Xbox360 Too Human

[MasterChief1976]

Habe gerade erst die News von den angeblichen 10 Stunden Spielzeit gelesen...wtf? Da soll ich 60€ für berappen? Klar gibt es auch kürzere Games, aber dann muss TH auch ein Feuerwerk wie CoD 4 oder ähnliche abfeuern..außerdem sind 10 Stunden für ein Hack`n Slay schon ein bisschen wenig. Imo jedenfalls. Bei 10 Stunden Spielzeit werde ich wohl bei einer überzeugenden Demo am Wochenende das Spiel aus der Videothek ausleihen und den SP durchzocken und den MP antesten. Kauf steht, bei überzeugender Demo natürlich, und fällt dann mit dem MP.

Oh man was machen die nur mit einem meiner Most Wanteds Nummero Uno

die meldung von wired.com mit den 10std. ist aber mit vorsicht zu geniessen.
der tester ist nämlich durch das game durchgerushed und somit ist seine spielzeitangabe für die tonne.
gerade bei einem game, bei dem es um gegenstände sammeln und aufleveln des chars geht.

ich brauche keine demo - too human ist gekauft!!!

 

[KrateroZ]

Habe gerade erst die News von den angeblichen 10 Stunden Spielzeit gelesen...wtf? Da soll ich 60€ für berappen? Klar gibt es auch kürzere Games, aber dann muss TH auch ein Feuerwerk wie CoD 4 oder ähnliche abfeuern..außerdem sind 10 Stunden für ein Hack`n Slay schon ein bisschen wenig. Imo jedenfalls. Bei 10 Stunden Spielzeit werde ich wohl bei einer überzeugenden Demo am Wochenende das Spiel aus der Videothek ausleihen und den SP durchzocken und den MP antesten. Kauf steht, bei überzeugender Demo natürlich, und fällt dann mit dem MP.
Oh man was machen die nur mit einem meiner Most Wanteds Nummero Uno

Es sind durgerushte 10 Stunden - rusht du in Diablo II oder Mass Effect durch, bist du auch bei ca. 10-12 Stunden

Es bleibt dabei: Demo anspielen und Meinung bilden - alles andere bringt eh nichts

ich brauche keine demo - too human ist gekauft!!!

Ich bleibe halt (wie immer) der Skeptiker

 

[Freigeist]

Es sind durgerushte 10 Stunden - rusht du in Diablo II oder Mass Effect durch, bist du auch bei ca. 10-12 Stunden

Es bleibt dabei: Demo anspielen und Meinung bilden - alles andere bringt eh nichts



Ich bleibe halt (wie immer) der Skeptiker

Schneller 8)

Und da das Gameplay ja eh in die Richtung Diablo gehen soll, verspreche ich mir davon sehr viel. Sieht zumindest hübscher aus als Diablocraft III

 

[KrateroZ]

Too Human: Top 5 Quick Fixes

The rough edges we want smoothed before release.


by Patrick Kolan, IGN AU

Australia, July 1, 2008 - There's no question that Too Human is about as ambitious a project as any studio has undertaken in the last decade. It's gone through more revisions and platform shifts than is probably healthy or cost effective, but it's finally coming out the other end of the development pipeline. What's more, Too Human is surprisingly single-minded in its dedication to the dungeon crawling RPG genre. Despite a mainstream-friendly, chocolate coated hack-and-slash shell, the chewy caramel middle of the game is Nordic mythological role-playing – and it's something that clearly Denis Dyack's Silicon Knights is passionate about.

The game gets so much right – the setting, scale, depth, story and the multiplayer. However, as the game nears its August release date, it's definitely not perfect. Here are our top 5 points we want to see sorted out before Too Human reaches shelves in its final month of development.


Camera Control Woes

Our single biggest gripe after our extended play time with the game is the camera system. It's okay, but it's just not quite good enough. Here's the deal. If you're walking around, the camera either automatically locks into a cinematic perspective (particularly if you're on a moving platform or are in a corridor). When in a standard combat area, the camera sticks behind Baldur at all times and can be zoomed right in or pulled far above him in a quasi-isometric view.

Too Human's environments are marvelous. But you can't get this camera angle in the game, unfortunately.
​

The camera generally stays in its fixed position and angle during combat, unless you actively shift it around behind Baldur by tapping the Left Bumper. This immediate jump in perspective to behind Baldur can be very disorienting, too – but that's more to do with the immediacy of the shift. The main reason for our qualms with the camera, however, is not that it uses the much-maligned quick-adjust system (many games have used this system and more will continue to do so), but rather in that you can only make small adjustments to the X and Y-axis tilt of the camera angle when Baldur is stationary.

How to Fix the Problem:

You can shift the vertical and horizontal angle by holding down the Left Bumper and then moving the Right Stick. Since combat is assigned to the Right Stick, the LB toggles the camera – but only when you're standing perfectly still – which is completely inexplicable. There's no logic or reason why Silicon Knights hasn't introduced a revolving camera system that can be activated with LB and rotated and controlled freely with the right stick. C'mon guys – make this small change and save your camera system. Just free up that Right Stick completely when you hold down LB. Done. Simple. Your camera problems are fixed.

Combat Training Area

The combat is Too Human's gameplay heart and soul. It's dominated by skill trees, ranged and melee weapons and these three elements can be adjusted and customized to an impressively deep degree. However, with such depth and complexity comes the need for training in the finesses of combat. The controls are primarily mapped to the L and R triggers and the Right Stick, but when you combine different stick-flicks and holds with shooting and jumping and rolling and so on, the result is potentially a mish-mash of too many subtleties and options for players to immediately digest and apply.

