Hang in there UWE!
Nimbat
Join Date: 2010-11-21 Member: 75146Members
Join Date: 2010-11-21 Member: 75146Members
Hello everyone!
Just wanted to start a thread about some positive stuff, since I think there's way too much negativity going on around here.
For the first time since I pre-ordered NS2 I could finally connect to a server and play a few rounds. It started out being only 3 of us. 2 marines and 1 alien.
The lag wasn't bad at all (yet), performance was great and nearly no hickups or connection problems to speak of.
Me and my marine friend went out along the corridors while the alien skulk was... skulking us. There were plenty of surprise moments as the skulk ambushed us and neatly killed us easily. It was quite fun tbh, despite being only 3 players online.
Then 2 more people joined. There were now 5 players online, 3 aliens and 2 marines. It was still playable with only minor lag and some hickups.
We started playing more or less seriously and building structures and researching tech. It felt good and we all talked about the various bugs and problems we had while playing, and also how quickly the game had gone from an absolute mess to being "almost playable".
The match went on and 2 more people joined. The aliens had several fades by this time and it was really intense for us marines to push back the skulks and fades. The lights went out in several corridors and the fighting was fun. Lag became more and more of a problem until the server crashed.
I can go on, but the point I'm trying to make here is the huge improvement the game has had for the past few weeks. I was severely doubting UWE and their capability to keep developing NS2 but now I understand the importance to keep testing and playing, reporting bugs and shaping the groundwork for a great community.
So thank you UWE for hanging in there despite all the problems you're facing!
For lack of discussion material in this thread, please post your playable matches you've had. I'd love to hear your experiences (and trouble, bugs, lag whatever) while playing the beta.
Fly safe!
Just wanted to start a thread about some positive stuff, since I think there's way too much negativity going on around here.
For the first time since I pre-ordered NS2 I could finally connect to a server and play a few rounds. It started out being only 3 of us. 2 marines and 1 alien.
The lag wasn't bad at all (yet), performance was great and nearly no hickups or connection problems to speak of.
Me and my marine friend went out along the corridors while the alien skulk was... skulking us. There were plenty of surprise moments as the skulk ambushed us and neatly killed us easily. It was quite fun tbh, despite being only 3 players online.
Then 2 more people joined. There were now 5 players online, 3 aliens and 2 marines. It was still playable with only minor lag and some hickups.
We started playing more or less seriously and building structures and researching tech. It felt good and we all talked about the various bugs and problems we had while playing, and also how quickly the game had gone from an absolute mess to being "almost playable".
The match went on and 2 more people joined. The aliens had several fades by this time and it was really intense for us marines to push back the skulks and fades. The lights went out in several corridors and the fighting was fun. Lag became more and more of a problem until the server crashed.
I can go on, but the point I'm trying to make here is the huge improvement the game has had for the past few weeks. I was severely doubting UWE and their capability to keep developing NS2 but now I understand the importance to keep testing and playing, reporting bugs and shaping the groundwork for a great community.
So thank you UWE for hanging in there despite all the problems you're facing!
For lack of discussion material in this thread, please post your playable matches you've had. I'd love to hear your experiences (and trouble, bugs, lag whatever) while playing the beta.
Fly safe!
Comments
While I haven't had any true matches happen so far due to server crash issues (which hopefully will be fixed tomorrow?) I'm still having a blast just running around and seeing all the work they've put into it.
NS2 is only going to get better from here on. There are plenty of negative nancys out there who don't seem to realize they only have what three programmers? This game has got to be a lot of work for just three guys trying to fix all sorts of problems with their own engine. It's going to take time but from what I've seen so far, I'm highly impressed.
Got to say, I can't connect or stay connected for more than 1 min and the lag is horrible on my computer.
BUT..
Tried the game on my brother's comp and the game is much smoother (graphically perfect and lag is present but at a playable level)
Really loved the feeling of the game. UWE has perfectly (and still not yet finished but) achieved the result they were going for.
Artistically, everything is really nice, the new Fade look, etc. The gameplay mechanics getting better patches after patches.
The whole experience of Natural Selection is coming alive again, in a perfect setup for a sequel game of nowadays.
All my hopes and support goes to you guys, at Unknown Worlds Entertainment.
:)
Fading is near impossible with all the lag, but yeah, the game is so promising. I can still remember the first days of NS1 and how, despite its dose of problems, it has evolved into such a polished game. I can barely begin to imagine how amazing games will be in NS2 if it follows a similar progression curve.
Remember, the silent majority does appreciate UWE's work. It's human nature to complain. Praising, not so much.
edited for accuracy
oops my bad.
I don't like multiplayer games in general, the idea of relying on uncontrollable other players to provide part of the game experience seems like inherently bad design, you can't guarantee they will give other players a fair chance, you can't guarantee players won't be overwhelmed by superior enemies, you can't guarantee a lot of things that you should in a well crafted singleplayer experience.
All that said however, NS2 is very appealing to me, visually it looks lovely, it has a quite unique style, it isn't simply an aliens knock off, it does something distinct, and the lighting style is quite unique, it reminds me of id tech 4, but more advanced, more perfected. It can only improve with the addition of volumetric effects. The level editor is excellent, even in the early builds it's easy to use, powerful, and the props are versatile and excellently made, the artists and engine programmers have done a superb job in making a visually engaging and powerful set of assets.
The moddability is also enticing, I don't like NS but the engine is versatile, It's entirely possible that someone will make a mod I do like on the engine, maybe something more based around coop mode or a singleplayer mode I can make levels for.
And while I keep saying I don't like NS, I have to admit the original did to quite a few things right, the melee/ranged opposition is in many ways better than the purely ranged/ranged system of modern FPS games, marines often can use their brains and spend some time to avoid being cheap shotted, something you can't do in games like call of duty. The indoor and structured maps also mean that games are not simple chaos where enemies can come from anywhere and you don't really have any objectives, the base mechanics also add to this by adding a sense of territory control.
The game does have a lot of appealing factors over other FPS games, especially as modern FPS games seem to be moving further away from the old style deathmatch games, which work better without structure because all the guns are hard to use, you have to outmatch an opponent in control skill rather than simply spawning behind them with an instant kill rifle and cheap shotting them, which is the main experience of modern 'realistic' FPS games.
It's different, it's well made, it does a lot of things right, if any modern multiplayer game were to be good, it would probably be this one.
I personally think that's what separates multiplayer games from singleplayer ones. The unpredicatability of other players can make anything happen. Singleplayer is often scripted with simple AI enemies that can only react in certain ways.
In multiplayer you never know what the other players might do or how they behave.
Basically trick them into making them feel like they did something hard but don't actually have them die a million times which they would if it was realistic, because dying breaks the flow.
In that respect the slow pace of NS also works in its favour, you generally don't die as many times as you do in a simple deathmatch game.
Basically trick them into making them feel like they did something hard but don't actually have them die a million times which they would if it was realistic, because dying breaks the flow.
In that respect the slow pace of NS also works in its favour, you generally don't die as many times as you do in a simple deathmatch game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
you should play some bullet hell games like touhou. that ###### ain't fair.
as to the unpredictability of other players, that's precisely why this game is so good. When you manage to organize your fellow players into attacking in tandem, or doing something in an organized way - you feel like you've accomplished something. I find that this is much more satisfying than just beating some really hard scripted AI challenge.