PC Players:What Were You Expecting from Brink?

(zenstar) #21

[QUOTE=Patriotqube;353096]True constant whining aint the way.

describing the problems as we see them, and constructive critizism is not a bad thing todo.

But OMG WTF BAD GAME just dosent work, and it dosent even tell the devs what to look for.
[/QUOTE]

Completely agree with you there. The game would be so much better if everyrage post was replaced with a constructively critical post detailing their dissapointment.

I don’t mind the “consolization” of games to a point. If it makes it easier for me to play without detracting from the game too much then I see no issues. I actually prefer some games on console because the controller just suits them. Obviously mouse + keyboard will always outclass a controller but streamlining the keyboard controls is not necisarily a bad thing. Especially if they can sort out the “overlapping action targets” issue.

(miDGet) #22

i expected a FPS that would catch me for a long time… instead i got that poor console port with a HORRIBLE performance on ATI cards, which frustrated me to that point, where i just stopped to care about the game. i still hope that the DLC can magically bring a better performance, which is unlikely tho…

other than that i feel like the maps are too small. having played ET and ETQW before, i feel like you had a lot more space for individual gameplay choices on those maps.

the SMART system could be utilized so well if the maps allowed it. but they don’t. the system is a great approach to bust the borders of the FPS genre, but it gets restricted by the map design.

once again: the most annoying thing with brink, was the poor performance which made it hardly playable in a competitive sense. and therefore playable for a longer time, like i wanted it to be…

(shirosae) #23

After following the in-development stuff from SD here and on the old Actifail forums, I was expecting the core ET gameplay covered in layers of console-centric autopilot-unibutton control silliness with some dodgy gameplay decisions that broke too many good things trying to make silly things like bodytypes and buffs and perma-exp relevant.

I expected that the SDK would come fairly quickly, and that the dumb stuff would either be saved/dropped, the controls would be fixed, and Brink would become a fun ET game totally worth buying, hopefully with a strong custom content community.

With the stuff Rahdo mentioned early on about supporting competitive gaming, I was kinda expecting a load of configuration options like the ETQW official comp mod to be in Brink by default. I was kinda hoping that some of the more specific tweaks (like g_showsightedmodel) from ETQWpro would make it in too. A good strong spectator/demo system to buff up early interest in the game with all the inevitable gameplay videos from people that could actually play, since Bethesda didn’t bother to make any.

I hoped that I was just being a little cynical, and that vanilla Brink would totally pwn my face with awesomeness without such a need for modding.

If anything, I was being far too charitable. I didn’t expect the gunplay to be this bad; I didn’t even consider that SD of all people could get it this wrong.

With the lottery spread, the autopilot movement and interaction, the constantly making players deaf, it seems like Brink is a game that considers player-involvement more superfluous than I ever expected.

(zenstar) #24

[QUOTE=miDGet;353113]… with a HORRIBLE performance on ATI cards, which frustrated me to that point, where i just stopped to care about the game…
…once again: the most annoying thing with brink, was the poor performance which made it hardly playable in a competitive sense. and therefore playable for a longer time, like i wanted it to be…[/QUOTE]

ATI performance issues are restricted to only a few models and are really ATI’s fault since they’ve been releasing drivers with OpenGL bugs recently.

Of course that doesn’t make much of a difference to you while sitting at your PC looking at bugged out textures and grids. Maybe SD should sue ATI for loss of income?

Seriously though: go Nvidia for fewer problems. This is not the first game to have had lots of issues with ATI recently (to the point where I saw a game flat out state that a graphical glitch was due to ATI’s drivers and is not a bug in the game and could only be fixed by ATI fixing their drivers).

(Stormchild) #25

I expected something quite different from wolf:ET ETQW, because from the start we knew it would be reduced teams (8 vs 8). I was not very please about this choice which I believed was linked to console limitations combined with SMART computations.
But I knew that it would be a bit consolized. Still, I watched videos, realized that many aspects of the gameplay were toned down from the previous titles (mine placement for example, nothing like the mine placement possibilities of ETQW, which was a good step ahead from wolf:et mines).

But anyway, I got more or less what I expected, appart from the lack of polish which was a bit surprising considering the postponed dates and the already decent early videos. I thought it was for balance purpose and yet on release there were balance issues with weapons, for example.

