Battlefield thread...

[excaliburps]

Hey! So I did a search and TAY doesn't have a BF thread. So I made one!

Anyone here excited for BF3 as much as I am? I'm reading everything I can about it. Poring over every detail. To the point that I got hired by a site for it.

Site is battlefield3news.com it's still in beta stage so bear with us. I'm going to be posting gameplay vids, montages, and other BF related stuff there. So don't hesitate to drop by and say hi. (Mods please tell me if I have to edit this out or something).

Anyhoo, only bad news so far is the console ports are only going to be getting 24 players. I hope we at least get 32. Yes, I know I should play it on the PC and whatnot. But the rest of the staff are doing it and I'm the only one covering the consoles.

So, what do you guys want/think about BF3?

[TheForgetfulBrain]

I'm pretty excited - I loved the Bad Company games, and I'm excited to see what they're going to do when they go 'all out' on one of their 'main series' sequels.

 

I mean, if they've canned like three other games just to focus on this, it had better be damn good.

 

Can't wait to see some gameplay!

[Akuam4n]

Anyhoo, only bad news so far is the console ports are only going to be getting 24 players.

I'd rather have no frostbite, and have more players. I was hoping for more. After toying around with MAG, most games just don't do it for my anymore with 24 players. BC2 maps now feel too big IMO. Any time I am having to sit there, and wait on them to re-spawn to have something to do, that's just bad.

 

I would even buy BC3 for my pc, but I am horrendous on a pc. I can't even play TF2 well.

 

 

[staySICK]

I've only played Bad Company...

 

... what's the difference?

[HotChops]

I've only played Bad Company...

 

... what's the difference?

 

fundamentally speaking, not much.

 

It's been my experience that the various Battlefield franchises are individual experiments -- take Bad Company for example, which I believe was DICE's attempt at making a faster, more console-friendly Battlefield experience.

[TheForgetfulBrain]

BC3 is the core franchise, so I imagine it will just be everything BC2 was, but magnified somewhat, and possibly without the Single Player portion.

[Chewblaha]

I only play Battlefield '43 nowadays on XBL.

[Maritan]

I'm concerned about maps. If they're really going to make 64 player battles on PC and bring back jets they're going to need much bigger maps. And big maps + 24 players on consoles = kinda strange. It's not CoD.

I've only played Bad Company...

 

... what's the difference?

To put it simply, Bad Company is a "console spin off", a successfull experiment. Now BF3 is a whole new beast(I hope), DICE promise the return of BF as it is, with big maps and jets and a lot of other exciting shit.

Can't wait to rape basepeople with my bros, lol.

 

Also, for all European Kotakuites: there's a nice No Rules BC2 server in Europe - [GV] Official Server. Feel free to join.

Edited February 17, 2011 by Maritan

[Lemmiwinks]

I'm happy for the hopeful return to large maps and tons of people, yet sad that I have gotten out of PC gaming for the most part and prefer the consoles. While I want to think the PS3 version will be fine, it will by no means, be anything compared to the PC version. 24 players? That's it? lame. Give me Mag graphics and the player count tyvm. Battlefield is an awesome series of titles, the main ones at least, and once you have played them on a PC, the other versions just feel, tainted.

[excaliburps]

BC3 is the core franchise, so I imagine it will just be everything BC2 was, but magnified somewhat, and possibly without the Single Player portion.

 

BC was the off-shoot and Battlefield is the main one.

 

Also, SP has been confirmed to be in as well for BF3. Coop even!

[excaliburps]

Can't wait for more info to drop! March 1 can't come soon enough.

 

If anyone's interested, I posted two new things on battlefield3news.com

 

What do you guys think I should cover regarding BF3 and BF in general?

[TheForgetfulBrain]

BC3 is the core franchise, so I imagine it will just be everything BC2 was, but magnified somewhat, and possibly without the Single Player portion.

 

BC was the off-shoot and Battlefield is the main one.

 

Also, SP has been confirmed to be in as well for BF3. Coop even!

 

Hahhaa dohhhf, I messed up my abbreviations.

 

For shame!

[excaliburps]

BC3 is the core franchise, so I imagine it will just be everything BC2 was, but magnified somewhat, and possibly without the Single Player portion.

