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The Surge - "sci-fi Dark Souls" from Lords of the Fallen devs
- Thread starter Siel
- Start date
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- Tags
- dark souls deck13
I finished it tonight. My overall initial impressions stand (not as good as darksouls, don't expect it to be) with one caveat. There are some enemies at the end game which are just there for frustration value. I have no idea why you would want to place enemies that can one shot the player, can regen back to full health and have huge hp bloat. Unless you are just trying to stretch out the final few hours of the game.
The story is 1/2 way decent and at least the characters had a semblance of motivation unlike in some darksouls games where they "have forgot what they were doing etc". Anyway, if you wanna play something that scratches a souls-like (yes, it's a shit label i agree) itch then the surge is worth it. Maybe wait for a sale if you are on the fence.
The story is 1/2 way decent and at least the characters had a semblance of motivation unlike in some darksouls games where they "have forgot what they were doing etc". Anyway, if you wanna play something that scratches a souls-like (yes, it's a shit label i agree) itch then the surge is worth it. Maybe wait for a sale if you are on the fence.
I'd say that they largely prepare for the end boss. The end boss is a hyper beefed version of those enemies, even with a tied mechanic, if you know what I mean.
Overcharging mid fight
Started playing this weekend.
Game seems cool so far. Lost my scrap 2 times, got pissed and restarted.
What's your favorite weapon type? I'm leaning towards sticking with that chainsaw thingie that seems to be this game's straight sword.
Game seems cool so far. Lost my scrap 2 times, got pissed and restarted.
What's your favorite weapon type? I'm leaning towards sticking with that chainsaw thingie that seems to be this game's straight sword.
One Handed is a solid choice. One of It's endgame versions have some issues with Energy Absorption, but it's amazing otherwise.
They are as versatile as it gets, really. You'd want some gear increasing your "Impact" so that it can stun and knock people around, offsetting its class quirks.
They are as versatile as it gets, really. You'd want some gear increasing your "Impact" so that it can stun and knock people around, offsetting its class quirks.
I read online that this game takes a turn to complete and utter shit after the second area. Is it true?
"Turn?" It's between 15 and 45, approximately. NG+ is also actually well implemented.
On the second thing; the only thing that maybe changes to worse as the game goes on are combat encounters, ramped up. If you liked that first part and fared well enough, you should be perfectly fine if you aren't one of those DS1 fanboys who won't bother trying to adapt to a different rythym, which as you might guess, consists about half of the things you read.
My main issue would be maybe the amount of content. But that's because I tend to see and try and do everything in the first run, that's why it took me 50 hours instead of some of my friends' 15 and 20
WOW
WOW
Resolve Biolabs is complete and utter garbage. Pitfalls and ganks everywhere. And I lost 21k scrap to a bug. My scrap got stuck in an unreachable location.
Seems like from this point onwards I'm play a Dark Soul 2 clone...
Also, whoever thought plataforming belongs in these games deserve to be dragged out of his home and shot in the face.
WOW
Resolve Biolabs is complete and utter garbage. Pitfalls and ganks everywhere. And I lost 21k scrap to a bug. My scrap got stuck in an unreachable location.
Seems like from this point onwards I'm play a Dark Soul 2 clone...
Also, whoever thought plataforming belongs in these games deserve to be dragged out of his home and shot in the face.
You should be storing your scraps!
There is no essential platforming in this game, 0%. I checked it, and that was before they fixed plunging attacks cancelling fall damage, which enabled LobosJR mode ^^
I guess you're referring to the almost constant 1v2s, 1v1+Drones, and jumpy bots. They are a bitch, but a well upgraded gear makes them not as threatening. On jumpy bots. If you haven't figured it out yet, here's a good trick. Unless you're doing an animation yourself, you can use Injectables anytime. Meaning, you can heal while you're inside an enemy combo, making you survive things you normally wouldn't. For example, the Security Guards's combos, who you found at the start of Stage 2. So instead of limping out for a heal, you tank it and go on. And as you get better, you'll be less and less dependent of this. That's how it was for me, at least.
There is no essential platforming in this game, 0%. I checked it, and that was before they fixed plunging attacks cancelling fall damage, which enabled LobosJR mode ^^
I guess you're referring to the almost constant 1v2s, 1v1+Drones, and jumpy bots. They are a bitch, but a well upgraded gear makes them not as threatening. On jumpy bots. If you haven't figured it out yet, here's a good trick. Unless you're doing an animation yourself, you can use Injectables anytime. Meaning, you can heal while you're inside an enemy combo, making you survive things you normally wouldn't. For example, the Security Guards's combos, who you found at the start of Stage 2. So instead of limping out for a heal, you tank it and go on. And as you get better, you'll be less and less dependent of this. That's how it was for me, at least.