Still, I enjoy playing the game, and the more I play it, the more I get used to its specificities. I get to learn that Brink is not wolf ET or ETQW, it is a different game, and I take it as it is. Yes I regret many things from the previous games, and I hope the next SD game will take this in account… too much simplification kills the potential of the meta design.

I understand the frustration of many that rage on the “wasted” potential. The guns mechanics were also a surprise (spread is regularly infuriating).

Since the beginning I knew it would be reduced amount of players, hence maps would be smaller, and gun mechanics would fit more close quarter than long range. So I play the game with this in mind, and I enjoy it a lot, still I miss larger battles from ETQW with both intense close quarter fights, and long range.

The game still had nice surprises for me, like the melee aspect, and bad surprises, like the one button for all and its problems in crowds or near CPs. Also, the surprising lack of customization possibilities, and the paradox between leveling and specializing characters and switching class in game to complement the team’s lack. I don’t dig the whole character development stuf and would rather have had global unlocks so that each character have all abilities.

Then again, I get good fun on the game, and I play every 2-3 days (there are tons of other games I have to play too)

(miDGet) #26

yes i know, and i decided that my next card is going to be a nvidia, like the years before.
but i definitely won’t buy a new card now, just for brink… no matter how much you can blame ATI/AMD, Splash Damage didn’t do well either… we don’t even have first person view, which is THE essential option for a FPS to be successful in the competitive scene.

there are a lot more annoyances in Brink. no doubt. SD just disappointed me big time.

i really hoped for brink to be a success, else i wouldn’t still read this forum. i care(d)!

(BomBaKlaK) #27

[QUOTE=shirosae;353117]After following the in-development stuff from SD here and on the old Actifail forums, I was expecting the core ET gameplay covered in layers of console-centric autopilot-unibutton control silliness with some dodgy gameplay decisions that broke too many good things trying to make silly things like bodytypes and buffs and perma-exp relevant.

I expected that the SDK would come fairly quickly, and that the dumb stuff would either be saved/dropped, the controls would be fixed, and Brink would become a fun ET game totally worth buying, hopefully with a strong custom content community.

With the stuff Rahdo mentioned early on about supporting competitive gaming, I was kinda expecting a load of configuration options like the ETQW official comp mod to be in Brink by default. I was kinda hoping that some of the more specific tweaks (like g_showsightedmodel) from ETQWpro would make it in too. A good strong spectator/demo system to buff up early interest in the game with all the inevitable gameplay videos from people that could actually play, since Bethesda didn’t bother to make any.

I hoped that I was just being a little cynical, and that vanilla Brink would totally pwn my face with awesomeness without such a need for modding.

If anything, I was being far too charitable. I didn’t expect the gunplay to be this bad; I didn’t even consider that SD of all people could get it this wrong.

With the lottery spread, the autopilot movement and interaction, the constantly making players deaf, it seems like Brink is a game that considers player-involvement more superfluous than I ever expected.[/QUOTE]

same feeling … we just get screwed ! that’s all !

(zenstar) #28

[QUOTE=miDGet;353121]yes i know, and i decided that my next card is going to be a nvidia, like the years before.
but i definitely won’t buy a new card now, just for brink… no matter how much you can blame ATI/AMD, Splash Damage didn’t do well either… we don’t even have first person view, which is THE essential option for a FPS to be successful in the competitive scene.

there are a lot more annoyances in Brink. no doubt. SD just disappointed me big time.

i really hoped for brink to be a success, else i wouldn’t still read this forum. i care(d)![/QUOTE]

Yeah. Not suggesting buying a new card now. But all the ATI hoo-ha has definitely made me a firm Nvidia camper now. Before hand I’d look at specs and price to decide on a card. Now I’ll stick to Nvidia. Pity, because ATI often have good hardware.

(Ino) #29

What he said.

The Skillcap is ridiculous in BRINK, gunplay sucks, teamplay is limited to pressing a button to buff,…

Man I had high hopes for BRINK, too bad they made a game that favors randomness over good aim caters to players without (aim-)skill.

