DICE's Battlefront II

[MagSul]

I thought that it looked fun and really immersive! ^.^

[General Howard]

Not gonna lie.. Looks absolutely incredible, this year! Genuinely so glad I've pre-ordered..

[Circa]

Looks insanely epic. So excited!

[Teancum]

All DLC will be free, too. Time to preorder

[DT.]

Wow! This is so cool. I just hope my rig can run it.

 

So we won't need battlecry or mb2 soon.

[NumberWan]

A friend of mine believed it was Snoke in one of the scenes, but we've already discussed the matter, that it's just a Droid with Palpatine's holoface. I wasn't aware of this character at first.

 

I also like the level of details in Battlefront, which was already a trademark in the previous game by Dice (Bespin is absolutely beautiful). Now with Theed they did a wonderful job of recreating the hallways, marble columns, stairs, royal chairs and tables, furniture and even tapestries and lights. I wonder if they travelled to Italy in order to capture the feel of Naboo (this was done in case of Endor and Sullust, when they travelled to the US and Iceland respectively). Theed is one of my favourite locations, and even though it was featured in dozens of stories (including the previous battlefronts, TPM video game, etc), this is the first time, when we have such an accurate version of it (well, except for the spaceport, which was built much later in Theed).

 

Not sure if I like the idea of Darth Maul leading the Droid forces against the Clones on Naboo... I would prefer Maul and TF against the Royal Security forces of Naboo, like it was in the films. Then again, if the droids and clones do fight in Theed, then it would be better to see the Droid Commander from TCW or CIS leaders fighting off the Republic forces. 

 

Update: It seems there is a lot more about this Theed map – they actually made the whole city just like it looks in the Database (the position of streets, number of twers, buildings, etc). Moreover, the city isn't empty – it's full of neutral citizens, which run through the streets during the battle, screaming. You can see this here:

[General Howard]

"May the Force be with you.. Alweeeys."   

[Circa]

I agree its weird to see Clones vs Droids on Theed instead of Naboo security. I really wish and hope they do it that way for release but I highly doubt it at this point.

 

The free DLC bit is good, because that means they will be able to keep adding heroes from the prequels, since there are so many. I'm sure they will have a few at launch and continue to add more throughout the year. Think about how many heroes there could be from the prequels alone. All the main Jedi characters, background Jedi characters, Dooku, Grievous, Sidious, Padme, Jango. Maybe even some Rogue One characters. Probably can't do too many, or it would feel oversaturated with that mean heroes, buuuut I still think it would be awesome.

[General Howard]

I agree its weird to see Clones vs Droids on Theed instead of Naboo security. I really wish and hope they do it that way for release but I highly doubt it at this point.

 

The free DLC bit is good, because that means they will be able to keep adding heroes from the prequels, since there are so many. I'm sure they will have a few at launch and continue to add more throughout the year. Think about how many heroes there could be from the prequels alone. All the main Jedi characters, background Jedi characters, Dooku, Grievous, Sidious, Padme, Jango. Maybe even some Rogue One characters. Probably can't do too many, or it would feel oversaturated with that mean heroes, buuuut I still think it would be awesome.

Yeah.. And then add in an "Order 66" mode. How awesome would that be?! And the Hero/Villain for that, is Anakin and the rest are Clones, trying to wipe out the Jedi. If they add the Jedi Temple in, on Coruscant (potentially), like they've done with the Theed, on Naboo. That would be one hell of an awesome game mode to play.

[JAWSFreelao]

The only thing bugging me about gameplay- it would be phase 1 clones on Theed. Even then the clone army was not revealed until later at Geonosis, and after the "death" of Maul.

[DrXann]

Looks fun but we need more heroes and villains from their respected eras of the saga.

[JAWSFreelao]

Agreed^, I saw Rey in the Theed play. Keep it era appropriate

[Kualan]

Apparently they confirmed in the panel that Rey/Boba/Han in Theed was just for the alpha demo.

[General Howard]

Apparently they confirmed in the panel that Rey/Boba/Han in Theed was just for the alpha demo.

I was actually just about to mention this. Yeah, it was basically to show-off how the cross-era heroes/villains would work, against each other. So that the Pre-Alpha Demo, basically covered all areas/points they were trying to check off their list, of what they showed.

[General Howard]

You also have to remember too, that the gameplay they've shown at E3 is "Pre-Alpha Build" gameplay (as shown in the top right corner of the screen). And I'm sure everyone's aware of what "Pre-Alpha Build" means, but in case you don't.. The easiest way to look at it, is this:

Pre-Alpha: Game is in its initial stages. It is mostly incomplete and only does the bare minimum to qualify as the game it intends to be. In this stage, nothing is set in stone and a lot will change.
And to give you a better idea of where the development stage is of that, this is pretty accurate;

- Pre-Alpha: Game is in its initial stages. It is mostly incomplete and only does the bare minimum to qualify as the game it intends to be. In this stage, nothing is set in stone and a lot will change.

- Alpha: Core game is complete, but majority of content is missing. For example, Super Mario Bros. would have been in Alpha, if Mario, all of the powerups, all of the enemies, etc. had been implemented, but most of the stages/worlds were incomplete.

