News: PlanetSide 2 COMM-LINK 003 Intro to Backstory

[basti]

http://www.planetside2.com/news/oct11BackstoryPt1.html

Going to read it now.

[Crator]

So I guess the bi-weekly comms updates will be back-stories for a while now.

[basti]

Dont think so. At least i dont hope so.

Anyway, entire thing is unrewarding. Expected much more from that com uplink. Heck, it didnt even give us a screeny.

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by Crator

So I guess the bi-weekly comms updates will be back-stories for a while now.

Yea I don't think so, I think they will drop tidbits now and again up until release with this week primarily focused on it.

[Crator]

No, but they did state that they were releasing the new back-story on Wed., Thurs., and Friday. I'm guessing they will give us new screenies for that sense they stated the look-and-feel of the game ties in with the story.

[Tikuto]

*fap fap fap*

[SniperSteve]

Such a tease... I guess, like they said, the real stuff will be Wed-Fri, so I guess we shouldn't expect much from this post since it was just saying that is what is going to be happening for the week. It is interesting that they hired a comic book-type person to help them with the story.

We will see how it turns out! Should be interesting..

[Firefly]

I am underwhelmed. I did not expect the entire thing to be revealed in one shot, because I recall their singing the Happy Days theme (Sunday Monday happy days, Tuesday Wednesday happy days, etc) about releasing info.

However, I did expect something more than what amounts to a preface in a book. I can sum up that entire page with this: "ohai, revision backstory, comicbook-guy is helping, here's an old concept-art pic we already showed you".

[Vash02]

Early days guys, early days.

Also, yay comics!

[NapalmEnima]

There was ONE little tidbit of interest that was quite relevant to the concept art they included:

"...why a continent is covered in charred ruins..."


It sounds like they have one entire continent dedicated to house-to-house/CQB/vehicles-confined-to-roads stuff. Good times.

If we get some comic book art, we just might get to see some vehicles/gear we haven't yet, albeit not "in game". Truth be told, it would probably be much easier for them to stage any shots they might want in game. Rather than having an artist spend a day or two on each "panel", you get a person or four and some bots and churn out Quite a Few.

[basti]

Hamma just updated the PSU news post with this:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/son...ory-2011-10-11


That is actually something. Seems like we get comics. Cool!

[NapalmEnima]

PS: The "media assets" link in the marketwatch article is just high-rez versions of stuff we've already seen. Fooey.


Ah... but the fact sheet has some Interesting Stuff in it:

... with air, ground, and seaborne combat...

So either Higby's been playing it Really Close To The Vest, or this fact sheet has at least one flaw.

Battle for territories and resources:... each battleground holds valuable resources and key positions, and the empire that can conquer (and manage to hold) these territories will be rewarded with fuel bonuses, ammo bonuses, tech bonuses, and more

Interesting. Higby has stated that the old base bonuses are out, but under consideration. He didn't say anything about Other Things providing similar bonuses.

Persistence: ...Working strategically as a team to capture key tactical positions such as power plants and ammo depots will have long lasting effects that can shift the tide of battle

So are power plants and ammo depots value only for their tactical position, or does this play into the whole ammo/fuel/etc bonuses?

Weapons: Players will be able to access more than 20 basic weapons, which can be customized to players' preference or purpose

An actual weapon count. I'm a bit cynical, so I'd expect 21 different weapons... many of which will be empire specific. 5 empire specific weapons breaks down to 15 empire weapons and 6 common pool weapons.

Vehicles: More than 15 vehicles with two unique vehicles per empire. Players will be able to customize each vehicle, unlocking new skills and features

"More than 15" == 16.

If this is accurate, then we already know about both empire vehicles planned for launch (tank & aircraft).

So at the time this was written, they planned on releasing 10 different common-pool vehicles.

We know of:
ATV
Sunderer
Galaxy
Liberator
(am I missing anything?)

Meaning we know of less than half of the common pool vehicles. Even if we through in a buggy, deliverer, and lightning, that still leaves 3 vehicles unaccounted for.

Speedboat+sub+troop carrier?

I don't know why you'd go with an aquatic troop transport given the option of a Galaxy, but if Gal's aren't an option for some reason... Hhmmm.

Submarine troop carrier + fast torpedo boat + coastal bombardment craft?

A submarine troop carrier would definitely have an appeal over the Galaxy in the right circumstances.

At any rate 3 (or more) common pool vehicles (with various upgrades/add-ons include empire-specific ones) leaves them with plenty of options to create Diverse Aquatic Combat.

Or to make ground/air combat that much more interesting.

[Hamma]

Yea had a look around there myself

[Lunarchild]

Originally Posted by NapalmEnima

Vehicles: More than 15 vehicles with two unique vehicles per empire. Players will be able to customize each vehicle, unlocking new skills and features

Interestingly enough, the fact sheet I got from them says more than 20 vehicles.

[xSlideShow]

I think this sounds great. I don't read comics I have seen the Blade movies. And blade is a bad ass. So Planetside is about to get a bad ass story?