Planetside 2

[Scott Tortorice]

Re: Planetside Next by Summer?

Ride of the Valkyries for the win!

[video=youtube;mfwd3U709dc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwd3U709dc[/video]

 

[kawaiku]

Re: Planetside Next by Summer?

Planetside 2 landed a number of nominations and wins at E3 but that doesn't say much imho when there are no forums on their website STILL!!! and I'm avoiding their FB page like the plague. Thankfully they have a number of videos up... Still not liking the idea of spawning with the squadmates.

[video=youtube;fLakXgelJGY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLakXgelJGY&feature=relmfu[/video]


Btw, what happened to posting multiple videos? Also anyone having difficulty seeing the editorial buttons?

 

[kawaiku]

Re: Planetside Next by Summer?

There are about 3 more including this one:

[video=youtube;98bGepZsKc4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98bGepZsKc4&feature=relmfu[/video]

 

[kawaiku]

[video=youtube;l_OT4UHXelU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_OT4UHXelU&feature=relmfu[/video]

 

[kawaiku]

[video=youtube;0xcmHYuUbn0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xcmHYuUbn0&list=UUy1Ms_5qBTawC-k7PVjHXKQ&index=2&feature=plpp_video[/video]

 

[Scott Tortorice]

This is surprising! According to an email I just received, the Planetside 2 beta has officially ended and the game goes live Nov 20 - next Tuesday! Great! I can't wait to try my hand at this sci-fi shooter!

 

[kawaiku]

This is surprising! According to an email I just received, the Planetside 2 beta has officially ended and the game goes live Nov 20 - next Tuesday! Great! I can't wait to try my hand at this sci-fi shooter!

Wow! That is quite surprising. I require you to post up videos and pictures and AARs! Mostly because I cannot play the game whatsoever lol

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Wow! That is quite surprising. I require you to post up videos and pictures and AARs! Mostly because I cannot play the game whatsoever lol

I'll see what I can do, assuming I can pry myself away from BlOp 2 long enough to give this a go.

 

[kawaiku]

I'll see what I can do, assuming I can pry myself away from BlOp 2 long enough to give this a go.

Lol. I actually hear BLOp2 isn't all that bad... a little better than generic CoD.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Lol. I actually hear BLOp2 isn't all that bad... a little better than generic CoD.

It's actually great! And I love the near future setting. That alone makes it a stand out title in my book. So much more interesting than yet another "modern warfare" setting that's been done to death already. Speaking of MW, I wonder what MW4 is going to be about? Now that WWIII has officially ended, I wonder where IW will take the series next? I wouldn't complain if they take a page from BlOp2 and focus on a war with China. It might still be "modern warfare", but at least the setting would be more apropos than a world war with Russia.

I did get to try Planetside 2 briefly last night - I say 'briefly' because the game kept crashing on me (lots of bugs in this one). :angry: My brief thoughts are:

1) It is like Battlefield 3, but in space (space...space...space). Just like it, in fact. Right down to the classes (medic, engineer, assault, sniper, etc.), vehicles, and big, objective-based maps.

2) Having said that, the strategic layer, something the Battlefield games lack - is fascinating. This isn't some "Risk" overlay, but a pretty complex system of territory control and resource generation. I can see a lot of players putting time into figuring out just how it all fits together. If it is as deep as it now appears to me, I think it might even equal EVE Online in its strategic aspects, something that should go a long way in helping the clan system become established in a healthy way.

3) This is a F2P title, but I have yet to see any need to buy anything. Again, I only managed about a half an hour in the game due to crashes, but there wasn't any "buy this!" F2P nonsense popping up all the time. I hope this holds true.

