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[kaching]

So if this game sells great we are sending the message to publishers that we want recycled gameplay and marketing bulletpoints over smoothness.

Buy it and you are part of the problem?

I'll personally be sending the message that I like western fantasy epics that feature lots of dragons, because I'm not pretentious enough to act like 95% of the games I enjoy don't feature recycled gameplay.

As far as "smoothness" goes, I've only got the account of a self-described anal-retentive framerate whore (no offense intended to TTP, it is basically how he described himself) who recently pulled the same obsessiveness over jaggies in Ninja Gaiden Sigma which I barely noticed, and he's just looking at a preview build in this case. Further, whether we're looking at the mediocre review scores in EGM or the much better score in Play, neither identified framerate as one of the game's primary issues. I've got no reason to withhold a purchase yet based on absolutely no actual reports of "smoothness" problems in the final game. Am I expecting the game to be rocksolid 30fps? No. But I've willingly contributed to that "problem" plenty of times in the past, as I'm sure you have too.

 

[PistolGrip]

the fact that you believe Wollan is Subtle tells me a lot about you.


I mean really WTF?

the fact that you have low reading comprehension tells me even more about you. I said relatively speaking meaning compared to DCharlie Wolan is a hippie playing in a park, while DC is a born again Christian chasing you down the street calling you the devil.

 

[DCharlie]

the fact that you have low reading comprehension tells me even more about you. I said relatively speaking meaning compared to DCharlie Wolan is a hippie playing in a park, while DC is a born again Christian chasing you down the street calling you the devil.

no one likes hippies either!

 

[tanod]

The only thing that bugs me about you, DCharlie, is you quote one person and then you say stuff like this:

it`s okay - i`ll accept apologies from you all later when it all finally dawns on you guys!

And you're right about MotorStorm. The AI doesn't stop me from enjoying the game though.

 

[DCharlie]

The only thing that bugs me about you, DCharlie, is you quote one person and then you say stuff like this:

dude, GAF is the BORG !

The AI doesn't stop me from enjoying the game though.

i enjoyed it up until a point, then when you are having to drive for 2nd / 3rd place until the last stretch so you don`t get rubber banded out of a win, then it felt counter intuitive. I wasn`t driving to the best i could , i was driving in order to sucker the AI/balancing which annoyed me (this isn`t the first game to do this of course).

Anyways, back to Lair...

 

[Lord Error]

Dcharlie was right! what were we thinking... Lair! lol ... Motorstorm!!? haha!" - it`s all part of the turgid one year launch cycle that plagues every launch

You know, I'm looking at all the upcoming racers - New Burnout, New Sega Rally, DiRT that's already out, and I really don't see anything that looks more fun than Motorstorm, much less something that's so superior that will make me go "lol, what was I thinking". It's not an AAA+ game (how many arcade racers are?) but it's a fun, great looking, great controlling game, that's obviously not to your liking, and you've made a big deal out of it.

 

[Psychotext]

the fact that you believe Wollan is Subtle tells me a lot about you.

Maybe the insecure tag was more apt...

 

[kaching]

no one likes hippies either!

They can get you weed. Born again Christians just want to give you a guilt trip.

 

[thelurkinghorror]

As far as "smoothness" goes, I've only got the account of a self-described anal-retentive framerate whore (no offense intended to TTP, it is basically how he described himself) who recently pulled the same obsessiveness over jaggies in Ninja Gaiden Sigma which I barely noticed, and he's just looking at a preview build in this case. Further, whether we're looking at the mediocre review scores in EGM or the much better score in Play, neither identified framerate as one of the game's primary issues. I've got no reason to withhold a purchase yet based on absolutely no actual reports of "smoothness" problems in the final game. Am I expecting the game to be rocksolid 30fps? No. But I've willingly contributed to that "problem" plenty of times in the past, as I'm sure you have too.

I have the same preview code of TTP. The problems don't affect only the framerate, but all the gameplay. Yeah, there's a lot of slowdown and in general LAIR run like my grandma after a rectoscopy, but in my opinion this is not the main issue of this game.
During my session, often I don't know what I must do. A cutscene show you a new monster, a voice tell you to kill him, but with this kind of interface, the motion blur, the color's palette, it's almost impossibile to recognise the bastard. This happen every stage and it's not funny, believe me. In general the gameplay looks and play like a title from 1995.

The graphic in certains occasion is good, never astonish, but i really enjoy the style... hovewer I really appreciated how german drawn fantasy setting, like in Gothic.

