Map Design Coupled With Medium-no wall jump ruined this game

Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:14 pm

This game had potential, Heavy tanks with lots of health shooting of jumping zipping mediums and lights, lights with suuuupppppeeeeerrr speed and moverability but weakest, mediums with a balance etc. But guess what. Splash Damage failed.



Splash damage made a horrible decision to cripple SMART, via map design and limiting wall jumping to just lights, they should've made the heavies slow, and strong, the mediums fast and balanced, and the lights like lightning, the heavies would've still felt great, nuking mediums and lights, while the mediums and lights could hop around them to take them down (ala tf2 scout vrs heavy)

But Splash damage's map design decisions were uninspired, and half hearted, no mod tools to fix this horrible blatant error were given to the community so we're still suffering, no direct Team vrs team death matches or anything either to remove the boring objectives from focus.



My thoughts and feelings on the subject, I regret buying this game over all, because of the lack of effort put out by splash damage.
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Rob
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:03 am

There are multiple ways of balancing a game that revolves around differing classes. You can make subtle changes or very large ones and I see that you prefer the latter. There is honestly no reason to use a medium over a light. Mediums only have 20 more hp (140 vs. 120), have weak assault rifles, can't move effectively, and do not strafe nearly as well in a fight (makes up that 20 hp difference right there).

Yes, I agree that the map creation was rather bad. It feels too reliant on chokepoints with singular objectives to complete.
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Cathrine Jack
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:21 am

Maps design is great, and alot deeper then most if not all fps games that are no sandboxish.

The main problem currently is that the various makes need minor adjustments to spawntimes etc.
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Lou
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 10:28 am

I like the set up as is. I love my light body operative and the freedom of movement I have with him. Sure he can only get shot twice, but I'll take down two opponents before I finally take those two shots. Mediums have just the right amount of maneuverability and speed and I like my heavy too. It's just a fact of the game that not every body type can take every route and if you want to wall jump you have to go light and learn to be stealthy and evasive.
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Samantha Jane Adams
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:03 am

If mediums could do all the same smart actions as light, there would really be no reason to play light.. The argument that mediums should be able to wallhop makes little sense..
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IsAiah AkA figgy
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:44 am

In before someone asking for heavies to be given full parkour capabilities.
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Allison Sizemore
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:30 pm

no mod tools to fix this horrible blatant error were given to the community so we're still suffering,

Mmmm interesting i see you are saying stuff for me. Since when do WE suffer? Im having a blast. Just because u are suffering, which is odd since its a silly thing. Doesnt mean u can talk for other people :).
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Amelia Pritchard
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:20 pm

Just remember, patches and DLC make bad game go good.
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Lisa Robb
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:31 pm

Mmmm interesting i see you are saying stuff for me. Since when do WE suffer? Im having a blast. Just because u are suffering, which is odd since its a silly thing. Doesnt mean u can talk for other people :).


Graphics errors, sound errors and bad map design affect us all,I know you're just trying to play the SMART-y but currently SMART is left to be a gimmick and not a pivotal center piece to the game.

I see that my opinion on the body classes is niche w/e(although its the original feel I got from the trailers) I feel the game would have more depth if all the classes were much more varied, while I think the speed of the light should be increased, the medium needs a wall jump and kept the same IMO, it would work if the maps weren't narrow alleys with few narrow routes.

Mirrors edge was overlooked, as well as the old Unreal maps with various interlocking lanes, with many mid low and high routes (although these were accessed via jump pad, in this game it should be via smart wj's and vaults etc)

The jumping shown in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0q14FZmfIo outlines the bad map design, out of the way useless places that don't help the team (for the most part) and other places where if you spent the time to try and do the move, you'd already been incapacitated.

