The flamethrower weapon will not work

[G-Hob]

Hi everyone. I haven't posted in a long time. I rented Fusion for a day in January 2002 when I lived in New Zealand, and hadn't played it again until just this month. I now live in the United States as my wife is American, and we recently bought a new NTSC version of Fusion for our PS2 for only $10 from the local Funcoland. Anyhoo, we're having a lot of fun with it but there seems to be an odd bug in our version. I recently unlocked the flamethrower weapon but whenever I get it in a race and press fire nothing happens, and I end up having to drop it. All the other weapons work fine so it seems really weird. Anyone else come across this bug in the game?

[Task]

?!?
No, definitely not!
The flamer worked just fine in my copy. Or, well, as good as it could be... (grumble, grumble, flamethrower at 1000kph)
I ended up turning it off for the pvp matches though, so I haven't actually used it in quite a while. Are you experiencing this problem in all modes of play? Or perhaps just in the pvp?

[infoxicated]

If you are using a controller other than the Dual Shock 2, you may not have pressure sensitive buttons. The flame thrower works by getting more intense the harder you press the button, so if you have a digital button instead of an analogue one, the game doesn't seem to understand the input and the flamethrower doesn't work.

You can also get the same effect with the gun weapon if you're using a non-Dual Shock 2 controller.

[G-Hob]

I am using a Dual Shock 2, but I have the analogue sensitivity for the buttons set to off. I'll try turning it on and see if that helps. The flamethrowers hasn't worked for me yet in any mode. Thanks for your help.

[Lance]

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Graeme, it's good to see that you're wipeout-active again. hm... does this intercontinental move mean that we have no New Zealanders [geographically] in the forums anymore?
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[Bob Todd]

My flamethrower won't work when I use my Dual Shock 2 (yes, 2), but when I use my old PSOne controller, it works fine.

I'm not that bothered as it's a bit of a wussy weapon anyway. I never use the autopilots either.

[Thruster2097]

Strangely enough, I only figured out the buttons were pressure sensitive last month!
Cor, this new-fangled technology stuff.... two years old and still surprises!

I know its been said before, but I have to say it again.... If you`re moving forward at 700kph, how can you project a beam of flame 100ft forward without torching yourself?
Okay, so the A-G racing-thing isnt scientifically perfect, but flamethrowers cross the line from "sublime" to "ridiculous"

[Lance]

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obviously the technology of the 9000 league era has advanced to the point where there is an airmass nullification field to eliminate aerodynamic drag. otherwise, not only would the flamethrower not work, but the block-shaped F9000 Auricom could not go faster than 300 kph!

[infoxicated]

The real answer is that Rob Francis didn't really give a flying f*ck about ruining a decent franchise with gimicky weapons that ripped the soul out of the world created by the previous games!

When you're blinkered into the belief that it's the track that makes the ships float rather than the ships themselves, then it's pretty apparent you haven't done your homework and couldn't care less either... :roll:

[Lance]

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was it purely his fault or did Sony say ''make it popular or we'll find someone who can''? on second thought, that's not a fair question for me to ask; don't answer it. but i suspect that the desire to make the game pay for it's development [a reasonable desire for a company that must have profit to live] is pretty compelling, however undesirable the result is for us fans. i don't know the internal politics or people of the Fusion development team in Liverpool, but i'm going to express an opinion anyway.
it seems likely that, despite the high-speed development done by Leeds, WO3 must have lost money. i guess a company can't tolerate that for many years, so the pressure to change substantially goes on, but once you lose the integrity of the vision and the gameplay, you lose the original fans without any possibility of building a new fan base because the weakened game just doesn't keep them coming back even if you can attract new ones by the flashy superficial aspects of it. the outward show has to have a solid base to retain the fans. since even a badly done game is expensive to develop, i think it makes sense to do it the best you can even from the purely economic viewpoint, the only one that matters to a corporation. individuals act from a sense of honor and pride in their own excellence, but it is rare that an individual human has enough influence over a large corporation for that to influence corporate action. more's the pity
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[infoxicated]

Rob was under some pressure to make the game more mass market after the limited success of Wipeout 3. Hence the pod-racing style free-form areas.

However, he also had a habit of me-too-ism, in that whatever game Rob was playing that week, that was what Wipeout Fusion should play, look and feel like. A few of the artists completely lost patience with him, and we're talking talented guys who had worked on the previous games that really knew the ambience of the franchise better than Rob.

The whole look and feel of Wipeout 2097 - that was mostly down to guys like Darren Douglas - not the Designers Republic as everyone imagines. They threw in some icons and the front end menus, but the in-game palette was completely the result of in-house guys.

The problem with Fusion was that Rob always gave the impression that he had a higher plan, you know? - like he knew what he was trying to achieve with the game and that the fans would love it in the end.

Sadly what he ended up with was something that was too quirky and shallow for the casual gamer and too gimicky for (most of) the fans of the series.

You cant really make something all things to all people.

[Lance]

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thanks for elaborating.
__

i also have never understood why so many think that tDR is responsible for the entire 'look' of the first three games. tDR is a surface graphics company with the emphasis on text style. they never designed the ships or courses or background scenery. the people responsible for the design of those things are given.acknowledgement in the game credits. how do people miss this and think that tDR did them? i do not denigrate tDR's contribution in any way, but it is a minor superficial part of the games, though it contributes to the excellence of the whole.
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[Synthetic Consciousness]

Part of it could be due to the bombast that tDR carry themselves with. :-?

[Hybrid Divide]

Yeah, I don't like the flame thrower either. Just seems so wrong.

Either way, I too was disapointed with Fusion, haven't played it in months. I stick to WO 1, XL, 64, and 3.

I hope that if they ever decide to enter a new forray into the WIpEout franchise, that someone else other than that Rob guy heads the project. Someone who knows the other games and knows that flamethrowers don't work when going fast!

Here's hoping for a better future for AG Racing.
Cheers.

[G-Hob]

I got the flamethrower to work by changing the button sensitivity to on, rather than off. I just unlocked Zone mode today after putting 10 hours in. Even though I love Wipeout 3 and miss the near perfect handling and trance inducing gameplay of that game, I am really enjoying Fusion on its own merits.

[Harvai]

Flamethrowers in a AG racing game? i'm speechless! i didn't think that they'd work at that speed, and how they'd actually damage the craft!

if somebody could think of a reason, i'll be most impressed!!

[Vasudeva]

wipEout Fusion is beyond reason. :roll:

V.

[Mano]

how about highly volatile gas or liquid being pumped by a high pressure device?, kinda like those that can make water cut through almost anything... :-?

this one would work: rocket reactor, like those used to get a rocket or space shuttle out of earth´s orbit, that would make an impressive flamethrower....BUT that kinda thing would probably make the craft steer to the sides or work as a brake (rocket brake!, nice), maybe if the device is very small it could work

[Brother Laz]

Doesn't end there...

G-Tech's special is a bit hard to believe also. Piranha's, why don't you end up taking the same damage as the guy you rammed? Grav bomb hits everything except you?...

They should've made more special special weapons... something like [XR:ON.OS] Flashback (rewinds time 10 seconds, in case you crash) or K4TM0DA SCI. CON. Feedback (causes weapon of targeted craft to blow up in its own weapon bay) or val.kyrion Holoclone (creates a holographic clone of your craft that goes after enemies and attacks them)...

[JABBERJAW]

How is a holograph going to attack an enemy if it's just a projection?