Anyone ever noticed how bad the story is?

[GuyOnAChair]

There are good/great set peices, the production quality is superb etc etc but man the writing and actual moment to moment story is AWFUL. Anyone else notice?

[GuyOnAChair]

More or less. Both are really short and don't really top the original in my eyes though. (Max Payne 2 isn't bad at all) Max Payne 3 was a great game, but it was short and had a poor story that coudn't be skipped.

[Cpl. Heriot]

Smiling after your wife and baby were murdered was a flaw don't you think?

[GuyOnAChair]

Be more specific? You don't mean his silly face in Max Payne 1 do you?

[Cpl. Heriot]

Yes I do, it was hillarious wich felt silly in the Bullet Time cinematics.

[GuyOnAChair]

Originally posted by RamboTheBully Crusader:

Yes I do, it was hillarious wich felt silly in the Bullet Time cinematics.

That was a flaw in my eyes too (Also really funny to me). I'm not saying he should have the words frowniest frown but a more nuetral expression should have been used. He uses his death face when he's sobbing over her character model but it's funny to think he's cracking up or having a lemon up his ass the whole rest of the game. I recently made that face (The version from MP3) my profile picture.

[Ezekiel]

Originally posted by GuyOnAChair:

More or less. Both are really short and don't really top the original in my eyes though. (Max Payne 2 isn't bad at all) Max Payne 3 was a great game, but it was short and had a poor story that coudn't be skipped.

I found Max Payne's story generic and unimpressive. I barely even remember what happened, except that Max lost his family and uncovered a plot by the illuminati. And I vaguely remember Nicole Horne. The worst thing about it was the nightmares with the awful forced platforming on narrow blood trails. Yeah, that's what I want in Max Payne... MP2 did it much better. I'm probably gonna get hate for this, but I think this is a series that got more interesting with each installment. I didn't like MP2 until I replayed it, so maybe the original would fare better with a second playthrough, but I have no desire to ever replay it. I've played MP2 three times over the years and MP3 at least eleven times.

[GuyOnAChair]

Originally posted by Ezekiel:

Originally posted by GuyOnAChair:

More or less. Both are really short and don't really top the original in my eyes though. (Max Payne 2 isn't bad at all) Max Payne 3 was a great game, but it was short and had a poor story that coudn't be skipped.

I found Max Payne's story generic and unimpressive. I barely even remember what happened, except that Max lost his family and uncovered a plot by the illuminati. And I vaguely remember Nicole Horne. I'm probably gonna hate for this, but I think this is a series that got more interesting with each installment. I didn't like MP2 until I replayed it, so maybe the original would fare better with a second playthrough, but I have no desire to ever replay it. I've played MP2 three times over the years and MP3 at least eleven times.

While I do have Max Payne's silly face as a profile I'm not a fan in the sligthest.
"I found Max Payne's story generic and unimpressive. I barely even remember what happened, except that Max lost his family and uncovered a plot by the illuminati."
I agree. It did some things to make it's self unique but there was the usual video game level of "srsly" that set in. Max Payne 2 on paper was a lot more interesting but I found a lot of holes upon closer inspection. Max Payne 2's story is love it or hate it and I liked some ideas but over all thought it could have used more time to flesh out it's story. Vlad being the villan seemed like it was done for the hell of it until I replayed it. I've lost count of how many times I've beaten Max Payne 1 and 2. I think Max Payne's story could be improved in a remake especially with better graphics. The game aspect of Max Payne 1 has held up better than the story.

The reason I say I'm not a fan is it's kind of a mixed bag overall and suffers from poor compatibility, bugs and generally a lack of whatever magic Metal Gear's got.

[Ezekiel]

Originally posted by GuyOnAChair:

The reason I say I'm not a fan is it's kind of a mixed bag overall and suffers from poor compatibility, bugs and generally a lack of whatever magic Metal Gear's got.

I know it's off topic, but I can't help talking about Metal Gear when the opportunity presents itself. I really liked the first three MGS games back in the day, but I think Kojima blew it with MGS4 and the series never recovered. I would have ended Solid Snake's story a lot differently. I don't know why everybody still loves the man so much after three disappointing sequels (4, Peace Walker and V). The trailer for Death Stranding said absolutely nothing, yet people went crazy for it.

[GuyOnAChair]

Originally posted by Ezekiel:

Originally posted by GuyOnAChair:

The reason I say I'm not a fan is it's kind of a mixed bag overall and suffers from poor compatibility, bugs and generally a lack of whatever magic Metal Gear's got.

