Stolen Pixels #93: Crysis Demo, Part 2

[SolkaTruesilver]

Honestly I find this strip is a bit more contrived than the first. Crysis is an excellent game despite its shitty storyline and characters, and from a design perspective I think it would be very, very intriguing for you, Shamus, although you really have to play the whole game as the first level serves as mostly plot exposition and familiarisation with the game elements. It's the second one where things really pick up and get more fun and interesting. The game really, really encourages players to experiment, and the best part is that it almost always works. Crysis does not do everything right, but when it does do things well, it does them really, really damn well.

But when One plays the demo, One should expect the demo to try to sell well the game, wouldn't he?

Specially if you are on the "I don't pirate" side of morality. In that case, you have to wonder wether or not you will buy the game. The demo is the best media to show it to us, and no one should be influenced, after playing a bad demo, by the promise: "But the next levels are awesome".

Specially since I heard that it's the last levels of Crysis who are the worst/most boring.

 

[FROGGEman2]

Honestly I find this strip is a bit more contrived than the first. Crysis is an excellent game despite its shitty storyline and characters, and from a design perspective I think it would be very, very intriguing for you, Shamus, although you really have to play the whole game as the first level serves as mostly plot exposition and familiarisation with the game elements. It's the second one where things really pick up and get more fun and interesting. The game really, really encourages players to experiment, and the best part is that it almost always works. Crysis does not do everything right, but when it does do things well, it does them really, really damn well.

Sorry if this reads like a fanboy endorsement, but I find that Crysis is severely underrated by the gaming community. Outside of its visuals, many people dismiss it as "just another shooter" but if you take the time to get to know the game there is far, far more depth to it. They just released a pack with the original game as well as the stand-alone expansion WARHEAD, which is very much worth your time and money.

It is actually quite easy to modify the config file so the koreans speak korean on all difficulties.

The idea I think is that it's harder to tell what they're doing. In practice it just means that they won't scream "grenade" when they chuck one at you. I prefer the Korean, really. It makes much more sense than the stereotypical and sometimes downright offensive caricatures that get used otherwise.

He didn't give his actual opinion of the game in these slides. Like it or not, praise isn't funny.

 

[messy]

I quite like the idea that foreign enemies will be speaking in there native language. Would really add to the level of immersion and atmosphere especially in stealth games (may have to go and get velvet assassin.)

 

[NuclearJonJon]

What happens if you play the Korean version on Delta difficulty? Do they speak English?

Harr harr harr.

 

[Clashero]

I didn't like Crysis at all.
The suit functions were interesting at first, but became more of a gimmick later on. The storyline was horrible, although the voice acting for the main characters was excellent, except the Mexican guy, Aztec, who was obviously done by an American with no knowledge of Spanish.
Graphically pretty, but the art style is almost non-existent outside of the alien bits, and some of the sound is downright infuriating ("CLOAK". Yes, that's what I pressed. Thanks for reminding me for the millionth time. As if I couldn't tell that I just turned invisible.)
Also, sans a few really good set pieces, most of the fighting ended up being like this:

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

And I'd wished I'd known about being able to tweak the config to get the Korean-language voice files all the time. The heavily-accented "Engrish" was just terrible. I'm no linguist, but I think I could figure out the Korean version of "frag out" or "flank the enemy" after a few times.

I coulda sworn you said you were a modder.

It really didn't cross your mind that you could edit it?

See, weapon damage, enemy health, stuff like that, sure, I would've thought of that. But enemy language? I suppose I just didn't expect that to be editable.

Also:

Spoiler: Photographical evidence of gimmicky gameplay

[/quote]

Bwahahaha.

 

[searanox]

A few things about the complaints made:

• 
  * The silencer makes your gunshots quiet, but at the expense of damage. With a silencer you can harass and pelt enemies from afar, but your shots will lose velocity much faster than normal, resulting in decreased damage, especially at range.
  
  * In general, all weapons do less damage at range, and there is mild bullet drop and wind action in effect.
  
  * Using stealth and cloaking is just one of the ways you can play the game. If you want to sneak by everyone, you can. I can't say I was perfect my entire way through, though, and it's nice that if you do mess up, the game will accommodate you very well.
  
  * The second half of the game might not be to everyone's taste because it becomes much more linear than the first part. However, it's also very well designed and I think a lot of fun overall. It does go back a bit on its whole "go anywhere, do anything" gameplay, but at least it makes sense in the context of the story and it's done well.
  
  * If you think the nanosuit is a gimmick, you're probably not taking advantage of it. After playing Crysis I constantly wonder why I can't smash in the roofs of houses and toss grenades in, or run into enemies to knock them over in other shooters. The amount of freedom it gives you is very liberating, and it provides a good justification for things like regenerating health and energy.

I should note that a good deal of the complaints listed above were remedied in the stand-alone expansion WARHEAD, especially when it comes to weapon damage versus enemies. Additionally, they allow you to keep the free-roaming gameplay style for almost the entire game, even if it doesn't actually make sense (for example, chasing after someone on foot rather than in a vehicle). The writing is also substantially improved in some respects, although still very cheesy and "action movie dumb" overall.

I don't know, I find that the amount of criticism the game receives is disproportionate to what it actually presents: very strong and well-designed player-driven shooter gameplay, coupled with a strong emphasis on experimentation and exploration, as well as what is still to date the best graphics in a game ever. Did I mention they give you the same tools they used to make the game themselves, so that you can go and make your own single-player and multiplayer missions from scratch, all the way down to custom cutscenes, objectives and scripting? Not to mention that there is an extremely active mapping and modding community that churns out custom content on a near-daily basis. I find that Crysis does way more and gives way more than most other modern shooters.

