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Game Preview: Firefall (video)
With three letters, you can get most gamers' attention: MMO. With three more, you can just as quickly inspire skepticism and doubt: FPS. Ever since the MMORPG craze got underway, players and developers have been looking for ways to meld it with the FPS craze that's been going on since the days of Doom. Unfortunately, it's proven much more difficult than expected. The spectrum ranges only from high profile failures, like Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, to minor successes, like the Planetside games. That's why Red 5 Studios, a company built upon industry veterans from studios like Blizzard, has been hesitant to throw around the term 'MMOFPS' to describe its first game: Firefall. They say emphatically that it's 'a shooter first and foremost,' and that it also has MMORPG elements. It's more than an academic distinction; they feel that you can't simply cobble together two different genres. In order for the game to work, it has to do the shooter part well, with the relevant RPG parts (character advancement, a persistent world, crafting, etc.) added only in service to the shooter aspect. As Firefall takes shape in an open beta period, it's clear that this is the proper approach. Red 5's unfinished experiment is promising.
... Since MMOFPS = DRM fps. FPS games were never meant to be massively multiplayer to begin with. You have to take special care when you get greater then 32 players on a server all at the same time.
MMO RPG's aren't action oriented to begin with, their combat has been simplified down to click menu buttons to fit latency. FPS games are action games and are latency sensitive. The last thing someone needs is for crap latency/packetloss/flux in their game. Not to mention all the concessions they make in terms of gameplay to attract a casual audience. A big no thanks.
Of all the hundreds of games that come out, a generic, free-to-play money grubbing MMO is the one that gets coverage on slashdot? One that really brings nothing interesting or new? And in spite of that gets an extremely positive summary that addresses no flaws?
It's like you think we're too damn stupid to see when content is replaced with ads. Can't you stop insulting our intelligence enough to mark sponsored content? Please?
I stopped the video once the 2nd of two 60 second ads came on.
I wonder how much slashvertisment costs.
The video has loud obnoxious ads which you cannot skip.
I read earlier today on The Escapist that they've basically suspended all PvP in the game. So it looks like they've got a lot of kinks to work out.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
With three letters, you can get most gamers' attention: MMO.
More like you can get every game producer's attention, wondering how he can get a piece of that revenue.
The three letters that get most gamers' attention: FUN. Who cares if it's MO or not.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Borderlands 2 is an FPS game with heavy RPG elements, and you can play co-op with 4 players, and it is heaps of fun. --- Sure, it isn't an "MMO" at this point. But the idea that RPG and FPS have never been "blended" is false. Borderlands 2 does it, and does it in a package that is great fun (good for 150 hours or so of gameplay if you want to reach Level 70). Maybe Borderlands 3 can have a MMO aspect as well? Who knows? ----- There is also the Just Cause 2 Multiplayer Beta going on. That supports up to 2,000 players per server and is "FPS-like". http://www.jc-mp.com/ What it lacks in RPG elements, it makes up for in terms of a huge map littered with vehicles you can drive, fly or float. My 2 Cents...
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
Slashdot - why is the production value of your in-house video content so poor? The cheap headset mic audio quality and low bitrate compression make this kind of content feel hackey and effectively unwatchable. I know video is new-ish for /. but you're not reinventing the wheel, and you've had a minute to sort this stuff out guys ... it's amateur hour.
With three letters, you can get most people's attention... YOU. With three more letters, you can piss them all off... ASS
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Would be highly appreciated.
They just decided to remove PVP from the game for the time being while they work out the kinks. I have been in the beta since the beginning and I'm not sure what to think. When the game first was unveiled, it seemed like PVP (normal fps multiplayer) was the main focus of the game. Fast forward to today, the CEO claims only 3% of Firefall players are playing PVP (I believe it). PVP definitely needs work, so this is probably a good thing - but I have to wonder how deep The9's pockets are (Red5's Chinese investors)....so far, they have allowed Red5 to completely change gameplay over and over....which can be a good thing, but I worry about how many people are getting burned out due to the game changing every few months. I read somewhere that they have spent more on this game than Blizzard spent on the making of WoW and Diablo3. I don't know if that is true though....if so, it should be worrisome because this game is nowhere near as complete as either of those games.
