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PC|XS|PS5|ONE|PS4|SW Marvel's Midnight Suns

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PC|XS|PS5|ONE|PS4|SW Marvel's Midnight Suns

Unread postby schadenfreude » 26 Aug 2021 17:34

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/3682 ... ight_Suns/

Firaxis wrote:Confront the darker side of the Marvel Universe in an all-new Tactical RPG featuring Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Ghost Rider, Blade, and more.


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Firaxis wrote:Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a new tactical RPG set in the darker side of the Marvel Universe, putting you face-to-face against demonic forces of the underworld as you team up with and live among the Midnight Suns, Earth's last line of defense.

After centuries of sleep, Lilith, Mother of Demons, has been revived by Hydra through a twist of dark magic and science. Lilith stops at nothing to complete an ancient prophecy and bring back her evil master, Chthon. Pushed to the brink, the Avengers desperately look to fight fire with hellfire and enlist the help of the Midnight Suns - Nico Minoru, Blade, Magik and Ghost Rider - young heroes with powers deeply rooted in the supernatural, formed to prevent the very prophecy Lilith aims to fulfill. Together, they resurrect an ancient warrior - the Hunter, Lilith’s forsaken child and the only hero known to have ever defeated her. In the face of fallen allies and the fate of the world at stake, it will be up to you to rise up against the darkness!

From the legendary studio that changed strategy and tactics games forever comes a new title, offering cinematic tactical combat with a Super Hero flair, friendships to forge with iconic heroes, and an unforgettable adventure that dives deep into the darker side of Marvel.

Darkness Falls. Rise Up!
YOUR MARVEL ADVENTURE. Become the Hunter, the first customizable original hero in the Marvel Universe. Lead a legendary collection of heroes that span across The Avengers, X-Men, Runaways, and more as you customize your team, tailor your selection of abilities to suit your playstyle, and unlock iconic outfits that will delight any Marvel fan.

EXPLORE THE DARKER SIDE OF MARVEL. Rise up against the demonic forces of Lilith and experience an immersive personal story that brings familiar heroes to an unfamiliar world, filled with the supernatural and the mystical. The stakes are higher than ever as you face-off against fallen versions of iconic Marvel characters and attempt to stop Lilith from reviving her evil master, Chthon.

LIVE AMONG THE LEGENDS. See heroes in a new light and unlock additional abilities as you develop relationships and strengthen personal bonds outside the field of battle with some of your favorite Marvel superheroes such as Iron Man, Wolverine, and Captain America. Dive deep and explore The Abbey - your very own mystical secret base - as you explore the grounds and uncover its hidden mysteries.

FIGHT AND THINK LIKE A SUPER HERO. Team up with your fellow heroes, assess the tactical battlefield, and strategically launch devastating iconic attacks against the forces of darkness. From the creators of the critically acclaimed tactical XCOM series comes a new engaging and deeply customizable battle system that rewards clever thinking with Super Hero flair.


'The Awakening' | Official Announcement Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz8Vw5tOf5M

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According to this interview with the game's designer, unlike the XCOM games, this one won't feature permadeath: https://www.polygon.com/22641096/marvel ... escom-2021

Charlie Hall wrote:As the newly resurrected Hunter, players are the only ones capable of stopping Lilith and her minions from destroying the world. But, while the stakes are high, the game will not include permadeath — yet another departure from the classic XCOM formula.

“We don’t have permadeath because the fantasy is very different,” Solomon said. “The fantasy in XCOM is the fantasy of soldiers holding on for dear life against a superior enemy. And in Midnight Suns very, very quickly — early on — I realized that the superior enemy in this game is the superheroes. So instead the bad guys are terrified of you.”

Focusing fire in order to take down a single powerful enemy was key to conquering the puzzle-like missions in XCOM and XCOM 2. This time around, players will be taking down multiple enemies at a time with powerful attacks that have a much larger impact and range than traditional plasma or laser weaponry. Solomon said players will also be interacting more with the environment, leaping off cars, pulling down light poles, and kicking objects all the way across the map.

“You’re doing these very large moves, these epic moves, and so the mechanics are just completely different,” Solomon said, “which results in you still scratching the same itch, because it is turn-based tactics combat where you’re controlling the team. But the fantasy is very different. And that means the mechanics are 100% different.”


