Like all of Valves online games I go through phases of it. For instance I got bored of L4D a couple of weeks after release, when I'd done all the campaigns... that doesn't mean I won't return to it, same goes for TF2.
Team Fortress 2 : Overrated?
- Thread starter iain62a
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I dunno, I really don't think it's overrated. Largely, I think this is because I've never heard it being massively hyped up, certeinly not to the level of most other games that have had the massive floating 'overrated' finger pointed at them.
I go through phases of playing it, and have racked up about 60 hours and still find it very fun. Possibly, the problem is who you play it with. With people on a random server who refuse to play as a team it's a bit... meh. In a reasonable team with voice chat, it's the best gaming experience I've ever had, only L4D comes close.
I go through phases of playing it, and have racked up about 60 hours and still find it very fun. Possibly, the problem is who you play it with. With people on a random server who refuse to play as a team it's a bit... meh. In a reasonable team with voice chat, it's the best gaming experience I've ever had, only L4D comes close.
It looks like you're lumping us at the Escapist with the general Internet. Half the users here are cynics who wouldn't even consider God himself a god, even if he started talking to them through a burning bush.iain62a said:
The general consensus to all the, "X is overrated" threads is: To each his own. The games that come up in these sorts of threads are, in technical terms, well-put-together software, and the OP's post is merely an expression of their opinion.
And its fine for you to have your own opinion. Its just that I don't quite understand what the point of these sorts of threads are. Is it to have people tell you that your opinion is right or wrong? I'm not being critical, its just I see no method or meaning behind this.
This game has the highest percentage of females I have ever seen in an online shooter.
and....they all have SKILLS! i mean....DAMN....why are you ALWAYS in the top 3! ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish I was as good as some of these womens. I must play more.
<3
and....they all have SKILLS! i mean....DAMN....why are you ALWAYS in the top 3! ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish I was as good as some of these womens. I must play more.
<3
The experience is much better on the PC, I actually re-bought the game because valve had neglected the xbox version so horribly.
Personally I like it for three reasons:
1. The characters are mildly satirical, which is saying a lot compared to most online shooters.
2. Everything is balanced out very well, so not too many random deaths occur, unless you're not paying attention.
3. The way everything looks is also nice. It's like playing a good looking cartoon, which defiantly a new experience. In most fields.
I can see why not everyone would like it. It's not your average 'run up and shoot the bad guy' multiplayer, and you actually need to work as a team to beat the level. Good god, that's a new one (unless you and your friends really! cooperate with each other in your online game, no offense intended I just find it unlikely). But in whole, that's why I like TF2 and still consider it to be my favorite online shooter.
1. The characters are mildly satirical, which is saying a lot compared to most online shooters.
2. Everything is balanced out very well, so not too many random deaths occur, unless you're not paying attention.
3. The way everything looks is also nice. It's like playing a good looking cartoon, which defiantly a new experience. In most fields.
I can see why not everyone would like it. It's not your average 'run up and shoot the bad guy' multiplayer, and you actually need to work as a team to beat the level. Good god, that's a new one (unless you and your friends really! cooperate with each other in your online game, no offense intended I just find it unlikely). But in whole, that's why I like TF2 and still consider it to be my favorite online shooter.
I'm sorry you were playing it on the 360? That's your problem right there.
Everyone seems to overate these Ferrari things. I bought one, and tried to drive it at the bottom of the ocean and it ran like crap.
Everyone seems to overate these Ferrari things. I bought one, and tried to drive it at the bottom of the ocean and it ran like crap.
I had heard a ridiculus amount of hype for it, when I finally got the orange box, it was the first game I tried out, And there's only really one word I can think of to discribe it.
Clusterfuck.
Seriously, you spawn, run to the nearest choke point along with everyone else, shoot frantically while jumping like a mad ape. die after 4 seconds of combat, wait 15 seconds, respawn, repeat ad infinitum. I've been playing 2 months, and it's never been different. Nobody uses tactics, nobody uses teamwork, they just run to their death like lemmings, trying to see how long they'll last. unless of course you're an engineer, in which case you build a turret, sit on your ass alone for half the game until a scout or someone gets past the lines, boom, repair, sit back down.
