Space marine demo; thoughts?

[EvilEggCracker]

Fluff = Faction Propaganda
Tabletop = Reality.

Don't confuse fan theories for reality. I've heard that spoken about before on boards, but most people agree that it's the tabletop that's dumbed down some armies for balance, whereas the fluff is meant to represent the true power of the respective armies.

 

[archvile93]

snip

Have to disagree with you there:

Let's not jump to conclusions regarding Space Marine squad sizes. Who knows, maybe there's a plausible in-game explanation as to why there's only three Ultrasmurfs running around. Perhaps they're the sole survivors of a Thunderhawk crash, or their drop pod went off course and they're stranded from the rest of their forces. Perhaps they're on a secret mission that the rest of the chapter isn't supposed to know about. Even if it's never explained it's not that big of a deal for me.

You can still get killed pretty quickly if you don't stay on your toes. My first death in the demo was at the hands of a Nob who killed me in about two or three swings. My second was from a bomb Squig when I had approximately 50% health. This was on Normal difficulty mind you, not Hard. Also, enemies can still wail on you while you're doing execution moves. I've died a few times because I didn't clear surrounding enemies away with an area-of-effect stun before executing my intended victim.

You complain about Space Marines killing hundreds of regular enemies and how it's not "lore accurate." It makes me wonder how familiar you are with 40k's fluff. Just about every Space Marine novel depicts a small squad of Marines killing hundreds (if not thousands) of regular enemies at some point. They often go on to kill a particularly nasty foe like a Warboss or Daemon Prince...and survive. Yes the tabletop and DoW series has them more evenly matched with their enemies, but that's mostly for game balance (otherwise everyone would only play as Space Marines). Also, this is the Ultrasmurfs we're talking about. Like it or not, Games Workshop has made them the poster boys for the Imperium, lauding them as the most capable Space Marine chapter around with regards to overall performance.

The Grey Knights always seemed more capable. Despite being psychic (chaos loves corrupting psychics) they have yet to lose a single marine to chaos. So amazing is their incorruptable pure pureness that they're the only psykers they black templars allowed to come on their crusades. Ultramarines don't make dark gods piss themselves in terror at the mere mention of their name. Grey Knights do.

 

[teebeeohh]

i didn't dl it yet but will try it tonight.
i like what i read so far and i put my trus in relic to deliver a good PC version with customizable controls and graphics.

one thing for those who have played it already: does a normal bolter fire in full auto or semi/burst?

YT vid evidence seems to say full auto. the bolt pistol looks like a burster though, not sure.

hm, as a 40k fan this makes me a little sad, there are enough weapons a space marine can use that are full auto, why change the bolter?

 

[Doclector]

i didn't dl it yet but will try it tonight.
i like what i read so far and i put my trus in relic to deliver a good PC version with customizable controls and graphics.

one thing for those who have played it already: does a normal bolter fire in full auto or semi/burst?

YT vid evidence seems to say full auto. the bolt pistol looks like a burster though, not sure.

The bolter is fully auto, and the bolt pistol is semi automatic.

 

[RollForInitiative]

The demo made me quite happy and cements my decision to get the Collector's Edition in spite of the dramatically increased price tag. I'm more than happy to support a venture like this and I'm so, so ready for some co-operative Ultramarine stomping.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Better than I expected, as someone with ZERO knowledge of 40K.

But not a Day One by any means.

In the bargain bin a few months from now, sure.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Meh.

A brown, noisy, brain-dead mess that clearly takes itself waaay too seriously. But maybe that's intentional.

It's basically functional and the action is alright I suppose, but that's all I can say for it. Although the melee system boils down to little more than button-mashing.

It's certainly not a game that I would ever pay full price for. More the kind of thing that I pick up for $20 during a Steam sale when I want to fill a lazy afternoon or two

Also, is it just me or are the orks more interesting than the marines in every single way? Visually, thematically... you name it. Screw the generic overgrown macho meatheads in power armour, I want to play as one of the green guys instead.

The Orks are a lot more fun, but I have a niggling feeling that it would detract from the gameplay if you were one of them. The Spess Mahreens are like Batman, half of what makes them cool is the guys they fight against. If you were playing as Orks versus Imperials, then you would be fighting mostly boring cannon fodder Guardsmen, and maybe at most five Space Marines in the whole game.

I feel that when choosing between interesting protagonists and antagonists, the bad guys should be made more interesting if it comes to compromises between the two. Of course, if you can get some neat protagonists too, all the better. But if it comes down to it, make the bad guys neat at least.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

snip

Have to disagree with you there:

Let's not jump to conclusions regarding Space Marine squad sizes. Who knows, maybe there's a plausible in-game explanation as to why there's only three Ultrasmurfs running around. Perhaps they're the sole survivors of a Thunderhawk crash, or their drop pod went off course and they're stranded from the rest of their forces. Perhaps they're on a secret mission that the rest of the chapter isn't supposed to know about. Even if it's never explained it's not that big of a deal for me.

