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Max Payne 3 |OT| Funny as hell, we couldn't decide on a sub-title
- Thread starter NotTheGuyYouKill
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Really?! Thank you for letting me know.
Brother Sport
Member
Overall spoilers regarding story and characters. Also Man on Fire-spoilers:
At first, when Giovanna revealed that she was pregnant with Passos baby I hoped that the game would take a more personal direction in wich Max had to fight for the two in order to give them the family life he never got. All the political corruption and the gang wars would still be there but more as a backdrop - unchangeable and constant. Hell I wouldn't mind if they ripped off Man on Fire even further and stole the ending; Max trades a hostage, say Passos or Giovanna, for himself and is driven away by his captors... Have to stop myself now, getting awfully close to fanfic.
Having alot of fun getting angry with the new maps today. Is the UFE headquarters the only one set for Gangwars? That was the only new map that would show up in the playlist and unfortunately everyone still seems to migrate to hoboeken for whatever reason. (yeah it's got great wide spaces and choke points but damn new maps guys)
What is this all about? Anywhere I can report this guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGHaW55KYak&list=UU1xEiSsqxD-i2Yt0nH4Tv-Q&index=2&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGHaW55KYak&list=UU1xEiSsqxD-i2Yt0nH4Tv-Q&index=2&feature=plcp
Do grinds/clues/golden guns carry over when you start a 'new game'?
Even worse is that you can't access any menus during cutscenes, so if you've just finished a part and want to jump to another level, you're forced to either restart the entire game or wait for the cutscene to end.
Even worse is that you can't access any menus during cutscenes, so if you've just finished a part and want to jump to another level, you're forced to either restart the entire game or wait for the cutscene to end.
So I got the new map pack, was really looking forward to trying them out especially after the patch nerfed the mini 30... Three people were in the downloadable content playlist. THREE. I'm so glad I didn't pay for this map pack otherwise I would be complaining and asking for my money back.
I feel bad for all those people who bought the Rockstar pass
I feel bad for all those people who bought the Rockstar pass
Dick Justice
Banned
Been playing on PS3, there generally seem to be around 100-300 people on the DLC maps (free aim) whenever I look. Don't really have issues with finding a game.
Thanks. Sent an email off. Hope he gets put into that Cheaters pool.
How are you guys checking the player counts in game modes? Does it show up somewhere?
petethepanda
Member
Having a hell of a time trying to play multiplayer on PC. 2/3 of games just stay on the loading screen forever. It doesn't freeze, it just never puts me into the game.
Finally got into one a few minutes ago. All was fine for a minute until my screen went black, I got killed, and came back with a fixed camera... controlling a disembodied pair of pants.
Finally got into one a few minutes ago. All was fine for a minute until my screen went black, I got killed, and came back with a fixed camera... controlling a disembodied pair of pants.
Spring-Loaded
Member
I wanted to start this out by saying I've been watching the Max Payne 3 topics from a distance for a long time. Oh so long.
Back in the March or April 2011 issue of Edge, there was a feature on the game. The description of how Euphoria was implemented into the game and the effects it had on shootouts had me salivating.
The notion of every action having actual consequences – shooting a running enemy causing them to topple or diving into a pillar only to glance off of it – was appealing to me. Being a fan of John Woo's Hong Kong films (Hard Boiled, The Killer, etc.), I'd developed a love of such intricacies in action scenes. The shootouts in those films were pure; they didn't take place during car chases or inside collapsing buildings, yet they were more exciting than the most complex action scenes I'd seen elsewhere. The characters were dichotomies; simultaneously unstoppable badasses but also, at times, afraid and vulnerable, desperately dodging gunfire and returning it haphazardly in the hopes of surviving. I was always at the edge of my seat during those gun battles because of the balance between confidence and weakness.
Just from Edge's description of MP3's gameplay, I knew this could be the game that finally captured the feeling of those shootouts I wanted.