If I have better luck running the game this afternoon, I'll post more thoughts.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Cool vid:

[video=youtube_share;i8614ejqYC4]http://youtu.be/i8614ejqYC4[/video]

Unfortunately, I haven't found the game to be that exciting. When I was playing last year, PS2 felt like playing BF3...but without the destructible environs, and on an empty server. The latter part was what really killed the game for me (well, that and the incessant CTDs). I would constantly spawn on a server where there only ever seemed to be six or so people actually fighting. Or, I would occasionally find myself on a server where you have a bunch of people hanging around an enemy CP and just firing at anyone who dared poke their head out of the shielded interior. Boooooring. In short: I found PS2 to be exactly like BF3...but without the excitement of battle. Sort of ruined the whole point of the game. And based on the comments posted at the bottom of that vid, other people seemed to have had the same lackluster experience.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

I heard the other day that the SoE team that has been charged with fixing this game has made some good progress with the help of a community test environment (amazing how many games are now adopting this practice. Seeing how it has helped BF4, I like the trend). So I reinstalled the game last night and I have to say, yes, the game is better now.

The game runs much better now. I no longer get framerate drops like I used to for inexplicable reasons (albeit, I see others are still encountering some issues), and I didn't experience a single crash in last night's session. So good there. But I think the best changes are the UI changes - things are MUCH clearer now - and the fact that, at last!, it is easy to get into a battle! As I wrote earlier in this thread, the biggest flaw of this game was that I could never find a decent battle. Whenever I would go to a "hot spot," I would find two or three people fighting it out, and usually by the time I got to the fight it was over. Then I would need to walk miles to find another fight, or more frequently, be required to respawn to an entirely different part of the continent. And once there, find 2 or three people fighting it out...and rinse and repeat. Boring. But now things are much better. They added an Instant Action button that automatically sends you to a hot zone. So far it seems to do a really good job, too. Not only has it deposited me into raging battles, but it even correctly identified a building battle and sent me there as a reinforcement before the main battle was joined. Don't know if I just got lucky last night but nicely done! The battles were fun, too. At times they had that combined arms magic of Battlefield.

However, I still feel that PS2 feels like a shabby BF copycat. The animations are not nearly as nice, and the combat sounds don't have that wonderful "war tapes" realism. And it doesn't have the dynamic destruction, something that really kills a shooter for me after seeing it in action in Battlefield. Hence, it still feels a bit cheap after the graphic and audio polish seen in BF4. But I guess that is to be expected when comparing a AAA shooter to a MMO F2P shooter, though.

Be that as it may, PS2 is now starting to feel like a solid F2P shooter. I definitely will be giving it more time.

Oh, and I will add that I really love the day and night cycle. I was fighting yesterday from a period that spanned from late afternoon to dusk and it was really, really cool to see the day get darker and darker, and watch a giant moon rise over the horizon. Pretty awesome. In fact, I think I prefer this day/night cycle to most of BF4's "levelution" gimmicks.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Okay, I put some more time in the game and I can confirm that, yes, this game has some optimization issues still. I have never seen framerate vary so radically from session to session. One session I am running at 50+ FPS, but the next time I log in my session drops to 25 FPS. Within the same session it will also often vary from a low of 25 to a high of 40. For the life of me I cannot figure why! At first I thought it might have to do with the activity on the map, but I've been in large battles where my framerate stays at a constant 50 or so. Even weirder, one time I reduced my settings to all medium and got a FPS of around 35 or so. Next time I allowed GeForce Experience to optimize the settings (mostly high) and I got a better rate of 45-50+! It just doesn't make any sense to me.

So, yeah, those people still complaining about bad optimization seem to be correct. Very annoying.

 

[kawaiku]

It's nice to see you finally experiencing the things that made Planetside my favorite game of all time. Also, dynamic destruction is never needed in a game of that scope and size since it's an MMO with possibly hundreds of players duking it out at any one time. Secondly, it will always out shine Battlefield in the combined arms arena for games of their scope. You have been far to spoiled with the Battlefield series (though the vets of PS1 were correct in thinking that they were going the CoD/BF route initially during development but canned a few features due to the outcry and complaining during the beta tests). But, Battlefield will never match the massive dog fights, air drops, base assaults, armored combat, infantry combat, and everything in-between that can happen simultaneously.

Lastly, I noticed you were playing late last night. You might want to try for late afternoon when more people are off of work or out from school. Other than that, how was Hossin??

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Lastly, I noticed you were playing late last night. You might want to try for late afternoon when more people are off of work or out from school. Other than that, how was Hossin??

