• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Code Name S.T.E.A.M. |OT| They made Lincoln Force! Or: "Welcome to Earth!"

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
One annoyance I have is you can't select a map to replay without doing the whole Mission, so if you miss one Gear you have to go through the entire Mission to get it.

Although on the second time around it's a lot easier when you know what's coming, the respawn points, have better equipment, etc. And so far that Gear, last one of the 3rd map of Mission 1, was the only one I missed because I was getting killed by the recruitments.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Ugh, yeah, that's why I'm waiting for someone to help with with the 3rd gear on the 3rd map of Mission 5. I REALLY don't feel like replaying through the entire mission again when I'm just about done with the objective.

At the very least, once you pick it up, it stays picked up if you restart the mission or something. I don't THINK you have to fully complete it, but I'm not too sure. I just know when I restarted a map on one mission, it kept the gear I collected earlier.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
One annoyance I have is you can't select a map to replay without doing the whole Mission, so if you miss one Gear you have to go through the entire Mission to get it.

Although on the second time around it's a lot easier when you know what's coming, the respawn points, have better equipment, etc. And so far that Gear, last one of the 3rd map of Mission 1, was the only one I missed because I was getting killed by the recruitments.

I got greedy just now at the end of that mission and tried to break the gold crate opposite that last gear and almost paid for it by losing my 100% alive squad.

Will definitely come back once my team is better.

Felt kinda cheap transferring over like 3,000 gold but I couldn't really choose weapons anyway.
 

Vena

Member
Ike flanked by a med-gun Flynn is broken as sin against melee heavy groups. I just wish you could customize Ike's backpack/cape. :p
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Ugh, yeah, that's why I'm waiting for someone to help with with the 3rd gear on the 3rd map of Mission 5. I REALLY don't feel like replaying through the entire mission again when I'm just about done with the objective.

At the very least, once you pick it up, it stays picked up if you restart the mission or something. I don't THINK you have to fully complete it, but I'm not too sure. I just know when I restarted a map on one mission, it kept the gear I collected earlier.

Oh, I wonder if you can just pick up a gear in a replayed mission and just go back to the Liberty and still have it?
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Does demo data carry over into the full game?
It'll carry over the medals you earned in the demo. I think you'll still have to start from the beginning though.

Speaking of which, I think the game didn't realize I played the demo. Probably should redownload the demo...
 

Zing

Banned
Can anyone confirm how many save slots there are in the retail game? The demo only has one.

Edit: I found a YouTube video that appears to show multiple campaign save slots.
 

FlyinJ

Douchebag. Yes, me.
How do I kill those
flying insect things that stun you
in the beginning of mission 4?

Also, how can I tell what different boilers do?
 

Vena

Member
How do I kill those
flying insect things that stun you
in the beginning of mission 4?

Also, how can I tell what different boilers do?

Ike can kill them with Ragnel from anywhere, otherwise use the Shuriken sub-weapon to wipe them out as it won't miss.

Touch the boiler during the deployment and select "unit/team" on the touch screen. It will tell you what the boilers do, and the subweapons.
 

Coketruck

Member
Ike can kill them with Ragnel from anywhere, otherwise use the Shuriken sub-weapon to wipe them out as it won't miss.

No, the shuriken weapon can DEFINITELY miss. I tried using that weapon (as Lion) to kill one at point blank range, and it took at least five shots.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
John Henry is a fucking beast

It's especially apparent when enemies bunch up nicely so I can hit multiple with his Bear Grenade.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
How do I kill those
flying insect things that stun you
in the beginning of mission 4?

Also, how can I tell what different boilers do?

They go for whoever is higher up it seems, so use someone like Lion who can take a hit to bait them.

The person you should use to take them out is Tom...he's fast enough he can easily get up under them, and his Punch Gun has a bigger hit-box it seems, plus can be fired multiple times with ease. You should be able to take them out after a few tries. Also, the Buckshot weapon I've heard is good against them as it fires in spreads.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
Just finished mission #2.

Love this game.

There is a lot to digest in terms of gameplay, but I feel like the game does a good job of letting you learn it bit by bit. The first couple missions were slow and sometimes I just wanted to get going with my team of four and all the fun stuff but I can totally see why they'd take it slow.

