45 replies to this topic

[Jeremy Hunter]

Simokon, on 23 June 2012 - 04:07 PM, said:

Giant machines of death, blowing each other to pieces... what is not to like?

This got me hooked.

Phasics, on 23 June 2012 - 04:11 PM, said:

I'm a child of the 80's its part of my core programming from watching a certain cartoon

I'm a child of 90's.

I'm programmed to watch my favorite cartoons whenever possible...especially if they involve explosions.

[Biplane]

OpCentar, on 23 June 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal.


First time I heard it - I was sold for life.

Now I'm all teary-eyed.
My first computer game. Ever.

Another very fond memory, from much later: "Panther! Finish him!"

[Razorin Faust]

OpCentar, on 23 June 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal.


First time I heard it - I was sold for life.

Basicaly this, somewhere in the 90 I found a Demo of MW2 Mercenaries. And I was hook.
I always found the japanese robot anime to be far too "unrealistic" By the time I grew old I even became to hate them.
Especially when you compare the gritty vet that's pilot Battlemech versus the cliché teenagers anime guy, who stumble 99% of the time in some metal covered superman impersonation.

Clanner are breed for each of their combat role, knowing everything on the mech they land on. Now on the other hand we got a teenager... And may I remind you that a teenager have some problem piloting the control stick they are born with, yet alone a battle machine that make insta change of course at 125 G ( while forgetting alltogether that said acceleration would make the tech, mop the pilot out of the chair, that has relocated inside the reactor.)

Anyway, I digress, The Battletech franchise rocked my frenchy socks. (Damn that country for not having any shop with Battletech product)

[Combak Medik]

Years ago at a gaming convention in FL I got to play test and new table game called Battle Tech. I have been waiting for this to happen ever since. I am amazed that it has taken this long for it to happen.

Hopefully Founders are still around when I get the $120 for it.

[Roy Calbeck]

It's an exceptionally well-written, balanced, and quite believable (as such things go) background universe.

And it's been a long time coming, but the new Core Rules are so tightly-woven and concise, it's like game-design silk. Yet, it manages to be flexible as all get out, allowing for the community creativity which, let's face it, really defines why so many folks like this game system.

You can design, implement, and play out just about anything, with a depth that I haven't seen since MegaTraveller and a helluva lot less mess.

[Hitty40]

Combak Medik, on 23 June 2012 - 05:05 PM, said:

Years ago at a gaming convention in FL I got to play test and new table game called Battle Tech. I have been waiting for this to happen ever since. I am amazed that it has taken this long for it to happen.

Hopefully Founders are still around when I get the $120 for it.

Yeah, I'll be lucky if I even get 30 bucks to get the veteran pack, with the economy as is it is now, it's hard to find a job, or even the money for things like this.

[Reported for Inappropriate Name]

Giant robots. Who doesn't dig giant robots?

[wardeagz]

They're not robots, they're BATTLEMECHS!!!
And don't you forget that!

As for the topic at hand, I din't discover the games until that fateful night when I saw a demo for MW4: Vengeance.

Needless to say, I was immediately sold!
But what drives me to play, still to this day, with MW4: Mercs (MekTek's version)?
Gameplay! Not so much lore, though....

[Psyche]

@OP:

Reachability for lack of a better term.

I started back in the 80's with the Tabletop game which someone introduced to me (I was a Robotech fan prior and the game used some models from it so they didn't know the difference). Played the Crescent Hawks series, Original MechWarrior, #2 , #3 and recently due to MekTek #4 Mercs, GENie MPBT, the Mechwarrior RPG (pencial and paper - though the rules really work better on a computer with all the math & charts). Played most if of the clones and similar games but always went back to BT (Armored Core came close with how customisation worked - load distribution and all the but the world/story/lore was shallow IMO, Chromehounds was good but the customisation felt more like Lego blocks than anything that was physically feasable - the builds I saw in MP were just whack - vertical fins of weapons on legs that shouldn't even be able to stand up).

The reason that I think it appeals to me is that the technology & attitudes/lore isn't alien, its 'just beyond reach'. Like something you can clearly see but just can't grab. I actually spent far too much time during my teen years studying physics and engineering to fill the gaps or derive statistics from cross-referencing the charts in the BT rules. Heck, I was even one of the first Test Pilots [thats what they called us back then - cheap handwritten yellow laminated card and all] for the Battletech Centers on the original build, day after the party with the investors - think I may have been the 2nd minor [under 18 player] to use them.

