Days Gone

[Nag]

So the next PlayStation 4 exclusive has released and I booted it up earlier, only played for around an hour and a half so I'm still very early in the game... Still doing tutorial stuff if I'm being honest.

 

(This guy has such a shit name...)

 

So not to spoil anything I'll be vague about the opening, after a brief cutscene showing things going to hell your thrown forward a couple of years in to the outbreak and in pursuit of someone on bikes. First thing that hit me with the bike is the weight of the thing, it was quite easy to steer only to think you need to compensate and then just start zigzagging down the road... Obviously that'll change given more time on the thing. Second thing is this game is going to be brutal to it's characters that's obvious from the off and it's something I like.

 

(Like me, Deacon likes to loiter in bushes...)

 

Other things introduced are stealth, melee combat and shooting all of which are similar (if not identical) to a number of games you'll have already played. All these things seem to work fine in this game though, so far, and feel quite natural.

 

The only thing I'm not too sure with at the minute is how the save system works, it routinely makes auto saves and I also made a manual save where I thought I was safe to do so but after booting up the game to check (something I'll do with a new game) I was set back in the story by about 15 minutes, which is a bit shit.

 

Anyhow, it's very early day like I said but I'm quietly confident that I'm going to have a decent time with this.

[Bob]

I'm on the fence at the moment. I like the world and characters but the game feels a lot like the Last of Us, especially when it comes to the shooting which I'm having some issues with. It feels so heavy and the weapon accuracy seems artificially shitty so that it can be fixed later with character upgrades. 

 

I agree with the saving being weird. You can quick save from the bike as well but I've not reloaded yet so don't know whether that is saving your current location or gear and world progress. The autosaving is kinda fucky as well. I did a random encounter in the world, saved some goober from rapist cannibals and sent him back to an outpost. Then later I got clipped off my bike and instantly eaten by Wolves (whack) and the game put me way way back. Then the hecking encounter didn't reappear. 

 

I reckon this is going to be another open world game that has all the challenge packed right into the start and after a few hours, better gear and a few upgrades I'll be tearing through like an untouchable denim-god. 

[Nag]

7 minutes ago, Bob said:

I reckon this is going to be another open world game that has all the challenge packed right into the start and after a few hours, better gear and a few upgrades I'll be tearing through like an untouchable denim-god.

 

You could be right there, I've not checked out the skill trees yet (early game, like I said) but you can see that with a few upgrades to stamina and such things will get easier.

 

I'm looking forward to putting in a few hours tomorrow.

[Bob]

I got to play around with the horde AI earlier and it was a bit of a disappointment tbh. There were two train cars filled with zombahs and I needed to get into one of those off brand FEMA buildings. I tried drawing them out with various explosives so I could sneak in but maybe a third would run out, get bored and then go back home within 10-15 seconds. I ended up just funding a small blind spot and sneaking past. Then set off an alarm and now I'm stuck in the building surrounded by the fuckers. Load times are nice and quick though which is nice. 

 

It has been fun playing around with the systems in the game and seeing what I can and can't get away with. I'm hoping that there will be a lot more that opens up after gaining access to more gear and game knowledge. 

[Nag]

Played some more of this today, I like it... It's like a triple A version of State of Decay, some people might think the constant scavenging for supplies is a bit of a drag but it all adds to the atmosphere for me... My very own Walking Dead.

 

I had a similar experience to @Bob earlier where I'd found a Nero bunker where I thought I'd eliminated all the loud speakers, turns out I'd missed one and when I booted up the generator it alerted a horde that was close by... Had to make a very dicey dash to my bike to escape.

 

I can make Lucille Baseball bats now, which is nice... came in handy when the Molotov's failed to take out a few Freakers from a nest.?

[DisturbedSwan]

Put around 4 hours into this so far. 

 

So so far so good really, it hasn’t really blown my tits off in any regard but it has utterly engrossed me almost immediately in its world and its characters’ plight.

 

It feels like a bit of a mix between Horizon, Dying Light and Far Cry really which is an odd mix but it does work well.

 

I’m very early on but the loop so far feels very familiar to a Far Cry or something in clearing out a human camp/zombie nest either with stealth or blowing the fuck out of everything. As a stealthy guy I have loved carefully taking out a whole camp by meticulously creeping around in bushes and behind cover, knifing folks from behind or putting a crossbow bolt into their skull.

