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SSX |OT| Modern Boardfare

S

sonicmj1

Member
soultron said:
I'll try to replay it again sometime soon.

Here's some insta-tips I can try to offer, however.

*tips*

Hope all of this helps!
Click to expand...

I was hoping for something track specific, but this is all good advice that I tried to internalize during the demo.

Fortunately, I was able to win on my first try now, so I guess it really was just fatigue.
 
B

BruiserBear

Banned
GT Vespene said:
Here's the thing with Deadly Descents.

The idea is wonderful. A challenging course where the danger is highly thematic is a welcome addition to the franchise. The problem is the execution.

I feel that they had a few good ideas with the survival elements (the wing suit), which were gameplay concepts that were fundamentally change the way you play the game. They had a design meeting and wrote "wing suit" and "pick axe" on the white board, and then some guy said "we need 5 more." So they come up with headlamps, solar panels, oxygen tanks and so on, putting those at the same level as the wingsuit. The problem comes when those changes do not alter the way your character controls or plays.

Let's go down the list.

Wing Suit: Gives you a Mario World glide ability, for the first time giving you control of your trajectory after the jump. Useful in every track.

Ice Picks: Gives you the ability to maneuver around ice. Useful in some tracks.

Oxygen Tank: Does not give a new skill. Instead a new skill is given to your opponent (the mountain), to be countered with the press of a button. Useless on any other track.

Solar Panels: Does not give a new skill. Instead a new skill is given to your opponent (the mountain), to be countered by avoiding certain areas. Useless on any other track.

Headlamp: Does not give a new skill. Instead a new skill is given to your opponent (the mountain), to be countered by memorizing a path. Useless on any other track.

Pulse Goggles: Does not give a new skill. Instead a new skill is given to your opponent (the mountain), to be countered by... equipping an item. Useless on any other track.

So as you can see, the great majority of the upgrades you get are gimmicks so specific that they don't add anything to the core mechanics. How about a hookshot to grapple and swing vertically from cave ceilings or horizontally using trees? Or a snow bazooka to shoot opponents down (since shoving was removed in this iteration)? Things like that would be useful in almost every course.

As it is though most of the gimmicks are unimaginative. Even the ice picks were kinda gimmicky, as the only way to make their use mandatory was swiss cheesing the mountain with death holes. There's literally tiny death holes in the middle of the course that are impossible to avoid unless you know they're there. One of the basic design rules of SSX games has always been to only have death pits on the extreme edges of the terrain, a rule that had to be broken to make ice picks meaningful.

I have the most fun at the game when I avoid the gimmicky gear along with the courses associated with them, and never find any use (or fun) in them after the mountain that was custom made around the gimmick.
Click to expand...

You did a great job breaking that down more clearly than I did earlier. I agree that the wing suit is the one great gameplay addition.
 
B

bradigor

Member
Neuromancer said:
They definitely retconned it for some reason, it used to stand for snowboard super cross if memory serves. Maybe they're going to make a Freekstyle reboot next!

Freekstyle_Coverart.png


Oh yeah everyone forgot about that right, well not me!
Click to expand...


Not me, I'd take a new Freakstyle in an instant.
 
S

StrikerObi

Member
Anticitizen One said:
Does anyone else think they retconned the name of SSX to "Snowboarding, Surfing, Motorcross" so that if the game is successful they can make spinoffs like a SSX off road racing game using some of the characters and stuff?
Click to expand...

Was it a retcon? I didn't think of it that way. SSX is SuperSnowCross. But those characters ditched the SSX circuit because they were too good for it (LOL). So when they decided to go on this adventure, they needed a name for themselves. So they took SSX and re-purposed it to fit their current sports (Mac still snowboarding, Zoe now dominating motocross, and Tane a pro surfer). You can tell the "story" guys for the game had to make up some bullshit reason for the game to still be called SSX when they weren't on the actual SSX circuit anymore.
 
F

Forsaken82

Member
Neuromancer said:
Dear EA,

The rewind mechanic in racing games was created so a single screw up wouldn't ruin your entire race, and to make the racing experience more pleasant and less frustrating.

The way it is implemented in this game, where when you rewind other racers keep going forward past you, and you get a time penalty on top of that, MAKES NO GODDAMN SENSE. You may as well not have bothered since you seem to have completely missed the point.

Sincerely,
Neuromancer

PS Despite all my bitching I do actually like the game lest I appear to be an ogre.
Click to expand...