 

[Drinky Crow]

this would have easily been 60 fps with higher-poly models -- even LOD ones -- on the superior Xbox 360 (tm Microsoft) platform

 

[nelsonroyale]

this would have easily been 60 fps with higher-poly models -- even LOD ones -- on the superior Xbox 360 (tm Microsoft) platform

I agree, all you need to do is check ninety nine nights...thats how you do an epic fantasy battle with the power of xbox 360

Spoiler

hrmm, what game are we playing?

 

[urk]

I agree, all you need to do is check ninety nine nights...thats how you do an epic fantasy battle with the power of xbox 360

Spoiler

hrmm, what game are we playing?

My gang of hidden orc wizards is attacking you with insanely powerful and annoyingly repetitive lightning strikes from offscreen.

 

[dark10x]

My gang of hidden orc wizards is attacking you with insanely powerful and annoyingly repetitive lightning strikes from offscreen.

While the nearby boss is stuck endlessly running into a tree root while swinging at nothing...

 

[garrickk]

Just got the *preview* code and spent some time with it in the comfort of my sofa and I must say the frame rate is all over the place.

I tried searching the thread, but the search wouldn't work.

Anyway, did you play the game with your background at 1080p or 720p? Several PS3 games that have supported 1080p have had atrocious frame rates at this resolution. For instance, to play Marvel Ultimate Alliance, I would lower the resolution of my XMB down to 720p before launching the game and the frame rate would suddenly become quite smooth. It was unplayable at 1080p to me, although it did looks sharper (even on my couch). 720p was such a better experience.

Sony needs to have some sort of resolution preference ordering system. Like a check box somewhere saying "don't sacrifice frame rate for resolution." Not a good solution regardless. This kind of crap can only hurt Sony in reviews.

Although I don't really know if Lair plays smoothly if rendered at 720p, if it's choppy at 1080p, it will probably be improved. Likewise, if it's choppy at 720p, I shudder to think what 1080p would play like. I am assuming that the 1080p is a rendering resolution for Lair.

 

[kaching]

I have the same preview code of TTP.

TTP relayed all the same concerns at the top of the thread, thanks. I'd still like to see for myself.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Also tried the preview code and the frame rate is quite crappy. Gonna try switching to 720p to see if it makes a difference, it was running in 1080i on my 720p tv.

 

[TTP]

Just a quick heads up guys. Finished Lair. Here is my final score(s) based on this preview code and what might be the final one:

Preview build: 5.5
Hopefully framerate fixed final build: 7 (EDGE kind of seven)

Seriously, this game is fundamentally good. Once you get how air combat really works (more on this in a later post) it can be lots of fun and last battles are all kind of awesome. I mean "that ZOE2 massive battle" kind of awesome. But still, the framerate (+ other rough edges) TOTALLY kills the experience. It's not something you can live with it, accept it and try to forget it. It's there all the time killing your WOW factor.

One funny thing is the Commentary you can turn on in the extras. Just like commentaries in DVD movies, guys from the dev team talk about any given level while you are playing them! They explain what their purpose was with that level, which difficulties they encountered and stuff like that. It's a very cool feature.

 

[meltpotato]

One funny thing is the Commentary you can turn on in the extras. Just like commentaries in DVD movies, guys from the dev team talk about any given level while you are playing them! They explain what their purpose was with that level, which difficulties they encountered and stuff like that. It's a very cool feature.

that sounds ****ing awesome.

 

[jjasper]

One funny thing is the Commentary you can turn on in the extras. Just like commentaries in DVD movies, guys from the dev team talk about any given level while you are playing them! They explain what their purpose was with that level, which difficulties they encountered and stuff like that. It's a very cool feature.

Wow that is a great idea.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Wow that is a great idea.

Only the BLu ray and GC disc were able to handle such extras.

 

[JB1981]

Just a quick heads up guys. Finished Lair. Here is my final score(s) based on this preview code and what might be the final one:

Preview build: 5.5
Hopefully framerate fixed final build: 7 (EDGE kind of seven)

Seriously, this game is fundamentally good. Once you get how air combat really works (more on this in a later post) it can be lots of fun and last battles are all kind of awesome. I mean "that ZOE2 massive battle" kind of awesome. But still, the framerate (+ other rough edges) TOTALLY kills the experience. It's not something you can live with it, accept it and try to forget it. It's there all the time killing your WOW factor.

One funny thing is the Commentary you can turn on in the extras. Just like commentaries in DVD movies, guys from the dev team talk about any given level while you are playing them! They explain what their purpose was with that level, which difficulties they encountered and stuff like that. It's a very cool feature.

i love commentaries. that sounds like a really cool feature.

 

[Ezza]

Preview build: 5.5
Hopefully framerate fixed final build: 7 (EDGE kind of seven)

An Edge 7 is higher than I would have thought, really hoping those framerate issues are gone when I buy it now. Thank you for your impressions!

How long did it take you to beat the game?

