More questionable framerate issues. I have no clue how redthread plans to port this game to consoles. Probably explains why they went from "PS4 version launching alongside Book 2" to being quiet about it.
They managed to work on improving it for Book 1 so I might just wait again.
Three hours in and it shows no sign of ending yet. Loving it so far.
Kian is incapable of being subtle. I pick options that try to avoid suspicion or try to phrase things delicately and he responds bluntly lol.
Great idea telling the guy's wife that you stabbed her husband, jeez. Saying you put him out of his misery would be the logical thing to say, but this is Kian.
So any other thoughts yet? I'm looking forward to digging in; hoping there is some sort of recap since I feel I will forget certain things from the first episode now
My lord at the performance of the second chapter, was spotty in the beginning but now it's in the low 20s in the town sqaure of Merc. 780Ti and i53570K, although I am playing at 1440P. Turned down to 1080 just to see if it improved and there was literally no change other than looking like rubbish.
My lord at the performance of the second chapter, was spotty in the beginning but now it's in the low 20s in the town sqaure of Merc. 780Ti and i53570K, although I am playing at 1440P
Since it seems to be mostly happening in larger towns, I'm guessing the problem is the geometry size. Either Unity is generelly very inefficient at handling larger polycounts, which might as well be, the engine was never really meant to be used for something in the AAA territory, or Redthread simply can't get the culling to work.
It would be interessting if you could look at the scene in the Unity engine, how complex they are in terms of polygon count and other metrics.
My lord at the performance of the second chapter, was spotty in the beginning but now it's in the low 20s in the town sqaure of Merc. 780Ti and i53570K, although I am playing at 1440P. Turned down to 1080 just to see if it improved and there was literally no change other than looking like rubbish.
Yeah, it's absolute garbage for me too. They eventually got the first chapter running decently enough and will probably do so again here but they had more than enough time to optimize before release.
The game is only getting a PS4 version once they port it over to Unity 5 which will handle large environments better. The pc version will be ported afterwards since it won't take much effort after doing it for the PS4.
I got an SLI profile running on 2 970s and in open areas it can drop to 40 fps while staying at a constant 60 in smaller location at 1440p, gpu usage only about 50-60% per card.
Glad that they finally added in the what happened before video because I forgot most of the original Dreamfall.
In book 2, can someone give a hint I where to find the tool to open the manhole cover? Thanks
It will probably get improved, but IIRC Book One still had framerate issues after patching. (I'm not sure I played it after whatever the last patch was, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.)
My lord at the performance of the second chapter, was spotty in the beginning but now it's in the low 20s in the town sqaure of Merc. 780Ti and i53570K, although I am playing at 1440P. Turned down to 1080 just to see if it improved and there was literally no change other than looking like rubbish.
I've only played the intro. Excellent dialgoue, as usual.
While I'd like better performance, it's bearable on my 770. I suppose I can overlook a low framerate when the game looks and sounds as good as it does. I expected a lot worse with the money raised from Kickstarter.
Don't know if I'd say it's better but it's certainly longer. Thought I was ending the episode and then a new chapter started. And I'd say the puzzles are probably a bit better.
I've warmed up to Kian in this episode finally. I didn't care for his stuff in Dreamfall and I was surprised they were devoting so much time to him. But he works here, I think mainly thanks to his more interesting supporting cast this time around, which he plays off well.
It is making me wish I had replayed Dreamfall before playing this. One major decision involves a plot point from Dreamfall I'd totally forgotten about.
Don't know if I'd say it's better but it's certainly longer. Thought I was ending the episode and then a new chapter started. And I'd say the puzzles are probably a bit better.
I've warmed up to Kian in this episode finally. I didn't care for his stuff in Dreamfall and I was surprised they were devoting so much time to him. But he works here, I think mainly thanks to his more interesting supporting cast this time around, which he plays off well.
It is making me wish I had replayed Dreamfall before playing this. One major decision involves a plot point from Dreamfall I'd totally forgotten about.
Yeah I'm kinda glad during that moment they kinda let you pull up info from that. I hadn't played DF in a while so I was really surprised any of that happened. I had forgotten all about it.
Yeah I'm kinda glad during that moment they kinda let you pull up info from that. I hadn't played DF in a while so I was really surprised any of that happened. I had forgotten all about it.
I'd forgot about it too. Hardest decision I had to make.
I chose to point it out. I'm surprised at how many people who picked that then decided to kill her. Buncha monsters. Now blue Lee (can that guy do another voice?) hates me again.
Well the ending to this chapter sure raises a bunch of questions.
I think this might be the longest episode of any game I've played. Granted a bit of that can be docked for me getting lost navigating the city a bit (just give me a real map already Red Thread). Just a weirdly put together city. It's sprawling but, at least for me, all of the important locations are along the water so I never really get used to everything else.
Wow... the length of this episode is bonkers. I must have clocked in at around 6-7 hours. Coming in, I knew that Book 2 would be long, but not that long.
But Jesus Christ, this book has more cliffhangers more than anything.
Generally, I loved how the choices played out in Book 2.
