brink could have used more publicity

(McAfee) #21

The game actually sold good on the first day. The problem was after that. The sales for people who waited for proper reviews and more importantly word-of-mouth reviews were poor.

I myself couldn’t recommend the game on week 1, cause it simply had too many bugs on the 1st week. What if the game wouldn’t run correctly on my friend’s computer? And I can’t recommend the game now because I’m not certain of how long the game’s future will be.

The lack of people you are seeing is not because the game is sitting in store shelves. The game is sitting on home shelves.

(cheezespread) #22

[QUOTE=DarkangelUK;354082]It was marketed to the masses as a single player game that could be played as coop or vs humans, they were told to treat it that way, it wasn’t something they made up themselves. I blame the PR department for that stunt, and I wasn’t convinced about the whole ‘mingleplayer’ thing.

.[/QUOTE]

You sir , took the words out of my mouth. Agree 100% on this.

(wolfnemesis75) #23

Yeah, but the mingle-player in Brink works as advertised… its the lack of stand-alone single player campaign that many gamers criticized… The main advertising for Brink stated that you’d be able to level your same in-game character irrespective of what mode you played in whether it was single player, multiplayer, or challenges, and get a similar experience as the multiplayer while being part of a story of the Ark and its struggle. All of which is 100% true. You can drop in and out whether its co-op, single player or multiplayer. It is also this reason that there is no lobby system. It is by design so that you can drop in and out and players can continue to level their unique character and get a similar experience. Which, you can.

Brink was never going to have a separate single player, stand-alone experience in the traditional sense like a Halo 3 campaign. This was made clear leading up to the game being released.

Pre-concieved notions of what the “campaign” would be, (having little to do with Brink’s advertising), frustrated many people who played Brink.

Just wanted to clear this misnomer up.

(DarkangelUK) #24

Your use of single player is so loose, you could hold E3 in the place and still have room for comicon and PAX. It was marketed as a single player game, and when someone mentions single player, there are already pre-conceived notions of what a single player game is… and it’s NOT multiplayer with bots. Singleplayer as a word should never EVER have been mentioned for Brink at all.

SD should coin and trademark the phrase ‘Solo-MP’, because that’s what Brink is. You’re not convincing anyone that there’s a single player game in there, or that calling it ‘campaign’ and playing the MP maps with bots in a set order somehow makes it single player, so you can stop now. The fact it got reviewed as a single player game and paid the price in review scores for it tells it like it is… and please stop the ‘no one gets it’ nonsense, like the whole world is delusional and you and al are the only ones that understand all.

I swear if Brink had you executing babies by microwaving them then placing them in a blender and feeding them to Ark orphans you’d still jump to it’s defense, because you’re weird… and quite frankly disturbingly defensive about Brink like it’s infallible.

I admit, I went off on a tangent there and it probably doesn’t relate to your reply… but it still felt good.

(Zarel) #25

[QUOTE=wolfnemesis75;354103]Pre-concieved notions of what the “campaign” would be, (having little to do with Brink’s advertising), frustrated many people who played Brink.

Just wanted to clear this misnomer up.[/QUOTE]

Everytime I see that in the main menu, “campaign”…I cringe, thinking how much it is NOT much so. It would have been better if they just said, “We have bots, you can play or practice offline and still be rewarded.” rather than, “We have bridged the gap between singleplayer and multiplayer. We’re finally blurring the line!”

I still love this game like hell but geez, everytime i see that…“campaign” menu, I think; “Come on guys, it’s just a botmatch.” :stuck_out_tongue:

(wolfnemesis75) #26

[QUOTE=DarkangelUK;354106][B]Your use of single player is so loose, you could hold E3 in the place and still have room for comicon and PAX. It was marketed as a single player game, and when someone mentions single player, there are already pre-conceived notions of what a single player game is… and it’s NOT multiplayer with bots. Singleplayer as a word should never EVER have been mentioned for Brink at all.

