The 4 live action episodes interspersed in the game felt pretty neat. I debated in my mind how essential they actually felt to the story, but I really liked the idea of seeing what was going on in the world from the POV of other characters. I think one of the challenges in storytelling in video games is not every story beat necessarily lends itself to having good gameplay moments. And being able to tell parts of this story without this constraint is kind of cool.
Yep I've sweetened on the live-action episode with my second play through. They are doing stuff that wouldn't have worked well in traditional game cutscenes, and definitely make the gameplay moments hit a lot harder.
I think we also have very different headspaces for game cutscenes versus "passive" movies and TV, so Quantum Break calibrates your expectations pretty effectively.
Also, I lol'd at the moment when I realized the audiobook I'd started playing
That's weird, I didn't had any of the loading issues you described.
Unless you mean the fights that when you lose you get to before the cutscene that plays before the fight, and if you skip it you get a loading screen? That happened with me in the final battle only, but I assume it would be the same for all dramatic battles that have a cutscene before?
No, that line you bolded was not talking about losing fights and reloading checkpoints/cutscenes (I go on about that later on in the post). What I was talking about was I'd be just walking or talking or something and all of a sudden that white splash screen comes up informing me that this part of the act is done, with the audio/dialogue still going on in the background or sometime a brand new dialogue intiating 5 seconds after the white splash screen came up. Then it loads for a bit, cutscene for the beginning of this part plays out, then it loads again and we finally get to gameplay. This was the case nearly every single time, unless a part directly went into the gameplay from the getgo rather than show a cutscene at the beginning of it.
It breaks the two rules I have for games which piss me off the most: Poor checkpoints, cheap and annoying bosses. No matter where you go on hard it just works to screw you over, auto-locks the camera to focus on the bomb which then means I can't see where I'm running too, manages to put insta-kill bombs right at your feet no matter where you are, no checkpoint between rounds... ugh. Please patch this Remedy, I can live with the checkpoint issue, the other stuff is just unnecessary and does nothing to help the game.
I am not gonna lie. I haven't actually finished the game and I won't. I'm done with it now. Aside from the loading/checkpoint issues that I already mentioned. That last boss fight was pure BS. First of all I hate
"now you have to beat all my minions while I also attack you"
type of fights. Second, it takes control away from you with the camera at certain points just like you said, really messing me up. I was done with the game once I was on my 10th successfull attempt of getting
to the final set of "bombs" by Paul
and the camera decided to turn and focus resulting in me getting stuck on an obstacle that I couldn't see in front of me and died (and this wasn't the first time this happened). I watched the ending on YT. Note: that's 10th successfull attempt getting to that point, there were many other attempts where the camera messed me up at an earlier section.
I platinumed bloodborne, which had difficult AF bossfights in the chalice dungeons. I spent 3 hours on a boss once, sure I got frustrated but the deaths in that were fair and the game didn't take control out of your hands so I kept on playing. I have no patience for the stuff that was happening in the last boss fight in this game. And changing to an easy difficulty would not have fixed what I was having a problem with.
It's such a shame, this game was pretty close to being considered excellent as it does so many things right, but the stuff that it gets wrong, I am really irritated by. Still a solid experience overall, but misses the "greats" category for me.
Yep I've sweetened on the live-action episode with my second play through. They are doing stuff that wouldn't have worked well in traditional game cutscenes, and definitely make the gameplay moments hit a lot harder.
I think we also have very different headspaces for game cutscenes versus "passive" movies and TV, so Quantum Break calibrates your expectations pretty effectively.
Also, I lol'd at the moment when I realized the audiobook I'd started playing
Yeah that's an interesting point. I never minded long cutscenes in MGS games, but I guess I really appreciated Kojima's production values on them (even going back to the PS1 era of cutscenes). I suppose I have a similar expectation with live action TV in a game like Quantum Break, especially when you're already familiar with some of the more prominent actors and Remedy's prior quality of storytelling.
Like I said before, I'm not sure whether other games will use this format in the future (including Remedy's future projects), but I felt it worked quite well for this game as they didn't necessarily replace cutscenes but rather told another related story that fleshed out the world and overarching narrative.
I am not gonna lie. I haven't actually finished the game and I won't. I'm done with it now. Aside from the loading/checkpoint issues that I already mentioned. That last boss fight was pure BS. First of all I hate
"now you have to beat all my minions while I also attack you"
type of fights. Second, it takes control away from you with the camera at certain points just like you said, really messing me up. I was done with the game once I was on my 10th successfull attempt of getting
to the final set of "bombs" by Paul
and the camera decided to turn and focus resulting in me getting stuck on an obstacle that I couldn't see in front of me and died (and this wasn't the first time this happened). I watched the ending on YT. Note: that's 10th successfull attempt getting to that point, there were many other attempts where the camera messed me up at an earlier section.