After reading that article, I decided to go and try out Max Payne 1 and 2 since I'd heard so much positive feedback about them. Knowing they were a decade old, I tempered my expectations. Sadly, even though I knew the games wouldn't feature the mechanics described in Edge, I was underwhelmed.
Even though the shooting mechanics were solid, there was little about the games that appealed to me. While the rooftops and the burning building stood out to me, all other environments were unmemorable and drab. I remember solemnly realizing that, upon completion of each game, I had no desire to ever play through them again. Beyond Max's main motivation, it was difficult to care about or sympathize with him because of his deadpan attitude throughout both games. Most of the dialogue, while clever, was too heavy-handed to enjoy.
There were a few moments that I thought were great, like when diving through the air in slow-motion, rushing to save Max as Max's voice-over says "For the first time in I didn't know how long, I didn't want to die," and the final final confrontation with Horne — that was actually a satisfying and unexpected way to end the game. It was moments like those that kept me interested in MP3. I'm glad the Design&Tech videos got me excited about it again.
Not only was my desire for gunplay satiated, but I found myself actually caring about Max and the game's story. It seemed like Max embodied that dichotomy I mentioned earlier. All at the same time, he's a drunk, emotionally unstable old man and a skilled, justice-seeking killer. He's a self-deprecating "dumb-move guy" and a clever, improvisational genius. Even this translates into gameplay: one moment you're soaring through the air, killing enemies one after another, then you come crashing down in a heap, entirely open to attack. You can be killed in a second, yet you can clear a room just as fast. Every moment could be your last and that keeps the gameplay, and every choice the player makes, meaningful.
I loved playing through MP3's campaign and I still love going back through it, almost solely because it lived up to what I read in Edge a year prior. I also loved for making me retroactively care about Max from the first two titles and for him in this one.
Something the game avoids is contrivance. The events themselves in Max Payne 3 have little to do with Max, yet the story is actually about how Max deals with these events.
If
or if an old villain from his past was behind the main plot, the story would've lost all impact for me and felt contrived (even down to the action sequences, which I'll get to later). That is to say, the story from the first game is a straight-forward revenge tale; Max's family was killed and there's no eye-batting at Max seeking revenge. You never have to wonder or figure out why he does what he does in MP.
In MP3, he risks life and limb to save a kidnapped wife. It's never directly told to the player that he's doing this as way to redeem his past failure. Max himself may not even be aware of it or he may just ignore it — he mentions at one point in the Hoboken levels that he stopped trying to pay attention to anything. Max
keeps pushing forward to save who he can, even though he has no real stake in the situation and doesn't really know any of the people he's trying to save/avenge. He could pack up and leave at almost any point in the game, yet he doesn't. That comes across as being more admirable than his actions in past games and — considering how he ends up in São Paulo because he's a drunk mess and ends up running away from trouble, feeling as if it "always found [him] no matter where [he] hid," — it shows some actual development in his character, something that really never occurred during the last two games. He stopped running away and went after that same kind of trouble he used to feel pursued by
In the end, he
He says he's not seeking redemption near the end of MP3, but he isn't a reliable narrator since he's so self-deprecating.
The importance of the story ended up being more subtle than in the previous games and, in the end, more substantial for me.
The level design is barely contrived too; all the settings for levels make sense, almost as if these were real places rather than arenas full of waist-high walls. Rockstar squeezes a lot of action potential out of these areas, but it all fits within the setting nicely. It felt like the opposite of Uncharted 3 which had set-pieces thrown in just because they were cool, something the developers admitted to.
All of the above keeps me from getting too pissed at the frequent cutscenes when replaying the story mode. I also can understand how the people who loved the for two games for their dialogue and Mafioso characters could dislike this one. Myself, I didn't care about the return of those things whatsoever as they too often seemed hokey and contradictory to the more serious aspects of the story. I wanted the level of action detailed in that Edge article and I got it, along with a story that I found had a surprising impact on me and was, in a way, more central to Max himself as a person than either of the last two games.
