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South Park: The Fractured But Whole


DisturbedSwan
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Started this today, put in about 3 hours.

 

It left a hell of a first impression I must say, absolutely loved what I've played so far. 

 

I played 2014's The Stick of Truth and whilst I thought it was very good overall, it lost its way towards the end for me and became incredibly repetitive, leaving a sour taste in my mouth as I limped over the finish line.

 

Being a huge South Park fan and seeing an idea like that executed so well and with all the trademark humour and lore established in the show translated into the game flawlessly was fantastic. Being able to go around South Park and explore every nook and cranny of it, finding chinpokomon and all sorts of mad side quests, it was really cool.

 

But towards the end it became real repetitive and a lot of the reason for that was the combat. It was enjoyable for the most part and quite a bit of fun but towards the end where you're put into challenging fight after challenging fight it felt like a real slog. It just felt too basic for me after x number of hours, it didn't feel as deep or tactical enough as I wanted it to be and just became a chore.

 

Fast forward to 2018 when I finally get round to playing the second South Park game, The Fractured But Whole, and I was somewhat trepidatious as to what to expect. Even though it has been over 3 years since I played the last game the finale left such a sour taste in my mouth that I really didn't know if I was going to enjoy this or not, I thought it would just be more of the same and with Ubi SF taking over development duties I just didn't know whether it would have as much charm and humour as the original game.

 

Thankfully - as mentioned at the introduction, the opening 3 hours of the game I've played today have put all my worries to bed. It has just been an absolute joy to play in every regard, exploring the town again, speaking to all the characters around the town that we know and love.

 

It's just great to be back in South Park again. Probably the best aspect for me though has been the ability to open every door on every house or store and look in a hell of a lot of cupboards for loot, it is just incredibly addicting in a Fallout kind of way, I can't remember an awful lot from the first game apart from the ending, combat and the abortion clinic so I don't remember the first game having this level of loot to find. I remember going to people's housing and exploring the town - looking for chinpokomon especially - but yeah I don't remember there being this level of reward for looking in every draw in a house or store. Another aspect is the little puzzles you come across, some have that metroidvania element to them where you haven't got a certain ability yet so will have to come back later to get to the chest/item just out of reach in a particular locale.

 

That level of exploration, exploring the town and encountering all these little side quests you can pick up like discovering who key'd Randy's car at night or speaking to Morgan Freeman in the Taco stand so he can teach you how to Craft bits and pieces. There's a ton of collectibles too, but the main ones I've found so far are these Japanese-style art pieces called Youi or something like that which are a bit anime looking and quite strange.

 

One of the other new elements is the 'Coonstagram' stuff which encourages you to take a selfie with everyone you can see so you can get more followers - and unlock more missions down the line I presume. So there's another puzzle element of getting someone to have a selfie with you, sometimes it'll be something simple like buying stuff from a vendor but other times you'll have to help Jimmy finish a school project or something like that.

 

There's also this artifact system where you can equip one into a 'hero slot' on your character and it'll give you and your team some kind of boost in combat. Most hilarious one I've found so far is a buttplug I found in Big Gay Al and Mr Slave's house that gave me +35 'might. You can find costumes all over South Park too - of course I got the AC costume with some uPlay units though :lol:

 

The aspect that has impressed me the most though and is the biggest improvement from the original is most definitely the combat. I don't remember it especially well from the first game but here it feels SO much deeper and a hell of a lot more tactical with the new tactics grid. The grid enables you and a bunch of enemies to move about turn by turn, using different x, y, x or a abilities but all the abilities require a certain placement in order to attack multiple enemies or knock an enemy back into another for a bonus. A lot of abilities cannot be activated if the targeting square cannot reach the enemies square so placement on the grid itself is key. As well as this there's numerous ailments to consider and AOE damage when certain enemies die, you still have a timed element by pressing A at the right time when taking a hit or doing a move - which fills up your Ultimate meter quicker - but it doesn't seem as full on as the first game and the tactics grid makes everything feel much clearer and less simplistic if that makes sense. A bit more side-scroll XCOM-lite and less Child of Light if that makes sense to anyone :lol: 

 

So yeah, I really didn't expect to be as impressed as I am with it but it's safe to say it has got me hook line and sinker, cannot wait to dive back in tomorrow.

