Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Cordell

I would say that core game, main story, gameplay and combat are really good, but everything else is mediocre at best.

jones

Just picked this up on ps store sale for €59.99 for anyone waiting for it to drop in price.

DeSelby83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120854308#Comment_120854308

€60 is now considered a sale?????

jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120855020#Comment_120855020

Well "digital sale" 😄

Grumpypants

Jedi survivor got a decent quality of life update. Restarted it today and it plays really nicely now. Looks amazing and 60fps easily enough.

Cordell

On what platform?

johnny_ultimate

PS5 performance version has been entirely fixed according to Digital Foundry, which is good to hear - might give it a whirl now when it’s on sale either there or on Steam.

It’d be much nicer if games didn’t launch in such a messy state performance-wise, but credit to the developers that do go back and sort it out, even if it’s a bit crappy for early adopters.

Grumpypants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121097409#Comment_121097409

Sorry, yeah PS5 I'm on but I think all platforms got a bump.

It's not just performance either it feels much nicer to play. Far less unregistered button pressed. I Actually feel powerful now 😲

SuperBowserWorld

It's always best to wait for reviews and then wait a lot longer if the performance is crap.

I still have Cyberpunk to play and it's getting another patch soon with the new DLC so it's getting better and better.

Also, a game I'd no real knowledge of, Kingdom Come Deliverance is much better now and supposed to be an excellent realistic action RPG..

And, I'm quite happy to wait for Starfield 😁

Grumpypants

I'm really enjoying this. I had tried on multiple occasions to get into it before but it never clicked. But it is just flowing now. Jumping between that and immortals of aveum. Will put Starfield on the back burner just until I have more time.

Grumpypants

Good run down of the improvements on console.

https://youtu.be/TSKMyAni2Ls?feature=shared

EoinMcLovin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121106853#Comment_121106853

another one from Digital Foundry

https://youtu.be/LH_HbgzUKBU?si=45613rhNf7rSt74a

Hungry Burger

What is it about these games that they always end only when it starts getting going.

Grumpypants

Around half way through this. Some of the areas to explore are huge. Very enjoyable just pottering around.

McFly85

Started this one after finishing up Spider-Man. Playing in performance mode which happily seems to run pretty much faultlessly now.

It’s really enjoyable for something that’s a little bit of everything. Combat, while no dark souls, is really enjoyable(is swinging a lightsaber around ever not enjoyable??). Areas are massive too and exploration is usually rewarded - with cosmetics for the most part, but I suppose in a game where you’re not going to be changing your weapons it’s not surprising. Certainly more rewarding than just different poncho colour schemes anyway.

Story is grand so far but definitely feels more like classic Star Wars than any of the more recent Disney series so it’s definitely an enjoyable place to spend some time in

2023 really has been a cracking year for gaming.

Flashdan

I just picked this up for 30 on amazon and I am about 6 hours in. Is the story worth the play through? as I really getting annoyed with the platforming.

I just want to get to the next fight but I have to follow the Jedi who can teleport to the next platform for 20mins in between combat.

Exclamation Marc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121461353#Comment_121461353

Story is great, I loved it.

Flashdan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121461414#Comment_121461414

Good, I will finish it then :D

Penn

Yeah the story is decent enough. There is a lot of platforming throughout the game but you get new abilities which both make it more tricky but also a bit more engaging and fun. The combat is the star of the show though, so if you're enjoying it I'd recommend belting on with the game.

johnny_ultimate

Started playing this over the past week. Just 3-4 hours in so hasn’t opened up that much yet in terms of mechanics or story.

Combat feels a tad tighter than last time around, though the parry still isn’t anywhere near as satisfying as something like Sekiro and the dual wielding stance feels like a bit too messy on first blush? Still, probably the best realisation of lightsaber combat in this kind of game, and the dual-edged saber is still a joy to rip out.

My main issue is the map and level design - some improvements from last time, but the hub world area is confusingly laid out and too visually repetitive to really work. It just lacks the right visual design and signposting of a From game, and the 3D map doesn’t feel particularly useful so far. Doesn’t help that most of the rewards for exploring are shite cosmetics 😅

On the plus side, glad I waited until they smoothed out the performance as it runs very well now, though the jump from 30 FPS cutscenes to super smooth 60 FPS gameplay is jarring.

Grumpypants

I think the jedi caves give you skill upgrades that are very useful but most of the other stuff is cosmetic.

