First impressions

[butterburp]

#11458

This is not going to be easy… I got “Mission failed soldier” even on level 1, easy setting! Lessons so far:

1) You’ll probably want to remap the keys to something more familiar. The default config is terrible.
2) Unless I’m missing something, most of the enemies require a Molotov to kill. Not sure what the purpose of the machine gun is then.
3) Flammability matters! I think I died when one of my Molotovs hit something at close range that it shouldn’t have. Kind of like how you can blow yourself up in Doom.

[TigerQuoll]

#11459

Agreed – definitely remap keys! WASD all the way. Luckily the game makes this super easy.

I’ve been able to kill everything I come across with the regular weapons – they just take a lot of hits, which is probably why they give you such huge max ammos. Guess it makes sense – shooting a metal robot with bullets wouldn’t take it down that easily. They just don’t have the expected pain animations like in doom etc., so it can feel like you’re not doing anything to them.
In fact, I’d say some enemies have too LITTLE health – the giant spiders and the big flying ships seem to go down way too easily for how scary they look.

The actual terminators themselves (when you get to them) are disappointing too (The first one I saw didn’t make a good first impression, stuck on a desk and moonwalking awkwardly!)
They’re slow and not particularly aggressive, and really don’t pose much more of a threat than the walker robots. Real shame for the signature villains of the franchise.

My problem is the aiming. You can choose between “laser” and “tracking” with F9, but I can’t tell the difference – your aiming is too accurate either way, and you basically have to stand still and take heaps of hits to have any chance of targetting anything. Especially those annoying drones that bob up and down in the first level.

And yes – splash damage is definitely a pain! Especially since every enemy explodes and does damage to you if you’re nearby!

I realise I sound very negative, but honestly, despite the rough edges, I’m kind of getting into it – although it’s taken me about 3 missions to get into the groove. I’m not sure if they designed the levels in order, but they seem to be getting better.

Edit: oh, and the automap is worse than useless!

[Mike]

#11464

I’m having the same experience as TigerQuoll so far. It’s got it’s rough edges but I’m enjoying it so far. I’m really impressed with how much it was doing in 1995. My only real gripe so far is that when you need to fight indoor, I think it falls apart a bit. The game is really built more for outdoors combat.

The enemies are a little more bullet spongey than I’d like, but I think that eases up quite a bit once you get better weapons. Well, that and I’m currently playing it on Easy mode. I suppose that disqualifies me from any difficulty talk but I’m having fun.

[Wesbat]

#11465

I find the compass way more useful than the auto map. The shotgun seems to be the most powerful weapon you get early on, I find myself using it even in the later levels. Once you get the grenade launcher then stuff gets real fun.

I also get stuck when walking on the edges of solids, which varies from annoying to game-blocking. I like that player death means just restarting the mission with the same gear you entered with.

It certainly captures the imagination, rough edges and all. I’m quite enjoying this game!

[Eulisker]

#11466

I only just set it up to see if everything works.

For some reason i was expecting voiceover in the beginning. But the intro and Mission Briefing is oddly quiet.
The Enemys are really bullet spongy so far. I think I’ll try this on easy too. Might be a bit more manageable.

First impressions is good so far. I like the atmosphere, the music sounds great, it seems surprisingly modern for a 30 year old game.

Did you realize you can shoot the moon? It says OW! for a while and starts falling from the sky eventually 🙂

Looking forward to this month. I hope I can get through this.

[DonBisdorf]

#11468

Hi everyone! Just started this game today. I’m only partway through the first mission, but so far I’m finding it a fun kind of challenge on Medium difficulty. You really have to sneak around, stay alert, and be ready to fall back and dodge. I detest the little drones with the red lasers, though. They have tiny hitboxes, they bob and weave, and they can tear you up if they get close. Hopefully I’ll get through the first mission on my next session.

[TigerQuoll]

#11473

I’ve surprised myself by relying on the compass a fair bit. I don’t think I’ve ever used the compass in any game before (apart from maybe Eye of the Beholder), let alone an FPS!

[Martli]

#11474

I started playing this a little earlier in the year as I had a busy Jan/Feb and didn’t want to spread myself too thin over three games. I haven’t made it too far yet, but have the space to do a bit more now.

I agree with all the comments so far. It seems super hard. I’ll add that the game just has a generally awesome atmosphere to it, definitely captures that feeling of watching terminator for the first time, even if the cutscenes are a bit cringe.

I also watched the Civvie11 video of it to help mentally prepare, hyperbole aside it was a good overview.

[scms]

#11476

Notes thus far: read the objectives, run past enemies, you can blow everything up, and… what kind of footwear does the protagonist have? It’s like hard heels clacking on concrete everywhere!

