The Marines look so generic and boring.
Miffy
Join Date: 2010-07-17 Member: 72487Members
Join Date: 2010-07-17 Member: 72487Members
I only played NS once and never played it again so I'm talking out of my arse here. I just think looking at the footage that the Marines just look so throw away and like you're any old soldier in COD or something. I hate them games because you just feel like everyone else and there's no character to any of it.
The best thing I think Team Fortress 2 did was split it all into classes and give each one a unique personality. They did them fantastic "meet the" trailers and even in game they have fantastic animations, emotes and unique play styles. So like WoW you end up picking the one you love and sticking with it most of the time, however the others are all so fun you often switch over. It's just really fun standing there pressing g and watching the taunts.
Now the Aliens all look pretty unique from each one you're playing. It would be really cool to give each Marine their own personality and different look. The movie Aliens would have been really boring if they were all dull characters. Same thing with the games it gets really boring if you all feel and play the same like COD or CS or something. Left 4 Dead again gave each character a unique personality.
The best thing I think Team Fortress 2 did was split it all into classes and give each one a unique personality. They did them fantastic "meet the" trailers and even in game they have fantastic animations, emotes and unique play styles. So like WoW you end up picking the one you love and sticking with it most of the time, however the others are all so fun you often switch over. It's just really fun standing there pressing g and watching the taunts.
Now the Aliens all look pretty unique from each one you're playing. It would be really cool to give each Marine their own personality and different look. The movie Aliens would have been really boring if they were all dull characters. Same thing with the games it gets really boring if you all feel and play the same like COD or CS or something. Left 4 Dead again gave each character a unique personality.
Comments
Still I think the style unique enough, they fit nicely with the general look of the game, and the game look is quite interesting, but then that could just be my artsy senses going off.
the marines do have some variation, some will be wearing the black armor, and there are 3 different marine 'classes' of sorts, the jetpacker has a jetpack on his back and will probably spend all his time crashing into things and making whoosh noises, and the exoskeleton guy is... well.. we don't know yet, but I would guess somewhere between the aliens power loader and the exosuits from the stalker franchise, he'll probably spend his time moving <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdJg6Duzzf4" target="_blank">with catlike tread</a> and spinning his miniguns at the walls menacingly.
marines on the other hand are a bit more....handy.
get it? ^^
If you actually paid any attention to Natural Selection 1 then you would realise that you can not pick to be the Onos right at the start.
The Kharaa have thier own classes and the marines have thier different types of guns (Nothing important here) but they can get a jetpack, they can get heavy armour and be very strong and maybe some others. I don't know.
Maybe you should research the game first than talking out of your backside as you have just stated. Giving the marines a few classes to choose from ruins the game. It will then make the Kharaa less unique as a side.
If you actually paid any attention to Natural Selection 1 then you would realise that you can not pick to be the Onos right at the start.
The Kharaa have thier own classes and the marines have thier different types of guns (Nothing important here) but they can get a jetpack, they can get heavy armour and be very strong and maybe some others. I don't know.
Maybe you should research the game first than talking out of your backside as you have just stated. Giving the marines a few classes to choose from ruins the game. It will then make the Kharaa less unique as a side.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Given that equipment is now bought from the armory by marines, they sort of can choose their class, they just have to spend money to do it.
This game is to do with evolving and getting better throughtout the round.
If you actually paid any attention to Natural Selection 1 then you would realise that you can not pick to be the Onos right at the start.
The Kharaa have thier own classes and the marines have thier different types of guns (Nothing important here) but they can get a jetpack, they can get heavy armour and be very strong and maybe some others. I don't know.
Maybe you should research the game first than talking out of your backside as you have just stated. Giving the marines a few classes to choose from ruins the game. It will then make the Kharaa less unique as a side.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Given that equipment is now bought from the armory by marines, they sort of can choose their class, they just have to spend money to do it.
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Pretty much this. Marines can already choose their class. So whine more about kharaa being "less unique" and "game being ruined". Need I remind NS2 is not NS1? The game's already been changed irrevocably from one version to the other.
How would you do this? I mean, TF2 can do it because each class plays differently and has different abilities, and L4D can do it because there are only 4 people and because they have huge amounts of money. Keep in mind that even adding a female marine is too much work for UWE right now. How would you differentiate all the marines? You have to come up with about 12 to 16 unique personalities.
No need to differentiate them anyway.
If you stand out, you're dead.
That doesn't really have anything to do with visually distinct classes. Being able to identify something's function by its appearance is a good idea in any game, that's why the alien classes look different when you could simply make them all look the same.
Marines however are kinda hard to distinguish visually, giving someone a shotgun doesn't really make them look different, although you can and should make the effects of the guns very visually distinct, sound and particles can both be used to make one marine distinct from the nearby marine using a different gun, and ideally the guns should be identifiable from a bit of a distance away.
But the TF2 approach is a good one if you can justify it, it has very good reasons behind it and the only reason I wouldn't suggest doing it for the marines is because it doesn't really fit the NS2 visual style. If the marine class system was a bit more distinct however I would certainly suggest using different coloured armors or armor configurations to show different weapon types. Flamethrowers and grenade launchers are support weapon so they get red armor with more spaced plates etc, main battle weapons like shotguns and MGs get the basic green armor and full plating, that sort of thing.
The most important distinctions however are already made, in the form of the exo/jetpack models.
