Arkane PREY - Arkane's immersive coffee cup transformation sim - now with Mooncrash roguelike mode DLC

[Riso]

I am playing Prey for the first time with the CORE Balance mod and I am having a hell of a time keeping my weapons in shape because I can't find enough repair kits.
Going through the game I also now met that bullshit nightmare monster and other stronger enemies and I have to say, I very much prefer just exploring the place.

As an aside, to play Mooncrash, do I have to remove the mod?

 

[ultimanecat]

The first 30%-40% or so of the game can get a bit resource-scarce depending on your style of play and difficulty.

I’d recommend the Dismantle ability if you haven’t already got it - there are enough hostile operators and spare weapons lying around to keep yourself set in spare parts.

Also, there’s no incentive to keep weapons fully repaired that I’m aware of. There’s not even an incentive to keep them more than barely repaired other than a random hazard or Thermal Phantom breaking them. At the start with Repair 1 I just aimed to keep things above 30% or so.

I had a bigger issue keeping my suit repaired early on, to be honest, but alas with chipsets, fabrication, and exploration even that stopped being a problem.

As for Mooncrash, I’m pretty sure it’s entirely separate from the main game and not affected.

 

[RoSoDude]

I am playing Prey for the first time with the CORE Balance mod and I am having a hell of a time keeping my weapons in shape because I can't find enough repair kits.
Going through the game I also now met that bullshit nightmare monster and other stronger enemies and I have to say, I very much prefer just exploring the place.

As an aside, to play Mooncrash, do I have to remove the mod?

I'm happy my changes to repair effectiveness are working out for you If all else fails, you can swap to other copies of weapons you find on the ground, or craft new ones (they start at 100% condition). I did a psi-heavy run and managed to get by entirely without Repair by doing that.

Mooncrash's game files are totally separate from the base game, so you don't have to worry about uninstalling my mod first.

 

[Riso]

I’d recommend the Dismantle ability if you haven’t already got it - there are enough hostile operators and spare weapons lying around to keep yourself set in spare parts.

Perhaps I'll try that.

Mooncrash's game files are totally separate from the base game, so you don't have to worry about uninstalling my mod first.

Good to know.

If all else fails, you can swap to other copies of weapons you find on the ground, or craft new ones (they start at 100% condition)

But they don't have my weapon moooooooodddddddsssssss.

 

[DeepOcean]

That neuromod that allow for recycling extra alien organs should be chosen as quick as possible so you can accumulate extra alien material since the beginning of the game for some extra neuromods, it pretty much pays itself.

 

[RaptorRex888]

Recycling banana peels and alien cum is so fucking satisfying.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I probably said this before but I hate the Mooncrash timer. I have enough deadlines at work and I don't need more of that shit when I try to enjoy a game I like. When I first bought Mooncrash I dropped it not long after because of the time pressure.

Recently, I felt like playing Prey again. In the end I decided to go with Mooncrash but with the addition of a mod that changes one of the five corruption level timers to 250 hours (it doesn't even disable the achievements).

I have to say right now I'm having a blast, as I can explore at leisure, just like I did with the original game.

I also found the time limit to be annoying, but you do get a schematic for delays. You can basically keep it down indefinitely if you have enough points for it. I think they are like 4k each, but you get so much it doesn't really matter.
The mule operator shares equipment between characters, so you don't even need to buy supplies again.

I took a break from it after a little bit though. Moonsharks are fucking bullshit, especially when you have to use the game's shitty platforming mechanics.

 

[Multidirectional]

Yes, it's quite simple. Take the patch_COREBALANCE_1-2.pak file (or if you're using one of them, the patch_COREBALANCE_1-2_HALFMAT.pak or patch_COREBALANCE_1-2_MOREMAT.pak file), rename the extension to .zip, extract it, and then go to Ark\Player\PlayerConfig.xml and change the line

<Stat name="focusMenuModeTimeScale" value="0.5"/>

to

<Stat name="focusMenuModeTimeScale" value="1.0"/>

Then you just need to rezip the edited contents, rename the extension to .pak, and put it in your Prey\GameSDK\Precache folder.

I'm replaying with your mod now and just tried this - didn't do anything.

 

[RoSoDude]

Yes, it's quite simple. Take the patch_COREBALANCE_1-2.pak file (or if you're using one of them, the patch_COREBALANCE_1-2_HALFMAT.pak or patch_COREBALANCE_1-2_MOREMAT.pak file), rename the extension to .zip, extract it, and then go to Ark\Player\PlayerConfig.xml and change the line

<Stat name="focusMenuModeTimeScale" value="0.5"/>

to

<Stat name="focusMenuModeTimeScale" value="1.0"/>

Then you just need to rezip the edited contents, rename the extension to .pak, and put it in your Prey\GameSDK\Precache folder.

