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Mafia 3, nine months later

D

dex3108

Member
Well almost 10 months ago Mafia 3 was released and received mediocre scores in reviews and had mixed reception from the audience. And here we are almost 10 months later with all DLCs out and game is now much better. I bought game 2 weeks after release but i decided not to play it then because i had to wrap up some other games. And one thing led to another until first DLC was out where i decided to buy Season Pass (it was good deal) and wait until all DLCs are out.

Two weeks ago i finally started playing game (just before final DLC Signs of Time was released) and i am really enjoying playing this game. I started playing just main game missions and could see and understand why reception was mixed and reviews mediocre. Missions in main game are really repetitive. I am almost 25 hours in and i was mostly doing same things over and over again. Personally i don't mind it that much because i enjoy the city, music and atmosphere in general. Also big thing that pushes me to continue playing it silenced pistol and stealth lite gameplay in combination with good "level" design for main hideouts you attack/raid (good design for an open world game).

But now that i did my first sitdown and all DLCs are unlocked and released i started playing them at the same time as main game. And just like that you are kinda playing different game. You explore new themes, they added new gameplay elements (that are all transferred to main game too), you visit new locations, meet new characters and just like that there is much more variety. And game now really feels complete.

Even though those things that are added with DLCs could be in main game at some point and then cut out (we will never know that but 2K already did that with Mafia 2) i must say tnx Hangar 13 for not making them separate thing like many other open world DLCs are done. Making them add more to main game they really improved main game in my opinion. Everything feels seamless and like one big story. I wish that other dev would do same for other open world games.

I will continue to play game and mix missions now and i will recommend everybody who has game and season pass to give it another chance now that is "complete". Don't expect to play "completely new game" because you are not but you will get more choice between missions that you can do whenever you want instead playing same ones one after the another.

I hope that Hangar 13 will get another chance to work on Mafia game because there is big potential under all of those mediocre things in Mafia 3 and it would be shame to waste that potential.

Bonus have a fe screenshots :D

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M

Messofanego

Banned
Mafia 3 basically did what GTA 5 was desperately trying to do but whiffed on about the downfall of a likeable criminal anti-hero to become a monster as is realistic to a crime open world game's progression. No ludonarrative dissonance here. The storytelling was some of the best in this genre, and it's probably the most politically relevant of open world games.

I'll check out the DLC at some point.
 
7

7DollarHagane

Banned
My local Meijer has this for $20 deluxe edition on clearance ive almost bought it the last few times I was there.


It'll probably be that or less on PSN sale soon enough.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
Shooting felt good, story was great, game had a great style. It was just paced so awfully. So much useless filler, or stuff that could have just been side-quest material.
 
I

IcyRhythms

Member
I still need to pick it up. I guess since the PC version is such a fucking mess I'll pick it up when it's at the $5 point.
 
S

Spring-Loaded

Member
Good to hear that the DLC features aren't separate from the main game. All I need is a mission select to really go back to it.

Shaanyboi said:
Shooting felt good, story was great, game had a great style. It was just paced so awfully. So much useless filler, or stuff that could have just been side-quest material.
Click to expand...

Yeah, had all that stuff been optional, it would've been better overall.

I still loved every time I kicked down a door and shot up some racist mafioso with that Remington 1887 shotgun tho
 
B

Briarios

Member
I was able to pick it up really cheap recently to give it another try. They fixed a lot of the technical issues and being able to get rid of the rearview mirror is awesome lol

Edit: I should add, one of the patches added supersampling on the Pro for 1080p owners
 
A

Anung

Un Rama
Mafia 3 is probably worth playing just for the story. The game play is really solid and the way they convey racism both in world and through mechanics is really interesting. The side stuff is fucking trash and should be ignored as it's basically checklist grinding.
 
S

shockthrill

Banned
I actually like Mafia 2's story better to be honest...


Mafia 3 had the potential to be an ATG story during the beginning but then morphed into a repetitive mess


man that game had so much potential
 
S

SomTervo

Member
The level design is really awesome a lot of the time.

Really enjoyed my time playing this. Met the writer at a convention and got loads of the literary references too. That was great.
 
xrnzaaas

xrnzaaas

Member
I barely made it to the end of this game. The story was cool but the progression missions were more repetitive than in most Ubisoft titles. Would never go back to it for the second time to get the platinum but I might pick up the dlc's when they're super cheap.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
If Mafia 3 had dropped the repetiveness and just been Mafia 2 but during that time period. Probably would've been my GOTY
 
K

Kambing

Member
Those screenshots use the Nyclix reshade right? Should acknowledge that as it dramatically alters the look of the game for the better... would hate for people to think that's what it originally looks like without the mod, escpecially console gamers. Posting on phone so can't tell 100% lol.

