JonXCTrack;156652
On a side note, this game would have been much better had the rookie idea been scrapped all together and you and 3 of your friends could have played through the story as the original 4 ghostbusters via XBL or PSN.

Does that refer only to the Multiplayer aspect? I know you say that later-on, but it almost sounds like you're taking about the main story campaign.

Furthermore, the storyline is advanced by the cut scenes, not the in- game dialogue.

The major development is in the cutscenes and FMV sequences, but some of the supplemental/support material is in the in-game dialogue.

I wouldn't be expecting a sequel to ditch the ‘fifth Ghostbuster’ concept, it worked, even if there are people who don't like it, and it offers the better method for timing and having the ‘Doctor’s assistant' angle covered.



That, and if you suddenly allow people to play as the Ghostbusters themselves, somebody's going to get pissy when they can't play their favourite character, and you know a lot of people would just play Venkman.

And frankly, I didn't want to play as Venkman, playing a new recruit was plenty satisfying.

Personally, I would have rather liked to have played as Egon than Venkman, but like Kingpin, playing a new recruit was plenty satisfying for me.

see, now I woulda liked to have played as Ray or Winston

but the recruit works very well

What I'm saying is that nobody plays as the rookie online. If people truly desired that feeling of “being one of the ghostbusters”, they'd pick the rookie for the online multiplayer. But in my experience, the only people who pick the rookie are completely new to the game.

And again, in the single player storyline, when you are walking around busting ghosts or hunting for ghosts, there is very little dialogue that advances the story. Therefore, it is my opinion that whether your character watches Venkman make a quip, or you ARE Venkman making the quip makes little to no difference - especially considering the rookie character isn't even you, but rather some random guy.

By removing the 5th ghostbuster (who you are supposed to be but have no control over what he looks like) you allow the player to step into the role of their favorite ghostbuster in single player. Being able to play through the story via XBL or PSN with your friends would be icing on the cake. Saying that people would have disagreements over which character they play as isn't a valid concern. I've played my share of the game online and I'm yet to hear anyone say “Hey let me play as Venkman.” It's first come, first serve and it works just fine.

But yeah - about that patch.

JonXCTrack;156652
Don't get me wrong - I LOVE THIS GAME - but the whole point of playing a silent rookie character instead of one of the original ghostbusters is to make you feel like YOU are one of the ghostbusters. The create-a-character would have better carried out that intention in my opinion.

On a side note, this game would have been much better had the rookie idea been scrapped all together and you and 3 of your friends could have played through the story as the original 4 ghostbusters via XBL or PSN. I think more people want(ed) to play as Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Zeddemore than anything else. This is evidenced by the fact that next to nobody plays as the rookie in multiplayer. Furthermore, the storyline is advanced by the cut scenes, not the in- game dialogue. Whether Spengler says “Aim High” when I'm playing as him or not doesn't change how the story unfolds.

Hopefully if a sequel is made that will be kept in mind…

P.S. - Can we get a patch for Xbox version?

Even though I don't have it I think They should have made it so you could have chosen who you could be not in multiplayer only.

JonXCTrack;156664
What I'm saying is that nobody plays as the rookie online. If people truly desired that feeling of “being one of the ghostbusters”, they'd pick the rookie for the online multiplayer. But in my experience, the only people who pick the rookie are completely new to the game.

And again, in the single player storyline, when you are walking around busting ghosts or hunting for ghosts, there is very little dialogue that advances the story. Therefore, it is my opinion that whether your character watches Venkman make a quip, or you ARE Venkman making the quip makes little to no difference - especially considering the rookie character isn't even you, but rather some random guy.

By removing the 5th ghostbuster (who you are supposed to be but have no control over what he looks like) you allow the player to step into the role of their favorite ghostbuster in single player. Being able to play through the story via XBL or PSN with your friends would be icing on the cake. Saying that people would have disagreements over which character they play as isn't a valid concern. I've played my share of the game online and I'm yet to hear anyone say “Hey let me play as Venkman.” It's first come, first serve and it works just fine.

But yeah - about that patch.

So explain to me what happens to the guy playing as Winston in the first levels of the game?

Winston is at an opera…

Does the player just sit back and watch you guys play?

What about when Ray is in charge of the boat? When Venkman is at the museum?

The story doesn't have all 4 guys in it at the same time. That's the way it's always been in the movies.

Whoever said no one plays as the rookie online…all I can say to that is bull. It seems like every match I play online SOMEONE is the rookie. I can count the number of matches online on two hands that I have played without someone being the rookie.

The create yourself as the rookie might have been nice, but I personally didn't care. The fact that I got to run thru the game busting ghosts with the 4 guys just put me in geek heaven. Actually, what would have been extra awesome to me, is an option like in Rainbow 6 Vegas where you can take a snapshot of your face and put it on your ingame character. Finally, a pic of me, with that great pack, in uniform next to the 4 legends. Awesome doesn't begin to describe it.


One thing I had a problem with concerning the PS2/Wii version, how come the proton packs don't have hoses connecting the throwers to the packs? That was the major disappointment to me concerning those versions. But since I'm primarily a 360 player, and I haven't even finished the 2nd level on the PS2 version, I guess I can live with it.

