Tribes: Vengence Open Beta (56k no)

[weezer]

Its okay but I liked the other tribes better. It has some nasty bugs and the vehicles need to be tweaked. Runs decently on my 1.8ghz p4 / g4 4400 ti

1024x768 high detail no aa/af

lovely grass here: (bug in game not the capture...)

 

[JonnyK]

very fun game in my opinion. i like it better than UT2k4. needs a lot more maps though. and maybe if they copy onslaught, hold the point, type mode from ut it would be good too. hopefully retail will take care of the maps at least.

 

[Tazman2]

Vehicles "tweaked" is a understatement...

 

[Staples]

The vehicle control is tribes has always sucked. No surprise with this one. Yeah, the game sure has some bugs but at least it runs stable unlike T2.

 

[ninethreeeleven]

How are your guys load times. It seems to take about 1.5 mins just to get to the main screen after I click the icon, then about the same amount of time to get into the game after I click on the desired server. I know this computer I am on is not the quickest (I wont even post the stats, let me just say its a Dell) but seriously is there a way to get the times down?

(NOTE: I'm almost done building my new computer, for reasons like this)

 

[forcemac101]

I like what I saw, more in line with T1 than T2. Althought there are a few things I don't like:

1. Vehicle Control (especialy the ground units) needs to be reworked
2. The 3 weapon limit makes this game kinda one dimensional-Heavy Armor carriess the same amount as Light? WTF?
3. Some of the weapons are down right worthless: Sniper Rifle has no power, the chain gun spread is like a shot gun, and weak at that. The blaster is worthless, as is the buckler. The disc is too powerful. The rocket launcher that launches 6 rockets and suppossedly is guidable, is only good for a ground base'd splash damage. The mortar and grenade launcher are about the same as T1. So even though you are limited, to 3 weapons, it seems that many of weapons pretty much elimnate themselves, making the game pretty one dimensional.
4. I want my health pack back...I can't say how many times that last little infusion of health helped you go the extra distance during an engagement.
5. Pretty much no more Energy managment...repair pack doesn use energy, and is automatic (i.e. you no longer have to have it as your weapon).it passively heals you, but way to slow...I'd rather whip it out and fix myself while hiding for cover.....I don't know if I like that....I suppose its ok...I didn't try out the shield...

Pretty much I can live its flaws, except for the vehicles, and weapons....everything else I will have to get used to.

 

[FiZ]

Fun stuff, and it runs oh so much better than T2 did (on the top of the line system I had when it was released). I have 4xAA and 8xAF at 1024x768 without hiccups - everything on High except the ones that need to be ultra for PS 2.0. I only played it for about an hour and never really got into T1, but really enjoyable overall. Wish I had more time between studying to really play the shit out of it, but I don't .

 

[Luthorcrow]

I didn't play T1 or T2 but my overall impression was that add jetpacks to UT2004 and there would be no point to Tribes.

List of Items to Fix
1 -I have to port foward on my hardware firewall to get the game to load. No other MP has every required me to make adjustments to the rules on my FW.

2 - The voice taunts are weak. They sound weak and generally sound silly.

3 - Improve the vehicles or dump them. They controll poorly and are too vunerable. As it is, its safer to use the jet pack.

4 - Needs music. UT series has spoiled on the good use of music in MP gamers. A game like this needs it.

Hopefully they fix the issues in beta because otherwise, I will set this one out.

 

[defiant]

I didn't play T1 or T2 but my overall impression was that add jetpacks to UT2004 and there would be no point to Tribes.

Except for the fact that tribes came out before UT

 

[weezer]

How are your guys load times. It seems to take about 1.5 mins just to get to the main screen after I click the icon, then about the same amount of time to get into the game after I click on the desired server. I know this computer I am on is not the quickest (I wont even post the stats, let me just say its a Dell) but seriously is there a way to get the times down?

(NOTE: I'm almost done building my new computer, for reasons like this)

maybe half that for me when i load. depends on map though

 

[ninethreeeleven]

Hopefully someone involved in the making of the final cut comes in here and reads the constructive criticism, because I agree with most of it.

1. Give another gun to the Heavy Armor, or at least add another gun that is strictly heavy.
2. Fix vehicle controls, they are worthless.
3. Rockets are useless unless your shooting at a parked vehicle. Or as ground fire, they cannot follow the lead at all. Make them a bit more leinent on thier direction, more "heat seeking" when you have the enemy dead in the crosshairs.
4. I feel that alot of the weapons have grown weaker, especially the sniper rifle. That thing is pointless, unless your shooting at someone not moving and hit them in the head.
5. Where the hell are the mines? I see them on the map (or atleast what I think are mines) but there is no control (button) for them or place to buy them in the inventory (ala Tribes 1)
6. I dont know about you guys but I liked the variety of characters you could be, rather than light / medium / heavy armor.