 

BC was the off-shoot and Battlefield is the main one.

 

Also, SP has been confirmed to be in as well for BF3. Coop even!

 

Hahhaa dohhhf, I messed up my abbreviations.

 

For shame!

 

Haha! Kinda guessed as much!

[excaliburps]

For anyone interested, I update battlefield3news.com with a little snippet of what a couple of devs told me, and a couple of vids. Anyone interested just hop on there and take a look.

 

What would be a good topic? Can anyone here suggest something?

[HotChops]

First off, I don't think that Battlefield 2, 3 or whatever is the "core" franchise. Battlefield doesn't technically have a core. If I were to assign criteria to what makes a core BF experience, I'd say it's whatever sticks closest to the source -- Battlefield 1942.

 

Anywho, I just got the Game Informer issue with the feature on BF 3. My impressions:

 

- The article is terribly written. I'm actually a fan of GI, but this article is bereft of significant details, lacks a cohesive message and at times is ambiguous, for example...

 

- There's a blurb heading that says "Destruction 3.0," but from what I can tell, BF3 still uses the Frostbite 2 engine used in BC2.

 

- They said that they're not going to make squads limited to four players, or at least they're going to find some way to compensate for that limitation. Who knows how much this problem cost BC2 sales. It was hard enough to convince my friends to try BC2, but after three evenings in a row of us struggling to string together two or three separate squads, three of my friends traded their copies for Black Ops. (I understand that they already bought the game, but think about the impact that made on them seeing as how they never played a BF game before.)

 

- The new player animations supposedly put an end to the "floaty" player animations of traditional FPS games.

 

- The single player mode definitely has plenty of cursing in the dialogue, so it's possible that the multiplayer will also have lots of swear words. (I see one of you complained about that.)

 

- The interview with Patrick Bach was shockingly honest. DICE basically admits that they kind of half-assed Bad Company 2 and that they never expected it to be as successful as it was. (This is particularly irritating to me and my friends, who have watched as the game's bugs and glitches remain unfixed for months on end.)

 

- IMO, DICE is both right and wrong to balance the game as they do. Bach frequently reminds readers that they make restrictions in the gameplay to "keep it fun for everyone." What they continue to misunderstand is that there are still things that need to be fixed. For example -- the helicopter is not necessarily overpowered, but the defenses against it can be depending on the map. Port Valdez's middle segment in Rush mode is a perfect example. The helicopter can easily be shot down with the AA Tank. There's just one problem: there's 15 other assholes on the team who always jump in the tank and get it destroyed before you can use it to take down the helicopter. The same can be said for the UAV -- which can ensure that the helicopter never leaves the ground if it's utilized properly, or the tracer/AT missile combo. In these cases, one weapon is individually powerful, whereas the counterbalance against it requires collective cooperation -- which is hard to come by in online multiplayer.

 

- DICE also argues that they don't need customization such as carving your initials into your weapon because you can customize your loadout. I could care less, but I'm annoyed that they act like that feature is something special. It's not unique. Every fucking shooter does that now....

 

-... which leads to my last complaint that DICE sometimes seems completely oblivious to what's going on around them. They ignore massive bugs, act like they're the only online shooter in the world, and pretend like some of us don't play their games 100 times more than they do.

 

 

That's what I like about Jason West and Vince Zampella. I don't even like CoD that much, but those guys tune in to what's going on around them. They would never allow for a glitch like the win/lose screen error in BC2 to continue for more than a few hours, let alone an entire year.

Edited February 19, 2011 by HotChops

[Akuam4n]

That's what I like about Jason West and Vince Zampella. I don't even like CoD that much, but those guys tune in to what's going on around them. They would never allow for a glitch like the win/lose screen error in BC2 to continue for more than a few hours, let alone an entire year.

And this is why COD4 is still my favorite shooter to play online, of all time.

Edited February 20, 2011 by Iamaquaman

[HotChops]

That's what I like about Jason West and Vince Zampella. I don't even like CoD that much, but those guys tune in to what's going on around them. They would never allow for a glitch like the win/lose screen error in BC2 to continue for more than a few hours, let alone an entire year.

And this is why COD4 is still my favorite shooter to play online, of all time.

