10 Things I hate about WipEout Pulse

[HISHO[JP]]

From Japanese deep "wipers"
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Some translated word may be wrong...sorry

Hard << Medium ...?

Hard AI should use weapons more than current for the heated race.


Another one is "Plasma is not 1-hit killer".
Is Plasma not 1-hit killer even Eliminator mode too?

[Hellfire_WZ]

The plasma bolt hasn't been one hit kill since Wipeout 3, it's just an extreme damage dealer now. I'll have to check Medium and Hard at Phantom class, but from what I've seen earlier in the game, Hard is definitely harder

[Dogg Thang]

It really couldn't be a one hit kill in the hands of the AI. It would be ridiculously frustrating. As it is, in combination with something else, it can still be lethal.

[zargz]

The plasma bolt hasn't been one hit kill since Wipeout 3

2097/XL!

[phl0w]

No, he's right, he said "hasn't been since...", so he's refering to Fusion, Pure and Pulse not featuring an instant kill Plasma.

how deliberately SL put these little grinding opportunities in some of the tracks-- it must have been on purpose, right?

I think they built those little ramps to make things a bit easier for newcomers. While a solid wall would be better to prevent those stupid grinds, it would also stop you dead if you lost your line. The little ramps (and there's lots of them throughout the tracks) on the other hand give you a second chance: React fast enough, win back control over your ship and you won't lose too much time in a race. Also the average gamer would never think of riding those walls for additional BR opportunities, it's way too risky. Unfortunately though, SL should've thought more about the better gamers practicing hard to make the very best out of such "unlucky" track designs, i.e. exploit the game wherever possible. It's just another aspect of Pulse's trying to cater to casual gamers.

[MarcoM]

I know I am gonna be slaughtered for this, but anyway.

I hate the Rapier and Phantom speed class. They are just too fast for me. I am not much of an online player. But even the sparsly Rapier races in the first eight grids bugger me.

BTW I get 6 hours of gameplay with my psp slim and light and a phat 2200 mAh battery. That is a cool thing.

[ZenDJiNN]

MarcoM - I totally understand what you mean about the Speed Classes.... i find Rapier "Just about" doable, and only on certain tracks, and i've only tried Phantom once and whilst it was fun, it's not something that i aspire to.... yet!

Having said that, i am finding that the more i play, the better i get & the easier the faster classes become. I personally like the slower classes though because i get to see more of the fantastic track design & all the detail in the surroundings etc.... something you don't really have a chance to take in when you're flying along at a Zillion Miles per hour!

[KANDANG]

play more zone and phantom will seem slow

[Asayyeah]

i'll second you on that, Yee Seng

[kekken3]

Haha, that's exactly what happened to me. I've made a nice custom grid for Zone with all white/black zone tracks that have the objectives:

Gold: reach zone 35
Silver reach zone 30
Bronze: reach zone 25

to try and eventually reach Zen on every track.

After a few gold medals, going back to Phantom seemed like racing in Flash.

....
To stay on topic. Maybe it was already mentioned and discussed, seeing as we're on page 19. But I'm really sad about the bombs not staying on the track forever. It added sooo much to local races with fewer persons. I'll never forget the legendary "offers one cannot refuse" when placing bombs on the Anulpha Pass shortcut. What quake.. a bomb was often the sweetest and meanest thing one could get racing in last place in Pure. It allowed for dramatic changes of lead and gave people in the rear a big say in the result.
Why oh why do bombs explode by themselves now.
Hope there'll be a way to fix it and other little annoying tidbits in the future.. maybe.

edit: god, I really do mix the words "bomb" and "mine" in wipeout. I always meant bombs. Corrected.
edit 2: out of respect to the authors, I apologize for only having posted about negative aspects of the new title as of now. It's that when one grows up with Wipeouts, he starts to take the ever present anti-grav awesomeness of the series for granted and only notices flaws. Pulse is still a brilliant!!1

[HISHO[JP]]

AI does not use "barrel roll".

Barrel roll is one of important technics since Pure.
So I think high level AI (Hard and Head-to-Head) should use it if shield energy is enough.

AI does not use "rocket start".

They starts faster than player in high level, but no turbo SE and turbo effects(*1).
So AI does not use rocket start, it's only "faster start than player".

Zone mode graphics

I like Pure's zone graphics better than pulse's...

There's no "AI Eliminator". I wanna see AIs fight which is harder than "AI Race".

It really couldn't be a one hit kill in the hands of the AI. It would be ridiculously frustrating. As it is, in combination with something else, it can still be lethal.

But AI always absorbs weapons to recover energy if they took heavy damages.
So I can't destroy them!

(*1):"turbo effects" means "Two new thrust trails appear to the right and left of the main trail behind ship when a Boost powerup or pad is utilised"

[zargz]

as you know I think that BRs suck in general but yes, I agree
it's lame that AI don't use them same as quake, plasma, energy wall and cloack in wo2 and 3.

In that aspect (the AI using same weapons as you) wo1 is still The Best!

talking about weapons, I'm glad repulsor and shuruken were left only for eliminator.
especially shuruken! what's a ninja weapon doing in a race game?
and what's it with it going through your ship and going on to damage other ships?
we got the quake for that and you can bounce the missiles of the wall that way too.
imo if a weapon hits you then it's used, shouldn't go on to hurt other ships.

repulsor is ok I think but the blast radius should be much smaller
like the width of the track and a couple of ship-lengths forth and back.

imo

[the_Admiral]

I'm really enjoying Pulse at the moment and it certainly makes commuting on the train fly by.

