I did not see Armstrong coming. Figured Sam would be the last boss and when the game continued after that fight I was like, "huh prob another Metal Gear". And then after beating the Ant Gear with ZanDatsu using his giant blade I thought it couldn't get better.
When Armstrong came out and did that Sumo pose followed by kicking Raiden with the crowd cheering.. and from then on... My mind was blown multiple times.
This is why you don't spoil yourself too much before you buy a game.
It's the most difficult Platinum game to *ahem* Platinum for me. Bayonetta was pretty easy in all aspects with the exception of the final boss on Infinite Climax Mode which was a pain in the arse.
The mechanics do sort of break down when pushed to the limit, and there's definitely a lack of robustness, but all the really "hard" achievements like the VR missions or S-rank Rev or No-damage bosses are just a matter of repetition. They're grindy more than anything else.
If you don't mind answering, do you normally like hard games that kick your ass or not?
I don't know about that. Armstrong is the hardest final boss I have encountered in any platinum game. The two bogeys in Vanquish were much easier than him.
Jubelius is actually quite an easy final boss even on infinite climax. Balder on the other hand....
I think Armstrong is "hard" because the rest of the game is too easy. Stuff like dodging or precision blade mode cutting are rewarded all the way from the beginning of the game, but everything was easy enough that you could get by only doing sloppy parrying and mashing. It's also why mastiffs or armored goons feel so unfair, because regular unarmored grunts are so unbelievably easy that you never have to observe attack patterns or do any kind of crowd control even though those tools are there.
Sundowner being so easy is actually responsible for Armstrong being so hard, I think. The mechanics to do his fight "right" (minus the annoying chopper stuff) are all the necessary mechanics for the Armstrong fight, like precision blade mode-ing or having an awareness for unblockable attacks, but you can just ignore it completely and just mash at his face and win.
What the FUCK. Armstrong on Sam DLC is disgustingly tough. Phase 2 he simply goes into batshit insane mode and tries to grab me repeatedly. There's not even a gap where I can attack him. Is this normal? I watched a no damage video and there were moments when he'd let up and stand there allowing the player to do a full charge Y attack. I managed to beat him in the end but that was pretty fucking frustrating even for a Platinum game.
I really don't understand why there's a dazed state for Raiden in this game. I get that they maybe wanted you to have to worry about the same mechanics that can affect the enemies but, seriously, playing a few VR machines and getting zerg-rushed into a corner and being completely unable to react sucks.
I also think that 'move left stick rapidly left and right to wake up' is awful control design. I can do it, but it's tiring, annoying, and I don't want to wear out my controller.
I really don't understand why there's a dazed state for Raiden in this game. I get that they maybe wanted you to have to worry about the same mechanics that can affect the enemies but, seriously, playing a few VR machines and getting zerg-rushed into a corner and being completely unable to react sucks.
I also thing that 'move left stick rapidly left and right to wake up' is awful control design. I can do it, but it's tiring, annoying, and I don't want to wear out my controller.
So a funny, behind the scenes story for the Armstrong fight.
When we did the final sound mix down in LA, we were getting constant updates on picture and sound requests. You'd get an email that said, we added some fire to the scene, and you'd pull up the picture and the entire 5 minute scene would be the towering inferno.
So anyways, basically it was heart attack city, "last hours" level stuff for the whole session. On the second to last day, we are looking at these Armstrong scenes and they keep getting weirder and weirder as they finish them. Then we get an email about the kick. I read it, looked at everyone, said, "I'm going to tell you the most bizarre thing of the week, and it isn't a joke."
"Crowd noise."
Everyone looked at my like I was insane, didn't believe me, and we went back and forth over whether we should call Japan to confirm, like it was an Emergency Action Message from Hunt for Red October. I'm glad we went for it, but that last couple of days (after hardcore crunching in the studio) were just hilariously funny/weird. At least we had a really awesome production assistant bringing us hot cookies, popcorn, and espresso.