I'm actually in the same boat as you and after starting the game to find the non main story missions pretty cut and paste, the DLC really should have been part of the main experience. It just completely turns this game around. This is shaping up to be one of my favorite games of the year, and I really can't believe it given my first impressions pre DLC. I'm playing on a gamepad and still find the aiming to fight against you but definitely a great game.

My rig is a Ryzen 1700 with a GTX 1080ti. Playing at 3840 x 1950 and averaging 58-60 fps. Dips into the 47-50 range. Despite performance being good I have had random crashes, and they normally occur with the game freezing but the audio continuing. This is happened to me 8-10 times now in the last 14 hours.

Still recommend.
 
R

RayCharlizard

Member
I can forgive a lot of things with this game, but no fast travel takes it from a 7/10 to a 6 in my book. The final hours are just such a slog.
 
D

dex3108

Member
Kambing said:
Those screenshots use the Nyclix reshade right? Should acknowledge that as it dramatically alters the look of the game for the better... would hate for people to think that's what it originally looks like without the mod, escpecially console gamers. Posting on phone so can't tell 100% lol.

I'm actually in the same boat as you and after starting the game to find the non main story missions pretty cut and paste, the DLC really should have been part of the main experience. It just completely turns this game around. This is shaping up to be one of my favorite games of the year, and I really can't believe it given my first impressions pre DLC. I'm playing on a gamepad and still find the aiming to fight against you but definitely a great game.

My rig is a Ryzen 1700 with a GTX 1080ti. Playing at 3840 x 1950 and averaging 58-60 fps. Dips into the 47-50 range. Despite performance being good I have had random crashes, and they normally occur with the game freezing but the audio continuing. This is happened to me 8-10 times now in the last 14 hours.

Really recommend.
Click to expand...

No mods/reshade :D Those bright and colorful screens are how game looks like when you enter slow-mo mode :D
 
D

dex3108

Member
IcyRhythms said:
What's wrong with the reflections? Are you holding 60FPS at all times with that setup?
Click to expand...

Mirrors in game kinda try to be real mirrors with accurate reflections but they are not. They are static images but when player comes in front of them they update to show Lincoln but that update can be after like 5 seconds and it is not that accurate. There is gif of that somewhere :D
 
B

BrassDragon

Member
It won't ever get the credit for it but the virtual acting in the cut scenes was amazing - some extremely subtle eye and facial movements conveying layers of emotion.

The gameplay turned in a slog more often than not but cruising around in muscle cars with 70s music blaring was awesome... and yes, the story wasn't anything special if you summarize it but quality writing and solid performances elevated the material to levels we still rarely see in games. Hell, Sal was a great antagonist and I even felt something for the sonovabitch when you take everything from him at the end.
 
K

Kambing

Member
dex3108 said:
No mods/reshade :D Those bright and colorful screens are how game looks like when you enter slow-mo mode :D
Click to expand...

Okay yeah if you are playing on PC try the reshade by Nyclix... it makes the game world look like in the slow Mo throughout, and the textures are way sharper. Turns what was there into something beautiful!
 
I

Irishonion

Member
That opening is amazing.

Going to go back into it eventually. Just skip all of the open world bloat and focus on story for my 2nd time through.
 
F

Freezasaurus

Member
Just wrapped up the final DLC yesterday. Had a lot of fun with the game, and they did a good job continuing to support it. It may not be the best open-world game but I feel that I definitely got my moneys worth out of it.
 
Duchess O'Death

Duchess O'Death

Member
Irishonion said:
That opening is amazing.

Going to go back into it eventually. Just skip all of the open world bloat and focus on story for my 2nd time through.
Click to expand...

You can't though. You have to do the rackets to open up the next major story mission.

Just play the DLC's. Not as good story but they're way more focused.
 
D

dex3108

Member
BrassDragon said:
It won't ever get the credit for it but the virtual acting in the cut scenes was amazing - some extremely subtle eye and facial movements conveying layers of emotion.

The gameplay turned in a slog more often than not but cruising around in muscle cars with 70s music blaring was awesome... and yes, the story wasn't anything special if you summarize it but quality writing and solid performances elevated the material to levels we still rarely see in games. Hell, Sal was a great antagonist and I even felt something for the sonovabitch when you take everything from him at the end.
Click to expand...

Character models in game and in cut scenes are so good

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Click to expand...
 
D

Drillary Clinton

Banned
Mafia 3 has a lot of shortcomings in its open world design, but I found the actual missions to be mostly good. The combat is some of the best in an open-world shooter and the story/characters/voice acting/motion capture were all top notch. The world itself, from an aesthetic standpoint, was also really well created and I also enjoyed the atmosphere. Seriously, the cutscenes have some of the best cinematography in the medium and it rivals some great films.

