Battlefield 1 - DICE, gas attacks, biplanes, cavalry, bayonet charges

BF1 doesn’t have any more complexity than previous ones IMO, arguably less in some ways. I actually miss the variety in vehicles that the modern based ones have. The big bulky WWI tanks just aren’t the same.

I hope the next one is Bad Company 2.

That would be nice, if they can master simplicity again… plus BF:BC2 did not take itself seriously and the characters were really quite funny. Versus grumble, growl, scowl, SERIOUS SOLDIER WARTIMES!

Yeah, the same thing happened to me. Meanwhile, I played 100s of hours of BC2 back in the day.

This isn’t just about modern BF games though. I really hate the “spend thousands of hours to unlock everything” multiplayer games these days.

I’m guessing I have hundres of hours in Battlefield 2 - now THAT was a great game, lots of tactics, lots of downtime as well, and that is the part every single modern DICE shooter has done away with. ANY kind of downtime. I understand the reasoning, but then again, it removes a lot of tactical elements of games like these, and they could really use that, if they don’t want to be just “shooters”.

Ehhh I think that’s rose colored glasses. BF2 was kinda quirky and clunky in the actual moment to moment combat. Not bad per se for its era, but nowhere near smooth. BF3 was a HUGE step forward.

As someone recommended upthread I did spend a few hours in Operations mode. That is a great mode and the overall technical accomplishment and excellent combat mechanics of BF1 really do shine.

However, I got that feeling I have been getting with traditional shooters lately. I just don’t have the time to sink into something that is repetitive without meaningful progression. I used to want to sink hour after hour into multiplayer matches but now my limited gaming time thrives on singleplayer or PVE…especially if there is a logical end point to a game.

The same thing happened with Call of Duty WWII last year. I was really excited for a Call of Duty that was returning to the days of COD 2 and revitalizing the boots on the ground gameplay. I played for a little bit and just lost interest. The whole idea of grinding away at traditional MP matches with no end in sight. Also tried Battalion 1944 and actually asked Steam for a refund before my 2 hours were up. I am starting to think that I have mostly moved past traditional MP shooter models. They just don’t fit my life and tastes anymore.

So much this!!! I saw the final DLC is out of Battlefield 1 and its not interesting enough to get me to even install it anymore. And if you can believe it , DICE made progression even worse with Battlefront 2. ;)

Finally grabbed BF1 for the PC. It’s on sale on Origin so I paid $11 for the full Premium thingy (I already had the base game since I bought the EA subscription thingy a while back but if you don’t have that it’s $17 for everything).

I’ve played it a little on my Xbox but that has been taken over by the kids so I’ll huddle around my PC in the bedroom and hope to return to some of the great fun I had back in earlier BFs with large battlefields and lots of targets. I will be destroyed, I’m sure.

Anyway, for the price it seems like a good place to jump in if you don’t have it even if you tire of it in a month or so.

Yeah. The full edition with all the DLC is $20 on PSN right now, which seems like a great deal. The season pass in on sale for $15, which seems steep considering how deep the discount on the GotY version is. It’d be nice if they dropped the Season Pass to like $5 for people who bought the base game earlier for more money. I suppose I just don’t care enough about BF1 a this point to want to bother spending even 15 bucks on it though.

They Shall Not Pass map pack is slowly going to be made free for all Battlefield 1 owners.

https://www.battlefield.com/news/article/road-ahead-for-battlefield-1-quick-ops-map-giveaways

Battlefield 1 They Shall Not Pass Maps Coming for All Players – Play on Rupture Today

We’re glad to announce that we’re making more maps from Battlefield 1 They Shall Not Pass available for all owners of Battlefield 1*. Today, you can tackle Rupture – a map taking place during the Second Battle of the Marne, characterized by its poppies growing over rusty wrecks. Coming in May, you’ll get to play on more maps with the hardened veterans of the French army making in a stand in a brutal defense of their homeland.

A few days i noticed I had a ‘trial’ for BF1, where I could play for 8 hours, so I’m playing it right now.

