Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. Update Goes Live to Speed Things Up

I personally didn't mind waiting, but I'm happy they listened to the initial feedback. I heard so many people say (not so much here, but elsewhere) that they were not going to buy the game because of the wait. Now they don't have an excuse.

Does anyone know if it launched in Europe yet? If not, you guys are all set with this patch.

This is great. Fixing what many people (including reviewers) found wrong, and actually using the extra power of the New 3DS.

@Captain_Gonru Both good ideas. I kind of like that the view is very limited during enemy turns, and it's to your advantage to switch to the character who you think will witness the movements best at a given time. But the auto switch doesn't seem very effective as you describe. Still that's a pretty minor complaint for an otherwise brilliant game.

@CashGunsChaos
Mmmmmm, indeed they should. Good show old boy. Such a great game that they gave a less than deserved score to.

Now they can work on making more amiibo.

@3DSWiiUFanatic Agreed. CNS is fantastic and those things don't bother me. Even the waiting i got used to. Glad they put out an update though!

So, the speed difference between the new and old 3DS suggests to me that this was an optimization issue in the software, not just a choice by the developers to draw out the sequence.

Optimization is often the very last thing a developer would tackle and getting it out the door on time probably caused them to compromise.

@rjejr Maybe some real physical warehouse and production optimizations could get us a restock of all previous amiibo and more of all new amiibo, eh?

Yeah, how about an update to that review?

Polygon gave out a horrid score..enemy turn speed being it's main complaint..but I doubt they update its score. I think that kinda thing is rare

Triple speed feels great. Definitely cuts down the wait time.

@MoonKnight7 Still have to wait until May 15th.

I wonder if this update applies to the demo as well. I'd like to give it another shot if the enemy turns don't take so long.

@sevex

I think it does. When I hovered over the demo icon it says there was an update ready for that title.

Oddly enough, I saw nothing for Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (the non demo version). Maybe it was already downloaded without me knowing?

@NbaJunkie

If I recall correctly, that reviewer hated everything about the game. It wasn't just about the long wait times.

To me the review was really off, and I'm not just saying that because I really enjoy the game. They had mentioned something about how awful and stereotypical the characters were. I believe that was largely the point to make it seem like a campy Saturday morning cartoon show. If I recall correctly, I believe NL even said the same thing, but were in favor of it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not going to go digging for whoever made the comparison.

For me personally, Polygon has ruined whatever reputation it had ever since that MK8 sales article nonsense.

@Grumblevolcano

Thanks I couldn't remember. I hope you all enjoy it when the time comes! It's a really fun game, and even though you have to wait, at least the patch will be there right away.

@moonknight7 I personally dont frequent their site any longer.I found that review through their podcast. They seem to be anti Nintendo. But there isnt a major game site out there that isnt. I havent started on my copy of CNS as of yet but i found their review to really be unfair. kind of like NLifes review of boxboy! But i digress ,they are all just opinions. And we should just value our own

@MoonKnight7
Justin McElroy hated everything about it except the fact that Wil Wheaton was in it. That's just awful.

@NbaJunkie
They're anti-Nintendo because Nintendo (for good reason) thinks less of them. The existence of Nintendo Direct should be a sign of that.

@aaronsullivan - "a restock of all previous amiibo"

Even if they did this just once it might scare off the scalpers a bit and give normal folk a chance to purchase these. Constantly having to "pre-order" amiibo is total B.S. Unless they start marketing them as "Collectors items" that have ZERO impact on game play, then they can make as many or as few as they'd like. But this constant under supply while they're are running tv commercials for the things - even including Yoshi's Wooly World which is dateless - is not the way to run a business.

At this point I'd compromise and say no more SSB only ones - Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Villager - but the Kirby and Codename STEAM ones need to be readily available. And the Splatoon ones obviously.

@MoonKnight7 I'm impressed, even the EU demo has this increased speed update.

@rjejr Villager is used in Mario Kart 8 so I'd say he also needs to be restocked (or the female Villager made available).

Very nice indeed. I never really cared all that much, but, I'm certainly not against speeding things up.

@rjejr
You missed JigglyPuff this morning. I posted the link when it went live- everyone in our line chat pre ordered one (except one person). You sure you don't wanna join? We've got every Amiibo so far this way. Not a single Amiibo we've missed out on...

