I'm usually terrible and go with the easiest setting, but once you get the hang of Spidey's moves it's really not very difficult. Just remember to dodge a lot early on and you'll be fine.
Yeah, on Friendly its fine. That said, friendly plays like how I'd expect normal to play, so the overall difficulty is ramped a bit high, but luckily the "easy" difficulty seems to work well for me. I've played a lot today, and I mostly enjoyed it. The only thing I haven't liked so far are the MJ bits. The game play sucks (probably because its not a stealth game), and I can't stand this version of MJ, so the game definitely drags when she's on screen.
I would like to thank Insomniac for really telling players how much disdain they have for them with those FUCKING CHALLENGE TOKENS. So, 8 of the Spider-Man costumes (and a bunch of upgrades) are locked behind challenge tokens, which you get by channeling the power of Jesus, Vishnu, Odin, Xenu or whatever deity or sense of luck you believe in to beat bullshit challenges that a real game would make optional and not lock content behind (the Arkham games have challenge maps, and they're 100% optional with no content, not even costumes, locked behind them). Its a pain in the ass to beat any of the challenges even at the minimum level (bronze), and (doing the math based on the suits unlock conditions I can see and looked up online) beating all of them at that level doesn't give you enough to unlock more then a few costumes. Your chosen game difficulty doesn't seem to effect the challenges, either. So, thanks Insomniac. First you make the base "normal" difficulty into the hard difficulty, then you punish people who play on "easy" (which is normal in any other game) with this bullshit. I wish Insomniac had just locked the stealth "story" segments behind an ability wall, then I wouldn't have to do them and they could still get off on the pain of the completionists who would play the challenges just to get the pointless crap that is the stealth segments. Instead, I both have to do shitty, pointless, badly done stealth sections and I'll never be allowed to use several costumes in the game for no real justifiable reason. Well, at least (according to a guide to unlocking the costumes) I still get one or two costumes without completing challenges (if the 2099 suit had been locked behind those tokens I would have completely lost my mind).
Two things: 1) I've had no problem with any of the challenges, and even getting only the first level on most of them I've been able to get all but two or three of the suits. You just need a specific number of tokens, and I think you can replay the challenges, so if it comes down to it, you can always just go back and replay ones you've already done until you get enough tokens to unlock the suits you want. If you hate the stealth challenges that much, you can just focus on the ones you do like and still get the suits eventually. 2) The suits are purely an optional thing that have no real impact on you're ability to play the game, so they're not forcing you to do the challenges if you don't like them. Just out of curiosity Kirk5555, how much do you play videos games? This this one really is not that hard at all, and the stuff you're complaining about is stuff that games like this have been doing for ages.
What challenges? I've got damn near every suit and I don't really remember doing much in the way of challenges. There was the Black Cat stuff, backpack stuff, and uh.....what else? Taking pictures? None of that was difficult, just time consuming. I used the classic Spidey outfit until the SS threw me into the river, then wore the torn classic suit for the rest of the game. Every once in awhile I'd switch to maybe Scarlet Spidey or new movie Spidey.....but there's only one true Spidey outfit for me.
I played a litte tonight, I'd forgotten the Taskmaster challenges. While it's tough to get the gold, getting the silver is easy. That should be enough.
I haven't gotten a single gold, and like I said in my previous post, I've had no problems getting suits or gadgets.
I play a lot of games. Also, no, I have never met a game that rid content behind BS challenges. Again, none of the Batman Arkham games did that. Also, this game is a ball buster on anything but "friendly" difficulty, and I'm far from the only person to say that. I play most games on the normal difficulty, but the game just isn't fun on the supposed "normal" difficulty, and is still challenging on "Friendly". Also, the suits are one of the best things about the game. Hiding any of them behind challenges is stupid. They're not DLC, and the game was bought brand new. The costumes should unlock themselves as I go, not require bullshit. I'm already livid that I have to play shitty stealth sections and deal with the worst version of MJ in any form (unless you count Zendaya in Homecoming, but she's no more MJ then she is Electro), making me play through poorly designed challenges is just infuriating. Luckily, I've managed to struggle through enough to get every suit. I can't get anything else that requires the challenge tokens, but luckily you get the only good suit upgrades before level 10, so I don't need to unlock anything there. But if I did, the suits would get locked off. The challenges are also painful, unfair, poorly designed and not fun. I shouldn't have to grind through painful garbage to get one of the selling points of the game. But, I did. I wouldn't do it again, so hopefully the rumors that they'll patch in new game plus actually happens for whenever I decide to replay the game (although I'm only about 2/3rds of the way through right now, having recently finished the part in The Raft seen in the gameplay stuff before the game released).
I'll have to double check, because I swore I was playing on Friendly and like I said before, I haven't found it hard at all. It did take me a little while to get through the last Taskmaster challenge, but once I changed tactics I got through in just a couple more tries. Tons of games put things like the extra suits, which are purely an optional side thing that aren't required to complete the game, behind optional challenges. Even in the Arkham games, you couldn't really get a lot of the upgrades and stuff without doing the purely optional Riddler challenges.
