Prey

@Lava: There's like five different ways to get up to the second floor. The most roundabout involves using mimic matter to turn into a tiny object, going through the window into the skill recording room, and traveling through volunteer testing to reach the second floor.

Yeah, but you unlock that one halfway through the game, while using Gloot gets you up there right off the bat, and opening the Volunteer Quarters requires minimal backtracking.

However, getting to testing and manufacturing from there is considerably harder in the beginning as that Technopath there serves as something of a Beef Gate.

It's easy enough to sneak around it though. Also, psy abilities aren't unlocked halfway through the game, more like a quarter or third of the way in.

I was specifically thinking of ways to get up there right then and there. I saw a Hacking IV door up there, so I got the sense this was somewhere that the game was prepared to assume I might come back later on for.

Incidentally, how feasible is it to continually stealth past Phantoms and the like? I've dodged a few and killed a few others, but I don't know if I should make sure to put a few Neuromods into combat (right now I've just got some extra speed and health).

edited 17th May '17 5:20:56 PM by Lavaeolus

Yes, you have to return there for an optional quest near the end.

Sneaking past Phantoms is kinda nonsensical, since they're easy to take down, but the bigger ones you can and should sneak past unless they're guarding something valuable like a recycler or fabricator. The problem is, there's at least one Technopath and two Telepaths you'll have to take on, Technopath to unlock the main elevator and two Telepaths related to quests in the Crew Quarters. Luckily, you fight the Telepaths from an elevated position (in both cases, you should get up to the cafeteria mezzanine to funnel the mind-controlled crewpeople in the first case, and jump from the gym window to the pool light fixtures in the second). Just be sure to have at least two boxes of shotgun ammo handy, a Nullwave grenade won't hurt either. Also, pack a good few Stungun charges for the cafeteria if you're going nonlethal.

Also, what I failed to figure out: in the Lobby, get the crossbow from HR department and a small physical object to crouch on, then go to the Shuttle Bay entrance and open the security office by shooting the button with the crossbow through the "cashier's window". That should net you a Shotgun (IIRC), which will be indispensable against Phantoms, particularly the Thermal one in Trauma Center (bring the nearby turrets to help as well).

I've progressed a bit more in the game, to the point that I have dealt with the main lift Technopath and dealt with one Telepath who was terrorising the greenhouse. After a bit of figuring, that one went down pretty easy. There were two turrets nearby, I fortified them then I activated the greenhouse's sprinklers — which made the telepath come out of the roof. I did some potshots at the telepath to get its attention and make it walk over to my trap, and then the turrets took care of it by themselves.

All but one of the people there immediately turn unconscious once its down (the other thanks you and gives you a code). In this case, I didn't actually need to walk in and engage them — though I can only imagine what the man thought when he begged me to open the door and suddenly I instead put the sprinklers on.

edited 18th May '17 6:08:29 AM by Lavaeolus

Got the game, I like the level and the gameplay... except for the enemies. Like, the Typhon are astoundingly bad. Visually they are uninteresting and they all look the goddamn same. The AI is awful (The number of times I've seen mimics ignore me and just hump a wall or something). Phantoms are larger ilks are bullet spongey which is about the only quality they do have coz otherwise they are mindless. Getting jumped by mimics just becomes boring and repetitive. The game way overplays them. Something that should be tense and surprising becomes tiresome routine.

Sneaking past phantoms can help you conserve ammo, and on the higher difficulties its kind of important not to waste that shit early on in the game.

What the Typhon are really missing is a volumetric smoke effect like the Taken in Alan Wake, to make'em look less like lumps of burnt plastic.

