It's been a while since I posted anything, and I've been meaning to do more video reviews / analyses. So, here a quick ten
minute impressions video I whipped up after ten hours with Division 2's open beta. Sufficed to say, I guess I don't quite see the appeal to the game and found it incredibly monotonous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgW5QJrLOg0
Good video.
As someone with a reasonable jot of time in TD (and one of the only people I know who does), and actually enjoyed their experience, I feel compelled to respond.
First off, yeah TD was always going to be better in co-op. I'd go so far as to say for the highest-tier loot in the DZ, co-op is basically required, that or being willing to spend a lot of time and "getting good".
The upside to this is that, TD has probably one of the best party systems in games, I was always able to find friendly people in the DZ, ask for an invite, and instantly join their squad, right there with one button prompt, no delay, no reloading, just accept and start farming.
Another complaint I see hurled at TD is how spongy the enemies are, this is true.
But TD is also closer in design to an MMO than a shooter like Ghost Recon: Wildlands. In early or low-level areas this is understandably a bit awkward, but as soon as you get into the endgame and "incursions" it clicks and you get it. This is also a place where having buddies and squadding up (matchmaking is also super slick for missions) is basically mandatory, but so worth it - especially when you have to coordinate who plays what roles (Tank, healer, DPS, etc) - which is something you can switch fairly quickly and easily in TD, depending on what equipment you're carrying already. Some of the most fun I had was working with a two friends and a rando who matchmaked in to beat Clear Sky on challenging, it took us about 3 hours to get the strat down but goddamn it was so much fun skirting the enemies and actually having to strategically use the abilities.
I also have to say I really enjoyed the day-1 experience of TD, I remember waiting in line:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeJ_DgN6rp4
While some people obviously complained about this, I found it hilarious, and used the time to shoot the shit with everybody coming in.
The day-1 DZ was also great, it was packed with people and almost everybody was using the mic, and being super friendly with trying to figure out how the game worked. I honestly wish I still had footage of it.
Late DZ is also still pretty good, you can pretty much hop in the DZ and usually find a group of people willing to let you hop in and farm with them. And if you don't, you can always just run West Side Pier solo.
I also don't agree at all with the complaints about cover, that's one thing I really appreciated about TD, it was willing to not let cover be a "free" safe space from damage, you have to make sure the angles are solid, and the cover doesn't have any holes, and the same applies to enemies, if you can get just a slight angle advantage, your can poke an enemy with a DMR that would in other games, be untouchable.
I also think that it was viewed as a "problem" to be a plus, enemies in TD will actively push, flank, and generally fuck your shit up, where in a lot of other games I play, they're just pushovers.
One thing I absolutely do agree with, is locomotion in TD, you honestly spend a lot of time just hoofing it with not a lot to do, I didn't think this was literally the worst thing in most areas, since TD is genuinely beautiful and that was enough for me to just enjoy on my trek from A to B, but it's not for everyone, and why should it it be "acceptable" when games like BoTW have come out showing how it's done.
I also slightly agree on boss-fights, the bosses themselves are just pumped-up normal enemies (except sometimes when they're turrets that require a non-shooty solution), but most of this is down to design, the arenas you're placed in and the level design are the "real' boss (seriously, compare Russian Consulate to Clear Sky, totally different experiences).
Ultimately TD is a co-op shoot-n-loot with MMO-inspired sensibilities, that's not going to play like MGSV, or just about any other thing it looks like, and it's certainly not going to be for everybody. But I think it fills a niche (it's certainly the only shoot-n-loot I've ever been able to put more than 4 hours in to (unless we consider Elite Dangerous)) and that's perfectly fine.
very smooth voice. i'm getting pretty sick of the very static cover systems in third person games, is it too much to ask for these aaa companies with their multimillion dollar budgets to create a more fluid cover system?
i wasn't expecting too much from the division 2 as i wrote the first game off since i would never be able to play it with friends, so not disappointed to hear its much of the same.
Why has nobody ever copied Army of Two, it had a cover system with blindfire and popout shooting except it was literally just a crouch button and getting near an object, and it worked so well
Also I really really like the Division, and one thing I love is that standing behind cover and shooting without using the glue system works just as well if not better than using the actual system. You still can't crouch so you gotta use it if you have no tall cover, but I find that the way they let you use tall cover without using their system lets me play way more aggressive and fast and it makes the game so much more fun for me. Its still not Army of Two but its like 999x better than any other bullshit fuck system.
I won't go on for like 3000 words about the game cause I'm lazy but Div 1 is one of the best games I've played in years and the above is one of the many many things about it that I really appreciate
I really tried to enjoy TD1, i put plenty of hours into it but the entire premise is just so fucking shallow.
Half baked PVP, basically 0 enemy variety, the setting is dull as hell, and the gameplay itself is just tedious.