This is honestly the first game in a while I've actually cared how it does sales wise. Kinda don't want this to be a one off and that's it. I'd love it if this became a series and we'd get another game like this in the future. There are definitely improvements that can be made. I feel like explicitly stating that your attacks are a damage range and that you might do less damage than what the game shows would be a good thing instead of just best case scenario here is the damage you do.

Also having an overhead map would totally ruin large parts of the game for me personally. The whole not knowing what is around the bend and having to sort of work the camera a little bit to get a better idea is a fun challenge. Having an overhead map like you have some deity planning your strategy would ruin a bit of the challenge.
 

Zing

Banned
I missed one gear on mission 1-1. I replay it, grab the gear, and quit the mission. Didn't update showing that I had collected the gear. Fine, I'll finish that map and save, then quit the mission. Nope, still didn't show that I had collected it. I have to replay the entire three maps?

This is just the demo, and I was assuming that there is a special congrats screen or possibly a retail reward for collecting all the gears in the demo. Anyone know if this is the case?

What is the retail unlocked weapon from the demo (and why isn't this info in the OP)?
 

Riposte

Member
How do I kill those
flying insect things that stun you
in the beginning of mission 4?

Also, how can I tell what different boilers do?

They say those are the most annoying enemies in the game, and boy do they live up to the hype (or anti-hype?).

Three strategies for approach:

-The first and most obvious is to just tank the hit with character and take it out with another. "Nettlers" never shoot more than once a turn, although sometimes they may have enough to shoot during both turns of a round (not always though). Now, that's cool and all, but often that means losing out on recovery steam (at least with the first nettler). So what you can do is use a healing carbine(?) to wake them up. If you are feeling a little daring, you can also just flat out shoot them out of it, which has the added benefit of knocking them forward (Tom's punch doesn't seem to work for some reason though). I never tried Henry's ability, but that may work. You only really need to do this once, with the first nettler, meaning you don't have to dedicate three people to one side (I preferred to go 2 straight and 2 right).

-Rattle Can basically makes them ignore you out right. This is a pretty useful item I could see myself using more in the future. Three steam for no kills/damage means this is kind of expensive though. (For example, most characters won't be able to reach the "tip" to restore their steam during their second turn after using this. Well that's assuming you give Tom the steam pick to kill both the nettler and the tentacle-elephant thing, maybe that wasn't the right call).

-This is very risky and I've never gotten it to be consistent, but you can bait the attack so that the nettler shoots you while are moving into cover. The camera will be mostly blocked by the wall or w/e, and the shot will literally just hit the cover in front of you.

As for actually shooting it, there's no perfectly straightforward way of doing it. It comes down to very careful positioning (you want it so that you crosshair stays active for at least half a second, rather than flicker in and out) and then timing (you don't want to shoot based on reaction, rather know when the crosshair is going to be active, then fire). It can still be a bit of a crap-shoot, which is why you'll want to use Tom (I've also used the 2-steam cost guns). At the very least, it was very good training for the game's aiming mechanics lol.

I ended up playing that map... A LOT. I don't even want to consider how much of my playtime was dedicated to it. In the process, I got to fully explore the layout and it continues to be very impressive.
You can use Lion to jump behind the area with the frozen civilian and gear to the right of the starting goal if you destroy the golden box; this allows you to cleanly circumvent the nettler patrolling the right side of the map, who can be an issue if you take upper level.
Also
there's a chandelier to help clean up that room in the middle, which can pretty rough to approach.

I too would like to know more about boilers, particularly the rocket pack one.
 
I like the gameplay, love the aesthetic but I hate the wait of enemy turn process and having the camera fixed on your character, vaguely pointed in the direction of visible enemies. I think if it was handled more like Xcom: Enemy Unknown/Within I'd have less issue with the turn processing. Focus an overhead camera on visible enemies and then vaguely hint at where the other non-visible enemies are on the map but part of the problem is there's no fog of war in this game and this is their solution.
 