Visual clutter also doesn't help people focus in on what they can do, and what is useful to jump off of, smooth wall jumping, sliding routes don't exist as well, the 18sec vid of the parkour challenge shows many interlocking routes, however in actual play, these routes don't exist, or are in out of the way useless areas.
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Adam Kriner
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:24 pm

Sorry to flame, but your saying because YOU don't like the way they defined the body types or made the maps that there was a lack of effort put into the game? The majority of people seem to love the game, thats ok if you don't its not for everyone, but you cannot say this game was rushed out after seeing what they've done with SMART alone. I haven't played Mirror's Edge, but the parkour in this game is pretty damn fluid (doubt they programmed that overnight), and all the parts of the map serve some purpose. I will admit that each map has only one central path, but around that there are countless paths you can take to flank the enemy to get behind them and clear out some space for the objective.

Honestly I got nothing to say about TDM that hasn't already been said in a ton of threads. I hardly think not having a wall jump for the medium body typed ruined the game. If you REALLY want wall jumps, you can always play as light.
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Lawrence Armijo
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 2:38 pm

Sorry to flame, but your saying because YOU don't like the way they defined the body types or made the maps that there was a lack of effort put into the game? The majority of people seem to love the game, thats ok if you don't its not for everyone, but you cannot say this game was rushed out after seeing what they've done with SMART alone. I haven't played Mirror's Edge, but the parkour in this game is pretty damn fluid (doubt they programmed that overnight), and all the parts of the map serve some purpose. I will admit that each map has only one central path, but around that there are countless paths you can take to flank the enemy to get behind them and clear out some space for the objective.

Honestly I got nothing to say about TDM that hasn't already been said in a ton of threads. I hardly think not having a wall jump for the medium body typed ruined the game. If you REALLY want wall jumps, you can always play as light.


so multiple graphics bugs = some decent effort/not rushed?? they released the game a week early for marketing reasons, to give them a split from other big name game releases, it was rushed PERIOD.

marketing =/= effort bub

yes I can say they rushed it out, when obvious bugs went through, there were obvious faults in their quality control(graphics sound)

mirrors edge does a lot better with making multiple routes, much better than this game, I don't actually see the purpose for all of the out of the way, off the beaten path parkour when they could've had it front and center near major
objectives, pivotal to reaching key spots.

There's a problem with class roles as well, engis having too much, operative having the ability to farm 10k exp from just spotting and spamming cloack (personal experience vrs ppl vs bots matches) while not having many things to do besides.

If you look at what I said about differentiating the body class roles you'd understand by what I meant for mediums being given wall jump-it would increase the role of smart, increasing depth and potential, to be honest its just a gimmick given to the light body type, when you really need to be able to stay in a spot( the spots they put there because of bad map design) lights don't hold up, not being able to push main objectives /chokes because of the 2 swats down deal.

While poor the poor efforts on the dev's side may not be a big deal for you, its a horrible trend in gaming, I laud Witcher's devs for actually giving a [censored]
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Nany Smith
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:49 am

so multiple graphics bugs = some decent effort/not rushed?? they released the game a week early for marketing reasons, to give them a split from other big name game releases, it was rushed PERIOD.

marketing =/= effort bub

yes I can say they rushed it out, when obvious bugs went through, there were obvious faults in their quality control(graphics sound)

So it was rushed because it came out with bugs? No game has ever done that before, wait what? O nevermind I forgot about Gears of War, CoD(javelin glitch, anyone?), etc. Besides the lag, I haven't personally noticed any other bugs. Sure there are some late loading textures, but Borderlands had em just as bad and I played that game a metric [censored] ton.

mirrors edge does a lot better with making multiple routes, much better than this game, I don't actually see the purpose for all of the out of the way, off the beaten path parkour when they could've had it front and center near major
objectives, pivotal to reaching key spots.

Mirror's edge is a game that focuses on parkour with a little bit of combat on the side, Brink is a game that focuses on combat with some parkour on the side. The focus of the game isn't parkour, its a team-based combat game. About the extra paths, it sounds like your complaining that you have to walk so far to follow them and get to where they take you, but honestly itd be a pain in the ass of I was defending and it was too easy to get flanked, but it was kind of hard to figure out your point exactly. honestly though, they are plenty of parkour routes everywhere, even near the main objectives, plenty of flanking routes right next to the main objectives, etc. I can't really figure out what youre complaining about.

