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Mirror's Edge Catalyst |OT| Keeping the Faith Alive
- Thread starter Eggbok
- Start date
Yeah, pop-in is a reality with this game. Happens on PC too, though less. Not as optimized as it could be.
NullPointer
Member
Was actually going to post how much I love the collectibles - at least the hidden packages/runner bags.
In the tradition of the best exploration collectibles they're always tucked away in spots that require you to have a solid handle on Faith's advanced movement, or else to take a shot in the dark and experiment with combining various moves together that at first might seem impossible.
Not since the early Tomb Raiders have I looked out over a space and wondered whether I could sprint to a wall run to a jump to a side wall to a scurry up to a spin around and flip up onto a platform. Stuff like this makes me fall in love with this game every time I settle into it.
They're great if you're playing the game for fun. Following a YouTube or guide turns the game into a checklist, and I've never seen the enjoyment in that personally. I'd rather just miss out on those trophies if the game doesn't interest me enough to find them all on my own.
In the tradition of the best exploration collectibles they're always tucked away in spots that require you to have a solid handle on Faith's advanced movement, or else to take a shot in the dark and experiment with combining various moves together that at first might seem impossible.
Not since the early Tomb Raiders have I looked out over a space and wondered whether I could sprint to a wall run to a jump to a side wall to a scurry up to a spin around and flip up onto a platform. Stuff like this makes me fall in love with this game every time I settle into it.
They're great if you're playing the game for fun. Following a YouTube or guide turns the game into a checklist, and I've never seen the enjoyment in that personally. I'd rather just miss out on those trophies if the game doesn't interest me enough to find them all on my own.
I had a good time with nearly all the collectibles. But there were a few items that were in places I wouldn't have checked because I wouldn't have considered them a navigable location. And as someone who has sunk tens of hours into this game, I'd say that's a little *too* hidden.
I'm not going to beat a dead horse further, but I really think keeping it Origin-only actively hurt EA. I bought something like 8 Steam sale gift copies over the years with the original Mirror's Edge. I think even someone who PM'd me a beta key and was vaguely affiliated with EA said some of the biggest feedback they'd gotten was people asking for it on Steam.
badcrumble
Member
It's a gorgeous game with solid noncombat gameplay, but it's also pretty clearly developed on a tight budget. But yeah, hopefully it doesn't hit bargain-bin pricing anytime soon, it deserves better than that.
Faynwulf
Member
Yeah same for me. The original Mirrors Edge is basically my go to game when I want to gift something.
And I'll wait till it hits around 20~ before I buy the new one. I had some really nasty issues with origin. So this is out of principle.
matrix-cat
Member
Billboards, Gridleaks and Runner Bags are all good. Runner Bags should be marked on your map in the same way as the other two, though; the starting point of the platforming challenge, I mean, not the actual bag itself.
Electronic parts, recordings and documents are trash, though. Just a Ubisoft shotgun spray of rubbish to press the X button on. I'm never going to read those documents or listen to any of those recordings - hiding lore away in collectibles is a tacit admission that it's not worth your time - so it's just busywork.
And, yeah, obviously you don't have to hunt them down, but what can I say? I got that first Mirror's Edge Platinum and I wanted to complete the set
Yeah, in the end I'd say some of the open world parts worked, while others were sort of... unnecessary.
Surprisingly, the story wasn't as horrible as some people made it out to be. I ended up liking Plastic a lot more than I thought I would (I like her a lot), and I fucking loved Dogen. It makes me sad we'll never see those two again.
Surprisingly, the story wasn't as horrible as some people made it out to be. I ended up liking Plastic a lot more than I thought I would (I like her a lot), and I fucking loved Dogen. It makes me sad we'll never see those two again.
I also liked Plastic (I posted more detailed thoughts about it earlier) and if you go back a few pages you'll also find several of us liked what they did with Dogen.
About open world stuff, I might actually read the lore. What's annoying is that the documents and recordings aren't marked on the map even once you finish. I can search for runner bags or electronic parts.
