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Code Name S.T.E.A.M. |OT| They made Lincoln Force! Or: "Welcome to Earth!"
- Thread starter TheMoon
- Start date
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
so it is also works in nnon-New 3DS then?
TDLink
Member
Yes the game is playable on normal 3DS. The speed-up is only x2 instead of x3 and you need to use the stylus to aim instead of the c-stick.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Oh I was talking about the patch, while I don't mind the waiting time this is great even if it's x2.
cagelessrat
Member
You can also use the face buttons to aim. Works just fine. Less cumbersome than the touch screen camera controls.
I'll go back through for gears now that the patch is out. Love the game.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
Finished my first run through the campaign today: 33 hours, 85/96 medals, and just over the 40k hurdle for sub-weapons (Sentry was the last one I picked up). I played through nearly all of it before the 1.1.0 update, and given how much of an improvement the speed boost on the enemy turns is proving to be, I expect the completion time for most players will be much shorter. I think I know where most of the missing medals are; in many cases I either accidentally killed a boss before picking everything up or just didn't bring a squad member with the appropriate mobility.
I absolutely adore the fundamentals of the game—the core concept of putting movement points and ammunition on the same resource budget, the vision system, the verticality of the maps (far more pronounced than any IntSys game to date), the variety of mission objectives and enemy design, the amount of tactical flexibility in the party composition, the granularity of the free aiming. The basic design is unique and superb, and it begs for refinement in a sequel. (The ABE bonus stages are rather bland, but I say that as someone who signed up for a turn-based strategy game, so the real-time combat was a bore.) It's a shame this game was so tepidly received by reviewers who didn't bother to understand it, but I suppose this is par for the course for both Nintendo and the strategy genre these days.
The difficulty tuning was more flexible than I expected: I played the whole game without ever using the once-a-map overdrive powers, and I got through most of it without using save points at all, but in the last few missions I found myself resorting to using the save points to recover the whole party. As it revives fallen party members, it does seem overpowered for its cost, but since the coins unlock rewards in linear fashion (as opposed to being consumable currency for a shop or a macro-level management layer, which I sorely missed) it's clear that the cost is strictly a score penalty, if chasing high scores is your thing. I have yet to encounter a single StreetPass hit to populate my weekly scoreboard, and it looks as though the score-chasing element of the campaign depended on the assumption of a very active player population. Online global leaderboards would be very welcome should they ever be patched in.
Haven't tried the challenge modes with the score multipliers yet, but from the descriptions they look tantalizing. I relied so heavily on backtracking for scouting and coin collection that the no-backtracking mode may be an impossible adjustment.
I do think the UI suffers from being a bit opaque: I don't mind that the player's vision is limited, but none of the enemies' properties like movement points or firing range are documented anywhere in the game even after you have encountered them, and it adds a lot of guesswork to what would otherwise be methodical planning. This is the kind of information that should go in the log book or be discoverable by other means, like an 'identify' weapon. I don't mind that you have to learn so many of the overwatch mechanics by trial and error or making mistakes (it didn't occur to me until very late that firing from a stationary position on an enemy in overwatch means they will return fire), but the worst thing about the game is when you step into an overwatch trap where even nudging the stick in any direction leads you to be fired upon repeatedly with no chance of escape. Yes, it's supposed to be a suppression fire mechanic, but it's not really clear it's supposed to work that way until you see it in action.
This is the downside of the granularity of free aiming and movement within a square: the enemies do it too, so there isn't the same total clarity of line-of-sight rules that one would expect in XCOM. It does mean there is a lot more variance that depends on skill, timing, and positioning rather than RNG (burst-fire weapons aside), but the negative consequence is an element of uncertainty over how enemies will behave or when real-time actions matter (e.g. when dodging the red beam of an enemy on overwatch rotating into position).
Favourite combo through most of the late game had to be the Fox (with the 12/12 boiler) + Randolph (with the Crossbow). Great for clearing the map quickly from a distance, though I had to learn the hard way that when Randolph turns an enemy around with the Unspeakable Lure, the enemy only sweeps until the first target it sees, then fires. Whoops.
Haven't tried the multiplayer yet; is it still fairly active a month into release?
I absolutely adore the fundamentals of the game—the core concept of putting movement points and ammunition on the same resource budget, the vision system, the verticality of the maps (far more pronounced than any IntSys game to date), the variety of mission objectives and enemy design, the amount of tactical flexibility in the party composition, the granularity of the free aiming. The basic design is unique and superb, and it begs for refinement in a sequel. (The ABE bonus stages are rather bland, but I say that as someone who signed up for a turn-based strategy game, so the real-time combat was a bore.) It's a shame this game was so tepidly received by reviewers who didn't bother to understand it, but I suppose this is par for the course for both Nintendo and the strategy genre these days.
