What's so special about Titanfall?

[Adeptus Aspartem]

I've to say first time i heard of Titanfall i thought: "Huh, mechs can always be fun and they're usually not in such hyped games and/or poorly implemented".

Then the devs, fans & media started to praise it as the new sliced bread and i my interest went from 100->0 in like 2-3 interviews/reviews i read.
Stupid marketing-guy blabla talk to praise the interessting re-arrangement of pre-exisiting pieces as "THE INNOVATION"(tm).
Slap Armored Core onto Tribes. That's what they done.

That's not a negative in anyway, but it's not what they claim it to be. I've the same irk with apple. They've some great products + service, but their PR is so mind numbingly obnoxious & pretentious i can't stand them and never have & probably never will buy an apple product for that very reason.

Also i heard there'd be no PC release so my interest was 0 anyway, since i'm playing on PC 99.9% of my time. Now i heard it's coming for Origin.. but since my Origin account got hacked & sold around 2 times since BF3 released i don't think it's safe enough for me
(before you ask, not there are no keyloggers/viruses on my pc, already checked that. Also Origin is the only thing that got comprimised in that time frame).

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

Honestly, and I know this sounds really childish, but for me it was the giant robots. It was simple enough to pick up and play, but there was something about jumping into your Titan and wreaking havoc that was just so satisfying. That, and the way they added new mechanics like wall running into gameplay allows for different tactical approach, made it stand out from more traditional FPS, even if the engine itself is basically just the one from COD.

I'm right there with you. I haven't played the game myself, but it's not unlikely I'll be getting it in the future. I don't think it sounds childish at all, just that you're someone with simpler pleasures like myself. I get to enjoy an array of games since I'm not lacquered in several shades of cynicism or (in)gloriously riding a horse so high the Sistine Chapel couldn't house it against the tyrannical presence of unoriginality and mediocrity. But I digress. I can also see the enjoyable components of a game will more often than not outweigh the more frustrating of them, and from what I've seen of Titanfall, it's got enough to keep me entertained for quite some time. I suppose it's really only a matter of when, rather than if, I'll decide to buy it.

Also because

"rodeoing" a titan to death

exists.

 

[DoPo]

To be honest, I think you just want to jump on the 'All FPSs are generic and the same' bandwagon to look clever and above it. Just by looking at some gameplay, you can immediately see what makes it special. Sure, mechs have been done before, but as has been said, no game really has anything new by now, it's all said and done, but it's how you make those ingredients work together. Noone so far has included mech based combat with high mobility for the non-mech players, throw in some AI bots to thicken the mix and bind it all together with - from what I hear - beautifully smooth and lovely movement. Top that off with a balanced game and nice visuals and we have a good multiplayer FPS. The response to that should be 'look, a good multiplayer FPS, yay.' not 'oh well it's obviously just another generic FPS. Am I cool because I said that?'

Oh my god just stop. If I'd known people had complained about "generic fps" I would've never created this thread. I just wanted to hear about opinions of the people who played the game.

Then maybe you could have said that, instead of passing judgement for which you don't want to be judged.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Guys I don't think this guy is really posting to ask given there's 1 post and then nothing, not helped by another topic "is the 3DS dead" so incase you thought maybe you were informing someone, pretty sure he's just here to poke and annoy then jetpack off.

Yeah, it's a surefire "Fire Und Forget" topic.
There's no real discussion value, since it's already devolved into the usual "Haters vs Fans" and "originality" tit-for-tats.
(no, it's not original. it's just the first game of its type to get full AAA treatment; I'd be on board with Titanfall myself if EA+Origin weren't involved.)

 

[TK421]

It's a multiplayer shooter where you can traverse the map with parkour-ish vaults and wall runs and you can call in big mechs to drive around.

What's to get?

If that's not your thing, fine. But calling it "generic" is pretty questionable and smells slightly of ye olde "stop liking what I don't like."

Personally, I haven't played it. Froom what I've seen it looks pretty fun though. I'd like to give it a go at some point.

I found the game to be fun. It is the most fun modern shooter I've played, probably because of its originality. I'm not going to buy the game at full price, but a half-off sale will have me suiting back up for more Titanfall action.

 

[Signa]

I don't really see anything new in Titanfall, take the rocket packs from Tribes (albeit degraded) and the big stompy mechs from Planetside, Unreal and so on then add that to some Mirror's Edge with Call of Duty Hit Scan Cannons.

Plus a little sprinkle of MOBA style AI grunts.