There's a problem with class roles as well, engis having too much, operative having the ability to farm 10k exp from just spotting and spamming cloack (personal experience vrs ppl vs bots matches) while not having many things to do besides.

"There's a problem with class roles as well, engis having too much _____,"
Ummm what? Not making sense here. Too much power? Too much abilities? Too much chest hair?

Ops have the widest range of abilities, they don't have the most to do with objectives, but they are also hard to use so not many people use them. They're ablities help the team. I mean if I saw outlines of three or so enemies all the time it would be pretty freaking helpful, but thats just my opinion. Now if I had more than two ops thered be a problem, but there not that widely used of a class. Not to mention they have the UAV-like ability, caltrop grenades to slow down enemies, and so on.


If you look at what I said about differentiating the body class roles you'd understand by what I meant for mediums being given wall jump-it would increase the role of smart, increasing depth and potential, to be honest its just a gimmick given to the light body type, when you really need to be able to stay in a spot( the spots they put there because of bad map design) lights don't hold up, not being able to push main objectives /chokes because of the 2 swats down deal.

Well I did, but basically you want to make the mobility of the light body type more universal by putting it into a body that has more health, and then making the light body types ridiculously hard to hit, (I assume thats what you meant when you said you wanted to be able to run circles around a guy shooting at you). A ton of people are already complaining heavies go down to easy, you don't need to make it even easier for them to do it. When you say lights don't hold up enough to push an objective, but all that means is you should take cover more, of course there not going to last long if your standing out in the open. It is possible to support a moving maintenance bot from cover nearby, let a heavy escort the bot directly. Also what is the 2 swats down deal? Im gonna assume your attempting to say they die easier, so that just means they shouldn't fight head on the to objective, but that should just be common sense if you know you have less health. There are, however, side routes to take to get there, regardless of how much you hate them.

While poor the poor efforts on the dev's side may not be a big deal for you, its a horrible trend in gaming, I laud Witcher's devs for actually giving a [censored]


P.S. your grammar needs work
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Louise
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:38 pm

Graphics errors, sound errors and bad map design affect us all,I know you're just trying to play the SMART-y but currently SMART is left to be a gimmick and not a pivotal center piece to the game.

-Graphics errors like?
-Sound errors i agree with ya there
-Bad map design like jumping locations?
I prefer map balance(security-resistance) over cool jumping spots any day.
Your saying bad map design im saying good job :)
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Elle H
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:43 am

the only reason i dont like playing light body type is that it makes my characters face look like a rat lol xD
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Nany Smith
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:23 pm

P.S. your grammar needs work


Was that really necessary? He brings up several good points but instead of acknowledging his complaints you feel the need to dismiss all of his thoughts simply because he doesn't agree with you. :facepalm:

I don't care if you love or hate the gameplay, but the buggy multiplayer can not be excused. I have never bought a multiplayer game in which I could not play the multiplayer due to lag. Splash Damage is being punished for their mistakes and rightfully so, instead of rushing the game out they should have actually play tested the damn game. There isn't anything to do but multiplayer which is currently unplayable, so don't try to defend Splash Damage, by saying the game just came out and that all games have glitches. I have never seen a game that had such horrendous glitches like Brink.
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Amanda Leis
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:16 am

Was that really necessary? He brings up several good points but instead of acknowledging his complaints you feel the need to dismiss all of his thoughts simply because he doesn't agree with you. :facepalm:

You missed all his comments in orange in the quote-box, then?

Apparently your reading skills are further behind than the other guy's grammar.

He addressed every single point made individually, and quite accurately.
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Megan Stabler
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:42 am

Was that really necessary? He brings up several good points but instead of acknowledging his complaints you feel the need to dismiss all of his thoughts simply because he doesn't agree with you. :facepalm:



I felt in part it was, there were several statements that just made no sense ("There's a problem with class roles as well, engis having too much _____,"), and it made several parts difficult to understand.