Combat is quite involved and there's not a lot of guidance. If you thought Mass Effect tossed you in the deep end...
​

To that end, Too Human desperately needs a combat training arena or a practice course that players are introduced to before the outset of the adventure. The thumbstick controls are actually akin to another very different game – EA's 'skate', with its 'flickit' control scheme. Unlike skate, however, Too Human has no training area to get comfortable with combos. You're mostly just tossed into battle with a pop-up screen of vague instructions and a horde of low level enemies to dispose of. There's no chance to get to know the niceties of juggling or how to string together effective combos. It just feels like you're being dumped in the deep end of a strange, new combat system with no helping hands.

How to Fix the Problem:

Just give us a Matrix-like white infinity room. Populate said-room with AI-less enemies. Take players through ten essential combat manoeuvres, such as juggling, dodge-rolling, combo attacks and special abilities. Make this mode skippable, but make it a default introduction to the game. If you want to integrate it into the storyline, just make the first room – populated by robo-goblins – a training zone and follow the above instructions.

Norse Mythology Encyclopedia

Too Human is steeped in ancient Norse lore. That's the basis for the runic spells, the constant references to Nordic gods and ancient practices. There's a rich and fascinating setting behind this tale of gods and monsters and machines. But we don't really know about it because, outside of role-players and maybe those guys who grew bushy beards and staged mock battles back in college, nobody knows all that much about Norse mythology. Sure, we've heard about Odin or the sacred realm of Valhalla, but that's about it.

It's possible that much of the Norse mythos will be lost on gamers who don't have the necessary background. An index would help flesh out the key background.
​

Why not go the extra step and just include an abridged encyclopedia of Norse mythology that gives players a foundation for the main ideas and beliefs of this rich and fascinating ancient cultural movement? Beyond this, if Dyack is still planning Too Human as a trilogy, then gamers need as much background as possible.

How to Fix the Problem:

Alright – get your writers together, Dyack. Get into a library and start taking some key points. Make a menu option on your circular menu system that expands into a searchable database of key characters in the game, their real-world counterparts and a dictionary of runic terms, spellings and similar. Make players understand where you're coming from and you'll find that people will appreciate the subtleties of the level design, character choices, personalities and other references. Go on, make it happen.

Loot Drop System

This is a tricky one. The game rewards skilled combat with loot drops (for non-RPG or World of Warcraft players, this is randomly dropped weapons and armour), but the randomizing system doesn't discern between what's useable to your chosen class and what isn't. The game does automatically (if you prefer) sell off any low-level excess weapons and items, which is a handy feature – but it doesn't help that your equipment menu does eventually fill up with crap that you can't use.

LOOT!
​

Variety is a lovely thing – especially in an RPG of this nature. But it's frustrating to have to sift through items that you cannot use only to find that a tiny fraction of what is being dropped actually applies to you.

How to Fix the Problem:

From a technical standpoint, there may be equations that dominate what kinds of items drop and how often, but there needs to be a better system behind determining what items are most relevant to which class and which ones simply aren't. It may be as simple as redefining how game objects are categorized behind-the-scenes – dividing them up a little better and then instructing the game to favour class-specific items a little more generously, in line with the player's class. Then again, it might be a wholly complex mess of programming that threatens to unravel the whole project like a loose thread on a knitted jumper. Who knows? Silicon Knights does. Hopefully the team is looking at this issue right now.

Framerate Fragility

Once upon a time, Too Human (in its current form) got a behind-closed-doors unveiling to select media – who largely agreed that what they saw looked choppy and unfocussed. Years later, the game has come a vast distance and looks a treat. But it still tends to chug badly when more than a dozen characters (enemies or otherwise) hit the screen. Mind you, we can deal with a choppy framerate generally, but it does really add another layer of unease when you combine a sluggish framerate with a poor camera system and combat that is surprisingly prohibitive on the outset.

Alright, so the framerate is still an issue - but even if Silicon Knights tones it down even slightly, Too Human would still look excellent.
​

The problem is, while the game's settings are vast, with massive draw-distances and dozens of enemies all battling it out with effects galore – there's too much going on. Something needs to give. And unfortunately, that something is the framerate. It's the final point of the list, but in some ways, it's also the most critical – since it was this criticism that players picked up on initially through the press. It's been tackled to a point – but it's not there yet.

How to Fix the Problem:

With all the anti-aliasing, lighting effects, filtering and high-resolution texture detail that the 360 needs to render, Too Human looks wonderful in still frames. Of course, it doesn't help when the game threatens to become a slideshow. Either apply some clever depth-of-field filtering effects, ala Grand Theft Auto 4, reduce self-shadowing and lighting effects or reduce the number of enemies that gank you when you're trawling through the dungeons. That's about all we can think of. Again, if the game can lock the engine in at 30 frames-per-second in time for release, it's one more box that Too Human can tick – and the game will be even stronger for it.

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Glaube kaum, dass auch nur eins dieser Sachen noch vor dem Release gefixt wird.

 

[Dekara]

Zu dem Loot"problem":

Ist Too Human auch wie D2 oä. auf Itemtausch ausgelegt?
Dann ist das nämlich völlig normal und auch besser so, dass eher gute Sachen für andere Klassen droppen. War bei D2 auch nicht anders. Natürlich findet man immer auch Sachen die gut genug für einen selber sind. Aber würde jede Klasse automatisch bessere Items für sich selbst finden, wäre das für das Tauschsystem total kacke.
Und im Multiplayer mit Freunden gibs das Prob eh nicht.

Falls Too Human natürlich net so aufgebaut ist, ist das Lootsystem kacke. ^^

 

[saruman]

Too Human: Top 5 Quick Fixes


Glaube kaum, dass auch nur eins dieser Sachen noch vor dem Release gefixt wird.

