Titanfall (Respawn shooter)

[DakaSha]

(Although if you get 100 bot kills in attrition, then you did pretty damn well since it actually matters)

*Posts pic of attrition mode*

Another day, another moron ignored

 

[SerratedBiz]

And don't pretend the game isn't centered around farming bot kills.

I should be the last person defending this piece of crap considering I'm a raving UT99 player and I miss 12v12 maps oh so much. BUT:

Unless I'm mistaken, this is only one of the available play modes. It's only in this one that bot kills count towards team score and therefore can win you the match. Furthermore, what's wrong with being better at killing bots in a PvPvE environment than the other team? Isn't that skill too?

 

[DakaSha]

And don't pretend the game isn't centered around farming bot kills.

I should be the last person defending this piece of crap considering I'm a raving UT99 player and I miss 12v12 maps oh so much. BUT:

Unless I'm mistaken, this is only one of the available play modes. It's only in this one that bot kills count towards team score and therefore can win you the match. Furthermore, what's wrong with being better at killing bots in a PvPvE environment than the other team? Isn't that skill too?

No its only skill if its a game that AM plays

 

[Average Manatee]

It's only in this one that bot kills count towards team score and therefore can win you the match.

Doesn't mean that bot killing isn't an essential component of the other game types. Otherwise you might as well argue that killing players wasn't a central mechanic of UT and Quake 3 because those games had CTF game modes.

Furthermore, what's wrong with being better at killing bots in a PvPvE environment than the other team? Isn't that skill too?

Would you like to see a chess tournament that ended in two grandmasters competing against an 8 year old intellect to see who could win faster?

 

[Mangoose]

And don't pretend the game isn't centered around farming bot kills.

I should be the last person defending this piece of crap considering I'm a raving UT99 player and I miss 12v12 maps oh so much. BUT:

Unless I'm mistaken, this is only one of the available play modes. It's only in this one that bot kills count towards team score and therefore can win you the match. Furthermore, what's wrong with being better at killing bots in a PvPvE environment than the other team? Isn't that skill too?

Depends on the AI level of the bots, I suppose. Bots on par with ones like in Quake 3 would be interesting.

 

[SerratedBiz]

What the fuck am I reading.

Doesn't mean that bot killing isn't an essential component of the other game types. Otherwise you might as well argue that killing players wasn't a central mechanic of UT and Quake 3 because those games had CTF game modes.

Bot killing is an important component of Attrition because it counts towards points. If it didn't, it wouldn't be. While killing players is important in CTF, it certainly fucking isn't the central mechanic because you could, in theory, win the match without killing a single player but capturing enough flags - or, on the contrary, you could lose a CTF match with 100 kills and 0 deaths if the other team captured enough flags.

 

[IDtenT]

Man, the bots sound fucking interesting. I thought this game was gonna be a bore.

 

[Mangoose]

Man, the bots sound fucking interesting. I thought this game was gonna be a bore.

Are they? I heard you can one-shot a couple at once with the Smart pistol.

 

[IDtenT]

Are they? I heard you can one-shot a couple at once with the Smart pistol.

Introducing AI cannon fodder is a stroke of genius. Especially if you can use them to give you tactical advantages.

 

[Mangoose]

Are they? I heard you can one-shot a couple at once with the Smart pistol.

Introducing AI cannon fodder is a stroke of genius. Especially if you can use them to give you tactical advantages.

If they are smart AI.

 

[sexbad?]

Are they? I heard you can one-shot a couple at once with the Smart pistol.

Introducing AI cannon fodder is a stroke of genius. Especially if you can use them to give you tactical advantages.

I don't think you can use them in any way. Someone in this thread mentioned earlier that you could gauge if there are pilots nearby by seeing how many grunts are still there (because a pilot could just kill them all), but that's probably the only advantage they give.

 

[Whiran]

If they are smart AI.

I don't know about smart so much as useful.

There are different bot levels of AI. There are the basic grunts which are pretty dumb in that they rush around if they don't have their captain alive. If their captain is alive they stay in a squad and move around together. They aren't particularly good at aiming though so they miss a fair bit and they fire pretty slow.

There are sentinel bots who are stronger and try to shoot down mechs err.. titans. These guys, in groups, can really hurt a titan if the pilot isn't paying attention.

Then there is the captain AI - it seems to be fairly directed and goal oriented. I believe it's scripted to run to a series of points and patrol. I'm not really sure but the captain itself is a slightly harder opponent than the grunts.

If you are in the beta take a moment to follow a squad of grunts around. It's pretty darn funny - if a grunt gets injured and goes into a downed state then other grunts will ignore everything else and try to 'rescue' the downed grunt by dragging them out of the line of fire. These little guys are so heroic... and they die. A lot. And easily. But they chatter.. a lot. As in: "I see motion to the right!" "Enemy spotted on second floor moving to engage." "Titan spotted." "Patrolling the area." "Area clear." "Enemy activity in region." etc etc.

On top of that, your titan can switch to AI control which is surprisingly accurate and good. I've had my AI controlled titan kill players and other titans plus it will target the bots. Since you can put your titan on follow mode you can run through a building while your titan circles around it to be in position to surprise an enemy when they spot the titan.

All of that written and the game is still an FPS that is pretty darn fast paced so like other FPS games the more structured gameplay of group tactics only comes into play when playing with people you know.

