19:21:20 10 November 2012 |
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Darkh4
Senior Resident
 On forum: 04/01/2007
 Message edited by: Darkh4 11/11/2012 0:03:50
Messages: 1177
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Actually many of SoC's levels eventually end up with 100% scripted NPC spawning too (Wild Territory and all the underground levels are good examples, not much ever changes there). The only variation is due to the occasional migrating NPCs, but such occurences are the exception, not the rule.
As for CoP, the only unpredictable part is how long it will take before the buggy engine lets some random NPCs spawn right in front of your eyes. Meeting five Chimeras in a row one night is not engaging, it feels more like oversaturation. And of course no NPCs are able to migrate across levels.
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I certainly won't argue these points. I've always lamented those exact shortcomings in those games. And I won't argue that the A-Life in CS never does anything interesting at certain points in the game.
And I do take my time with the game. I don't just rush to the end and then look around. But eventually I get to the end and that's where the A-Life breaks down a bit for me.
Part of it is my play style. I tend to be a bit of a pacifist, making friends with all the factions, and only fighting if attacked. It just makes sense from a survival standpoint. But in Clear Sky it eventually leads to a stagnant Zone, where all the factions have reached a balance of power and no one makes a serious attempt to destabilize it. You have to pick a fight if you want anything to change.
If you're not interested in attacking a friendly faction, all that leaves is wasting ammo on mutants who respawn almost immediately and drop nothing, or taking pot shots at poorly equipped Renegades.
Clear Sky is easily as good as the others during the play through of it's story, but available activities after completing the storyline are the reason I have more time on the other two titles. They just keep me on the same play through longer. |
16:01:10 11 November 2012 |
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Darkh4
Senior Resident
 On forum: 04/01/2007
 Message edited by: Darkh4 11/11/2012 16:02:10
Messages: 1177
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At least SoC's awful storage box related freezing can be modded away.
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Wait, it can? How? I did a google search and came up with nothing. One of the downsides of playing the same game for a long time is that I accrue lots of stuff to collect, and I end up using perma-corpses for storage in order to prevent the game freezes when it loads up all the contents of the box.
If there is a way to use the legitimate boxes without the load times I would love to know. Using corpses just seems a little....off. Especially as a place to store food. |
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