Grampy_Bone
Arcane
Overall, okay game. It's keeping me interested after Nioh fizzled out.
-I like the sci-fi setting, and the engineering "weapons" which are re-purposed tools
-Targeting individual body parts is a neat feature, along with the targeted drops you get. Much better than pure randomness
-Level design is good. I like the shortcuts and one "bonfire" per area limit
-Graphics are nice
-Combat feels rewarding
On the other hand:
-Clumsy, over-exaggerated, and sluggish animations. It's better than Lords of the Fallen, but still has this odd over-swing on practically every attack. Makes the slow weapons generally too slow to ever actually use, while the fast weapons are underpowered. Unsatisfying.
-Enemy animations are badly telegraphed. Basically you can't dodge on reaction, you have to memorize all patterns and follow them carefully. Some might say this is like Dark Souls, but it's not. Dark Souls gave the enemies more wind-up to telegraph their moves. The Surge has attacks come out really fast and which can't be blocked or dodged; you have to use baiting tactics instead. Good example of this is the three-legged spider bots. They have a backflip attack that is practically instant, can't be blocked, hard to dodge, and does tons of damage. It's never safe to combo them because of this attack. Lots of human enemies have similar moves, where they flail around wildly and you can't tell what is actually an attack or not.
-Stagger mechanic sucks. When enemies stagger, the next hit they suffer fully recovers the stagger and lets them immediately attack, often with no wind-up time (see previous point). This makes using slow weapons with high Impact builds very hit or miss; depending on when the stagger hits during the combo you are using, you may knock an enemy out of stagger mid-combo and eat a big counter from them when you really should be pummeling them with your high impact attacks.
-This is compounded by combos being different depending on the body part. Targeting the head with certain weapons allows reliable knock-down attacks, while targeting their feet gets you a different attack that may stagger them but not result in a knockdown. I wish combos were the same regardless of targeting. Of course unless you are trying for drops there's never a reason not to target the head, making most of the combos pointless.
Overall the combo system is almost always too risky and the game favors hit-and-run attacks. Using the dodge-lunge move for every weapon is better than comboing almost all of the time. That's pretty lame.
-The deathblow mechanic is cool, especially when you have to trade between using energy for that or some other ability, but why is it human only? No deathblows on robots is odd.
-Leveling is too restricted. You can't go past the strict armor/weapon upgrade limits determined by your progress, and you can't level any stats to compensate. Proficiency adds minor damage boosts but goes up too slowly to make grinding worth it. On top of that I don't understand why your number of implant slots is limited by progression. You already have to gain 10 levels to unlock them and balance core power to equip stuff, so why force you to collect rig upgrades on top of all that? In other words if you are having a tough time with an area you probably can't alleviate the issue with grinding. That puts this too much into the action category and not enough RPG.
-I like the sci-fi setting, and the engineering "weapons" which are re-purposed tools
-Targeting individual body parts is a neat feature, along with the targeted drops you get. Much better than pure randomness
-Level design is good. I like the shortcuts and one "bonfire" per area limit
-Graphics are nice
-Combat feels rewarding
On the other hand:
-Clumsy, over-exaggerated, and sluggish animations. It's better than Lords of the Fallen, but still has this odd over-swing on practically every attack. Makes the slow weapons generally too slow to ever actually use, while the fast weapons are underpowered. Unsatisfying.
-Enemy animations are badly telegraphed. Basically you can't dodge on reaction, you have to memorize all patterns and follow them carefully. Some might say this is like Dark Souls, but it's not. Dark Souls gave the enemies more wind-up to telegraph their moves. The Surge has attacks come out really fast and which can't be blocked or dodged; you have to use baiting tactics instead. Good example of this is the three-legged spider bots. They have a backflip attack that is practically instant, can't be blocked, hard to dodge, and does tons of damage. It's never safe to combo them because of this attack. Lots of human enemies have similar moves, where they flail around wildly and you can't tell what is actually an attack or not.
-Stagger mechanic sucks. When enemies stagger, the next hit they suffer fully recovers the stagger and lets them immediately attack, often with no wind-up time (see previous point). This makes using slow weapons with high Impact builds very hit or miss; depending on when the stagger hits during the combo you are using, you may knock an enemy out of stagger mid-combo and eat a big counter from them when you really should be pummeling them with your high impact attacks.
-This is compounded by combos being different depending on the body part. Targeting the head with certain weapons allows reliable knock-down attacks, while targeting their feet gets you a different attack that may stagger them but not result in a knockdown. I wish combos were the same regardless of targeting. Of course unless you are trying for drops there's never a reason not to target the head, making most of the combos pointless.
