I thought only "frontrunners" got codes today, and more codes would be sent on the 23rd?
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Mirror's Edge: Catalyst Closed Beta Thread | Didn't Get An Email? Keep Faith
- Thread starter Eggbok
- Start date
RoadHazard
Gold Member
Is it 900p just like SWBF? Would make sense given the engine.
Stupid Sexy Flanders
Member
We just gotta have Faith
If I'm a "frontrunner" according to some previous emails and haven't received a code I'm guessing I didn't make the cut </3 (although I did sign up with another 2 emails, so there's still hope!)
John Caboose
Member
Managed to score an XB1 beta code from a Twitch streamer earlier tonight. The beta build's only about 9 GB but took forever to download, so I only got a short time to play.
I was worried about Catalyst, but this beta has really made an impression. As others have said, a lot of the detail textures are very low-res and there is some choppiness in the animation during some cutscenes, but mechanically the game feels amazing. Movement felt fluid, speed was good, and at no time did the moveset feel artificially restricted. By the time I finished the first mission, I had 11/19 runner skills already unlocked just from doing the semi-guided stuff. It does run pretty smoothly at 60 fps but it looks like the XB1 is visibly rendering it at significantly less than 1080p resolution. However, it looks and feels great in motion which is largely the point for a game like this.
The first part of the game is kind of a tutorial in a sense, but it's not a verbose hand-holding one. At no point were there lengthy voices in your head telling you to hold LB to do this, press RT to do that, etc. It was mostly just visual markers integrated into runner vision. The game mostly lets you make a fluid run from the beginning to midpoint of the first mission, and it felt great. The combat does have a kinda dopey tutorial mechanic that you must go through, but I imagine it might be difficult to discover some of the "combos" otherwise.
Actually getting into combat felt much better than in ME '08. I beat up a few guys because the game demands it, but in the latter part of the mission I was mostly just evading them and it works perfectly well. The entry-level guards are only armed with billy clubs and it's pretty easy to avoid them...if you have the room. If they corner you in a hallway you can take them down with any one of a few sorta showy moves, like a slide-kick or a wallrun-propelled boot to the head.
I am particularly enjoying the in-engine cutscenes. It's a big step up IMO from the animated interludes from ME '08 and reduces the destruction of immersion. I'm actually pretty excited, too, about the free-roam aspect of Glass. Being able to explore around was something I'd really wanted to do in the first game, but couldn't. The collectible fetch-quests annoy some, but they play into my compulsion to explore and find things, so it's not bothering me.
And the soundtrack. Ohhhh yeah, it's Solar Fields. You cannot go wrong.
I loved the first Mirror's Edge. Catalyst is like coming home after being away for years and finding the same comfortable and familiar ambience completely unchanged, with the addition of some upgraded furnishings and new tech.
If cutscene frame rate and texture work can be polished up by release, I'll be pretty damn happy. The only other thing I really missed so far was the bone-shattering crunch that succeeded every fall from an extreme height. The ghostly exhalation you hear instead (during the loading screen after death) is strange at first, but it's almost like a reminder to relax and loosen up before trying again.
Gonna have a good time playing this all weekend and into next week, for sure. It reminds me of when I got the pre-release prologue demo for ME '08 and speedran it over and over.
Also, there's an 0451 reference early on.
Thanks for your impressions, sounds good to me. I think I'll get it on Xbox One since it is my main machine. My PC probably can't run it and I just prefer my X1 over my PS4.
If anyone has a code (Xbox or PS4) I would love to try the game out for myself.
Hence why I specifically mentioned essential moves. The coil, quick turn, and roll are basic moves that make perfect cognitive and intuitive sense and need no "burn" in period on a player's mind.
Again though, their temporary lock seems to have no lasting impact and they've added new moves to bolster the skill tree, so it's a non-issue that just personally annoys me.
People in The Witcher 3 whined all the time about the fall damage.
But there's a roll mechanic that works with the same Mirror's Edge philosophy: until certain heights, with the right timing you can avoid some or even all the damage and mantain momentum.
After some patches CD Projekt made it semi-automatic.
After further patches they introduced a reminder.
'People' are dumb.
Here's the thing: 98% of players are not members of GAF. 85% of them are probably not even what you could call 'hardcore' gamers.
They pick up a game that looks/sounds good from the store, with little reading around it. They boot the game up. They play. Unless the game forces them to, they would probably never look at a skill tree, manual, or moveset otherwise. The majority if players are not interested in looking at that information - they'll just play along, enjoying the game, spending little/no time in tutorials or menus. Many of these will probably be first-time players, too, who don't know the already-established moveset.
So by putting a rudimentary, easy-to-progress upgrade tree in the game, they have forced players to evaluate their moveset even a tiny bit. For seasoned Mirror's Edge players like you and I, it's completely unnecessary, but for the 85% of not particularly invested or experienced players, it's a really, really fucking good idea.
You're right about cutscenes actually. They definitely have odd stutters and framerates.
During gameplay though, I've had a great experience. It feels brilliant to play - and this is only a beta build.
The beta is the start of the game and you pretty much can unlock quick turn with your first unlock point after the tutorial.
I can understand the semi-faux outrage at these ME1-type basic skills being gated but I also see why it is the way it is -ease of entry.
JetSetRadio
Banned
No code no buy, assholes had the nerve to spam me with shitty dev stuff instead.
