Mafia: The Old Country |OT| Chuck Berries grown in Sicily

I did not like what I was seeing in the pre-release trailers.

Now I'm about 2 hours in, and it's great, introduction segments and all.

The best part is that it isn't set in any city. So, while the gameplay is nothing new, the setting provided just what the series needed after 3.

Hangar 13 did good work here, it's got AAA production values. Graphics are top notch. I keep stopping to look at the the stone work.
 
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Fuck the haters I'm loving the stealth in this. It's basic and fun. Throwing your knife at guys is great (you gotta go to the body to retrieve it 🙂). You also eventually can find a bead that muffles footsteps.

Anyone that complains about this should consider another hobby. It's a non issue if you know your shit.
 
Finished Ch. 3. I'm liking the game very much.

I enjoy just walking through the streets of the town and riding on horseback through the countryside. It's very atmospheric, beautiful. You can tell the devs put a lot of working into making things feel authentic. I hope we get a chance to return to some of the locations we're moving quickly through on missions. I'm not sure how rewarding exploration is (how many "goodies" we can find), but it's clear the artists put a lot of effort into rendering these locations, and I'd like to poke around later.

Having an upgradable rosary makes me chuckle. Probably because I'm a recovering Catholic. And instead of collecting Playboys, we're collecting cards of Saints.

Dialog and voice acting seem really well done and add a lot to the atmosphere. I always stop to listen to NPC conversations, too. They aren't necessarily informative, but they usually feel "real" and add to the atmosphere.

Going in, my main concern was that the game would be too heavy on knife fights and stealth, and that both of those mechanics would be boring. I'm not finding either of those things to be true. Knife fights are only occasional so far, and so is stealth. Knife fighting feels pretty good, although I need more practice. Stealth is simple to get through and is enjoyable enough for what it is. I don't have any complaints about either.


I have a question about an apparent choice point in Ch. 3 re. Luca and Isabella:
There is a point where you are told that Luca is waiting for you, but you have the option to visit Isabella first. Isabella has written you a note, inviting you to meet her in the garden. Luca has told you to avoid Isabella, so visiting her would be contravening his advice. I chose to skip Isabella and go directly to Luca - in part out of loyalty to Luca, who has been a good friend/advisor, but also because I recognize the stupidity of messing with the Don's daughter.

My question is, what happens if you choose to meet with Isabella instead? Does that have significant story consequences?
 
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Humdinger said:
Finished Ch. 3. I'm liking the game very much. A few notes...

I enjoy just walking through the streets of the town and riding on horseback through the countryside. It's very atmospheric, beautiful. You can tell the devs put a lot of working into making things feel authentic. I hope we get a chance (either through the story or free-roam) to return to some of the locations we're moving quickly through on missions. I'm not sure how rewarding exploration is (how many "goodies" we can find), but it's clear the artists put a lot of effort into rendering these locations, and I'd like to poke around later.

Having an upgradable rosary makes me chuckle. Probably because I'm a recovering Catholic. And instead of collecting Playboys, we're collecting cards of Saints. I'm not sure if that's better or worse, lol.

Dialog and voice acting seem really well done to me. It adds a lot to the atmosphere. I always stop to listen to the NPC conversations, too. They aren't always informative, but they usually feel "real."

I was worried that the knife fights would feel tedious or overdone, but they're not. They're only occasional, and they function pretty much like swordfights. I managed to survive the knife fights so far, although not by a whole lot. I need more practice.

From some of the previews, I got the impression that stealth was overdone, but it's not, at least not from my perspective. It's occasional and easy enough to get through. It provides a little variety in the action, that's all.


I have a question about an apparent choice point in Ch. 3 re. Luca and Isabella:
There is a point where you are told that Luca is waiting for you, but you have the option to visit Isabella first. Isabella has written you a note, inviting you to meet her in the garden. Luca has told you to avoid Isabella, so visiting her would be contravening his advice. I chose to skip Isabella and go directly to Luca - in part out of loyalty to Luca, who has been a good friend/advisor, but also because I recognize the stupidity of messing with the Don's daughter.

My question is, what happens if you choose to meet with Isabella instead? Does that have significant story consequences?
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You get a trophy for meeting her and a cutscene proving more how much of a fucking prick Tino is. It's a good scene. Always do the side objectives before the primary.
 
