Sat, 02/26/2011 - 6:35pm
Has anyone actually finished red faction guerilla on any difficulty but easy? Just curious cause the difficulty level is insane and totally unbalanced. Thats one thing the makers didn't get right with this game. I tried to play it on normal but I gave up, it is unhealthy and can actually cause you to hate the game if you continue relentlessly to play it on harder difficulties.
I hope they do better with the difficulties in RF:A.
Completed it on insanity or whatever the highest was called. I agree to an extent the killing of enemys is pretty easily done if your good but its the wave after wave of enemies that make it harder than it should but i like the relentless end of enemies but can get boring when you really just wanna get out of the situation your in
Guerrilla isn't the everyday "Normal" we see by today's standards. It's normal by the standards of 15 years ago, when games were a lot harder So, I guess I see where your complaint is coming from, it is challenging compared to the Normal mode we see in most other games today.
The EDF, bridging Earth, and Mars.
Are you kidding???
I guess the feedback of people like you is behind some of the arguable design decisions in Armageddon.
Only the final mission is a pain in the ass in insane difficulty, other than that the game is perfectly balanced, enemies will kill you sometimes, indeed, but is not an impossible challenge.
I used to find it a bit annoying to play on the higher difficulty levels but now when I install the game I go straight to the hardest level, then play on Insane after I unlock it. It makes a big difference how you play it. Generally if you handle all the green tasks first and save the blue ones (EDF demolition) for when your faction percentage is high, it's a lot better. Even still though you need to either destroy the buildings from a distance with the rocket launcher or nano rifle, or pick off the troops as you go in. When your faction comes you can then use them to some degree as a distraction. It also helps to get in a heavy duty vehicle that has a gun and pick off troops as you go in with that, then either get out and do some damage and leap frog to another vehicle, or actually use the vehicle to ram through the building. From inside or behind buildings you can do a lot of damage with cover, esp if you ram with the vehicle until it's about to explode, then abandon it.
There's no mistaking though, if you're not used to a fast mp-like pace, you will not like this game. I find for that reason it is best to use weapons that you can stay on the run with. I don't bother with demo charges after the rocket launcher is available because they take too long to use. I also don't bother with heatseeking rockets for aircraft because the nano rile is so much quicker. The assault rifles (basic and Enforcer) are also a bit lame and only good for the first part of the game. All you really need are the Nano Rifle, Rocket Launcher and either the Gauss, Sniper or Rail Rifles to go with. I never use Proximity Mines, Singularity Bombs or MOABs, though clearly if you're struggling, they CAN make demolition quicker. The only other weapon I use is the Arc Welder for convoys that require avoiding destruction. Frankly though I'm glad you don't actually have to do convoy tasks because I don't like carrying the Arc Welder just for that purpose. IMO it's a waste of a weapon slot.
A few things I can't stress enough though are A) using available heavy equipment, B) planning ahead to hop from ammo crate to ammo crate (which are marked on the mini map), and C) using any available back routes behind buildings and over small hills when resupplying ammo and moving from one objective to another. A good example of A is the mission where you go past the force field to destroy the big EDF base. There's a rocket launcher walker in the flat clearing just below the primary objectives that makes easy work of it. A good example of C is the Blitzkrieg mission where you have numerous tanks to destroy and chaos going on all around. Now granted you don't have the jet pack yet, as that mission unlocks it, but you don't really need it to get to safe places, which there are many of, some with ammo crates.
I just finished a run on Hard and because it's been a while since I played the game, I actually forgot to pick up a sniper, rail and gauss rifle to unlock them. I got by without them though. I wouldn't recommend that on Insane though. Of the three the Gauss is my 3rd weapon of choice because it's pretty versatile, powerful, and there's a fair bit of ammo for it in the last part of the game. The rail gun can be really cool though. It's nice to be able to shoot right through a tank and kill the driver just for kicks. Truth be told if you use that C tip from above, you can actually do a bit of stealth in the game even without fancy weapons. I've enjoyed getting up on top of the buildings with the jet pack in the mission where you take out the 8 snipers and come up behind them with the sledghammer. It's fun to jump off the roof and crash through the upper floor windows with the jet pack/sledge to get to the ones inside too.