Back in the March or April 2011 issue of Edge, there was a feature on the game. The description of how Euphoria was implemented into the game and the effects it had on shootouts had me salivating.
The notion of every action having actual consequences – shooting a running enemy causing them to topple or diving into a pillar only to glance off of it – was appealing to me. Being a fan of John Woo's Hong Kong films (Hard Boiled, The Killer, etc.), I'd developed a love of such intricacies in action scenes. The shootouts in those films were pure; they didn't take place during car chases or inside collapsing buildings, yet they were more exciting than the most complex action scenes I'd seen elsewhere. The characters were dichotomies; simultaneously unstoppable badasses but also, at times, afraid and vulnerable, desperately dodging gunfire and returning it haphazardly in the hopes of surviving. I was always at the edge of my seat during those gun battles because of the balance between confidence and weakness.
Just from Edge's description of MP3's gameplay, I knew this could be the game that finally captured the feeling of those shootouts I wanted.
After reading that article, I decided to go and try out Max Payne 1 and 2 since I'd heard so much positive feedback about them. Knowing they were a decade old, I tempered my expectations. Sadly, even though I knew the games wouldn't feature the mechanics described in Edge, I was underwhelmed.
Even though the shooting mechanics were solid, there was little about the games that appealed to me. While the rooftops and the burning building stood out to me, all other environments were unmemorable and drab. I remember solemnly realizing that, upon completion of each game, I had no desire to ever play through them again. Beyond Max's main motivation, it was difficult to care about or sympathize with him because of his deadpan attitude throughout both games. Most of the dialogue, while clever, was too heavy-handed to enjoy.
There were a few moments that I thought were great, like when diving through the air in slow-motion, rushing to save Max as Max's voice-over says "For the first time in I didn't know how long, I didn't want to die," and the final final confrontation with Horne — that was actually a satisfying and unexpected way to end the game. It was moments like those that kept me interested in MP3. I'm glad the Design&Tech videos got me excited about it again.
Not only was my desire for gunplay satiated, but I found myself actually caring about Max and the game's story. It seemed like Max embodied that dichotomy I mentioned earlier. All at the same time, he's a drunk, emotionally unstable old man and a skilled, justice-seeking killer. He's a self-deprecating "dumb-move guy" and a clever, improvisational genius. Even this translates into gameplay: one moment you're soaring through the air, killing enemies one after another, then you come crashing down in a heap, entirely open to attack. You can be killed in a second, yet you can clear a room just as fast. Every moment could be your last and that keeps the gameplay, and every choice the player makes, meaningful.
I loved playing through MP3's campaign and I still love going back through it, almost solely because it lived up to what I read in Edge a year prior. I also loved for making me retroactively care about Max from the first two titles and for him in this one.
Something the game avoids is contrivance. The events themselves in Max Payne 3 have little to do with Max, yet the story is actually about how Max deals with these events.
If
Passos had actually known Max from the academy
In MP3, he risks life and limb to save a kidnapped wife. It's never directly told to the player that he's doing this as way to redeem his past failure. Max himself may not even be aware of it or he may just ignore it — he mentions at one point in the Hoboken levels that he stopped trying to pay attention to anything. Max
fails at that, yet he
by going after the UFE and Victor.
In the end, he
saves/prevents some innocents from having their organs harvested and he saves a mother and her child, allowing a family to come into existence,something he failed to do years ago.
He accepts that trouble finds him and he accepts what he is: a killer.
The level design is barely contrived too; all the settings for levels make sense, almost as if these were real places rather than arenas full of waist-high walls. Rockstar squeezes a lot of action potential out of these areas, but it all fits within the setting nicely. It felt like the opposite of Uncharted 3 which had set-pieces thrown in just because they were cool, something the developers admitted to.