I know you're done with the game, but I did post a solution 1 page back that may help you if you're struggling at the same part as me if you ever want to go back.
Totally agree with it being a terrible boss battle though. I never get this obligation developers feel that a game has to end on a boss battle, otherwise its anticlimactic. Throw in the usual tropes, like unavoidable one hit kills that can be triggered while you're in a melee finisher animation, sparse (if any) checkpointing, making you rewatch the same cutscene every time you die after the game loads (or the skipping it and having the pleasure of watching a second loading screen), and instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment in reaching the game's ending, you just feel tired after navigating through all that BS.
I want to preface by saying that before playing Quantum Break -which I finished just this afternoon- that I started and played through to completion Alan Wake and both DLCs included with AW. Why? Wanted to play AW first and see if they were any similarities between both titles.
Initial thoughts and impressions of QB:
Gameplay
Although repetitive, the "enter area and clear the baddies" gameplay loop was solid and the controls felt fluid and responsive. Controlling Jack Joyce was never a chore. The platforming segments were few but we're a nice way to change up the pacing of the game -which I thought was horrible, but more on that later- and do something else besides shoot badies.
The time abilities/powers were cool to use but some felt more powerful than others and I ended using 3-4 as opposed to the entire arsenal.
Visuals/Presentation
I played on X1, and I thought it looked great on my TV. I read a DF article where they stated the game was using tech not unlike Alan Wake in which the game is actually running at 720p but to the user looks higher res. I'm not tech savvy when it comes to this stuff but I thought the game was very very pretty.
The lighting was awesome, some textures looked fuzzy when you would pan the camera around fast and I did notice some screen tearing when I got off an elevator once but all in all I thought the game was a looker.
The UI used for seeing your collectibles and upgrading your abilities was easy to maneuver and understand and reminded me of Battlefront's UI for some odd reason.
Narrative/Story
The gameplay was solid but nothing revolutionary; this game kept me hooked and playing for 2 straight days because of its narrative. Jack Joyce, Paul Serene, Martin Hatch, Liam Burke, Fiona Miller, Sofia Amaral and Beth Wilder etc. were all believable and genuine characters.
I commend Remedy for doing something different with the four 20-25 min live action pieces at the end of each act which was guided by your decisions at the junction points. Some of the acting was cringe worthy,
Serene choking Amaral was just bad acting imo
but overall it kept me engaged and kept me coming back for more. Liked that it gave us a the viewpoint of the "enemies" and it served to humanize some of them. Even Paul Serene, which I thought was awesome because then to me he wasn't stock bad guy, he became nuanced, troubled guy who's fighting for something he believes in.
Oddly, one of the narrative devices that I loved but hated at the same time were the collectibles. The emails were lengthy and full of exposition which brought these characters to life
(Time Knife by Bruce Livingston was hilarious)
but I think that littering important bits of the story in collectibles was unacceptable for 2 reasons
Reason 1 being that if a player decided to not seek these narrative collectibles he/she would be devoid of these awesome characters interacting with one another and the story wouldn't seem as fully realized as it is.
Reason 2 is the it totally takes you outta the game. It immerses you into the narrative knee deep, but to the detriment of the game experience. Shoot dudes, read for 3 minutes, shoot some more dudes, ok now read, ok now watch.
The game had horrible pacing.
Spoiler bits
Really liked how Remedy built up the shifters as these menacing enemies not to be toyed with but it never did pay off. The boss fight was disappointing which I figured it would be and I hoped Serene would fight like Joyce did but better seeing as he has had his abilities for far longer.
I thought Dr. Kim -being a shifter and all- would be an adversary the game would put Joyce against.
The game left me with more questions than answers and hopefully some DLC or a sequel will answer some of my questions.
For how long has Hatch been a shifter and how can he control it and be in regular form when there aren't any stutters?
What happened to Dr.Kim? who although never was formally seen, I felt was fully realized through the collectibles.
Beth Wilder's story was fucking horseshit and I felt like she got hosed. The actress -Courtney Hope- did a spot on job of portraying to the viewer how going to the end of time and waiting 11 years for Jack took a toll not just physically but on her psyche as well. Wilder look defeated and it was horrible to see how pre-Amaral fuck over she was fully of energy and purpose and now she just looked beat.