You can still get killed pretty quickly if you don't stay on your toes. My first death in the demo was at the hands of a Nob who killed me in about two or three swings. My second was from a bomb Squig when I had approximately 50% health. This was on Normal difficulty mind you, not Hard. Also, enemies can still wail on you while you're doing execution moves. I've died a few times because I didn't clear surrounding enemies away with an area-of-effect stun before executing my intended victim.

You complain about Space Marines killing hundreds of regular enemies and how it's not "lore accurate." It makes me wonder how familiar you are with 40k's fluff. Just about every Space Marine novel depicts a small squad of Marines killing hundreds (if not thousands) of regular enemies at some point. They often go on to kill a particularly nasty foe like a Warboss or Daemon Prince...and survive. Yes the tabletop and DoW series has them more evenly matched with their enemies, but that's mostly for game balance (otherwise everyone would only play as Space Marines). Also, this is the Ultrasmurfs we're talking about. Like it or not, Games Workshop has made them the poster boys for the Imperium, lauding them as the most capable Space Marine chapter around with regards to overall performance.

The Grey Knights always seemed more capable. Despite being psychic (chaos loves corrupting psychics) they have yet to lose a single marine to chaos. So amazing is their incorruptable pure pureness that they're the only psykers they black templars allowed to come on their crusades. Ultramarines don't make dark gods piss themselves in terror at the mere mention of their name. Grey Knights do.

What about the Khornate Knights atrocity from Matt Fucking Ward's new Grey Knight Codex? A bunch of Grey Knights arrive on a chapel planet that was invaded by the World Eaters, and encounter a group of Sisters of Battle who had remained pure to the Emperor by killing their corrupted sisters. They were guarding a shrine to the emperor that held a Holy Weapon.

So what do the Grey Knights do? They kill all the uncorrupted Sisters and run off with the weapon.

 

[vaderaider]

I am a massive 40k fan. Not so much of space marines, I play imperial guard. I can say that this demo proved all of my pre assumptions wrong, I had expected it to be Boring and repetive, The combat was just so satisfying, Bolters felt like they had the power of bolters, The chainsword was just so fun...I even shouted "for the emperor" on numerous occasions.

 

[Sonicron]

I am worried about the weapons though. Are there only four guns? I hope there's more.

I can confirm the 'more weapons' bit, although some of them are going to be situational (iirc). Heavy bolters, plasma guns, melta guns, lascannons and others will all be available, but like the jump pack, some of them will only be at your disposal for specific encounters.

 

[Corporal Yakob]

Not gonna lie, that was just a ton of fun. The power axe especially just made me so damned happy I was all but giggling the entire fight while using it. And one of the execution moves I got with it on a stunned Nob, holy crap, that was just... wow. I tore his face in half!

Kratos can eat his heart out, these Space Marines are the real deal. Damn.

Only complaint? Can't play as an Ork. I'm secretly hoping they win at the end of the game, Orkz for lyfe yo!

I actually shouted "WOAH!" when I first got a execution move on a Nob-HE PULLED HIS HEAD APART! EMPEROR SAVE ME THIS IS AWESOME!!!

I loved every nano second of the demo and it has exceeded my already extremely high expections of the game, now I desperatly want the game even more. Its even one of those few games that get me truely excited for the multiplayer because I CAN CREATE MY OWN CHAPTER AND SEND TRAITOR SCUM SCREAMING TO THE DAEMON PIT ONLINE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Your Nightmare]

I really enjoyed it. Found it hard to get back into the swing of a 3rd person game after not playing 1 for months..

Can you get more than 1 melee weapon in the demo?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I really enjoyed it. Found it hard to get back into the swing of a 3rd person game after not playing 1 for months..

Can you get more than 1 melee weapon in the demo?

Near the end of the first level, you can find a Power Axe in the area when the Guardsmen show up.

 

[Weaver]

I loved it! If anyone wants to check out my LP of the demo you can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqT4xYYCrzo&feature=channel_video_title

 

[Keava]

The Orks are a lot more fun, but I have a niggling feeling that it would detract from the gameplay if you were one of them. The Spess Mahreens are like Batman, half of what makes them cool is the guys they fight against. If you were playing as Orks versus Imperials, then you would be fighting mostly boring cannon fodder Guardsmen, and maybe at most five Space Marines in the whole game.

I feel that when choosing between interesting protagonists and antagonists, the bad guys should be made more interesting if it comes to compromises between the two. Of course, if you can get some neat protagonists too, all the better. But if it comes down to it, make the bad guys neat at least.

Not to mention the problem that single Ork usually is not the best combatant since he doesn't have enough WAAAGH to really do much. Their strength lies in numbers, the more Orks the stronger they are because they believe in being stronger in a hive mind fashion.
To make a game where you play as an Ork you would have to play with like 11 AI Ork-mates to back you up for it to make any sense. Even War Bosses rarely walk around without a hefty amount of Boyz and/or Nobz surrounding them.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

DRM for the DRM god
Demos for the demo throne

amidoinitrite?