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[ElBoxyBrown]

Overwatch so far has been a huge clutch for me in baiting enemies successfully. I can handle reinforcements as long as I can use overwatch to keep enemies at bay and control the battlefield.

 

[Kenai]

Haven't been able to play this much thanks to a weekend con (just got Tiger Lily) but it's quite fun. Glad I got it.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Honestly I've been using Overwatch less and less as the game goes on.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Honestly I've been using Overwatch less and less as the game goes on.

Are you getting powerful weapons? Better health? etc. that make overwatch less useful?

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Are you getting powerful weapons? Better health? etc. that make overwatch less useful?

Yes. But I think the game's designed that if you like Overwatch, that's a valid strategy...

But personally I've been having fun using all the explosive weapons, and so I usually don't have steam left for Overwatch, or my characters don't have an Overwatch weapon.

I still use it occasionally, but at the beginning of the game it was my main method of killing enemies, now it's usually just a source of bonus damage, or getting rid of weak foes.

 

[Riposte]

Haha, man those fucing worms in the graveyard. They gave me so much trouble during the boss (who summons enemies too). There were just no end to them and they totally slowed me down. Thank god they can't spawn on stairs.

Anyway, I'm seriously getting more and more impressed by this game's maps.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Haha, man those fucing worms in the graveyard. They gave me so much trouble during the boss (who summons enemies too). There were just no end to them and they totally slowed me down. Thank god they can't spawn on stairs.

Anyway, I'm seriously getting more and more impressed by this game's maps.

Did you pay attention to the ground? They only spawn on the patches of dirt, they don't spawn on any of the cement tiles either.

The next Mission's maps are personally one of my favorites. You'll get some interesting use out of Scarecrow there.

 

[Riposte]

Did you pay attention to the ground? They only spawn on the patches of dirt, they don't spawn on any of the cement tiles either.

The next Mission's maps are personally one of my favorites. You'll get some interesting use out of Scarecrow there.

The library? Yeah, I'm halfway through it already.

Anyway, it seems like they were coming out of the tiles, i.e., making everywhere outside the stairs dangerous. I guess I may misjudged it though. What a blunder lol.

 

[Spike]

Damn, I've been following the thread and this sounds amazing! Keep the posts coming as I'm living vicariously through all of you!

 

[Alex_Mexico]

I imagine with doing voice acting for a game, the actors got a set amount of money when they finished recording the lines, regardless of how many copies the game does or does not sell...

So, you're really not supporting Adam Baldwin at all when you buy this. This isn't like an Orson Scott Card novel where he more or less gets paid based on copies sold after the money goes through his publisher, Adam is just one of many people involved with this game.

I guess if S.T.E.A.M. does well enough though they might re-hire him for downloadable content, if Henry gets into Smash, etc., but maybe they'll reconsider seeing the stir he's made around the net. Truth be told I think Henry has a good voice, but it's generic enough they could probably get another dude to do it easily.

That is true but the sad thing is that I disapprove Baldwin's involvement so much that I don't want him in a sequel where he might get rehired to voice the same character.

I know my logic isn't 100% sound and is kinda dumb to punish a lot of people for the involvement of one person who got his paycheck already and ran with it but my aversion to anything GG is so strong that I just cannot fathom to play something where Adam's involved in. Especially if he's the main character.

I'll close my opinion with: I mean well for everyone involved with Codename Steam (except Baldwin) and I hope it gets enough sales to warrant a sequel but I hope it is without this person's involvement whatsoever. But for me, right now, I just can't deal with it so Im having nothing to do with it.

 

[TheMoon]

Played through the demo and was already frustrated with the long waits during enemy turns. Why didn't they include a 'press A to fast forward' option like in Fire Emblem? :/

Read OP please

 

[Zing]

I've tested the "press select" thing. It has no effect. I saw several others post their results showing no speedup outside a one second margin of error.

It's like repeatedly pressing an elevator or a crosswalk button... It doesn't do anything but maybe it makes the user feel better.

 

[TheMoon]

I've tested the "press select" thing. It has no effect. I saw several others post their results showing no speedup outside a one second margin of error.