Her characterization surprised me. At first I thought she was being written as a run of the mill geek-type, but then she came at me with her loneliness and her difficulties connecting with other people and her extreme willingness to be Faith's best friend, and I sort of fell in love with her. Her "quirks" actually tied into who she was, and I just didn't expect that level of effort. She has a couple things in common with Alphys, now I think about it. Plastic just isn't anywhere near as depressingly neurotic and flawed.
I specifically interpreted it as (character/plot spoilers)
an inability to express emotions or integrate socially except through Kuma. I seem to remember almost every time she expressed an emotion, aside from one hug late in the game, it was through Kuma -- Kuma is cheering you on, Kuma doesn't like Icarus, Kuma says not to die, etc. Otherwise she's blunt, estranged from her sister, and so forth. Then in the post-credits scene they mention Plastic had a breakthrough with Kuma. Maybe she was able to work through some of her issues?
Then again, maybe I'm massively reading into it.
No, I don't think you're reading too deeply at all. As soon as she was talking about what Kuma was feeling, I instantly understood it to mean that.
But during the side-mission where you're planting the bugs for that one woman at the bay, Plastic flat out tells the woman that she's your best friend, so it's not like she's incapable of saying what she feels. I just think it's hard.
matrix-cat
Member
After Platinuming Catalyst last night, I decided to load up the original game on PC to reacquaint myself with it and see how I feel about all the various changes. I really like both games, though I think they each have their strengths.
Things I miss from ME1:
- Faith's animations have a certain physicality to it missing from Catalyst. You see her swinging her legs over every time you vault an object, there's way more head bob, she leans over when you turn, her breathing and grunts seem louder, there are more scuffing and scraping noises when you wallrun and climb. I suppose it's a subjective thing, but I prefer scrappy Old Faith to ultra-precise Nu Faith
- The arc on Old Faith's wallrun. You get some crazy height on it. Old Faith also seems to be able to withstand longer falls without requiring a Skill Roll, though this could just be my imagination or a difference in FOV.
- Merc. "Gahdamn girl, I just spilt my joe awll ovah da keyboard!"
- Guns, kinda. I mean, I like Catalyst's melee combat now that I've got a feel for it (and got all the upgrades), but God it felt liberating to just take a guy's gun, blam blam blam clear the room, then just drop it like a badass.
- More technical levels like The Atrium. Catalyst has these with the GridNodes, but none of them are quite the playground that the Atrium was, and nothing in Catalyst is as difficult as those Atrium time trials.
- Not having to buy upgrades with XP. At best I feel like this is a minor annoyance in Catalyst, and at worst it's really frustrating, like the first time you have to fight a Sentinel and you don't know that basically the only thing he's weak to is the Switch Places move.
- Old Faith's shoes with the split between the big toe and the others. Confirmed GOATest Faith shoes
Fantastic additions Catalyst made:
- Focus Shield! Such a fantastic mechanic; rewarding you for playing skilfully. It feels like it should have been there from the moment the first game was conceived. It's brilliant.
- Climbing speed upgrade. I don't care how unrealistic it is that Nu Faith can basically sprint up a pipe; it feels amazing and I wouldn't give it up.
- Ability to use anything as a Springboard. I'm missing this terribly in the first game; it just opens up every level so much when any waist-high object can potentially be Springboarded from.
- Being able to land softly without Skill Rolling by letting go of the analogue stick.
- Double wallruns, wallclimb-to-wallrun transitions, wallrunning off springboards, etc. It's all fantastic, and, again, very hard to live without in the first game
- Faith is a little more 'magnetic' in Catalyst, which means no more falling to your death because you were an inch too far off to one side when you jumped for that pipe
Things I could go either way on:
- The Shift mechanic. On the one hand, it feels great to be able to get up to top speed much faster, because the game's all about moving. On the other, the first game feels a little more 'pure' without it, because it takes a little more skill and smoother play to maintain that speed, y'know?