I loved how that lunch decision not only impacted Reza's relationship with Zoe, but also with Nela's cart being taken away from her. I didn't see the second one coming.
I also love how the choices were more complex and subtle now. I actually had a hard time choosing whether I should give the data over to the Hand or to Baruti.
Arcadia is absolutely gorgeous with the fireflies and the score. Oddly enough, my mac runs Marcuria really well, but when it comes to indoors (like The Mole's hideout or the bar), I experience huge dips in fps. It's just outright bizarre.
Aside from a couple of glitches here and there I really thought Book 2 was awesome
but wtf we don't get an Interlude chapter??? I want to play more of baby Saga dammit. Plus that Crow tease...
Finished Book Two at around seven hours. In Book One, I liked Zoe's part more now I'm enjoying Kian's story more. Zoe is still trying to figure out what is going on around her while there is more of a sense of progression with Kian. By the time Zoe's story gets interesting, it ends.
Nela
Zelenka is feeding information about Zoe to the shady guys. No surprise there with how he kept pressuring Zoe to wake up. He doesn't seem to be doing it willingly so maybe if I flirt hard enough he'll fall in love with Zoe and sacrifice himself or something in the future.
Bip seems like a character that was made to die in a heartbreaking way to make you feel bad about your choices, but he better not. He is too adorable for that.
That child rapist choice was so difficult for me. I so wanted to kill him, but Kian vowed that he wasn't going to kill anymore so I spared him. Thankfully, Kian was smart enough to blackmail him, but gdi I really wanted to kill him.
Well the ending to this chapter sure raises a bunch of questions.
I think this might be the longest episode of any game I've played. Granted a bit of that can be docked for me getting lost navigating the city a bit (just give me a real map already Red Thread). Just a weirdly put together city. It's sprawling but, at least for me, all of the important locations are along the water so I never really get used to everything else.
Wow, super lenghty chapter, I started playing in the evening and ended up finishing it at around 2:30 am since I was determined to complete it in one sitting.
Did not expect this at all, usually the first episode is longer than the rest so you feel more keen on buying the season pass.
I think they're doing a great job overall, especially in terms of presentation ("alien" races look very good in particular). I enjoyed exploring Marcuria and was pleasantly surprised to see they seamlessly included familiar sights from previous games (the docks and the small tower sorrounded by vegetation from TLJ, the streets around the Journeyman Inn from Dreamfall) so that it really feels like you're returning to a place you've been before.
The chapter also contains a couple more puzzles than usual but nothing too challenging (I particularly liked
the one in which you use the adbot to conceal yourself from the nearby guard
)
Consequences to your choices feel adequate (provided you're not expecting anything major) and at the very least characters seem to remember what you did or said (
Chinese woman remembers what you said you were looking for, therapist reacts to your previous flirtation, the Azadi general speaks with the prison warden if he's still alive...)
On a side note, I have no idea why they thought closing down certain streets in Europolis was a good idea as this only makes backtracking more tedious. I'm also not a fan of the super simplistic stealth sequence.
Overall, If they keep this level of quality throughout the whole game I might end up liking Chapters more than Dreamfall and I feel like they're already pulling off the whole multiple characters thing better this time.
I think I <3 Zoe, GAF. She's easily one of my favorite videogame characters. I never thought this would happen but I might even like the new voice actor more than the old one.
I wasn't a huge fan of the Zoe bits from the second book. It feels like a really boring series of fetch quests where you walk around endlessly staring at the ground.
Also thought the ending was poorly handled
as I started running away as clearly I couldn't stop Nela from blowing her self up but the cutscene that starts up afterwards has you running straight at her like an idiot. Why give you control?
I was also disappointed that the therapist was a tool of the corp. I suppose it was hinted at in the first chapter where Zoe wonders where the money for his office came from but I thought the flirtations were well handled and it was interesting to have a game actually deal with changing feelings in relationships and potential infidelity. I took the data to the hand so Reza ran off and obviously I'm not talking to the therapist again after they revealed that so it seems like a bit of a cop out.
Sorry, unity is great if you know how to use it. Blaming the Engine is an easy cop out/excuse imo. THATs a general remark, definitely don't mean to down talk Chapters. Just needed to get this off my chest.
as I started running away as clearly I couldn't stop Nela from blowing her self up but the cutscene that starts up afterwards has you running straight at her like an idiot. Why give you control?
Just finished book two, it was pretty good. Love Zoe, love the dialogue, love the world(s). However, I have to say that I care a lot less about Kian and Arcadia than about Zoe and Stark.
Also, even more than in Book 1, I felt like I spent most of my time lost in a city, running around and hoping to somehow reach my destination (yes, I use the maps, no, they don't help much in my experience).
as I started running away as clearly I couldn't stop Nela from blowing her self up but the cutscene that starts up afterwards has you running straight at her like an idiot. Why give you control?
Chose wrong guy from meeting. Coulda swore I got the right one, was some remark about his skin.
Likho catching the arrow? Wasn't aware there was a choice with the scene, couldn't manage to interact with it when it was happening.
Revealed Na'ane to the other rebels. Kian summed it up, others deserved to know and to sentence a punishment themselves.
