Wolfenstein: The New Order

[Echo Black]

This looks much worse than Raven Wolf (which ended up being OK) to me. Perks and HUD clutter popping up to highlight your new unlocks. Dated graphics. QTE takedowns. Linear levels with "cinematic" intermissions all the time. Tinny-sounding guns and bland action. It is like a collage of creative bankruptcy and uninspired, half-baked ideas.

[Damien_Azreal]

Then don't play it. Simple.

Only the opening of the game is strictly linear, other sections of the game will feature a HUD style level design similar to what Wolf 2009 had.
Graphics look good, solid art design. Running on idTech5 and I like how it looks. It looks like Wolf in the RAGE engine.

But, my point remains. It sounds almost exactly like how people were talking about Wolf 2009 before it came out. "Dated graphics, it's linear, combat looks like crap..." on and on.

My copy is pre-ordered and it's the only game coming out this year I'm excited for.

[Rapture_Rising]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

My copy is pre-ordered and it's the only game coming out this year I'm excited for.

Same although the only other game i am excited for is Watch Dogs and it comes out a week later. :rollyeyes:

I pre-ordered on Green Man Gaming but they still haven't sent the codes out yet, i guess it's because of the Doom Beta codes but i hope they send them out so i can pre-load the game before release.

[Damien_Azreal]

Have no interest in Watch Dogs.
I did when it was first announced, but now... meh. Nothing about it looks interesting.


Other then Wolf...
Alien: Isolation, but I'm expecting it to get delayed. The Evil Within, I'm not sure how great it will be... but I'm still gonna get it.
Dying Light... hard to get excited when there's no idea of when it's coming out.

[Morbid]

akimbo guns... mech.... consolish animations.... hipster music.... no ******* way. This is no Wolfenstein its FEAR 2: Re-reborn

[crunchy superman]

I don't think the visuals look that bad at all, it's everything else that turns me off.

cutscene / handholding / cutscene / handholding / ad infinitum. (Like most everything else these days)

Such is why I rarely game any more.

[Nihilanth]

I've watched the second stream, it'll probably be uploaded soon. I think I've already complained enough about it, pre-release, and didn't want to make another post like that... guess you already know what's coming.

The first 15 or so minutes were so horrible, I literally had to force myself to continue. Facial expressions are so deep in the uncanny valley that I can't believe they made it into the final game. The most cliche and out-dated story-telling and progression mechanics plague every step of the way - disconnected cutscenes, waiting for the player to 'press a button', etc... it never ends. Everything wrong with games put together.

Also, I know the game is not supposed to be realistic, I get it. When BJ reacts at the last moment, gets out of his coma and kills a soldier... I can buy it. That's 'action movie' style but totally acceptable. But when 30sec later he is sliding into cover, throwing knives and pulling triggers like crazy after 14 years long coma, that's bullshit. No part of me can buy that, even within this semi serious universe. 'Legs are like jelly, fingers are numb', a couple of visual effects... done. People will buy that! If at least that one level was all about barely avoiding enemies, limping from cover to cover... but no. Too much logic hurts, I suppose.
______________________

The good news is that once it stops playing the "watch the cutscene / push a button / see how nothing makes sense" game and focuses on combat... it actually looks pretty good. I really had a lot of fun watching this next segment. Shooting looks promising, as does the sound design. Simple, but fairly competent level design, along with cool secrets. Destructibility, art style. And it's just the beginning of the game so that's not bad. When Wolf is 'a shooter', I want to play it, I really do.

So that's the hope - that shooting will actually feel good. Because that's the only thing that can still save the day.

[Echo Black]

Part 2

More than half of the video is plot bits. I hope you can skip all this nonsense in the final release

Originally Posted by Nihilanth

Also, I know the game is not supposed to be realistic, I get it. When BJ reacts at the last moment, gets out of his coma and kills a soldier... I can buy it. That's 'action movie' style but totally acceptable. But when 30sec later he is sliding into cover, throwing knives and pulling triggers like crazy after 14 years long coma, that's bullshit. No part of me can buy that, even within this semi serious universe.

I was more weirded out by the fact he's somehow maintained his Mr. Olympia-tier muscle mass throughout the entirety of the coma

[Morbid]

Originally Posted by Echo Black

Part 2

More than half of the video is plot bits. I hope you can skip all this nonsense in the final release

OMFG so many cutscenes and "interactive" cutscenes (press "X" occasionally so that... the cutscene continues playing), so much bullshit... Didn't manage to watch it 'til the end, I fell asleep.