Naja, ich finde das hört sich jetzt gar nicht so schlimm an. Wenn es wirklich "nur" diese Punkte sind, dann geht es. Das hört sich nach einem ordentlichen Spiel an.

Ok, die Framerate müssen sie in den Griff bekommen. Das mit der Kamera wird immer übertrieben (siehe NG) und das mit den Items finde ich gar nicht schlimm.

Und die Traininsgegner sowie die Erklärungen über die Geschichte könnte SK locker noch einbauen, wenn sie wollen. Hoffen wir mal, dass sie nicht so arrogant sind über solche Vorschläge hinwegzugehen.


Btw.: Die Alone in the Dark Werbung hättest Du nicht quoten müssen

 

[Hellfrog]

Naja, ich finde das hört sich jetzt gar nicht so schlimm an. Wenn es wirklich "nur" diese Punkte sind, dann geht es. Das hört sich nach einem ordentlichen Spiel an.

Ok, die Framerate müssen sie in den Griff bekommen. Das mit der Kamera wird immer übertrieben (siehe NG) und das mit den Items finde ich gar nicht schlimm.

Und die Traininsgegner sowie die Erklärungen über die Geschichte könnte SK locker noch einbauen, wenn sie wollen. Hoffen wir mal, dass sie nicht so arrogant sind über solche Vorschläge hinwegzugehen.

seh ich auch so.
framerate is wirklich ärgerlich, kamera is subjektiv (NG2) schlecht. aber das sie das loot system kritisieren find ich mal sehr schwach... zeugt von fehlender WoW/D2 spielerfahrung. natürlich bekommt man meist nur zeugs das man net braucht und deswegen tauscht man... wo ist das problem? das ist wirklich ein kritikpunkt der an den haaren herbeigezogen ist. wo bleibt das coop farmen wenn man eh immer die sachen für seine klasse gedropped bekommt?

 

[KrateroZ]

Auch wenn ich mich wiederhole:

Im Endeffekt ist die Demo entscheidend - egal, ob das Spiel 50%- oder 80%-Wertungen bekommt ... einfach eine eigene Meinung bilden 8)

Zumal ich deren "Probleme" auch nicht wirklich nachvollziehen kann

 

[Zerok]

Es sind durgerushte 10 Stunden - rusht du in Diablo II oder Mass Effect durch, bist du auch bei ca. 10-12 Stunden

Da fällt mir doch glatt mein 9h Rush in ME ein Aber dann bin ich ja doch beruhig wenn er gerusht ist.

Das auf die Demo Warten ist sehr..nervig..

 

[Hellraizer]

Der Dyack kann es einfach nicht lassen. In der nächsten 1up folge ist er dabei und wird wohl auch wieder seinen Krieg gegen GAF fortsetzen

you will hear from denis on july 4th. he is bringing the fireworks.

 

[KrateroZ]

MTV-Multiplayer-Bericht:

Spoiler

‘Too Human’ Co-Op Preview: Better Than A Phone Call
4 Comments | Posted by Stephen Totilo on 7/2/08 at 5:51 pm.

I would like to begin this post by first thanking Kotaku’s Michael McWhertor for helping me obtain a set of Willful Assault Plate Leggings today.
I got them while playing an hour of “Too Human” co-op with the man during working hours. Since the weekend when we tried Silicon Knights‘ Xbox 360 exclusive action game — and then published hotly debated impressions — we’ve been trying to find time to link up.
I’m sure he’ll give his side of things on Kotaku. But I want to make clear from my vantage here at MTV is that playing “Too Human” via co-op is what I hoped it would be: better than a phone call.

Faint praise? I know “Too Human” is a controversial game and there are a lot of preview-readers this week questioning whether the game is really for them. My guess is that “Too Human” would be ideal for people who wanted to mindlessly grind and level-up while chatting with a friend — play it like many people play “World of Warcraft” — and, so far, so good.

I had to start a new character, TotiloTheBold, as a Level 1 Berzerker.
​

“Too Human” co-op removes the game’s cut-scenes, stripping it of story. Instead it’s just a hack-and-shoot journey through the game’s enemy-filled levels, with a friend at your side. Each player controls their version of the game’s hero, Baldur, with all the stats and stuff they earned in the single-player game. McWhertor had a Level 28 Bioengineer who he had used to clear the game. My save file was messed up (that’s what I get for tinkering with some clearly incomplete test DLC code), so I had to start a new character, TotiloTheBold, as a Level 1 Berzerker. We began playing in the game’s third level, which was accessible, I think, because he’d been there already.
The game proved to be the social experience I thought it would be. McWhertor and I were able to keep up a pretty good patter while chopping through robots. After a while, I realized, I wasn’t even thinking much about the action: just doing it and enjoying picking up all the loot that was dropped. It didn’t become much of a strategy game. We weren’t calling out many battle plans as if we were playing a “Halo 3” co-op campaign. That was partially because I was too weak to help him, but even as my leveling increased (in one hour I was a Level 9 and he a Level 30), we kept mostly to solo combat while chatting throughout.

What works nicely in “Too Human” co-op is that you and your partner are constantly collecting new stuff. We shared experience points for our kills and set the item-drops to round-robin distribution. He got one. I got one. He got one. I got one. Etcetera. I could upgrade at any time, and found myself doing it a lot — tinkering with armor, swapping guns, distributing points. Like I said in my first write-up, “Too Human” is a game meant to be paused a lot. The pause doesn’t interrupt the action, which is why I was killed while I was upgrading. That keeps the other player from waiting.

