OFFICIAL Mafia III (Discussion)

[Prima.Vera]

I miss the atmosphere and music from the first Mafia game. Unfortunately this game doesn't provide....

 

[rtwjunkie]

But then again I'm a kind of guy that doesn't mind driving around without fast travel.

I don't mind it either, but running 3 or 4 Moonshine runs, or stealing 4 semi trucks with electronics does get old. I'm only doing those to make extra money by maxing out my associates. They needed to come up with a better incentive. I try to make interesting by seeing just how many bad guys I can stealth take out before having to shoot.

Overall though, as a whole, it's fun, and most people I know are having fun. Boring is very subjective term.

@Prima.Vera each Mafia game has had music from the era of the game, to help set the feel. I think they are all equally good at that. In Mafia 3 the music is very reflective of the year, specifically.

For me, idk it "felt" right off the bat like a Mafia game, just a different sub-genre. But again, that is also subjective, so not everyone will feel it.

To be fair, being a New Orleans history buff, I expected the route of the gameplay once they announced you'd be playing as Lincoln Clay. This is a difficult nuance for most people to get into, since they are expecting to play as Italian Mafia if title is Mafia 3, which is understandable. It's also set in a city the majority are unfamiliar with, with its quirky but rich history and vast multicultural gumbo of people, so I can see there being a disconnect, since they tried to recreate New Orleans (but in their own style)..

 

[BiggieShady]

... running 3 or 4 Moonshine runs, or stealing 4 semi trucks with electronics does get old.

Ah, so boredom awaits me and I simply didn't get far enough in the game progression ... looks like my slow pace might just make repetitiveness bearable

 

[rtwjunkie]

Ah, so boredom awaits me and I simply didn't get far enough in the game progression ... looks like my slow pace might just make repetitiveness bearable

 

[LightningJR]

I don't mind it either, but running 3 or 4 Moonshine runs, or stealing 4 semi trucks with electronics does get old

I love racing games so riding around is one of the most fun things I can do I love doing the semi trucks, just driving a semi with a trailer is fun imo XD The boat/weed ones are boring to me.

I try to make interesting by seeing just how many bad guys I can stealth take out before having to shoot.

I usually do stealth mainly because bullets hurt a lot... The larger the amount of enemies the more I focus of stealth and usually get them all. Sometimes when there's only 4-5 guys I just say f-it and let the bullets fly.


I do feel like I am getting to the point where it's just getting repetitive I have been slowing down my playing which is unfortunate.

 

[Guitar]

Tried following this guy around...he got on a street corner and started waiting with flowers, thought he would meet someone...sat there for a while, didn't....then I got attacked by a hit squad and he ran off. Not sure AI will really fill a lively roll, they just have different props walking around aimlessly.

I have noticed if you hit people with your car in a certain way, they react hurt like...it is pretty cool to see.

Is this how I grab the weed?

So the car flipped over behind me...I tboned it going 105mph, and it flipped over another car landed like that. Barely a scratch on mine....

Holy shit cops fucking swarm you in this game sometimes.

 

[rtwjunkie]

OK, I will begin my little series of building comparisons. They obviously did a lot of on-the-ground research. Things like the neighborhoods, the buildings, the manner of speech. Things they would not have been so accurate on just from a book or the internet.

**Only a couple pictures in this large group are from me. There was some kind of Bicycle race today, and many streets blocked. So I went to the internet and searched for as close an angle on everything as I took in game.

The Bath House in game

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals IRL

The arch in The Hollow in game

WW I Victory Arch IRL (Bywater neighborhood)

in game

Old Customs House IRL

At the risk of double posting, I'll gather some more together.

 

[rtwjunkie]

in game

Hibernia Tower IRL

in game:

Louisiana Supreme Court IRL (for some reason in New Orleans instead of Baton Rouge, the state capital.

view across the river from Vito's in game (note the Plus-shaped tower)

The New Orleans World Trade Center IRL (which has been featured in several movies, including Jason Statham's The Mechanic)

More to come, but I will wait a bit. Still have two breweries, 2 hospitals, Canal Street, bridges, housing projects, sample architecture, and landmark stuff.

