Cheers, I went back for like 30 seconds -- but returned thinking that, "well the structure of the game hasn't opperated like that so far, so I better find the boss!"
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The Surge |OT| Live Die Repeat
- Thread starter More_Badass
- Start date
Cheers, I went back for like 30 seconds -- but returned thinking that, "well the structure of the game hasn't opperated like that so far, so I better find the boss!"
supervillain
Member
I think i've reached the last area of the game.
Might finish it tonight and then move straight into new game+.
Maybe i'm in the minority but i actually really like the level design in the surge.
Sure some areas can look bland and sameish but overall i think they did a great job.
Like some of you already said you have to build the map in your head.
Might finish it tonight and then move straight into new game+.
Maybe i'm in the minority but i actually really like the level design in the surge.
Sure some areas can look bland and sameish but overall i think they did a great job.
Like some of you already said you have to build the map in your head.
Oh shit
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Is crap, but there's little of it, so dosn't matter.
Thanks for this explanation. I vaguely remembered seeing a tip for it but couldn't figure out how to get it to work.
Yo. So I dropped my hodge podge collection of armor and doubled down on a full set of Lynx. Yo. Yo. The ridiculous attack speed on well, everything -- but especially Twin Rigged weapons is insanity, absoloutly incredible. Fuck man, I struggled through a lot of area 2 yesterday, but now this combat is really, really clicking. Its something really fucking special.
Going from Rhino/Hammer to Lynx/Twin rigged is like going from Dark Souls to Bloodborne
SenatorBot
Member
If you play on the PC version there's quick save and quick load at F5 and F8.
You kinda get to cheese through things and not have to bother running to the same place if you die thanks to this.
You kinda get to cheese through things and not have to bother running to the same place if you die thanks to this.
Alright, finished the game. A lot of my original impressions a few pages back still stand, but I thought I'd revisit it since there's at least one nice surprise, and a few less-nice ones.
I guess the biggest "nice" surprise for me was the last level -- it's the only level in the game where I felt like the design of it, the encounters in it, flowed in a way that felt like there was a considerable amount of time spent designing it properly. Basically
.
That said, the final boss was fairly dull, especially coming off the previous boss of the game which is both the worst and best boss (it's extremely difficult and unbalanced, but at the same time feels like the most accomplished boss fight they put together, even with its gimmick(s)). The ending also left a lot to be desired, but wasn't out of tune for the rest of the game I suppose.
When I started the game I quite enjoyed it, actually. Things start off great; you're introduced to some core mechanics, the mod system, the idea of finding blueprints by performing executions, and the opening encounters of the game provide an adequate challenge without feeling totally overbearing at first. Culminates in a boss that isn't particularly fun, but comes early enough that it sets you up with a neat weapon (one I used my entire playthrough, in fact). Early on, upgrades and levels come at a brisk pace, and exploration feels worth it. Had the rest of the game felt similar, I think things would have been a bit better.
But it just doesn't last, I guess. The second level slows the pace down too much; upgrades come slower, and while you find more blueprints you start to feel the crunch of balancing building them with ticking up your core level. Exploration slows down because the enemies are strong enough that you feel a little less inclined to see the sights. It's still an okay level, but the design of it starts to feel samey, and you start relying on safe/boring strats a lot more -- ignoring certain enemies because they just aren't dangerous or fun/worthwhile enough to engage. It's a sinking moment all the way to the next level.
And the next level is atrocious. Nothing good / fun about it; just a lot of running away from hideously overpowered enemies that are liable to one shot you. Once you realize it's one of *those* levels (you know the one, DS games aren't innocent of this kind of design) it lets up a little bit, but it's still so frustratingly boring and uninspired.
And it just kind of stays at that low point, all the way until the final area. For me it started at like an 8/10, and drifted all the way down to a barely there 6 at best.
