Metal Gear Solid: Rising

[SephirothX]

I gotta say, I think that it's only okay so far. The camera can gain a mind of its own sometimes, and it's hard to always keep track of enemies on screen. I feel like half of my parries just come from sheer luck as well.

I have to sit down with it some more tonight.

The only times I've had camera issues so far are when I'm doing a Zandatsu near a wall, but I'm a bit more forgiving of that since that's basically just a super fast cutscene and I'm not losing out on anything as a result of it. I also use the lock on mechanic a lot, which seems to resolves a lot of my camera issues myself. I'll give MGR this, the camera control feels a lot more polished than the demo.

That's not necessarily a sign of a good game. That's a sign of good publicity. I'm thinking the hype will die off in two weeks, if it takes that long.

Hack and slashers are niche games by nature and since there's no multiplayer it's obviously going to die out in a couple of weeks, especially with God of War looming a month away. I wonder if the drop off with MGR will be anywhere close to how fast people lost interest in DmC, though.

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Also, there's no way this is only a 4 or 5 hour game unless the people who reviewed the game skipped a ton of cut-scenes or rushed through the game on easy mode. I put in about 4 hours (real time) into the game last night and I still have a good ways to go it seems like, unless the game very abruptly & out of nowhere rushes itself. Heck after my 4 hour sit down with it, my in-game timer still says I've only put in 2 hours of game time.

If the game is 4 or 5 hours of raw gameplay, not including cutscenes or codec conversations, I'm perfectly okay with that. If you skip all of the cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 4, you can beat that game even faster.

[Arttemis]

I gotta say, I think that it's only okay so far. The camera can gain a mind of its own sometimes, and it's hard to always keep track of enemies on screen. I feel like half of my parries just come from sheer luck as well.

I have to sit down with it some more tonight.

Bummer to hear. The only camera spasms I encounter are when I'm locked into an enemy that's leaping around to flank while I'm attacking other enemies periodically to keep them off my back. Is that what you're experiencing? Aside from that, I'm actually impressed with how well the game handles softlock and its camera mechanics.

That's not necessarily a sign of a good game. That's a sign of good publicity. I'm thinking the hype will die off in two weeks, if it takes that long.

I wasn't trying to imply there was a direct correlation or causal relationship between the two remarks; they were just two separate, pleasant observations.

Hack and slashers are niche games by nature and since there's no multiplayer it's obviously going to die out in a couple of weeks, especially with God of War looming a month away. I wonder if the drop off with MGR will be anywhere close to how fast people lost interest in DmC, though.

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Also, there's no way this is only a 4 or 5 hour game unless the people who reviewed the game skipped a ton of cut-scenes or rushed through the game on easy mode. I put in about 4 hours (real time) into the game last night and I still have a good ways to go it seems like, unless the game very abruptly & out of nowhere rushes itself. Heck after my 4 hour sit down with it, my in-game timer still says I've only put in 2 hours of game time.

If the game is 4 or 5 hours of raw gameplay, not including cutscenes or codec conversations, I'm perfectly okay with that. If you skip all of the cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 4, you can beat that game even faster.

Regarding sales, I never saw more than one person at a time on DmC, and there were four others on my friends list last night. Anecdotal evidence, but I hope there's some truth to be gleaned from it.

As for content, I'm in total agreement. I put in about four hours and my timer says just under two. The amount of Codec conversations is HUGE! The optional atmospheric character development of the supporting cast is as deep as MGS3, and light years beyond the stuff you got in MGS4.

The gameplay is really blowing me away, though. The softlock of Ninja Gaiden/Bayonetta with a competent lock-on system is very user friendly for most styles of play. The combat is insanely imaginative with its combo-linking design. This is just a joy to play. I'm finding hard mode to start off pretty easy, but slowly increase its challenge. Aside from two instant kills from improper boss/set-piece strategy, I died in combat for the first time in the sewers. Things definitely get hectic with multiple enemies around!

[SephirothX]

I'm playing through on normal my first time through and it all feels a tad on the easy side, granted I'm kind of a veteran to these types of games at this point so that might be why. I've seen the "game over" screen a few times though, something I never saw in DmC.