Best part of it all was the last day. After working for 36 hours straight,
Blade Wolf on the ridge. Every time he would show up with the "wooooaaahhh woah woah woah" we would all throw our hands up like the Lion King.
Great scene for popcorn. Sound design wrap dinner that night was great, too. After working for over a year together, we go to our favorite craft beer and burgers place, but were so tired we ate in total silence, drank our beer and just said, "Great project. Let's go get some sleep."
So a funny, behind the scenes story for the Armstrong fight.
When we did the final sound mix down in LA, we were getting constant updates on picture and sound requests. You'd get an email that said, we added some fire to the scene, and you'd pull up the picture and the entire 5 minute scene would be the towering inferno.
So anyways, basically it was heart attack city, "last hours" level stuff for the whole session. On the second to last day, we are looking at these Armstrong scenes and they keep getting weirder and weirder as they finish them. Then we get an email about the kick. I read it, looked at everyone, said, "I'm going to tell you the most bizarre thing of the week, and it isn't a joke."
"Crowd noise."
Everyone looked at my like I was insane, didn't believe me, and we went back and forth over whether we should call Japan to confirm, like it was an Emergency Action Message from Hunt for Red October. I'm glad we went for it, but that last couple of days (after hardcore crunching in the studio) were just hilariously funny/weird. At least we had a really awesome production assistant bringing us hot cookies, popcorn, and espresso.
And I thank you so much for making the Sounddesign so great, really enjoyed it
I kinda expected that you all went nuts with the craziness that this fight is, but getting a confirmation on that theory is great. keep up that great work.
So a funny, behind the scenes story for the Armstrong fight.
When we did the final sound mix down in LA, we were getting constant updates on picture and sound requests. You'd get an email that said, we added some fire to the scene, and you'd pull up the picture and the entire 5 minute scene would be the towering inferno.
So anyways, basically it was heart attack city, "last hours" level stuff for the whole session. On the second to last day, we are looking at these Armstrong scenes and they keep getting weirder and weirder as they finish them. Then we get an email about the kick. I read it, looked at everyone, said, "I'm going to tell you the most bizarre thing of the week, and it isn't a joke."
"Crowd noise."
Everyone looked at my like I was insane, didn't believe me, and we went back and forth over whether we should call Japan to confirm, like it was an Emergency Action Message from Hunt for Red October. I'm glad we went for it, but that last couple of days (after hardcore crunching in the studio) were just hilariously funny/weird. At least we had a really awesome production assistant bringing us hot cookies, popcorn, and espresso.
Best part of it all was the last day. After working for 36 hours straight, was
Blade Wolf on the ridge. Every time he would show up with the "wooooaaahhh woah woah woah" we would all throw our hands up like the Lion King.
Great scene for popcorn. Sound design wrap dinner that night was great, too. After working for over a year together, we go to our favorite craft beer and burgers place, but were so tired we ate in total silence, drank our beer and just said, "Great project. Let's go get some sleep."
As I've said before, you guys nailed it. Armstrong is my favorite final boss in all of video games.
I didn't play the game on consoles, but I'm glad that I went 11 months knowing very little about the game (I had heard some of the memes, Rules of Nature and whatnot, but went in mostly blind), and I couldn't have possibly enjoyed myself more.
I feel kinda weird that I have more trouble with Sundowner than Monsoon. I hear more people saying that they have more trouble with the latter, but I'm not sure how when the game up to that point is an extended lesson on parrying. On the other hand, I've never really bothered to actually use the right stick for Blade Mode until Sundowner, because it really wasn't necessary until then. I'm more likely to kill myself on Sundowner's shields than I am to die from Monsoon.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, the most difficult part of the Monsoon battle for me was hitting his goddamn head after pulling off a perfect parry. I need a lot more practice with Blade Mode, apparently.
Best part of it all was the last day. After working for 36 hours straight,
Blade Wolf on the ridge. Every time he would show up with the "wooooaaahhh woah woah woah" we would all throw our hands up like the Lion King.
