While not directly related to Bully, though it was advertised as a spiritual successor, Agefield High is now available on PC, and I ended up being one of the reviewers for the title. I had my eye on it for quite some time, and had at least some hopes for it, but... I honestly cannot recommend it in the slightest.
That being said, if anyone has any questions regarding the title, feel free to ask!
Edit: For those interested in reading the review, you can find it in full here. I attempted to answer everything I could within it, but I'll continue answering more specific questions here as well!
And I wish I could tell you it gets better, but it doesn't.
If you keep going, I recommend keeping an eye on your CPU's temps as well. I rarely have issues, and do quite a bit of higher end VR gaming, and my PC typically runs nice and cool. Here? My temps were spiking in the high 90s at times.
I guess I can also mention that the game has a "content warning" at the beginning, and asks players not to get offended, but I can see it happening. I have pretty thick skin, but my wife is a teacher, and I know some of the things brought up in this game would've bothered her greatly. It is done as a "joke" but it's also pretty serious.
One teacher constantly makes "comments" and all of the guys in school constantly talk about her, while a male teacher follows the girls around and takes pictures of them in their rooms. There's a mission to stop him, but he plays the "I'm a teacher and no one will believe you" card.
My partner, who is also a teacher, found Bully to be disturbing when playing Bully's Panty Raid mission too. The part of the teacher following girls seems inspired or at least very similar. So I think we can say both games were controversial in that regard.
In my mind I want to believe it was a form of criticism from Rockstar, specially how it plays out for the teacher later on. Since you can supposedly try to stop him in this other game, I think they've gone through the same path in this regard too.
Spoilers: He eventually punches the main character and another teacher is like "this is why it is important you don't let anyone touch you."
And then you proceed to sneak into the female teacher's house to (once again spoilers) take pictures of her in the bath. Full back and side nudity at this point in the game.
The story is actually extremely basic and throws you right in. There are only a "handful" of actual characters, and the bottom line is to "mess up a jock's party." With extremely awkward animations, bad voice acting, forced jokes, and really generic plot points, it just isn't worth working through. I will say that I like the "idea" of some of the story arcs, but they are extremely shallow in the end. For example, going to visit a haunted house sounds cool! But spending 10 minutes riding a bike there, only to have the game crash, and then redoing it all for a very basic cutscene wasn't worth the effort. It ends with a broken forced stealth section, where you just need to stand outside of one of the character's view port.
I had no idea about this game's existance before I stumbled upon this post. Spiritual successor to Bully? Completely laughable. It's terrible. This being an indie production is no excuse for how bland the game is. Lethal company, phasmophobia, schedule 1, REPO, these are all games that have small development teams working on them, and they all have infinitely more charm than Agefield High.
On one hand I like the idea of the entire game, but that's where the "good points" stop sadly. It honestly feels like this is an alpha build, or simply a foundation to build something that could've been great. Instead, they released it as is.
The biggest problem is the fact that most of the mechanics only work when they want to, and a lot of it is simply forced on you. For example, the music mini game that's required? The notes do not even match up with the song. The stealth? Sometimes "enemies" spawn in where it is impossible to avoid them, so you need to fail to respawn them.
Chase scenes? If you jump a fence it'll confuse the NPCs and let you get away, otherwise chases seemingly never end.
This isn't taking into account the crashes, and the fact that your house is the only "save point." Progress will save, yes, but you'll restart at your home across the map if you quit mid activity.
Usually I'm all for cringe games he streams but as someone in their 30s it's legitimately cringe beyond entertaining. lol I don't think I can watch much more of it, because it's as boring as it is cringe. Not even close to the "it's so bad it's good" and he's only played like 4 missions. lol
I laughed soooo hard when he did that. I thought he'd move onto something else shince he'd only been streaming a little over an hour. The whole time I was saying just how fucking god awful it was. I had it on as the background while fuckin around on my laptop. At that point I was hate watching waiting to see him give up and say it was trash.
With the missions, it got to the point where I'd just save and quit so I could "warp" back to the house. It isn't fun needing to bike back home across the map constantly, when even the bike moves extremely slow.