Nothing worse than spending ages doing a puzzle to then get a "blue" stripe.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121938907#Comment_121938907

Not exaggerating when I say I made it to a crate, opened it, and was rewarded with the colour grey. 😂

CastorTroy

But then some give you the force or health upgrades which is why I still went for them.

"Right, I died multiple times but finally beat those 2 rancors. Now for the health upgrade. Nope it's another piece for BD"

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121938907#Comment_121938907

That was always the worst of it. A chest just slightly out of reach that you pass by a few times, then you finally get the ability/power to be able to get to it, you travel to it, encountering traversal/enemies along the way, and then it's just a bland cosmetic, and then you have to travel back to the nearest meditation point.

The traversal and combat was usually good enough that it didn't matter too much, but the amount of them was just pointless.

SuperBowserWorld

This game is like a mashup of Uncharted and pre Breath of the Wild 3D Zelda.

SuperBowserWorld

I'm enjoying this game. Kinda stopped rushing trying to complete it and it's more enjoyable. I gave up on Star Wars a long time ago, but this definitely captures the Star Wars feel in a good way.

I do notice a small glitch on PS5 where there are flashes of white areas on the screen sometime. I can't say I've noticed it in other games. Maybe it's loading in textures and assets.

I see the prequel is on sale for 5.99 on PlayStation store. I remember playing that on Xbox GamePass and just gave up cause the map was annoying me. Might grab it at that price.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121961868#Comment_121961868

I do notice a small glitch on PS5 where there are flashes of white areas on the screen sometime.

I've seen the same on PC, white being rendered for frame of two in freshly revealed areas like when moving in front of a doorway.

johnny_ultimate

There’s quite a few graphical oddities throughout on PS5. Have noticed several areas where shadows or lighting clearly aren’t displaying as intended.

I’m deeper in now and enjoying it more, though both the combat and platforming feel they’re just short of being totally polished. Also think the more open areas suffer from being too visually busy and cluttered - a mix of graphical fidelity actually harming readability, but also art design focusing on arid environments that are inevitably quite repetitive. The more linear sections fare better, even if some important environmental details can be more tricky than expected to actually parse at times.

johnny_ultimate

Finished it tonight. The very definition of a game that’s ‘fine’. Enjoyable enough, but just doesn’t really do anything that other games manage better.

I did think the extra platforming abilities made the traversal a lot more interesting and engaging, but it took half the game for those options to start opening up. Yet another game that could’ve easily done with some trimming to keep things flowing. Combat isn’t a patch on something like Sekiro, and the game gets boring later on as its idea of challenge is just to throw more waves of enemies at you in a row (or, very annoyingly, adding environmental obstacles to dodge - not enjoyable in a game that commits you to long combat animations). Boss fights fare better at least, and at its best when two lightsabers are clashing against each other. Exploration is fun - again, especially as the platforming opens up - but the rewards are a real mixed bag.

The story is… grand, but all fairly straightforward outside of some nice character work and the final act doesn’t have the same interesting combination of theme and mechanics that the first game did. It tries, but comes across as quite contrived. Had to do two attempts at the very easy final boss because I wanted to test out whether you had the agency to choose your action at a particular moment. Of course you don’t - it just dumps you to the respawn screen instead. It’s been a while, but I definitely reckon Fallen Order was somewhat more willing to interestingly push against the boundaries of Jedi lore than this more familiar adventure is.

Also it’s a strangely unpolished game. Lots and lots of graphical oddities, physics weirdness, buggy moments etc… There’s one bit where you have to hang onto an animal tusk and I just kept randomly falling for no discernible reason. Definitely the least polished game of its type I’ve played in a long while.

And one big thing: does the game actually benefit at all from being a Soulslike? The way exp is dished out (‘banking’ skill points) makes the classic Souls ‘grab your XP’ approach sort of pointless and half-arsed here. Sure it’s nice for levels to loop around and reveal shortcuts, but I generally reckon it’d be better off being more akin to Metroid Prime or something, as the Soulslike mechanics around the edges here don’t do a whole lot to justify their existence.

As said, the game goes down easy in some respects. It’s very easy to lose a few hours exploring away in its Metroidvania style hubs. But almost everything about it falls short in some respect, either minor or major. A real ‘master of none’ type of game, and still nowhere near the heights Respawn reached with the inspired Titanfall 2.

Cordell

When I'm playing soulslike games I try my best to never carry more "souls" than what's needed for a single level up point, that is to avoid disappointment. What this one did wrong was that on more than one instance I lost the points but I couldn't get them back because they were not there on the map they said they were. But the main issue is that it pulls in two directions: it tries to be challenging like a soulslike, and accessible at the same time.