DICE's Battlefront II

[Wasa]

Looks like Dice and EA have pulled micro transactions all together. I think I should apologize as I play very few of EA games and as such am not totally up on their practices. I didn't totally understand the extent to what pay to win really meant. Now that I do, I totally understand why people have been upset about this, but since that is now fixed, hopefully that will make the game much more enjoyable.

 

I take it stuff like this is what EA is known for? Being pay to win?

The keyword is t e m p o r a r i l y

[Circa]

So..no one wants to talk about the single player campaign?

 

Just finished it today. So far its the best part of the game, by far. It was great to see iconic characters play a big role throughout the story, and to see how some things connect. If anyone only plays games for the SP content, I recommend this game.

 

And they just announced that they will be releasing additional SP missions in a couple weeks. I saw that right after finishing the campaign, and I was really hoping that was going to be the case because the ending was definitely not an ending.

 

 

For MP, I'm a bit frustrated with how bad the HUD is. Its so chaotic that I'm shocked it was shipped this way. The squad icons are literally useless but they have it nearly in the middle of the screen at all times. Why? It covers your soldier in third person and its just there in your view in first person. So stupid. And the kill popup is GINORMOUS. Why does it need to cover 50% of the screen when you get a kill or an assist. The kill marker is enough to know I got a kill.

 

I also noticed the effects in this game are not on par with the first game. The bullets aren't as authentically glowy and the impacts aren't as impactful. And the sabers aren't as glowy. I wonder why they cut back on that? Everything else looks amazing except for that.

[Jango40]

Not going to buy it with the microtransactions coming back. Reinstalled the original BF2 though and am having a great time.

 

Even without the microtransactions, I don't think I would find it too interesting, it doesn't really offer much new interesting stuff other than the short SP campaign and updated graphics.

[Mand'alor]

Just finished it today. So far its the best part of the game, by far. It was great to see iconic characters play a big role throughout the story, and to see how some things connect. If anyone only plays games for the SP content, I recommend this game.

 

And they just announced that they will be releasing additional SP missions in a couple weeks. I saw that right after finishing the campaign, and I was really hoping that was going to be the case because the ending was definitely not an ending.

 

 

For MP, I'm a bit frustrated with how bad the HUD is. Its so chaotic that I'm shocked it was shipped this way. The squad icons are literally useless but they have it nearly in the middle of the screen at all times. Why? It covers your soldier in third person and its just there in your view in first person. So stupid. And the kill popup is GINORMOUS. Why does it need to cover 50% of the screen when you get a kill or an assist. The kill marker is enough to know I got a kill.

 

I also noticed the effects in this game are not on par with the first game. The bullets aren't as authentically glowy and the impacts aren't as impactful. And the sabers aren't as glowy. I wonder why they cut back on that? Everything else looks amazing except for that.

 

I actually enjoyed the singleplayer, too. Having a main character that is not a force user is pretty interesting and I've waited so long for this to happen. Gave me some Jedi Outcast vibes to be honest. (Kyle as a non force user)

 

 

Although it was a little short but

 

good thing we are going to get new missions in the DLC. Do you know if we will get new singleplayer missions with each DLC or just the first one ? Also liked the fact how they included all the original trilogy characters into this.

 

A far as the multiplayer goes I have only played Heroes vs Villians and it is quite okay. I mean we probably will never get a proper lightsaber dueling system for BF2 but I'm okay with it.

 

If anyone of you plays the mode on tatooine I really recommand you guys to listening to the Lapti Nek (Club Mix) in your browser. Lifts the mood instantly

 

I'm curious which heroes and villians we will get in the future DLCs ( Phasma and Finn as I heard are already announced) 

[Circa]

Do you know if we will get new singleplayer missions with each DLC or just the first one ? Also liked the fact how they included all the original trilogy characters into this.

 

They haven't said anything about future DLC seasons other than they will happen. I don't think they even announced the new missions at all until today. It was a big surprise to me.

 

 

I'm curious which heroes and villians we will get in the future DLCs ( Phasma and Finn as I heard are already announced) 

 

Well they already confirmed Grievous to be one of the next villains via the game code. I'm sure there will be seasons dedicated to certain eras/planets. Like Season 2 might be prequel content with Utapau maps and Obi-Wan and Grievous heroes. But we won't know until they announce it.

[General Howard]

I actually enjoyed the singleplayer, too. Having a main character that is not a force user is pretty interesting and I've waited so long for this to happen. Gave me some Jedi Outcast vibes to be honest. (Kyle as a non force user)

 

 

Although it was a little short but

 

good thing we are going to get new missions in the DLC. Do you know if we will get new singleplayer missions with each DLC or just the first one ? Also liked the fact how they included all the original trilogy characters into this.

