So, who here is picking up Steel Batallion on the third release (tomorrow)? I can not wait for this game. I passed on the first and second releases, but now that the Live expansion (Line of Contact) is coming out Thursday- game on.
If you are picking both up, please submit your gamertag here and we’ll ride (as soon as I figure out how the game works).
What does that wacky controller for the game cost? It’s about the price of Hyundai, isn’t it?
$200 + $50 LOC expansion… pennies, really ;)
I am all over this. The orginial was given to me as a gift last year and the online version should be on shelves Friday. I’m, quite looking forward to the game, especially the meta-game of campaign mode and the up to 5v5 team play.
The only thing that concerns me is the biggest community for the game is over at http://sbc.pippin.us. You have to register for the forums but once you get in there it’s eerily cult-like. Ameri-Otaku. Anyway, hopefully once everyone gets online and stops worshipping the few who played the LOC beta and post about it, we’ll have a mech-stoping good time.
Also for the eye-candy check out the developer site here http://tekki.jp. The concept mech drawings are desktop-worthy.
Could you link to that picture instead of including it as an image tag? It breaks the formatting of the page.
I’ve been following that site as well. Good information there. Looks like I’ll be getting the controller today. 8)
Preordered the controller like a month ago. Can’t wait. Probably won’t be getting LOC for a while since I still need to play the original game a lot, but when I do my gamertag is ‘Mike Cathcart’.
From what I can glean, LOC has some significant changes from the original in how the weapons work and how the VTs handle. You may want to play some offline to get familiar with the controls, but don’t think you have to beat the game twice before jumping into LOC.
Gamertag: “Rorschach Six”
Hell yeah - I picked this up w/1st release 2 years ago…worth every penny. Picking up my LOC preorder on Friday.
Gamertag: schplam
I’ll be in there. If you’re going to add me to your Friends List, please PM so I know you’re Qt3 and not someone who just saw my tag on TV.
GamerTag: Keldroc
Count me in. My gamertag is “Sun El”.
I’ll be in sometime this weekend.
Gamertag: Greyjack (I think, haven’t played on Live that often up to this point)
Trailer from TGS 2003, gives you a good idea of the interface and some of the gameplay: http://www.capcom.co.jp/tekki/tkt/img/movie/tekki_tgs.mpg
OK I got mine tonight and hooked that sucker up over at Tom’s place and Tom and I messed with it for awhile. Its sickening how absolutely insanely hardcore the game is, how expensive and ludicrously over-designed the control is, and how ridiculously hardcore the gameplay is. I love it :). Its freaking insane. Actually I think I got Tom addicted. I suppose if Qt3 runs out of bandwidth money next money b/c Tom spent it on Steel Battalion its all my fault.
Anyway, I’m gonna set it up at home tomorrow and really get into it. Looks great so far.
Dan
Yeah this game is freakin’ sweet. Last night there was a bug where you couldn’t buy any VTs if you were PRF, so there was just a lot of Free Mission play. But this morning the bug is magically gone and the war is on.
I’ve picked HSD, which is a bit disappointing because you start out with your choice of a Vitz, which is the worst VT in the game, or the Vortex, which is a good stand-off / artillery VT, but crap at close range.
Important tip: buy multiples of your VT. Each respawn uses one from your stock, so if you buy 3 Vitzs, and choose it for the battle, then you have 3 “lives” in that game.
So the first game of the morning is a 3v3 campaign game. I wind up being the only US resident out of the six, and the expat that speaks english is on the other side. The battle is almost a king of the hill type affair, with large earthworks protecting a base. As attackers, we’re charged with capturing the base. As I’m making my way up the earthworks I’m just about to crest the second hill when I hear a VT in wheel mode ahead of me. I stop before visual contact and the guy runs into me at full speed. It was the light VT of the PRF, a Falcion, and he promptly falls down. I lock on with my 140-MG and throw some twenty rounds into him and he get’s back up and tries to find me. I smoke him quite easily, but not without taking some damage.
He must have had backup because after I stuck my head above the hillside we just foungt on, I got is shot off. The second run was pretty uneventful. I decided to flank, and head up the opposite side of the hill, and met no resistance, although I found out after the game I gave the expat a merry chase which allowed the teammate that was left to capture the base and win the battle.
I like the scoring system. Not only do you get points for kills, but you get points for winning, points for supporting fire (damage that does not kill), and points for captures. You lose points for friendly fire (which is always on). Just for playing the game you get 6k points, 5k for participation, and 1k for survival. You get the same amount of supply points which you use to buy more VTs and combat points which you don’t spend so the total determines your rank. On the HSD side a Vitz costs 1200 supply points and a Vortex costs 1000. In comaprison the PRF Decider (a very nice all around medium VT) costs 2500.
After the game the expat sent me a friend request and we met in a chat/trading room. Seems the PRF lackey wanted to try out the arty Vortex VT. So I traded him straight up 3 Vortexes for 3 Deciders (3000 points vs. 7500). The trading interface is great, allowing you to trade points, VTs, gear, and even emblem designs. Of course there’s the submit and agree mechanics for the trade that makes sure both parties don’t get screwed. Also each VT has a serial number, so if you’re that obsessive you can see if that VT you traded two weeks ago comes back to kill you.
Post more later…
THAT’S cool.
I tried to get on last night, but wasn’t able to connect to any games – guessing I have some sort of firewall issue with my broadband router.
Try today as more US people get online. There’s some difficulty with getting connections, but if you’re patient and you find a good game, there are really no problems. Since last night I’ve played 4 Free Mission and 3 Campaign missions with no real problems.
I think some people who really, really want to play together are finding out that they are not LOC compatible. Just don’t be picky, be patient and you will be rewarded with 30+ minutes of VT shooting goodness.
Wow, I just had my ass handed to me by a bunch of Japanese guys. I think I need to go back and freshen up a bit with the original game before I try and spend a ton of time online.
Was trying to figure out how to target the damned howitzer, next thing I knew, getting shot in the ass.
Can definitely see some strong fun potential, particularly when I’m able to actually understand what my teammates are saying :)
I’ve played 4 free missions so far, 3 BR and 1 conquest (which we won thru some great teamwork), have done some chatting and a bit of trading. Aside from the connection difficulties (which for now I will attribute to teething pains), I’m having a blast.
Actually I think I got Tom addicted.
Because of Dan/Sharpe, as of this morning, I am $250 poorer.
The first thing someone said when he came in and saw me and Dan sitting at that huge honkin’ controller with all its flashing buttons was, ‘You know, you’re not fifteen anymore’. Little did he know.
Now I just have to figure out where I’m going to hide the thing in case a girl ever comes over.
-Tom