His three main points of the game were, the game svcks because the body types aren't varied enough, class roles have a problem, and the game isn't as good as mirror's edge.
I took each point and addressed why I disagreed with it, whats wrong with that? IMO, Zomnivore was asking for too much from the devs The point I tried to make was the parkour in Mirror's Edge took the entire development process to make. Imagine having to do that for a shooter, and then still make a shooter! When he said class roles have a problem he tried to make a point with the engineers, but in the end I only saw arguments for the operative.

Could you explain some of the horrendous glitches you've seen, I havent noticed any? I've only noticed the lag, and like I said, it was prevalent in Gears of War when that game released. The point I tried to make is that they are not the only game that released with lag problems, how is that not good enough? Some things just need to be figured out with a wider player base. I hear the lag isn't bad on the PC or PS3, so obviously its not like they did no work on it. Regardless I doubt the glitches were as bad as some of CoD's I'll reiterate the javelin glitch just in case you missed it.
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Agnieszka Bak
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:00 am

You missed all his comments in orange in the quote-box, then?

Apparently your reading skills are further behind than the other guy's grammar.

He addressed every single point made individually, and quite accurately.


^this, haha I need to type faster.
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Danii Brown
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:06 am

-Graphics errors like?
-Sound errors i agree with ya there
-Bad map design like jumping locations?
I prefer map balance(security-resistance) over cool jumping spots any day.
Your saying bad map design im saying good job :)



horrible support for ati card

yes sound issues

bad map design based around narrow chokes when the revolutionary thing they did was all about movement? tight areas = more movement?

You can have your opinion thats cool w/e

This game was PUSHED a week ahead of schedule, they flat out rushed this game out the door, there is absolutely [censored] no way you can argue that they didn't when it is fact that this game was released a week early, they could've focused more on the parkour than they did, with the effort that they put in SMART, and the freaking marketing they did for it... but nope.

engis have more things to do (buffing, command posts, turrets, mines, clearing objectives, taking off etc etc.) more than other classes.

If I want to buff lights, mediums, would you think that I'd leave the heavy all alone pouting in the corner? Higher accuracy, and damage mitigation etc. to make them feel tougher, and not die like mediums with an hp buff


1 bodyshot with a sniper rifle and the lights down, thats pretty squishy, from just a small weapon type, there's not much they can do to push a choke point, that's my point if they try to flank, they're up against a huge force, but from behind, ya maybe get one guy, before you're smoked, without any assistance etc common sense or not, the main objectives are the focus of each team, if the lights can't get near em their speed doesn't exactly save them?

I remember one escort mission where the Resistance stopped my team, because they held a narrow ramp, with many different ways to shoot us, there were a couple flanking spots, but the people pushing them kept dying, because those spots were also tight narrow areas... a couple people from the side against a well dug in team, + the people at the front is hard to push through, more alley ways and flanking spots and intersecting routes should've been put into the game, of course you blow over my entire point about mirrors edge because its more parkour based, like I don't freaking know that.

They don't have the fluidity of Mirrors edge, or the interesting lanes of Unreal, one game that you know, is all about shooting [censored], and even has objectives, yes they're not exactly the same, but the map design I see in Brink doesn't seem to justify SMART or the marketing they put into it.


If you think limited the amount of classes that can wj to one, means they put more focus on parkour ok?


Ops may have the widest range of abilities, but it doesn't really help to have a UAV ability when everyone knows the main objectives, GEE I wonder where they're gonna go... Unlike in Call of Duty, where there might be many different routes, and the objective might be to just kill the enemy. The "range" of useful abilities is small as well, a long to use cloak, when you have to reach the body, and then get behind the enemy, to ...spot them? maybe sneak attack one guy? ok... the ground spikes are nice, but still that alone can't quite redeem the lack of focus, or usefulness of the total kit.
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Kieren Thomson
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:43 pm

I ont think that a week would have been enough to really do anything huge with the game. I am no video game developer by any means, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be enough time to get the parkour to the level you wanted.

Could you give some examples of the tight areas, beside the potential for people to get spawn camped in Container City?

Number of Engineer skills: I don't quite follow. They may have one or two more tasks to do than others, but why is that really much of a problem? Engineer is definitely not the most played class. BTW how can Engineers have the most things to do if Operatives have the widest range of abilities? This argument somewhat contradicts itself, just want some clarification.

