EA™ and DICE™ present™ Battlefield™ 3

[Thrik]

Hah, I didn't even know about the whole HD pack thing until seeing that. Quite an interesting trick, that — giving you higher-resolution textures if you install to the HD. Surprised more games haven't done the same thing by this point (bet they will now though).

To be honest the 360 version looks fairly excellent to me. It looks at least as good as any comparable Call of Duty game from what I've seen (granted Battlefield looks much better in motion than in stills due to its grand scale, that goes for the older PC games too).

Besides, comparing a maxed-out game which stresses the absolute shit out of cutting-edge PCs to the same game running on a console from the mid-2000s and expecting them to match up is kind of daft.

DICE are technical wizards and the Bad Company games looked far from bad on the consoles, so I don't expect Battlefield 3 to suddenly start looking like ass.

[JonCole]

I love the shittalking about Call of Duty games in this thread. Guess we're not so different than other internet forums.

[Patters]

I love the shittalking about Call of Duty games in this thread. Guess we're not so different than other internet forums.

What shit talking?

[JonCole]

What shit talking?

Eh, it's obviously not NeoGAF, but I recall someone saying that COD went off the rails, the implication that COD games don't look very good, and that mixing the COD formula into Battlefield is some kind of fatal mistake.

I guess I'm just kinda generally annoyed with the prevailing idea that DICE can do no wrong with Battlefield games. Well... that, and a feeling I have that people completely disregard COD as a good shooter because it's so well regarded in the mainstream.

[Patters]

Eh, it's obviously not NeoGAF, but I recall someone saying that COD went off the rails, the implication that COD games don't look very good, and that mixing the COD formula into Battlefield is some kind of fatal mistake.

I guess I'm just kinda generally annoyed with the prevailing idea that DICE can do no wrong with Battlefield games. Well... that, and a feeling I have that people completely disregard COD as a good shooter because it's so well regarded in the mainstream.

Thompson said that, and if I remember correctly he was/is big into the franchise, clan play and all that. I'd trust him on this more than other Idle Thumbs members.

DICE have made some mistakes, no one is denying that, Metro is an awful map, one of the worst commercial maps I've played, then release that in both alpha and beta tests. But I'm an optimist about games, sure I get burnt from time to time (BRINK, I'm looking at you) but the constant negativity of so much of the gaming community and press is exactly why I stay away from most of it, with a few exceptions.

Also people not paying attention to the Call of Duty franchise is simple, it hasn't changed in the past 4 years, sure there are small changes and new perks, but each CoD game is essentially the same as the one previous to it, the same reason many gamers disregard sports games (when they actually care about the sport).

[JonCole]

Thompson said that, and if I remember correctly he was/is big into the franchise, clan play and all that. I'd trust him on this more than other Idle Thumbs members.

DICE have made some mistakes, no one is denying that, Metro is an awful map, one of the worst commercial maps I've played, then release that in both alpha and beta tests. But I'm an optimist about games, sure I get burnt from time to time (BRINK, I'm looking at you) but the constant negativity of so much of the gaming community and press is exactly why I stay away from most of it, with a few exceptions.

Also people not paying attention to the Call of Duty franchise is simple, it hasn't changed in the past 4 years, sure there are small changes and new perks, but each CoD game is essentially the same as the one previous to it, the same reason many gamers disregard sports games (when they actually care about the sport).

Yeah, hyperawareness of the press/community response cycle is pretty much the worst. And I can't help but agree with your sentiment about Call of Duty as a franchise... in fact, MW3 is actually throwing out some of the big changes in BLOPS that changed things up a little (diving when hitting the crouch button while running, contracts, etc).

That said, I don't think that a game not evolving in every iteration is necessarily a bad thing. Most American football fans still appreciate Madden despite not changing a lot, and the Assassin's Creed formula hasn't really massively changed between titles to its benefit (in the actual moment to moment gameplay, that is).

[Thompson]

I sent a PM containing my thoughts on Call of Duty to Jon, if he wants he can post it here for everyone else to see, however I figured it might be best to keep things on the down-low. Flame wars are easy to start.

[Lu]

I have never seen a flame war on this forum based on a video game disagreement.

[JonCole]

I'd rather back out than start a flame war, hah. Very little in video games are worth getting truly upset about, especially in this forum where we all seem to keep an open mind and whatnot.

