38 replies to this topic

[Navy Sixes]

razenWing, on 06 February 2017 - 12:05 PM, said:

it's not unheard of to incorporate failed state as part of the storyline.

Juodas Varnas, on 06 February 2017 - 12:19 PM, said:

I'll just go out on a limb and state that i would prefer a well-written but completely linear story over some over-complicated branching story that ends up as poorly-written drivel.

It can be done and done well. I thought Colony Wars' alternate story arcs were pretty good.

Edited by Tycho von Gagern, 06 February 2017 - 08:48 PM.

[NighthawK1337]

Personally I'd like it if MW5 follows Doom 2016's approach to story.

Don't give a hoot about it, keep it simple and just focus on gameplay. Just give us an encyclopedia to read when bored.

Doom's got a simple story. People used hell to charge their smartphones, bam hell breaks loose, kill monsters to solve it. No romance, no twist midway the plot, no unnecessary heroism, no sacrifice, no final stand, no complicated exposition dumps. Just pure ripping and tearing.
Most of the flavor text in Doom is in the codex entries and I think it's better because of it, not trying to shoehorn anything in that's not needed to kill demons.

You're supposed to be in it for the Cbills as a Mercenary right? **** the story.

Edited by NighthawK1337, 06 February 2017 - 08:36 PM.

[Scout Derek]

NighthawK1337, on 06 February 2017 - 08:34 PM, said:

Personally I'd like it if MW5 follows Doom 2016's approach to story.

Don't give a hoot about it, keep it simple and just focus on gameplay. Just give us an encyclopedia to read when bored.

Doom's got a simple story. People used hell to charge their smartphones, bam hell breaks loose, kill monsters to solve it.
Most of the flavor text in Doom is in the codex entries and I think it's better because of it, not trying to shoehorn anything in that's not needed to kill demons.

You're supposed to be in it for the Cbills as a Mercenary right? **** the story.

I would agree with you on any other game, but the MechWarrior franchise has a different place in my heart, but I feel that mw5 should indeed focus on gameplay rather than lore. (I agree with you, but there needs to be at least a little lore.)

At least add some filler strory to it so that we can see what is going on in our time. kind of like mw4 Mercs again, with each action you take documents it as well as other events going on during the war. You know, make the player feel like he's accomplished something

I loved getting that blacklist report after raiding the Steiner prototype factory in mw4 Mercs. made me lol when they said they would deal with me personally after they won the war.

boy were they wrong.

Edited by Scout Derek, 06 February 2017 - 08:38 PM.

[NighthawK1337]

Scout Derek, on 06 February 2017 - 08:38 PM, said:

I would agree with you on any other game, but the MechWarrior franchise has a different place in my heart, but I feel that mw5 should indeed focus on gameplay rather than lore. (I agree with you, but there needs to be at least a little lore.)

At least add some filler strory to it so that we can see what is going on in our time. kind of like mw4 Mercs again, with each action you take documents it as well as other events going on during the war. You know, make the player feel like he's accomplished something

I loved getting that blacklist report after raiding the Steiner prototype factory in mw4 Mercs. made me lol when they said they would deal with me personally after they won the war.

boy were they wrong.

You'd really sit through a 10 min exposition dump when you already know the lore by heart?

I'm content with mission briefings and such. At least we can skip it. Personally I don't want it to end up like Macross. Lots of drama etc. I don't want the intricate politics getting explained to me throughout the game. I want it to learn it by myself. Showing, not telling.

Instead of telling me that Steiners are muscleheads, have a mission that said to kill a scout lance but end up fighting assaults, have the protagonist say "That's a Scout Lance?" incredulously. Don't give me a 5 min explanation how Steiners love their traditions such and such, power etc. one phrase and 4 Assaults bearing down on you is enough.

Instead of just people telling you that you're in the blacklist, have the blacklist available to be read but only optionally, like when you're reading mission reports, etc.

I didn't say to remove all the story. I said **** it. XD
Just have it available but optional. Not forcing you to read or listen to anything.

Seriously though. trying to shoehorn a complex lore spanning books in a one game will either be tedious if forced, or too short to satisfy long time fans.

Having everything about the timeline available to read but keeping the bare minimum story in the main campaign is the best way to go about it.