(zenstar) #30

You’re not playing with a proper team then.
While buffing is one part of it you’re overlooking many aspects.
Coordinated fire: people take longer to die and weapons aren’t pinpoint accurate so having teammates focus on the same targets take them down faster than everyone just shooting randomly. Defence is easier than offence meaning attacking requires coordination and tactics and communication with your team.

You can complain about many aspects of Brink but you can’t say “teamplay is limited to pressing a buff button”. Brink is just as, if not more, team oriented than all other shooters out there.

(coolstory) #31

This is why I was so frustrated with brink, when radho posted all those things on crossfire I figured wow a dev that cares about the comp. scene. But I dont see any of those things in the game…

Feel cheated

(Cep) #32

Personally I was just expecting something better than ET:QW.

Brink is just nowhere near as good, especially from a developer who has already proven they can make excellent games, Brink is “so so”.

I feel I may need to elaborate without going into massive detail but for example.

  • ET:QW had vehicles -> Brink does not which doesn’t bother me too much since we were expecting parkour to be prominent. However the SMART system is not good enough to replace vehicles and I believe their removal is more to do with the very closed maps than anything else.

  • ET:QW had more classes and each one was kind of unique in the opposing team -> Brink reduced the number of classes since a field ops/suppressor role is not really suitable (again because of the maps) but both sides have exactly the same abilities and types.

  • ET:QW had huge maps -> Brink has tiny maps and almost all of them have a max of 3 avenues to objectives which do not allow for creative thinking and they cause to many choke point gang spamming.

  • ET:QW had a wide range of deployable’s -> Brink has 3 and to be honest they are pretty boring. Obviously the lack of vehicles and artillery makes two of them redundant but then radar was also removed and this added to the game no end. Another step back.

  • ET:QW had unique factions, Strogg where different to GDF not just in name and look but how you played them -> Brink is very generic both its factions are exactly the same in both abilities, weapons and class types. Apart from their different name and appearance you do not need any particular skill to play as either faction.

  • ET:QW has a very good server browser/chat/stat/reward system -> Brink didn’t actually have a decent browser or chat until recently (and even now its still not on par with ET:QW). We still don’t have stats either. As for the reward system, its non-existant.

  • ET:QW has 12 maps -> Brink has 8 with 2 in the pipeline. Ok ET:QW did not have 12 to begin with but surely a new release should always have the same or greater number than its predecessor. Instead we are 4 down!

  • ET:QW promotes not only team play but also single player initiative -> Brink because of its small maps, tends not to reward single player initiative. For example in ET:QW a rocket trooper or covi ops disrupting radar and deployables to help the team progress or divert the enemy is not as easy since Brink has too many choke points and most of the time entire teams are either camping the objective or the spawn.

  • ET:QW had more unique weaponry by class/faction -> Brink restricts their weapons on body type which is fine to a degree but neither faction has unique weapons. Maybe this was done for balance but its a little boring. I don’t see why a medic would be carrying a grenade launcher for example.

  • ET:QW shooting mechanics were spot on and required you to develop skill -> Brinks shooting mechanics are, well, not great. I mean I can still aim and shoot with some relative skill but the whole spread/recoil issue and the fact that a pistol can out-range an AR is something that needs to be looked into.

Should I go on? No I am sure there are lots more reasons that I could come up with but I guess these will do. SD did a bang up job on ET:QW and they have done a good job getting Brink to were it is now but I just feel that Brink is not even in the same league as its predecessor.

(OnceWasGreat) #33

I expected that after 2 months from release we would have been here to’ talk about scrims. Tactics, review demos and train to’ improve our teamplay instead of trolling each other on the death of the game.

Instead the forums are just a “daily war” between haters and fanboys. The sad thing is there is more battle here on forum than in the game servers. Thats an horrible ending for brink. :frowning:

(ScumBag) #34

This.

I was expecting a PC game, not a console port. + everything that cep above me said.

Now if you want to know WHY I was expecting a PC game…that’s another question. Obviously I am a chump who has been living under a rock for the past x# of years while PC gaming died. Crappy ports are the standard in todays gaming world and in that way Brink is no better or worse than, say, Bulletstorm.

QW was released in 2007 and was an odd duck even then as it was primarily a PC game which was ported to the consoles. I doubt very much we’ll ever see that again.

