Battlefield 2

[CraigSca]

Ships today - did anyone get it? From what I've read, it looks to be the bee's knees in multiplayer. I like shooting people - would this be a good game for me?

[Travis]

BF1942 is still one of the best games I've ever played, and this is supposed to be an improvement on it, definitely worth picking up. From the reviews of the new features and what's been improved, be prepared to lose a lot of hours to this game.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Ships today - did anyone get it? From what I've read, it looks to be the bee's knees in multiplayer. I like shooting people - would this be a good game for me?

If it keeps you from going on a killing spree, then yes.

[illinifan999]

Did you download the demo?

[mrkilla22]

I tried the demo and I liked it. I am not a big fan of these types of games either.

[Blade]

I am drooling for this one...will be bugging my local EB's, Future Shops, and Best Buys until it is in!

[KWhit]

Since I got my new computer, I have been overloaded with games. Too many great games, too little time.

Playing way too much City of Heroes right now. Far Cry has been great. And GTA:SA is just sitting there gathering dust so far because I haven't gotten to it yet.

But I'd really love to give this game a try too.

[amdaily]

I tried the demo as well. It brings up a black screen and then takes me back to the desktop Not exactly sure what the problem is. Everything seems in order.

[j51]

Originally Posted by amdaily

I tried the demo as well. It brings up a black screen and then takes me back to the desktop Not exactly sure what the problem is. Everything seems in order.

Are you running any kind of refresh rate fix? Its real picky about that, just like the first one.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by amdaily

I tried the demo as well. It brings up a black screen and then takes me back to the desktop Not exactly sure what the problem is. Everything seems in order.

Either that or the nominee for Worst Demo EVER.

[TazFTW]

I've played the demo and have enjoyed the new squad and commander features.


The only problem is that either my network does not like the Battlefield servers or the servers don't like me. It takes a while (10-20 mins) for me to connect to server. I always get a check your network connections message. Same thing happened with BF: Vietnam, which is a shame since I liked driving a tank blasting Surfin' Bird or in a helo playing Ride of the Valkyries.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by amdaily

I tried the demo as well. It brings up a black screen and then takes me back to the desktop.

So how did you like the game?

[CraigSca]

I've played WW2 Online before, but I have never had the time to get comfortable with the controls. Therefore, I've never had the time to understand the squad level commands given out by the leaders. Basically, I'm a lone wolf when it comes to the game, and I feel bad because in the great majority of battles I'm not helping because I'm not part of a coordinated unit.

I'm wondering - if I bought BF2 but didn't have enough time to devote hours to becoming Rambo 2005, will I be a detriment in multiplayer? Multiplayer fascinates me, but I don't like the hours required to learn the fine minutae of gameplay in order to become a valuable member of the team. Rather than risk hurting the team, I'd rather play solo...

which brings up a non-interesting WW2 Online story. One of the concepts behind WW2 is you have a limited supply of different equipment based on a number of factors. Only certain levels of players can use the higher levels of equipment. You can imagine my excitement when I got my hands on a tank for the first time ever (I spent the majority of my time as infantry but was recently promoted). Well...I sign up for the tank one night and start moving away from our base to get to the action. In WW2 Online, the maps are 1:1 ratios - 1 mile = 1 mile. So...I was way behind the lines trying to get to the battle (multiple miles away) so I gun the engine to top speed and just start moving down the roadway. After a while, since the maps are "actual size" I became a little bored. So...I start zig-zagging...shooting some mortars...anything to test out the muster of this bad-ass machine. I continue my joy-riding over the countryside for the next few minutes and a plane flies by (is that the enemy? is that one of ours?) and drops a direct hit on my tank killing everyone. The lone message I received from HQ, and the only one I have EVER received: "WTG asshole".

Needless to say, the "fun-factor" in that game died a quick death that night.

[Blade]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

I'm wondering - if I bought BF2 but didn't have enough time to devote hours to becoming Rambo 2005, will I be a detriment in multiplayer? Multiplayer fascinates me, but I don't like the hours required to learn the fine minutae of gameplay in order to become a valuable member of the team. Rather than risk hurting the team, I'd rather play solo...

My experience is that if you are a solo type of player, you will not be overly liked on the BF2 servers...they are very teamwork oriented.

That said, it is a very easy game to pick up and you do not need to devote a ton of hours learning just to be a strong soldier...

[dervack]

I've never been able to get into FPS. The last one I played was RTCW and it's been a while since I played that one.

[TazFTW]

Well, from the reviews BF2 is still a very MP oriented game. Single player is used to get to know the maps (although you can only play the 16 person version, which is smaller). I would use single player to learn the classes.

