Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club - Halo 2 (Nov)

I'm really glad people are playing this game and talking about it. I was a bit worried the alleged performance issues might tank the thread this month. Always a bit of a risk when we choose a game that hasn't launched yet.

@kyleforrester87 wicked, got ya and no worries. Added to the tag list. Welcome to the club!

@ralphdibny I agree, It definitely doesn’t deserve the hyperbolic discourse it is getting throughout the various outlets. It hasn’t arrived in the most desirable form but there is a really fun game to be found. I expect there’s a larger issue with upper management going on piling the pressures on the devs as we found with CyberPunk.

Found the last safe house in the first map last night. Too bad totk has arrived lol. I'll still do my best to show redfall as much love as possible this month. But, it'll be hard

@NintendoByNature I'm in the same boat as you - at least regarding Tears of the Kingdom. I already did all the Safe Houses in the first area and was doing Grave Lock hunting prior to moving on.

I may do a little bit of hunting for Grave Locks from time to time throughout the month, but Redfall may become a wash until I finish Tears of the Kingdom.

But that also means both The Devil In Me AND Callisto Protocol take a backseat. All gaming other than Zelda is "on hold".

But, I'll still happily discuss Redfall with regards to the first area here as the month goes on! I am kind of hoping Arkane drops a new patch soon to perhaps fix a few of the gripes people have been having - especially if it just populating the world with more stuff as a start.

I do have a question for those who have gone through the release version of the beginning of the game (my character progress from my playtest carried):

@GamingFan4Lyf yea. I think I'll just force myself to do a mission every night. Just so I don't forget the controls and game entirely. I was also playing shantae half genie hero but I can put that to the side for a while.

Has anyone else been to ‘Rowan TV repairs’? I’ve managed to find the key to a bedroom and inside there’s a glowing blue box which I think should be a grave lock but it can’t be interacted with? I’m stumped, any ideas gang?

Just finished the Addison Mansion mission, and it was really great. I’ve taken to playing with headphones the last couple of sessions and the sound design is absolutely brilliant. I don’t have any other prior experience with Arkane so I can’t compare but when all the ingredients are brought together in the right way, Redfall is superb.

@AgentCooper All of the main missions have been pretty engaging. I do feel this game is like a patch away from winning more people's favor as long as that patch populates the city a little more:

make the journey to these missions just as "Arkane" as the mission location itself.

Yes, 60fps is important - but the 30fps isn't as much of an obstacle as other games.
Yes, always online for solo needs to get patched out

But just populate the world a little first. Make the streets and neighborhoods a little more "challenging" to get through. Maybe a section is swarming with cultists and vampires. Maybe one has red mist everywhere and some vampires parading around. Maybe one area is empty, but then cut off by Bellwether blockades and snipers on rooftops. Etc. etc.

It doesn't have to be "perfect" given the dynamic nature of the game, but something compelling enough to engage the player inside and outside of scripted mission areas.

I have yet to jump back into Redfall since TotK - but I may take a small break from the Zelda grind to find a few more Grave Markers.

Feel kind of bad. Haven't touched this game since Thursday thanks to TotK 😅. Maybe a quick mission tonight to get me back on track.

@GamingFan4Lyf I agree, I can’t see a studio with Arkane’s track record just letting this die. We could very well have a NMS situation. All your points are great, I would also tweak the enemy AI as it can be pretty ropey at times and there’s definitely some balancing issues particularly with Vampire attacks where it seems geared towards 4 players so if you’re playing solo, you don’t stand a chance.

The checkpoint system is criminal also. I just don’t see how having to backtrack to a location is fun or dynamic for anyone, especially considering progress isn’t reset, you’re not restarting from a hard save.

Redfall commons is complete as far as main and safehouse missions go, think I’m going to explore some more and track down more grave locks. Hollow man was a striking difficulty spike, probably more that the open world is less dynamic and you’re suddenly thrust into a situation that requires strategy. On that point, I feel the open world needs more to do, especially since it’s so desolate at times. I’m not asking the map to be littered but a few nests and two safe house missions seems a waste of the map.

@AgentCooper have you been playing solo or online with other players you know or strangers? Just wondering how the game differs or whether it's better one way or another

Other people can chip in on this too

@ralphdibny I’m playing solo, I haven’t seen anyone playing it to be honest. The game does at times seem geared towards co-op and be quite difficult to navigate (my skills could be lacking haha) as it seems quite unbalanced. My biggest gripe so far is the skill tree seems completely pointless. I feel no more powerful at level 12 than I did at 1 and the psychic powers are very underwhelming to the point where I almost forget to use them. For transparency I’ve only used Layla so far.

@AgentCooper hmm I wonder if the enemy difficulty is scaled to the amount of players.

I generally find it hard to choose a co op game if it has a story, I feel like arguing over cut-scene skips would be a thing. Mind you, I've never played a game like that so that's probably a naive thing to worry about lol

@ralphdibny I feel it’s the other way, that groups of vampires are spawned based on a team of four even when solo (or I could just be a bit naff). I haven’t played too many co-op titles but I would definitely require a sort of ‘pre-nup’ on those kind of beats 😂

I’m through onto the second map now and destroyed some kind of tree, shame for the tree really. It’s beyond me why you can’t travel between the two maps too, because reasons yeah? I’ve missed a grave lock too, I think it’s the one in Dr Hunt’s garage, which is locked after that mission drat!

@AgentCooper ah fair play. Yeah a pre nup sounds good actually! No talking through cutscenes, no skips, and we scour every area for collectibles 😂

I don't think anybody would want to play with me 😂

@ralphdibny I want all those things so I’ll murder some vampires with you Ralph! ✊