Brink, thoughts?

[sd11]

The point was you said in quake 3 graphics took a backseat when the reality is it pushed graphics just as hard as crysis did when it came. Graphics where VERY important in quake 3.

But graphics were never the point. To this day you'll find all serious Quake players are still running 800x600 or lower resolution with all the details stripped out.

Quake 3 done proper

You can make Quake 4 look the same.

Graphics are completely pointless and a bad thing to have in a multiplayer game. They count for single player.

Quake players simply butchered the game down to look like Quake 1 right after it came out. The advantages of doing this are massive.

 

[Aix]

Got my dude to level 20 and I'm enjoying the game more and more as I'm figuring out the maps. Still haven't had a "holy shit" moment, but the game can get pretty intense. Have seen objectives complete within literally two seconds of the timer expiring.


When I first played the BFBC2 beta I was really impressed, then when I finally got the full game I played for like 10 hours and was like... wow I'm bored to tears now.

Brink so far has been the exact opposite experience, though I don't see this game becoming a classic. It's not even going to match ETQW I don't think.

 

[TwistedAegis]

But graphics were never the point. To this day you'll find all serious Quake players are still running 800x600 or lower resolution with all the details stripped out.

Graphics are completely pointless and a bad thing to have in a multiplayer game. They count for single player.

Quake players simply butchered the game down to look like Quake 1 right after it came out. The advantages of doing this are massive.

If you're making money by killing people, or the only way you have fun is by killing the most people as possible, thats fine, enjoy that way of gaming. Why not just play Space Invaders then?

To me it is a game, and part of the enjoyment of that is the graphics. I installed GL Quake when I got my Voodoo 2 and it made the game that much more enjoyable to me.

 

[Porter_]

another PC update released, and Splash Damage has announced the first DLC will be free:

We have been working on updates for Brink to address the lag issue that some people have reported they were experiencing.

In the meantime, we have made a configuration change for 360 users (which will be available to the PS3, once PSN is up) that alters the number of human players when matchmaking for “Campaign” and most ‘Freeplay’ modes to eight total human players. This new configuration will allow those connecting to and hosting matches (particularly those with lower upstream bandwidth) to more reliably find and connect to quality hosts via the match-making process – resulting in less lag and more fun. This change is being rolled out today and will be available worldwide.

For players who haven’t been experienced lag, we’ll still support 8v8 on all maps via a new ‘Big Teams’ configuration in Freeplay, and through custom settings in Private matches. There is no download required for this update and it will be available automatically the next time you log in to play Brink and launch either campaign or standard Freeplay matches. This should allow players new to the Ark as well as veterans to find quality matches suitable to their preferred play style.

We are also releasing an incremental update for PC players via Steam that addresses AI, GPU, and server issues. See the full release notes on Steam. Many of these fixes are being included in the full update for the 360 and PS3 versions.

We would like to thank you for supporting Brink and for your continued feedback. To show our appreciation for your support of Brink, we will be making the first DLC for Brink available for free when it is released. This DLC is planned for June and will offer additional maps and new content for players. We’ll continue to provide announcements about the next title update, as well as the first DLC release as that information becomes available.

- Splash Damage & Bethesda

sauce

 

[Q-BZ]

^^ I like that.

 

[Absalom]

Good luck making that 'free' DLC actually free on Xbox Live, SD.

 

[Mr Jim Brown]

I would love if the new patch fixes all the incredibly ridiculous and unforgivable problems in this game. I'm really pulling for the dev team to come through, because I desperately want to enjoy what this game could have been....


....but I have my doubbts.

 

[krameriffic]

Am I the only person somewhat perturbed by the wording in their official statement "lag issues some players have reported they are experiencing". It sounds like courtroom speak. "Allegedly, our game is lagging for these people..." What's wrong with "lag issues players are experiencing"? So much of the politically correct boilerplate bullshit that comes out of these companies pisses me off, like when they say they are "investigating an issue". Don't investigate the issue, fix it, goddamnit.