SD should coin and trademark the phrase ‘Solo-MP’, because that’s what Brink is. You’re not convincing anyone that there’s a single player game in there, or that calling it ‘campaign’ and playing the MP maps with bots in a set order somehow makes it single player, so you can stop now. The fact it got reviewed as a single player game and paid the price in review scores for it tells it like it is…[/B] and please stop the ‘no one gets it’ nonsense, like the whole world is delusional and you and al are the only ones that understand all.

I swear if Brink had you executing babies by microwaving them then placing them in a blender and feeding them Ark orphans you’d still jump to it’s defense, because you’re weird… and quite frankly disturbingly defensive about Brink like it’s infallible.[/QUOTE]
I highlighted the relevant and well-thought-out part of your post. The rest is just flaming so it is thrown out the window.

All single player campaigns are played against bots…so that don’t wash 100%. Besides, if you read my post better, you’d see that we are saying the same thing. We are. Re-read my posts please. I clearly state that many gamers expected a “stand-alone” single player experience with Brink. But I also said that Brink was “never” advertised to have this. It wasn’t. That’s where the pre-concieved notion part applies. and again, is true. UT3, L4D 1&2, ET:QW, Frontlines Fuel of War are just a short list of games with a similar mechanic as Brink. So it is not new. I am pretty sure Unreal Tournament 2004 says on the packaging somewhere that there is a single player campaign.

Brink can still be played as a single-player experience. Its just not a stand-alone single player campaign or traditional one. Like I have stated in many other posts: most people ONLY play a single-player campaign and seldom venture into multiplayer at all. What Brink tries to do is design a single player experience with these folk in mind (the ones who would typically avoid MP) and create an experience that they play by themselves and feel like they were playing multiplayer. And also have a narrative story driving this experience. Which is how Brink is advertised.

What you are rallying against is the design of the game and what it trying to do its own thing (not me). I like the game. Many others on this forum do as well. Obviously many, many people bought Brink thinking it would be a traditional campaign and game like “COD”. Which I clearly state. You just should not be able to argue that point. Which is also the reason I highlight the part of your post that has any bearing.

(Jimmy James) #27

Considering that the back of my game box has a big red icon with the words: “Requires internet connection and free Steam account to activate.” I would have to agree that the term “singleplayer” should never have been applied to Brink. I think it probably misled a lot of people who weren’t familiar with SD’s previous titles.

At least they put the disclaimer on the back of the box. I bought EverQuest back before I had a credit card and the box didn’t say anywhere on it that a credit card was required to play the game. I got the store to take that game back after I screamed at them a lot.

[QUOTE=DarkangelUK;354106]
I swear if Brink had you executing babies by microwaving them then placing them in a blender and feeding them to Ark orphans you’d still jump to it’s defense, because you’re weird… and quite frankly disturbingly defensive about Brink like it’s infallible.[/QUOTE]
I believe you are thinking of Soylent Green Online. SGO FTW!

-JJ

(Thundermuffin) #28

SD said BRINK had a well-thought out SP campaign, lol. They said it over and over at every convention they went to, praising their amazing, story-driven SP and saying it would be just as amazing with bots or humans.

While all SP games are played against bots, they also have AI that doesn’t suck and an actual, well-thought out story with excellent voice acting and cut scenes. Ever played say Alan Wake? That’s how you do an SP game; heck it’s gunplay puts BRINK to shame (where you aim is where stuff hits, it’s an amazing concept!) and it’s only got 4 guns. There’s nothing impressive about these cutscenes or anything in them. It’s nothing more than “wow I have to watch this stupid thing again?”

SP in BRINK doesn’t feel like you’re playing multiplayer; it feels like you’re playing with horrible bots. A good SP game makes you at least forget your teammates are completely scripted AI. Republic Commando had amazing AI teammates where you’d sometimes forget you were having to play babysitter with them, because they’d take cover, burst through doors SWAT style, and would watch everyone’s backs. This was 2005, and here we are 6 years later and BRINK’s bots are nothing like that.