It's like repeatedly pressing an elevator or a crosswalk button... It doesn't do anything but maybe it makes the user feel better.

Did you test the exact same enemy phase? That's what I did (demo only, no improvement).

 

[Zing]

Yes, but with the retail physical copy.

I honestly think the game's code is handling it as fast as it can. Don't look for an update to change things. I feel it is fine the way it is.

 

[TheMoon]

Yes, but with the retail physical copy.

I honestly think the game's code is handling it as fast as it can. Don't look for an update to change things. I feel it is fine the way it is.

I will probably take it out of the OP again. Funny because we went through the same cycle with the demo.

 

[K-A-Deman]

Still don't have a full copy of the game, but I've been running tests on the demo to figure out how adaptive the AI is. As far as I can tell, the AI is perfectly capable of ignoring an obvious trap (half wounded bait) in favor of attacking the ambushers. And it can make this realization in the middle of its turn; I've noticed enemy units that move but not attack before switching to another unit, only to attack after they've discovered targets.

Of course, I don't know how it's working in the game proper, but It's interesting so far.

 

[Zonic]

FINALLY, found that 3rd gear in Mission 5-3. Was in an area I didn't really check before. Least there was no enemies that kept reappearing.

Is it worth putting the Medi Pack on the characters that can equip them? Seems they auto heal, but their attack goes down.

Speaking of boilers, kind of cool how they'll keep what you equipped on them in cutscenes.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Still don't have a full copy of the game, but I've been running tests on the demo to figure out how adaptive the AI is. As far as I can tell, the AI is perfectly capable of ignoring an obvious trap (half wounded bait) in favor of attacking the ambushers. And it can make this realization in the middle of its turn; I've noticed enemy units that move but not attack before switching to another unit, only to attack after they've discovered targets.

Of course, I don't know how it's working in the game proper, but It's interesting so far.

The A.I. is different for each enemy-type, and I've yet to figure out how they all work...sometimes they seem really smart (too smart!), other times they seem to be a bit dumb and miss an obvious character. But I'm sort of impressed with the A.I. and it feels challenging without being totally unfair, usually. The worse offender are the supposedly blind aliens which seem to hit you like three times when you're near them, I've yet to figure out how exactly they respond to sound as the game claims.

There's actually a character you get later whose whole shtick is laying bait for the enemies, though.

 

[cooljeanius]

Oh man, Mission 12-1... Let me just start off by saying, fuck Stealth Prowlers. The little assholes are not only invisible, but also don't trigger Overwatch attacks. Plus they're tougher than regular Prowlers... they somehow have enough of the Alien equivalent of steam that they can manage 2 attacks per turn and still have enough points left to be able to pull off 2 Overwatch on your turn... And plus their attacks have knockback, unlike the regular Prowlers, which can make it impossible to get to certain spots they're guarding! I only just barely completed that mission, largely thanks to some legendary trooping by Califia, and a lucky discovery of a giant cache of medals near a save point... Luckily the Stealth Prowlers get relatively easier to deal with in later levels, where they can't surround you and flank you as easily... Anyways, I'm up to Mission 15 now, which looks like it's going to be the final one, so I'm going to take a break before taking it on...

 

[cooljeanius]

(sorry for the double post, but I didn't see this one before...)

The A.I. is different for each enemy-type, and I've yet to figure out how they all work...sometimes they seem really smart (too smart!), other times they seem to be a bit dumb and miss an obvious character. But I'm sort of impressed with the A.I. and it feels challenging without being totally unfair, usually. The worse offender are the supposedly blind aliens which seem to hit you like three times when you're near them, I've yet to figure out how exactly they respond to sound as the game claims.

Yeah, speaking of missing, I once had an A.I. Grenade Prowler take the same shot at me 3 times in a row and miss all 3 times... You'd think there'd be some code like:

if (previous_shot == missed) {
  readjust_aim();
}

but apparently not... Anyways, that's the only instance of the A.I. being dumb that I've come across so far in my playthrough; otherwise it's been pretty decent!