I got a chance to see them at one of Quakecon's panels this summer along with Todd Howard

 

They're incredibly down to Earth. Jason West is the kind of silly dork who will accidentally spittle on your face while he excitedly tells a story - complete with sound effects and exaggerated arm gestures. It would be hilarious to see him interacting with Bobby Kotick because he's the complete opposite of your typical corporate executive.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to B-Field though... I feel bad because my last post seemed kind of negative. I'd like to make it clear that I really love Battlefield, the good with the bad.

 

A few more points from the GI article:

 

- Single player really appears to be more robust than ever before. Most of the GI article is actually about the single player. Only a sidebar interview with exec. producer Patrick Bach offers info about the multiplayer.

 

- BF3 apparently sports even better lighting effects than previous games. Sound is also improved. DICE wants the sound to be very functional; they want you to be able to tell the difference between the sound of a tank moving directly at you as opposed to driving around you. They also hinted that it may play an important role in tracking down the location of snipers.

 

- It looks like there will be four player classes like in BC2.

 

- Bach said they've taken an interest in a theater mode (like in Halo and BlOps,) but it doesn't sound like they're prepared to implement it yet.

 

- There will be some sort of co-op included in the retail copy of the game. No other specifics about that.

 

- While the ability to go prone is back, DICE is working on ways to expose people who go prone, such as muzzle flashes and vapor traces.

 

- And I probably should have noted this much earlier, but DICE made clear that Battlefield 3 is being made for the PC first. Furthermore:

 

"We are letting the PC audience make use of the very expensive hardware that they just bought so they can tick all the boxes and for the 64-player fights."

 

and

 

"We will not deliver mod tools in the way that we delivered them for Battlefield 2." According to Bach, creating mod tools eats up a lot of resources that they don't feel free to provide right now. However, "[DICE is] still discussing how [they] handle modifications of any kind."

[excaliburps]

That's what I like about Jason West and Vince Zampella. I don't even like CoD that much, but those guys tune in to what's going on around them. They would never allow for a glitch like the win/lose screen error in BC2 to continue for more than a few hours, let alone an entire year.

And this is why COD4 is still my favorite shooter to play online, of all time.

I got a chance to see them at one of Quakecon's panels this summer along with Todd Howard

 

They're incredibly down to Earth. Jason West is the kind of silly dork who will accidentally spittle on your face while he excitedly tells a story - complete with sound effects and exaggerated arm gestures. It would be hilarious to see him interacting with Bobby Kotick because he's the complete opposite of your typical corporate executive.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to B-Field though... I feel bad because my last post seemed kind of negative. I'd like to make it clear that I really love Battlefield, the good with the bad.

 

A few more points from the GI article:

 

- Single player really appears to be more robust than ever before. Most of the GI article is actually about the single player. Only a sidebar interview with exec. producer Patrick Bach offers info about the multiplayer.

 

- BF3 apparently sports even better lighting effects than previous games. Sound is also improved. DICE wants the sound to be very functional; they want you to be able to tell the difference between the sound of a tank moving directly at you as opposed to driving around you. They also hinted that it may play an important role in tracking down the location of snipers.

 

- It looks like there will be four player classes like in BC2.

 

- Bach said they've taken an interest in a theater mode (like in Halo and BlOps,) but it doesn't sound like they're prepared to implement it yet.

 

- There will be some sort of co-op included in the retail copy of the game. No other specifics about that.

 

- While the ability to go prone is back, DICE is working on ways to expose people who go prone, such as muzzle flashes and vapor traces.

 

- And I probably should have noted this much earlier, but DICE made clear that Battlefield 3 is being made for the PC first. Furthermore:

 

"We are letting the PC audience make use of the very expensive hardware that they just bought so they can tick all the boxes and for the 64-player fights."

 

and

 

"We will not deliver mod tools in the way that we delivered them for Battlefield 2." According to Bach, creating mod tools eats up a lot of resources that they don't feel free to provide right now. However, "[DICE is] still discussing how [they] handle modifications of any kind."

 

Thanks for this. I got to read the mag scans a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have the foresight to think that there are a ton of people interested in it.

 

I think with the customization thing, they're more concerned with the game being "cheesy" or dare I say it, "kiddy" with cocks for logos, etc. I mean I would like some customization. Things like having a different camo, character skin to show you're one of the best players. Having your sidearm in a different part of your body, etc.

