I feel like this is just you not being able to put yourself in this world. Like this is just a common occurrence in fiction.
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Control. Does this game get better?
- Thread starter mogster7777
- Start date
Crappy frame rate (base PS4), camera in close quarters and boss fights made me quit and not look back. It gets better with more abilities and the story, premise and most of the gameplay is satisfying but if they only had another checkpoint system (not everything have to be explained with in game lore) that was more forgiving primarily with boss fights it would have been a much better game.
Man this might be my game of the Generation. It's fucking incredible. I loved every weird, wonderful, frustrating, rewarding, whacky minute of it.
I think the problem is that the player doesn't have any character to really relate to. Jesse is surely not a relatable character because she's content with the madness. So you're left with this feeling that everyone is somewhat insane and that you are the only voice of reason. You read reports of people being tortured to death by The Old House and yet they willingly stay there. And most of those that you come by do not seem like extraordinary people that would tolerate such horrors; they complain and go about their business like regular factory workers. It's all just a bit too odd and unrelatable. I absolutely love the concept of The Old House and how the story moves on but there could've been a couple of more realistic characters in there to help navigate the player through all the crazyness.
If you think the various reports are useless because of the redactions you may as well just stop, it's clear the game's atmosphere is doing some mix of not vibing with you and going over your head. I'm confused by your confusion, do you think the redactions are some kind of mistake or something? Do you think if you mentioned to the devs that removing them would have made the story more clear they'd be like "Well shit, why didn't we think of that?"
The map design is poor, the frame rate on base PS4 is abysmal and the checkpoint system makes it so there's way too much backtracking.
But it's one of my games of the generation thanks to its story, style and gameplay. However, if you're questioning basic things like mystery storytelling and can't suspend your disbelief in a game about weird things which everyone working there deals with day to day then you should probably just drop it.
But it's one of my games of the generation thanks to its story, style and gameplay. However, if you're questioning basic things like mystery storytelling and can't suspend your disbelief in a game about weird things which everyone working there deals with day to day then you should probably just drop it.
Yes, it gets better in terms of locations, it literally expands into different locations that aren't nearly as generic as the first location.
You're super early into the game like others have said, and I managed to use the ability to kill the first boss.
You're not paying attention, nor are you reading the documents in the game that you can pick up and read. Everything you're talking about is absolutely answered. You're just being picky and not paying attention like I said. You're literally told in the opening monologue by Jesse that she was bought to the location by the voice within her head. She even mentions in the beginning "I know I shut you out sometimes, I'm always glad to hear from you. It's just that I get my hopes up so many times, it's led to nothing. I found nothing." She then directly talks to what's in her head saying: "I'm here, why did you bring me here?" at the end of the opening monologue and she clearly isn't talking to you (the gamer), when she references shutting something out and that she likes to hear from it literally in the first opening line of the game. These connections are not hard to make.
If you got more than, I don't know, about 25-35 minutes into the game, you meet other individuals within the beginning who explain all of these questions you are asking. Literally, everything you want to know in terms of :
- What is an object of power?
- How do they exist?
- Why do random objects become OOP?
- What is the Hiss?
And yes, it gets better.
It also contains one of the best sequences in a game throughout this entire generation, however, you're clearly not into the game already and you're not really paying attention to things that are being told to you. This game doesn't spoon feed the story and tells the story in an interesting way that grows over time via conversations, items, Jesse talking, meeting other people and cutscenes. It's a fantastic game slightly hindered down by a few performance issues, and the combat isn't perfect, but its really good. Also, the game is super short can be completed in like a day if you don't do post-story missions.
Jesse isn't phased by this because of reasons already told you in the story. Literally, the reason you're in the building to begin with is exactly why she is not phased and she isn't shocked by seeing these things so far at the point in the game. Like, I don't know what to tell you cause I'm not spoiling it. Also to add onto "Why is there no urgency from the characters?", it's because in the world of this game it's existed for a lot longer than you'd think and you find out more about all of this within cutscenes in the game. That's why it seems like 'everyday' business to these people.
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Once you get to fly it becomes one of the best shooters this gen. Although I still thought it was pretty damn good in the beginning so maybe it's just not for you.
Also why do you expect it to give you all the answers right away? Most things get answered by the end of the game and the rest feels purposefully left alone. It's really well written so have faith if you chose to continue.
Also why do you expect it to give you all the answers right away? Most things get answered by the end of the game and the rest feels purposefully left alone. It's really well written so have faith if you chose to continue.
