28 replies to this topic

[ArcaneIce]

Zakatak, on 25 May 2012 - 05:46 AM, said:

That giant mech feel?

The one when you start pushing your throttle forward, and feel the entire cockpit lurch forward, pressing the seatbelts against your ribcage? Followed by violent rock left and right that prevents you from keeping your head up straight as you reach cruising speed? Then followed by the "bounce" every half second with the feeling of flying in between each step, as your mech glides across the ground at 86.4kph?

Ya, it has that.

Wish I had one of those motion chair things that you see at amusement parks sometimes. That would be a whole new level of immersion to play sitting in that with a throttle/joystick built in.

[Electric Mayhem]

The walk is good in most of the MW games. You can't have TOO much shake and rattle from each step or cannonshot, since a big part of the in-world mythos is the balance and coordination the pilot gives the mech through the neurohelmet. That being said, a sense of mass, a bit of recoil and watching your opponent spun halfway around when you hit their side torso with an AC 20...yeah, from the Dev videos, it looks like those are in there.

[syngyne]

eZZip, on 25 May 2012 - 12:44 PM, said:

I feel that I know exactly what you mean. When I saw videos of Hawken, my first thought was, "if I can maneuver like a a regular human and take damage linearly to a health bar like most in-game humans, why don't I just play a better game that has human player characters?"

It's a different style of gameplay, that's for sure, but the most recent videos I think do a really good job of conveying a sense of being in a walking machine (albeit a very nimble one). The MechWarrior games have never truly driven that feeling home for me, with MW4 being the worst of the bunch.

Steel Battalion: Line of Contact sets the bar for me in terms of big, heavy machine feel (minus the dodge slide). Start at about 1:06:



Not so much the movement of the cockpit model itself, but look at the view out the screen whenever the VT takes a step. It's also really hard to tell in this video, but if watch when the camera is turned sideways to the VT's movement, you can see it actually slowing down slightly every time it plants a foot. The game had a lot of quirks (no one quite knows what the view camera was looking out of exactly, and the control scheme was actually really badly laid out), but they got the walk right.

[MechRaccoon]

I know what you're talking about. That feel that you're IN the cockpit getting slapped around by the enemy's weapons. That is a pretty cool feeling. I also agree with you on Armored core, even though I haven't played any of them. I just watched videos of For Answer.

[Eternal Pink]

NeBeL2, on 25 May 2012 - 05:52 AM, said:

I remember this feeling only in mw3, this and ac's recoil made unforgettable impression on me

It was in Mechwarrior 2 and Mechwarrior 2 Mercs as well, on a timber wolf (Mad cat) for instance at low speeds it would just walk and then as you sped up it would start to take bigger strides

[Zakatak]

NeBeL2, on 25 May 2012 - 05:52 AM, said:

I remember this feeling only in mw3, this and ac's recoil made unforgettable impression on me

Aside from the terrible mechlab mechanics, MW3 remains my favorite Mechwarrior because of that gritty, atmospheric, immersive Battletech experience. The way your mech lurched with each step, the way your mech pulled to the side when you put a autocannon on your arm, the way the MBT leader yelled "can somebody *static* rotate that probe!!"

[SmashMaster]

Actually being inside your cockpit is one of the most important parts of this. Same with racing games; most just put you on the hood of the car, or behind it. It feels fake. Games like NFS:Shift that actually put you behind a steering wheel are 1000x more immersive.

[AlexZander]

Dorion, on 25 May 2012 - 05:39 AM, said:

One thing I've always loved about Mechwarrior is that it "feels" like your in a giant machine.

Over the years I've attemped to play other mech style games since there was a big gap in Mechwarrior. Specifically, I recall Armored Core on my PS3. When I played it, I felt like I was just a "guy", not a giant mech, running around no different from starwars battlefront or other shooters.

I hope that MWO keeps that giant mech "feel". Its hard to explain. Do you guys know what I'm talkin about?

I hope you are right and agree. Playing MW3 felt like you were actually lumbering around in a giant machine. MW4 not quite as much, felt a bit more 'arcade' like instead of the Sim feel of Mechwarrior3. Still enjoyed both games though. Hopefully the Mechs in MWO will have that 'Sim' feel to them like MW3 had.

[Zakatak]

I find that the noise the mech is just as important as the animation of the mech itself. In MW4, when you walk with a Madcat Mark II in the snow, it sounded like they recorded a guy mucking around in snowshoes. When you jumpjetted 120 meters into the air and landed, there wasn't even a noise at all.

I like this, the movement, the noise, the mechanical whirring of myomers and fusion engine. At the same time, the mech is stable enough to be an accurate mobile weapons platform. It isn't like the MW4 Nova Cat that wobbled like a fast penguin from side to side, as if it didn't have a gyro.



Keep in mind that mechs have muscles, not electric motors. They should move powerfully and heavily, but not stiffly like Chromehounds/BF2142.

Edited by Zakatak, 25 May 2012 - 04:53 PM.