Magicka

[uncivlengr]

It only saves at the end of each very long level. There's (sparse) checkpoints, but they're only for respawning; if you quit the game, it's back to the start of the level with you.

This is annoying in any game, but yeah, THIS. Why do they do that? It only makes me less likely to want to boot up the game and play for a bit, because I know I need to invest a solid amount of uninterupted time to progress.

If anyone's looking to try multiplayer, I'd be up for it... Steam name is the same.

[Scuttlemutt]

I'm interested in trying multiplayer too. :O Despite hearing about all of the bugs, I still want to give it a try.

[el_loco_avs]

I've had a bunch of crashes to desktop in multiplayer


and some of the b ossfights are ridiculous in multiplayer

[Jahoclave]

This game is hilarious.

Need people to play with though.

Yeah, that seems to be the only reason I would get it. Some sort of fun, Gee Willikers WTF ARE YOU DOING!

It only saves at the end of each very long level. There's (sparse) checkpoints, but they're only for respawning; if you quit the game, it's back to the start of the level with you.

This is annoying in any game, but yeah, THIS. Why do they do that? It only makes me less likely to want to boot up the game and play for a bit, because I know I need to invest a solid amount of uninterupted time to progress.

If anyone's looking to try multiplayer, I'd be up for it... Steam name is the same.

I kind of wonder if there's some programming issues behind that. I've always been interested and I have to wonder if it's not a matter of the amount of coding and the complexity of the coding that would need to go into the game. That said, more checkpoints would always be a plus.

[Menacing Spike]

I kind of wonder if there's some programming issues behind that. I've always been interested and I have to wonder if it's not a matter of the amount of coding and the complexity of the coding that would need to go into the game. That said, more checkpoints would always be a plus.

Nope, it would be laughably easy. This is a design decision, and a shitty one.

[Jahoclave]

I kind of wonder if there's some programming issues behind that. I've always been interested and I have to wonder if it's not a matter of the amount of coding and the complexity of the coding that would need to go into the game. That said, more checkpoints would always be a plus.

Nope, it would be laughably easy. This is a design decision, and a shitty one.

Well then, in that case. Dear Magicka Developers, I award you no cookies. None! You could have had some nice delicious thin mints, but no. You had your chance and you blew it.

[uncivlengr]

yeah, the game is as linear as it could be, and the inventory consists of one staff and one melee weapon... hardly a lot of variables to keep track of on a more consistent basis.

Played a few rounds of multiplayer over the weekend with some randoms... reminds me a lot of Alien Swarm, with everyone blasting in all directions, and some players rushing while others lag behind.

[Shadic]

Anybody posting that they want to play Multiplayer should post their Steam ID!

Mine is HyperShadic. I'm usually online, and should be mostly free for playing. I much prefer to Skype at the same time, as it's more fun if you can actually talk with people.

Spoiler:

I can serenade you with my voice!

[Toeofdoom]

I kind of wonder if there's some programming issues behind that. I've always been interested and I have to wonder if it's not a matter of the amount of coding and the complexity of the coding that would need to go into the game. That said, more checkpoints would always be a plus.

Nope, it would be laughably easy. This is a design decision, and a shitty one.

Well then, in that case. Dear Magicka Developers, I award you no cookies. None! You could have had some nice delicious thin mints, but no. You had your chance and you blew it.

It should be pretty easy, but it's hard to tell exactly. When saving a game part way you may need to save some sort of state information then load it up reliably - otherwise you can just rush to a checkpoint, jump out, reload and suddenly nothing's chasing you. Some checkpoints are in places where it doesn't matter such as zone transfers and they should be easier but not all are like that. Even then you get issues - if it's a multiplayer game and you just grabbed a nice staff then reached a checkpoint... "Hey, let's quit out and reload then go back to get a second staff because it will respawn the monster!"

[psion]

The levels are scripted with xml files that are easily viewed. At the end of the level is this: <endgame type="LevelComplete" freezeGame="true" delay="7"/>
which tells the magicka exe to unload the level, load the next one, and save. I think all of the scripts would have to be scrapped if they were to have it save at checkpoints. Probably not worth doing while the game is still so unstable.

Oh, and you can edit the xml files to do basically whatever you want with the game -- like give yourself achievements or spells, skip dialogue, or immediately end the level for a 1 second speed run.