- Beta: Game is feature complete, i.e., all features and content scheduled for release are in the game. However, before beta.. The game is largely untested and thus has many bugs that need to be fixed. This is why companies will do in-house betas, limited release/private betas, and public betas, as their games become more solid on the way to full release.

[Teancum]

We're a bit too focused on canon, aren't we? Clones on Theed doesn't actually work at all, but it makes for great gameplay. The old Battlefronts were that way too. Canon has to be thrown aside in some instances in favor of fun. I remember when the original SWBF2 came out people lost their minds that the Galactic Marine was the Commander class for the Republic, but in the end it brought something fun and unique.

[NumberWan]

Well, Rey and Maul were in this demonstration – also because of their current status within the franchise: it's not big secret, that both these two characters are among the most favourite ones with fans. Darth Maul got major role throughout the years and they sell toys with him up to these days, while Rey is a new major heroine, which was a big problem for female fans in the past. Now there is Rey, a strong female lead in Star Wars, which promotes the franchise perfectly (along with Maul, as well as Boba Fett, Han Solo, Vader).

 

As for Canon – well, Battlefront I and II (old) were quite close to Canon in terms of gameplay. The first one didn't have any plot per se, but they showed the notable battles from the movies. It was still possible to play as Rebels and attack Felucia In BII, or play as Boba Fett in the Jedi Temple (something like that). I just feel, that it would be great to have a genuine event placement in the gameplay, while you can choose and play a mix of Kylo Ren vs Obi Wan Kenobi + First Order against the Trade Federation, etc, etc.

 

As for the Droids, I've noticed a few new units in the gameplay. Also, it seems they sound a lot like the droids in The Clone Wars era, the same actor perhaps. In Episode I they were slightly different in manners, less emotional, I think.

 

As seen in the trailer, aside from Naboo we'll see Yavin IV, Tatooine, Takodana, Starkiller base, Hoth, Endor, Kamino and a few other locations (maybe even Tantive IV?). 

[Noodle]

If I had to guess, they won't care about canon for anything but the game's main story. Just like in the original BFII, which had the Mos Eisley map with heroes from all eras killing each other. 

[NumberWan]

@Noodle

In previous Battlefront the story of 501st was the only Canon aspect of the game, while Galactic Conquest, Instant action and other submissions were for gameplay purpose only.

[OobidoobBenubi]

[Alvar007]

Guys I can't believe I have been selected for the closed alpha. The game is awesome! I'm having a blast right now.

[Circa]

That's awesome. Didn't realize they were doing an alpha testing period. Probably for the best. More testing the better.

[DarthDementous]

Guys I can't believe I have been selected for the closed alpha. The game is awesome! I'm having a blast right now.

congratulations! I know that the closed alpha has already ended but could you tell me how the heroes felt, particularly the saber-wielding ones? the way melee attacks felt in the first Battlefront where you lurch forward and awkwardly and weightlessly swing your saber and stun-lock the other person was a significant complaint I had. I can't really tell much from footage, it looks like there's more of a combo now and saber hits aren't necessarily instant kills but there could still be those other problems.

[Alvar007]

congratulations! I know that the closed alpha has already ended but could you tell me how the heroes felt, particularly the saber-wielding ones? the way melee attacks felt in the first Battlefront where you lurch forward and awkwardly and weightlessly swing your saber and stun-lock the other person was a significant complaint I had. I can't really tell much from footage, it looks like there's more of a combo now and saber hits aren't necessarily instant kills but there could still be those other problems.

Thanks! Yeah the hero combat system in the first game was very clunky, you had to wait for the animation to end to strike again. In this new Battlefront it has been definitely improved. You can swing your saber whenever you press they key attack, and if you press it constantly you can chain combos as you said. But there is like a stamina bar that limits you the combos so that you don't spam it constantly. Also, whenever you choke another hero it will play the proper choke animation instead of the stun lock that happened in the first game. But you have to be careful with these new heros, you cannot attack multiple enemies at once like you could do in the first Battlefront, you have to play tacticly because you can get easily killed as they don't have that much health compared to the first game. They are like a special class, but you can also regenerate health although at a very low rate. Another thing to notice is that the default trooper classes (except for assault) won't insta-die with an ability (suck as choke or saber throw) at full health. Each class has its own health so that's another reason you have to be careful when engaging your enemy.

 

That's pretty much what I felt when playing heros, if you think I'm missing something that you want to know, just tell me.

 

Hope it helps!

[DarthDementous]

@@Alvar007 that's definitely re-assuring to hear, thanks! also glad that you feel the same frustration I did at the first system.

 

I had no idea from watching the footage that there was some kind of stamina system and that makes me happy to hear there's not just going to be infinite spam-fests. I guess I only have two more questions in regard of the sabering:

1. what was it like to perform aerial attacks? in the first game they were pretty damn clunky (surprise, surprise) where you would perform one preset animation and then get kind of stuck in your trajectory.

2. what was saber vs. saber like? I've only seen one bit of footage in this regard but it looked like a huge spam-fest of who could click the fastest. was hoping for a more tactical approach like dodging out of the way and a more natural blocking system.