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Finally some innovation
fallenlords
Member UncommonPosts: 683
in Defiance
At last the genre has taken a step forward - here we have an MMO releasing on all major gaming platforms and coinciding with a TV series release. The scope of what is trying to be achieved here is massive compared to what has been done recently.
I am playing the beta on Xbox and loving it, no major issues apart from a bit of lag during an Arkfall event. All things considered it's a top game. Of course PC players might feel short changed to the technology limitations of the current batch of consoles. And the game in itself is a typical MMO - but really its kudos to Trion and Syfy for the convergence of the technologies and media.
Next step should be an MMO with cross platform integration - but I doubt that will ever happen. Perhaps it's not a bad thing to keep console and PC players apart.
Comments
I guess I just don't get it. My expectations for the TV show tie-in are low, extremely low, I just don't see how this is ever going to really be a big deal. Meet the main characters from the TV show in-game? Meh, can't say as I care. They talk about a plague on the TV show and said plague shows up in the game? There are worse ways to introduce elements to a game, I suppose, but there doesn't seem to me to be anything special about that possibility.
I may end up being surprised by the depth of the tie-in, it'd be nice if I am, but I don't see how that's possible. The TV episodes are in the can, the most they can do is have a branch or two filmed -- and with what has to be an expensive production, given the make-up and CGI, not much of that -- and pre-set areas they can green-screen mentions of players onto (like a poster in a bar, or some such). That's about all I can really imagine is reasonably possible. It seems fairly inevitable that most of the tie-in will be mono-directional, and I just don't see it as being particularly interesting for long.
Then again, I've never particularly cared about games whose main draw seems to be playing as, or besides, movie/TV characters. And yet movie/TV tie-in games sell like hotcakes, despite often being the worst of the the worst, game-wise, so maybe it's just me.
As for the multi-console thing. There has already been an MMO with cross-platform integration, quite some time ago. FFXI was available on the PC, PS2 (pre-slim only), and Xbox 360. I'm confused at to why so few seem to be aware of this. Granted, FFXI wasn't huge in the West the way it was in Japan, but it is hardly an unknown game.
With the three versions of Defiance being limited to their own pool, I don't see the multi-platform aspect as being particularly innovative -- it's really quite commonplace these days -- or interesting. I mean, I guess it's nice enough that if you wanted you could get versions for your PC and your consoles, but I can't imagine many doing that (at least not until the game hits to markdown rack, whenever that might be).
I haven't had a chance to try the Xbox version, but I did try it on the PS3 a bit last night and came away with the feeling that the PC version is maybe getting less hosed by its console port nature than people are assuming. In some respects the PS3 version looked... I dunno, sharper? Yeah, best description I can come up with, the PS3 version looked sharper than the PC version, but the draw distance was horrid compared to the PC version and the detail was quite a lot less.
The audio, not Defiance's strong suit to begin with, was also... Odd, and inferior. Whether that's because it's an older build than I'm used to or they're cutting some corners to get things to run on the PS3, I dunno.
While I'd really like to see the draw distance go out a lot (or, better yet, be adjustable) on the PC version, clearly they're using the PC's extra horsepower at least some there. Mostly where the PC version gets hosed is that horrid console UI.
Thing is, even on a console that UI seems horrid and in a lot of ways odd. Why even bother with a text chat box for a console game, let alone one that so laughably dysfunctional, when almost no one is going to use it anyway? Doesn't make sense to me.
I dunno... Tie-ins have been done to death. Multi-platform, even multi-platform MMOs, have been done. Third person shooters have been done. Not that a game really needs to have any to be fun or successful, but I don't see any innovation in Defiance at all.
It's TPS, not FPS.
And it's not like FPS MMOs are particularly new. Fallen Earth is, what, two years old now? Something like that, anyway.
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
It's a fun game and I do love the tie in with the tv series. Movie/TV inspired games almost always suck, just cheap crap put out to make a little money for the parent i.p., but Defiance, the game, seems to be a very solid title all around.
Trion has been pulling back a bit from the MMORPG label and I can definitely see why after playing it for several hours so far this weekend. It's more an MMOAG, (Action Game), with a solid story and Quest (mission) driven content, than an RPG. I'd love to see a developer take a game like this and make it a full MMORPG, but given the time constraints dictated by the debut of the tv series and the need to keep pace with the show, this was really the only format that would make sense in this case.
Personally, I enjoy the combat. Some of the AI is great and I love the pacing/difficulty/design of most of the missions I've played. Arkfall Events are a lot more fun than Rift Events in Rift or Open World Boss Battles in Guild Wars 2. However, for me, the story is the main reason I'll be buying the game. I love the cut-scenes. IMO some of the best voice acting in any MMO, though I wish the lipsync and the ability of the face to emote were a lot better. (GW2 is the gold standard now for cut-scene lipsync/facial expressions, but the GW2 voice over work just is not nearly as good, in most cases, as in Defiant).
