A question to those who felt that Brutal Legend turned into an RTS partway through.

[random_bars]

The RTS elements really took away from enjoyment, at least for me. It was such a hassle ordering the troops around, especially with a controller, and at latest when you had to assign commands manually to specific groups it all became a jumbled mess. A shame, really, the action combat was rather decent. Not great but good enough to be fun.
The humour wasn't that great, either, and there was too much of Jack Black in the game (these two occurrences may correlate with each other). The only thing that saved the game for me was one of the most awesome video game soundtracks ever.

Is that after watching the video that you're still saying this? 'Cause, well, you NEVER had to order commands to specific groups, or try to manage your troops at all. The point was just to keep them in a big group and fight alongside them on the battlefield.

I know everyone so far has delightfully ignored the whole point of the topic, which was to watch the video and then tell me at which point in it does the game stop being an action game and become an RTS instead, but... Please can you be the exception? It's not a long video. I just want to know an outsider's perspective on how the game plays for me, and whether it looks any different and/or better than you remember.

If you'll just watch the video from beginning to end and still don't like the look of it then I'll happily accept that the game simply isn't for you, but as it stands, everything I've seen suggests that the game I'm advocating as being great fun is essentially a different one than the people who complained about RTS elements played.

 

[Tanis]

I didn't think the RTS elements took away AT ALL from the game.

People bitched and moaned about it, but I felt it was rather well done.
It's not a flawless game, but it's a Solid B/B+ in my book.

 

[Smertnik]

Is that after watching the video that you're still saying this? 'Cause, well, you NEVER had to order commands to specific groups, or try to manage your troops at all. The point was just to keep them in a big group and fight alongside them on the battlefield.

I know everyone so far has delightfully ignored the whole point of the topic, which was to watch the video and then tell me at which point in it does the game stop being an action game and become an RTS instead, but... Please can you be the exception? It's not a long video. I just want to know an outsider's perspective on how the game plays for me, and whether it looks any different and/or better than you remember.

If you'll just watch the video from beginning to end and still don't like the look of it then I'll happily accept that the game simply isn't for you, but as it stands, everything I've seen suggests that the game I'm advocating as being great fun is essentially a different one than the people who complained about RTS elements played.

I really don't care about your video, I played the game myself. And the way you're pushing it on people kinda makes it seem to me that you're just looking for more views.

In any case, why can't you accept that other people may just not like what you like? Why does this matter to you so much?

 

[random_bars]

I really don't care about your video, I played the game myself. And the way you're pushing it on people kinda makes it seem to me that you're just looking for more views.

In any case, why can't you accept that other people may just not like what you like? Why does this matter to you so much?

But you can accept that a game can be different amounts of fun depending on how it's played, surely? That's why I'm asking people to watch the video. I don't give a damn about getting views other than to ask people what they think of what the game is like when played in a way which, in my opinion, makes it fun. I'm not asking about what the game was like when you played it, that's not what the topic is for. I'm sure you're right that it wasn't fun when you played it. I'm not doubting that at all.

But if you're so strong in your convictions that the game is bad, why are you so unwilling to consider anything that might suggest otherwise? Surely if you're right then it won't make a bit of difference to what you think, and you can just come back and laugh at me for having terrible taste in games?

And as to why I care - because I like this game, I'm fed up of having to defend myself for liking it against people who make complaints about it which aren't just things which I'm not really bothered by, but are things which literally did not affect me in the slightest. Like your comment about it sucking because you have to do lots of assigning specific commands to specific groups, which you just don't. So I'm asking people whether the footage of me playing looks anything like what the game played like for them.

I mean... We're on a forum for discussing video games here. If you think discussions like this don't matter, why are you even here?

 

[Captain Epic]

I like that game a lot. I enjoyed it all the way through. To me it felt hack n' slash all the time, just with backup.

 

[Kitty4President]

But if you're so strong in your convictions that the game is bad, why are you so unwilling to consider anything that might suggest otherwise? Surely if you're right then it won't make a bit of difference to what you think, and you can just come back and laugh at me for having terrible taste in games?

Here's a Question:
Why are you so unwilling to accept that people don't like what you like?
I've never played Brutal Legend, but just from looking at this thread, There are obviously different opinions about it. Can't you just stop making people look at your video, and maybe look at your own actions?

 

[random_bars]

Here's a Question:
Why are you so unwilling to accept that people don't like what you like?
I've never played Brutal Legend, but just from looking at this thread, There are obviously different opinions about it. Can't you just stop making people look at your video, and maybe look at your own actions?

I'm perfectly willing to accept that people don't like what I like, but I have a feeling that if people played the thing they think they don't like in the way that I played it, then they would like it. I have this feeling because when I first played the game, I didn't like it either, and for the exact same reasons as everyone else has said here. But as I started to play it differently, I started to like it more and more. I've heard other people say the same thing too.