I know it's off topic, but I can't help talking about Metal Gear when the opportunity presents itself. I really liked the first three MGS games back in the day, but I think Kojima blew it with MGS4 and the series never recovered. I would have ended Solid Snake's story a lot differently. I don't know why everybody still loves the man so much after three disappointing sequels (4, Peace Walker and V). The trailer for Death Stranding said absolutely nothing, yet people went crazy for it.

Same actually. Yeah 4 has got some Max Payne 3 issues altough not as badly (Also cutscenes can be skipped). "The trailer for Death Stranding said absolutely nothing, yet people went crazy for it." Yeah I was glad he was making stuff but a CGI trailer with no clues about the actual story or gameplay doesn't excite me either.

Peacewalker was pretty damn good story wise (Even though 3's ending was enough to explain things) and expanded on the base ideas from MPO (It probably exists just to retcon the weird story of MPO which is now called "Finnally we can leave all the crap in San Hiranimo behind" -Miller). The problem with PW was that while it fixed the camera it made the AI Genome soldiers level of dumb and removed all the interesting control options. V is a game that I need to do a video review of just to give my thoughts. In brief it objectively had the worst story I've seen in a while but some of the best gameplay in spite of removing the more hardcore Arma esque control elements or having Snake hold the gun in his hands.

[GuyOnAChair]

I like Metal Gear because it's one of those series I like to critique and lots to critique without finding much or enough to make me think they are awful do to the amount of care that wen't into every apspect. 4 had some of that but it's not airtight like the prior titles. Like how I rewatched Breaking Bad a lot and only found like 5 errors in total like the wrong date (Osama bin Laden wasn’t killed until 2011),no chemical element “Ch" in a title, hydrofluoric acid would not eat through a bathtub and two instamces of camera men being in shot for a second etc.

[Dr Faustus MD]

Originally posted by GuyOnAChair:

The nail in the coffin for Max Payne 3 as a whole is the fact the cutscenes are also there as a crutch to hide loading.

The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading

I will keep repeating this until people stop asserting this myth as fact!

The hard drive is not spinning while the cutscene plays - nothing is loading.
We have 4K gaming systems now and games like Arkham Knight which is seamless! Nothing is loading!
The levels load instantly in Arcade Modes yet a 5 minute cutscene is needed to "load the level" in story mode? Nothing is loading!

Plenty of other evidence if you Google it or look on Youtube, too tired to link it again here now.

To summarise - Nothing is loading!

...but agree that making them unskippable was stupid for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th playthrough.

[GuyOnAChair]

Originally posted by Dr Faustus MD:

Originally posted by GuyOnAChair:

The nail in the coffin for Max Payne 3 as a whole is the fact the cutscenes are also there as a crutch to hide loading.

The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading
The cutscenes do not hide the loading

I will keep repeating this until people stop asserting this myth as fact!

The hard drive is not spinning while the cutscene plays - nothing is loading.
We have 4K gaming systems now and games like Arkham Knight which is seamless! Nothing is loading!
The levels load instantly in Arcade Modes yet a 5 minute cutscene is needed to "load the level" in story mode? Nothing is loading!

Plenty of other evidence if you Google it or look on Youtube, too tired to link it again here now.

To summarise - Nothing is loading!

...but agree that making them unskippable was stupid for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th playthrough.

No they do hide the loading. They were still coded as if for a console. I'm not saying it's a modern tech reason (Just look at GTA V) I'm saying it's how Max Payne 3 was built. Arcade mode only removes cutscenes that aren't completley held back by this issue. And even if I didn't know this from a surface level if I try to skip them it also says "still loading" until I basically skip the tail end of it.

[Cpl. Heriot]

You miss the cutscenes when it's stuck with a spinning reticle for 20 minutes..

[GuyOnAChair]

Originally posted by 4 down 1 to go:

You miss the cutscenes when it's stuck with a spinning reticle for 20 minutes..

I've never had that happen but I'm sure because of how the game was built that that too was their logic.

The unskippable cutscenes are probably the reason I noiticed the flaws the most on repeat playthroughs. (That and I lost my save data multiple times in the past).

[Gaston]

Originally posted by Ezekiel:

I don't know why everybody still loves the man so much after three disappointing sequels (4, Peace Walker and V). The trailer for Death Stranding said absolutely nothing, yet people went crazy for it.

But I enjoy the gameplay of MGSV PP, sure the story isn't anything special but hot damn what the game offers (for me that is) is quite a lot. Grant it I've just scratch the surface in the PP (8hrs into it, and 8hrs into and completed GZ).
I'm curious though, what didn't you like about MGSV other than konami being a douche.