Some questions fo' all the Pros

[Ruiz Redux]

I can't believe i never appreciated Wipeout before 2005, being 23 now and everything. I've even got a PS1 and PS2. But now....I have a PSP.

Wipeout Pure is the sickest game I've gotten into in a long time. The whole subculture of style, music and skill is something I knew would exist on a big scale, so this site is no surprise to me. I love the way the game takes itself so seriously. After playing nothing but ISS for a few years, i KNOW a hardcore game when I see one.

What I love about Wipeout Pure (and I've only been playing for a few days) is just the overall feeling you get from hitting multiple speed boosts and sweeping over hills while listening to bad ass music. It's not stress relieving but definitely stress preventing, i think.

But what I appreciate most is the long difficulty curve. And this is where the q's come in:

1. Surely on Phantom (I'm only up to Flash) you HAVE to miss some speed boosts? Otherwise you have to be going way too fast?

2. What is the best control system - its got to be R for brake and L for sideshift, i take it. what are the cons to taking on this useful extra ability, apart from being a bit harder for novices?

3. Are there any vids I can download of seriously sick pilots, just to see how people play Phantom class?

I'm sure I'll have more q's in this thread......I'm in over my head but loving the game and playing it loads, just working on memorising the tracks and the best ways to take corners.

You guys seem safe as houses, so help me out and give any tips you can. Cheers!

[Seek100]

Hi there Ruiz Redux, nice to see another new wipEout fan, I'm not an expert, nor do I have wicked sic skills but I'll try and answer your questions as best I can:

1. Nope, at Phantom the enemy are much harder to beat, and a lot more trigger happy, you'll need every single speed pad you can get, though obviously it's possible to miss one here and there it will just make life difficult for you as the AI wont miss those pads.

2. The only way you should play is with L for left brake, R for right brake, the sideshift can easily be done in this control system by just tapping the L button twice quickly for a left sideshift and R twice for a right sideshift. Sideshift is a new ability in this game and so for those of us who've always had a button for each airbrake I guess it's a habbit we don't want to get out of. besides, the d-pad is too fiddly to be used for braking and the analog is even worse in such circumstances as you can't garuantee you are actually pressing straight left or straight right. I guess whichever way works best for you, but if you get any other wipEouts you'll have to get used to the dual airbrake method - L for left, R for right.

3. Check the downloads section of this site, there's a wicked vid of one of the top guys on w'o"2097 running a time trial on the first 2097 course - Talons Reach, at Phantom speed in the Piranha supership, and he and others have beaten the time in that video since then.

[Ruiz Redux]

Holy schmokes. Man, I did look on that page before but missed the vid.

That's what I thought it would look like - autopilot on hyperdrive. However, it didnt look like the most challenging track. Or maybe he just made it look super easy.

I can see how with a slower craft you wouldnt be able to jump up over the barriers and cut the corners.

OK, the L and R for respective braking sounded like the best option all along. When I was using it at first, i would just tap the brake to turn into some corners and not even steer at all until I was well into them. By saying that the d-pad is too fiddly to be used for braking in conjunction with just one brake button, I assume thats what you mean?

Another q- the weapons side of things gives the game a really arcadey feel - have there been any die hard (or just any) WO fans that have called for a No Weapons mode?

How good is Pure compared to the best WO on the regular PS's?

[Seek100]

There was an option to turn the weapons off in 2097 and Fusion, I don't think you could in w3o, really the only time it was needed was in Fusion as the amount of weapons fire was comical, Fusion is the runt of the litter in the eyes of the fans in general. The weapons have been integral to the game since the first wipEout so the die-hards wouldn't really be die-hard if they called for the return of no-weapons options.

Er, I'm not too keen on answering the second question as it's all subjective but I'll have a go: IMO pure ranks around the same as the first 3 in all areas except the handling engine, where it still has too much of the Fusion feel. In the first 3 games the craft would float over jumps and round turns, in pure whenever you go over a jump it feels like you're in a car going over a cliff, there's almost no control over where you're giong and you fall straight down to the track.

