Star Wars Gaming Megathread Episode II - Attack of the Season Pass - Games

Yeah, I doubts he likes the current system any more than we do even if he can't outright say it. He's usually the guy expressing Dice's desire to make the game as good as it can be by adding more features etc.

[QUOTE=qwea00;52893340]The AMA is in full swing apparently. Responses pretty much boil down to "we'll look at the data and change/balance things accordingly". Ech... Cosmetic trooper customization is on its way.[/QUOTE] Not much DICE can do with EA's force choke on their throat.

"Honest AMA". But yeah according to them farming money is exploiting upgrades but paying for them doesn't affect balance

[QUOTE=VenomousBeetle;52893153]What even is that Smuggler skin, I've never seen Han look like that[/QUOTE] The description of it comes from the post ROTJ novels. Also shows up in the campaign.

Speaking of the campaign, I'm gonna copy my opinion on it here from the SW megathread in film/TV: What a fucking letdown that campaign is. [sp]What happened to the "HOPE CANNOT SAVE THEM!" Iden we got from the trailers? We were led to believe Iden would stick with the Empire and be instrumental in the First Order's establishment (anybody remember "I've waited 30 years for this..."?), which would honestly be a super compelling plot; we haven't had anything really focusing on the die-hard Imperial perspective in canon other than Rae Sloane. Instead she defects pretty much immediately after Endor, which makes sense given how laughably and blatantly evil the idea of Operation Cinder is, but come on. The plot "twists" are predictable and the story is the same "disillusioned Imperial now fighting for the Rebellion/Republic" story we've seen dozens of times before in both canon and Legends. Laughably little ground is covered between ROTJ and TFA. Plus, the plot depends too much on knowledge of other materials in canon - sure, I knew what was going on with Leia being in orbit over Naboo when you get there because I've read Shattered Empire, but imagine the layman consumer. "Why is Leia here? Why is she flying a Naboo starfighter? Since when was Leia a pilot?"[/sp] I'm really glad I didn't put down money for this. I was really tempted to, just for the campaign; but after watching the story, I know I would have regretted it. I have a feeling that one of two things is the case: the campaign may have gone through a major rewrite in the last year, or the trailers intentionally gave us a false idea of what the story would be like, given that it's just [i]so different[/i] from the hints dropped and general vibe of the trailers. Plus, a good amount of the pre-rendered shots which would have fit easily into the campaign are missing or were heavily altered for the game - [sp]for example, the shot of them seeing the Death Star II explode or the Corvus joining the fleet at Endor[/sp] - and there are stylistic changes between [sp]things like the Corvus being of Imperial design at Jakku, when it's gone through a Republic retrofit in the actual campaign.[/sp] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kae-JjbLsgA[/media] This trailer is laughable now that we know what happens in the story.

Some of those changes could have been done to keep from spoiling the story.

[QUOTE=Tuskin;52893497]Some of those changes could have been done to keep from spoiling the story.[/QUOTE] The one thing I can see that being the case with is the [sp]Corvus at Jakku, as it does look like X-Wings still fall from the Corvus.[/sp] You may be right, but I feel like there's more to it than that.

Might as well repost this over here. [QUOTE=Blueleaf;52893200]I get the impression from looking back at the article about Project Ragtag's failure that the story change was something EA forced on them rather than Lucasfilm. [QUOTE]Argument #1: How much Star Wars should there be? With Ragtag, Hennig and crew were planning on making a gritty game about scoundrels and criminals. They had Lucasfilm’s blessing to tell a story about new characters, with no Sith or midichlorians or members of the Skywalker clan. But when EA’s executives thought of Star Wars, they thought of robed Jedi using powers of the Force, not mob families. Two former Visceral staff recall EA looking at Ragtag and asking where Chewbacca was. “EA would get obsessed with market research and start asking people what’s important to them about Star Wars,” said a former staff member. “You’d get, ‘Oh, the Force, lightsabers, the usual Jedi continuum.’ They’re hyper focused on that stuff, and it’d be a topic of conversation in every pitch meeting.”[/QUOTE] [sp]Having the game suddenly switch from the Empire's perspective of its own downfall to a more traditional Rebels vs Empire story featuring the OT cast feels like EA's idea of what Star Wars should be bleeding into the plot.[/sp][/QUOTE]

It pisses me off so much that EA has [I]exclusive[/I] rights to Star Wars games. I'm just giving up hope of any good games coming out of this for the years to come.

It isn’t completely exclusive, Lego Star Wars EP7 wasn’t published by EA. i wonder what the exact clause is.

