Back From Commandcom

[Count von Phoib 0]

A more detailed report will follow, but here is a short list with impressions about commandcom and gamescom in general:

 

- Command and Conquer 4 will be named Tiberian Twilight, will really be the end of the Tiberian saga, and I think they will do a good job with the story.

- Apoc is an animal when partying.

- The crawler system is really something to get used to. We playtested an early beta, and the initial reaction was negative, but it's something you have to get used to. I think they will make a good game, but I am glad it won't be released in 2009.

- Raj Joshi rocks at Rockband, and had no voice left today.

- EA really wants to innovate, and move away from the traditional RTS formula. They want to experiment, as it shows with the drastic redesign.

- Widow got wasted.

- Starcraft 2 was also playable. I found a bit of a disappointment, as it is just Starcraft, in 3d, with a few extra units. It's still the same game.

- Shadow is a pussy for not wanting to play Rock Band.

 

[Korona 0]

Got any pics/vids?

 

I think the mobile base stuff sounds awesome, it was a nice idea in UAW but was never realised. Can you give some idea about is how the gameplay works since it's not about setting up an economy? Having harvesters allows for early game raids and gives a soft target to focus attacks onto to hurt the opponent. Are there any vulnerable targets or is it just a case of pure battles? Does the game descend into a quest for descisive battle? My fear would be that it's just about unit micro rather than attacking strategic targets.

 

I don't agree about SC2 being stagnant although I would have before I started watching the pros play it on GOM.tv (http://www.gomtv.net), that game is for pro level play. It does build off the core of the game but each of the changes are like FIFA introducing the lighter ball into the pro game of football. It sounds trivial for us peons because we don't play at a high enough level for it to make a significant difference but when pros play with a light ball the whole game is transformed. I think the same is true for SC2, each of the new additions/changes would have changed the pro game substantially, but there are hundereds of edits.

[IconOfEvi 0]

Dude Apoc's girlfriend/fiancee/wife is totally hot.

[Count von Phoib 0]

Got any pics/vids?

 

I think the mobile base stuff sounds awesome, it was a nice idea in UAW but was never realised. Can you give some idea about is how the gameplay works since it's not about setting up an economy? Having harvesters allows for early game raids and gives a soft target to focus attacks onto to hurt the opponent. Are there any vulnerable targets or is it just a case of pure battles? Does the game descend into a quest for descisive battle? My fear would be that it's just about unit micro rather than attacking strategic targets.

 

I don't agree about SC2 being stagnant although I would have before I started watching the pros play it on GOM.tv (http://www.gomtv.net), that game is for pro level play. It does build off the core of the game but each of the changes are like FIFA introducing the lighter ball into the pro game of football. It sounds trivial for us peons because we don't play at a high enough level for it to make a significant difference but when pros play with a light ball the whole game is transformed. I think the same is true for SC2, each of the new additions/changes would have changed the pro game substantially, but there are hundereds of edits.

No, they really really didnt want us taking pictures, they were hovering around all the time, so it was practically impossible.

 

CnC4 now is a lot of battles. A lot. We only had tier 1 units, so it was kind of repetitive, with the same units rehashed a couple of times. You win by conquering Tiberium nodes, and keeping them occupied like Battlefield. This means these nodes are vulnerable, especially when the population cap doesn't give you enough units to cover the whole map. You really have to play together. There is no quest for a decisive battle, as right now, you dont feel the loss of units. You cannot spam a million tanks, so you have a fixed number of vehicles all the time. When you lose a Titan, the next one is already queued up, ready in 5 seconds and 2 seconds later joining the melee. You also don't feel the loss of the Crawler that much. Yes, you cannot buy new units for 10 seconds, yes you are back to your deploy zone, but its just a unit, not a base you have to defend at all costs.

Do keep in mind that we were playing an early beta, so we didnt see 50% of the gameplay. One of the reasons they asked so many people to come was to get lots of feedback, and use that. I think the game can become good, but right now I am glad they are not going to release it in 2009.

 

For SC2; I am not a pro gamer. I was testing with Terrans first, and got Zergling rushed by an easy AI. That pissed me off, especially since I could only build marines at that point. The Zerg havent changed that much either, I saw some new units, but essentially its the same game. It feels like a mod of the original Starcraft, not a whole new game. So fuck the pro gamers, this is not a game I would get for the new and exiting gameplay, because it's just the old one, rehashed, in 3d.

 

 

[killakanz 0]

because it's just the old one, rehashed, in 3d.

 

Has it seriously taken them this long to do that? Blitzkrieg advances faster than that.

[Smurf Bizkit 0]

Starcraft 2 is not a rehash by any means, yes it does stay very close to the initial formula...but they are improving it in every way possible. The most important of these is in the unit designs, if you look at the SC1 unit lists there were many units that had generic mechanics (mostly on the zerg side really)...SC2 has replaced them with ones having unique mechanics. The effect is like comparing playing chess where you only have peon/king/queen to using all the peices...an absurd amount of new strategies opens up.

 

With all that said, knowing their designer's history (RA2/Gen/BFME1) I really wish they would've innovated more on the core gameplay mechanics...especially since they are one of the few teams that can do it, and do it right.

[Count von Phoib 0]

The problem of Starcraft 2 is, if they change too much, the Koreans will come over and raze Blizzard HQ to the very ground, plough radioactive salt into the earth and ritually sacrifice the developers. But the basic gameplay is the same, for me it felt like SC1, including the rush by Zerglings. Including the spying Overlord. Including the Hydralisk rush. Its the same game with addon units.

[killakanz 0]

The problem of Starcraft 2 is, if they change too much, the Koreans will come over and raze Blizzard HQ to the very ground, plough radioactive salt into the earth and ritually sacrifice the developers. But the basic gameplay is the same, for me it felt like SC1, including the rush by Zerglings. Including the spying Overlord. Including the Hydralisk rush. Its the same game with addon units.

 

A bit like Blitz 1 and Blitz 2 was.

[BlckWyerve 0]

Smurf already swears anything Blizzard shits out is INNOVASHUN, so arguing is useless. :P

[Mehman 0]

I thought he was rather fast to suck the blizzard cock.

[BlckWyerve 0]

He was addicted to WoW for how many years, what do you expect.

[IconOfEvi 0]

The problem of Starcraft 2 is, if they change too much, the Koreans will come over and raze Blizzard HQ to the very ground, plough radioactive salt into the earth and ritually sacrifice the developers.

 

Don't forget the Koreans will also eat their dogs

Edited August 25, 2009 by IconOfEvi

[Smurf Bizkit 0]

Icon, always guaranteed to bring a certain degree of class to a discussion. :)

[Korona 0]

I would say SC2 is to SC1 what RA2 was to RA1. You still have tanya and dogs and the chronosphere and so on but you also have a load of new units or existing units changed way beyond their original designs so that the factions play very differently even if they still have a lot of the same core mechanics like ore harvesting and building power plants that follow over from the original. It's not a world away from the original but its still a really big improvement. The idea that SC2 is just SC1 with better graphics is totally wrong.

 

Now more importantly, how does cutting the simcity stuff work out in the new C&C? Is it like UAW where you warp in units? Do they fly in? Do air units have to dock with the main base unit?

[IconOfEvi 0]

I'm sure its just more than coincidental that Dustin is lead producer of both RA2 and SC2 :).

 

 

 

As much as I'd like to think they got the message that we want bases back, we're not gonna get it.

[Korona 0]

Scrapping bases is fine if they were to make tiberium collection done by something like Yuri's ore mine platform. You really need soft targets like the drones or the SCVs in Starcraft. Its the loss of raiding that I think is the big problem ATM.