What wasn’t working so nicely in our preview builds was the camera and the lack of a map.
​

What wasn’t working so nicely in our preview builds was the camera and the lack of a map. McWhertor and I frequently lost track of each other in the game’s cavernous levels. The game camera is mostly computer-controlled, so we couldn’t swivel the view to find each other. And we couldn’t find any in-game map to indicate our locations. We also had some trouble initiating item trades that appear to require nearly simultaneous button-presses when our characters are next to each other.
Once we got the hang of trading, he was able to give me some much-needed better armor and melee weapons. That helped me get closer to his level. I liked trading for items, and I’m not even a big MMO or offline RPG player. Given the high number of items in the game and the rarity of some of them, fans of frequent bartering are going to like this game. Each change of armament modifies your stats and alters the look of the characters, though the faces are the same: McWhertor and I had the same Baldur head. The names of the stuff you trade are classic, like the aforementioned Willful Assault Plate Leggings. So trading is good for a chuckle too.

We scored one Achievement for tag-teaming a giant robot troll.
​

The element I missed the most — aside from a mini-map — was a sense of true co-op gameplay. We scored one Achievement for tag-teaming a giant robot troll, but we weren’t able to manifest any other signature tandem moves. Sure, I knocked guys into the sky while he shot at them. And clearly, people playing different character classes will be able to use their range or close-up fighting specialties to set up affective assaults. But the tease of the troll takedown technique made me wish there were more team moves for McWhertor and I to perform. Maybe they’re hidden in the game to be found.
The MTV-Kotaku “Too Human” team broke up after an hour of play. I had gained armor, weapons, money and several levels of character-progression. I was able to bring all of it into the campaign. Some of the items are locked since they require my character to be a higher level before he can wield them, but I have a lot of cool stuff.

…one benefit of its brevity.
​

After Wired’s Chris Kohler reported that his playthrough of the game only took 10 hours, many gamers online complained about “Too Human”’s apparent brevity. For me, cycling from multiplayer to single-player again and seeing my character’s items and abilities persist across those modes helped sell me on one benefit of its brevity. For those who will enjoy its distinct stick-pushing gameplay, the game’s true allure may be in how effectively it enables players to re-play its levels with ever more powerful character, gathering, scavenging and battling for the good stuff, one Shield of Explosion at a time. And that’s the kind of experience best accomplished with a friend linked up through voice-chat.
“Too Human” ships for the Xbox 360 on August 19. Cross your fingers about the mini-map and camera controls. You’re going to want them.

Kotaku-Mehrspieler-Bericht:

Spoiler

Too Human Online Co-op Hands On: Does Double The Baldur Mean Double The Fun?

Stephen Totilo from MTV Multiplayer and I tag-teamed a Troll today. Multiple Trolls, actually, and dozens of Goblins, as we tackled Too Human's online multiplayer co-op mode. Having completed the core single player campaign last night — it took me about 11 hours and change, for the record — and whipping through the first chapter again with my Champion class Baldur, I was a pretty good candidate for a Totilo power-leveler.
We met up in an Aesir lobby this morning, my level 28 veteran named Shin rubbing elbows with his freshly created level 1 Berserker known as TotiloTheBold. After a few minutes of finagling — his main character, a Berzerker, couldn't join my game because of some DLC downloading snafu — we got into a game of my creation.
Setting up a Too Human co-op match was rather straightforward, choosing a chapter, a looting type and the number of private slots. I threw Stephen in the deep end, perhaps a bit unfairly, as we tackled the game's third chapter "The World Serpent." Looting was set to "Round Robin" so we each got our fair share, but greedy loot hoarders can set their games to "Free For All." The third Loot Distribution type, Random, should be self-explanatory.
We set off...
Our first task, before setting off to battle, was attempting to trade some of our items. Being the generous guy I am, I pored through my inventory in a vain attempt to find something for TotiloTheBold. Not much luck, as most of my stuff had level requirements in the 20s, but we found a couple of ludicrously named items that worked.
Trading was initially a bit awkward as the game won't display the HUD icon that permits a trade unless two Baldurs are in just the right proximity. You can't just drop items for others to pick up in Too Human, you have to agree to trade and use the Trade menu interface. I assume that's due to the game's magnetic loot that floats toward Baldur after it drops and to prevent the stealing or duplication of items.
To get Totilo up to a point where he could use some of this stuff, we had to slay some of Too Human's beasts.
Turns out the third chapter isn't the best place to start. Devoid of any story, narration or cut scenes, the beginning of that particular level can be a bit confusing. There's an anomalous Cyberspace transition here, something that was unsettling to both of us. It's designed that way single-player, but in co-op and for the uninitiated, it doesn't quite work. We soldiered on, whacking away at dozens of spawning robo-Goblins, robo-Trolls and robo-Elves, chatting about the game's quirks and our complaints.
Since we were both offensively geared classes, there wasn't much talk of strategy. Just lots of juggling, hacking and shooting. It wasn't long before TotiloTheBold was leveling up. That meant plenty of pausing, then waiting for my partner to spec out his skill tree, combing through his newly acquired armor and weapon drops while the menu screen was up. After some brief character management we'd head into the next room, dispatch a few more Goblins, rinse and repeat. All the way to level 8 for Totilo, up to 30 for me.
Two-player co-op can bog down during these moments, as one waits for the other to futz with the menu screen. The implementation of dealing with all these things isn't the speediest or most elegant, making me think it might not have been a bad idea to whittle down four player co-op to two. Add to that common frame rate chug and the lack of a radar, map or compass that would indicate where your teammate is, and we might sign a petition against four-player co-op in the inevitable sequel.
That absence of a mini-map or radar on your HUD can lead to some confusion about the location of your co-op buddy. It doesn't help that the environments are both somehow lackluster and overly busy. And that the camera ranges from awful to sometimes serviceable. After a handful of deaths and the following trip to Valhalla (read: the previous room), we had a hard time reconnecting. We had to talk it out.
Which wasn't the worst thing in the world, as Totilo pointed out in his impressions. It's "better than a phone call" he wrote, offering some mindless grinding fun and the chance to chat. Probably not a good pull quote for the box art, but it's a positive.
I think that Totilo enjoyed the reaping of loot more so than I did. I had already gone through dozens of pieces of armor, many more weapons and runes, salvaging all manner of sword, staff and shoulderpad. But the core concept of loot gathering and level grinding may just be enough for Xbox 360 gamers looking for such a thrill.
My particular issue with all that grinding, all that collecting is that little of it feels like it has any real impact on Baldur's performance. That may be due to this being the first in a planned trilogy and that the real good stuff is coming down the line. But Baldur doesn't start his Too Human adventure with anything simple or even identifiable. Equipment names are ridiculously flowery, resulting in everything sounding like a showpiece item. Are Proficient Shockplate Blast Shields of Reinforcement more covetable than Gallant Gunslinger's Blastshield of Urd? There might be just too much in the way of variety here, because I'm not sure if my Imperial Deathguard of Hypnosis with a +6 Annulment bonus is any good or not.
Baldur's skills don't pack much of a punch either, as my desire to allocate skill points to increasing my reload speed by 2.5% doesn't sound as thrilling as it might in print. Spider cool-down rates and higher juggle heights, similarly, just don't quite do it for me. This is where some of the game's urging to clear just one more room might sound a bit more muted.
That said, all of this stuff may just be right up your alley, if you're done with the game's somewhat brief single-player experience and are looking for more. If there's one thing Too Human definitely has, it's a well of depth. The well may be a bit too murky, perhaps a bit too deep, but it's there if you feel like diving in.