Overall the combo system is almost always too risky and the game favors hit-and-run attacks. Using the dodge-lunge move for every weapon is better than comboing almost all of the time. That's pretty lame.
-The deathblow mechanic is cool, especially when you have to trade between using energy for that or some other ability, but why is it human only? No deathblows on robots is odd.
-Leveling is too restricted. You can't go past the strict armor/weapon upgrade limits determined by your progress, and you can't level any stats to compensate. Proficiency adds minor damage boosts but goes up too slowly to make grinding worth it. On top of that I don't understand why your number of implant slots is limited by progression. You already have to gain 10 levels to unlock them and balance core power to equip stuff, so why force you to collect rig upgrades on top of all that? In other words if you are having a tough time with an area you probably can't alleviate the issue with grinding. That puts this too much into the action category and not enough RPG.
Grampy_Bone
Arcane
Too late motherfuckers! I'll probably beat it by then.
Finished the game today and I mostly agree with Grampy_Bone. I did a guardsman build, aka: MG Gorgon + Staff. Here is my bullet point of the game:
What they got right:
I give this game a
, good for what it is. It's a decent DS fix. Nothing more, nothing less.
Buy it at a discount, I say.
EDIT: ParagonDS did a p. solid critique on this game:
What they got right:
- The overall feel of the combat is p. gud. Yes, there are problems and the mechanics are inconsistent at best and outright nonsensical at worst. But the feeling of tense brutal combat and feeling rewarded after beating a tough portion of the game is definitely there.
- The weapons are interesting and "unique" in a sense. I like them. It's not often you get to play a game without the predictable staples (use hammer/mace on armored, use sword for general purpuse, axe is just a bad sword etc)
- Level design is WAY above average. Don't know what ppl on Steam are smoking, but the LEVELS themselves are very well designed, especially Central Production B.
- Setting is interesting enough.
- The implementation of Poise (Stability) is atrocious. It's very hard to predict whether or not your attack will stagger an enemy and enemy attacks seem to stagger regardless of your choice of armor for the most part. The fact that bosses are immune to staggering is the icing on the cake.
- The lack of ranged options sticks out REALLY badly. They could've had ranged options fitting the setting like a Nail Gun or something. The fact that enemy drones love to fly just outside your reach is adding salt into the wound. Very dumb design choice.
- Enemy placing in some areas is really bad. Resolve Biolabs is a great example of how NOT to do things. The last area is also p. bad.
- Set bonuses = dumbing things down. Why not let players mix and match? Would allow for some p. interesting combos.
- No multiplayer = no PvP and no jolly cooperation. I like to do my farming helping/killing others, rather than replaying portions of the game over and over.
- Limb cutting system is a good idea, but was poorly implemented. "Frankeinstein" robots are the ONLY enemy in the game with a clever usage of this mechanic. For everyone else it simply boils down to "do you want stuff or do you simply wanna whack this guy faster?".
- Nonsensical plot. I have no idea wtf happened in this game, but I whacked a lot of ppl, bots and giant monsters. I'm Okay with that.
- The elephant in the room: there are NO real builds in this game. Gear dictates everything. That's a pretty shitty approach to the "RPG elements" in a souls-like. When you put this info together with the fact that the weapons are very similar to each other, there is really one ending (FUCK OFF, it's ONE fucking ending) and there is no multiplayer the conclusion is inevitable: this game has no replay value whatsoever. My run was fun, but I doubt I'm gonna bother with NG+. Unsure.
- Damage system is a clusterfuck. The only thing I know for sure is that rapebots are vulnerable to elemental damage. Other than that, I have NO idea what's good against what.
- Damage and HP bloat. Seriously, you either start equipping +HP implants or you're gonna get one-shot by most enemies late game. Since I learned that in time I had little problem with the last area (the area that made most ppl quit and thrash the game). In fact, the final boss is the ONLY boss I beat on my first try. +HP and tons of healing implants = victory. :rollseyes:
- Bullshit C&C. They couldn't be bothered to make 2 videos for the 2 endings. It's the same fucking thing, you just get slightly different dialogue. Bullshit! Should've stuck with a single ending.
- NPC questlines are full of arbitrary requirements. No way you're gonna get them all without looking up online and, speaking of guides...
- "Secret" boss beating methods. What an idiotic idea. There is NO FUCKING WAY anyone would ever figure out on their own that they are supposed to use some arbitrary handicap while facing a boss in order to get a better weapon. That's just plain stupid. I'll take bonfire ascetics over this gimmicky crap any day.
