🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thu, 15 Sep 2016 23:07:35 +0200, Werner Punz <we...@gmx.at> wrote:

>Hello

>I just wanted to drop the newsm that this month, The Crew is a free 
>giveaway on UPlay...

I actually liked The Crew, with limitations. It's an arcade racer
(what I term "pinball racers", because it encourages you to careen
across the track like a pinball) and it doesn't have the greatest game
physics. It's graphics are average and its AI is average at best. But
man, the sheer size of the map is great. I love racing from Chicago to
L.A. (it takes about half an hour in real time), driving through open
farmland, wintery alpine, deep forests, through deserts and up and
down the rockies, all in one race. It puts other open-world racers to
shame; you very quickly see everything those games have to offer, but
the sheer expanse of The Club's map remains impressive. IIRC, the
whole map is open from the start too, although most of the challenges
and races are locked behind plot-related checkpoints. 

Still, it is definitely worth a look to someone who any interest in
arcade racers, especially given the price. 

On Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:11:57 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 15 Sep 2016 23:07:35 +0200, Werner Punz <we...@gmx.at> wrote:
>

>Still, it is definitely worth a look to someone who any interest in
>arcade racers, especially given the price. 

I grabbed my copy. I'm not a fan of driving or racing games in the
slightest (probably in part because I'm not very good at them). But I
have had my eye on The Crew for quite some time. 


I intend to try it this weekend. But, I just caved in and bought
Quantum Break, which I've wanted for ages, plus the "Bioshock Re
mastered" collection is now out. Then there's my addiction to No Man's
Sky, my hankering to get back into The Division. Plus my Outfit has an
Ops Night on Planetside 2 tomorrow night.

I saw another game on Steam yesterday that also intrigued me. I can't
remember the name, but it was about repairing, driving, and upgrading
an old Soviet Bloc car with the journey taking you through the Soviet
countries in the 50's and 60's (I think). I'm going to get it anyway.

I seriously need to hurry up and sort out my early retirement. Work is
getting in the way of my gaming which cannot be healthy.
-- 
Rob

Mr Rob wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:11:57 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
> <spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 15 Sep 2016 23:07:35 +0200, Werner Punz <we...@gmx.at> wrote:
>>
>
>> Still, it is definitely worth a look to someone who any interest in
>> arcade racers, especially given the price.
>
> I grabbed my copy. I'm not a fan of driving or racing games in the
> slightest (probably in part because I'm not very good at them). But I
> have had my eye on The Crew for quite some time.
>
>
> I intend to try it this weekend. But, I just caved in and bought
> Quantum Break, which I've wanted for ages, plus the "Bioshock Re
> mastered" collection is now out. Then there's my addiction to No Man's
> Sky, my hankering to get back into The Division. Plus my Outfit has an
> Ops Night on Planetside 2 tomorrow night.
>
> I saw another game on Steam yesterday that also intrigued me. I can't
> remember the name, but it was about repairing, driving, and upgrading
> an old Soviet Bloc car with the journey taking you through the Soviet
> countries in the 50's and 60's (I think). I'm going to get it anyway.
>
> I seriously need to hurry up and sort out my early retirement. Work is
> getting in the way of my gaming which cannot be healthy.
>


I picked this up (had to install yet another steam wannabe platform 
dammit!) and have been playing.  I'm likining it quite a bit, but I've 
got some major complaints.

1.  Bad console port - chews up my CPU pegging 99% the whole time even 
while I'm sitting at a menu and feels sluggish all the time, lag because 
it's an 'always online multiplayer' or whatever. Graphics settings seem 
to have little to no effect on this.  Max 60 fps as well.  (I need to 
find if it has an in-game fps display)

2.  Feels like I'm driving a boat, very un-responsive or lag or 
something, I either seem to not turn at all or make huge 
over-corrections, can't seem to find a middle ground.  I pretty much 
can't complete any of the skill challenges that require turning at all, 
only speed (go in a straight line as fast as you can) and jumps (pretty 
much same thing, hit the jump as fast as possible.

3.  Might be related to the above, but I tried PVP and even cars with 
much lower level than mine way outperform mine.  I've been in last place 
in the 10 races I tried.  Slow acceleration off the start and much worse 
cornering. I was thinking I was just really bad at this game, but the 
slow acceleration can't be me I think as there's really nothing I can do 
but hold the accelerator down.  PVP seems to be the best way to earn xp 
even being last place, but it's very disheartening.

4.  Need some better explanations of what the crews do and how to set 
them up, how to join others, if they're needed, etc.

It seems like it could be a good game, but it just doesn't like my set 
up I guess.  It's pretty frustrating.

