• Metro Series - Singing PIPES
    270 replies, posted
Exodus has a severe lack of supernatural elements. There was some here and there but a great majority of them are hidden.
Man I wish stealth combat didn't suck fucking dick The whole "npcs making sudden jerk movements when you're trying to headshot them with a silenced gun, then spotting you in a completely dark corner" meme is getting old at this point
I just realized you can hold shift to make the boat go faster In the last level of my second playthrough
Does it do anything to make it noticeable? I could've sworn I tried that and it did jack.
I think it moves twice as fast with shift? The animation's the same but the default move speed is so slow I noticed it immediately
WHAT
holy shit, this would have saved me so much frustration
Today's patch added NG+ and a developer commentary mode, nice
I've finally finished it after playing the whole trilogy back to back. Admittedly Exodus took me a lot to finish compared to the other ones, because i kept losing interest in the middle of the game. It has some good things but feels like a step back compared to 2033 or Last Light. The intro is good, starts right off where you left with Last Light, doesn't take long to get back in action. Volga is a great starting section, almost feels like Stalker with the electric ball anomalies wandering around, some creepy places here and there, and human enemies. The map is just the right size and doesn't get boring. Yamantau is really cool, I liked plot twist there and the section was linear, short but nice. It brought the pace up after Volga which was relatively slow. After this, it honestly takes a huge nosedive with the Caspian Sea, it's a huge area filled with same-y outpost and a not-that-interesting plot, feels like filler. Doesn't help that the creepyness that's so cool about these games is totally gone. Feels more like you're in Fallout or Mad Max. This is where i lost interest and sorta had to force myself to finish it. Taiga is a bit better, the mountain setting is more interesting and the map doesn't feel as huge as Caspian Sea, but by this point the gameplay starts to get boring, since it's basically even more of "Sneak through these outposts or kill people and proceed to the objective". In the other Metro games this worked because after sections like this the story always pushed forward, while in this game there's almost no story other than the "We need to reach the promised land" and "Anna realizes she's going to die after three months of coughing". Dead City is, well, how the whole game should've been. It's linear, it's scripted as hell and you almost don't need weapons, but it's way more interesting than anything i've seen before. The creepyness is back full force with flesh walls, giant leeches, heavily irradiated zones, ghosts and all the stuff that defines this kind of games. When it starts to pick up, the game ends. The ending isn't bad but really, it feels like this game could've been so much more. Imagine if all the areas were semi open as they are, but with Dead City's creepyness and atmosphere, that feeling of "You shouldn't be here" that crawls on your back as you explore those abandoned buildings.
And then there's me... going back and playing Redux with my 1080 ti only to discover it crashes endlessly due to lack of much recent support, far as I can tell.
These might help you out. https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Metro_2033_Redux#Game_crashing https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Metro:_Last_Light_Redux#Crashes_at_Undercity_chapter I assume you're playing 2033 Redux, but I thought the Last Light link might help if you're on that.
Thanks, but neither of those does it for me. I'm crashing at seemingly random points during gameplay with no clear reason. Good temps, good framerate. But I look at the guy selling knives in Riva Station? Freeze, crash to desktop... and the graphic driver reports it stopped and rebooted. Turned off physx, toned the graphics down... nothing. And from what the rest of the Internet is telling me, it's happening to 1080 ti's all over and nobody knows how to fix it. No issues with other games, so it's not the card.
And to my ire and confirmation, Last Light (original, not redux) works perfectly without a single hitch. Seriously, what the hell.
Wait whaaaaaaaaaaaa Just finished my Last Light playthrough. Opted this time to just go about killing things for the most part, not caring about the ending. But then Little Dark One had his levels and I slipped back into old habits and played pacifist till the very end. And I got the good ending! Whoa, seriously?! I remember having to bust my ass on my second run to kill almost nothing in the game, but I just acted like an angel from the moment the kid started talking to me and apparently that was good enough. I mean, that's FAIR in terms of game design, giving you ample cues that your morality is finally being scrutinized, and not punishing you for doing what came naturally prior to this. I mean, that's the idea, right? You're human, mankind is fucked, and Artyom recognizes the weight of his mistakes and makes a change to redeem himself and his kind. I mean, honestly that's nicer and more forgiving than say, Undertale, which doesn't give you ANY take-backsies after only one kill even if it doesn't outright call you a monster for it, so you'd either have to have prior knowledge of the game's morality system or else be the kind of cautious player who does optimally moral/stealth runs on his first run just to get it right the first time. I'm gonna look up to see what the TRUE good ending requirements were, because the guide I followed years ago was WAY off.
