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Killzone: Shadow Fall |OT| Nothing Stops This Rain

kiguel182

Member
I've finished chapter 4 and, so far, I'm really enjoying the game.

Chapter 3 had an amazing vibe, reminded me of Dead Space 1 mixed with HL2. Best part of the game so far.

Graphics are great, guns feel awesome and there's some freedom on how to tackle objectives, it's confusing at times but it's better than corridor shooting.

Multiplayer wise I haven't tried it a lot since I'm having some troubles with my WiFi but the maps seem varied and big enough but a little confusing, maybe they just get some time getting used to since they are not very linear.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
I think it might be pre-rendered, I'd have to check again. I think there's some pretty distinct compression artifacting in that scene.

I just checked and played that chapter again. It is definitely not pre-rendered. You enter and leave that scene from and to normal gameplay. There are no changes in camera position or image quality whatsoever. That explosion retains the amount of crispness/aliasing/lighting/framerate that the adjacent gameplay has.

It's also not a downgrade, the explosion is just "bigger". If anything, it's an upgrade because the change in lighting is more radical and affects the scenery and its geometry more.
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
omg. Ok, I give up.

I just played that scene, dude. If by downgrade you mean the missing detail on the persons, than that's because the light of the explosion is "drowning" it. Right before the explosion, the detail is the same as in the reveal trailers. To see that, you have to actually play the scene. Looking at a still image is not enough.
 

Dart

Member
I just played that scene, dude. If by downgrade you mean the missing detail on the persons, than that's because the light of the explosion is "drowning" it. Right before the explosion, the detail is the same as in the reveal trailers. To see that, you have to actually play the scene. Looking at a still image is not enough.

I think he meant the explosion was a downgrade, as ridiculous as that sounds.
 

Dougald

Member
So I decided to carry on with this game and played the level from the unveiling, much bigger improvement in the signposting, this is what I was hoping for in the game. Seems this is more like Mario 3d world in that you have to slog through the first few terrible levels to get to the good ones
 
I like how the audiologs play through the speaker in the controller, but other than... not really feeling this game. The story is all over the place, and trying to tell too much at once. It looks pretty at least.
 

Violater

Member
Assuming you're not trolling why don't you explain why it is technically a downgrade I'm no graphics expert so I think it would help to get technical explanation.

It's a bit too early for popcorn but I eagerly await his response as I was about to pose the same question.
 
So I decided to carry on with this game and played the level from the unveiling, much bigger improvement in the signposting, this is what I was hoping for in the game. Seems this is more like Mario 3d world in that you have to slog through the first few terrible levels to get to the good ones

So it actually gets better? Because so far I've mainly been going "...Wha...what? What does it want me to do? Why did going to that piece of ground kill me?"

Graphically speaking there has been some really nice stuff so far though, like with the rain effects on the characters in the beginning, the lighting and so on. Though the blood you see when you hit someone with the knife after you killed the person, looks it came it from the N64 or something.
 
Let me sign up to the "checkpoints are broken" accusation force.

2nd chapter
where you have to activate the reactor core and set route to the sun, I activate the core, set the route, checkpoint appears and I quit out. Later I proceed to load the game and I find myself with the route set, but the reactor inactive... wtf...

Pretty sloppy...
 
Yeah, this thread is getting more ridiculous as it goes on hahahaha.

One thing that really concerns me: KZ2 and KZ3 UNARGUABLY had mediocre at best campaigns with poor acting and generally terrible storytelling. KZ3 had the best acting the series by far but it was all used in a terrible script.

My thing is people should have been way more knowledgeable about what they were getting. I bought this for MP and the SP as a slice of pie on the side. It seems others were playing the other side. In that case well you only have yourself to blame for that purchase. Cry3 and the rest are about the same when it comes to acting and story. I think people need to take a good look at MP before they drop 60 bones on this.

I agree with that dude above though the blood effects here almost seem intentionally funny.
 
They honestly should have finished, play tested and polished the beginning and end missions the most. Seems like instead the end of the game got less attention and play testing, which is a shame.

