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March 28, 2024, 01:47:05 PM

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Prey (2017)

Started by Blue Jam, May 01, 2017, 01:02:57 PM

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Bhazor

I like the theory the true ending is the pacifist approach where you save everyone in the simulation then kill Alex in the bunker. You were just an alien mimicking empathy.

Blue Jam

I like the idea of a Typhon being injected with a human-derived "Empathy Neuromod", but I like the idea of a species capable of mimicking objects also being able to mimic empathy even more.

Also how have we got this far without mentioning THE STARBENDER CYCLE? Those sci-fi novels you keep finding scattered around the place called things like My Enemy's Enemy's Enemy and Backstabbed in the Face and which read like they were written by Garth Marenghi? Also the achievement: Prism Master: You read the entire Starbender series and don't regret it? Someone clearly had an immense amount of fun writing those excerpts for the game. The only problem I have with them is that I'm currently reading Iain M Banks' The Hydrogen Sonata and while I've always been a fan of his I'm now struggling to take this one seriously. Thanks for that, "Fetcher McMarvin"- now can you please write a full-length one, available from all good airports?

samadriel

QuoteI've always felt uneasy at hearing that "why don't scientists experiment on prisoners instead of animals?" argument
...Who makes that argument?  Apart from the Nazis.

Blue Jam

Quote from: samadriel on June 22, 2017, 03:01:46 PM
...Who makes that argument?  Apart from the Nazis.

I guess it's an argument I've heard more often than most, as a biomedical researcher who used to teach medical ethics and chair student debates. I was going to say "the type of people who comment on Daily Mail articles", but a quick search threw up such comments on The Huffington fucking Post:

http://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/news/communications-media/why-testing-on-prisoners-is-a-bad-idea/

I feel lucky that I get to work on cell and tissue culture and don't need to use animals. I find the idea of research on dogs upsetting and while it may be necessary I couldn't do it myself, so I definitely wouldn't want to experiment on humans- I guess it's easier for one to make the argument for experimenting on prisoners if one is not the person who has to carry out those experiments.

I don't wish to get too off-topic in a gaming thread, but yes, it is more than a bit Nazi, and it's an interesting theme to see in a game, especially here where it's tied in with the moral decisions the main character has to make, and reveals a bit about characters' motives, their hypocrisy and the callousness some display when they think no-one will find out, how this wonderful future society where cancer has been eradicated and scientists work hard for the greater good actually isn't that progressive, etc.

Blue Jam

Amazon are now doing this for twenty quid for both PS4 and Xbone, and the recent patches seem to have sorted a lot of issues:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bethesda-PR2CSTX1PEUK-Prey-Xbox-One/dp/B01GV7XWEG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502789249&sr=8-1&keywords=prey+xbox+one

Mister Six

Way behind the times, but I didn't want to shit up the Mooncrash DLC thread with my ramblings.

Completed this at just a hair under 70 hours, and was still finding bits and pieces right up to the end (I didn't know about the captain's quarters on the bridge until I did the detonation ending, and then chuckled as it gave me five minutes to do a sidequest involving a space shuttle while the station was counting down to explode).

Definitely the best game of last year for me, personally. A much worthier successor to System Shock than the Bioshock games, and as someone who delights in hoovering up every last collectable at a snail's pace, it was almost made for me.

What really struck me was how skilfully it escalates the story and stakes, and doesn't let you get comfortable for long. You're being tested on by your brother. Then aliens have broken out of the lab! Then it turns out you're in space! And the station is falling apart! And your brother's secretly running things! And your company is killing condemned prisoners to collect materials! And some of the condemned prisoners are actually just political dissidents! And those turrets can be controlled by enemies! And so can humans! And you can go into space! And there's a thing called a nightmare hunting you! And it turns out YOU were running things all along! And now the coral is spreading through the station! And now the army is here with its robots! And the coral is actually a giant brain! And now the whole fucking station is being eaten by an inky Godzilla! And it was all a dream! And almost everyone is a robot! And you're a Typhon!

Fuck me - exhilarating and exhausting. And now I need to buy Mooncrash...

(For the endings, I blew up the station first and fucked off in Dahl's shuttle with the other survivors, then did it again with Alex's shuttle pod, then did nullwave transmittor, and then one more swing at the detonation, but this time settling down in the captain's chair to get the best view of the carnage. Madness, I know, because it only changed about one line of dialogue in the ending, but I REALLY loved this game. I liked January telling you she couldn't stop the countdown... unless *someone* put her out of commission first.)

biggytitbo

World building wise, quite possibly my favourite of all time. Of course I'd agree that the last 3rd isn't as good as the first 2, but then the last 3rd is still great and the first 2 as good as it gets so it's nitpicking really.

