smashballTaz
Member
I also miss well-made narrative single player games. Will be buying this on Win 10 at the end of the month.
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Quantum Break Review Thread
- Thread starter Twin Tails
- Start date
Chobel
Member
Oops, didn't see the bolded part XD.
Unfortunately, usually the only way to do that is to actually buy the thing, by then it's too late if you don't like it.
I still think that reviews are becoming less and less relevant, and are now much more objective, rather than giving an overview of what is good and what isn't in a subjective way.
SmartWaffles
Member
It's Brandon Fucking Jones!
Kralamoonard
Member
Because some people still enjoy these 'short' narrative linear experiences admist this time where everything has to be open world with too much bloat and superficial content that takes up hours of your life. Everything is about breadth now rather than depth.
Of course that's the way the ball rolls now, but for someone with limited time, I still enjoy these short experiences because playing a big game like Witcher 3 just isn't possible unless I dedicate my whole summer to it or fail my entrance to medical school lol...I know I'm in the minority and it's sad to see open world is this gen's FPS, but yeah... :/
I just wonder how Uncharted 4 will fare. My god that review thread will be one to witness. It also seems reviewers are being more harsh this gen...so yeah.
Weird to think that a game with a review distribution like this:
...is generating as much concern as we're seeing in this thread.
The scores are fine, but some of the text in those reviews are a cause for concern. I'm still planning on getting the PC version, but I'm a lot less excited than I was yesterday. It seems the story does not hit and the tv sections are at best just ok.
RedSparrows
Member
But like anything, you might end up loving the story...? Or hating it, of course.
Considering how bloated Alan Wake was, I'm fine with this.
Miles Quaritch
Member
This suggests no filler to me and that's a good thing. Hopefully experimenting with the time powers adds some replay value.
Kralamoonard
Member
Yep it's pissing me off to no end -- especially as I have limited time.
Green Yoshi
Member
Some reviewers complained about stuttering (with 50 Mbit/s).
Only managed to play the first chapter so far. I really enjoy it. The gun play is a lot of fun and it feels like a cool "story game" so to speak. I also enjoyed the first episode. It reminded me of the high points of Heroes Reborn (I enjoyed that show too, up to a certain point though.)
My biggest problem - by far - was the streaming though. It took me 45 minutes to watch like 15 minutes of cutscenes. It stopped buffering and told me to download the episodes all the time. That was frustrating.
My biggest problem - by far - was the streaming though. It took me 45 minutes to watch like 15 minutes of cutscenes. It stopped buffering and told me to download the episodes all the time. That was frustrating.
They really haven't. Cosmi had a nice chart showing score distribution which showed the only thing missing was dreck cash-ins from last gen, which have moved to mobile.
Twin Tails
Member
So glad I got those downloaded. I'll play this once on the Xbone and watch all episodes then play again on PC and skip them.
I said to a poster this was not smart for a new ip to have a embargo lifted 4 days before release
Could maybe a server demand issue? Not fully up yet like on release?
See my bolded part.
See my bolded part.
Casuals with chill internet in for a rude awakening.
Really should have shipped the show on a separate disc, it's kinda weird.
masterkajo
Member
A year ago I would have disagreed with you but now having a full time job and university on the side as well as a girlfriend I am so happy that this game is short and sweet. I hardly have time to play (went from hours per day to two to three hours per week if I find the time). Real life just gets in the way of my gaming life lately...
Sure, but in line with the distribution, for every review speaking poorly of the story, there's two or three others speaking highly.
Is 10 hours or less considered underwhelming for a single-player TPS these days? I thought 8-9 hours was pretty much the average?
The perfect Dark
Banned
Can you skip cutscenes and episodes? Imo games have zero replay value if you can't skip cutscenes. One of the most annoying things.
My bad. But at the time it was hardly any
Twin Tails
Member
Yes, you can skip episodes. IDK about in-game cutscenes.
CyanideFuse
Member
Yeah, I just watched Easy Allies' review; so good to hear Brandon doing review V/O again. I am almost sold on the game because of this review; the Windows store technical restrictions wall just stands in my way of going for it.
There really was. Everyday there was some sort of thread about QB on here with news or trailers. Early previews because people got their copy early. Maybe nothing on TV. But that is what MS usually does and wait for release day with marketing on there.
justgames7604
Member
Looks good, i havent had a linear single player experience since the order. Such a rare occurances of AAA experiences like it this gen. Enjoyed the order, hoping to enjoy this. Waiting for windows 10 impressions first.
I'm sorry if i misinterpreted, but that's what I got from your post and your fake letter in an earlier one. You said something in the line of: QB gets panned because the gameplay is mediocre, while ok-story games with good mechanics get high 8's. You also hammer on the fact reviewers seem to find gameplay mechanics more important then narrative. Which made me think (together with you defending narrative games) you thought QB was handled unfair.
My opinion is just that offcourse, mine. If others enjoyed the show, that's fine. But honestly, I didn't like the show at all. Maybe I'm a bit more severe for it because I'm also a screenwriter, but the whole thing looks like an expensive fan film, with bad dialogue, some good and some very bad effects and mediocre acting. The thing is: by choosing for a live action show, remedy set the bar high for itself, as they had to compete with the shows you see on Netflix and cable. They miss that bar by a mile.