Man, this is the anti-Turin Battlefield. Part of it is justified I guess because the WW1 theme, but it goes in a direction opposite to my tastes of what’s fun in BF:

-I don’t know what changes they did in the server hiring schemes and custom servers settings, but I always had a healthy amount of 40-48 players Conquest servers in both BF3 and BF4, but they disappeared in BF1. This little thing already made the game much worse, for me Battlefield with 64 players doesn’t really work in 2/3 of the maps.
-Less vehicles per map, and slower vehicles in general. No vehicle spawn in-map, it was super fun to capture a vehicle in the middle of a firefight and beat the enemy by surprise with it.
-Less AT weapons to use on the move (rpgs). You would think that if they nerfed a bit the vehicles, it’s normal to nerf also their counters, but in the end both vehicles and anti-vehicle roles are less fun.
-Less emphasis on ‘cqb’ weapons, more on one shot kills bolt rifles & snipers.
-Maps that are too small for 64 players, or are too open with little cover, favoring again long range weapons.
-Slower player progression.
-I didn’t expect that but… I miss Battlelog. The ingame functionality isn’t as full featured as it was in the browser version.
-Some more annoyances, like super soldiers with armor and grenade spam.

For anyone that hasn’t picked up all of the expansions they are giving away the premium pass for free the week after the BF5 open beta:

So with all the maps free now, there are enough players to actually have a few servers running full, with a rotation of the new maps. And most are fantastic.

Two years later, I’ve recently been really getting into this (and Battlefield V… specifically Outpost mode in that game…) as a palette cleanser when I’m not playing CoD: Warzone or Apex. One thing I think I under appreciated from these games is the way they teach you to use cover and keep your effing head down. It’s actually improved my Warzone game.

But yeah, Battlefield 1 is a game that should have been even bigger. It holds up incredibly well four years on from its release. Its setting is 100% unique. The combat is brutal and unforgiving. Operations, which are the best way to play IMO given the historical setting, bring a narrative to Battlefield that you just really never had in prior games except maybe the Bad Company games. There’s this sense of living history here that you don’t get so much when you’re playing modern era games. Battlefield V has some of that, but not like this game.

And while it’s brutally unforgiving at times, racking up killstreaks is very possible and oh so satisfying. I went on a tear last night on the River Somme map as a Recon, popping heads at a distance while defending objective Butter with my handgun. It was some of the best gaming I’ve ever had in Battlefield and you simply can’t find it in other games.

Despite the somewhat misguided Battlefield V, you can still see a lot of their brilliance in that game, but as someone noted on a stream of BF1 I was watching recently, "Battlefield 1 is the game DICE wanted to make while BFV seems like the game DICE had to make. I’m guessing we’re going back to modern warfare for BF6, or whatever it will be called, and I’m ok with that, but holy hell is BF1 good and it has a pretty strong playerbase (on PlayStation… don’t play PC unless you love hackers) so I’m going to keep coming back.

If you want to play it on PlayStation, it’s easy to get the Revolution package for $10 on ebay.

For those who want to get revved up about this game again…

I think it’s a 37 kill streak. Try counting them all. lol!

Yep I should reinstall , it turned out to be my favorite Dice game after Bad Company 2, which was the the best DICE game. ;)

The Star Wars Battlefront games are the reason Battlefield 5 was extremely under supported. Also the somewhat disastrous and very lackluster launch. I wonder if BF5 ever got map selection.

Thanks for the sharing your revisit with us Dave.

I still own Battlefront 2, Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V, I think. I just need to actually play them at some point.

I never touched the single player mini campaigns in BF1 nor BF5, I wonder if they are worth the time.

I did the first 3 I believe (BF1). I enjoyed them a lot. I think I was on the Turkish beach landing one where I got stuck. That’s a tough one. They have a lot of variety. There’s one in which you drive a tank, one in which you fly a plane. It’s very cool. They’re mini-campaigns, so they don’t overstay their welcome.

There’s an Xbox Game Pass quest to be part of the best squad in a game of Battlefield 1 this week. I’ve never played multiplayer before, I have to admit it’s really incredible. The sounds and sights of battle are amazing, as are the efforts in Operations to make it feel as grand as a single player campaign. Very cool.

I’m never going to be part of the best squad though. That seems impossible.