[john_doe2]

Originally Posted by Echo Black

I was more weirded out by the fact he's somehow maintained his Mr. Olympia-tier muscle mass throughout the entirety of the coma

Yeah, when I saw the cutscene when Anya was bathing him, I was like "Dang, how did keep himself so huge?"

[Damien_Azreal]

Well... I'm gonna go with... it's a video game. Seriously, it's Wolfenstein... there's only gonna be so much realism.

And, there are people in the world that are naturally built like that. Without exercising or anything.

[Bam050196]

Originally Posted by Echo Black

Part 2

More than half of the video is plot bits. I hope you can skip all this nonsense in the final release



I was more weirded out by the fact he's somehow maintained his Mr. Olympia-tier muscle mass throughout the entirety of the coma

Well, Wolfenstein is not known for it's logic :P

Anyways, I'm still excited for this game.

[Echo Black]

More gameplay

[Nihilanth]

As long as it sticks to the gameplay, it looks decent, in my opinion. Seems like a fun combat experience.

[Damien_Azreal]

Replaying Return to Castle Wolfenstein right now. Then, I'll jump into Wolfenstein... be all up and fresh when The New Order comes out.

The gameplay in that video looks so damn wonderfully awesome.

[X-Vector]

Nice to see MachineGames are apparently allowing players to turn off the HUD, but I wonder how Blazkowicz is able to shoot people in the head with a pistol at a considerable distance without using iron sights or a reticle to aim.

That dual wielding mode is rubbish BTW, just takes away the feeling of power of the individual heavy weapons.

[Nihilanth]

Sys Reqs

64-bit Windows 7/Windows 8
Intel Core i7 or equivalent AMD
4 GB System RAM
50 GB free HDD space
GeForce 460, ATI Radeon HD 6850
High Speed Internet Connection
Steam account and activation required

Holy shit. According to the site "The system requirements are based on the game being a next-gen experience running at 60fps. These are the system requirements to deliver the PC game as it was intended to be experienced." Sounds like 'recommended' reqs but then why not give the minimum ones? Probably because there are none. id Tech 5 doesn't have graphical options at all so these are the only reqs they can give. Wow. I'm falling short on both CPU and card. :/

[Rapture_Rising]

Originally Posted by Nihilanth

Sys Reqs

64-bit Windows 7/Windows 8
Intel Core i7 or equivalent AMD
4 GB System RAM
50 GB free HDD space
GeForce 460, ATI Radeon HD 6850
High Speed Internet Connection
Steam account and activation required

Holy shit. According to the site "The system requirements are based on the game being a next-gen experience running at 60fps. These are the system requirements to deliver the PC game as it was intended to be experienced." Sounds like 'recommended' reqs but then why not give the minimum ones? Probably because there are none. id Tech 5 doesn't have graphical options at all so these are the only reqs they can give. Wow. I'm falling short on both CPU and card. :/

I wish they would be a bit more specific with their requirements, there are lots of processors that fall into the i7 range, i have a 3.4GHz 2600k i7 processor in my gaming rig (it's old but still does the trick) and a 2.0GHz 3537U i7 processor in my laptop.

It least it doesn't require an 8 core processor like Watch Dogs.

[Morbid]

^^
It's for Ex-box 360 and P.S. 3 also, so I wouldn't worry...

[Damien_Azreal]

The requirements listed are to run the game at max settings at 60FPS.
Bethesda stated on their forums that those are the specs to run the game as it's intended to be run.

I'm not overly worried.
With the ram and GPU requirements, the listing of an i7 doesn't bother me much. idTech5 scales wonderfully across a wide variety of CPUs. The more cores and the faster, obviously the better... but, a slower model with less cores will just scale down the texture detail.
Also, those specs are probably to run the game at 1080p with AA cranked up.
While RAGE lacked a selection of graphical options, chances are Wolf will have more options so people can tweak the game to get a good balance of visual/performance.

Also, it's funny how people read i7 CPU and instantly jump to the thought that it'll require the newest, fastest model.
I'd bet it's listing a base i7 as the recommended CPU. Not the newest one, but a standard 3.0ghz quad core one.
I've got a 3.4 quad core AMD... so I'm sure I'll have a very nice experience with the game.

Come on May 20th.

[ZuljinRaynor]

Desktop i7s are physical 4 cores but are logical 8 cores because of Hyper-threading.

[Kristian Joensen]

Originally Posted by Morbid

^^
It's for Ex-box 360 and P.S. 3 also, so I wouldn't worry...