As for MP, you wouldn't be a detriment if you a) followed your squad leader/commander's orders, b) camp for vehicles (waiting for a plane to spawn while your team needs help attacking or defending a point), c) team killing

Ignoring your squad's/commander's orders is only accepted if you are to take a control point by yourself (i.e. if your team is attacking a point, you decide to attack another point that is less defended).

[vyshka]

Originally Posted by amdaily

I tried the demo as well. It brings up a black screen and then takes me back to the desktop Not exactly sure what the problem is. Everything seems in order.

What video card do you have?

[amdaily]

Originally Posted by vyshka

What video card do you have?

GeForce4 Ti4200. I'll fool around with it later tonight and see what is going on.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I hope this conveys infantry combat and small unit leadership well.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Blade

My experience is that if you are a solo type of player, you will not be overly liked on the BF2 servers...they are very teamwork oriented.

That said, it is a very easy game to pick up and you do not need to devote a ton of hours learning just to be a strong soldier...

Thanks. I never "tried" to be a solo player, I just found the learning curve too high in those games to be a valuable team member. I may have to give this one a shot.

[TazFTW]

Originally Posted by amdaily

GeForce4 Ti4200. I'll fool around with it later tonight and see what is going on.

From my understanding, that card will not work because BF2 needs 1.4 pixel shaders and the Ti4200 has 1.3.

[Icy]

CraigSca i'm a WWIIOnline veteran, been playing for 2 years already into a Spanish squad (we are over 100 members) that plays with the AXIS troops.

I underestand your frustration but that frustration you had is the same gameplay i love. I don't like games where you just run and shoot into a small map as most if not all the other online shooters (BF 1 and 2 included). I love team play, i love to feel i'm into a real army, with real officials that issue me orders, with a half of Europe map with thousands of km, with hundreds of cities, with realist planes, tanks and infantery, with a war world that is permanent as in RPG games, when you wake up one morning and you see that the city cost you 2 hours to conquest has been recovered by your enemy, where if you want, you can leave your player walking to the East, go to sleep and when you wake up you have not reached the other side of the map (not like in BF where you reach the other side in a few minutes), where each side has factories and have to research new weapons, where the other side can bomb your factories to delay the new equimpent, where you really need teamwork or you won't last more than a few minutes alive, where if you want to drive a tank to a far city, you can expend like 30 miuntes only driving, where you can keep guarding a strategic city for hours without receiving any attack, but you are there in alert with your squad mates, etc etc. As you can see i really love WWIIOnline as it's a full simulation of the World War II battlefield.

Of course you can't compare it with a fats shooter like BF that is good for some adrenaline rush (that i love when i want to relax from work for 30 minutes) but can't compare with a real simulation as wwii online is. Btw, the new version of WWOnline will be released on 15th August (we are already testing it in an open beta for the subscribers) and it's going to be even better towards team work as you will choose a Brigade and depending on how you succesfully acomplish the missions setup by your officials you can promote up to be an official too to be able to setup your own missions (of course following the high command orders).

I look like a sales guy for this game, but the true is that it's the best game i have ever player for the inmersion factor. I must admit it's not a game for everybody but if you want to feel like a real wwii soldier, there is not better game.

I'll keep you updated with the news about it CraigSca, maybe you can give it a new try in a month or so as i guess will be a free trial again to attract new players with the new release.

[CraigSca]

Thanks, Icy. I really liked the game, and I really like the realistic aspects you mentioned. Unfortunately, I saw no way to get from Novice to Experienced Team player - unless you know someone who can hold your hand down that process. The manuals are pretty lacking - and I really had a hard time figuring out how to use the different chat channels.

So...after a few months of play, I still really felt like I was on the outside looking in, and I wasn't progressing towards that inner circle. It seems like you really need a buddy to help you along with this game, and I didn't have enough time in the day to do it myself.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Thanks, Icy. I really liked the game, and I really like the realistic aspects you mentioned. Unfortunately, I saw no way to get from Novice to Experienced Team player - unless you know someone who can hold your hand down that process. The manuals are pretty lacking - and I really had a hard time figuring out how to use the different chat channels.

So...after a few months of play, I still really felt like I was on the outside looking in, and I wasn't progressing towards that inner circle. It seems like you really need a buddy to help you along with this game, and I didn't have enough time in the day to do it myself.

Totally agree with you, this is a teamwork game and for the novice who enters to play without any friend already in the game it could be a boring experience as he just spawns in a city far from the front, walks around not finding anybody to kill, doesn't understand the radio objectives from the high command, etc. Option two is that he spawns in a city at 30Km from the front, can't find any transport to the town as he doesn't know how to find them, walks for over 30 minutes and then he is dead not knowing even what killed him, so he gets frustrated and unsubscribe.

