22 replies to this topic

[razenWing]

I know I'm like 3 weeks late, but I just saw this...



It's the 10 min IGN MW5 gameplay video featuring your Gundam Shadowhawk.

Now, there are a lot of things that I like, but at the same time... you know.

Let's start with some positive/neutral observations:

1) This is basically your Force Awaken. It's the classic Mechwarrior single player experience. Giant stompy robits, kicks a bunch of butt, very cool. A fairly accurate rehash of what made past Mechwarrior single player games great.
2) The visual is amazing. I like the gun barrel recoil. I wish that's something in MWO, but alas.
3) The sound element is proper. It's not distracting with music only appearing at the appropriate cinematic moment.
4) Maybe the pilot is just not very good (so I actually don't know if this is by design), but I like the fact that not all the shots are "precise" or "meta convergence." It's more of a... "let's aim at the general direction and watch things explode" feel. That to me, is something brand new after 3 years of MWO. (Again, maybe that's not intentional simply because the pilot wasn't very good, but hey... you know)

---------------

With that said... here's some of my more... critical points:

1) Let's start with the mission design. The whole point is to blow up that building at the end right? So... really, would that not be easier to simply fly your big @ss ship at 500 mph and do a flyby with your on-board canons? It apparently doesn't take much to destroy, as a few AC5 rounds took it out. So why is this mission design the way it is in the first place? I mean, you only landed like less than a mile away from the objectives anyways...

2) Which leads directly to my second point... if you play MWO, facing off against a solo Catapult/Locust duo with your SHD is not a walk in a park. (retraction, depends on how good you are, I guess) What's the point of all those static defense and mech escort defenders if you are able to do what you do so easily? I mean, are you a Gundam??!?!?

3) The in mission objectives. It's another stickler point for me. The first time of hearing "hey take this out for extra cash" is nice. But in a short span of 3 minutes to hear the exact same dialogue 2 more times? Couldn't it be... "hey again, taking this out will rake in extra cash." You know, something to mix it up to acknowledge that the same thing has been said already. Cause, the repetitive objective dialogues actually is very noticeable.

4) It's nice to be the Force Awaken. But it's not bold or new. You are playing the same game where you are towering over everyone else like a freaking Kaiju. Example.

Even if Manticore tank is a light armor vehicle. There is NO WAY in hell that it's only about your ankle height and that you simply just walk over it. (also, say you drop a boulder on your car right now. Your car will not explode. It will be deformed REALLY badly. But simply walking over something doesn't make it go kaboom) I had problem with this scale issue back in the trailer, and it's pretty much still here.

Now, I get it. You are a "mechwarrior" (whatever the hell that means) and you are able to take down the Empire by yourself like Dak. But at some point, sticking to a rehash of the old formula kind of takes the tension out of the game, as you can't fail as a Gundam pilot. There's nothing dangerous about wrecking 3 outposts with heavy static defenses with tanks that you step over and facing off against 2 mechs with 1 of a heavier chasis.

I mentioned before that it may be neat to undo all of that hero complex and embrace the more gritty nature of how we interpret wars now a days. Things are a little more to scale. You are not as giant as you are. Hazards are... well... hazardous. Your opponents fight as your equal and really build on that tension. But I guess we are not getting that in this game. (I mean, I guess I kind of got that feel in the Alpha testing video, so it's not a huge shocker, but o well)

5) It's not an easy issue to fix, as it's unfair to judge a product for something that's never been done. But, say you are a Manticore driver in the above scenario, on approaching battlemech, would you...

A: try to maneuver a little to make yourself hard to kill
B: just sit there like a turret

With that said, I do recognize that the AI is hard to program, and we not going to get craft AI enemies. So it's more of a minor point in my analysis.

6) Yea, I have to agree with a few of the review video that I've watched. Why did they switch the HUD screen from the pre-Alpha? That was a lot more innovative and far superior than this.

7) That hilarious tree at the end. Cause, crashing into concrete buildings... no problem. Stepping over 20 tons of metal... not an issue. Wood... o the ultimate nemesis.

---------------

All in all... am I still going to buy it? Hell yea. Do I think it's a game that will kill MWO even if there is COOP? Nope. Not by a long shot. You can binge watch the 80s notalgia popcorn flicks for a few days, but ultimately, it's not something you can do everyday. It has no staying power. Even as toxic and horrible MWO is, the "O" aspect at least make the game unique. You are not fighting pushover opponents (unless you are uber tier, then... everyone is a pushover to you) and it's a lot more tensions as a result.

Simply... it's fun once in a while to play a game on uber easy mode. But only games with high difficulties will bring back someone for more. I can see myself playing on launch for 2 weeks straght, then probably rejoin my units for more drops in MWO (or other games, who the hell knows. haven't bought a mechpack since last... July. Is the game dying a little bit inside me???)

Edited by razenWing, 15 January 2018 - 02:02 AM.

[El Bandito]

I am pretty sure that PGI intentionally gave more durability to the protagonist's mech, just so the demo guy can finish the missions--which is why it looked like a walk in the park. You basically saw the gameplay on "easy" settings.

Edited by El Bandito, 15 January 2018 - 02:23 AM.

[Nema Nabojiv]

razenWing, on 15 January 2018 - 01:57 AM, said:

4) Maybe the pilot is just not very good (so I actually don't know if this is by design), but I like the fact that not all the shots are "precise" or "meta convergence."

He's so very "not very good", that the entire video doesn't make musch sense. He would be dead after the first base if not for infinite armor and ammo.

