Titanfall 2 Catch-All

I really think EA kind of shot Titanfall in the foot with this release date. I think the game is amazing, and I dont have an issue finding games on the PS4 in the game modes of my choice, so I'm not complaining. But this just feels like they were trying the do their best by Battlefield 1, and jeez they sure did. I think the player base really likes this game though, and when the holidays hit I think it could see a big jump in numbers if people stick around. I know I will, the game is just so solid.

THere was nobody online playing Titanfall in the GWJ network today. Xbox One. I'm surprised.

1Dgaf wrote:

THere was nobody online playing Titanfall in the GWJ network today. Xbox One. I'm surprised.

Almost no one on the PC side either every time I play. And I've been playing after work the last few days. I use Giant Bombs network, their happy hour is 9PM.

Balthezor wrote:
1Dgaf wrote:

THere was nobody online playing Titanfall in the GWJ network today. Xbox One. I'm surprised.

Almost no one on the PC side either every time I play. And I've been playing after work the last few days. I use Giant Bombs network, their happy hour is 9PM.

Dont think everyone that plays is on the network. Saw 4-5 folks tonight on Curse in the TF channel though.

If anyone on Xbox One wants to play with me - bearing in mind I'm in the UK - then look for the 'eurogamer.network' which belongs to eurogamer.net. I'm normally in a group of 3+ during the evening UK time.

EDIT: I didn't mean 'play with me' specifically, more 'play with anyone that's reasonably friendly'.

So I bought this yesterday evening, and finished the SP today on Normal. I really, really enjoyed it, especially some of the set-piece areas and some of the inspired mechanics. Spoilers below:

Spoiler:

I thought the frozen time-explosion set-piece was absolutely marvelous. It gave me a chance to really look closely at some of the models, and the entire thing was wonderfully imaginative. The sequence in which you're proceeding through the same level in two different time-lines was absolutely inspired, and being able to switch at will between them was both a novel mechanic and tactically a lot of fun.

While I did end up feeling something of an emotional connection to my titan, ultimately the SP fell a little flat about making me care about the overall conflict. On the other hand, studies have shown that in real life, individuals often care more about their unit and comrades than they do about the overarching goals of the conflict.

Ultimately, it was a satisfying experience. The boss-fights weren't tedious, and I say that as someone who usually hates boss-fights. I enjoyed the various load-outs, which brought some variety. I also appreciated that the SP demands and guides development of techniques such as wall-running that are invaluable in the MP.

I'm just getting stuck into the MP now, and enjoyed the single match that I played. Very fast-paced, and the weapons feel right. I'm hoping this one has more legs than the original.

I largely agree about not caring about the overall conflict too much, and I don't know if they expect you to care. The largest issue I think is they don't give you any way to understand what's going on in the universe. If the helmet collectibles unlocked journals or setting details or something to help get you to understand the conflict, it'd be easier. As it is, there were aspects of the campaign I found fascinating, but on the whole I'm kind of hoping they do more with that in another game.

Spoiler:

The entire facility that was essentially mass-producing white-picket fence homes alone was fascinating. The IMC is known for going into the frontier and essentially "destroying" homes, and what the IMC is essentially doing is carving into rural territory and manufacturing a suburban expanse for what I'm assuming are more wealthy bidders. I want to replay that section just to see what little details might be scattered in there that I easily missed the first time.

All right, so I've been enabled.

Now I have a PC copy of Titanfall2 and an Origin account with no friends in it. How to I get in on the GWJ games?

EDIT: My Origin ID is doubtingtom396

Just dropping a note/reminder: BagelMage (whom I still need to friend on PS4, will do that tonight) and Schutter and I will be doing some PS4 Titanfall 2 multiplayer tomorrow at 12pm ET. Anyone else on PS4 interested? I'd like to give Bounties mode a try but I'll gladly die in any mode.

Joined the PC Network. MP is pretty much what I expected - frenetic mess where I only half know what is going on and trip into the occasional kill. But, hey, giant robots, right?

ccesarano wrote:

Just dropping a note/reminder: BagelMage (whom I still need to friend on PS4, will do that tonight) and Schutter and I will be doing some PS4 Titanfall 2 multiplayer tomorrow at 12pm ET. Anyone else on PS4 interested? I'd like to give Bounties mode a try but I'll gladly die in any mode.