 

[Riposte]

Scarecrow plus Scout Boiler seems OP.

Tom with Scout and Bomber Thrower (or w/e) is amazing for picking up things. I may have accidentally rushed through a map this way lol.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Speaking of boilers, kind of cool how they'll keep what you equipped on them in cutscenes.

I noticed that too, nice touch. I'm interested in how they did the cutscenes since that shows they aren't simply "drawn", but use the in-game models to do so. The game is honestly pretty graphically impressive once you get past the mixed art-style, the levels have a lot of neat little detail to them too. Can't believe people are calling this shovelware and saying it belonged on the ESHOP only. >.>

Hope we get an Iwata Asks for this. :<

 

[WatTsu]

OK, loving this game but 4-2 has me stymied.

Spoiler

I've found 4 of the frozen victims, and I've scoured the map but I can't find the last two. What am I missing? There are no walkthroughs as far as I can see.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TDLink]

OK, loving this game but 4-2 has me stymied.

Spoiler

I've found 4 of the frozen victims, and I've scoured the map but I can't find the last two. What am I missing? There are no walkthroughs as far as I can see.

Any help would be appreciated.

Check behind the buildings in the corners of the map.

 

[cooljeanius]

Check behind the buildings in the corners of the map.

I found those my first time, but the one I was missing was actually

Spoiler

surrounded by crates by one of the save points

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

4-2's definitely one of the more frustrating missions, I barely won before I stumbled upon the last hostage...

Thankfully, I've yet to do another Mission like that.

 

[Velcro Fly]

Is there a list out there of all the boilers and what they do? Only up to 24 gears so far so I've only unlocked a couple

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

MONUMENT VALLEY. 0.o

Damn, I've hit "a wall". Been at it for an hour, wasted too checkpoints, and haven't even defeated the first Boss of it. I'm at the slope, and he keeps sending out those exploding dudes at me---at first I was using the Pumpkin Bombs to block the way, and that worked for a bit, but then they climbed over the sides. Any recommendations for that level in terms of team? I was using Fox, Califia, and Scarecrow---maybe I need to just go full power and use Queequeg and Lion there for their bonuses.

The character you get in that level has a very unique gimmick though that really changes up things, and I love the theme they went with them as well.

 

[RagnarokX]

I wonder what the point of these signs in every level is. Odd referencing Centralia...

 

[Taser9090]

Where do you see those signs? I've never noticed any other signs that can be checked.

Also, how is Carter's bait weapon used? I'm just flinging them around everywhere and I got him killed.

Edit: I'm not spoiling myself on who the player units are, so I'll ask if there are only agents from American literature. I think it would be cool if there were reps from English literature like Shakespeare (and I'll be damned if such character spoke in Shakespearean)

 

[Zing]

There are so many signs around. I rarely have had a moment to breathe and read them due to running or attacking.

 

[L95]

I miss the signs pretty often, but they're just on walls in a lot of levels.

 

[cooljeanius]

MONUMENT VALLEY. 0.o

Damn, I've hit "a wall". Been at it for an hour, wasted too checkpoints, and haven't even defeated the first Boss of it. I'm at the slope, and he keeps sending out those exploding dudes at me---at first I was using the Pumpkin Bombs to block the way, and that worked for a bit, but then they climbed over the sides. Any recommendations for that level in terms of team? I was using Fox, Califia, and Scarecrow---maybe I need to just go full power and use Queequeg and Lion there for their bonuses.

The character you get in that level has a very unique gimmick though that really changes up things, and I love the theme they went with them as well.

You'll want at least one character with some sort of mobility, to take advantage of all the verticality. I did it with the default team, except I took out Randolph Carter and replaced him with Lion (so in other words, it was Lion + Califia + Tiger Lily + newcomer)

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I beat it with help from another site...

Tom is the V.I.P. there. Have him climb around the top while using Fox and Califia to clear the exploding dudes, his punch gun can wreck the Boss.

Now I got to figure out 12-1...hmm...

 

[Riposte]

I beat it with help from another site...

Tom is the V.I.P. there. Have him climb around the top while using Fox and Califia to clear the exploding dudes, his punch gun can wreck the Boss.