Und von Penny Arcade :

Spoiler

http://www.penny-arcade.com/
Oh, ho! It would appear that things are heating up! Particularly near the booster rockets, I would imagine, but that's not the only place.
Not ten minutes after I posted this, which briefly chronicled my quest to make sense of Too Human without the benefit of the actual product, the actual product materialized on my desk. Not the retail build exactly, but a largely complete one, with the ability to play multiplayer online and to finish the campaign mode in its entirety. This was the build all the recent preview content has been based on.
Perhaps it's because we so rarely receive games from Silicon Knights that by the time one does arrive, we have forgotten what it means to be a Silicon Knights game. Put succinctly, they create games with ridiculously complete universes, where technology and gameplay are important, but it is the purpose of the latter two to reinforce the story. So even when I saw the ill-starred E3 demo, the knell that may still seal the game's fate, I knew that without a narrative voice I wasn't really seeing "Too Human."
It's not science fiction generally, and it's not really Sci-Fantasy, like I assumed it was. The trappings threw me off. It's very specifically a cyberpunk casting of Norse mythology, and it creates an incredibly original conceptual space in which to kill robots. Somewhere between Blade Runner and Lord of the Rings there is a powerful venue for storytelling, and they have found it.
The combat is not difficult, by which I mean that it is not hard to do what you want. You can still easily get overwhelmed, which results in an unskippable cutscene of a cybernetic Valkyrie hauling your dumb ass to Valhalla. Then, you're back. It's unskippable because it is the punishment for death. I guess your shit gets damaged too, but you're perpetually upgrading your equipment, so I never found that bit of number juggling poignant. If you don't like this cutscene, my advice would be to die less.
The Diablo comparisons go right down the line. Killing monsters results in a piñatan festival of loot, which is drawn to the character as though by a powerful magnet. There are various futuristic chests which also contain loot. Each class has unique trees they can use to customize their experience. Diablo III continues its isometric metaphor, but if you want to make an experience like that without a fixed camera position, how do you do it? Too Human suggests one way: try to interpret that player's intention in the space as much as possible by making movements of the right analog synonymous with attacks. You don't have to hammer away on it, simply holding both sticks in the direction of an enemy will do. Want them in mid air? Double tap. Want them in mid-air, held aloft by gunfire? Double-tap, right trigger. You can slide to a new target by pressing toward them even before you've arrived at the first. Putting these tools together in different ways is the core experience. You may not want to do that. For me, the basic combat was like the notes of a scale. It was in constructing improvised combinations that I found the game I wanted.
The biggest challenge the game has to face is probably the camera, and the problem here is twofold. One, gamers really expect that the right stick should control camera position. It doesn't here, because it's the right stick that enables the game's combat. It might take you an hour to come to terms with this idea, so ingrained is that mental program. It's compounded by problem two - the reason you'll want to wrest control of that camera is that the built-in camera can be pretty dumb. Complaining about cameras is a longstanding gamer tradition, but this one has earned some scorn. It wasn't a deal breaker for me, eventually you learn how not to anger the camera gods, but Jesu Christe.
I don't think the game expresses its own virtues quite well enough. These slides from enemy to enemy work well as a gameplay mechanic, but they're not made to seem epic by virtue of their audio or visual effects - if anything, they're undersold. The Too Human equivalent of Cyberspace - a place of pure magic, what Thor calls "women's work" - has a few mild puzzles you can manipulate to effect the real world. But these are almost always simple affairs, with one or two obvious inputs, when they're presenting a really huge idea here that should take the fore more often. Also, contrary to other previews I have read, I think the game is a little too long - some levels are just long to be long, likely to counter complaints that the game is too short, which hasn't worked anyway. My playtime was around the fourteen hour mark, similar to Mass Effect, because just like Mass Effect I spent a lot of time twiddling my character and making the most of my equipment. Inserting runes to increase my effectiveness, completing slottable quests called Charms that confer powerful effects, or crafting items from rare blueprints to build sharp looking sets are things which I find fun. The replayability here should be in the escalating difficulty, the co-op multiplayer, and the inherently addictive quest for more powerful, cooler-looking shit.
I dont know exactly how far along this build is, I would assume very, very far. I imagine it will be quite similar to what will see store shelves. They've made a kind of cyberpunk Diablo, with a fast combat system and a deep world. It's not perfect. But it's much, much better than I expected.
(CW)TB out.