At the end of the day the only thing that matters in my mind is this: is it fun to play? For me, that answer is a definite yes and I tend to dislike FPS games. This one has that "something" that makes it a fun game.

 

[Mangoose]

I don't know about smart so much as useful.

There are different bot levels of AI. There are the basic grunts which are pretty dumb in that they rush around if they don't have their captain alive. If their captain is alive they stay in a squad and move around together. They aren't particularly good at aiming though so they miss a fair bit and they fire pretty slow.

There are sentinel bots who are stronger and try to shoot down mechs err.. titans. These guys, in groups, can really hurt a titan if the pilot isn't paying attention.

Then there is the captain AI - it seems to be fairly directed and goal oriented. I believe it's scripted to run to a series of points and patrol. I'm not really sure but the captain itself is a slightly harder opponent than the grunts.

If you are in the beta take a moment to follow a squad of grunts around. It's pretty darn funny - if a grunt gets injured and goes into a downed state then other grunts will ignore everything else and try to 'rescue' the downed grunt by dragging them out of the line of fire. These little guys are so heroic... and they die. A lot. And easily. But they chatter.. a lot. As in: "I see motion to the right!" "Enemy spotted on second floor moving to engage." "Titan spotted." "Patrolling the area." "Area clear." "Enemy activity in region." etc etc.

Sounds worse than the AI in a game like L4D or Payday. At least Payday AI is accurate to the point where you still want to be in cover most of the time. Ugh. You already have weapons, health, speed, agility advantage. The AI sounds slightly above MOBA level.

I'm really not sure what you mean by "useful" outside of the anti-titan sentinels which do sound useful.

 

[DakaSha]

From what i can tell form the beta, and limited playing bots are:

Fodder, for fun (This is a good thing contrary to what elitist morons will have you think. Call me crazy but 'fun' is what makes a good game).
Story telling. The games narrative is told through bot chatter. Just a nice 'touch'.
Atmosphere. As ive said before, it gives you the feeling of being a badass in a war torn area. Even if you dont play 12 hours a day like AM
Winning certain game modes.
A form of indirect radar.
Anti titan forces. They are quite weak, but can make a difference in a tight titan battle.
They prevent camping. I'm not really a person who cares about camping, but its is obviously frowned on in these games. well you cant really fucking camp when bots are shooting at you. Its a pretty cool solution.
(Perhaps most importantly) They act as a form of currency by reducing the time it takes to call your titan. this is where its a bit liek a MOBA
Distraction: This is actually a big one. You will prob be killing a lot of them because its fun and because of the above mentioned 'currency' they provide. This is distracting and can cause you to be murdered.

Overall they dont have a HUGE impact on game play (although that may prove to be false. Its just the beta and nobody knows wtf they are doing), but they add something new.

Its just a simple addition that way to many people are crying about, despite it having almost zero, if any, negative impact on gameplay.

I for one like to pop them

edit: im actually thinking that the whole faster titan thing they provide may prove to be a big deal in which case it really will be like minion farming in a moba. Something im completely fine with

 

[chestburster]

It's a multiplayer game. It's supposed to be a test of your skill vs. other players. Not "lets see who can gangrape bots faster".

Says you.

To me it's nothing more than a dumb game in which multiple players can shoot at bots AND each other. Has nothing to do with "SKILLZ".

 

[IDtenT]

One can only hope the servers won't be clogged with DM modes.

 

[Metro]

So basically it's FPS DOTA? Monday Night Combat already did this.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[TedNugent]

Although there is no doubt that bad players will enjoy raping bots (and wtf is wrong with that anyways? they buy the shit to have fun)

So it's not a competitive game, thanks, that's all I needed to know, you just saved me $60.

What's wrong with raping bots? Lowbrow, basic gameplay, the foundation of popamole. I enjoy complexity and I enjoy competitive games. Fundamentally it's because they provide an unbelievably rigorous gameplay experience.

It's like the difference between playing chess versus playing checkers against a toddler.

 

[DemonKing]

Played the Beta for a bit - it looks ok but plays like COD with Mecs. I actually felt like I would rather be playing BF4 when I played. Pass.

 

[DakaSha]

Although there is no doubt that bad players will enjoy raping bots (and wtf is wrong with that anyways? they buy the shit to have fun)

So it's not a competitive game, thanks, that's all I needed to know, you just saved me $60.

What's wrong with raping bots? Lowbrow, basic gameplay, the foundation of popamole. I enjoy complexity and I enjoy competitive games. Fundamentally it's because they provide an unbelievably rigorous gameplay experience.

It's like the difference between playing chess versus playing checkers against a toddler.

K. Have fun with your free KKK

 

[Average Manatee]

Saying that bots should exist in MP because someone has fun with them is the FPS equivalent of saying that the player should be able to become the master of every skill and lead every guild in an RPG, simply because it's more fun that way. Dumbing down a game for the lowest common denominator is a bad idea no matter the genre.

 

[IDtenT]

Derp. RPGs aren't player skill based.

 

[Average Manatee]

Aside from the fact that being based on player skill is entirely fucking irrelevant to the point, RPGs are player skill based, just not twitch based.

 

[you know what time it is]

Derp. RPGs aren't player skill based.

O RLY?