Bling Blaine
FrontLine-Coalition
54
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Posted - 2013.05.15 00:41:00 -
[1] - Quote
First off I hate IGN, but this will make some real hot topics, so here it is so far straight from the horses mouth....
IGN Dust Review "in progress"
It's a good thing I like numbers, because Dust 514 has thrown an awful lot of them at me with little regard to whether I was ready or not. See, I'm the guy who's disappointed when a new RPG doesn't have enough stats to interpret, or when its skill tree looks more Charlie Brown Christmas special than Rockefeller Plaza. But even number nerds like me have limits, and while I'm not ready to say that Dust 514 exceeds mine quite yet, it certainly throws a whole lot more at new players than just about any FPS I can think of.
The loadout system is a perfect example of this. Sure, you start out with a handful of pre-made kits to jump right in with, but if you really intend to go to war you'll need to get the good stuff (read: the stuff that veteran beta players are using to mop the floor with your face). Put to rest any ideas you have about choosing two weapons, a couple of perks, and hanging with the big boys right away. Planning a loadout in Dust has more in common with building a mech in Armored Core than slapping together a custom class in Call of Duty. Each one of the many dropsuit models you can choose as a framework features different slot formations for a wide variety of weapons, equipment, and suit augmentation modules. You'll need to consider your suit's power grid and CPU limits as well, as going over these specifications will invalidate your setup completely.
So for instance, you might choose to go with one of the logistic frame sub-types, which would afford you additional equipment slots for scanners and lifesaving nanite-injection kits. But they'll be competing for juice with the shield extenders you'd want in the high-power upgrade slots the suit houses. Fortunately, it also has two low-power banks which can be fitted with engineering upgrades that boost the suit's overall power output. This dance of power vs performance becomes even tougher when you start factoring in cost, and seeing as you pay to replace your suit every time your ticket gets punched, you literally cannot afford to be frivolous when deciding how to deck yourself out. And if that isn't enough to wrap your head around, each individual type of equipment you bring to bear requires you to purchase the corresponding skill book, and allocate enough skill points to reach the level of expertise necessary. Deciding what path to take along the skill tree isn't so different from the same decisions in an RPG: being a generalist gives you flexibility, but at the cost of high end power. If you don't start zeroing in on what you want your combat role to be early, you can easily find yourself lacking the necessary resources to build your perfect dropsuit.
I lost almost as much time pouring over all these complexities as I did shooting people in the face, but for folks like me, that's actually not such a bad thing. After all, there's plenty of other shooters out there for people who just want to sit down and get their frag on, and while it'll certainly be too much for some, it might be exactly what burnt-out FPS junkies need. Whether all that complexity will translate into true depth on the battlefield remains to be seen, but regardless, Dust 514 had me nerding out over skills and gear before a single pull of the trigger, and that's worth something in and of itself.
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Bling Blaine
FrontLine-Coalition
55
|
Posted - 2013.05.15 01:09:00 -
[2] - Quote
Natu Nobilis wrote:"I-¦m a guy who likes numbers and RPG"
"OHMIGOD, i can-¦t fit all i want in one place, i have to check the colour bar to see if it fits, and i have to spend money for it!"
That-¦s a good start.
EDIT: He took 4 paragraphs to say this.
OP, pelase reimburse my 120 seconds back.
Will do....zzzzzzsssnnaapp........done
The op will be updated when full review is up for laughs |