Like, I get how someone said earlier in this thread that 'its okay for bullet sponges to be in the game because its more of an MMO type game' which I understand, but that doesn't mean they don't make the gunplay feel like shit. I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would have played TD1 for more than 20 hours unless you're the kind of person who -needs- to be hooked on a game for a while and just used it as a stopgap before something more interesting came out.
Because later updates fixed a lot of issues, and endgame builds would near instakill regular goons while bosses being a lot less spongy. Div2 alleviated it now by having bosses' armor being targetable and more focus on team based focusing down. Regular grunts in the beta (even on the endgame teaser account) would go down in 5-10 shots of the AR which isn't much. They even added in gear sets into the early game of D2 that were only present in the endgame of D1, so now builds are there from the get go. Overall the later half of D1 was pretty great because loot became a lot more common, and grinding wasn't nearly a quarter as bad vs vanilla. And the best part is, D2 has taken those fixes from the D1 endgame and put them into 2.
Oh hey, I recognize that voice!
You're the burrito rant guy!
https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/516535
TD isn't for everyone, so It's perfectly fine if it didn't grab you.
That said, the game does feel shallow if all you played was the easier mode (where you just point and click at enemies until they die, basically), really it starts getting fun when the game forces you to actually play interestingly (use abilities with considered tact, shooting weakspots (for massive damage ), and headshots through the smallest holes in cover), which is either if you're going at it hard-core in the beginning, or later when you're farming Phoenix Credits (or classifieds).
Something you probably didn't even really run into unless you got further in the game, or played on much harder difficulties, was the healing enemies, they'd drop a health-station for the enemies, and you actively had to seek out and destroy that health station, or kill the enemy. This in harder difficulties often meant a coordinated push into the enemy line, just to take out one target, and a quick retreat back to a safer area – this type of play just doesn't happen on normal difficulties, or early in the game.
PVP in concept isn't that bad, and in-fact I had quite a bit of fun with it. Really to me the issue is that if you go into the DZ looking to start a fight, you're going to kit out and be way better off for it, compared to a PVE player coming in to farm classifieds, meaning you have the advantage from the beginning. Especially when you got the infrequent kill-squads, they could totally pubstomp you.
Really, 1 PVP-Kitted guy VS 2 PVE players was pretty fair in my experience, both got kills and could then go their own way.
Also what @Codemaster85 says, the game change quite a over its lifetime, I've played in bursts, probably 30~ hours when it first came out, then ~30 hours after the first major patches (when we got incursions), and then ~40 hours in brief parts in late 2018 to farm classifieds and turbo-level my friends so we could play endgame content.
As someone going through TD1 after playing the TD2 beta for 5 hours, TD2 is a far more interesting game at low levels.
Guilty as charged.
Good news: Everything you hated about TD1 is gone or improved. Everything you liked about TD1: Either removed or improved (But mostly improved)
Bullet sponge enemies? Red and Purple guys die fast as shit, I'm talking Battlefield multiplayer fast. With a decentISH build gold enemies are about as strong as purple enemies were in TD1. If you're willing to sacrifice your armor and play high risk, with a couple certain talents, you can absolutely fucking DEMOLISH anything
Case in point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRInWewnpg8&feature=youtu.be
End game is THE main focus of the game. As someone put it best, World Tier 1 has WAY more content than the entirety of Anthem. The whole map you spent clearing gets taken over by a new faction, who are stronger than you because gear score is now introduced and yours sucks at first. They have many skills and new tactics and gizmos than you're used to, and even the factions you've been fighting get pushed out of their strongholds into the streets. There's shit tons of loot, all of which is viable, all of which you'll maybe want to deconstruct to add one of its stats to your current gear. There's Bounties, Missions, side missions, difficulty options for all of it all the way to Heroic, Strongholds which are like important missions on CRACK. There's settlements that you help and bring supplies to with friendlies that actually go out and gather supplies and return. Enemies that try to blockade them. There's control points you clear and get taken back over at times. There's FIFTY TWO named bosses in the open world. RANDOMLY GENERATED bosses for bounties. Roaming trader you have to find by finding a Snitch character, which isn't in the same place for every player so you can't just go look it up. Exploring off the beaten path generally rewards you. A Dark zone where anything goes, and two Dark Zones where your stats are equalized with everyone's, though what you wear, the stats on your gear and mods still matter and add on top of the normalized stats, you can still face roll. A much more alive Dark Zone. Build Diversity is off the charts and, theoretically, shouldn't be funneled into the same two sets and weapons like TD1. Mods that slot into your GEAR and SKILLS are looted, while mods for your weapons are unlocked and act as side grades with positives and a negative
So, if you even liked TD1 a little, TD2 is worth checking out. It's like 1.8 on crack while smoking more
i wanted to like my bit of time with TD1 but it just seems the kind of game thats boring as shit to play alone (for me, at least), but fun as hell with other people/friends. but nobody i know has any sort of interest at all in the games
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