Now, I'm not one of those guys who comes in and bitches without trying to suggest some ways to fix things. There are a few game-breaking bugs they need to attend to (my friend who was playing had to restart), but I think they need re-balance combat a bit -- work on the tells of the enemies to be a bit more obvious, and make sure that the actual damage dealt by certain attacks makes sense (an attack with barely a windup shouldn't hit harder than a full-wind up attack, which happens here). Some ways of signaling where to go next I think would be nice, as I found myself wandering a lot unsure of where to go (my final clock time is like 17 hours, and about 3 of that, maybe more, is spent of unsure how to proceed). The 4th boss needs to be reworked a bit with respect to damage balancing (it's one shot central). Finally, I think they ought to consider a better feedback system for taking damage -- it's far too subtle for my liking. Fix that, and I'd go to a 7 on it for sure.
It's a shame that it didn't go better for me, but I imagine a lot of the people playing haven't hit the difficulty curve of the game yet and will find that a lot of the things it does right near the beginning get a lot less interesting the further they go in. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, happy to see some people having a *much* better experience than I did; may not be a great experience for me, but I'm just one person and it looks like some of y'all are finding it a more attractive experience, which is awesome.
I guess the biggest "nice" surprise for me was the last level -- it's the only level in the game where I felt like the design of it, the encounters in it, flowed in a way that felt like there was a considerable amount of time spent designing it properly. Basically
the medbay/saferoom in the game is actually an elevator that you continue to raise through the level as you complete objectives, and the pathway to those objectives is fairly dangerous but it pushes you forward in a nice way.
That said, the final boss was fairly dull, especially coming off the previous boss of the game which is both the worst and best boss (it's extremely difficult and unbalanced, but at the same time feels like the most accomplished boss fight they put together, even with its gimmick(s)). The ending also left a lot to be desired, but wasn't out of tune for the rest of the game I suppose.
When I started the game I quite enjoyed it, actually. Things start off great; you're introduced to some core mechanics, the mod system, the idea of finding blueprints by performing executions, and the opening encounters of the game provide an adequate challenge without feeling totally overbearing at first. Culminates in a boss that isn't particularly fun, but comes early enough that it sets you up with a neat weapon (one I used my entire playthrough, in fact). Early on, upgrades and levels come at a brisk pace, and exploration feels worth it. Had the rest of the game felt similar, I think things would have been a bit better.
But it just doesn't last, I guess. The second level slows the pace down too much; upgrades come slower, and while you find more blueprints you start to feel the crunch of balancing building them with ticking up your core level. Exploration slows down because the enemies are strong enough that you feel a little less inclined to see the sights. It's still an okay level, but the design of it starts to feel samey, and you start relying on safe/boring strats a lot more -- ignoring certain enemies because they just aren't dangerous or fun/worthwhile enough to engage. It's a sinking moment all the way to the next level.
And the next level is atrocious. Nothing good / fun about it; just a lot of running away from hideously overpowered enemies that are liable to one shot you. Once you realize it's one of *those* levels (you know the one, DS games aren't innocent of this kind of design) it lets up a little bit, but it's still so frustratingly boring and uninspired.
And it just kind of stays at that low point, all the way until the final area. For me it started at like an 8/10, and drifted all the way down to a barely there 6 at best.
Now, I'm not one of those guys who comes in and bitches without trying to suggest some ways to fix things. There are a few game-breaking bugs they need to attend to (my friend who was playing had to restart), but I think they need re-balance combat a bit -- work on the tells of the enemies to be a bit more obvious, and make sure that the actual damage dealt by certain attacks makes sense (an attack with barely a windup shouldn't hit harder than a full-wind up attack, which happens here). Some ways of signaling where to go next I think would be nice, as I found myself wandering a lot unsure of where to go (my final clock time is like 17 hours, and about 3 of that, maybe more, is spent of unsure how to proceed). The 4th boss needs to be reworked a bit with respect to damage balancing (it's one shot central). Finally, I think they ought to consider a better feedback system for taking damage -- it's far too subtle for my liking. Fix that, and I'd go to a 7 on it for sure.
