Stand by for Titanfall...2!

Stone Deaf 4evr

A quick question on batteries - If i steal one, then get killed - does it just drop to the ground for picking up again?
I've seen a battery icon on the map, but when I get there, theres nothing to be seen and the icon still remains.

also - if a battery is dropped, and you're in your titan, do you have to exit the titan to pick it up or can you just walk over it?

johnny_ultimate

Yeah it drops alright, have picked up a few dotted around maps. And do you need to get out to pick one up!

johnny_ultimate

Well finished the campaign and while it is by no means perfect it's probably my favourite AAA campaign mode in a good few years. I know others won't feel the same way, but **** it: it's so wonderfully, thrillingly short. It is simply a very well judged series of well designed levels, setpieces and ideas. At no point did I feel like the game was recycling ideas or just putting combat corridors in the way to prolong the experience. For its blockbuster production values, it does hark back to the PS2 and early 360/PS3 era before bloat, open worlds and mediocrity consumed so many AAA games. I raised an eyebrow when I heard comparisons to Valve, but they're largely justified - several of the best moments in this reminded me of the sort of design rigour we saw in Half-Life 2.

It's only a few hours long, but frankly I cannot celebrate that fact enough. The story is dirt, the art design is a strange mix of impressive and generic, and yes the whole thing is basically just a big silly action movie about a man and his giant robot. But who cares: it's a blast.

Retr0gamer

Well it's not that I don't like it. I'm really enjoying it. It's just no where near as good as Doom but that's a pretty high bar to get over.

As for the Art design I think it's mostly excellent except for the main character. Not sure why he's in the promo material so much and there's a bust or some **** of him in the special edition because he looks like space protagonist 101.

Dcully

I'm seeing lots of reviewers,streamers,youtubers and general gamers saying they haven't played BF1 since getting TF2.
Top reviews all round for both single and multiplayer.

johnny_ultimate

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Well finished the campaign and while it is by no means perfect it's probably my favourite AAA campaign mode in a good few years. I know others won't feel the same way, but **** it: it's so wonderfully, thrillingly short. It is simply a very well judged series of well designed levels, setpieces and ideas. At no point did I feel like the game was recycling ideas or just putting combat corridors in the way to prolong the experience. For its blockbuster production values, it does hark back to the PS2 and early 360/PS3 era before bloat, open worlds and mediocrity consumed so many AAA games. I raised an eyebrow when I heard comparisons to Valve, but they're largely justified - several of the best moments in this reminded me of the sort of design rigour we saw in Half-Life 2.

It's only a few hours long, but frankly I cannot celebrate that fact enough. The story is dirt, the art design is a strange mix of impressive and generic, and yes the whole thing is basically just a big silly action movie about a man and his giant robot. But who cares: it's a blast.

I dont agree with this bit.
I like the relationship between the pilot and BT and think it's very well done.
The story in essence was handled well too. I like that fact that each boss had an individual personality.

_CreeD_

Hmmm. Finally getting the hang of legion. He's long-range area control. Set the gun to accurate and move to a perimeter (ideally a corner with a good view down 2 main approach avenues or a high point, primarily focus on backing up other Titans. It really does need the extra-dash perk since it doesn't have one to begin with, shocks a lot of other players when you zip behind something to reload. That and extra-ammo so far have been most effective for me.

johnny_ultimate

M!Ck^ wrote: »

I dont agree with this bit.
I like the relationship between the pilot and BT and think it's very well done.
The story in essence was handled well too. I like that fact that each boss had an individual personality.

Ah the BT and Jack relationship is just cookie-cutter 'buddy movie' guff. The best thing about it is that it doesn't get in the way, thankfully. The actual plot is a load of bogstandard sci-fi McGuffin nonsense and the mercenary characters don't have the time to become anything beyond crude archetypes or at worst just a different accent.

And yet! It doesn't matter. That's all just bubbling away to provide some vague context and unlike other similar games doesn't drag down the game in any significant way.

Brendan Keogh's notes on the game address this succinctly: https://brkeogh.com/2016/11/04/notes-on-titanfall-2/

Titanfall 2’s story is schlock. It is ‘not good’. Every character is ultimately forgettable. Each of the mercenaries is a cardboard cutout archetype with a different bad guy accent. The overall story is about some sort of timetravelling Halo-Forerunner technology being used to create a Star Wars-Death Star to wipe out the rebels. It’s not that the story is ‘bad’ but that it is all it has to be for Titanfall 2 to do what it wants to do, which is to put the player in situations where they can do some cool **** with their giant robot friend. The story, here, is thought about just enough to give context to your actions, and that is all it has to be. It does what it needs to do, then it gets out of the way.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Played some great rounds of this tonight, it's very addictive. I've been sticking pretty much exclusively with ion and feel like I'm really getting the nuances of it, shot a good few pilots out of the sky with the shoulder cannon as well. The tripmines don't seem to be overly useful though.