- Justisaur

On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 08:06:28 -0700, Justisaur <just...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>3.  Might be related to the above, but I tried PVP and even cars with 
>much lower level than mine way outperform mine.  I've been in last place 
>in the 10 races I tried.  Slow acceleration off the start and much worse 
>cornering. I was thinking I was just really bad at this game, but the 
>slow acceleration can't be me I think as there's really nothing I can do 
>but hold the accelerator down.  PVP seems to be the best way to earn xp 
>even being last place, but it's very disheartening.

I'm not sure what your level of experience is with online play, but if
you're not a regular online player, the main thing to know is that
good network connectivity is everything in online action games.  With
sub-optimal conditions, usually there is nothing about the game will
go well for you.  I sometimes wonder if this is a big reason so many
people try online gaming and decide it's not for them.

First, if there's anyway possible, play with a wired connection to
your router.  Wi-fi is awesome for certain things, and in some games
it will be fine, but it's never as good as wired with regard to gaming
latency and packet handling.  You also have the potential for
interference within your home or from neighbors if they are close by
(condos etc).  It might turn out that your wi fi setup is good enough
for the games you want to play, but if you seem to be losing alot
through no lack of trying, switching to a wired connection is a good
place to start as a troubleshooting step.

Along the same lines, the big culprit is of course if you have
multiple devices (and then multiple family members using multiple
devices) all connecting to your router, killswitch them (lol).  At
least long enough to see if it makes a difference in your ping or
overall performance.  Even just 7-8 years ago this issue is no where
near as much of a problem as it is today, with lots of phones and
tablets connecting to wi-fi.

I don't know a lot about how The Crew works, but a lot of MMO type
games pass everything through servers that are partitioned like east
or west coast US, Europe, etc.  Be sure you connected to the one that
makes the most sense based on your location.

The last issue has to do with time-since-games-release (I mention this
because The Crew has been out a while).  Usually, unless the game is
one of the more popular online titles, the number of people playing at
any one time can diminish to a relatively low number.  This often
means that matchmaking features of the game land you playing against
someone who has a shitty connection and all their family members
watching Netflix on multiple devices or whatever while they are
gaming.  Or, due to lack of players, the game's matchmaking feature
puts you alongside people on the otherside of the world.  If you are
in California and the game throws you into a game with mostly
Austrailians in it, you're probably not going to get a good network
experience.  The geographical distance will affect your play because
of the network hops.

Because of this, for most games the best gameplay occurs during the
first few months after release.  Buying at a discount later sometimes
produces a spike of players (new discoveries because of the updated
price), but the experience rarely matches the initial release online
play.

Rin Stowleigh wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 08:06:28 -0700, Justisaur <just...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> 3.  Might be related to the above, but I tried PVP and even cars with
>> much lower level than mine way outperform mine.  I've been in last place
>> in the 10 races I tried.  Slow acceleration off the start and much worse
>> cornering. I was thinking I was just really bad at this game, but the
>> slow acceleration can't be me I think as there's really nothing I can do
>> but hold the accelerator down.  PVP seems to be the best way to earn xp
>> even being last place, but it's very disheartening.
>
> I'm not sure what your level of experience is with online play, but if
> you're not a regular online player, the main thing to know is that
> good network connectivity is everything in online action games.  With
> sub-optimal conditions, usually there is nothing about the game will
> go well for you.  I sometimes wonder if this is a big reason so many
> people try online gaming and decide it's not for them.
>
> First, if there's anyway possible, play with a wired connection to
> your router.  Wi-fi is awesome for certain things, and in some games
> it will be fine, but it's never as good as wired with regard to gaming
> latency and packet handling.  You also have the potential for
> interference within your home or from neighbors if they are close by
> (condos etc).  It might turn out that your wi fi setup is good enough
> for the games you want to play, but if you seem to be losing alot
> through no lack of trying, switching to a wired connection is a good
> place to start as a troubleshooting step.
>
> Along the same lines, the big culprit is of course if you have
> multiple devices (and then multiple family members using multiple
> devices) all connecting to your router, killswitch them (lol).  At
> least long enough to see if it makes a difference in your ping or
> overall performance.  Even just 7-8 years ago this issue is no where
> near as much of a problem as it is today, with lots of phones and
> tablets connecting to wi-fi.
>

Yeah, I'm wired.  I have noticed that if I'm downloading something on 
steam my Cable TV signal starts stuttering, which what I've read it 
shouldn't be doing, but it does, but I wasn't d/l anything.  My wife 
does some light browsing on wifi, but this was happening when she didn't 
even have her computer on, and I haven't had much problems with MMOs, 
but then MMOs aren't as dependent on timing.

