Tried out the beta the past few days.

Visually and sound-wise just as good as the first game obviously, probably a bit better.

Love all the new features, locations, and eras present.

The new way to fly ships took awhile to get used to, I was very good with the old system, and I'm slowly getting a hang of this one.

One gripe I have is that Naboo is a bit TOO realistic. The constant wind blown leaves and flying birds gets distracting, they could definitely tone that down a bit.

On 9.10.2017 at 5:01 PM, Stay On The Leader said:

I'm not fussed by the crates thing, really. You'd have to spunk a LOT of money into it to get a lot of meaningful gameplay advantages, and I think the players who are prepared to do that will be few and far between. It's not like it's trying to be an esports title anyway.

So you'd give EA another inch? Bold move, lets see how it pays off.

In the current state, anyone who buys this game actively tells video game punishers to continue gutting their games, creating ever more shallow and manipulative systems, because they are just that ill-informed a consumer.

I want this game so badly, but not in this way. There is a reason less video games catch my interest every year.

From my point of view the Jedi are evil.

1 hour ago, Stay On The Leader said:

From my point of view the Jedi are evil.

Oh come on, from which point of view is EA not evil ?

They make good games, and if they've got a business model that allows them to scalp whales for their profit margin while keeping costs down for everyone else then I'm gonna give it a thumbs up.

7 hours ago, Admiral Deathrain said:

Oh come on, from which point of view is EA not evil ?

Warner Bros but then again that is because they are the greater of the two.

7 hours ago, Stay On The Leader said:

They make good games, and if they've got a business model that allows them to scalp whales for their profit margin while keeping costs down for everyone else then I'm gonna give it a thumbs up.

But costs are not down, it is still $60 for the base game, and that is more like buying the demo version (now called betas) for that $60. You have to at the very least get the season pass. But by that time you might as well get the Legendary/Golod edition which includes the season pass . Basically this game has become a Whales only playground , Dolphins must be this phat to ride.

Caution Language, graphic Imagery

10 hours ago, Marinealver said:

But costs are not down, it is still $60 for the base game, and that is more like buying the demo version (now called betas) for that $60. You have to at the very least get the season pass. But by that time you might as well get the Legendary/Golod edition which includes the season pass . Basically this game has become a Whales only playground , Dolphins must be this phat to ride.

Caution Language, graphic Imagery

Thumbs up for Jim Sterling!

As for this game, I'm super excited there is no season pass. No more player base segregation, just sweet, sweet fighter assault with a stream of free DLC. I'll be grinding away, no money paid for crates. Those Star Cards can't buy ranks, meaning you can't equip three cards until you level up the specific trooper/hero/ship a lot, and you don't get great items from the crates until you level up your overall profile a lot.

Edit - This game sincerely makes me yearn for a new Rogue Squadron type game.

I've been playing Destiny 2 lately, which has its own progression issues (I'd be 305 on 2 characters already if the right slot items would drop from my half dozen once a week engrams - maybe tomorrow's reset will finally be rewarding).

The loot crate thing here is making me wait to see what happens after launch. I got burned preordering the first one. They can't fool me twice in a row.

I don't mind paying for loot crates if they don't cause the game to go PTW. I never bought the crates/quicktracks in Battlefield because of that. On the flip side, I bought maybe $50 over the year I've been playing Overwatch for loot crates because it's all graphic changes with no change on gameplay which is cool. That and Overwatch is by far the most fun I've had playing video games in 2016/2017

1 hour ago, Wiredin said:

I don't mind paying for loot crates if they don't cause the game to go PTW. I never bought the crates/quicktracks in Battlefield because of that. On the flip side, I bought maybe $50 over the year I've been playing Overwatch for loot crates because it's all graphic changes with no change on gameplay which is cool. That and Overwatch is by far the most fun I've had playing video games in 2016/2017

I really hope they push the aesthetics in crates and minimize/reduce the gains from higher tier 'cards'. I love the variety in gameplay offered by the stat tweaks and skill replacements, but there's no reason the higher tiers should offer substantial stats boosts. Small boosts don't bother me as they can serve as a 'carrot on a stick' to keep players engaged and eager to play, but it's wrong to make some players inherently much stronger than the rest.

----------

After the beta, I've really been yearning for more Fighter Assault... and REALLY dreaming about a Rogue Squadron-type game. With all the 'star cards' from BF2 that match upgrade cards from our beloved XWM game (Hull Upgrade, Ion Cannon Turret, etc), I have been thinking how cool it would be to have a TIE Fighter/X-Wing/Rogue Squadron type video game campaign that follows through with that idea to the nth degree. Allow players to customize their in-game ships as much as we do here in this miniature game!

