10 replies to this topic

[Creel]

I'm definitely on the old school side of things. I have a very clear idea of what I want from this game. I've grown up playing every incarnation of the BattleTech IP, and I want this game to be the best Mechwarrior game yet. I believe that the team which has worked so hard, for so long, to make this happen feels the same way that I do.

I only have one question, the answer to which will determine if I play this game for years, or a few hours.

Will I feel like I'm piloting a mech?

It's a simple question with a lot of complexity.

• I understand that this isn't the TT game, and that we cannot slavishly adhere to the existing rule set.

I'm ok with that.

• I understand that the behavior of some of the systems as laid out in the existing fiction is less than representative of actual technology.

I'm ok with that.

• I understand that intentionally making a system more cumbersome than we have to seems very counterintuitive.

I'm ok with that.





I reference the TT rules and TRO specs because they are the foundation of how a mech functions, how a mech is designed, and how a mech feels. I'm trying to avoid sounding like the angry neck-beard in the corner growling that Change is Bad. Change is not bad, it is essential. I am for change. I want pirhana to innovate, to refine the existing template, and bring the Mechwarrior franchise to a level of success it has only dreamed of.

• I believe that the decades of gameplay refinement in every medium, the thousands of pages of fiction, and the millions of hours of playtime invested in this franchise are the reason that it is possible to make a deep and intuitive game, that will have broad appeal.
  
• I believe that choosing 'realism' over 'canon' brings us farther away from what it Feels like to be in a Battlemech, as they exist in the lore that we all love enough to have petty Forum ******* contests over.
  
• I believe that a Battlemech is not an extension of myself, but a 50,000lb conglomeration of moving parts with no business standing upright unaided, containing 1 poor ******* in a fancy remote control console doing all he can to stay cool and stay alive. It should Feel big, it should Feel cumbersome, it should Feel like I'm in a titanic death machine balanced on the edge of my wits.

Is my vision of being a mech pilot frustrating at times? Hell, yes! That's what makes it so rewarding.





My battletch is a world where strategy and tactics have more value than reflexes (though reflexes are important), where teamwork is more important than sheer power (though power has its place), and where you have to work to win.

Edited by Creel, 08 November 2011 - 11:48 AM.

[Creel]

dupe

Edited by Creel, 08 November 2011 - 11:26 AM.

[Odin]

Creel, great posting.
Mechs better don't be Transformers lightning fast and nimble.
The mass you haul around, the TONS of weaponry, your arms, for me,
it all had some sluggishness,cumbersome as you put it.
It'll will be all about timing! to get the trigger pushed just in the right moment, not reflexes.

S!




edit:
as a side note
I am sure Piranha is well aware of this;
I'm not worried.

Edited by Odin, 08 November 2011 - 03:30 PM.

[Wraith 1]

Very few games make you feel like there really is just a cockpit separating you from the universe inside the ole CRT.

Mechwarrior is one of them, Mechassault is not.

...please let this be a REAL Mechwarrior game...

[Stormwolf]

Great post, make the mechs well.....mechs again, this is not a FPS.

[Cake Bandit]

I've reached my quantity of positive votes for the day, but you'll get it tomorrow.


I'm on the not understanding or knowing the tabletop rules; only played the video games end of things, and you've described exactly what I want to see out of this game.

Edited by Cake Bandit, 08 November 2011 - 12:19 PM.

[juxstapo]

Hallelujah.

I've always always wanted my mech to feel more like a piece of equipment, more like a tank (that happens to be on legs instead of treads), with a torso instead of a turrent; instead of feeling like a giant robot. I'd rather my mech's arms to have an artificial-ish crane/backhoe style of control (except very fluid), instead of looking/feeling like... well.. couldn't have said it better; transformers.

I think the more mechanical feel of BTech/Mechwarrior really helps to.. (I was about to say "americanize" sorry for the dip into racial divisiveness) "Westernize" it. To give it it's own sci-fi feel apart from its anime roots. Give credit where credit is due, without the Japanese-spawned motif of giant combat mecha (and of course the Japanese birth of the IP itself), we would've have this universe... but since then it has certainly been made something in and of itself, and I'd rather it maintain its independance. I want my mech's more like AT-ST's than Gundam, if that makes sense.

[TheRulesLawyer]

Battlemechs are in a weird place. They are high tech, yet low tech. Think battlestar galactica- 70's era vision of the future. They use tech we don't understand yet, but need to feel like huge stampy, slightly awkward machines of war. They aren't agile, go do back flips and move with the speed of thought sort of mechs. It needs to feel like a sim, not like we're playing call of duty with mech skins.

[Sadnebula]

Also old school. I have no idea how this is going to play out.

I believe the team is working hard on this game.
I'm not so much interested in in were the rules come from
as long as it is an enjoyable multifaceted game.

Piloting, gunnery, tactics, the jar of shooting a powerful cannon
stumbling when on the receiving end, the 3rd person view.
A mech lab with options for true customization.

Game play options that will promote true team play.
Heck yes i want a lot, But is MW not WOT.

[Long Tom]

That doesn't sound like a grognard to me. I share your desire to feel fully immersed in the Battletech universe. Your prose (I don't know how else to describe it) on what you want to experience in the game mirrors my own...I certainly could not have stated it better.

[Creel]

Long Tom, on 10 November 2011 - 03:08 PM, said:

That doesn't sound like a grognard to me. I share your desire to feel fully immersed in the Battletech universe. Your prose (I don't know how else to describe it) on what you want to experience in the game mirrors my own...I certainly could not have stated it better.

Thanks, I actually worked pretty hard trying to get it clearly expressed.