Yeah, late night seems to be the only time I can find a few moments to game anymore. LOL! The server pop was okay, though. As for Hossin, not much to say yet because I am still getting familiar with other maps. It seems to be a swampy place, though. But other than that, no real comment yet.

It's nice to see you finally experiencing the things that made Planetside my favorite game of all time. Also, dynamic destruction is never needed in a game of that scope and size since it's an MMO with possibly hundreds of players duking it out at any one time.

Oh, I completely disagree with the lack of dynamic destruction. Once you experience the ability to fire the main gun of a tank at a building and get to watch the entire side explode in a shower of debris, there is no going back. LOL! I really found myself missing that is PS2. I was in a fight last night where there were three tanks firing at our base and it was...underwhelming seeing the shells just harmlessly pop against the side of the building. But I understand that a MMOFPS would never be able to handle all that dynamic destruction so I don't hold it against it.

Secondly, it will always out shine Battlefield in the combined arms arena for games of their scope. You have been far to spoiled with the Battlefield series (though the vets of PS1 were correct in thinking that they were going the CoD/BF route initially during development but canned a few features due to the outcry and complaining during the beta tests). But, Battlefield will never match the massive dog fights, air drops, base assaults, armored combat, infantry combat, and everything in-between that can happen simultaneously.

The BF series has spoilt me. I have only 12 hours in the game so far so I won't argue this too strongly, but when it comes to big battles I haven't really seen anything that I haven't seen in BF3/4 yet. Its pretty much par for the course. However, one thing that DID impress me was how PS2 can be the jack of all trades shooter. Last night when I first started playing, I found myself in two big battles with about 30 infantry and a handful of tanks/jets. However, once those battles were resolved I found the game redeploying me to a quite sector where me and 5/6 other guys were fighting off another group of 5/6. In other words, PS2 morphed itself from Battlefield to Call of Duty. The map was even an interior map around some sort of base. As I was playing I was like "this is CoD!" I meant that in a good way, btw. That's when I realized that the real strength of PS2 is how is can span the gamut from corridor shooter to battlefield shooter, which is nice.

On the negative, the optimization is getting on my nerves. I activated the FPS counter and was watching it as I played. In the course of one game on one map, with a low level of activity, I watched the FPS go like this: 32-45-55-65-75!-65-45-50-55-50-37-30-55-65-45...you get the idea. That shouldn't be happening. I've never seen a game with such erratic framerate. And the low points made no sense to me because there was nothing different from the high points - no special FX or lots of shooting or anything like that. It just streams really weirdly.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Okay, I've been putting some more time into the game and I have to say it is growing on me. I am particularly enjoying how really BIG the maps are. It reminds me of the old BF2 maps where there were so big that you could always find a quiet place to just sit down and take in the sights. Now that there is that Instant Action button, such large maps are no longer a liability.

I need to take some screenshots.

Kawaiku: are you playing the game, too?

 

[kawaiku]

Yeah, late night seems to be the only time I can find a few moments to game anymore. LOL! The server pop was okay, though. As for Hossin, not much to say yet because I am still getting familiar with other maps. It seems to be a swampy place, though. But other than that, no real comment yet.

Not going to lie but, it's the same for me as well though I usually have a let's play or walkthrough going on in the background lol.

Oh, I completely disagree with the lack of dynamic destruction. Once you experience the ability to fire the main gun of a tank at a building and get to watch the entire side explode in a shower of debris, there is no going back. LOL! I really found myself missing that is PS2. I was in a fight last night where there were three tanks firing at our base and it was...underwhelming seeing the shells just harmlessly pop against the side of the building. But I understand that a MMOFPS would never be able to handle all that dynamic destruction so I don't hold it against it.

Oh I don't doubt that it is awesome but in Battlefield, you eventually change maps. How game breaking would it be to be fighting over a already demolished base or tower and have it all of a sudden rebuild in front of your face?? Getting pinned inside a building is far worse for the defenders as they have no where to go until they get wiped out. It usually makes for some epic stands because the minute a defender runs outside they get gunned down really quickly. So, there is actually a lot more going on there tactically and strategically than you may not realize (or just didn't bother posting about ).