I gotta get my new system built, so I can get playing this more and offer a better analysis, right now I think (I hope) the majority of my problems are hardware related, not game related.

 

[DaVisionz]

I didn't play T1 or T2 but my overall impression was that add jetpacks to UT2004 and there would be no point to Tribes.

its called low gravity, no need for jetpacks... done.

 

[dderidex]

I didn't play T1 or T2 but my overall impression was that add jetpacks to UT2004 and there would be no point to Tribes.

Well, T1 and T2 had quite a bit more emphasis on team-play. In fact, T2 especially was quite unwinnable if one team worked together and the other didn't. T:V stripped away all that to have a 'faster' more 'n00b friendly' game, and essentially ended up with UT2K4 with jetpacks instead of a new 'Tribes' game. But, then, that's what they were designing for, so, I guess...mission accomplished?

List of Items to Fix
1 -I have to port foward on my hardware firewall to get the game to load. No other MP has every required me to make adjustments to the rules on my FW.

That's odd, I didn't. Are you hosting?

2 - The voice taunts are weak. They sound weak and generally sound silly.

Not sure what to make of that. Same voice taunts the rest of the series had. You grow to prefer them over the lame-ass exaggerated UT taunts, honestly.

3 - Improve the vehicles or dump them. They controll poorly and are too vunerable. As it is, its safer to use the jet pack.

Vehicles in this game WAY better than the rest of the series. I actually like 'em. Too vulnerable, true, but the control on them is finally right.

4 - Needs music. UT series has spoiled on the good use of music in MP gamers. A game like this needs it.

All previous Tribes games had music, T2s was pretty good, so I'm sure the 'retail' version of this will - especially given as it has a single-player campaign in it. They probably just left it out of the beta to keep the size down.

its called low gravity, no need for jetpacks... done.

Go away and come back when you've actually PLAYED the game. Jetpacks in Tribes are *nothing* like low gravity in UT. Not even remotely similar.

1. Give another gun to the Heavy Armor, or at least add another gun that is strictly heavy

Agreed.

4. I feel that alot of the weapons have grown weaker, especially the sniper rifle. That thing is pointless, unless your shooting at someone not moving and hit them in the head.

Nah, it seems about the same as T1 and T2. Headshots kill, others not so much, but it still hurts like hell. It's worse for the bag guy now, though, because you can't carry health kits with you now, and you don't have a repair gun backpack.

5. Where the hell are the mines? I see them on the map (or atleast what I think are mines) but there is no control (button) for them or place to buy them in the inventory (ala Tribes 1)

If they are on the map, they are in dispensers in the base, just like the rest of the deployables.

 

[Luthorcrow]

I am aware that UT series has ripped of the Tribe series. I actually debated including that in my first post. That said the student has surpassed its master. Even if TV turns out to be a better game I think it is safe to say it will barely dent the domiance of the UT series.

No, I am not hosting but until I opened by ports all I got was a black screen. I read on the support forums that was a solution.

The exaggerate taunts of UT fit the style of that game perfectly. The ones in Tribe sound silly. Sort of like Jay Leno attempting to act tuff. If these were in the prior games, well there is not point on holding on to a bad thing. I suppose I could talerate them more if the voice acting wasn't subpar. Voice acting in games has come a long way so the liklihood that the old but goody has not molded is low.

Overally, though I have to say that with the PS2.0 activated the graphics aren't bad. It just feels like it needs more work before going gold. I am curious how series the developer is or whether they will simple put a ribbon it and ship it. They way the Far Cry MP team did.

So of the folks that have been in the beta longer how often have they patched it? Do they sim to be responding to feedback?

 

[FroDoh]

Ok...so...where's the command map?
Targetting laser?
Vehicle pads?
Where are all the things that I loved about Tribes?
Where's my medkit? If the enemy has one...why doesn't he use it before he dies?
Where are my personal mines?
Why can't I carry ammo for every weapon, just 'cause I want to?
Why is it so dumbed down that your repair pack repairs everything around you...but you can't choose to repair yourself, except for that god-awfully slow auto-repair?
Where's the energy management? Packs have seperate energy bars? WTF? And once you start to use them you can't stop?
Gah! Why are they making it so bloody simple?
Where's the honest-to-god inventory station that has a nice point and click and choose whatever you want interface from T1?
Where did all the good things go?
Wtf is this rollerskating instead of skiing?