They always get so close to getting there, but always just miss out. GG honestly need more talent, and not in graphics, tech etc, but someone like Amy Hemming or Neil Druckmann who are particular about narrative and characters and can really make gamers care a heck of a lot more for them. As well as someone who can see gameplay segments through with more vigour and critique. I remember when watching The Last of Us documentary, they spent time creating, but then ultimately cutting out or tweaking so many levels, cut scenes and content because they didn't feel it was good enough. A true quality designer knows when to leave certain things out even if they have spent tonnes of money, time and resources on them.

I reckon after a few more patches, this game will end up being the game it should have released as. Just needed a bit more play testing and tweaking, otherwise there are some fantastic ideas, designs and tactical gameplay mechanics explored here.

Agreed totally. But let's not get crazy and act like GG is the only offender here. Every single FPS needs to start taking clues and so does just about every other game that touts its script that seems as if it is written by college students. Design should start following the script in certain sequences and vice versa in others. What we need in videogames in general is a lot more quality control.
 

Nemesis_

Member
So I just finished the second chapter "The Ghost".

This is a huge improvement from the original Killzone games, which I saw as half rate COD clones. Guerilla games really went back to the drawing board for Shadow Fall and I think it really is reflected in the final product.

The way the game threw you into an open area and allowed you to approach your objectives in whatever order you wanted, along with optional objectives was great. I feel like this is missing from most shooters. The way the game gives you freedom really reminded me of a kind of combination of Crysis and Far Cry. It's great.

Of particular mention is the OWL. I don't really use two of it's functions properly yet, but I have been using the zipline feature quite a bit. It's so cool how you can use it almost anywhere to traverse the environment effortlessly. I really liked that part too. The shield is also getting heavy use from me but once I realised you can shoot through it, it felt like it made the game way too easy (and I'm playing on hard).

Visual presentation is top notch too, though that goes without saying.

Only real complaints? The open nature of the game means the checkpoint system is awkward and the opening chapter was poorly paced. I understood what they were going for but it just didn't resonate with me at all.

I hope the game remains "open" in future chapters, is all I can say going forward.
 

blastprocessor

The Amiga Brotherhood
Been doing OK on my own but chapter 6
stuck in that tower not sure where to go with that charger thingy

Plus the game just crashed back to the browser and shut down my machine hmmmm.
 

Ein Bear

Member
One thing that really concerns me: KZ2 and KZ3 UNARGUABLY had mediocre at best campaigns with poor acting and generally terrible storytelling. KZ3 had the best acting the series by far but it was all used in a terrible script.

I'd argue it. Killzone 2 has one of my favourite ever FPS campaigns, and KZ3, though a step down, was still solid.

I mostly bought Shadowfall for the campaign, and am really disappointed in it.
 
I'd argue it. Killzone 2 has one of my favourite ever FPS campaigns, and KZ3, though a step down, was still solid.

I mostly bought Shadowfall for the campaign, and am really disappointed in it.

I don't really get what people find amazing in KZ2 campaign. I will give it does give that horrific firefight is real shit is going down vibe better than anything sometimes but the script is pathetic. Come on guys take off those blinders. KZ2 has some of the worst dialogue in gaming.

If they would have had 3 years KZ3 COULD have been really awesome in scripting. So much potential going on there.
 
damn game is beautiful. just finished chapter 4 and 5, damn.

the forest level is by far the weakest looking this far. but those rocks rock.
 
The forest level would have been better if it wasn't the first real combat situation they put players into. It was way too confusing a way to introduce players into the game, it would have worked better being added to a later chapter of the game once a player is experienced with the gameplay and how to use their OWL to full effect.

I don't really get what people find amazing in KZ2 campaign. I will give it does give that horrific firefight is real shit is going down vibe better than anything sometimes but the script is pathetic. Come on guys take off those blinders. KZ2 has some of the worst dialogue in gaming.

If they would have had 3 years KZ3 COULD have been really awesome in scripting. So much potential going on there.

Yea KZ2 was extremely generic campaign, it was solid designed linear shooter but the only remarkable thing about KZ2 to me was it's unique feeling MP.

