SW Force Unleashed 1 & 2 rant

[unqlTango]

As the new SW game is coming, I thought I play something similar and I played both of the above games.

SW: FU

The engine is horrible. The character can stuck in a 3 centimeters high "hill" and runs in place. You can't jump on anything, even if it looks completely reachable place. Except if the designers made that part of the level accessible. Otherwise you slip down at once, or hit invisible walls.

Quick time events is something I will never understand. The game wants to show us some epic action. So it forces us to watch a small segment of the screen to react to the buttons, making us not see the action itself...

I did not like the fixed camera position for the boss fights as well.

The game actually can't be finished with a better PC, because it was optimized for console speed. SPOILER! When I have to pull down the Star Destroyer, it simply can't be done, because by the time I rotate the SD in position, a new Tie squadron arrives, so I have to fight those. There is no green pull down option, so I just have to repeat this section over and over. I got bored with it eventually and googled it. I had to use Nvidia Inspector to decrease the FPS to 30, then I could do the fight w/o problem. Another problem with this fight is the design. If your goal is to plummet an SD into the ground, why the hell do you need to rotate it first? What does it matter how it will fall down???

I was not impressed by the story either. If the rebellion would have had a figurehead like him, who single handedly beat Vader AND the Emperor, maybe they could used him as symbol? Anyway, it was an interesting idea.

There is no mouse cursor in the menu. The tutorials can't follow your button changes. Unprofessional console port.

SW: FU 2

This game has mouse cursor in the menu. However mouse and keyboard stops working at once when you start the game. I had to remove all my USB controllers to make the keyboard and mouse work, but I read that even that not always helps. Another "brilliant" console port.

Kota (an NPC) will not shut up, continuously telling the player what to do. The game thinks all players are mentally challenged, it is extremely annoying. I'd be somewhat okay if the game would help sometimes, but here Kota just keeps yelling at you what to do.

This game has quick time event as well, and it is even worse than the 1st, because the buttons are smaller and they can appear on 4 different positions.

The game tends to CTD. Especially after a mission when a movie would start, so I have to do the last section all over again. Today I got 2 crashes in 5 minutes, so I gave up on this piece of crap.

The way EA handles this franchise is exemplary. That is, how not to do it.

Tango

[ivrognard]

@unqlTango  Star Wars: Force Unleashed series was developed by Aspyr on PC for LucasArts. And it was indeed a letdown after Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. Raven Software did a tremendous job on those two very old SW games, games that even now are regarded as the standard for lightsaber and Force combat. Even better, they have good stories and characters and a real SW feel. So you should try those two oldies. 

To be honest, many of the old SW games are better than new ones. The "why", eludes me. I'd love to see your opinions on JK2: Jedi Outcast and Jedy Academy. The graphics may be ancient, but the combat is really fluid. It was a blast to play them then and still a blast in our days.

[unqlTango]

@ivrognard I played them back then, and I agree that those old games were good. I don't know how much of the goodness comes from fond memories though. I remember playing X-wing and TIE Fighter, I broke at least 2 joysticks. I remember playing Jedi Knight and how awesome was that the lightsaber could be used to light a dark corridor. I remember almost stopping playing KOTOR, because the NPCs said tutorial things like "Press E to open the container!". So yeah, I played a lot of them. My favorite is and probably always will be the Star Wars Galaxies.

I actually started Jedi Academy about a month ago, but it had a soft crash early in the temple. The cut-scene didn't continue, maybe I'd need to start it in compatibility mode or something, I didn't google it back then. I will probably give it another go, I have a long winter holiday coming. I also tried SWFU2 again, but it has a consistent CTD around the end of the rebel ship level. Mind you, I don't have problem how the action goes in SW FU and FU2, it works well enough. It is the issues I listed annoyed me.

BR,

Tango

[ivrognard]

@unqlTango For old games, i prefer to use the GOG store. They are specializing in reviving old games, making them work on modern OS. So that is my to go store for old titles. A lot of big publishers dump their old catalogues there, as they know that those people will work hard to bring back to life those games and making them a cash cow. Indies and AA also like the store as it's relatively well curated. 

Disney has a lot of the SW catalogue there and the community can help if any problem arises. Sadly, other platforms are using the original releases (Steam, Origin) so those are bound to have problems with the most recent OS. 

[unqlTango]

@ivrognard I solved it by installing a mod. Now it looks better (HQ textures), runs in 1080p and has a lot more options, animations, game mechanics, etc.

[DAW085]

I returned force unleashed (xbox 360) to gamestop, it's the only game I ever did that with.

It was because of the invisible barriers. I never liked rail shooters, and Force Unleashed very much wanted you to go in specific directions and to not stray particularly.

I think that's fine for arcade games, but I felt like Force Unleashed should have been more. I guess the Jedi Knight series spoiled me. Dark forces especially felt like you could get out and explore in, something that's been increasingly narrowed. the house to house fighting in the city level was particularly inspired. (even if nowadays the sprites look like cardboard cutouts)

I actually blame EA for it. The first time I remember feeling railroaded was the end mission of Allied Assault. Granted, that was a fun exciting rollercoaster ride, but too many people took note of that design and decided to narrow focus. All you have to do is look at a strategy guide these days. Maps used to be fully interactive zones where you could mess about and just explore the scenery, nowadays the maps just seem like funnels towards the next cutscene.

[ivrognard]

@DAW085 that is also what COD did since its inception. Heavily scripted situations and so on.