I guess when you get hyped up as the biggest and best-looking game of all time by the press, though, you have some big shoes to fill. And here I am thinking that Call of Duty 4 is mediocre, BioShock is one of the most horribly overrated games made in years, and Gears of War can go fuck itself with a chainsaw.

 

[Scarlet Knight]

Only real men wear their duffle bags on their crotches.

Hi Ho! That's not my duffle bag!

 

[Agayek]

Pretty much. Once they were alerted their skin took on the toughness of diamond. I put three suppressed 7.62x45mm rounds into the back of the neck of a NK regular who wasn't even wearing a hat, and he spun on his heel and started shooting at me.

It really was funny, though, when I got two of them searching an outhouse for me. Hilarity ensued when I tossed a grenade in with them.

And I'd wished I'd known about being able to tweak the config to get the Korean-language voice files all the time. The heavily-accented "Engrish" was just terrible. I'm no linguist, but I think I could figure out the Korean version of "frag out" or "flank the enemy" after a few times.

I went through the entire game (edit: on Delta) using nothing more than a single pistol, at least til the aliens came out, and it one shot the non-helmet guys if you get 'em in the head. Takes a double tap for the helmeted dudes.

Crysis wasn't nearly hard enough is my only real complaint. And the enemies on all difficulties are absolutely bloody retarded. It doesn't matter if they see you or not, if you sprint out of LOS and cloak, they'll completely ignore you.

I don't get why people complain about the enemies. They never see you and die very easily, on every difficulty

 

[Agayek]

N. Korean military training is VERY intense. That, and they eat a crap load of carrots.

Before I forget again:

Spoiler

Apologies for the (possible) double post

 

[Doug]

N. Korean military training is VERY intense. That, and they eat a crap load of carrots.

Before I forget again:

Spoiler

Apologies for the (possible) double post

See! Fake Communist haxxors!

 

[Doom Marine]

I didn't like Crysis at all.
The suit functions were interesting at first, but became more of a gimmick later on. The storyline was horrible, although the voice acting for the main characters was excellent, except the Mexican guy, Aztec, who was obviously done by an American with no knowledge of Spanish.
Graphically pretty, but the art style is almost non-existent outside of the alien bits, and some of the sound is downright infuriating ("CLOAK". Yes, that's what I pressed. Thanks for reminding me for the millionth time. As if I couldn't tell that I just turned invisible.)
Also, sans a few really good set pieces, most of the fighting ended up being like this:
http://www.dumdeedum.com/images/crysis/07.jpg

Suit voice can be turned off or turned into a chick

Suit powers were greath for me.. i did use mostly cloack and Streaght tho

and it has art style outside alien bits.. its called "Photorealism"

 

[1ronJ4m]

I liked the Crysis demo, despite the whole game being so... commonplace.
I liked the game too, along with Warhead.
About highest difficulty... I'm quite a casual gamer and I'm not some crazy headshot psycho, but I didn't find it very difficult. Although the alien parts were a bit difficult.

 

[Caliostro]

How can you possibly have LESS personality than Masterchief...?


That said, Crysis is the game Halo wishes it could be...

 

[Clashero]

I didn't like Crysis at all.
The suit functions were interesting at first, but became more of a gimmick later on. The storyline was horrible, although the voice acting for the main characters was excellent, except the Mexican guy, Aztec, who was obviously done by an American with no knowledge of Spanish.
Graphically pretty, but the art style is almost non-existent outside of the alien bits, and some of the sound is downright infuriating ("CLOAK". Yes, that's what I pressed. Thanks for reminding me for the millionth time. As if I couldn't tell that I just turned invisible.)
Also, sans a few really good set pieces, most of the fighting ended up being like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyQTCeobZlg
Just give it another chance.

Very good video, but my points stands.
I did love the open-ended gameplay Crysis offered me, but the pacing was so awful I couldn't enjoy it thoroughly. If I wanted a sandbox shooter, I'd definitely pick Far Cry 2 over Crysis. At least I don't have to hide behind a rock every 10 seconds.
There are some good points about Crysis, though: the fact that nearly all cover could be destroyed unless it was made of rock, the "natural" barriers the video talks about, the voice acting, the sandbox gameplay... but it doesn't make up for the horrible horrible pacing which completely killed the game for me.

I didn't like Crysis at all.
The suit functions were interesting at first, but became more of a gimmick later on. The storyline was horrible, although the voice acting for the main characters was excellent, except the Mexican guy, Aztec, who was obviously done by an American with no knowledge of Spanish.
Graphically pretty, but the art style is almost non-existent outside of the alien bits, and some of the sound is downright infuriating ("CLOAK". Yes, that's what I pressed. Thanks for reminding me for the millionth time. As if I couldn't tell that I just turned invisible.)
Also, sans a few really good set pieces, most of the fighting ended up being like this:
http://www.dumdeedum.com/images/crysis/07.jpg

Suit voice can be turned off or turned into a chick

Suit powers were greath for me.. i did use mostly cloack and Streaght tho

and it has art style outside alien bits.. its called "Photorealism"

I did turn the voice into a woman (I refuse to say chick, it's demeaning), and it was more bearable, but I didn't notice the "Off" option.
Oh, and Photorealism isn't a style. Pointillism is a style, photorealism is a movement.

 

[Jay Cee]

Hmm, I'm not sure if it's technically possible to have less personality than the infamously boring Master Chief.

 

[Revolutionary]

"Convenient plot expostion" God he's funny.

 

[=HCFS=Discoman]

haha. nice one!
btw, in the actual game, jump off a high place and it will say "press f to acivate your parachute"