Fact: I play BF3, but would rather play PS1

[ringring]

I'm not so interested in boarding animations. I'd rather they were there but not at the expense of something else. However, there has to be a time delay.

Travel time around the continent is really important though. You would only get a sense of scale from this.

Imagine that you realise an enemy attack is occurring 'way over there'. Do you go? How long will it take for you to get there? If you don't leave NOW is it probable that you will be too late?

[Bags]

I don't think they've made transport speeds radically faster...

[Malorn]

We've been through this before; the only gameplay value the animations had was the delay before the vehicle was usable / delay before character exited vehicle. That value can persist through delays which might seem a little awkward, but BFBC2 and BF3 didn't have vehicle enter/exit animations and nobody really cared. Makes sense that they would de-prioritize those animations. They're polish.

[JHendy]

Originally Posted by Malorn

BFBC2 and BF3 didn't have vehicle enter/exit animations and nobody really cared.

That's not to say that they wouldn't have been elated had the feature been implemented.

Yes, it is polish, but it's definitely something that SOE should try to put into the game prior to launch. First impressions and all.

If you value immersion, enter/exit animations are of paramount importance.

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by JHendy

That's not to say that they wouldn't have been elated had the feature been implemented.

Yes, it is polish, but it's definitely something that SOE should try to put into the game prior to launch. First impressions and all.

If you value immersion, enter/exit animations are of paramount importance.

Most BF players are not looking for that IN MY OPINION. It's realism, or as you call it, immersion. And I at least, don't value it. Because it's a hindrance to smooth gameplay, I'm not watching a movie here. It's the same thing when people in BF3 don't like explosions that jar you around, suppression blur, blurring from running, etc. Gameplay>immersion. I prefer to be immersed in the fighting, not the ambience of the environment or the realism of having to open a door to enter a vehicle.

[JHendy]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Most BF players are not looking for that IN MY OPINION. It's realism, or as you call it, immersion. And I at least, don't value it. Because it's a hindrance to smooth gameplay, I'm not watching a movie here. It's the same thing when people in BF3 don't like explosions that jar you around, suppression blur, blurring from running, etc. Gameplay>immersion. I prefer to be immersed in the fighting, not the ambience of the environment or the realism of having to open a door to enter a vehicle.

It's not a hindrance. Most people agree that the game needs to have a startup delay upon entering a vehicle, anyway. EDIT: (Sorry, not startup delay. ENTRY delay. To stop people from warping inside instantaneously) This is a MUCH better alternative to a black screen, and one that people who appreciate immersion will cherish, as they did in PS1.

Nice little features like these that bring people closer to the gameworld in a persistent game are just gravy. And just to clarify: No, I'm not disputing the fact that it IS a polish feature. But the little things really do add up. They clearly meant a lot to the PS1 player base.

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by JHendy

It's not a hindrance. Most people agree that the game needs to have a startup delay upon entering a vehicle, anyway. This is a MUCH better alternative to a black screen, and one that people who appreciate immersion will cherish, as they did in PS1.

Nice little features like these that bring people closer to the gameworld in a persistent game are gravy.

Source on most players? And why should there be a black screen, either? If the entry is instantaneous enough, there's no need for that.

It's all about fighting the war, not sightseeing(which is what immersion boils down to).

And make no mistake, you yourself might be talking about immersion, but a lot of people who support animations support it for the simple reason that they don't want people insta-escaping their gunfire by instantly entering vehicles. That's definitely a gameplay concern, not immersion.

[JHendy]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Source on most players? And why should there be a black screen, either? If the entry is instantaneous enough, there's no need for that.

If you have a better alternative to animations as a means of stopping players from warping out of gunfire then I'd like to hear it.

Originally Posted by Stardouser

It's all about fighting the war

Precisely. And anything that gives players a palpable interaction with the game world in which that war is being fought is a worthwhile, valuable feature. It's all about being immersed in a war.

Originally Posted by Stardouser

And make no mistake, you yourself might be talking about immersion, but a lot of people who support animations support it for the simple reason that they don't want people insta-escaping their gunfire by instantly entering vehicles. That's definitely a gameplay concern, not immersion.

I don't see your point. It's beneficial to gameplay, it's beneficial to immersion. Good times.

[Stardouser]

Immersion distracts from the war. At least in my opinion. This is a highly subjective matter. And you aren't "warping" out of gunfire. You were right next to the vehicle, the entry is instant, and you entered it.

[NewSith]

Originally Posted by Bazilx

I agree with most of these points, I always liked traveltime in planetside 1, because it felt like I was going somewhere with a purpose and if I died getting there I'd have to start over, it was a challenge. Todays CoD-kidz probably can't appreciate these things, patience is a virtue hard to come by, so even though we will have "instant action" buttons, I hope they have some traveling.

ANT+"Robbie Williams – The Road to Mandalay"=Win


Isn't it about PlanetSide
There's nothing left for you to give
The truth is all that you're left with
Twenty paces then at dawn
We will die and be reborn - is obviously about nanite respawn.

