ThunderPeel2001

Brütal Legend overload...!

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Yeah, I wouldn't have minded Meat Circus being hard if the increase in difficulty hadn't been a result of poor design. Still, it wasn't that hard and that bad for me. Whatever that means.

About the soundtrack. Apart from Mastodon and, to some extend, Black Sabbath the bands are not that interesting to me. As a metal soundtrack it might be a bit unsurprising, but as a game soundtrack it could be pretty refreshing I guess. Sure would have hoped for Electric Wizard though..

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So I tried to do a bit research to understand why players (who were better than me) were found the last level so difficult. Here's the trend I noticed: They were using keyboard/mouse to play the game. Everyone who agreed with me that the Meat Circus was fine were using controllers.

I played it with a controller, as did pretty much everyone I personally knew, most or all of whom had the same complaint.

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I think Meat Circus may be frustrating less because of its inherent difficulty and more because its such a jarring change of pace from the rest of the game.

In every previous part of the game you're able to explore each level at your leisure, to lose this freedom right at the end is already fairly unpleasant, tacking all these deaths on top of it just turns things over to full aggravation.

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The Meat Circus is undeniably harder than the rest of the game. For some people it was amazingly harder. I didn't have THAT much trouble with it, but I play a lot of third person platformers, and had been playing Psychonauts on a near completionist path before getting to the Meat Circus, so while it was a step up, it wasn't murderous. I have many friends who absolutely couldn't get through it without spending tons of time on it, including my friend who was one of the sound designers on the game. It was his personal nightmare for a while and he was already playing it to death.

In other news, I can't wait to check out Brutal Legend. There were some discussions recorded last night by Chris and Nick and I which have me excited.

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Meat Circus was a bit more difficult to get through, but the only ridiculous part was the whole "Spiral fences of DEATH!" I may have died a good twenty times on that one, and the part where Raz's dad is busy shooting at you was a tad bit more difficult than it should've been as well. I finally remembered Schafer's advice on the DF FAQ:

"What’s up with Meat Circus?

What’s up with Meat Circus is that you’re a sissy. Sure, sure, invisibility is very important when Raz’s dad is trying to knock you off those tight ropes. And your shield will bounce the knife thrower’s blades right into those spinning target wheels. And also you can throw a confusion grenade at that bunny and then just go pick it up, instead of trying to grab it with Telekinesis. Those things are also true. But the main point I’m trying to make here is that first one, about you being a sissy."

As for Brutal Legend, anyone who's kept up with Mixnmojo knows how unbelievably excited I am for it. Schafer's games are of the few things I look forward to and get hyped about.

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DF FAQ:

"What’s up with Meat Circus?

What’s up with Meat Circus is that you’re a sissy. Sure, sure, invisibility is very important when Raz’s dad is trying to knock you off those tight ropes. And your shield will bounce the knife thrower’s blades right into those spinning target wheels. And also you can throw a confusion grenade at that bunny and then just go pick it up, instead of trying to grab it with Telekinesis. Those things are also true. But the main point I’m trying to make here is that first one, about you being a sissy."

Aha! That's very true. I wonder if the people who had difficulty weren't using the right psy powers?

Anyhoo, the figments was more of a nightmare for me, especially on that Dancey/Race level. Luckily an amazing person put together a FAQ that listed precisely where every fragment was in the game... I thank that person to this day, otherwise I never would have found the final 3 or 4 that were killing me.

My only other complaint was the whole Arrow Head monetary system and the fact that everything was so expensive and it took forever to collect a decent amount of arrowheads. Plus, you were given no hints as to what things were important/useful to you at the beginning of the game (or indeed what anything actually did). I mean, even the arrowhead compass thing was something like 250 arrowheads...!

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Meat Circus was a bit more difficult to get through, but the only ridiculous part was the whole "Spiral fences of DEATH!" I may have died a good twenty times on that one…

Yeah, that was the only part that really got me. Anyhow, I still maintain that the last level should have a few excessively trick parts—makes it more of an accomplishment. (And at least it's not like when I was playing Ninja Gaiden on my NES and had to start over if I died too many times. You kids have it too easy nowadays.)