 

[mas]

well yea it's the job of pr to shift the blame as much as possible. every widespread problem is reduced to isolated incidents, every common bug is rare, we can't really expect them to admit their fuckups. and I'm not going to take the prospect of free dlc as any real consolation, it can only mean one of 2 things:

- they planned to update with free content and want to make it seem like a favor
- they planned to charge for everything and realised that sales would suck

either way I don't like when they use content as leverage. it's like saying that broken releases are ok, and we will only finish the game when we have your money. I don't want the bullshit fan service of "showing appreciation", a simple choice of words could seperate plans for patching and plans for new content, but they chose to use it in this way. if they're worried about losing prospective buyers from a bad launch, then they shouldn't release games before they're done.

 

[Disposed]

PR, why take responsibility when you can hire someone to place the blame elsewhere!

 

[x_MaGiuS_x]

Back with some opinions.

- This game is nothing like TF2, at least as far as the gunplay is concerned. I can actually kill people in Brink. (Not an indictment of TF2, I probably just suck at it)

- This game is worthless unless playing online with real people. I appreciate their efforts to seemlessly blend the SP and MP aspects of the game but the AI teammates are awful when playing alone.

- MP with a good group of people is a blast but only if you have done some challenges first. Without the better guns unlocked by the challenges it will be tough going.

- The lack of proper Eyefinity and Crossfire support needs addressing quickly. I havent had to disable crossfire (don't know why it works for me) but Brink loads mirrored across all three screens until you disable then reenable the Eyefinity display group with the game running. It only takes a minute but is pretty lame considering I have been playing old games like Titan's Quest in 5760x1200 with no problems.

- Despite the many weapons, they all have the same attachments and feel very similiar, except for the 2 shotguns, nade launcher and miniguns. Enemies seem to die faster from an assault rifle or smg than the miniguns, which makes no sense to me.

- Being the heavy class doesn't seem to be the advantage it should be. My best games have been as a light body type. I dont seem to die any faster and the increased mobility is amazing.

 

[Q-BZ]

^^ I pretty much agree with all of that. Everyone's saying the same things: Sameness. Blandness. Lack of variety.

 

[rtd]

^^ I pretty much agree with all of that. Everyone's saying the same things: Sameness. Blandness. Lack of variety.

he said nothing about that other than guns were similar

and imo the guns are quite different.

 

[mak10z]

so, My question is:
Is it better than Action Quake 2?

 

[mas]

^^ I pretty much agree with all of that. Everyone's saying the same things: Sameness. Blandness. Lack of variety.

regardless of functional problems in the game, if you find a lack of variety then it's because you don't like the game, not because everything is actually the same. it might seem that way if you get bored of it before you ever get past level 10, but if you stick with it you'll find that the more toys you have, the deeper the gameplay gets. besides the light/medium/heavy builds, each class has enough abilities to suit any style of play.

the only boring part imo is level design, these maps just suck. which has nothing to do with mechanics, just their lack of will/imagination to build a series of obstacles and objectives around these features. this is a platform problem same as tf2, where the game starts out with cramped shitty maps so they can sell to the console, whether or not it takes off in the same way will depend on what they do with it after. if they don't improve on the map pool or put out some dev tools right quick, this game could be forgotten in months.

once they get those bugs sorted and that first round of new maps come out, we'll see if this is was just a premature release or a proper cash grab.

 

[krameriffic]

regardless of functional problems in the game, if you find a lack of variety then it's because you don't like the game, not because everything is actually the same. it might seem that way if you get bored of it before you ever get past level 10, but if you stick with it you'll find that the more toys you have, the deeper the gameplay gets. besides the light/medium/heavy builds, each class has enough abilities to suit any style of play.

the only boring part imo is level design, these maps just suck. which has nothing to do with mechanics, just their lack of will/imagination to build a series of obstacles and objectives around these features. this is a platform problem same as tf2, where the game starts out with cramped shitty maps so they can sell to the console, whether or not it takes off in the same way will depend on what they do with it after. if they don't improve on the map pool or put out some dev tools right quick, this game could be forgotten in months.

once they get those bugs sorted and that first round of new maps come out, we'll see if this is was just a premature release or a proper cash grab.

