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[DarknessTear]

I just got this game today, finished Act 1 just now on Hard. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

 

[DarknessTear]

AhhhHh! Fuck! This game is so fun on Hard mode. So, so fun. I'm pretty far into Act 3. Loving iiiit.

The animation when you're changing weapons is badass, too.

 

[TheVisualizer]

I got halfway thru Act 4 after playing this for about a week but all my weapon upgrades got wiped when my nephew started a new game on my profile today so I'll be starting over from the beginning, and had 1 question.

Is it just me or is the Disc Launcher pretty useless? What enemies is it good against besides the regular fodder ground troops? For me it doesn't seem to do much good against anything bigger than that.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Is it just me or is the Disc Launcher pretty useless? What enemies is it good against besides the regular fodder ground troops? For me it doesn't seem to do much good against anything bigger than that.

I used to hate on it when the second demo came out, but it's one of the most useful weapons in the game. You can dismember Romanovs with it, and its melee attack uses the weapon itself instead of the suit, so you won't enter overheating. It also has good crowd control and can decapitate ground troops pretty well.

 

[japtor]

Disc Launcher makes the

Spoiler

Crystal Viper

fights much much much easier.

 

[Retro_]

Disc Launcher makes the

Spoiler

Crystal Viper

fights much much much easier.

I didn't think that was possible

 

[A Human Becoming]

Right now I'm trying to get the achievement for beating the game without dying by playing through on casual auto. I got all the way up to Act 3 when I fell off the bridge. Along the way I'm getting all the statues.

Hopefully this won't soften me up when I play through Hard.

 

[Curufinwe]

Right now I'm trying to get the achievement for beating the game without dying by playing through on casual auto. I got all the way up to Act 3 when I fell off the bride.

If you back out to the Title Screen and continue from there the death won't count.

I think.

Spoiler

Still haven't bought the game.

 

[X26]

I like the disk launcher, and as far as least useful weapons sofar for me it's the LFE(?), seems to dissipate too quickly

anyways just got the game myself recently and am on act 3, love the gameplay its incredibly, but too many cutscenes that break up the action

 

[A Human Becoming]

Does LFE even do damage? I just thought it knocked enemies back.

 

[Retro_]

If you back out to the Title Screen and continue from there the death won't count.

Yeah that's how everyone does it.

It's not hard to do a no death run legit though.

I like the disk launcher, and as far as least useful weapons sofar for me it's the LFE(?), seems to dissipate too quickly

I think LFE stuns the Nias in place

and they're probably the most annoying enemies to beat. Atleast to me

Does LFE even do damage?

It'll kill gorgies in one shot. and it does pretty good damage on argus limbs if that's any measure.

 

[A Human Becoming]

Thanks for the tip. That'll save me a lot of time.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Does LFE even do damage? I just thought it knocked enemies back.

It does. It's an instant kill to all Gorgies too.

It's especially good on

Spoiler

Unknowns.

 

[AwRy108]

Finished the game on Hard yesterday, and completed the first two Challenge Mode stages.

Absolutely one of my favorite games on the PS3, and for one major reason: once you finally become "one" with the gameplay mechanics, the experience turns into pure, unadulterated fun.

I love how Platinum Games takes the awesome aesthetics and crazy gameplay we only see out of Japan, and marries them with Western controls and check-point systems. Platinum has quickly become one of my favorite developers, and I'm so excited to see what they crank out next.

 

[japtor]

I like the disk launcher, and as far as least useful weapons sofar for me it's the LFE(?), seems to dissipate too quickly

I used it mostly on guys on turrets or behind shields on higher ground. Just boost in front or underneath them and shoot through the barrier/wall. I cleared out some small building sections just shooting from the outside.

 

[Arpharmd B]

Got it for Christmas.

This game makes Gears of War look mediocre by comparison. Seriously perfect controls, fast, frentic, and beautiful. The action never lets up. I feel like I'm playing a 3d Alien Soldier.

Seriously my game of the year.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Disc Launcher makes the

Spoiler

Crystal Viper

fights much much much easier.

Spoiler

Crystal Viper, along with Unknown, is probably the easiest boss in the game, though.

With Crystal Viper all you need to do is: Shoot with AR until Crystal Viper charges at you. -> Counter QTE. -> Shoot with AR/HMG until Viper recovers. -> Boost kick and shoot in AR Mode with AR/HMG until Viper breaks. -> Shoot Viper while it's down until it dies.