 

A far as the multiplayer goes I have only played Heroes vs Villians and it is quite okay. I mean we probably will never get a proper lightsaber dueling system for BF2 but I'm okay with it.

 

If anyone of you plays the mode on tatooine I really recommand you guys to listening to the Lapti Nek (Club Mix) in your browser. Lifts the mood instantly

 

I'm curious which heroes and villians we will get in the future DLCs ( Phasma and Finn as I heard are already announced) 

I'm gonna tweet to the DICE devs about that, tonight and see if they come back with anything positive. But I'll keep you posted here, if they do. That was one of the biggest things that's annoyed me.. The piss poor lightsaber duelling experience. It's trash because basically, in a nutshell.. It's non-existent. Hell! Even Battlefront (2015) managed to do it better than this. So, I've been very disappointed, in that aspect. But like I say, I'll keep you posted on any news.

 

As far as DLC Heroes go, Gen. Grievous and Count Dooku are practically 100% confirmed. One of the DICE game directors responded to a tweet when asked about Rex and Ahsoka and said he'd love to see them both in the game, at some point. But couldn't confirm 100% or comment further.. And you can pretty much be certain that Anakin and Obi-Wan will make their appearances, due to heavy community request. I just hope we maybe get different skins for them, too. i.e Default Anakin and Obi-Wan are their RoTS appearances and skins could be from either TCW show or the other 2 Prequels.

[General Howard]

Just finished it today. So far its the best part of the game, by far. It was great to see iconic characters play a big role throughout the story, and to see how some things connect. If anyone only plays games for the SP content, I recommend this game.

 

And they just announced that they will be releasing additional SP missions in a couple weeks. I saw that right after finishing the campaign, and I was really hoping that was going to be the case because the ending was definitely not an ending.

 

 

For MP, I'm a bit frustrated with how bad the HUD is. Its so chaotic that I'm shocked it was shipped this way. The squad icons are literally useless but they have it nearly in the middle of the screen at all times. Why? It covers your soldier in third person and its just there in your view in first person. So stupid. And the kill popup is GINORMOUS. Why does it need to cover 50% of the screen when you get a kill or an assist. The kill marker is enough to know I got a kill.

 

I also noticed the effects in this game are not on par with the first game. The bullets aren't as authentically glowy and the impacts aren't as impactful. And the sabers aren't as glowy. I wonder why they cut back on that? Everything else looks amazing except for that.

To be honest, I was quite disappointed by the campaign. It was great up to the point of the "Operation Cinder" initiation. Then it just stumbled and was in pretty much free-fall mode after that, for the rest of the campaign. The Lucasfilm creative team were adamant and kept trying to drive home the fact that Iden was this (and I quote) "tried & true and through & through Imperial". Well, she was anything but, after the whole "Operation Cinder" plot (which was rendered pointless and useless, I might add), considering the fact that (and here's what REALLY pissed me off) she defects and becomes a full-blown Rebel and you have to go and destroy the satellites. The only one of Inferno Squad that stayed true throughout, was Hask. Not to mention, we don't even really get to see how The First Order rose or came about. It literally goes: Empires ends --> "Decades later.." --> The First Order just appears out of nowhere. Pretty shit, to be honest. You'd just be better off reading the Aftermath books.

 

However, having said that.. I heard about the campaign DLC, so I am excited for that. "Insurrection", it's called. So, it'll be interesting to see where it takes us.

[Circa]

To be honest, I was quite disappointed by the campaign. It was great up to the point of the "Operation Cinder" initiation. Then it just stumbled and was in pretty much free-fall mode after that, for the rest of the campaign. The Lucasfilm creative team were adamant and kept trying to drive home the fact that Iden was this (and I quote) "tried & true and through & through Imperial". Well, she was anything but, after the whole "Operation Cinder" plot (which was rendered pointless and useless, I might add), considering the fact that (and here's what REALLY pissed me off) she defects and becomes a full-blown Rebel and you have to go and destroy the satellites. The only one of Inferno Squad that stayed true throughout, was Hask. Not to mention, we don't even really get to see how The First Order rose or came about. It literally goes: Empires ends --> "Decades later.." --> The First Order just appears out of nowhere. Pretty shit, to be honest. You'd just be better off reading the Aftermath books.

 

However, having said that.. I heard about the campaign DLC, so I am excited for that. "Insurrection", it's called. So, it'll be interesting to see where it takes us.