I find that most of the ancillary mechanics of the classes are next-to-pointless or pointless. The health buffing, damage buffing and ammo packs work fine, but the things that get bound to the 3, 4 and 5 keys are just terrible. The engineer's sentry guns suck, the land mines are weak, the kevlar vests provide almost no extra protection. The medic's metabolism, speed and adrenaline buffs just suck as well. The operatives caltrop and sticky grenades are just pointless gimmicks. Disguising takes too long and is almost universally worthless since you can't really inflict huge damage from behind enemy lines and you can't do anything while still disguised.

That's why it feels bland to me: I've specialized mostly in engineer and medic, but it still plays exactly the same as a soldier and operative. I just run in and shoot people and it works just as well as any class. The only reason to switch around is based on the current main objective. That's the only thing that really differentiates the classes to any significant degree. Sure, I can revive myself once every 2 minutes or so as a medic and I always have my own damage buffed as an engineer, but compare to to playing a medic versus playing an engineer in TF2. That game has class differentiation. It feels like a totally different game as each class. This game is just a slight variation on the same core gameplay as each class.

 

[rtd]

I find that most of the ancillary mechanics of the classes are next-to-pointless or pointless. The health buffing, damage buffing and ammo packs work fine, but the things that get bound to the 3, 4 and 5 keys are just terrible. The engineer's sentry guns suck, the land mines are weak, the kevlar vests provide almost no extra protection. The medic's metabolism, speed and adrenaline buffs just suck as well. The operatives caltrop and sticky grenades are just pointless gimmicks. Disguising takes too long and is almost universally worthless since you can't really inflict huge damage from behind enemy lines and you can't do anything while still disguised.

That's why it feels bland to me: I've specialized mostly in engineer and medic, but it still plays exactly the same as a soldier and operative. I just run in and shoot people and it works just as well as any class. The only reason to switch around is based on the current main objective. That's the only thing that really differentiates the classes to any significant degree. Sure, I can revive myself once every 2 minutes or so as a medic and I always have my own damage buffed as an engineer, but compare to to playing a medic versus playing an engineer in TF2. That game has class differentiation. It feels like a totally different game as each class. This game is just a slight variation on the same core gameplay as each class.

Sorry, you are doing it wrong. Some of these things you mention are so effective they are talking about removing them from competitive play. You probably should experiment with them a little more and figure out how they do help.

 

[TheBlueChanell]

Am I the only person somewhat perturbed by the wording in their official statement "lag issues some players have reported they are experiencing". It sounds like courtroom speak. "Allegedly, our game is lagging for these people..." What's wrong with "lag issues players are experiencing"? So much of the politically correct boilerplate bullshit that comes out of these companies pisses me off, like when they say they are "investigating an issue". Don't investigate the issue, fix it, goddamnit.

Probably. Theres also a hint of bitterness in there.

In order to fix most issues they need to be replicated first. This is where the "investigation" comes into play. Im sure theyd love to snap their fingers and resolve issues to suit you but thats not how bug fixing works.

Some players, not all. They arent going to come out and say their shits broken for everyone because thats bad and most likely not true.

 

[krameriffic]

Sorry, you are doing it wrong. Some of these things you mention are so effective they are talking about removing them from competitive play. You probably should experiment with them a little more and figure out how they do help.

I'm doing just fine in every game, most likely considerably better than you. Complaining about things being ineffective is different from complaining about sucking at the game. It's more like asking for buffs for things because you don't use them, not because you need them.

Competitive play you say? Somehow, I don't see it happening in this game.

 

[rtd]

I'm doing just fine in every game, most likely considerably better than you. Complaining about things being ineffective is different from complaining about sucking at the game. It's more like asking for buffs for things because you don't use them, not because you need them.

Competitive play you say? Somehow, I don't see it happening in this game.

There are already cash prizes from CSN and ESL. How long it will maintain a community is up to the devs. I HIGHLY doubt you would ever do considerably better than me... better maybe but considerably would be very very unlikely. I'll take paypal wagers tho. The only thing in your rant that is true is the operatives are lackluster however caltrops when used properly are very nice. How can you not see adrenaline chains on planters and defuses being good?

 

[Modred189]

I'm doing just fine in every game, most likely considerably better than you. Complaining about things being ineffective is different from complaining about sucking at the game. It's more like asking for buffs for things because you don't use them, not because you need them.