[Jahoclave]

I kind of wonder if there's some programming issues behind that. I've always been interested and I have to wonder if it's not a matter of the amount of coding and the complexity of the coding that would need to go into the game. That said, more checkpoints would always be a plus.

Nope, it would be laughably easy. This is a design decision, and a shitty one.

Well then, in that case. Dear Magicka Developers, I award you no cookies. None! You could have had some nice delicious thin mints, but no. You had your chance and you blew it.

It should be pretty easy, but it's hard to tell exactly. When saving a game part way you may need to save some sort of state information then load it up reliably - otherwise you can just rush to a checkpoint, jump out, reload and suddenly nothing's chasing you. Some checkpoints are in places where it doesn't matter such as zone transfers and they should be easier but not all are like that. Even then you get issues - if it's a multiplayer game and you just grabbed a nice staff then reached a checkpoint... "Hey, let's quit out and reload then go back to get a second staff because it will respawn the monster!"

Look, I took away their cookies and they're not getting them back. Finals final.

Also, my steam name, same as this name. You will get to experience the joy that comes with playing with [Sexy] It Works, Bitches.

[el_loco_avs]

Freaking yetis man!

[el_loco_avs]

Man. Managed to get past those insta-gibbing yeti's only to get WTFPWNED by Fafnir.

Solo is HARD.

[uncivlengr]

The crazy thing is, there doesn't seem to be any difficulty scaling between solo and up to four players - not only do you have to heal yourself while attacking, but you can't be revived.

I'm stuck in those ruins in level three on solo, and the only way I ever have close to a fighting chance is if I'm constantly summoning those tree creatures to tank for me, but that only gets me so far.

[Jahoclave]

Yeah, there really is no scale. I've pretty much developed the tactic of queuing up a bomb, aoe bombing in the middle and then omgwtfhealing. I think part of my problem is that there's a regulator on how fast you can type things in, which annoys me to no end. I've got enough problems with ten billion goblins.

[Rek]

A solution to this that at least works some of the time on swarms is to do a Rock personal shield and then when they all swarm you you do a QFSAAA AOE. Usually kills all near you.

[el_loco_avs]

qfqfsaa death beam works well. kinda boring to just spam that all the time so sometimes i just mess around if I'm not too far from checkpoints.

That or just shielding and using mines (healmines to overheal the shield , then arcane/fire/whatever mines outside to blast stuff).


Doesn't work at Fafnir though. SO I'm still stuck.

[uncivlengr]

Played through what I believe is level 9 through multiplayer, and it's a joke - everything is 'undead', so you spam life beams, life AOEs, life shields... nobody ever comes close to dying.

[Nemiro]

qfqfsaa death beam works well. kinda boring to just spam that all the time so sometimes i just mess around if I'm not too far from checkpoints.

That or just shielding and using mines (healmines to overheal the shield , then arcane/fire/whatever mines outside to blast stuff).


Doesn't work at Fafnir though. SO I'm still stuck.

I teleported up next to him (between his tail and vulnerable belly), and deployed an area shield, which cut through his model, leaving his belly exposed inside the shield. Then I QFSAAA'd him like everything else. I'm on the Assatur fight now, and keep getting blown off the damn platform.

[el_loco_avs]

qfqfsaa death beam works well. kinda boring to just spam that all the time so sometimes i just mess around if I'm not too far from checkpoints.

That or just shielding and using mines (healmines to overheal the shield , then arcane/fire/whatever mines outside to blast stuff).


Doesn't work at Fafnir though. SO I'm still stuck.

I teleported up next to him (between his tail and vulnerable belly), and deployed an area shield, which cut through his model, leaving his belly exposed inside the shield. Then I QFSAAA'd him like everything else. I'm on the Assatur fight now, and keep getting blown off the damn platform.

Well, I did the teleport thing and ended up behind him and totally out of range of his stronger attacks. Went down easy.
Grimnir after that was easy once I got the corporealize down properly.

Assatur was surprisingly easy. Third try I had him!

Start fight -> move right or left (outside of his hawking hole thingy rangy). Shield shelf. Whenever he attacks do earth+shield self. rest of the time just qfqfsaa him. Went down annoyingly quick.

[Mahou]

This game is well worth it in my opinion, as long as you have friends to play it with. The dialog is hilarious, killing your friends is hilarious, the magic is innovative, and the achievements are hilarious. Accidentally blowing my pal off a cliff instead of healing him is well worth the 10 bucks.

Steam Name: Agent Mahou 002

[Cue]

People are moaning about checkpoints?