March 2022.
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schadenfreude
 
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Re: PC|XS|PS5|ONE|PS4|SW Marvel's Midnight Suns

Unread postby icycalm » 09 Dec 2022 10:38

Official Launch Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTHMbNo4-n8

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This looks like a decent game, as you'll read in the first impressions below. However, looking at the launch trailer, I can tell you the plot is generic garbage that's hugely debased from Marvel's peak in the '80s and '90s, and there's no attempt whatsoever to maintain any kind of continuity with anything. Some programmer clearly wrote it, or if they hired a comic writer, some third-rater.

This is our fate for licensed games, for the rest of our lives. Nothing will be genuinely good. Everything will be recycled garbage, like the MCU Phase Two is (Phase One was mostly great). How do you manage to turn all these iconic characters into a story trailer that's more boring than me making stick figures talk? Ask the geniuses at Firaxis. And the reason everything has turned to garbage and isn't turning back is because the properties have become popular. Marvel became popular, Wizards' 5th Edition D&D became popular, and now even people's girlfriends watch Marvel movies or play D&D. And of course all kinds of faggots and trannies have got into the mutants because they're mutants themselves. The end result is that seriousness is lost, continuity is lost, cool character development is lost, because all these people have the attention span of a goldfish and don't care about these things, they only care about jumping onto the latest popular bandwagon and ruining it beyond comprehension.

The solution? Alex Kierkegaard's Battlegrounds. When Marvel gets unlocked and we're running the Marvel TTRPGs [ > ], everything will be cool and interesting and consistent, without stupid card-game tactical mechanics to boot, but hardcore D&D-derived ones as usual. And this is because I will be in charge and not some white faggot or brown retard.

An even deeper reason for the decline in tactical videogames however is because the smart players and developers are moving to virtual tabletops and full roleplaying rules, and only the stupid are staying behind to the singleplayer programmer-designed subgenres (like our own Robomoo making a Tiny Metal clone in 2022, a game which would have been considered boring 20 years ago, let alone now). It's the same reason black-and-white movies went to shit after color was invented. The cutting-edge moves forward and you just have to know to jump on the next wave, or be left behind with the retards. And if you're reading Insomnia you will always know.

Now onwards with the impressions.

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... ded/368260

Jet Jackal wrote:Okay, so-- you need to know a few things coming into this game.

Ye gawds, where do I even begin here?

First off, you need to know that the game is good and is fun and will pull you in, but this game is a SLOW, SLOW burn to get going. Don't let the small combat arenas and other 'mobile gaming' aesthetics fool you. It's all a clever deception.

When you first start, you will jump from cut-scene to dialogue to dialogue to cut scene to dialogue and feel like you barely get to play for the first few hours. I spent my entire first day playing it wondering what the hell was going on, marching through simple, small arena fights with no real thought to them, wondering what the hell I spent 100 bucks for- wondering if the whole game was going to be this playdough simple.

But I stuck with it and yes, the game does indeed get going with more characters, more enemies, more variety, and I've had ridiculous fun after sticking with it- even though I am absolutely drowning in dialogue scenes. Apart from the huge amounts of dialogue and character interaction (this is not a combat tactics game with some dialogue... this is a 'managing your superhero social life' game with some combat involved).

1. There are microtransactions- but they're not that obtrusive, they're cosmetic, and I've never even had to worry about them for anything else, so I'm not even mad at them.

2. There is a detectable but tolerable amount of cringe in the dialogue- however, it's not that bad and most of the writing is fine; a few moments even got me to laugh legitimately.

3. The combat is X-com in aesthetic and feel only.

4. There is an entire friggin Mass Effect level narrative working in the background. Be prepared for lots of good/bad choice dialogue. It's worth it, but there is a TON of it. I'm not even joking. It also leads to upgrades, stats, bonuses, etc-

5. The combat is fun and I've gotten used to the small arena sizes, but be aware- this is where things deviate from Xcom. Every battle is a small arena with you being pitted against enemies. There is no strategic movement in the combat. It's all small-fight tactical level engagements. It's not bad, but don't go expecting Hearts of Iron IV here.

