Topic: The Conduit

[GoldenPhoenix]

Halo has an epic BACKSTORY. It doesn't have a good story, but the universe and reasoning behind everything is pretty evocative.

I take it you haven't seen too many sci-fi TV shows or movies? Not to mention that Halo has been milked to the point where there are several novels to flesh out the games. When it comes to story implementation in the games themselves it is pretty weak and standard fare, basically a stop gap in between the shooting of lots of stuff. 

What I hope Conduit does is integrate the story into the gameplay flow more, like Half-Life 1&2, Bioshock, Call of Duty, and others of that nature. It is one thing to watch a B movie in a video game and being able to interact with a cheesy b-movie as the plot is moving around you. That will be key, no matter how B-movie like the plot is. It may even help to poke fun at itself.

[Stogi]

I could really give two shits about the story (same as Halo and even Perfect Dark). If you asked me what the story line was of any major FPS to come out in the last 10 years, I couldn't tell you. Point.

Secondly, this whole nonsense about no split-screen is about as close to a deal breaker as a game could get. I don't care about the graphics. That's not why I continue to play goldeneye even in its old age. It's all about fast, competitive gameplay; something that split-screen lends itself better to. It's sad really. For a company that seems to have its hand on the pulse of the Wii gamer, they really misstepped. If it doesn't have split-screen, the graphics, which they have professed is "top-notch", will simply come off as more of a plea to gamers than an actual feature; a lure if you will, to hearts and minds wanting something akin to games on other consoles but not what Wii owners really want; a tight, multi-occasional FPS.

[KDR_11k]

and the fact that the main character's name was Joanna DARK.

That's obviously a thinly veiled play on Jeanne D'Arc. Hell, Berthold Brecht had the exact same idea before (St. Joanna of the Slaughterhouses) and that guy is held up as a great writer.

Am I reading this right? Halo has a good story and characters?

From what I heard it does slightly outperform the average Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The Conduit seems to take the id Software approach to story ("story is as important to games as it is to porn").

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

The Conduit is for non-casuals, so local multiplayer is out of the question.

...

?

[EasyCure]

Halo has an epic BACKSTORY. It doesn't have a good story, but the universe and reasoning behind everything is pretty evocative.

That said, I really hope that The Conduit gives me a Perfect Dark sort of vibe in its single player. PD showed me that you could have a cheese sci-fi story, but it could be done really well. Well, maybe it wasn't cheese. The first mission in PD was a brilliant set-up for the Alexandra character, which pays off towards the end too. And play that mission again in Blonde mode... well... let's just say that I'd love PD to death even if there was no multiplayer for it.

Whoa whoa whooooa there... You meant "There was no multiplayer for ME" right!!?!?!?

[GoldenPhoenix]

I could really give two shits about the story (same as Halo and even Perfect Dark). If you asked me what the story line was of any major FPS to come out in the last 10 years, I couldn't tell you. Point.

Secondly, this whole nonsense about no split-screen is about as close to a deal breaker as a game could get. I don't care about the graphics. That's not why I continue to play goldeneye even in its old age. It's all about fast, competitive gameplay; something that split-screen lends itself better to. It's sad really. For a company that seems to have its hand on the pulse of the Wii gamer, they really misstepped. If it doesn't have split-screen, the graphics, which they have professed is "top-notch", will simply come off as more of a plea to gamers than an actual feature; a lure if you will, to hearts and minds wanting something akin to games on other consoles but not what Wii owners really want; a tight, multi-occasional FPS.

This is extremely unfair to High Voltage. The game is more then visuals, that is an aspect (BTW Goldeneye had great visuals for the time and I doubt it would have held up as well without polish put towards them), they are also doing an unbelievable amount of work into customization, adjusting gameplay mechanics (like the all seeing eye), adding a robust online multiplayer mode with 16 players, no region lock, random and friend matches, and also there are reports it has a lobby. If they can get all that polished, that is an amazing achievement for a relatively small developer. It is looking to be the most fully featured FPS we have on the console, heck it is one of the most fully featured games period on Wii.