All of the above keeps me from getting too pissed at the frequent cutscenes when replaying the story mode. I also can understand how the people who loved the for two games for their dialogue and Mafioso characters could dislike this one. Myself, I didn't care about the return of those things whatsoever as they too often seemed hokey and contradictory to the more serious aspects of the story. I wanted the level of action detailed in that Edge article and I got it, along with a story that I found had a surprising impact on me and was, in a way, more central to Max himself as a person than either of the last two games.
JumpingTheGun
Banned
Started playing this morning after a month or so break so I can finish out the grinds. My god is it so satisfying, and I just finished going through an Uncharted phase. Gunplay wise it really holds no candle to Payne. Hell I'm even finding the transitions in and out of cover seem to be a lot smoother for for Max than Nathan since I played the latter so recently its still fresh in my mind.
Such an incredible game. Still my GOTY for sure.
Spring-Loaded: Loved your comments. Couldn't agree more.
Such an incredible game. Still my GOTY for sure.
Spring-Loaded: Loved your comments. Couldn't agree more.
I just recently picked up the PC version of Max Payne 3. What the fuck is up with the save/auto-save system? Last night I finished Chapter 3 and decided to stop after starting Chapter 4, I quit playing
. Today, I wanted to go back and continue and I'm back in the middle of Chapter 3, before you even get to the first sniper. Is there something I need to know about how this game saves on PC? It really soured me and I just stopped playing because I don't want to sit through all the dialogue and cutscenes again right now.
right after Max shoots that guido in the beginning of Chapter 4
MMaRsu
Member
Huh that's weird, maybe you had to get to a checkpoint first. Although I have to say I quit in the middle of a cutscene once after I had hit a new chapter and when I loaded it up the following day I had to replay the end of the previous chapter.
I thought waiting until you get to the point where you can control the character would be long enough, but I guess not. Even then, it doesn't really make sense that I would get thrown back so far in Chapter 3. There are a lot more checkpoints after where it decided to put me. I did some googling and it looks like the PC version's saving just breaks. It's really discouraging because you can't seem to skip anything and I don't have enough time to play through the game in a couple sittings.
petethepanda
Member
Just beat it. The final two chapters were awesome, I wish the game leading up to them had been that good. Outside of the office attack in part 2 and the last two chapters, there aren't any sections of the game I have any desire to play again (whereas MP1 and 2 were absolutely full of sections I played over and over and over).
The story was lame. As per usual with R*, they inexplicably place the mechanics of the plot far above character, which they rarely even bother trying to do well. Max is trying to save another woman... who gives a shit? It isn't anybody who means something to him, there are no personal stakes, he just doesn't want to fuck up his job. (And before somebody says it, risking his life isn't good enough in the "stakes" category - this is a video game, life-risking is assumed, and he doesn't even really have anything to lose if he were to die / a compelling reason to stay alive). They even capped off the last two great chapters with an annoying non-ending on the level of GTA4. They just stop. It's like a band simply fading a song out since they can't figure out how to end it.
But the multiplayer is pretty great, so it's still $30 well spent.
Edit: How long are these fucking credits lol
The story was lame. As per usual with R*, they inexplicably place the mechanics of the plot far above character, which they rarely even bother trying to do well. Max is trying to save another woman... who gives a shit? It isn't anybody who means something to him, there are no personal stakes, he just doesn't want to fuck up his job. (And before somebody says it, risking his life isn't good enough in the "stakes" category - this is a video game, life-risking is assumed, and he doesn't even really have anything to lose if he were to die / a compelling reason to stay alive). They even capped off the last two great chapters with an annoying non-ending on the level of GTA4. They just stop. It's like a band simply fading a song out since they can't figure out how to end it.
But the multiplayer is pretty great, so it's still $30 well spent.
Edit: How long are these fucking credits lol
Spring-Loaded
Member
It's funny you mention these two things right after my post above. I felt the exact opposite about the replayability part and I talked about the exact same things you mention about the story too.
