News: PlanetSide 2 Backstory Part 3, Joe Walsh

[Corax]

After a quick read of this and the last 2 stories. Some of the things that I did pick out were:

Weapons:
Heavy Gauss Rifles (possible upgrade / weapon path for gauss guns weapon certs)
Phoenix's
Jackhammers
Miniguns
Cyclers
Repeater Pistols
Bolt Drivers
Dome Blasters (Im guessing AV / siege esque weapon)
-Probably handheld
-TR special weapon?
Carbines
Normal Shotguns

Items:
Bionics that allow for X-ray vision / enhanced sight (IE advance Targeting?)
Holographic Camouflage (Possibly for TR only) that bionics do not work on
-"hid behind realistic 3D holo-boulders"
-3D Holo-Boulders
-Evidence for the possibility of being able to entrench?
TR explosive (armor piercing?) ammo rounds
-Indication of sidegrades.
-Enhanced ammo? / Enhanceable ammo (with resources)
-May be indicator for path / progression for upgrading / sidegrading ammo rounds for guns, etc. Ie: Enhanced damage to infantry less damage against heavy armor, etc etc.


Locations:
Cyssor
Kaorr
-New Continent
-Desert Region
-Tr Settlements
-NC Settlements
-Maybe site for NC foothold
-(due to weapon manufacturing claim from TR)
-Makes sense as a desert would be a good place to hide for a group like the NC
Possible WMD type weapons
Searhus is back! With specific locations named.
-Mount Lavastorm (may contain Kane Prison Compound)
-Kane Prison Compound (TR stronghold perhaps?)
-Special note: KPC is big enough to house enough people to tip the sizes of the NC army to an even playing field with TR army
-Indicates that this is a location of significant size
-Might be a NC stronghold now that it is currently under NC ownership according to first story
-(NC had capped Mount Lavastorm from TR in effort to take the compound)
-Prison's might be a new base type?
-Specifically mentioned as an Island (rather then continent)
Factories maybe?
Underground City's
Vanu Ruins
AMP Station Gamma AMP stations are back!

[Edit: Couple references to cities. Plus also i do remember devs talking about wanting some "urban combat" as well. Plus they talk about referencing modern games for ideas/inspiration. Maybe another indicator for seeing locations for city fights?]

Misc:
Vanu Artifacts (Resource related perhaps?)
Rebirthing -- Yay immortality!
The Year is 2845
[Edit: Also of note: Vanu was not a God as some have said. But rather was just a single alien. Vanu was his name. According to the wording of Sandy, Vanu was an individual (rather then the misconception of Vanu as a race). And later it is stated by the Chairman that Vanu was the leader of his people. And he once ruled over Auraxis. Also the Chairman then further reinforces the fact that Vanu is 1 individual rather then an entire race in his statement that Vanu himself had spoken to him. Which also raises the question of whether or not the vs were talking to more of Vanu's people rather than Vanu himself.

First contact was made after study of the artifacts through "sporadic telepathic" communication. This changes to a very much clearer stance once the conflicts erupt. When the Chairman claims/states that Vanu himself had spoken to him. (And said too kill everyone else)]

Hopefully more info to come for even more wild speculation!

Long Live Freedom and the NC!

[Geist]

This is probably the best in terms of stuff that might be in the game, but still really badly edited. Anyone else notice this?

Walsh and his unit grabbed their heavy gauss rifles, tri-barreled “jackhammer” shotguns and carbines and carefully moved down Lavastorm. Duffy knew the T.R.’s tactics. They hid behind realistic 3D holo-boulders, lying in wait until N.C. soldiers passed. Walsh held his jackhammer close and fired it in a wide arc as they passed all possible hiding places. But when he heard gunfire erupt just behind him he knew he screwed up. The T.R. were hiding in a real crevice, large enough for a half dozen men. When Walsh’s unit moved past they leaped from their spots and opened fire. Nine of his boys died. Three were wounded and captured. Return fire only killed four of their ambushers.

Other than that, love that holographic cover mentioned, could be an excellent tool.

[FastAndFree]

Also the kid who gets killed at the start, was he called Ken or Ben?

[Malorn]

Lol I like the NC perspective. I'm biased of course, but I love the complete apathy for anyone stupid enough to side with the TR. Gives them that quasi-terrorist feel as I expect that they have no qualms about killing civilians since the civilians are partly responsible for the loss of their own freedoms by voting them away. The pure hate the NC harbor is great.

I only wish we would have seen how the NC view the Vanu. In traditional PS lore they saw the VS as enslaving men with technology and perhaps more of a threat to freedom than the TR. That could still fit, however the TR actually did something to repress while the VS haven't done that yet so perhaps they are currently indifferent. But since the VS broke away and consider both hostile it could be the start of the NC/TR viewpoint change against the VS.

Good twitter topic I think.

[Malorn]

I glossed over the errors, they aren't important to the story. I think by focusing on them you are missing the forest for the trees.

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by Malorn

I glossed over the errors, they aren't important to the story. I think by focusing on them you are missing the forest for the trees.

I don't know about anyone else, but I strongly disagree. This isn't fanfiction.net, this is Planetside 2. I don't consider myself a literary snob - I consider myself a fan of the English language, which includes the proper usage and employment thereof. I'm also a paid writer for a video game developer - if my work has errors, I expect my fellow writers, fellow employees, and QC editors to find them. Which is why I try not to make mistakes in the first place. And if they don't catch it, I know fans will - and I expect them to send feedback saying "This is incorrect". I'd rather not get to that point, though. I don't want the fans going "Whoever put this in here is retarded, why would they hire an idiot?" The key word in all of this is "paid writer". Do you get paid to do a half-assed job? Will your boss say, "Hey pal, those fries are still half-frozen!" or will he say "Sell that shit, son!" I very much doubt the latter happens.