Zing

Banned
Because nobody mentioned what it is :)
Actually, reading the words from Nintendo carefully, it seems there is no specific weapon. It simply carries over your medals which in turn unlock weapons. They are simply saying that any weapons unlocked (due to medal count) will be unlocked in the retail game.

Anyone with different first-hand experience is free to correct me.
 

Riposte

Member
So I've done four matches online (lost the first two, namely because I was kind of clueless, then one the second two, against the same guy). I think it has a lot of potential. Two negative points though:

-You can in fact use amiibo online. This means there are four characters (perhaps a 5th or 6th of the roster) that is locked away behind some very expensive and inaccessible "physical DLC". I fought against a Marth and a Ike on one team. Not sure what this will mean in the long run (balance), but it's not a good thing, at best.

-It's pretty much required to do the campaign first. Your reward for winning (and coins per kill) is paltry compared to what doing missions will get you and you still won't have characters to play with. This isn't that big of a problem, but it means that the multiplayer is primarily a post-game activity, or at the very least, only really desirable a few missions in. Doing multiplayer does get you coins for campaign use, which may be a good or bad thing depending how you look at it.

Anyway, there's a decent number of maps to play on (I've only played on the first one, so far). The limited perspective really shines in this mode I think, the whole TPS style really starts to make sense. Aside from having a lot of fun with it, I can't make any conclusive statements on it (and have become a little tired of typing lol). I could see myself getting really addicted to it. I think finding matches will be tough in the future though. I also have a feeling there will become really overpowered shit in the game, it seems pretty unavoidable (hopefully its fun overpowered shit).

Actually, reading the words from Nintendo carefully, it seems there is no specific weapon. It simply carries over your medals which in turn unlock weapons. They are simply saying that any weapons unlocked (due to medal count) will be unlocked in the retail game.

Anyone with different first-hand experience is free to correct me.

I'm fairly certain Phoenix Rifle is the exclusive demo reward. Its placement in the sub-weapon list (at the very end) certainly makes it look like it. It's not a very useful weapon, especially compared to Tom's unique one (although I did use it against the explosive enemies until I got him).
 

Vena

Member
-You can in fact use amiibo online. This means there are four characters (perhaps a 5th or 6th of the roster) that is locked away behind some very expensive and inaccessible "physical DLC". I fought against a Marth and a Ike on one team. Not sure what this will mean in the long run (balance), but it's not a good thing, at best.

They lose their worth over time due to the fact that they lose out on the upgrades and expansions, and their default stuff is good for start of game but gets worse with time as you can't change any of it.
 

Riposte

Member
They lose their worth over time due to the fact that they lose out on the upgrades and expansions, and their default stuff is good for start of game but gets worse with time as you can't change any of it.

As far as I can tell upgrades (more like unlocks) are mainly horizontal in growth.

Which is a good thing.

EDIT: I really like the "quiet" music in this game, kind of wish I wasn't always in the middle of fighting an enemy (not that the intense music is bad).
 

Vena

Member
As far as I can tell upgrades (more like unlocks) are mainly horizontal in growth.

Which is a good thing.

EDIT: I really like the "quiet" music in this game, kind of wish I wasn't always in the middle of fighting an enemy (not that the intense music is bad).

They are almost entirely horizontal (some subs are strictly better than others, though) but the FE characters just don't have any sort of customization so you can't adjust the gear for their weaknesses. For example, though, Ike's "steam generator" does nothing special at all, so he losses out on the ability to be given the better generators you unlock like the MediPack, the Generator Pack, and other really good ones.
 

Briarios

Member
I got the game today as an early b-day present from my step-daughter, but the Amiibo thing is making me wait to play it lol I want to have Lucina available ... and I'm hoping my Ike will show up.

I wonder if Nintendo realizes the effect of advertising the interplay between them, then not having the product available is really detrimental ... I bet there are at least a few people that decided not to even buy the game until they get the Fire Emblem Amiibos.
 

Regiruler

Member
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".
 

backlot

Member
I unlocked a jetpack looking boiler that said it gave a boost to jumping. Is there a way to make your characters jump in this game? I'm not sure what this boiler does.
 

Regiruler

Member
I unlocked a jetpack looking boiler that said it gave a boost to jumping. Is there a way to make your characters jump in this game? I'm not sure what this boiler does.

