Some personal opinions from me about DB

(acQu) #1

Just some personal opinions from me about DB:

  1. no real good story: i watched the intro trailer pretty much as one of the first things before all. The idea of mercenaries trying to defend data cores seem way to set up and artificial. I felt like no matter how, just introduce a conflict somehow and try to blend in a defender team as fast as possible. For me, the way it is done so far, doesn’t really seem logical and a good way to go and upsetting.

Proposed solution: i have none so far unfortunately. But the current way mercenaries defend data cores seem illogical and a bad story element. A well put together intro movie inside the game would be great, removing those things.

  1. the playermodels are just empty puppets without background story and character: in my opinion i want to slip into a role when playing an online game. If my character doesn’t have at least a bit of a background story, this leaves a gap for me. And it is important to distinguish: i am not demanding RPG elements nor am i a WoW fan, i simply demand a bit of a narrative to the playermodels. So if the overall story on point 1) is lacking, at least properly introduce the playermodels. For example take Planetside 2. The character models are pretty common there and do not tell that much of the background story i am talking about, but this all is blended away by the introduction of the parties and the stories they tell. So i am ready to go in and fight for that cause; and that cause is given by either the character in DB, or as with PS2, the overall story elements of the 3 fractions, each figthing for different a purpose. Probably the game is already far too advanced for this to apply the proposed solution, but i am also saying this in general, maybe even for future games.

Proposed solution: add two leaders, make them charismatic and appear at every map start as icon to the top left to give you orders. If that is too much after the 10th of 20th iteration, then i propose a holographic device, which can be played at will. The playermodels story can be told at the website.

  1. the game currently is just a ffest (excuse me for that word, but it describes it pretty well). This is probably the single thing which makes the game less fun for me. It is a combination of open and convoluted maps combined with the fact that you die fast. There are no clear frontlines on the map and the maps offer way too many awareness spots when you travel it along (at least 4 to 5 spots you need to watch out for at the critical spots, some areas are even worst). The fact that you die too fast and do not have a chance of taking a fight once a shot is fired on you is combined with the map design is a major game braker for me.

TL;DR

  • I think the game needs to have more story and character story elements. Especially illogical story elements need to be removed, such as mercenaries trying to defend data cores and keep them in the radioactive area. Overall i think the game needs more character, aside from just the graphics, which are unique and properly done in my eyes.

  • The open and convoluted maps and the fact that you die too fast need to be tweaked. This is the definite thing to go for. It is really fundamentally, and i fear it will require a lot of map design fixes.

(iwound) #2

lets hope there is a distinguishable other team. which could write its own back story.
it is alpha.
nothing is final.

(rookie1) #3

Starting at :26 maybe something like that ? Great leader Kane :slight_smile:
[video=youtube_share;r93c6qN9XyY]http://youtu.be/r93c6qN9XyY[/video]

(tokamak) #4

Brink was a nice attempt at imposing a story onto a multiplayer game. However, it wasn’t necessary and in the end only confused people about what type of game it was. So keep the story wafer-thin, all it needs to be is a setting to fight in. Anything more and people will start judging DB as something it isn’t.

(acQu) #5

Brink had it (story of the arch), also ET:QW (strogg, alien invasion) and W:ET (the autostory itself aka WW2, you really do not need more to add narrative background story and add a thrilling atmosphere). They all had it right.

DB ? Do you really think it makes sense to have two mercenery groups fight in a radiated area over some datacores, which need to somehow stay at that place ? Not with the current background, which is … none/void. And i assume SD is also not planning to add more stuff regarding this, which would be really sad.

Planetside 2 has a really good atmosphere. Basically i think this should have been SDs game :wink: But this is offtopic … hopefully something like this will be their next game :slight_smile:

(rookie1) #6

true that looking at this trailer we can only think of a SD et:qw influence
Perhaps there will be something when the game will be more filled …we have only few maps …not much meat around the bone :wink:
The guys are all coming back fresh next week …so we will see what they will do next

(acQu) #7

@rookie: it is way too off topic, but this one here is better trailer :slight_smile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41QFL4QB3NE I dream of SD having something similar. In Brink it was pretty much like this. But it failed for other reasons probably. The story of Brink was really good imo.

(rookie1) #8

I know saw it before and said when I looked …its one of the best trailer I Have seen

(Dragonji) #9

Totally agree with OP in this area! I feel like DB was a lil’ indistinct.

(zenstar) #10

People complained about Chen and whatsisname shouting at you all the time in Brink. It was nice and provided a sense of story the first few times you played a level but got pretty old pretty quick.
It’s great for stories but it gets annoying in multiplayer.

As for character backstories: I think (pure guesswork here) that there will be some at a later point. I’m basing this on the founder characters since they seem to have names (check the picks on https://secure.warchest.com/dirtybomb/vip-founder and you can see “Dazzler”, “Sawbonez”, “Proxy”, “Skyhammer” and “Vassili”).

We’re testing the engine and the balance here… story elements can be added later (although it’s good to bring the subject up now so they know what people want).

(Maca) #11

Well, since this topic has been started I suppose I can add to the banter.
I don’t think what it needs is literally a story, or an imposing background like in PS2 or Brink (in Brink it was more about the execution being imposing), but it should be made more distinct. I’m not saying to go all TF2, and the art direction with characters and things has been really great, but by just making it slightly more imaginative people could perhaps be more engaged with the characters. The names of the founder mercs are really nice starting point I think, but one relatively easy way would be to sacrifice just a bit more realism in some aspects to make the characters even more unique. I don’t know, I’m not even thinking this through. Maybe it’d just look dumb, maybe people would just say it’s copying Borderlands or something.

(Scrupus) #12

The background story in Brink was pretty good, but a bit overkill for FPS IMHO - some of those resources could have been spent better elsewhere (for Brink at least).

DB just need a general background story and one leader voice for each side, telling some good ol Makron jokes from time to time and I’m happy :oppressor: Some funny accents for the classes also helps, but I’m pretty sure that will be added later on :wink:

(iwound) #13

does anyone else find it weird that the level start announcer has an american accent but using english slang, like “nick the data core”
better a cockney voice for that anyway. just sounds off for me.

looking at alpha video looks like its changed to grab.