That is why at the game forums it's really encouraged to join a squad. The squads are organized like real armies (and will be more after the massive August release with the brigades spawning). Each squad is tied to the side they want to fight for (Axis or Allied), following a chain of orders. Let's say that the high command plays a wargame in a historic European theater but they move us, the squads and soldiers instead of computer sprites. We receive the orders and follow them to conquest the objectives.

In the squads you have officers who train you and issue you the orders. We are the biggest Spanish squad and lots of novices join us every month. We train them, command them on the field, have a separate voice chat for them to ask etc. After the month of training they are approved or rejected by the squad depending on how they want to learn and work in the team (not by performance on the field as we never exclude anybody who is really bad but tries hard to learn). Once you're into the squad, usually you must obey orders the whole time like a real soldier but if from time to time you want to play Rambo style, you just turn off the squad channels and play alone.

Of course this is a game and you can choose who to play, but for most of us, the fun comes from the team work and simulating being into a real war. For example:

When i joined the squad 2 years ago, one of my first missions as novice was to guard a Forward Base near Amsterdam. My officer told another veteran, two novices and me to find a good position to guard the East line. We waited there 1 hour (real time) just hiding under the bushes, trying to spot an enemy in the fast forest but nothing happened. That hour for the average shooter player could be really boring, but i felt like a real soldier, trying to be alert to not to disappoint my officer, asking questions to the veteran that was really helpfully with us the novices, he also told us about old battles, etc, i felt like a real soldier in the trenches. Suddenly we spotted a Bedford (British troops transport truck, all the weapons, tanks, planes, ships etc are modeled like the historic wwii ones) full of brits approaching our base. Our officers told us to keep hidden until orders, then they ordered us to open fire, we started to fire at the brits going out of the truck, getting my first kill in the game, i was so excited and i bet that the whole hour waiting without anybody to kill, helped a lot to the immersion factor and to suddenly raise a lot my adrenaline. Of course i have also enjoyed a lot tons of close range fights in big European cities like Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg etc with planes fighting over you, tanks and artillery firing, hundreds of soldiers around you etc. Remember that in a BF game only 64 players can play same map where in WWIIO there are 10k players registered and at peak hours in a big city you can have some hundreds fighting around and thousands over the whole persistent European map.

I understand this could sound boring or even stupid to some of you, but it's like explaining why you play FOF with it's crap graphs to a Madden fanboy. It's all about immersion, and for me, not any other game has reached this point, that is why i'm paying the around $12 per month for over 2 years.

After writting this, i'm thinking about writting a dynasty for the next campaign that will start in a few days (each campaign lasts until one of the sides conquest the whole European map, that takes around 2 months real time), not sure if will be fun enought to have readers.

Now that i think on the passion i have put on this, i should ask the developers for a job as sales guy

[mrsimperless]

I would read your dynasty Icy. If you write it, they will come.

[vyshka]

Originally Posted by amdaily

GeForce4 Ti4200. I'll fool around with it later tonight and see what is going on.

The System requirements are a GeForce FX 5700 or an ATI 9000.

[CraigSca]

This sounds great, Icy. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time right now to devote to a new MMORG. I play CoH with my wife, but I can't imagine ever getting her into re-creating WW2 .

Oh well...maybe if COH falls through I'll pick it up again, this time looking for a squad that is looking for recruits.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

How is the games frame rate on older comps: I have a 1.8 ghz 512 mb sd ram and a g forx 4 graphics card. Will my comp handle it?

[Qwikshot]

Got the game last night, ran fine, but I don't know if a 1.8 will do it. The requirements are strict so make sure you have everything (especially the graphics card!).

Anyone want to group?

[hukarez]

Just to confirm: it's still a free multiplayer, right?

[TazFTW]

Yes, there is no subscription fee.

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by TazFTW

Yes, there is no subscription fee.

Sweet beans. In these days, I have trouble keeping up to date on what's a subscription and what's not (too lazy to really, really look at details). I'll probably pick this up once I can find a place with DVD versions. Too many CDs to manage in my collection.

[TazFTW]

Picked up the CD version today because the DVD version was sold out. I'm having fun, although I have CTD a couple of times. I'm also finding it easier to connect to servers in the full version than when I was playing the demo.

[maximus]

Originally Posted by TazFTW

Picked up the CD version today because the DVD version was sold out. I'm having fun, although I have CTD a couple of times. I'm also finding it easier to connect to servers in the full version than when I was playing the demo.

What is the difference betwen the CD version of BF2 and the CD version? Thanks.

DOH! I'm still wired on Vicodins. I mean what is the difference between the CD vs. DVD?

[TazFTW]

CD is on 3 CDs, DVD is on 1 DVD.

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by TazFTW

Picked up the CD version today because the DVD version was sold out. I'm having fun, although I have CTD a couple of times. I'm also finding it easier to connect to servers in the full version than when I was playing the demo.

