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After about 7 hours of playing the game I feel comfortable in writing this, and I hope it is beneficial to those of you waiting to play.
Progression feels very good. I love that every hunter has their own level, and the higher it gets the more unique unlocks you earn. These come in the form of icons, skins, sprays and lore audio clips. It’s a great feeling to enjoy playing a character you like, and be rewarded for your dedication in various ways.
Before I go any further, I want to note that I’m currently playing from Tokyo, how that’s possible I’m not sure. My steam account was made when I used to live in the United States, so that could have something to do with it.
Optimization needs some work. Crucible is the only game I have a large amount of trouble running smoothly on my gaming laptop. I meet the minimum requirements and latency issues aside, the game feels very choppy. I have never been able to successfully reconnect to a match, and I’m sure this is a contributing factor to the 3VS5 many people have been experiencing.
As far as latency goes, the first minute or two is usually the most brutal. After that it seems to taper off and I can usually enjoy the match without too much trouble. It is launch day and I’m playing 6000 miles away from the servers, but I have still managed to find enjoyment in the game, so I have hope that as it rolls out across the globe the experience will improve.
Cosmetics feel good for the price. The skins and their respective bundles are on average $5-15, which is much better than other games at the moment. Some skins do feel a bit more inspired than others, Bugg’s War Machine and Shakirri’s Runway skins are the standouts of the Battle Pass Key skins in my opinion. While there are no VFX changes (to my knowledge) with legendary skins, they are eye catching and fulfill a fantasy.
Smaller things like voice lines and pod stickers go for $1, which is perfectly reasonable. The differing styles are a nice touch, be sure to check out the watercolor stickers!
Alpha Hunters feels chaotic in the best kind of way. With only a few monster types it can feel repetitive, but this is quickly forgotten when two enemy teams start flanking you. The lack of text/voice communication dampens the experience for sure, but the ping system allows for a little bit of teamwork. At the very least none of us have to deal with being cussed out as we learn the ropes.
Heart of the Hives is a rewarding game mode assuming you get a full team. It does however feel very bad to play one of the less mobile characters like Brother and Rahi when the rest of your team is blinking to and from objectives. I don’t know that the map needs to be smaller, but playing slower characters almost feels like a punishment if your team refuses to wait for you.
As far as bugs go, one in particular has been plaguing me since I started. When choosing a location to drop, sometimes the screen will follow you into the game and prevent you from moving. Your vision is obscured by the map and the only solution I’ve found is to quit the game, but reconnecting has never worked in my case. Apologies to all my teammates!
I have not played Harvester of Command yet so I have no feedback to offer.
All that being said, I have enjoyed my time with Crucible and believe it will be absolutely incredible given the chance to work through some of these kinks. To say this has been a rough launch day would be an understatement, but I encourage those of you who want to like the game to give it the benefit of the doubt and see what happens in the following days/weeks.
Congratulations to the Crucible team on your launch, and best of luck in the months ahead.
One last thing, my Japanese friends have been asking whether or not Japanese will be supported for Crucible, along with Asian servers. Any information regarding this would be greatly appreciated.
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