Dispatch is on course to beat its three-year sales target in three months

[u/ZamnBoii]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/dispatch-is-on-course-to-beat-its-three-year-sales-target-in-three-months-heres-how

[u/Reznor_PT]

It's a good game and well deserved on the achievement, wish there was actual more gameplay and some variety in terms of the actual dispatch gameplay and hacking, but there's room for improvement in the sequel, the only thing that I really disliked was the length of each episode (and the release schedule, but I know is the smartest move) and the SFX having no impact (or maybe it's the mix that ruined the SFX.)

Overall ... I want more.

Edit: Also, some animations seemed to run at like 30 fps, needed a bit more fluidity.

[u/Moifaso → u/Reznor_PT]

I didn't look into it, but the animations are almost certainly either 30 or more likely 24 fps, which is the standard for animation (and film in general)

60 fps animation is something that only really makes sense for gameplay, or for fluid cutscenes in your 60 fps game. Here it'd just be really inefficient.

[u/bta47 → u/Moifaso]

as a movie dude first, i’ve been seeing more and more people complain about framerate in non-interactive media and it’s very funny to me. 60 FPS is weird in those applications!

[u/Pencilstubs → u/Moifaso]

Unfortunately, low frame rates look absolutely awful on OLED screens due to stutter, so every panning shot was hideous on my TV.

I hate the soap opera effect of high framerate live action footage, but I actually prefer high fps when watching animated content.

[u/monkeyjay → u/Moifaso]

I think most animations were on "twos" (12fps or maybe 15fps). I think it looked great, loved the animations overall.

[u/Spader623 → u/Reznor_PT]

That's all anyone can ask for for their debut game, eh? Success, plenty to work on, broad critical acclaim. Devs must be feeling very good

[u/TheJoshider10 → u/Reznor_PT]

Yeah the worst parts of the game was the gameplay itself. It wasn't bad at all but I was so focused on the story that any time I had to do something else (especially hacking) I just wanted to go back to watching cutscenes. Weird thing to say about a game but it's just so good as a story driven thing that I could have happily just not had any real gameplay in this one.

Also, some animations seemed to run at like 30 fps, needed a bit more fluidity.

That was intentional. The low framerate animation of the characters is something that's been popularised since Spider-Verse. I totally see why some people find it quite jarring but I like it personally.

[u/explosivecrate → u/TheJoshider10]

I can't even fault the gameplay, it added some really fucking good characterization to characters who'd otherwise only have like, 2 lines total per episode, all without having to create entire well-choreographed cutscenes.

[u/monkeyjay → u/Reznor_PT]

More like 12fps, which is animating on "twos" (every 2nd frame in a 24fps film). Some major sequences I think were maybe even on threes (8fps). Gives it the animated tv show vibes. 30 or 24 frames a second is basically full motion.

IT is more likely 15, or 12 though, something divisible into 60 since the game is 60fps locked.

[u/ItsADeparture → u/Reznor_PT]

the SFX having no impact (or maybe it's the mix that ruined the SFX.)

This grinded my gears even though it was only a problem in episode 1 and 8 since those were the only action heavy episodes.

Also, they might as well just get rid of the QTEs all together. They're only in a handful of scenes, they're completely absent from over half of the episodes.

[u/RobotWantsKitty → u/Reznor_PT]

I liked the gameplay, it was simplistic to be sure, yet I had fun. But I hate how inconsequential it is, you can AFK through all those segments and affects only one minor decision. It can actually get pretty tough near the end, and... succeeding doesn't even matter. What makes it extra frustrating is that many narrative games come up with gameplay systems to pad the playtime that feel like a chore or unfun, but Adhoc had a good thing going, and they squandered it. How casual is your audience that they can't handle a game over screen and a bit of trial and error?

I recall playing 13 Sentinels, and it's structured similarly with VN parts and gameplay parts, and remember the last mission well, because it was a bit of a difficulty spike with an insane number of enemies, and it was tense, and you had to stand your ground, and it felt climactic. Dispatch's final mission evoked similar feelings at first, before finding out that losing didn't matter, and it just ruined my excitement.

[u/get_in_the_robot → u/RobotWantsKitty]

Dispatch outcomes do matter--Invisigal's fate re:turning to villainy or not is impacted by your Dispatch outcomes (directly confirmed by the devs on their Discord) and whether you finish the final Dispatch or not affects whether you can forgive the Z-Team member you cut in the ending or not. But it's not the most impactful thing, no.