Competitive play you say? Somehow, I don't see it happening in this game.

There are already cash prizes from CSN and ESL. How long it will maintain a community is up to the devs. I HIGHLY doubt you would ever do considerably better than me... better maybe but considerably would be very very unlikely. I'll take paypal wagers tho. The only thing in your rant that is true is the operatives are lackluster however caltrops when used properly are very nice. How can you not see adrenaline chains on planters and defuses being good?

No, mine is bigger.

 

[rtd]

No, mine is bigger.

I never said it wasn't but it isn't likely that it's THAT MUCH bigger. at least I'm realistic. I simply pointed out that he wasn't really thinking of HOW to use the abilities in a TEAM environment and only thinking of how it pertains to himself. His language shows that he was only thinking of himself anyway "self res/buff my dmg"

 

[htpc_user]

Back with some opinions.

- This game is nothing like TF2, at least as far as the gunplay is concerned. I can actually kill people in Brink. (Not an indictment of TF2, I probably just suck at it)

- This game is worthless unless playing online with real people. I appreciate their efforts to seemlessly blend the SP and MP aspects of the game but the AI teammates are awful when playing alone.

- MP with a good group of people is a blast but only if you have done some challenges first. Without the better guns unlocked by the challenges it will be tough going.

- The lack of proper Eyefinity and Crossfire support needs addressing quickly. I havent had to disable crossfire (don't know why it works for me) but Brink loads mirrored across all three screens until you disable then reenable the Eyefinity display group with the game running. It only takes a minute but is pretty lame considering I have been playing old games like Titan's Quest in 5760x1200 with no problems.

- Despite the many weapons, they all have the same attachments and feel very similiar, except for the 2 shotguns, nade launcher and miniguns. Enemies seem to die faster from an assault rifle or smg than the miniguns, which makes no sense to me.

- Being the heavy class doesn't seem to be the advantage it should be. My best games have been as a light body type. I dont seem to die any faster and the increased mobility is amazing.

If you can't kill people in TF2 then something is wrong. I've found out that I am not a very good online multiplayer person, but I do OK in TF2. In fact, I have discovered that I really like playing CP_Coldfront, and I usually have more kills than deaths on that map. One of the reasons that I like TF2 so much is that it seems anyone can jump on and feel good about what they're doing. As opposed to when I play BC2 online, and I get killed as soon as I come out of spawn.

I read where people were comparing Brink to TF2, and I watched a video Saturday. The first thing that came to my mind was TF2. Some of the characters or style definitely reminds me of it, but I can't really speak for the gameplay.

 

[Modred189]

I never said it wasn't but it isn't likely that it's THAT MUCH bigger. at least I'm realistic. I simply pointed out that he wasn't really thinking of HOW to use the abilities in a TEAM environment and only thinking of how it pertains to himself. His language shows that he was only thinking of himself anyway "self res/buff my dmg"

ROFL. Well said!
That being said, my BIGGEST gripe with the game is medics that run past me, dead on the ground. Unless its a VIP escort map, and the VIp is nearby (in which case I understand holding onto that energy), that's a wasted medic, and wasted energy.

 

[Mr Jim Brown]

So the difficult in the challenges is scaled to your rank (i think, could be your level). I about threw my controller across the room after 20+ attempts to beat "be more objective" on 2 stars. started a new character and breezed right through all the challenges.

If theyre gonna scale something, they shouldnt expect me to be superhuman just because I have advanced a few ranks.

 

[Bdonedge]

I played this game for like 3 hours today. I finally got it working correctly with my ATI cards with drivers 11.2 (Unfortunately, none of my other god damn games run well with 11.2, but thats another story). I have mixed feelings but I am having fun for sure. I feel like others kill me more than I kill them, as if the shotguns are OVER FUCKING POWERED. I really wish they would balance the guns a little more.

 

[Silus]

Having spent more time with the game, here is my review of it:

First of all performance. As a NVIDIA card user, I have absolutely no problems with performance in this game. It runs smoothly maxed out @ 1920x1080. I also do not feel that the game is capped in single player mode, as I've read before. Online mode is perfectly playable.

