Harambe Savanna First Impression

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D3AKUs
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Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by D3AKUs »

First look into the new Addition to CotW after playing around for a lil while.
Was excited for the Reserve after all its Africa !


Sadly its pretty sobering to say it nicely :?


The Reserve feels somehow really small compared to the other 3 we have in the game.
U can make your way very fast around the map, especially with an ATV. The other Maps,even while using the Vehicle, still felt huge and offered more diverse areas. The Savanna feels pretty sterile and lifeless.
One can hear a lot of animal and insect sounds, especially at night ( were it gets a lil bit to loud and annoying imo ) but it feels dead compared to Hirschfelden as an example. No birds flying around , no nice effects on the foliage like falling leafs or anything. It looks artificial and empty.

And oh boy it is empty ! The Animal density is a huge let down... i was expecting a vivid and rich environment were herds roam at waterholes or grass fields. U barely come across any wildlife and if u do they are waaaay to skittish. They spook from hundreds of meters away. Sometimes for no obvious reason. They literally see u even through cover or over hills. And i got hints on being smelled by an animal that i saw running when the wind was clearly in my favor. The whole hunting experience there feels like a huge letdown.


The foliage is another problem. I know its supposed to look like that in a Savanna but how about toning it down for the sake of being able to actually enjoy playing there ? Not only does the grass and foliage look bad compared to other Maps - its also way to overdone from a player standpoint. Thats my oppinion tho ;)


Performance on that map is abysmal. I dont play on a highend rig but i am able to play all other 3 reserves on a mix of medium to high , the games still looks stunning and i always get a constant 60fps with vsync on, rarely dropping when i spy on a giant herd or in some cases through thick vegetation - but as i said it rarely happens. On the Savanna tho ... oh boy i can barely maintain 60fps even when i lower the settings. The foliage seems to affect the performance with a huge negative impact. Especially the high grass. Its just not fun. I also found a lot of black objects that arent rendered with textures and look totally out of place, like the Vuvuzela at one of the Outposts as an example or some crates near huts. The Overall texture quality looks bad on Ultra compared to the textures in other reserves. They feel flat and do not nearly offer the quality of the ones before.


In conclusion it all feels more like a beta test then a finished product. That needs a lot of work and patching to be lifted to the quality standard they held up with the release of Medved Taiga.

The whole story also feels really weird and like a stupid excuse to not add the mostly desired animals. I do like the voice-actor a lot. He has a nice spirit going in his lines and the voice itself and the way he talks makes it entertaining to listen to what he has to say.
But it can feel cheesy at times - not in a super bad way … but still :lol: . I havent completely finished it yet but i dont think it gets that much better. I really liked the arc on Medved Taiga especially. It was a lil bit overdramatic but still really well done. The two classic reserves had a nice tutorial vibe going and showed u a lot of nice places and were also entertaining when first playing the game.


All in all its a disappointment for me even tho i am a lil bit sad to say this cause i wanted it to be as exciting and good as the first DLC reserve release was.
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knott
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by knott »

X2 on just about everything. I am not really disappointed it´s kind of what I expected after releasing the animal list. It could be so much better. And I would pay a lot more for a proper Africa DLC with no handcuffs. Map is well worth 8 euro though no doubt it does look good and I like the atmosphere.
Map area is the same I believe but the savannah seem good for the ATV :)

Hunting is more challenging then in any other reserve in classic or cotw. I think they could compensate some by more animals so get more chances. It would also help the story to make more sense. It´s hard to buy that the map is overpopulated as is :)

I have no performance issues on my setup. 2560x1080 and X 1080ti. Max settings and I have never found a single stutter. I haven´t checked the framerate but I guess it is likely over 100 fps all the time.
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D3AKUs
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by D3AKUs »

knott wrote:X2 on just about everything. I am not really disappointed it´s kind of what I expected after releasing the animal list. It could be so much better. And I would pay a lot more for a proper Africa DLC with no handcuffs. Map is well worth 8 euro though no doubt it does look good and I like the atmosphere.
Map area is the same I believe but the savannah seem good for the ATV :)

Hunting is more challenging then in any other reserve in classic or cotw. I think they could compensate some by more animals so get more chances. It would also help the story to make more sense. It´s hard to buy that the map is overpopulated as is :)