I agree to a certain degree. I was hoping they wouldn't have Iden defect to the Rebels. It ended up feeling like TFU where you want to play as a badass villain but they end up redeeming the character. I still think they did it well. Operation Cinder was clearly a stupid operation, which is why Iden and Del betrayed. Only a madman would have followed along with it. Also, this story wasn't meant to show how the First Order came to be. Just like TFA wasn't supposed to be about that either. The story is about Inferno Squad, and I assume nothing all that exciting happened until the "decades later" on Pillio for Del. 

[Mand'alor]

Well of course having her defect touched a nerve. I was fully expecting her to stay loyal to the empire ( Look at all these trailers).

 

I was also disappointed that we didn't even see some scenes that were shown in the trailer like one Inferno member pointing a gun at Luke etc.

 

@ Thanks mate, really wanna see their response on that matter. You could also ask why they lied to us about her being a true imperial

[Mand'alor]

Also @ can you ask the dev if there will be a splitscreen for arcade on pc ?

[Noodle]

I agree to a certain degree. I was hoping they wouldn't have Iden defect to the Rebels. It ended up feeling like TFU where you want to play as a badass villain but they end up redeeming the character. I still think they did it well. Operation Cinder was clearly a stupid operation, which is why Iden and Del betrayed. Only a madman would have followed along with it. Also, this story wasn't meant to show how the First Order came to be. Just like TFA wasn't supposed to be about that either. The story is about Inferno Squad, and I assume nothing all that exciting happened until the "decades later" on Pillio for Del. 

 

Operation Cinder was meant to test the loyalty of the empire and to root out the weak elements out of it (at least that's how I interpreted it, also as a metaphoric way for Palpatine to throw the chess board in a rage because he died) 

 

I did find it odd that Iden would join the "terrorist organization" known as the Rebellion when there were other options for her to remain loyal to the empire's ideals without having to follow Operation Cinder, like joining Rae Sloane, a character that has been developed a lot in the recent months but seems to suddenly become completely ignored. 

 

Still, the best part in the campaign was Luke's mission and "Lando and Shriv's wonderful adventure in lava land".

[Ramikad]

Operation Cinder was meant to test the loyalty of the empire and to root out the weak elements out of it (at least that's how I interpreted it, also as a metaphoric way for Palpatine to throw the chess board in a rage because he died) 

 

I did find it odd that Iden would join the "terrorist organization" known as the Rebellion when there were other options for her to remain loyal to the empire's ideals without having to follow Operation Cinder, like joining Rae Sloane, a character that has been developed a lot in the recent months but seems to suddenly become completely ignored. 

 

Still, the best part in the campaign was Luke's mission and "Lando and Shriv's wonderful adventure in lava land".

 

I don't know. I sorta consider Operation Cinder more as one of the ways for Disney to disrupt the quality of their canon, turning the Empire from "the bad guys with some narrative depth" into "the plain old bad guys".

[General Howard]

Operation Cinder was meant to test the loyalty of the empire and to root out the weak elements out of it (at least that's how I interpreted it, also as a metaphoric way for Palpatine to throw the chess board in a rage because he died) 

 

I did find it odd that Iden would join the "terrorist organization" known as the Rebellion when there were other options for her to remain loyal to the empire's ideals without having to follow Operation Cinder, like joining Rae Sloane, a character that has been developed a lot in the recent months but seems to suddenly become completely ignored. 

 

Still, the best part in the campaign was Luke's mission and "Lando and Shriv's wonderful adventure in lava land".

Yeah, I pretty much agree with that, more so than not. Yeah, there was also mentions of Rae Sloan in there too, which was a nice touch (Reminded me of SW Aftermath: Empire's End). I honestly thought that's maybe the way she/the story would go, which would then ultimately lead into this:

 

 

And as it turned out, was one of the main reasons why it was a disappointment to me. I dunno how anyone else feels, but is anyone else under the impression that certain elements of the story felt rushed (especially towards the end)? I'm pleased Del got his come-uppance in the end, from Hask. At least there's no loose ends there, now. And now, people are speculating that Rey (TFA) is the daughter of Iden and Del. Ha! Imagine that.. The only thing missing there, is "Lana" (Lana Del Rey lol). However, having said that.. I did enjoy the ending mission with Kylo, showing a better "insight" into his mind reading ability. Would've liked to have been able to have had a lightsaber duel thrown in there, somewhere. But I guess we'll have to wait and see where this story DLC takes us. Hopefully, it's nice and long. I don't want a 4GB+ DLC that's basically 15-20 mins long.

