Author Topic: BtA: Mefistofele V1.1 [Release]  (Read 29516 times)

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Offline Slasher

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
Those thrusters were meant for breaking things!* 

Alpha 2 had Hornets because the AI seemed less effective with dumbfires.  Stuck with Furies, the player will at least be able to use secondaries even when weapons lock is impossible. 

*not really  :o

 

Offline Luis Dias

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
Well I finally finished the demo, having it installed some 4 months ago or something like that.

I think it was just too over the top in quality sake. Plagiarizing NG right now:

Spoiler:
The Good:

Almost everything. From the menu you can tell it's top notch quality when little details like the flashing animations that substitute the standard fixed menu backgrounds, or the surround sound when mouseovering the menu items. The aesthetic style of choosing one pallete of colors which favors the beiges, browns and yellows over everything else and sticking to it gives it a very singular thematic that is not only beautiful but also easy to remember. For me, BtA will always be that "yellowish mod from Freespace2", and that's a good thing that not many mods have done in the past (Vassago Dirge with its greyish backgrounds and its classical music for instance).

The heavy scripting of events and novelties (such as the hilariously easy to **** up "watch the freighters but don't scare them"), the usage of new good models and the new shaders (invisibility and so on) makes it clear the campaigns will be of top notch technical quality. And they are put to good use. Watching the freighters was fun, kamikaziying the drones was hilarious, time-bombing the fighters fell pretty good.

The missions have good pacing. Where I found pretty hard to follow the events in Vassago Dirge, for instance, I found it easy to do in here, understand what is going on and quickly decide what to do about it. The first mission seems pretty straightforward, and the events themselves follow realistically. The second mission is gargantuan, not only in size, but also in contextual scope, which hints to the kind of lens we will be enjoying in the full campaign. I like the fact there are dozens of ships in the asteroid belt (ashes belt?) each doing their thing as in a living universe of its own, designed as if we are crossing some kind of post-apocalyptic junkyard with its own anarchy, mafias and all sorts of dangers. The mission properly gave me the correct hints on how should I pace each moment and the story flowed pretty well.

The Bad:

It's a small hitch of mine, not anything major. The second mission felt somewhat like a deus ex machina at the end. I felt a little betrayed in the story, "right how convenient the package was unharmed", but I also understood this most probably happens for ulterior reasons. The plot point felt a little cheap however.

The Ugly:

The briefing and dialogue are still uneven in their quality. Sometimes, the one-liners are pitch perfect, sometimes they feel artificial. The briefing of mission 1 was annoyingly confusing and big, I had to click the back button a few times so I could be sure I understood everything that was supposed to happen in that mission. I understand the difficulty of briefing someone every detail of a somewhat complex hit job, but keep in mind that that briefing was the exact first thing I experienced in your campaign. And the kind of dialogue / briefing never got me into a suspension of disbelief. Who are these guys? Why am I a smuggler, and why should I care? I feel forcing myself to do all those things on my own, when it should be the campaign doing it.

I know this is a hard thing to do, and perhaps I'm being overly critical. Thinking back, I know I am. But if I am, it's only because the quality of the remainder tricked me into raising my expectations perhaps too high in every direction. And that in itself is comendable. This is a mod I'll be eagerly waiting for!


e: Oh I forgot. I'm still not sold in so much ambient lighting. The heavy ambient lighting gives it a dream quality, which combined with the chosen pallete almost feels like we are playing a Sepia instagramed game, which in itself might be good on its own. However, I'll always be a fan of low ambient light, what can I say.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2012, 09:20:36 am by Luis Dias »

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
Thanks for the feedback. I've heard from a few people about the dialog pacing, especially for non-native English speakers. I'm paying special attention to that for the campaign release.
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Offline General Battuta

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
I just downloaded the **** out of this

 
Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
Great demo. Looking forward to the full version :)

You should be happy to know that the checkpoint system mostly works on OS X. By mostly, I mean:
Spoiler:
In mission 2, say the Mako is at 50% after the first jump-out when the checkpoint triggers. Assume it takes damage from the fighters later in the mission and gets to, say, 32%. If you die after this and restart at the checkpoint, the Mako will spawn with 32% hull integrity instead of 50% like it should. This is cumulative, as well - so if it gets blasted down to 21% or 8% later and you die again, it'll start with the lower value every time you continue. I'm running the 3.7.0 RC2 build (if it matters).

Also, if I play at a resolution greater than 1600x1000, I don't get a HUD. Reducing the resolution to any 4:3 resolution or decreasing to 1600x1000 will get me a HUD, but then my view is pixellated. I'd like to be able to run at full resolution (2560x1600 in my case).

In any case, great job - I'll be patiently awaiting the full version!

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I'm also glad to hear checkpoints work on Mac. I've also got confirmation for Linux, so I no longer need to worry about that. :)

The bug you reported is interesting and I'm almost certain that it's not related to the actual checkpoint system but to player persistent variables. I'll look into it.
The HUD issues are easy and I think we already fixed them for the final release.
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Offline Hellzed

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
Mission 2 stalled each time after the Mako tried to recover its cargo (right after killing the bombers in the gas explosions). Waypoint timer says 00:02 seconds remaining, no dialogue, ships stop moving.
To resume the mission, I discovered that firing a few shots at the cargo, or colliding with it, works around the issue.
Is this a known issue ?

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
No, I have not seen that issue. I'll look into it, but a debug log would be handy.
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Offline neoterran

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
Yeah I have no hud either :(
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Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
What resolution are you playing on?

EDIT: Place this in 'BtA_Demo\data\tables' and see if it works. I've no idea what the HUD will look like, though. The demo was built in the middle of the HUD upgrades and I don't remember how I set it up originally.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 08:27:38 pm by mjn.mixael »
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Offline neoterran

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
I was playing at 1920 x 1200.

I will try, thanks !

*edit* yeah, I put it in there, but the HUD is completely missing, which makes it impossible to play.

Too bad, because it looks like one of the nicer and cooler looking campaigns !

I am using 3.7.2 RC1 and Mediavps 2014... no other problems.

I will try playing in a lower resolution. Hope it can be solved !

*edit2* Hud works at 1680 x 1050 and below. Will just play on those resolutions for this mod.

Looks fun :)
« Last Edit: May 11, 2014, 12:23:54 am by neoterran »
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Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: BtA: Mefistofele [Release]
I might as well patch it with a new hud set... if you want to wait a day or 2 until you play it, I'll make a patch and upload it.
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