Great scene for popcorn. Sound design wrap dinner that night was great, too. After working for over a year together, we go to our favorite craft beer and burgers place, but were so tired we ate in total silence, drank our beer and just said, "Great project. Let's go get some sleep."
It's not as black and white as some opinions on this thread.
I agree, NG has the following advantages:
- Smoother controls
- Snappier combat
- Variety of level design
- Better combos
- More weapon variety
- Much much better camera
- And to me, better soundtrack
However, MGR has these advantages IMO:
- Better combat animations
- Zandatsu makes for much more varied combat and allevates redundancy
- Sam's character moves are much more appealing than Ryu's (even with his ultimates)
- Much more fun (and creative) bosses to fight
- Better interaction with the story characters
- Stealth (albeit weakly designed)
IMO, MGR is more fun and being able to control the Sam character in MGR totally destroys controlling Ryu -- I finally feel like I'm controlling a true samurai with a kick-ass katana. I always wanted to feel that way with Ryu (actually going through NGS for a 3rd time) but he's always come up short to me.
I really enjoy the complete insanity and ridiculousness that is the game, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it. This game has to have one of the single worst cameras in recent memory. More often than not I felt like I was fighting it the more than enemies. I ended up uninstalling the game as wrestling with the camera kept getting in the way of my fun.
The only thing I felt was missing the whole time I played was a "Flying Swallow" equivalent. Didn't hurt the game at all, I just have that move burnt into my muscle memory and playstyle with these kinds of games after playing through NG so many times.
That's a fucking lie it was killing me inside everytime I tried to do a Flying Swallow and Raiden just swung his sword in mid-air.
The only thing I felt was missing the whole time I played was a "Flying Swallow" equivalent. Didn't hurt the game at all, I just have that move burnt into my muscle memory and playstyle with these kinds of games after playing through NG so many times.
That's a fucking lie it was killing me inside everytime I tried to do a Flying Swallow and Raiden just swung his sword in mid-air.
There's another one of my issues with the game - there's a skill shop that doesn't tell you how to do the moves you buy. You have to manually go into the moves list in a separate menu, that's never explained to you in game, and scroll down and find the move you just bought. Just be sure to remember the name as there's no highlights for new moves. Nor is there a practice mode.
I know that Platinum had limited time to work on the game, but even DmC had them beat in that regard.
Its unfortunate that NGZ is going to be Tecmo's first Steam release, maybe even first PC release.
When that game inevitably flops they may be disinclined to port other games over as well. You have to think they are monitoring their competitor's profits in Japan and seeing the utility of the platform.
This worries me too. I question the wisdom of bringing what looks like a second string title as their PC debut. Hopefully it turns out to be better than the lack of hype suggests. Personally, if I was them, I would have done a quick port of DOA 5 Ultimate: Arcade to debut with instead.
There's another one of my issues with the game - there's a skill shop that doesn't tell you how to do the moves you buy. You have to manually go into the moves list in a separate menu, that's never explained to you in game, and scroll down and find the move you just bought. Just be sure to remember the name as there's no highlights for new moves. Nor is there a practice mode.
I know that Platinum had limited time to work on the game, but even DmC had them beat in that regard.
Holy ****. Is the final qte with armstrong bugged? Three times i've gotten to the last qte, and the moment i go in blade mode he hits me, with no time to react. I've been looking at videos and this shoudn't happen, i should have enough time to aim the cut.
There's another one of my issues with the game - there's a skill shop that doesn't tell you how to do the moves you buy. You have to manually go into the moves list in a separate menu, that's never explained to you in game, and scroll down and find the move you just bought. Just be sure to remember the name as there's no highlights for new moves. Nor is there a practice mode.
I know that Platinum had limited time to work on the game, but even DmC had them beat in that regard.