Chuck Berry said:
You get a trophy for meeting her and a cutscene proving more how much of a fucking prick Tino is. It's a good scene. Always do the side objectives before the primary.
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Interesting.
I figured playing it smart was the better move, but maybe not.
 
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Chuck Berry said:
Fuck the haters I'm loving the stealth in this. It's basic and fun. Throwing your knife at guys is great (you gotta go to the body to retrieve it 🙂). You also eventually can find a bead that muffles footsteps.

Anyone that complains about this should consider another hobby. It's a non issue if you know your shit.
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"I like it, so if you don't, you're wrong and should quit gaming."

Disliking a forced stealth section isn't a skill issue, it's a preference issue

Get the fuck outta here with these dumb ass comments
 
HRK69 said:
"I like it, so if you don't, you're wrong and should quit gaming."

Disliking a forced stealth section isn't a skill issue, it's a preference issue

Get the fuck outta here with these dumb ass comments
Click to expand...

They're throwaway comments for fun man. Chill.
 
Anyone getting flickering/quick brightness fluctuations on the Pro? I'm really digging the game and the graphics are pretty great. Haven't messed with any video settings yet other than turning HDR on and setting the brightness to match the nits of my tv. Really appreciate how the devs put an option to activate the objective and objective icon manually.
 
Dark Shinobi said:
Anyone getting flickering/quick brightness fluctuations on the Pro? I'm really digging the game and the graphics are pretty great. Haven't messed with any video settings yet other than turning HDR on and setting the brightness to match the nits of my tv. Really appreciate how the devs put an option to activate the objective and objective icon manually.
Click to expand...

Arsic mentioned something about that in one of his posts. You might check that out and see if it helps. I attached it at the bottom of the OP.

I'm on the Pro and haven't noticed anything myself.
 
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Played for a little over an hour. Game is off to a better start than I thought. Characters are interesting and it's engaging. No regrets.
 
Humdinger said:
I have a question about an apparent choice point in Ch. 3 re. Luca and Isabella:
There is a point where you are told that Luca is waiting for you, but you have the option to visit Isabella first. Isabella has written you a note, inviting you to meet her in the garden. Luca has told you to avoid Isabella, so visiting her would be contravening his advice. I chose to skip Isabella and go directly to Luca - in part out of loyalty to Luca, who has been a good friend/advisor, but also because I recognize the stupidity of messing with the Don's daughter.

My question is, what happens if you choose to meet with Isabella instead? Does that have significant story consequences?
Click to expand...

Cmon my guy, you cannot feel loyalty toward him...

I'm not much further, but have a strong feeling you read the situation wrong.

Buddy is clearly a hater. He doesn't want Enzo to clap. You didn't see the slight alarm and jealousy on his face?
 
Arsic said:
If OP wants, here's the ps5 pro break down people will care about:

Quality mode
Performance mode
Ability to turn v sync on and off

On pro if you turn off v sync on quality mode with a VRR TV then you'll be at 60 fps 99% of the time. Small hiccups very rarely. The issue? Some kind of bug seems to exist in certain lighting that causes flickering on screen.

If you turn off on your console VRR, or you turn v sync on, then unfortunately the game is a choppy looking 30FPS and not a smooth 30. Likely a frame pacing issue.

Performance mode seems flawless, but you sacrifice shadows it seems. They get a dithering effect that's pretty noticeable.

No matter which mode you pick though the game is absolutely stunning.

I am going the screen flickering route for now, since it only happened in one area so far. If it persists I'll go performance mode until a fix occurs.

Definitely worth picking up for PS5 pro.

Prologue so far is VERY good from a story, dialogue, characters, music, visuals perspective. However, it is slow and lacking gameplay which is common for story driven games these days from the jump. Expect a slower ramp up.
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I was getting flickering with v sync turned 'on' as well. It wasn't all the time but enough to notice. The flickering is definitely noticeable and distracting with v sync 'off.' Did you mess with any other HDR or brightness settings? Only thing I changed was the HDR brightness to match my TV's max nits.
 
Dark Shinobi said:
I was getting flickering with v sync turned 'on' as well. It wasn't all the time but enough to notice. The flickering is definitely noticeable and distracting with v sync 'off.' Did you mess with any other HDR or brightness settings? Only thing I changed was the HDR brightness to match my TV's max nits.
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I raised my hdr up in the game but only had that flicker issue once. Others claim it happens more. So mileage may vary.
 