To elaborate further in wipEout there was this awesome jump on the first track Altima VII where you could just fly up into the air cause it was such a steep drop and only gradually you would come back to the track, that feeling was lost with Fusion and hasn't yet been restored, you can race a remade Altima VII in the Classic 2 tournament (not out yet for the Euro version) but it is no longer possible to float over the huge jump, you just fall back to the track. Also the weighting of the craft is different from the early games, in wo 1, 2097 and 3 the craft handled like all the weight was at the rear, imagine the way a rear engined car like the Porsche 911 would handle - very back heavy and easy to slide round bends, but ever since fusion they handle more like the weight is in the nose.

So in my opinion it's very nearly up there with the first 3 but the handling model still lets it down. Other people I'm sure will say that's nonsense, as I said it's subjective opinion.

[Lance]

.
WO3 also allowed turning the weapons off [though in the SingleRace mode on our records tables, weapons must be turned on {and max number of competitors must be enabled} for records to be valid.]
.

[fusionfrenzy]

I completely agree with what you're saying about the handling, Seek, and it's why I still play Wipeout 3 (and SE) from time to time. I don't know why SL can't seem to get the handling back to the classic Wipeout feel :cry: . Not that Pure is a bad game or a bad wipeout 8) .

[element42]

I concur, Pure handling is still not up to 2097 / 3 level, despite the stated aims of SL. I expect a large part of this is that I'm not playing with a negcon; are there any 2097 d-pad or 3 analog-stick players who can comment on this? I've tried 2097 with the d-pad but i'm nowhere and I haven't got the inclination to learn to play it as such...

[Drakkenmensch]

Oh, I agree, the Negcon is the be-all end-all of racing controllers for sure - since I tried it, I never went back. I do a lot better on my playstation WO games with it.

Same goes with the analong nub on the PSP - it feels weird at first, but once you get the feeling for it, the precise handling you get from it is well worth the training required.

[yawnstretch]

Ok, I'll bite. (Welcome Ruiz Redux by the way).

I'm a wipEout original and wipEout 2097 d-pad freak and even though I LOVE purE to bits, I have to admit - the handling isn't completely back yet.

wipEout and 2097 felt very 'real' in their handling - my mind instantly grabbed onto the notion and it felt 'right'. I remember playing wipEout in the early days - I too bumped and crashed at first, buy my brain recognised that the handling was damned well as it should be.

Im not talking about the crash physics, but things like acceleration curves, steering and bounce are still not back to the pinnacle. If the original games were 100% then purE is like 95% (Fusion 50%!). purE is a brilliant game and it's own handling works very well on some of the new stages (and on Porta Kora for example).

I remember hearing that source code for the original game is no longer available (can someone back me up on this?) but each iteration of the game improves on most aspects of the original games, whilst edging closer and closer to the correct handling.

I reckon if they hang on to the PurE code and tweak it a notch for the next game and its tracks they could nail the handling on the head. As purE is though, it's still a fantastic game and better than the originals in many ways.

[Ruiz Redux]

Its interesting to hear what you all have to say.

Getting into WO for the first time with a PSP for a gamepad, is not ideal. So much so that I think using one shoulder button as a dualbrake might be easier in the longterm - except maybe for those twisty, multiple chicane sections.

I say this because the little analogue disc on the PSP really requires the full attention of your hand - or thumb - without stretching to hit the L button to brake on top of that.

The handling of the crafts, being 'front heavy', makes it a real art to judge when to brake into a tight corner. Especially when you're going fast. Judge it wrong and your nose slams into the wall before the apex - judge it perfect and you hit the speed boost on the inside exit of the corner.

And finally the way the Pure crafts fall down to the track after jumps instead of floating (or flying) back down in a gentle decline, well to me that sounds like common sense. Even though they are supposed to be AG crafts, the crafts should be attracted to the track. Of course everybody's preferences depend on what they are used to.

