Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (June 21st, 2019)

[mayday2592]

Strange some people have to wait so long to find matches in some regions.  Usually it takes a minute for me or less for me, with smooth gameplay to boot. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

4 hours ago, mayday2592 said:

Strange some people have to wait so long to find matches in some regions. 

It's been a thing across all regions ever since the game's release.

5 hours ago, Son-icka said:

the daily 5x multiplier is 30 minutes in game - imagine if it was forever - not good.

How would allowing players to have more say in the rate of their unlocked be a bad thing?

Hell, players countlessly have legitimately derided the limits to Wumpa time because of it being there only to hinder progress in a player hostile manner.

5 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

5 hours ago, Son-icka said:

Could you explain the video to me? I’ve had this happen but I don’t understand the issue. Perhaps I’m ignorant for being new to playing online but I just come out of a lobby and go back on again if this happens then I’m attached to a new one again. Usually I’m out of a race for no longer than two minutes max. Should the process be faster or non-attach? I usually just presume there’s an issue with my or players connections for it to happen.

It's nothing to do with your/others connection, the servers are notoriously unstable. My connection is enough to play other online games with no drops perfectly, yet in CTR, there's times where the servers shit a brick and don't let me play, because any time I get into a lobby, it drops all of the players out, and resets it. I've had it happen multiple times and caused me to not be able to find a game for upwards of 10 minutes.

On this note. That does bring in to mind, another reason why the time limits are unfair.  

See, a lot of people don't really have all day to do these Wumpa time sessions. While lobby time does not affect the time for Eumpa time, it does waste away at time before Wumpa time resets.

Because of the many problems with Nitro Fueled's online, especially the lobby problems, people can lose out on Wumpa time if they're playing closer to the deadline reset time. That's it, it's gone. Not due to the fault of the player, but that of the developers who don't seem to be in any rush to fix the problems. 

[DarkRula]

I've had time when the server's kicked me from a lobby, then refused to get me into another before. I always need to quit out of online, then go back in, and sometimes it just doesn't feel like putting me back into one. That's usually why I try to avoid the online at all costs.

[Jango]

14 hours ago, Plasme said:

Jango, I appreciate your enthusiasm for CTR, because I love the game too, but I think you can sometimes take it too far.

It took me days of grinding online to unlock Tawna and the Nitro Girls, so it's not like the GP characters can be unlocked really easily. Keep in mind that a lot of people play CTR with family and friends, and it's really annoying to grind to this extent to unlock them.

Also, I think you should keep in mind how good you are at this game, because I know youve gotten the platinum relics and can destroy the Oxide Ghosts. I bet you usually place highly onine, how long would it take if you didn't?

I understand. It's cool.

[Fire-N-Space]

They need to nerf the speed class speed a little online is becoming nothing but speed characters.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Heh,  hey. Everyone thought Gnasty was going to be a speed character. When in reality, he turns out to be a turning character.

Hunter is balanced and Spyro is speed. 

[Your Vest Friend]

Great, turning is my preferred class. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Also, the game now comes with new start screen looks and animations.

 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Ugh. Goddammit. They named NV Coco "Evil Coco".

Which means either they botched the name, or more likely, this torpedoes the chances of us getting an actual Evil Coco skin based off of Twinsanity. Something a lot of fans were hoping for.

[Jango]

Holy shit, I love this new intro. The game obviously has some issues, but great fan-service and love for the franchise is something Beenox doesn't fault. It's far beyond Vicarious Visions at this point. Even the models and stuff they got from VV look better and more colorfull in Nitro-Fueled than N. Sane Trilogy.

[Your Vest Friend]

The Norms have gone full WoW and I love it. 

Even the bundle with them and Gnasty references WoW.

Edit: Wait a minute, of course it does, Activision owns WoW. 

[Jango]

12 minutes ago, Your Vest Friend said:

The Norms have gone full WoW and I love it. 

Even the bundle with them and Gnasty references WoW.

Edit: Wait a minute, of course it does, Activision owns WoW. 

Not surprisingly, they had a Pitfall reference in the last GP, which is also Activision's property.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Huh....well that's a surprise. Gnorc being considered a good guy.

[Your Vest Friend]

There's a precedent for this with Bowser. Seems like Aku Aku and whatever rules Skylanders goes off share the trait of not giving a shit if you're a bad guy outside their jurisdiction. 