This game is easy as it is, let's not make it easier.

[psion]

I don't see how having the game save at checkpoints would have any effect on the difficulty.

[Cue]

I don't see how having the game save at checkpoints would have any effect on the difficulty.

You die, you go back to the beginning, you have to play through again, death has a consequence.

Meanwhile, you die, you spawn in the previous area, go "Meh" and walk along.

[psion]

The only thing that has a consequence is closing the game when it doesn't save at checkpoints, and the game closing is an often occurrence with how buggy it is.

[TaintedDeity]

Yeah, dying having a consequence like 'having to do all that again' doesn't make it harder so much as more annoying.

[uncivlengr]

Dying setting you back a bit is one thing; it adds to the intensity because you're more invested in staying alive.

Not being able to just stop playing and start up again in the same place is the deal breaker for me; it's not like it makes the game any easier, unless you consider dedicating lengthy amounts of time to a game part of the difficulty.

[Mahou]

Dying has the consequence of "god dammit, I just lost that awesome staff and sword I got because some jerk-off pushed me off a cliff."

[uncivlengr]

Actually, now that I think about it, Magicka (and a lot of games) have it exactly backwards - when you die, you only go back to the checkpoint, but when you just stop playing for a bit, you get sent back to the start of the level. There's a greater penalty for playing the game occasionally and well than there is playing it constantly but badly.

[el_loco_avs]

Well. The levels aren't that long mostly I think?

[Jahoclave]

Well. The levels aren't that long mostly I think?

They are if you bloody suck at it.

[EmptySet]

Actually, now that I think about it, Magicka (and a lot of games) have it exactly backwards - when you die, you only go back to the checkpoint, but when you just stop playing for a bit, you get sent back to the start of the level. There's a greater penalty for playing the game occasionally and well than there is playing it constantly but badly.

Lack of saving and spacing checkpoints wide apart are actually classic methods to stretch the length of a game with limited content by forcing the player to repeat long sections of it.

[The Scyphozoa]

So... the art for Magicka: Vietnam appears to be a play on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 box art (not on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam box art). What's up with that?

[Microscopic cog]

Meh, the whole game is a joke on everything.

Which is kind of refreshing. Might be buying Vietnam as well as Magicka was fun to do with friends but so short. Needs more challanges and multiplayer stuff. And it should offer more ways of things going wrong. It's kind of easy now if you try.

[emceng]

Necro! Woo!

Got this a week or two ago and I am enjoying it. Just beat Khan I think the other night. Annoying fight, especially since I realized while reading this thread how to make it much easier. Fighting warlocks are by far the most annoying, because you can get one-shotted pretty easily. There is a definite issue with difficulty. One minute you blast through all oppposition, the next you're swarmed with OMGWTFBBQ enemies, and can't do much to stop them.

I like the teleport staff, but have kept the healing staff the whole time. It's the best for me while going solo, so I don't have to stop to heal ever.

Would be nice if there was an easier way to tell if you were wet, instead of having to notice lightning doesn't work.

I cannot imagine soloing in thie game without haste. It would be a huuuuuge pain in the ass.

Is there a NG+ option? Depending on how I feel at the end, I may want to go back and get some of the other books, but it would be more fun with the spells I already have. Oh, and anyone else try Crash to Desktop? Fun, but not very useful.

[emceng]

And now mega-rage. Failed the mind boss battle about 100 fucking times, then the game crashed to desktop. Great.

[Ryom]

Yea, the last two posts pretty much sum up Magicka.

[Goldstein]

Don't be ashamed to resort to some really lame tactics to beat him, emceng - after all, he was designed for fighting a group. I think I shielded myself in with him and just spammed explosions.

[Beardhammer]

Yea, the last two posts pretty much sum up Magicka.

And to think this is all from the same generation of gamers that grew up playing Nintendo Hard games, many of which didn't even HAVE save systems - you had to write down a complicated password, or some games didn't have save games at all, not even with passwords.

Damn, we're fuckin spoiled.

[Ryom]

What on earth are you on about now Beardhammer? The poster before me gave a pretty accurate description of the game and I concurred, neither post mentioned anything about how the game "should be" just statement of how it is. I'm not sure where your little rant fits into this thread.


Emceng: "The game is pretty hard sometimes and crashes a lot!"
Ryom: "Yep!"

Beardhammer: Random nonsense about the save system that nobody mentioned and "Damn we're spoiled!" <---- what?