Not sure if this is the case in previous versions, but the ability to wiggle left and right as you fall, and spin in the air on the way down to get a speed boost as you hit the ground is a really cool idea, and it means you dont crash.

[Drakkenmensch]

Hellfire has written a very comprehensive guide that taught me some things I didn't know yet. Here's a link for it, you'll have to remove the spaces because the site doesn't allow for direct linking:

http: // db.gamefaqs.com / portable / psp / file / wipeout_pure_b.txt

Have fun!

[element42]

I forgot to say hi, Ruiz, on my last post :oops: hi!
Anyway, I agree that the default key set-up on the psp makes it both hard and uncomfortable to use. Luckily, you can change the set-up; trust us when we say that dual airbrake is best. So try this, it'll take a bit to get used to, but I really like it: R - accelerate, L - rear view, [ ] - left airbrake, /\ - right airbrake, X - use weapon, O - absorb weapon.

[yawnstretch]

^^^^^ Very interesting element. Will have to give that a try...

[Drakkenmensch]

A thought provoking suggestion. It might prove useful to give it a try... The shoulder buttons are not always responsive for doubletaps.

[Sven]

you can race a remade Altima VII in the Classic 2 tournament (not out yet for the Euro version) but it is no longer possible to float over the huge jump, you just fall back to the track.You obviously have not raced at Altima VII at anything more than Flash.

[element42]

erm... I just noticed a mistake in my previous post; I had the button layout slightly wrong. :oops: and I was sure, after at least 8 years of playstation use, that I knew the controller layout by heart. Clearly I don't. anyway, I've edited it now.

[Ruiz Redux]

I forgot to say hi, Ruiz, on my last post :oops: hi!
Anyway, I agree that the default key set-up on the psp makes it both hard and uncomfortable to use. Luckily, you can change the set-up; trust us when we say that dual airbrake is best. So try this, it'll take a bit to get used to, but I really like it: R - accelerate, L - rear view, [ ] - left airbrake, /\ - right airbrake, X - use weapon, O - absorb weapon.

Hell yeah. Sounds perfec. Got nothing to lose, no habits to throw off. Cheers! :wink:

And to Drak, that txt guide was fkin A. cheers also

I have another q-

Do people use one airbrake while steering in the opposite direction, if so in what situation?

This might be of interest to all PSP owners - clip on handles

http://www.psp411.com/show/product/507/2

It's the coolest looking one i've seen, although there is another that looks exactly like PS pad handles and has a battery pack built in. But it makes the console look kind of big and by extension, really nerdy, i reckon. Also - that one, if I remember right, includes a little thing to put on the A-pad to make it more substantial, which is a good idea. (Cant find the link for it at the mo.)

[Hellfire_WZ]

Do people use one airbrake while steering in the opposite direction, if so in what situation?

Counterbraking is a very popular technique in the older Wipeout games, but in Pure it's usually more efficient to use the opposite sideshift. It normally allows you to turn slightly earlier and then shift into the corner, ideal when there's little room to move or when the corner is particularly sharp.

[Drakkenmensch]

It's also a good technique if you misjudge your turn and start too early, risking to hit the inside wall with your nose. A quick sideshift in the opposite direction might just correct your position enough that you can continue without touching the wall, in perfect line with the track.

[Sven]

Yes, sideshift is wonderful for tweaking your turns.

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

side shift is great but for those of you you say that the only way ot go is R for brake and L for side shift, I beat it on the origional configuration.

[Seek100]

Everyone here is saying they use the original dual-airbrake config, except Ruiz. The alternate controls are fairly useless as you can't brake or shift against the direction you're turning.


You obviously have not raced at Altima VII at anything more than Flash.

As a matter of fact I raced it up to Rapier, and it sound to me like you've not raced the original Altima VII at Rapier, that jump, you could literally go through the ceiling of the tunnel. In a Feisar, I've not seen that happen in the pure version.