 

To be honest, I've made one logo in Black Ops and never touched it again. Same with my friends. Not saying it's a not a cool feature, but customization should be more than that I think.

 

BF3 will run on a new Frostbite Engine. One that they'll be talking about in GDC. There's a tech-demo of it in Youtube if you're interested.

 

Mod tools. Is always an iffy subject. They (DICE devs) want to give it, but the thing is it's very complicated to use and it could do more harm than good. Someone even asked them if it's because of DLC. Alan Kertz responded that mod tools and DLC should even be competing against each other or something to that effect.

 

They didn't say "NO" flat out though. I'm guessing maybe a level-editor of some kind for PC maybe?

 

They still haven't commented on BattleCorder yet. Yes. Some people think Blops is the first game to use this feature. Sigh. When they do announce it, people will go "OMG! BF3 copiz Blak Oops!11!!" or something to that effect. Which gets tiresome after a while. Heck, a lot of people don't know that level-unlockables, etc. were implemented in BF2 before any of the FPS games we have today use it as the standard.

[excaliburps]

Oh, for anyone interested, here's a quick look at DICE HQ http://www.battlefield3news.com/forums/index.php?/page/index.html/_/misc-articles/a-quick-virtual-tour-of-dices-office-r23

 

The main site also has a few clips of Lars Gustavvson. One of the original DICE members and is widely regarded as one of the geniuses behind the BF franchise.

 

Enjoy!

[Akuam4n]

They still haven't commented on BattleCorder yet. Yes. Some people think Blops is the first game to use this feature. Sigh. When they do announce it, people will go "OMG! BF3 copiz Blak Oops!11!!" or something to that effect. Which gets tiresome after a while. Heck, a lot of people don't know that level-unlockables, etc. were implemented in BF2 before any of the FPS games we have today use it as the standard.

 

The first game I played with a playback feature for making montages, taking screenshots etc, etc, was Halo 3. Not sure if it was the first though. In my opinion, every shooter should have one of those by now. It is a really cool feature, and it needs to be a standard. How the easy the dev for the game makes browsing all those files is quite iffy though.

 

 

 

[Maritan]

Single player really appears to be more robust than ever before

I just hope it won't be another generic anti-terrorist shooter. I still think campaign in BC1 was very well made.

DICE made clear that Battlefield 3 is being made for the PC first.

Amen.

The first game I played with a playback feature for making montages, taking screenshots etc, etc, was Halo 3.

I guess you're console player.

Speaking of montages, BF3 NEEDS recorder. There are already masterpieces like

in BC2, and they are made without it.

[Akuam4n]

I guess you're console player.

Speaking of montages, BF3 NEEDS recorder. There are already masterpieces like

in BC2, and they are made without it.

 

 

Indeed. I know you can use fraps, etc on the pc; I just mean that was the first game that shipped with the tools to render videos of your games and such, that I played.

 

 

[excaliburps]

I guess you're console player.

Speaking of montages, BF3 NEEDS recorder. There are already masterpieces like

in BC2, and they are made without it.

 

 

Indeed. I know you can use fraps, etc on the pc; I just mean that was the first game that shipped with the tools to render videos of your games and such, that I played.

 

 

Agree with ya there. BF3 needs Battlecorder. If any game needs a recorder, this is it. I mean a chopper getting taken out by a flying car??! Where else can you see something that wild?! I've had my own "Battlefield Moments" that I wish I could record and have everyone see it.

 

I had one where a car was driving at me. I fired an RPG at it and the car exploded and flew right by me. Missing me by inches. Awesome stuff! Felt like an action movie.

[excaliburps]

Ok. Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up.

 

http://www.battlefield3news.com/forums/ is updated with a couple of vids.

 

Two studio (DICE) tours

A couple of interviews (from Game Informer)

A quick clip of what the DICE devs see outside their studio (sent to me by DICE GM)

 

And info from German mag GameStar that just got divulged now.

 

Hit the jump and tell me what you think!

 

Oh, and the devs are teasing we're going to be getting some BF3 news in a little while...

[excaliburps]

 

First in-game footage of BF3! Hell yeah! Looks amazing...