Bhazor

The opening is great. The first time. Try to replay it though and ooooooooh it fucking drags.

Hashtag bring back standalone tutorials.

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,66337.msg3445407.html#msg3445407

Mister Six

There aren't many tutorials, are there? A few pop-ups that you can ignore, but that's it. I'm not looking forward to having to get all the way to Morgan's office to pick my powers back up on the New Game+ though - that seems like taking the piss.

Quote from: biggytitbo on September 01, 2018, 11:03:34 PM
World building wise, quite possibly my favourite of all time.

It's an astonishingly rich world - not just the characters and their various relationships*, but the whole alternative history, stretching back to the 1960s.

* I especially loved discovering that once upon a time Morgan was the one who wanted to use the node zapper and Alex was the one who wanted to destroy the station - making his end, should you choose the detonation option, all the more pathetic and affecting... without his sibling he's nothing.

Blue Jam

#69
Quote from: Mister Six on September 02, 2018, 12:20:53 AM
There aren't many tutorials, are there? A few pop-ups that you can ignore, but that's it. I'm not looking forward to having to get all the way to Morgan's office to pick my powers back up on the New Game+ though - that seems like taking the piss.

I actually think Prey does a good job of having a tutorial that doesn't feel like a tutorial. Every little detail has a significance that only becomes clear later on, and it all hints at what's really going on, and leaves you to work it out as you uncover more lore. Repeating it is a bit of a pain though, aye.

Mooncrash does a good job with its "tutorials" too... no spoilers...

Quote from: Mister Six on September 02, 2018, 12:20:53 AM
It's an astonishingly rich world - not just the characters and their various relationships*, but the whole alternative history, stretching back to the 1960s.

The one big disappointment I had with Mooncrash was the missed opportunity to throw in some more moon landing stuff- the big portrait of Kennedy was present and correct and the player characters' footprints on the lunar surface looked pleasingly like Neil Armstrong's, but I would have loved to have seen the lunar module. Or two American flags...

Quote from: Mister Six on September 02, 2018, 12:20:53 AM* I especially loved discovering that once upon a time Morgan was the one who wanted to use the node zapper and Alex was the one who wanted to destroy the station - making his end, should you choose the detonation option, all the more pathetic and affecting... without his sibling he's nothing.

There has been some speculation that Alex Yu and Transtar are loosely based on Elon Musk and Tesla (the logos are similar, now I think about it). I'm not sure about that but there does seem to be a dig at that whole techbro billionaire worship thing, and companies making achievements in cool tech stuff but by means which may not be entirely morally sound.

I also like the whole sense that someone was fiddling while Rome burned- all those decadent Art Deco offices in which everyone is dead. There's a bit of a Titanic vibe to it too.

The relationship between Alex and Morgan is interesting too- Alex Yu is admired but not really liked, a lot of the people who work under him hate him, his younger sibling is the real brains of the operation and the photogenic one who appears on all the magazine covers, and it's acknowledged that Alex only got to where he is because he was the first-born to a pair of wealthy nepotists. Clearly the siblings have a rivalry but they are also united against their toxic parents...  and Mooncrash expands on all that with the introduction of their cousin, Riley Yu...

Also if you look round Alex's living quarters you will find a single sock by the bed... it's lonely at the top...

Ferris

By strange coincidence, I was reading about this game today and though "ooh I reckon Mrs Ferris would like this". Is it any good then? I hate stealth games (with a passion) but she loves 'em, and a mindless shooter means I'd enjoy it as well. She is a big fan of BioShock and Dishonoured, whereas I don't reckon they're much cop.

Might look at this when it's on sale.

biggytitbo

Prey is less of a stealth game that something like dishonored. You can play some parts of it sneaking around but you will be forced into combat quite frequently aswell, but you can handle it in multiple different ways. There is one quite tricky pseudoboss early on that you have to kill to be able to progress.

Blue Jam

#72
^^^ Yes, there are no boss fights as such, just a few bits where you have to clear an area of enemies to access a new area or move the story on and they feel nothing like boss fights. I love this game and I absolutely loathe boss fights.

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on September 04, 2018, 01:24:25 AMI hate stealth games (with a passion) but she loves 'em, and a mindless shooter means I'd enjoy it as well.

