Black Element's official discussion forum

Warlord Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 197

Hi everyone! or should I call Hi neighbors! Wink

I'm a regular in the forum next door Smile

Alpha Primes forum and I never came here cause I never played Shade cause I never bought Shade for the simple fact I though it was a 3rd person only PC Game and I'm sorry but I have a big dislike for 3rd person games... my love is for 1st person games, but that is not the point what I wanted to ask is the following
Very simple question
Is Shade 3rd person only like I thought until now or like I read somewhere else yesterday it in fact can be played in 1st person view also?
Alpha Prime the most recent game by Black Element in which I'm a big fan is 1st person only so I thought Shade was 3rd person only, and am I right?
Thanks!

PS: Please you guys give Alpha Prime forum a visit its just right next door Wink

and I can't believe you are not also fans of Black Element most recent game Alpha Prime which for me is fantastic

Warlord Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 197

Nevermind I will try and buy the game and see it for myself Smile

I could play the demo but being a Alpha Prime fan buying Shade will never be a lose, even if its only to compare the graphics and see how was the first version of the Enforce engine, cause the 2nd one used in Alpha Prime is mighty impressive and can compete with any from the competition

Warlord Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 197

Ok, so I have bought Shade and test it myself
I've only played the tutorial and reached the church and its clear Shade is a totally different game from AP.
Shade is much more puzzle oriented at least it is what seems to be, and AP is much more "shooter" oriented, at least from playing until now, cause I don't know if it changes ahead in the game.
As for 3rd vs 1st, yes its true it has both but they are "complementary" to each other, meaning I feel BE made then so you would use them "together", not one or the other but both.
The game always resets to 3rd person, so its mainly a 3rd person game but the use of the 1st person will help very much and make the playing better, at least it is what I feel cause for example in 3rd person you don't have the scope/reticule and in 1st you have, but in 1st you don't see the "gun" like you see in full FPS game like Alpha Prime. So its a 3rd person with 1st person to help/aid the gameplay specially when shooting.

As for the rest...
Interesting to see the directory structure, file structure, settings.cfg, dlls, save dir, video dir, menus and screens are very familiar to someone like me that has played Alpha Prime, which is expected cause they where both made by BE and its their signature. And I like BE menus and screen, they are "clean" and easy to follow
As for the graphics, although I haven't played that much I feel the improvement to Alpha Prime is enormous.
The games have only 2 years apart but the difference in graphics is radical.
What I was surprised is Shade not having "save anywhere", fortunately Alpha Prime already has.
Don't know if this is a design thing and BE did want the player to play the entire level at once of just a technical limitation. I'm a fan of save anywhere so I'm glad Alpha Prime has it.
Bottom line I'm happy I've bought Shade, although Alpha Prime is still my love Wink

I leave a screenshot of 3rd person vs 1st person. Not that most in this forum need it but if anyone in the future has the same doubt I had they will have a picture to show them how it is with Shade.

Demi-God Joined: 26 Jul 2004 Posts: 591

Glad to hear that AP forces you to buy Shade too! Laughing

There was some game design failures (game balancing, save system, etc.), it was the first BE game. Nothing more to say on it Smile

Hello

You can switch between 1st person and 3rd person in shade by pressing the left shift key (I think), but I find it annoying when fighting enemies with melee. Only level I ever use it is the descent to darkness boss fight with the spiders.

Shade is a good game!
Weiqi