Anyway, not sure if it has been mentioned before, but I think I've found a minor audio/programming bug in the Eliminator Mode. So far all of the Eliminators I've played require you to reach 10 kills to win. However, I've noticed that when the total kills of all the ships reaches 7 then the anouncer says something like '3 kills remaining'. I presume this should occur when your own kill number reaches 7, which it currently doesn't.

Has anyone else noticed this? I definitely remember this happening on 2 occasions. Certainly not as annoying as the BR bug that is present in the game.

Also does anyone know whether PSP games can be patched by the downloadable packs coming out, or by a stand alone patch? Have any other PSP games in the past have received patches? The PS3 obviously allows this, but is a more locked down environment, and I guess PSP patches could create more issues where by hackers could exploit them and ruin online gaming further?

[ZenDJiNN]

Hi Admiral, welcome to WipeoutZone.

I've noticed the thing in Eliminator mode that you mentioned. Quite a few times, even early on in the Eliminator race, it will say "3 kills remaining" when there's obviously more.

I think this "bug" has been observed by a few people now, and not sure if it's something that's patchable or not, but this is definitely a good place to find out.

[Frances_Penfold]

I'm really sad about the bombs not staying on the track forever. It added sooo much to local races with fewer persons. I'll never forget the legendary "offers one cannot refuse" when placing bombs on the Anulpha Pass shortcut. What quake.. a bomb was often the sweetest and meanest thing one could get racing in last place in Pure. It allowed for dramatic changes of lead and gave people in the rear a big say in the result.
Why oh why do bombs explode by themselves now.

I agree with this. The limited-duration bombs shifts the balance of power that much more to the current leader-- who in Pulse can quickly become unstoppable once he/she is 3-4 seconds ahead.

Perhaps SL concluded that tracks become too littered with bombs and mines if there isn't a clear time duration assigned to these. That would make sense. But I am curious to know the effect of making the duration somewhat longer, e.g., long enough for a last place racer to create bombs that would affect the next lap for the first place racer.

[Dogg Thang]

It does seem like there needs to be some sort of equaliser for those at the end of the pack. Anyone who gets an early lead has a serious advantage in Pulse. The bomb timing is just part of that.

[ZenDJiNN]

Agree with you there Dogg, re: the early lead thing. Once someone has a good (3-4 Secs) lead, it's very hard to catch up. Add to that the squabbles among the rear of the pack where weapons are flying all over the place and you just can't get out of it (Unless you're lucky enough to pick up plenty of boosts).

What makes this even more annoying is the seemingly "Random" grid positioning at each race start. There doesn't seem to be ANY logic in it whatsoever as far as i can make out.

Having said that, i still absolutely LOVE Pulse, and Pure, and play both as much as i can.

[Typhy]

In terms of having some sort of "equaliser", or handicap for players at the back of the pack, I think it'll become very frustrating for good players.
I used to play Ridge Racer, which had that very option (defined by a 1-3 star rating) and found it was very unrewarding for those players that had put hours into learning how to play the game better than the next guy.

What makes this even more annoying is the seemingly "Random" grid positioning at each race start. There doesn't seem to be ANY logic in it whatsoever as far as i can make out.

I entirely agree. It would make sense, in a tournament, if the leading players would start at the back of the grid (this would, in my view, pose a fair challenge to all players) but I suppose if it's random there can be no complaints.

Typhy

P.S. I know the issue with having to wait 50secs before the next track loads has been said many times before, but I actually don't mind it - seems a perfect opportunity to go a make a nice cup'a before the next race.

[Frances_Penfold]

As a longtime Mario Kart player, it's somewhat disorienting to be playing a game that so seriously favors the leader-- Mario Kart is obviously built on the opposite premise, that the leader needs to work hard to stay there. That said, skilled karters can easily whip inexperienced racers-- the handicapping system just makes things a bit more interesting in races amongst advanced players. For example, sometimes it is worth dropping to second place in a race to pick up the better items (shrooms and red shells). And certainly, the leading karter has a big old target on them for the blue shells It's so sweet to pull of a blue-shell dodge with a perfectly time mini turbo

Not saying that Wipeout needs to adopt this sort of gaming mechanic-- it's never (I don't think) been part of the franchise. But it really does play differently, with the first 10-20 seconds of a race being CRITICAL for determining the lead. Not of course that there isn't a lot of skill involved in obtaining and maintaining the lead...

P.S. I actually agree with Typhy, most of the time the 50 second delay doesn't bother me-- I get up, clean up the living room, lift some weights, run dishes to the kitchen, take a leak... it's surprisingly useful!

[Dogg Thang]

Well I'm not a great player by any means and frequently get my ass handed to me online. But there have been a few times I got an early lead and just breezed through the race not knowing what happened to the competition. And that's not exactly satisfying either. I'm sure those people who get an early lead would like a bit of competition.

It's really not about the racing, but the weapons. And, as the weapons have created the problem, I reckon the solution lies there too. Mario Kart (though I find the blue shells awfully cheap) is a good example of helping people at the back by giving them better weapons. That could be applied to WO in some way.

That or simply do what the racers want - really pull back massively on the weapons throughout the game.