10 Things I hate about WipEout Pulse

[Rapier Racer]

Theres one other small issue I have to mention, the horrible colors on the Zone tracks, I find it really hard to make out some parts of Platinum Rush white on Zone mode because of the blinding bright blue, frustrating to say the least.

[infoxicated]

I wrote a really, really long reply, but based on some of what it says I cant really post it and I havent the time to edit it I'll save it for a car journey in the new year

Shame... you could have pm'd me

In short though, we've had this conversation for ages, we disagree and neither of us are going to change on that. I think they are fun and have a place in Pure and Pulse, you dont. Beyond Pure and Pulse, who knows, maybe the next one with see them dropped or stay or expanded - super wipeout stunt racer extreme FX 500000 ! no probably not.

As for the hyper thrust thing, in short, I dont like the way it plays, I dont like that it forces you to pit every lap (assuming you want to use the thrust to compete) I dont like pitlanes for Wipeout full stop, and the system as it was in WO3 wouldnt work alongside the absorb mechanic, which in my mind works far better than pit-lanes. I do however like the idea of the player having a boost system at their disposal.

I like the absorb system - removing pit lanes keeps you on the track and keeps you racing. Plus it takes away the tedium of having to limp around the track to get to the pit lane when your energy is critical.

Oh and you aint going to be happy when you see what box I have by my tv... . .

It wont fuss me, to be honest - we play different types of game anyway. While I'll be playing shooters and racing games, you'll be playing Pro Evo and what not.

[Frances_Penfold]

I have flip-flopped on the issue of barrel rolls several times since first playing Wipeout Pure.

I think my final conclusion is similar to Asayeah's-- that BRs are a great addition because they add a whole new level of strategy for time trials. How many BRs can I fit into this lap? In this section of the track, is it faster to hit the boost pad and stay low, or go high and barrel roll? Can I even steer the ship if I barrel roll at that tight corner?

It's the combination of barrel rolls, side-shifting and air-breaking that makes time trials interesting with Wipeout Pure and Pulse-- without these mechanics, lap times would reach a plateau quickly as folks identify the single best line through the course.

I might add that my love of barrel rolls in Pure increased greatly when I released that ANY ship (not just Triakus) can barrel roll repeatedly in lap time trials-- meaning that several other ships (Zone, Goteki, Icarus and others) become viable in top-level lap time trials racing. Of course, Triakus has the edge for whole-race time trialing in Wipeout Pure because it can barrel roll over and over without completely depleting the shields.

With barrel rolls we also have this game mechanic that is essential to perform in order to achieve a fast lap time. However, by your own admission, it sometimes doesn't work because of a frame rate dip. So you can be performing an otherwise perfect lap, only to miss a barrel roll for whatever reason - was it me? was it a frame rate dip?

Fair enough-- but barrel rolls DO work flawlessly in Pure and Pulse if you are playing time trials.

This may be a "Mario Kart" mentality but I have always felt that racing games are primarily about time trials-- multiplayer is just a fun diversion. So I'm willing to stomach some inconsistency with performing BRs in multiplayer for the added dimensions they give to the time trial modes I'm sure other folks feel differently about that.

As an aside, I suspect that more casual gamers-- gamers that enjoy Wipeout as an occassional diversion rather than a serious hobby-- probably dig the barrel roll for its cool visuals and boost-ing feeling. It's eye candy that may help increase the franchise base outside of the hardcore racing crowd.

[phl0w]

It's eye candy that may help increase the franchise base outside of the hardcore racing crowd.

Whom, i.e. the non-hardcore-crowd, the game hopefully does not intend to cater to in the long run...

[Frances_Penfold]

^^
I am with you

But it is important that, somehow, Wipeout continues to find a reasonably-sized audience.

[HISHO[JP]]

I don' have Pulse bacause waiting for JP version.
But I can say some things I hate about Pulse.

Countdown effect(display?) is shown only first-person view or zone mode.
I love that countdown effect (better than Pure's) so I wanna use it on third-person view too!

Photo mode format is JPEG only.
I wanna save the photo as a loss-less format, PNG.
It should be selectable from JPG and PNG.

[new]Shadow of crafts disappears in some places, such as around mag strip virtical wave section in moa therma.
(Pure has this too. In Pure, it disappears after the first jump point in Koltiwa)


Will some bugs which is found in EU version be fixed in US and other versions?
Will downloadable teams have alternative skins?
(Because Pure's downloadable crafts has no special skins...)

[jacen]

Photo mode format is JPEG only.
I wanna save the photo as a loss-less format, PNG.
It should be selectable from JPG and PNG.