MMaRsu
Member
Exactly why I quit playing.. I got up to lvl 38.
But I had two great matches today I must say. Pretty sad there were only 52 people in free aim deathmatch. Please release the maps for free R*, I mean it's shitty enough you split up the playlists like this.
Ramocalypse
Member
I have been looking everywhere for the specific patch notes with regards to the mp adjustments, but i cant find specifics anywhere. Anyone have a link? I really thought the MP was fun but really needed some balance tweaks.
How do you see how many players are in different game modes?
Some guy was pretty desperate to give Max a hug in Brazil.
Dat Euphoria
JumpingTheGun
Banned
Very cool how R* recently and subtley implemented the option to check up on your SP Grinds via the pause menu. Before, you had to exit all the way out into the main menu, watching load screens and such. Not sure when they did this, but it's MUCH appreciated.
Only 100 more blindfire kills til my grinds are complete!
Only 100 more blindfire kills til my grinds are complete!
Spring-Loaded
Member
A wonderful example of how physics augment/improve gameplay.
In chapter X in the bus station, I shot a shotgun-wielding merc in the neck. He recoiled, his hands reached for his throat and the shotgun went off, shooting out the light in the ceiling above him.
I wish they'd implement a record-function in all versions of the game the way Just Cause 2 does.
I don't believe R* go into too much detail with the specifics of their patches, but here are the PC patch notes.
As for the comments about the lack of people in Free Aim lobbies, they're now offering more XP to attract people:
Should also be noted that the latest patch lowered the Hardcore playlist requirement from 5000 kills to 1000.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Most soft-lockers have the decency to keep it to themselves.
Dern soft-lockers TAKING ALL OUR
Jay Shadow
Member
Gamasutra just said on twitter that Rockstar Vancouver is shutting down. They haven't put the news story up yet.
Looks like the employees are at least getting relocated to other places.
Looks like the employees are at least getting relocated to other places.
MarshMellow96
Member
Wow, this game is fucking RPG and sniper central online. No wonder the player numbers have fallen off a cliff.
Free aim gets you a better class of player, if only there were more of them!
Free aim gets you a better class of player, if only there were more of them!
Cover to cover, no damage, all dead, hard mode. Awwww yeah.
This game can be so brutal at times. Run out of cover, split second later get killed. The shooting is so fun though that I don't mind spending more time with the game. In fact I really like the challenge. Makes gunfights a lot more tense but I'd like it if the ai were a bit more unpredictable the second or third time around.
Brother Sport
Member
Just wanted to say that this post really puts things into light for me. Max is one of the best written characters I've played this gen. He's a good person but without knowing it himself, and it's genuinely painful to watch. At the halfway point
when he shaves his head and where, I imagine, he finally decides to turn around (and pursue the trouble that has been stalking him, as you put it) the character fully blooms and you really start to care for him too. Maybe I didn't realize it before but it is indeed a deeply personal story.
New York Minute is fucking killing me. There are just too many moments where you can easily fail, and levels are too long or filled with too many cutscenes so you're not encouraged to keep trying. I was finally doing really good on Chapter III and got to the second bleachers section (after the VIP lounge), I step out and immediately explode.
Love the idea of the mode, but shit takes too long and is too frustrating to make me dedicate the time to beating it.
Love the idea of the mode, but shit takes too long and is too frustrating to make me dedicate the time to beating it.
Anyone want to speculate about what kind of maps will be in the next map pack, the "Disorganized Crime" map pack?
The Local Justice pack was aptly named because of the 55th Battallion HQ map (the police station from the story) but the other maps were unrelated (Imperial Palace and Departure Lounge).