Edit: as for the community (PC) My first game ever, some kid got on voicechat and started babbling on and on about this and that. Then some black guy got on and started rapping in between sessions of trash talking the other team. Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. Some guy who was seriously stoned came in and started talking in a general "high" manner. Then the kid started egging him on, cumulating in them both going engineer, going back to their spawn room, and trying to build a ring of about 12 turrets just for the heck of it.
Not the the rest of my games were that bad, but just saying....
Clusterfuck.
Seriously, you spawn, run to the nearest choke point along with everyone else, shoot frantically while jumping like a mad ape. die after 4 seconds of combat, wait 15 seconds, respawn, repeat ad infinitum. I've been playing 2 months, and it's never been different. Nobody uses tactics, nobody uses teamwork, they just run to their death like lemmings, trying to see how long they'll last. unless of course you're an engineer, in which case you build a turret, sit on your ass alone for half the game until a scout or someone gets past the lines, boom, repair, sit back down.
Edit: as for the community (PC) My first game ever, some kid got on voicechat and started babbling on and on about this and that. Then some black guy got on and started rapping in between sessions of trash talking the other team. Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. Some guy who was seriously stoned came in and started talking in a general "high" manner. Then the kid started egging him on, cumulating in them both going engineer, going back to their spawn room, and trying to build a ring of about 12 turrets just for the heck of it.
Not the the rest of my games were that bad, but just saying....
I play it now and again, i admit it is a good game. Looks great and is well balanced. But it just doesnt do it for me, i'd much rather play CoD4 hardcore TDM. Maybe its cos i find it more "realistic" idk. It just doesnt seem to be floating my boat as much as it does for others.
It's a lot of fun, but honestly a bit overrated by some of its fans. Definitely one of the best-constructed multiplayer experiences ever. My problem is that in game modes that rely on capture points, the gameplay inevitably turns into a whole lot of people running as fast as they can to reach said points, resulting in an amazing five seconds of fighting.
However, if you play capture the flag with a good team, the game can become amazingly fun. I tend to ignore most of the other game modes save for Arena because I find that there's a lot less strategy and coordination involved and a lot more chaos, and frankly there are other games that do that sort of thing better.
My biggest issue is really the feel of the game. All the classes move very slowly and most of the time, who wins in battle comes down to who has the "best class" for an open confrontation. I can't stand playing as the Soldier because he's so sluggish, but I can't stand playing as the Scout because he dies so easily and his gun is so weak. I think the class characteristics are overemphasised just a bit too much, resulting in you getting fucked over if you don't play the game exactly the way it wants you to, or if you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
However, if you play capture the flag with a good team, the game can become amazingly fun. I tend to ignore most of the other game modes save for Arena because I find that there's a lot less strategy and coordination involved and a lot more chaos, and frankly there are other games that do that sort of thing better.
My biggest issue is really the feel of the game. All the classes move very slowly and most of the time, who wins in battle comes down to who has the "best class" for an open confrontation. I can't stand playing as the Soldier because he's so sluggish, but I can't stand playing as the Scout because he dies so easily and his gun is so weak. I think the class characteristics are overemphasised just a bit too much, resulting in you getting fucked over if you don't play the game exactly the way it wants you to, or if you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Played with a bunch of idiots who do stupid things and can't work together to save their lives, it sucks.
Playing with said idiots against an organised team, you get massacred
Playing with (and against) a group that has their shit at least half-way together, can be freakin awesome.
The options and incentives are there for teamwork - every class has it's role to play (no one of them can beat everyone else, or survive alone for long on the offensive) and solo-ing will get you nowhere unless the other team are playing like fools... whether the players choose to take advantage of this, or continue to meat-grind themselves into a choke point is another matter.
