Titanfall 2 Multiplayer Technical Test Impressions (XB1/PS4)

Respectfully, this actually IS a very old build. This post from DKo5 from the Digital Foundry thread is very relevant:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=214005564&postcount=101

Wonder if it'll fix my complaints

So I don't know what to think of this game. I kinda like the on foot stuff, even if juggle between slide and jump to keep up speed feels like a hassle. But I hate the Titans and what they do to the game. Any game modes Sans Titans?

The main mode of the beta is just pilot v pilot
 
has a good core, enough to work with here

movement needs some work tho, almost to senistive to the touch, im cool if ai ain't in the game
 
Am I doing something wrong, or can you not wall hang anymore?

In the first game, whilst wall running, you could press the aim button and you'd stay in place hanging from the wall. Is that gone?
 
Haven't played the test, however this thread is very disheartening.

Titanfall is my game of the generation thus far. Gen 10'd it on both 360 and XBO and still play it occasionally to this day. Will be a massive disappointment if Titanfall 2 doesn't at least live up to the first.
 
Never got to play the first TF, was pretty excited to play this... but there's a few problems, and judging from everything I read they've also changed stuff regarding the Titans and removed bots or something. (I dunno, I can't comment on that)

My problems stem with the TTK, you die waaaaaayyy too fast which seems rather counter intuitive, I want to do crazy stuff but I'm not allowed to otherwise I get killed. And the maps are not very good and don't give me much hope for the full game, there isn't many places to chain wallrunning,.especially on Homestead (the big open grass field map). This baffles me because the training mode teaches you to chain wallruns, slides and jumps to maintain momentum yet the actual maps provided don't have anywhere to let you do that.
 
Haven't played the test, however this thread is very disheartening.

Titanfall is my game of the generation thus far. Gen 10'd it on both 360 and XBO and still play it occasionally to this day. Will be a massive disappointment if Titanfall 2 doesn't at least live up to the first.

Right there with you. T1 is one of the few MP games I loved since I don't play much MP. This unless they do some drastic changes isn't offering that same feeling.
 
Alright, I've played this a lot beyond the level cap now and feel pretty comfortable how I feel about more of the changes now.

I feel that the biggest ripple effect is the change from titan timers to a percent that doesn't gradually build up. This makes almost everything feel like a snowball effect--when you start to win, you win more and this continues to build and spiral out of control. The cores feel like super moves now and an earlier titan now means an earlier super. You can very easily just rush in and laser beam a freshly spawned titan from the enemy team and totally bone them since they have no real recovery method, and the bounty mode has those AI rounds which lets whoever has a titan basically farm core power and hold it to create a huge swing. These AI also spawn on opposite ends which from what I've seen makes the teams actually stick together and just wipe them all out, you can't just charge in on the other team since all the damage you take matters and makes it incredibly hard to actually fight against the odds. I found myself a decent groove of approaching Bounty Hunt to get 3K+ score pretty reliably but it basically just comes down to getting early titans, sitting on the core and shutting down the other team before they can get anything going.

Beyond that, the battery system is actually really weird now that I see it more. In theory I think it's cool, in practice...your individual battery doesn't matter? Like I'm seeing actual benefits to getting it taken, you actually allow a rodeo to happen, when they bounce off you spin around and punch them, get out and obtain your battery then go back in and suddenly BENEFITS EVERYWHERE. Shield, healing, core power...why do you actually get more be reobtaining your same battery over already just having a battery? I think it would make more sense if your titan just had a battery power, and the two states were active battery or no battery. Like imagine if Titans had shields by default again, but if you rodeo and take the battery their shields are permanently gone unless they get another. This would also allow some sort of equipment specifically to mess with batteries, and in turn shielding. I feel like removing shields was a mistake as it opened up more avenues to approach fights. Plus grunts and such doing damage to you just feels bad, it makes titans just feel like they're weak. Having some defense against inconsequential damage helped make you feel like a genuine threat.

The maps are...not great. Boomtown is the better of the two but doesn't flow nearly as well as maps like Angel City from a movement angle. Your wall riding will come to a pretty dead stop even if you try to fill in gaps with the grapple, and there's a few clumps of trees that drive me nuts. You can jump over/through them but if you run through it counts you as outside of the map and counts down even though they're not on the outside border or anything. Homestead is just way too open and the big fields don't feel like it makes sense for a game like this.

Pilot Hunt is pretty dull, but that's not the type of mode I want to play a game like Titanfall for so maybe that's just for other players who want that. But Homestead is total ass for it, WAY too big and it just feels empty with a handful of pilots running around. Amped Hardpoint is a total mess, it literally rewards you for camping and even if the Titans aren't coming as quickly as they're supposed to it feels fundamentally flawed right from the start.

Bounty Hunt is alright but it feels too predictable. The matches feel really samey since you basically know where everything is spawning. I REALLY need a confirmation for attrition.