The first drone challenge when I was playing the game took a night and a few hours the next day. I finally got the gold and understood how to do the L2 + R2 Plus "X" boost. The speed upgrades helped alot. The game looks amazing on a big TV
Well, then I'm a magic hacker I guess because I found nothing locked behind stupid challenges in the arkham games, and the few upgrades that were rewards for beating challenges were either behind purposefully easy challenges or weren't particularly important. In Spider-Man, the damn suits are a good 25% of the appeal of the game. Also, no normal game puts suits behind challenges that are that bullshit. The Taskmaster ones are not beatable to the gold level by an average player. I have now beaten the main game, and I actually can't get one suit (the black and green suit) because even though I got at least bronze on every challenge, I still didn't end up with enough to get this last suit. I literally cannot beat any of the challenges at a higher level then I already did, so a on disc non-DLC costume in this fucking game is locked either forever, or maybe until the promised New Game + (assuming they let you re-earn tokens there). So, they took their $60 but aren't giving me all the content paid for. At least if they were DLC I could actually get the suit. Like I said, they should have hid the bullshit stealth missions behind the challenge tokens, then completionists would do them but nothing of value would be lost for normal players. Instead, I can't finish part of 1/4th of the reason I played the damn game, but me literally screaming in anger over the fucking section with Spoiler that piece of shit Miles trying to sneak past the Rhino is a requirement. That is fucked up, and beyond unbalanced. Maybe if the developers understood that people besides Dark Souls fans would play a Spider-Man game, they wouldn't be suck pricks. Instead, I feel like I got ripped off even though I liked the parts of the game not involving the bullshit, badly designed challenges. Maybe if they hadn't wasted time trying to be shit stealth game developers they could have worked out a better system for tokens that wasn't the challenges.
Obviously we're playing for very different reasons, because I really don't care that much about the suits. A ton of the games I've played have put things like extra suits behind challenges. I didn't really find the stealth missions that bad. They were the challenges I had the most trouble with, but they never got anywhere near hard enough for me to not enjoy working on them. I think I died a few times, but I didn't have that much trouble at all. I remembered to check this time, and I'm actually playing on Amazing, which is the setting above Friendly. So Kirk, I really think it's you, and not the game. Completely disagree with pretty much everything you said here. I'll admit, I didn't do as well on them as the other challenges, but I still enjoyed the stealth challenges. I also loved the game's version of Mary Jane, it's pretty much the most interesting she's ever been. I'll admit, I haven't read a ton of stuff with her, but it seems like most of the time, outside of maybe Renew Your Vows, she's pretty much just the girlfriend. By making her an investigative reporter, the game allows her to take a much more active role in the story, and become much more of a real partner to Peter. The realtionship stuff with her and Peter was great to, it's probably one of the few times I've actually found myself really caring about that kind of a story in a game.
They were a big draw for me. i mean, I wanted the story to be good, but between what they did to MJ and focusing on one of my most hated Spider-Man villains (Mr. Negative), I was never going to be totally invested in thr story. My brother, who is the kind of guy who has put literally hundreds of hours into every Dark Souls game, even commented that it was more difficult then he expected on the "normal" difficulty. If he found it annoying from a difficulty perspective, someone like me who plays games on the standard "normal" difficulty definitely am not the problem. If I can play basically any game similar to this on Normal difficulty but not this one, its definitely not on me. MJ isn't a reporter, period. It actually isn't bad to just have her be a model like she has been in several versions/comics over the years, or go more modern and make her a Club Owner (which she was briefly in the comics,and that seemed like the perfect job for her personality that still didn't go the kind of cliched model/actress route). Not every supporting character needs to be a spunky sidekick or actually involved with the main story outside of interacting with the hero, and this goes for any type of supporting character. This MJ is just Lois Lane but with half the brain cells (even Lois at her worst wouldn't have done some of the stupid crap MJ was doing). Also, the relationship drama with Peter and MJ would make the average CW show ashamed. I was cringing pretty much any time they talked to each other. Anyway, parts of the game is total bullshit, and now that I noticed a little while ago that I am literally one trophy away from Platinum, but the last trophy is for collecting all the suits, I am even more fucking livid and will probably just uninstall the game. I was going to buy the season pass, but Insomniac are a bunch of conmen and don't deserve any more money from me. At this point I'd rather give money to EA or Ubisoft for one of their microtransaction filled "AAA" games, since I'd feel much less ripped off (since they are at least upfront about being greedy pricks).
Insomniac is amazing, the Spyro games, the Ratchet and Clanks, and this are some of my absolute favorite games I have ever played in my entire life. Everything they are involved with is an instant buy without even the slightest bit of hesitation for me, and they have never disappointment me yet. Mr. Negative is a pretty cool villain, and his personal connection to Aunt May definitely makes him a more interesting than most of the villains. The way they connected him to Osbourne and Octavius here was a really cool twist. You sure you don't accidentally have it one of the more difficult setting? I'm not being sarcastic at all here, because with all seriousness, what you are talking about does not at all describe what I've been encountering and I'm honestly starting to get confused. I'm usually pretty quick to get frustrated, and if what I was playing was anything close to what you're describing, there is no way I would have stuck with it to the end. Meh, that's all boring, girlfriend jobs, I much prefer my female characters who are put in a position to really take more actives roles without having to come up with convoluted drama to drag them into things. Making her a reporter is a perfect way to give her a reason to get involved in everything going on. Even if some people don't like it, we're beyond the time where the female characters can't do anything but stay at home worrying about the guy, or be kidnapped/killed to motivate him. I enjoyed it.
Looks like I can't get more Challenge tokens by replaying them and getting the second rating again, so once I finish up the crimes I'll probably just stop until the new DLC comes out. Speaking of the DLC, the first one part of The City That Never Sleeps, The Heist, will be coming out next week. I got the Season Pass right after the main game, so I'll be playing though this as soon as it's released.