That said...things I have come to like:
Buckler body-checking.
...
yea.

 

[oldpablo]

I have to say I'm disappointed. I only played for about 5-10 minutes, but it seemed to me that all that was Tribes was gone. Sure the vehicles were there, the jetpacks, the radar, but stuff wasn't used the same way. Strategy took a backseat it seems. Tribes's major downfall to more popularity was its high learning curve, but thats what made it Tribes. Once you learned all the stuff, there were so many ways to do things. I'm gonna keep playing because I'm hoping either I didn't get the full exposure, it being beta means it will get a lot better, or maybe I'll just put T2 back on... And the voices downright suck.

 

[LordJezo]

Everytime I play I can't stop thinking about how if someone would just ad jetpacks to ut2k4 you would have a better game then this.

Actually, the whole thing could be done easily by some modders in ut.

 

[Micas]

I used to play T1 and a LOT of T2. I tried Vengeance for a couple of hours last night. I don't care for the UI. T2 seemed more intuitive to me. Granted I didn't read any documentation before playing, but I've always thought that if a game had a great UI, you wouldn't need to. I also don't like the maps. T2 seemed to have maps that created some really neat situations.

I used to like to disc when the enemy came down and chaingun when he went up. Chaingun sucks now. I'm not really sure what's going to be the best way to deal with opponents in the air.

I'm playing at 16x12 and the fonts are so small it's barely readable. I thought the days of fonts not scaling were long over.. That's hugely irritating... unless I'm missing some setting to correct that..

I'll read the docs tonight and play some more. I'm really hoping it's fun.. so far I'd give it a B minus...

 

[oldpablo]

Everytime I play I can't stop thinking about how if someone would just ad jetpacks to ut2k4 you would have a better game then this.

Actually, the whole thing could be done easily by some modders in ut.

Did you ever play the original Tribes/T2? It wasn't about fast paced action, it was about outsmarting your opponents. Sneaking into bases and taking down generators, staying outside of radar, coordinating strategic bombing runs with the light cappers coming in behind to snag the flag after everyone got obliterated. It was the beauty of all of the sudden 5 heavy mortar guys get dropshipped on your flank and wade through your base putting the smack down. I love UT2004, but they are two different genres completely.

 

[Staples]

I'm playing at 16x12 and the fonts are so small it's barely readable. I thought the days of fonts not scaling were long over.. That's hugely irritating... unless I'm missing some setting to correct that..

Be sure not to ever play Raven Shield, it is the worst as far as fonts are concerned. If you play 16x12, it is microscopic.

 

[specter554]

You really have to give this game sometime before you can understand it and have fun with it. Even if you have played T1 and T2 before it takes quite a few hours before you get used to the new skiing and weapons.

 

[SilkenRogue]

Did you ever play the original Tribes/T2? It wasn't about fast paced action, it was about outsmarting your opponents. Sneaking into bases and taking down generators, staying outside of radar, coordinating strategic bombing runs with the light cappers coming in behind to snag the flag after everyone got obliterated. It was the beauty of all of the sudden 5 heavy mortar guys get dropshipped on your flank and wade through your base putting the smack down. I love UT2004, but they are two different genres completely.

Seems to me you're the one who didn't play T1

Tribes has ALWAYS been about fast paced action. Tribes 1, after discovery of the ski bug, had incredibly fast gameplay. You can have speed and still have strategy. That said, I also agree that UT and Tribes are totally different animals.

The introduction of Tribes 2 base caused the retiring of many of the greatest tribes players to ever pick up the game, and a lot of grumbling and complaint from those who stayed. I watched as 75% of my Tribes 1 team simply disappeared from the game. Base was slow, boring, and entirely too vehicle dependent.

That's not to say T2 was entirely bad. T2 Classic fixed the physics problem, although vehicles were still not entirely balanced. More of a love-hate relationship depending on the player.

My only problem with T:V so far is that while it has fixed some of the really, really bad things about T2, it has also removed some of the game's innovations and conveniences.

Things like the inventory system - a combination of the multi-pad, no delay inventories of T:V with the ease of T2's loadout selection / quick pack change would have been amazing. Instead it's rather awkward to access the quick loadouts.

The voice chat system has changed yet again, and I'm not sure I like some of the changes. I'll reevaluate that a month from now when I've had time to get used to it.