Now I got to figure out 12-1...hmm...

You can break Monument Valley fairly easily I found out:

Spoiler

I discovered a hard limit on the number of possible enemies alive at any time. So using Lure, you can just maintain a giant horde(15?) of little guys, leaving the queens completely defenseless (no striges, no worms). Sometimes they randomly explode (and then explode a bunch of others), so it doesn't last forever, but can be enough to kill a queen and get the gears.

I've been using the "default" team for almost every mission now. Helps me get a clue on what they want me to do. It also means I have to get out of any comfort zones.

12-1 was a doozy. Really frustrating. I liked it though, just took a lot of lengthy tries because the final part gets quite hectic. One major adaptation I had to make was

Spoiler

keeping the eyeball in mind with every move (have safe, available cover or moving distance. At first it's like every other turn then it becomes every turn. And god forbid those invisible dudes launch you back into sight

. I might be crazy but I enemies there were more reactive with overwatch, maybe the geometry of corners is a little off.

Anyway, I guess I'm pretty hooked on this game at this point. Maybe I'm in the honeymoon phase, but I this has greatly surpassed my expectations. I don't think there is a single boring map (although frustrating is another thing). One downside is that it's so time consuming. For exsmple: Aiming very important shots are really tense ordeals, especially on moving targets. Not to say this is a flaw, but with retries, this game has eaten up so much time (and it's hard to put down, I suspect they even designed the menus to do this).

It might be mostly my fault though, since I don't use checkpoints and tend to restart a lot if I get the feeling I could do it bettet. Never miss the gears, and try to get time and full squad bonuses. Perhaps the game would be too easy to cheese otherwise?

EDIT: Well there are probably a few slighty boring maps, like 14 being a more linear and easier retread of a better map.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Yeah, I've got 20 hours on this already and haven't touched Monster Hunter since I got it...

Everything comes together surprisingly well. Love the characters when you get the cutscenes where they all come together and fight, really like how unlike Fire Emblem, everyone contributes after joining.

 

[lt519]

Just picked it up last night, should be installed when I get home. My only concern is finding enough time to dedicate to playing it.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

12-1 was a doozy. Really frustrating.

Who did you use?

Spoiler

Even though I just got Dorothy, I tested her out and...well, I don't get Toto gun, it's got terrible range.

I'm thinking of going with Califia, Queequeg, Lion, and Scarecrow. Give the three big guys the HP Regen Tank so they can just brute force the artillery fire, Califia will get the Medi-Carbine to heal and attack enemies from afar, Queequeg and Lion's skills will help and have them provide support with the Shuriken and Shot Gun, and Scarecrow stunning foes and sniping them with the Crossbow. Judging by the layout, it seems Scarecrow might be useful to block enemies coming at me like I did in the second Library level.

Just picked it up last night, should be installed when I get home. My only concern is finding enough time to dedicate to playing it.

It's addictive.

Last night, I stopped at 12:00 because I had other things to do, and was getting frustrated with a level...thirty-minutes later, I just couldn't leave myself stuck at a level so asked for some advice on another site, and spent the next three hours beating it and then the next mission.

 

[Formless]

Is the Phoenix Rifle aka the Chicken Gun supposed to be some sort of gag weapon?

I've used it on tiger lily and it's not terribly helpful outside of trying to snipe for those drones at steamgate bridge, key word being "try".

Probably, but I found it to be useful just for pushing enemies out of the way.

 

[Riposte]

Who did you use?

Spoiler

Even though I just got Dorothy, I tested her out and...well, I don't get Toto gun, it's got terrible range.

I'm thinking of going with Califia, Queequeg, Lion, and Scarecrow. Give the three big guys the HP Regen Tank so they can just brute force the artillery fire, Califia will get the Medi-Carbine to heal and attack enemies from afar, Queequeg and Lion's skills will help and have them provide support with the Shuriken and Shot Gun, and Scarecrow stunning foes and sniping them with the Crossbow. Judging by the layout, it seems Scarecrow might be useful to block enemies coming at me like I did in the second Library level.