Managed to snag the final DVD copy at my local EBgames. I called ahead of time -- apparently, the DVD version is highly sought after I suppose. Nonetheless, I finally got around to installing this earlier tonight, after having uninstalled BF1942 for some space, a quick defrag or two, driver updates, and then a complete install.

I'll say one thing: WOW.

Naturally, I have to get used to the whole Squad stuff. I, for the life of me, can't figure out how to switch up on Squad leaders though? I ended up becoming Squad leader by default on a few games due to the previous Squad leader having disconnected, but I'd rather hand the role off to someone else.

BTW -- what are all the standard voice commands again? The pre-set messages that you can send to your team/squad? I can't believe I was playing this game for 4 hours straight, 3 1/2 of them on one server.

I *really* like the whole 'promotion' thing during play. A couple of players on the opposing team were promoted, and had quite a bit of impressive stats after some rounds. I don't think I'm anywhere close to being promoted -- and unlocking some new weapons to use would be rather nifty. Plus, the whole vehicle thing where you can 'duck' while being the tank gunner...that was pretty nice.

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

Got the game last night, ran fine, but I don't know if a 1.8 will do it. The requirements are strict so make sure you have everything (especially the graphics card!).

Anyone want to group?

Hey Qwikshot, I'm game. I'll be at my cousin's graduation party from Cal Poly Pomona tomorrow, however...

I've got the same profile name of 'hukarez' for multiplayer. No more 'bookcake' this time around.

[TazFTW]

When I first started playing, most of my time was spent on non-ranked servers. Hadn't had time to play until tonight, where I got some time on some ranked servers.

My crappy stats:

[Qwikshot]

Been too busy playing werewolf, working, and gta: san andreas...

will attempt sometime this week, but I watch my daughter this weekend, plus it's 4th of July, so I highly doubt I'll be visible there for a bit.

[Blade]

I have been trying to play as much as I can...finally got my first Gold Star on a ranked server...but I forgot how much I suck at this game!

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Blade

I have been trying to play as much as I can...finally got my first Gold Star on a ranked server...but I forgot how much I suck at this game!

You and I both! I think my stats are due to the fact that I've been playing too much. I actually started on ranked servers, it's one of the filters I've got going on. My 9% accuracy score, on the other hand...

[Blade]

Here are my stats...not pretty.

[hukarez]

What ranked servers are you guys normally playing on?

[Flasch186]

where do the most of you play...

yesterday Iw as playing on some ducth server and this one guy on my own team kept killing me. He'd apologize and then Id watch as he ran up to me from behind and placed bombs near me to blow up. Eventually we both got kicked off, eventhough I REPORTED HIM!! I was so pissed, i think his handle was NLGC09 or something. That sucks though when people just try to fratracide your team. not fun.

[Blade]

I have normally been playing on any of the 16 player EA Official servers...I usually go on whatever one has an open spot.

[hukarez]

Most of the ranked servers where I play are 16 team, 32 team ones. I've been playing on EA official servers, Gaming Freaks servers, and some East Coast Gaming servers. Most of the official EA servers I play on are Dutch, if I'm translating the .DE extension properly.

I did notice that on one of the BF2 forum boards that I was browsing, there's a bug with Linux based servers where some folks crashed to desktop upon map loading. Not sure when a fix is supposed to be in place, so I've been avoiding Linux based servers.

If I can improve my Kill to Death ratio, I think I'd be somewhat happy. I've been getting killed too many times in succession!

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

where do the most of you play...

yesterday Iw as playing on some ducth server and this one guy on my own team kept killing me. He'd apologize and then Id watch as he ran up to me from behind and placed bombs near me to blow up. Eventually we both got kicked off, eventhough I REPORTED HIM!! I was so pissed, i think his handle was NLGC09 or something. That sucks though when people just try to fratracide your team. not fun.

Did you have the option of forgiving/punishing the team killer? Not quite sure what it does, if it boots them off or docks them points. Regardless of where I play, there's *always* someone who's initiating a vote for mutiny on my teams.

[Flasch186]

i think at some point when we get good, we will have to start a FOFC squad simply to avoid the morons who fratracide all the time.

[Blade]

Originally Posted by hukarez

Did you have the option of forgiving/punishing the team killer? Not quite sure what it does, if it boots them off or docks them points. Regardless of where I play, there's *always* someone who's initiating a vote for mutiny on my teams.

Docks them points...but you can always suggest a player should be booted, then all the players on the server can vote on that.

[TazFTW]

It gives them a negative team score and if they are punished enough times they are banned from the server (for a specified amount of time).

I play on 64 player servers because I want all the vehicles available. A 64 player server also means that there are 32 victims for me.