All of that takes, like, 30 seconds, too.

Spoiler

With Unknown, I just do the following: EMP while boosting towards Unknown. -> Fully charged Shotgun melee. (Which takes, like, 50% of Unknown's health down.) -> Shoot Unknown with Shotgun/Disk Launcher/Rockets. -> EMP when Unknown recovers. -> Fully charged Shotgun melee. -> Dead Unknown in 20 seconds or so.

Also, in my opinion, the best enemy/boss in the game is the

Spoiler

Bia

.

 

[Apenheul]

This game makes Gears of War look mediocre by comparison.

I wish I felt the same.. It's core mechanics are almost exactly like Gears of War and I really like the boss battles a lot but this game just doesn't pull me in. Maybe it's the leveldesign that seems to have gotten a lot of attention on the functional side, but not on the imaginative side. Perhaps it gets better at the end though.

 

[Cj70]

I wish I felt the same.. It's core mechanics are almost exactly like Gears of War and I really like the boss battles a lot but this game just doesn't pull me in. Maybe it's the leveldesign that seems to have gotten a lot of attention on the functional side, but not on the imaginative side. Perhaps it gets better at the end though.

I keep trying to active reload.

Got the game yesterday and loving it so far Really like the LFE actually

 

[∀ Narayan]

My advice to anyone playing this game: Don't play it like a third-person shooter, play it like an action game. You will get the most out of this game if you forget everything you know about third-person shooters.

 

[vatstep]

Got it for Christmas.

This game makes Gears of War look mediocre by comparison. Seriously perfect controls, fast, frentic, and beautiful. The action never lets up. I feel like I'm playing a 3d Alien Soldier.

Seriously my game of the year.

I recently beat Gears of War for the first time (after owning it for four years — backlog for the loss) and was really unimpressed. I guess I shouldn't have played Vanquish first. The controls are just so sluggish and unresponsive in comparison, which really hurts the combat (especially the close quarters encounters). I get that your character is a big, hulking dude and having him dart around with a Vanquish level of precision would feel out of place, but the mechanics could've been so much better.

It's just a shame that there are millions of Gears fanatics out there who will never give this game a second look, when they'd feel right at home (and blown away) with it.

 

[∀ Narayan]

I was disappointed with Gears of War, and I played it way before I played this.

 

[TheUsual]

Played the demo and enjoyed it. Ordered it from Amazon which has is for $40.

 

[Apenheul]

I recently beat Gears of War for the first time (after owning it for four years — backlog for the loss) and was really unimpressed. I guess I shouldn't have played Vanquish first. The controls are just so sluggish and unresponsive in comparison, which really hurts the combat (especially the close quarters encounters). I get that your character is a big, hulking dude and having him dart around with a Vanquish level of precision would feel out of place, but the mechanics could've been so much better.

It's just a shame that there are millions of Gears fanatics out there who will never give this game a second look, when they'd feel right at home (and blown away) with it.

I agree, Vanquish's mechanics are way more polished and presents the player to do more interesting things with them especially in bossfights. In that regard I think it's more fun than GoW, but (for me) it's also missing something at the same time that GoW did have, which I think has to do with its setting and the level-design.

 

[Snuggles]

but (for me) it's also missing something at the same time that GoW did have

CO-OP

 

[∀ Narayan]

CO-OP

Unless they manage to find some workaround for AR Mode, I don't really see the need for multiplayer. The game definitely needs a longer campaign and more post-game content for replay value, though. I don't know why everyone finds a need to put MP in a game, just because you can shoot things.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

Unless they manage to find some workaround for AR Mode, I don't really see the need for multiplayer. The game definitely needs a longer campaign and more post-game content for replay value, though. I don't know why everyone finds a need to put MP in a game, just because you can shoot things.

Because the only way to have fun in a game is to prove you're better than someone else. Obviously.

=/

 

[Snuggles]

Because the only way to have fun in a game is to prove you're better than someone else. Obviously.

=/

Uh, yeah, that... or it would be fun to play at the same time with a friend. I guess we can just save that for the sequel. ; )

 

[∀ Narayan]

Because the only way to have fun in a game is to prove you're better than someone else. Obviously.