- Magrope. I like swinging across gaps, because there's some timing involved in letting go at the right moment, but I don't so much like the 'yank you up to a higher area' use. I feel like the final level really suffers from over-use of this; you never get a good flow going because you only climb one or two floors before you just Batman grapple up to a totally new area. I think I'd just prefer a less tall tower to climb. Though it's better than standing in an elevator, I suppose.
- The open world. Mirror's Edge has basically no fat on it: you play through a pretty great campaign, then you move onto time trials and speedruns. Catalyst, even if you just run straight from story mission to story mission, still has that open world padding. It has to teach you how to do everything, how to find collectibles, how to do side missions how to earn XP to buy upgrades, which again feeds back into the 'do all the things, check all the boxes' hamster wheel of modern video game design.
That said, I don't dislike the open world. It really shines in the time trials, where half the challenge is finding the best route through the city, and then if you go on to do some of the Delivery or Diversion missions you'll find that you already know the quickest way of getting from point to point. Basically, I don't miss the open world when I'm playing the first game, and I don't necessarily begrudge it when I'm playing the second. It's just a different, but equally valid, approach to game design.
(Boy this turned out longer than I really wanted it to be)
Things I miss from ME1:
- Faith's animations have a certain physicality to it missing from Catalyst. You see her swinging her legs over every time you vault an object, there's way more head bob, she leans over when you turn, her breathing and grunts seem louder, there are more scuffing and scraping noises when you wallrun and climb. I suppose it's a subjective thing, but I prefer scrappy Old Faith to ultra-precise Nu Faith
- The arc on Old Faith's wallrun. You get some crazy height on it. Old Faith also seems to be able to withstand longer falls without requiring a Skill Roll, though this could just be my imagination or a difference in FOV.
- Merc. "Gahdamn girl, I just spilt my joe awll ovah da keyboard!"
- Guns, kinda. I mean, I like Catalyst's melee combat now that I've got a feel for it (and got all the upgrades), but God it felt liberating to just take a guy's gun, blam blam blam clear the room, then just drop it like a badass.
- More technical levels like The Atrium. Catalyst has these with the GridNodes, but none of them are quite the playground that the Atrium was, and nothing in Catalyst is as difficult as those Atrium time trials.
- Not having to buy upgrades with XP. At best I feel like this is a minor annoyance in Catalyst, and at worst it's really frustrating, like the first time you have to fight a Sentinel and you don't know that basically the only thing he's weak to is the Switch Places move.
- Old Faith's shoes with the split between the big toe and the others. Confirmed GOATest Faith shoes
Fantastic additions Catalyst made:
- Focus Shield! Such a fantastic mechanic; rewarding you for playing skilfully. It feels like it should have been there from the moment the first game was conceived. It's brilliant.
- Climbing speed upgrade. I don't care how unrealistic it is that Nu Faith can basically sprint up a pipe; it feels amazing and I wouldn't give it up.
- Ability to use anything as a Springboard. I'm missing this terribly in the first game; it just opens up every level so much when any waist-high object can potentially be Springboarded from.
- Being able to land softly without Skill Rolling by letting go of the analogue stick.
- Double wallruns, wallclimb-to-wallrun transitions, wallrunning off springboards, etc. It's all fantastic, and, again, very hard to live without in the first game
- Faith is a little more 'magnetic' in Catalyst, which means no more falling to your death because you were an inch too far off to one side when you jumped for that pipe
Things I could go either way on:
- The Shift mechanic. On the one hand, it feels great to be able to get up to top speed much faster, because the game's all about moving. On the other, the first game feels a little more 'pure' without it, because it takes a little more skill and smoother play to maintain that speed, y'know?
- Magrope. I like swinging across gaps, because there's some timing involved in letting go at the right moment, but I don't so much like the 'yank you up to a higher area' use. I feel like the final level really suffers from over-use of this; you never get a good flow going because you only climb one or two floors before you just Batman grapple up to a totally new area. I think I'd just prefer a less tall tower to climb. Though it's better than standing in an elevator, I suppose.