Just like people judge you on the internet wehn u make misstakes liek this lol cuz u type liek u txt lololol... expect people to judge a body of written work based on A) its content, B) its accuracy, and C) its proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. And by accepting shoddy amateur work we are devaluing a professional product. To say nothing of setting the stage for further shoddy work elsewhere with the product.

[Talek Krell]

Originally Posted by Firefly

I don't know about anyone else, but I strongly disagree.

It's not just you. This stuff is being written by Wolfman right? I could forgive getting off to a rough start or maybe adapting to a new medium, but this is fucking ridiculous. How can you expect people to get hooked into a story if the author can't even keep his own fucking characters straight?

[Shogun]

the information in these story bits is nice (if most of it is even relevant to the game and not just pure fiction for narrative purposes without consequences for us)

what i don´t like about that stuff is that it´s just simple text.
i hope when the game finally gets released, these storys are embedded in some rendered videos, or at least converted to graphical comics.

and i wonder if the background story is something we could skip completely and forget about, or if the game will have actual bits of this story integrated.
ps1 needed no big background story... you could play the game without knowing anything about auraxis and the story didn´t matter at all.
will ps2 be the same, or will we be confronted with some story elements during the fights in some form?

if the story matters in some form, it is great to see, that this time there is a real author working on it. the story of ps1 was a little reTURDed and lot of it didn´t make any sense. the ps2 approach is a lot better.

i would also like to know what information the author has about the game and the stuff inside the game. how much is made up by him just to carry the story and how much is based on dev-facts?

[Baron]

It does seem like those phoenix missiles are fired remotely ...that is, scary :o

[FIREk]

So now the Auraxian TR turn out to be a perverted version of the legitimate, democratic Terran Government. Just wow...

SOE need to dig up some real dirt on the NC and VS now - I love the TR but now they're the baddest of the three bad guys.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by FIREk

So now the Auraxian TR turn out to be a perverted version of the legitimate, democratic Terran Government. Just wow...

SOE need to dig up some real dirt on the NC and VS now - I love the TR but now they're the baddest of the three bad guys.

This is not necessarily true. That is the TR from the perspective of the other 2 factions. It's easy to see how each faction thinks their way of thinking is the "true" way, the correct vision (hello present day religion anyone?).

I'm cool with it.

[basti]

Originally Posted by Baron

This is not necessarily true. That is the TR from the perspective of the other 2 factions. It's easy to see how each faction thinks their way of thinking is the "true" way, the correct vision (hello present day religion anyone?).

I'm cool with it.

Spot on.

The TR think their laws are to protect everyone. They think the NC just shit on the laws, and hope to god the VS stay silent.
The NC think the TRs laws are cruel and the entire thing is just a dictatorship that needs to be destroyed.
The Vs think both of them are nuts, and joined the war because they believe those two have to be destroyed.

Actually, that makes the Vanu look like the bad guys.

Crap.

[Tapman]

Originally Posted by basti

Spot on.

The TR think their laws are to protect everyone. They think the NC just shit on the laws, and hope to god the VS stay silent.
The NC think the TRs laws are cruel and the entire thing is just a dictatorship that needs to be destroyed.
The Vs think both of them are nuts, and joined the war because they believe those two have to be destroyed.

Actually, that makes the Vanu look like the bad guys.

Crap.

TR set laws to protect their power zealously before their own citizens, they have instilled enough fear in the population so that they don't notice/care. The corruption is deep but their bureaucracy is also one of their weaknesses.

NC think TR laws are deviating from the original government that had been formed (which drove humanity to find a new planet to colonize!) and became a military industrial complex dictatorship. It would be better to die on our feet than to live under the boots of the TR!

VS are the Scientologists of Auraxis. They believe that their technology will set them above everyone else and feel superior to the human condition, driven by the voice of Vanu. (I bet the guy who first claimed to have heard the voice became the leader...)

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by Tapman

VS are the Scientologists of Auraxis. They believe that their technology will set them above everyone else and feel superior to the human condition, driven by the voice of Vanu. (I bet the guy who first claimed to have heard the voice became the leader...)

Judging by the notion of "telepathic" communication Vanu is communicating to people that will listen. So not really a god so much as an alien as the writing says. So they see themselves as chosen or better.

[Graywolves]

I liked this one better than the others.


But I don't like how they present the TR as bad guys factually. In the first post, you just get some TR soldier's opinions and how they view them. This guy tells you straight up how they are being oppressed (in exact same ways the British Colonies were in North America......)


What happened to there being no clear good or bad guys?


A future chapter might rectify this by either a corrupt leader who is forced to step down or some knowledge that the TR higher ups possessed that the others did not.

I really don't mind being on the side of a totalitarian oppressive regime. But I'm not happy with the way it is right now. (Let businessmen bring mercenaries and then be super oppressive....wtf?)


The more I look at this the less sense it makes to me. It's cool sometimes but I find it failing at the purpose of having game lore. But like I said, maybe future installments will rectify some of this. Even with that being the case though it will be hard to give new players a good idea of what's what while the backstory is in its current format.