[Squenix] The Avengers Project

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Harkonis
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Harkonis »

Pyperkub wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 3:26 pm Will anyone be trying the beta on Xbox tonight /this weekend?
I'll be on today/tonight if you still want to group. Characters are all maxed levels but not max power. Loving the game so far.

the complaint 'noone looks like themselves' is pretty ridiculous for any fictional character imo. Do you know how many different visual styles of someone like Thor there have been in the last 80ish years? It's a fictional character, he can look like whatever. You look at any of these and know immediately who they are. You might not like an individual design, but to say they don't look like themselves, WHO? The real Black Widow? Who is that? So silly.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Freyland »

Harkonis wrote: Sun Aug 23, 2020 8:20 am
Pyperkub wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 3:26 pm Will anyone be trying the beta on Xbox tonight /this weekend?
I'll be on today/tonight if you still want to group. Characters are all maxed levels but not max power. Loving the game so far.

the complaint 'noone looks like themselves' is pretty ridiculous for any fictional character imo. Do you know how many different visual styles of someone like Thor there have been in the last 80ish years? It's a fictional character, he can look like whatever. You look at any of these and know immediately who they are. You might not like an individual design, but to say they don't look like themselves, WHO? The real Black Widow? Who is that? So silly.
That's a bit unfair. Not everybody grew up collecting or reading comics, and the characters they know, they have been inundated with over the last decade. Not at all strange to be told they have to accept different appearances right on the heels of that.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Blackhawk »

Maybe, but it is still true. This group of characters has 57 years of continuity and art to draw from. To think that they'd only pay attention to one set of films from the last decade isn't reasonable when the game isn't (from what I've seen) based on the films, although it borrows from them stylistically. It's comparable to The Witcher show borrowing the art style from the games to appeal to fans, but not being 100% beholden to it.
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Max Peck
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Max Peck »

I'd assume it comes down to money. It would cost a significant chunk of change to license the likenesses of Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, just for a start. And if the main characters look like the MCU Avengers, they'd probably have to sound like them, so now you'd be paying A-list actors for voice-over work as well.

I think this is only an issue if someone is merely watching the game. When I'm playing it, there's too much going on to notice or care whether Black Widow looks or sounds like Scarlett Johansson. But as always, YMMV. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Freyland
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Freyland »

Blackhawk wrote: Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:02 am Maybe, but it is still true. This group of characters has 57 years of continuity and art to draw from. To think that they'd only pay attention to one set of films from the last decade isn't reasonable when the game isn't (from what I've seen) based on the films, although it borrows from them stylistically. It's comparable to The Witcher show borrowing the art style from the games to appeal to fans, but not being 100% beholden to it.
Totally agree with your assessment. But my argument why some people might be put off isn't the same as the point you make.

Also agree with Max that the cost would be astronomical. But, see above.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by gbasden »

Freyland wrote: Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:46 pm
Blackhawk wrote: Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:02 am Maybe, but it is still true. This group of characters has 57 years of continuity and art to draw from. To think that they'd only pay attention to one set of films from the last decade isn't reasonable when the game isn't (from what I've seen) based on the films, although it borrows from them stylistically. It's comparable to The Witcher show borrowing the art style from the games to appeal to fans, but not being 100% beholden to it.
Totally agree with your assessment. But my argument why some people might be put off isn't the same as the point you make.

Also agree with Max that the cost would be astronomical. But, see above.
I guess? But dismissing a good game because you think that a big green smashy dude doesn't look quite like the dude that was in the movie is a bit shallow. Or maybe I'm just old enough to remember graphics that couldn't put out enough polygons to look like anything specific.
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Harkonis
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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I didn't grow up reading comics either, that had no bearing on my opinion. I predominantly know these characters from MCU, but I understand there were many iterations before then and will be more in the future.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Max Peck »

Image

I'd've gone with Great Value Avengers.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Harkonis »

They look like the comic book characters, really don't understand what people's issues with this is. It's an odd thing to worry about.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Freyland »

Harkonis wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:55 pm They look like the comic book characters, really don't understand what people's issues with this is. It's an odd thing to worry about.
Agree to disagree?

I would play the game regardless of it appealed to me, but apparently at least 4 people have made note of it :D
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Hrothgar »

I was looking for something like this:

Image

but found this which is much cooler:

Image

Clearly, they should have gone for Garfield style.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Freyland »

I... I think John Arbuckle would have had better luck with Liz in that case.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Pyperkub »

Harkonis wrote:They look like the comic book characters, really don't understand what people's issues with this is. It's an odd thing to worry about.
It didn't bother me much during my time in the beta, but I bounced off pretty hard and I wanted to like it.

I just didn't feel like I was a superhero. The play experience of the earth's mightiest heroes wasn't there at all for me. It was really meh.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Blackhawk »

Superhero games are always so hard to do right. It's the Superman problem: they're so powerful that nothing is really a challenge. If you make it so that everything is a challenge, they don't feel powerful.