- The open world. Mirror's Edge has basically no fat on it: you play through a pretty great campaign, then you move onto time trials and speedruns. Catalyst, even if you just run straight from story mission to story mission, still has that open world padding. It has to teach you how to do everything, how to find collectibles, how to do side missions how to earn XP to buy upgrades, which again feeds back into the 'do all the things, check all the boxes' hamster wheel of modern video game design.
That said, I don't dislike the open world. It really shines in the time trials, where half the challenge is finding the best route through the city, and then if you go on to do some of the Delivery or Diversion missions you'll find that you already know the quickest way of getting from point to point. Basically, I don't miss the open world when I'm playing the first game, and I don't necessarily begrudge it when I'm playing the second. It's just a different, but equally valid, approach to game design.
(Boy this turned out longer than I really wanted it to be
)Yeah, it felt like they ran out of time for the last level--there was lots of magrope-ing and less interesting platforming. But holy shit, I loved the
giant fans!
BTW, for those of you who enjoyed Dogen, Plastic, or what have you, I encourage you to tweet the narrative director for Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, Christofer Emgård: https://twitter.com/chrisemgard
Most reviews were like "story is shit" but few of them gave detailed feedback on what was good and what was bad. I'm sure it would be helpful to hear about what characters were well done, what was enjoyable, in addition to the negative stuff already present in reviews.
Most reviews were like "story is shit" but few of them gave detailed feedback on what was good and what was bad. I'm sure it would be helpful to hear about what characters were well done, what was enjoyable, in addition to the negative stuff already present in reviews.
Man, it was already super predictable but the reveal
Also, I haven't finished yet but
that Isabel is your sister was ridiculously unceremonious.
Also, I haven't finished yet but
does the game ever reveal who the Sam Fisher guy whose phone I took in that early mission was working for? Or are we just supposed to forget about him?
Garrett Hawke
Member
The Atrium was my favorite Mirror's Edge level from the original, but I'm not sure I agree about the difficulty or the playground nature. In addition to the open world, Catalyst specifically has the entire
Construction Area
By "tough" for time trials I mean tough to get into the top 5%, not necessarily tough to get 3 stars. Interestingly there are multiple routes you can take.
*edit*
This is one of my favorite additions. Hitting pipes was such a nightmare in ME1.
NullPointer
Member
I still plunge to my death all the time from missing jumps to ladders though
But pipes? Pipes are good.
Was wondering this myself. Can you disable on the move?
IceDoesntHelp
Banned
im trying really hard to like this game, but its hard. Its tedious and boring.
Im not sure about side missions, but for deliveries and such, sometimes you can stop the fan, then start the task and the state will be preserved.
Warnen
Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
Just finished this game the other day. I think if it more as a puzzle action game. Some of my fav missions were Plastics side ones, I loved stringing together moves to get all the red dots.
Id give it a solid 7/10 You really have to like the parkour stuff in Dying Light to enjoy this game. Thankfully the combat wasn't as bad as I feared.
Id give it a solid 7/10 You really have to like the parkour stuff in Dying Light to enjoy this game. Thankfully the combat wasn't as bad as I feared.
Yeah, I just got the game and the CG cutscenes are a slideshow. Can't believe they screwed that up when they were perfectly fine for me on the beta. This should really have been fixed by now. But tbh I don't really care that much about the story, so I have no qualms about skipping them anyway. Also, from what I've played so far, disappointed in, apparently, no dynamic day-night cycle. It seems mission-based and then it stays static until you progress to the next one. Overall, I'm really enjoying the game, the main missions level design is great, the open world is serviceable and Faith controls like bliss. Just happy that we got another ME (and most likely, the last). Still, it seems like this game didn't have the biggest budget or team working on it. And EA did really send this to die, huh?
Just one question, I presume you can still play around the open world and finish any side stuff after the ending, right?