There's still great moments since the core of movement is still fun but I can't help but feel that the changes from 1 are mostly for the worse.
 
Respectfully, this actually IS a very old build. This post from DKo5 from the Digital Foundry thread is very relevant:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=214005564&postcount=101

Definitely, I'm sure performance wise that things will be excellent at launch, no doubt in my mind about that. It's actual gameplay choices that seem to be most peoples problems.

Again, trying to say this respectfully because I know making games is hard work.
 
Now having played as a Titan it's really quite bad. Playing as a Titan doesn't feel anything like the first game and you go down way too quick in a Titan. It doesn't even feel like there is any point in doing anything but spamming attack until your Titan dies because if you take cover so what?

The on foot stuff is still great but in a Titan its pretty bad.

Respawn has some explaining to do.
 
I don't understand it. I mean, the maps aren't totally awful or anything, but it's like the designers only went maybe 70% of the way designing wallrunning routes and then gave up.

Titanfall's maps were really well designed and catered to both titan and pilot perfectly. Angel City ( the beta map ) is one of my favorites and that beta is what made me preorder, this one however is having the opposite effect.

Grappling hook feels like one of those chair escalators that the elderly get installed on the stairs so they don't have to actually walk upstairs. That fucking slow. Some puzzling choices in this beta tech test I tell ya.
 
Titanfall's maps were really well designed and catered to both titan and pilot perfectly. Angel City ( the beta map ) is one of my favorites and that beta is what made me preorder, this one however is having the opposite effect.

Grappling hook feels like one of those chair escalators that the elderly get installed on the stairs so they don't have to actually walk upstairs. That fucking slow. Some puzzling choices in this beta tech test I tell ya.

Yeah I totally hate the grappling hook. It just gets me killed repeatedly.
 
Definitely, I'm sure performance wise that things will be excellent at launch, no doubt in my mind about that. It's actual gameplay choices that seem to be most peoples problems.

Again, trying to say this respectfully because I know making games is hard work.

Oh absolutely, he posted that in a thread specifically about performance, so that's all he mentioned. The whole team has been working their butts off since the tech test build had to be finalized though, not just the more engine focused coders among us.
 
I can't even begin to understand what benefit there is to removing Titan shields.. it makes no sense.

The balance of quick agile pilots that die quick and giant, slow titans with loads of health that struggle to find cover when damaged was key to the first game. it would be like making mw2 and removing regenerating health from you if you got the ac130.
 
I genuinely don't see the point in having a game so focused on mobility and then also incorporate such a low base time to kill with the most basic guns. It's completely ass backwards.
 
Respectfully, this actually IS a very old build. This post from DKo5 from the Digital Foundry thread is very relevant:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=214005564&postcount=101

That post does not answer the issues we have with changes made to mechanics and gameplay. That post mostly addresses performance/final render frame rate, and graphical stuff. Stats for sure will change as the game gets feedback in it's final state, but the complaints for weird changes to core mechanics are something I don't see changing.

As a person who loves Titanfall, I also love Titanfall 2. Not sure why people are really disliking it so much.


Honest question, how much of titanfall 1 did you play? And what modes? Also did you mostly play as a pilot?
 
and there's a few clumps of trees that drive me nuts. You can jump over/through them but if you run through it counts you as outside of the map and counts down even though they're not on the outside border or anything. Homestead is just way too open and the big fields don't feel like it makes sense for a game like this.

I think that's to stop people from camping in those trees. Though at that point do you not think and ask yourself "maybe this map isn't good, let's scrap it" or "these trees don't work, let's put something else here".

The worst part is sometimes you get trapped in those trees and it takes a while to get out, I haven't died because of it yet but I've gotten pretty damn close. You should be able to get back into the map from outside the boundaries easily without any hassle.
 
the grappling hook is a bit clunky at first, but slowly I've been kind of getting better with it. It definitely takes some "finesse" to get the hang of. I hope they kind of adjust it a bit to get a better feel with it.

I definitely wish they had the PC version cause you can kind of feel how much more precise you could be with the grappling hook if you just could get it dead on.
 
Played one round. Enjoyed it.

Grapple didn't work well, way too slow and doesn't reach far enough - without a visual clue if it would reach, I kept dying trying to use it during a fight and being unable to.
 
Game is a mess. Respawn only had to tweak the formula and give us titanfall one with more content. Instead they fucked up the ttk, the movement, and the mechs. Also the lack of AI is shit. I know it's cliche, but this is cod with mechs. I had to force myself to play it. My most anticipated game this year and I had to force myself to continue.

Also, bring back the damn mech timer, I was top player in hard point and didn't see a mech nor did I get a mech the entire match. Seen multiple matches like this.
 
I think that's to stop people from camping in those trees. Though at that point do you not think and ask yourself "maybe this map isn't good, let's scrap it" or "these trees don't work, let's put something else here".