As I've said, if people will see what the game plays like when it's not played as though it's a traditional RTS and they still don't like it, then that's totally fine. All I'm asking is that people actually look at the thing that I'm saying that I like before they say that they don't like it. Is that so crazy? And again, if you really don't like the idea of discussing video games, why are you even here?

 

[Smertnik]

But if you're so strong in your convictions that the game is bad, why are you so unwilling to consider anything that might suggest otherwise?

When did I call Brütal Legend a bad game? It's surely not great but I consider it at the very least the good kind of mediocre.

And as to why I care - because I like this game, I'm fed up of having to defend myself for liking it against people who make complaints about it which aren't just things which I'm not really bothered by, but are things which literally did not affect me in the slightest.

Then the question would be why you feel the need to "defend yourself" over this matter. If some of your friends attack you on behalf of such infinitesimally irrelevant matter I'd start looking for better friends. And if it's not friends, then there's no point in caring about those people, is there? We're all entitled to our own preferences, after all.

 

[Kitty4President]

As I've said, if people will see what the game plays like when it's not played as though it's a traditional RTS and they still don't like it, then that's totally fine. All I'm asking is that people actually look at the thing that I'm saying that I like before they say that they don't like it. Is that so crazy? And again, if you really don't like the idea of discussing video games, why are you even here?

So asking people to stop disliking something is the same as accepting others opinions about it? wat.

If your idea of just asking everyone to consider your opinion is to make them watch a video, then you're pushing it a little by bluntly telling them to watch it every time someone replies.

Also, I'm here discussing the game, silly. Isn't that what you do in a Game Discussion Thread? Discuss Games?

 

[random_bars]

When did I call Brütal Legend a bad game? It's surely not great but I consider it at the very least the good kind of mediocre.

Alright then, but you did say that the RTS elements really took away from your enjoyment. My question is simply, if your battles had looked like the one in the video, would you still feel this way?

Then the question would be why you feel the need to "defend yourself" over this matter. If some of your friends attack you on behalf of such infinitesimally irrelevant matter I'd start looking for better friends. And if it's not friends, then there's no point in caring about those people, is there? We're all entitled to our own preferences, after all.

I know it's not important, it's just frustrating that whenever I mention the game online, the same complaints always flood in about stuff which, at least in the way I played the game, simply aren't true. I'm just trying to find out whether people with these complaints would still have them if they had played the game in the way that I played it - I'm trying to confirm or deny my theory that the main thing that separates people who liked the battles from people who didn't like them was how they played them, basically.

Is this hugely important? Well, no - but then neither are any of the other ten million topics on here. I'd imagine that if you're on an internet discussion forum about video games then you're already past the point at which you care about whether stuff like this is enormously important or not.

 

[random_bars]

So asking people to stop disliking something is the same as accepting others opinions about it? wat.

If your idea of just asking everyone to consider your opinion is to make them watch a video, then you're pushing it a little by bluntly telling them to watch it every time someone replies.

Also, I'm here discussing the game, silly. Isn't that what you do in a Game Discussion Thread? Discuss Games?

I'm not asking them to stop disliking it at all. I'm asking them whether they like or dislike the game as played in the video. The video is literally the entire point of the topic, so I don't think asking people to actually watch it before forming an opinion on it is particularly outrageous.

 

[Kitty4President]

I'm not asking them to stop disliking it at all. I'm asking them whether they like or dislike the game as played in the video. The video is literally the entire point of the topic, so I don't think asking people to actually watch it before forming an opinion on it is particularly outrageous.

Eh, alright.
You were forcing it a little too much on others though, if that was the case. It's a little rude to assume they didn't bother looking into something just because they disagree. You play it a little differently? Cool. Did others? Maybe not. That's where I think it should be left at.

 

[DrgoFx]

I never felt it turned into an RTS, to be honest. I summoned units, yes, but they bolstered my own fighting force, with me leading the way. It felt like I was a captain in the field, rather than an all-powerful general, as defines an RTS.

I agree with this statement here. It's not like the game forced you to play an RTS. It literally gave you the option to join the units or not. As I recall, the flight mode was a toggle. So with that recall of memory for me, you complaining it was an "RTS" is strictly your fault for not dropping down and joining the fun.

However, if you declare that as an RTS, then let me rephrase something. An RTS is where you control several units and structures, never setting foot in the battle yourself, you are playing the role of a tactician, a general, a "god" I would say. Brutal Legends lets you join the fight. You could choose not to, but if you wanted to join in, then you should have done it. They weren't preventing you from doing so.