Wilder and Serene were probably my favorite characters. Paul Serene to me wasn't a bad guy, he too wanted to save the world. The only difference being that he wanted the Chronon Field Regulator for his lifeboat protocol in order to save the world after the end of time and Joyce wanted the CFR in order to stop the final stutter that would end time.
Serene had given in to the fact that the end would happen and that to me made him a nuanced, even grounded character.
Closing thoughts
Quantum Break was a highly enjoyable game and like a good book I was fully engrossed and bought into the world Remedy had created. The gameplay was nothing game changing but the live action scenes were different enough to make the genre feel fresh.
? most of the time the snipers are in inaccessible places.
So I am back trying to finish on hard and I went from getting to the last few guys on the final boss to not even being able to get through the first round. Somehow I've gotten worse in the past 12 hours.
You have people saying only two powers, time dash and time stop, are useful? Madness. Time Shield is essential if you know how to use it and aren't afraid to use it. It's an absolute lifesaver, same for time rush.
I just finished the game tonight, man what a great game I really enjoyed my first play trought for my YT channel but I can't wait to play it on my own taking all the time in the world which BTW thank for for the copyrighted music option REMEDY as a content creator on Youtube that option is amazing
Went to play last night and all my progress was gone. Argh 😓 no idea if it's related to having streamed it to my pc (cant see how it would be?) but so amazingly annoying. At least I was only on episode 2.
? most of the time the snipers are in inaccessible places.
So I am back trying to finish on hard and I went from getting to the last few guys on the final boss to not even being able to get through the first round. Somehow I've gotten worse in the past 12 hours.
I meant time blast... If they can shoot you with bullets, you can hit them with time blast... It's a projectile, and has a fairly larger Area of effect.
They also tend to be positioned next to exploding barrels...
Ugh, that last boss fight almost retroactively ruined the whole game for me. I was on the verge of giving up when I finally beat it haha, it just felt cheap and frustrating. It's a shame because the game is pretty awesome up until that point!
I had a lot of fun with it overall but I think I'd prefer Alan Wake 2 to a QB sequel if I had the choice though.
I know you're done with the game, but I did post a solution 1 page back that may help you if you're struggling at the same part as me if you ever want to go back.
Thanks, but I already knew what to do. It's the camera turning that messes me up (and you can't really anticipate how quickly or far the camera will turn). And getting stuck on an environmental obstacle (literally stuck, as in I could not run back or out or jump over etc) yet another time was basically the last straw for me.
If I do play the game again, it'll be probably years down the line and from the beginning.
Also, will have to remember to turn off whatever the default aim assist setting is pretty bad. I usually don't have to turn these off, for SP modes especially. But something that became apparent yet again near the end. Time dodge to focus to an enemy while looking entirely straight ahead led to 180 degree turns by my character as soon as I pressed LT, because there was an explosive canister 2 feet away. So basically I either have the option to a) use the rest of my focus time to turn around (because the enemy is behind me now) b) time dash or time dodge away, again risking that when you press LT, it could very well target another explosive object in the are instead of letting you aim at the enemy you were pointing at or c) just time dodge out of there to avoid getting shot (don't even try to aim at anyone), end up wasting your power meter with getting nothing accomplished and try again later.
I just started up my Windows copy for the first time in a week and the game has deleted a bunch of collectibles I already picked up. I mean, it's not a huge deal since I was planning on replaying the game but.. wtf?
Working though a second go-round. Really loved this game. I'll be the first to admit the live action shows weren't the greatest--but they did a lot to build the world and suck me in. Really helped suspend that disbelief.
The combat is incredibly satisfying, but it's definitely one of those "you get out of it what you put in." Encounter are as bad-ass as you want them to be. In my second go-round, the garage section was a lot simpler and more satisfying, but mainly because I had nailed the combat loop (and as frustrating as the final boss fight was, it increased my combat game immensely). The key to QB combat is never stop moving and in that way it reminded me of my other favorite XBO exclusive, Sunset Overdrive.
My biggest complaint was pacing. Just too much "forced marches" and dead time between the action. When combat gameplay is this good, long breaks between encounters is lamentable.
I meant time blast... If they can shoot you with bullets, you can hit them with time blast... It's a projectile, and has a fairly larger Area of effect.
They also tend to be positioned next to exploding barrels...
Being screwed after missing shots, is the name of the game in shooters
You gotta combine time blast with your other time powers. time shield should give you enough time to line up a time blast w/o taking any damage.
Alternatively, you can use time stop as a shield (it slows your bullets, as well as the snipers, then, shoot into your bubble, with shots aimed towards the sniper. The bonus damage, should net you a kill. And you just step out of the snipers Line of fire before your bubble collapses.