Edited by NighthawK1337, 06 February 2017 - 08:52 PM.

[Navy Sixes]

NighthawK1337, on 06 February 2017 - 08:44 PM, said:

You'd really sit through a 10 min exposition dump when you already know the lore by heart?

If they tell a good story, maybe things we don't already know by heart, and the missions that follow are good enough that they're worth waiting through a little well-told exposition for, then yes.

[xe N on]

Story:

You are a pilot of a big stompy robot. That is realy cool! But there are bad people. They attack you. For reasons. You need to crush them all and save the world to become a great hero. This will takes around 5 missions. *

Minimal viable product.



* Spoiler: in the last mission you pilot a industrial mech that is refitted with weapons and armor. And he is much better than all other battlemechs. How cool is that!

Edited by xe N on, 06 February 2017 - 09:19 PM.

[Scout Derek]

NighthawK1337, on 06 February 2017 - 08:44 PM, said:

You'd really sit through a 10 min exposition dump when you already know the lore by heart?

I'm content with mission briefings and such. At least we can skip it. Personally I don't want it to end up like Macross. Lots of drama etc. I don't want the intricate politics getting explained to me throughout the game. I want it to learn it by myself. Showing, not telling.

Instead of telling me that Steiners are muscleheads, have a mission that said to kill a scout lance but end up fighting assaults, have the protagonist say "That's a Scout Lance?" incredulously. Don't give me a 5 min explanation how Steiners love their traditions such and such, power etc. one phrase and 4 Assaults bearing down on you is enough.

Instead of just people telling you that you're in the blacklist, have the blacklist available to be read but only optionally, like when you're reading mission reports, etc.

I didn't say to remove all the story. I said **** it. XD
Just have it available but optional. Not forcing you to read or listen to anything.

Seriously though. trying to shoehorn a complex lore spanning books in a one game will either be tedious if forced, or too short to satisfy long time fans.

Having everything about the timeline available to read but keeping the bare minimum story in the main campaign is the best way to go about it.

I actually don't know all the lore by heart. lol. and more Lols at saying **** the story Haha.

But like Tycho said, if they tell a good campfire story, then yeah, I'd be willing to hear a little bit about who I'm going against.

And exactly, same way mw4 Mercs did it. when they explained the Fafnir's it was short and sweet. "Yes I've read, and those things pack two of them." -Spectre on the raid of Steiners prototype. (sorry I keep using the Steiner mission. probably the most brutal mission aside from defending it)

Either way, I'm going to be wondering which other Mechs they will add into the story. if there's the flea then yay.

[Albino Boo]

How about the uplifting story of the mech academy choir getting to regional finials but being attacked by the smoke jaguar choir on the way.

[NighthawK1337]

Scout Derek, on 06 February 2017 - 09:26 PM, said:

I actually don't know all the lore by heart. lol. and more Lols at saying **** the story Haha.

But like Tycho said, if they tell a good campfire story, then yeah, I'd be willing to hear a little bit about who I'm going against.

And exactly, same way mw4 Mercs did it. when they explained the Fafnir's it was short and sweet. "Yes I've read, and those things pack two of them." -Spectre on the raid of Steiners prototype. (sorry I keep using the Steiner mission. probably the most brutal mission aside from defending it)

Either way, I'm going to be wondering which other Mechs they will add into the story. if there's the flea then yay.

Well having an original story that's not in the lore would be good. But let's hope that it doesn't get in the way of a good game.

I think Starcraft II did the telling of side story best. They allowed you to watch the news optionally and play as somebody else while "watching" a memory or something similar. Without repercussions in the main story. I'd love to play as famous pilots in one time missions running lore builds.

[razenWing]

Scout Derek, on 06 February 2017 - 08:08 PM, said:

considering in mw2 you're a annonmous MechWarrior, it would be an ideal choice.

Mw4 Mercs could be considered the continuation of mw2 Mercs, but one difference is you're not annonmous anymore, you're a Merc who graduated from mech academy on the free world named spectre, who supposedly took the side of Davion and won the civil war for davion, or helped the revival of archon Steiner if you will.

Linear is good, but in today's time I feel that people like the freedom of choice rather than be restricted. and here there's nothing holding pgi back from making it a free will of choice rather than restricted.

Either way, I'm sure there will be more to discuss in the next year or so on the game.

