Octopus Overlords

Gameplay video from Gamescom/Tokoyo Games Show.

With the game coming out in eight days, and with some free time on my hands through the end of October, I went ahead and pre-ordered the game through Green Man Gaming. As a VIP I got 22% off, plus another 3% using the voucher code VIP3, so I got the $59.99 standard version for $45.39 USD. That VIP3 voucher code is supposedly only good for the next 22 hours.

Well, this is a bit of a surprise. Yesterday I ordered Mafia III from Green Man Gaming and the keys arrived today. And when I plugged them into Steam, the game was available for pre-load, which I'm doing now (40.5 GB). I don't remember getting the keys so early from GMG or the pre-load being available this soon.

So, IIUC, Mafia 3 is playable tonight at 9pm PST.


Also, in case anyone wants to buy it with a discount, you can apparently buy Mafia 3 on Gamersgate for a 20% discount if you buy it using blue coins (their virtual currency that you give you some of for every purchase) and you get 5% back in blue coins. IIRC, you can buy the bluecoins, and then use those blue coins to buy the game.

Well, no impressions from me I'm afraid. We've evacuated to the west coast of Florida because of Hurricane Matthew. Our house lies about 20 miles west of Cape Canaveral in Brevard county and looks like it's going to take a direct bit tomorrow morning. So maybe if we're lucky in a week or so we might have power back. If we're not, then it's going to be sometime longer...

Stay safe!

I always figured this game's soundtrack would be good but now seeing the list of over 100 licensed songs I now know it will be AMAZING.

http://mafiagame.wikia.com/wiki/Mafia_III_Soundtrack

Wow. I got a chance to put in an hour or so, and I'm really impressed. The storytelling, the animation, the voice acting are all superb. The performance is a little bit shit, though. I've got a newish Core-I7, 16GB of RAM with a 980ti and I was getting pauses and stutters. I'm not sure why - I did have some things going in the background and I'm going to reboot before I play again tomorrow. Hopefully that improves matters, because I can see really getting sucked into the storyline on this game.

I got a little less time with it because my kids came downstairs... this is not a game to play in front of young kids, which is going to limit my play time unfortunately. It also crashed to desktop at the end of a cut scene... good timing anyway. I hope my save is still there.

gbasden wrote:Wow. I got a chance to put in an hour or so, and I'm really impressed. The storytelling, the animation, the voice acting are all superb. The performance is a little bit shit, though. I've got a newish Core-I7, 16GB of RAM with a 980ti and I was getting pauses and stutters. I'm not sure why - I did have some things going in the background and I'm going to reboot before I play again tomorrow. Hopefully that improves matters, because I can see really getting sucked into the storyline on this game.

Yeah, I put an hour in, and the storytelling and voice acting are great. Performance was pretty poor the first time I started it, but then I turned everything down and it's fine now. I don't know if it wow's me quite like the second Mafia, but that might be because my expectations are higher than they were for that.

So far it is kind of linear, but I hope it opens up some.

Also, it saves at checkpoints, AFAICT, though if the saving icon is anything to go by, it saves frequently.

Apparently the PC version is locked at 30 FPS. Developers have already announced a future optimization patch. Heaven forbid a game be released complete these days. To the bargain bin with this one for me...

JCC wrote:Apparently the PC version is locked at 30 FPS. Developers have already announced a future optimization patch. Heaven forbid a game be released complete these days. To the bargain bin with this one for me...

Yeah, it's not a good thing but it isn't a deal-breaker for me. The patch to address the locked fps is supposedly in testing and is due to be released on the weekend. In terms of negative first impressions, I'm much more annoyed that the game hijacks my Logitech keyboard/mouse backlighting to provide pointless effects during particular game modes (combat, driving, etc) and turns it completely off (including the LCD panel) at other times, with no option to disable it. I say "pointless" because the effects kick in at exactly the times when I don't want to be looking at my keyboard rather than the monitor.

The controls could be a bit better - it says to press the delete button to whistle, but it only works with one of my two delete buttons.

And now that I've actually been in a stealth/fighting mission, I'm really annoyed that there's no save anywhere (so I could save 10 times a minute, instead of having to go 15 minutes without saving. I'm only slightly exaggerating)

Wow, this game is getting hammered on Steam reviews. Shame I love the story and want to get it. Hopefully I can hold of till Xmas sale, with any luck they will have many of the issue fixed.

I've run into some minor issues when restoring games (the car I used disappears. Sometimes I spawn at a location from two checkpoints ago rather than the last checkpoint)

The story is solid. The game has finally opened up a little (some option of which mission to do).