 

I haven’t really had much time with the bike so far for story reasons but it’s a cool mechanic so far from the little I’ve had to play around on it. It feels a bit like your horse from RDR2 or something, I can see things getting dicey later on with the hordes and survival mechanics coming into play. 

 

The AI seems a bit dopey at times though, the environs seem a bit samey so far (I’ve only ventured in the opening forest region though) and I haven’t exactly warmed to Deacon and keep laughing at his friend ‘Boozer’ for the fucking silly name. But something about him does intrigue me still and I feel like there’s much more to his character and nature than meets the eye at present. 

 

I’ve had almost no bugs either - I played 3 hours pre-Day 1 patch as well - just a few floating bodies that then drop back down to Earth when you enter a new area and that’s about it I think.

 

It probably goes without saying at this stage, but the game is incredibly pretty. For such a small team (as low as 50 at one stage I believe) on their first AAA console game I think Bend have done a stellar job.

 

I like it more than I did Horizon at the very beginning anyway so I think that’s a good sign. I can’t wait to go back to it and get engrossed in that world again around, can’t put it down which is a very good sign so far. Early days though, we’ll see how the cookie crumbles.

 

Some pics:

 

 

 

[Nag]

I'm with you on the Outposts (or whatever they're called) @Blakey... Stealthing those is very satisfying. 

 

I've spent some credits upgrading my bike a bit now, the handling is getting easier and it's also a little faster... I picked a wonderful spot to run out of fuel earlier and had to go on a bit of a trek to find some, got back to this...

A horde had poled up right alongside my ride... I kept quiet, I still haven't figured how to take this many on with the tools I have.

 

Also stumbled upon this poor creature.

Not sure what killed it but it looked painful...?

 

 

[Bob]

Played some more of this yesterday and I just want to give a shout out to whoever managed to convince Sony that being able to kill zombie children with a fucking nail bat was okay. Hero isn't underselling it. 

 

I enjoyed it a lot more. Did a couple of story missions which introduced a few new mechanics which worked well and then an instant fail stealth section which turned out fine but even so, please don't do that. 

 

All I did yesterday was deal with zombies though which is why I think my impression of the game has improved. So we'll see how I feel after having to take on humans again which wasn't difficult. Just completely absent of anything approaching entertainment. 

[OrangeRKN]

Most entertaining way of taking down humans is to bait zombies into them. Second most entertaining way is to use the special crossbow ammunition to turn them against each other.

[Nag]

7 minutes ago, OrangeRKN said:

use the special crossbow ammunition to turn them against each other.

 

I like that option, sitting in a bush while they kill each other and I reap the rewards.

[OrangeRKN]

The first bounty mission (to kill a specific target) I shot the target with that, then watched as his friends (whose sole purpose in the mission is to make getting to him harder) all killed him for me. I was satisfying

[Nag]

Here's my hot take for the day... This game is better (in my opinion) than RDR2.

 

If you measure better by having more fun than yes, for me this is a better game in almost every way from having a more interesting open world that's so much better to traverse all the way down to combat. Admittedly the writing isn't as good but I'll measure my games in fun thanks.

[DANGERMAN]

On 27/04/2019 at 21:16, Bob said:

I got to play around with the horde AI earlier and it was a bit of a disappointment tbh. There were two train cars filled with zombahs and I needed to get into one of those off brand FEMA buildings. I tried drawing them out with various explosives so I could sneak in but maybe a third would run out, get bored and then go back home within 10-15 seconds. I ended up just funding a small blind spot and sneaking past. Then set off an alarm and now I'm stuck in the building surrounded by the fuckers. Load times are nice and quick though which is nice. 

 

It has been fun playing around with the systems in the game and seeing what I can and can't get away with. I'm hoping that there will be a lot more that opens up after gaining access to more gear and game knowledge. 

 

I've just done this bit, and similarly I wasn't impressed. It's scripted, a biker rode past at the same point each time for me (multiple attempts innit), alerting the horde and showing me what to expect, fair enough. Then when I climbed on to the roof there didn't appear to be a way to get all the way across without alerting the full horde, it's designed in such a way that you have to face them. Which is fair enough, it's part of the game, there was a bit in a graveyard that was similar, not that it was a horde, but that it spawned enemies in after a certain point simply because it's a game, but it did mean me spending time clearing the area was pointless.