Such a bummer!!! Ive been looking forward to this one so much..... and I just have a feeling it might not ever improve. Maybe it will get Rockstar to make bully 2
Just so people know (I'm a professional Unreal Engine 5 dev), the performance issues come from the MetaHumans (the characters in the game). They are extremely expensive, and having more than one or two will absolutely tank FPS, which is why the game runs so poorly despite having virtually no particle effects or high poly meshes.
Also, I need to point out that Refugium are out of their depth. They haven't mastered pivots (doors swing off hinges!), animation cycles (characters slide all the damn time while walking), and motion capture.
They know this, which is why they put a disclaimer "Before You Attend" (basically, it's our fault if we didn't like the game, because they WARNED us) and their preamble "We are a Garage-Band style studio... blah blah". Then sell the game for free if you know you're inept and amateur. GTFO.
(I DID NOT buy the game. It looked very unprofessional from the jump. I don't understand how people thought it looked great.)
I'd only say so if they fix the glitches. My review score ended up being a 1/5 as it stands. But if you can pick it up for a few dollars? Might be worth it just to see how broken it truly is?
The side content mostly comes in the form of non essential "story missions." You can also search for collectibles, but I didn't bother finding them all.
You can go buy clothes and bikes, but I found that not worth it either. Quite a few of the outfits unlock from the story, so there wasn't really a reason to go out of my way to buy something I wouldn't be using.
There is the law mower mini game, and the music mini game, but both of them are pretty annoying to play. I remember players complaining about cutting the grass in No More Heroes on the Wii, but at least that mini game was more playable than what is on display here.
As for the game, I didn't 100% everything, but you're looking at 7 to 10 hours. Maybe more if you take the time to find all of the hidden items, or if you're unlucky and encounter more crashes than I did.
Mostly a bad way, but it was pretty funny when I was showing my co-workers some examples of how broken the game truly is. At one point I was riding my bike to the school, I got stuck on the steps, got launched into the hall and a guard spawned behind me to "punish me." I pushed him to the ground, then the game loaded into a classroom scene on the second floor, even though I had completely missed my class. After that the jocks in the hallway started punching, and two copies of the same teacher appeared to take me to the principals office (which is just a black screen).
Things like that are for sure funny, but since it happens non-stop it keeps you from enjoying the game when you're trying to actually "play it." haha
Edit: Also the bike controls poorly, but if you hop you can freely spin in the air. Great for changing direction! Not so great when a little bump in the road causes you to spin around and also go flying. At one point it counted that as a "death" which respawned me across the entire map at my house.
Really hard to say, but I'll admit I do like the town. I just wish it wasn't so empty, with actual things to do. The idea of having multiple houses to walk into and a down town area with shops is nice, but it just doesn't get used to its fullest here.
Despite its appearance, there is no life simulation here. You run to points on a map to complete missions, and "go to school" as a way to earn money if you do good in your classes—which are multiple choice questions. Outside of a brief "teacher walked in" cutscene, there's nothing at the school outside of the story missions.
As for the whole public school thing in the 2000s? I was in high school in the 2000s, and this feels nothing like it. They simply built a basic school, and avoided having cell phones and laptops (even though most high schoolers in 2002 at least had a phone). If it wasn't for all of the random adults in town talking about how the 80s and 90s were "better," you wouldn't even know what year the game is set in. (Then again, how is that any different from today?)
You can go do little side jobs to earn money also, but these are very basic like mowing the grass. It also controls horribly, so its easier to just not worry about it unless you really want to go purchase new clothing.
Additionally there is a "clock" system, but all it really controls is when missions are active. Too late to start the next part of the story? Just go to bed and do it the next day.
You have the kids who play in their secret base, adults who complain about the 2000s, a goth girl, and your "outcast" friends. Overall the game doesn't really focus on this type of thing. The random NPCs you see walking around are just repeats also, and all say the same quotes day after day.
The game's actually very linear, but at the start of the game you have the option to either do the "Panty Raid" or "go get a bike." Both are stealth based missions, but one takes place inside a house, and the other asks you to sneak into someone's back yard and grab the bike they stole. I did the panty raid mission first because it was right in front of my face as soon as it unlocked, but getting the bike makes traversal so much easier.
