the skill trees except for the Triad one. Even if I don't max it out, I'm not too worried about it. I was getting my ass kicked a lot at the beginning, trying to clear out the goons next to the cameras. Now, Wei is just too overpowered, I only ever go down to like 170% health while breaking everyone else's arms and legs.