I like to sleep beneath the trees - Forseral mention.
Have the universe at one with me - PlanetSide is about cosmos, despite the absence of spaceships.
Look down the barrel of a gun - no comment
And feel the Moon replace the Sun - the bending of Auraxis

Everything we've ever stolen
Has been lost returned or broken - base capture dynamics.
No more dragons left to slay - PS is an MMO without dragons.
Every mistake I've ever made
Has been rehashed and then replayed - respawn and base capture again.
As I got lost along the way - the great love for PS

[Crator]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Most BF players are not looking for that IN MY OPINION. It's realism, or as you call it, immersion. And I at least, don't value it. Because it's a hindrance to smooth gameplay, I'm not watching a movie here. It's the same thing when people in BF3 don't like explosions that jar you around, suppression blur, blurring from running, etc. Gameplay>immersion. I prefer to be immersed in the fighting, not the ambience of the environment or the realism of having to open a door to enter a vehicle.

I disagree. Both are important. Gunplay is more important but I'd pick a game that has more immersion quality over another.

[termhn]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Immersion distracts from the war. At least in my opinion. This is a highly subjective matter. And you aren't "warping" out of gunfire. You were right next to the vehicle, the entry is instant, and you entered it.

How can IMMERSION DISTRACT from a war? The point of immersion is to IMMERSE the player into the world, AKA make them feel like they're actually there. That isn't distracting from the war, it's adding to it. If all you want is to go spray guns and fight a war, play CoD. The thing that makes PS/2 different for me is the immersion. The persistence, the scale, the tactics, these all add to immersion and entry/exit animations would too. Immersion IS a gameplay element.

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by termhn

How can IMMERSION DISTRACT from a war? The point of immersion is to IMMERSE the player into the world, AKA make them feel like they're actually there. That isn't distracting from the war, it's adding to it. If all you want is to go spray guns and fight a war, play CoD. The thing that makes PS/2 different for me is the immersion. The persistence, the scale, the tactics, these all add to immersion and entry/exit animations would too. Immersion IS a gameplay element.

You think CoD doesn't do immersion either? And BF3 does too.

Immersion, to me, is things that do not harm you, or cause you to use different tactics. I absolutely agree with you that it's the persistence, scale and tactics that I am interested in. But when people say "immersion", I think of things like your head bobbing and shoulders turning as you sprint. If you want an example, Battlefield 2 has no head bob, and BF3 has plenty. Now - how does head bob affect persistence, scale or tactics? It doesn't...but it does distract you.

Another example is explosions that are far enough away not to harm you, but shake your screen. That has nothing to do with persistence, scale, or tactics, but it distracts you. In other words, things that make you feel like the world is alive, but have no actual bearing on how you play, I'm sorry to say, but I consider them distractions.

And so, exit animations. There are two aspects to this:
1. Immersion: Feeling like you're getting into a real vehicle. When you are NOT being shot at by enemy infantry(which is 99% of the time), it's just a slowing of gameplay as you have to sit and watch the animation time after time after time.
2. The 1% of the time you ARE being shot at while you enter a vehicle. In this case I agree it actually affects gameplay, I just don't happen to agree with it being necessary.

But know this: I can tolerate enter/exit animations if everyone is that gung-ho for them. However, even if animations make it in, I still wouldn't want to see immersion in the other ways: extreme head shake and shoulder bob as you run, explosions a mile away that shake your screen, and that kind of thing. I'd like to see all that kept to a minimum so you can focus on tactics and gameplay.

Oh- another example -if an explosion goes off near you and your sound is momentarily deafened...I don't mind if that effect is present to a SMALL extent, but if it's extreme, it's just gratuitous immersion.

[Brusi]

Originally Posted by noxious

I've played PS1, and I don't think the vehicle enter/exit animations are that important. I get together with a bunch of guys every now and then to play ArmA II. We're not super serious about it, but we do coordinate heavily and use the blackhawk (the real-life Galaxy, basically) for insertions and extractions when moving from mission to mission. The game doesn't have enter/exit animations, but it's still a lot more immersive than Planetside ever was.

These animations would be nice, but it's not a big deal if they're absent.

WHATCHU TALKIN BOUT WILLIS!?

this the RL galaxy right here!!!!



don'chu dare understate PS with yo biatch comparisons!!!

[Tialian]

I'm seeing a lot of great posts by people who understand how important immersion is, and I'm seeing a lot of posts by people who I wonder why they are even interested in PS2. PlanetSide is not, and should not, be a game you just buy to play and burn out on in 6 months so you can move on to the next new game. PS2 should be like PS1 in that 9 years later you don't think about a particular battle, but rather what you felt before the battle: The epic feeling of seeing players load up in their vehicles, the tension you felt in the moments during transit, the knife charge your squad made when they finally ran out of ammo.

The point to remember here is: It's not just whether you win or lose, its the experiences you had before and during the battle.

Believe me gentlemen, other games (like BF3) will touch on certain elements of immersion but none since PS1 have embraced so many elements of immersion which means they will be games to be forgotten.