Actually, I meant Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

MW5 from PGI ...its a good Joke , im hope of a MWO with a real FW, fixed HSR Hitreg and a good Matchmaker, and a new Map ...for 2020..

[Vellron2005]

Personally, if we are speculating..

I would like to see failure being just as impacting as success.. I don't see why a failed mission would be a bad thing.. for instance, if you have a mission to assassinate a particular NPC, and you succeed, great.. move on.. and if you fail.. have a whole another story arc with that NPC.. hunting him, or him hunting you..

Also, I really hope that the game will be exclusive, in the sense that if you pick one faction, you can't just jump to another one without being penalized and called a traitor.. OR that the game will simply lead you A to B through all the factions like in MW4 Mercs..

It would be best that the player is presented with a vast galaxy of opportunity, and that the player's choice determines what happens from that point on.. with success and failure having equal impact, and actions having reactions..

For me, one of the best games I've ever played was Skyrim. But it was also one of the worst in the sense that it allowed a player to do waaaay to much..

Let me illustrate:

In Skyrim, the SAME PLAYER could simultaneously be an ex warewolf - turned vampire, dragon soul eating hero, who is also an arcmage, the top sellsword fighter, a secret assassin, a landlord of several real estates, a father, a husband, who is beloved and celebrated as a heroic figure, while also worshiping evil demons, and being a canibal.

Its just TOO MUCH.

Please don't go that way with MW5.. If you decide you wanna go Steiner, go Steiner, but then block out Davion or something..

Ideally, I want MW5 to be such, that you simply CAN'T complete it in one playthrough. A single playthrough should let me complete maybe 30% of the total game.

That would be great..

Edited by Vellron2005, 07 February 2017 - 04:24 AM.

[naterist]

each planets probably going to have one mission on it at all times, and as time goes by those missions change to different missions based on the timeline, and your stats. outside of that itll be like and innersphere sandbox game, were you can go wherever and do whatever missions are available.

i hope they contract some battletech authors to do the storyline like gears of war 3 did. that was a great story based game, and its mostly because karen travis wrote the script. let the pros do the story, pgi do the game.

[Oldbob10025]

cazidin, on 06 February 2017 - 12:33 PM, said:

You're still an [CENSORED].

To answer your question? Probably similar to MW3 or MW4. You'll have a decent sized storyline with the opportunity to see it from the POV of a few factions that you can play from. It won't be spectacular or brilliant, but it'll be good and might even have good acting and some nice moments.

We don't play MechWarrior for the story. We play it to see the other Giant Robot go boom. Some may play for the story or lore, and I do hope that they enjoy whatever it is in MW:V, but if it's fun to play? I probably will just laugh at stupid dialogue or plot holes and carry on, making other Giant Robots go boom.

Spoken like a True Jumping COD player Sad panda

I would be fine with a lore story line with all the elements of what makes Battletech Great..I just hope they would do well and make it so you feel like you are part of the game instead of COD...

[Scout Derek]

razenWing, on 07 February 2017 - 12:49 AM, said:

Actually, I meant Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

welp. oh well.

you know people have thought I talked about COD too when I used the acronym mwo. they were like "is that a new modern warfare?"

Edited by Scout Derek, 07 February 2017 - 07:21 PM.

[razenWing]

Scout Derek, on 07 February 2017 - 05:18 PM, said:

welp. oh well.

you know people have thought I talked about COD too when u used the acronym mwo. they were like "is that a new modern warfare?"

razenWing, on 06 February 2017 - 07:07 PM, said:

I am actually surprised by the response so far. So most of you actually prefer a MW3 style story telling with possible MW4: Merc sophistication.

A linear storyline is not bad. It can provided a more cinematic experience, barring that the execution is correct. For linear action game purposes, I really like Cod: MW2. A lot of people like MW1 better, but I thought MW2 is the right amount of cinematic feel the game needed.

Regardless, my point is, I thought the cinematic value of Modern Warfare 2 is super solid, and something the Mechwarrior 5 can strive toward.

[Scout Derek]

razenWing, on 07 February 2017 - 06:08 PM, said:

Regardless, my point is, I thought the cinematic value of Modern Warfare 2 is super solid, and something the Mechwarrior 5 can strive toward.