The BF series has spoilt me. I have only 12 hours in the game so far so I won't argue this too strongly, but when it comes to big battles I haven't really seen anything that I haven't seen in BF3/4 yet. Its pretty much par for the course.

And this is why I have been so upset with the gaming community not realizing why Planetside was and is (thanks to Planetside 2) the epitome of what online shooters can achieve if done mostly right. (SOE totally screwed up the original game and nearly botched PS2.) But if you look at these pictures I posted in the photos thread (here and here) you can tell that Planetside had already mastered that type of combined arms warfare in video games on a grander scale. The problem with the BF series is that while it does have some larger maps, it will always suffer from a lower player count. The only difference is you might have more big fights due to being able to pick and choose populated servers. Planetside never allowed for that however (and I don't know how well this carried over to PS2) but on the global map they used various sized explosion graphics and multiples of those graphics to denote the size of a battle.

However, one thing that DID impress me was how PS2 can be the jack of all trades shooter. Last night when I first started playing, I found myself in two big battles with about 30 infantry and a handful of tanks/jets. However, once those battles were resolved I found the game redeploying me to a quite sector where me and 5/6 other guys were fighting off another group of 5/6. In other words, PS2 morphed itself from Battlefield to Call of Duty. The map was even an interior map around some sort of base. As I was playing I was like "this is CoD!" I meant that in a good way, btw. That's when I realized that the real strength of PS2 is how is can span the gamut from corridor shooter to battlefield shooter, which is nice.

It can really become a cat and mouse game sometimes. In PS1 there were times where me and a couple other people would just skirmish for fun and never try to accomplish anything lol. It was very tense hunting each other through the corridors of a base or looking for cloakers in the countryside. It was a great experience. Also, you are forgetting about the various support roles you can play during fights as well. You can supply ammo, repair armor, heal teamates, set up obstacles (do they have mines in PS2?), and more. It really makes it a diverse experience.

On the negative, the optimization is getting on my nerves. I activated the FPS counter and was watching it as I played. In the course of one game on one map, with a low level of activity, I watched the FPS go like this: 32-45-55-65-75!-65-45-50-55-50-37-30-55-65-45...you get the idea. That shouldn't be happening. I've never seen a game with such erratic framerate. And the low points made no sense to me because there was nothing different from the high points - no special FX or lots of shooting or anything like that. It just streams really weirdly.

Well that sucks

Okay, I've been putting some more time into the game and I have to say it is growing on me. I am particularly enjoying how really BIG the maps are. It reminds me of the old BF2 maps where there were so big that you could always find a quiet place to just sit down and take in the sights. Now that there is that Instant Action button, such large maps are no longer a liability.

Try sniping. They become a helluva lot bigger! And Hossin is a great place to fight. Just jump right into that jungle and find out how chaotic it can get. IIRC, my usual loadout was heavy armor, a sniper rifle, a rocket launcher, and a cycler (I was a Terran Republican for the duration of my time in PS1).

I need to take some screenshots.

Damned straight you do!!

Kawaiku: are you playing the game, too?

Nope, just spent 3-5 years playing Planetside 1 lol! When PS2 launched they claimed it could run on 10 year old comps. Liars!!! :bite:. If I was you would definitely know about it haha

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Oh I don't doubt that it is awesome but in Battlefield, you eventually change maps. How game breaking would it be to be fighting over a already demolished base or tower and have it all of a sudden rebuild in front of your face??

That is a good point. Although, it would be interesting if the engineering class could rebuild entire structures, sort of like what some of those voxel shooters are now doing. It would make engineers useful for something other than a front lines role.

Getting pinned inside a building is far worse for the defenders as they have no where to go until they get wiped out. It usually makes for some epic stands because the minute a defender runs outside they get gunned down really quickly.

I've seen exactly that happen more than a few times, including my team.

So, there is actually a lot more going on there tactically and strategically than you may not realize (or just didn't bother posting about).