Now on to the game itself:

Character customization: Absolutely brilliant! Great care went into this. The menus for this feature are very fluid and polished, with lots of options to create a character that will please almost everyone. 10/10

Gameplay: I will use Quake Wars to compare with Brink, both being very team play oriented.
The combat is more visceral in Brink, mostly because of how smaller the maps are, when compared to Quake Wars. In Quake Wars the combat could also be quite visceral, but mostly in choking points where an objective can be completed. In Brink, since the maps are smaller, combat is much more focused and I find the weapons very effective.
I don't like the achievements scheme to get abilities in Brink. In Quake Wars an engineer already has all "abilities" available and can build everything he needs from the start. Fortunately in Brink, these abilities are easily unlocked, but there was no need for this.
I have yet to play every class (I didn't play Operative yet), but the classes seem balanced. As always my favorite is the engineer or soldier (same as in Quake Wars). The SMART system is ok. I don't think it brings that much to gameplay. It's more of a gimmick, but it's great that they made all those animations to make it look more real. 8/10

Map Design: I find it very cool, although the maps are much smaller than in Quake Wars. I would prefer to see bigger maps in the future (my favorite thus far is Container City because it's the largest I've played yet), but they are very well designed and intuitive. Having smaller areas, the maps can get quite crowded and thus the decision to not have 16 v 16 maps was clearly a design one and I think it makes sense. 8/10

Graphics. Amazing for a id Tech 4 engine! I really don't see what the fuss was about for the graphics in Brink. They are very, very good! The best looking id Tech 4 made! 9/10

Audio: Ok! Never had problems of "no audio" as some described, but I did notice that the positional audio isn't very good. Sometimes I seem to get some "mono" points (especially when I get knocked to the ground, by some melee attack). Seems to be something intentional , but I don't really like it. The weapon sounds are great and voice acting is very good. 7/10

Overall: 8/ 10. Quite fun to play and it rewards team play, which is something I like a lot. It has some flaws, but the goods outweigh the bads IMO. It's certainly not a game for those that like to play deathmatch or other regular online modes, but then again, so was Quake Wars. Comparing both, I still prefer Quake Wars in gameplay. Some decisions for the classes in Brink don't really make sense (especially the unlocking abilities), but overall Brink is very enjoyable and a solid addition to the lacking genre of team based games.

 

[grendel240sx]

Nice review, pretty much the same way I feel. The team based gameplay is such a nice change from COD4/W@W.

I have an ATI 6950 and haven't had any of the issues ATI users are reporting. Seems a lot of issues came from the 4xx0 series tho.

 

[Draax]

Nice review, pretty much the same way I feel. The team based gameplay is such a nice change from COD4/W@W.

I have an ATI 6950 and haven't had any of the issues ATI users are reporting. Seems a lot of issues came from the 4xx0 series tho.

I have 6950s in crossfire (6970mod) and I haven't had any problems either. After reading the forums I was concerned I would have problerms, but I was surprised when I didn't.

 

[Q-BZ]

<snip>

Overall: 8/ 10. Quite fun to play and it rewards team play, which is something I like a lot. It has some flaws, but the goods outweigh the bads IMO. It's certainly not a game for those that like to play deathmatch or other regular online modes, but then again, so was Quake Wars. Comparing both, I still prefer Quake Wars in gameplay. Some decisions for the classes in Brink don't really make sense (especially the unlocking abilities), but overall Brink is very enjoyable and a solid addition to the lacking genre of team based games.

I'm more or less with you about this game although I think you're more enthusiastic in general than I am and I'm still hovering around the 7.5/10 mark overall instead of an 8/10.

I find that when I play I'm getting a little more into it each time I do so maybe that's a good sign and maybe I'll end up going to 8/10 myself before it's all said and done. Online is the only way to play this thing otherwise don't bother. This is strictly an online only game as far as I'm concerned.

I find that I'm using this game as an ideal "pick up and play something quick in between other games" and that's kind of nice. We'll see if it goes past that for me or not.

There's certainly a lot of potential here and I do agree with you that it's clear in some areas, like customization screens, that a lot of care and attention to detail went into it.