Warnen
Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
I did all the side missions before finishing it but you can do the runs, and all the blue missions for sure so I assume if you didn't finish the side stuff they would be there still. The last node to unlocks after you beat the game uncovers any hidden stuff you didn't get too.
It becomes dynamic once you finish all the story missions. And once it does, time doesn't move forward when you're standing still to avoid the player seeing chunky shadow movement (or something).
Like the characters so far, Plastic probably being my favorite. Faith's voice acting is pretty bad though.
Also encountering parts where the audio cuts out for like a second or so and framerate drops here and there (playing PS4 version) but otherwise is a fun time.
But in terms of enjoyment compared to every game I've played this year, this game is on the bottom of that list. Still not convinced open world was the way to go with this game, would have preferred large levels like the original.
Also encountering parts where the audio cuts out for like a second or so and framerate drops here and there (playing PS4 version) but otherwise is a fun time.
But in terms of enjoyment compared to every game I've played this year, this game is on the bottom of that list. Still not convinced open world was the way to go with this game, would have preferred large levels like the original.
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
Beat the campaign tonight. Did all the side missions, grid nodes and security hubs first, along with grabbing all the runner kits as they unlocked. Took around 16 1/2 hours.
Still messing around with delivery missions and time trials as I mostly ignored those.
Overall I like the game a lot. Solid 8.5/10 for me.
Still messing around with delivery missions and time trials as I mostly ignored those.
Overall I like the game a lot. Solid 8.5/10 for me.
Are you sure that's not just the dynamic music? It's designed to kick in the beat when you get moving and dial back the volume if you slow down.
No, the audio is straight-up cutting out for like three seconds sometimes.
I lied. I was briefly top 2% for every dash. Some jerk has knocked me to Top 3% for Donkey In An Oven though. Curse you, nameless runner!
Here are my runs for Under Construction and Feature Creep. The Under Construction video features a tiny speed up near the beginning that I haven't seen in other videos and the Feature Creep video has a fun glitch at the end where I get massive air from a jump off a wall run. I've seen other people get that glitch, so it might be reproducible, at least at that spot.
Garrett Hawke
Member
Nice videos it's always really humbling seeing those sorts of clips cus I like to think I'm reasonably good at video games, but the level of mastery some of y'all have is crazy!
Also, I was rewatching some ME1 footage today - is it just me or is Faith's top speed much higher in Catalyst?
it's always really humbling seeing those sorts of clips cus I like to think I'm reasonably good at video games, but the level of mastery some of y'all have is crazy!Also, I was rewatching some ME1 footage today - is it just me or is Faith's top speed much higher in Catalyst?
Nice videos
Also, I was rewatching some ME1 footage today - is it just me or is Faith's top speed much higher in Catalyst?
Faith is a goddamn weightless ninja in Catalyst, haha
Garrett Hawke
Member
Kinda funny in hindsight cus I remember before the game was out a lot of people thought Faith seemed slower than before
Also I disabled the dot in the Center of the screen with no ill effects. I couldn't play the original without the dot, it would make me feel sick really quickly, but this one is fine. Maybe due to the reduced head bob.
Thats what I meant, just used to blanket calling anything thats not the main path sidemissions. I'll give that and the holding down the button Spoit mentioned both a shot
Thanks!
matrix-cat
Member
You have to hold the button. It's just the Disrupt move that you can use to stun enemies or destroy cameras and drones; hold Circle/B/whatever key it is on PC when you get close and it'll send out a wave of red jamming techmagic that'll disable the fan.
I had a tough time with this at first because I thought you just had to tap the button, and then I'd end up having to stop and mash until it finally worked, but once you know to hold it you can do it on the fly and coil jump straight through the fan without slowing down.
The story was fine, most of the characters were really well done. My main complaint would be the characters being tonaly inconsistent at times.
Ie Towards the end of the game something bad happens. It appears to harden Faiths resolve, yet 30 seconds later she's crying and needs a pep talk to return to the place the origional plot point took her.