I give this game a
, good for what it is. It's a decent DS fix. Nothing more, nothing less.Buy it at a discount, I say.
EDIT: ParagonDS did a p. solid critique on this game:
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Grampy_Bone
Arcane
Interesting. I've been using Single and twin-rigged weapons. The elemental damage on the Volatile Spectre makes it hit harder than anything else I've tried. The combos are slow but the dodge-lunge is really good.
I like the staff lunge too but the regular combos piss me off. Why does he sweep the staff in these huge wide arcs? Just do some quick jabs dammit.
Just beat Black Cerberus but fucked up the hardcore kill. Oh well. Using the armor that gives you HP regen + improved healing. I'm wondering if it's worth it to backtrack through the whole game to get all the security doors?
I like the staff lunge too but the regular combos piss me off. Why does he sweep the staff in these huge wide arcs? Just do some quick jabs dammit.
Just beat Black Cerberus but fucked up the hardcore kill. Oh well. Using the armor that gives you HP regen + improved healing. I'm wondering if it's worth it to backtrack through the whole game to get all the security doors?
You might as well. Remember those overcharge spots that had a huge Core requirement? I think the first's at 40-50. You could also get those, I think it's worth it.
Yeah, there is phat loot behind both the security doors and overcharge containers.
As for the staff, the wide arc R1 is great for crowd control. For single enemies you should hold R1 for either a thrust attack or two quick taps. Very reliable move IMO. Also, R2 when aiming for the head is very fast.
R1 -> R2 -> R1 is a great staff combo. Once you're done with the slow first attack, the other 2 are blazing fast.
Btw, don't fret about black Cerberus. His armor looks cool but the stats are meh. MG Gorgon all the way. Higher def too (trust me, I crafted both @ mk4).
I started ng+ . Gonna transition to heavy duty + chrysalys armor. Seems like a cool combo. And mg judge 2.0 is too cool to ignore.
As for the staff, the wide arc R1 is great for crowd control. For single enemies you should hold R1 for either a thrust attack or two quick taps. Very reliable move IMO. Also, R2 when aiming for the head is very fast.
R1 -> R2 -> R1 is a great staff combo. Once you're done with the slow first attack, the other 2 are blazing fast.
Btw, don't fret about black Cerberus. His armor looks cool but the stats are meh. MG Gorgon all the way. Higher def too (trust me, I crafted both @ mk4).
I started ng+ . Gonna transition to heavy duty + chrysalys armor. Seems like a cool combo. And mg judge 2.0 is too cool to ignore.
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Grampy_Bone
Arcane
Finished it, using the Fractal Reaver. Nice damage, faster moves than the Volatile Spectre. End boss was the easiest in the game, funny enough.
I'm not sure how people couldn't figure out how to upgrade their health. My ending implant setup was all Vital Boost + Vital Injection Mk Vs.
Ah well it was a fun time, despite my complaints, looking forward to more stuff from this developer in the future.
I'm not sure how people couldn't figure out how to upgrade their health. My ending implant setup was all Vital Boost + Vital Injection Mk Vs.
Ah well it was a fun time, despite my complaints, looking forward to more stuff from this developer in the future.
Ok, I'm done with this game now. Finished NG+, my opinion didn't change. I had some 40+ hours of fun with the Surge and I def recommend it for souls fans. Gonna wait for DLC or something in order to pick it up again. What I CAN'T recommend is heavy duty, heh. I killed all bosses first time except Big Sister 1/3. Shit, that thing is terrible with a slow weapon.
I'm looking forward to these guy's next game. Surge was a gud game and it proves these guys are capable of delivering good "souls-like" games. Just hope their next installment has actual builds, multiplayer and all the things that make DS great.
It should also be noted that graphically the game is quite beautiful.
EDIT: also, fuck Maddy's quest. I ignored it AGAIN because FUCK GOING BACK AND FORTH INSIDE THE WORST AREA OF THE GAME. Nucleus sucks some serious dick.
I'm looking forward to these guy's next game. Surge was a gud game and it proves these guys are capable of delivering good "souls-like" games. Just hope their next installment has actual builds, multiplayer and all the things that make DS great.
It should also be noted that graphically the game is quite beautiful.
EDIT: also, fuck Maddy's quest. I ignored it AGAIN because FUCK GOING BACK AND FORTH INSIDE THE WORST AREA OF THE GAME. Nucleus sucks some serious dick.
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Thanks for the heads up on the sale. Grabbed it.
Gonna be my first "Souls" experience since playing Demons's Souls on the sluggish Ps3, which wasn't fun. Loved the concept however.