I think the reason the rewind feature doesn't follow the same concepts as other racing games is that this game is about perseverance. Learning routes, trick locations, jumps, ect via replaying the stages. You set the rewind feature to rewind not just you but the ghosts you race against (as well as the time) and you are opening the game up to be exploited in a single run. You miss a line that your friend hit perfectly for his insanely fast time, you shouldn't be able to rewind, manage the same line or find an even better line that throws you into the lead. The entire game would devolve into rewinding an entire run until you get it right instead of actually learning from your mistakes and earning your superior run in a single attempt.

I mean, I guess they could have put a larger restriction on Rewinds to prevent such exploitation, but personally i mainly use it for the big wipeouts that take longer to get up than rewinding to a safer point would or I just restart in general :p but otherwise I am personally OK with it.
 
V

Vespene

Member
Anticitizen One said:
Does anyone else think they retconned the name of SSX to "Snowboarding, Surfing, Motorcross" so that if the game is successful they can make spinoffs like a SSX off road racing game using some of the characters and stuff?
Click to expand...

I mean... the damn song stated "Super SX [SnowCross] is like a cold war going downhill..."
 
B

btkadams

Member
shoving was removed? what the fuck. i loved that.

so now that it's out, does ssx have real online? or is it asynchronous? i haven't kept up with it. mine just came in the mail so i will play it when i get home.

RoadHazard said:
Huh, isn't SSX = Snowboard Supercross? Pretty sure it is.
Click to expand...
you are correct. i don't know what they're talking about. it's what they say in the first ssx.
 
J

JambiBum

Member
Fuck Broken Tooth. It is the only drop that gave me trouble getting gold in the trick it. I don't even want to say how long it took me to do. Mass was right. I pick some ridiculous drops to trick it on.
 
B

BruiserBear

Banned
Forsaken82 said:
I think the reason the rewind feature doesn't follow the same concepts as other racing games is that this game is about perseverance. Learning routes, trick locations, jumps, ect via replaying the stages. You set the rewind feature to rewind not just you but the ghosts you race against (as well as the time) and you are opening the game up to be exploited in a single run. You miss a line that your friend hit perfectly for his insanely fast time, you shouldn't be able to rewind, manage the same line or find an even better line that throws you into the lead. The entire game would devolve into rewinding an entire run until you get it right instead of actually learning from your mistakes and earning your superior run in a single attempt.

I mean, I guess they could have put a larger restriction on Rewinds to prevent such exploitation, but personally i mainly use it for the big wipeouts that take longer to get up than rewinding to a safer point would or I just restart in general :p but otherwise I am personally OK with it.
Click to expand...

Couldn't they have just not inluded a rewind feature, like the previous SSX games?
 
RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
btkadams said:
so now that it's out, does ssx have real online? or is it asynchronous? i haven't kept up with it. mine just came in the mail so i will play it when i get home.
Click to expand...

It does have "real online" in that you can see other people being on the same track at the same time, but you're all just trying to get the best time or score you can on your own accord before the event is over. It's pretty much like TrackMania's online multiplayer; you're never actually racing anyone directly head-to-head.
 
B

btkadams

Member
RoadHazard said:
It does have "real online" in that you can see other people being on the same track at the same time, but you're all just trying to get the best time or score you can before the event is over. It's pretty much like TrackMania's online multiplayer; you're never actually racing anyone directly head-to-head.
Click to expand...

asynchronous isn't real competitive online imo. thanks for answering though! kind of a bummer. i loved chatting with people while i raced them in ssx 3 online.
 
L

Lé Blade Runner

Member
I am getting this game soon ( the demo sold me on it ), so add me if you want to compete for scores on the Xbox 360. My gamertag is Artieficial.

The last SSX game I played extensively was the first one on the PS2. It has been a long time, baby, and I have a lot of lost time to cover.
 
B

btkadams

Member
is anybody preferring the classic controls option? i played through the demo a few times and found the new controls pretty difficult to get used to and i'm curious as to whether the classic controls would work better for an ssx veteran. i've got nothing against the new ones, as they seem pretty intelligent, but it's hard to break old habits.
 
S

soultron

Banned
btkadams said:
is anybody preferring the classic controls option? i played through the demo a few times and found the new controls pretty difficult to get used to and i'm curious as to whether the classic controls would work better for an ssx veteran. i've got nothing against the new ones, as they seem pretty intelligent, but it's hard to break old habits.
Click to expand...