As Biggy says, it's not really a stealth game. There are stealth upgrades for the player character, but they're more about helping with the combat- you can do more damage to an enemy if you can quietly sneak up behind them and shoot them before they've seen you. It's not you average mindless FPS either. You can play it like a shooter but you'll find it less enjoyable, and much harder because you'll keep running out of ammo. A big challenge with this game is the lack of resources, which means you have to explore loads to find stuff, be economical with your ammo, and get creative with the environment. You can also perform psychic attacks, which make the game much more fun.

It's a very rich world and a game you can really get immersed in rather than a casual experience to dip in and out of. It re-uses a lot of ideas from Dishonored and the "Dishonored in space" thing is fair enough, but it's a much more sophisticated and much better game. Get it anyway, it's great and it sounds like you'll both find stuff to enjoy.

Bhazor

I stopped trying to play stealthy when I realised how glitchy the pathfinding is and how easy it is to exploit them by building goo staircases or calling everyone into an area and sneaking out through a vent. Played the last two thirds as an all out survival horror/action game and still had a great time and got the best ending.

biggytitbo


Obel

Those hidden boxes behind the alarms are a quest in the game. Not really a secret.

biggytitbo

Something I totally missed then. Makes the point in the guys video about how the game was almost too good for its own good.

Obel

I didn't watch the rest of the video, don't really like those kinds of vids but Prey was underappreciated I think. It was underappreciated by myself for the first year I owned it, it was only this year that I revisited it and really realised how free the game lets you be. It truly lets you approach situations with your own style and rewards experimentation in ways most games don't. I hammered it a bit too much this year but am looking forward to coming back to it to try Mooncrash.

biggytitbo

Loved the fact you can sneak back around the other side of a room where you just left two characters and hear them talking about whether to trust you or not. That's immersive but 99% of players would never have experienced it.

Mister Six

"Too good for its own good" because it averages about 30 hours of gameplay?! Too many secrets to find on the first playthrough?!

How many hours do people put into Skyrim, Fallout, Fortnight...? How many people have done multiple playthroughs of Mass Effect or Dragon Age?

I know the lad in that video is still in school, and so is a fuckwit with no perspective, but is this how the kids think these days? And do they think they'll have more time to play when they're working 9-10 hours a day and coming back to a wife/kid/dog?

biggytitbo

Yeah I don't agree with some of his reasons, but I do agree it was too good for its own good. If it had been more straightforward a game it would probably have sold more copies, as it is games like Prey and Deus Ex are dying a death because people just don't buy them.

Obel

Quote from: Mister Six on November 29, 2018, 01:44:44 PM
but is this how the kids think these days?

It's just 'Content' isn't it. These videos where nobodies pour their useless thoughts into any given subject with music and editing so they get ad clicks. Shit like "Top 10 It's Always Sunny Moments!" with misc clips and brain dead commentary that pop up on my Youtube screen make me way more mad than they ever should.

Mister Six

Quote from: biggytitbo on November 29, 2018, 02:05:30 PM
Yeah I don't agree with some of his reasons, but I do agree it was too good for its own good. If it had been more straightforward a game it would probably have sold more copies, as it is games like Prey and Deus Ex are dying a death because people just don't buy them.

I dunno, Deus Ex managed to get three sequels greenlit. But these games have never been that popular, have they? Compared to faster and more immediate games.

biggytitbo

I dunno, I presume human evolution must have been reasonably successful, but it could be that these type of games are just victim of the triple a games industries rampant greed and obsession with multilayer games that they can use to milk their players.

Pink Gregory

So I've been playing for 14 or so hours and I've only just got the Psychoscope.  Not even Psi powers yet.

Just taking it slow and exploring/reading.  Playing on hard so the Phantoms fuck me up extremely quickly.

Love this game; I've heard a few good things about Deathloop but I get the feeling that Arkane's imperial phase is probably over.


Ferris

Must start playing this again, I didn't finish it but it was a brilliant game.

Stigdu

Prey was my GOTY. Fantastic stuff.

Mister Six

I adored Prey. Absolutely perfect in every way. And I say that as a pathological nitpicker.

Pink Gregory

Throwing all the cupboard crap in a recycler and getting neat little cubes that take up one square of your inventory is fantastic.

Blue Jam

The crafting system in this game is admirably frustration-free.

I love the recycler grenades too. Trying to recycle anything that isn't tied down is fun.