Yeah it's not exactly anything new per se but its definitely better than the sum of its parts because of how seamlessly well it manages to incorporate all these things. And technically even though it's a lot of mechanics and ideas that have been done before there isn't really any single game that's like titanfall. I wasn't sold on it until I played the beta, but I was actually really surprised how fun it was.

"Sum of it's parts" is a great way to put it. On the surface, I too am revolted by the game because it looks like another modern military shooter just in its visual style and character movement/gun handling. But whenever I watch it, it goes FAR beyond being just another MMS because of all the extra things in the game. It's almost like the right blend of Unreal absurdity and CoD casual-friendly slowness. I still need to have a hands-on session to make a final judgement, but my interest is piqued, which is not something I could say about the last two multiplayer hype trains (Halo, CoD) that everyone jumped on but me.

 

[Maple Syrup]

To be honest, I think you just want to jump on the 'All FPSs are generic and the same' bandwagon to look clever and above it. Just by looking at some gameplay, you can immediately see what makes it special. Sure, mechs have been done before, but as has been said, no game really has anything new by now, it's all said and done, but it's how you make those ingredients work together. Noone so far has included mech based combat with high mobility for the non-mech players, throw in some AI bots to thicken the mix and bind it all together with - from what I hear - beautifully smooth and lovely movement. Top that off with a balanced game and nice visuals and we have a good multiplayer FPS. The response to that should be 'look, a good multiplayer FPS, yay.' not 'oh well it's obviously just another generic FPS. Am I cool because I said that?'

Oh my god just stop. If I'd known people had complained about "generic fps" I would've never created this thread. I just wanted to hear about opinions of the people who played the game.

Then maybe you could have said that, instead of passing judgement for which you don't want to be judged.

In case you missed, I did. I asked what I asked. No ulterior motive.

What's the hype about it? Or what's so different about it that makes it interesting?

 

[Snotnarok]

Guys I don't think this guy is really posting to ask given there's 1 post and then nothing, not helped by another topic "is the 3DS dead" so incase you thought maybe you were informing someone, pretty sure he's just here to poke and annoy then jetpack off.

Yeah, it's a surefire "Fire Und Forget" topic.
There's no real discussion value, since it's already devolved into the usual "Haters vs Fans" and "originality" tit-for-tats.
(no, it's not original. it's just the first game of its type to get full AAA treatment; I'd be on board with Titanfall myself if EA+Origin weren't involved.)

You know I don't get the hate for the EA origin thing, yeah I know Dungeon Keeper got butchered but that's different, why? Ehh it's a mobile game, every game I see on the phone is designed the same way, this one just happens to be more twisted but that's also likely up to another division than the ones making games for other platforms.

Origin is painless as it is, it's by no stretch bad, but certainly room to improve in ways. I mean it has some stuff I wish steam had: Buy Physical Copy, Stream to Twitch. I haven't seen anything that made it bad...unlike Uplay, which even if you have steam and you boot a ubisoft game it has to boot some self contained stupid Uplay DRM that always needs to update. Is it my platform of choice? No but ...ehhhhh...it's better than buying a whole new console to play exclusives, it's free so, yeah *shrug* I don't care.

Maybe I'm missing something with EA but I've enjoyed Mass Effect, DeadSpace, Titanfall, Dragon Age, Battlefield- that said I'm not defending them, I could care less who makes the game. I'm only stating I don't get the dislike as I've enjoyed games they just happen to have made or published. I mean REALLY like, I love Mass Effect and DeadSpace games quite a lot, even with DS3 being a bad DeadSpace game...it was a really fun co-op game that I played through twice in a short span.

 

[DoPo]

To be honest, I think you just want to jump on the 'All FPSs are generic and the same' bandwagon to look clever and above it. Just by looking at some gameplay, you can immediately see what makes it special. Sure, mechs have been done before, but as has been said, no game really has anything new by now, it's all said and done, but it's how you make those ingredients work together. Noone so far has included mech based combat with high mobility for the non-mech players, throw in some AI bots to thicken the mix and bind it all together with - from what I hear - beautifully smooth and lovely movement. Top that off with a balanced game and nice visuals and we have a good multiplayer FPS. The response to that should be 'look, a good multiplayer FPS, yay.' not 'oh well it's obviously just another generic FPS. Am I cool because I said that?'

Oh my god just stop. If I'd known people had complained about "generic fps" I would've never created this thread. I just wanted to hear about opinions of the people who played the game.

Then maybe you could have said that, instead of passing judgement for which you don't want to be judged.

In case you missed, I did. I asked what I asked. No ulterior motive.

What's the hype about it? Or what's so different about it that makes it interesting?

You also said, and I quote

It just looks like a generic FPS.

which you regretted later, and I quote

Oh my god just stop. If I'd known people had complained about "generic fps" I would've never created this thread. I just wanted to hear about opinions of the people who played the game.