I use the game's default controls, but a lot of other SSX vets insist on using the Classic controls. It took me a while to get used to Standard controls, but they're second nature now.

I feel like you should use the Standard controls because the game was designed with them in mind.
 
V

Vicros

Member
I find the rewind is only useful in the deadly descent courses. There it's helpful because you don't have to start the whole run over from one mistake. It's near useless in any competitive challenge.
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
Liking the game (thank god we have a NEW SSX after so many years of asking) but it definitely seems like the game is 50% what SSX fans want, and 50% of this modern warfare bullshit they (as in the marketing/publisher team) wanted the game to be to sell to J6P in modern times and because of this it's a weird mix of AWESOME times and wtfisthis times.

Racing is good. Online leaderboard fighting is good. Tricks are good. Graphics are ok, but acceptable. Controls are pretty solid. Pits everywhere are very, very bad. Armor & HP is friggen stupid. Lack of true crazy videogame tracks for more realistic tracks is kind of a bummer since it makes the tracks all seem pretty similar and removes a way to totally differentiate the tracks with creative designs.

Think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this. But would have rather seen a reboot in the style of Hot Pursuit where it kept the core gameplay and just made it MORE AWESOME with insanely good online integration vs. reboot like SSX where they keep half of the original game and then inject it with 50% what people don't really want. Sort of reminds me of the Amped 2 -> 3 change we got as well. Though that was mainly a visual change and not a gameplay one. Then again too bad it wasn't Criterion developing; at least visually, I'm sure it would have been a lot nicer (gameplay too most likely). The Skate team is a good team, but Criterion is god tier at racing games.
 
S

StrikerObi

Member
soultron said:
That is true. I'm wondering if rewinding was done primarily to facilitate the placing of Geotags, amongst other things.
Click to expand...

Speaking of this. If you rewind and place a geotag, do you still take the point penalty? It seems like by binding geotag placement to the rewind function, if you plan on placing a geotag you better not also plan on getting a good score/time on a run. The only exception being if you know exactly when you want to place the tag, you can trigger the slow-mo real quick with the rewind and then just press X, and not take the penalty.
 
B

Baconsammy

Banned
Someone remind me which track in the game is Happiness. I think it's in Alaska but I forget the name.

And all the pics of the old extreme games reminds me of how much I miss the old days. As much as I complain about some of the stuff in the new SSX, thank ****ing god it exists. I've missed this stuff.
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
StrikerObi said:
Speaking of this. If you rewind and place a geotag, do you still take the point penalty? It seems like by binding geotag placement to the rewind function, if you plan on placing a geotag you better not also plan on getting a good score/time on a run. The only exception being if you know exactly when you want to place the tag, you can trigger the slow-mo real quick with the rewind and then just press X, and not take the penalty.
Click to expand...

How do Geotags work? I haven't tried using them...
 
S

soultron

Banned
StrikerObi said:
Speaking of this. If you rewind and place a geotag, do you still take the point penalty? It seems like by binding geotag placement to the rewind function, if you plan on placing a geotag you better not also plan on getting a good score/time on a run. The only exception being if you know exactly when you want to place the tag, you can trigger the slow-mo real quick with the rewind and then just press X, and not take the penalty.
Click to expand...

Anyone who's trying to place Geotags while also trying to set a good race or trick score is flat out doing it wrong, in my opinion, which you also mentioned. The best way/time to place Geotags is while messing around, and that's the same time to seriously hunt them down.

There are times when I hunt down Geotags just to piss my friends off. Haha. I literally do not quit until I've cleaned them up on any given track.
 
K

Kud Dukan

Member
Vicros said:
I find the rewind is only useful in the deadly descent courses. There it's helpful because you don't have to start the whole run over from one mistake. It's near useless in any competitive challenge.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree. They've been really useful on the deadly descent courses, but I hardly ever use it anywhere else. Usually if I make a big mistake I'll just restart the course.
 
M

ManeKast

Member
Forsaken82 said:
I think the reason the rewind feature doesn't follow the same concepts as other racing games is that this game is about perseverance. Learning routes, trick locations, jumps, ect via replaying the stages. You set the rewind feature to rewind not just you but the ghosts you race against (as well as the time) and you are opening the game up to be exploited in a single run. You miss a line that your friend hit perfectly for his insanely fast time, you shouldn't be able to rewind, manage the same line or find an even better line that throws you into the lead. The entire game would devolve into rewinding an entire run until you get it right instead of actually learning from your mistakes and earning your superior run in a single attempt.