 

[Guitar]

So have been playing this game while I've been..."intoxicated" lol. Basically ended up I am going through districts/whatever and collecting all the records/playboys/electronic pieces etc. Makes me happy to see a clean district, and I have more than enough electronics to patch and panel I come by - in fact, I feel like there is a huge ratio of those things to how many panels you can wire, but maybe I am wrong (obviously have only been around a few places so far). I find the side missions fun (the non boat ones) as I also like driving and the shooting in the game is fun. Am sure they will get old quickly, but I like going to collect stuff and then going to do a mission since it is close to finish it up. Still having fun with the game and am trying to play it sparingly as well just so I can continue playing when they release patches/upgrades. They teased the clothing patch late last week, although that doesn't do much for me; am hoping that gets put out here soon. The cool thing about it is too, and another reason I think that they put a lot of work in and the publisher forced the game out, you can tell in the cutscenes that the clothing isn't static, as you can see his jacket sometimes rise up/glitch a little bit, indicating that they kind of "render" it there for the scene (IMO). Rambling, but anyways yeah. If you can't look past the flaws and experience what is underneath, that is your loss.

 

[BiggieShady]

you can tell in the cutscenes that the clothing isn't static, as you can see his jacket sometimes rise up/glitch a little bit

Yeah, clothing animation is simulated (well, at least partially and much less than in mafia 2) ... and the cutscenes are so obviously done in-engine using same tech ... but I couldn't tell if they are encoded to video or if there's simply too much grain and Bokeh depth of field effect in them ... anyways, I noticed fans don't slow down during cutscenes so maybe they are rendered in real time. I have read somewhere they are video files, but I'm still not sure.

 

[Guitar]

Yeah, clothing animation is simulated (well, at least partially and much less than in mafia 2) ... and the cutscenes are so obviously done in-engine using same tech ... but I couldn't tell if they are encoded to video or if there's simply too much grain and Bokeh depth of field effect in them ... anyways, I noticed fans don't slow down during cutscenes so maybe they are rendered in real time. I have read somewhere they are video files, but I'm still not sure.

It's weird, half of them are pre-rendered, then another half aren't....and some have weird behaviors where the camera angle switches between characters, then others don't. Just feel like they never got to put the finishing touches on that stuff.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Yeah, clothing animation is simulated (well, at least partially and much less than in mafia 2) ... and the cutscenes are so obviously done in-engine using same tech ... but I couldn't tell if they are encoded to video or if there's simply too much grain and Bokeh depth of field effect in them ... anyways, I noticed fans don't slow down during cutscenes so maybe they are rendered in real time. I have read somewhere they are video files, but I'm still not sure.
View attachment 80156

It's weird, half of them are pre-rendered, then another half aren't....and some have weird behaviors where the camera angle switches between characters, then others don't. Just feel like they never got to put the finishing touches on that stuff.

Wait till you are 63 hours in. I hardly see an actual cut scene anymore. It's indeed like they ran up to a deadline. They all now seem to be in-game type scenes.

BTW, I will post more comparison pics this evening. Some of them are just uncanny,

 

[rtwjunkie]

Brewery in the French Ward in game

Jax Brewery in the French Quarter IRL

The Red Draft Beer brewery in game

The old, abandoned Dixie Beer brewery in New Orleans on Tulane Avenue

Unnamed building in game In the distance. You actually drive by it's gray, concrete vastness everytime you come off that bridge:

The real life counterpart is the old Charity Hospital, abandoned since Hurricane Katrina. It was built in the old Governor Huey P. Long era, and apparently is historical enough that it is allowed to blight several square blocks of prime downtown real estate.

 

[rtwjunkie]

The Art Museum in game

New Orleans Museum of Art IRL

See the traffic circle in the distance past the semi-tall building (which btw also exists in real life, just no picture)?