OP
OP
Reading documents is half the gameplay then for me that means the game has failed to tell a story successfully. I do not want to just stand there reading documents to help explain the story. It spoils the pacing of the game.
just seems like a cop out if all the story is explained through documents and collectibles. There has got to be a better way than this to tell stories. I dunno why people think this is always a good method. It totally ruins the pacing especially for a game that's a third person action adventure type. It's not a VN which would make a lot more sense.
I don't think this game is for you. There is a lot of lore to read that explains all of this and it isn't hard to find (i think it's even incidental).
This isn't an insult. I realize games like DmC5 aren't for me for different reasons. If you don't enjoy the game, don't play anymore.
I'd rather read the coherent documentation an organization would maintain on their objects of study rather than listen to Mr. Exposition.
I dropped it after 10 hours. It was hardly any different than the first hour. Stupid unfair boss fights, same lame enemies all over the place, same boring environments.
Only thing I absolutely love is the destruction, which is awesome and the only reason I clocked 10 hours.
I really enjoyed my time with Control. It was less about the gunplay but more about the frantic, low key superhero game it turns out to be and fantastic designs. I say frantic because that is how the combat often plays out for me. Constant destruction of environments, objects flying abouts and constantly running/dodging/jumping and later levitating.
The way the game's mechanics are setup to encourage movement rather than staying in once place like a cover shooter makes it feel great once you get into the rhythm of things. I see you mention the boss avoiding the thrown object, you can't just spam the powers and expect results. Almost all enemies have some action that leaves them vulnerable.
I do wish there were more activities beyond combat and very, very light puzzles but overall the game is really unique. Some of the powers feel great and I'd love to see more of it.
The way the game's mechanics are setup to encourage movement rather than staying in once place like a cover shooter makes it feel great once you get into the rhythm of things. I see you mention the boss avoiding the thrown object, you can't just spam the powers and expect results. Almost all enemies have some action that leaves them vulnerable.
I do wish there were more activities beyond combat and very, very light puzzles but overall the game is really unique. Some of the powers feel great and I'd love to see more of it.
Sometimes found documents are a good way to provide explosion where dumping everything on the player via cutscene or whatnot would seem heavy handed or overwhelming.
Developing a more complex narrative through both environmental story telling and optional material can be a good way to provide narrative details at the players own pace. With that said, I can see what you're saying about pacing. I prefer audio logs that allow me to continue playing while optionally receiving narrative (like in Bioshock).
Doesn't it make sense that an organisation heavily inspired by SCP will have a lot of documents laying around to read? Usually I agree that reading collectibles can be cheap and diminish the quality of the story but this ain't it. In Control I think it only enhances the story.
Well, some of the (arguably essential) powers are obtained with side content, so I don't think you can't ignore it all.
Enjoying it enough when I'm playing it, but hasn't quite grabbed me as much as I hoped it would, given I like Max Payne 1+2 and the SCP style setting
The customization and loot seems a bit fiddly, but haven't really engaged with that much (haven't really needed to, just chuck whatever loot has big sounding numbers in occasionally)
The customization and loot seems a bit fiddly, but haven't really engaged with that much (haven't really needed to, just chuck whatever loot has big sounding numbers in occasionally)
Once again, you're not paying attention. I literally explained this before and proved you weren't paying attention to obvious bits of information. I'm not saying your take is wrong because yes, a larger portion of the time collecting items is a waste of time in most video games.
However, CONTROL does it via cutscenes, videos in the game, collectible notes, Jesse's dialogue, cutscenes and voice recordings that explain extra details about the story in a phenomenal way. It still manages to tell a great story even without the collectibles but since you mentally checked out since the beginning, you don't see that at all. You're just asking questions that have been answered or will be answered early on in the game which I addressed in your post along with other posts. You also saw that, whether you read it or not is a different story, but you instantly cherry picked to "using collectibles isn't a good way to tell a story."
If you're not gonna at least TRY to get into the game, why bother complaining about it? There's a ton of detail in CONTROL that tells us so many things about the world. It's such a good game, it just feels like you're missing the chance to enjoy it just because it does certain things you don't like at all or deem "lazy."
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I'm more surprised at the fact that you said you loved 'Death Stranding', but can't seem to grasp Control's story-telling nature when they have incredibly similar story-telling structures. (ie. people acting stone-faced normal to incredible objects, story and explanations mainly told in ancillary documents.)
Could you expand on that?
Could you expand on that?
OP
OP
Death Stranding lured me in with its characters and cutscenes and cool setting. Control does this with (mostly) documents. Hardly the same thing.