Thanks for the heads up on the sale. Grabbed it.
Gonna be my first "Souls" experience since playing Demons's Souls on the sluggish Ps3, which wasn't fun. Loved the concept however.
I found that this is the soulslike most lenient to Demon's level design, actually. Have fun!
Enjoying it so far, 2 hours in. Only briefly played Demons's Souls back in 2010, so this is my first souls-like.
Thoughts:
Considering they only started development on this in August 2015 (what!?), I'm pretty impressed with what is here. More than happy to support it, no doubt the further installments will be fleshed out if they are "greenlit" & granted more time. The team is clearly capable of delivering.
Also, a fully fledged expansion is in development for release later this year which is great. (Appears to be a slight overhaul too, nice to see they're listening to feedback and care about the product)
Thoughts:
- Sci-Fi (Non-medival!) setting is refreshing for once. It was a good choice to make this stand out as more than just a clone.
- Combat is satisfying, but, no ranged weapons, why?
- Limb targeting as a means for upgrading equipment is original.
- Map design is good, repeating assets seem common, but structual/layout variation more than make up for it.
- A few more play-styles would have been nice, only seems like "tank" and "shanker" from what I've seen. Ah well.
Considering they only started development on this in August 2015 (what!?), I'm pretty impressed with what is here. More than happy to support it, no doubt the further installments will be fleshed out if they are "greenlit" & granted more time. The team is clearly capable of delivering.
Also, a fully fledged expansion is in development for release later this year which is great. (Appears to be a slight overhaul too, nice to see they're listening to feedback and care about the product)
The Surge DLC coming later this year, will be a "full package"
Deck 13 hints at further plans, plus outlines summer patches.
The Surge launched in May and it went down very well with a lot of people. Therefore Deck 13's Timm Schwank was in LA at E3 to tell the world about the game's upcoming expansion, which is due to land before the end of the year. First, though, Schwank told us about the upcoming tweaks coming to The Surge.
- Text: Mike Holmes
- Published the 27th of Jun 2017 at 15
"So we're preparing summer patches for all the platforms, so we are giving further support," he told us in LA. Later he also mentioned another patch due to land around the same time as the paid-for DLC, which will update the game for all players but in particular, could enhance it for those who buy the paid-for expansion.
Schwank also confirmed that the first expansion for the game is "coming out at the end of this year with totally new content. So new level, new enemies, new weapons, and so on. Full package."
When asked about the setting of the DLC, the man from Deck 13 said: "It's within The Surge world, so it will enhance it. It will have some kind of tweaks on the whole game itself. It will add some things here and there, but mostly it adds a new area with some new story twists, and some further information."
Speaking of the studio's cryptic clues, Schwank teased things to find in the expansion that might point to further content in The Surge: "Here and there we give some extra information, and some new, hinting to you further stuff in the future." Cryptic indeed.
You can read our review of The Surge for more about the game.
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https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-surge/the-surge-dlc
The Surge DLC pits you against a theme park cat-robot gone mad
By
Jordan Forward
Deck 13 Interactive announced today that their sci-fi spin on the Dark Souls series is getting a hefty chunk of DLC this year. Set in an amusement park that’s directly attached to the Creo mega-factory the main game is set in, the upcoming expansion is called A Walk in the Park, which is funny because it will be anything but that.
Due out this year, A Walk in the Park will open up a new area of the Creo facility for players to explore, earn gear from, and die in countless times over. The DLC will last roughly four hours and will round out some of the base game’s trickier sections so that jumps in difficulty are less jarring. There will be two access points to the park, one as players enter the Production Line area near close to the start of the game, and a second access point much later on near the Research and Development area. The intention is that these new areas will ease players through the game’s considerable difficulty spikes, while giving veterans of The Surge new areas to explore, stories to uncover, and gear to acquire.
At the centre of A Walk in the Park is one of the lightest and most loved elements of the the main game: Iron Maus. In the DLC, players will take on Carbon Cat, the arch nemesis of in-game comic book hero Iron Maus - like any self-respecting arch nemesis, Carbon Cat is a cigar-smoking robot who loves air pollution. Seeing as the DLC is set in an amusement park, we're expecting a animatronic monstrosity. The additional area will end with a boss fight, although it’s not clear if this will be the only boss fight in the DLC.
The upcoming DLC will also launch alongside a free weapon pack, that will add new attacking options to the game. Couple this with all the new armour, implants and weapons you’ll be tearing, literally, from your enemies and there could be plenty of new potential builds for The Surge players to try out when A Walk in the Park releases later this year.
CptMace
Self-Ejected
So, a tl;dr about how it compares to Lords of the Fallen ?
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