So, this part in your OP is what you obviously should have dropped when initially asking. Which is what I referred to as, and I quote

passing judgement for which you don't want to be judged.

So we come back full circle - my previous post stands as it is, your other previous posts, too. I quite literally did nothing with this post except reiterate what both of us had said. I guess you just missed it.

 

[Maple Syrup]

To clear any misunderstandings: I am not at all judging anyone based on their game preferences, which anyone could totally see if they read my post without the "I am sick of haters" goggles on. Just like how it is in the music genre, there is no "good" or "bad" taste in gaming. Personally I play everything and I wouldn't want to make assumptions as to whether a game is bad or good without playing it. That's why before buying & trying out the game, I wanted to ask for people's opinions. I merely asked what made Titanfall so special. Please don't read too much into my post.

 

[Atmos Duality]

You know I don't get the hate for the EA origin thing, yeah I know Dungeon Keeper got butchered but that's different. Origin is painless as it is, it's by no stretch bad, but certainly room to improve in ways. I mean it has some stuff I wish steam had: Buy Physical Copy, Stream to Twitch. I haven't seen anything that made it bad...unlike Uplay, which even if you have steam and you boot a ubisoft game it has to boot some self contained stupid Uplay DRM that always needs to update.

Well, I won't presume to speak for anyone else, but I have a longer running beef with EA than just the last few years.
The short version: I don't trust them, and it's not for a lack of trying.

Slightly longer: I've tri1ed to give them a chance before; several, in fact. But every time I think they start improving, they turn around and regress back into doing something that I really don't like; and given that's been consistent for over 15 years now, I can only attribute it to something in their core business philosophy. (annual blockbuster releases for everything; what really made me mad was how they used to treat their employees, though apparently that has changed)

Even ignoring their longer history of buying out talented developers and running them into the ground, the horrible DRM schemes they've tried over the years, or the practice of charging premiums for small crap in full-priced games...

...More than any of that are the short timetables they impose on their developers to produce games. In fact, the latter accounts for most of the issues I've had with EA since the beginning; every EA game I've seen or played from then until now just "feels" fundamentally incomplete, or not matching up at all to the standards of quality that EA insists it produces.

So, while Origin itself may not be the technical boogeyman I feared it to be when announced, it's still tied to EA, so I will not support it. At least so long as EA continues to do things that bother me.

 

[Snotnarok]

You know I don't get the hate for the EA origin thing, yeah I know Dungeon Keeper got butchered but that's different. Origin is painless as it is, it's by no stretch bad, but certainly room to improve in ways. I mean it has some stuff I wish steam had: Buy Physical Copy, Stream to Twitch. I haven't seen anything that made it bad...unlike Uplay, which even if you have steam and you boot a ubisoft game it has to boot some self contained stupid Uplay DRM that always needs to update.

Well, I won't presume to speak for anyone else, but I have a longer running beef with EA than just the last few years.
The short version: I don't trust them, and it's not for a lack of trying.

Slightly longer: I've tri1ed to give them a chance before; several, in fact. But every time I think they start improving, they turn around and regress back into doing something that I really don't like; and given that's been consistent for over 15 years now, I can only attribute it to something in their core business philosophy. (annual blockbuster releases for everything; what really made me mad was how they used to treat their employees, though apparently that has changed)

Even ignoring their longer history of buying out talented developers and running them into the ground, the horrible DRM schemes they've tried over the years, or the practice of charging premiums for small crap in full-priced games...

...More than any of that are the short timetables they impose on their developers to produce games. In fact, the latter accounts for most of the issues I've had with EA since the beginning; every EA game I've seen or played from then until now just "feels" fundamentally incomplete, or not matching up at all to the standards of quality that EA insists it produces.

So, while Origin itself may not be the technical boogeyman I feared it to be when announced, it's still tied to EA, so I will not support it. At least so long as EA continues to do things that bother me.