I will play it more though tonight. I think I need to give it a chance at least. I'm still too early in.
I never typical do that either but people in this thread said that you should read the files including yourself so I've been trying to make it a point
I've stopped at like, 3-4 hours I think. It's just very frustrating for me. I loved there past games but this one just isnt clicking for me.
it's not
but haven't we already established that the documents are short and that you can read them at your own pace so there's no obligation to stop anything? plus they're optional, they're lore. the full story is explained and understandable through the game itself. the documents are just extras.
it absolutely is not. you think all of the story is explained through documents? again, they're just bonuses, the story is complete and well-explained without them. these just flesh out the world
again, you can read them at your own pace. kind of baffled by the distinction between this and Death Stranding. they both explain things through text documents and messages.
it does not stop the game. it does not pause the game. it does nothing except give you a notification that you have a new document that you can read whenever you want. again, i can understand if the story and characters aren't vibing with you but you're starting to say things that are objectively not true. the game does not tell all the story through documents, it just fleshes out the lore and expands on certain story elements and characters through documents. it's not half the gameplay. the documents are fairly short and some of them are just jokey redacted things. and it doesn't affect the pacing of the game as a shooter because they're completely optional and you can choose when you want to read them. it's like saying giving the option to pause ruins the pacing of a game. read the documents during your downtime or don't read them at all, it's still a great game regardless.
it just feels like you're looking for reasons to not like it and reaching for a justification as to why isn't not clicking with you when the truth is that the atmosphere and themes aren't for everyone and that's fine. but saying stuff like optional documents ruin the pacing or half the game is documents or all the story is told through documents just isn't true.
It's probably because I'm not that hot on TPS stuff nowadays, but I found myself just wanting to read documents, watch videos, explore the Oldest House and have narrative moments. While I often wanted to just skip the combat segments. Still absolutely loved the game, and I recognize that the abilities and combat system are fairly impressive.
I honestly do not remember there being a cover system.
My experience mirrors yours, OP. I did beat it and there are some cool sections but as a whole, I kept waiting for it to click yet it never really did. I also think the documents were a bad idea. The redacted parts make them a chore to read and there's just way, waaaay too damn many of them. I understand it adds to the mystery somewhat, but less would have definitely been more in this regard.
I just played it last week and it ran fine on the pro for the most part. There were a couple times the FPS tanked during heavy combat but it never got me killed at least. I didn't experience any issues outside of combat at any point.
OP
OP
Yeah I agree I already got the found 40 collectibles trophy in the game and I'm still very early in the game. That says it all.
a lot of games these days have too many collectibles for the sake of it. Extra padding for the sake of it. Most of the time it's not very interesting either. Yes they add more story and lore but it seems like a cheap way to add to the story. A lot of the time just reading and stopping everything you're doing is not the best way to go about it in a TPS game such as this when they're this frequently occurring. Like I don't mind collectibles but the way they crop up here every five minutes ruins the pacing in some ways.
Resident Evil Remake 2 (and even the old RE games) are good examples of giving the right balance of colectibles with notes etc without ruining the pacing but adding to the world lore and story.
But why are the people who work at Umbrella not more shocked about the zombies?! The Z virus doesn't even make any sense!
I stopped reading the documents about quarter of the way through, because not only were they not particularly interesting content wise, but the game just bombards you with them to an almost comical extent. It's like there was something new to read every time I entered a new room. Last thing I want to do is start and stop a game constantly just to read stuff; that shit is worse than listening to audio logs a la Bioshock.
And the story just did nothing for me. There way no hook tangible enough to snag me, it was just weirdness piled upon weirdness right from the get go, and I wasn't intrigued enough to unravel it all. I like surreal and eerie content in media in general, like David Lynch's movies for instance, but at least Lynch has the good sense to balance out his own brand of 'strange shit' with a degree of normalcy. Blue Velvet has the white picket fence suburbs and a boy scout protagonist to juxtapose the insanity of Dennis Hopper and his own little world. Control doesn't have that.
Loads of other problems with the game as well. On a base PS4, the game shits the bed every time you unpause it. Awful technical performance + borked checkpoint system + enemies that can take away most of your health in one hit = pure frustration. A confusing map in a game where many of the environments look the same is cause for further exasperation. And it's hard to believe that the same man who wrote the first two Max Payne games managed to create a main character so beige and uninteresting.
