Star Wars: Battlefront

[Mr March]

Since I have both PC and X-Box, I'm kinda wondering what type of control would be best for this title.  It looks like the mouse/keyboard may be best if it's run similar to a 3rd person shooter.

You'd better get the PC version, 'cause that's what I'll be playing on.

This game looks like it has some pretty nice terrain modeling. That forest actually looks like a forest and not the inside of a box with trees painted on the walls. The trees even look like they're swaying in the breeze.

Hehehe. Yes sir!

[Mr March]

Wow!  Nice trailer!  I must admit, it's hard not to get excited about the game.  It appears the game is focused on the the conventional military battles of the Star Wars universe and not the force users.  That's a very interesting direction for a Star Wars game and not something that's been done "successfully" yet.

Since I have both PC and X-Box, I'm kinda wondering what type of control would be best for this title.  It looks like the mouse/keyboard may be best if it's run similar to a 3rd person shooter.

Not really true. The X-wing and Tie games were well done and popular. As was the first Dark Forces game where the character Kyle has no force powers at all. Then there are the Rogue Squadron games which are very successful. I'm glad we are getting this game though. I enjoy the Jedi Knight games but I've grown tired of force users over the years. To much use of them, well over use of them. Attack of the Clones anyone.

I was refering to 3d shooters only. There have been many successful Star Wars games outside of the shooter genre. I too liked both X-Wing and TIE Fighter and they were great PC games in their own right.

Nonetheless, I stand corrected. Dark Forces was a great 3D shooter for the PC and there was no force included. But it has been a good long while

Edited February 4, 2004 by Mr March

[Coota0]

I was watching the trailer and I keprt thinking, I don't want to run around the jungle in a bright ornge flightsuit, and the Stormies white armor definatly lacks any camo.

[Uxi]

Well at least for the stormtroopers, stealth isn't exactly part of their arsenal. Overwhelming force and intense discipline... but not stealth.

[bsu legato]

Besides, who needs stealth when you've got an AT-AT?

[bsu legato]

IGN has a great article on an early alpha build that they played. Check it out here:

http://pc.ign.com/articles/492/492187p1.html

[Ladic]

trailer looks badass

[bsu legato]

'Nother update on IGN. We get a rundown of the Rebel player classes, and a couple of developer diaries.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/506/506569p1.html?fromint=1

[Chewie]

Pfft...Jedi. Your feeble skills are no match for the power of my AT-AT.

I seem to recall Luke wipping out total pwnage on an AT-AT in Empire.....

[VF-19]

Pfft...Jedi. Your feeble skills are no match for the power of my AT-AT.

I seem to recall Luke wipping out total pwnage on an AT-AT in Empire.....

Actually it was an AT-ST. Much bigger than an AT-AT.

[twich]

you have that reversed...the At-At is what we see on Hoth, they are the big things....the AT-St is the smaller two legged thing....so the At-At is much, much bigger, as it is designed to carry 2 at-st in its cargo hold to bring to the battlefield.

Larry

[bsu legato]

E3 brings much goodness, and Battlefront fans aren't left out. Check out all the new videos at IGN!! (save all 4 of them and play them back-to-back) The official trailer is cool too, but it doesn't show as much as the gameplay videos. Damn, I soooo want to play as that "rocketeer" Clone Trooper.

[bsu legato]

IGN has a new hands-on preview of ENDOR.

[SpacePirateNeko]

Now I just need to get my hands on Final Fantasy XI but no games like that until after finals in a few weeks. 

FFXI own3s SWG's ass hardcore.

Vostok 7

Thats the most amusing statement ever, after a year i still own and love star wars galaxies, but i guess thats because i roleplay. They have been adding huge amounts of new content on a monthly basis now....the deathwatch and corvette dungeuns are wonderful. And jtl looks to be one of the best mmorpg expansions ever.

As for ff11 i dont think a more boring online rpg was ever made. I couldnt play that for more then a few minutes at a time without being incredibly bored. Its one of the slowest , most awkwardly controlled snoozefests out there. The control makes it difficult to do anything on teh fly or fast ..locked battles is one of the worst ideas ever created for an rpg...i mean if im fighting something why do i actually have to state im switching targets when instead i can just yknow...switch targets. It was like they took every rpg component from every online rpg and made it complicated and difficult and help provide a genre based on freedom to do what you please and take away teh freedom on it. Not to mention the walk speed....and the fact that besides leveling up to become two mixed classes...theres really else nothing to do in this game that sparks the least bit of interest.