[Stogi]

Sure it's impressive. Don't get me wrong, a great FPS on the Wii is something to behold. Still, I find it rather odd that when focusing on multiplayer; even though every Nintendo console in history has more than one controller port, they decide to abandon split-screen and literally abandon an entire population of people who either: A) don't like to play online or B) can't afford to.

That's why I said it was "close" to a deal breaker. If it plays well, I might be able to forgo the thought of the hilarious moments I've had playing goldeneye and pick it up regardless.

[KDR_11k]

I'm calling red herring on your argument there GP, none of the things you listed are relevant to splitscreen multiplayer. Sure, it's work but it's a very small amount of work compared to making a whole game and it would have greatly increased sales through the Wii's "played it at a friend's house" style of game recommendation.

[Dirk Temporo]

Am I reading this right? Halo has a good story and characters?

Halo has a DECENT story and characters, augmented by the game itself having a large-scale epic feel. Not quite as much excitement when you're running through the streets of DC as a secret agent named "Mr. Ford" and fighting aliens called "The Drudge," who you seem to learn new things about as a matter of course instead of actually discovering new things about them in the course of gameplay.

That's obviously a thinly veiled play on Jeanne D'Arc. Hell, Berthold Brecht had the exact same idea before (St. Joanna of the Slaughterhouses) and that guy is held up as a great writer.

Having an idea and executing it are two extremely different things.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I'm calling red herring on your argument there GP, none of the things you listed are relevant to splitscreen multiplayer. Sure, it's work but it's a very small amount of work compared to making a whole game and it would have greatly increased sales through the Wii's "played it at a friend's house" style of game recommendation.

The game needs to come out sometime and split-screen is not super easy to pull off. You need to not only downgrade the visuals but still optimize it to play well with split screen. I'd rather they focus on polishing what they have and give us a very good online mode then worry about split screen where there is a good chance it would rushed and both could turn out unpolished.

[Stogi]

Where the hell is that dude who always bitch about online when you need him? I think his handle was Samus_Aran or something like that.

GP: Putting in online isn't super easy to do, but their doing it. It was a design choice and I feel they made the wrong one.

[Pale]

I obviously am only guessing the situation here, but I'm sure it went something like this.

HVS: The fans are really going to want split screen multiplayer. We know this because we are fans and that's what we would want.

--A test is done where they just quickly simulate four viewpoints running on one Wii. It runs like absolute piss.--

HVS: Crap, well we're going to need X amount of time to make a graphically dumbed down version that can run four times over.

Sega: We picked you up and slotted you into our marketing plan for this Summer. You can not delay now or else!

HVS: Crap, well I guess we'll just have to say we are sorry to the fans and promise it for the sequel.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Where the hell is that dude who always bitch about online when you need him? I think his handle was Samus_Aran or something like that.

GP: Putting in online isn't super easy to do, but their doing it. It was a design choice and I feel they made the wrong one.

I know it isn't super easy to do but I'd rather they put online in there then split-screen. As much as we (yes I do too) wanted split-screen online would be far more important in its reception. Split-screen over online would have been seen as archaic and I have no doubt the backlash would have been far worse (Remember how people were freaking when there were some reports SSB:B was not going to have online?). Now with that said they better have a stable and FUN online mode or people will have legitimate reason to be upset!

[Pale]

I think I would have rather had no brawl online instead of broken brawl online.

At least then I wouldn't get depressed every time I tried to play against someone.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I think I would have rather had no brawl online instead of broken brawl online.

At least then I wouldn't get depressed every time I tried to play against someone.

Lol true, but that is in hindsight.

[Flames_of_chaos]

I obviously am only guessing the situation here, but I'm sure it went something like this.

HVS: The fans are really going to want split screen multiplayer. We know this because we are fans and that's what we would want.