It's funny. It has all the run and gun action of a call of duty, but the frustration / rage just isnt there. I can see myself spending a lot of time with this one....

johnny_ultimate

I've found it slightly less forgiving than the first - I often played entire matches with only one or two deaths there - but it definitely still isn't frustrating. Even when you're killed you're back into the game so quickly the flow doesn't feel interrupted.

My survival times are improving though. I played a game earlier where I took down a Titan and a few other pilots/grunts with a nuclear blast (basically snuck up on them and blasted off while
I watched the chaos below). That instantly refreshed my Titanfall. Then I took out more characters when that self-destructed - which again instantly gave me a new Titan :pac:

FAILSAFE 00

Is there a last Titan standing game mode?

FAILSAFE 00

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Is there a last Titan standing game mode?

Yes, oh hell yes

Stone Deaf 4evr

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Is there a last Titan standing game mode?

yup, havent played it yet though as its not a gametype for playing with randoms. :rolleyes:

Retr0gamer

Finished the campaign last night. My only complaint is that it's way too short. Also the story is garbage but when has that ever mattered.

EoinHef

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Ah the BT and Jack relationship is just cookie-cutter 'buddy movie' guff. The best thing about it is that it doesn't get in the way, thankfully. The actual plot is a load of bogstandard sci-fi McGuffin nonsense and the mercenary characters don't have the time to become anything beyond crude archetypes or at worst just a different accent.

And yet! It doesn't matter. That's all just bubbling away to provide some vague context and unlike other similar games doesn't drag down the game in any significant way.

Brendan Keogh's notes on the game address this succinctly: https://brkeogh.com/2016/11/04/notes-on-titanfall-2/

You could probably have spoilered those story details johnny...games not that long out.

johnny_ultimate

EoinHef wrote: »

You could probably have spoilered those story details johnny...games not that long out.

What spoilers Nothing's mentioned there that in any way gives away anything significant beyond very broad plot points. And it's not like this is an easily spoiled game anyway. The story is generic muck: there is pretty much nothing surprising, it's merely a backdrop for the much meatier gameplay and level design.

Stone Deaf 4evr

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

What spoilers Nothing's mentioned there that in any way gives away anything significant beyond very broad plot points. And it's not like this is an easily spoiled game anyway. The story is generic muck: there is pretty much nothing surprising, it's merely a backdrop for the much meatier gameplay and level design.

I'm genuinely curious - when you say the story is generic muck - what would it take to impress you? what games do you feel the story stands on its own? I find that you can boil anything down to its most basic essence of 'lowly weakling rises to save kingdom / overcome oppression' or whatever. granted you'll have outliers like The last of us, but its very hard to find anything thats truly original in its own right.

The way I'd look at it is in terms of action films, you have classics like John wick, point break, terminator and then you've the direct to dvd trash, they're both essentially telling the same type of story, but one does it in a far superior fashion.

Retr0gamer

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

I'm genuinely curious - when you say the story is generic muck - what would it take to impress you? what games do you feel the story stands on its own? I find that you can boil anything down to its most basic essence of 'lowly weakling rises to save kingdom / overcome oppression' or whatever. granted you'll have outliers like The last of us, but its very hard to find anything thats truly original in its own right.

The way I'd look at it is in terms of action films, you have classics like John wick, point break, terminator and then you've the direct to dvd trash, they're both essentially telling the same type of story, but one does it in a far superior fashion.

Titanfall is a special case. If you don't know exactly how the plot will play out 5 minutes in then you should visit the doctor.

EoinHef

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

What spoilers Nothing's mentioned there that in any way gives away anything significant beyond very broad plot points. And it's not like this is an easily spoiled game anyway. The story is generic muck: there is pretty much nothing surprising, it's merely a backdrop for the much meatier gameplay and level design.

The quote you used from the article you linked in your OP,i didnt requote it in case others felt it was spoilery.

johnny_ultimate

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

I'm genuinely curious - when you say the story is generic muck - what would it take to impress you? what games do you feel the story stands on its own?