As far as exploding barrels, they take more damage than in most TPSs. The thing to do is, throw a time stop on them, then Shoot them... It'll ensure that they'll blow up, and the explosions are bigger (I think) which seems to cause chain reactions with other explosives...
Being screwed after missing shots, is the name of the game in shooters
You gotta combine time blast with your other time powers. time shield should give you enough time to line up a time blast w/o taking any damage.
Alternatively, you can use time stop as a shield (it slows your bullets, as well as the snipers, then, shoot into your bubble, with shots aimed towards the sniper. The bonus damage, should net you a kill. And you just step out of the snipers Line of fire before your bubble collapses.
As far as exploding barrels, they take more damage than in most TPSs. The thing to do is, throw a time stop on them, then Shoot them... It'll ensure that they'll blow up, and the explosions are bigger (I think) which seems to cause chain reactions with other explosives...
Yeah. All of this pretty much. Snipers require a mix of powers which increases the difficulty especially on hard. I really enjoyed those parts of the game, though.
I hate the last boss ... tried it for an hour today and it has no checkpoint so I had to start over and over again with the first scene of the boss fight :-(
I hate the last boss ... tried it for an hour today and it has no checkpoint so I had to start over and over again with the first scene of the boss fight :-(
Eh it's not the abilites, I use them of course, even upgrade almost all of them. I die randomly without there being an indicator or something. Drop dead without being in a red explosion or under fire. I will record it when I try again.
I feel okay when I feel in control and die because I sucked or did something wrong, but if I feel out of control and drop dead randomly. Nope.
edit: did it. it's an easier fight in the end, but just.. random, ugh!!
Eh it's not the abilites, I use them of course, even upgrade almost all of them. I die randomly without there being an indicator or something. Drop dead without being in a red explosion or under fire. I will record it when I try again.
There is no red light on my left before that thing blows up. Unless I completely misunderstand how those lights work, there should be a warning light. There is none. And I dashed off the edge so I should have been moving away from it with enough speed to at least live through it. Still, there was zero warning that I could see on my screen until it exploded.
They really need to change the color of the light. Make it green or something. Since it's red, you never know if you're getting shot or if there is a light on you - because damage shows as red on the screen. So you can't know to get out of the way until it's too late.
Tell me here how I should know there is one on top of me. The sound cues are almost nonexistent.
That guy you were shooting at has a chornon sheild so your timestop didnt work on him and he just gunned you down. That guy pissed me off a lot. You dodged that first red nade in the beginning of the clip.
That guy you were shooting at has a chornon sheild so your timestop didnt work on him and he just gunned you down. That guy pissed me off a lot. You dodged that first red nade in the beginning of the clip.
yeah I dodged the first one which should have given me a bit of a breather between bombs. I know the dude had a shield but my own shield should have at least protected me - I was far enough back from him.
I just don't know how to kill those guys. They are bullet sponges but if you get close enough for a shotty they just kill you. I can kill them without having to dodge bombs, but the combo is ridiculous. I beat it on normal but hard is insane.
how far away do you have to get from the bombs? Is a couple dodges ok? I keep wasting all my time rushing ability getting away from them.
edit: this is seriously ruining my entire experience with this game. If I yell out "i f*cking hate this!!" I know I can't recommend a game, and that sucks.
As for the armoured enemies, get up close, unload on them, and use the time shield the minute you take damage. When you stay in it you regenerate health and bullets will be blocked. Then sprint away, rinse and repeat.
As for the armoured enemies, get up close, unload on them, and use the time shield the minute you take damage. When you stay in it you regenerate health and bullets will be blocked. Then sprint away, rinse and repeat.
does the time shield even work when they have their dampeners?
I just got down to one armored guy, last guy. Then somehow he threw a bomb into the hallway I was inside and I couldn't run out fast enough. I want to punch something.
does the time shield even work when they have their dampeners?
I just got down to one armored guy, last guy. Then somehow he threw a bomb into the hallway I was inside and I couldn't run out fast enough. I want to punch something.
Time Shield protects you from bullets - the B button one. It protects you from their bullets and regenerates your health if you stay in it. Rush up close to them, fill them with bullets, time shield, regenerate health, run away, repeat. That's what I did for a lot of the game on Hard mode.
EDIT:
On your video, I didn't even know that room was there. Stay out of it. Do loops around the
swimming pool
. Don't shoot the brutes from far away. Get close, unleash a clip, Time Shield to get your health back and do another loop around the area. You don't need to go into any enclosed spaces.
