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Constructive Criticism
I loved the new game. But there were undeniably quite a lot of bugs, mistakes, and things that could have been changed and built upon in the game. I thought we could use a thread to share some constructive criticism and ideas for the game, either for future patches or even for a possible future sequel if Dice/EA deems it worthy.
One thing that's really been bothering me, apart from a lot of laggy texture load-ins and glitches, is the fact that characters don't move when they're supposed to. An example that stands out to me is when Faith is talking into her intercom (Beat?) to somebody like Plastic or Noah in-game, and you can see her reflection, like in the glass of an elevator. Her mouth isn't moving even though she's talking. The same goes for multiple characters in game, like during the tutorial when Icarus stands waiting for you to jump and start running, you can turn back to him, and as his voiceover plays he stands motionless, without his mouth moving, even though he's supposedly talking. I know it's not a major issue but it would really put the finishing touches on a game that almost feels... not quite there in terms of being complete.
Another thing is that characters just constantly stand around either waiting for you to join them on a mission, or watching you after you've dealt with them. The lady standing outside the lair for the entire game was rather offputting, especially since I finished her run/delivery mission early on and then always found her just still... waiting for me.
Anybody else got any constructive criticism? Mine is mostly just little things that really would have made the game feel fully complete.
One thing that's really been bothering me, apart from a lot of laggy texture load-ins and glitches, is the fact that characters don't move when they're supposed to. An example that stands out to me is when Faith is talking into her intercom (Beat?) to somebody like Plastic or Noah in-game, and you can see her reflection, like in the glass of an elevator. Her mouth isn't moving even though she's talking. The same goes for multiple characters in game, like during the tutorial when Icarus stands waiting for you to jump and start running, you can turn back to him, and as his voiceover plays he stands motionless, without his mouth moving, even though he's supposedly talking. I know it's not a major issue but it would really put the finishing touches on a game that almost feels... not quite there in terms of being complete.
Another thing is that characters just constantly stand around either waiting for you to join them on a mission, or watching you after you've dealt with them. The lady standing outside the lair for the entire game was rather offputting, especially since I finished her run/delivery mission early on and then always found her just still... waiting for me.
Anybody else got any constructive criticism? Mine is mostly just little things that really would have made the game feel fully complete.
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Also the RV doesn´t trigger at once all the time, so have to run in circles and find clues in which direction to move on. Not a big deal but could be better.
If I'm in danger, I need to escape or do something. How am I supposed to do that if I can't see/ear/move anything?
I know you barely get hit in this game , but what if I'm trying a pacifist run and don't want to use the jammer on the enemies?
turn off RV, just look at the map and you'll be fine -- and you'll learn the map way faster.
It's required for delivery and diversion side-mission though, but I suggest you don't rely on it : use it to look for alternate and faster routes.
RV is basically an autopilot introduced to make the game easier than already is cause the publisher wants to make sure players won't ragequit the game, since most of them don't like challenge.
If I had to criticize anything, it would be the general music of the game. I think they should have re-used the title track of the first game. It was such a cool song, and they made very good use of clips of it during the story of the first game to set the mood. I think the new song for this game is good, but imo its better as an ending song after the day is won rather than part of the journey there.
I think they could have done with more classes of enemies to fight as well, so they could mix and match encounters better.
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I agree completely, why didn't they at least play Warning Call at the end of the game? I preferred Still Alive, but Warning Call is a great song too. It's just not utilize as a theme song. It should have been on the title screen, in important snippets, and at the end of the game, not just as a kind of easter egg hidden on a jukebox you don't even necessarily listen to at all. It's hardly a theme when you don't hear it. (Kind of like how a lot of the game's story isn't really a story, because the only way you can properly piece it together and understand it is by listening to secret hidden recordings and reading a comic seperate from the game.)
Imo they captured the feeling of the music from the first game and used it very well in different areas of the game.
Background buildings and streets look terrible, no textures and some streets are complete nonsense
City is mostly deserted and dead. Wasn't expecting a lot of traffic on the rooftops, but street level should be filled with people and vehicles, and rooftops should have more runners running around. There should be a lot more people in the offices.
Level design starts good with Downtown, but the other districts are each more restrictive than the previous one, becoming way more limited.
Related to previous one: The city is not open world but more a metroidvania type. It isn't that much of an issue for me, but the marketing was deceitful.
The player is way overpowered. Combat should be a last resort and going against more than one enemy should be suicide. As it is, not only is way too easy, but it breaks the flow of the game that's supposed to be about running and traversing the city in order to not get caught.
Story was immensly underdeveloped. A lot of lore and characters but none of those had that much of importance. Ending was bad and unsatisfying.
Delivery missions were time sensitive for no reason. They should be like dashes where they time your performance instead of limit it. Also, they had no impact whatsoever in gameplay or world.
Taking down those security antennas had no impact in game. They should determine the level of security in the city and should pop up ocasionally in random places.
Too many safe places. At any situation we can reach a safe place within 2min, and potentially never raise the alert level to lv2 or 3.
Enemies should chase the player instead of staying in one place only
Day/night cycle should happen during the campaign when between missions. Dynamic weather should be present too.
Questionable design choices. Some billboards are in places that don't make sense, others have stuff right in front of them and some Everdyne ones are inverted. A lot of places look more like a playground than actual rooftops, with no real distance between buildings or way too conveniently placed.
Skill tree was very weak, making it unnecessary.
Yeah Warning Call is a good song, but they just didn't integrate it at all. In fact, I think the jukebox in the main safe house is the only way to hear it in the game. I think they certainly could have found a way to use it similar to how they used Still Alive.
Taking down those security antennas had no impact in game. They should determine the level of security in the city and should pop up ocasionally in random places.
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The security cameras really didn't achieve anything either. Even if you were spotted, it didn't seem to set guards on you or threaten your survival. And the antennas were practically just collectible achievement type things since they had no result on gameplay.
Actually they did raise awareness when chased from air or anyone could sit out under camera till "Stay out of sight" meter ticked to 0? :O
Also staying in cameras sight for too long called in security guards and later air chase. So I tried to fry as many as got on my way...
Also didn´t taking down antennas unlock safe houses in the area?
Liked all the challenges so won´t comment more on them...
I think the security cameras have more affect when you are playing freely, like when you're searching for Beats or just running without a specific goal like a mission point to reach. I've had more trouble with security cameras now that I've finished the story (I hadn't finished at the time of making this original post), so I think I should probably retract that point.
Taking down antennas didn't really have a purpose though. Hacking gridnodes unlocked safe houses.
I thought that the only way to hear Warning Call was through the jukebox as well, but then one day I went on the options menu (PS4) and saw 'Credits' listed there. I thought maybe it would play on that, and it did. It's actually the first song, followed by some background tracks from the game.
However I doubt anyone would look at the credits just for the heck of it, so yes, the song is underused in the game, even when there were lots of opportunities for it to be played. Which is a shame, because I think Warning Call is really good, and it really suits Catalyst.
The reflection is a lower detailed one, they cant really improve it but due to hardware limitations on consoles, at best they can blur it as an effect, the texture popping is something that does bother me on the áreas that look like the first old Mirror's Edge style of rooftops, they should totally fix that with a bit of work, when i saw that on the beta i wasnt expecting to still exist, i think honestly it cant be done because the drawing distance is just small on consoles to keep the 60fps. i saw a vídeo of the pc with max setting, night and day...