(BomBaKlaK) #35

The ET core reduce to a freaky console game can’t fill the PC players expectations !
SD test, then SD fail !

and yes there is more battle here than on the servers … cause people are waiting to know when the DLC is release to maybe play in some better conditions but I don’t really think people buy any DLc after this one (in free version) if that’s a big fail ! And if they dont listen to the community crumbs who stay on the forum with a little hope to be eard, and to help fixing what we can ! but without any communication from SD, people have just the big feeling to be screwed ! buy a “Multiplayer” game to play online / alone / VS bots …

so do we still playin a beta with half of the map we can expect for a final game ? nope !
It’s a 50 box game ! >>> FAIL !

waiting 1 Year for this …

PS : Wolf ET got 6 map at the begining but he was free and there is an SDK and linux server files !
BRINK dont have any of this !

(neks) #36

I was expecting a better gunplay. The current one, I know I’ll get tired of it ultimately. When, I don’t know, but I guess not playing everyday and on public servers only might help (or not)

I was expecting SD to offer more tweak abilities. The netvars is an innovation but people coming from W:ET are used to tweak a lot. I don’t think there is anyone who played more than 6 months without tweaking the game.

We are still hoping for salvation in the form of a SDK. However, many bits of info let me think it might never happen. DICE announced the other day that BF3 will not have a SDK. I think that would be fair that SD keeps us informed on that matter.

I was not expecting Bethesda to be part of the equation though

I was not expecting so much whine and/or hate. I thought people who would expect from this game would a bit more mature. Oh boy was I wrong…

That’s all I can think of right now.

(jazevec) #37

I expected fast-paced infantry shooter, mostly indoors. Much like W:ET. Remember W:ET ? The game without ironsights ? I also expected lots of interesting customizations. But there are only a few weapons worth using, and in some ways less variety than in previous ET games (most are simply rapid fire weapons). Body types other than Light are pathetic. Maximus is like less accurate Rhett with a bigger clip. Chinzor is like a less accurate Carb-9 or Euston.

Instead, I got a Slow Person Grinder. Character abilities are earned through patience, and limits discourage flexible play. There may be a skill which would be great in current situation, but the limit won’t let you have it.

ET:QW had problems, but it other ways it was a nice game. I expected SD to learn and make a better game next time. How wrong I was.

(Jimmy James) #38

Expected:

[ul]
[li]Multiplayer Team Objective-based Gameplay (got it)[/li][li]SMART Parkour Goodness (got it)[/li][li]Detailed Character Customization (got it)[/li][li]Rocket Launcher (didn’t get it)[/li][/ul]

Didn’t Expect:

[ul]
[li]Vehicles (pretty clear from the demos that Brink wasn’t doing vehicles)[/li][li]Crappy Console-Style Wheel Interface (thought it would be a PC game ported to consoles instead of the other way around)[/li][li]Leveling to Unlock Abilities (wtf?)[/li][li]Completing Solo Challenges to Unlock Weapons/Weapon Mods (WTF!?!?)[/li][/ul]

-JJ

(Tandem) #39

I was expecting a slower game with a lot of useless inane customization.
A game with a long, sponsored competitive e-sports life.

Constructive criticism already outnumbers useless hate posts.
If there was zero hate on this forum from day one (despite this **** game)
nothing would be different now, absolutely nothing, so you’ve got be kidding or insane.

The topics at hand were being discussed back in 2009,
misleading info from developers are to blame for any harsh reviews.

So flash forward 2 years, and all of a sudden these players from (who knows where)
come out and start bashing all the ideas and expectations that Splash Damage themselves handed out.
Trolling fix topics with the infamous “The way the game was meant to be played” argument,
which means completely nothing when the core gameplay isn’t effected or in-question.

From my experience, public-only players (on average) are the rudest, uninformed
and most impatient people unwilling to see the bigger picture.
Who the hell here acts like elitist? Get real and stop feeling so inadequate (you know who you are),
any competitor is in a better position to criticize, only because their knowledge goes beyond public play
and that is the only reason.

(MorsTua) #40

i was expecting what they made us believe… teamplay game with smooth engine and fast movements…
failed on every front

yesterday i was walkin on the stairs and i realized that the smart thingy values it as a parkour move
the result is that i became a shaker on every step

pathetic, sad…