Yes i play swg and EQ the two most hated mmorpg's out there that people love to bash, and ironically enough the two that are the most versatile , fun and open ended on teh market . People just love to hate things sometimes.

[Sundown]

They have been adding huge amounts of new content on a monthly basis now....the deathwatch and corvette dungeuns are wonderful. And jtl looks to be one of the best mmorpg expansions ever.

As someone who's played both, and defended SWG on certain things it manages to do decently on... I'll have to say that content's not one of them.

Neither the Deathwatch Bunker nor Corvette are dungeons that I'd consider "wonderful", especially regarding the hype given them. Both are geared towards large groups of double elite combat, min-maxing, fully buffed, fully armored powergamers-- yet provide inadequate rewards for the effort needed to complete them. Both were added as content meant to inject more Star Warsy-ness... but neither are really accessible to the anything less than the most well organized and hardcore players and groups on the server. Casual players and their casual player friends are pretty much left out to rot, and it says something when a only a very small percentage of the server base has actually completed the Corvette quest (despite the huge interest and anticipation). Not to mention that the Corvette being instanced allowed for the developers to actually *scale the difficulty to the party* if they had been a little bit more creative and a bit more inclined. Instead, they just populated the most Star Warsy set with Stormtroopers, Super Battle Droids, and Imperial Admirals that each have more HAM and hitpoints than Ancient Krayt Dragons. Starwarsy, that ain't.

FFXI does very well what it sets out to do-- provide a tight and cohesive combat system that requires cooperative and interactive play, and tons and tons of things to do, kill, gain, and acheive, along with a well defined path to do them-- constantly luring you with the next biggest carrot and get you to keep playing. It's a solid and tight game, even if it doesn't have all the fun and neat trappings that SWG provides. But as far as core systems, like classes and combat balancing go, FFXI kicks SWG's rear and then some. It says something when a year after SWG's launch, the professions are still not remotely balanced-- that there's 32 of them to be done-- that there are certain professions still largely useless (Squad Leader, anyone?)-- that every attempt at bringing them up to par as either been lackluster, created other serious problems, or made them the uber-profession-of-the-month-- and that the great "combat balance" is still yet to go in game.

SWG does provide its own amusement in terms of diversity, freedom, and roleplay... it does quite a few new things, and manages not to flub them... but as far as solid, game design goes, it's barely adequate-- and my trust in the developers on them having any real vision continues to wane. They seem more bent on providing the next big gimmick to keep and lure subscriptions, than making a solid core game-- just take a look at JTL: so much of their resources have been diverted to the expansion (which I don't expect to be any more creative in the way of missions and general gameplay), while they leave the core product limping along.

As an old timer, semi-achiever, and roleplayer, I really don't see how the game has come *that* far since launch. Yes, we've got a few new systems, some tweaks, some revamps (that make for new imbalances), along with mounts and vehicles. But the core systems still smell of inelegance and lack of thought, new changes often accompany new problems predicted long before publish, and the only content SOE seems to be able to provide (and take their sweet time doing) are either those that can be run through in a shallow couple of hours, or those that are simply neigh impossible for most of the playerbase. There's no happy medium, and there's nothing that you can complete parts of, where each part takes a fair amount of time and gameplay to complete.

It's kind of sad, when significant members of the roleplay group I'm in (on a roleplay server no less) have left the game (some twice). These were some of the most reliable players, being able to provide their own fun constantly. But that only goes so far, and I guess they figure that 15 bucks a month should be going towards immersive content that they can also enjoy-- not just that enjoyable by a few well connected elite min-maxers looking to be the amongst the scant few on the server to look like l33t b0Ba f3T7.

Sorry for the vaguely off-topic rant.

-Al

[bsu legato]

Well, to further derail my own thread (hey, if I can't do it, why should I let you?) I'd have to say that if SWG had been around 10 years ago I would have thought it was the best thing since oxygen. But since my rpg days are long behind me, the thought of playing SWG is just tedious to me. I think part of it is the amount of work necessary to get anywhere with your character. Scraping out a living as a moisture farmer or a basket weaver is not my idea of fun, but I suppose that's the price you pay for having a player-based economy.

However, the Jump To Lightspeed expansion is much more what I would have wanted to play.