When a good team pulls together and pops out 3 simultaneous uber charges, with flanking pyros, a steady flow of explosives and the support classes doing their thing too, it's a beautiful thing.
Playing with said idiots against an organised team, you get massacred
Playing with (and against) a group that has their shit at least half-way together, can be freakin awesome.
The options and incentives are there for teamwork - every class has it's role to play (no one of them can beat everyone else, or survive alone for long on the offensive) and solo-ing will get you nowhere unless the other team are playing like fools... whether the players choose to take advantage of this, or continue to meat-grind themselves into a choke point is another matter.
When a good team pulls together and pops out 3 simultaneous uber charges, with flanking pyros, a steady flow of explosives and the support classes doing their thing too, it's a beautiful thing.
I love TF2. The Heavy is my class. I am a force that defends my team's flag, and if you wish to take it, then you'll do so only after stepping over my dead body, and maybe teabagging my corpse.
I'm not a fan of TF2. I played it when I first got Live, but I found it to be very unbalanced. There was no class which did not require an extremely quick reaction time to play well; I prefer some strategy when playing online. If only that game had a gun which shot bullets in a straight line rather than spraying them everywhere besides the sniper rifle, which has its own problems.
I honestly can't say that I've ever heard a huge cry of praise for Team Fortress 2. If not for me, none of my friends would have even ever heard of it, and none of them play it at all regardless.
I'm not sure about everyone else, but the reason I enjoy it as much as I do is because it gives a comic alternative to the online FPS choices, of which Call of Duty 4 and like games reign supreme. I used to play Call of Duty online for days on-end, but, after a while, it got a little old seeing the same gritty streets with the same exploded cars smoldering and the same soldiers fighting back and forth down said streets. Whereas, when playing TF2, I find myself laughing at some of the stupid comments the characters make, or the taunts that they have, or the way the character models react to dying, or what-have-you.
All in all, multiplayer gaming in general is all about finding something that works and going with it. I mean, you mention the fact that TF2 seems repetitive, and give the example of building turrets in the same place. Yeah, okay, but I counter with the fact that snipers in CoD4 will always go to their favorite sniping perch, or how StarCraft (or any RTS game, really) players will find a procedure to go through when starting a game and repeat it over and over again. When you get right down to it, multiplayer games are about repetition, and very few games try to throw wrenches into that formula.
TF2 does, in a way: they give you a choice of classes, all of which have a way to counter that choice. Engineer have a turret built up? Sneak in as a spy and blow it up, or shoot a couple of rockets at it as a soldier! Heavy mowing down your forces? Come in as a medic and heal them so that your team can fight back, or spawn as a sniper and headshot that guy! Demomen tossing grenades everywhere? Come in as a scout and outrun the explosions! And so forth. There are always options to counter the repetition that players fall into, which means you have to think on your feet and react fluidly.
Yes, I know that this can be said of things like Call of Duty 4 and other such games as well, but I don't mean to say that TF2 is better. Every good multiplayer game gives options to counter the opposition. At the very least, though, in TF2, you can think in concepts instead of details. "Soldier counters scout" is a lot easier to remember than "M1 Garand at medium-range, with grenades, counters MP40", or what-have-you. (Bad example, I know, but I hope people get what I'm saying.)
In a nutshell, basically, I think the reason people enjoy Team Fortress 2 more than other multiplayer games is because of it's sense of humor, it's balanced class system, and the way it tries to counter repetition in its gameplay. But, really, it's all just a matter of opinion anyway.
I'm not sure about everyone else, but the reason I enjoy it as much as I do is because it gives a comic alternative to the online FPS choices, of which Call of Duty 4 and like games reign supreme. I used to play Call of Duty online for days on-end, but, after a while, it got a little old seeing the same gritty streets with the same exploded cars smoldering and the same soldiers fighting back and forth down said streets. Whereas, when playing TF2, I find myself laughing at some of the stupid comments the characters make, or the taunts that they have, or the way the character models react to dying, or what-have-you.