So if you're struggling try using a bit different strategy maybe. When you have a good plan you don't have to think on your feet a s much, but there are those times. Most of the missions I find can be done without too much struggle. The end mission does require a fast pace and good aim with the tank, but if you keep moving and hit the enemy vehicles at a distance vs letting them explode near you, it's not that hard. That mission is all about avoiding splash damage. Once you get out of the tank the Nano Rifle makes quick work of any troops nearby and there are ample ammo crates and back routes to sneak through. The big base with garages and towers in the Badlands that has a tank attacking when you enter can take a few trips to destroy though. You WILL die in this game, not going to kid you there, but if you use what you learn with each death to plan a better attack vs getting mad, you will also improve your technique.
Good comment, Frag_Maniac, personally I usually use nano rifle and arc welder as permanent equipment, the arc welder is the best crowd control weapon in the game, it can give you the time and space to save your ass when shit hits the fan. It's almost mandatory in hostage rescue missions, because other weapons can kill the hostages easily and the oposition is huge and in small rooms usually.
The Nano rifle is the most versatile handgun, against troops, structures and gunships.
3rd weapon?: demo charges or rocket launcher, rail driver for last mission.
I kinda wish the upgrade system was better. The only real upgrades are adding ammo count to certain weapons and armor upgrades. Other than that you're just bying new stuff. Point being one of the things that turned me off to the Arc Welder was it's short range and the time it takes to use it, which leaves you vulnerable to enemies out of it's angle of attack.
I would love to see not only weapon power, accuracy, and range upgrades, but alt fires as well. Adding a more distant focused electro pulse to the Arc Welder would have been nice. Sure it's not something you'd normally think a welder would have, but heck, it's in the future and I'm sure there would be some reasoning behind such a feature, like temporarily fusing together cracks in fatigued metal structures that are hard to get to.
Only when I'm doing House Arrests without a careful plan do I inadvertently kill hostages. Since the hostages are kneeling and the drones standing, and the drones die much quicker with head shots, it makes sense to take out a few drones at a time with careful shots aimed high. I also like to start certain House Arrests by sneaking and whacking an unsuspecting drone with the sledge, then move to a position on the other side of the building. The ultimate weapon for some House Arrests, like one particular apartment building in EOS where there are several drones guarding 3 hostages, is the rail gun. You can literally take them all out before even going past the outer wall.
One thing I forgot to comment on above is the choices of how you setup movement controls and deal with taking fire. I like to have crouch set to hold vs toggle, it allows you to run from spot to spot quicker. I also never use the stick to cover system. It doesn't work sometimes anyway and it just makes it take longer to move when you have to. If I could I'd even set aim to hold vs toggle.
Much of the success of playing this game has to do with perfecting a good hit and run technique. It can feel really good once you get the hang of ramming a building a few times, jumping out and running behind it, tossing a few charges or shooting a few rockets, then whacking a hole in a perimeter wall to make an escape in a direction opposite the little red enemy markers on the mini map, and going on to repeat the process or just chaining windmill destruction together.
Yeah I still die sometimes, often when trying to take on too many troops by myself vs running AFTER completing a raid or something, or the Three Stooges effect where I sometimes run in the wrong direction to avoid an approaching enemy and get crushed by something I've just destroyed, but it mostly happens when I'm too immersed in the game to be thinking about tactics. All the death and destruction can get distracting.
I've just started another Insane run and this time I'm going to see how long I can hold off buying the rocket launcher. I'm definitely going to be picking up the rail and gauss rifles this time though. BTW, for those wondering why Insane doesn't appear in the New Game menu after unlocking it, you have to go to the Gameplay menu first and change difficulty there. Then you will see the Insane option in the New Game menu.
One last thing. Does anyone find Insane to be actually easier than Hard? Maybe it's that I've gotten my RFG mojo flowing again after taking some time away from it, but it seems to me the hit damage is higher universally. It appears that despite dying faster when exposed, the enemies also go down quicker due to more damage from your own weapons as well. I always find games that use such difficulty increments invariably feel easier on the highest level because by then you've got your tactics honed and the enemies just seem to take less time and ammo to kill.