Their DRM has been mild compared to ...well most of what's out there, minus Sim City of course but I'm not who's to blame for that, maxis or EA, as I've said I don't tend to put much water in who makes something unless it's been REALLY bad.
Ubisoft trumps in DRM as of recent years, limited installs, always online drm, then leaving it to steam and origin for a bit ...only to turn around and force Uplay in games that never required them before. That is something that really annoyed me personally, I'm fairly anti-DRM, Steam and origin, fine they just kinda are there but crap like always online or limited installs? That's unacceptable, I slap changing policies on there as terrible as well- since you bought the game one way, then they change it and that's okay? That makes me worry if they can do that, not much from stopping pubs all of the sudden turn around and update their games to have always online for everyone and every game. You know ...besides a riot out of their HQ

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

For my money it looks like a barrel of fun, but I cannot justify the price for a multiplayer only title. So come sale time, your're mine boy! Until then, Happy Titan stomping.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Their DRM has been mild compared to ...well most of what's out there, minus Sim City of course but I'm not who's to blame for that, maxis or EA, as I've said I don't tend to put much water in who makes something unless it's been REALLY bad.
Ubisoft trumps in DRM as of recent years, limited installs, always online drm, then leaving it to steam and origin for a bit ...only to turn around and force Uplay in games that never required them before. That is something that really annoyed me personally, I'm fairly anti-DRM, Steam and origin, fine they just kinda are there but crap like always online or limited installs? That's unacceptable, I slap changing policies on there as terrible as well- since you bought the game one way, then they change it and that's okay?

Actually Spore had Securom with limited installs as well.
Wilbur Wright's hopeful masterpiece; slashed to ribbons by incredible mismanagement, and the shreds thrown in the mud by EA's insistence of using Spore to spearhead that dreadful DRM system.

Though I admit, Ubisoft is indeed worse in terms of DRM, and I don't buy their games either for much the same reasons as EA; I don't trust them. Though with Ubisoft it's specifically because of the DRM issues and especially Uplay.
(it's not like Ubisoft is devoid of games I'd normally play; Blood Dragon looked awesome)

That makes me worry if they can do that, not much from stopping pubs all of the sudden turn around and update their games to have always online for everyone and every game. You know ...besides a riot out of their HQ

That, I think, is the greatest threat online distribution systems pose right now.
Companies that can, on a whim, alter the deal and impose new limitations, post-purchase, at any time for any reason.

(That's becoming true of consoles as well. The 3DS is built to self-brick if you try to do anything Nintendo disproves of, Sony showed that they could strip out features to suit their own needs on a whim with the PS3, and lets not forget the nightmare that almost was the pre-180 Xbone.)

Control and monitoring of users is such a huge issue, big publishers are pushing it all the time even when we don't see it.
This is evident even in Titanfall's design; it's implicitly always-online because it's online-multiplayer-only.
Not even Call of Duty, Titanfall's main rival and "inspiration" for the ground combat, has done that yet.

But what I find even more intriguing is how EA/Respawn is still aiming for the "PvE" crowd and promise a campaign.
This is an almost genius, backwards method of selling Always Online; start with the multiplayer model we're used to, but add the campaign to the multiplayer game LATER.

Overall, it sets a worrying precedent, where the publisher won't leave the player alone after purchase.
And I find that doubly worrying when the biggest companies pushing for it have a dubious history, at best.

These companies have embraced a PR line about "Reaching out to consumers and building relationships", and for a long while, I thought it just PR rubbish or code for "forced social features, because Facebook and Youtube are uber-popular and we want in".

But now, I'm convinced they're sincere. Not in the "We're your cool buddy who you hang out with" like they make it out to be, but more like "Roommate who only acts nice when you're buying".

 

[Snotnarok]

Their DRM has been mild compared to ...well most of what's out there, minus Sim City of course but I'm not who's to blame for that, maxis or EA, as I've said I don't tend to put much water in who makes something unless it's been REALLY bad.
Ubisoft trumps in DRM as of recent years, limited installs, always online drm, then leaving it to steam and origin for a bit ...only to turn around and force Uplay in games that never required them before. That is something that really annoyed me personally, I'm fairly anti-DRM, Steam and origin, fine they just kinda are there but crap like always online or limited installs? That's unacceptable, I slap changing policies on there as terrible as well- since you bought the game one way, then they change it and that's okay?

Actually Spore had Securom with limited installs as well.
Wilbur Wright's hopeful masterpiece; slashed to ribbons by incredible mismanagement, and the shreds thrown in the mud by EA's insistence of using Spore to spearhead that dreadful DRM system.

Though I admit, Ubisoft is indeed worse in terms of DRM, and I don't buy their games either for much the same reasons as EA; I don't trust them. Though with Ubisoft it's specifically because of the DRM issues and especially Uplay.
(it's not like Ubisoft is devoid of games I'd normally play; Blood Dragon looked awesome)

That makes me worry if they can do that, not much from stopping pubs all of the sudden turn around and update their games to have always online for everyone and every game. You know ...besides a riot out of their HQ

That, I think, is the greatest threat online distribution systems pose right now.
Companies that can, on a whim, alter the deal and impose new limitations, post-purchase, at any time for any reason.

