So... Restricted Area?

[LlamaGod]

it's character slots like Diablo

 

[Norfleet]

Plasma gun is rapid fire, no 'recoil' type of thing (you dude takes time after each shot to reflect recoil), but you have an energy meter that limits how much you fire so you gotta wait for it to refill. Also enemies dont get stunned often with plasma and are never knockedback.

Shotguns knock enemies back, stun pretty often, but are heavy recoil and shitty at range.

Pistols are quicker then shotguns, have good range, no knockback and normal stun amounts.

I tried the demo, but for some reason the pacing on the game is glacial. Every move is a painful exercise in slow motion. There's no readily explainable reason for this: I have a 3Ghz machine with 4 GBs of RAM, and the frame rate is in the 70s. However, the actual action itself runs in SLOW MOTION, with the result that the animation is terrible. It's all jerky, you know, like it was done by a two-years-old boy. The speed of action does not at all match what was depicted in the trailer movie at all. Any idea why it runs in slow motion?

 

[Major_Blackhart]

What type of video card do you got?

 

[Norfleet]

Radeon 9800 Pro 256. More than adequate. Like I said, I'm getting 70 FPS. I foisted the game on a hapless victim, with entirely different specs that are unknown to me, other than that he has some kind of laptop, and he reported it being in slow motion despite a more than adequate framerate also. The most obvious sign of this is that the brass falls at a rate which makes the Matrix look fast.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Beats the hell outta me. I haven't had that problem and I have a RADEON 9500 Pro 128MB

 

[Norfleet]

The game doesn't run Really Really Slowly? It actually feels like it looks in the trailer?

 

[Naked_Lunch]

Yeah, mine runs fine and I have a Radeon 9600, about 512 or so RAM, and a 2 ghz processor.

The game is pretty decent, btw.

 

[Grifman]

Ok, I got this last night and I am loving it so far. It's very Diablo like and very fun, at least for me. Some random impressions follow.

Though you have generic weapon types (just like generic swords, axes, etc. in Diablo), you can find big differences between them. They can have increased damage, increased attack (hit probablity), and increase rate of fire (which is quit noticeable, visually and aurally), effectiveness against living being vs. robots, etc. There's another attribute I can't figure out, it says the weapons "pulls enemies". Anyone have any idea what that does?.

In addition, there are some unique variations. For example, my favorite weapon right now is a funky version of the standard plasma gun. What's unique about it - well, the plasma bolts it fires actually track enemies as they move, and if an enemy is killed, the "incoming" bolts move and start tracking another enemy until he is hit and dies and on and on. It's great for taking out mobs, though the bolts move a bit slow. A very interesting weapon to say the least. I just got my first flamethrower so I'm interested in trying that out as soon as I can put some points into it to use it.

The missions are usually either "termination" or "procurement" missions, but you also have missions where you control your character, and also interact and work with one of the other 3 available characters. This is interesting and also serves to flesh out the story.

As noted, there's common storage bin on the ship and if you play multiple games/characters at the same time, you can shift cool equipment between them, which is pretty neat.

I like the skill tree, there are some interesting options there. But you are going to have to put at least 1 point in some options you don't plan to use as they are prerequisites for some of the higher skills on the tree.

Complaints:

1) Manual is crap, just the barest outline, leaves out alot of info that should be there

2) Limited tile sets

3) It's very easy to make mistakes in moving stuff when selling/buying - I've sold/bought some stuff I didn't mean to Sad

4) The animations are weak (but as good as Diablo 2 which was no great shakes at 640x480) (though the environmental effects - fire, light, fog, smoke are very good).

5) My only really big complaint is the save system. You just have one slot per character and you can't just quit - you have to save before quitting. This annoyed me since I wanted to try some upgrades to equipment but I wanted to experiiment before doing so. But I couldn't do this since I had to save before quitting. Maybe I'm missing something, but I dont know why people put in these whacked out save schemes.

Anyway, I'm having a blast - the game is pretty much like the demo, and I loved the demo, YMMV. But if you like the idea of a sci-fi Diablo, the game may be for you.

 

[Norfleet]

Though you have generic weapon types (just like generic swords, axes, etc. in Diablo), you can find big differences between them. They can have increased damage, increased attack (hit probablity), and increase rate of fire (which is quit noticeable, visually and aurally), effectiveness against living being vs. robots, etc. There's another attribute I can't figure out, it says the weapons "pulls enemies". Anyone have any idea what that does?.

I think that's supposed to mean "knockback", but badly translated.

3) It's very easy to make mistakes in moving stuff when selling/buying - I've sold/bought some stuff I didn't mean to Sad

Selling and buying is reversible with no loss of money, if the item didn't disappear due to inventory fullness. If you accidentally buy or sell something, you can sell or buy it back at the same price.

5) My only really big complaint is the save system. You just have one slot per character and you can't just quit - you have to save before quitting. This annoyed me since I wanted to try some upgrades to equipment but I wanted to experiiment before doing so. But I couldn't do this since I had to save before quitting. Maybe I'm missing something, but I dont know why people put in these whacked out save schemes.