I have no performance issues on my setup. 2560x1080 and X 1080ti. Max settings and I have never found a single stutter. I haven´t checked the framerate but I guess it is likely over 100 fps all the time.
With a 1080ti u SHOULDNT have any problems xD but i guess the map destroys lower end gpus.
Still using my 1050ti that came with my new rig last year. Gonna upgrade when the new nvidia series comes end of september. Probably buying the 2070 ( or whatever they call the final thing ). Also thinking about to invest in a liquid cooling then and finally overclock my cpu which is still sitting at factory settings.
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INSANEPAPPY60
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by INSANEPAPPY60 »

I found the new map(boring) to say the least......animal population seems scarce as hen's teeth...where are the herds,after all it's Africa
OH WELL...….I can take the nitro to the other reserves and have a go in the brush,because it doesn't seem to be well suited to any long shots with the red dot scope.
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moyal
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by moyal »

I never shared the hype about an africa map neither in classic or in cotw. I also don't care about "big 5" etc. But I'm also not against this at all. I'm fine with every setting, don't have a special favourite map in both games. So I was not expecting something extraordinary about this africa stuff.
And you know what - I actually like it. It is a very nice map. I have just started to explore it, but I find there are no less animals than on the other maps (if you don't take the over-populated areas of Layton Lake as standard). There is also much diversity in the landscape from open savanah, high grass, brush to fever tree forest, lakes, mountain areas.
I really don't understand all the drama people make about this.
Yes, I have a good gaming rig. Map runs smooth at ultra for me.
No, I don't would take an ATV to explore a new map. The map IS big if you explore it walking.
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Griph
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by Griph »

I like it. I don’t know what you mean by saying the vegetation is overdone. It looks and feels very good to me.

It doesn’t have the large herds I was expecting, at least not yet, as I haven’t moved beyond the area of the first two huts. But I spotted a herd of Springboks near the big rocks right away, and a group of warthogs near the water hole. The population density seems small, but the story (and perhaps reality) explain that.

I do wonder why my hands on the rifle are white if I’m the grandson of the warden. Does EW think all its players are white?

There’s some other typical “hunters are the salvation of wildlife” cheesiness as in all of these reserves, but the story has some interesting twists so far.

I’m just happy to be in Africa and find it pretty immersive so far.
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SoftShoe
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by SoftShoe »

I have spent 2 solid days (game time) hunting it & I gotta say I like it!

Animal density is right about what I was expecting. I know people have this idea that Africa is full of massive herds courtesy of animal documentaries but they only do that during the time of the great migration. Otherwise its pretty much how EW portrays it. The game runs smoothly on my higher end gaming PC & I have seen no bugs or graphic glitches.

I only have 2 gripes; 1) I have to shell out $125000 for the express rifle. All their other DLC you pay for automatically unlocks them free of charge. I was expecting the same with this. 2) The bug volume at night is overdone IMO. Otherwise this is a solid release, well done EW!

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knott
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by knott »

Why not model the migrate season :p

Its not a real problem I do like it finding a herd of 20 wildebeest yesterday would not be as cool if it was common.

Same with the hyperexpensive rifle. It will be another week before I can afford it. But I have a solid target to work against. Hopefully they reduced the cost for the ammo. Hardly make any money with it costing 6000
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knott
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by knott »

Another interesting day at the Savannah. Got a bit springbok mayhem today. Didn´t spot a single less kudu, wildebeest or warthog. Not a Cape Buffalo either until the end of the day visiting north. Just springbok, jackals and hares.
Not a lot of questionmarks to investigate either hope I get some big bonus once discovered them all. 90000 CR a long way from the Nitro Express still

Encountered one huge problem though. Walking in some bushes next to water and you get this fly getting stuck inside your headphones ear cup. Incredible annoying so realistic I could exactly follow his path into my headphone!
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knott
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Re: Harambe Savanna First Impression

Post by knott »

After some days at Medved-Taiga came back to the savannah after the new patch. Sure enough never seen so much animals. Nitro express seem to do some decent job though I hear the .454 handgun is actually more powerful at close range?
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