I don't think it actually does anything to jump. However if you notice it does have other bonuses.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Just got Scarecrow and I'm like...

XZNQ4UK.gif


Seriously, his Pumpkin Bombs are so exploitable. Use them to block off an enemy path, it stuns them, then use Queequeg's Penguins or John's Grenades to blow them back, rinse and repeat. He's got a ton of Steam...very weak, so I throw the Medi-Gun on him and use him to heal and stun the foes.

And Randolph Carter is like literally Rusty Venture, great choice for his voice there. By the way, the mission you get him by rescuing him---DON'T TOUCH HIM before you walk past him and grab the Gear, or the Mission ends. I was pissed.

Plus when you get him, he adds extra entries to the Bestiary for each enemy you encounter with a ton of references to the Cthulu lore. It's great. Game really picks up around that point I think in both gameplay and plot, I'm having a blast so far.

Seriously think this game might be a second Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS. Some will instantly be put off due to a game-breaking mechanic, but others will absolutely adore it.
 

JCX

Member
I just finished 2 earlier today. Love the feeling of "should I just hit the goal or stall for the last gear?"
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Anyone past Mission 5 & got all the gears in 5-3? Still need help finding the last gear & would appreciate the help.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
I love in one of the missions those eye things.

I either have to just not move or take massive damage to proceed with the level.

One of the few really frustrating things I've come across in almost 5 hours of play =/

Thing hasn't moved in four turns now. I'm thinking of just taking the 60-70 damage just so I can continue on with the level

Nevermind.
I guess I'm ok if I'm underneath something
. A tip that I was too pinned down to get to told me so =/

Also when you sit idle the quips your teammates say are kinda funny.
 

Regiruler

Member
I love in one of the missions those eye things.

I either have to just not move or take massive damage to proceed with the level.

One of the few really frustrating things I've come across in almost 5 hours of play =/
Get out of it's sight and it will disappear at the end of the opponent's turn.

Also, if you can find any cover above you, it won't stop the eye but it will block the artillery. This is more relevant whwn you fight the cannon itself.
His "bounce attack" isn't really for attacking, but rather it's more for mobility and getting those inaccessible gears.
Sort of. The draw with lion is that you don't have to trade off mobility when you attack, unlike every other character.

And it's not like the crossbow is lion only.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Give Lion the shotgun I've heard, or Shuriken.

Tom or Scarecrow with the Crossbow is great, though, as they can move around easily to hit weakpoints, or stun the foe first. Scarecrow with Pumpkin Bombs to stun the foes, and then next turn sniping them with the Crossbow is soooooooooooooo good.

Anyway, thoughts on who I just got...

Randolph...is alright. His "Lure" which draws the enemies closer is good when combined with the Pumpkin Bombs, but on his own I dunno if I'll keep him much. I just gave him the Medicine Gun, so he lacked any attack, but provided good support. I've heard a good strategy is to use the Lure in conjunction with the gun that stuns multiple foes.

Fox is fun as fuck in the first mission, and takes care of those flying foes with ease. Her whole introduction mission is really neat, and fun fighting the boss of it. Not sure how useful she'll be in the long run when there aren't foes that the others can't reach.

Now I'm a bit overwhelmed deciding who to use, haha. Except for Henry (who doesn't really do anything special), I'm loving the whole cast so far.
 
This might've been asked already, apologies if it has, but does this game have any multi-language options? I want to get it on my JP 3ds if its got English options
 

Velcro Fly

Member
About to give up for the night on the second map of mission 3. I either get bogged down by those eye things and there's nowhere left to line of sight them so I'm going to take a ton of damage if I'm out in the open. I thought I had found a way to sneak behind from the inside but it doesn't look like I can do that. Ugh.
 

Macka

Member
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? :/
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
This might've been asked already, apologies if it has, but does this game have any multi-language options? I want to get it on my JP 3ds if its got English options

The Japanese version has english voice-acting, at the very least, but I assume the text is in Japanese.