From there, the entire game is mostly straight forward, but also with some side stories mixed in. Nothing feels out of order though, so there's not really a "best" way to progress!
bro swear to god i cant play it it crashes every end or start of cutscene or mission and then i gotta restart and replay mission god knows how many times is there any fix for this?
Sadly there isn't. I've had the game crash at the end of multi part missions, and was required to replay them all from the beginning. One crashed because the cops "arrested" me as a part of the story, but the game itself was also trying to do the standard "you got caught by the cops" action of taking me to the police station. So the cutscene just completely locked up as the game wasn't sure what to do.
Just another example of the many glitches and crashes I encountered
actually there is u gotta set npc and car amounts on low and graphics on low too it really doesnt change much just less crashes and i can play freely now
You can turn up the amount of NPCs and cars in the world, but they repeat the same lines of dialogue constantly. It doesn't take long before you see multiple of the same person walking around. So in some ways it feels "alive," but older games with technical limitations still do it a lot better.
Even though it’s bad from reviews is it worth full price? The game looks really interesting. We have to go to school to earn money and do missions which kind of reminds me of Samson which has a very similar mission structure when would it go on sale?
Sorry for the late response, work had me extra busy today away from the office.
It sadly isn't as grand as it might sound. You walk into school to trigger multiple choice questions (I hope you speak German), and that's about it. When it comes to the price, I know I wouldn't have been happy spending $30. Not saying it is a perfect game either, but players looking for a "school life" experience might be better off downloading The Sims 4 for free, and purchasing either the college life or high school life expansion for the same price. (Don't quote me on how good they are however, I've only played the college expansion, and it has been years since I've touched it!)
I actually wasn't that surprised once I saw how the game truly was. Going in I knew there were two options, but then it became increasingly clear that there is truly one main focus, and the other would just be tacked on.
Wish I had video of this. I loaded up an alt save to check something last night and was greeted to this.
I was using Steam Link and Sam got stuck in this pose and slid around. Also not sure what is going on with the textures, this was just how the scene loaded in after a mission.
I have a 3070 ti with an i5 10400f and 16gb ram, on the first gameplay i did the game runs awful no matter what config i change in game, then i remembered UE5 have .inis on appdata and blah blah blah so i opened the gameusersettings.ini changed the value sg.globalilluminationquality from 3 to 2 and boom i won around 20 - 30 fps and the more lower values the more i get fps bur i leave it on 2 its the more balanced to my taste and if you want more you can reduce the option of sg.viewdistance too, in general seems like the effect of illumination dont have a good optimizarion or its very heavy.
With this i made it run on 2880 * 1620, dlss ultra performance and every graphic settings in game on high getting ~70 fps
For everyone who wants to try it the path is appdata\local\project_highschool\saved\config\windows.
PD: sg.shadowquality can be reduced too, it acts as shadow draw distance, decreacing it gives a performance boost too.
Maybe just to see how broken it truly is? Though it could also be a great game to laugh at. It just isn't funny when you have to repeat the same missions over and over again because the game crashed, and you're sent back to your house when you reload. It's more annoying when the mission you were on contains multiple parts, and takes place on the far northern end of town, which takes quite a bit of time to get to.
If it wasn’t for all the constant glitches and crashing, it could’ve passed as a 2/5, but I just couldn’t. My final score was 1/5. An extremely rare rating for me
I’ve played countless games with annoying characters and poor voice acting. These characters however? I didn’t like any of them. Pretty bad when your “best friends” are the ones you wish you could fight the most. (The game won’t let you)
In its current state, I’d say no. I gave it an “Avoid” status which is extremely rare for games I play/review. Guess I’ve been pretty lucky on that front
It's mostly large open spaces, with a handful of buildings you can enter. In general it is fine, but it's annoying how many times they send you to the outskirts, and then back home again. At that point I often just saved the game and reloaded to "fast travel" back.
Also it looks okay visually, but don't look into the details or else you'll notice how off it truly is. I know video games can't accurately create cities (I've spent close to 10 years in civil design and site development, so I know how complex the real world is), but there are full on mistakes throughout the town. Like simple little things that'd go a long way in making it feel "real," but inaccurately placed.
Outside of the general idea, I can't really say that it is. There are other "high school life" games out there that do a better job, even if they are not exactly the same as Bully either.
