Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

[spatular]

just finished this, overall really enjoyed it, stealthing around was great fun, it's basic stealth but i thought it worked really well. i liked the puzzles mostly, there are a few great action set pieces, it looks great too. the fieldwork side missions were generally very good (went back and finished them all before finishing the game). the main baddie was great.

i wasn't too keen on the fighting, so mostly avoided it, there are a few times youre forced into it and those could be annoying (i turned the fighting difficulty down), and didn't like the transport method you have to use a bit later on. wasn't that bothered by about the overall story although some of the story/cutscene sections were still good.

[mmmark]

I’m in Egypt and regret not exploring the Vatican more. Can I go back? I didn’t really appreciate of off piste you can go. 

[spatular]

1 hour ago, mmmark said:

I’m in Egypt and regret not exploring the Vatican more. Can I go back? I didn’t really appreciate of off piste you can go. 

 

yeah you can go back, think it's the right most tab from the map/quests tabs

[mmmark]

3 minutes ago, spatular said:

 

yeah you can go back, think it's the right most tab from the map/quests tabs

Ah nice one thank you. I just did loads in Egypt. I proper love this game. Especially now seeing how vast the levels are and all the wee things to do and discover. 
 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Hell yea boys lets get stuck in 🤠

 

"Devastating blows", we'll see about that Nazi punks 👊 🍷

 

[Metroid66]

Those difficulty settings should be

Silly

Boring

Annoying 

[one-armed dwarf]

Well we'll see about that, the punk at the beginning sure had hands let me tell you 🤕🪑

 

not even a fair matchup tho, different weight class

 

I'm really impressed by the level of detail in this game, I'll edit proper thoughts into this post later on. Not tryna give them blow by blow (just taking them, it seems like, they sure are devastating)

 

edit going well, playing the game correctly, I think

 

 

Rather hard to see on phone though, accessibility caption: 6 Blackshirts laid out after being sneakily dispatched by bullets to the face and an umbrella

 

Game looks super good, but it's rather easy and railroaded in these opening sequences. It is not hard to clobber these guys, and it's also not clear to me why this isn't the option you would choose every time. Very generous parry timing, they get stunned super easily by a 'get ova here' whip attack with F. Chuck a shovel at their head and they have no answer to it. If they do land a blow I can fix that with donuts and bread. But I'm looking forward to the more open and immersive-sim bits and if they'll serve me some much needed humble pie if I apply the brute force method.

 

Right now tho if these are all Mussolini has to throw at me then I don't know why it took an entire war to string him up, I reckon I can sort him out myself 👊

[Nag]

Just finished the actual story, the whole game was excellent from start to finish in my opinion... it's actually taken the GotY spot from Silent Hill 2.

 

Still a bit of clear up to do and I don't think I'll be going for the full 1000g but with rumours of more Indy games to come I'm quite excited for the future. 

[mmmark]

I must admit I only spend maybe 3 minutes looking at my notes and figuring out how to open lockboxes before just googling it the code as feeling thick is not satisfying 

 

Most are quite straightforward but some feel vague to me. I do the actual puzzles tho as they’re actually fun to figure out.

[mmmark]

I was just so long underground in the Vatican trying to locate a relic I actually started to become claustrophobic and panicked that I couldn’t find my way out 

[Nag]

My Indy adventure came to a close today... I've tapped out at a respectable 840g, it's a doable 1000g but I don't want to sour the experience with hours of collectibles at the games end.

 

Great game though and probably one of Microsofts least enticing titles for me at least so it came as a bit of a shock that I found it quite as enjoyable as I did.

[Maf]

Indiana Jones and The Lowered Expectations 

[one-armed dwarf]

Meanwhile my own expectations were probably heightened too much by the immersive sim comparisons, it's mostly a fairly binary choice the game offers players with how to handle problems

 

Which is fine, for Indy. But I think a lot of outlets think a stealth action game is all that immersive sim means. 

 

I'll get back to it though and punch some more blackshirts but I think it'll be in the new year

[Maf]

This what I said. There’s only ever at most 2 routes, or 2 ways to do things. 
 

‘It’s like a first person stealth and melee game but puts no pressure on either. Which is probably for the better because if this game was hard in anyway it would get in the way of what’s actually fun which is causing slapstick chaos and solving puzzles 

 

I do really like this game, but I still can’t get over what a weird take it is 

[mfnick]

I’ve made a start on this inbetween playing SH2 (evenings in dark only!).

 

Unfortunately I’m just not feeling it yet. Just might not be for me. I’ve completely gone off stealth in games. Used to quite enjoy it but now I hate it. Even when it’s easy like in this. It lets you fight your way out quite easily but the combat feels rubbish to me so that’s not fun either.
 

I’m at the Vatican and done the tomb bit before the excavation site. The tomb was ok, liked that but still quite generic. Nothings hitting for me yet. Got some weird design decisions too. Like why the fuck does he keep dropping shit? It wants me to take photos constantly but then makes me drop my torch every time. Same when doing puzzle interactions. Really annoying. The camera jumps can be quite jarring too. When getting out of water is particularly bad. 
 

Getting little to no fun from exploring the Vatican as well. Just irritating ending up in restricted areas all the time. 
 

I’ll give it a bit longer but dont think this is for me at all. Even the stealth knock outs aren’t as hilariously brutal as I’d been led to believe they were. They’re nowhere near as satisfying as I’d hoped they be. Gutted, I was looking forward to this after all the GOTY talks. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah I'm kinda with you on this but I'm not as far in yet. The only thing that really stands out to me is it's close to being the most intricately beautifully detailed game I've ever played. Not best graphics specifically, but best attention to visual detail. So you know, in the interest of balance that's a highly positive comment I can make on it.

 

But it's a bit too straightforward in what I've played so far. I think I need to play more really, I've not even really experienced the puzzling that people talk about. But I sorta lost motivation a bit when I found a Sister who was like 'smuggle some medicine from the blackshirts and you can unlock upgrades'. Ugh. 

[shinymcshine]

That whole GOTY talk is style over substance - it really captures the spirit & feel of the characters and theme, but I don't think it does anything remarkable at all in terms of gameplay.

[mfnick]

Yea audio visually it is incredible, Im definitely with you on that. 
 

I’ve finished the Vatican area - I ended up fucking off all side stuff. The ending tomb area and small set piece after it were fun enough. The puzzles are dead basic though. Guess it’s better than being stuck. Voss is amazing! The cinematics are top notch. 

[Nag]

GotY comes down to opinion... plenty of years I've rubbished the game that earned it, for once I actually agree with it...🙂

[Maf]

5 minutes ago, Nag said:

GotY comes down to opinion... plenty of years I've rubbished the game that earned it, for once I actually agree with it...🙂

I didn’t realise you liked Astrobot that much