It's a shame that it didn't go better for me, but I imagine a lot of the people playing haven't hit the difficulty curve of the game yet and will find that a lot of the things it does right near the beginning get a lot less interesting the further they go in. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, happy to see some people having a *much* better experience than I did; may not be a great experience for me, but I'm just one person and it looks like some of y'all are finding it a more attractive experience, which is awesome.
Half of the stuff you describe as atrocious is enjoyable for me.
I like getting in the huge levels and finding my way back to the Med-bay. The enemy tells can be a bit short, but you for sure can learn the enemy patterns. The second area was superb in terms of exploration and neat little surprises.
The third area is hard but once you get the dodge timing right,the enemies aren't that bad. Also the whole thing has a horror vibe to it in some areas.
I like getting in the huge levels and finding my way back to the Med-bay. The enemy tells can be a bit short, but you for sure can learn the enemy patterns. The second area was superb in terms of exploration and neat little surprises.
The third area is hard but once you get the dodge timing right,the enemies aren't that bad. Also the whole thing has a horror vibe to it in some areas.
Just a case of different strokes, probably. Like, I actually think The Surge would have been better as a Metal Gear Rising kind of game -- just exosuit action chaos, larger than life bosses, and just super fast/intense button mashing or something. I'm not sure that it bought much with me by being influenced by Souls in the ways it was.
As for enemy tells, they're just kind of weird. Like, again, in a 3 or 4 hit combo, 1 or 2 of those hits either don't look like hits (they actually look like the enemy is being staggered, but in reality they are doing a small frame window wind-up), and the damage scaling on the other hits appear visually at odds with each other (the 3rd attack that looks like a small one hits for more health than the 4th big wind-up hit).
The third area is going to be an inflection point of opinion for a lot of people. I can totally see a lot of people having very different reactions to it -- for me, in a game as small in scope as this one, having a level designed this way was a mistake. It introduces a lot of one-shot enemy types, a pretty long trek to the important area (I was abusing elevators to make sure my next run would be shorter), and of course this is where people are likely to become frustrated by falling off of ledges by leading into/queueing up too many attacks with larger weapons).
I actually felt like the final level of the game helped make up for it because it's quite good. And I totally agree that in many ways The Surge has a near-horror bent to it -- I was reminded of Dead Space on more than one occasion.
Seyfert
Member
After facing 2-3 area I think for this scope Metal Gear Rising style is much better , really agree.
Souls Scifi in my dream is more epic than just stay in industrial settings. It can be mean i have to see various lifeform, visit incredible cyberpunk/outer space/can't describe epic scifi shit place,a lot of laser trap etc., boss can be more inspired than these design.
bati
Member
It's a lot like LOTF but at the same time also very different. It feels like a weird hybrid between LOTF and Dead Space. Gameplay's very methodical and the difficulty is challenging but fair throughout. Most of the 'annoying' mobs are quite manageable once you get the hang of it. Mechanics are solid and relatively well thought out.
Maybe if you specify why LOTF wasn't for you we can tell you more. I'm a huge Souls nut and loved LOTF and I'm loving The Surge.
Lynx master race. I'm not sure if it's worth upgrading though, from what I've seen only defense stat goes up?
Level design is like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 imo. Very maze like, interconnected like crazy and there's tons of stuff you only unlock later on.
I think your neural implants are melting down
Coriolanus
Banned
Do like how theres an implant to make you immune to fart clouds. Sure made r&d way the fuck more manageable.
Also absolutely love how you can just skip directly to the highest upgrade category you can, paying the scrap amount of the lower tiers but avoiding the lower mat requirements
Without upgrades, even with a mk3 HP boost you're liable to get oneshotted with lynx by some regular enemy attacks.
With upgrades it gets to sentinel armor values and things become a hair more manageable
Given that youre likely to have the mats Anyway and it aint that expensive, might as well
Also absolutely love how you can just skip directly to the highest upgrade category you can, paying the scrap amount of the lower tiers but avoiding the lower mat requirements
Without upgrades, even with a mk3 HP boost you're liable to get oneshotted with lynx by some regular enemy attacks.