[Nappi]

Very little in video games are worth getting truly upset about, especially in this forum where we all seem to keep an open mind and whatnot.

Except for the best gaming platform, of course!

In all seriousness, I agree with you. Huge corporations can take care of themselves just fine, so there is no point in getting involved. This doesn't mean that you can't have strong (and voiced) opinions one way or another, of course.

[toblix]

This space reserved for hilarious meta-meta-meta post.

[JonCole]

The first reviews are starting to come out -

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/24/battlefield-3-review-squad-score-bonus/

Despite my misgivings and poor experience in the beta, I'm thinking about buying this. I'm not particularly excited about single-player since it seems like it sucks, but the multiplayer might be worth checking out for a couple weeks. I'd really like to get a feel for this game/franchise so I can more fairly compare it to COD, and this seems like the game to do that.

I have plenty of Amazon credit and preordering through them gives you a $20 promotional credit toward another game, so I might end up with just as much credit as I started with if I trade it back in.

[Lu]

Is it overly hypocritical of me if I don't get it in large part because of Origin?

[Sno]

So BF3 is good, then?

Is it wrong to be disappointed in the game's apparent impending success solely for the reason that I selfishly want to see chaos and entertaining stories emerge from EA's two big gambles?

I guess there's still TOR. That could be bad, right?

Anyways, whatever. I will go on not caring about BF3. I never really liked the series.

[Sno]

Is it overly hypocritical of me if I don't get it in large part because of Origin?

I'm not sure what you've said or done that would make it hypocritical, but i'm going to say no, it absolutely isn't. Fuck Origin.

[Thrik]

Despite my misgivings and poor experience in the beta, I'm thinking about buying this. I'm not particularly excited about single-player since it seems like it sucks, but the multiplayer might be worth checking out for a couple weeks. I'd really like to get a feel for this game/franchise so I can more fairly compare it to COD, and this seems like the game to do that.

I don't like to exaggerate or stir hype, but I can honestly say Battlefield 2 and 2142 provided the best multiplayer I've ever experienced (and my experience is considerable). Anyone who enjoys team-orientated multiplayer would be nuts to not enjoy it and I personally got years out of the last games such was the their depth and scale, never mind weeks.

[JonCole]

... wow, without the HD texture pack the 360 version looks like an Xbox/PS2 game.

DDciDLweCso

[Thrik]

Haha, it's crazy how much older lower-resolution textures make a game look — a much bigger factor than polies or anything else.

[Sno]

Haha, it's crazy how much older lower-resolution textures make a game look — a much bigger factor than polies or anything else.

Except for that the game, without the pack, is also clearly using much lower-detail models.

[elmuerte]

That's because it's not just textures, but also displacement maps.

[Lu]

Don't you mean normal maps/parallax mapping or do they really use displacement maps in BF3?

edit: A quick google later and I learned that parallax maps are also called virtual displacement maps. QUESTION ANSWERED. (I'm assuming now that that is what you meant... Did you?)

[Thrik]

Yeah it's surely something to do with texture maps that causes the difference in how the models appear. As I understand it the whole point of the HD (hard drive) pack is to install textures to your hard drive rather than stream them off the disc because they're too big; also the game comes on multiple discs for 360 yet the assets are shared between both.

Models take up almost no room at all in comparison so why you'd have shitty ones without the HD pack is nonsensical.

As interesting as it all is though, I just hope the game does a good job of telling people about the option to install the pack. The pack is mandatory on PS3; part of me thinks it'd have been wise to do the same with the 360.

[elmuerte]

Don't you mean normal maps/parallax mapping or do they really use displacement maps in BF3?

edit: A quick google later and I learned that parallax maps are also called virtual displacement maps. QUESTION ANSWERED. (I'm assuming now that that is what you meant... Did you?)

I'm not completely sure. But whatever king of bump/parallax/normal/displacement mapping is possible on consoles. Afaik they mostly work in the same way with additional textures.

[JonCole]

Is it overly hypocritical of me if I don't get it in large part because of Origin?

Nope. That's why I bought Crysis 2 on 360, will eventually buy Dragon Age 2 on 360, and will probably buy Battlefield 3 on 360. Suboptimal visual experience compared to my PC, but not worth the inconvenience of something other than Steam.

[elmuerte]

So you're willing to switch to a suboptimal gaming experience just to avoid EA Origin?