Also, I love that the subject of how fucking hard the Meat Circus is can still take a thread on a page-long detour.

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For the record, PC version but with a Logitech analog controller. Meat Circus drove me crazy, not because of tonnes of death all over the level, but because those spiral fences took me an hour and the rest of the level was finished on my first attempt. Seriously. What the fuck was up with those things?

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Also, I love that the subject of how fucking hard the Meat Circus is can still take a thread on a page-long detour.

It might just keep us going until Rocktober...

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I never got what all the fuss was about when I got to the Meat Circus. In terms of platforming it's probably hard relative to the rest of the game, but compared to the general difficulty level of most hardcore platformers it was a breeze. Anyone who's completed Super Mario 64 (I used to assume that was everyone) wouldn't bat an eye at Meat Circus.

I think what bothers people is that Meat Circus is basically straight-up platforming where as previously the game was more puzzle and exploration oriented. I think the fact that the Meat Circus is substantially harder than the rest of the game is fair - the last level should be a bit of a bitch. If any part of a game should be the hardest, it's the last level. The most disappointing thing about Ocarina of Time to me was the fact that Ganon's Tower was not the dungeon to end all dungeons, which had been the case in the previous games, but rather this hub of light "best of" rooms. There is a line, of course, but I think it's only appropriate that the final level of a game throw down the gauntlet a bit. And the Meat Circus isn't anywhere close to impossible.

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In other news, I can't wait to check out Brutal Legend. There were some discussions recorded last night by Chris and Nick and I which have me excited.
This made me expect to see Brütal Legend in the 'Games Discussed' of today's episode. In question-form: uhm, hu?

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This made me expect to see Brütal Legend in the 'Games Discussed' of today's episode. In question-form: uhm, hu?

Owned! Oh snap! Got you!

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My problem with Meat Circus was always really more about the escort stuff with young Ollie. (I also hated the rotating firy fences and still don't understand why the long slide ladder has to go DOWN before going up but whatever). I guess it's really my problem with EVERY escort mission: the person I'm protecting is an IDIOT! So I spent the entire game loving every character in the game (except I only "liked" Coach. I think a huge reason why this game didn't sell well initially was because the weakest levels were the first and last. They should've released Sasha's level as the demo) then all of a sudden hating everything. I hated the mutant rabbits, i hated the knife throwers, and most of all i hated that kid.

Oh yeah, Brutal Legend looks great.

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Can I safely assume that it will be released in Australia on the same date as the EU? Or is that expecting too much?

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Can I safely assume that it will be released in Australia on the same date as the EU? Or is that expecting too much?

Well the EU actually gets it three days after the US, so you guys will probably get it... 2013?

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After watching Tim Schafer's Gamescom presentation this morning via the EA livestream I can honestly say I'm now stoked for Brutal Legend. According to Schafer the demo will hit XBL and PSN on September 17th!

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After watching Tim Schafer's Gamescom presentation this morning via the EA livestream I can honestly say I'm now stoked for Brutal Legend. According to Schafer the demo will hit XBL and PSN on September 17th!

Demo!? Oh man! I totally forget we might actually get to play it before it's released...!

(I hope it's better than the Psychonauts demo... for the sake of sales, at least.)

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Free overnight shipping at Gamestop (use the promo code EPIC). And you get the demo a week early thus making you better than all those other fools

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So, any hope for the PC version, this time next year or somesuch? :hmph:

Psychonauts almost made me buy an Xbox, now this shit will make me buy a 360. :buyme:

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So, any hope for the PC version, this time next year or somesuch? :hmph:

Psychonauts almost made me buy an Xbox, now this shit will make me buy a 360. :buyme:

This was truly a factor in me buying one. That and GTA4 (ugh). Addiction sucks.

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After watching Tim Schafer's Gamescom presentation this morning via the EA livestream I can honestly say I'm now stoked for Brutal Legend. According to Schafer the demo will hit XBL and PSN on September 17th!
Is this downloadable somewhere?

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