=/

You can manage that with a replay mode for the leaderboard, though. I wouldn't be against a multiplayer mode that uses different mechanics, but that kind of defeats the point of the core game.

 

[X26]

at the least they needed some suit palette swaps, I wanna see that suit in black/gold

 

[Snuggles]

You can manage that with a replay mode for the leaderboard, though. I wouldn't be against a multiplayer mode that uses different mechanics, but that kind of defeats the point of the core game.

just remove AR mode and double the enemies, problem solved

 

[∀ Narayan]

at the least they needed some suit palette swaps, I wanna see that suit in black/gold

Yeah, that would be cool. It would force them render any scene with Sam in-engine, which I'm always for. They would have to care about consistency, though. Since Bayonetta featured whatever costume you had equipped, I'm guessing they do.

just remove AR mode and double the enemies, problem solved

It guess it could work. You're forced to use AR mode less in the higher difficulties, anyway. A super challenging co-op mode could be cool, but they should keep it apart from the main game.

 

[Veelk]

I just beat the game. Honestly, it really shouldn't have taken as long as it did, but school forced me to put the game on hold about half way through and it took some time to adjust back to the controls.

What a ride. I have to say that at first I didn't feel it as much, but as I got better and better at the game, it got better and better. Most games just have you shoot the enemy until it dies, but Vanquish allows you to play around with them. For example, the giant mech with a missile launcher strapped to it's back. Yeah, you can just shoot it until it dies, but that's so bland. Why go into AR mode the second it's about to fire it's huge missile, shoot the missile as soon as it exists it's barrel so the damage will be done to him, slide to him and kick him down, then finish him off by firing off a hail of bullets into its face before you touch down on the ground. Good god that was awesome.

The more you play it, the more enjoyable the game becomes. And it's not the kind of game you can master on your first playthrough either. Looking back, I've been rather neglectful of the Disk Launcher, the melee in general, and some other weapons in general. I tended to stick to a shotgun, Armored Pistol, and whatever struck my fancy at the time (but often it was a medium range rifle of some kind). So many more guns to be used on so many different kinds of enemies. That's the fun thing about this game, mixing and matching and seeing what you end up with. I haven't even touched the harder difficulties or tactical challenges yet. I beat the game, but I feel as though I have only just begun.

My one complaint is that it's really hard to tell what killed you sometimes. There are points where you are just getting gangbanged at all sides by bullets, and there is just flat out nothing you can do to defend yourself, no where you can run. Death felt extremely cheap at those points. But those moments were not often, and you can usually escape.

The game feels like Master Chief and Bayonetta had a child who was raised by Marcus Fenix and his gang. And it's a fucking crime that it's probably not going to get a sequel.

 

[MechaX]

Hm.. I probably should just buckle down and pick this up already. I missed the K-Mart sale (didn't have any 360 Vanquish copies), but I still have like $64 left on my Wal-Mart gift card given from when I picked up my PS3. I imagine this is the type of game where it may seem pretty sparse in content, but the true appeal comes up from mastering the combat and/or dicking around with enemies on higher difficulties, right?

 

[Veelk]

Hm.. I probably should just buckle down and pick this up already. I missed the K-Mart sale (didn't have any 360 Vanquish copies), but I still have like $64 left on my Wal-Mart gift card given from when I picked up my PS3. I imagine this is the type of game where it may seem pretty sparse in content, but the true appeal comes up from mastering the combat and/or dicking around with enemies on higher difficulties, right?

Yeah, definitely. Though I don't know how the higher difficulites operate exactly. Do enemies get new abilities? Or does their health just increase while yours decreases and you can't use AR as much?

 

[∀ Narayan]

Yeah, definitely. Though I don't know how the higher difficulites operate exactly. Do enemies get new abilities? Or does their health just increase while yours decreases and you can't use AR as much?

Sort of, with the exception that God Hard is more like Hard mode in Bayonetta, where the enemy layouts you encounter are different.

 

[Kittonwy]

Finally started the game tonight, controls took some time to get used to, story is a bit goofy, pretty good so far.

 

[Various Artists]

Wish this game got more love when it came out. It is a great game.

 

[Llyranor]

After a small hiatus, I just got back into the game on hard today. Just finished chapter 2. Still loving it to bits.

 

[AgentOtaku]

I need to play through this one more time before I deploy...

 

[adversesolutions]

After a small hiatus, I just got back into the game on hard today. Just finished chapter 2. Still loving it to bits.