--A test is done where they just quickly simulate four viewpoints running on one Wii. It runs like absolute piss.--

HVS: Crap, well we're going to need X amount of time to make a graphically dumbed down version that can run four times over.

Sega: We picked you up and slotted you into our marketing plan for this Summer. You can not delay now or else!

HVS: Crap, well I guess we'll just have to say we are sorry to the fans and promise it for the sequel.

Pale you win this thread.

[KDR_11k]

I'm calling red herring on your argument there GP, none of the things you listed are relevant to splitscreen multiplayer. Sure, it's work but it's a very small amount of work compared to making a whole game and it would have greatly increased sales through the Wii's "played it at a friend's house" style of game recommendation.

The game needs to come out sometime and split-screen is not super easy to pull off. You need to not only downgrade the visuals but still optimize it to play well with split screen. I'd rather they focus on polishing what they have and give us a very good online mode then worry about split screen where there is a good chance it would rushed and both could turn out unpolished.

It should have been extremely high priority considering how important splitscreen is! Splitscreen isn't so complex that adding it will eat the time they need to make the game good! If they had put it on their priority list at the start (which they would probably have done if they really had thought of it themselves instead of being reminded of it by the screaming fans) they'd have designed the multiplayer levels with the performance of splitscreen in mind.

Online may make it look less archaic but I'm pretty damn sure it would have sold more with splitscreen because multiple users on one console is how most Wiis are operated.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I really don't think you are going to get too many casual gamers to play Conduit, most who are buying it are the type of gamer that WANT to play games online. Conduit is not a party game, it is a shooter where split-screen is rarely used anymore.

[KDR_11k]

That depends on how you define casual. People who are casual from the PC POV (pretty much anyone who'd play an FPS on a console) are definitely going to have friends over and play FPSes with them and they were enough to make Halo a massive success. If you mean the people those casuals call casual, sure, they aren't goign to play FPSes but they aren't relevant here anyway.

[GoldenPhoenix]

That depends on how you define casual. People who are casual from the PC POV (pretty much anyone who'd play an FPS on a console) are definitely going to have friends over and play FPSes with them and they were enough to make Halo a massive success. If you mean the people those casuals call casual, sure, they aren't goign to play FPSes but they aren't relevant here anyway.

Halo 3 is a good example of it not being easy to pull off split-screen, it is pretty bad even for two people (they had to shrink the boarders). Not even sure if the game had deathmatch with splitscreen. Still that was a game made by a huge team with a gigantic budget. If they couldn't even get it right, what chance does HVS have in a limited time on a limited budget?

[Spinnzilla]

I've never had a problem with Halo 3 on split screen.  System link vs. play is quite fun.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I've never had a problem with Halo 3 on split screen.  System link vs. play is quite fun.

I'm talking about the black bars.

[Stogi]

What are you talking about? You can play up to four online! I've played many hours with a buddy multi-team.

[Flames_of_chaos]

W

That depends on how you define casual. People who are casual from the PC POV (pretty much anyone who'd play an FPS on a console) are definitely going to have friends over and play FPSes with them and they were enough to make Halo a massive success. If you mean the people those casuals call casual, sure, they aren't goign to play FPSes but they aren't relevant here anyway.

Halo 3 is a good example of it not being easy to pull off split-screen, it is pretty bad even for two people (they had to shrink the boarders). Not even sure if the game had deathmatch with splitscreen. Still that was a game made by a huge team with a gigantic budget. If they couldn't even get it right, what chance does HVS have in a limited time on a limited budget?

Well Halo 3 also has a native resolution 576p  so I'm not surprised .

[Spinnzilla]

http://gonintendo.com/?p=72277#comments

pretty bad interview.  It's everything we've heard already, but damn...when did Eric start looking so scene/emo?

Also, they picked the absolute worst footage to show for the conduit.  That early "characters models and guns look okay, but everything else is BLEH" footage.