MULTI [OT] Gears 5 | Bound by Blood

Necrokiller

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Apr 16, 2009
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@Necrokiller

Here's some shots with the ultra textures, the finer details, scuff marks etc on character models are the most notable thing to my eyes after the update. The environmental textures look about the same. But hey, as long as it doesn't cause a hit on performance, I'll keep it enabled.
The cut scene detail looks way better now. This pack mainly improves characters and weapon textures.

World texture detail has a separate menu setting so these don't affect that I think.
 

Chandoo

Resi Evil 4 > Your fav game.
Jan 19, 2007
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S.S Normandy
The cut scene detail looks way better now. This pack mainly improves characters and weapon textures.

World texture detail has a separate menu setting so these don't affect that I think.

Yeah, the other world/character texture options are already on Ultra. Seems to max around 4.7~5 GB VRAM, so still some headroom left on my 6GB card. I can see how this wouldn't be feasible on 4GB cards like 970/980 even though they are comparable (or slightly better in the case of 980) than a 1060.

On topic, finished Act 2. Like I said before, it's interesting that they are basically telling this game's plot from the biggest thread that was left unanswered in Gears 2. It's definitely the 'most' story a Gears game has had, even though most of it is pretty predictable so far.
 

venom

Lado-K-Lashkary
Mar 15, 2007
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Karachi
FINISHED it last night.... I kindda have mix feelings about this game. I loved it right until the game ends, i know this doesnt make any sense. I absolutely loved my time with the game, the 2 semi open worlds were super fun but the game ended a bit too soon than i expected. I fucking hate cliff hanger endings and the game also doesnt really end on a high note. I just cant help to shake the feeling that the game ended a couple chapters earlier. But if i do get over these shortcomings I dont think there is anything else wrong with the game. Classic gears stuff all the way and better approach from coalition to make this semi-open.
 

Chandoo

Resi Evil 4 > Your fav game.
Jan 19, 2007
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And finished.

Generally I still prefer Gears 4 over this. There is a completely arbitrary user choice event near the end of the game which comes out of nowhere and feels very undeserved TBH, and the finale of the game itself was pretty meh, almost Halo 2 levels of "that's it ?".

Graphics, presentation and gameplay were top-notch. Wouldn't expect anything less from a high budget first party game. The PC version is also ridiculously well optimized and even on my middling gaming laptop, 1080p/60 (or even 1440p/60 with the dynamic resolution scaling) was easily achievable with a combo of high/ultra settings and the ultra HD texture pack installed.

 

CerebralTiger

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Apr 12, 2007
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gameplay were top-notch


I mean, sure, mechanically speaking, it's very polished - low animation priority, responsive movement and aim. But in terms of combat encounters, it's still very horizontal and there's no verticality whatsoever. While I've only finished Act 1, I can't help but feel that Gears is stuck in the past and is afraid of branching out from its stop-and-pop shooting roots. Sure, Act 2 is open-eneded/sandbox in nature, but going by your impressions, it seems like this aspect isn't well-integrated into the game's core design and ends up being barren and uninteresting.

I'm playing on the Insane difficulty, and essentially breezed through Act 1, thanks in part to the weak AI and fairly generous checkpoints. My favorite bits so far were imitations of things we've seen in The Last of Us. For example, JD's foot getting caught in rubble and the camera presenting his PoV from upside down as he has to shoot down an incoming horde of locust. Ring a bell? Or how about those latent/sleeping robots (read: clickers) that can be stealth killed from behind, but can also enter an aggressive woken state if they're alerted. At some point during development, someone at the studio must've thought about half-heartedly adding some stealth for the sake of variety, without incorporating any actual stealth mechanics.
 
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Chandoo

Resi Evil 4 > Your fav game.
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I mean, sure, mechanically speaking, it's very polished - low animation priority, responsive movement and aim. But in terms of combat encounters, it's still very horizontal and there's no verticality whatsoever. While I've only finished Act 1, I can't help but feel that Gears is stuck in the past and is afraid of branching out from its stop-and-pop shooting roots. Sure, Act 2 is open-eneded/sandbox in nature, but going by your impressions, it seems like this aspect isn't well-integrated into the game's core design and ends up being barren and uninteresting.