Penny Arcade's hands on is promising:

"Somewhere between Blade Runner and Lord of the Rings there is a powerful venue for storytelling, and they have found it."

"My playtime was around the fourteen hour mark, similar to Mass Effect, because just like Mass Effect I spent a lot of time twiddling my character and making the most of my equipment. Inserting runes to increase my effectiveness, completing slottable quests called Charms that confer powerful effects, or crafting items from rare blueprints to build sharp looking sets are things which I find fun. The replayability here should be in the escalating difficulty, the co-op multiplayer, and the inherently addictive quest for more powerful, cooler-looking shit."

"I dont know exactly how far along this build is, I would assume very, very far. I imagine it will be quite similar to what will see store shelves. They've made a kind of cyberpunk Diablo, with a fast combat system and a deep world. It's not perfect. But it's much, much better than I expected."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Besonders das mit dem "Cyberpunk Diablo" gefällt mir SEHR 8)!


Meine persönlichen Kritikpunkte am Spiel bislang:

*2-Spieler-Coop-Downgrade (von 4 auf 2)
*Storysequenzen fehlen im Coop

Diese beiden Kritikpunkte sind bislang meine größten an Too Human - die Demo wird sich beweisen müssen

 

[Darji]

Ich muss zugeben, dass mich das Spiel nicht interessiert. Besonders nach dem absolut lachhaften Intro (die youtube Bennyhill version ist genial^^). Aber auch die Streichung des 4 player coops ist völlig unverständlich. Besonders wenn man gesehen hat, wie leer diese Areale eigentlich sind.

Aber das, was sich gerade um dieses Spiel beziehungsweise um Dennis im Internet vorgeht, ist einfach genial^^

This week's 1UP Yours is unlike any we've ever released before. That's not to say our regular great content isn't still there. We've got lengthy Whatchya Been Playing and News segments, including discussion of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Quantum of Solace, Diablo III, and Rock Band 2. But after all of that, in a special third segment recorded earlier this week, we sit down in the studio with Denis Dyack of Silicon Knights.

Dyack's next game project, Too Human, is nearing release, but the game and its recent round of previews (check out 1UP's right here) aren't in the spotlight so much as Dyack himself. He recently faced a round of criticism when he showed up on the popular NeoGAF forums and issued a challenge to forum goers to speak out for or against his game. Unknown to us, though, Dyack claims he actually did this as preparation for his appearance on 1UP Yours, which he explains on this week's episode.

According to Dyack, the infamous NeoGAF thread was started as an experiment to expose the lack of accountability in online forums. "I was basically calling out people who had no way of assessing the game," Dyack says, adding, "All I wanted to point out to people is that this is so ridiculous." Near the end of the segment, he lays out exactly why he made the post:

"I went through all of this for two reasons.... If you're going to look at the NeoGAF forum as a non-profit organization, if it does not reform itself, it's eventually going to crumble. There's going to be a point where they step over the line where someone's going to shut them down. That would be a loss for everyone.... The question I have to ask the moderators of GAF: Are you going to follow your own rules? With people making GIFs of myself that are, I would say, attacking me.... Why haven't 180 people been banned now? If I wanted to move in and shut that place down, do I have grounds under their own forum policy?"

Dyack concludes, "NeoGAF and other forums like this that don't have good management are not only hurting society and hurting the videogame industry, they're in decline, and they need to reform quickly before people stop listening to them.... If the moderators and people who run the site think they aren't doing any damage, they are sorely mistaken, and it's only a matter of time before something bad happens."

The NeoGAF forum has become known as a destination for snarky videogame discussion as well as lightning-fast news and rumors from around the industry. Though it's difficult to explain in a succinct news post, Dyack's ideas about NeoGAF and other forums are based on a lengthy thought process inspired by various sources of philosophy, science fiction, and social theory that Dyack has been reading and exploring of late. As such, we highly recommend listening to the full interview and forming your reactions after hearing him out. For anyone interested in further reading, we've put together a list of links to articles that are mentioned in the episode as well as links to the Amazon listings for books Dyack discussed.

Listen to the full episode of 1UP Yours here or subscribe to our podcast feed via iTunes.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168552

Spoiler

 

[KrateroZ]

Ich habe gerade den 1Up-Podcast mit Denis Dyack angehört - und kann ihn größtenteils zustimmen.

Hört es euch an, bildet euch eure eigene Meinung und lasst euch nicht vom stereotypem Fanboy-Gedöns was anderes einreden

http://download.gamevideos.com/Podcasts/070308.mp3

 

[Darji]

Ich habe gerade den 1Up-Podcast mit Denis Dyack angehört - und kann ihn größtenteils zustimmen.

