What the Hell, Gearbox?

[Vibhor]

Blame 3D Realms, not Gearbox. Gearbox have had Duke for a few months, 3D Realms have been working on it for 14 years.

You shitting me?
3D realms didn't made shit for duke nukem. When the project was shifted to gearbox, it 0% complete. Everything that has been done is made by Gearbox.

 

[ultimateownage]

For the people saying that it might not have been a 2 weapon system with 3D Realms; it was.
They released a trailer shortly before closing down, and it showed him replacing guns and regenerating health.

This is just as much Gearbox's fault though, they should have spent more time making it a Duke Nukem game instead of making it what 3D Realms wanted.

*EDIT* Also, why can the Cop Pigs dual wield M1911s but you can't?

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

Blame 3D Realms, not Gearbox. Gearbox have had Duke for a few months, 3D Realms have been working on it for 14 years.

Actually, Gearbox has had it for 2 years. Since May 2009, when 3D Realms closed its doors.

 

[starwarsgeek]

Why is it every fps developer these days feels the need to incorporate self-regenerating health and the 2 weapon arsenal. Why won't these mechanics die? What the hell was wrong with health packs? Why do they feel to the need to force me to carry only 2 weapons at a time? What's the point of this mechanic, and don't tell me realism.

The point of regenerating health is that developers will know how much health the player has at any given point, so it's possible for them to balance the difficulty of big battles.

The point of 2-weapon swaps is to add a layer of strategy to the fights. Your weapons determine how you fight.


The problem is, I too was hoping DNF would be the start of an FPS retro craze. I was hoping for a game that would bring back adventure elements with having to look for keycards. I was hoping to have a huge arsenal of over-the-top weapons at my disposal. While the mechanics are not inherently bad, they certainly don't fit with the game I was hoping for--if keycards are in the game, then players will have to explore a small mini-sandbox instead of a straight, linear level, which means they will find the med kits. As for the weapons, that works because most Halo and Call of Duty have boring, practical weapons for the most part. I don't mind choosing between a battle rifle or an assault rifle. Asking me to choose between a BFG and a shrink ray, though, is annoying. Cool, over-the-top weapons don't work with a limited carrying capacity.


Note: I haven't played the demo, so I don't know if they have smaller, explore-y levels or linear levels with enemies to gun down from point A to point B.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Blame 3D Realms, not Gearbox. Gearbox have had Duke for a few months, 3D Realms have been working on it for 14 years.

You shitting me?
3D realms didn't made shit for duke nukem. When the project was shifted to gearbox, it 0% complete. Everything that has been done is made by Gearbox.

No,Gearbox aqcuired 80% of the game finished.

 

[Tanis]

Isn't the demo like a year old?

 

[Vibhor]

Blame 3D Realms, not Gearbox. Gearbox have had Duke for a few months, 3D Realms have been working on it for 14 years.

You shitting me?
3D realms didn't made shit for duke nukem. When the project was shifted to gearbox, it 0% complete. Everything that has been done is made by Gearbox.

No,Gearbox aqcuired 80% of the game finished.

But still, Gearbox had it for a year. They could easily remove that from the game and make it some thing more suitable. What they have right now just hinders the fun.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Why [does all games] incorporate self-regenerating health?...
...What the hell was wrong with health packs?

Well. The simple answer is that it's easier for the developers.
With the health pack system, they had to hide the stuff in nooks and crannies, or secret rooms and whatnot. That all takes extra time.
It also means that they always know how much health the player has for an encounter, which means they can scale it accordingly.

It makes things easier for the developers, and it makes it easier for the player. Whether the latter is a good thing is subjective for us all.

Personally, I prefer not having either, but if I really do need to survive three rounds, at least make it a "luck-based" system instead. Either health system is ludicrous, but the regen-system especially takes away a vital gameplay management factor.

Why do they feel to the need to force me to carry only 2 weapons at a time?
What's the point of this mechanic, and don't tell me realism.

.

Lot of games are doing it these days because MoH did it, followed by CoD, and then Halo.
And it works in those games, no complaints.

But that doesn't mean it a universal best-system-ever kind of deal.

I've never seen a system that I could describe as "realistic", but I have seen some that came closer than others, most notably the system from the old Hidden & Dangerous series, which both incorporated size-based slots and weight limitations, and restricted your movement according to weight too.

The original Rainbow 6 games did a good job with realism - head shot, or body shot were instant kills (or at least damaged you enough that that operative couldn't complete the mission) getting shot in the leg caused you to slow down, you choose which weapons to use before hand and you tell your squad mates where to go before the mission begins.

