I'm playing Gears of War Reloaded, and I have a question. Will there be some point when the Chainsaw I've had for hours actually gets explained to me?
from RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 02 Sep 21:06
https://lemmy.world/post/35365178

Like, I chose to play the Tutorial at the beginning. This Chainsaw seems like a pretty critical piece of the gameplay loop, but at no point has there been an explicit explanation or demonstration.

#games

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stephen@lazysoci.al on 02 Sep 21:27 next collapse

Hahaha here I thought I’d just missed something in the beginning of the game. Turns out the game just doesn’t bother to teach its players how to play it.

RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world on 02 Sep 23:08 next collapse

I mean, I’m pretty sure. I guess maybe there may have been a pop-up message I never noticed, but Dom explaining these new guns with friggin chainsaws on them, like, with his words, woulda been nice. I did figure out it’s O or B eventually, but I keep running up to people, pressing the button while he fails to start it, or lock on, then get blasted.

ampersandrew@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 13:43 collapse

This may have been a game that came out at the tail end of the instructional manual era, and missing a mechanic like this in the tutorial area would have been an oversight that they could live with.

[deleted] on 02 Sep 23:17 next collapse

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CrayonDevourer@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 03:37 collapse

It’s so weird that players these days don’t press buttons and figure shit out on their own…do you really need a tutorial for a basic weapon?

stephen@lazysoci.al on 03 Sep 09:41 next collapse

The game begins with a tutorial.

Why would I be remiss to be confused as to why there is a tutorial, but not include any mention of the existence, let alone the use, of a basic weapon?

Further, yes, I expect all products to tell me about their features.

mohab@piefed.social on 03 Sep 12:23 next collapse

Damn, you should steer clear of Japanese action games then.

Further, yes, I expect all products to tell me about their features.

Oh, really? I should get my money back from 20th Century Fox… they didn't tell me Fight Club had the twist feature at the end. Thank you for pointing that out.

I cannot believe I had to discover it myself as I was watching the movie. Bizarre stuff.

CrayonDevourer@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 19:17 next collapse

Games should allow you to discover their features, they shouldn’t be telling you directly. That’s the cool part of figuring out a new combo in Mortal Kombat, etc.

They don’t give you a clippy tooltip that says “Press Up Up Down B A Down Down to rip this bitches head off!” – You figure out the combos on your own, or with friends.

This idea of every little thing having to be presented DIRECTLY to the user is laziness. There are ways to help a user discover things narratively.

NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip on 03 Sep 20:54 collapse

Its a generational mindset. Because, remember, the game this is “reloading” came out in the late 00s

Back then? The idea was to teach you what is actually new in a given game. So the cover system, more or less. Shooting, aiming, and melee’ing were more or less bog standard by that point and players were mostly expected to understand it used the same controls as every other game or to take a quick visit to the controls page in the menu to see what the jump button was.

I forget if Gears actually teaches you the melee button or not. I want to say tapping melee is a rifle butt and you have to hold to chainsword? Which also lines up with games of the time. The charge and hold is mostly a humiliation kill you save for multiplayer and sizzle reels.

So to use… probably equally old nomenclature: it would be like teaching people how to do a no scope 360 during the tutorial.

mohab@piefed.social on 03 Sep 12:25 next collapse

Capitalism + hyper consumerism. No time or patience to play around and discover. Gotta wrap up ASAP and move on to the next game.

That backlog isn't gonna play itself.

RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 14:42 collapse

Yes, amongst fights when I thought about it I tried and figured out the button. Then he wasn’t really locking on easily, and sometimes he just like, can’t start it after rolling or something, and then I get blasted. A few times doing that, and I got pissed and made this because everyone’s carrying the damn thing and I was just in prison. Why the holy fuck has no one daned to mention the goddamn chainsaw on everyone’s gun? So, really this is just a rant about design.

ampersandrew@lemmy.world on 02 Sep 21:42 next collapse

When it’s equipped, you just use your melee button, which ought to be B, if memory serves.

NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip on 02 Sep 21:53 next collapse

Considering it is a microsoft game, just wait for the Palestinian children to appear.


But to actually answer the question. Gears was a game from the late 00s/early 10s made by Epic who had been making THE best arena shooters for almost a decade at that point. The chainsaw bayonet is just another Impact Hammer or Gauntlet. It isn’t something you are actually supposed to use outside of stunting on other players. Which lines up with Gears being a cover shooter through and through and charging out of cover being a REALLY good way to get gunned down on all but the easiest of difficulty settings.

RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world on 02 Sep 23:11 next collapse

I actually did play it on XBox back in the day, I just don’t remember anything. But yeah, I’m re-learning that pretty quick. Still though, the chainsaw is pretty awesome, why not explain it?

Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works on 03 Sep 00:50 collapse

I’m trying to avoid buying from companies on the palestinian boycott list, but I already know a Gears of War remake playable on Steam Deck is gonna be one exception.

emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 03 Sep 02:49 collapse

You dont have to buy it to play it. Then you get to skip all the epic game store bs too.

toomanypancakes@piefed.world on 02 Sep 22:08 next collapse

If you hold b it revs, and then you just run into an enemy without taking damage or you'll just stand there looking silly.

RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world on 02 Sep 23:07 collapse

So on PS5, it’s the O button, and X is run. I need to press both at the same time?

toomanypancakes@piefed.world on 02 Sep 23:23 next collapse

Sorry, I meant you can just walk into them. It'll stay revved and ready to chainsaw as long as you hold the button until you get hit.

scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech on 03 Sep 04:52 next collapse

You just hold the rev button as you walk up to an enemy. Then Marcus screams and the large body becomes many pieces

Katana314@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 13:12 collapse

Doesn’t need a run button. And, something kind of useful is that while revving, the game changes from strafe controls to tank controls, making it easier to orient at an enemy around a corner since you can’t reach your camera thumbstick.

ohshit604@sh.itjust.works on 03 Sep 03:46 collapse

I’m not too heavy into gears of war lore but I would assume the Retro Lancer, which has a bayonet in lieu of a chainsaw and was introduced in Gears of War 3, was the precursor to the modern lancer.

RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 08:59 collapse

thank you. FINALLY. These guys have like no academic curiosity.