@JaxonH - Hey Jax, was just thinking of you this morning and was wondering if you have an end point for completion or are you still playing real life Pokemon - gotta catch-em all?

Did the math yesterday and we have over $1,000 worth of Sylanders - games figures and now Traps - but we buy what we like, never intending on them all. So I'm not commenting on how you spend our money, just wondering if you had an "Exit strategy"?

@rjejr
Negative. Amiibo hunter 4 life!

Actually, I may quit after the Smash line is complete, along with Splatoon (already pre ordered), Mario Party line (just missing Platinum Mario), and Yarn Yoshi (probably just buy one color- the blue).

After that, I'll probably skip any lines that don't interest me or just have duplicate character variations (I probably should've skipped the Mario Party line, but Toad was new, and Gold Mario was exclusive, so I figured what the heck, may as well buy em all, especially when they're only $10/ea through Best Buy).

So... to those who have downloaded this update, does it really double up the speed? I'm on the fence for this game... I want to get it, but I'm not quite sure...

This was pretty much the only issue I had with the demo. I LOVE that they've fixed this. Triple speed should be fairly snappy.

Just a bad game. How hard was it to put a "SKIP" button? Making it 3x faster only New 3DS users? Great! Seems like I finally have a good reason to own my N3DS. /sarcasm

Sometimes I just can't bear the ridiculous amount of hand-holding Nintendo does. Both N64 Zeldas were best examples.

@Captain_Gonru
Negative on the map. I think it was covered on someone's review why it shouldn't have a map. It adds to the difficulty and surprise/ambush aspect of the game. Plus how would you know the location if it wasn't scouted before? No satellite or high-tech gadgets to scan the surroundings. I think that's also the reason you're always on your team's point of view and never the alien's.

@rushiosan
So they'll magically appear and disappear from one location to the other? It'll have more loading times if that's the case. The AI reacts to your moves so it's not predetermined. 2x on old 3DS and 3x on the N3DS, did you not read? It's obvious the old3ds can't handle what the New3DS can.

@Captain_Gonru

I would have loved to have a fog of war type feature like in rts titles.

Like have a minimap that is black til you uncover it. Or maybe like at least a radar to give you an idea where baddies may be lurking.

Also I'd like to have a kill counter for each character you can view on screen during the mission. Hope some of those things can make it to a sequel.

@rushiosan

"Just a bad game. How hard was it to put a "SKIP" button? Making it 3x faster only New 3DS users? Great! Seems like I finally have a good reason to own my N3DS. /sarcasm"

To the point of what @outburst has said, the computer AI takes your moves into consideration. It adds more of a realistic difficulty curve if the computer is actually trying it's best to beat you. How exactly do you propose they handle a "skip" button and the computer using real-time strategy?

Your anger is placed in the wrong direction. If anything you should be blaming the 3DS hardware, rather than spouting off and saying Intelligent Systems made a "bad game." They did their best with the hardware, and even improved on it. What more do you want (realistically speaking)? I don't understand gamers sometimes, I really don't.

I'm just surprised that the game didn't have that feature in the first place. It was pretty obvious to me after only a few hours of play that it could become an annoyance to have to sit through the enemy's turns. Still, I absolutely loved this game and the next time I play it, it'll be that much more enjoyable.

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@NbaJunkie Not a chance the reviewer from Polygon will change a review, that would be admitting they're wrong, in a way. No way they'll do that.

Good. Maybe now they can fix the other problems with this game. Why do I have to replay an entire mission if I want to collect a gear I missed the first time? The game should let you replay individual maps instead of wasting the player's time. Now that I think about it, the release of this patch is also disappointing. If they were gonna fix the enemy turns, then why did they wait over two weeks to make the announcement? This patch doesn't help players who are close to the end, and especially not those who have already finished the game.

there should be a 200cc mode

@adeceku lmao

My bro owns and has completed this game so now that this update is live the only criticism he had about the game is fixed. Just have to make time to play it.

@adeceku

Dude they gotta save something for the next direct...maybe E3 even?

I actually deleted the demo halfway through because I got sick of waiting for the enemy to do who knows what behind barriers on the other side of the map. Might give it another go, but half of a long time is still a long time. Just not as long.

Another great reason to own a New 3DS

@JaxonH - You must be saving a bundle w/ GCU huh?

Glad we didn't get caught up in amiibo, more money for Lego toys-to-life now.