4 replies to this topic

[Wikikomoto]

there will probably never be a better, pure battletech title than mechwarrior 3 in terms of presentation. it was the only game in the franchise that had the mechs represented as closely to their established art as possible. some mechs had no arms, some had no torsos. all mechs were unique, and felt different. its unfortunate to know that no mech game will ever strive to have this again.

people say "some of the old mechs look awful!!" yeah, some of them do. but many, MANY of them don't. seeing the original design of the atlas stand toe-to-toe with the beautifully designed original madcat is amazing for so many reasons. the ugly, blocky, humanoid atlas is such a stark contrast to the cleverly designed, pure performance clan-tech madcat. from a glance, you instantly know which is the newer design, and which one has been around for hundreds of years.

you simply dont have that in mechwarrior online. the atlas and the madcat are designed by the same guy, with little to no thought put into the new art. "make it look cool" was the only criteria. and as such, they both look like they walked off the same production line, on the same planet, in the same year.

the original designs in contrast, are designed by different people over the course of decades. it works perfectly when you consider these machines are supposed to be world and eons apart. old designs look "bad" new designs look new.

in mwo, everything looks the same. clan tech, obsolete, from the banshee to the blood asp, they all look the same. same random panel lines, same pistons connecting to nothing. same awkward cockpit redesigns, same design elements across the board.

what can be done? classic skins maybe? classic variants, offered as champion mechs? make some money off it, us old time fans would gobble it up.

now, how about UI? mechwarrior 3 was sleek. realistic. the HUD was clearly modeled off a modern day fighter aircraft. bright green is used, as its easily contrasted against most colors. the HUD itself is sharp. no awkward, pointless angles and random "style" elements added for extra sci-fi points. it was all it needed to be, with nothing added. the heat scale was far easier to read at a glance. no clutter. the BB just saying the name of the weapon destroyed "laser, gauss rifle" was so much more coherent than hearing "laser destroyed, gauss rifle destroyed" everything was built around making you feel like a pilot.

literally any one of these elements would improve the game dramatically. i don't for a second think any of them would ever be implemented. but its something to consider.

i could go on for weeks about gameplay improvements. the feeling of weight, ground deformation, reactor meltdowns. mechwarrior 3 was so ahead of its time. but again, i know none of these things will ever reach a newer mech game.

if they introduced the original design of the madcat as a standalone hero, with unique geometry and nothing else, that'd make a buzz and draw people in. its money sitting on the table, AND making fans happy. win win

[SilentFenris]

Good thoughts, but not practical.

I have enjoyed Battletech and Mechwarrior for decades. There are necessary differences between Battletech and Mechwarrior because Battletech is turn-based strategic gameplay whereas Mechwarrior is realtime simulated combat.

Add the additional challenge of Mechwarrior Online being a multiplayer online game vs Mechwarrior 3 was designed as a single-player campaign with multiplayer capability . Plus PGI doesn't have the staffing for MWO that Microsoft threw into MW3.

Client performance, load times, server-hit-registration, sharing realtime status of every object on the map with twenty-four players instead of one to four take priority to make the game functional over stuff we would like to have such as reactor explosions, inverse kinetics, melee combat, etc.

[Vanguard319]

You forgot that you could literally destroy terrain, drop buildings on people, water actually affected your mobility, especially since you had water deep enough to submerge many mechs.

[Smutty]

Wikikomoto, on 19 December 2018 - 03:59 AM, said:

words

Imagine being an artist who redefines the entire aesthetic of the Mechwarrior franchise. Then some dude says "man this art sucks. Can you make it look like the old art? You know, back when everything had five total polygons in it? That'd be great thanks." I feel like you haven't given a very good look at the distinctions between MWO's Mechs. The Banshee's look, both as a whole and in pieces, is very different compared to the Blood Asp, just to use the two you mentioned. This holds true for most chassis in the game. Not really sure why you think returning to the asinine lego sets of old is a step forward. Sure they looked cool for the time but that's just a soft way of saying they didn't age well. And they really didn't.

Additionally, you do realise MWO is an arcade game right? It's absolutely not designed as a sim nor should it be. It's never going to be a sim-like game either. Now, Mechwarrior V might be far closer to what you want out of a Mechwarrior game, and from the demo at Mech Con, it certainly feels that way, but players who desire a FPS Mech game aren't necessarily attracted to simulators.

As far as nods to the classics, you can see some of this in the Bolt-Ons (which admittedly is a pretty bad system) as well as Collectors and Hero variants for Mechs, such as the toy-painted Bushwacker or Mauler. PGI has significantly bigger fish to fry than worry about "classic skins," whatever that means. I wouldn't hold my breath for a MW3-styled Mad Cat either. Thing would have the jankiest hitboxes, never mind hardpoints.

I reckon you have a bad case of nostalgia mate

[Cichol Balor]

as much as i enjoy mw3 (being it was my first mw game and my introduction to the franchise) most of the mechs in that game looked like trash once you remove the nostalgia. I mean the madcat looked like it would tear itself apart with anything close to those proportions.

Edited by Cichol Balor, 22 December 2018 - 11:34 AM.