+1 for memories.
Took data to the Hand, guessing all roads would've led there quickly anyway.
Kissed Anna, probably regretful. Timed decision caught me off guard.
Didn't torture, kept guy alive.
Interesting the summary doesn't touch on you revealing things to the psychologist. In fact there's an odd lack of Zoe related consequences at the end, curious if that's them implicitly saying it mattered less than normal.
The rough edges are starting to wear on me. Could give it a pass in the first episode, but there's a million odd things that stick out. Clipping issues (walking through objects, things inexplicably blocking paths), audio levels for dialogue all over the place (inner dialogue getting drowned out, lines in conversations not staying consistent in volume), awful performance in the cities. Makes me want to freeze myself and wait for them porting to Unity 5 like they've hinted.
Weird design decision to block off routes in Stark, basically makes routes double the length if you went down the wrong path. Would've made more sense to do in the first book to keep things simple since there was less running around anyway.
Didn't mind the Arcadia stuff, though I think the writing has been much worse off there compared to Stark. Too many characters just drone on like the mole or likho and it feels like no one told the actors/writers that all the player would be looking at is a character standing still barely gesticulating. Biggest saving grace was Enu.
I finished the first chapter of Book 2, and it was really buggy. I experienced script breaking, had a puzzle item mysterious vanish, and I got stuck in geometry twice! There were even some visual artifacts.
And Red Thread, please stop putting in stealth sequences.
Yeah, it really feels like they're artificially extending the length of the game by putting in these shitty sequences where you have no idea where you're going. Is a decent in-game map too much to ask for?
Yeah, it really feels like they're artificially extending the length of the game by putting in these shitty sequences where you have no idea where you're going. Is a decent in-game map too much to ask for?
Was it really that bad? I didn't get lost in Marcuria, and I pretty much found the hotspots early on. I only used the map less than 3 times. I agree the road closures in Propast were annoying, but I thought it was a good way of showing the brewing tension.
IMO, I already like this better than Dreamfall, mainly because the choices are well-implemented. The only thing I truly miss was its amazing OST.
I think I agree with this. As much as I love Europolis, there's way too much hiking for my taste. And Book 2 has it worse; Marcuria is easily as big as Europolis, only with ~20% of the LOOK hotspots.
Not to be an ass to the designers that obviously spent a lot of time on these locations but a fast travel option would probably help with the pacing.
I didn't mind Marcuria, it's a largely basic map design so I didn't get lost nearly as much. I could look at a map, tell I needed to turn left at the second major street, and be on my way. Europolis with the winding stories and blocked off areas was obnoxious.
Yeah, it really feels like they're artificially extending the length of the game by putting in these shitty sequences where you have no idea where you're going. Is a decent in-game map too much to ask for?
There not being a consistent point of reference for locations you're supposed to be heading to in the quest log is insane too. At the very least, some kind of dialogue log so you could reference what people said exactly.
I remember one of them only alluding to the location you were supposed to head "overlooking Old Town", which could technically refer to literally any higher up position in the entire city, Old Town included. At least several times in Stark locations they mention aren't actual specific locations listed on the map.
I'm really enjoying Dreamfall Chapters a lot more than the last game. They have refined a lot of the systems and structure from Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and trimmed out what I despised. One of my favourite parts has been
running around and interacting with objects as Saga
at the end of Book One. Add more voice samples and objects to that and I'll have fun with it for a long time! And Shitbot is great too.
I'm a little surprised some kind of dialogue history isn't in the game considering they were in both the previous titles. It's also a little ironic that the map in Arcadia feels more useful than the Stark one. Thank you bloated science! I would also agree that all the random blockades was irritating and really screwed my sense of direction in Book Two. Even with all of that, I don't think fast travel is really that necessary. The two hubs haven't been that huge once you get used to them. The ending also looked silly since
I wanted nothing to do with the EYE and wanted to absolve myself from Nela's actions so I ran away!
It's the walking speed and quest design that bother me. Fast travel isn't the solution I'd want. Just stop putting in empty busy work that requires one to slowly walk all over the map time and again. Make the "puzzles" something other than fetch quests.
i am of the complete opposite opinion my self. i love how minimalistic the whole game looks and feels (like a game will look in pictures but not actaully in game). I am a big fan of the context sensitive actions and the lack of maps and a permanent mini map in the screen. There are maps everywhere to look at and after five minutes its easy enough to learn the whole map (lets face it they are not huge).
I also like there is goal indicator (the famous go HERE).
On the downside i would like if i could remove all the X will REMEMBER THIS, Your path has changed etc things. an option like that would be great its one of the first thing i remove in telltale games.
This was a pretty meaty episode 2 (unlike telltale's 1.5 hour episodes). I liked Kian a bit more (and i find it funny that whatever i pick he is still going to be cold and remote and abrupt to people). I really agonized on a couple of choices which rarely happens (last time i thought that much on a choice was in witcher 1).
Let's hope book three comes soon but if its of this length i am amazed they are releasing them so far (although the game wasn't supposed to be episodic right? so maybe they had a good part of it ready).
