kangaxx
Arbiter
It sounds like you, Pewdiepie and Jim Sterling hate the genre rather than the game (which is objectively a good example of that genre).
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Arkane PREY - Arkane's immersive coffee cup transformation sim - now with Mooncrash roguelike mode DLC
- Thread starter LESS T_T
- Start date
It sounds like you, Pewdiepie and Jim Sterling hate the genre rather than the game (which is objectively a good example of that genre).
Translation = "Hey everyone, look at me!" "I'm a retard!"
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I think it's unarguable that that base game does not include enough enemy variation to cover the whole 20 hours. There's just too much repetition, including of Nightmare. The first couple of times you encounter Nightmare it's a really impressive (and scary) variation. After the 3rd or 4th time you just zone.
I'm still impressed with what they made, I just think they should have cut the 1/3 of it. My memory is a little hazy as I played it maybe 18 months ago, but I suppose I would be looking at Deep Storage and a large part of the arc when you're trying to turn the power back on or whatever it was. You know, that part that had all those radioactive things.
I'm still impressed with what they made, I just think they should have cut the 1/3 of it. My memory is a little hazy as I played it maybe 18 months ago, but I suppose I would be looking at Deep Storage and a large part of the arc when you're trying to turn the power back on or whatever it was. You know, that part that had all those radioactive things.
wahrk
Learned
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I like the concept of the nightmare, but I thought it was implemented very clunky. It might be scary the first time but then you realize you can just run into a small closet and hide until the timer runs out. You just watch it lumber into the wall, clipping through the environment because it can’t get through a small door.
They should have done something like Dead Space 2 with that one regenerating enemy. Make it smaller and slower, but it can follow you anywhere in the station and can only be slowed, not killed. So you have to keep gooping it or doing enough damage that it has to regenerate while you try to stay ahead of it.
They should have done something like Dead Space 2 with that one regenerating enemy. Make it smaller and slower, but it can follow you anywhere in the station and can only be slowed, not killed. So you have to keep gooping it or doing enough damage that it has to regenerate while you try to stay ahead of it.
kangaxx
Arbiter
Yeah I agree, it's stupid that the nightmare has no way of following you through loading screens too. It makes him completely pointless.
Silverfish
Arbiter
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Not really. There's only 2 or 3 times in the game you have to fabricate something for plot progression and the material cost for those items is so low that they're easily made from stuff you find in Morgan's apartment during the intro.
OctavianRomulus
Learned
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- Aug 21, 2019
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- 480
Just finished Prey a few days ago. Is Mooncrash worth it?
I liked it. I'd say it's worth it if you liked the original. Mooncrash is basically the same thing with some improvements and some roguelike elements. Probably buy if you can get it for <$15. Definitely buy if <$10.
kangaxx
Arbiter
Agreed, it's worth a punt. I appreciated the base game more after playing Mooncrash because it forced me to try out different play styles.
I loved Mooncrash. Can’t be arsed to find my mini-review from earlier in the thread, but from memory the negatives were:
Sim-point economy is a complete fucking joke.
Escalation system (can’t remember what they actually call it- the chaos meter thing that’s tied to time) is also a complete fucking joke.
It’s much more comic in tone than the base game.
The unlock system is a bit too arcadey.
The first half teases out a “twist” that is totally obvious and unnecessary.
One of the five characters is completely boring (both to play and their story).
Good:
New ARTAX system. Fwoosh!
Level design (better than base game imo).
New items/traumas.
No quicksave (really Does a lot for Prey’s gameplay and actually changed the way I play the base game on repeat playthroughs because it’s so much more fun).
Different characters effectively incentivize different play-styles so you are forced to play in styles outside of your comfort zone.
Overall it’s a tighter package than the base game, albeit with a few rough edges. Feels more like an actual 90’s game in the sense that no one was expecting much so it mostly was allowed to fly under the radar (I think concessions towards difficulty were still quite obviously mandated by the higher-ups though).
Sim-point economy is a complete fucking joke.
Escalation system (can’t remember what they actually call it- the chaos meter thing that’s tied to time) is also a complete fucking joke.
It’s much more comic in tone than the base game.
The unlock system is a bit too arcadey.
The first half teases out a “twist” that is totally obvious and unnecessary.
One of the five characters is completely boring (both to play and their story).
Good:
New ARTAX system. Fwoosh!
Level design (better than base game imo).
New items/traumas.
