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So, how do you guys like Prey?


chakkman

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People seem to be quite cheerful about it. Anyone here playing it? I'd also be interested in the hardware which runs it well. My PC is 3 years old now, and already getting a bit long in the teeth, in terms of ability to run the latest games (actually even scared to install Dishonored 2 :D).

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Dishonored 2 is still quite unoptimized, even for its recommended hardware, while Prey runs without any hitches. And it is indeed a very solid game. It's basically a System Shock 3 under a different name. Everything in menu and UI design is a reference to Shock 2. Gameplay is similar as well, more focused on survival than shooting, at least in early stages. If you like slower pace and thorough exploration, you'll feel rewarded for sure. The design is very clear, most rooms have at least two ways of entry. There arent too many enemies, but they are tough, so you either sneak around them or gather resources to fight them. On hard difficulty, fighting them head-on always results in death, and the combat itself is quite clunky. Fortunately, tougher enemies don't respawn. Mimics do, so you never know when a coffee mug or a banana peel will be your enemy, which adds to the tension a bit (I guess it will be mostly annoying after some time).

 

As for the price, it's 30 EUR on sites like cd keys.

Edited by Judith
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Yup, with games like Dishonored 2 or new Doom requiring 30-50 gigs of download, it's like in the old days again, when you had to leave your desktop on for the night to download a couple of songs from napster ;) Good thing this game doesn't follow the trend.

Edited by Judith
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Prey is great, like most everything that Arkane has done. I think Otherside will find a challenge in making System Shock 3 better than this game. Arkane really does give you a nice full toolbox of ways to proceed and then leaves it up to you. And yes, agreeing with Judith, if you try to play this game like Doom, you won't make it very far. The enemies are tough (and creepy).

 

I'm playing on PS4 btw.

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I've been having an awesome time with Prey 2017.

 

I guess I'd even go so far to say I genuinely like it more than System Shock 2, though I'll mention for context that I've had my issues with System Shock 2.

 

I like Prey 2017's skills/powers more than SS2's.

The first "level" of each skill/power generally has enough utility to stay useful even if you don't decide to invest much more into that specific skill/power, so you're much less likely to feel you've wasted any neuromods. Hacking may be the exception as I don't think it really gets its general utility until "level 2", but even that isn't too big an investment for what you get.

I also don't feel like there are any skills/powers here that I would consider truly useless, unlike some of SS2's skills/powers.

 

I also like how the enemies work in Prey.

They've opted for quality over quantity for everything above the ankle-biter Mimics, there isn't really a hybrid or splicer equivalent "trash humanoid" here. The basic phantoms do enough damage and are resilient enough that you're motivated to leverage whatever advantages you can get in a given encounter.

I consider this an improvement as I never really liked the basic hybrid/splicer types from SS2 or the Bioshock games.

 

Stealth is also surprisingly viable here. Obviously it's not as much a stealth game as Thief or Dishonored, but it's more useful than in System Shock 2 or Bioshock.

 

That said, one possible issue with Prey 2017 gameplay-wise is that it's very often a much slower-paced game than SS2 or the Bioshock games, mostly due to the lethality of a lot of enemies and how dense the distribution of things to find is.

It's enough of a difference that I could see some people finding Prey 2017's pacing somewhat frustrating compared to its "predecessors", though given this is a community of Thief fans I doubt many here would have that issue.

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Frankly, i'm quite glad about that. Bioshock was much too hectic for me in some places. The respawning of enemies was much too frequent IMO, it was much less so in SS 2, which i liked.

 

I only just played the intro of Prey. So far, not bad, not sure what to think though about the over-cliché "you wake up, and realize that you've been watched all along". I mean, literally gazillions of films, or games featured that kind of thing. But, too early to really make a statement for me. The artwork feels pretty familiar too. Kind of Deus Ex HR meets Dishonored.

Edited by chakkman
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There is definitely "spawning" of enemies in Prey 2017 but I don't think I'd call it "respawning".

By that I mean a lot of the areas repopulate with enemies, but they're very often a different set of enemies (often more difficult ones).

 

I'm still not that sure how it works.

I think it's tied to progressing in the game and it's just dropping in new baddies when you reach certain points in the story.

The idea that the Typhon are spreading and making more of themselves is a sort of plot point so I'm guessing it's going along with that.