[QUOTE=Skyward;52893558]It pisses me off so much that EA has [I]exclusive[/I] rights to Star Wars games. I'm just giving up hope of any good games coming out of this for the years to come.[/QUOTE] EA is currently almost halfway through their ten year contract with Disney, and in that time what they've got to show for their efforts is one lukewarmly received FPS, a followup that's lead to a massive controversy over EA's business actions, one that has lead to poor PR for Disney as [URL="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gambling?src=hash"]people link them with promoting gambling to children on social media[/URL], Visceral's cancelled RPG and the various mobile games. Call me optimistic, but I have doubts that EA and Disney will be parting ways on good terms after this.

[QUOTE=Tuskin;52893571]It isn’t completely exclusive, Lego Star Wars EP7 wasn’t published by EA. i wonder what the exact clause is.[/QUOTE] I'd assume Lego Star Wars games are an exception, probably due to Lego doing sets for Star Wars as well

[QUOTE=_charon;52893577]I'd assume Lego Star Wars games are an exception, probably due to Lego doing sets for Star Wars as well[/QUOTE] It might be the game double counts as a Lego product

[QUOTE=EliaMoroes;52892201]I don't subscribe to that theory, as much interesting as it is, for three reasons: 1) People who datamined the game discovered that [sp]Iden's and Del's daughter is actually named Zay after the former's mother, Zeehay[/sp]. 2) [sp]One of the many unspoken rule of the franchise as whole is that Force sensivity is hereditary or something, and neither Iden nor Del seems to have any degree of Force powers (at the very least not at the same degree of the impossible feats performed by Rey in The Force Awakens)[/sp]. 3) I'm extremely doubtful about the possibility of a videogame's story (albeit within canon) to influence the new Star Wars trilogy of movies in any way. If anything, the revelation would be caught only by a selected portion of the audience, not all of it, so it'd be a bad narrative decision[/QUOTE] That first one is interesting, although [sp]I could see Zay turning to Rey over time since her parents weren't around to drill it in.[/sp] Also, [sp]I think Del was actually shown to be force sensitive in the last mission where you chase him down in his own mind as Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren himself says "faith led you to the force, the force led you to the old man(Luke I guess?)[/sp].

There is something from Battlefront 2's SP that is in TLJ Spoilers for both movie and game. They're both really minor spoilers though. [sp]The compass Luke finds on Pillio has been spotted on some of the merchandise for the movie[/sp] This is probably a case of either LucasFilm suggesting to them 'Hey you could do this' or the writers asking LucasFilm if they could do something connected to TLJ.

[QUOTE=Tuskin;52894052]There is something from Battlefront 2's SP that is in TLJ Spoilers for both movie and game. They're both really minor spoilers though. [sp]The compass Luke finds on Pillio has been spotted on some of the merchandise for the movie[/sp] This is probably a case of either LucasFilm suggesting to them 'Hey you could do this' or the writers asking LucasFilm if they could do something connected to TLJ.[/QUOTE] I had a feeling that[sp]the campaign ending on a cliffhanger to be continued in the TLJ DLC[/sp]might have been because there was information related to TLJ in the DLC missions that Lucasfilm didn't want them to show until closer to TLJ's release date. Likely just a coincidence, but given how nucanon likes to have its media link into each other it's still a possibility.

[sp]Rey is probably Iden and Del's daughter [/sp] Most likely not though. Too major a plot point to be in a tie in game.

[QUOTE=Vallux;52894209][sp]Rey is probably Iden and Del's daughter [/sp] Most likely not though. Too major a plot point to be in a tie in game.[/QUOTE] [sp]If they aren't her parents, my guess is that Disney told them to do it to intentionally muddy the waters in regards to Rey. The big twist in the Force Awakens was leaked quite early last time, so they are probably trying to prevent the same happening in The Last Jedi, since the reveal of Rey's parents is gonna be one of the big reveals (Who Snoke is being another).[/sp]

[video=youtube;nrHLscqQ5oU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrHLscqQ5oU[/video] I didn't realise they recorded different lines for some of the alien races, that's actually pretty neat.