KZ3 sp improved in many ways the campaign, and they got top grade voice acting, but yea the game felt rushed, it felt like entire levels were missing in the game. Cutscenes made giant jumps in what was going on or didn't transition through the game content, so it felt like the game was unfinished.
 
Just finished chapter 4, overall very happy with this experienced. Im used to shooters that are very lineair, and you get pretty open spaces here. Love it. Excited for what is to come next.
 

Vitor711

Member
So I just finished the second chapter "The Ghost".

This is a huge improvement from the original Killzone games, which I saw as half rate COD clones. Guerilla games really went back to the drawing board for Shadow Fall and I think it really is reflected in the final product.

The way the game threw you into an open area and allowed you to approach your objectives in whatever order you wanted, along with optional objectives was great. I feel like this is missing from most shooters. The way the game gives you freedom really reminded me of a kind of combination of Crysis and Far Cry. It's great.

Of particular mention is the OWL. I don't really use two of it's functions properly yet, but I have been using the zipline feature quite a bit. It's so cool how you can use it almost anywhere to traverse the environment effortlessly. I really liked that part too. The shield is also getting heavy use from me but once I realised you can shoot through it, it felt like it made the game way too easy (and I'm playing on hard).

Visual presentation is top notch too, though that goes without saying.

Only real complaints? The open nature of the game means the checkpoint system is awkward and the opening chapter was poorly paced. I understood what they were going for but it just didn't resonate with me at all.

I hope the game remains "open" in future chapters, is all I can say going forward.

Dude,it nosedives HARD after the game switches environments.

I was loving it up until about half way and then all of the good points just disappeared. It even looks worse the more you play.

Massive bummer. That being said, I really REALLY enjoyed the first half.
 
Why does Killzone always attract so many nay-saying trolls on forums? I'll never understand it.

I don't either for the life of me. It is actually really crazy. I think it is because GG has tech prowess and it goes all the way back to console wars from the beginning of PS3.

Of course people rightly critique stuff like story they just happen to leave out the fact every other game is either a little better, worse, or the same for the most part.

This game just gets hit hard because it is a big target. Who cares though? The multiplayer in this is second to none and will only get a lot better.
 

jiggles

Banned
Sorry if this has been covered before, but is there a way to get audio logs to ONLY play out of the DS4 speaker. It's such a neat feature, but it's ruined by the audio coming out of my 5.1 setup out of sync with the pad. The first one I picked up was like 2 minutes long, too, and the auditory confusion was just straight-up uncomfortable to sit through. I immediately turned the game off. I don't want to play any further until I can sort it out.
 

Future

Member
I don't really get what people find amazing in KZ2 campaign. I will give it does give that horrific firefight is real shit is going down vibe better than anything sometimes but the script is pathetic. Come on guys take off those blinders. KZ2 has some of the worst dialogue in gaming.

If they would have had 3 years KZ3 COULD have been really awesome in scripting. So much potential going on there.

I don't remember the dialogue or story in any of the killzone games, as they are all pretty bad. What I remember is fun gun fights. I don't remember many fun fights here.

In this killzone it feels like 80% of the time Im sneaking around or doing something else than shooting shit. Other 20% spamming owl turrets and shields. Guns are also a drag. Not that I remember many older killzone guns, but these guns are completely forgettable.

One thing I do like is their attempts to change it up. In chapter 7 now, and every new chapter had something new. Just needed to spend some time making exploration and combat more fun
 

Foshy

Member
Just started the game, finished the first 2 chapters and tried a bit of multiplayer.

Looks absolutely gorgeous but I'm not feeling the gameplay too much, which is odd because I liked Mercenary. I'll see if it gets better, otherwise I might trade it in for CoD.
 

[NaK]

Member
Im at chapter 10 and Im having kinda fun, but Im not completely sold yet.

Some of the levels are a mess and I constantly have to press up to se the objective marker, otherwise I get lost.
The guns are suprisingly boring aswell. The "main gun" was pretty neat for a level or two, but the recharge rate and ammo consumption while in sniper mode is sooo damn slow.

I do love the visuals and the sounds though.
The music is fantastic and the voice acting is (for the most part) great.