The worst part is sometimes you get trapped in those trees and it takes a while to get out, I haven't died because of it yet but I've gotten pretty damn close. You should be able to get back into the map from outside the boundaries easily without any hassle.

Yeah, I figured it was an anti-camp but I just find the existence of that clump to be annoying since I did actually die because of the exact thing you said, lol.
 
Game is a mess. Respawn only had to tweak the formula and give us titanfall one with more content. Instead they fucked up the ttk, the movement, and the mechs. Also the lack of AI is shit. I know it's cliche, but this is cod with mechs. I had to force myself to play it. My most anticipated game this year and I had to force myself to continue.

Also, bring back the damn mech timer, I was top player in hard point and didn't see a mech nor did I get a mech the entire match. Seen multiple matches like this.

Exactly how I felt as well. T1 was unique. This as you said felt like it was a new COD DLC. I'm sure people who never played 1 will enjoy this, but anyone who was big on T1 I can't see preferring this.
 
Also, bring back the damn mech timer, I was top player in hard point and didn't see a mech nor did I get a mech the entire match. Seen multiple matches like this.
They really need to bring it back, I get why they removed it but I don't agree with it at all and making it easier to get your titan like they've said would happen doesn't fix the problems it causes IMO.

The thing I liked about Titans in TF1 was that everyone got them no matter how good or bad, so even bad people dragging the team down got one and helped them do slightly better which helped me/the team. Now bad people will just camp for kills to get their titan like they do killstreaks in CoD, which is another negative because campers were rare in the first game and AI's and the titan system played a big part in that. I do think there should be something to aim for within games but titans aren't that something.

Yeah, I figured it was an anti-camp but I just find the existence of that clump to be annoying since I did actually die because of the exact thing you said, lol.
Yep it sucks. In titanfall 1 if you were ever ouside of the map, you could get back into the map within seconds and never felt the risk of dying because there was nothing blocking your way etc, being outside of the map was just a warning like it should be, on this game it's a death sentence lol.
 
Surprised they got rid of the whole gradual titan meter. Gradual meters works very well on a psychological level since it makes everyone feel like they are at least working to a end goal (titan) even if they are playing like ass for a game. Something that even bo3 realized surprisingly enough.

Homestead isn't the best to showcase wallrunning again to people I get it's basically a Titan paradise but it's hard to showcase titan fights when many can't get them lol.
 
Yeah I totally hate the grappling hook. It just gets me killed repeatedly.

I'm sure most people already know this, but I found that using a pattern of jump > hook > double jump really helps make the grappling hook feel effective.

I'll agree that it sucks if you've just done a double jump before hooking because you slowly get dragged towards whatever you hooked with no control, but if you save your second boost jump until after you start reeling in, it can give you a real mobility boost.

I like using it to hook the ledge near a roof, then use the double jump to give myself some extra upwards momentum before tapping the grapple button to release the hook and send me catapulting over the roof. Got quite a few nice kills that way.
 
They really need to bring it back, I get why they removed it but I don't agree with it at all and making it easier to get your titan like they've said would happen doesn't fix the problems it causes IMO.

The thing I liked about Titans in TF1 was that everyone got them no matter how good or bad, so even bad people dragging the team down got one and helped them do slightly better which helped me/the team. Now bad people will just camp for kills to get their titan like they do killstreaks in CoD, which is another negative because campers were rare in the first game and AI's and the titan system played a big part in that. I do think there should be something to aim for within games but titans aren't that something.


Yep it sucks. In titanfall 1 if you were ever ouside of the map, you could get back into the map within seconds and never felt the risk of dying because there was nothing blocking your way etc, being outside of the map was just a warning like it should be, on this game it's a death sentence lol.

Agreed. Right now Titans are basically just Killstreaks. As you said the fact that everyone would get Titans before is what made it nice in T1. Here they barely come out.
 
Gonna save this post for when the full game comes out and nothing meaningful has changed.

If you really believe that a game releasing in October is currently in "pre Alpha".... Well, you don't know fucking anything about game development (or marketing).
Hmmm. Projecting just a bit, yeah? Ad hominem attack was a nice touch too. My point is totally moot because I'm not a game developer. Forget the fact that I've played games my entire life and write about them for a living.
Anyway, you'll notice in my post I didn't mention anything needing changed besides ttk, and I have a good feeling that's something that can be tweaked in two month's time. And by "meaningful changes" I assume you mean changes that are meaningful to *you* and everyone else who wants this to be exactly like TF1.
That's fine; nothing wrong with that. Just saying, you can either whine about what the game isn't, or try to enjoy what it is. Doing the latter, I think you'll find it can be really fun (it's also a lot less annoying).

BTW, in the first TF were pilots so sticky around walls? I find that often I can't make very simple evasive maneuvers because I'll get sucked into a wall run when I'm just trying to hop through a window or climb a ledge. Maybe I just need to get used to it.
 
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