[Jango]

Well, he's no threat after all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Spyro Track is a bit disappointing with how short and basic it feels. Lot of missed opportunities for more Spyro 1 representation,  considering that's what they were going for.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Anybody notice the "Special Karts" customization option? Is that new? What's that all about?

Edit: Oh, I guess it's probably the coded promotional Karts like Sour Patch Kids and whatnot.

[TheOcelot]

44 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Spyro Track is a bit disappointing with how short and basic it feels. Lot of missed opportunities for more Spyro 1 representation,  considering that's what they were going for.

Yeah agreed. In terms of design it's too short and maybe a bit too twisty and layout kinda bland. Although, visually it looks decent. I think the "turning" characters are best suited for this track. It's certianly a challenge to maintain a boost without hitting a wall.

[Sonicka]

1 hour ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Spyro Track is a bit disappointing with how short and basic it feels. Lot of missed opportunities for more Spyro 1 representation,  considering that's what they were going for.

I still suspect Spyro 2 and 3 tracks later down the line. But yeah there could have been a bit more representation of the realms considering the portals. 

My thought overall are this: Spyro Circuit is short, sweet, and very tight.

HOWEVER, considering Spyro has his first track debut I expected something much longer than a 45 second lap. This makes it the shortest track of the GP’s so far. I think the Artisan part is spot on, but they may as well have not bothered with the Portals if they were only going to explore one other dragon realm, and the final section which is inside the caves - whilst a cool spectacle - was unnecessary at 5 seconds in length. 

I think this would have much worked better if it was just the Artisan Homeworld at this short a track, we could have dived through the hedge maze, over the grassy bumpy hills, and maybe even ended by flying through the Dragons Stone mouth portal to transfer us over to Doctor Shemp and back. 

Either this or lengthen the track to two extra sections from other realms.

Still, the rest of the level Fan-service is so overboard and top tier that I can’t bemoan this too much. The overhaul of the title screen, the karts, colours, and stickers - I actually want all this stuff. The skins especially will actually make me want to play as characters I was never interested in before (super love the Gnome skin idea for velo too).

Spyro seems oddly small in proportion when you see him in his Kart... but then he is a tiny dragon. Saying that... proportions of other characters don’t make much sense either (Coco —> Bandicoot Girls for example) so whatever. I am very happy they oddly made him the Heavy Character though, always my preference. 

Also appreciate Beenox/Activision not doing a 11,000 pack in the Pit Stop - it shows that they are listening to feedback considering it was a super unpopular move last time.

Other small QOL updates are sweet as well. Looks like they are keeping the Super Engine and weapon adjustments in, and the slight improvements of the Online Lobby is nice too - I do really like the new angle on the Karts so you can see everyone now for example.

The new challenges highlighted something I’ve been thinking about for a while now. We need Mirror Mode to be added online - this would give just that extra little bit of variety to the fun.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

One of the things I wish they did with the Spyro track was implement a speedway.

[Sonicka]

It’s actually somewhat surprising they didn’t - or implement charge sections into the track as boost sections (like N Gin labs speed tunnel).

Yeah, plenty of missed opportunities - or new opportunities for future GP’s tracks (or a full game).

[Your Vest Friend]

So here's something random; I think Gnasty's alternative victory quote is a reference to some Spyro music, maybe the level complete fanfare from Spyro 2?

[DarkRula]

Seems like I can enjoy some Spyro-themed goodness when I jump on tomorrow, then. And even though Spyro is small, speed makes sense in a way, since he has a charge attack. I had hoped for acceleration, but I can live with it.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Spyro being small does give him quite the hitbox advantage. 

[Sonicka]

Changed my mind on the Spyro Track. It’s still a bit too short but it’s actually really REALLY fun to race around online.

Races so far have been incredibly frantic and tight because Blue Fire can’t be gained anywhere and there are plenty of obstacles to knock you around.

Purchased the Gnasty Pack, Spyromobile, as well as the wheels, paint jobs etc... so off to a good start. Unlocked Spyro already like most... but then the Bronze Tier is always the quickest to grind (thank goodness) to get the main item you’d want.

In retrospect of the talk of the reduction to only 3 characters per GP... it may have been the plan all along. I actually think this might be a good thing overall and could well have been something that was implemented to the players benefit to not let people burn out further from trying to unlock even more timed exclusive characters.

We give them crap for the MTX and whatnot, but there is a much bigger emphasis on safety culture that’s undeniably present in this day and age as well. As I mentioned previously, it wouldn’t surprise me if the timed Wumpa multipliers are tied to health and safety protocols for promoting healthy screen-time.