News: PS2 PC gamer preview

[Squeegeez]

I'm thinking wildlife like Skyrim Mammoths, bears, wolves, etc; or Fallout. Those games did random wildlife encounters exceptionally well, with AI fighting AI at times. I'm thinking beasts more like Avatar for a game like Planetside though. I'm also open to the idea of an alien faction, although in a long far away context, like the next iteration of where Planetside would go. Special events could work, but they would have to not be done 'cheesy', they would have to be epic. Maybe I'll just wait for Mass Effect 3 for aliens, and enjoy the hell out of the Planetside 2 events for whatever they are.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by SuperMorto

I think any AI is a bad idea. Planetside is all about the human factor. Everything on it is some dude/dudess button bashing a keyboard somewhere. Brining AI into to me would make it feel instantly like Halo or WOW. And remember bring AI into the game, you open a flood of gates for other things.

Imo its all about war, and war is chaos. AI fauna that is hostile to everyone would be admirably chaotic. Just another force of nature that the combatants have to deal with, along with storms, lightning, fog, meteor strikes, etc.

I wouldn't have it everywhere, but the 'weather' on one or two continents being wild critters that will eat your face would be pretty cool.

And regular, non-eatyourface critters would be great for look and feel on every continent.




Just so long as there is never an NPC who wants me to kill 10 of them, but I'm pretty sure everyone, devs included, agree with that.

[Captain1nsaneo]

I find it interesting that you will need to cert something to allow people to spawn in your galaxy.

[Biscuit]

AI wildlife = the Other 4th empire?

how would a outfit/empire handle a large number of stampeding wild life

could they mow it down, or use it to clog up enemy forces to give them more things to worry about when gathering resources?

[Bittermen]

Originally Posted by SuperMorto

If thats the case, then why not just get the Vanu to dig up some crazy alien artifact and realease all the dead people int o the world. I give you Planetside 2 Zombie mode!!!

Also you could equip your self with a hunting dog, that will attack any nme.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[Raka Maru]

Originally Posted by Biscuit

AI wildlife = the Other 4th empire?

how would a outfit/empire handle a large number of stampeding wild life

could they mow it down, or use it to clog up enemy forces to give them more things to worry about when gathering resources?

LOL LOL!!!

[Traak]

You've been killed by a titanothere stampede.

[Lazza]

I'd like to see special events where the devs controls the tatics of the AI in real time and the 3 factions have to team up and take them on. That would make for a good weekend of redbull, a dark room and no pants (everyone does that right?). Also I think having wildlife would add to the overall feel of the game as long as it didnt affect performance noticeably.

[EASyEightyEight]

The introduction of AI can server multiple purposes.

1. As passive wildlife, it could react to nearby players, scurrying/flying off and possibly tipping actual soldiers off to an encroaching enemy.

2. As the great equalizer. If one faction is just getting dominated, Ancient tech from deep within Auraxis might awaken, or the ancient Vanu might return and begin strategic invasions at SOE's order. They'd be essentially the Black Ops. In the case of ancient tech machines, predictability becomes a believable factor.

3. Deadly environmental hazards, as mentioned before. Hostile, man-eating fauna. The ever popular giant sand/snow worm. A flier swarm that might blot out the sun and even deny the air to pilots. Not really AI as opposed to active hazards, but you get the picture.

4. But what I think will really (and hope will) happen is that since they're planning on branching out to other worlds eventually, AI might be introduced on a younger, colonial world as zombies/aliens. Combine PS1's modules/caverns with these zombie/alien hordes, and it might actually be fun to get to the modules. It could be said the modules turned the colony into mindless, frothing idiots, or awakened a nearby hive. Either one might help explain just wtf happened to the Ancient Vanu themselves, adding to the Planetside story.

Following this thought process, Auraxis would remain the core of Planetside, with a different planet offering another challenge besides the 8 guys actually bothering to oppose you and the 7 other guys with you. Left 4 Dead's/Starship Troopers vicious hordes + Planetside 2's co-op play. Really, should the opportunity to implement alternative game types be passed up for simply another continent to shoot each other on? Do we really need 3 Forserals?

[Raymac]

I gotta say, one of the coolest parts of the article were the Reader Comments. It was cool to see so many people say "I haven't heard of this before, but this sounds awesome!"

As for the AI, I hope they keep the game purely PvP. I could see having some passive animals frolicking around just to give the world some life. Hell, the original PS doesn't even have rivers, so it just felt so stagnant.

The only other use of AI that I'd be cool with would be an occasional event where there is some massive giant godzilla roaming around, or a swarm of starship trooper bugs. You know, just to mix things up occasionally since we are going to be playing this game for about 6 hours a day, everyday for the next 10 years or so.

[Biscuit]

Just throwing it out there

[cellinaire]

What about small group of fish scarcely scattered around the sea?

Or small scorpions and crabs we can usually see in games like Just Cause and Crysis? Not even doves, seagulls, or tiny birds? Should they just flatten all the landmasses in continents for the sake of..... er balance?

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by cellinaire

What about small group of fish scarcely scattered around the sea?

Or small scorpions and crabs we can usually see in games like Just Cause and Crysis? Not even doves, seagulls, or tiny birds? Should they just flatten all the landmasses in continents for the sake of..... er balance?

Trees man, trees. That's the most hardcore PvE I've ever seen in a game.

Thousands of players, and I've never seen any of them bring a single tree down.

[LimpBIT]

Great post and great read. The AI is definitely an interesting concept as well. Will be interesting to see how it plays out

[ProfessorCrow]

Originally Posted by EASyEightyEight

it could react to nearby players, scurrying/flying off and possibly tipping actual soldiers off to an encroaching enemy.

This! Love this idea. Notice a huge flock of birds take flight in the distance?

Could be they're just moving on to look for more food. Could be enemy armour moving up...

I for one am in favour of ambient wildlife throughout the game. As for aliens/zombies or even an AI faction? I'm not so certain. I get that it's supposed to bring in the PvE crowd, but I'm still so used to the Planetside way of EVERYTHING is being done by people.

Could make things a wee bit less repetitive though. My mind is open to the idea, and time will tell.

-CroW