They also did it for BF1. [editline]15th November 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Wafflemonstr;52894356][sp]since the reveal of Rey's parents is gonna be one of the big reveals (Who Snoke is being another).[/sp][/QUOTE] [sp]That hasn't been confirmed. We're going to get more on both of them, but nothing has said her parentage is going to be revealed[/sp]

[QUOTE=Wafflemonstr;52894356][sp]If they aren't her parents, my guess is that Disney told them to do it to intentionally muddy the waters in regards to Rey. The big twist in the Force Awakens was leaked quite early last time, so they are probably trying to prevent the same happening in The Last Jedi, since the reveal of Rey's parents is gonna be one of the big reveals (Who Snoke is being another).[/sp][/QUOTE] We know who Snoke is, the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Stop expecting some great twist, at best they will tie him as the gigantic Dark Side presence in the Unknown Regions that might have tried reaching out to Palpatine. [editline]16th November 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Tuskin;52894444]They also did it for BF1. [editline]15th November 2017[/editline] [sp]That hasn't been confirmed. We're going to get more on both of them, but nothing has said her parentage is going to be revealed[/sp][/QUOTE] [URL="https://twitter.com/GMA/status/852996398505177089"]Wrong[/URL]

How did I miss that revelation. [editline]15th November 2017[/editline] This is perfect [url]https://rvbomally.deviantart.com/art/Spaceballs-The-Video-Game-II-715306085[/url] [t]https://orig00.deviantart.net/52b7/f/2017/319/3/c/spaceballs__the_video_game_ii_by_rvbomally-dbtvhph.png[/t]

Can't seem to get ultimate pack working on the Steam BF2.

[QUOTE=Zeos;52894968]Can't seem to get ultimate pack working on the Steam BF2.[/QUOTE] the what

The one with [I]every[/I] mod

Rant from former SWTOR developer on lootboxes and f2p [url]https://twitter.com/ZenOfDesign/status/930809632859344896[/url] [quote]Let's talk lootboxes, and how annoying it is to watch AAA publishers fuck them up from the perspective of someone who has to design to them. I've been working in Free-to-Play games for 4 years, and loot boxes are pretty crucial to that business model working. But it *is* possible to do them ethically, and they are super easy to fuck up. The number one mistake that I've seen in F2P games is devs who don't understand that NOT SPENDING IS NORMAL PLAY. Most of your customers will NEVER give you a dime. The Zynga Facebook games that used to spam your feed were a success if they had a conversion rate of 2%. That's right - a successful business model if 98% of your population never drops a dime. Things have edged up since then, and ppl designing these have gotten more sophisticated, but we're still in a world where the guys who plan microtransactions are DELIGHTED if 5% spend. What this means, though is that the non-spendy version of the game is the NORM. The game that you see as a non-spender is what 90%+ of your customers will see. Dungeon Keeper on mobile failed because what those people saw was a game where spending was absolutely mandatory. That view of the game killed the game. Because that 90%+ of the population is your game's virality (also known as "word of mouth"). If your free players (or in the case of Battlefront, box spenders) have a negative reax it can kill word of mouth, tank reviews, etc. Some people think that game devs don't care about keeping that 90%+, but that's not true. Most of these games NEED those non-spendy players because they're multiplayer games. In MMOs, you need ppl so that dungeon queues will fire. In PvP games, you need enough people to make a match - and matchmake them with appropriate enemies. This is much more true in AAA games where the PvP is synchronous than in mobile games where the PvP is against offline opponents frequently (see the core Clash of Clans game) So what Battlefront got wrong was to put content that people consider core behind a hugely long grind path. They missed that this would be seen as the 'normal' game. And one more thing: once you go into microtransactions, players start suspecting they are your motives for everything. So even in the scenario was a game designer that (for example) accidentally put an unlock behind an 80 hour grind because he fat fingered it, or because he just likes grinds or hard games, players will assume the company is making a money grab. That's because in a lot of cases, the players are correct. Bringing microtransactions into things erases the benefit of the doubt. I still am a huge proponent of Free to Play because I'm a big hippy. I *like* the idea that 98% of my population can play for free. And a lot of research has been done to find that most heavy spenders ('whales') are people who like spending and don't feel manipulated into it. Think high-powered lawyers with too much spare cash lying around. I'm pretty fine with those guys paying a lot of money so that a whole bunch of kids w/o money or credit cards can play my games for free. In talks in the past, I've compared it to the old Patron system in Renaissance times, where kings and rich dudes would subsidize art so everyone could enjoy it. But still, good MTX design is an art. It requires designers to be equal partners with Product Managers to come up with something that is perceived as fair and is celebrated. People like @JimSterling would disagree, but the difference between Overwatch & Battlefront is stark. People CELEBRATE new skins being added to the former. When a new Magic or Hearthstone set comes out, people CELEBRATE the opportunity to spend more. Same for a new FIFA season. This is important. MTX will fail if it *doesn't feel good to spend*. It will fail if it creates a poisonous environment around the game instead of excitement. Anyway, I need to hit the road to a convention, but these thoughts have been rattling around my brain for a few days now. [/quote]

I ragequit from Movie Battles 2 finally lol. The community is absolutely toxic 9 times out of 10, and it gets to the point where I can join a server and just want to leave immediately. It's just not worth my time anymore. I dunno if any of you guys here play it, but I'd be interested on your perspectives on MBII in general, maybe I'm just being a big baby, I dunno.