 

Some pics:

 

 

South Park™  The Fractured But Whole™2018-3-14-16-19-27.jpg

South Park™  The Fractured But Whole™2018-3-14-16-22-50.jpg

South Park™  The Fractured But Whole™2018-3-14-16-28-2.jpg

South Park™  The Fractured But Whole™2018-3-14-16-31-54.jpg

South Park™  The Fractured But Whole™2018-3-14-17-20-7.jpg

South Park™  The Fractured But Whole™2018-3-14-18-9-0.jpg

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Just an update, played another 9 hours or so since my last post.

 

Still really enjoying it and some of the mad things I’ve scene have made made me laugh an awful lot, but I can’t help but feel it’s lost a tiny bit of magic.

 

I guess the story just hasn’t really gone anywhere. I looked it up and I’m roughly halfway through and literally nothing of note has happened apart from the usual mad South Park shenanigans - which are great don’t get me wrong - and it still feels like I’m learning new abilities and sub classes at this relatively late stage and the story beats just taking me through that rather than going anywhere.

 

But the shit I’ve seen is insane. South Park is bonkers and the first game is bonkers but this game has been insanely bonkers with some of the crazy shit they’ve got going on. Not gonna ruin anything, but yeah, it’ll have you :o on quite a few occasions.

 

New bits have been added to the fantastic combat too which makes it feel a little more like Mario Rabbids at times like certain enemies being able to summon minions to help them out in fights. The new subclasses add new AOE moves into the mix as well like bleeding and charm/confusion.

 

Just the loop of exploring the town, doing side quests and missions has gotten a little stale, not massively so, but just a little in that I’m hoping there’s something up its sleeve second half or I’ll most likely be a bit burnt out by the end like I was the first game.

 

But yeah, still pretty cool for now.

 

 

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10 hours ago, Blakey said:

I guess the story just hasn’t really gone anywhere. I looked it up and I’m roughly halfway through and literally nothing of note has happened apart from the usual mad South Park shenanigans - which are great don’t get me wrong - and it still feels like I’m learning new abilities and sub classes at this relatively late stage and the story beats just taking me through that rather than going anywhere.

 

This is how I feel about the game and the main reason I haven't really posted about it. I've just learned the ability to move Lego lava (not a clue where that is story-wise) but it just doesn't have anything that compares to the last game.

 

Dodging testicles, a dead gerbil in someone's colon, Nazi-quoting zombie foetuses. They all came together to make the first one something unlike anything I've ever played before. This feels by-the-numbers and formulaic right now.

 

I did pay a Hooters girl $15 to follow me on Coonstagram though...

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I just finished that story mission with the Lego brick lava @regemond and yeah I pretty much completely agree.

 

The first 3 hours were great but since then it kind of devolved into bizarre side stories instead of one cohesive whole. 

 

It just feels like I’ve played this game before now, it does a lot of stuff new, sure, particularly the combat but the overall feeling of exploring South Park and the mission types are very similar. It just feels like it’s somehow lost it’s soul since the original game and instead you’re left with a poor imitation of the first with some added gameplay improvements.

 

Things like having to watch the buddy clear animation every goddamn time you summon someone in to clear an obstacle have started to piss me off too and there’s other little bug bears like that.

 

I probably will go back and finish it when I get the time but I can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to it now. It’s a massive shame as that first few hours captured the delight I felt from Stick of Truth, but since then it’s just been such a miss-mash of ideas, feels like a pastiche.

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In fairness, I'm not massively into South Park but I still think there's enjoyment to be had in there.

 

I wouldn't even call myself much of a casual fan tbf. I get the jokes and references, and I understand memes like member berries, but I've never watched the show religiously.

 

Might be worth trying someone else's copy, or a demo if there is one, before you stump up though.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Just started this on the switch, I know I could get it cheaper on PS4 but the portablility is what sold it.