Also - if any of you guys got the Gray Fox skin, I'd recommend not getting the Fox Blade. I personally haven't used it yet, but from reading the description of the weapon and from hearing a few other people talk about it online the Fox Blade sounds like it's just a broken weapon.

EDIT - just read my first impressions http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Sep...s-246094.phtml

[Arttemis]

I imagine it would take a third or half the game on your first play to unlock the sword, and you're likely going to spend those accrued points on skills and upgrades during that time, so I'm sure it's meant to be a replay toy. I'm fine with that. It's still bullshit that it was relegated to GS (but 9MB download means it was probably made after the game went gold). The MGS4 white skin suit for $2 is ridiculous, though, since you start the game in that suit anyway.

[SephirothX]

The MGS4 suit has a few differences than the suit Raiden wears at the start of the game I've noticed. Obvious one being that Raiden's head is different, obviously, but I think his chest piece is a bit different too. So I guess it's different enough to justify a different character model

[Victor]

In the game's story, it's different. I don't know if it's all that different visually.

[Arttemis]

Ah, I didn't realize they were different. From the thumbnail on the PSN store, I thought they looked the same. At least there are in-game costumes to unlock.

[umberhulk]

Rough start. Starting to have a lot of fun though.

[Revuhlooshun]

The only times I've had camera issues so far are when I'm doing a Zandatsu near a wall, but I'm a bit more forgiving of that since that's basically just a super fast cutscene and I'm not losing out on anything as a result of it. I also use the lock on mechanic a lot, which seems to resolves a lot of my camera issues myself. I'll give MGR this, the camera control feels a lot more polished than the demo.

...There's a lock-on mechanic?

lol, this game does not tell you shit, which I respect. I'm also having of an easier time parrying by using the side-step parry. Having an instant get-out-of-the-way/block button makes a world of difference.

[SephirothX]

...There's a lock-on mechanic?

lol, this game does not tell you shit, which I respect. I'm also having of an easier time parrying by using the side-step parry. Having an instant get-out-of-the-way/block button makes a world of difference.

Yep, R2 if you're a PS3 player. It's a toggle on/off, so no need to hold it.

[umberhulk]

The left stick qte is so dumb.

[PappaDukes]

Just one question. Is this a MGS bread baking simulator?

Because I've wanted one for years.

[Revuhlooshun]

The Monsoon fight is one of the best that I've played in a while. It felt good getting off rapid-fire parries without fucking them up. When I got hit, I could see why I was getting hit and could then learn from my mistakes. The whole thing was just awesome.

[SephirothX]

Beat it last night and started my Hard Mode run.

There seems to be mixed opinions about the final boss of the game just from hopping around the web. Personally I loved the last boss.

[Arttemis]

I just beat Monsoon. Holy shit, that's an awesome battle. Can't wait to try out the sai weapons.

[SephirothX]

One minor complaint. It kind of sucks that you don't get your moves/weapons for the prologue mission even in NG+.

[Hector Garfria]

entitled little kid

[SephirothX]

entitled little kid

Hahaha

It only stinks because on the harder difficulties they throw a few pretty nasty enemies at you in that level.

[Scrustle]

I've been playing the game today and I finished the first chapter. So far my impressions are good. That prologue sequence is one of the most impressive things I've seen in a game for a long time. It actually had me saying "wow" out loud. As much as I resent using the word, it was fucking bad-ass.

But I do have some reservations about the gameplay. I kind of don't want to say this, because I don't know if things change later or I'm just playing the game wrong but... it's kind of button mashy. I've had this with other games that do combos like this before. Because the combos are based around pressing combinations of different buttons instead of timing presses of a singular button, I'm finding that it's way too hard to know when to press an exact button. Also in the chaos of combat it becomes hard to tell what part of a combo I'm in. So I just mash the heavy and light attack buttons at random and have so far been able to get through on normal without much thought or difficulty. The only problems I've had in combat have been from the camera not cooperating or having problems with parrying.

That said, the camera wasn't so bad once I learnt to use the lock-on properly, and parrying is way less complicated than I thought it would be. I think I still need to work that out more though. I also bought the dodge move but I'm yet to try it.

Also, this game has a fucking brilliant soundtrack:

[umberhulk]

MONSOON