Push F5 to save, F6 to load. You still only have one slot, but you can save and load from that slot without using "Save and Exit". It's actually slightly better than Diablo 2, which also shared this system (without the F5/F6).

Now if only the game didn't run like cold molasses!

 

[LlamaGod]

Yeah, "pulls enemies back" is just a mess up. The effect isnt knockback as I have a plasma gun with +66% of it and I mostly get 'stuns' (where a monster goes URK and stands still for a moment).

Only knockback i've actually seen is using a shotgun and it pushes them back.

 

[merry andrew]

Tonight I realized that ROMs aren't that bad if I own the game(s), which I do, so I downloaded both Shadowruns and am feeling all tingly and teary-eyed.

I think I'm gonna buy Restricted Area later today (if they have it at EB Games).

 

[Barghest]

Save/Load on this one...is it really so much like Diablo? If you exit out, does everything reset? Or can you load your last saved position like most other games?

 

[LlamaGod]

It's last saved position, directly and not just the area you're in too. All the locations of everything get saved and stuff.

 

[merry andrew]

I decided to play Jennifer. It would be a lot more fun if I could find some support somewhere. The official forums and linked fansite seem to be unavailable, and I didn't get much help from the single GameFAQs walkthrough.

I just wanna know the particulars of cyberspace So far, the only point I see to enter cyberspace is to download things that I don't understand and to eventually die, because I don't know how to exit cyberspace, and your life slowly degenerates while you're there.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Yeah I'm completely confused by that cyberspace thing. I don't even know how to regenerate my robot.

 

[merry andrew]

Oh, haha. I remembered how I got out of cyberspace last time... I used the door! It should be the red dot that you see when you first enter cyberspace.

Anyway, I'll try to figure out the control points/robot regeneration/mines/turrets later today.

edit: Just had my first "I think I know what I'm doing" run through cyberspace... it was pretty fun. I just barely made it out alive.

This is from the gamefaqs FAQ by Hedin2004:

Inside cyber reality Jessica receives a cyber life gauge (normal life gauge
is replaced by it), which is not connected with the normal life gauge. The
cyber reality always resists: the cyber life gauge slowly decreases. If it
becomes 0, the game is over. When you exit cyber reality a cyber life gauge
is replaced by the normal life gauge.

In cyber reality Jessica can shoot energy balls. Enemy types:
1) Pyramid (I.C.E.): slowly follows your character and shoots; can be
destroyed.
2) Thorn balls: when they "see" your character they charge and
self-destruct.

In cyber reality your character can use and take information from special
terminals. There are 2 types of terminals.
/\ ___
/_\ |___|
\ / < Type 1. \ / < Type 2.
\/ \/
With the help of Type 1 terminals you can: destroy some I.C.E.'s and some
Thorn balls on the current cyber reality map; increase information loading
speed from all terminals on the current cyber reality map. With the help of
Type 2 terminals you can find: control points; cyber weapon modify
properties; credits; a map of a current building and special story
information. It takes some time to copy the information. If you leave the
terminal, and the information hasn't been fully copied, then you must load
an information from it from the beginning. When the copying process is
completed, the special terminal vanishes.

Eh, I dunno how to get the formatting right. Type 1 terminals are pointy at both ends, Type 2 are only pointy on the bottom.

I think the robot can be recharged with an Active skill that is unlocked at character level 5. This action, along with setting mines and turrets, costs control points. When I was in cyberspace, I saw that I earned control points, but I don't know where to check to see how many I have. I'm guessing that control points are earned in each mission (in cyberspace) and can only be used in the mission in which they're found.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, it's kind of fun, but it's definitely not without problems.

• For some reason, when I try to sell items, it occationally BUYS an item. There's also no SHIFT-CLICK sell like most of these games have.
• Picking up items is problematic. A lot of times, I'll just run to the item rather than snagging it.
• The flamethrower seems really buggy. Try to fire it at something right in front of you, watch the flame spread go all over the place! Well, everywhere but right in front of you. Often at a 90 degree angle from your target.
• The "Collect Everything" mode is completely idiotic.
• Two player multiplayer where you have to host at the same time as the other player is joining? WTF? Why even bother making multiplayer if it's like that?
• The LONG pause before you can click BACK TO CITY when exiting a mission to go sell loot or when you die is VERY annoying.
• Getting locked in areas with multiple boss critters where you can't leave until you kill them is pretty gay. One boss, fine. I can deal with that. Two or more? Lame.
• Getting pinned against a wall or other terrain item by monsters is irritating

There are some neat things, but the game just feels really clumsy and unpolished. I like the company bonus thing on items, but this game really needs more patching.

 

[LlamaGod]

Getting locked in areas with multiple boss critters where you can't leave until you kill them is pretty gay. One boss, fine. I can deal with that. Two or more? Lame.

someone got beat up by gemini


The flamethrower is really fucked up, I agree. It should be patched.