41 minutes ago, Arttemis said:

After the beta, I've really been yearning for more Fighter Assault... and REALLY dreaming about a Rogue Squadron-type game. With all the 'star cards' from BF2 that match upgrade cards from our beloved XWM game (Hull Upgrade, Ion Cannon Turret, etc), I have been thinking how cool it would be to have a TIE Fighter/X-Wing/Rogue Squadron type video game campaign that follows through with that idea to the nth degree. Allow players to customize their in-game ships as much as we do here in this miniature game!

I'd love that too. the countless hours in X-Wing.... I'd want a proper flight stick though, flying on the XB controller is just not as immersive or interesting for me. There are 2 things I want right now out of the Star Wars machine. A Rogue One animated TV Show. I'd love it to revolve around Wedge and Red Squadron after the battle of Endor, get Jakku in there. I'd even dig a Black squadron/Poe show. Even better would be something that hands off between the two squadrons, maybe Poe as a young cadet in Wedge's squadron (if that happened, I'm not sure on the backstory here). AND a new X-Wing flight sim

Well, the EA just canned its Visceral Studio, which was making behind making an Uncharted-esque Star Wars game that would be the next game after BF2. EA claim they are reworking the game to be some kind of 'games as a service' cash cow. Twitter posts from people following the industry are claiming that the studio was shut down because they couldn't adequately shove microtransactions into the single player game. Amy Hennig, the writer behind the Uncharted games, is possibly off the project.

What a crappy turn of events.

Quote

Our industry is evolving faster and more dramatically than ever before. The games we want to play and spend time with, the experiences we want to have in those games, and the way we play…all those things are continually changing. So is the way games are made. In this fast-moving space, we are always focused on creating experiences that our players want to play…and today, that means we’re making a significant change with one of our upcoming titles.

Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design. We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.

This move leads to a few other changes:

A development team from across EA Worldwide Studios will take over development of this game, led by a team from EA Vancouver that has already been working on the project. Our Visceral studio will be ramping down and closing , and we’re in the midst of shifting as many of the team as possible to other projects and teams at EA.

Lastly, while we had originally expected this game to launch late in our fiscal year 2019, we’re now looking at a new timeframe that we will announce in the future.

Bringing new Star Wars games to life for every passionate fan out there is what drives us as creators. It’s what has inspired us to deliver the massive new Star Wars Battlefront II experience launching in just a few weeks. It fuels our live service in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes. Making games in the extraordinary Star Wars universe is truly a dream for so many of us at EA, and we have so many more experiences to come for players on every platform. We want to take the time to get each game right, to make it unique, to make it amazing.

We look forward to answering more of your questions, and sharing more on our plans and timeline for this new Star Wars experience, in the months to come.

EA going to EA.

AAA game making has a ton of issues. EA in particular. Which is why I am kind of glad that Nintendo ignores their demands.

Sounds like they want to make it an "open world" game and not a straight forward "play the story" game. The suits don't want their companies to make games that get played once and sold back to the gamestore. Open world also means more ways to squeeze in DLC and the dreaded microtransactions. Gotta sell those skins. Also I think that open world has become the expected or default offering for a game.

There is also likely a bit of what we see in films with producers not being content to make profitable pictures. The game studios also likely aren't content to make a profit. Gotta make a billion or the game failed.

5 hours ago, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

BB's a stone cold killer. Kind of surprised they didn't give him a sprinting, canopy-less AT-ST ability though 🙄

I'm sure there was a more recent Battlefront topic, mind...

Well gents...

This is it. The end of new content for Battlefront II 2. Not the end of support, but there will be no major updates following the release of Scarif tomorrow afternoon.

It's been an amazing two and a half years with a lot of ups and downs, but we ended up with one of the most thorough, screen accurate, fulfilling Star Wars games ever made... And I do mean that. Though not a simulation of the world itself exactly, no Star Wars title has ever come close to this level of fidelity, care, and polish. Are there bugs? Yes. Did the game get ALL the support it needed? No. Did it have the rockiest launch in gaming history? Honestly, probably.

But they made an incredible game despite everything working against them from the word Go.

I want to give a serious hand to the folks over at DICE, especially Community Manager - now Producer Ben Walke. Chances are extremely high we'll get a third Battlefront game, since EA's hold on the Star Wars license is- after the eventual success of BFII2 and the HUGE success of Fallen Order - relatively safe.

Expect more from our team over at DICE, I'd say. We've had a lot time to get acquainted and I can firmly say with the love and passion they've made these updates - especially since Geonosis, they're on our side.