Well I'm replaying with your mod right now and just tried this - didn't do anything.

Are you certain you're zipping the right folder? You need to zip the \Ark\, \Libs\, etc. folders directly rather than zipping the containing folder that may have been created when you extracted the pak contents. I had that issue when I was starting out, and I can't think of any other reasons it wouldn't work.

 

[Multidirectional]

Are you certain you're zipping the right folder? You need to zip the \Ark\, \Libs\, etc. folders directly rather than zipping the containing folder that may have been created when you extracted the pak contents. I had that issue when I was starting out, and I can't think of any other reasons it wouldn't work.

I'm not zipping anything at all, actually. 7zip allows me to edit files without unzipping. I've checked, values definitely are changed and it definitely edited the right file without doing some weird shit like creating a new file within the archive. And if I was unzipping I wouldn't make a dumb mistake like that.
I would also like to know if there is a way to edit weapon degradation rates. Currently they degrade too fast for my taste, I'm already regretting enabling this survival option as I don't think it adds anything interesting, just little more annoyance.

 

[Multidirectional]

RoSoDude, maybe these lines also need changing?

<Stat name="focusMenuModeTimeScaleTransitionTimeIn" value="0.4"/>
<Stat name="focusMenuModeTimeScaleTransitionTimeOut" value="0.1"/>

 

[RoSoDude]

Multidirectional I'm the dumb one, you need to change it to

<Stat name="focusMenuModeTimeScale" value="0"/>

1.0 actually makes the menu real-time... oops. PlayerConfig.xml is only loaded on new game anyway, but you can hackfix it by attaching a -1.0 modifier for this variable (or -0.5 if you tried all this after New Game) to a Neuromod skill before you obtain it. Look at Ark\Player\Abilities.xml, locate the desired skill, and add

<StatModifier StatName="focusMenuModeTimeScale" Modifier="-1"/>

following the element and whitespace conventions of the other skills.

To reduce the impact of weapon degradation, you need to go to Libs\EntityArchetypes\ArkPickups.xml, search for every instance of 'Name="Weapons.' and locate the degradation element. If you just wish to change the degradation rate per-shot, then change the fDegradationRate="[...]" variables as desired. Remember that weapons like the GLOO cannon and the Q-beam fire much more quickly than other weapons, so you probably want to work with multiples of the existing rates. Weapon condition numbers are measured on a scale from 0 to 100 in the files. You can also edit the malfunction rate and threshold (vanilla 100% chance to jam below 1% condition, CORE BALANCE variable chance to jam below 5% condition) and the min and max for randomized condition on pickups. I think all of this stuff gets updated whenever you load a save, so you shouldn't need to start a new game or drop your inventory or anything.

Feel free to PM me if you need any further clarification or assistance.

 

[MajorMace]

Got this within a bundle Prey-Dishonored 2.
Was interested in Dishonored 2, but Prey is a really solid system shock / deus ex formula execution.
It's unfortunately a casualty from the same good ol' plague affecting some seemingly interesting games, which I'm suspicious MCA is partly responsible of, here : a motherfucking narrative twist.
I can't even. Why ? Why are good settings, plots and stories thrown out the window for the sake of a ridiculous "oh snap" moment ?
In this case, it's even more baffling, as you can completely remove that fucking twist and IT WORKS JUST THE SAME.
Actually no, it works even better, because on a subsequent playthrough you're not convinced that none of this shit matters because it'll end with GabeN and his sexbots telling me what I did during the game.
I mean, it could be worse. Bioshock Infinite decided not to have characters or a logical plot after its great twist. Its twist was so powerful and oh snappy that it broke the whole narrative...
sigh

Prey is pretty good though. Solid emergent gameplay, solid atmosphere and solid reactivity (actually pretty surprisingly good, I must say).
Made me want to replay : System Shock, Deus Ex, Alien: Isolation
Didn't make me want to replay : Original Prey

PS : they really fucked up the communication around this game, didn't they. I had no idea it was a system shock / deus ex thing. I thought it was a narrative-driven linear shooter like, well, Prey.

 

[Prime Junta]

Prey is competently-executed . Sort of a cut-rate mashup of Deus Ex and Bioshock. Doesn't do anything at all new or interesting, just rehashes old, well-worn tropes and gameplay elements.

 

[Tacgnol]

PS : they really fucked up the communication around this game, didn't they. I had no idea it was a system shock / deus ex thing. I thought it was a narrative-driven linear shooter like, well, Prey.

I never understood why they stubbornly stuck to the Prey name.

It wasn't like the original was exactly well known.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

PS : they really fucked up the communication around this game, didn't they. I had no idea it was a system shock / deus ex thing. I thought it was a narrative-driven linear shooter like, well, Prey.

