Too Human: Top 5 Quick Fixes

Norse Mythology Encyclopedia

Too Human is steeped in ancient Norse lore. That's the basis for the runic spells, the constant references to Nordic gods and ancient practices. There's a rich and fascinating setting behind this tale of gods and monsters and machines. But we don't really know about it because, outside of role-players and maybe those guys who grew bushy beards and staged mock battles back in college, nobody knows all that much about Norse mythology. Sure, we've heard about Odin or the sacred realm of Valhalla, but that's about it.

Why not go the extra step and just include an abridged encyclopedia of Norse mythology that gives players a foundation for the main ideas and beliefs of this rich and fascinating ancient cultural movement? Beyond this, if Dyack is still planning Too Human as a trilogy, then gamers need as much background as possible.

How to Fix the Problem:

Alright – get your writers together, Dyack. Get into a library and start taking some key points. Make a menu option on your circular menu system that expands into a searchable database of key characters in the game, their real-world counterparts and a dictionary of runic terms, spellings and similar. Make players understand where you're coming from and you'll find that people will appreciate the subtleties of the level design, character choices, personalities and other references. Go on, make it happen.

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Loot Drop System

This is a tricky one. The game rewards skilled combat with loot drops (for non-RPG or World of Warcraft players, this is randomly dropped weapons and armour), but the randomizing system doesn't discern between what's useable to your chosen class and what isn't. The game does automatically (if you prefer) sell off any low-level excess weapons and items, which is a handy feature – but it doesn't help that your equipment menu does eventually fill up with crap that you can't use.

Variety is a lovely thing – especially in an RPG of this nature. But it's frustrating to have to sift through items that you cannot use only to find that a tiny fraction of what is being dropped actually applies to you.

How to Fix the Problem:

From a technical standpoint, there may be equations that dominate what kinds of items drop and how often, but there needs to be a better system behind determining what items are most relevant to which class and which ones simply aren't. It may be as simple as redefining how game objects are categorized behind-the-scenes – dividing them up a little better and then instructing the game to favour class-specific items a little more generously, in line with the player's class. Then again, it might be a wholly complex mess of programming that threatens to unravel the whole project like a loose thread on a knitted jumper. Who knows? Silicon Knights does. Hopefully the team is looking at this issue right now.

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Framerate Fragility

Once upon a time, Too Human (in its current form) got a behind-closed-doors unveiling to select media – who largely agreed that what they saw looked choppy and unfocussed. Years later, the game has come a vast distance and looks a treat. But it still tends to chug badly when more than a dozen characters (enemies or otherwise) hit the screen. Mind you, we can deal with a choppy framerate generally, but it does really add another layer of unease when you combine a sluggish framerate with a poor camera system and combat that is surprisingly prohibitive on the outset.

The problem is, while the game's settings are vast, with massive draw-distances and dozens of enemies all battling it out with effects galore – there's too much going on. Something needs to give. And unfortunately, that something is the framerate. It's the final point of the list, but in some ways, it's also the most critical – since it was this criticism that players picked up on initially through the press. It's been tackled to a point – but it's not there yet.

How to Fix the Problem:

With all the anti-aliasing, lighting effects, filtering and high-resolution texture detail that the 360 needs to render, Too Human looks wonderful in still frames. Of course, it doesn't help when the game threatens to become a slideshow. Either apply some clever depth-of-field filtering effects, ala Grand Theft Auto 4, reduce self-shadowing and lighting effects or reduce the number of enemies that gank you when you're trawling through the dungeons. That's about all we can think of. Again, if the game can lock the engine in at 30 frames-per-second in time for release, it's one more box that Too Human can tick – and the game will be even stronger for it.

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Too Human is out in Australia on August 28, 2008.

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