I actually liked that moment. At that point,
the death of Noah is starting to sink in, and she's having to plead with a guy who is effectively a mobster to help her, and all he's doing is cutting her down. Moreover, he's speaking the truth, in many ways. So she has a brief moment of weakness. I thought that was human of her. Faith may be determined and resolute, but she's not an emotionless vengeance machine.
They're different moves. Tapping puts the disruptor on the fan itself, and doesn't take a charge. But you have to stop and wait for the fan to stop spinning. Holding it does the normal disruptor move that disables enemies, cameras, and also fans, but uses a charge
Just finished the story.
Overall, I liked it... sorta. Maybe somewhere in-between a 7 or 7.5/10.
+ The general movement is fun as hell. There's a great flow, and understanding how moves can interweave is by far the most satisfying element.
+ The open world is a fun playground
+ It looks fucking awesome. While the sterile feel an get to be too much at times, I still just loved looking around.
+ The combat, once you start really taking advantage of your moves and the environment, can lead to some really awesome moments
All that stuff was pretty ace. In that aspect it's a totally satisfying sequel to Mirror's Edge.
I wish the combat was more varied though. Using the MAG to pull dudes close to you or something, or having more control in blocking attacks would've been way more satisfying.
Downsides?
- The story was pretty dumb. The world was a very YA vision of future fascist dystopia.
- The side missions were all pretty boring outside of the gridNode challenges Plastic gave you. The few that had any narrative hook felt like a wasted opportunity. Obnoxious timed challenges that make no sense just felt completely unnecessary. Like time trials, whatever, cool. That feels in the spirit of the game atleast.
- The collectibles make no sense in the world. GridLeaks are fine, but stealing the chips or whatever only breaks flow whenever you find one. The recordings are even more baffling. Why you're finding these incredibly specific and personal recordings about your life everywhere? Even the game's big twist (however obvious it is) is revealed in one of the recordings, only for Faith to provide no reaction. Like her world just shattered, and she has no response. And when she does find out as dictated by the story, she again has no real reaction. It... it's all just so bizarre.
- (Ending spoilers)
Overall, I liked it... sorta. Maybe somewhere in-between a 7 or 7.5/10.
+ The general movement is fun as hell. There's a great flow, and understanding how moves can interweave is by far the most satisfying element.
+ The open world is a fun playground
+ It looks fucking awesome. While the sterile feel an get to be too much at times, I still just loved looking around.
+ The combat, once you start really taking advantage of your moves and the environment, can lead to some really awesome moments
All that stuff was pretty ace. In that aspect it's a totally satisfying sequel to Mirror's Edge.
I wish the combat was more varied though. Using the MAG to pull dudes close to you or something, or having more control in blocking attacks would've been way more satisfying.
Downsides?
- The story was pretty dumb. The world was a very YA vision of future fascist dystopia.
- The side missions were all pretty boring outside of the gridNode challenges Plastic gave you. The few that had any narrative hook felt like a wasted opportunity. Obnoxious timed challenges that make no sense just felt completely unnecessary. Like time trials, whatever, cool. That feels in the spirit of the game atleast.
- The collectibles make no sense in the world. GridLeaks are fine, but stealing the chips or whatever only breaks flow whenever you find one. The recordings are even more baffling. Why you're finding these incredibly specific and personal recordings about your life everywhere? Even the game's big twist (however obvious it is) is revealed in one of the recordings, only for Faith to provide no reaction. Like her world just shattered, and she has no response. And when she does find out as dictated by the story, she again has no real reaction. It... it's all just so bizarre.
- (Ending spoilers)
Guys, you're not getting a third game. Like... come on. The "finish the fight" ending was wholly unnecessary.
I'm not sure whether to curse you or thank you. I was stuck at 19.94 on Under Construction last night. Watching your run gave me some ideas on how to improve and now...
My first and only Top 2% so far. I want more now! I didn't even think of the wall run right off the bat so thanks for that. Pretty much the same otherwise except I went through the doorway instead of around it like you did.