 

[TTP]

How long did it take you to beat the game?

Two afternoons. Game time says 2hrs and 10 minutes.

 

[jjasper]

Two afternoons. Game time says 2hrs and 10 minutes.

:lol what? Are you a videogame god or is the game just that short?

 

[JB1981]

Two afternoons. Game time says 2hrs and 10 minutes.

what

 

[Ezza]

Two afternoons. Game time says 2hrs and 10 minutes.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

what

he must mean 20 hours or 12 hours.

 

[TTP]

duh. It's a shooter after all. Did last longer than ZOE2.

let me check again.

 

[captain wow]

he must mean 20 hours or 12 hours.

I should hope so =/

 

[Greg]

game delayed because the in-game timer was broken confirmed.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

2 hours?

That doesn't make any sense at all. Not even a little bit.

 

[TTP]

Yeah. It says "TIME TAKEN - 02:10:30" in the leaderboards.

Must be broken indeed. Took me a whole morning to get from 1/3 of the game to the last battles. Dunno guys. Didnt feel short at all. I can assure you that.

 

[jjasper]

Sounds like they delayed because they forgot to put half the game on the disk.

Definately a rental now if I can beat it in one sitting.

 

[haunts]

2 days 10 hours 30 minutes... uhhhhh.. right? :lol

 

[fistfulofmetal]

2 hours is barely even one afternoon.

 

[captain wow]

Yeah. It says "TIME TAKEN - 02:10:30" in the leaderboards.

Would you think that would include cinematics? Im actually quite shocked.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

That's odd.

 

[Mifune]

If you knew what you were doing from beginning to end, the Rogue games would only take you a couple hours. Actual gameplay time is MUCH longer.

 

[TTP]

edited my previous post

will try to get a more realistic time on my second playthrough

 

[Y2Kev]

lol wut

 

[TTP]

If you knew what you were doing from beginning to end, the Rogue games would only take you a couple hours. Actual gameplay time is MUCH longer.

Indeed. I'm not that surprised it says 2 hrs, but I'll double check that when I play it again.

Spoiler

Gotta unlock the 3rd dragon

 

[Omar Ismail]

Even PDO which is an on rails shooter takes around 6-7 hours. 2 hours would be quite surprising.

 

[haunts]

Did you leave the PS3 running while you stepped away? Cause that seriously could be 2 days.. If your PS3 was on the whole time it may be logging time. I think with NG Sigma it logs time even if you are on the options menu or something cause the demo said I played for 9 hours when I only played it a couple times and think I just left the PS3 on..

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Even PDO which is an on rails shooter takes around 6-7 hours. 2 hours would be quite surprising.

Wha? PDO doesn't take that long. I've beaten the game on all three difficulties and I still had to run the clock overnight in order to unlock everything.

 

[PleoMax]

the fact that you have low reading comprehension tells me even more about you. I said relatively speaking meaning compared to DCharlie Wolan is a hippie playing in a park, while DC is a born again Christian chasing you down the street calling you the devil.

At least he doesn't go Da Vinci on our asses. And you're crazy btw

Yeah. It says "TIME TAKEN - 02:10:30" in the leaderboards.

Must be broken indeed. Took me a whole morning to get from 1/3 of the game to the last battles. Dunno guys. Didnt feel short at all. I can assure you that.

Damn, must be a really horrible game...

J/K

The commentary thing sounds great, i love it in movies, and i've been hoping for game devs to do that in games.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

Hell, Prey is one of the shortest games I've ever played and it's a 3-4 hour game.
2 hours in unacceptable.

 

[dark10x]

Seriously, this game is fundamentally good. Once you get how air combat really works (more on this in a later post) it can be lots of fun and last battles are all kind of awesome. I mean "that ZOE2 massive battle" kind of awesome. But still, the framerate (+ other rough edges) TOTALLY kills the experience. It's not something you can live with it, accept it and try to forget it. It's there all the time killing your WOW factor.

ZOE2 had some SERIOUS framerate problems, though. The "massive battle" literally ran at half speed throughout. The game was rarely able to hold 60 fps and would instead continue to draw all frames regardless of what was going on (resulting in slow motion). Surely that bothered you as well...

 

[warcrow]

Indeed. I'm not that surprised it says 2 hrs, but I'll double check that when I play it again.

Spoiler

Gotta unlock the 3rd dragon

You don't recall if you played longer than 2 hours?

 

[bud]

2 hours? are you serious? :lol

that can't be right and it shouldn't be right

 

[urk]

2 hours? are you serious? :lol

that can't be right and it shouldn't be right

Ran out of Blu-ray space.

Seriously, two hours? No way. Gotta be some kind of glitch. EGM would have had to mention it.