It also seems weird that they are spending all this money on marketing (million dollar statues, multiple RED cameras, advertising blasted all over PAX and other conventions) - without generating money.
It's in "Open Beta" currently. The closed beta was basically the game with no purpose: one PvP mode: TDM; no PvE other than "run around and shoot things". The "Alpha" stages were only available to Red5 employees. IMO it's still in Alpha. It certainly has promise to be a decent game, but it's by no means nearing release. At their rate of development, it probably needs about 1.5-2 more years of "beta" before it's ready.
And yes, they've recently scrapped much of the PvP game, as it wasn't working like their "plan" said it should be. I put that in quotes because their "plan" has changed significantly approximately 5-6 times in the past 1-1.5 years. As in "complete overhaul" of a system.
It's still fun, however, and I will continue to play it.
I love the game, I sank some money in it already, but man, the game's having a crapload of issues. Between lost transaction data and buggy PvE missions, to bugs introduced to the game simply because some sub-team did something with the code right before the patch is released... They have lots to fix there.
Few days ago they announced they will completely drop the PvP part of the game (until further notice). I just hope this means more focus on the PvE part, which is nice... until you do that for 20 days and realize there's not much else to do.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Is there more to the video than just the ads? I couldn't make it past the first minute and a half to find out for myself.
2 FULL minutes of unskippable, non-blockable ADS before the video?? What the FUCK!? Soulskill get the fuck out and stay out.
Congratulations. Your video with 2x60 second non-skippable Ads ( I gave up after the second one started) has thoroughly convinced me to NEVER play this game. Advertising on Slashdot fail.
Not even worth logging in to avoid AC.
The video is a loud obnoxious ad.
If they think they can get their game in the news they will spam you non stop and flood your gaming forum with their "players" which is a nice way of saying shills. This is a game that's been in beta longer than some games are in development. You have been forewarned.
I've been playing this game here and there since I saw their booth at AX...2...3 years ago? I can't remember.
It's an interesting game, and it is fun for a while, but the biggest problem is that there's not much to do.
The world is fun to explore, especially when equipped with jetpack/boots/whatever, but there's only so much of it.
Beyond that, it quickly becomes a grind, and as such quickly gets boring.
They introduced a good deal of dynamic events and such to try to keep it interesting, but they don't change much.
The end/world boss seems interesting, but every time I've attempted it the game lags so bad, seemingly due to the lack of optimization on the server end to deal with so many players in a compact space. I usually die long before I know what even hit me.
TL;DR: It's a good way to kill a little bit of time if you're bored, but if you're looking for a serious game to sink your teeth into, look elsewhere.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
When I first caught wind of this game in spring 2012 I tried to get into the Beta, it took FOREVER to gain access through their system, i was jonesing hard for this game when I first saw videos posted. By the time I got in a lot of stuff had changed and it wasn't bad but... it wasn't great either.
I mean it was okay, even had a few friends playing but things would get buggy or the servers couldn't handle the load on weekends and eventually it was just not something I wanted to mess with any more. I realize it was a Beta, but still, it always felt like one set of problems would get fixed only to be replaced by a new set of problems, you can only put up with that for so many months before you just don't care anymore.
Recently I tried it again and found a lot of issues had been fixed and was having a pretty good time but I see now that PVP has been disabled and there still seems to be latency / connection issues. There are just too many other great games out there that I want to play over this, I feel like it had a chance to be something awesome but kind of didn't roll out fast enough to really grab the players it needs.
I haven't exactly been with it through all the bumps but it seemed like such a great concept when I first jumped in, now it just seems like a shadow of what it could have been...