It's clearly a next gen MMOFPS/Action title with some RPG elements, so kudos as an innovator on those counts, but the game clearly falls too far short on a number of MMORPG counts to be considered an innovation for the MMORPG genre. There are things about the game that could and should inform future MMORPG design, but Defiance doesn't offer any where near a complete blueprint for a full on contemporary MMORPG.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Fallen earth's combat was atrocious, beyond atrocious, DF1 however was sharp and responsive. What i'm applauding is we have a well fianced company(not indie), that isn't sticking to the dull formula of tab-target, but instead wanting to give players something refreshing combat wise.
Firefall unreleased, Global Agenda... PS2 did great on giving us a huge battlefield, but it forgot too add elements to make it more than just a shooter, i.e the meta game.
If defiance is a hit, then the MMO market might actually see some heavy investment into something other than a WoW clone, such as TESO.
FE was a sandbox mmorpg not a TPS,Firefall it's not out yet,planetside 2 it's only pvp,GA was an arena PVP TPS with a small pve content.
Really a big bunch of non sense you both posted.
Personally this person sounds way too Eeyore too me. I honestly have never watched Scify channel and don't play FPS. However, as a PC gamer and a Trion fan I think this is something new that gives off at least an atmosphere of innovative trial. No other MMO has even tried to do something like this, and Trion deserves their credit. We certainly have not figured out the actual mechanics of MMO gaming so why be so gloomy about new ideas?
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."
I guess, to me, I feel the difference between a FPS and TPS are so minimal, that they're basically the same thing.
Ummm, FE was not a sandbox by any stretch of the imagination, and the whole point of mentioning FE was that the person I was quoting referred to Defiance as an FPS.
Before calling something nonesense you might want to try actually reading not only what was said, but what it was in response to.
What in the world does "atmosphere of innovative trial" mean?
Innovative seriously? It's pretty much Tabula Rasa gone mass effect.
It is fun tho but it has it's flaws.
But for me the biggest annoyance is that stupid female character, trying to come over as cool but ends up being just this annoying twat you can't rid off. Not to mention the annoying swearwords she uses. 'Shtako'... just shut it
But nah I wouldn't call this innovative and let's be honest I don't think this genre has any use for that word.
And where has there been gaming innovation just recently?
Seems to me as a formula you are taking one of the most popular gaming formats (TPS/FPS), adding another popular element (Scifi) on top of which you sprinkle a TV show. Combined in an MMO Launching on all the major gaming platforms*. There may not be gaming innovation as such, but there is innovation in scope.
*(Nintendo not included for good reason because they have just lost the plot. Wii Mini with no Wifi, no support for a major title like Crysis 3 which could of been released).
i can asnwer that. nowhere, game after game its just same old candy with differetn paper on it.
but thats not my point for playing these games, its like bicycle, its what it is and years go by you buy a new one but its stll same o bike with just new look and yet people keeps buying em.
Nope, no innovation here. Whenever i see this word in a post its never true.
It DOES however play differently than the high fantasy mmorpgs everyone use to. It does have some nice mechanics involved. It certainly feels different, but nothing was innovative.
Its basically a TPS with shooter combat in a combination of RIFT storyline and GW2 style events. Its taking from two games that had no innovation, which isnt innovative..and tossing in a FPS style combat. The aim shooter combat can be somewhat difficult, there are head shots, mobs do have weak points and resistant points. Active dodge blah blah blah.
Focus is off magic and skills with all skills being passive, and putting your skills into weapons which have a good amount of diversity in effects and upgrades. its a nice change of pace.
Question you should be asking youself is: Does this all sound like something interesting to me?
Its not your savior mmorpg. Its not an awesome esport FPS. Its neither.
We are talking about FPS MMO's that don't suck. Stay on topic.
If anything, i can see the PC version being held down by the consoles. We already saw that in case of problems, XBox gets full attention first -Trion doesn't want to make Microsoft angry with their title.
Instead of trying to tripple their sales by releasing it on 3 platforms, they should have put all their efforts into releasing a polished PC version instead.
You know, one with decent sounds, animations (although both has never been a strong department of Trion if you look at Rift), a working UI and ...tataaa.. A CHAT! And to those who say that animations will get fixed or improve eventually: People still wait for that happen in Rift. It's never going to. Period.
As to the tie-in with the tv-show: It's a gimmick. By the very nature of how tv-shows are produced, it's just not going to happen that whatever you do in game will in fact have an impact on the show. If anything, it's rather the other way around... say a major bug boss can get added to the game with a patch if the show its appeared in had good viewer ratings.
Who's this "We", kemosabi?
And what does your opinion of FE have to do with anything?
Try again, this time after you actually have a clue what the topic was.
Still doesn't sound like innovation.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
To be fair, you did use FE as an example of an FPS MMO already inexistence, which was a horrid game. If you knew the genre, you'd have known that only DF1 has offered a decent MMOFPS, but both are indie games, one sucks, one didn't being the difference.