Hört es euch an, bildet euch eure eigene Meinung und lasst euch nicht vom stereotypem Fanboy-Gedöns was anderes einreden

http://download.gamevideos.com/Podcasts/070308.mp3

Hmm ich schlafe dabei irgendwie immer ein^^

Und ja er sagt ein paar Sachen die richtig sind. Aber z.B. die Natzi sache oder eben auch neogaf bzw ähnliche Foren ist soooo lachhaft^^

Besonders er kam doch acuh mit dieser dummen Wette an und da ist es doch logisch, dass er dafür "gesteinigt" wird. Hätte er sich z.B. anständig benommen wie es z.B ein Stevenson oder auch cliffy B tut, dann wäre das ganze sicherlich nicht so eskaliert.

Naja ich versuche es nachher nochmal den ganzen podcast anzuhören^^

 

[Hellraizer]

Die sachen über das GAF - da ging er deutlich zu weit. Er lässt sich zu sehr von einem Forum beeinflussen, und das aktuelle Statement macht es nicht besser. Es kommt mir so vor als würde er nur nach ausreden suchen.

 

[Darji]

Die sachen über das GAF - da ging er deutlich zu weit. Er lässt sich zu sehr von einem Forum beeinflussen, und das aktuelle Statement macht es nicht besser. Es kommt mir so vor als würde er nur nach ausreden suchen.

japp^^

"It's E3's fault, E3 is a joke, there were worse games on the floor"
"It's Mark McDonalds fault, labeling it terrible"
"It's Epic's fault UE3 wasn't finished three years before we wanted to ship"
"It's NeoGAF's fault, they're influencing the negative previews"

und wie gesagt das intro war auch lachhaft. Ebenso diese Videobestimmung seitens M$ (Nur 4* 1 minute Videos). Da ist es doch logisch, dass die leute so reagieren. Schlechte Spiele werden halt gerne zerissen^^

 

[KrateroZ]

Im Endeffekt alles Nebenschauplätze - solange das Spiel gut ist = super. Wenn nicht = schade
Die Demo wird uns diesbezüglich die Möglichkeit geben, dann ein Urteil zu fällen.

Wie gesagt: ich stimme mit DD größtenteils überein (was Foren generell usw. angeht), aber nicht in allem.
-------------------------

Neuer IGN-Artikel :


Too Human: Baldur's Arsenal


More loot drops than you can shake a stick at.


by Erik Brudvig

July 3, 2008 - A warrior without a weapon is a sad warrior indeed. With 18 basic weapon types and hundreds of thousands of weapon variants and types in Too Human, it's safe to say that Baldur won't have that problem. It will take players hours and hours to collect the best of the best, so we took a shortcut and went straight to the game's developers, Silicon Knights, for info on the history and variety of the weapons you'll come across. Henry Sterchi, Director of Game Design, and Ken McCulloch, Director of Content, gave us a few moments of their time to fill us in.

The tale of Too Human blends Norse mythology with technology you'd only find in a science fiction story. Baldur's weapon, Fenrir, is decisively in the sci-fi half of that combination. His melee weapon has a sentient AI trapped inside of it, forced to aid Baldur in battle. According to Silicon Knights, "The sentient weapons were, if you will, a very early experiment in using "fire to fight fire." They are essentially the captured brains of monsters put under restraints and forced to fight for whoever wields them. The intention was to use the machines' brutality and lethal concentration against themselves. They are incredibly effective, but bring a host of other issues with them, both ethical and technical." Being monsters trapped inside of a weapon, they don't always get along with their owners or the humans they're supposedly fighting to protect. And other times, they're downright dangerous.

http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf​

This historical backdrop for Baldur's weapon isn't just there as a pointless piece of trivia. Silicon Knights sees the relationship between Baldur and his blade as representative of the main themes found in the game. "In some ways, Fenrir represents the primal side of Baldur and almost fills in his character in ways that he might not be able to do alone. Baldur is reliant on Fenrir as his weapon of choice and is subject to all the benefits and disadvantages that it brings --to be effective as a warrior, he needs to exert his mastery over it."

Of course, Baldur has more than Fenrir to fight with. He also has a pair of glass guns, appropriately named Havoc and Malice. They aren't sentient like Fenrir, but have been into battle so many times that the Aesir see them as having their own personalities. According to Silicon Knights, "This is a nod to the Vikings of real life to whom well-made weapons, such as pattern-welded steel swords, had unique traits or markings and were named appropriately. Axes and swords with names like "Leg Biter" and "War Flame" were valuable and esteemed weapons." These guns will probably do more than bite legs, though. Glass guns use electrostatic linear accelerators for propulsion and are said to share tech with Odin's weapon, Gungnir.

Point blank.

There are six basic weapon types, each with three categories. The melee weapons include swords, staffs and hammers. Each of these can be either two-handed, one-handed, or dual-wield. Guns are broken up into pistols, rifles and cannons, which can all use slugs, plasma or lasers for ammunition. Each class is open to using any of the weapons with a few exceptions: The hammer and shield is exclusive to the Defender class, dual-wielding can only be done by the Berserker class, and the cannon weapon type can only be used by the cybernetic alignment.

Once you take the 18 basic weapon types, the many variants start to make things a bit more complicated. Silicon Knights laid out the depth for us. "Each weapon type has a wide variety of different visual meshes (looks) and each of those comes in a variety of colors. Statistically, the weapons have a variety of base stats (damage, armor, etc.) and between one and four open customizable slots where players can socket over 150 different types of Runes. Each Rune type can drop in a number of different levels, making their total well over a thousand. Weapons can also come with special status effects (fire, poison, ice, gravity well, etc.). In addition, Cybernetic weapons have a wide variety of Ruiners built in." So we're guessing you'll be able to find a weapon that you like the look and feel of if you play long enough. It's probably just one or two loot drops away.

I want that weapon.