All that matters is how you act when you're with the Dark One, whether you do generally good/bad things (like saving a woman from being executed by bandits or robbing bullets), and the moral choices like how you deal with Pavel or whether you kill or save the bear.
Yeah, like I said, that's very fair. ...But it would also have been narratively defensible if it worked retroactively, since the Dark Ones are mind readers and all. Also, got enough of a fix to jump right into Exodus, because I'm not waiting a YEAR for it to hit Steam, and— Well holy crap, a newly released game, with random discount for $35?? Hell YES! And I was totally about to drop the usual 60... ...Okay, Epic Games, you get a provisional pass... don't make me regret this.
Ehhhh... Metro Exodus... I'm not very far in, but I don't know man... I guess my first question is, does any of this story track with the books? That all along, secretly there was a radio jammer kept up by a delusionally paranoid remnant of the old Russian government, thinking the war with the US was still on? That's an AWFUL lot to swallow. I could believe there were things beyond the Metro that they just didn't have the means to reach or contact before, but this conspiracy shit, making the desperation of the past games effectively artificial? Marks for the game looking faithfully consistent while breathtakingly improved. I thought Last Light still looked incredible, but this game has upped the standards higher still. Sound design is tops as always. Wading into the open world stuff, this is where I get really iffy with the mechanics. I'm not a fan of how many single-click things all require "hold 'E' to confirm," right down to opening crates and boxes to find loot. Things that before were a snap to do before, particularly picking up journals or whatever. The moral choice system is back, almost sadly, so it's back to more punching dudes in the dark. Far as I can tell though, we've learned NOTHING from Little Dark One's lessons regarding the beasts of the surface wastes, because for monsters it's just a killing spree. ...A killing spree, admittedly, with no incentive to it. I know this is consistent with the previous games, but enemies drop nothing and it's actually better just to avoid them unless you're given no other choice, unless the monsters are guarding a place full of loot. It's frustrating, because I've been put right into the Fallout Mindset, where fighting big and powerful beasts is rewarding in numerous ways. And even if they drop NOTHING, there's still experience towards leveling, and Metro is all about gear and resource management. To my knowledge, the military grade rounds monetary system is entirely out, and I don't understand why. There's already been talk of traders in the game, and finding bullets was always a major incentive to loot and explore. NOW everything seems entirely crafting based. I like how we finally accepted the logic that you SHOULD be able to strip enemy weapons of their attachments... but I don't feel the tradeoff was worth it. Thus far, I've only encountered scrap as a reward in its liquid and solid forms, used for everything from filters to medkits and grenades and rounds. And I get the feeling that's as deep as the crafting system goes. For shit sake, I think Tomb Raider's crafting mechanics were more involved than that. Also the weapons degrade now, which is something the game didn't warn me was a thing until I randomly found it at a workbench. Sure it's called weapon cleaning, and you use liquid scrap to keep it in shape, but call it what it is, this is a degradation system not unlike older Fallout titles, but we're just calling it something else. I guess visually I like it, providing a visible reward for keeping vigilant of it. But so far looting and exploration has just been really unrewarding. Sometimes you find a neat new weapon, or mods for an existing weapon, but presently I have the starting silenced pistol, the AK and the Tikhar. Say I found this new vertical double barrel gun, so I scroll to the Tikhar, because I don't care about it and try to swap. ...And it sets my AK on the floor. ...No, I want to ditch the TIKHAR for the shotgun. I want a pistol, rifle and shotgun. Game says no. ...OKAY, so there's ANOTHER point to the old games and a point deducted from this one. In the past games, I could have had three of the same weapon if I'd felt like it. It's stupid, but it's MY CHOICE. Why for the shotgun do I need to drop my next best weapon for open combat? That and so much of the level design leads to locations and dead ends with nothing in them. Places that feel like logical points to drip-reward a player for checking every nook and cranny, but offer nothing but monsters to aggro and waste your ammo on. And so far the monsters have been so nill in variety it's sad. The current area has featured shrimp in the water, a giant boss catfish I'm sure I'll have to kill at some point in the story, bigger shrimp that chase you on land, the crazily redesigned Watchmen, and ghouls. Just ghouls. Because every post apocalyptic game needs a generic zombie in it. That sure does add dignity to this series... Seriously, when does this game get good? DOES this game get good?
