Battlefront II - EA and DICE versus the Dark Side

Yeah, I mentioned that earlier. I hate that, but I also understand that it’s the ultra-nerdy side of me that goes nuts about it. To be correct, they’d have to make a young Anakin and Padme hero to replace Rey and Solo. I guess it’s outside of their production budget to make unique heroes for maps.

It seems Eurogamer also saw the loot crate issue:

This sounds awesome to me.

Is it really ultra-nerdy though? They did a fine job in the first game of matching up the heroes to the maps. Padme could play like Leia in the original. Anakin plays like Rey, etc. The game does a great job of giving players a sense of place within the Star Wars universe and then throws it out with chronologically incorrect heroes? It’s kinda dumb.

I think so. I haven’t really seen many complaints about it. (Technically none outside of you and me.) Most people were just jazzed to play Maul or Rey regardless of their correct place in the saga timeline. Casual fans don’t care and shooter fans are too hung up on balance issues and mechanics to worry about thematic inconsistencies. From the comments I saw, most people thought the battle took place during Phantom Menace because that’s where they know the location from despite the presence of clone troopers.

Plus, if you really want to get nerdy, Maul shouldn’t be there anyway - at least not with his Phantom Menace outfit.

I suppose you’re right. I guess I just really enjoyed how the previous game made me feel like I was there. Those battles and maps fit perfectly alongside or within the universe already established. When you start messing with that, I think it removes some of the appeal of the game and why it resonated with me. The Star Wars universe has this great sense of place, a lived-in world that seems to have a rich history. You start messing with the timeline and it sort of spoils it.

Ultra-nerd confirmed I guess?

As if there was any doubt!

Oh, and on the subject of the game, I also dislike the way the blaster bolts have lost a lot of their Star Wars visual effects since the last game. I fired the previous game up for a match after playing some of the beta just to confirm I wasn’t remembering it incorrectly and I was right. The blaster bolts are brighter and thicker, and the little sparky explosive effect when you hit a wall or the floor is a lot more consistent with the movies.

fwiw I found Han to be incredibly strong on the back of his Sharpshooter talent if nothing else. I ran two cards, one made it last longer and the other made it extend duration on kills. I often got a dozen kills or more with him by playing hit and run in the palace.

Yep, it works at Best Buy, that’s how I’m getting my copy.

BETA added a few more days, now ends on Oct 11th.

How many years have we had different objectives in games beside team deathmatch and yet I cannot get a fucking game where people know what the god damn fucking hell the mother fucking objective is??!?!!?!!!?

For the love of pete, READ THE FUCKING TEXT OF THE MISSION GOAL ASSHOLES!

I can’t play DICE games online on the Ps4. I am on wifi, and the ps4 is so bad that I just get this horrible rubber banding effect. I loved the space battle mode, but was disappointed in the lack of first person perspective (that I could find).

Bf4 had the same issues until I wired up the console. I can’t do that now, so I am going to have to get this on PC.

I was a bit meh about the naboo level, but the rubber banding was so bad it basically ruined the experience.

The space battle was awesome, and I loved the mechanics of bombing the various points to progress, but the rubber banding caused me to crash into walls… Which kind of ruined it

I play other online games online on the Ps4 without issues, it is just these DICE games that have issues.

Or, you know, just go towards the big icon and shoot any enemies in the way. It’s so weird to me that people miss the giant dynamic goal icon. Go towards that!

Push down on the d-pad for first person perspective in spacecraft.

…and yeah, it’s not like they don’t tell you specifically what to do in these modes. I think they should really make that unskippable for the first five times you play a map and be very specific about what the goals are. Point out exactly what to steal, defend, shoot, etc. There are just so many morons that can’t figure out that shooting other players isn’t actually the goal of most of these modes!

Again, it’s been YEARS since Battlefield 1942 gave us something that wasn’t deathmatch. It should be second nature to expect different goals now!

Thanks for the heads up. I thought I missed my chance to check it out, but was glad I got to take a look.

I liked SW:BF1 a lot. It was an amazing shooter-in-my-childhood-toy box. This one is mostly not grabbing me. It feels more like Battlefield in a Star Wars skin than the last one. Maybe it is the subtle changes like laser bolts visuals or surround sound impact. The Clone War battle is really, REALLY meh in comparison to the Walker Assault maps. The starfighter mode is pretty cools though.

But that loot box model! It is gross. Like heinously gross. Overwatch or the myth of the $60 game is one thing, but this is textbook FtP copper, silver, gold, and platinum card and credit grinding for advancement, skills, and yes, raw power. And the math points to epic grinds if your wallet stays closed. It really didn’t feel good getting killed by players that had gold cards when I had empty slots and a few bronze cards at significantly lower numeric boosts. This right here, is a line in the sand. If we as a consumer group step across it, lost forever is the idea that money can’t buy power in AAA paid games. And Star Wars is being held hostage on the other side of that line. Which really sucks as my childhood glee is at odds with a sense of consumer right and wrong.

Electronic Arts just doesn’t care. They’re always pushing these sorts of boundaries and you’ll never get enough people to not purchase it to hurt them. On top of that, even when stuff doesn’t sell, they would never blame the loot boxes for the failure.

The best option is to play well in game and gain the upper hand by playing the better classes that are only available if you play well. I was tearing it up as a Rocket Trooper last night. Better weapon, better mobility, all based on playing objectives well and killing dudes along the way.

What is rubber banding?

When playing online games have you ever experienced where you are moving forward, and then the game suddenly decides you’re actually a few steps behind and warps you backwards? That’s rubber banding, like you’ve got a giant rubber band stuck to your back always pulling you back. It can be quite frustrating.

As far as I can tell there are 2 different forms of rubber banding. One is what you describe the other is when you are playing against the computer and the game makes them comeback through bullshit means to make it seem more competitive. Like in a racing game where you are beating them by half a lap and they somehow come all the way back to make it close through no fault of your own.

Good point! Yep the term is also used to describe AI behavior in games where they get to cheat to catch up.