There's no option to change the text though in the US version

About to give up for the night on the second map of mission 3. I either get bogged down by those eye things and there's nowhere left to line of sight them so I'm going to take a ton of damage if I'm out in the open. I thought I had found a way to sneak behind from the inside but it doesn't look like I can do that. Ugh.

That mission is hard, but use those hanging blocks to run under.

Give Lion the HP Boiler, if you have it, which will slowly heal him and increase his defense. Get Tiger Lilly at a good spot to shoot the Medi-Mortar to him, and get him behind the boss and use the Shuriken. Lion can take quite a bit of hits, and if he's behind the Boss and attacking its weak-point, the Boss will hit itself when it fires.

Position John and Henry under the other blocks, and use them to take out the enemies that spawn from the walls.

That mission was one of the hardest as you don't have a lot of options.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
Yeah I found a way to beat the mission but I'm like 100% sure this is not the way I'm supposed to be doing it.

Oh well it's like turn 40 and I'm fucking sick of this map already.

The Japanese version has english voice-acting, at the very least, but I assume the text is in Japanese.

There's no option to change the text though in the US version



That mission is hard, but use those hanging blocks to run under.

Give Lion the HP Boiler, if you have it, which will slowly heal him and increase his defense. Get Tiger Lilly at a good spot to shoot the Medi-Mortar to him, and get him behind the boss and use the Shuriken. Lion can take quite a bit of hits, and if he's behind the Boss and attacking its weak-point, the Boss will hit itself when it fires.

Position John and Henry under the other blocks, and use them to take out the enemies that spawn from the walls.

That mission was one of the hardest as you don't have a lot of options.

Yeah that's what I'm doing. Unfortunately my Lion died but I did have a save point left to revive him. One more good Shuriken should finish it off. I have no way to get Tiger Lilly anywhere close so it's basically the Lion on this last life kills it or I restart. That whole area in front of the boss is nothing but eyes the second anyone jumps down there. It's just endless fighting and being pinned down. So frustrating because I know what I have to do finally but can't because everything is a giant quagmire.

edit: there is a spot you can stand under a roof but still can get 1-2 shuriken to hit the weak spot. Holy shit that was way easier than going right behind it.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Yeah I found a way to beat the mission but I'm like 100% sure this is not the way I'm supposed to be doing it.

Oh well it's like turn 40 and I'm fucking sick of this map already.

The eyes return in a couple of missions, but I found them easier to deal with by then, this is definitely one of the wake-up levels though.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
The eyes return in a couple of missions, but I found them easier to deal with by then, this is definitely one of the wake-up levels though.

Yeah like I said I just couldn't get those things to despawn. I got my group to that second thing being suspended by the crane (the one with a save point underneath) and just couldn't go further because I was going to get pounded by fire from overhead.

If I had it to play again not having to go for the gears would make it easier. Would have been easy to have someone wait at the save point and use that to heal the Lion when he got low on health. If I could have figured out a better way to get a healer in position to keep the Lion alive it would have gone smoother.

Blowing up everything looking for gears is probably also careless and contributed to the 2 hour madness.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
The eyes are tricky, but they seem to stay in one place as long as they're tracking someone. If you can get them to respawn near a roof, leave a character there to bait them, while the others can get to safety.

If they don't have anyone, I believe it's two turns, and they'll spawn usually near you.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
The eyes are tricky, but they seem to stay in one place as long as they're tracking someone. If you can get them to respawn near a roof, leave a character there to bait them, while the others can get to safety.

If they don't have anyone, I believe it's two turns, and they'll spawn usually near you.

Yeah thinking about it now and knowing what to do I would have handled things differently.

And yeah I could have put Tiger Lilly at a point where the Lion could retreat, get healed, and then retrace his steps back and keep attacking. Figuring out you can cheap the boss at the very end was a huge bonehead moment for me.

I'll admit a good portion of my time spent was figuring out the lay of the level. Overhead map would have killed that. It was fun figuring out what to do but my execution after was very poor. Mostly my fault, not the game!
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Luckily, there's only one time I've seen the eyes after that by where I'm at (Mission 9).

Get ready though for an enemy type where you have to pay attention to what's below you as well...hopefully those two don't meet. :0
 
Top Bottom