Still better than that Star Wars MMO though, by a LOT
"the FPS craze that's been going on since the days of Doom"
A 20 year "craze"?
I came across the trailer for Superhot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYAUlPMqnKk the other day - a FPS where time only passes when you move. Sort of a Braid/Max Payne mashup.
It gripped her hand gently. 'Regret is for humans,' it said.
What the fuck did I just spend 2 minutes watching? Two advertisements for some sort of IBM social engineering pep talk about hiring employees. FFS, Slashdot. Now I don't feel the slightest inclination to watch this stupid video. Too bad I already gave them the ad view on their stupid un-skippable advertisement video.
And they wonder why we rebel and bypass their artificial restrictions? One ad would have been enough, thank you, but they just had to push it.
In an MMO, you want to level up, in a shooter you want a level playing field. If the MMO aspect is too strong, new players will give up when they are faced against an opponent they can't beat due to gear/levels.
Don't ever watch ads on the internet, cmon guys this is OUR internet, don't let them do that to us. As soon as an ad comes on close the browser window.
Two ads before watching the review? Bye, stop wasting my time.
I don't know if Slashdot is getting paid for the stupid ads at the start of the video, or if someone else is getting that money. Doesn't matter. Fuck you guys. Two minutes of advertisements in front of what is basically a video (ad) to promote the developers of the game.
Do you realize that this is the web, where you can view such videos without waiting 120 seconds for ads to end? You are ruining the internet.
captcha: paradise
System probably chooses something like that any time someone's post contains 'slashdot' and a couple f-bombs. =)
anyone have a link to the video? When I hit play it was just a series of ads strung together.
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If they're not getting their money from you paying them to provide a great game, how are they getting it?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Yeah, MMO does get my attention, and while owning a few hundred games, I refuse to play an MMO.
The in town multiplayer cheat in diablo was the only time I tried to play with random assholes. That game lasted all of 30 seconds and of course, I lost when hit by the wall of fire.
So when you hear "Pc Gaming is dying" and "Holy shit, there's a new MMO" , You might want to fire up a brain cell or two and think about that..
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
60 second Ad's before the trailer plays. Be warned
"You are still innocent until proven guilty. What's changed is what they do to innocent people." by notnAP (846325)
Firefall is a PvE game foremost, like they said only 3% played PvP, only two classes were viable and the dev team is pretty small. I was in the closed beta and still play regularly.
The existing content needs to be expanded quite a bit, lots of activities to do but most of it is repetitive (like thumping, ares missions, LVG/thumper, warbringers) a few are a bit of fun like Tornadoes, the three melding pockets events and a couple are a lot of fun (Blackwater, invasions). Problem is the fun events are rare and sporadic (Blackwater can be easily done if you can pull the group together though)
When there are a lot of enemies assaulting a base and more than a dozen defenders things start to get jumpy and jerky even on an extremely high end system, this was something that Planetside had no problem with. When they shifted over to open beta the number of players logging in caused all kinds of weird issues and it took them a while to get it under control. Scaling and their ability to scale is something that is a real problem.
I hate it when a game can't decide if its a PvP game or a PvE game and wastes time trying to do and balance both. They also need to push through more events and content or the existing players are just going to get bored and wander off.
Is there a reason I had to watch TWO ads, both containing the same thing, each 60 fucking seconds, before I got to see the piece?
Move sig!
FPS is First Person Shooter. If you see your character on the screen it's a TPS, Third Person Shooter.
For those who care about such things, the story for Firefall was at least partially written by Orson Scott Card. For the record, i am planning on going to see Ender's Game because i want to encourage the production of more serious SF movies, but i'll be donating some amount of money to a pro-LGBT group to assuage my sense of guilt. However Firefall isn't really doing anything unique in the video game arena that would cause me to overcome my distaste for supporting projects OSC is involved with.
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