My biggest problem with the game so far:
The free fall section after chapter 9 (I think)... was the dumbest thing I've played in years.
Took me well over 10 attempts just to realize how to stear the fall.. geez
 

AlphaDump

Gold Member
the end of chapter 7 on hard. what the fuck. they just keep coming. am I missing something beside having to
defend the post?


edit: fuck you turret
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Finished the game last night. I loved it pretty much through and through except for two unfair annoying parts that have now been patched to not be unfair (and I also now know what to do in them so that it don't keep dying). I' don't typically enough FPS games, I find a lot of them to be boring, and I don't play much online where they usually have bigger focus.

I can say that I have really enjoyed a total of three FPS games now: Halo:CE, HL2:Ep2 (didn't like the main game) and now KZ:SF. I liked the variety and open approach the game had a lot of the times, I really liked entirety o Ch 8 for example with all the cat & mouse sneaking around robots that so many people didn't seem to like for some reason. I liked the MGS-que boss fight at Ch9 and the crazy battle at the end of that chapter, both of which requiring you to be resourceful and think on your feet. I feel like Killzone finally has made something out of itself, propped itself away from the crowd, but sadly critics clearly didn't approve of the shift.

Ah well, I'm starting the second playthrough on hard, which I haven't done since probably UC2.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Chapter 10:

$%@$%#@$#@$$@$#@$##@$@$#@$#@$

I am about to throw my controller through the fucking window. The broken stealth in this game is inexcusable considering how FORCED it is.

I'm at the part where you have to grab the sniper rifle and take out a billion cameras without being seen and NO MATTER WHAT I DO AT SOME POINT SOMEONE WILL SEE ME THROUGH MY CLOAK FOR NO REASON

Chapter 9's final room was incredibly frustrating. I thought after that ended I was finally free of the pain and torture that is most of this campaign. But nope, they had to top it off with an even more frustrating stealth section before they'd let you go and turn the game off and shelve it.

I'm thinking of bailing at this point and just youtubing the rest of the game. This is just too frustrating. Even the final boss of KZ2 was easier than this part because it wasn't broken stealth and was just pure combat like the end of Chapter 9.
 

XOMTOR

Member
I don't really get what people find amazing in KZ2 campaign. I will give it does give that horrific firefight is real shit is going down vibe better than anything sometimes but the script is pathetic. Come on guys take off those blinders. KZ2 has some of the worst dialogue in gaming.

The story, characterization, script etc. were minimalist and served only as a loose backdrop; it was basically: "here bad guy, go get bad guy". As someone who rarely cares about story in an FPS, it was refreshing. It didn't try to woo me with some half-baked Hollywood wannabe budget tier script with cut-scenes every few seconds (looking at you KZ3). With KZ2, I showed up for the shooting and left satisfied. Enemy AI and encounter design were great and provided a damn good challenge on veteran and elite; kept me on my toes from beginning to end.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Ch10 was easy, WTF. Just don't shoot because that breaks your shield. They tell you that early on. Don't let people bump into you and avoid red camera grids on the floor, and that's it really. You can probably use bots to blow up the cameras but I didn't even have to do that.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Ch10 was easy, WTF. Just don't shoot because that breaks your shield. They tell you that early on. Don't let people bump into you and avoid red camera grids on the floor, and that's it really. You can probably use bots to blow up the cameras but I didn't even have to do that.

The stealth is BROKEN. I've been on this 3 min section for an hour now, longer than any checkpoint in the entire game. It's incredibly frustrating. I don't shoot, I don't step on any camera areas, I don't bump into people, but randomly people are somehow see through my cloak at some point, usually after I've accomplished all 3 objectives and am heading to the final point area. It's bullshit. There's nothing telling me what I'm doing wrong. I have no idea what guards' scope of vision is while you're cloaked but they keep seeing me no matter which route I take. I've hated every stealth section in the game so far and this is no different. Guerilla can do shooting things but they have no concept of how to make a fun stealth game.
 

JCizzle

Member
Yeah. I thought the first segment was cool but it just repeated over and over. Pretty but boring.