2019 was such a weird year. Remedy majorly disappointed me, yet Death Stranding, a game I dumped on constantly pre-release, has actually turned out to be quite wonderful. Miracles never cease.
And the story just did nothing for me. There way no hook tangible enough to snag me, it was just weirdness piled upon weirdness right from the get go, and I wasn't intrigued enough to unravel it all. I like surreal and eerie content in media in general, like David Lynch's movies for instance, but at least Lynch has the good sense to balance out his own brand of 'strange shit' with a degree of normalcy. Blue Velvet has the white picket fence suburbs and a boy scout protagonist to juxtapose the insanity of Dennis Hopper and his own little world. Control doesn't have that.
Loads of other problems with the game as well. On a base PS4, the game shits the bed every time you unpause it. Awful technical performance + borked checkpoint system + enemies that can take away most of your health in one hit = pure frustration. A confusing map in a game where many of the environments look the same is cause for further exasperation. And it's hard to believe that the same man who wrote the first two Max Payne games managed to create a main character so beige and uninteresting.
2019 was such a weird year. Remedy majorly disappointed me, yet Death Stranding, a game I dumped on constantly pre-release, has actually turned out to be quite wonderful. Miracles never cease.
It's not nearly weird enough, if anything. This game just slightly goes for some surreal, Lynchian stuff and gamers be like "wtf where are my JRPG-esque reams of dialogue that explain every little thing? subtext is for cowards!" Not saying this is you, but that's definitely the vibe I get from the OP.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game play in Control.
The balance of powers and weapons and the movement system was very neat.
Some enemies will dodge thrown objects if they are far way. tryu to get closer or hit them when they are preparing to attack.
Coming to think of it, the first "boss" might have been a bit unbalanced given the weapon and power you have a at the time.
The whole game takes place in that brutalist building, though there are some amazing vistas.
As for why people are so calm: You are in a secretive government organization that specifically deals with horrors beyond human understanding.
This might not just be Tuesday for them, but it is probably just a Black Friday rush.
The balance of powers and weapons and the movement system was very neat.
Some enemies will dodge thrown objects if they are far way. tryu to get closer or hit them when they are preparing to attack.
Coming to think of it, the first "boss" might have been a bit unbalanced given the weapon and power you have a at the time.
The whole game takes place in that brutalist building, though there are some amazing vistas.
As for why people are so calm: You are in a secretive government organization that specifically deals with horrors beyond human understanding.
This might not just be Tuesday for them, but it is probably just a Black Friday rush.
I'm playing on PC with RTX and its an amazing experience, really feels 'next gen' from a lighting pov as you can imagine. I wouldn't want to play on based PS4, I don't think it would be a good experience.
A next gen console re-release with ray tracing is going to be really good though.
As to the gameplay, despite some difficulty spikes here and there I'm really enjoying it, espcially the atmosphere and world building, although I loved Quantum Break too so I'm a sucker for Remedy games.
A next gen console re-release with ray tracing is going to be really good though.
As to the gameplay, despite some difficulty spikes here and there I'm really enjoying it, espcially the atmosphere and world building, although I loved Quantum Break too so I'm a sucker for Remedy games.
A lot of Control is Inspired by SCP works, which redact pieces of information to instill fear through withheld information implied to be too dangerous to leave in the document, so Control is clearly doing the same thing. It leaves the little pieces for you to think about while still giving the bulk of actually important information to you.
Control is an action shooter that takes place in a horror setting. You dont explain the monster, or object of fear. Most OoP(and SCPs) dont have origins or explanations because that is the literal antithesis to horror. Even when any one specific thing isn't, the overall setting and theme is cosmic horror, and cosmic horror exists as the literal epitome of "never explain the horror"
Hell, even in general, over explaining concepts ruins any fiction, not just horror.
OP over analyzes with an emphasis on the negative while wanting to be spoon fed. Its a peculiar case.
Control was a fine 3rd person shooter well complemented by the psychic powers. The combat always felt impactful. The office setting was perfect for the weird and unexplainable aspects of the game like the building deformation. It had its flaws. The out of nowhere side quests that pop up are annoying and you level up too fast. Also, the game had a disappointing and frustrating final encounter.
Control was a fine 3rd person shooter well complemented by the psychic powers. The combat always felt impactful. The office setting was perfect for the weird and unexplainable aspects of the game like the building deformation. It had its flaws. The out of nowhere side quests that pop up are annoying and you level up too fast. Also, the game had a disappointing and frustrating final encounter.
OP did the same thing in their KH3 thread. The complaints are almost the same across the two threads.