Oh, there is lots I am still trying to figure out about this game! :laugh: Only today did I figure out how to purchase a vehicle, albeit I still don't understand how you get an aircraft. Lots of unlocks in this game, so maybe I need to earn it/buy it?

And this is why I have been so upset with the gaming community not realizing why Planetside was and is (thanks to Planetside 2) the epitome of what online shooters can achieve if done mostly right. (SOE totally screwed up the original game and nearly botched PS2.) But if you look at these pictures I posted in the photos thread (here and here) you can tell that Planetside had already mastered that type of combined arms warfare in video games on a grander scale. The problem with the BF series is that while it does have some larger maps, it will always suffer from a lower player count. The only difference is you might have more big fights due to being able to pick and choose populated servers. Planetside never allowed for that however (and I don't know how well this carried over to PS2) but on the global map they used various sized explosion graphics and multiples of those graphics to denote the size of a battle.

They still use those explosion graphics for battles. I'll have to check out those pictures again but so far I haven't discovered any battles just yet that have eclipsed BF's 32v32 high intensity fights. But then again, I only play late at night, so....

It can really become a cat and mouse game sometimes. In PS1 there were times where me and a couple other people would just skirmish for fun and never try to accomplish anything lol. It was very tense hunting each other through the corridors of a base or looking for cloakers in the countryside. It was a great experience.

That's like what happened with my in that CoD session: we just kept going round and round, respawning and respawning, just like in a CoD DM. Nobody was strong enough to end it. LOL! I eventually left out of frustration.

Also, you are forgetting about the various support roles you can play during fights as well. You can supply ammo, repair armor, heal teamates, set up obstacles (do they have mines in PS2?), and more. It really makes it a diverse experience.

Yeah, I've been exploring those roles more so today. They are pretty similar to the Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon roles in Battlefield. And I have seen people put mines down, but I don't know how to get those myself yet.

Well that sucks

It's not that big a deal. Today I just turned off the FPS tracker because it was so distracting and played. It ran fine on mostly high settings, so no complaints. Every now and then the game hitchs for a second, but I think that happens when the server is streaming new data for a new portion of the map that the player has uncovered.

Try sniping. They become a helluva lot bigger!

I did today! Didn't do too bad either. Sniping in BF4 is MUCH harder because you have to zero in your scope and compensate for bullet drop at over 200m. I don't think any of that is a factor is PS2 so it makes things easier.

And Hossin is a great place to fight. Just jump right into that jungle and find out how chaotic it can get. IIRC, my usual loadout was heavy armor, a sniper rifle, a rocket launcher, and a cycler (I was a Terran Republican for the duration of my time in PS1).

What's a cycler? I don't think that is in the game. Oh, and I am the rebels, the New Conglomerate. It speaks to my Tea Party nature. I don't have a favorite role yet, though.

Damned straight you do!!

Here you go:

​Just a pretty night scene.

My first tank! I didn't do too well. But this was a cool armored/infantry fight that I stumbled up.

Another view of the fight. This time I was on foot.

Another pretty locale at night

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd70/CrusaderScott/Planetside%202/2014-10-03_00005_zps781056cf.jpg[/IMG}
[I]Here I was on my first scooter. I followed that tank into an assault we were launching on an enemy outpost - we won!

[/I][IMG]http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd70/CrusaderScott/Planetside%202/2014-10-03_00003_zps0b45c8a4.jpg
A vicious night fight. Here was where I practiced my sniping skills. I still don't know what that green beacon thing is for.

I have to see if I can remove the UI for my next batch.

Nope, just spent 3-5 years playing Planetside 1 lol! When PS2 launched they claimed it could run on 10 year old comps. Liars!!! :bite:. If I was you would definitely know about it haha

Oh, too bad. But yeah, this thing runs like a pig. The images are on High, but they look like Low on any other game. Definitely needs more optimization!

 

[zalan.reilly]

It should read, "Be apart of epic battles from tactical Showbox jiofi.local.html tplinklogin squads to thousands of players like the original Planetside. We will try to emulate the early successes of the series and add more to it for both veteran and new players of the franchise.