Well, I used the default characters they give you for the mission (I might be a little iffy on the equipment choices, was awhile go):

Spoiler

Califa(Shotgun/Scarab), John(Musket/Scarab), Queequeg(Medi, Medi), Dorothy(Xbow, Ninja) - and for what is matters, I swapped positions for John and Califa.

The strategy you describe sounds very different from how played it. I basically tried to play as efficient as possible, almost to the point of relying on stealth and baiting. This was very necessary, because I broke the group up into two and explored both sides of the map. I'll try not to ramble on, but:

Spoiler

For Dor/Que, I had Dor tank strige's shots and get healed by the carbine (also cancels stun). Que would use his penguin to blow up boxes and "open up" the invisible dudes, and Dor with the xbow+ninja+spirit just annihilated everything's weak points. In fact, there's a perfect set up (for the second turn), where Dor, after getting hit by a strige, will be just near enough to lure the invisible dude down the hall. This makes it trivial to take care of both. After that, I just made a sharp left turn (likely escaping an eye or two) to reacg the artillery (killing whatever was on the way), which Dor can easily kill the first of which by hiding behind a lamppost. The second one is a lot trickier, which make me rely more on Cali, even though that killed my time bonus (made the whole thing a lot more stressful). As for getting Cali/John to the artillery, I just played it very slowly. I even wasted a turn (well, I built up steam) so I wouldn't be sandwiched between an eye and a enemy camping tightly around the corner - made for very painful lessons. After you solve a few awkward corners and get everyone near the main target the issue becomes reinforcements jumping down from the roofs, who love to ruin your day by knocking you into the eye's range

And you are right, I've found it very addictive. Thank god it came out after midterms. I'm in the same boat with Monster Hunter also; I need to finish this game (and then do a lot of leisure multiplayer) or my friends who play MH will get mad at me for not catching up lol.

...oh shit, my first time looking at the options for replaying a mission (other than the mech fights, I redid those since I sucked at them the first time). I had no idea you could mod missions to make them harder! Some of these sound like too much lol.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

12-1 was actually pretty easy with that set-up I used...

Spoiler

Okay, the hardest part is the beginning...I had to carefully take out the two invisible Prowlers, and I used Lion to keep the eyes occupied, and healed him with Califa between turns.

I used Lion as bait for awhile, as I moved down the left hallway, and had Scarecrow's pumpkins block the path so Prowlers wouldn't sneak up on me.

You can basically disable the eyes by sacrificing one character around the part near the second checkpoint and gear, there's an overhead roof like two spaces long that will protect a character from the artillery, so I left Lion there once the two eyes locked on him while he was under it, and they served no problem at all since they kept sending artillery into the roof.

Califa got on the roof where the Gear is, and slowly killed the first Boss by firing from behind. Simple. Meanwhile, Scarecrow and Queequeg made their way down the left hallway clearing enemies and so I had a nice view of the second Boss' backside.I moved Califa to Queequeg to hold off foes, and then Scarecrow ran to the other side to quickly grab the gears in the middle---with the steam tanks around, he grabbed both in one turn.

Califa was firing at the second Boss, when I noticed some Prowlers spawning on the nearby roof, so I just said fuck-it and ran at the boss with Queequeg, shot him with the Shuriken, and then used his Skill to kill it...I honestly keep forgetting about the skills, haha.

Getting to the exit was pretty tough since there are a ton of enemies there, but Queequeg was strong enough to take a bunch of hits, so I ran right into enemy territory, and the enemies hit him like tons of times, but he survived and they pushed him right next to the door. I was able to win the next turn easily. Lion, now free from the eyes, was on stand-by near an unused checkpoint (I didn't use any this time!) in case things went south and I need to heal everyone.

Now 12-2 is sort of intimidating to me when I started---although it looks like it'll be easy if I just go with the dudes who can attack from far-away, while I picked all the close-range characters the first time.

Spoiler

Califa, Fox, Queequeg, and then Scarecrow for scouting and keeping the foes at bay seems like a good strategy.