I strongly disapprove of the lowered weapon # of the medium and heavy armors. The buckler is a pretty cool new toy (for those of you who don't like it, stop shooting it into the ground you retards... it comes back like a boomerang, which it can't do if you've lodged it in the soil), but I hate having to choose between it and say... the grenade launcher. The disc and chaingun are pretty much required in my flag D loadouts, which leaves me only one other weapon - typically the grenade launcher for chasing.

Vehicles are pretty sucky - they just don't fit in. Their power looks like it fits more with the old T2 gameplay, but their speed and respawn times say "Hey, we just put this in to placate the the people who only play in vehicles". Which means ultimately they don't end up much fun to pilot or to fight against. Two thumbs down across the board, except for the Rover which can be amazingly fun to drive. Either take these things out or give them a purpose and some enjoyment to play.

Overall I'm very pleased with the game, but there are still some major changes that need to be made.

 

[dderidex]

I think the thing that I'm least happy with is the new 'deployables' system. Can only carry 1 'deployable' at a time (mines count), and each one deploys at a given station in a base rather than being bought at an inventory station! Same deal with the vehicles - each pad 'spawns' only one kind of vehicle, and there is SUCH a long delay between them.

I think vehicles were a pretty big part of Tribes from day 1. At the very least, repeated transport runs, when loaded down with heavies, was a key element to any offensive strategy. Gone, now!

And I definately don't like having only 3 weapons in both a heavy OR light armor. Irritating!

I dunno, after further reflection, I'd say T1 was the best of the series, T2 was almost as good, but fell short, T:V just doesn't even compare. It's UT2K4 with jetpacks. Not my bag.

 

[SilkenRogue]

I think vehicles were a pretty big part of Tribes from day 1. At the very least, repeated transport runs, when loaded down with heavies, was a key element to any offensive strategy. Gone, now!

You don't remember T1 very well, do you? A lot of the popular T1 maps didn't even have vehicle pads (like stonehenge, dangerous crossing), and on the popular maps that DID have them (like Raindance) the vehicle pad was destroyed within 15 seconds of map start, and never came back up unless the opposing team was retarded.

Vehicles played VERY little part even in T1 pubbing, and pretty much zero part in competition.

I dunno, after further reflection, I'd say T1 was the best of the series, T2 was almost as good, but fell short, T:V just doesn't even compare. It's UT2K4 with jetpacks. Not my bag

Time clouds all memories, and fond memories grow fonder. I had the most fun in T1 myself, but that was because the game was so unique at the time. T:V has a lot to offer if you open yourself to the positive sides of the game, and it is nothing like UT with jetpacks. And don't forget that it's still a beta... things can still change.

I also have no doubt that there will be some impressive vehicle oriented mods for T:V, and at least a few offer a wider weapon variety with greater loadout capacity. I'll stick with competition play in base, but I think mods will be as much fun in T:V as they were in T1.

 

[SilkenRogue]

I think the thing that I'm least happy with is the new 'deployables' system. Can only carry 1 'deployable' at a time (mines count), and each one deploys at a given station in a base rather than being bought at an inventory station! QUOTE]

Deployable system somewhat irritating indeed. I miss my mines badly, especially for the mine disc, but they've alleviated that by making the hand grenades so powerful.

Instead of mine discing a carrier on the stand, now you just toss hand nades and disc him, with pretty much the same effect.

 

[Impact9]

Well I have it on preorder at ebgames but I'm thinking of canceling it. I sure hope they change the graphics they look like ass compared to Tribes 2. I have it maxed out on my system and I'm not impressed in the least. Inventory stations are ok since you can have 4 people using them. But like mentioned before I also hate the individual item stations. The deaths look stupid and the vehicles are cartoonish. Tanks that ski??!? Not to mention the armor look like they were designed by a 6 year old. Jeesh! I'm hoping someone with a 6800 or X800 will post some screen shots soon.

 

[dderidex]

Graphics are a lot like T2, with a few improvements:
* Pixel shaded water. The surface is still reflective, but has much more textures now and looks like, well, water. Ripples, waves, etc.
* Grass and such blows in the 'wind'. Hell, there IS grass this time rather than just hills with green texture on them.
* Higher poly models. Higher resolution textures, too, although much less impressive looking (IE., T2 texture artists 'did more, with less')

You don't remember T1 very well, do you? A lot of the popular T1 maps didn't even have vehicle pads (like stonehenge, dangerous crossing), and on the popular maps that DID have them (like Raindance) the vehicle pad was destroyed within 15 seconds of map start, and never came back up unless the opposing team was retarded.