Well if the PC gets the Xbox One/PS4 version(maybe even with some PC enhancements) and there are important cross-generational differences this may not help much.

[Echo Black]

Launch trailer

The console versions have, as usual, already leaked. Streams are up and whatnot. I'm not gonna spoil anything I've seen but I'm having a STRONG feeling this game will be a massive ******* dud

---------- Post added at 01:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:35 AM ----------

Maybe I'll just leave this:
Small peek at how bad the AI is

[Nihilanth]

Hm, I wonder if that's why it'll have a 5/7gig day one patch on consoles.

[Damien_Azreal]

Originally Posted by Echo Black

Maybe I'll just leave this:
Small peek at how bad the AI is

It's already been pointed out that that footage was captured on the easiest difficulty setting.
Watch any of the streams that have been done by places like GameTrailers... the enemies are very quick to attack.

Wolf will be fecking awesome.
I believe that because the footage looks awesome. People I know that have had hands on time with it... love it. And TotalBiscuit... didn't like it. And... he's a douche...

[Echo Black]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

It's already been pointed out that that footage was captured on the easiest difficulty setting.

I've watched about half of a full stream on Über and today some gameplay on Easy of the 2nd route and you're wrong, it is that bad. For what it's worth, I could notice difficulty changes affect damage output and enemy accuracy and that's it. Stealth remains odd, pathfinding remains bad. In "larger-scale" battles, enemies would often follow the player up to doorways but not come in due to poor pathfinding, and then the guy playing would just peek and fire at stuck enemies. The game has several issues like this, and I'm pretty sure the day one patch is meant to in part address some of these.

The game is RUSHED in several ways, and about halfway through it's really noticeable how unfinished and half-baked it is. The much-touted plot rushes to conclusion and set pieces become laughable in their banality. I can't give examples without spoiling stuff, but I'm pretty sure this game will go down as the worst Wolfenstein ever. It should be utterly (and justifiably) stomped
by reviewers.

[ZuljinRaynor]

Still will be better than Rise of the Triad (2013). lol

[Damien_Azreal]

Originally Posted by Echo Black

I've watched about half of a full stream on Über and today some gameplay on Easy of the 2nd route and you're wrong, it is that bad. For what it's worth, I could notice difficulty changes affect damage output and enemy accuracy and that's it. Stealth remains odd, pathfinding remains bad. In "larger-scale" battles, enemies would often follow the player up to doorways but not come in due to poor pathfinding, and then the guy playing would just peek and fire at stuck enemies. The game has several issues like this, and I'm pretty sure the day one patch is meant to in part address some of these.

The game is RUSHED in several ways, and about halfway through it's really noticeable how unfinished and half-baked it is. The much-touted plot rushes to conclusion and set pieces become laughable in their banality. I can't give examples without spoiling stuff, but I'm pretty sure this game will go down as the worst Wolfenstein ever. It should be utterly (and justifiably) stomped
by reviewers.

Well then, we just wasted our money and we'll just have to live with that.

OR... you could be completely wrong, and we'll love the game and find it to be one of the best shooters in a long time.

Guess I'll just have to play it for myself and make up my own damn mind.

[Echo Black]

In the wake of the embargo lifting and this game bombing (and me feeling like a smartass for calling it) here's a funny (and very true) image that's going around:

[ZuljinRaynor]

It would be clever, had it not already been done with Zone of the Enders and the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo... and Zone of the Enders HD with the Metal Gear Rising demo. lol

[Damien_Azreal]

Zulie, people did the same thing with Borderlands GOTY Edition and access to the DNF demo.

Echo Black, Seems you have some magical view into the future or something... as I can't find a single review anywhere.


EDIT: Specially since Bethesda just stated on their forums that the embargo lifts first thing Tuesday on the 20th.

[Echo Black]

I wanted to refer to the fact the lift is imminent, not that it had already happened. Guess I shouldn't have used "in the wake"

Also, pre-release embargoes are a telltale sign of mediocre games. If you have confidence in your product, it's far better to allow reviews to pop up before the actual release day

[Damien_Azreal]

Embargoes mean nothing to me.
Neither do "professional" reviews. I can't remember the last professional review I agreed with.
Otherwise I'd think CoD is great, RotT was a good throw back... and Singularity was meh, Thief was awful.

Sorry... but CoD is trash, RotT was trash... Singularity is beyond awesome and Thief was great.
I'll trust my judgement and that of friends with similar tastes.

[MrBlackCat]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

Zulie, people did the same thing with Borderlands GOTY Edition and access to the DNF demo.