ET:QW wasn’t marketed as an SP game at all; neither was Fuels of War. ET:QW was marketed as a new ET in the QUAKE universe and Fuels of War was suppose to be a new take on BF games by some of the original BF devs who left DICE. By the way, if UT2k4’s SP is anything like Q3A’s SP it works really well. You’re playing in an arena/tournament for your life or whatever against the other arena fighters, so it isn’t like there’s a whole lot of ways to make that some big SP campaign.

(DarkangelUK) #29

[QUOTE=wolfnemesis75;354115]I highlighted the relevant and well-thought-out part of your post. The rest is just flaming so it is thrown out the window.

All single player campaigns are played against bots…so that don’t wash 100%. Besides, if you read my post better, you’d see that we are saying the same thing. We are. Re-read my posts please. I clearly state that many gamers expected a “stand-alone” single player experience with Brink. But I also said that Brink was “never” advertised to have this. It wasn’t. That’s where the pre-concieved notion part applies. and again, is true. UT3, L4D 1&2, ET:QW, Frontlines Fuel of War are just a short list of games with a similar mechanic as Brink. So it is not new. I am pretty sure Unreal Tournament 2004 says on the packaging somewhere that there is a single player campaign.

Brink can still be played as a single-player experience. Its just not a stand-alone single player campaign or traditional one. Like I have stated in many other posts: most people ONLY play a single-player campaign and seldom venture into multiplayer at all. What Brink tries to do is design a single player experience with these folk in mind (the ones who would typically avoid MP) and create an experience that they play by themselves and feel like they were playing multiplayer. And also have a narrative story driving this experience. Which is how Brink is advertised.

What you are rallying against is the design of the game and what it trying to do its own thing (not me). I like the game. Many others on this forum do as well. Obviously many, many people bought Brink thinking it would be a traditional campaign and game like “COD”. Which I clearly state. You just should not be able to argue that point. Which is also the reason I highlight the part of your post that has any bearing.[/QUOTE]

Remember the part where I said stop trying to sell Brink as anything resembling SP cos you won’t convince anyone? Well you’re still doing it… and you’re not convincing anyone.

As for the last part, you can call it trolling all you want, but you seriously have what some would refer to as an unhealthy infatuation with Brink, and your obsessiveness has blinded you to any failings to a point where it seems you honestly think they don’t exist. My example still stands, but we’ll ignore it for the moment until it gets annoying again and you dismiss blatant facts… which should be the next reply.

(wolfnemesis75) #30

[QUOTE=Jimmy James;354119]Considering that the back of my game box has a big red icon with the words: “Requires internet connection and free Steam account to activate.” I would have to agree that the term “singleplayer” should never have been applied to Brink. I think it probably misled a lot of people who weren’t familiar with SD’s previous titles.

At least they put the disclaimer on the back of the box. I bought EverQuest back before I had a credit card and the box didn’t say anywhere on it that a credit card was required to play the game. I got the store to take that game back after I screamed at them a lot.

I believe you are thinking of Soylent Green Online. SGO FTW!

-JJ[/QUOTE]

…er isn’t that for piracy protection though? Because otherwise, there is a single player game that doesn’t require an internet connection, only specifically for Steam use. Right?

(wolfnemesis75) #31

[QUOTE=DarkangelUK;354125]Remember the part where I said stop trying to sell Brink as anything resembling SP cos you won’t convince anyone? Well you’re still doing it… and you’re not convincing anyone.

As for the last part, you can call it trolling all you want, but you seriously have what some would refer to as an unhealthy infatuation with Brink, and your obsessiveness has blinded you to any failings to a point where it seems you honestly think they don’t exist. My example still stands, but we’ll ignore it for the moment until it gets annoying again and you dismiss blatant facts… which should be the next reply.[/QUOTE]

Only this part which is highlighted bears any relevance or merit, although only an opinion still. Brink has a single player experience in which you can level your character and the added feature of you being able to use that same character in any mode. Truth. And also has a narrative story revolving around said play. It just doesn’t again, have a “stand-alone” campaign that is mostly a linear path as you would in a traditional linear campaign. What Brink has is a single player campaign that is NOT linear and allows you to play through a story. So, many people were expecting a Linear Stand Alone Single Player Campaign like in “other” games they are “used” to playing despite the FACT the game was advertised as not having that!

