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DICE share Mirror's Edge Catalyst's map one region, 'Anchor', HUGE
- Thread starter SomTervo
- Start date
Backtracking between objectives in the beta got pretty tedious after a while even though I was originally enjoying the open world aspect of the beta (and I was staunchly against it originally). I think Mirror's Edge would benefit more from open level design instead of open world. Think Dishonored. What made the first so good was that it was laser sharp focused in its design. If you saw a path you knew you could traverse it to your destination and the harder to traverse it looked, the more satisfying it would be. In the beta I quite often saw side paths and took them, only to realize that doing so made me unable to go where I wanted, they lead elsewhere instead. That there is no way to know this without trial and error takes a lot away from the game for me. I think making the game open world takes away from what made the first so great. This game could still be good but not in the same ways the first was. I find that I generally prefer games that focus on one thing and achiever something special, even if that means they have some flaws. This looks like it's going to be a more well rounded game but that also means less brilliance and more polish instead.
wild wild rice
Member
But did they add the option to remove the red markers all over the place indicating social races? This is literally a deal breaker for me. Just shat all over the wonderful aesthetic.
Brutalitops
Banned
Fuel 2 incoming.
In a game where parkour -is- the mechanic, the map itself is the content.
I realize the counterargument can be made where driving is kinda important in GTA
Well, there are 3 districts:
The View:
https://media.mirrorsedge.com/content/www-mirrorsedge/en_US/wallpapers/mec-wallpaper-24/_jcr_content/media/renditions/rendition1.img.jpg
Anchor:
https://media.mirrorsedge.com/content/www-mirrorsedge/en_US/wallpapers/mec-wallpaper-27/_jcr_content/media/renditions/rendition1.img.jpg
And Downtown (the one in the Beta):
https://media.mirrorsedge.com/content/www-mirrorsedge/en_US/wallpapers/mec-wallpaper-26/_jcr_content/media/renditions/rendition1.img.jpg
Charter Hill, Concord Plaza, Centurian Yards and Triumvirate Drive are part of Downtown.
Shimmering Heights, Crystal Valley and Eden Village are part of Anchor.
Ocean Pier and Regatta Bay are part of The View.
So all of this makes me believe that the available area in the game is in fact the marked one. I could be totally wrong, of course.
SomedayTheFire
Member
open world was hands down the best decision made for mirrors edge.
There's fast travel
QuantumSquid
Member
What I'm hoping is that either:
A) The map has a ton of unused/free space. Ie no story content there, just city. This will make a substantial chunk of the map just there for race creation and exploration.
This unused space will also be ripe for DLC they wish to add. This is similar to how, in GTA, if you actually marked out the locations that missions take place in, there aren't many of them. It's a small amount of real estate. However the DLC and player-created multiplayer missions add more and more used locations to the game.
B) That those three 'districts' are pretty far apart in the map. Perhaps like at opposite ends of the map. You can fast travel across it, but if you want to get to another district you can run through a lot of 'general city' to get to it.
As you can see on the map, they're close to each other. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until the release to see exactly which parts are explorable.
It almost seems surreal at this point that companies still use map size as a selling point and people still care. I mean if that's what sells then I guess it's valid, I just personally don't understand it.
Hopefully this game has meaningful and deep environments that enhance the core gameplay.
Two Pikachus
Member
There is a grappling hook thing in this
Called the MagLev or something
I literally said "OH GOD" out loud when i read this.
I was keeping my expectations tempered until now. Now it's HYPE LEVEL 8 MILLION.
Last time it was this high was for Twilight Princess in '06. Did not turn out well.
RealityPales
Member
A big map is meaningless, unless there's fun, non-repetitive things to do within.
This game goes the other way. There's nothing to do when running from one questgiver to another. The beta wasn't all that lengthy, and yet running through the same places got super old really quickly. I really don't like this game's direction, myself. Trekking through this city felt incredibly repetitive.
The grappling hook can only be used on fixed points, but it still seems rad.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
"You see that area over there? You can go there."
I heard that in Skyrim too. Turns out I couldnt.
WhateverItTakes
Banned
Wait wait wait.
So the beta was only 1/10th?
I thought it was like a third... This changes things.
Someone please tell me the accurate numbers. I didn't want to be hyped but goddamnit...
So the beta was only 1/10th?
I thought it was like a third... This changes things.
Someone please tell me the accurate numbers. I didn't want to be hyped but goddamnit...
And even when you could, it was pointless.
Visualante2
Member
Could this game be this generation's Burnout Paradise?
Again, read the Eurogamer preview. They hit the nail on the head. The map is relatively sparse but that works in the game's favour. Every time you travel from A to B you can look for slightly different routes, explore new nooks and crannies, etc. And the rudimentary upgrade tree (it's not overly complex) is a great incentive to do little activities in the world. It has similarities with the Ubisoft model, but not too much.
Yes there is? Other players' races, collectibles, 'towers', and generally exploring. The city was well designed and I found each of those activities fun.
Never felt repetitive once, to me. I played it for some 7 or 8 hours. The main missions semed on par with ME1's (good), the side quests seemed good, the 'towers' were great little distractions, other players' races were surprisingly compelling, and the collectibles led you to play a little better/explore more (and gave you XP as an incentive). Once you started taking interest in the player-created trials, there was an insane abundance of content and the repetition faded away. Plus in the full game we'll have more tools to play with and there will be more NPCs roaming around.
We're pretty confused. DICE's official word was that the entire map is 'explorable'.
But we don't know if by 'map' they're referring to the picture in their tweet or the actual, large, interactive map on the game's website.