[Mand'alor]

Now comes a stupid question:

 

If the DLC gets released on the 13. december... will we have to watch the Last Jedi movie first and then play the DLC ? I am not sure if we would spoil us if we play the DLC first.

[dg1995]

EA Battlefront 2 failed in UK.

 

 

 

What's more, GamesIndustry.biz reports that Battlefront II's UK physical sales were down 61% compared to the 2015 series reboot, Star Wars Battlefront. Some of that shortfall would have been recovered in increasing digital sales, but it's unlikely enough units would have been sold over PSN, Xbox Live, and Origin to make up that gulf.

[Mandalorian]

Today I got a nice little update that removed all my progress in matches. None of the unlockable content is usable and I believe this is affecting everyone.

[Circa]

Now comes a stupid question:

 

If the DLC gets released on the 13. december... will we have to watch the Last Jedi movie first and then play the DLC ? I am not sure if we would spoil us if we play the DLC first.

I was wondering the same. If its only 2 days before TLJ comes out, I'll probably just wait to play it until after I see the movie.

 

 

EA Battlefront 2 failed in UK.

I guarantee the digital sales made up for it. Digital sales have taken over the market by far in the past couple of years.

[General Howard]

Hmm.. Strange. I logged onto my PS4, earlier and saw the update. It finished installing (I don't know what it was supposed to have fixed.. I've not seen any patch notes. Although, it does seem to have adjusted damage balancing and such, somewhat (I think). But I checked all my progress. Well, my unlocked heroes and such (finally managed to unlock them all, last night). And they're all still there, unlocked. But I do know that one of my other PSN friends has the same problem that people are mentioning, about all the progress being reset and stuff being locked, that'd been unlocked.

[Mandalorian]

it is only online matches that the levels are reset and cards locked.

 

This has been fixed.

I prefer the first one by far.

Edited November 21, 2017 by Mandalorian

[General Howard]

Another clear cut point, proving that this game wasn't ready to be released, yet. I mean, what was the whole point of the Beta?! Surely, I know it wasn't to stress-test the servers (that kinda failed), weapon damage and health balancing is still an issue.. Surely, EA/DICE should've had all this done and fixed, in the time they had between the Beta and the game's release date.. Amongst a whole host of other issues.

[dg1995]

I guarantee the digital sales made up for it. Digital sales have taken over the market by far in the past couple of years.

 

That isn't the case here since it didn't managed to even beat the new COD game which has been out for weeks. Even the article mentions it.

[Circa]

Yes but they didn’t actually check those numbers. They said it is “unlikely” - which is very poor journalism on their part. I don’t doubt BFII got beat by COD at all, I just find it odd that GameSpot is assuming digital sales still don’t compare to physical sales.

[MaceMadunusus]

I just find it odd that GameSpot is assuming digital sales still don’t compare to physical sales.

 

They don't compare when you're talking about console. A significant chunk of people with consoles do not have the harddrive space to keep large games on their drive, or the download speeds to reliably download them over and over. As a result they go the disk route.

 

EA's CFO: “We do think the industry will end calendar year 2017 probably above 40%" when speaking of digital sales compared to physical.

 

"We do think the industry will end calendar year 2017 probably above 40%,” he added. That’s close to half of the industry’s sales being done online, which is a big step.

 

That said, EA’s own digital share will lag behind the competition, thanks to FIFA. The game is very popular in places with limited access to high-speed bandwidth, and in countries where buying digital goods isn’t the norm, so it’ll always sell better on disc. And with it being the company’s biggest game, it will reduce the overall percentage of digital revenue for EA.

So, EA themselves is saying that 60% of their game sales (Remember, digital figures often include things like DLC bought after launch) is predicted to be from physical this year. 

 

So that is actually a pretty huge chunk.

 

 

[Tempust85]

Anyone got this on PC? If so, thoughts?

[Circa]

They don't compare when you're talking about console. A significant chunk of people with consoles do not have the harddrive space to keep large games on their drive, or the download speeds to reliably download them over and over. As a result they go the disk route.

 

EA's CFO: “We do think the industry will end calendar year 2017 probably above 40%" when speaking of digital sales compared to physical.

 

So, EA themselves is saying that 60% of their game sales (Remember, digital figures often include things like DLC bought after launch) is predicted to be from physical this year. 

 

So that is actually a pretty huge chunk.

 

 

You still have to install games on console. It wasn't like that in the past but the PS4 and Xbox One both require you to install from the disc to the hard drive to play. This is why a lot of people don't bother with physical versions anymore, because if they have to install it anyway, they might as well not worry about a disc.

 

We'll see what happens though. I don't doubt EA is predicting that, I'm just saying the results might end up being different than what they think.