I'm playing on the Insane difficulty, and essentially breezed through Act 1, thanks in part to the weak AI and fairly generous checkpoints. My favorite bits so far were imitations of things we've seen in The Last of Us. For example, JD's foot getting caught in rubble and the camera presenting his PoV from upside down as he has to shoot down an incoming horde of locust. Ring a bell? Or how about those latent/sleeping robots (read: clickers) that can be stealth killed from behind, but can also enter an aggressive woken state if they're alerted. At some point during development, someone at the studio must've thought about half-heartedly adding some stealth for the sake of variety, without incorporating any actual stealth mechanics.
Yeah, the open-world parts of the game yell like something that was just added to 'blend in' the franchise with modern open world games, but it falls flat.

Personally, I am a big fan of Gears's cover stop-n-pop shooting, if only because they are so well refined. I think I liked Gears 4 more than the average userbase, it was a great return to form IMO. Gears 5 is more of the same besides the added open world segment and that is still A-OK to me. However Gears 6 would need to do better.
 

Necrokiller

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Apr 16, 2009
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Generally I still prefer Gears 4 over this.


I agree that the open areas are barely worthy of being called an open-world. It's actually very similar to Uncharted The Lost Legacy's "open-world". Only difference for me was Gears class leading and polished combat and encounters in the micro levels, and rewards with the ability to upgrade Jack who is very useful and fun in combat (as opposed to the useless treasures and bracelet to find more useless said treasures for the rest of the campaign in LL). As a franchise first, Coalition have done a far better job at the open areas than Naughty Dog.
 

Chandoo

Resi Evil 4 > Your fav game.
Jan 19, 2007
45,727
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S.S Normandy


I agree that the open areas are barely worthy of being called an open-world. It's actually very similar to Uncharted The Lost Legacy's "open-world". Only difference for me was Gears class leading and polished combat and encounters in the micro levels, and rewards with the ability to upgrade Jack who is very useful and fun in combat (as opposed to the useless treasures and bracelet to find more useless said treasures for the rest of the campaign in LL). As a franchise first, Coalition have done a far better job at the open areas than Naughty Dog.
Nah bro, Lost Legacy's open world segment was a mile ahead of this in terms of shit you can actually do. Besides it being a drop dead gorgeous locale with a lot of interactivity and a lot more spots to stop at compared to both Act 2 and 3 of Gears 5 combined, it was also more condensed. Gears's open world zones are filler for the sake of filler. The entirety of act 3's open world has maybe 6 places you can stop at .. the rest is just barren traversal from point a to point b. There is a grand total of 1 thing (chasing the train) where you're actually doing something related to a story event in Gears's 'open world'.

Consider this, most reviewers/players cite Lost Legacy's open world area as it's highlight. Compared to that, Gears 5's open world zones are the most divisive (leaning a lot more towards negative) thing about it.

Also, Gears 4 had much better pacing IMO. Even though everyone calls it a very 'safe' game, it was safe in the sense of being very well paced and a great iteration of the Gears formula after Gears 3/Judgment.
 

Necrokiller

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Nah bro, Lost Legacy's open world segment was a mile ahead of this in terms of shit you can actually do.
There's literally nothing to do in it unless you fancy finding meaningless treasure collectibles. Campaign progress is your typical repetitive "Ubi tower completed move onto the next" loop. But like I said, both aren't great at incorporating the openness to their linear structure they are known for. But its a huge failure when a platforming focused game has poor exploration and Gears has you finding more useful upgrades that help you in combat.

Gears 4 was mostly "horde mode: the campaign". Pacing was definitely not its strongest point.
 
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manigamer

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[h=1]Gears 5 Surpasses Fortnite As Xbox's Most Played Game[/h]

Gears 5 has done the impossible, surpassing Fortnite to climb to the top of the most played Xbox games ranking list and interrupt a reign that has been on-going for over a year at this point. Fortnite has been a dominant presence on the most played Xbox One games list, thanks in large part to the fact that it's a free-to-play game with cosmetic purchases, making it an easy choice for many consumers on a budget - not to mention its ubiquity at the top of Twitch stream viewership and multiplayer battle royale titles.
Gears 5 is the first Xbox One exclusive to make this much noise from a consumer standpoint in quite some time. Gears 5 reviews have been very favorable, praising the game's decision to depart from some of the safer choices in its design to explore innovative new takes on a classic. While not all of those design departures work, far more of them succeed instead of fail, and the result has been a game in Gears 5 that feels like a very strong setting-off point for a reboot on the franchise. While long-time fans have remained happy with what developer The Coalition has put out, the real eye-opener is the fact that many people who weren't fans of the franchise previously have admitted to being intrigued by, or outright sold on, Gears 5 as an experience.