> I don't know a lot about how The Crew works, but a lot of MMO type
> games pass everything through servers that are partitioned like east
> or west coast US, Europe, etc.  Be sure you connected to the one that
> makes the most sense based on your location.

I didn't see anything to choose a server, but I'll look.

>
> The last issue has to do with time-since-games-release (I mention this
> because The Crew has been out a while).  Usually, unless the game is
> one of the more popular online titles, the number of people playing at
> any one time can diminish to a relatively low number.  This often
> means that matchmaking features of the game land you playing against
> someone who has a shitty connection and all their family members
> watching Netflix on multiple devices or whatever while they are
> gaming.  Or, due to lack of players, the game's matchmaking feature
> puts you alongside people on the otherside of the world.  If you are
> in California and the game throws you into a game with mostly
> Austrailians in it, you're probably not going to get a good network
> experience.  The geographical distance will affect your play because
> of the network hops.
>

I hadn't considered this, that may be what's happening.  It looks like 
it's pegging the CPU though, which bad console ports do instead of using 
the GPU like they should on a PC (had the same problem with GTA IV for 
some time)

> Because of this, for most games the best gameplay occurs during the
> first few months after release.  Buying at a discount later sometimes
> produces a spike of players (new discoveries because of the updated
> price), but the experience rarely matches the initial release online
> play.
>

There were a lot of people on, I assume due to the free release.  I 
don't know if it's worth digging into the why's and troubleshooting. 
Maybe there's an offline game somewhat like this one?

- Justisaur

Justisaur wrote:
> Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>> On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 08:06:28 -0700, Justisaur <just...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:

>>
>> The last issue has to do with time-since-games-release (I mention this
>> because The Crew has been out a while).  Usually, unless the game is
>> one of the more popular online titles, the number of people playing at
>> any one time can diminish to a relatively low number.  This often
>> means that matchmaking features of the game land you playing against
>> someone who has a shitty connection and all their family members
>> watching Netflix on multiple devices or whatever while they are
>> gaming.  Or, due to lack of players, the game's matchmaking feature
>> puts you alongside people on the otherside of the world.  If you are
>> in California and the game throws you into a game with mostly
>> Austrailians in it, you're probably not going to get a good network
>> experience.  The geographical distance will affect your play because
>> of the network hops.
>>
>
> I hadn't considered this, that may be what's happening.  It looks like
> it's pegging the CPU though, which bad console ports do instead of using
> the GPU like they should on a PC (had the same problem with GTA IV for
> some time)
>
>> Because of this, for most games the best gameplay occurs during the
>> first few months after release.  Buying at a discount later sometimes
>> produces a spike of players (new discoveries because of the updated
>> price), but the experience rarely matches the initial release online
>> play.
>>
>
> There were a lot of people on, I assume due to the free release.  I
> don't know if it's worth digging into the why's and troubleshooting.
> Maybe there's an offline game somewhat like this one?

I played it again last night, I didn't notice any of the lag I was 
getting over the weekend, I assume far less people were playing last 
night since it was a weeknight.  I was able to get in some PVP games, 
but it was one or two other people instead of the 6 or 8 that it was on 
the weekend.  I still lost, but it was obviously me sucking more than 
anything else.  I still did note the other person jumping around a bit 
indicative of lag.  But it appears it was something to do with either my 
connection or servers being overloaded (not really sure how that works).

My CPU was still pegging, but without the lag in the game it was far 
better to play.