[QUOTE=Flicky;52893483]Speaking of the campaign, I'm gonna copy my opinion on it here from the SW megathread in film/TV: What a fucking letdown that campaign is. [sp]What happened to the "HOPE CANNOT SAVE THEM!" Iden we got from the trailers? We were led to believe Iden would stick with the Empire and be instrumental in the First Order's establishment (anybody remember "I've waited 30 years for this..."?), which would honestly be a super compelling plot; we haven't had anything really focusing on the die-hard Imperial perspective in canon other than Rae Sloane. Instead she defects pretty much immediately after Endor, which makes sense given how laughably and blatantly evil the idea of Operation Cinder is, but come on. The plot "twists" are predictable and the story is the same "disillusioned Imperial now fighting for the Rebellion/Republic" story we've seen dozens of times before in both canon and Legends. Laughably little ground is covered between ROTJ and TFA. Plus, the plot depends too much on knowledge of other materials in canon - sure, I knew what was going on with Leia being in orbit over Naboo when you get there because I've read Shattered Empire, but imagine the layman consumer. "Why is Leia here? Why is she flying a Naboo starfighter? Since when was Leia a pilot?"[/sp] I'm really glad I didn't put down money for this. I was really tempted to, just for the campaign; but after watching the story, I know I would have regretted it. I have a feeling that one of two things is the case: the campaign may have gone through a major rewrite in the last year, or the trailers intentionally gave us a false idea of what the story would be like, given that it's just [i]so different[/i] from the hints dropped and general vibe of the trailers. Plus, a good amount of the pre-rendered shots which would have fit easily into the campaign are missing or were heavily altered for the game - [sp]for example, the shot of them seeing the Death Star II explode or the Corvus joining the fleet at Endor[/sp] - and there are stylistic changes between [sp]things like the Corvus being of Imperial design at Jakku, when it's gone through a Republic retrofit in the actual campaign.[/sp] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kae-JjbLsgA[/media] This trailer is laughable now that we know what happens in the story.[/QUOTE] I [I]still[/I] can't really get over the campaign twist. Everyone's so hyped up over the lootboxes and I understand why but I want to know exactly what their rationale was with the story and marketing and nobody really gives a heck about that. Hell, I tweeted one of the writers asking them if it was always planned this way and they replied "yup" basically. I didn't want to be super pushy on them with all the ceaseless toxicity they're probably getting as a result of this clusterfuck but in my head I was like "Okay, so why are there parts from the trailer missing in the game?"

[QUOTE=Simplemac3;52895447]I [I]still[/I] can't really get over the campaign twist. Everyone's so hyped up over the lootboxes and I understand why but I want to know exactly what their rationale was with the story and marketing and nobody really gives a heck about that. Hell, I tweeted one of the writers asking them if it was always planned this way and they replied "yup" basically. I didn't want to be super pushy on them with all the ceaseless toxicity they're probably getting as a result of this clusterfuck but in my head I was like "Okay, so why are there parts from the trailer missing in the game?"[/QUOTE] I remember having the same questions about Godzilla 2014, there were scenes that were changed completely from the trailers. The way I figure it the stuff in the trailers was created or changed afterwards to be purposefully misleading. I wasn't expecting the [sp]MUTOs[/sp] when going to see Big G '14 (although tbf I only watched a couple of trailers), and I figure EA did the same so people didn't expect the twist. Which is shit, but hey it's EA I guess (or DICE, w/e)

[QUOTE=NikoChekhov;52895453]I remember having the same questions about Godzilla 2014, there were scenes that were changed completely from the trailers. The way I figure it the stuff in the trailers was created or changed afterwards to be purposefully misleading. I wasn't expecting the [sp]MUTOs[/sp] when going to see Big G '14 (although tbf I only watched a couple of trailers), and I figure EA did the same so people didn't expect the twist. Which is shit, but hey it's EA I guess (or DICE, w/e)[/QUOTE] I mean like, [sp]they wanted to have a rebel campaign or a redemption campaign, fine. I can't fault them for writing what they wanted to write.[/sp] But shit, it FEELS like there's meddling here. [sp]Scenes not appearing in the full game. The ad campaign playing up the dark side perspective. All of the important Star Wars characters appearing between missions cutting up Iden's story feels a TON like what we've heard from EA in the past, that is the executives cutting in and saying "hey, we need all this iconic brand star wars stuff in here, people will like that."[/sp] I hope they'll talk more about it as people start to come to terms with the lootbox fiasco because I'm super curious here