Give it a chance, let it be its own thing... and settle in for a long beginner stretch... and if you like tactics games, this one's a good time.


https://steamcommunity.com/id/RaginCauc ... ded/368260

RadicalMooseLamb wrote:This game is being criminally rated currently. Rarely do I find that when I sit down to write a review that I agree more with critics over normal gamers. Lately I find though that people's complaints are grossly exaggerated. If you are seeing all the negative reviews let me give you the reality of the situation as someone who made it further than the first hour.

Pros:

+ Most of the voice cast are the official VA's who have voiced these characters for over a decade. Many people will recognize Captain America and Wolverine from anything outside of the MCU. The characters who have never been voiced in a game or more importantly a show use the actual real life voice actors like Nico.

+ The story is far above average over your typical Marvel game. It has a darker more mysterious vibe that permeates across the setting. With plenty of dark history to retrace through the Abbey grounds. It starts more light hearted but grows darker as you progress and even the characters reactions change based on your current alignment.

+ This is one of the first times outside of comics you've ever been able to associate with the normal lives of heroes. It adds a personal element to them not found anywhere else. Many have deeply criticized this aspect but the characters are extremely accurate to their current comic iterations. Some characters like Captain Marvel I don't particularly enjoy but that has nothing to do with "bad writing" and everything to do with that just being the way she is written in comics as well. Blade is fantastic.

+ The Combat is outstanding, hands down the best card based battle system ever invented. Outside of just the card aspect this is one of the most compelling tactical RPG systems invented in over a DECADE. I play every tactical game I can get my hands on. The combat may seem simple because there is no cover mechanics or grid. But once you look past that you'll see the deep individuality of each characters play styles. It feels complex early on but than you get three more tiers of cards + upgradable options + even further in you get the ability to modify cards. There are so many tactical choices here. Many times you'll end up with so many cool choices it will become a difficult task to narrow down what you love the most.

Cons:

- Currently there is a bug when saving that can happen even when auto saving during battles that causes CTD's. As you can see I have a hefty number of hours in the title but can confirm its happened to me roughly 3 times where i physically lost progress (Usually about 20ish minutes of exploring the Abbey). And about 4 times with auto saves but with the auto save version I've never lost progress because it crashes after the auto save completes.

- There is some shader stutter as people have mentioned but its largely front loaded (However it cannot be understated that the beginning sections are VERY significant in terms of the stuttering). Many have quit out angrily too early on to realize it disappears. I have not encountered any major performance issues after the beginning few missions. I have every setting at Max, RTX options on, and I'm playing on a large 4k tv.

- Some characters while written well for who they are may not mesh with every person. Nico is written very accurately as a gen z teen and reflects that in the dialogue. Some may enjoy that some may not. But not every character is written in that way. Tony Stark and Doctor Strange are fantastically similar to their animated counterparts.

------------------------------------

I want to wrap this up with a few other comments. First of all NO ONE should be judging this based on whether or not it is XCOM. I love XCOM, I beat both of them, I've played the originals a bunch. This is a NEW IP and for the love of god people we hardly get ANY new IPs nowadays. Stop tearing apart a game for something it was never meant to be.

Secondly so many people have complained in negative reviews about micro transactions. This game at some point in the future MAY have micro transaction costumes. Currently it just had costumes that were part of the legendary edition and that's it. And allows you to simply purchase select few out of those if you didn't want or need all of them. THERE IS NO RESOURCE MICRO PAYMENTS. The resources are scarce not because it's trying to charge you but because it was made by the people who made XCOM. It's purely for difficulties sake. You get plenty and plenty of resources if people would actually play the game past the beginning.

I would consider this game an 8/10 if you have no interest in Marvel but this is hands down a 10/10 game if you are a Marvel fan. If you've ever watched Earths Mightiest Heroes or played old Marvel Heroes because you had a desperation for true comic versions of characters this is an experience that has been long overdue.


https://steamcommunity.com/id/realmrava ... ded/368260

DonkeyWorld wrote:I have 300+ hours in XCOM 2, 200+ in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and 50+ in Slay the Spire (plus 100 across other deckbuilders). Marvel is whatever, take it or leave it to me. 10 hours into Midnight Suns, I can easily see it joining the upper echelon of my gaming time. So, I'm surprised that the reviews are so poor.