 

[FallenTraveler]

At a guess, Gearbox got scared that such an anticipated game would dissapoint so they went for mechanics that they know are 'popular'.

but they didn't they basically just bought out DNF and put the damn thing in order, they did not design the whole thing. They took 3DREALMS work and are now releasing it with a little polish.

 

[Wintermoot]

"herp di derp it,s to unrealistic you can carry 20 weapons herp di derp"
they were afraid that would happen and that people would find it to hard (remember part of it,s for a target group played COD for a good few years)
personally I hope the real DNF is going to be funny and includes stuff like kicking with two legs and carrying enough weapons to supply a small army.

 

[Vibhor]

At a guess, Gearbox got scared that such an anticipated game would dissapoint so they went for mechanics that they know are 'popular'.

but they didn't they basically just bought out DNF and put the damn thing in order, they did not design the whole thing. They took 3DREALMS work and are now releasing it with a little polish.

How do you know that those mechanics were added by 3DREALMS, not Gearbox?
The game was 75-80% complete but lacked anything that actually made it a duke nukem game so?

 

[Projo]

HEY GUYS


Duke Nukem 3D played using Doom mechanics (popular FPS at the time)!


Duke Nukem Forever is going to play using Halo mechanics (popular FPS at the time)!

This is not surprising in the least. What makes a good Duke Nukem game is not the elements you feel are missing, as Duke is just an over the top parody of recent games. Expect Chief to be this gen's "one doomed space marine".

 

[Sharalon]

Yeah, I was looking forward to something crazy like Serious Sam with fast gameplay, but all I got was Halo: Douchebag Edition...

Don't know who to blame though. Gearbox have never done this before as far as I know.

Croteam, if you turn Serious Sam 3 into another generic shooter, someone should send LulzSec on you!

 

[Shydrow]

Yup.

The problem with this system is that the main selling point Duke has is being an 'old school' shooter, yet it's conforming to current mechanics which, when placed next to other games using the same mechanics, just show how mediocre it is in comparison.

The demo was very poor. I hope the full game build is a lot better.

With only about a week between demo and full game release? I honestly don't see it happening. If Gearbox cares they might listen to fan feedback and tweak a few things, but how could the demo be that different from the finished product?

Unless they're pulling a switcheroo the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Raiden/Snake thing, of course. Right after the demo segment Duke says 'bugger that' and suddenly starts lugging around a small armoury. Because that's totally going to happen.

The demo has been around since Pax2010 it is really old.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

Not to mention, no Mighty Boot.

 

[Vibhor]

HEY GUYS


Duke Nukem 3D played using Doom mechanics (popular FPS at the time)!


Duke Nukem Forever is going to play using Halo mechanics (popular FPS at the time)!

This is not surprising in the least. What makes a good Duke Nukem game is not the elements you feel are missing, as Duke is just an over the top parody of recent games. Expect Chief to be this gen's "one doomed space marine".

I don't know under which rock you have been living but Halo is no longer "the FPS" of the time. Its call of duty. That is exactly the problem. DNF is the living example why games like call of duty shouldn't exist.

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

People need to relax, I know I want a good Duke Nukem game as the next person but it won't be this game. The next however is under gearbox's complete control as they now own the IP, right now...they are just polishing a turd to get it out.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

All they need to do is make the enemies shoot slower. Then Duke could just dodge the bullets.

 

[Hyper-space]

Why is it every fps developer these days feels the need to incorporate self-regenerating health and the 2 weapon arsenal. Why won't these mechanics die? What the hell was wrong with health packs? Why do they feel to the need to force me to carry only 2 weapons at a time? What's the point of this mechanic, and don't tell me realism.

"Oh look! someone who doesn't know shit about game-design trying to pass of his opinion as fact!"

Do you know why some developers have regenerative-health and two-weapon limits? because it suits the gameplay, that is, its a design-choice. A game like Just Cause 2 doesn't benefit from having regenerative health due to the gameplay being over-the-top and dependent on the player being able to do all manners of crazy shit in an open environment, so the player has to have a lot of health. So health-packs it is.

However, in a game like Call of Duty, were the player isn't some superhuman that can take a lot of punishment (on casual difficulty, a shot to head will leave you hanging by a thread), there has to be a lot of places to take cover AND a mechanic that allows the player to keep on fighting without having to search for a health-pack every time he gets shot (it would break the flow of the combat too much). So regenerative-health it is.

So you see, these mechanics are there for a reason, and will not die just because of mindless nostalgia.

 

[Vibhor]

-snip-

I could have believed this post but you missed a completely important absolute fucking necessary fact. Its that Duke Nukem Forever is supposed to be the over the top type game not your fucking call of duty.
Also Just Cause 2 had health regen.