TF2 is generally designed to be relatively lightweight fun without necessarily requiring much commitment or dedication from the players. The visual look supports that light fun mentality. At least the original NS had a more strict teamwork code, which once again is supported by a militaristic, somewhat more organised look. I think the original NS look was still original enough and looked fantastic for a HL1 mod, especially while on the move.
As for NS2, the models still look pretty original and distinct to me. It's still too early to say how they'll blend in to the action and gameplay, but I think it's looking pretty good right now.
TF2 models are nice in a way, but I haven't noticed that much under the surface on them. They're strong caricatures, but not that much else. Once you've got past the first exitement, I don't think they're anything special or particularly exiting by their characters.
The nail that sticks out get hammered.
I would not want to have something/easily seen and identifiable color or armor plates or what ever on my marine that states, "hey look I am different I have a SG/hmg/gl Kill me first and then deal with the rest of the guys who have stock weapons."
Its like: hey lets shoot the guy with a big antenna popping out of his backpack I bet he's important......
Its fine if they put in something like Halo where you can add a customizable crest/patch/or stenciled graphic on the marines chest plate or armor.
That's just my opinion.
Oh, but they should, he's such an uplifting author!
If you like character variation in TF2 WOW or any other ###### Go an ###### play it !
This ain't the game about the looks of Marines.
The nail that sticks out get hammered.
I would not want to have something/easily seen and identifiable color or armor plates or what ever on my marine that states, "hey look I am different I have a SG/hmg/gl Kill me first and then deal with the rest of the guys who have stock weapons."
Its like: hey lets shoot the guy with a big antenna popping out of his backpack I bet he's important......
Its fine if they put in something like Halo where you can add a customizable crest/patch/or stenciled graphic on the marines chest plate or armor.
That's just my opinion.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Agreed 100%
If you take gears of war for example, it has a very particular style to the armour.
At first when I saw the new aliens, I was unsure whether I liked them or not... but like them or not they have a really cool style going on that is very recognisable.
The marines on the other hand have nothing particular about them, or nothing that visually cues them as fighting aliens that run around on the floor chewing at their ankles or otherwise in terms of the alien team.
Can't wait for the game, but I think the marine armour needs something about it to identify this with the gamer.
If you take gears of war for example, it has a very particular style to the armour.
At first when I saw the new aliens, I was unsure whether I liked them or not... but like them or not they have a really cool style going on that is very recognisable.
The marines on the other hand have nothing particular about them, or nothing that visually cues them as fighting aliens that run around on the floor chewing at their ankles or otherwise in terms of the alien team.
Can't wait for the game, but I think the marine armour needs something about it to identify this with the gamer.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The TSA actually have a really interesting back story, and if you'd like to learn why they are outfitted in the way they are, read this blog post: <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2009/9first_peek_at_the_new_frontiersman" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2009...ew_frontiersman</a>
It would be nice, although probably impractical, if there was some kind of random differencies between the models but its unimportant.
I say use the faces of every developer and each time you spawn you get a random but non-duplicate face superimposed on a marine. No repeats, variation, etc...
I say use the faces of every developer and each time you spawn you get a random but non-duplicate face superimposed on a marine. No repeats, variation, etc...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm sure NS will support 16v16, but the sweet spot is probably going to be anywhere from 8v8-12v12 depending on your preference. I'm assuming competitive NS2 will change from 6v6 to 8v8 with the addition of 2 more commanders and an alien commander. (potentially 6 commanders during a full scale Tier 3 vs Tier 3 game) We'll see how it plays out.
Hmm well if there's 3 commanders why not have 18v18? That would make for 3 comms and 3 squads of 5 people each.. Has UWE commented on server size limits yet? In some mods, I've seen 32v32 before. That can be fun (or a complete cluster f*ck if the map isn't built to support that many people)
EDIT: /ontopic You can only see like 3/4 of the marines face anyway (Only about 1/3 of the face with Black Armor).. I don't see a real need for randomizing the facial features (especially since it seems like an implementation would be a PITA) because I doubt many people pay enough attention to the face to make it matter. I think the marines look badåss as it is. Wait a second- sound the troll alert!
We haven't been imformed about the server limits yet but it is only about a week and a couple of days before the Alpha.
In case you were wondering : Full mask to protect against backbasts of the flamer, lowered visor for limiting blindness from grenade explosions, lower face only mask on the shotgun as he will be in close range ( implying but not really protection from gases and alien liquids) and the HUD to imply ranged accuracy from the AR (or is it LMG ?)
This would give some distinction at a relatively cheap cost in resources, in my opinion.
Actually what's this talk about marines looking all the same, they also have "classes" (actually even more than aliens) you can choose weapons (okay it's not as easy to identify who is holding which weapon, but 4 Fades also look the same) and they got Jetpacks and Heavy Armors and in NS2 they got green & black armor additionally (for some of us)
I guess that's enough and maybe after v1.0 if the devs want they'll add something to make your generic clone army marine customizable, but I wouldn't expect it and I don't care at all.
Individuality seems like something you would associate more with the clichéd marines of sci-fi movies, when in reality they would all be one, well-oiled war machine against a common enemy (the Kharaa).
I actually think in some sort of pseudo-psychological way, having the marines all look the same actually makes the team work together better, instead of striving to stand out for whatever reason.
Same goes for the individual alien classes - all the skulks look the same, all the lerks look the same etc etc.
The visual individualisation takes place when choosing your equipment.
I however do approve of ASnogarD his idea, at least for heavy weapons there should be some change in the way the marine looks like.