Here's my experience with the most common negatives I've seen:
1) Poor performance. I have a GTX 1070 Ti. On max settings, there's a lot of hitching and stuttering. It's playable, but it's persistent and annoying. One step below max settings though, it runs close to flawlessly. The graphics aren't great, but honestly, it looks dated regardless. (EDIT: I'm playing on Max again by bypassing the bloated 2k launcher. Check the top review for a how to.)

2) Writing. Reviews naysaying the writing are focusing on the worst 10% of the game. 90% of the dialogue in this game ranges from fine/enjoyable to very solid. The characters are consistent to their personality in the game (which can differ from MCU). I've chuckled several times. Some jokes are so dumb they're funny. But, yes, 10% of the dialogue is quite bad, too cheesy, or off-tone. I'd give it a 7.5/10 so far.

3) Denuvo and microtransactions. Denuvo sucks. As for microtransactions, it's limited to combat skins for the heroes. They're $3/each or you get them all with the legendary edition, which includes a pass that will probably be $25 or $30, so the 20ish skins are $10-15 altogether. Do with that as you well.

Alright, so with that out of the way, this game is worth playing for the deckbuilding and tactical combat alone. Battles are fantastic. There's tons of tactical play on the battlefield with environmental effects and enemy/hero positioning. Strategy is prevalent in how you build your decks over the course of the campaign. I love the progression so far, and my heroes keep getting stronger at a healthy clip. It's genuinely tough to choose who I want to bring into battle because they're all so interesting. Animations, unlike the graphics, are really awesome. I also love the battle music. It's varied, engaging, and gets me pumped to kill the baddies.

The difficulty is there too, it's just a bit different. There are 8 difficulties that you slowly unlock by doing well in missions. The better you do, the harder it will be (if you want). I'm unlocking a new difficulty every 4-5 hours. It's a nice stepping stone as you learn the game. You can't lose a campaign like in XCOM, but you will sit and ponder your tactical/strategic moves just as long.

The abbey is going to be subjective. I enjoy the banter and camaraderie, but if you wanted to blast through it to get back to combat, you could with little loss. You can skip dialogue pretty quickly if you just want the bonuses from friendship. There are also nice rewards from exploring, but you can do equally well spending your time on side missions if you prefer.

One piece of advice to maximizing fun: limit yourself to 3 side missions tops per main mission. Otherwise, the game might start to feel grindy as you chase incremental rewards that are meant to be spread out over the whole campaign.

I'll update this review once I finish the game.


https://steamcommunity.com/id/flinch101 ... ded/368260

Hex: Judging Grandmother wrote:I want to love this game -so- badly. I really love the concept, the story so far, the fact that we get to customize our own hero.

The reason I'm not recommending is that, in its current state, the game feels frazzled. The performance is choppy, but what's more frustrating is that there is this ridiculous grind to customize your hero in the way you want to. The game advertised to us all to make it seem like our hero is super customizable in so many ways, which is true- but you have to grind this darn currency to unlock even the most basic customization items, like lipstick or eyeliner. That's just so damn annoying. For a $60 game I would expect to have the freedom to customize how I'd like to without having to grind for it, and I just don't understand why they made it so we have to just farm currency in order to do so.

I dunno- on one hand I really love the play style. On the other hand, I just feel like these types of games are developed to make you grind, grind, grind. I want to play my game to relax and unwind, not to farm currency like a madwoman to get the bare necessities.

EDIT: Okay, so, I did play longer than the mere 6 hours when I wrote this review- the grind for gloss does get better, easier to earn, etc., and the story is truly phenomenal.

But still- to all you lovelies who talk about how it's such a trash take on unlocking stuff; what about ESO or Skyrim? Mass Effect and Dragon Age? Customizable characters in SO many ways, from the face to the eyes to bare accessories, and then you earn armor and weapons, etc.

Why can this not be the same for this game? Why is every cosmetic option requiring a form of currency for your character? Is it so bad to take a bit of umbrage when the devs promised a 'fully customizable hero' like these other games did, but then delivered with caveats? Agree to disagree, but I don't like that.
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