May The Force be with them.

Always.

13 hours ago, KCDodger said:

Chances are extremely high we'll get a third Battlefront game, since EA's hold on the Star Wars license is- after the eventual success of BFII2 and the HUGE success of Fallen Order - relatively safe.

I hope they do something different next time, instead of making Battlefront like the CoD franchise.

Honestly, I look forward to more story-driven games (like Fallen Order), for instance:

• A "Jedi Academy" title set in Luke's Jedi (Disney canon) temple;
• A The Mandalorian game (maybe set before the events of the series?);
• A game fully focused in space combat (like X-Wing, but more streamlined). Why not with Wedge Antilles as main character? You, as a player, could participate of SO MANY important battles in the Star Wars (new) canon. Dang, I need this.

16 hours ago, KCDodger said:

But they made an incredible game despite everything working against them from the word Go.

No arguments here. The Battlefront 2's launch and "Lootcrate Gate" probably switched a huge number of people off the game from the get go.

Which is a shame, because they did a **** good job with it, and the ongoing support has been incredible. A cynic would say the amount of free updates and content released over the last two years is an attempt to restore a damaged reputation, but there's no denying the quality.

Looking forward to seeing the Scarif content and no doubt I'll be playing the game for a long time to come.

2 hours ago, Odanan said:

I hope they do something different next time, instead of making Battlefront like the CoD franchise.

Honestly, I look forward to more story-driven games (like Fallen Order), for instance:

• A "Jedi Academy" title set in Luke's Jedi (Disney canon) temple;
• A The Mandalorian game (maybe set before the events of the series?);
• A game fully focused in space combat (like X-Wing, but more streamlined). Why not with Wedge Antilles as main character? You, as a player, could participate of SO MANY important battles in the Star Wars (new) canon. Dang, I need this.

While I'd love to see X-Wing vs TIE Fighter style games again, I think we're more likely to have something more akin to Rogue Squadron, but with more freedom. It would be cool to have something to the point where we can choose where to go in the universe but I don't actually expect to see a Star Wars game with that much freedom.

I only play this game once a month or so, but I assume this means we will not be getting Ahsoka, or was she added already?

6 hours ago, Odanan said:

I hope they do something different next time, instead of making Battlefront like the CoD franchise.

Honestly, I look forward to more story-driven games (like Fallen Order), for instance:

• A "Jedi Academy" title set in Luke's Jedi (Disney canon) temple;
• A The Mandalorian game (maybe set before the events of the series?);
• A game fully focused in space combat (like X-Wing, but more streamlined). Why not with Wedge Antilles as main character? You, as a player, could participate of SO MANY important battles in the Star Wars (new) canon. Dang, I need this.

TBH pretty much no similarities to CoD tbh.

Would like that X-Wing game though, badly.

2 hours ago, Whalers on the moon said:

I only play this game once a month or so, but I assume this means we will not be getting Ahsoka, or was she added already?

No Ahsoka. Don't worry, the devs are crushed about it too. But hey. Battlefront III? Probably. They'll have Rosario Dawson to model her after.

3 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

No arguments here. The Battlefront 2's launch and "Lootcrate Gate" probably switched a huge number of people off the game from the get go.

Which is a shame, because they did a **** good job with it, and the ongoing support has been incredible. A cynic would say the amount of free updates and content released over the last two years is an attempt to restore a damaged reputation, but there's no denying the quality.

Looking forward to seeing the Scarif content and no doubt I'll be playing the game for a long time to come.

Now this is podracing good content.

8 minutes ago, KCDodger said:

TBH pretty much no similarities to CoD tbh.

I mean, disposable releases every year.

Battlefront II is a very complete game. Why would we need a new one so soon? (we know it will have the same weapons, characters and maps...)

Honestly, I would prefer if they released some more DLCs and updates (the space combat has still a lot of room for improvement), but that doesn't make as much money as a new title, right?

2 hours ago, Odanan said:

I mean, disposable releases every year.

Battlefront II is a very complete game. Why would we need a new one so soon? (we know it will have the same weapons, characters and maps...)

Honestly, I would prefer if they released some more DLCs and updates (the space combat has still a lot of room for improvement), but that doesn't make as much money as a new title, right?

Battlefront II 2 came out in 2017. All resources are to be put into Battlefield 6, which is succeeding a 2 year old game. Battlefront II 2 is to stay live for quite some time, at least until the next one, which we likely won't see word of until 2023, given the development cycle for 3 isn't even started yet, and we can actively confirm that.

So, really, no CoD similarity.