Hey, now, I actually still have that game installed and play it from time to time. Vehicle pads stay up just fine if you have a decent turret farmer on your team. (Or repair monkey, either way). Just as important to keep the sensors and turrets up as the vehicle pad.

 

[FiZ]

Graphics are a lot like T2, with a few improvements:
* Pixel shaded water. The surface is still reflective, but has much more textures now and looks like, well, water. Ripples, waves, etc.
* Grass and such blows in the 'wind'. Hell, there IS grass this time rather than just hills with green texture on them.
* Higher poly models. Higher resolution textures, too, although much less impressive looking (IE., T2 texture artists 'did more, with less')

Don't forget it doesn't run like shit on new hardware this time around (like T2).

 

[dderidex]

Don't forget it doesn't run like shit on new hardware this time around (like T2).

Runs for fine for me. *cough* Bong cooler powered overclocks *cough*

 

[Staples]

As far as the graphics not looking that great, it uses the same graphic engine as UT2003. UT2003 looks great but it looks like either

1) Epic artists are advised by Sweeny on how to make things look great using the effects of the engine.
2) Epic has better artists (remember, Dynamix was fired and a newer developer was contracted).

Hopefully the game will install on the new system I am getting tomorrow. I can then see for myself if this game looks a ton or just a tad better than T2. I will admit that T2 did look pretty good for its time with all details on however that didn't run well on any system at the time.

 

[oldpablo]

Seems to me you're the one who didn't play T1

Tribes has ALWAYS been about fast paced action. Tribes 1, after discovery of the ski bug, had incredibly fast gameplay. You can have speed and still have strategy. That said, I also agree that UT and Tribes are totally different animals.

The introduction of Tribes 2 base caused the retiring of many of the greatest tribes players to ever pick up the game, and a lot of grumbling and complaint from those who stayed. I watched as 75% of my Tribes 1 team simply disappeared from the game. Base was slow, boring, and entirely too vehicle dependent.

That's not to say T2 was entirely bad. T2 Classic fixed the physics problem, although vehicles were still not entirely balanced. More of a love-hate relationship depending on the player.

My only problem with T:V so far is that while it has fixed some of the really, really bad things about T2, it has also removed some of the game's innovations and conveniences.

Things like the inventory system - a combination of the multi-pad, no delay inventories of T:V with the ease of T2's loadout selection / quick pack change would have been amazing. Instead it's rather awkward to access the quick loadouts.

The voice chat system has changed yet again, and I'm not sure I like some of the changes. I'll reevaluate that a month from now when I've had time to get used to it.

I strongly disapprove of the lowered weapon # of the medium and heavy armors. The buckler is a pretty cool new toy (for those of you who don't like it, stop shooting it into the ground you retards... it comes back like a boomerang, which it can't do if you've lodged it in the soil), but I hate having to choose between it and say... the grenade launcher. The disc and chaingun are pretty much required in my flag D loadouts, which leaves me only one other weapon - typically the grenade launcher for chasing.

Vehicles are pretty sucky - they just don't fit in. Their power looks like it fits more with the old T2 gameplay, but their speed and respawn times say "Hey, we just put this in to placate the the people who only play in vehicles". Which means ultimately they don't end up much fun to pilot or to fight against. Two thumbs down across the board, except for the Rover which can be amazingly fun to drive. Either take these things out or give them a purpose and some enjoyment to play.

Overall I'm very pleased with the game, but there are still some major changes that need to be made.

Let me clarify, fast-paced action wasn't the FOCUS like it is in UT2004. It wasn't designed to be a "sports game" like UT. No matter how fast your team was, the team that strategized and coordinated properly would win. Agreed.

 

[fallguy]

You cant say Tribes was supposed to be like UT, since Tribes was out first. You dont know how they designed it. It was fast from the get-go. Sure, they ment for the vehicles to be used more, but only newbies used them. Aside from the occasional scout D.

edit; How CS players play Tribes: VE. (needs divx)

If you can stand to watch it, its pretty comical. Almost too painful to watch though.

 

[Nix]

I'm really liking it. I have a server up called 9tnclan.com if anyone wants to play!

 

[SilkenRogue]

You cant say Tribes was supposed to be like UT, since Tribes was out first. You dont know how they designed it. It was fast from the get-go. Sure, they ment for the vehicles to be used more, but only newbies used them. Aside from the occasional scout D.

edit; How CS players play Tribes: VE. (needs divx)

If you can stand to watch it, its pretty comical. Almost too painful to watch though.

Ahhh hahhahahhahahahah!

Sadly enough, I'm sure there are quite a few CS players that yet have to figure out how to use their jetpack or to hold down their ski button.