Plenty of games have strong narratives that absolutely stand on their own. To take this year alone: Quadrilateral Cowboy, Kentucky Route Zero Act 4, Inside, Uncharted 4, Hyper Light Drifter, Dark Souls 3, Zero Time Dilemma, Firewatch, Oxenfree, 1979 Revolution: Black Friday...

Some of these stories are fundamentally generic too, but manage to overcome that through their delivery. Uncharted 4 is probably the closest comparison in this case - that is pure action movie pulp, but manages to be something more due to its sharp thematic focus, extremely well realised characters, and just its overall confidence of delivery.

Let me stress once again that I don't think Titanfall's 2 campaign is anywhere near bad enough to distract, and there's one or two moments of wit or warmth here and there. But overall it's absolutely forgettable and ignorable - at best just a backdrop for the many things the game does exceedingly right.

EoinHef wrote: »

The quote you used from the article you linked in your OP,i didnt requote it in case others felt it was spoilery.

Ah, seriously you have nothing to be concerned about, it's a very mild detail that IMO would in no way detract from a blind playthrough. In fact I'd say you'd be much more hard done by if you heard about some of the gameplay twists in advance - the most worthwhile surprises by far in this game are baked into the design itself

EoinHef

Ok ill take your word for it johnny

Wont be picking up the game till friday.

Stone Deaf 4evr

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Plenty of games have strong narratives that absolutely stand on their own. To take this year alone: Quadrilateral Cowboy, Kentucky Route Zero Act 4, Inside, Uncharted 4, Hyper Light Drifter, Dark Souls 3, Zero Time Dilemma, Firewatch, Oxenfree, 1979 Revolution: Black Friday...

Some of these stories are fundamentally generic too, but manage to overcome that through their delivery. Uncharted 4 is probably the closest comparison in this case - that is pure action movie pulp, but manages to be something more due to its sharp thematic focus, extremely well realised characters, and just its overall confidence of delivery.

Let me stress once again that I don't think Titanfall's 2 campaign is anywhere near bad enough to distract, and there's one or two moments of wit or warmth here and there. But overall it's absolutely forgettable and ignorable - at best just a backdrop for the many things the game does exceedingly right.

Fair enough, its a topic probably worth a thread of its own, its interesting that a lot of the games you mentioned are somewhat niche titles, I suppose its a reflection on the fact that the big studios are reluctant to try anything different for fear of lack of acceptance from the masses, and its the smaller indies pushing boundaries - much like movie studios.

super_furry

I've been playing this on PC and it's great but I'm actually thinking about getting it for PS4. Dunno if that makes me odd, but it just feels like a game that should be played on console, in the same way that Battlefield feels like a game that should be played on PC.

Maybe it's because I spent so much time with the first one on Xbox One but it just doesn't feel right playing on a mouse and keyboard and on a smaller screen - even if it looks much better.

EoinHef

Im exactly the opposite,bought BF1 on PS4 as i wanted to play that with friends. Buying Titanfall on PC as no one i know on console is getting it.

Thats how i usually decide what platforms for what games,to me these games are meant to be played with a few friends.

johnny_ultimate

I'm playing on PC but with a gamepad - best of both worlds

I know, I know, I know. But there's just something about a controller that feels really logical for me with this game. The compromise to aiming (although I feel the game is quite generous in that respect) is more than countered by the sheer comfort of the controller map - it just feels like a game designed for a pad IMO.

Again I know this is an unpopular opinion, but it's maybe the one FPS on PC I for one genuinely feel much more comfortable with when there's a 360 pad in my hands.

dreamers75

Speed run in 1 hour 38 minutes.

http://kotaku.com/speedrunner-blazes-through-titanfall-2-in-one-hour-thi-1788759333

Contains the whole game so spoilers etc

Shiminay

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I'm playing on PC but with a gamepad - best of both worlds

I can forgive your hipster "games as art" nonsense that you go on about all the time - but this is too far. You're a philistine of the highest order and you have no business being a moderator of any gaming anything! :P

IMPEACH JOHNNY_ULTIMATE!

Canis Lupus

Trump winning the US presidential election is less of a disgrace than learning someone chooses to play TF2 on a joypad.

MJohnston

I can get behind that - at heart Titanfall is much more of a platformer than a shooter, and platformers beg to be played on controllers vs keyboard/mouse.

Shiminay

It is most assuredly NOT a platformer when you're playing multiplayer! But if you wanna play a game against me with your controller, please go right ahead, I'll feed off you all day and night