I never understood why they stubbornly stuck to the Prey name.

It wasn't like the original was exactly well known.

I'm assuming its because they weren't actually trying to name it after the 2006 game.
Prey is actually a pretty accurate name for the game if you consider that one of its primary themes is that of predation; Typhon prey on humans, and Morgan preys on Typhon.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I'm rather baffled why would anyone care so much for the plot twist when it comes at the very end and has like zero impact on anything.

Prey is competently-executed . Sort of a cut-rate mashup of Deus Ex and Bioshock. Doesn't do anything at all new or interesting, just rehashes old, well-worn tropes and gameplay elements.

That second sentence it super weird when Prey obviously wants to be seen as a follow up to SS2 and not much else, but whatever.

Copying old games was the least of its problems (though "copying", but pussying out was a pretty big one, as per usual) and the game does introduce a hell lot of "modern sensibilities", like mandatory trash collecting and crafting - unsurprisingly for the worse.

I still think the entire horror aspect is where it drops the ball the most.

 

[MajorMace]

I'm rather baffled why would anyone care so much for the plot twist when it comes at the very end and has like zero impact on anything.

I'm puzzled as to what you mean by impact here. Narratively, it's pretty much the whole story which is affected. Basically you were in a sim and it ended with your jury giving you a verdict. Did Morgan Yu really exist, did things realy go as the sim suggests, were the characters you meet in such sim real or just based on gaben's sexbots ? It pretty much fucks everything up for no reason.
If you mean to say it doesn't have any impact as it doesn't change the course of the game, then yes. That's usually how endings work though. Doesn't mean endings can't ruin the rest.

 

[Prime Junta]

That second sentence it super weird when Prey obviously wants to be seen as a follow up to SS2 and not much else, but whatever.

Yeah, that's what it wants to be seen as.

 

[MajorMace]

Prey is competently-executed

Damn Junta you're harsh.
Would you question these assertions :
Solid emergent gameplay, solid atmosphere and solid reactivity
?

If not, then what does "competently executed" mean compared to "well executed" ?

 

[Tacgnol]

PS : they really fucked up the communication around this game, didn't they. I had no idea it was a system shock / deus ex thing. I thought it was a narrative-driven linear shooter like, well, Prey.

I never understood why they stubbornly stuck to the Prey name.

It wasn't like the original was exactly well known.

I'm assuming its because they weren't actually trying to name it after the 2006 game.
Prey is actually a pretty accurate name for the game if you consider that one of its primary themes is that of predation; Typhon prey on humans, and Morgan preys on Typhon.

It started life as a sequel to the 2006 game. Arkane was working on Prey 2 and decided to reuse the name.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Yeah, that's what it wants to be seen as.

An it obviously is. There's shitton of direct parallels between Prey and SS2 (and that's even without the fanservice nudge nudge wink wink stuff like looking glass tech or gravshafts), but not really DE or Bioshock. Well, ok, with Bioshock there are, but that's only by proxy.

I'm puzzled as to what you mean by impact here. Narratively, it's pretty much the whole story which is affected. Basically you were in a sim and it ended with your jury giving you a verdict. Did Morgan Yu really exist, did things realy go as the sim suggests, were the characters you meet in such sim real or just based on gaben's sexbots ? It pretty much fucks everything up for no reason.
If you mean to say it doesn't have any impact as it doesn't change the course of the game, then yes. That's usually how endings work though. Doesn't mean endings can't ruin the rest.

Yes, what I meant is that it doesn't impact the game at all and narrative/story-wise you could see it coming from far away. It's just your lame "it was all a dream" ending, but when it didn't affect the journey then why care. Though I have to agree that it happens for no reason at all, just like replacing scary audiologs with dnd sessions and lesbian office romance.

 

[Prime Junta]

Solid emergent gameplay, solid atmosphere and solid reactivity
?

If not, then what does "competently executed" mean compared to "well executed" ?

They mean more or less the same thing. You can mentally substitute "well executed" for "competently executed" if you prefer.

What do you mean by "solid reactivity?" I agree about the first two but am less sure about the third, although I did only complete the game once. In my second run (as typhon) I didn't see much reactivity at all, but I only got about a third of the way through so it's likely I missed it.

(FWIW I don't consider a different epilogue sequence as reactivity.)

 

[MajorMace]

I reloaded after January destroyed December to see if I could save the latter and not only I could, it basically replaced January.
I like how the game suggests to try instead of right out giving you a "choose X/Y" screen.

(FWIW I don't consider a different epilogue sequence as reactivity.)

Me neither.

 

[HanoverF]

Prey is competently-executed . Sort of a cut-rate mashup of Deus Ex and Bioshock. Doesn't do anything at all new or interesting, just rehashes old, well-worn tropes and gameplay elements.

Someone didn't get a free copy...