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Dark Messiah Demo

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Here are few mirrors:

3dGamers

FileShack

FilePlanet

FileFront

I'm waiting in a queue for this one right now, I heard that on average it features 10 minutes of gameplay. Why the hell is the size 1.4 gigs, that's the biggest demo release ever, and still so short demo... :(

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They could probably cut down on the file size if they didn't put cutscenes in the demo.

It's pretty fun, there's a lot of options given to you for taking enemies out and the combat system is pretty good, kicking a guy into a wall of spikes feels very satisfying. The game is nothing like other medieval FPS like Heretic and Hexen. It's more like an improved combat system that you would see in something like Elder Scrolls 4 or Arx Fatalis.

And yeah, it's only 10 minutes long but is worth replaying to try different stuff out.

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I wonder how much smaller it'd be if they had made it available through Steam re-using the Source engine that's already on most people's computers.

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This thing is hot. And I mean HAWT. :tup:

I just hope that they had the good sense to include wandering-around and non-linearness that Arx Fatalis had. So much of the demo seems like on-the-rails Half-Lifeism. ;(

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This thing is hot. And I mean HAWT. :tup:

I just hope that they had the good sense to include wandering-around and non-linearness that Arx Fatalis had. So much of the demo seems like on-the-rails Half-Lifeism. ;(

I don't think so. The game really isn't an rpg and it's organized into levels. There may be parts where there's multiple ways of getting past an area but that's about it.

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I don't think so. The game really isn't an rpg and it's organized into levels. There may be parts where there's multiple ways of getting past an area but that's about it.

;( ;( ;(

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God this thing took forever to download, and god, it punishes my computer like no Source engine game before it, but still ... I can't describe it precisely, but this demo has exactly the same "omgawesome" feeling about it that the System Shock 2 and Deus Ex demos did for me.

Even if I've already seen it in the videos, the big cave environment is also gobsmackingly beautiful.

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God this thing took forever to download, and god, it punishes my computer like no Source engine game before it.

This is my concern with not wanting to download the demo.

My laptop's a good 2 years old now, and, whilst it can play Half-Life 2 with a respectable number of bells and whistles enabled, it's not what you'd describe as "super-slick". Certainly not choppy either, but it's about the limits of what my laptop can handle at a respectable framerate (i.e. anywhere between 20-45fps depending on environmental clutter).

Comparatively, what order of magnitude would you place this over Half-Life 2 (with HDR Lighting enabled) in terms of a performance hit? Just a rough stab at a number would be appreciated--I find 'on paper' requirements rarely match up with real world hardware performance...

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My rough stab would be this: I can normally run any Source game at 1280x 4x 4x HDR. I'm very tolerant of low framerates - I'm happy with a 30 that skips to 20 every so often - I'm not a hardcore FPS guy who needs 60+ all the damn time. Playing around with the settings to better answer your question, the performance isn't as bad as my first impressions, but it has forced me down a res to 1024x (but still with all the trimmings).

This isn't that much of a problem, except that the game doesn't appear to support resolutions below 1024x. Presumably because that's what the inventory screen is setup to support. So if you need to drop the res and you're already at 1024x, you might be out of luck (or of course, you could just drop some of the many quality settings - Source is a remarkably flexible engine if you're prepared to have it look like ass).

In terms of downloading the demo, I'm quite a fan of Fileplanet's Download Manager application (installs via ActiveX on IE if you let it). It lets you pause downloads whenever you want, which is obviously very important when you've got a 6-8 hour download ahead of you.

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Just finished it.:gaming:

I loved the sword fights, there's everything. Be sure to try the "fatalities" when your adrenaline is filled.

Although it's really too short, it may takes you up to 3 hours if you are meticulous about replayability.

Still, 1,4 Gb for so few content ::eek: .

Has the game's overall length been revealed yet ? I only know there will be 5 DVDs in the box...

Want more of this demo ? Have a look at this thread to boost your skills and spells.

Finally, if you think you're up to the task, why not battle the cyclops ?

Apparently he misses some animations and scripts. Basically, you have to edit config.cfg located in "\Dark Messiah Demo\mm\cfg" in order to activate ingame a noclip mode which will allow you to reach his cavern.

To do so, add these lines anywhere in the file :

sv_cheats "1"

bind "key of your choice" "noclip"

Save and check the "read only" box in the files' properties.

Close the file and launch the game.

When you start the level, hit the key you've binded to this function then "fly" to his cavern. Once you're there, deactivate noclip and good luck enjoying the scenery.

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Still, 1,4 Gb for so few content ::eek: .

Has the game's overall length been revealed yet ? I only know there will be 5 DVDs in the box...

I think the Company of Heroes beta/demo-thingy is something like 4,38 GB and that's without any singleplayer content. 5 DVD's blows everything I've heard about away though. Either they have lots of extras planned or they're not reusing any content (or perhaps the game is just really long, but the chances of that feel slim).

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5 DVD's!? that up to 45GB of content

in that case it would be either be ludicrous large or a complete waste of space

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um, without a source I'd say that that is almost certainly false. Especially considering the game only requires 6 gigs of hard drive space. Dreamfall is on one dvd and I think it takes up at least 9.

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Hmm, I checked back and realize I should have said : I read someone who tested the game at Ubisoft's talk about 5 DVDs. And I don't even know whether this is based on the size of the installer or the size of the demo once installed (2.5 Gb).

So it could mean at most 23.5 Gb once installed. Huge indeed, but I really don't want to make simplist or useless calculation...or even stupid because I remember Half Life 2 demo was the same size as the game.

Sorry about that:frown:

Noone else found solid info about the overall length of the game ?

edit : My favourite weekly magazine in which Arkane's CEO is being interviewed has just arrived : "about 12 hours on a regular FPS scale. Add replayability time and the fact people take time to analyze the situation (good point) before jumping into action."

:tmeh:

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I can believe the entire project - with all assets and source code - maybe spanning 5 DVDs at a push. But that would seem pretty optimistic* an assumption as well. Most odd.

* I'd expect a game like this to take up more than ~25GBs in a source repository, with all material under version control.

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There was a joke in Space Quest IV, where you went to a mall on a space station, and you'd find King's Quest XXV or something in one of the stores. The game was "12 GB long", which was of course ridiculous. Not so funny now (unless you distribute it on floppy disks) are you, Sierra?

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Dreamfall, the PC version, was wasting space. The content was coocked for seekfree loading.

anyway... this reminds me of a game that shipped on 50 CDs.

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