"Breached is a hybrid science fiction adventure game grounded in the legacy of Russian existentialist literature, particularly Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and Stalker."
Solaris was written by Polish s-f author Stanisław Lem in 1961. Stalker was written by Soviet s-f authors Boris and Arkady Strugatsky in 1972. Andrei Tarkovsky was a filmmaker who adapted those two novels into movies.
Vince talks about an ability that will briefly reveal enemies in vicinity to all allies. I guess this will work similarly to Overwatch Widomaker's Infra-Sight, another (next to Gravity Bomb) "ultimate" like ability that will briefly give enormous advantage over enemies in a difficult (or maybe even impossible) to counter way.
Vince also mentions there will be more Titans (6) but with fewer customization options allowing for immediate tactic adaption right after you see the Titan rather than waiting for it to reveal it's loadout.
These two changes convince me Titanfall 2 will slightly move toward rock-paper-scissors gameplay seen in Overwatch, where certain classes / abilities shut down certain enemies completely and the smart way to deal with that is to bring counter classes / abilities into next round. And so on.
With this approach tactical counterplay will be much more difficult, as once the ability triggers you're out.
This goes a bit against Titanfall's most appealing implementation - the immense freedom of movement provided by jump suit and wall running. Top TF players would leverage speed and vertical movement patterns to maintain tactical advantage. This behavior was highly successful to counter all kind of camping, smart-pistol harassment. It was also a source of biggest enjoyment and sense of accomplishment. Grappling Hook perfectly fits into that playstyle. Above mentioned changes not so much.
I'm pleased to see Respawn had the courage to unveil the Multiplayer for Titanfall 2 already. The visuals still require some polish, especially on the GUI front, but the focus is where it should be on fluid, enhanced gameplay and addition of new toys to mess up the physics.
The Grapple might be what wall running was for Titanfall 1 - a high skill cap tool enabling players to alternate physics and to get tactical advantage over enemies. The ~10 sec cooldown seems about right choice - single use per fight, or 2-3 uses per CTF run.
New ordnance, Gravity Bomb doesn't look that appealing. It seems to completely prevent players from getting out. I hope that's not going to be the case and double jump or Grapple will let you break the pull. Else it seems too punishing.
Titanfall's Blast Wave is a cool addition to either deal with close enemies or deal with NPC group.
Overall, this trailer made me hungry for more! Let's hope Smart Pistol will not see play :-).
I'm pleased to see Respawn had the courage to unveil the Multiplayer for Titanfall 2 already. The visuals still require some polish, especially on the GUI front, but the focus is where it should be on fluid, enhanced gameplay and addition of new toys to mess up the physics.
The Grapple might be what wall running was for Titanfall 1 - a high skill cap tool enabling players to alternate psychics and to get tactical advantage over enemies. The ~10 sec cooldown seems about right choice - single use per fight, or 2-3 uses per CTF run.
New ordnance, Gravity Bomb doesn't look that appealing. It seems to completely prevent players from getting out. I hope that's not going to be the case and double jump or Grapple will let you break the pull. Else it seems to punishing.
Titanfall's Blast Wave is a cool addition to either deal with close enemies or deal with NPC group.
Overall, this trailer made me hungry for more! Let's hope Smart Pistol will not see play :-).
Titanfall is an excellent, fresh, high skill cap game that could become one of the most exciting fps to watch in competitive landscape. Just glance at the likes of warspirituk or frothy omen effortlessly flying over different maps with incredible speed securing close to impossible kills. After playing over 900 hours I still regularly come back to it as no other fps requires as much focus, spatial awareness and movement rhythm as Titanfall does. A small community of highly skilled players still battles together in adrenaline pumping, sweat inducing style.
The problem with Titanfall is not the absence of Single Player campaign but the lack of long-term vision catering to competitive community. The gen-leveling system is great way to encourage players to learn various play styles, but there is no reasonable follow up after you reach Gen-10. The ranked system is a watered-down version of ladder with limited appeal.
Any kind of new content (sponsored tournaments, brawl-type of rotating events, speed runs, twitch streaming community, new titans) would keep the game alive for much longer and I hope Titanfall 2 will focus on that.
There is no deny Overwatch is a well crafted game with highly varied character pool, interesting map dynamics, fresh visuals and sound. It's quite incredible how well Blizzard managed to balance the game at start given the variety of hero playstyles, but well.. they have been doing so for other titles for quite some time now.
Paradoxically, all this amazing effort is partially offset by a lack of appealing reward system. The "leveling" has no effect on the game other then unlocking cosmetics. The achievement system is more suited for a single player game requiring to complete a difficult task only once. The algorithm behind "play of the game" highlights can be easily exploited by certain heroes; while others have no chance of getting one. There are also no incentives for an individual without a group of friends to cooperate with others or exploit existing synergies.
If this wasn't Blizzard title Overwatch could quickly follow the fate of Evolve - beautiful, fresh, well-crafted game without long-lasting appeal. For sure, Blizzard will promote Overwatch to be played competitively, and most likely at that skill and cooperation level this game is immense fun. I fear, however, that casual players will abandon the game quite quickly if no drastic change to reward system (or game modes) is implemented soon.
temporar's comments