Not yet, EU.
Still waiting for info when they will go out. Hopefully we will get one.
PS4 framerate test. Quite alot of 60fps but drops to mid 50 and mid 40's in demanding scenes.
But looks pretty solid and on the road to locked 60 for release build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a7e49_uwo4
But looks pretty solid and on the road to locked 60 for release build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a7e49_uwo4
Frontrunner codes are supposed to go out later today, other closed beta signups tomorrow I believe.
Glad that I don't have to worry about that since I got one yesterday.
It's so fun watching people that speedrun Mirror's Edge 1 along with newcomers trying to set records - that's a huge part of what this game is about. People complained immediately about Catalyst being open world, yet it was the complete opposite immediately when I read about it - it seemed like the perfect fit to me, and seeing the beta for a couple days now cements that opinion to me.
Seeing a time trial or a mission as you run and just choosing to do so, and then when you complete it, just heading along on to the next one just like that is how it's meant to be to me.
Glad that I don't have to worry about that since I got one yesterday.
It's so fun watching people that speedrun Mirror's Edge 1 along with newcomers trying to set records - that's a huge part of what this game is about. People complained immediately about Catalyst being open world, yet it was the complete opposite immediately when I read about it - it seemed like the perfect fit to me, and seeing the beta for a couple days now cements that opinion to me.
Seeing a time trial or a mission as you run and just choosing to do so, and then when you complete it, just heading along on to the next one just like that is how it's meant to be to me.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Can't roll my eyes hard enough
How could you not see this before and how were all of the positive aspects so imperceptible to you? Don't d you never see the brief, early developer diaries with them discussing the game's philosophy? I'm curious at what point you had anything concrete to be so staunchly worried about before the skill tree was revealed.
This is the thing.
The first game felt like it should have been a 'runner' simulator, where you took on jobs and dodged the cops and did stuff. But it was constrained by super-linear level design and relatively limited scope - along with a couple of flawed design decisions.
This is only a beta, but already you get that sense of immersion - when you meet a client and take a job, it feels like you're taking a job. In a fun way. In a world, rather than on-rails. It's seamless with running out into the world and finishing said job - where the first game always halted you and fragmented the pacing.
Which enhances the first game's core experience by a thousand times. It's consistently fun.
I'll pm the first two that quote this post a PS4 European code.
Edit:
Gone!
Edit:
I'd love one of those codes!
Gone!
Yay?
I'd love one of those codes!
Plinko
Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
There was.
The way companies have started dealing with these beta key events is such bullshit.
I don't use twitter or have time to be on some constant social media vigil in hopes that some random streamer or other clearly superior and more important person than myself will take pity on me and relieve me from the codeless wasteland in which I find myself.
If they just sent out the signup codes before, or at least at the same time as the MVP codes, noone would be salty about it. But no, that makes way to much sense.
It's not the end of the world, it's just annoying.
I don't use twitter or have time to be on some constant social media vigil in hopes that some random streamer or other clearly superior and more important person than myself will take pity on me and relieve me from the codeless wasteland in which I find myself.
If they just sent out the signup codes before, or at least at the same time as the MVP codes, noone would be salty about it. But no, that makes way to much sense.
It's not the end of the world, it's just annoying.
Garrett Hawke
Member
The whole streamer early access thing is fucking stupid as well because as we have literally just seen with MEC it leads people to jump to conclusions because streamers often aren't actually invested in the game so they play it very poorly, thus giving poor impressions of the game to viewers.
Yeah, I've noticed that a lot. All the gameplay I've seen have been played so poorly that I really can't evaluate the quality of the game.
Are there any videos out there from people with full control of their extremities? Or maybe even a basic understanding of the mechanics?
It is really bad practice.
Somebody posted a pastebin of loads of Asian codes from the earlier 'ME beta previews' thread and myself, along with many others, managed to snap up one of those. I didn't even enter the beta - I didn't even canvas anyone on social media - and I got a code. It is 100% unnecessary and, in many cases, unfair.
They could redeem the whole thing if they make the beta public for the last 2-3 days of the thing.
The most brutal part is that this is one of the most fun betas I've ever played. It's legit great. The full game has insane amounts of potential.
RSB
Banned
Damn, I have the worst luck ever. I decided to replay Mirror's Edge on my Xbone while I wait for the code, and apparently the LB button on my controller is broken, because it's dropping like 60% of my inputs (I tried with other games to make sure, and yeah, it's broken)
So now, even if I get a code, I won't be able to play it. Fuck me.
I should have signed up for the PS4 beta... ;_;
So now, even if I get a code, I won't be able to play it. Fuck me.
I should have signed up for the PS4 beta... ;_;
GoldenCrow
Member
Beta codes usually go out on US time with EA games, seeing as it isn't even the start of the standard working day in the east or west coast I wouldn't worry about it. I'm just as impatient as everyone else though. Haven't heard of a single person that is a 'frontrunner' and receiving a code via official means yet.
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
No code here, sucks -_-
wild wild rice
Member
I signed up as soon as the news was posted, but haven't received anything for PS4 in NA.
Are you saying that you've received your code through official channels after signing up and being frontrunner? If so, that's the first I've heard of it.
benicillin
Banned
Frontrunner signed up day 1, just got my code (USA). THE DREAM IS ALIVE
Vincent4756
Member
Just got my code. PS4 NA.