The difficulty tuning was more flexible than I expected: I played the whole game without ever using the once-a-map overdrive powers, and I got through most of it without using save points at all, but in the last few missions I found myself resorting to using the save points to recover the whole party. As it revives fallen party members, it does seem overpowered for its cost, but since the coins unlock rewards in linear fashion (as opposed to being consumable currency for a shop or a macro-level management layer, which I sorely missed) it's clear that the cost is strictly a score penalty, if chasing high scores is your thing. I have yet to encounter a single StreetPass hit to populate my weekly scoreboard, and it looks as though the score-chasing element of the campaign depended on the assumption of a very active player population. Online global leaderboards would be very welcome should they ever be patched in.
Haven't tried the challenge modes with the score multipliers yet, but from the descriptions they look tantalizing. I relied so heavily on backtracking for scouting and coin collection that the no-backtracking mode may be an impossible adjustment.
I do think the UI suffers from being a bit opaque: I don't mind that the player's vision is limited, but none of the enemies' properties like movement points or firing range are documented anywhere in the game even after you have encountered them, and it adds a lot of guesswork to what would otherwise be methodical planning. This is the kind of information that should go in the log book or be discoverable by other means, like an 'identify' weapon. I don't mind that you have to learn so many of the overwatch mechanics by trial and error or making mistakes (it didn't occur to me until very late that firing from a stationary position on an enemy in overwatch means they will return fire), but the worst thing about the game is when you step into an overwatch trap where even nudging the stick in any direction leads you to be fired upon repeatedly with no chance of escape. Yes, it's supposed to be a suppression fire mechanic, but it's not really clear it's supposed to work that way until you see it in action.
This is the downside of the granularity of free aiming and movement within a square: the enemies do it too, so there isn't the same total clarity of line-of-sight rules that one would expect in XCOM. It does mean there is a lot more variance that depends on skill, timing, and positioning rather than RNG (burst-fire weapons aside), but the negative consequence is an element of uncertainty over how enemies will behave or when real-time actions matter (e.g. when dodging the red beam of an enemy on overwatch rotating into position).
Favourite combo through most of the late game had to be the Fox (with the 12/12 boiler) + Randolph (with the Crossbow). Great for clearing the map quickly from a distance, though I had to learn the hard way that when Randolph turns an enemy around with the Unspeakable Lure, the enemy only sweeps until the first target it sees, then fires. Whoops.
Haven't tried the multiplayer yet; is it still fairly active a month into release?
TheMoon
Member
Unless the mp is region locked then you can expect an infusion of new players in a month at least.
Nice one Quixotic! I just picked this up and I'm in love as well. It's less methodical, yes, but there is so much kick-ass in everything from the characters to the music that the streamlining is easily forgotten, and kind of welcome as it's portable. The part I'm having trouble figuring out is the wonky aiming when it comes to weak spots and some projectile weapons, but I think they did the best they could given the complexity that 3D space adds.
Now I'm convinced that this game was a bit difficult for some reviewers. I kept having to restart even in the first few levels, and until I got the hang of things, it was pretty off-putting. It asks a lot from the player and doesn't hold your hand--personally I prefer this approach but it puts the ego to the test.
Now I'm convinced that this game was a bit difficult for some reviewers. I kept having to restart even in the first few levels, and until I got the hang of things, it was pretty off-putting. It asks a lot from the player and doesn't hold your hand--personally I prefer this approach but it puts the ego to the test.
Polygon updated their review score after the patch.
http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/13/82...-m-review-off-the-rails#review_update_8169204
Went from a 3.5 to a 6.
http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/13/82...-m-review-off-the-rails#review_update_8169204
Went from a 3.5 to a 6.
ClayKavalier
Banned
It's a big increase. Praising games that "value your time" (feel like I hear or read that expression at least once every time I visit a gaming site) seems to be a pervasive idea among games writers right now. Nothing wrong with calling out games that waste your time due to bad design choices, but I'd prefer final opinions and scores be based on a game's mechanics, not technical aspects.
Obviously how the game plays isn't you're primary concern when better load times nearly doubles your score.
TheMoon
Member
McElroy is one of the "game doesn't value my time" pioneers as I have come to understand.
Btw if anyone's wondering: metacritic is unaffected by this since they only recognize initial scores due to some outdated ruling from 2003 when game companies frequently "bought" adjusted scores post release or some such...
vagabondarts
Member
Just want to share that I love this game, and we need a sequel with Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, and some more idealized American legends.
Hopefully people pick this up, its easy to dismiss because it looks kind of third party bargain bin at first glance. I initially hated the art direction but once I got into a few maps things really get quite good. (I still think the demo, or intro maps are hideous)
When you are actually rocking a full crew and every turn could be an overwatch away from death around the corner, it all comes together so well.
Its like a lost Saturday morning cartoon property from the 90s or something.
My favorite characters so far are Lion and Scarecrow so I did a sketch of them:
Anyway, this game surprised me.
Hopefully people pick this up, its easy to dismiss because it looks kind of third party bargain bin at first glance. I initially hated the art direction but once I got into a few maps things really get quite good. (I still think the demo, or intro maps are hideous)
When you are actually rocking a full crew and every turn could be an overwatch away from death around the corner, it all comes together so well.