(That's becoming true of consoles as well. The 3DS is built to self-brick if you try to do anything Nintendo disproves of, Sony showed that they could strip out features to suit their own needs on a whim with the PS3, and lets not forget the nightmare that almost was the pre-180 Xbone.)

Control and monitoring of users is such a huge issue, big publishers are pushing it all the time even when we don't see it.
This is evident even in Titanfall's design; it's implicitly always-online because it's online-multiplayer-only.
Not even Call of Duty, Titanfall's main rival and "inspiration" for the ground combat, has done that yet.

But what I find even more intriguing is how EA/Respawn is still aiming for the "PvE" crowd and promise a campaign.
This is an almost genius, backwards method of selling Always Online; start with the multiplayer model we're used to, but add the campaign to the multiplayer game LATER.

Overall, it sets a worrying precedent, where the publisher won't leave the player alone after purchase.
And I find that doubly worrying when the biggest companies pushing for it have a dubious history, at best.

These companies have embraced a PR line about "Reaching out to consumers and building relationships", and for a long while, I thought it just PR rubbish or code for "forced social features, because Facebook and Youtube are uber-popular and we want in".

But now, I'm convinced they're sincere. Not in the "We're your cool buddy who you hang out with" like they make it out to be, but more like "Roommate who only acts nice when you're buying".

I think when things get out of hand it'll be them that take the hit I'd like to think, I'd also like to think the public would keep them in check. As it stands? Things are shakey sure...

Funny enough they don't need any kind of real DRM for TitanFall, it was a ingenious move, all the bots in the game, including your titans AI are all server controlled, meaning the game is literally unplayable if you try and pirate it. It'd would take some really clever reverse engineering to get that to work.

 

[Dandark]

Titanfall actually looks pretty good from what I have seen. Its just that I don't want to pay full price for a multiplayer only game when other good games are around the corner like Dark souls 2 which is about to release in Europe. It also requires me to use Origin which I would rather not do so i'll probably just wait a year for the inevitable Titanfall 2 which will be near exactly the same as the first game but hopefully without Origin this time.

It actually reminds me a bit of my favourite FPS of all time that was sadly unsuccessful, Section 8: Prejudice. Easily my favourite multiplayer FPS but it wasn't successful enough and the servers shut down, it also had mechs and jetpacks which I enjoyed.

 

[Maple Syrup]

Titanfall actually looks pretty good from what I have seen. Its just that I don't want to pay full price for a multiplayer only game when other good games are around the corner like Dark souls 2 which is about to release in Europe. It also requires me to use Origin which I would rather not do so i'll probably just wait a year for the inevitable Titanfall 2 which will be near exactly the same as the first game but hopefully without Origin this time.

It actually reminds me a bit of my favourite FPS of all time that was sadly unsuccessful, Section 8: Prejudice. Easily my favourite multiplayer FPS but it wasn't successful enough and the servers shut down, it also had mechs and jetpacks which I enjoyed.

Upon reading your post I googled Origin (I'd heard some stuff about Origin but didn't really know what it was) and this showed up on their website:

This seems very pointed.

 

[42]

I would argue Titanfall's 'innovation' is more a gimmick, TDM with mechs already exists, CTF with Mechs already exists. TDM and CTF and Territory control with Mechs and Platforming and verticality have existed for more than a decade now, but the Call of Duty fan base probably didn't notice. Doing it with a triple A marketing budget doesn't make it innovative in the slightest.

I'm genuinely interested. Which titles are these? For example.

If he quotes you MechWarrior Online, I will heartily laugh at him. that game is complete pants. pants with a general disease that prevents you from putting them on.

 

[Dandark]

Titanfall actually looks pretty good from what I have seen. Its just that I don't want to pay full price for a multiplayer only game when other good games are around the corner like Dark souls 2 which is about to release in Europe. It also requires me to use Origin which I would rather not do so i'll probably just wait a year for the inevitable Titanfall 2 which will be near exactly the same as the first game but hopefully without Origin this time.

It actually reminds me a bit of my favourite FPS of all time that was sadly unsuccessful, Section 8: Prejudice. Easily my favourite multiplayer FPS but it wasn't successful enough and the servers shut down, it also had mechs and jetpacks which I enjoyed.

Upon reading your post I googled Origin (I'd heard some stuff about Origin but didn't really know what it was) and this showed up on their website:

snip

This seems very pointed.

The only reason anyone uses Origin is because their was a game they wanted that was exclusive to it. Most people probably got it for Battlefield or Mass effect so its not surprising that they are going to try and push it as the only place to get Titanfall.

The Xbone is doing the same thing, rather than a video game console its being pushed as a £500 to £600 Titanfall player.