I'm pretty sure that the video games follow a different cannon from the books and vice versa. As the games are only based on the books and are not direct adaptations.
You can't drop the Tikhar, as you'll find out i'll become your backup weapon for when you're out of ammo (And if you upgrade it it becomes a viable main weapon). The Moral choice system isn't as bad as before, there are just a couple of missions where you have to avoid killing (And usually people just straight tell you not to kill so you'll know it). Even if you make a bad moral choice, you haven't completed ruined your run. Let's say, out of 5 choices, 3 have to be good in order to get the good ending. The rest, well, yeah the level design is not that great (Kinda feels like a really shallow version of Stalker Call Of Pripyat sometimes) and when the story starts getting good the game basically ends, to sum it up, but if you have enjoyed the previous game you will enjoy this one, it'll just feel a bit of a hollow experience.
iirc the reason why the Moscow levels are kind of clipped is because they're basically summing up the entire plot of 2035, which follows Artyom uncovering the conspiracy Miller talks about and ends where the Moscow chapter does, with Artyom and Anna leaving the city. the canons are still separate but Exodus nonetheless assumes you've read 2035 for the conspiracy to make sense, which is really bizarre. also you can basically kill anyone you like, it'll be pretty clear when you shouldn't. bandits and slavers are always fair game for example.
Ah, good to know. Yeah, I found out pretty quickly after I posted that the Tikhar is meant to be your "for when everything else is empty/dedicated stealth weapon," primarily because it alone can have ammo made for it cheaply without a workbench. Yeah... I guess that makes sense, but I'd still rather have three real weapons slots of my choosing rather than the devs throwing me this life preserver at the expense of my loadout. I'm actually really surprised that the conspiracy thing is more or less for real, but admittedly the Metro can only keep a story going so long without expanding.
They can do so much more with the Metro concept, especially if you consider "spin off" books canon: https://metrovideogame.fandom.com/wiki/Universe_of_Metro_2033_(Book_Series)
I assumed that the book follows a very similar plot to the game, although they changed a lot. I'm about halfway through reading the book on and off and the conspiracy hasn't been uncovered yet. I presume that it ends with the conspiracy being uncovered, with the game deciding to start on that note.
Finally finished this weekend, the Novosibirsk level was probably the highlight of the game. Wish it was that good all the way through.
Metro's getting DLC following the adult Khlebnikov and Miller retracing his steps a year later, and of Sam trying to make his way back to the US through Vladivostok. https://www.metrothegame.com/news/dlc-roadmap/ I actually have a good reason to wait for the game in 2020 on Steam, the DLC seems like it might be good.