Also, I read many of your posts. And I would like to point out that although there are a lot of people that do not like Brink or play it, there are still many who do from my perspective. Remember, many, many more people purchased the game for Xbox and so my experience has been much different maybe than yours. So my view of the game is going to be tempered by “having fun” while playing it. Some are on the other side of the tracks maybe. That’s why your second paragraph has no merit especially when you are trying to discount my opinions. Mine are from the perspective of “having fun” playing Brink. And I don’t compare it to other games as much as you seem to do, so also do not have “preconceived notions” or baggage regarding what it “should” or “should not” be. The most consistent aspect of my posts is that I think the game is brilliant. The game does have flaws, but not necessarily the ones that you point out or others on this forum or around the globe. I feel the game I got was the one that was advertised. It is most unfortunate that you do not. And although there may be others who feel similarly, I don’t base my comments, enjoyment, or feelings on what other people think. Never have.

(Jimmy James) #32

Not sure how that is supposed to protect against piracy. That should be what the unique key I have to type in during installation is for.

Neverwinter Nights can be installed on multiple computers and be played as a singleplayer game (ie doesn’t require an internet connection) but if you tried to play online you had to log into GameSpy which only allowed a single copy of identical CD Keys to play at a time. Seems like a pretty effective way to prevent piracy while still providing a true singleplayer and multiplayer experience.

On the other hand, the term singleplayer isn’t very well defined by the video game industry. I can play Brink by myself if I want but I have to log in to Steam. I can only play Fallout: New Vegas alone but I have to log into Steam. Now my brain hurts.

-JJ

(wolfnemesis75) #33

[QUOTE=Jimmy James;354147]Not sure how that is supposed to protect against piracy. That should be what the unique key I have to type in during installation is for.

Neverwinter Nights can be installed on multiple computers and be played as a singleplayer game (ie doesn’t require an internet connection) but if you tried to play online you had to log into GameSpy which only allowed a single copy of identical CD Keys to play at a time. Seems like a pretty effective way to prevent piracy while still providing a true singleplayer and multiplayer experience.

On the other hand, the term singleplayer isn’t very well defined by the video game industry. I can play Brink by myself if I want but I have to log in to Steam. I can only play Fallout: New Vegas alone but I have to log into Steam. Now my brain hurts.

-JJ[/QUOTE]

…er. I think the key part is Steam. You need an internet connection to play. But you could’ve gone to Walmart and bought Brink for Windows and play, right? (which is what most people did on PC, by my estimation!) When I played PC I purchased from a store. same with anyone else that I know who buys PC games. I only purchase physical copies of stuff.

(DarkangelUK) #34

@wolf

yeah I didn’t read any of your reply, because I know all you did was loosely resemble being on your own in a MP game as single player, and anything stated beyond that is irrelevant. Brink doesn’t have singleplayer, it has Solo-MP.

(wolfnemesis75) #35

[QUOTE=DarkangelUK;354151]@wolf

yeah I didn’t read any of your reply, because I know all you did was loosely resemble being on your own in a MP game as single player, and anything stated beyond that is irrelevant. Brink doesn’t have singleplayer, it has Solo-MP.[/QUOTE]

This makes it all clear. Highlighted.