And you'll have to do more than just search for epic weapons to outfit your character properly. Both of your weapons and all six pieces of armor you have equipped can each have up to four empty slots for modding. This gives you up to 32 slots to slot the over 1500 different Runes to mod your character to your liking. Silicon Knights promises that many of these bonuses will affect how your avatar moves as well as boosting stats. "Weapons can have a wide variety of status effects on board too, including game altering things like poison, ice, gravity well, acid pools, and more. Your character at Level 50 will not feel or move anything like your character at the beginning of the game -- they'll be significantly more powerful."

Make it to the top of the loot food chain and you'll find the red epic items. Some of these come in sets that have additive bonuses, rewarding those that complete the outfit. You'll probably have to play for quite a few hours before you come across these, but Silicon Knights promises that they're well worth the wait.

 

[zeaLoT]

japp^^

"It's E3's fault, E3 is a joke, there were worse games on the floor"
"It's Mark McDonalds fault, labeling it terrible"
"It's Epic's fault UE3 wasn't finished three years before we wanted to ship"
"It's NeoGAF's fault, they're influencing the negative previews"

und wie gesagt das intro war auch lachhaft. Ebenso diese Videobestimmung seitens M$ (Nur 4* 1 minute Videos). Da ist es doch logisch, dass die leute so reagieren. Schlechte Spiele werden halt gerne zerissen^^

Darji kannst du es nicht einfach lassen ?

 

[zeaLoT]

Ich muss zugeben, dass mich das Spiel nicht interessiert. Besonders nach dem absolut lachhaften Intro (die youtube Bennyhill version ist genial^^). Aber auch die Streichung des 4 player coops ist völlig unverständlich. Besonders wenn man gesehen hat, wie leer diese Areale eigentlich sind.

Aber das, was sich gerade um dieses Spiel beziehungsweise um Dennis im Internet vorgeht, ist einfach genial^^

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168552

Spoiler

Jemand der Lair gehypt hat und soweit Ich mich errinere auch besitzt sollte so eine Scheiße lieber nicht posten.

 

[KrateroZ]

Too Human Progress Report


We attempt to fill the shoes of a god.


by Hilary Goldstein


June 30, 2008 - We in the games industry use the term "long-awaited" far too readily, but it's an apt descriptor for Too Human. Silicon Knights' RPG epic has been in development for so long, some wondered if it would slip to the release of the next Xbox system. After years of waiting Too Human is just about done. In fact, I played through the entire game. Barring some unforeseen disaster, there's no reason Too Human should miss its launch date in August. Of course, the real concern is how the game plays.

Too Human is an RPG through and through, though it has far more in common with Diablo than games like Mass Effect. While there is a story, you won't be running around talking to 200 individual people. You don't learn the stories of dozens of NPCs or receive sidequests. There are no morality paths to choose. You're the good guy and it's your job to take down the Norse gods that have gone rotten. The RPG elements come in the form of considerable character customization and an unhealthy number of l00t drops. Building up Baldur is the guilty pleasure of Too human.

You begin your journey by selecting from five different classes. Each come with different starting ratings for hit points, melee, ballistic and armor, along with two unique skills. Your class is a reflection of your play style. If you want to charge in and go ape-spit on your enemy, then you will fall in love with the Berserker. If you prefer to chill in the background and lay waste to enemies with a rifle, then pick the Commando.



There are no attributes to distribute. Instead, each level gained earns you points to distribute across two separate skill trees. The class tree is, of course, specific to each of the five classes. You can increase your proficiency in class-based weapons, add to your hit points or give a boost to some of your powers. The alignment skill tree is based on whether you choose to go the route of cybernetics or you decide to be a naturalist.

While assigning skill points is fun, the real joy of Too Human is sorting through all that loot. There are three melee weapon types (swords, staves, hammers) and three gun types (pistols, rifles, cannons) and within those loads of diversity. Many weapons you find will come with runes attached adding combat bonuses and special effects. The Klobb, for example, comes with +4% laser damager and +1% experience bonus. Sometimes you'll even get empty rune slots, which you call use to better personalize your weapons.

Armor works similarly to weapons, though it also plays a large role in altering your appearance. Wear the Silver Raven's Eyes of Reinforcement and you will get a 9% armor bonus, but you also have dorky-looking goggles on your head.

If the loot dropping and upgrading stuff sounds good to you -- and you like dungeon crawling -- then Too Human is right up your alley. If, however, your particularl alley is more focused on a deep storyline, divergent paths or the new trend of "choice," then you should lower your expectations a little. This is a dungeon crawler first and in that area, I can assure you, Too Human is going to be a success.


There are still some concerns for Too Human. While there's still some time to squash bugs and optimize, there are moments when the framerate is a real issue. And unfortunately that is often when Too Human is at its most thrilling. The more the screen fills with enemies, the better the simplistic dual-analogue combat becomes. But when the framerate starts to dip, the excitement for chaotic action begins to bleed out. Hopefully this is something Silicon Knights can tighten up in the final month.

Less likely to be fixed is the regular loot drops of items that can't be used by your class. These can be sold for some cold hard cash, but there's nothing worse than hearing the chime of a rare item being acquired only to discover you can't wield the Dual Swords of Ass-Kicking because you're a Bio Engineer.

Too Human has been a long time coming and while it may not live up to the epic expectations it is going to be a good game. And who can argue against having another good game in the 360 library?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/885/885425p1.html

-------------------------------------------------------


"Nur" ein gutes Spiel - wäre mir auch recht ... Cyberpunk! 8)

Hoffe, die Demo kommt schnellstmöglich zu uns

EDIT:

Wollte mir eigentlich zu Too Human nichts mehr anschauen, aber dieses Video ist von der Atmo her schon sehr geil:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35705.html