What the FUCK. Armstrong on Sam DLC is disgustingly tough. Phase 2 he simply goes into batshit insane mode and tries to grab me repeatedly. There's not even a gap where I can attack him. Is this normal? I watched a no damage video and there were moments when he'd let up and stand there allowing the player to do a full charge Y attack. I managed to beat him in the end but that was pretty fucking frustrating even for a Platinum game.
Yeah, I didn't really have a problem with Armstrong in the main game, but in the DLC he was incredibly frustrating. I completely forgot about taunting, which made it much harder.
I think the issue is HELP should have been renamed to Command List or something. Who the hell is going to look at a help menu for a move list? I know I wouldn't have if I hadn't found it by accident on my console version.
To me Help is going to be either a compilation of all the gameplay tips that pop up now and then or a diagram of the controller with the controls listed there.
It definitely doesn't scream "HERE IS THE MOVE LIST GUYS! LOOK HERE!"
Yeah, I didn't know that you had to click in both sticks to activate Ripper Mode until I had already finished the game. Would it have been that hard to flash the controls for it up on the screen instead of telling you to go do a VR Mission?
Yeah, I didn't know that you had to click in both sticks to activate Ripper Mode until I had already finished the game. Would it have been that hard to flash the controls for it up on the screen instead of telling you to go do a VR Mission?
I'm so glad I read an article telling me that pressing Down on the D-Pad automatically used a Nanopaste before release otherwise I would have had some severe trouble. lol
I'm so glad I read an article telling me that pressing Down on the D-Pad automatically used a Nanopaste before release otherwise I would have had some severe trouble. lol
That requires a bit more explanation though. It only automatically uses a nanopaste if you've gone into the menu and manually selected it to be active in that particular inventory slot.
What I did was override 3 values in the executable. Two of them control the resolution of 800x600 (Replaced it with 2560x1440), and the other is a scaling value, because there's 6 different values hardcoded into the game to adapt the GUI properly to each resolution buffer. I recalculated said value for my resolution (Display Height * -0.009722222222), and replaced it. However, it seems I've been unable to create a 4k Display with this method so far. I'm not sure if it's because of lack of VRAM or something else.
The other thing I noticed is that the scanlines and the squares on the Soliton radar seem different than they should be... then I found out that is what happens anyway even with the game unmodified when switching between resolutions. So at least that's not a bug caused by me!
Like I said before tho, given there's a chance we might actually get a patch for this, I'm not doing any user-friendly fix for it just yet. Not to mention this method doesn't save upon restarting the game (it seems to re-default to 1920x1080), and you actually have to switch to 800x600 every time to get it to work.
Some 1440p native shots with no AA and the GUI fixed:
A method via exe-patching or Cheat Engine are both possible to do.
Now why would you want to do that, you might ask? Imagine a tough boss fight, you know the one, where you get four nanopastes to drop. You currently have two left, but Raiden is damaged. Pick up all four and Raiden is still damaged, but has 5 pastes. Use one and pick up all four and Raiden is repaired by 100 and has 5 pastes. Without ever opening the submenu or even having to stand still.
Are the other armors actually useful? Are they well thought-out, instead of clearly underpowered or overpowered?
And what do people like so much about the final boss? His attacks are slow and can't be riposted, they'll only hit you because you don't expect them. The lava attacks are tedious and came out of nowhere and just seemed like a generic, unexplained way to give him an AoE/ projectile. It's just block, attack, dodge. He's only challenging because of his ludicrous damage and his annoying dash grab.
Now why would you want to do that, you might ask? Imagine a tough boss fight, you know the one, where you get four nanopastes to drop. You currently have two left, but Raiden is damaged. Pick up all four and Raiden is still damaged, but has 5 pastes. Use one and pick up all four and Raiden is repaired by 100 and has 5 pastes. Without ever opening the submenu or even having to stand still.
Am I playing this wrong or is the camera really bad? Something that happens very often is that I get knocked down, and the camera is where I want it (focused on the enemy) while Raiden is in his getting up from being knocked down-animation. But when I get control of Raiden, the camera swings over to the left or right and I have to refocus it, meanwhile I get sliced and die.