We just came home after evacuating to the west coast of Florida. Amazingly, considering that we live about fifteen miles west of the Kennedy Space Center and on Wednesday evening looking to be hit directly by the eye of a Cat 4 storm, things are fine. No house damage other than a few damaged shingles. Never lost power other than a couple of flickers, even the cable stayed on. We did have the one remaining tree in our yard break off about ten feet off the ground; happily for us, that top piece landed in our neighbor's yard, missing all structures including the fence. I'll volunteer to help remove it if they wish, but I'm 63 and out of shape so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do. And we know how lucky we are, the streets on both sides of us still don't have power, while we never lost it. As I say, amazing.

So I'll be firing up the game this evening and giving it a look, or I might wait for the promised patch due out this weekend.

Glad you got so lucky.

Patch 1.01

PC players, reboot Mafia III because patch 1.01 is now available for download. This patch includes 30, 60, and unlimited frames-per-second options on PC. To select your framerate, just head to the display menu in-game. Just make sure to tailor the framerate settings to the power of your machine. This patch also includes improvements to keyboard remapping, so head to the controls menu to check out the options. Note: this patch resets keyboard mapping to default, so any changes you made to the controls previously will need to be customized after installing the patch.

We aren’t done with fixes and updates and will continue to listen to our community for ways to improve your experience in New Bordeaux. And check here [mafiagame.com] to see what content updates we have in the works, including outfit swapping, races, and more.

So those playing..how does character improvement work? new abilities? or new guns or what?

Newcastle wrote:So those playing..how does character improvement work? new abilities? or new guns or what?

more health, gun upgrades, gun unlocks, vehicle upgrades, more carrying capacity for ammo, medkits, explosives, various services, new cars to deliver, new "skills" like being able to steal a car without a witness calling the damn cops again.

Most everything is unlocked through your capos. After you do the initial railroaded stuff (which goes on for a few hours), the first time I was assigning a racket to one of my capos I could review the perks I would get for doing so before making my choice. Some upgrades just require cash. Call the weapons van and review the options. If they require an unlock it tells you what it requires.

Steam tells me I have played 12 hours... which seems *really* high, but what do I know. I'm having a lot of fun with it. The first boss mission was a bitch, but it's gotten a lot easier, or I have gotten better at it... The checkpoints saves are a lot farther apart than I would like, but now that I am used to the stealth and gunplay, I rarely have to worry about it.

I'm trying to download the patch but I only get a few seconds of full speed download then it stops. I've tried switching download sites, including to Anchorage, but still no luck. Anything else I might try, or am I just suffering from post Matthew internet syndrome?

UPDATE: And the status keeps changing to "Download stopping..."

jztemple2 wrote:I'm trying to download the patch but I only get a few seconds of full speed download then it stops. I've tried switching download sites, including to Anchorage, but still no luck. Anything else I might try, or am I just suffering from post Matthew internet syndrome?

UPDATE: And the status keeps changing to "Download stopping..."

If all else fails, you can try clearing the download cache.

Max Peck wrote:

jztemple2 wrote:I'm trying to download the patch but I only get a few seconds of full speed download then it stops. I've tried switching download sites, including to Anchorage, but still no luck. Anything else I might try, or am I just suffering from post Matthew internet syndrome?

UPDATE: And the status keeps changing to "Download stopping..."

If all else fails, you can try clearing the download cache.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately that didn't help, so I'll just leave it on overnight and hope that something happens.

Did the patch change a lot of the keyboard controls? Annoying.

Also, I'm getting pretty annoyed at the save system. Between not being able to save anywhere and loading to different locations than you saved...

Defiant wrote:Did the patch change a lot of the keyboard controls? Annoying.

Annoying but they are much better after the change. Much less moving your hand across the keyboard.

I finally got my game loaded and patched and I'm using an X360 controller rather than keyboard. I've upped the FPS limit to sixty and I'm getting near that except when driving. I've played 39 minutes and so far it's not bad, certainly nothing that makes me want to quit playing. What it might lack in graphics bleeding edge stuff it's making up for in story-telling.

If you grew up in the 1960s like I did, there are so many cultural references to identify with. The brief scene on the TV of Robert Kennedy after he was shot brought up a lot of memories. And the music is awesome of course. And I didn't even know the radio stations were going to have commercials, I like the hemorrhoid one

I can see how folks got upset on some of the graphics. The morning after the bayou raid I was driving at sunrise with what I assume is fog and the display had a white-ish washout to it. I did switch back to 30 fps as it seems to make my graphics a bit prettier. I didn't notice any gameplay problems so far with that setting. I'm two hours in and blown away by the great story telling.

The story is just fantastic so far, and the settings have been equally good. One mission is set in a flooded and decayed amusement park which immediately brought to mind the real Six Flags that was devastated and abandoned after Katrina. I'm enjoying the hell out of it, performance challenges or no.

I now have 5.6 hours in and I'm really enjoying it. This is the Steam review I posted:

This review is for the game updated with the 1.01 patch.