[I was an assistant Tech experienced with Custom systems with a Programmer/Analyst acting as legal guardian which was the only way I could work {worthless child labor laws - did more to screw me over than help when I was growing up} - we weren't working though, it was by invitation and the company owner and the Programmer knew I was a big BT fan so I got to go - plus I had worked on more sensitive and expensive hardware so their was little worry about me breaking something.]

{some of the VIP's present didn't take too kindly to my presence among the analysts and tech's they invited so they had one of the VIP's or staff's kids that was there play 1st}
I lost interest after they pulled some of things in the original build out because it was expensive or just too unstable (the Physic's/Kinetic's system - when present the controls responded like the mech actually had mass and each mech and variant was slightly different - unfortunately that usually crashed the game a lot too [it included and was affected by collisions/recoil], after it was removed it felt too arcadish despite the huge improvement in graphics - the original build was dark to hide how bad the graphics were course back then that really didn't mean too much)

I had the 1st Chicago Tribune article about the pods with Jordan Weisman til about 2006 when I lost most of what I owned while in military service. I can still remember that programmer showing it to me (he was a good friend and probably the closest thing I had to a father growing up - R.I.P. ).

Edited by Psyche, 23 June 2012 - 05:24 PM.

[Ravewolf]

I seem to be one of the few here who started out playing Mechwarrior 1 as opposed to MW 2. It was already years old by the time I played it though, I think I fished it out of a bargain bin somewhere back when I was a kid. Didn't know much about Battletech before then, but those robots looked cool, and the words on the back of the box intrigued me:

"I have become death, destroyer of worlds."

Even at the time I was aware of the origins of the quote and how it had been used historically, but it just seemed so...right, when applied to giant walking weapons platforms and their pilots. And giant robots? Oh, I had to try this game. Ten dollars later, I did. Sure, it was very primitive by today's standards, but I got a lot for my ten bucks.

Later, I learned more about the game universe and just loved the story of the inner sphere and how the clans returned. The image of giant war machines that were, in some cases, ancient lumbering through the ruins of a seemingly never ending conflict was grim yet weirdly romantic at the same time.

As for the appeal of the modern game, for me it boils down to how intense battles feel when every decision made in a second matters. It's not just about reflexes, it's about keeping cool under pressure while deciding whether to use those precious few seconds for one more shot, or for a potentially game saving maneuver. More seems to have happened in a few moments of mechwarrior combat than in a long FPS session. It's just great.

[Watchmann]

I liked the story, but I didn't care for the tech, because they ripped many designs off from Japanese animation shows/movies. I liked it much better after they came up with more of their own designs.

[Jonneh]

Isnt there a whole forum for BT/TT talk...?

[Jukebox1986]

My drive?
An Magna 260. Thats Power!

[Seabear]

I like the rich lore of the universe and the challenges of tactics and overcoming the limitations imposed by the game.

[Hikaru]

What drives me to play something like the BattleTech universe?

To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

[trycksh0t]

Hitty40, on 23 June 2012 - 04:31 PM, said:

I'm curious as where you heard that.

That....hurts. I feel incredibly old now. Ah well, I'm over it.

On a serious note, I can't point to one thing specifically. Everything about BattleTech calls to me, although I'm fairly sure I was born in the wrong century, I belong back in the middle ages. I think that's what does it, it's the middle ages with highly advanced technology...I really was born in the wrong century .

[aRottenKomquat]

Originally just nostalgia, I played MW2:Mercs a lot as a kid. But now the history is what interests me. There's so much to it, and I can't wait to start reading the BT novels (ordered Decision at Thunder Rift last week). Though tactical combat in giant robots is pretty fun too.

Star Wars used to hold that place for me, but the new movies and the New Jedi Order series of novels kind of ruined the Star Wars universe for me (the classic pre-NJO novels are still awesome though). So I think BattleTech will be replacing it. At least for a while.

[SinnerX]

The lore is a big part of it for me, but what I really love is the strategy involved. The old MW games were a completely different beast from the arcade shooters of old. Even now, MWO looks to be a breath of fresh air for a FPS genre up to its eyeballs in CoD clones.

[Kanatta Jing]

To offer our prayers to the idols of industrialized warfare. Dehumanized and human write large.

[Suichimo]

Giant robots beating the crap out of other giant robots.

I've played maybe two actual games of Battletech and know nothing of the lore. However, that first sentence is enough to sell me.