With upgrades it gets to sentinel armor values and things become a hair more manageable
Given that youre likely to have the mats Anyway and it aint that expensive, might as well
I'd say 15-20 hours if you are familiar with how these games play and don't stumble too hard on anything, 20-30 otherwise -- allowing for a bit of wiggle depending on your desire to get sidequests done. Build variety is limited (you don't directly manipulate stats -- just choose different weapons / outfits, mod chip selection), and enemy variety is decent.
bati
Member
Upgraded weapon from second boss if anyone's curious:
There's 1-3 new types of enemies introduced each area at least up until area 4
supervillain
Member
You only fill it up with succsessful hits on the enemies.
If you don't use it for any kind of action it will deplete automatically.
Later you'll find implants for getting energy without attacking or always have a minium of enegry.
Thanks
comshoplesce
Member
Same shoes as your, same liking, same didnt like LOTF at all for being too clunky-slow, this is different, it's good
Enjoying it.robotzombie
Member
I keep hearing people talking about set bonuses for armor, but where does it show this? I don't see it anywhere, do you have to unlock something first?
supervillain
Member
Open your inventory screen go to the far right (stats).
If you have the full set of an armor you will see that it's active at the bottom of that screen.
Yeah it's a decent song but god damn talk about overkill. I need to turn this thing off.
Also at the fourth "bonfire" every time you walk out after dying "Was Rome built in a day?" is driving me crazy as well.
As a matter of fact, I hate that booming woman's voice with only three different lines that screams out at you every time you leave or enter a bonfire.
I think that is my harshest complaint about the game... the terrible repetitive sound bites and music. Would be nice to disable it.
D
Deleted member 325805
Unconfirmed Member
I'm about an hour in and you'd never know this was made by the same devs as Lord's of the Fallen, the combat is so much better, it's actually really good where I found Lord's slow, clunky and boring. The whole feel of the game is much improved and my first impressions are very good. So far I've died a few times, with one of those being a "welcome to Dark Souls" one shot out of nowhere
Is it worth upgrading or buying new gear early on? I've been using all my Scrap on upping my suits level.
Is it worth upgrading or buying new gear early on? I've been using all my Scrap on upping my suits level.
It shows it on the SPECS tab near the bottom of the screen.
I think it's specs? The last tab in your menu that shows all your armour/attack rating etc.
Every once in a while I'll get another status icon randomly next to my set boost. This icon doesn't show up on the status screen, I have no idea what it does. It's not a fire/chemical icon, it looks similar to the armor set bonus icon. Are these icons explained anywhere?
Is it after you die? I think it just means you have a pile of dropped scrap to collect. Couldn't see any explanation for it though.
Speaking of dropped scrap, I think I prefer the system they used in LotF where scrap (or whatever it was called) reduced over time. It gave you more moment to moment risk/reward decisions whereas this is just an all or nothing deal.
What? That's crazy having that functionality in a souls like.
supervillain
Member
Hahaha, yeah that was driving me crazy as well.
Definitely.
You'll find enough materials to upgrade on your way.
No, I know what the you have loot thing looks like. This has a red cross surrounded by pinkish white and a red border if my memory serves correct. It pops up seemingly randomly, hangs out for a few minutes then goes away.
Yeah the woman voice annoys me too. It's just a little too loud and grating I guess. The song is still good with me.
bati
Member
I get this too sometimes and I have no idea what it means. I also get one that's greenish color and shows up in bottom left corner.
lol I'm guessing it's a debug feature that they accidentally left in 1.0
Coriolanus
Banned
For the repetitive sounds, like the ad screens and the savepoint announcer/jukebox, would b a pretty decent fix if they allowed you to make the drone fire at the sound boxes/tv screens. Cathartic, even.
Niceguydan8
Member
Where is that implant?
WheelHoss1
Member
Have been on the fence. After reading the impressions and liking LotF, I'm in.
Let's do this, boys. Embarking once the sun goes down.
Let's do this, boys. Embarking once the sun goes down.
This is perfect.