J4MES OX4D

Battlefield trailers are always 'carnage' but the series at its core is a grand FPS with tactical elements. There is no semblance of this in the game - it's just overly-chaotic action on very small maps where flags change hands easily and territory doesn't matter because you can be easily swarmed left, right and centre. They've appealed to the Call of Duty players at the expense of Battlefield's core values and have concocted this middle-ground type of game and I'm just not sure about it. The bigger maps will probably play better like Operation Firestorm but the ones we have in the beta are just too small, chokepoint-laden and offer absolutely no tactical flexibility or POI. 

I have no words

 
I thought this was an AI fake picture but apparently it is 100% real. 

Yep, after all, it's carefully constructed and valid criticism from the Battlefield community which is why this game even exists. Had the community not salvaged 2042 for 3 years straight, the entire Battlefield brand would be dead by now. Let's also not forget back in 2014 when the community saved Battlefield 4 after at the time, the worst launch in videogame history bar none, so criticism is absolutely critical going forward.
 
Whilst not much can be done at this stage in regards to some of the design choices as the maps are already finished, it is good to get on paper what people may want to see in the future. For instance, it doesn't look like we're getting a water map which is almost criminal🤣 If we end up doing what Treyarch did to COD, every map will start shrinking and they'll make decisions based on data and not logic. Gotta keep everyone happy and not just the COD incomers who are already demanding battle passes and e-sports!

Oh, very cool, might grab it then.

On Witch Queen - Agreed, totally top tier content. In the old style campaigns it was always Forsaken that was the one that rivalled this but Witch Queen brought so many things to the game and compelling long campaign missions that you felt rewarded when completing it.
 
Lightfall - Glad you got it done @J4MES OX4D. Maybe I should attempt to go back to it, but I knew it felt off from the start.
 
Final Shape - I can maybe see why you found some things frustrating. Some hard moments as a group on the campaign near the latter missions. The end part is quite challenging on Legendary. I enjoyed the final heroic battle with everyone. It was a bit gimmicky, sure. But if you have been with Destiny for 10 years, it was great to finally see your guardian fight way more alongside your NPC allies. Never thought of the Zavala bit in detail until now. Maybe it was put in there to disguise where the story was headed. Some really key things happened in the storyline though if you follow the backstory of everything. Zavala was set up just before Final Shape to start becoming a little more angry and less controlled.
 
Edge of Fate - I've started it. Not done enough yet to warrant me seeing if its any good or not. I miss the enjoyment of running in a crew through the storyline so maybe that is impacting and skewing my feelings.

If enough ppl buy the game, I'll probably pick it up too, and on console as my PC can't really handle it. Would be a fun FG team play game if we have enough interest.

When you're forking out 70 quid plus for a video game I think you're allowed to have opinions on it, be they positive or negative. That's what a forum is for. 
 
Those with criticism have made it quite clear in their posts what they're unhappy with, so i'm not sure what there is to understand.
 
No-one needs to take it as a personal insult that others aren't necessarily happy with something they themselves are happy with.
 
Everyone's opinions on the game are equally valid, please reflect on that 😘

Quite a well rounded review imo
 
 

I primarily played Heretic but from what I remember about Hexen, it was similar but much harder and had some very complex maps. I think this remastered version actually includes hints and waypoints it's that tough! 

I finished The Final Shape today and enjoyed most of it. I certainly liked the location more than Neptune as it felt more Destiny-like. The story was also more interesting and characters less irritating although The Witness did waffle on a bit too much. Fortunately this happens mostly on the fly so you aren't stalled too much. I did find some of the puzzles painfully easy but some of the firefights were less intuitive. The campaign flowed really well until step 29, where you are then plied with over an hour of annoying busywork that lacks substance and it just feels tacked-on. The conclusion which was a big-raid type finale was also very disappointing after what was a promising build-up in the hours previous. The Zavala storyline as mentioned by Sennex was just a weird inclusion out of nowhere - still I prefer this than having to suffer Osiris and Nimbus again though.
 
The bit towards the end where you rally your team which consists of tedium and silly mechanics pissed me off the most though - getting blitzed from all directions whilst reflecting and matching up balls of light to ritual sites was so stupid. I just wanted to carry on but all of this felt like they were stringing out the content for an extra hour and 15. 
 

I finished Lightfall yesterday and was glad to put it to bed. I had to drop the difficulty to normal because it was no fun playing on legendary here unlike the Witch Queen. Firefights were just full on spongey spammy enemies and you would get obliterated from all directions in some battles. A couple of missions were enjoyable to a degree towards the end especially the tank one which reminded me of Halo but most were forgettable with boring objectives and predictable fights. The story was ok but written poorly and the likes of Nimbus and Osiris were both unbearable characters throughout. Worth finishing for the subclass and the story conclusion though. 
 
Completed the intro mission to The Final Shape which seems a much better location but I'm not sure if I'll start it yet. 

I've done a few hours on Lightfall now and it feels really off and I'm not sure why. Definitely a step back over The Witch Queen in narrative terms along with mission design but the does look fantastic. Really not a fan of the characters or writing either. 
 