 

You do end up revisiting previous areas a lot more than in SS2 or Bioshock and the overall map is a lot less linear than those in those games.

You can actually explore a large portions of the station before they become relevant to the main plot if you feel like it.

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Well, just got me a key for 35 €, fair enough. Only 19 GB to download as well, which is a blessing with my 6 MB/s line. :)

 

What's slow about a 48 Mbps connection? I would kill to have that!

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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From what I have seen, Prey 2017 is indeed a crossover between System Shock (2) and Bioshock. Art style and neuromods are definately from the latter and the setting in space from the former two, as well as the need to bash enemies with a wrench because you have no other weapons or no ammo. Speaking of which I'm really getting annoyed by some modern gameplay elements like crafting and upgrading that seem to appear in more and more games! I'm fine with getting the occassional mod or stat upgrade to make my character better, but who would sell all these stupid weapons that are half-bad until you slap a lot of upgrades into them? Why can I craft ammo out of junk, but not out of furniture or bigger items that are all over the place and which I can pick up too? It's all an easy way to prolong playing time with little effort on the developers side. Give the player an inventory or similar to micro-manage and he will spend half his time moving resources around instead of actually playing the game!

 

Also you know from the oil lamps discussion I'm a sucker for realism inside the created world ;), so I don't understand why companies make their games look more and more realistic, but then add some obvious gameplay elements that kick you out of the immersion all the time you see them! Of course the recycling in Prey 2017 is rather harmless in that regard compared to photo realistic demons in Doom 2016, that drop colorful icon ammo and health to remind you that you are only playing a game :(.

Edited by wesp5
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I don't understand why companies make their games look more and more realistic

 

They don't. They use tech that makes lightning and materials look more physically accurate, but there's always heavy emphasis on art style. Otherwise why bother, everyone would just use photos as textures. Also, who really expects any kind of realism from games like Doom? :o

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What's slow about a 48 Mbps connection? I would kill to have that!

6 Mbps. ;)

 

I can only second what wesp5 wrote about realism in games BTW. It simply seems like game designers want to give you an inflation of items, and upgrade options, but forget about quality with all that quantity.

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6 Mbps. ;)

 

I can only second what wesp5 wrote about realism in games BTW. It simply seems like game designers want to give you an inflation of items, and upgrade options, but forget about quality with all that quantity.

 

:P:D:laugh:

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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They don't. They use tech that makes lightning and materials look more physically accurate, but there's always heavy emphasis on art style. Otherwise why bother, everyone would just use photos as textures. Also, who really expects any kind of realism from games like Doom? :o

Judith, I know this is my anal side coming out, but you almost always type the word "lightning" (as in "lightning and thunder") when you mean "lighting".

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Judith, I know this is my anal side coming out, but you almost always type the word "lightning" (as in "lightning and thunder") when you mean "lighting".

 

How do you know he isn't talking about lightning? Making lightning look more realistic is difficult to do. <_<

 

Damn, you're right, I must stop doing that! :D Maybe it was too much "Ride the lightning" in high school? Unfortunately there's no way for spellchecker to catch that.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I thought it'd be a great game, but it turned out to be crap, so I got a refund. Still not got it yet.

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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Why can I craft ammo out of junk, but not out of furniture or bigger items that are all over the place and which I can pick up too?

 

Actually you can!

 

Pretty much anything you can pick up that doesn't fit in your inventory can be broken down using Recycler Charges.

 

That said be careful with that, as a LOT of things are susceptible to Recycler Charges, including a lot of supplies, so loot first before breaking down the furniture.

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  • 1 month later...

Had to cheat and use the web to get through this game, its a shit of of bugs and crashing so bad it force quit's the game with a memory error.

 

That and I just discovered that tis game was not the Prey 2 that were were promised -

 

- https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/05/prey-shows-that-bethesdas-review-policy-is-even-bad-for-bethesda/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/60432n/prey_2_old_game_that_got_canceled_because_of/

 

Thier propensity to release bug riddled games and now this... I really am growing to intensely dislike Bethesda as a studio.

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I played the beginning, but never bothered to approach it again. :P Pretty stoked on the Fallout parts now anyway... just playing Fallout 3 GOTY, and having a great time doing so. Prey was a bit laggy here anyway. Might get it again when i get my Xbox Scorpio. Or... or... wait... i meant... my Xbox One X. :laugh:

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