So far, every single map has been derived from a chapter in the single player:
Rooftop of the Moderno: Ch. 2
Hoboken Tenements: Ch. 4
Tiete River Docks: Ch. 5
Branco Headquarters: Ch. 6
Nova Esperanca: Ch. 7/9
New Jersey Cemetery: Ch. 8
Sao Paulo Bus Depot: Ch. 10
Imperial Palace: Ch. 12
55th Battalion HQ: Ch. 13
Departure Lounge: Ch. 14
Chapters that haven't been made into a multiplayer map yet are chapters 1, 3, and 11.
Ooof, I get so hyped just thinking of the possibilities of a Ch. 3 map, which takes place at the soccer stadium. Ditto with Ch. 11! I wanna kill people on that yacht in Panama.
The Local Justice pack was aptly named because of the 55th Battallion HQ map (the police station from the story) but the other maps were unrelated (Imperial Palace and Departure Lounge).
So far, every single map has been derived from a chapter in the single player:
Rooftop of the Moderno: Ch. 2
Hoboken Tenements: Ch. 4
Tiete River Docks: Ch. 5
Branco Headquarters: Ch. 6
Nova Esperanca: Ch. 7/9
New Jersey Cemetery: Ch. 8
Sao Paulo Bus Depot: Ch. 10
Imperial Palace: Ch. 12
55th Battalion HQ: Ch. 13
Departure Lounge: Ch. 14
Chapters that haven't been made into a multiplayer map yet are chapters 1, 3, and 11.
Ooof, I get so hyped just thinking of the possibilities of a Ch. 3 map, which takes place at the soccer stadium. Ditto with Ch. 11! I wanna kill people on that yacht in Panama.
This is actually something that annoys me. They charging for maps that are mostly lifted straight out of the SP. Kinda a shit way to go about dlc.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Cover to cover, no damage, all dead, hard mode. Awwww yeah.
Probably the closest I've ever seen a game come to "movie choreography" in terms of how this all came together. Beautiful.
Well I have no problem with that at all. But to be fair to Rockstar, there are going to be a total of five map packs including the recently released Local Justice maps. Almost all the single player locales have already been exhausted and there are four map packs to go so hopefully we will eventually see some new, creative environments.
Having said that I would gladly pay money (in fact I have the Rockstar Pass) for a Galatians Stadium map. If designed right it could be fantastic - see the 20-metre tall bleachers from tbs story mode.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Well, I'm glad you could take something from that
That said, there are still a lot of places they could've done a better job in every regard. More foreshadowing with the final encounters, make some of those villain encounters be bullet-time moments, have Max's hair get partially burnt off so when he cuts it there's a practical reason yet it's still symbolic, etc. Overall, I was surprisingly pleased though.
I don't understand why this is even an option on any platform. Fuck sake Rockstar way to destroy the online community right off the bat with 2 different aim modes and like 10 different playlists. Jesus christ do devs even play other online games these days?
So how many people shot this guy?
Game is a lot more fun on the second playthrough. Some of the scenarios and enemy encounters are really well done but it really shines when you don't just sit and duck behind cover, which is hard not to do on your first time though since you don't know the layout of the levels.
Game is a lot more fun on the second playthrough. Some of the scenarios and enemy encounters are really well done but it really shines when you don't just sit and duck behind cover, which is hard not to do on your first time though since you don't know the layout of the levels.
NullPointer
Member
Didn't know he existed until a friend was talking about him the other day. So I must've dropped him each and every time in some kind of blind and drunken slow-mo rage. I don't play MEDIUM Payne.
The final chapter of the digital comic is now available:
http://www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne3/comics
http://www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne3/comics
Rickenslacker
Banned
On my first playthrough I pistol whipped him. On my second I didn't care and riddled him with bullets.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Depends on your specs. It's GPU limited for sure. But it runs smooth as glass on my 5850s. 60 locked on high settings + FXAA.
Dries
Member
I got the same but a 560ti and it runs amazingly well. I've not checked the FPS but I don't think it has ever dipped below 60. Runs a lot better than BF3 which runs great as well but not this good.