Some more online multiplayer modes would be nice. I would actually LOVE to have a level with unlimited spawning of trappable ghosts. And no, I don't mean containment, I want a level like Survival, no time limit, but with just trapping ghosts until no GBs are standing or you get to wave 30,40,50 etc. With no Slime Tether. That would be the ultimate Ghostbustin challenge. Heck, usually when I fire up the game, I just go back and replay the parts of the levels where all you do is trap ghosts. (ex. The busboy ghosts with Slimer, the Civil War exhibit in the museum)

Skanker perhaps you can help me out with these questions. Was a mode like that ever planned or is the best we can expect for that is containment? Containment would be better with a longer time limit, but just to balance it out, instead of the limit being 20 or whatever, start with 10 minutes and have to trap 50 ghosts.


I know I've read some people bitching on here about folks who only use the proton stream instead of slime tether on those levels and for those folks, I have to say screw you. I'm a purist and I just love being able to shoot that proton stream and wrangle the ghosts into the trap instead of slime tethering them. Slime tethering just seems like cheating to me. Don't get me wrong, I'll use ST if I have to, but its not my preferred method of playing. After all, slime tether is more of a competitive weapon as opposed to proton stream which allows everybody to throw a stream on the ghost and get the combo bonus when playing. If you wanna use ST, why not ST the ghost to a wall to knock em down to 0% health, then let everybody get their PS on the ghost and trap em? What? That takes too long? You don't want anybody else to get a stream on and get a combo bonus? You selfish prick. People who primarily use the ST when I play with them, they never revive teammates and are just generally not team players because they also run around grabbing EVERY SINGLE POWER UP instead of sharing them with the team.

Of course the downside to the proton stream with people online is some of them think you have to pull the slam trigger constantly so its almost like they are jerking off with the ghost. I wish slam was not unlimited in online mode. The folks i've played with who slam continuously are almost or just as bad as the folks who use nothing but ST and bitch about people like me who want to use the proton stream and try to let everybody get in on the trap action.


Sorry bout the long ranting post but dammit, I can't be the only one who feels this way.

skankerzero;156671
So explain to me what happens to the guy playing as Winston in the first levels of the game?

Winston is at an opera…

Does the player just sit back and watch you guys play?

What about when Ray is in charge of the boat? When Venkman is at the museum?

The story doesn't have all 4 guys in it at the same time. That's the way it's always been in the movies.

All I know is the guys I play with regularly online talk about how great it would have been to play the story online with 3 of your friends. The story could have been written in a way so as to utilize all 4 ghostbusters throughout the entire story. Granted that might stray from the nature of the films, but I don't think people playing the game would have cared that much. But even if people did care, the option of creating your own ghostbuster would have also allowed for you and 3 of your friends to go through the story together without requiring any major changes from what already exists in single player mode.

JonXCTrack;156684
without requiring any major changes from what already exists in single player mode.

Due to the way the FMV sequences were rendered (at Rainmaker Entertainment, not in house) you likely would've only seen the back of the head of the player whose custom mug was featured in the game…

It's that, or they would've been rendered just like the regular in-game cutscenes, which would've been a shame.



Nobody is denying that a custom face option would've been cool, but if something cooler would've been dropped to make sure such a feature were implemented, then it was a price worth paying. Does it really matter that it's Ryan French's appearance rather than your own when 90% of the time you'll see the rookie is from over his shoulder where you can hardly see his face?

JonXCTrack;156684
All I know is the guys I play with regularly online talk about how great it would have been to play the story online with 3 of your friends.

I agree, but that would have been a totally different game.

One thing we experienced was that it didn't feel right controlling the main cast. Each guy is such an awesome character and all that breaks down when you have jackasses taking control of them and shooting each other in the face.

In the end, we used them to help create the mood. They sneak around and interact with the environment like they really would. You wouldn't have that experience with real people controlling them. Not because people can't role-play, but because all those interactive animations are not available to the player.

The ideal game would be where your team is made up of fully customized characters. That way you can decide how they act and what archetypes they fill.

The story could have been written in a way so as to utilize all 4 ghostbusters throughout the entire story.

The story was written out well before the game mechanics were finalized. All that has to be finished before you begin to lay out the levels.

…without requiring any major changes from what already exists in single player mode.

…so you think.

Game spaces are designed with the number of players in mind. There are many places that had to be redesigned because they were not the right size for the amount of GBs in the scene.

What about the design of the library stacks? You progress through triggering scripts that push and pull the bookcases. That wouldn't have been nearly as cool if it had to work for 4 players. With a single player, we can focus on their experience. We can't control how 4 people would traverse a level easily, so the experience would have to be totally different or a little more generic.

In the end, it's much more than just ‘allowing 4 people to run around in the levels.’


The other thing no one ever thinks about is framerate. There were places where having just 2 GBs would begin hammering the framerate. We were cramming so much into some of these levels that having 4 or 5 guys could just flat out crash the game. We could have scaled back on some of the effects, physics, or whatever, but that would have taken away from the mood and experience.

Again, it was all about the single player experience. To have done it any other way would have cheapened it in my opinion.

JimPhelps;156674
Skanker perhaps you can help me out with these questions. Was a mode like that ever planned or is the best we can expect for that is containment?

I have no idea. We didn't do multiplayer locally. The only thing we did that was multiplayer was GB vs ghost. That was fun, but it presented a lot of problems. It was similar to Left 4 Dead's Infected vs Survivors.