Alright, so things have gotten better... Weapon variety and upgrades have largely improved. The Yamantau section was a good no-frills excuse to shoot some goddamn guns after all the stealthy pacifism. I like the Caspian better as an environment just for the sake of variety, though the game took its sweet time giving me access to a workbench to clean my guns. The metal detector was cool until it stopped working, which I assume is a glitch. As much as I like that the ghouls at least have unique behaviors, in particular hiding and blending in seamlessly with the environment to ambush you, I was starting to wonder if I might get dinged for killing them since it might just be an "I Am Legend" scenario... but I doubt it by now. And still... aside from the mole rat things that live in burrows, I'm disappointed at how little enemy variety there is, even compared to previous games. The tunnel spiders make a return, largely the same as the last game, Demons became batlike and received a HUGE nerf to both their imposing size and menace, despite the noble effort to try making it more obvious what they mutated from. They give you a car to travel around in... and this isn't necessarily the GAME'S fault, but I ditched that thing the first chance I got. First person driving, limiting your movement and view, and inside a few hundred yards I managed to drive its front wheels into a sharp ditch and the game gave me no means of freeing it from that situation. Yes, I tried grenades. Screw it, I prefer walking in games like these anyway. One feature I really like about the human enemies is that they possess a morale check system. Stealth around until there's only one guy left, and even if you reveal yourself, he'll be smart enough to recognize you just took out his buddies and immediately surrender. ...Upon which I crack him in the jaw regardless, because I'm not an idiot. Either way, it's a simple human touch that makes sense. And on that topic, I love how holstering your weapon actually can help things, since some would-be enemies will be calmed that way and have a chat with you. Making that a mechanic and not just a roleplaying feature is very welcome. This game has nothing on Fallout in this regard, but I like the potential for organic gameplay at moments. While exploring I accidentally triggered the sniper in the crane, so Anna starts a firefight. While I sidle up to stealth the best I still can, I use her distraction on the big spotlight I'm ASSUMING the sniper is using. Pull out the high caliber rifle (that makes a sound like GOD is firing at you) with only a reflex sight from hundreds of yards off, aim steady, and I NAIL that spotlight. Fuck yeah! Probably didn't do anything, but it was like I'd created my own sub-objective.
Alright, so, finally finished the game. Still SLIGHTLY disappointed by the lack of variety in enemies, but that got better later and... I should've been a bit careful what I wished for. I think it's really telling that once we hit Novosibirsk that Metro really IS best suited to a more linear experience, because it takes us RIGHT back to the tunnel-diving thrill ride it's famous for without skipping a beat, like a fish to fucking water. You REALLY have to hand it to these devs when they managed to be successful with not just a game, but a FRANCHISE predicated on the strengths and merits of the sewer level. This is where we finally see the Nosalises, which I'd feared by now were just excluded from this game. They go unnamed, but they move the same, they sound the same, in spite of looking far more... cuddly than usual? As I mentioned before, it's largely because they decided to make it more apparent what creatures mutated from what... in this case, moles, which makes sense kinda. I'm unsure if this new direction was smart or not. In the older games they had more apparently cast off all but the barest hints of what the creatures once were. Dull-colored, haggard, and undoubtedly monstrous, and that was the point. The story wanted you to see these less as ANIMALS but as MONSTERS in order to accentuate the dread and natural human prejudices. Then in Last Light, since the designs kept to this theme, it was interesting when the young Dark One colored them with emotions and motives, like hunger or fear, and showed you several creatures more worried about YOU backing off who otherwise weren't out to attack for its own sake. I guess it's not made strictly important in THIS game, until the end, but we'll get to that. I laughed my ASS off in the room with the collapsing moldy floorboards as I hid from the endlessly respawning nosalises, and they kept falling through just to hop back up to the next and pratfall the exact same way. I don't know it that was MEANT to be funny, but it sure got ME rolling. ...Until I realized the idea of the whole thing was to DISTRACT them to the far end of the room while I engaged the mechanism for the exit... learned THAT the less funny hard way. Actually, this bit kinda bugs me, because throughout the series you can stealth past Nosalises pretty handily (y'know, if the game decides you can). MY problem with that is... they're LITERALLY named after their huge noses, and if they mutated from moles it makes all the less sense that they only use their EYES. I'd understand it narratively if THEY were the one creature you couldn't effectively hide from because they could sniff you out better than see you. Maybe even present a mechanic to mask your scent? And then... the single worst section in any Metro