If people can guarantee to me is good as Mafia remake or close, I will buy it immediately. Some negative post there leave me ensure about it.
 
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I'm a sucker for mobster stories, so I'll 100% pick this one up. I'm swamped with games atm so I'll wait for a sale.

Great thread btw, thanks for all the impressions.
 
Karim said:
If people can guarantee to me is good as Mafia remake or close, I will buy it immediately. Some negative post there leave me ensure about it.
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I guess tha's a subjective metric, but I'm enjoying it just as much if not more and I loved the remake. I really like all Mafia games and if you are like me, you just can't go wrong with The Old Country, it's an awesome game worthy of this franchise 100%. And I'm so glad more and more are recognizing this, seeing it in this thread. Hopefully the word of mouth will do good for this game because the devs deserve it and people will ignore those good-for-nothing reviewers and their bullshit.

Also don't worry about the stealth sections, they are pretty basic, they won't infuriate you. And I never use the x-ray vision either.
 
Karim said:
If people can guarantee to me is good as Mafia remake or close, I will buy it immediately. Some negative post there leave me ensure about it.
Click to expand...

No one can guarantee that, because it depends on your subjective experience and ours.

I can say that Old Country feels different than those games. There are a lot of similarities of course - length, relatively linear, story and character-driven, mob tale, etc. But there are differences. It feels slower for one - more interested in a character arc that starts from the very bottom and gradually ascends. There is a lot more attention to authenticity and atmosphere. The setting differentiates it, of course. The characters are similar archetypes but have more of an old school quality, due to the era and location. There is less gunplay, more knives and stealth - although the gunplay has been very satisfying so far. No cars yet (they come later), all on horseback so far.

It's a hard call to make, because I'm not finished yet (I've been through the prolog and three chapters). All I can tell you is that, so far, I'm enjoying the game as much as I enjoyed Mafia 1 and 2 DE, but in a different way, for slightly different reasons.
 
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Gonzito said:
1BJmC4ApMsx7hOzm.jpg
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It's weird, because I have been bitching for years about cinematic games wasting my time, but yet I don't mind the cinematics or the gallop & talk segments of this game. I actually like them. I think that's because I find them to be well-done and interesting, rather than tedious padded long-winded exposition. I never find myself thinking, "Would you please shut up already."

However, that's a good warning to people who haven't played a Mafia game before - this game is story-heavy. It includes a fair amount of cinematics and walk & talk sections. If you don't like that sort of thing, best avoid.
 
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Wow, action really heats up in Ch. 4. Just finished that. Fun stuff.

Enzo is pretty good with women, especially considering he's never seen one before (in the mines since age 5).
 
Up to Chapter 5. Will most likely be on my GOTY Top 5.

What I've been doing is quitting out after every couple chapters and going to free roam so I can clean up whatever collectibles and those trinacria coins that have appeared on the map. Then I head over to Pasquale's and get whatever weapons and stuff I need which then carries over into the story. Convenient.

The Free roam also gives you a chance to really soak in the sounds and atmosphere since the story has you briskly running or riding past everything. The game is utterly fucking gorgeous.
 
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I recommend trying the 'Car Encyclopedia'. That way, you don't need to progress through the story to drive the cars, and the car driving in this game is superb.
 
I hope this sells well! Few more chapters till finish, this game is great fun! I agree probably not GOTY, not even sure what's it gonna be this year, but this one is easily top5.
Though I don't really get why the devs have to put out a post explaining on wanting to do a simple straightforward cinematic game and selling it cheaper. Like what? I say fuck yes, we absolutely need more no bullshit, story driven experiences like this! So I'm hoping they keep at it up now with another Mafia game in a few years.
 
Went to Walmart. Couldn't find it even tho it said ready for pickup in 2 hours. Asked employees and they saw the sticker inside shelf, then says the package didn't arrive yet and didn't want to go look for it. Lazy fuckers.

Ended up using walmart free shipping trial so i'll get it in a couple hours.
 
PicoLordens said:
My TV is capable of 2000 nits so I had to up paperwhite to 200 otherwise the picture is too dim.
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I don't get it. If your TV can produce more nits then it can go brighter and, other than 2001+ content, reproduce faithfully what the image is demanding. What am I missing?
 
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Chuck Berry said:
Up to Chapter 5. Will most likely be on my GOTY Top 5.