Seems you have some magical view into the future or something... as I can't find a single review anywhere.


EDIT: Specially since Bethesda just stated on their forums that the embargo lifts first thing Tuesday on the 20th.

Well... Zulie does state she has Augmented Vision. apparently this augmentation includes future-vision.

MrBlackCat

[Echo Black]

Originally Posted by MrBlackCat

Well... Zulie does state she has Augmented Vision. apparently this augmentation includes future-vision.

MrBlackCat

It was actually me who tried to predict the future

Anyways, before the game releases, I must praise what I saw of praiseworthy:

The character models and VA are mostly excellent. They seem to use different, more hi-poly models during in-engine cutscenes, or at least it seemed that way. The facial animation varies from "videogamey" and plastic to utterly excellent, and thankfully almost all members of your hideout are of the later variety. I'm not a huge fan of a focus on plot and exposition in shooters, but I must admit there are some scenes that reach a very unique dramatic quality you don't often see. I'm pretty sure a certain scene prior to and including Spoiler:

show spoiler

BJ taking LSD and watching Not-Jimi-Hendrix play guitar while the former trips balls

will be praised by quite a bit of people. There's some other dramatic stuff in there that is a bit more daring than your usual FPS fare, as you might expect of a game about a worldwide nazi reign. There's even a Spoiler:

show spoiler

relatively explicit sex scene.

Sadly most of the polish seems to be concentrated on the first third to half of the game. It's hard to articulate just how hard it all falls apart and rushes ahead after a certain point. This game almost certainly needed another 6-8 months to reach its full potential. The gameplay could probably be classified as "good enough" regardless of that, just as Wolf 2009's could.

I feel there's a fair chance the more, erm, "social justice"-inclined review venues could score this a bit higher than it deserves precisely because it shoots for some very easy social justice brownie points (sometimes to the point of absurdity - I may expand on this after release). Then again, the exact opposite effect could be had, as these people are extremely hysterical and oversensitive about this kind of stuff. Just ask Germany.

[Echo Black]

On its 70s on Metacritic. Should stabilize at the mid-60s, which is pretty bleh for the modern reviewing scale. I'm pretty happy with the accuracy of my predictions

I said it would go down as the worst Wolfenstein, and I was right. It's presently a smidgen higher on metacritic than Wolf 2009, but will surely go down - Day one reviews are always the most positive ones, as publishers are very selective about who gets their review code.

[ZuljinRaynor]

Are you high? At the moment you are completely off base.

Upper 70s average at the moment, and even the 70s reviews are positive.

Also the worst Wolfenstein is Mission 2 and 3 for Spear of Destiny. Awful maps. Awful graphics. And bosses recycled between the two games.

[Echo Black]

^ When I posted that, it was true. It seems to have climbed a bit. 78 right now

It's actually possible it will end a bit above Wolf 2009. Oh well

I'm playing it right now, I'm about halfway through. They say it's a "20 hour campaign" but easily 50%+ of that are cutscenes. I wanted more action. I really liked Wolf 2009 much better in this regard, as there was precious little plot exposition and a "honest" 8-10h campaign, even if it was average. By the way, TNO's cutscenes are not in-engine, as I previously thought - Hence the 50GB filesize. I can also confirm the game doesn't look much (if any) better than the console versions. Thankfully, the day one patch does seem to have fixed the most egregious AI niggles

To Damien or anyone else that preordered, how do you check your Doom 4 Beta eligibility? They say it's keyless and ties to your Steam account, so there must be a way for me to confirm I got it

[Damien_Azreal]

If you pre-ordered on STEAM, you don't get a key. The Doom beta will be automatically added to your library when it's available.
Retail copies, there's a key in the case that you register at Wolfenstein: TNO's website.

[Nihilanth]

Played for ~3h. Wow. I didn't expect to be blown away but this is far worse than I thought. I'm making a list, writing down notes as I go. I'll post it in due time.

Let's talk about performance. Ok, I know my rig is outdated and I know I'm far from the recommended specs. But this game performs horribly for me. I've got everything turned down to min and it's bad. Sometimes it's REALLY bad. The cutscene at the start of the asylum? The animations were so out of sync that the sounds have finished playing halfway through the scene. I'm sorry but this game looks nowhere near good enough to justify that. I should be able to get acceptable framerate, at least on the lowest settings.
__________________________

Also, a question regarding the DOOM Beta. I went to the site, tried to redeem my code. It said I'll get an email within 5min to complete the process. It's been, I don't know, 5h since then? I got no email. And yes, I'm sure I typed the correct address.