The Journey page is ideal as it lays out everything so much easier so you know what needs to be done and what you can do.  Better than ducking in and out of the world map trying to find things haha! 

This is brilliant! Heretic and Hexen have been given the Doom + Doom II remastered treatment by Nightdive Studios providing QoL improvements along with modern enhancements including a remastered soundtrack. The game is FREE to existing owners of the first two games on PC and also now available on console. 
 

Battlefield 6 beta

Modern Warfare 2019 - such a refined experience and it's a travesty what the franchise has become. This was the second chance and they blew it. 

Yeah @Macca89 I actually set it up before playing with controller suggestions from some streamers. Bad move 🤪
 
Went back to default and it was much, much better and I enjoyed it a lot more : )
 
I'd like to see the bigger maps in the next demo.

Battlefield trailers are always 'carnage' but the series at its core is a grand FPS with tactical elements. There is no semblance of this in the game - it's just overly-chaotic action on very small maps where flags change hands easily and territory doesn't matter because you can be easily swarmed left, right and centre. They've appealed to the Call of Duty players at the expense of Battlefield's core values and have concocted this middle-ground type of game and I'm just not sure about it. The bigger maps will probably play better like Operation Firestorm but the ones we have in the beta are just too small, chokepoint-laden and offer absolutely no tactical flexibility or POI. 

I never played anything else other than conquest in Battlefield games. Flag to flag on Cairo is no more than 30 seconds on foot and the same can be said for Iberia. The liberation snow one, which is probably the biggest, is still really condensed and there is only two ways to get to the inner flags pretty much so it feels restrictive in that sense too. There is no territorial penalties for squad wipes either because all you need to do is spawn to the nearest flag and the radius is so big, chances are you are 30 seconds off where you want to be anyway. The maps just feel way too compact and the action is boxed-in. Vehicles have no room to breathe in Cairo and Iberia, and you can literally sit on a blind chokepoints in a tank rattle off 40+ kills with ease half the time. 
 
Even the smaller maps on BFV like Provence, Soloman Islands, Devastation, Operation Underground and Marita offer reasonable scale and plenty of room for territorial-focused gameplay. Here, there is no consequence to losing any flag because chances are you are within distance of getting one back instantly. I got 13 captures on my last match and I joined halfway through. 

Here's the release of all the deep dive's I've been sent:
 
Pro Clubs
 
 
Career
 
 
Ultimate Team
 
 
 
Thoughts?

Pretty much the same as previously mentioned.  I was saying the other night that the spawns were too hectic.  I remember some Battlefield maps you were able to effectively clear the area behind you and push forward.  Now you just get shot in the back.  It seems like a giant death match rather than a territorial advance. 
 
I'm also pants with a controller.  Seriously.  I can't shoot for shit anymore.  I believe it supports Keyboard and mouse though so thats good.
 
Very  much on the fence at the minute.  

Man, I loved Heretic back in the day. I never touched Hexen though, honestly didn't even know it was a thing

I haven't played the game yet as I don't have early access although I did try the shooting range just to see how it felt. I also managed to catch some gameplay videos and I just cannot shake off the feeling about the maps being off. There doesn't seem to be any landmarks and they look really compact and just too chaotic. Even the snow map looks a lot smaller than the environment would suggest plus it's clear that one has a nightmare issue with spawns and balance. It looks incredibly refined but if the scale and vehicle balance is off then it could lead to a torrid experience. If there is not much room for strategic play and it becomes a chaotic state of destruction and spam, then it will be very disappointing irrespective of how good it looks and feels. They do not want to be in the same position like they were in 2042 where maps had to be reworked entirely and balance was all over the shop.
 
Vince Zampella has done fine job but I just wonder if he has too much Call of Duty in him to create an independent Battlefield game without borrowing too many design philosophies. I get they want to attract as many COD players as possible as they ambitiously target 100m users but they can't alienate the core Battlefield community which is already big enough when they actually get the game right in the first instance. 

I am glad someone feel's this way, it was madness, you spawn in, you are in combat within a couple of seconds and fighting for your life. That's fine in the sense it is quick and you are straight into action but that's not entirely battlefield, Battlefield has always been a game you have been able to influence and turn the tide by getting a great flank or creaping behind enemy lines to capture a base to the rear.
 
The games of Conquest I played and the points were constantly changing and it was a little disorienting.
 
The game is better than the last one and I could see me playing this but more because I prefer this over COD, that's not to say COD is bad or anything and I played it with FG socially really but for a long time it has not been a series for me.

I watched a Twitch streamer for 30 minutes this morning and i'm now in the Beta 🙂

Call of Duty players (influencers mostly) are already trying to ruin this game - literally some are already crying for a competitive ladder and others think the Battle Royale mode should be prioritised. I honestly can't wait for Black Ops 7 and hopefully most of them will go. It's clearly many of them have never played Battlefield before or don't understand it.
 
Not needing the EA app for this game is fantastic news! They'll probably gain a million players for this alone.