I would so join if you could help me convince my wife to do all our grocery shopping and errands solo while I kick back on the couch.

Still hovering around the bottom of the scoreboard, but that's fine. Its hard to see what's happening in this gif, but I'm attacking a guy in my titan and have to bail. He uses a massive laser and I use a speed boost to shoot towards him and then take him out with my grenade launcher. Made me shout something like 'f*ck, this is amazing'.

http://xboxclips.com/IDg4f/6ccf9f55-...

ccesarano wrote:

I largely agree about not caring about the overall conflict too much, and I don't know if they expect you to care. The largest issue I think is they don't give you any way to understand what's going on in the universe. If the helmet collectibles unlocked journals or setting details or something to help get you to understand the conflict, it'd be easier. As it is, there were aspects of the campaign I found fascinating, but on the whole I'm kind of hoping they do more with that in another game.

Spoiler:

The entire facility that was essentially mass-producing white-picket fence homes alone was fascinating. The IMC is known for going into the frontier and essentially "destroying" homes, and what the IMC is essentially doing is carving into rural territory and manufacturing a suburban expanse for what I'm assuming are more wealthy bidders. I want to replay that section just to see what little details might be scattered in there that I easily missed the first time.

I really dislike audio logs/journals in games (show don't tell, or don't try at all). But if you must have them, apparently there are some in there and you just missed 'em. Per the Waypoint podcast from today.

All the positive buzz got me to pick this up on the PS4. Has anyone set up a GWJ network?

Aristophan wrote:

All the positive buzz got me to pick this up on the PS4. Has anyone set up a GWJ network?

Yup, you'll find it as Gamers With Jobs, created by Mr_Klinck aka BagelMage. Last I checked the network was 10 strong.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I really dislike audio logs/journals in games (show don't tell, or don't try at all). But if you must have them, apparently there are some in there and you just missed 'em. Per the Waypoint podcast from today.

Oh, I found at least a few of them, but I'm speaking more specifically about the helmets the game scatters about the level. There is literally no purpose to them that I am aware of. Maybe you unlock a special gun or something other than an achievement and some gamerscore. I like exploring the world, but I would like something out of a collectible, and a soldier's last note before death would be a nice way to add some depth to the setting without making it necessary for the overall plot.

I bought the BF1 / TF2 pack for an early Birthday present for my son, so there'll be at least one more XBO player on both MP communities.

I'll probably just play through the single player.

THis game is so good. Had a few matches with Jekl; it's a shame it's just me and him that seem to play (Dudley's son aside).

ccesarano wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

I really dislike audio logs/journals in games (show don't tell, or don't try at all). But if you must have them, apparently there are some in there and you just missed 'em. Per the Waypoint podcast from today.

Oh, I found at least a few of them, but I'm speaking more specifically about the helmets the game scatters about the level. There is literally no purpose to them that I am aware of. Maybe you unlock a special gun or something other than an achievement and some gamerscore. I like exploring the world, but I would like something out of a collectible, and a soldier's last note before death would be a nice way to add some depth to the setting without making it necessary for the overall plot.

I was listening to the Waypoint podcast, and they said that sometimes the helmets are a reward for completing a platform challenge.

LOOKING FOR TEAM!

3pm PST/6pm EST
Doing Titanfall 2 multiplayer for Extra Life!
www.twitch.tv/amoebism

Will go on until 6:30pmPST/9pm EST. Please and thank you! Get in touch on Curse.

DudleySmith wrote:

I bought the BF1 / TF2 pack...

My first thought was "why is Battlefield one in a bundle with Team fortress 2?"

Here's a fun conspiracy theory from an old Eddie Murphy movie: what if EA is banking on initialed name recognition to gain popularity?

Playing this on PC... Great game although I am truly awful. Are most people playing this with M&K or controllers on PC?

Bosk wrote:

Playing this on PC... Great game although I am truly awful. Are most people playing this with M&K or controllers on PC?

Definitely mouse and keyboard. Not sure if you can stay competitive with a controller.

Balthezor wrote:
Bosk wrote:

Playing this on PC... Great game although I am truly awful. Are most people playing this with M&K or controllers on PC?

Definitely mouse and keyboard. Not sure if you can stay competitive with a controller.