 

[grendel240sx]

I have 6950s in crossfire (6970mod) and I haven't had any problems either. After reading the forums I was concerned I would have problerms, but I was surprised when I didn't.

Yea I have mine crossfire as well, haven't done the 6970 mod yet tho. I was reading that disabling crossfire made Brink run smoother, but I didn't notice any difference either way.

Running a custom config that disabled everything gave the best performance, and the patches they released the other day boosted that a bit more.

Never had the blue tint/grid lines tho.

 

[Silus]

Here are some fun facts about Brink:

http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/12265/fun-brink-stats-released

* Number of ways to die &#8211; 45
* Lines of dialogue &#8211; 26,000
* Individual weapon sounds &#8211; 4,500
* Voice Packs &#8211; 8
* Minutes of Music &#8211; 60
* Weapon/attachment combinations (not counting Resistance variations or pre-order content) &#8211; 4963
* Unique Security Characters (not counting minor tint variations or body types) &#8211; 4,530,240
* Unique Security Characters (not counting minor tint variations but including body types) &#8211; 13,590,720
* Unique Security Characters (including minor tint variations, but not body types) &#8211; 15,775,119,360,000,000
* Unique Security Characters (including minor tint variations and body types)- 47,325,358,080,000,000
* Unique Resistance Characters (not counting minor tint variations or body types) &#8211; 4,530,240
* Unique Resistance Characters (not counting minor tint variations but including body types) &#8211; * 13,590,720
* Unique Resistance Characters (including minor tint variations, but not body types) &#8211; 18,307,441,152,000,000
* Unique Resistance Characters (including minor tint variations and body types) &#8211; 54,922,323,456,000,000
* Total Unique Characters (including minor tint variations and body types &#8211; 102,247,681,536,000,000

Damn...102,247,681,536,000,000 unique characters (even if also including the minor color variations) That's got to be the most customizable character creation system ever, going by variations alone...

 

[Q-BZ]

Damn...102,247,681,536,000,000 unique characters (even if also including the minor color variations) That's got to be the most customizable character creation system ever, going by variations alone...

Might be at that rate.

 

[Silus]

Might be at that rate.

Well, even without tint variations and body types, there are over 9 million unique characters (security + resistance)

 

[Domingo]

...however due to the nature of the game, you're unlikely to notice any more than like 7-8 of the 102 zillion characters. It's one of those things that sounds like a great bullet point, but means so little in-game. You never really see any details on anyone but your main guy beyond hats, masks, and maybe some elements of their outfit.

I'm getting to the point that I'm kinda bored and I'm only at level 8. I've completed all but 2 (both resistance and defense) at least once and I'm not really motivated to play a whole lot more.
Somewhere they really should've had the missions be more varied.

 

[Draax]

Is there a way to set your default primary and secondary gun choice? It is annoying to have to run to a command post and switch guns every time I join a game.

 

[Modred189]

Is there a way to set your default primary and secondary gun choice? It is annoying to have to run to a command post and switch guns every time I join a game.

Yea, go into the haracter customization screen and make sure the little dimple on the top left of the weapon you want to be your first choice is filled in. Then hit the Black square with the handgun init to choose your default 2ndary weapon.


On a side note, how do you attempt "Be More Objective" on two stars? I keep beating it over and over and it does not register the 2star awards

 

[Draax]

On a side note, how do you attempt "Be More Objective" on two stars? I keep beating it over and over and it does not register the 2star awards

Hmm ... I just did each challenge mode twice to get all the rewards. I thought it automatically increased difficulty each time you ran it.

 

[Modred189]

Hmm ... I just did each challenge mode twice to get all the rewards. I thought it automatically increased difficulty each time you ran it.

Hrm... did you do them all in a row (i.e. "be more objective" three times in a row?)

 

[Mr Jim Brown]

Yea, go into the haracter customization screen and make sure the little dimple on the top left of the weapon you want to be your first choice is filled in. Then hit the Black square with the handgun init to choose your default 2ndary weapon.


On a side note, how do you attempt "Be More Objective" on two stars? I keep beating it over and over and it does not register the 2star awards

The game will only reward stars if you attempt the challenges solo. If you do them with other players youll notice that you earn no stars, no rewards, and no unlocks.