 

So far it’s funny, quite enjoyed the first hour, wouldn’t know it’s ported, the delay in loading is a bit slow but other than that nothing negative yet!

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Went back to this today, I'm about 17 hours in now.

 

I was actually dreading going back to it a bit, I just felt like it had become a bit of a slog and I'd got fed up with all the side activities and just wanted it to end - much how I felt about the original game - but going back to it all this time later I am absolutely loving it again. I hate to drop games as getting the rhythm and learning the controls again can be tough but it was surprisingly easy in this and everything clicked into place after a half an hour or so.

 

I'm still doing the side quests and stuff but have been doing a bit less exploring and focusing on the main story line, I may go back and mop up some stuff like the Youi art pieces etc. once the game is over but I'm not sure, I think I sometimes need to stop myself doing so much exploring because it is affecting my enjoyment of a lot of games I find now.

 

But yeah. There was this great sequence set in a Police station, you go in with Token and you can just imagine how things are going to go. It is all very close to the knuckle and I did physically cringe at times at the shit I was seeing but I loved every second of this whole story arc that the game has got to now. I had a little trouble with the boss at the end of this and watched a video for strategy tips before finishing it off later tonight.

 

I think the Superhero aspect - just coming off Infinity War - added an extra pang of enjoyment now as well, the way the story line is going and how certain things are echoing some of the early MCU stuff - in a satirical way of course - is great to see.

 

I don't think I've got long left now and I'll probably finish it off by the end of next weekend.

 

 

South Park™  The Fractured But Whole™2018-4-29-17-54-50.jpg

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I finished this yesterday, took me about 22 hours.

 

Overall I enjoyed myself but I can't say I liked it as much as the first game. There were just not as many memorable moments like the nazi foetus scene, Mr Slave's ass scene or the parents sex scene in the first game. There were lots of cool scenes and the Police Station section was probably my highlight, I did laugh an awful lot, maybe even more than the first game but I just found myself a little bored after awhile and that there wasn't enough new or exciting to differentiate it from the first game in any fantastic way aside from the combat.

 

It has none of the Canadian bit from Stick of Truth or anything, so it just drags a bit after awhile. There's nothing to break it up and take you to some strange different locales, it is all in the town this time around. 

 

The combat is definitely the star, I grew tired of it in Stick of Truth, but here it never really got boring, you always felt like you had to be on your toes and it was a deep tactical system where placement and forethought were key. Unfortunately there's a few cheap bosses that'll one shot you near the end that ended up affecting my enjoyment of it, but all the fair fights were great every time, just the cheap ones that were rather frustrating.

 

But yeah. I'd probably recommend it, I definitely think it has got more depth to it in a lot of ways than Stick of Truth without having as many memorable or special moments. I recommend it overall, I had fun.

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I still haven't finished it yet (in fact, I think I'm still where I was last time I posted on here...), but yeah, all your comments comparing this to the first I'd definitely agree with.

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  • 7 months later...

Bellow's posts on the original game reminded me - I FINALLY finished this over the weekend.

 

You know what? I was wholly disappointed by the end. It just kind of... finishes.

 

Spoiler

The second to final battle was MUCH more difficult than the final battle, and you literally go from one right into the next, so that didn't help either.

 

As mentioned, between the lack of locales and the 'not  as good as the original' story, it just didn't reach the heights of the first game. The combat was definitely the star and brought a lot of depth SoT was missing, and the side missions were great, but where were the...

 

Spoiler

...zombie Nazi foetuses saying actual Nazi soundbites?

 

I loved the summons and specials though - they never failed to get a smile. Especially the Yaoi special. I kept Craig in my team for the majority of the game just because of that. The upgrade system was good too. Took me a while to get my head around, but once I did it was awesome.

 

I'd be up for a third game if they iterated on the combat, but the story would need a lot to bring me back in.

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As it happens I tried to play 'fractured'

on the Switch, but the combat was so slow moving I ended up trading it in.

 

It was pure chance that I heard about the combat in SoT being based on Mario and Luigi style inputs. I gave it a shot, and I love it.

 

Why did they go to that grid style thing. It was just so cumbersome.

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