What I've been doing is quitting out after every couple chapters and going to free roam so I can clean up whatever collectibles and those trinacria coins that have appeared on the map. Then I head over to Pasquale's and get whatever weapons and stuff I need which then carries over into the story. Convenient.

The Free roam also gives you a chance to really soak in the sounds and atmosphere since the story has you briskly running or riding past everything. The game is utterly fucking gorgeous.
Click to expand...


There's a free roam? Was that in the title screen? I'm in chapter 4, haven't even really looked at the map.

I'm having a blast. I feel like I have to force myself away from the game to try BF6 beta tonight.
 
Gamer_By_Proxy said:
There's a free roam? Was that in the title screen? I'm in chapter 4, haven't even really looked at the map.

I'm having a blast. I feel like I have to force myself away from the game to try BF6 beta tonight.
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Go to the Carcyclopedia on the title screen and you can access free roam from there
 
Chuck Berry said:
Go to the Carcyclopedia on the title screen and you can access free roam from there
Click to expand...

Ah. I thought that was just gonna tell me about cars. I read enough of that from GT7.

Is there encounters or just a dead open world until you do a mission?
 
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Played for five hour, entered chapter 4.

Is is a great Mafia game. It is Mafia game through and through, but thanks to sicilian setting and time period, it has its own distinct vibe compared to previous games (or any other games). Pure focus on storytelling and immersion, set in beautifully recreated slice of Sicily. Fuck the low scoring reviewers.
 
I'm likely to drop this soon. I know it's a short game but like a poster said above it's a "walk/ride/drive listen to people talk" game. There isn't much meat to the bones of this. You're just here to watch cut scenes.

If the story hooks you then you'll likely not care there's nothing to play here. Stealth is meh, shooting is meh, and it's all sparse.

It starts off very strong and quickly loses its pace with poor story pacing.
 
Plowing through it. Just hit Chapter 9.

I havent even free roamed. Should I be? Are there additional missions, the map looks empty?

I keep wanting to know what happens next.

Game is subverting all my expectations.
 
I fully understand how this game scored several 9s.

If you are or were honestly expecting this to do something new for the genre then that's on you.

Literally almost everything the game aims to do it does flawlessly. The world and atmosphere are amazing, the gunplay and driving feel great and the writing, characters and story are top notch.

I haven't enjoyed a game this much in a while. How they released this at £40/$50 is also amazing because it feels like an AAA game, it's hardly short in length either.
 
Read impressions from this thread and I may have to pick this up afterall. Mafia 3 wasn't great so I had lost faith in Hangar 13, the The City of Lost Heaven remake was decent but didn't capture the essense of what made the original game so special, maybe this is the game they show their true potential.
 
Just finished it, took around 14 hours i didn't rush it or skip any driving.
Great game but it could have done with some side content.

Also this is the first game i have played using my new Gamesir Pro 7 which is fantastic, although the buttons next to the triggers i doubt i will ever use.
 
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So far (chapter 6) i am really enjoying it. Definitely getting mafia 2 vibes. Great setting and it's beautiful. So far nice characters as well. The soundtrack i feel is weaker than previous entries but without a car radio it can't be helped. What is there is still good. I will also agree that it could have used like a few side quests. Not even many maybe they got burned from mafia 3. Also not sure if i should explore when i get the chance or not. I stopped in 3-4 places but didn't see anything.
 
Forza Enzo 🤌

the
race
mission didn't disappoint, although I was hoping for some additional trophy for finishing it
with sim controls and a manual gearbox
 
Senua said:
Read impressions from this thread and I may have to pick this up afterall. Mafia 3 wasn't great so I had lost faith in Hangar 13, the The City of Lost Heaven remake was decent but didn't capture the essense of what made the original game so special, maybe this is the game they show their true potential.
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3 may not have been great, but the story and cutscene direction alone was enough of a reason for me to give this one a shot. Glad they saw the general feed back of 3's open world focus and said "ok let's not do that again."
 
My game-sharing buddy bought this so I tried a few chapters today. It's a very pretty and well made game made with gameplay from fifteen years ago. I don't mean that a diss as I'm perfectly enjoying this, bad accents and all. Tried Quality mode on XSX with unlocked V-Sync while in 120Hz mode and it feels like playing a 40fps game with occasional tearing here and there. I think I will stick with that, because Performance mode is noticeably less visually appealing.
 
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