Well, the game isn't perfect, there are some tweaks that could have been done to the graphics, but otherwise I think it's a fun game. The concept is good, the storytelling is awesome and there's lots to do. The gameplay is fun and the music is great. It's a shame that a lot of folks are having troubles running the game or even starting it, but I didn't encounter any of that. So I can definitely recommended this game.

Here are some other notes:

• I like that there is a driving mode option. Simulator mode might be harder but it's more rewarding. I hope they do something like this for Watch Dogs 2.
• Graphics are a bit weird, like when it's raining and all the cars have a weird shine. Nothing that affects gameplay however.
• I'm using an X360 controller and it's annoying me that since I was just playing Assassin's Creed Syndicate and was using the right trigger all the time, I'm having a hard time breaking the habit. In this game pressing RT not only draws my gun but it also fires it. I wish they had made an option to make this a two step process.
• The crowbar thing is getting old, I'm not Gordon Freeman for heaven's sake
• I hate having to drive home to drop off my cash. It's an necessary make-work task.
• I really like how you unlock collectables on the map by installing wiretaps. OK, it's not realistic, but it's better than in Mafia II where the only way to find all of them was to use the online guides.
• I hate that people keep stealing my stolen cars! I park a car I stole outside a location and it's gone when I come back. OK, it's not that big a deal, but sheesh, it could give me a few minutes before it disappears!

Bottom line, I'm really liking the game.

jztemple2 wrote: [*]I hate having to drive home to drop off my cash. It's an necessary make-work task.

Well, you'll be glad to know this goes away very quickly. One of the bosses you recruit gives you the consigliere, who will come to you to collect your money.

Broke down and got it after hearing the patch unlocking FPS was out.

I should have a leg up having spent the weekend watching people play on twitch.

I do with the game world were more interactive outside of gameplay (to increase atmosphere), but I do like the little details they've put in, like people running for cover if it's raining and they don't have an umbrella, or people playing dice on the street.

Finished it. 27.8 hours per steam. Obviously I enjoyed it or I wouldn't have finished it in 4 freaking days.

coopasonic wrote:Finished it. 27.8 hours per steam. Obviously I enjoyed it or I wouldn't have finished it in 4 freaking days.

Seven hours a day? What, are you retired or something?

And a question. When it tells me that rackets are at maximum earn, is there any point to going on another optional mission for that racket?

I get 4 weeks of vacation a year. I don't really take vacations. To burn it I am taking Fridays off for the rest of the year. Also, I work for a bank and today is a bank holiday. Four day weekend = gaming win!

On your question, I have no idea. I did a total of 5 of the side missions. The long drive to the bayou and back was annoying and I didn't need the money so screw em.

Oh FYI, you can keep playing after the game ends... at least if you choose an ending that would logically lead to that anyway.

I broke my earlier vow about the bargain bin and bought it this morning. Had no idea I would have such a longing to play Mafia 3! After enabling 60 FPS this appears to mostly stay in the 40s-50s FPS wise. (GTX 970). Probably some slow down to below that at times. Nothing that bothers me too much but I have primarily played PC games with underpowered PCs so only dips to the teens ever really bother me. Stability is an issue as I had 3 crashes in the first few hours. I think the game is a mixed bag graphically. Some parts look great and others... don't.

The audio is great. Voice work is excellent. The music is just fantastic. Probably the best I have heard in any of the drive a car through the city games. It is already repeating so I am not sure how many songs there are.

I must really suck because I am playing on easy and have already had sections that required multiple retries. The (really tiny mild spoiler here) raid on the Haitians drove me crazy before I got through it.

Anyway, the story is great. I have finished the prologue and am starting out on the long trek for revenge.

JCC wrote:Stability is an issue as I had 3 crashes in the first few hours.

I have seen a number of comments on crashes on the Steam forum. I haven't seen any in 7.8 hours. I have 16 GB of ram, maybe that helps?

A few of the glitches...

http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/10/10/ ... in-mafia-3

jztemple2 wrote:

JCC wrote:Stability is an issue as I had 3 crashes in the first few hours.

I have seen a number of comments on crashes on the Steam forum. I haven't seen any in 7.8 hours. I have 16 GB of ram, maybe that helps?

I also have 16G of RAM. This is the first game to make my PC crash. I built this PC is February 2015. To be fair I don't buy a lot of new games.

Article on Kotaku, Mafia III Is Seriously Glitchy. There's some funny stuff in there.

Oddly, I've not seen any of the really bad glitches, like people floating in air or the like. I did encounter that situation where the car wouldn't start, but I got out, stood in front of the hood, then got back in and it started. Seemed like something planned to me.

This reminds me of the situation in Assassin's Creed Unity. People were posting all these glitches they had seen in the game and I hadn't seen more than a couple minor ones. I'm thinking that maybe between my pretty decent video card, my SSD and my dedicated gaming rig it has something to do with how the processor is able to update all the items on the display, as well as doing the in-game physics.

Anyway, I'm now 9.4 hours in and still having a lot of fun.