I’d also point out a feature that people don’t give enough credit for in Brink: In the Single Player of Brink you have a dynamic sense of story. Often there are multiple outcomes from the results of a stage or match. Has any other game had this mechanic before? For instance, when you play as Resistance on the last mission (Refuel) and you lose, it shows you being driven back to the boats and fleeing. When you win, it shows you escaping triumphantly in the plane. Also, there are moments where you get a glimpse of what may have happened had the war escalated too far. Right? Most games if you lose a mission, it just shows you dying over and over until you succeed, and then it shows a cutscene because it is linear. In Brink, each time you complete an objective there is a story segment, like on Aquarium when the door is blown it shows you escorting the hostage. All of this happens within the context of this larger story and gives you a reason to be fighting and a feel of being an actual participant. It is far more dynamic, and in some ways mirrors more of an RPG like Bioshock, in this way. So the single player in Brink has merit and has depth. So there was nothing wrong with how Brink is advertised. Name another game that shows multiple outcomes on each level you play like Brink does? I know a game like Fable 2 has several endings and variations, but is mostly a linear story. Also your unique character is in the cutscene! Brink’s single player plays out differently every time you play because it is more dynamic like a multiplayer because you don’t know exactly what will happen. All of this makes Brink innovative. Come on!

I will say this and this has merit: many people who hate Brink could not complete the single player campaign, for many reasons, one of them being it was too challenging and at the end of the day, that clouds much of their opinion. People don’t like to be defeated. So they blame the game. Read between the lines.

(gooey79) #36

I’d question how dynamic the story is when the next part (next map) plays the same regardless of the outcome of the last one.

It’s simply scripted outcomes based upon success or failure of the team you’re playing on and has no bearing on the rest of the story. That’s not deep in the slightest, in my view.

(Jimmy James) #37

I got a physical copy of Brink (PC DVD pre-order from Best Buy) but I still had to create a Steam account and Brink automatically logs me into Steam whenever I start Brink. (I don’t have Steam running unless Brink is loaded.)

Is there a way to play Brink without logging into Steam?

-JJ

(tokamak) #38

There’s no way Brink can hide behind the excuse of lack of advertising. ETQW could, combined with an unlucky release date it was the only thing that was lacking. But not Brink, Brink had rich marketing AND was released in a lull without any competition. The only competition it met was itself.

(wolfnemesis75) #39

[QUOTE=*goo;354157]I’d question how dynamic the story is when the next part (next map) plays the same regardless of the outcome of the last one.

It’s simply scripted outcomes based upon success or failure of the team you’re playing on and has no bearing on the rest of the story. That’s not deep in the slightest, in my view.[/QUOTE]

It is actually more dynamic this way (Brink) than many other games. Yes, the outcomes are scripted, but as you play them you are not only presented with these different outcomes, unlike many other games, you play against enemy that are not in a set place every time. I am not sure about you, but I can beat most other games simply by memorizing where a bot will be (you can actually do this in the challenges even 3 star in Brink). In Brink SP, it feels more random and realistic, as well as you being a more unique participant directly in the story. In say, Halo 3, you are “Master Chief” and will always look like that and there is only one outcome to each mission. Completely linear campaign. In this way, there is little depth in your character because you are one single predetermined character. The mechanic in Brink of multiple scripted outcomes is far more dynamic in this way, and has more depth than linear campaigns. And you can take this unique character/abilities into MP. Give credit where credit’s do. Too much belittling and downplaying all the successes.

(wolfnemesis75) #40

[QUOTE=Jimmy James;354147]Not sure how that is supposed to protect against piracy. That should be what the unique key I have to type in during installation is for.

Neverwinter Nights can be installed on multiple computers and be played as a singleplayer game (ie doesn’t require an internet connection) but if you tried to play online you had to log into GameSpy which only allowed a single copy of identical CD Keys to play at a time. Seems like a pretty effective way to prevent piracy while still providing a true singleplayer and multiplayer experience.

On the other hand, the term singleplayer isn’t very well defined by the video game industry. I can play Brink by myself if I want but I have to log in to Steam. I can only play Fallout: New Vegas alone but I have to log into Steam. Now my brain hurts.

-JJ[/QUOTE]

You are probably correct. I never had to have Steam back when I played PC games, I guess its been a while. :o