Most of the best superhero games have been built around lower powered heroes, or heroes whose main function didn't involve fighting. Batman (unpowered, isolated, and outnumbered), Freedom Force (golden/silver age rather than 'god like beings'.) There are exceptions. Injustice got around it by only having to balance one-on-one matches with another powered hero/villain. Spider-Man PS4 got around it by tweaking the Batman model and still (somehow) making it feel like Spider-Man. A few got around it by simply not taking themselves seriously (Deadpool, Saint's Row 4, Lego.) But there have been more flops than successes.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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Beat the main story last night, was quite fun
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Max Peck »

I was just about to ask "You beat the game 3 days before it releases?" and then I remembered the 3-day early access perk.

Installing now...
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Scraper »

Max Peck wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:30 pm I was just about to ask "You beat the game 3 days before it releases?" and then I remembered the 3-day early access perk.

Installing now...
Still how do you beat the single player that fast? Is it 10 hours long?
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Max Peck »

According to the intertubes, the main story will take something like 8-12 hours.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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Scraper wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:38 pm
Max Peck wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:30 pm I was just about to ask "You beat the game 3 days before it releases?" and then I remembered the 3-day early access perk.

Installing now...
Still how do you beat the single player that fast? Is it 10 hours long?
This is Hark we're talking about. I'm actually surprised it took him THAT long.
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Harkonis
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Harkonis »

I would say the main story line is probably 8-10 hours casual. Then a bunch of side missions that probably are 4-6 hours or so are also available with story tied to them. After that it's the 'grind' and repeatable stuff like Diablo's adventure mode and the like.

edit: remember, I did once win a game of Call of Duty while playing Forza ;)
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by AWS260 »

This review of the story mode (which is all I'm interested in anyway) makes it sound very good.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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AWS260 wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:13 pm This review of the story mode (which is all I'm interested in anyway) makes it sound very good.
That's a "preview" after just 6 hours into the game. It sounds like if they had just played another 2 to 4 hours they would have finished the game. I really want to like this game, but if the single player is just 10 hours long I will wait for a really good sale.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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As far as I know, you can play at least some of the end-game stuff single-player, with AI companions.

It turns out that I still suck at action games, so I'm padding the story length out with loading screens. It's telling that, after the third time I reloaded after bungling a jump, the game prompted me to lower the difficulty level even though I'm already playing on easy. :oops:
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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Is anyone playing this on PS4? Just curious. I don't remember why I selected it instead of PC, it was so long ago when I pre-ordered.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Carpet_pissr »

No Metacritic score yet, but I did see this from Destructoid:
"I need to play more before I make a final judgment. But right now, Marvel's Avengers seems like a shoe-in for a future games-as-a-service "bringing up your grades" award. [Review in Progress]"

Not super happy to read that, though not exactly sure what they are implying there in terms of how that relates to gameplay/content.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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rittchard wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:55 pm I don't remember why I selected it instead of PC, it was so long ago when I pre-ordered.
Probably because the Spider-Man character is a platform-exclusive for Sony.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:59 pm No Metacritic score yet, but I did see this from Destructoid:
"I need to play more before I make a final judgment. But right now, Marvel's Avengers seems like a shoe-in for a future games-as-a-service "bringing up your grades" award. [Review in Progress]"

Not super happy to read that, though not exactly sure what they are implying there in terms of how that relates to gameplay/content.
The reviewer seems to dislike the story content (which is somewhat of an outlier compared to most of the commentary I've seen) while enjoying the co-op missions. Presumably, "bringing up your grades" just refers to their expectation that they would review the game better as it progresses through the SaaS life cycle, with new characters and tuning/performance tweaks to the engine, than they will at launch.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by gbasden »

I have seen reviews state that Squenix has said that more story content and game features will be coming. Regardless, I played a few hours last night and enjoyed the shit out of it. My wife was glued over my shoulder, which is unusual. Focusing on Kamela was an excellent idea rather than starting with one of the Avengers, and seeing A Day through her eyes was a great start to the game. Her relationship with Bruce Banner is also fantastic. I frankly don't care if it ends up only being 10 hours - I'm happy to pay $6 an hour for top flight storytelling and a good game. I pay that much or more to see an Avengers movie anyway.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Max Peck »

Yeah, my understanding is that as they add new characters after launch, those characters will come with their own story content.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Max Peck wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 1:53 pm
Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:59 pm No Metacritic score yet, but I did see this from Destructoid:
"I need to play more before I make a final judgment. But right now, Marvel's Avengers seems like a shoe-in for a future games-as-a-service "bringing up your grades" award. [Review in Progress]"

Not super happy to read that, though not exactly sure what they are implying there in terms of how that relates to gameplay/content.
The reviewer seems to dislike the story content (which is somewhat of an outlier compared to most of the commentary I've seen) while enjoying the co-op missions. Presumably, "bringing up your grades" just refers to their expectation that they would review the game better as it progresses through the SaaS life cycle, with new characters and tuning/performance tweaks to the engine, than they will at launch.
Ahhhh, ok. I see now that I have completely misunderstood some things. I somehow was unaware that this is to be a paid subscription service, as opposed to a standalone game. I revoke my interest card, and woefully bid you all "adieu!". :D