Or, ya know, interesting design instead of generic "Black goo but now with added static / missing frame-movements"

Generic? Name me one single recent game in the genre that has similar monster design . In fact, I have yet to hear anyone who called the game's look "generic" to suggest anything more creative themselves. The stock neon city and Star Wars aliens from the Prey 2 trailer? They're as well-trodden as they come, just a lot flashier. And that's basically what it boils down to. When people say they want interesting, what they mean is merely "flashy". That's why after all those years synthwave and pseudo-80s neon grids are still selling. The issue with the Typhon is not the concept, it's just execution. Arkane's style will always be undercooked and somewhat sterile, that's simply how they roll. Like it or not, but "generic" is not the term you want to use if you know what it actually means.

edited 18th May '17 2:41:06 PM by TAPETRVE

Yeah, a lot of people say that inky monsters are over used, but haven't really seen case of that outside of mangas

The word "generic" on the internet is pretty much "Something I saw before somewhere/don't like." While I do agree that the Typhons could have used a bit of work on the AI, they were nevre meant to wow you and I don't exactly remember anything similar except the cancelled XCOM shooter. I also kinda like the whole shadowy/inky design, it can be slightly deceptive and keep you on your toes.

Actually, I'm pretty convinced that they are even supposed to directly reference the cancelled X-COM shooter. The whole game is so packed with "Arkane does what Nintendon't... er, Irrational didn't" attitude that anything even remotely looking like it had been recycled from Ken Levine's round files is very likely supposed to.

Umm, I have to say that I don't really see the game being direct take that or something to Bioshock and I think you are kinda having confirmation bias regarding to that. I mean I can see what you mean regarding the opening, but I'm not sure if thats why they did what they did.

Occam's razor. The game is full of references throughout its entire length, some more subtle, some completely in your face ("Bottom of the ocean or something?"). Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Don't forget the Wrench's name and idle animation.

Arkane have a very analytical approach to game design. They rarely do anything simply "because we fucking can"; almost every element in their games has some function and/or explanation to it. Which is also why it feels overly cerebral and undercooked at times. There's a palpable reluctance to simply let loose and do cool shit outside of the side characters and stories.

x3 Or it could be a mimic.

Be careful what you pick up.

That's likely why I quite enjoyed the game, tbh.

Tfw a game you're not even playing scares the shit out of you.

To expand: I'm in my room just chilling and watching a playthrough (of Prey 2017), and something on the other side of the room just fell over for no reason. I almost had a heart attack. Finding the source of the sound didn't make me feel any better, because I have no idea why the object in question fell over.

Same. If it wasn't for the few instances of shitty characters and writing, Ireally wouldn't have much to complain about. Sadly those instances do quite badly fuck up what is otherwise a pleasantly unpretentious affair.

edited 22nd May '17 8:05:34 AM by TAPETRVE

Just finished my second playthrough, this time as dude!Morgan, and installed a lot of Typhon powers.

Playing it again got me thinking about how Arkane designed this game. I think a lot of other devs could benefit from observing how they did the combat here. Combat is hard, and you basically need to come up with a plan for how to deal with any given encounter. Just running in guns blazing won't work, you need a more analytical approach. The combo system works to great effect here- you don't want to just get in the enemy's face and hit them as hard as you can because not only does this expose you to damage- which you need to deal with using limited supplies like health kits, etc- but it also means you do less damage than you could be doing and so you will use more ammo than you need to, ammo which is a limited resource.

There's been a lot of clamour about the game's advertised "play your way" schtick, and I guess to some extent the critics have a point - if you're expecting a one-way street through the game, you're not gonna be happy. This isn't a WRPG where you can play as a deaf Siberian donkey breeder and expect the game to have some contrived solution for every bullshit decision you make. "Play your way" doesn't mean "roleplay" as much as "go with the flow", no matter whether you play more instinctively or analytically. There are plenty of instances in the game where you could e.g. hack your way into a room, but it's much easier to simply take your GLOO gun, climb the next wall, and break into the room from above, so you could argue that would be the obvious thing to do. However, not every player has the spatial awareness to do so. TotalBiscuit for example is blind as a mole when it comes to navigating in virtual spaces. So he'd probably opt for the hacking approach instead. Which kinda makes sense, when you think about it - after all, the game is entirely about you as the player.

edited 22nd May '17 9:12:23 AM by TAPETRVE

I mean, once you get a ton of typhon mods, you can literally just terminator walk your way through the lobby nuking everything in sight. But the buildup to the point where you become a psionic death god is done incredibly well.