- Justisaur

On Thu, 22 Sep 2016 07:18:26 -0700, Justisaur <just...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Justisaur wrote:
>> Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>>> On Mon, 19 Sep 2016 08:06:28 -0700, Justisaur <just...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>
>>>
>>> The last issue has to do with time-since-games-release (I mention this
>>> because The Crew has been out a while).  Usually, unless the game is
>>> one of the more popular online titles, the number of people playing at
>>> any one time can diminish to a relatively low number.  This often
>>> means that matchmaking features of the game land you playing against
>>> someone who has a shitty connection and all their family members
>>> watching Netflix on multiple devices or whatever while they are
>>> gaming.  Or, due to lack of players, the game's matchmaking feature
>>> puts you alongside people on the otherside of the world.  If you are
>>> in California and the game throws you into a game with mostly
>>> Austrailians in it, you're probably not going to get a good network
>>> experience.  The geographical distance will affect your play because
>>> of the network hops.
>>>
>>
>> I hadn't considered this, that may be what's happening.  It looks like
>> it's pegging the CPU though, which bad console ports do instead of using
>> the GPU like they should on a PC (had the same problem with GTA IV for
>> some time)
>>
>>> Because of this, for most games the best gameplay occurs during the
>>> first few months after release.  Buying at a discount later sometimes
>>> produces a spike of players (new discoveries because of the updated
>>> price), but the experience rarely matches the initial release online
>>> play.
>>>
>>
>> There were a lot of people on, I assume due to the free release.  I
>> don't know if it's worth digging into the why's and troubleshooting.
>> Maybe there's an offline game somewhat like this one?
>
>I played it again last night, I didn't notice any of the lag I was 
>getting over the weekend, I assume far less people were playing last 
>night since it was a weeknight.  I was able to get in some PVP games, 
>but it was one or two other people instead of the 6 or 8 that it was on 
>the weekend.  I still lost, but it was obviously me sucking more than 
>anything else.  I still did note the other person jumping around a bit 
>indicative of lag.  But it appears it was something to do with either my 
>connection or servers being overloaded (not really sure how that works).
>
>My CPU was still pegging, but without the lag in the game it was far 
>better to play.

The jumping around effect you saw on the other player's vehicle is
called rubber-banding, and is definitely characteristic of one or more
network issues.  

I've found that usually (in most games at least), when you see another
player rubber-banding it has to do with their connection to the
server/host rather than yours.  Whether or not it is becomes more
evident when you notice certain players consistently rubber-banding,
while others seem to be consistently moving smoothly.

It becomes even more evident in strongly tactical games like
Battlefield or Rainbow Six , which show you the numeric ping of each
player next to their name when you hit Alt-Tab, as opposed to just a
bar graph icon showing green, red, etc which is kind of the dumbed
down version of a network indication.  Almost without fail when you
see a player rubber-banding, you can look at their ping and see why.

Sadly though, even if your connection is good, it erodes the fun
factor quickly if others are teleporting all over the screen.  A good
matchmaking system should prevent this entirely by only matching
players to a given host or instance that would provide a decent
experience, but in games that are not hugely popular, this can become
increasingly difficult as a game ages past its original release date.

I was just reading a little about Quake Champions.  Apparently the
reception of Doom's online play sparked a huge level of interest in PC
multiplayer shooters within id/Bethesda, Quake Champions will be an
exlusive PC game.  Even for those with no interest in online twitch
shooters, a refocusing on what made some of the old action games
great, and using the PC as the lead platform and consoles as an
afterthought could lead to good things for PC gaming in general.

On 9/16/2016 9:11 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> I actually liked The Crew, with limitations. It's an arcade racer
> (what I term "pinball racers", because it encourages you to careen
> across the track like a pinball) and it doesn't have the greatest
> game physics. It's graphics are average and its AI is average at
> best. But man, the sheer size of the map is great. I love racing from
> Chicago to L.A. (it takes about half an hour in real time), driving
> through open farmland, wintery alpine, deep forests, through deserts
> and up and down the rockies, all in one race. It puts other
> open-world racers to shame; you very quickly see everything those
> games have to offer, but the sheer expanse of The Club's map remains
> impressive. IIRC, the whole map is open from the start too, although
> most of the challenges and races are locked behind plot-related
> checkpoints.
>
> Still, it is definitely worth a look to someone who any interest in
> arcade racers, especially given the price.

I find that it's a decent game given the price but the lack of a car 
damage system is a deal breaker to me. A little more simulation is this 
extremely arcade-y game would really go a long way, I just see no point 
in a driving/racing game if there are any no real consequences when you 
collide with other cars and structures. The fact that some things are 
destructible and others aren't is also very irritating to me.

What a shame, all the ingredients are there and it could've been a great 
game with just a little more effort. Nothing a patch couldn't fix 
perhaps, so there's hope still but I'm not holding my breath.

MetalGuru wrote:
> On 9/16/2016 9:11 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> I actually liked The Crew, with limitations. It's an arcade racer
>> (what I term "pinball racers", because it encourages you to careen
>> across the track like a pinball) and it doesn't have the greatest
>> game physics. It's graphics are average and its AI is average at
>> best. But man, the sheer size of the map is great. I love racing from
>> Chicago to L.A. (it takes about half an hour in real time), driving
>> through open farmland, wintery alpine, deep forests, through deserts
>> and up and down the rockies, all in one race. It puts other
>> open-world racers to shame; you very quickly see everything those
>> games have to offer, but the sheer expanse of The Club's map remains
>> impressive. IIRC, the whole map is open from the start too, although
>> most of the challenges and races are locked behind plot-related
>> checkpoints.
>>
>> Still, it is definitely worth a look to someone who any interest in
>> arcade racers, especially given the price.
>
> I find that it's a decent game given the price but the lack of a car
> damage system is a deal breaker to me. A little more simulation is this
> extremely arcade-y game would really go a long way, I just see no point
> in a driving/racing game if there are any no real consequences when you
> collide with other cars and structures.