Dummy! I kept reading phrases like "games-as-a-service" and "live-service" (what a weird phrase, that one), but I guess just glossed over them because I didn't truly get it. Until now.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Max Peck »

It isn't a paid subscription service. The additional content is free. While you can pay $10 to unlock "Challenge Card tracks" (i.e. battle passes) for the new characters, you can also unlock them using credits earned from doing the challenges included for the base set of heroes. According to a dev posting, there are more than enough credits available by doing any one hero's challenges to unlock an additional challenge card track. Aside from the challenge card tracks, the only other microtransactions that I'm aware of involve cosmetics (costumes, nameplates, additional takedown animations) but nothing that's required to simply play the game.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Isgrimnur »

It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by TheMix »

(Not so) Tiny Tina!

Though I assume she won't be using Tina's voice.

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[Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Max Peck wrote:It isn't a paid subscription service. The additional content is free. While you can pay $10 to unlock "Challenge Card tracks" (i.e. battle passes) for the new characters, you can also unlock them using credits earned from doing the challenges included for the base set of heroes. According to a dev posting, there are more than enough credits available by doing any one hero's challenges to unlock an additional challenge card track. Aside from the challenge card tracks, the only other microtransactions that I'm aware of involve cosmetics (costumes, nameplates, additional takedown animations) but nothing that's required to simply play the game.
What is meant by “games as a service” then, and similar phrases being used to describe the game? I got the distinct sense that this is not just a “normal” game like say....Wasteland 3 for instance. Or am I wrong...again?

Edit: did my own research. Another phrase I saw: “looter-based multiplayer”. So that’s like....Fortnite’s model I guess? It sounds kind of like WoW when I read things like:


“Then there’s the monetization. While not overly aggressive, it’s very present throughout. All characters have a Battle Pass style system where you are rewarded with cosmetic unlockable items through daily activities and achievements. These are currently free, but will transition to premium content a few weeks after release. Having an individual pass per hero is questionable by any standards but the value, or lack of, is entirely down to you.

Marvel’s Avengers: Character stats explained
These aren’t new struggles for games that want to deliver an ongoing service, but it’s one that Marvel’s Avengers makes very little effort to correct.”
Last edited by Carpet_pissr on Wed Sep 02, 2020 4:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

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More like something like Destiny 2 with ongoing content additions and events to keep the scene alive.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Scraper »

Every explanation of the ongoing content for this game sounds absolutely dreadful to me. Give me a good single player campaign that is all in from the beginning, like Spiderman, Last of Us 2, ghosts of tsushima, tomb raider, etc and im all over it. Just dont transaction me to death to be able to actually play the game.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Max Peck »

If you need some help to talk yourself down from buying the game, Jim Sterling has your back.

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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Scraper »

Max Peck wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:55 pm If you need some help to talk yourself down from buying the game, Jim Sterling has your back.

Wow, he really doesn't like the game. And everything he hammered on would bother me too, so I guess I'm out.
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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Blackhawk »

I don't love that review style (looking at his other stuff, he seems to attract his audience by being angry and insulting, which gives him an incentive to be angry and insulting), but other reviews I've seen that are more balanced aren't entirely positive, either. For example:

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Re: [Squenix] The Avengers Project

Post by Carpet_pissr »

I agree with him that whatever the model is, it shouldn't be called "games as a service" which implies (to me) that it's like SaaS, which apparently it's not. This is not subscription-based, but they monetize it by....? It's also downloaded and played locally, correct? I mean, it very loosely if at all fits the typical "as a service" moniker if you ask me.

Not even a mention of payment, or that it's different than your typical game on their website:
"Marvel’s Avengers is an epic, third-person, action-adventure game that combines an original, cinematic story with single-player and co-operative gameplay*. Assemble into a team of up to four players online, master extraordinary abilities, customize a growing roster of Heroes, and defend the Earth from escalating threats."

Note the asterisk, which has no footnote anywhere on the page to explain (and that's the biggest thing I am interested in!)

In any case, from what I can gather since it's not really straightforward, you pay for a full price game (around $60 I guess), and then on top of that if you want to do things like customize your character, you have to pay? That's kind of....crazy. Remember the good ol days when you paid full price for an RPG and you could customize your character without paying? Yeah, me too, it's called today! :P

Obviously they can choose whatever model they want to, their game, I don't have to play it...but I just am worried if this is a success, games like Wasteland 4, or XCom whatever number is next. (X-Com much more likely than Wasteland, but still...)

Why not just go the Fortnite model here? Greed? Hey, let's make a F2P game, BUT CHARGE FOR IT LIKE IT'S NOT!!
Last edited by Carpet_pissr on Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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