Concur. I think it's definitely doable with controller for the SP, and possibly inside a Titan during a MP match, but this is the twitchiest of twitch shooters when you're a Pilot in the MP. Last night I was in a vertical run-and-gun with an enemy Pilot, spinning sideways while wall-running and grappling over to a new building, while trying to maintain a bead on him. I could barely manage it with K&M precision. I can't imagine with a controller.

Coldstream wrote:
Balthezor wrote:
Bosk wrote:

Playing this on PC... Great game although I am truly awful. Are most people playing this with M&K or controllers on PC?

Definitely mouse and keyboard. Not sure if you can stay competitive with a controller.

Concur. I think it's definitely doable with controller for the SP, and possibly inside a Titan during a MP match, but this is the twitchiest of twitch shooters when you're a Pilot in the MP. Last night I was in a vertical run-and-gun with an enemy Pilot, spinning sideways while wall-running and grappling over to a new building, while trying to maintain a bead on him. I could barely manage it with K&M precision. I can't imagine with a controller.

Thirded.

I haven't played any multiplayer yet, but I've been surprised at how well I'm able to take down multiple enemies in short order. Does the single player campaign have generous auto-aim or something? Normally I don't get this many headshots, but helmets are flying all over the place like popped corn.

I think the single player makes you feel like a badass. The only frustrating part so far has been some sort of exploding spiders (Ticks?).

I wrapped up the campaign last night. I had to agree with the general sentiment that it was just about the right length. I was sad that it was all over. That's testament to how well they crafted everything and incorporated more classic elements of single-player shooter design than we're used to. DOOM is the only other game this year I can think of that's done the same. I really like this trend. Titanfall 2 SP definitely left me wanting more, in the best sense of that expression.

Some spoiler-ific thoughts:

Spoiler:

- Once they had established the "pilot toss", they returned to that device several more times. Doing it again at the finale didn't have the pop that it could have had.

- The boss fights were strangely balanced. I had some difficulties with Ash initially until switching to a new loadout and absolutely creaming her after the change. Viper was giving me absolute fits until I swapped to the very first loadout and just unleashed everything onto him, ignoring the cover or any semblance of tactics. Slone may have made for a fairly tricky final boss were it not for the game granting you the most powerful loadout right before that sequence.

- Speaking of which, the granting of OP equipment in the final frame was a nice nod to the uber Gravity Gun of Half-Life 2.

- The end credit sequence was surprisingly watchable. Not the most interesting clips of Cooper getting applauded or looking out wistfully into space but I really dug the music.

- Calling out all the other cool surprises, like the foray into Singularity-like time travel mechanics, the unusually tight pacing of the plot and the impressive parkouring through flying debris as the fabric of space/time is being torn asunder.

I'd gladly replay the campaign on a higher difficulty if only to grab the remaining helmet collectibles. But I wont get too ahead of myself. This is the first AAA game I've finished in years so I'll allow myself to bask in that accomplishment for a few months at least.

Maclintok wrote:
Spoiler:

- Once they had established the "pilot toss", they returned to that device several more times. Doing it again at the finale didn't have the pop that it could have had.

Huh.

Spoiler:

I actually really liked that they started calling it the Fastball. It was a bit predictable that the pilot would be saved in such a manner as BT Iron Gianted himself, but it was a good way to take a memorable moment of the game, turn it into a bonded teamwork maneuver that the characters had a special name for, kind of like a secret handshake, and then using it for the "sacrifice self to save friend" gesture. If anything would harm it, it's that BT only did it after the third protocol reactivated. I'd have preferred if the computer could not recover protocol three and BT did it on his own, but I suppose we're not ready for A.I. with emotions emotions.

Apologies to the other player in the GWJ network today whose name began with K (I think). I tried to invite you into the group I was playing with, but the network screen wouldn't give me an invite option.

I watched my son play MP today. It looks very exciting, but way too quick for me. He's played a lot of BLOPS3, so I guess the wallrunning comes naturally to him, but it's amazing seeing him navigate the levels, jumping onto the backs of titans and jumping off again whilst shooting other players in mid-air.

I have just finished the second level, in some kind of chemical plant, and a boss fight that took me a really long time (he was taking the mick out of his inept Dad the whole time, obviously). I only won in the end by ignoring the second titan and aggressively hammering the boss. Any amount of strategy or keeping in cover just ended in failure.