And you are right, I've found it very addictive. Thank god it came out after midterms. I'm in the same boat with Monster Hunter also; I need to finish this game (and then do a lot of leisure multiplayer) or my friends who play MH will get mad at me for not catching up lol.

I haven't touched Monster Hunter since I got this, and like you I feel guilty haha. Although I imagine in the long-run S.T.E.A.M. will be a beat it, love it, talk about it, but probably won't play it again, while Monster Hunter has more legs.

 

[Riposte]

Spoiler

Fox

slaughters queens if you stack the right bonuses. It's a really easy mission once you get rid of them.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Spoiler

Fox

slaughters queens if you stack the right bonuses. It's a really easy mission once you get rid of them.

Spoiler

Should I use Randolph then to take advantage of his Crit Hit+ bonus?

 

[Taser9090]

What novel is The Fox from? Google isn't really helping me out here

 

[Hyperfludd]

Correct me if I'm wrong - When an alien has a question mark over their head, does that mean they are in overwatch? Trying to see what tells that.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

What novel is The Fox from? Google isn't really helping me out here

She's a gender-swapped Zorro.

I imagine they wanted to use Zorro, who is technically public-domain, yet there have been issues in the past with groups being very litigious and trying to change that, so they went with a stand-in. I've heard she's one of his grandchildren from the books, but I'm not sure if she's based on any specific character.

 

[Vena]

What novel is The Fox from? Google isn't really helping me out here

The Fox = Zorro. (Its Barbara Meredith, if it is going to be in the lineage of Don Diego.)

Correct me if I'm wrong - When an alien has a question mark over their head, does that mean they are in overwatch? Trying to see what tells that.

No, that means they don't know if you're there or not but only after they've spotted you to begin with.

 

[Riposte]

I do believe I'm on the final mission (final ground one anyway). Is this the point where reviewers rage quit? Looking forward to it.

Spoiler

Should I use Randolph then to take advantage of his Crit Hit+ bonus?

Yeah. Also his lure shuts down the offense of their minions pretty dominantly, as I was describing before. It's quite the power combo.

Warrior's Spirit + Arcane Lore + Ninja Boiler is pretty sick.


I saw this image from 4chan, probably bullshit, but I thought it was interesting enough (since you were talking about Zoro):

EDIT: Also this thread seems really quiet outside some familiars. I'm guessing this is one of those games GAF passes over almost entirely. Maybe some LTTPs in the future? lol

 

[K-A-Deman]

I do believe I'm on the final mission (final ground one anyway). Is this the point where reviewers rage quit? Looking forward to it.



Yeah. Also his lure shuts down the offense of their minions pretty dominantly, as I was describing before. It's quite the power combo.

Warrior's Spirit + Arcane Lore + Ninja Boiler is pretty sick.


I saw this image from 4chan, probably bullshit, but I thought it was interesting enough (since you were talking about Zoro):

I'll take that Info with a grain of salt, but if true, I can get behind just about all of that. I'm sad we didn't get a chance to see S.T.E.A.M. Mario Bros; if Platinum could do it with one of their big stars and three Starlets, you'd think a first party studio could have the same luxury. Here's hoping for a change in the future...

Spoiler

could you imagine Charles Martinet delivering full lines with Mario and Luigi's voice about finding aliens or their Special quips? We've been robbed of a glorious moment...

Here's my question regarding enemy turns (still just running with the Demo here...); can you get some kind of indicatiors of what's happening that you can't see, like unique sounds betraying what kind of aliens are out there, or something to that effect?

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Mission 13-1 is making me nervous...

Spoiler

Timed, like the hostage mission which I found extremely difficulty but with enemies that I bet probably run from you, etc. It'd be easy if you could just snipe them, but I guess hitting them will fuck you up.

Guess it's time to get all my Scouts together and run circles around the foes.

And I saw that image too, and that got me to look up about the copyright history with Zorro and he was right. People who have used him in the past and come under fire by big companies wanting to own him.

I also wonder if Huck Finn could've been held back due to how (unfairly?) controversial his novel is considered in some circles. It does seem odd we have Tom, but not his buddy here.