You can take damage, you can see it on the car after a race if you've 
been bouncing off everything.  There's also a bar for repair when you go 
to your HQ.  Though damage is pretty minimal, After several missions, 
and me bouncing off everything due to the lag I had maybe 5% damage to 
my car.  I imagince the lag issue is why they didn't make it too much. 
In a real car my car would've been totaled several times before I 
finished the first mission.  I'd probably be dead a thousand times over 
too by now.  I usually don't like damage much in car games, but I 
wouldn't mind a bit more here.

> The fact that some things are
> destructible and others aren't is also very irritating to me.

Yeah, I was going along racking up points for running into trash cans 
and barrels, and then ran into a mailbox which stopped me dead.  Must've 
been required by the USPS - no, you can't mess with even the virutal US 
mail, or at least that was what went through my head.  I figured out 
trees were not destructable pretty early and quick, even thin and sickly 
little sapplings.  The fences are hit and miss too, some are 
destructable and others aren't.  Mostly the thicker looking ones aren't 
but I've been fooled on both sides.

Speaking of trees... I really hate I can't get either an in-car view or 
adjust the angle up higher like you can in GTA so you can see what 
you're doing, especially as so far the dirt races are the most fun and 
have trees which seem to completely block your vision far more than real 
ones would.

>
> What a shame, all the ingredients are there and it could've been a great
> game with just a little more effort. Nothing a patch couldn't fix
> perhaps, so there's hope still but I'm not holding my breath.
>

It's been too long since release, it certainly could've used a lot more 
polish. It seems more like this game is way behind it's time like a bad 
early PS2 or late PS1 game.  I mean GTA III got a lot of the stuff right 
then that this game doesn't.  I'd love to play a game like this that got 
all that right.

I understand the GTA MMO was a huge flop too, I haven't checked that out 
at all, but this game makes me want to.

- Justisaur

On Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 3:39:37 PM UTC-4, Justisaur wrote:

> Speaking of trees... I really hate I can't get either an in-car view or 
> adjust the angle up higher like you can in GTA so you can see what 
> you're doing, especially as so far the dirt races are the most fun and 
> have trees which seem to completely block your vision far more than real 
> ones would.

Not sure I understand what you mean but you can toggle between several different views by pressing C, one of them being an in-car view (cockpit cam). It's very immersive but the dashboard takes too much real state to be useful and there are no rear view mirrors which I find absolutely ridiculous for a driving/racing game.

Metal Guru wrote:
> On Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 3:39:37 PM UTC-4, Justisaur wrote:
>
>> Speaking of trees... I really hate I can't get either an in-car view or
>> adjust the angle up higher like you can in GTA so you can see what
>> you're doing, especially as so far the dirt races are the most fun and
>> have trees which seem to completely block your vision far more than real
>> ones would.
>
> Not sure I understand what you mean but you can toggle between several different views by pressing C, one of them being an in-car view (cockpit cam). It's very immersive but the dashboard takes too much real state to be useful and there are no rear view mirrors which I find absolutely ridiculous for a driving/racing game.
>

Ah I wasn't aware, I was using the Xbox controller and only saw the way 
to look left/right/back.  I'm using the hood view mostly and that helps 
considerably as the camera don't pan behind you so you can't tell quite 
what direction you're going.

I also was looking up things and found suggestions to change the 
controller settings from most assist to hardcore.  I've been playing 
around with the settings and found that and adjusting some of the 
silders helps too.

I was still getting really bad lag this last weekend, so that's when I 
picked up another racing game - Gas Guzzlers eXtreme (postesd separately 
on that) that seems to work so much better, but doesn't have the open 
world, storry, missions etc.  I had some fun tooling around my home city 
Monday in The Crew, it was tiny though, and it was funny going from 
Sacramento to Tahoe in about 5 minutes which would take a couple hours 
in the real world. :)

I went back to The Crew Monday as I figured the lag would be better and 
was able to finish a mission I found impossible on the weekend (the one 
that you have to hit boxes with a raid car they give you).  I'm still 
getting some noticeable lag even on Monday, but it's far better than it 
was on the weekend and it doesn't seem to be impacting my driving much.

- Justisaur

P.S. I'm Justisaur916 on Uplay if anyone wants to add me for this game.