I've made a comparision and to be honest, i can't spot a pixel difference.
but i'm currently on a very cheap lcd display and generally not that sensible
to differences in static pictures.
see for yourself:

bmp:


jpeg:


maybe they use like quality 95 or so.

/edit:
yes this is a "real" png.
converted from a full quality bmp.
it was not upconverted from the jpeg if you think.

[rdmx]

Nah, it's that the game natively saves the image as png, not you convert the jpg to png. The converted image of course will be exactly the same.

[jacen]

please read what i wrote:
"it was not upconverted from the jpeg if you think."

the png i linked does NOT come directly from the game but is a bmp dump of the framebuffer or some other internal psp cache.
proof:
have a look at this image and look at the profile name

[Egg]

I don' have Pulse bacause waiting for JP version.
But I can say some things I hate about Pulse.

Uh oh! Things you hate about a game you don't own.

Countdown effect(display?) is shown only first-person view or zone mode.
I love that countdown effect (better than Pure's) so I wanna use it on third-person view too!

Is that right? I'm sure we set it based on how visible the 'banner' is from your start position. It might have been changed at the last minute.

Photo mode format is JPEG only.
I wanna save the photo as a loss-less format, PNG.
It should be selectable from JPG and PNG.

As mentioned, there's no discernable difference, especially on a 480x272 image. I assume JPG is used because it's such a universal format - people without conversion software can view JPGs on just about any device.

[new]Shadow of crafts disappears in some places, such as around mag strip virtical wave section in moa therma.
(Pure has this too. In Pure, it disappears after the first jump point in Koltiwa)

Sigh. We never did solve that problem. However, import the game and you'll notice it's hardly a deal-breaker...

[Fascia]

...Odd

When playing moa therma I notice the shadow slide down the magstrip, perpendicular to the ship as I move onto the vertical strip as it would in real life due to the sun now being 'from the side' of the ship. It never seemed broken to me...

[jacen]

Is that right? I'm sure we set it based on how visible the 'banner' is from your start position. It might have been changed at the last minute.

thing is, in 3rd person view, you can ALLWAYS see the banner. i have never seen the counter except in zone mode because of this.
now i like the banner way better, but he might think otherwise.

but thats about the same thing as me wanting to have more controll over the graphical aspects of the game to further improve my framerate in phantom single races, eliminations and tournaments. i DO notice the framedrops but i guess it's quite irrelevant for the overall product.

[HISHO[JP]]

I made a picture about something of this.
hate_things.jpg
(pictures are from some videos.)

I wanna save the photo as a loss-less format, PNG.

For example, in case of you want to edit by graphics editor,
re-compressing causes more deterioration.
So original file should be no compressed format or loss-less format
to protect from deterioration.

So sorry! I replaced the picture with less than 50k in size.
(...then, why is the uploadable jpg file limit set to 97k? I think it should be 50k to prevent ban...)

[Chrono]

As a photographer, I sympathize with you about compressed images, however, we're lucky to be getting the photo mode, so you gotta take what you're dealt. There are external screen shot apps for PSP, that might take the image in a loss-less format. Uncompressed images are larger, and I would assume that most PSP games developers are creating features with the idea that PSP users have a 256meg card, instead of a 4 gig and two 1 gig cards.


I think i might have rambled there, I kinda let my mind wander while I wrote it, so...I dunno, whatever

[jacen]

okay some "bugs" or annoyances that i observed:

-) when playing zone, you don't see your past record for niether points nore zones
-) when surfing to wipeout-game.com and looking at the rankings with the psp, you cant flip through the pages ... what the hell?
-) why the 20 mp3 limit?
-) why no support for menu themes?
-) no grid sharing over the internet or even exporting the grid to some shareable format
-) no replay saving, although i can undestand that
-) has been said before: no elimination online

there probably is more ... i still gave the game over 90% in my review -_-

[Chrono]

The one thing I hate the most is the waiting period after matches. I can handle it online, though it is a bit long, but what I can't handle, or understand, is why...why is it still a 40 second wait on AD-HOC matches. This is just ridiculous.

[zargz]

I use that time to rub it in my friends faces.
also some times together with the loading time and intro for each track - to go to the loo!
if in a 12 races tourny
what more .. eat/drink between races.
I dont think it's a problem. I think it's ok

[HISHO[JP]]

Japanese players mind the waiting times such as loading times.
So waiting period after matches may be critical.

[Chrono]

Load times are insignificant if you play off your card, but 40something secs after each multiplayer race...come on

[swift killer]

The heffing cheaters online! DAMN YOU!!