That major win is translating into some gaudy numbers for sales, review averages, and player numbers, the latter of which is tracked publicly by Microsoft. Gears 5 sits atop the most played games list for Xbox on the
Microsoft Store, surpassing mainstays like Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Rainbow Six Siege. It's especially impressive because, again, Fortnite is a free-to-play game, which makes surpassing it as a paid AAA title in Gears 5even more difficult. It's a testament to the success of the game that also speaks volumes about the Xbox Game Pass, which allows many players to access the game for "free" by maintaining a subscription.



In fact, the Ultimate Game Pass likely had even more to do with Gears 5passing Fortnite than the regular subscription did. Gears 5 was available early on Ultimate, which meant players probably flocked towards both the subscription service and the game. It's the biggest win for Microsoft's Game Pass service yet, and it demonstrates how powerful a draw it can be when there are major exclusives available on it.
Does this mean we've seen the end of Fortnite's dominance? Probably not. It wouldn't be surprising to see the game take the title of most played Xbox One game in short order, in fact. That's the nature of the live service game versus something like Gears 5, which has some elements like that but also has a giant narrative campaign people were enjoying and a more limited scope in terms of its multiplayer. Even still, it's an impressive show of strength from Gears 5 and a ringing endorsement of both the game and the Xbox Game Pass service, which is notable on its own.


Source:
Microsoft
 

CerebralTiger

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Apr 12, 2007
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Consider this, most reviewers/players cite Lost Legacy's open world area as it's highlight. Compared to that, Gears 5's open world zones are the most divisive (leaning a lot more towards negative) thing about it.
The great thing about Lost Legacy's open ended level was how it had these fun little riddle-like puzzles scattered across the map, which ultimately rewarded you with a piece of treasure. But it wasn't about the treasure, really. The journey was the highlight in this case, not the destination. The map didn't pinpoint the exact location of these points of interest, much like in Zelda BoTW, and it was fun to discover them.

Gears 5's open world section may offer more meaningful rewards in the form of Jack's upgrades, but what's the point if getting to them feels like a chore.
 

Necrokiller

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Thank you for this excellent deal Game Pass (and Alienware lol).

manigamer

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[h=1]Gears 5 developer details what fans will get for free now that the game has launched[/h]

Additional info on what you’ll have to buy and what can only be found during time-sensitive Operations



With the extended launch of Gears 5 more or less concluded, today developer The Coalitiondetailed its plans for post-launch support. It includes information on free downloadable content headed out to owners, as well as what will be available for sale going forward using the game’s real-money currency called Iron. In addition, The Coalition rolled out a detailed list of what to expect in Gears 5 over the next six months.
[h=2]OPERATIONS DEFINED[/h]Content for Gears 5 will be rolled out in three-month-long Operations, the first of which is ongoing now. The next Operation won’t kick off until December.
Operation 1 will make available four new characters, each with unique abilities and load outs in Arcade Versus mode, Horde, and Escape. There will also be weekly events, as well as more than 200 cosmetic items, including weapon and character skins. Operation 2 will include a new mode for Versus gameplay, as well as new maps for multiplayer. There will also be an unknown number of additional characters, and more than 200 new cosmetic items.
[h=2]ARE NEW CHARACTERS FREE?[/h]While some or all of the cosmetic items available during a given Operation will be phased out at the beginning of the next Operation, characters will be available forever.
Characters will need to be unlocked, however. What’s unknown at this time is how much effort that will take. Of course, those unwilling or unable to put in the time can pay cash for Iron, Gears 5’s real-money currency, and then convert Iron into characters down the line. But The Coalition is emphatic in stating that payment won’t be required.
“With the exclusion of Halo: Reach Ultimate Edition and Terminator: Dark FateCharacters,” The Coalition states in today’s blog post, “all future characters — both COG Heroes and Swarm characters — can either be earned through gameplay or purchased directly — whatever you choose!”
The same can’t be said for other cosmetic items. Some are only available for purchase, and some can only be earned through play.
[h=2]ARE NEW MAPS FREE?[/h]Previous iterations of the Gears of War franchise were a bit notorious for splitting the user base by offering new map packs that had to be purchased. Currently the only multiplayer maps that The Coalition is promising to add to the game are free, and there’s no talk of having to unlock them. Expect those to show up in the rotation organically, depending on what mode you play.
If you picked up the game, or plan to in the near future, you’ll want to read the entire blog post in detail.
 