And then there is the fact that it doesn't really matter if it is live action, it is still basicly a long cut scene. We've allready had games with branching paths and different storylines. Doing it in live action and calling it tv doesn't change a thing. Especially when the 'branching' of the storyline is so minimal it has little to no effect on the experience. For instance the first junction gives you the option to brand Jack as a terrorist. But you never really notice that the public turns against him, apart from some newspaper clippings, emails that are all TLDR and maybe a news report on tv here and there. To give an example of how little effect it all has: there is the scene on the bridge they showed in a gameplay demo on gamescom too (So I feel save to tell about it, but I'll spoler anyway)
Arriving on the docks under the bridge, you have to reach a boat silently. When you have Jack as a 'terrorist' a civilian on the bridge will notice you down there and call: "hey, isn't that jack joyce!". Cover blown, the action can start. If you have Monarch as bad guys there is a protest on the bridge (in stead of a Monarch checkpoint). One of the protesters will notice you down there and call "hey buddy, wacht out! Monach's all over!". Cover blown, action begins. That's it for branching the story, really
So yeah, what QB set out to do, it fails at in my opinion. The game itself is okay (especially the action, I didn't like the platforming at all). So it gets mediocre reactions because of that, not because it tries something new or has a narrative focus. (I again feel you imply reviewers shouldn't give so much attention to mechanics, as long as the story is good)
It is not that Gone Home is an indie. It is a game that first and foremost wants to tell it's story, and does it in a way only the medium could. I call those type of games more interactive stories then games. Gone Home does what it sets out to do in a great way imo, hence the acclaim. (It's not a game that puts the most importance in it's mechanics, but in it's story and how it is brought) QB wants to be an action game with a story, then it will only be acclaimed if it succeeds at being a good one. If the action part isn't fun --> mediocre scores.
TLOU is offcourse a great game that does everything right. Hence the acclaim. QB doesn' succeed in that, hence the acclaim. The narrative was (to me at least) an extra factor to love this game. It is a supreme example of how you can tell a great story in a game, while QB just isn't at all. (The screenplay is way better written then QB's too)
LiS got some mixed reception, true. But I gave it a raving review, because to me it does everything it wants to do right. It got mostly criticesed for some cheesye dialogue stuff and lack of meaningfull impact on the story if I recall correctly, in stead of mechanics (it is a Telltale like game)
To write a dicslaimer of my own by the way: narrative driven, lineair shooters are maybe my most favourite genre. I would hate to see this style of game dissapear (it won't). But I didn't really like QB, so why would I rate it better then I did when I have so much (imo) fair criticism. (To give an extra example: I suffered trough a second playtrough, because I was bored out of my mind so many times. Usually these type of games are the ones I easily finish multiple times and want to relive.)
This sounds horrible, and I'll be downright pissed if this happens to me. I do not want to download the files, not only because it will take forever on my connection and hog the internet, but also because I don't want the extra wasted storage. They really need to get the streaming fine tuned and completely reliable before release.
Kralamoonard
Member
Yep exactly - being in my final year of A Levels, (which is the final year before college of you're in America), has meant I've had so many games to play, but so little time to actually play them lol. I fear that if I do get accepted into med school this year that it won't get any better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU9A_oN6NV8&feature=player_detailpage#t=21
On topic. Glad their review is back up. Maybe I can finally stop going to Gametrailers as like... a reflex like when SFV came out looking for a review of that there.
I ended up preordering the game anyways for the included Win10 version. A video that convince me was funnily enough, a tech video from digital foundry. He sounded pretty keen on the game through all the tech talk.
SmartWaffles
Member
I literally had goosebumps hearing Brandon's voice in the review.
Not in 2016. That was a slog.
Really looking forward to this, scores honestly are higher than I expected, but I am so in.
Do the cutscenes only stream in 1080p on the Xbox? It'll take me 6+ days to download 75gb.
The reviews i've skimmed don't address the quality of the video varying to match your internet speed. If anything, it forces the highest quality video, even having those with great internet to buffer a substantial amount.
The reviews i've skimmed don't address the quality of the video varying to match your internet speed. If anything, it forces the highest quality video, even having those with great internet to buffer a substantial amount.
Kralamoonard
Member
Hey I'm a bit confused about the live action stuff. Is it just sometimes instead of games cut scenes and a whole episode at the end of each and or is it just an episode at the end of each act?
Yautja_Warrior
Member
Certainly a mixed reaction from some reviews, more mixed than I expected anyway. Remedy normally make decent games, but never quite hit that top tier quality and it seems to be the case here too.
Will still play it though, as it's seems decent enough, I will get it cheap on PC at some point.
Will still play it though, as it's seems decent enough, I will get it cheap on PC at some point.
That's the problem, you can't tell it to not use the highest quality. It will do so for a few seconds but then force the 1080p again. I do not expect this one game to he like Netflix but since these videos are so important for the game I wished it would be smoother. I hope they'll patch this.
Apparently they re-review several times a year, but only look for sites and print publications, so it might be that being a YouTube channel would work against them.
You need a written review to be counted so probably not.
get out
Eh, maybe if you take Jeff's word as gospel (unless you're speaking from personally playing the game). If you check other reviews there have also been a lot of positive praise about the game's live action TV elements. IGN, Polygon, and Kotaku all seemed to have liked the TV elements, and Kotaku in particular praised the ability to trigger changes to the live action bits as one of the stronger parts of the game as they didn't particularly care for the overarching story.
I also respect Jeff's opinion and can understand why the game didn't appeal to him. I find my taste in games is quite different from his, so it makes reading his reviews a bit more challenging in terms of me trying to figure out whether I might actually like a game he reviews unfavorably (whereas Brad, Dan, and Austin's opinion on games seem to be more close to my own). But to his credit, I do think he does a good job in general of laying out what exactly didn't work for him in a game, and it's always good to hear differing views on a topic.
orichalcos
Member
I finished the game now. 90% collectible... 11 hours.