Despite the flaws, I think its a pretty good game though.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

someone got beat up by gemini

I didn't get beat up so much as I just gave up because it was annoying. With one boss, you can move and pop shot for a long time until they're dead. With two bosses, it makes that situation that much worse and that much more boring because you're tripping over them and you have two mega life bars to wear down.

 

[Fez]

I remember hating those twin girl bosses in Streets of Rage for the same reasons. Same goes for most multi-boss fights.

 

[Sol Invictus]

That's a pretty good reason why games like Diablo and Diablo 2 don't have multiple boss fights in a single area. It's pretty damn annoying to have to deal with two bosses with mega life bars dishing out simultanious AOE (Area of Effect) attack patterns that often overlap, leave you trapped, and fuck you up without giving you much of a chance to commit any offensive abilities to the situation. It become a matter of tedium as you slowly wear down their health and kill them over time. In other words, it isn't fun.

Dealing with 'sub-bosses' like those nasties in the Durance of Hate in Diablo 2 is pretty frantic, but it isn't bogged down or annoying, particularly because those sub-bosses aren't that tough and in multiplayer, they're fairly easy to kill with a group of people.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

You know, there's a few things I'd love to see added to this game that would add to the polish quite a bit:

• The ability to SHIFT-CLICK buy/sell/move to storage like most games like this have. Sacred, Diablo 2, Fate, etc. all had SHIFT-CLICK inventory exchanging. It drives me nuts selling large amount of tiny items.
• The ability to order Jason to fly his useless ass back to town and sell a cargo hold full of stuff for you. Give him a cut of the sale for it, but that would beat the crap out of spending the whole mission loading up his glider with ph4t l3wt, then manually selling the stuff in town making trips between him and Dee.
  
  This probably wouldn't be very hard to add, either. Just a dialogue option for "Sell cargo hold #1". Then calculate the value of all that ph4t l3wt, sum it up, subtract Jason's cut, and deliver it to the player. Of course, you could make a dialogue option for, "Hey, Jason. You got my money?" and deliver it that way as well.
• Some kind of actual multiplayer, damnit. 2-4 players and a personal lobby would be nice. You don't even have to have a match maker, just connect to a host, have people zip in to the lobby where they can chat or enter the game. The ability for players to come and go from the game would be nice also, in case someone drops.
• Fix the flamethrower!
• More useful overlay info. For example, when I hover the mouse over a an attribute, I'd like to see the raw attribute and the magic bonuses I'm getting. For example, I hover the mouse over my Dexterity number, I'd like to see "12 + 11 = 23" where 12 is my natural Dexterity, 11 is the amount I'm getting from item bonuses, and the total.
• More interesting stuff to do in town! It would be nice to have different faction people there giving missions rather than just a generic random mission guy. Faction random missions could possibly give faction made items as rewards.

Really, it's a fun little game, but I don't think it's worth the $40 price tag in it's current state. If the multiplayer wasn't so hackkneed, and the interface was improved, sure.. But the way it is now, nah.

 

[merry andrew]

I think it's pretty sweet that two people made it, but yeah, improvements would be welcome.

 

[obediah]

• The ability to SHIFT-CLICK buy/sell/move to storage like most games like this have. Sacred, Diablo 2, Fate, etc. all had SHIFT-CLICK inventory exchanging. It drives me nuts selling large amount of tiny items.

• 
  
  Of those games I only played diablo II for a bit when it was released. So I"m not sure what shift-clicking in those games bough you over right clicking in this game? And I don't think middle/mouse wheel click does anything, so why tie in shift-click when you could just use middle click - unless you're some kind of mac fagg0t.

 

[Norfleet]

You can sell crap easily by simply rightclicking. Rightclicking an object instantly buys or sells it without fuss, as well as transferring things to and from the stash.

Be warned, however: The multiplayer mode sucks nuts. There's simply no generous way to put this: it is bad. The in-game chat is terrible and limited to about 20 characters per line, and most of the punctuation you type will be replaced by garbage characters, forcing you to speak like an AOLer. The chat also has a tendency to blank out completely and transmit nothing. There is no ALT-TAB. This pretty much forces you to use two computers, one for communications, one for the game.

That, of course, assumes the multiplayer mode was worth playing at all, even with that one other person. It isn't. There are horrible sync issues. Objects dropped on the ground are invisible to the other player. Monsters sometimes can be seen by one player but not the other. Objects dropped by monsters are visible only to one of the players. There is apparently no way to exchange loot. Or effectively and reliably communicate. Players can be dropped without warning. The dropped player simply stands there and you have no warning that he is gone. Even if he's the host.

The matter has been complained about the Germanian forums for about 6 months. No action has yet been taken. You can effectively consider this a single-player game for the forseeable future because the multiplayer mode is pretty much nonfunctional and as the last patch attempt was 6 months ago, no solution appears forthcoming.

As far as the ENGLISH forums go, they are now completely inoperative, after having been "Hacked By Loomax" for the better part of several months.