I mean, I guess they could have put a larger restriction on Rewinds to prevent such exploitation, but personally i mainly use it for the big wipeouts that take longer to get up than rewinding to a safer point would or I just restart in general :p but otherwise I am personally OK with it.
Click to expand...

Hit the nail on the head on the hammer.
 
S

StrikerObi

Member
soultron said:
Anyone who's trying to place Geotags while also trying to set a good race or trick score is flat out doing it wrong, in my opinion, which you also mentioned. The best way/time to place Geotags is while messing around, and that's the same time to seriously hunt them down.

There are times when I hunt down Geotags just to piss my friends off. Haha. I literally do not quit until I've cleaned them up on any given track.
Click to expand...

Agreed. This is actually another time rewind comes in handy. If one of your friends is a jerk and puts a tag at the bottom of a death pit (I plan on never doing that) you can go down there and grab it and then rewind. After you do, you still have the geotag. You only need to touch it once to snag it. So if you're just goofing around in Explore, rewind is quite useful in that scenario. You can also rewind a jump over and over until you get the angle just right to snag the geotag.

So there, now we have two reasons to use rewind (DDs and geotags). But it's still useless in race/trick events.
 
B

btkadams

Member
is there a freeride mode so you can go down tracks at your leisure?

also, are any tracks connected like the big mountain in ssx 3 or on-tour?
 
K

krpiper

Member
btkadams said:
is there a freeride mode so you can go down tracks at your leisure?

also, are any tracks connected like the big mountain in ssx 3 or on-tour?
Click to expand...

no and no

But explore is basically free ride, you can pick a race event and just go along your merry way
 
B

btkadams

Member
krpiper said:
no and no

But explore is basically free ride, you can pick a race event and just go along your merry way
Click to expand...
man, i'm stoked for this game, but they really didn't do a lot of things i want out of an ssx game. it's really bittersweet. i hope they listen to us more when/if they make a sequel.
 
S

soultron

Banned
btkadams said:
is there a freeride mode so you can go down tracks at your leisure?

also, are any tracks connected like the big mountain in ssx 3 or on-tour?
Click to expand...

No, there's no big connected track like in SSX3.

If you want to zen out and free ride, you're totally welcome to do that in Explore. I do it all the time.
 
H

Hobbestetrician

Member
These bottomless pits are the worst. Hey, you just fell in a bottomless pit that you couldn't see until it was too late! Why don't you rewind and get out of it? Oh but the catch is that you are doubly punished for falling in the pit because the other riders keep going forward so either deal with it or restart completely. Guh.
 
B

BruiserBear

Banned
Just a warning for everyone who loves bottomless pits as much as I do. You're going to LOVE the final race! Not only are bottomless pits everywhere, but your visibility is severely limited due to the "weather". It's like the developer combined all the worst parts of this new SSX into one gant ball of FAIL.


Enjoy!
 
R

Ravensmash

Member
Aww, getting this on friday but the mixed reaction on here unsettles me a bit.

I loved the demo, and don't even mind the addition of Deadly Descents (honestly, the explore/global events mode/ridernet already sounds good enough for me).

I haven't played prior SSX games (apart from I think ...bits of the original when I was a lot younger so that's irrelevant for me now).

I'm hoping that my absence from the series will actually work in my favour - as a lot of criticism seems to be levelled at it not being the same game as last gen.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
BruiserBear said:
Just a warning for everyone who loves bottomless pits as much as I do. You're going to LOVE the final race! Not only are bottomless pits everywhere, but your visibility is severely limited due to the "weather". It's like the developer combined all the worst parts of this new SSX into one gant ball of FAIL.


Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Thanks! OMG I can't wait!
 
R

Randolph Freelander

Member
Wait, what? There's ice picks, oxygen tanks, solar panels, headlamps, pulse goggles in the game?

Guh.

Against my better judgment, I just bought this game. I never completely warmed up to the demo, but I kept playing it anyway, thinking maybe the real game would actually be more SSX than that demo made it out to be.

It didn't take me very long in the Rockies to disabuse myself of any such notion. I'm in the third or fourth event or whatever, wondering why I have a health bar. Get to the next location, and begin to wonder why I have a stupid wingsuit. I then turned the game off.

Good grief. Next time, get some people who actually played and liked SSX to make a new one. Give this one a different name. I suggest "Turd."
 
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