Does this game really need a steady 60 fps to work correctly at some parts?

[LegendOfAB]

I hear that if you don't, strange glitches and bugs can happen at certain points, preventing you from progressing or making it really hard. Is that true?

[Dekonega]

Yes. But framerate is OK variate between 50~60 FPS almost at any point during the game and you won't encounter any real problems. And the MGR doesn't have very demanding hardware requirements. It's possible to complete the game even with integrated graphics adapters like Intel's HD4000 (which runs the game around 40~60 FPS at lowest settings when using decent resolution of 720p).

Without ~60 FPS the game will run in "slow motion" mode. For example, let's say that your computer is able to only get ~30 FPS on average. It means that everything will run at half the speed. That includes (but is not limited to) your walking speed, speed you activate skills to hit opponents, how the in-engine cutscenes work, and the enemy AI (including the bosses) react.

In the worst case if framerate goes even lower than that you'll start see issues like certain things that should load up just aren't in there like the broken clock tower in the beginning of the game when you fight Metal Gear is missing during in-engine cutscene. Or how in the (thank god now fixed by a patch) the final boss, Armstrong, was unbeatable due certain in-engine cutscenes/QTEs not being triggered or being triggered "too late" for player to be able to react to them.

This design issue in the game engine doesn't really prevent you from making progress but it can make things very hideously difficult with boss battles. It doesn't really effect the normal gameplay unless your hardware is older than circa 2005 and there are tons of enemies around you.

Most people with decently new hardware will not run into any of these issues. But if you're interested in seeing what kind of issues there could be you can watch these videos. Let me just remind that Armstrong and Sunflower issues these videos are about were addressed in a patch already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX07aAAkcdc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u4o9X0ccvs

[pictoshark]

Actually I think the bugs that occur below 60 FPS have been fixed now. I know at the very least the one that occurs in the final boss has.

[gamerwill]

This game doesn't need a steady 60 FPS, but you don't want it to go any lower than 45 FPS at the least. Once you go below 45 FPS things start to break. An example would be the clock tower after the second Ray fight not spawning leaving Raiden in the air floating until you restart. This is easily fixed by quitting to the title screen then hitting continue. If you click restart from checkpoint here you will get an infinite loading screen.

The developers released a patch recently that "fixed" the problems with boss QTEs. You shouldn't have a problem beating the game now if you can't keep anything over 45 FPS. There will just be some bugs here and there that may be a little annoying.

The game running at a slower speed actually starts at 30 FPS. It isn't really visually noticeable, but you will feel it in the control of the character. Anything under 30 FPS will drop the games speed. So, say at 30 FPS the game runs at about 90% speed, going down to 15 FPS will cause the game to run at 50% speed. The only thing slowing down will be the visuals. All sounds/music play at their normal speed.

You need to play this game on a computer monitor. This game seems to have problems when you try to play it on a TV.

If you are worried that you may not be able to experiance the game in the best way, I would say don't get the game. Its always better to save your money than to buy and hope it works.

[LegendOfAB]

Awesome, thanks for all the info guys. My laptop should be able to break 45 fps at least, if i turn down some settings.

I'll most likely wait for a sale though. $30 is kinda steep for me right now and i have other games i'm in the middle of.

[BurningTofu]

Wow... running it at 60FPS is paramount for this game? I wonder if I should even attempt to run this game with my 3 monitors and suffer the FPS loss.

[Dekonega]

Originally posted by BurningTofu:

Wow... running it at 60FPS is paramount for this game? I wonder if I should even attempt to run this game with my 3 monitors and suffer the FPS loss.

If you have a decently new gaming system then go ahead. MGR doesn't have hefty system requirements and it's very optimized game. But you can forget the three monitors immediately. The MGR only supports rather limited amount of resolutions, and the 1080p being the highest available. Hack is available but it is still pretty much work-in-progress to my understanding.