 

The shame is that fighting a horde isn't fun, or wasn't for me at least. It took multiple attempts, explosions didn't seem to do as much damage as I was expecting, bullets are piss weak, my stamina is shiiiit (art imitating life tbf). It turns out running towards obstacles and leaping over them, climbing up shit, that helps create a gap in a way sprinting just doesn't. When I eventually did it, the route I had laid out lead past an explosive box, which I was going to shoot, blow up the front zombies and create a gap, maybe molotov the next batch. Unfortunately when I shot the box it didn't blow up, just crumpled and silently shot up in to the air, the horde weren't as distracted by this as I was. So it was just sprinting, climbing, scampering, then I realised they'd lost me so just climbed up the Nero building, took off what I thought was the last speaker, then leapt in to the gated area to fill up the tank. Getting to my bike afterwards was a bit of a cunt, which sort of summed up what Days Gone seems to be good at and what it doesn't

 

I quite like the stealth, and I quite like dealing with humans, even if they are a bit stupid. It does make for a very slow game though, with more ammo and better weapons there'd be an argument for just triggering a fight and killing everyone, but it makes far more sense to sit and wait, throw the odd stone, and make use of the PS4's rest mode if you've anything else going on with your day

[Nag]

That's odd... I've thought that things aren't overly scripted, the hordes do move around at different times of day. If it's where I think it is I eventually got in without alerting them as the whole thing had moved off to the nearby river.

 

I've tried taking out a couple of hordes but even with upgrading my stamina by quite a bit with the weaponry I have I'm just not strong enough... and by the time you've worked out some kind of strategy they've already tore you a new arsehole.

[DANGERMAN]

I suspect the next one will be more free form, that was an early story mission so was tutorialising I guess

[OrangeRKN]

If anything I am frustrated by the game not being scripted enough! Every time I reload to retry a section in a more satisfying way (like clearing a camp), it seems to play out differently, even when I try and do the same thing.

[DisturbedSwan]

Haven’t put a whole lot more time into this - maybe another 8 hours - but still find it utterly compelling once I do sit down and play it.

 

I am finding the progression really similar to Horizon at the moment which is no bad thing at all. When going up to the 2nd camp in the story it just reminded me so much of the way Horizon introduced new areas and characters to you in an incredibly similar way. 

 

I keep finding myself getting distracted all the time as well. I was on the way to a story mission last night when I saw one of those ? On the map and I just can’t help but follow it, I really like all the little side activities I’ve encountered thus far as well.

 

All my encounters with the hordes have been terrifying. Once was at a NERO checkpoint somewhere - I didn’t trigger them at the one you do in the story I don’t think - and I got absolutely annihilated as I was trying to escape. Other encounters have been where they’re just roving about the map and you have to carefully sneak by to avoid them. 

 

I really like how weak you feel even up against a handful of Freakers. I constantly find myself in the bushes hoping to fuck they don’t spot me and being super careful picking the right time to venture out and attempt to stab them in the face. As someone who loves stealth games the slow and methodical approach to carefully clearing out a camp or nest is exhilarating.

 

I don’t want to get too carried away but I do think this might end up being one of my favourite games of this year so far if it keeps it up. I wish I had some more time

to play it though. ?

[Nag]

5 hours ago, Blakey said:

I wish I had some more timet to play it though. 

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of having a "other half"... Half the time with the TV.?

 

I'm still really enjoying the game but I do wish Deacon would shut the fuck up sometimes, his commentary on the world and what your doing in it sound half way deranged most of the time... He's not someone I'd take home to my parents.

[Bob]

The game checkpointed me once where Deacon was in the middle of ranting about something at the start of a stealth section. I failed it a few times and every time it would load up and he would be screaming about something. I ended up getting back on my bike, driving up the road a bit, saving it and then coming back. Dude is mad douche. 

[DisturbedSwan]

6 hours ago, Nag said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of having a "other half"... Half the time with the TV.?

 

 

Haha yep exactly ? I had hoped to have it finished by the time A Plague Tale hits on Tuesday but there’s not much hope of that at the moment. ?