All in all, multiplayer gaming in general is all about finding something that works and going with it. I mean, you mention the fact that TF2 seems repetitive, and give the example of building turrets in the same place. Yeah, okay, but I counter with the fact that snipers in CoD4 will always go to their favorite sniping perch, or how StarCraft (or any RTS game, really) players will find a procedure to go through when starting a game and repeat it over and over again. When you get right down to it, multiplayer games are about repetition, and very few games try to throw wrenches into that formula.
TF2 does, in a way: they give you a choice of classes, all of which have a way to counter that choice. Engineer have a turret built up? Sneak in as a spy and blow it up, or shoot a couple of rockets at it as a soldier! Heavy mowing down your forces? Come in as a medic and heal them so that your team can fight back, or spawn as a sniper and headshot that guy! Demomen tossing grenades everywhere? Come in as a scout and outrun the explosions! And so forth. There are always options to counter the repetition that players fall into, which means you have to think on your feet and react fluidly.
Yes, I know that this can be said of things like Call of Duty 4 and other such games as well, but I don't mean to say that TF2 is better. Every good multiplayer game gives options to counter the opposition. At the very least, though, in TF2, you can think in concepts instead of details. "Soldier counters scout" is a lot easier to remember than "M1 Garand at medium-range, with grenades, counters MP40", or what-have-you. (Bad example, I know, but I hope people get what I'm saying.)
In a nutshell, basically, I think the reason people enjoy Team Fortress 2 more than other multiplayer games is because of it's sense of humor, it's balanced class system, and the way it tries to counter repetition in its gameplay. But, really, it's all just a matter of opinion anyway.
I am a big fan of TF2, its one of the only FPS games that have held my attention past an initial play through. It is VERY well balanced. Your example like "place a turret here" isn't really true or supporting of your repetition conclusion.
almost ANYWHERE on any given TF2 map, where a turret can be placed, there is a way to counter. Balance.
Ubers really do a good job of keeping things from getting too circular.
Its just a staple in my gaming diet, but when I need a FPS buzz its always TF2 that I pull off the shelf.
almost ANYWHERE on any given TF2 map, where a turret can be placed, there is a way to counter. Balance.
Ubers really do a good job of keeping things from getting too circular.
Its just a staple in my gaming diet, but when I need a FPS buzz its always TF2 that I pull off the shelf.
For me Team Fortress seems to work more than other games. For a while it was the only decent Multiplayer game I could get my hands on so I either had to learn to love getting good with every bit of it or be bored. The effect was it being my favorite game, now while I have access to some of the best current games (CoD4, L4D, Fallout3, Mass Effect, Civ, etc.) I find myself constantly coming back to it long after the novelty of the art is worn out. (With the play hours on it combined I have about 300hours) Now I have it for PC, if you are playing it on a 360 or PS3 I can understand that. But I probably try a new map every other time I play and have a great time on almost everyone of them.
I think a big part of it is the visual appeal, at least to draw people in, it just looks and FEELS fun.
I think that's a big part of gaming so many people have forgotten about.
There's so little out that looks so bright and lively, and its a huge jump from the usual grey and brown trenches of war.
Also, all the different classes feel different, and then with the unlocking weapons thru achievements, even two people playing the same class can have different playstyles.
Yet, I never feel a class is overpowered greatly.
For me as a FPS novice, also, I found the community fairly friendly, not much in the way of 'lol nub' or 'learn2play or get off mah server!'.
I think that's a big part of gaming so many people have forgotten about.
There's so little out that looks so bright and lively, and its a huge jump from the usual grey and brown trenches of war.
Also, all the different classes feel different, and then with the unlocking weapons thru achievements, even two people playing the same class can have different playstyles.
Yet, I never feel a class is overpowered greatly.
For me as a FPS novice, also, I found the community fairly friendly, not much in the way of 'lol nub' or 'learn2play or get off mah server!'.