Lee Circle IRL (from above and then ground level, which most will recognize from in-game in Downtown)

Hospital in-game

Tulane University Medical Center IRL

 

[rtwjunkie]

Last night I had to end my session for the evening due to a bug. 65 hours and no bugs at all, and then I get to a point where I am supposed to go box, but I cannot do that due to there being no interactive door, and the mafia goons I cannot even talk to or hit either.

First time they entered they wanted to search me. I reloaded checkpoint. This time they searched me, but even though I should be able to move on from entrance room, I cannot. I shall try and reload tonight after work, see if it works. If not, it's game breaking, since I'm about 85 to 90% through.

 

[X800]

It´s bad that you have to start from the beginning to try all the endings.

 

[Guitar]

I ran into bugs yesterday where I would go to get a weed drop or steal a truck and there was nobody there. No bad guys, no loot... anything.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Wrapping up the building comparisons New Bordeaux to New Orleans:

Those corner stores and warehouses in game?

Corner stores and warehouses IRL

Shotgun Houses in game

Shotgun Houses in The Bywater IRL

There's more, but at least there is enough here to show how much research they did, on the ground. Many more examples exist for me. Areas that perfectly capture the beautiful Garden District of New Orleans:

or the Housing Projects, which have all been torn down since Hurricane Katrina:

and seen in game:

Thanks for allowing me to share some of New Orleans with you as relates to New Bordeaux!!

 

[rtwjunkie]

Wait, wait, wait! I almost forgot. One cannot do a comparison without Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral.

and in-game

Finished the game at 68 hours. Other than the one bug I mentioned above, which the 3rd reload fixed, it was bug-free and very fun.

You can actually try two different endings from the point of decision near the end. I played both. One ending then has two or maybe more possibilities, and the other has 4 different possibilities.

Before that, near the end, you get a nice Easter Egg visit.

 

[Guitar]

Think we all knew this but nice to be confirmed.

 

[Asisvenia]

If anyone think play that game with GTX 680-770-7970.. or similar GPUs (my 680 running on 1240mhz gpu - 6.2ghz memory o.c'ed), I can surely say if you have good cpu (I'm using i7 2700k) yes you can play with 40-50 fps. (Of course not in high settings!)

I saw so much bad comments, so much people think these GPUs can't handle that game but they are wrong. Because I've finished game with GTX 680 + i7 2700k and had no problem. I haven't seen any kind of serious stuttering or lag problem.

My settings: 1080p, shadow-reflection medium , antialiasing low. 40-55 fps smoothness gameplay. But Hangar13 has made poorly optimized..

Screenshots:

 

[Guitar]

Am still playing and having fun with the game. I don't know how far I am, but the gunfights and city are fun enough for me to run around collecting things and exploring. One thing I've seen people mentioning and some failing to realize is that this city has so many indoor places you can go into; bars, restaurants, garages, construction spaces, etc. It really is a beautiful city. Running through the back yards in residential neighborhoods from cops is fun and interesting. Really am glad I bought the game - it definitely has its issues, but IMO still very worth playing through and then later going back through when they add stuff into the game with patches/DLC.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Am still playing and having fun with the game. I don't know how far I am, but the gunfights and city are fun enough for me to run around collecting things and exploring. One thing I've seen people mentioning and some failing to realize is that this city has so many indoor places you can go into; bars, restaurants, garages, construction spaces, etc. It really is a beautiful city. Running through the back yards in residential neighborhoods from cops is fun and interesting. Really am glad I bought the game - it definitely has its issues, but IMO still very worth playing through and then later going back through when they add stuff into the game with patches/DLC.

Agreed, it is definitely worth it. It's a very complete city. The gunplay is superbly done, and very few games have been as satisfying to shoot in!

 

[kurosagi01]

Is it worth doing them side missions to get racket money? I.e. fetch a lorry of goods and take it to a racket base,does it have any impact in the racket leaders and story.

 

[jboydgolfer]

Agreed, it is definitely worth it. It's a very complete city. The gunplay is superbly done, and very few games have been as satisfying to shoot in!

im gonna try and pick this title up for My nephew, if/when I get his new PC built.... @rtwjunkie what score out of /10 does Mafia-III get in your opinion?