Hard is where all of Vanquish's joy reveals itself. Enjoy it.

 

[DarknessTear]

So, I beat the game on Hard. I LOVED the game. Sucks there probably won't be a sequel. One thing, though.. is it just me or was the game ridiculously easy on Hard mode?

 

[astroturfing]

So, I beat the game on Hard. I LOVED the game. Sucks there probably won't be a sequel. One thing, though.. is it just me or was the game ridiculously easy on Hard mode?

ridiculously easy? hell NO. i died 60 times on Hard :E the last fight drove me nuts, took about 15 tries. and a few other sections as well got on my nerves.

my problem was that every time i was doing really well and kicking ass, something out of fucking nowhere would one-shot me and i would RAGE. i hate dying in a game so much without knowing WHY. i didn't mind if was playing like an idiot and a big rocket hit me, or i got too close to the "unknown" enemy and it destroyed me.. those were my own damn fault and i didn't mind trying again. also, way too many irritating invisible walls in levels, and stuff you cant use as cover even though it would be logical. got killed way too many times because of those design faults.

still a great game though of course, despite my frustration with it. i should've just played it on normal and left it at that. and IMO Vanquish has the most fun and visually breathtaking train level ever made. like holy shit, i will still replay that 5 years from now.

 

[Gen X]

I was disappointed with Gears of War, and I played it way before I played this.

Same. I remember showing no interest in it prior to its original release in '06 but I got sucked in majorly with the hype on launch day, purchase and completed a day later (Locked difficulty levels ftl ). Enjoyed GoW2 more just because of the sheer scope and the game felt twice as long but still locked difficulties ftl.

It's not hard to compare Vanquish to GoW purely because Epic, hmmmm, I won't say perfected, but did a good job evolving the cover system that has seen many games emulate since but yeah, as someone said above, it's a shame that so many will give Vanquish a miss, it really does deserve a chance.

So, I beat the game on Hard. I LOVED the game. Sucks there probably won't be a sequel. One thing, though.. is it just me or was the game ridiculously easy on Hard mode?

I agree with you, I very rarely got stuck, infact I was surprised how many levels I got through with minimal deaths. I only had a couple of bits that cause me grief. Was definitely pleased I chose Hard because Normal would've felt like a chore.

 

[MattyH]

but the boss on 5-2 is kicking my arse on hard

 

[.la1n]

I have to say outside of gears this is the only game iv'e played where I consistently come back to attempt it on higher difficulties. I also try each chapter with a different approach every time. Bring on a Vanquish 2

 

[derFeef]

Just started this. I laughed at the intro movies (soooo bad) but the gameplay is fucking orgasmic. I hope the game is like that the whole time.

 

[Decado]

Just started this. I laughed at the intro movies (soooo bad) but the gameplay is fucking orgasmic. I hope the game is like that the whole time.

Finished the first act. Fucking love it. Cut scenes are a hell of a lot better than Bayonetta's (then again, has there ever been worse cutscenes than those?).

 

[MechaX]

Bit the bullet and picked this game up with the rest of my gift-card money. Currently up to Act 3.

Holy fucking shit, where has this game been all my life? This is the non-stop rush that I wish Ninja Gaiden II was able to deliver on. Even basic roll + AR never gets old, and me and my friend had our "HOLY SHIIII-" moment when we discovered we could continue the basic punching melee into a God Hand Pummel overkill. The story doesn't seem all that offensive so far. Hell, it seems pretty obvious that this was definitely not a story to be taken seriously. And unlike Bayonetta where the cutscenes just dragged on and on with Bayonetta doing increasing over-the-top shit, it takes a page from Devil May Cry 3's book with Sam doing over-the-top shit but in an extremely brief and entertaining fashion.

I also like the fact that you're this super-powered mechanical superman, but even that really can't change the fact that this mission is fucked in almost every way imaginable. Sam's cheesy, but I like that he's content with merely doing what he can to help rather than being a total ass like Dante if he were in a mechanical suit.

 

[∀ Narayan]

This is the non-stop rush that I wish Ninja Gaiden II was able to deliver on.

I often say to my friends that Vanquish is the real Ninja Gaiden II. It's kind of fitting considering that the only game that got me as excited as I did for Vanquish, prior to its release, was Ninja Gaiden for the original Xbox.