I meant to write "I", but yes, Modern Warfare 2 is something MW5 could use as an good example of cinematic.

[cazidin]

Oldbob10025, on 07 February 2017 - 05:47 AM, said:

Spoken like a True Jumping COD player Sad panda

I would be fine with a lore story line with all the elements of what makes Battletech Great..I just hope they would do well and make it so you feel like you are part of the game instead of COD...

Sir. I'll have you know that bunny-hopping was a legit tactic in Quake 3.

Or so I've been told. I haven't played Quake 3 Arena, nor do I play CoD games.

Perhaps I misspoke originally. Lore is VERY important to this series and is often appreciated as fan service but I simply don't trust PGI to be able to weave a brilliant narrative when they can't even be bothered to include lore in THIS game. Until we know who the writer(s) are, I can't say if they'll do it justice or not, but I assume not.

[Alan Davion]

naterist, on 07 February 2017 - 04:34 AM, said:

each planets probably going to have one mission on it at all times, and as time goes by those missions change to different missions based on the timeline, and your stats. outside of that itll be like and innersphere sandbox game, were you can go wherever and do whatever missions are available.

i hope they contract some battletech authors to do the storyline like gears of war 3 did. that was a great story based game, and its mostly because karen travis wrote the script. let the pros do the story, pgi do the game.

Exactly how do you mean each planet? Keep in mind there are something like 2 million star systems in the Inner Sphere, but only two thousand planets are actually colonized to some degree or another. I can guarantee you 90% of the planets in the Inner Sphere don't have much going on. It's always the planets within about 60 light years of a States border with another State that have all the action.

About the sole exception to this I can think of was Operation Scorpion when ComStar tried to take control of all the planets throughout the Inner Sphere, which blew up in their faces quite spectacularly.

For instance, there are only about 30 star systems in House Davion space that have any Military Units stationed on them that border Kurita and Liao space, while there's at least 2-3 times more along said borders in Davion space. Some of those systems could be reached within about 2 weeks time, which is probably the quickest that a unit could be shuttled up to their respective jumpship, jump to the next system, and then shuttle down to the planet they're needed on.

That being said, MW5 needs to take concepts from MW2/4 Mercs, and possibly the upcoming HBS BT game. For instance, one of the best things I enjoyed about MW2: Mercs was going back and forth from Outreach between campaigns.

Outreach being the only place to get campaign contracts, weapons, ammo, other equipment, mechs and pilots from made it extremely important to think long and hard about certain decisions, specifically contracts and mechs. Weapons, ammo, equipment and pilots were relatively easy to acquire at a whim... The major exception of course being changing your mechs engine from a STD to an XL when it became available in 3047-3048. If you were trying to run more than 1 mech you probably couldn't afford an XL engine.

This aspect of MW2: Mercs made you feel like there was an actual universe going on outside that planet. The LRM shortage event for instance. MW4: Mercs didn't have anything like that. The fact that you couldn't buy replacement mechs anywhere but Outreach was another factor in favor of MW2: Mercs. You could only repair your mechs when on an active campaign, and if you lost a mech completely, or lost a weapon and didn't have a replacement, you were SOL.

MW4: Mercs was way too forgiving in that you could buy mechs, weapons and recruit pilots anywhere.

However, what MW4: Mercs did right, was the faction standing system. MW5 needs something like that, full stop. Something that affects how much or how little you get paid by a faction... Or whether they'll even hire you at all if your standing with them is bad enough.

The Nobility and Infamy system was another good aspect of MW4: Mercs. There were several events in MW2: Mercs that would have been perfect for such a system, and even just careless firing in certain missions could affect your nobility or infamy across the Inner Sphere.

The campaign on Gravenhague where you're working for House Kurita against a merc unit called the Dread Legion for instance. The first mission where you're tasked with capturing water tanks, I believe it was stated you're not to attack the town there. Near as I could tell if you did attack the town not a damn thing happened. I might be wrong though, it's been a long time since I played MW2: Mercs.

There were a lot more events that could have affects on Nobility and Infamy throughout MW2: Mercs.

I believe the upcoming HBS BT game will have something like that, at least as far as the contract and faction standing system goes. What you do for one faction affects your standing with one or more of the others.

Edited by Alan Davion, 07 February 2017 - 08:58 PM.