[DonBisdorf]

#11477

I got through the first driving section, though I’m not thrilled with it. Some of the landmarks are hard to find, particularly the spot you need to park on to finish the mission. And there are certain locations you really need to have played through once or twice to be ready for sudden surprises. But I managed it with a few ticks of health left.

[thecashman]

#11478

Loving the atmosphere so far, and despite it not being super challenging so far I love the little bit of fear when hearing an enemy that has spotted you but you haven’t located them yet. i also love seeing the giant robots up on the hill in the first mission which gave me a sense of being small and helpless for half a moment before blowing them away. Mouse is super sensitive which makes running and gunning next to impossible, but slowing down and taking your time makes it less frustrating. Didn’t read the manual, and just figuring it out like everyone did with the shareware version of games. This one is easy to pick up and get going with zero help, which is perfect for this type of game.

[Mike]

#11482

Well, shot the moon to death. Good stuff. More games should have that.

I think my biggest complaint so far is that it feels like it has a lot of empty space, with buildings you can enter that aren’t especially interesting. It’s definitely not the worst issue for a game to have and I get why they do it. I just find myself wandering aimlessly sometimes

[Eulisker]

#11484

The second mission is really hard. I need to go at it again from the beginning. You can get your health too low and i don’t know if there is a way to survive the onslaught at the end with that little. At least i hope it is the end where i am at.

In the first mission i think the shotgun is a godsend and lets you handle the enemies pretty good. I am mostly losing health when i am too close to the enemies when they explode.

[Pix]

#11514

Halfway through the month and I’ve only just started on this. I do enjoy getting into these games I’ve completely missed out on though so will try to catch up and finish it this month. It’s certainly a very different experience to most of the other FPS I’ve played from around then. These levels are huge and quite the navigation challenge. It’s really not easy knowing where to go and I also took ages to find the parking spot at the end of level 2. It’s fun just to have a driving level at all in a DOS FPS though and I like the variety.

I’m not sure if the gameplay is winning me over or not. I’ve been lost and low on hitpoints far more than I’d like. I got completely stuck in one of the building stairwells in level 1 and didn’t seem to be able to jump high enough to get back out. I agree about level 2 being hard. I kind of wish I’d started on easy now. If I’d paid full price at the time, it’s probably about right though. I’m struggling through once I figure things out. Got to give the engine some props. Quake must have been about 18 months after this yet we’re already in full 3D FPS territory here.

[Martli]

#11520

I’m not making as much progress as I’d like to due to life. What I find hard is picking it up after having put it down because I can’t seem to access the mission objectives, so I’m sort of stuck in the middle of this giant map not really knowing what to do… good thing I can get a walkthrough on the internet to send me on the right track but it would have been good to have an F button or something to remind you of your objectives/compass directions. I’m on (I think) level 3 where I need to free some hostages. I had to find a walkthrough to send me in the right direction, thankfully my aimless wandering lead me to some sort of heavy-calibre machine gun so I’m well-stocked to “shutdown” a few AI monstrosities.

[TigerQuoll]

#11522

Not being able to review objectives after starting a level is a pretty big oversight by the devs.

[watchful]

#11536

@Martli agree on the need for objectives in game. I’ve resorted to naming my save files with the objectives!

I also don’t remember being lost much as a kid, yet these days I’ve had to look online repeatedly to see how/what to do. Guess my old brain and reduced free time are taking their toll on my skillz.

[TigerQuoll]

#11543

My janky system involves keeping one save file just at the end of the previous level so I can briefly reload, finish the level and re-read the objectives if needed!

[butterburp]

#11544

Brilliant ideas! Lol I was thinking maybe you had to take a picture with your phone or something, but I like the save file ideas better.

[Wesbat]

#11545

For those who wished they had started on an easier skill, you can go into options and change the difficulty mid-game. This was a nice touch as I don’t recall many games of the era offering this.

when I forgot objectives I’d get myself killed to get back to the “mission screen”, then load my save to continue where I left off.

[Evil Taco]

#11546

Yeah changing the difficulty level mid-game feels really forward-looking. It would be interesting to know a bit more about the history of that feature in practice! It was obviously invented before our current era of accessibility options (which I’m fully in favour of) but I wonder if it’s kind of been there all along, and has come and gone a bit according to zeitgeist.

Adding the objective to the save file name is a great workaround idea, I’m going to take that into use myself (in other games)!

[watchful]

#11559

Even on easy this game is pretty hard. Changing difficulty mid-game is probably easier if you just tweak the damage dealt, taken, and/or items.