Chandoo

Resi Evil 4 > Your fav game.
Jan 19, 2007
45,727
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129
S.S Normandy
Thank you for this excellent deal Game Pass (and Alienware lol).



Gonna agree with the Game Pass thing. Hell of a deal and fantastic incentive for people to join (and stay in) that echo system by offering their biggest game of the year at launch for as low as $1 per month (or free for a lot of people with the Alienware thing).
 

Necrokiller

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Also the first game to overtake Fortnite on Xbox Store in multiple regions since Summer 2018.

 
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  • faraany3k faraany3k:
    I dont think games have looked any better since 2019 onwards and they are performing worse and worse. Game developers have really dropped the ball.
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    Consoles can't even catch a break in titles developed exclusively for them 😢
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    "All of this lends the game distinctly last-gen look at times, which is compounded by image quality and frame-rate issues."
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    no jokes.
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  • Chandoo Chandoo:
    faraany3k said:
    So while Playing Control, I found a journal which said that a bathroom is missing in Islamabad Beurue of Control. With Alan Wake and Control seems to be connected worlds. Even our city is in the universe as well. No wonder those Trail 5 and Trail 6 are haunted.
    did you know you can see @NaNoW credited in the game too ? :p
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  • faraany3k faraany3k:
    So while Playing Control, I found a journal which said that a bathroom is missing in Islamabad Beurue of Control. With Alan Wake and Control seems to be connected worlds. Even our city is in the universe as well. No wonder those Trail 5 and Trail 6 are haunted.
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  • EternalBlizzard EternalBlizzard:
    faraany3k said:
    What is peoples obsession with Battle Royale genre. 6 minutes to find a match, 3 minutes to setup a match, 2 minutes to land, 10 minutes for scavanging maybe 2 3 gunfigts and its over. Multiplayer landscape is looking absolute dogshit.
    I tried playing Apex Legends once. Couldn't find a gun for 5 minutes straight. If I found a gun, I couldn't find the right ammo for it. Got killed fighting with my fists. Uninstalled it the next day.
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  • faraany3k faraany3k:
    What is peoples obsession with Battle Royale genre. 6 minutes to find a match, 3 minutes to setup a match, 2 minutes to land, 10 minutes for scavanging maybe 2 3 gunfigts and its over. Multiplayer landscape is looking absolute dogshit.
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  • M muneebjahangir:
    skip the villain arc
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  • EternalBlizzard EternalBlizzard:
    iampasha said:
    I usually stay away from animes. Vinland saga changed the way i look at my life, and my experiences within. I recommend every breathing human being to watch this animated masterpiece at least once fromstart to finish.
    After I watched it, I never felt like i watched a show. It was a friggin journey. I got way too attached to Thorfinn and seeing him grow up and find himself and get rid of all the negativity inside of him was just pure bliss.
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  • iampasha iampasha:
    EternalBlizzard said:
    Vinland Saga > Berserk
    I usually stay away from animes. Vinland saga changed the way i look at my life, and my experiences within. I recommend every breathing human being to watch this animated masterpiece at least once fromstart to finish.
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    Crapcom's RE Engine expose hogaya saaeen. This shit ain't worth experiencing on any platform. 🤷‍♂️
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  • Chandoo Chandoo:
    When a $399 console provides the same experience as a 4090. Yikes indeed saeen :sneaky:
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    that's a yikes saaaen
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    " Both PS5 and Series X have an unlocked frame-rate here, with performance that generally lies between 30fps and 45fps. That makes for a stuttering and inconsistent output in general play, no matter what you are doing at any given time."
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  • EternalBlizzard EternalBlizzard:
    Vinland Saga > Berserk
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  • faraany3k faraany3k:
    I absolutely hate parry and Sekiro made me love it, i hate sci fi and Mass Effect made me love it. This is the definition of genre defining experiences.
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    Forbidden West Complete Edition now available on your fav websites. And Nixxes showed Crapcom how it's done 👍
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    RE Engine is just utter shit for anything other than corridor design remakes
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    This is a console first developer. LMAO
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  • faraany3k faraany3k:
    With how great cod warzone has translated onto mobile. Mainstream Consoles have lost its value even further. Maybe console gaming was associated with TVs and how TV is not the primary source of media consumption anymore, consoles will lose its 200 million core audiences even further.
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  • Necrokiller Necrokiller:
    Even VRR can't rescue it 🥲
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    faraany3k faraany3k: I dont think games have looked any better since 2019 onwards and they are performing worse and...