Its like a lost Saturday morning cartoon property from the 90s or something.
My favorite characters so far are Lion and Scarecrow so I did a sketch of them:
Anyway, this game surprised me.
Riposte
Member
That's very well done.
vagabondarts
Member
Thanks! I realized afterwards I forgot to put their boilers and weapons in there.
Oops!
Worthintendo
Member
So Robin and Lucina Amiibos came out in Australia and I'm playing on my imported US 3DS and OMG, Robin and Lucina are amazing, Robins Fire Spell is all kinds of awesome in this ^_^
*edit*
thought I'd go abit deeper onto what they do in the game.
Lucina has a leap attack similar to Lions as her main attack, and her secondary is a bow which has 3 settings that alter the angle of the shot so you can aim over things.
Robin has a short range blast radius attack with his thunder sword and a really long range (talking Fox Long Range) direct flame blast radius attack with his spell book, this can also go onto overwatch.
Having them in the party adds to the parties stats similar to how Lion makes everyone's defence higher, if I remember correctly Robin's make the team get more critical hits, forget what Lucinas is.
Really liking both of them, I found Lucina's bow is great for taking out Aliens and Robin is a beast at long range.
I did a run through the first 3 stages last night with all 4 Fire Emblem characters and I'm not sure if it does this when you just use one of the FE characters but the music changes and its various Fire Emblem battle themes but done in the style of Code Name S.T.E.A.M. music.
*edit*
thought I'd go abit deeper onto what they do in the game.
Lucina has a leap attack similar to Lions as her main attack, and her secondary is a bow which has 3 settings that alter the angle of the shot so you can aim over things.
Robin has a short range blast radius attack with his thunder sword and a really long range (talking Fox Long Range) direct flame blast radius attack with his spell book, this can also go onto overwatch.
Having them in the party adds to the parties stats similar to how Lion makes everyone's defence higher, if I remember correctly Robin's make the team get more critical hits, forget what Lucinas is.
Really liking both of them, I found Lucina's bow is great for taking out Aliens and Robin is a beast at long range.
I did a run through the first 3 stages last night with all 4 Fire Emblem characters and I'm not sure if it does this when you just use one of the FE characters but the music changes and its various Fire Emblem battle themes but done in the style of Code Name S.T.E.A.M. music.
Worthintendo
Member
sorry for the double post, but I've gotten some footage of Robin and Lucina being used in the game if anyone is interested in checking it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFqi9z940Bs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFqi9z940Bs
Worthintendo
Member
No the speed has been updated in the demo
Oh that's great then. I'll have another look at the demo as the full game isn't out here for a few weeks (UK)
(sorry, just been re-reading the thread and have realised that the demo update has been mentioned several times)
They're paid to review games (and have deadlines) so obviously they're going to be thinking about the value of their time. IMO, professional reviewers will have some different priorities from ordinary players which will creep into their reviews.
TheMoon
Member
Chris Donlan likes himself some S.T.E.A.M. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-01-code-name-steam-review
Jonneh3003
Banned
Just reviewed the PAL version using the latest pach if anyone's interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aon_22kmQAc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aon_22kmQAc
Lost Cloud
Member
His primary weapon? It costs 2 steam per use. (At least in single player mode. I've never tried MP, so I don't know if there's any differences there).
I'm surprised that you can even use him in Multiplayer. He's kinda... too powerful!
(Not to mention spoiling him as a character.)
TheMoon
Member
GAF hype? Where were you hanging out that there was "GAF hype" for either Other M or this. The whole time opinions were heavily divided. You need to make more informed decisions, I think. Thing is, don't push this onto "GAF Nintendo Fanboys" if you can't inform yourself properly before you buy something you're not sure you'd like.
cooljeanius
Member
It's a real shame, but it makes sense, considering how MURICAN it is...
There wasn't much hype for this game on GAF. In fact, most people were saying it looked terrible.
If anybody cares, the retail European game does not come with the patch installed in the cart. It didn't prompt me to download it either but then I didn't give it much time, heh. Too bad NoE just kinda unceremoniously dropped this between Puzzle & Dragons and Splatoon, but hey, it's here at last.
cooljeanius
Member
Well, that's probably because it came with the turn-speed patch for you guys, didn't it? Unless...
Oh. Never mind about that then. I suppose you guys still did have it available from day 1 though, even if it didn't come on the cart...
Mister Sloane
Member
Hopefully, it's okay to post here but UK Nintendo Store is now selling the game and one amiibo (Marth, Lucina or Robin) for £45.99.
TheMoon
Member
My copy didn't arrive today. Stupid holiday screwing up everything.
HOW DARE YOU!
HOW DARE YOU!
Mister Sloane
Member
Hee, just concerned about putting it in the right thread. The Robin one is now sold out - was kinda tempted as I loved the demo, but am leaning towards £25 for the game on its own.