My breakdown of the chapters:
1 - 5 minute movement tutorial, barely worth mentioning
2 through 6 - Some of my favorite missions from any FPS of the past few years
7 - Eh
8 - NOPE
9 - Eh

Ending spoilers:
I really liked the final mission and the actual ending as well.

Overall the game is pretty good but the launch rush clearly shows later on.

I really liked the forest level and was pretty disappointing with the environments once
you go to Helghan
. At that point they all become the same gray, boring environment with no color until
mission 10
.

The stealth is BROKEN. I've been on this 3 min section for an hour now, longer than any checkpoint in the entire game. It's incredibly frustrating. I don't shoot, I don't step on any camera areas, I don't bump into people, but randomly people are somehow see through my cloak at some point, usually after I've accomplished all 3 objectives and am heading to the final point area. It's bullshit. There's nothing telling me what I'm doing wrong. I have no idea what guards' scope of vision is while you're cloaked but they keep seeing me no matter which route I take. I've hated every stealth section in the game so far and this is no different. Guerilla can do shooting things but they have no concept of how to make a fun stealth game.

It's not clear, but you should do the objectives in this order:
1. disable the bottom-most security terminal. Go through the bamboo to reach this section.
2. disable the second security terminal on a lower level. As long as the guard isn't in the room, you can disable it without him seeing you (i.e. no need to kill him).
3. grab the sniper rifle and drop through the hole.

Once I started using this route, it randomly started the countdown once or twice (no enemies or camera saw me, not sure WTF was going on), but it becomes infinitely easier. No need to disable any cameras or kill anyone at all. You should be able to get all three done in under 60 seconds once you know the layout. Also, to be safe, make sure you crouch walk near enemies and avoid their line of sight whenever possible.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Finished chapter 10 finally. An alarm even went off right as the ending cutscene started playing. I have no idea.

It's like there's a guy on a catwalk right in front of the sniper rifle and if you sneak kill him I guess somebody finds him a few seconds later and everyone sees you. But if you don't kill him and come from the other way when you open the grate RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM to get the rifle he gets alerted and everyone sees you. And then guides and stuff tell you "oh, just drop down through the hole right in the center where the sniper rifle is. BUT THERE'S ALWAYS A GUY WHO STANDS STILL RIGHT BELOW IT so either you fall down and stealth kill him and it sets everyone off or you fall forward in front of him and he sees you so that doesn't seem to work and just about every part of this level is glitchy and broken JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER STEALTH PARTS IN THE GAME :\

I think the only chapters I liked was parts of Chapter 8/5 and the Chapter 3/4/7 stages were alright. 9 was ok but had two annoying sections. Chapter 6/10 were terrible stealth, 1 was tutorial, 2 was a bad introduction to game mechanics.

At least Multiplayer is fun. But GG cannot make non-shooting gameplay. Nice graphics in the last few chapters for sure though!
 

Grinchy

Banned
the end of chapter 7 on hard. what the fuck. they just keep coming. am I missing something beside having to
defend the post?


edit: fuck you turret

If you don't kill enough dudes before the turret section, then it's impossible. You could try over and over again for over an hour like I did, only to find out that there's no way to beat it unless you restart the section and kill more people first.
 

Bebpo

Banned
It's not clear, but you should do the objectives in this order:
1. disable the bottom-most security terminal. Go through the bamboo to reach this section.
2. disable the second security terminal on a lower level. As long as the guard isn't in the room, you can disable it without him seeing you (i.e. no need to kill him).
3. grab the sniper rifle and drop through the hole.

Once I started using this route, it randomly started the countdown once or twice (no enemies or camera saw me, not sure WTF was going on), but it becomes infinitely easier. No need to disable any cameras or kill anyone at all. You should be able to get all three done in under 60 seconds once you know the layout. Also, to be safe, make sure you crouch walk near enemies and avoid their line of sight whenever possible.

One problem I was having for the first half dozen or so retries was the game wasn't very clear when it said "DISABLE THE CAMERAS" I assumed it meant, "go use spiderbots to disable all the security cameras" :\
 
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