No quicksave (really Does a lot for Prey’s gameplay and actually changed the way I play the base game on repeat playthroughs because it’s so much more fun).
Different characters effectively incentivize different play-styles so you are forced to play in styles outside of your comfort zone.
Overall it’s a tighter package than the base game, albeit with a few rough edges. Feels more like an actual 90’s game in the sense that no one was expecting much so it mostly was allowed to fly under the radar (I think concessions towards difficulty were still quite obviously mandated by the higher-ups though).
OctavianRomulus
Learned
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- Aug 21, 2019
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I think I will get it when it's on sale. Thanks guys!
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I finally tried Mooncrash and... so far do not like it that much. Prey is one of my favorite games of the last few years and probably my favorite immersive sim of all time (i write "probably" because i haven't played it enough times so i might be missing something). It isn't perfect (as mentioned by others above, the enemies are really lacking - outside of the mimics and their transformation gimmick, there is no other memorable enemy - nothing like... well, pretty much every enemy in System Shock 2 for example - and i also think that story-wise it isn't that interesting, though it is interesting enough to keep you going), but for the elements that i like in immersive sims, it does those perfectly.
So after reading both here and in other places that if you liked Prey, you'd love Mooncrash, i wanted to try it. The reason i didn't bought it previously, aside from preferring to buy games DRM-free (and Prey/Mooncrash had Denuvo... i only bought Prey in a sale when it was like 7 dollars or so exactly because of that - and even then if i hadn't played the demo and spent several hours on it alone, i wouldn't pay more than 2 or 3 dollars), was the randomization element. But now that was released on GOG i decided to get it right off the bat.
Someone here (i think) said that if you initially do not like Mooncrash, try a few runs anyway until you get the reset system. Which is what i did, but honestly i never ended up liking it - if anything i disliked it more.
The issue for me really is that i simply do not like having my character "taken away" from me nor i like having my character's items getting lost. Neuromod upgrades do remain between runs, but it looks like the "upgrade tree" is different for each character, which goes against the "play your way" motto that was everywhere in the base game. I also (and that isn't something specific to Mooncrash) do not like the game disabling quicksaving since it means that i have to repeat sections i dislike and the sections i dislike tend to make a stronger impression (to me) than the sections i like. And finally i simply do not find being forced to go through the same reset environments again and again any interesting.
Funny enough, the part that i was skeptical about was the randomization, but i didn't mind that (also i kinda expected randomized layouts, not just moving items around - this part actually reminded me of Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi :-P).
I'll certainly try it again, perhaps if i try to grind my way through enough neuromods i'll get to at least explore the environments since those look great. But honestly, i am disappointed since this doesn't really feel like the base game i liked. I know others liked it, but personally i'd prefer it if the DLC played like the base game and just had new levels and items to play with.
So after reading both here and in other places that if you liked Prey, you'd love Mooncrash, i wanted to try it. The reason i didn't bought it previously, aside from preferring to buy games DRM-free (and Prey/Mooncrash had Denuvo... i only bought Prey in a sale when it was like 7 dollars or so exactly because of that - and even then if i hadn't played the demo and spent several hours on it alone, i wouldn't pay more than 2 or 3 dollars), was the randomization element. But now that was released on GOG i decided to get it right off the bat.
Someone here (i think) said that if you initially do not like Mooncrash, try a few runs anyway until you get the reset system. Which is what i did, but honestly i never ended up liking it - if anything i disliked it more.
The issue for me really is that i simply do not like having my character "taken away" from me nor i like having my character's items getting lost. Neuromod upgrades do remain between runs, but it looks like the "upgrade tree" is different for each character, which goes against the "play your way" motto that was everywhere in the base game. I also (and that isn't something specific to Mooncrash) do not like the game disabling quicksaving since it means that i have to repeat sections i dislike and the sections i dislike tend to make a stronger impression (to me) than the sections i like. And finally i simply do not find being forced to go through the same reset environments again and again any interesting.
Funny enough, the part that i was skeptical about was the randomization, but i didn't mind that (also i kinda expected randomized layouts, not just moving items around - this part actually reminded me of Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi :-P).
I'll certainly try it again, perhaps if i try to grind my way through enough neuromods i'll get to at least explore the environments since those look great. But honestly, i am disappointed since this doesn't really feel like the base game i liked. I know others liked it, but personally i'd prefer it if the DLC played like the base game and just had new levels and items to play with.