game EVER MADE... The fucking WORMS Oh my GOD this section was so overdone and unfairly designed, unless I was missing something crucial or something! The environment is utterly disgusting, just overflowing with filth, and these little fuckers are all OVER the tunnel leading to the larger room sniping you with their acid cum, which can kill you in short order. So what do I do? I have to agonizingly waste (cheap, but still) ammo sniping every one of the bastards, punting slightly closer to get a better look, and keep going until I can finally press forward. THAT IS SHITTY, UNFAIR, UN-FUN, UNPLEASANT, and we're just STARTING! My night vision has already been bothering me constantly, but oh look, the larger room requires my mask on! Yay, even more meters for me to babysit while I tackle these invertebrate hellions! And more AGAIN when they break my mask seal! Luckily the big ones don't take THAT much to kill, but they're still a nuisance, and EVERY PLACE YOU HIDE THERE ARE MORE OF THOSE LITTLE ONES SHOOTING AT YOU. I even found one I had to basically melee-clip through the collisions to kill because it was guarded by the subway car I was in. It could sure shoot ME though. I even found one near the start that could snipe me BACKWARDS through the wall it was mounted upon outside the room. WTF is playtesting, you fucks?! The buildup to Novosibirsk was filled with all kinds of dread, the talk of off the charts radiation, and a dead city that eerily seemed to have been hit by a neutron dirty bomb than something designed for outright destruction. Then once we got inside, it felt almost PLEASANT. THIS shit with the worms is more what it FELT like we'd been promised as this miserable slog through the bowels of a glowing green irradiated carcass... in a BAD way. There was even a mandatory crawl you had to make which set you RIGHT in front of a wall of little sniper worms which you CAN'T see or do anything about before entering. FUCK... YOU. Then we finally get outside, and... almost everything from here on out is aces. You can hear the Dark Ones —could be from Moscow, could be local breed, sadly we never meet them— asking about you from the shadows, and ultimately guiding you and cheering you on in their own creepy way, narrating the Librarians' thoughts. Haha... the Librarians. Boy, they sure punish you for relying on prior knowledge here, don't they? Soon as I get up from the initial attack, I holster my gun and stare him down... which seems to work. He approaches me, which, again, I stand firm against... only to be grabbed and one-shotted, while thankfully being reminded by my impending close-up that THESE Librarians have no eyes. Okay... so noise-free stealthing mode. Got it. It really is great to hear the Dark Ones encouragement, saying things like, "Yes...! Yes...!" or "This way...!" which isn't even all that much, but historically it's cool to be interacting this way as proof of how much has really changed since the first game. It sounds like the far more positive version of the chanting at the climax of 2033 which repeated threatening things like "He is coming to destroy us...!" Then the ending comes, as endings do. I feel bad that I don't feel worse for Miller... but I never liked to voice actor, and all I remember is how jarring Last Light was when they changed it from the younger sounding actor in 2033. He always came off extremely fake to me, so as a character his scenes never really clicked. Far from the comrade in arms who took D6 with us in the first game, he becomes this old, comically gruff angry old fart who always blares the same damn note. His apologies aside, if there ever ARE further games in this series (really doubtful) he won't be missed by me. All the same, as a first effort at open world gameplay, the devs could have done a lot worse than this. It's well enough made, if a bit bland in places. It's all still gorgeous, well written and with exceptions it runs perfectly well on my hardware. I might have to consider it non canon for the sake of playing through the older games, but I AM glad I played it.
The part with the worms was legit the best part of the game IMO. Yeah it required you to use your gas mask constantly and your night vision, and you had to keep an eye in every direction to take out the worms quickly, but the entire point was to emphasise how far Artyom was willing to go for Anna, he's walking through an almost literal hell on the off chance he can find some medicine for her. As for the creatures, I'm pretty sure the nosalises in Novosibirsk are different to the ones in Moscow, Miller even comments on it. The Blind Ones aren't Librarians at all, in fact the introduction highlights that they're blind and very aggressive to any noise. I thought that part was great too, the creatures in Novosibirsk are similar to those in Moscow but also different. Also I've seen a lot of people call Exodus an open world game, but only Volga and the Caspian Sea are actually open. Moscow, Yamantau, and Novosibirsk are all strictly linear, and Taiga is a linear level with a couple of slightly open parts.
Throw knives at the worms, that way you don't need to waste ammo
From what I understand, the Blind Ones can talk telepathically, which is why you can hear their thoughts, you can hear them say stuff like "I know you're there!", "Stop hiding!", so it's not the Dark Ones encouraging you (You can see a Dark One on the roof of that building before entering it though)
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