Payday 3: Fiddling While Rome Burns
My initial thoughts are that because it mainly avoids conforming to the limiting grit of the Edge Rush system, simply making passive use of those stats as a side benefit, it might actually have some serious potential. I do like the idea of the final skill doubling its effects, but 20% over 10% is still so conservative.
I doubt you'll really feel the difference. That's the core problem with the system, I think, and why we can't look at update segments in pure isolation. Grit Edge and Rush just completely lack any sort of fun feedback or mechanical ambition. I've never hated it. I initially liked the structure it offered, but after going back and playing Payday 2 again and fully exploring what grit Edge Rush has to offer, it's no wonder no one's playing the game; there's no build expression, and even when you do try to experiment, everything feels like a different shade of brown, so rant out of the way.
On the other hand, hats off to the game designers behind Fortitude. The skill line looks fun and engaging to play. From what I've seen and experienced with it, it probably will be overpowered, and right now, that's okay. It's something for us to genuinely enjoy amongst the stagnancy of everything else, but on the other hand, every skill line should feel like this hell.
I'm not even convinced skill lines need to exist; a tear tree just works better by saving designers from having to interbalance the skills. Sometimes we need to stop trying to reinvent the wheel; in total, maybe 20% of the three skills are functionally viable. four or five being necessary skills, and the rest just being better than nothing.
The only really fun and viable skills in the game are ones like ammo funnel and replenish, and maybe something like overcooked. So yeah, my approach is to praise fortitude for sounding like a fun concept that will also be highly playable even on Overkill, while also damning the fact that the skill system as a whole is a woeful regression from what we had in Payday 2 and prevents me from really getting excited about anything, and I get it.
I don't think Payday 3 has to be Payday 2 all over again; it needs to stand on its own two feet, but I also think it's fairly unforgivable that the game is just fundamentally worse in so many areas, and by the day at this point, these flaws are becoming more and more apparent as the game's simply stagnated.
But hey, there are little rays of Payday 2's light shining through the cracks, as this stream also showcases adaptive armor in action. I'm not sure about its purple coloring, but I'm absolutely positive this is going to be my go-to armor. From now on, essentially trauma damage is removed from it, meaning you will not take permanent plate damage anytime you get shot.
The tradeoff is that it's currently limited to a two-plate variant with two potential downs and 20% less damage reduction. Yeah, I bet you didn't realize Arma had a damage reduction stat because, for some reason, that's never been shared before. This is a massive hit that you will seriously feel, but for me, at least it's worth the piece of mind.
My armor will function reliably for the duration of any heist. I hate the armor degradation system death by 1, 000 cuts, just in the words of bloodborne Maestro Miyazaki, Engenders paity. With armor that fully regenerates up to your active plate, you can actually rely on its protection instead of having what just amounts to basically two health bars.
My prediction is that even if regular armor is theoretically still a stronger option, people are going to gravitate towards adaptive armor, simply because it'll be more intuitive to use and involve less of that trademark payday 3 faffing and micromanagement. If that does happen, as I predict, it really will beg the question of why the designers are so determined to stick with the launch armor system, but again, giving them their full Jew, this is a step in the right direction that will cater to Fed Up players.
Oh, and before you think you'll just be able to break adaptive armor with plate-up, yeah, we thought so too, so it has been nerfed accordingly alongside its addition, so three major new content drops are all coming in the next update, which is hopefully almost upon us. I'm sure the game will be in a better place for their existence, so why am I still glum?
Well, it all goes back to the title of this article. It's a drop in the ocean relative to what still needs to be done to turn Payday 3's fortunes around, and I think my main concern is that prioritization and follow-through are all over the place. As for an armor system overhaul, let's just give them a taste of what they're after players ask for a skill build overhaul.
Let's just give them more points to paper over the cracks and start adding fun and interesting skill points from here on in instead of addressing the core complaints around the base system. To me, it all seems a bit half-hearted, even when the focus is in the right place, and in general, I think it's targeting payday 3's core issues in completely the wrong order.
As I said recently, it doesn't matter how fun fortitude is; people aren't going to come back and try it out until there's a wealth of new Heist experiences in the game; it's a chicken before the egg situation that I fear won't turn the game's fortunes around in time. To come across this perceived negativity, I don't intend to come across it this way.
I agree that the developers are now moving the game in the right direction. I just feel as though there needs to be a seismic shift in how payday 3 is perceived for it to one day reach its full potential, and at the rate operation medic bag is going so far. Death by A Thousand Cuts might just end up being how we refer to the sad petering out of this beloved franchise.
I think Star Breeze needs to be braver than this; they need to come to terms with the fact that a number of their core systems are genuinely disliked, not misunderstood, and they need to stop doubling down in their defense of these things and having to walk them back a couple of months later. It's not a good look anyway.
Those are my thoughts. I think Update 5 will be good. I'm looking forward to it, but I really don't begrudge those of you who aren't. It's hard to sway anyone, but the most hardcore at this point without a bit more substance. Anyway, Apex gaming PCs are full of substance. Recent price drops make them a hell of a lot more affordable, and they're still built to the same outstanding quality.
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