Ivan
Arcane
You gave it an honest try.
RoSoDude
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2016
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- 750
Speaking of Mooncrash, I was going to make a balance mod for it similar to the one I made for the base game, but I struggled to gather the motivation to do so since I couldn't find a way fix my fundamental problem with it -- the permanent meta character progression in the form of acquired and scanned Neuromod abilities. This gives the expansion an inverse difficulty curve despite Arkane's efforts to ramp up the challenge as you complete objectives, which takes it from a really tense and exciting version of Prey into the same overpowered god mode you got towards the end of the vanilla base game.
I looked into several approaches to resetting character progression between runs, from digging around in the flowgraph logic to uncovering some cheat codes that I thought I could maybe hook into it (all of which were disabled save for the infinite ammo cheat). Nothing worked. There is a modder who managed to acquire a partial Prey devkit (by unknown means), and perhaps if they make those tools available then more can be done.
There's other stuff worth tackling, like the basic Neuromod skill balance, sim point economy, and inventory transfer between characters, but it doesn't feel worthwhile if I can't make it a proper hardcore roguelite. What's the point of tweaking relative ability values if you're fully kitted up by the end anyway?
I looked into several approaches to resetting character progression between runs, from digging around in the flowgraph logic to uncovering some cheat codes that I thought I could maybe hook into it (all of which were disabled save for the infinite ammo cheat). Nothing worked. There is a modder who managed to acquire a partial Prey devkit (by unknown means), and perhaps if they make those tools available then more can be done.
There's other stuff worth tackling, like the basic Neuromod skill balance, sim point economy, and inventory transfer between characters, but it doesn't feel worthwhile if I can't make it a proper hardcore roguelite. What's the point of tweaking relative ability values if you're fully kitted up by the end anyway?
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Why didn't anyone tell me that this game was actually good? What idiot decided to call this Prey instead of System Shock / Bioshock / Looking Glass Shooter / something that actually would have told that this game is anything but that shitty 2006 shooter?
Well, at least I have something good to play now for once.
Well, at least I have something good to play now for once.
Silverfish
Arbiter
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- 3,930
The worst part about the title is that later on in the game you can buy a skill called Psychoshock, which would have fit perfectly.
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Because lying is bad for the soul.
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- Mar 25, 2012
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Many people try to spread the brilliance of Prey, but sadly it is an uphill battle :-/
Prey 2006 wasn't bad, it could be better (e.g. i never was a fan of the main character's "whiny" voice tone) but had a lot of good ideas in terms of level design mechanics (e.g. puzzles based on you getting "out of your body", rotating gravity, changing sizes, walking to walls/ceiling, portals, etc) - IMO the primary issues were that the puzzles were too easy and -most importantly- the level designers kept all the nice toys for themselves. For example no way to make your own portals or walkable walls, even though IIRC from one early interview when the original Prey by 3D Realms was still in development, you could make your own portals by dropping portal devices. I think portals are a very underused mechanic in games in general.
Have fun, it is a great and very replayable game
.
samuraigaiden
Arcane
Prey 2017 is one of the best games I've ever played.
To get the most out of it, the game must be played on Nightmare difficulty with survival mechanics turned on.
The game isn't particularly hard on Nightmare mode, but it is a lot more fun because it gives you a reason to use stealth and try the different neuromod abilities.
The survival mechanics make the game more tense and add more gameplay to the game, which is rarely a bad thing.
I rarely replay games. I finished this game a few days ago and I'm already itching for a second playthrough.
If you like Deus Ex (the original), you will like Prey 2017. It's the same kind of game.
To get the most out of it, the game must be played on Nightmare difficulty with survival mechanics turned on.
The game isn't particularly hard on Nightmare mode, but it is a lot more fun because it gives you a reason to use stealth and try the different neuromod abilities.
The survival mechanics make the game more tense and add more gameplay to the game, which is rarely a bad thing.
I rarely replay games. I finished this game a few days ago and I'm already itching for a second playthrough.
If you like Deus Ex (the original), you will like Prey 2017. It's the same kind of game.
I haven't finished it yet, but it's definitely a game worthy of it's Looking Glass legacy. Have you tried System Shock 2? Pray is almost a remake of SS2. So if you like Prey and haven't finished SS2, you absolutely owe it to yourself to do so.
samuraigaiden
Arcane
A lot of people have been recomending it to me recently. I'll definitely play it soon.
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