The real gameplay, from what I see, is going to be much more cautios and calculated than the stompfest we see in videos.

Edited by Nema Nabojiv, 15 January 2018 - 02:20 AM.

[Armored Yokai]

Did you know that the Shadow Hawk's shadow left arm stays low instead of up like the right arm with the Medium Laser?
this is just like the Mecommander run mode for the centurion!

Edited by Armored Yokai, 15 January 2018 - 02:38 AM.

[Lily from animove]

HUD is still ugly, and that radarm lol whats that MW3? you woudo mean a modern format gves us a lot more MWO like real graphics top look radar maps. Especially int he future this should be.

Also, the mech they use feels way to bullet spongey, so looks like exciting gameplay for t5 people.

That seriously looks like VERY early unrefined gameplay at all.

Nema Nabojiv, on 15 January 2018 - 02:20 AM, said:

He's so t5, that the entire video doesn't make musch sense. He would be dead after the first base if not for infinite armor and ammo.

The real gameplay, from what I see, is going to be much more cautios and calculated than the stompfest we see in videos.

ftfy

Edited by Lily from animove, 15 January 2018 - 06:58 AM.

[Troa Barton]

Huh? What?
Needs more missiles and bullets.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

sadly thats the mechs pumped up to kajiin Format ...in the old days a Shadowhawk was 9,63 m tall ...like the Lengt of a Abrams M1 thats the Mechs go up to the knee and a level 2 Building gives all mechs Cover ...now all in Godzilla Format and Tanks only cannonfodder

Edited by Old MW4 Ranger, 16 January 2018 - 03:40 AM.

[Seranov]

>my giant stompy robots are too giant
Sorry, this is not a complaint I can empathize with.

They clearly gave the pilot more armor and ammo than they'd get normally because he is absolutely awful at video games, it is likely you will have to rely on having AI companions to prevent you from getting focused down by 2+ enemy mechs, as well as ammo and heat management on top of that.

Any other points the OP made were lost in translation, but I think it's safe to say that this video is proof of concept at best, and not a very good example of what the final game will be like.

[Andi Nagasia]

well if you look to the weapons it seems that all have 999 ammo,
so im assuming that they are playing with Cheats, which is ok for a quick run threw,

we all remember the cheats in the Game Options in MW3,

Invincible
Infinite Ammo
Heat Management
ect,

perhaps they are using similar cheats,
x2 health(or 50% Damage Reduction) would explain why they seem so overly tanky,
Max Ammo(start match with max ammo) would explain the 999 Ammo for their weapons,
we will just have to see how things work, closer to release,

Edited by Andi Nagasia, 15 January 2018 - 11:59 AM.

[Alex Morgaine]

LL and ppc Mechs will reign if missions are that long without rearming.

[Seranov]

Alex Morgaine, on 15 January 2018 - 01:58 PM, said:

LL and ppc Mechs will reign if missions are that long without rearming.

We'll see. They'll probably allow larger amounts of ammo per ton than MWO does, in order to account for the fact that missions should be much longer than individual MWO matches, with more opponents to deal with.

[MechaBattler]

I think we need a video without cheats on. With lancemate AIs. So we can really get an impression of what we're getting.

Edited by MechaBattler, 15 January 2018 - 02:40 PM.

[Jonathan8883]

I was a little concerned by how slow and ploddy the Shadow Hawk seemed to be.

[Hit the Deck]

I like the oomph feel when you jump because it's how it's supposed to be when using JJs (maybe it's just the sound - I dunno).

HUD needs to be more utilitarian (less useless sloping lines please) and all relevant info should be in the center near the crosshair like this:

[Nema Nabojiv]

Alex Morgaine, on 15 January 2018 - 01:58 PM, said:

LL and ppc Mechs will reign if missions are that long without rearming.

Yes, pretty much how MW3 was played - lasers from max range to conserve your armor. At least in the kind of solo missions that's been shown so far.

Though I hope for close range engagements when your lance is around and swarms of tanks and choppers are less of a problem.

[Brody319]

Jonathan8883, on 15 January 2018 - 03:16 PM, said:

I was a little concerned by how slow and ploddy the Shadow Hawk seemed to be.

its probably just the stock mech you get at the start.

[Lily from animove]

Alex Morgaine, on 15 January 2018 - 01:58 PM, said:

LL and ppc Mechs will reign if missions are that long without rearming.

yeah in MW3 you had at least the MFB with you for repair and rearm.

Edited by Lily from animove, 18 January 2018 - 01:27 AM.

[Sjorpha]

So far it looks bad honestly.

Graphics in general looks really bad for a 2018 game, as well as for a UE4 game.

AI is horrible, flightpaths for the flying units look especially bad. Physics are buggy in several instances. Destruction looks copypasted from place to place, not dynamic/realistic. The UI looks bad, much worse than the first trailer, the mech itself looks like a chore to pilot and the bouncing is overdone. The sounds sound uninspiring. The weapons don't look fun to use, the AC and missiles both travel in slowmotion and look so similar in the air it's difficult to know which is which. And finally the mission design doesn't impress at all.

Jumpjets seem nice though.

In short, if this is representative of what MW5 will be like, there isn't much to be excited about.

[Anjian]

I'm in for it.

The format reminds me of Armored Core, which has this story campaign, and which you can coop with it. Its the prototype for Dark Souls. But you can take out the PvP modes including the community warfare mode in the last version of AC. What it really needs is to raise the difficulty, and to have special coop modes with truly boss levels of difficulty.

[Snowbluff]

I love the amount of stuff you can smash. Stomping on that tower sold this game for me.