I find the UAV pretty useful, its like the SR71 pretty much. I still don't know what you mean when you say there is only one route. Your kind of ignoring the fact that there are often times plenty of side routes, I know you feel they are poorly designed and unoriginal, but they are still there. I can honestly say I've never seen the ENTIRE team at the objective, yes they bunch up near it, as per the game's design. If they're not all there, then there somewhere else, and a UAV can help ya find em!

About your unfortunate map experience, I assume your talking about Aquarium, I have to say your the first person I've heard complain about this map. Sure it happens all the time about Container City and Shipyard, which to say the least, are somewhat justifiable. It sounds like in your situation you either had a poor team or were playing against a well organized one. I have never had a noticeable problem with this map as Security. I don't always win, but its never seemed impossible. It seems you just need to play more. I find the three main flanking routes perfectly suitable to coming up behind the enemy and taking them out. Now if your light, then several new routes open up (my favorite being the air ducts). To go on, giving mediums the wall jump ability would make all these extra flanking routes much more universal, and exponentially hard for the defending team.

About the heavies, I thought you would leave them unbuffed, considering in your past several replies you paid no heed to them, until I brought up the flaw.

" ya maybe get one guy, before you're smoked"
Now personally I wouldn't be smoked, but sure the lights go down easier. However, they are by no means useless due to their lack of health. If you were to take a poll of the most popular body type, light would surely be the most played, and you don't hear everyone complaining about their lack of health. I hate to say it, but it sounds like you should just play a medium or so to get used to the game and get some practice with more hp.

About mirror's edge, I feel you missed MY point. Mirror's edge is a game focused on parkour, as you clearly know. What I was trying to do was get you to imagine what it would be like to make a game with the depth of Mirror's edge's parkour, AND THEN (I MEAN AFTER RECREATING MIRRORS EDGE), build a shooter by the ground up. Seem's kinda difficult, eh?

Never said it had the fluidity of Mirrors edge, never played it myself so I cant compare. Word for word, "I SAID THE PARKOUR IS PRETTY DAMN FLUID," made no actual reference to Mirror's Edge, except when I said I was pretty sure it wasn't as good.

Finally you say the map design doesn't justify the use of SMART, I just have to disagree outright with that statement. I use it all the time, I'd offer to show you the Le-Parkour youtube video, but for whatever reason you already posted that, saying that it proves the bad map design, not sure how I could change your mind about that. You feel that the extra paths that aren't along the main objective's path are useless, while I see plenty of opportunity to flank and get behind the enemy.
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Shirley BEltran
 
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Post » Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:27 am

I only read OP's post and then skimmed through the others...

Before I played the game I thought I would be going for Medium, maybe Heavy. I repeat, before I ever played the game. I am the mobility type (I felt immediately connected to the game when one of the loading screen messages said "move more than you shoot") but I always thought I'd feel a little left behind because of the restricted weapon selection and less survivability that you get with Light. Heavy would be too slow for me but at least it can compensate with above average damage weapons; I was not very convinced about their survivability (I thought to myself, "yeah right...")

I was SO wrong... Medium is great with the average (and good enough) weapon selection, average mobility and average survivability. Heavy, I hated in the first 5 minutes, until I luckily flanked 5 people with the Gotlung and killed the rest that came to assist AND did not die although shot at (thank god people don't know how to play yet xD)... Light, omg I loved being that mobile. I just loved it!! I never looked back to average! Screw low HP; I knew I could die easily but then again they couldn't land a bullet on me... Funny thing is I ADORED being a Light Medic; I got a Medium Soldier on my back (or was it the other way around? :P) and we held the line for waaaaay to long...

Having drooled on my keyboard AGAIN (and digressed quite a bit) I can only sarcastically say "wtf is a wall-jump OP?" I understand you have some complaints, and you are a paying customer, but there are way more features in this game than what you (alone) saw. Let's all be a little more mature gamers please.

EDIT: Completely irrelevant I know but balance is key, you can't have everything in all body types; you have to lose something to gain something.
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Lynne Hinton
 
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