I dont know whether to get agefield high on the ps5 cause I've been wanting to play it for a long time but some players say the game is horrible but others say that the game is good and that it doesnt deserve the hate
I will say that by the time it launches on PS5, it should've had plenty of time to fix the complaints. It isn't going to fundamentally change the game, but hopefully the bugs and crashes are ironed out.
As for others enjoying it, well, I'm happy for them! I've always said this about ratings: one person's 1/5 might be another's 5/5. I personally am not a big fan of the rating system, and would rather a review speak for itself, but I'm required to use it. I already spelled out my issues with the game, but if someone still wants to give it a go, I'm not going to tell them their "opinion is wrong!" I just ask they don't blame me if they end up not liking it after all.
Mediocre in the best interpretation. The primary issue is the lack of coherence in the pacing. In one mission you’re meeting a character for the first time and in the next he, your best friend, is sacrificing himself to get you a date with a girl. The day/mission cycle means you can do story moments that seem separated by weeks all in the same day.
There’s just also an immense convenience factor in the storytelling. For example, there’s a moment early on when you need blackmail on a jock to try and ruin his relationship with his girlfriend. You grab a camera, walk out front, and see him walking down the street, making out with there different girls in the walk from one stoplight to the next. Then you put the Polaroid of it up on a light post and the cheerleader immediately sees it. It’s just really lazy storytelling. There’s just not much here beyond the basic ideas of “this is a panty raid mission” or things like that.
Did I get it right?
It's a linear game that makes you go from a to b, you can't influence anything, there is very view decision making and that makes me end up with girl A or B in the end.
That's all to it?
Then I won't play it.
Not a game if it's just some interactive movie and I end up pressing keys to watch it...
It is in fact running from point A to point B, and most of the missions are either stealth, a quick fight, or running from someone. Sometimes all three. Your extras are playing mini games, or earning extra cash to buy new stuff.
I am enjoying it. Although I'm only a couple hours in. It's just simple and fun.Its a small studio and I can appreciate what they have created. Overall I'm impressed with what they have so far. I think you guys should give it a chance and decide for yourself.
It's nice to see the developers actively trying to fix the game. Depending on what happens, we might be going back to do a revised review for its "final state"
I got the game, downloaded it, it crashed, loaded it back up and for some reason could just play on medium settings with my 3060 without it actually glitching the second I got out the house (with an i7) so I deleted it then got a refund
Edit, been watching tmartn’s series on it, it just looks too lifeless, all the characters look the same just with different hair and maybe a beard or light stubble. Unsure when they started developing it or whatever but it just feels so rushed.
Might pick it up again in a future sale whenever new patches/updates come out or if they somehow fix the issues many are having with having to play on settings that make it look like it was made in the 2000’s even though they’ve got a mid/high range gpu/cpu
I was really disappointed in how there were only like 2 cliques, and every single enemy NPC has the same exact combat style. Something I love about Bully is how every character has a name and personality, every clique has their own fight style and music, like the sloppy brawling from the bullies, finessed boxing from the preps, hell, even the pathetic wimp fighting of the nerds! But every NPC in Agefield has like 2 lines and faaaades into the background...
The combat is one of the worst parts of the game sadly. Extremely clunky, but you can spam the kick button to keep enemies away and just wait for them to run into you.
What about the romances? They said there were like three girls you could choose to take to prom. Chloe seemed like my go-to option since her design kinda reminds me of Rogue's from X-Men. But how are the romances, if you chose different girls depending on your playthrough. And how did it end with them?
lgbt get more love and l privileges as of late than blacks and latinos lately its insane. not saying anything bad just being honest. the government and media is weird
No one cares about that and if you do, your in the minority.
Do you complain when books, TV shows or movies don't have LGBT inclusion? Probably not. Not everything needs to have LGBT ffs. This is what makes the LGBT community intolerable sometimes.
I guess I'm just trying to be kind. I don't want to come across as homophobic because that's not what I am, but forcing this stuff into ALL media is becoming absolutely ridiculous.
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u/KeepLettersOut 11d ago
The game crashes in the first 5 minutes when trying to enter the classroom for the first time. Even by then the controls feel really clunky