I'd assume the latter. Why build a massive map like that - an interactive one no less - then limit players to a tiny chunk of it. And I mean tiny. They'd only need half the extraneous map space to make a believable backdrop. There's way more there than is required for scenery.
Based on the beta, I think you'll have a good old time. Always worth keeping hype in check, though. As the other poster said, I think the magnetic grapple only works on fixed points and certain objects. That is, it'll let you cross some large streets, but not all of them, probably.
This is the first thing I did in the beta and it was great.
I mean, yeah. The game is more or less a story driven racing game. More city means more possible routes. It isn't like other games where you need a side mission every few feet, the city is there as a sandbox to race in and master. It would be like complaining that there are too many tracks in a racing game because every track doesn't serve some kind of purpose.
I am absolutely stunned by the size of that map. If that were the whole map I would already be very impressed, but just one district...holy shit!
Visualante2
Member
What alarms me is that they might have spent a lot of money on this massive game. And they will view modest sales as a failure and shelve the series for good. If that happens then I will be thinking.. could this story have been told for half the budget? And if the answer is yes then that might be a disappointing result for all involved.
I haven't played the beta but I did play the first Mirrors Edge and while I can see why some would be hyped for open world it isn't exactly a selling point for me. I'll reserved judgement till I play the final game but telling me how huge the map often makes me a little nervous because I'd rather have smaller stream lined open maps that are better designed overall than a huge open world that is huge for hugeness sake. Some games pull this off well but more often than not most games don't for me, worse is when a non open world game goes open world in the sequel.
I didn't play the beta or watched much of the gameplay for it so the line drawings are a bit pulled out of my ass, but I did draw it based on the names first but also when I looked at the map, the marked areas (plus a little more to the left) are also where the detail fidelity is much higher than in other parts of the city.
On several buildings you see printed names, on roofs you get some individual details like what looks like doors etc., buildings inside the marked area generally have more odd details overall.
Outside of the marked zone however it is just basic geometry and boxes. And if Warriorr is correct, Anchor district is the area of connected buildings to the right of Zephyr Transit Hub with the red marker while the other three districts seem to be around it.
This is of course speculation and gut feelings based on a piece of marketing they have released, but it wouldn't honestly surprise me if the Twitter posts are just marketing hype by twisting the words people say slightly and say "Yes! The whole city* is explorable!"
"*City being the confines of the game world we have designed and you can move around in"
Yay, looking at the map you can see that the buildings have more details on the marked areas... Well, if the twitter account lied, I can already see the backlash.
Jonneh3003
Banned
This isn't a selling point for me, I don't like the idea of Mirror's Edge being open world, let alone the world being massive.
I'm looking at it this way: There are two possibilities:
1. They post an image saying 'Here is the first district - Anchor - on our 3D map'
Look at the 3D map and you can see it's a far larger area than what you showed us with that red outline. It includes the bigger skyscrapers to the north of default view. Evidently the entire area featured in the beta is called 'Anchor'. That's going by the image they posted.
2. They posted an image referring to an 'interactive 3D map' of the city 'Glass' (with the line 'Explore Glass')
In a subsequent post they said 'the whole city is explorable'
City, referring to Glass, the interactive 3D map being a map of Glass (via 'Explore Glass')
So the whole interactive map is an explorable space
------------------
Christ, the hoops I'm jumping through
cartographer
Member
Based on their fiscal reports they expect it to sell ~2 million, which seems reasonable. First game sold ~2.5 million. Certainly on the lower end of AAA multi-platform releases. It's not the type of game that's for everyone and they seem aware of that.
As for a third entry, that they even bothered with a second is sort of amazing in the first place. DICE is big but they have a lot on their plate. The first game is beloved by some and had an overall solid reception but it was neither a critical darling or a big seller. Some people at DICE must have really wanted to make a follow up.
Took 7.5 years to get one. I wouldn't hold my breath for a third anytime soon.
They did say "Here is the first district, Anchor, on our map." and showed that photo but that can be interpreted basically as "We marked the first district Anchor on this big map."
I took another picture and marked a more updated look what I think is the playable area.
The purple area is Anchor as its where they have placed the red marker for the "Anchor" info box. The yellow being the Downtown area. The Green being that place called Development Zone which I think will be mostly focused on the cranes and the Underground area you get to see if you click the little arrow pointing down, so I marked the area sorta where the underground is. I skipped the View cause I couldn't get it all into frame but its the pier area to the right, and The Shard cause its big and obviously the end area or something.
Anyway, basically within each of these zones, split apart by the Transit Hub (which is a obvious bridge point and something you travel across to get to the next district), you find interconnected rooftops using bridges minus the Development Zone (which is probably using the cranes or is focused on the Underground). Nowhere else in the entire city you can find a bridge, I checked. And along the marked borders towards the outside the bridges just completely stop and cease to exist, not linking to anywhere else.
This I present as the full playable area of Mirror's Edge Catalyst. Not the entire city, cause that would demand an insane amount of work to detail the entire place and would require their entire office to do which is now split between Mirror's Edge, Battlefield 1 and New Battlefront 2. That is the kind of dedication to a single game I would only believe that CD Project Red would be insane to try.
Same. For me, the best parts of Mirror's Edge was the problem solving of each area. I did love the thinking on my feet during chase scenes (and stealth sequences), but I couldn't care any less about races and speed trials.
That was part of the original announcement 3 years ago. :3
Really? What part of the map was this then? There's hundreds of areas to explore and 99% of the map could be explored.