It's a good game that's brought down by some horrible open world repetition. I could deal with it, just based on the laurels of combat.

Then there's the technical issues on console and how jarring the visual were. On one hand, faces and character models are intricately detailed. On the other, the world barely loads sometimes. I would drive almost 200 feet before the environment had rendered fully, and I mean like on some minecraft shit.

Seems like this one needed more time in the incubator but 2K had already began an aggressive ad campaign and decided they just needed to put it out since the only other game they had that holiday season was NBA 2k. Guess it paid off for the monetarily.

Edit: I'm gonna play the DLCs when they're all released. Looking forward to it.
 
M

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
Story's good, but it still annoys me that I can't run it on my high end PC above 40fps at 1440p with the volumetric effects on. Game doesn't look good enough to chug that hard. I guess that'll never be fixed, though.
 
S

Spring-Loaded

Member
starchild excalibur said:
To each their own n' all of that, but it really wasn't. The hype the story got was so confusing to me after I played the game. Don't get me wrong - the performances, mo-cap, etc - was very well done. But the story? Nah. It was just okay.
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Those things comprise the story though, and are a part of the game's storytelling. The plot is just typical pulpy revenge tale, though that's done in a satisfying way too.

That last two big conversations in that game are above anything I've seen in games of this type. Again, I'm not finding any writing, performance, framing, etc. that's comparable in other crime games—if this is just okay, then others are just that much worse in that regard.

I'm really looking forward to what hangar 13 does next.
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
rrc1594 said:
Story was great worth the 60 alone
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21.5 hours seems quite long though, I heard there was considerable filler with only 8 - 10 hours of interesting gameplay. I absolutely loved Mafia II so III doing so poorly was a big shame.
 
stn

stn

Member
I'll be getting the season pass whenever it goes on sale. I enjoyed Mafia 3 enough to beat it, just got burned out due to how repetitive it was.
 
B

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Probably my favourite game of last year. I've genuinely enjoyed going back to it with the DLC in the last few months and after completing Sign Of The Times yesterday I really hope Hangar 13 get to tackle a Mafia 4. It really has, for me, the best combat and driving in an open world action game (I know folks love the realistic driving option but I prefer the arcade style and find it to be great fun as well).

The repetitiveness is probably the only complaint I could understand with the main game (though the DLC is much better in that regard), even if I personally didn't find it to be that repetitive myself as I really got into doing everything and found the combat/driving so strong to be constantly enjoyable. Thankfully on PC there's mods for that at least to make it less grindy should you choose.
 
D

Deputy Dangle

Member
I think for all the flak it, sorta deservedly, got with regards to its mission structure, it makes up for in a big way with how it characterizes its primary cast, how it tackles the time period and various conflicts boiling near the turn of the 60s, and how damn good it feels to drive and shoot in that world. Extra props to how bold of a decision (you really feel how the writing team was on board with the design team from day one here) it was to remove any fast travel option, so that they can use the car radio not only as a worldbuilding tool but also as a creative way to characterize its villains and act as thematic punctuation.

I really need to get around to the DLC.

Messofanego said:
Mafia 3 basically did what GTA 5 was desperately trying to do but whiffed on about the downfall of a likeable criminal anti-hero to become a monster as is realistic to a crime open world game's progression. No ludonarrative dissonance here. The storytelling was some of the best in this genre, and it's probably the most politically relevant of open world games.

I'll check out the DLC at some point.
Click to expand...

Co-signed on all of this.
 
W

Wabba

Member
One of the worst games i have played in my life. No exaggeration. The story and cutscenes was so high quality, but the main game itself was just bad with some flashes of hope. But the moments was far between and everything else was just not fun. Played it to the end. I would much rather play 100 hours of Angry Birds on a broken iphone then to play one more hour of this game.
 
Z

Zukkoyaki

Member
If it were a linear action game with that story, presentation and stellar gunplay, would probably have been a GOTY contender.
 
digoutyoursoul

digoutyoursoul

Member
I kinda liked it, cool protagonist, atmosphere and soundtrack but I feel the mission structure and the variety let it down, I felt bored at times, the feeling of "oh I have got to do this again".
 
W

witchedwiz

Member
Bubbavelli said:
mirror reflections are still fucked but the framerate was fine in my case

6700k
gtx 1080
Click to expand...
dude with your spec NO GAME should run "just" fine... :)
say a more "generic" spec, like mine..
4790k, ssd, nvidia 970..
will it run rock solid 60fps at 1080 with everything active? or not?
 
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