 

[SycoMantis91]

I gotta side with the poster. The RTS portion only enhances the experience in my opinion. The point of the game is to build up an army. Do you really expect to command an entire army without having to do any resemblance of work to manage them? Do you know what an army is? It's a tactical attack unit. Not a pile of mindless drones that while given this label, are still expected to know exactly what to attack, how to attack it, and when to attack it. Anyone who was any bit surprised of pissed about this inclusion is the same kind of person that expects a freshly-cooked omelet sitting at their bedside every morning without any of the grunt work that goes into making said omelet.

The point is, you can't raise an army without expecting to have to manage them. And it doesn't take away from the hacky-slashy experience, it just keeps it from getting dull and mindless. It puts some thinking and some diversity into the battles, and nothing more. Also, commanding a squad of headbangers lead by Lemmy to destroy a gate of skeletons with mid-paced, atmospheric black metal blasting through your speakers is a very tough experience to beat. The only negative is they don't do a great job explaining how to work the RTS portions, but it's good when you get the hang of it, which doesn't take too long if you made it through elementary school without the teacher forcibly stapling the "dunce" cap into your scalp.

 

[random_bars]

Eh, alright.
You were forcing it a little too much on others though, if that was the case. It's a little rude to assume they didn't bother looking into something just because they disagree. You play it a little differently? Cool. Did others? Maybe not. That's where I think it should be left at.

Hmm, maybe I was. Although the only reason I was assuming people didn't watch the video before replying is because they didn't say anything about the video, they just said about how they found the game back when they played it, which wasn't really the point of the topic. I was hoping for responses more along the lines of, "at X:XX in the video, you're having to do loads of fiddly micromanagement instead of fighting" or "the bit at X:XX just shows how bad the controls are" or whatever - actual comments relating to the video.

I don't think it's unfair to assume that if someone comes into a topic about a video and doesn't mention anything about the video, they probably didn't watch the video.

 

[Kitty4President]

Hmm, maybe I was. Although the only reason I was assuming people didn't watch the video before replying is because they didn't say anything about the video, they just said about how they found the game back when they played it, which wasn't really the point of the topic. I was hoping for responses more along the lines of, "at X:XX in the video, you're having to do loads of fiddly micromanagement instead of fighting" or "the bit at X:XX just shows how bad the controls are" or whatever - actual comments relating to the video.

I don't think it's unfair to assume that if someone comes into a topic about a video and doesn't mention anything about the video, they probably didn't watch the video.

Well, on a forum, usually y'get what y'get. Everyone thinks differently about things, as I'm sure you're aware.

I won't bother you anymore, I'll just leave you to this thread. C:

 

[random_bars]

0:10 into the video, you use Resources (in this case known as 'Fans') to construct Units. You were limited in the number of Units you could make both by the amount of Resources available to you, as well as an upper limit to the maximum amount of Supply (in this case known as 'Load'), limiting options as to the makeup of your Army.

0:25 in, you're told that you can gather more Resources through the creation of Support Buildings. At 1:09, you accomplish this.

0:31 in, you're told how to set a Rally Point to tell your Army where they should go and what they should attack. At 2:49, you do this.

0:45 in, you're told that you can Upgrade your Units through the creation of other Support Buildings. Further, you're told that stronger Units will require a greater amount of Resources to create, and also a greater effect on your Supply.

Well, hey, what do you know? All of those things are major components in RTS games.

Only difference is you're not an impotent, omniscient deity floating in an inaccesible bubble over the battlefield, and can actually drop down into the battle to bash heads in personally.

Haha, at last!

Thanks, although, the other part of the question was about where the game stops being an action game. Would you really say that these brief moments of, I guess, RTSy-ness, prevent the game from still being an action game? I'm still using all the same action moves as I have had available and been using in the rest of the game throughout the battle. Do you feel that the small amounts of RTS elements override this? Or more importantly I guess, do you think the game as played in the video looks fun? (I really can't tell where you stand on this right now.)

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

It was an RTS that let you work with your units as well as looking down over them from the sky. Simple.

I liked the game in all aspects but the gameplay. I was just "meh, tolerable" when it came to gameplay, until I got the massive tank unit whose name escapes me, then it was just chuckling as I bladehenge'd every single thing I could.

 

[Dandark]

It's just that some people got annoyed since the demo didn't even hint that it would have RTS gameplay and then halfway through it involved a lot of RTS gameplay, people who didn't like RTS games felt they had been tricked.

Personally I was fine with it but I would like to be able to do more to the enemies.

That's understandable, the marketing for the game was goddamn stupid. Although you can blame EA for that.

Although... You'd like to be able to do more to the enemies such as what?

In the big stage battles you had to use your own units mostly. You were able to do a bit yourself by landing and using your axe and such but it didn't seem like I was very effective, it was probably better for me to stay flying just so I can churn out more units.
The solos also seemed kinda ineffective, it may just be that I couldn't be bothered to go find most of them but I was hoping they would do more.

It was still a very fun game though with a great idea, I hope they make another one.