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Tribes Ascend to be playable at Quakecon 2011 (Update: show floor footage at post #3)

jambo

Member
Oh my word this looks gooooooood, can't wait to fire it up and just zoom around the levels skiing. The movement speed looks fantastic and the combat was classic Tribes!
 

Talamius

Member
Teknopathetic said:
They've only said that there's this reimagining of Broadside and a 1:1 port of Katabatic.

Edit: As far as classic maps goes.

Hoping for Rollercoaster and Stonehenge. Good times.
 

Wallach

Member
Why regenerating health. Why would you do this. It's not like the pace of Tribes ever suffered for lack of it.
 

Gaspode_T

Member
Looks awesome...way better than expected

BTW the game always had a repair gun, maybe they are trying to make it a little more newb friendly

For nostalgia, see one of the most famous Tribes 1 matches of all time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kby-bZqfDqE

[IE]-Natural was to Tribes as Daigo Umehara is to Street Fighter. He basically invented the style of flag capturing that defined the speed and awesomeness of Tribes skiing, and he was well rounded in all roles. There were many other awesome players of this game, too many to list.

My only claim to fame of competitive gaming was being one of the Pissed off Ewoks during their intial days, but I had a hard time keeping up with the others because of my piss poor internet connection (HPB love) http://www.tribalwar.com/wiki/index.php/Pissed_Off_Ewoks
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Wallach said:
Why regenerating health. Why would you do this. It's not like the pace of Tribes ever suffered for lack of it.

Ok I was enthusiastic until I read this... there is regenning health in this? Bleh.
 

Gaspode_T

Member
Technically in most fast paced games you will end up dying at the enemy base camp and re-spawn back way far away at your own camp, base camping happened but usually only if the other team was not coordinated enough to fight their way out of it

It doesn't really make sense that they change anything about the original game's formula, it was balanced so well...but that's also the reason another Tribes game hasn't been successful because there is a Sonic Cycle style doom and gloom that seems to damn every new try at it. I am open minded enough to give it a try and servers can probably turn that off with custom settings anyway.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Sinatar said:
Ok I was enthusiastic until I read this... there is regenning health in this? Bleh.
This is 2011. The alternative is having the game turn into a campout so people can protect their precious K/D.
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
SapientWolf said:
This is 2011. The alternative is having the game turn into a campout so people can protect their precious K/D.
-tribes
-remaining immobile
-favourable k/d

pick two.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
SapientWolf said:
This is 2011. The alternative is having the game turn into a campout so people can protect their precious K/D.

I love it when people camp in tribes, makes it super easy to win. Not to mention regenerating health promoting base camping. It's pretty tough to break through someones defense when everyone is at full health every time to make a sally. By relying on medics in the old tribes in helped teams break defenses via attrition when necessary.
 

Jerykk

Banned
Yikes. Looks like they're just throwing in weapons so that they can make more pre-defined classes. A minigun? Shotgun? Pistol? Assault rifle? One of the great things about Tribes was that it had a small arsenal but every weapon was unique and equally useful (except for the Blaster and ELF). There's no need for a bunch of hitscan weapons, especially in a low-gravity shooter like Tribes where it'll be pretty easy to hit guys in midair.

Also, another homing missile launcher? Really? They didn't learn from T2's mistake? No weapon should ever home in on another player, ever. Dynamix added a homing missile launcher in T2 and what happened? Every player using medium and heavy armor used it, making it impossible to play offense unless you carried anti-missile flares.

I really want to like this game but I strongly disagree with most of the design choices they've made. If the game supported mods, that would be less of an issue but they've stated that there will be no mod support.
 

Jerykk

Banned
SapientWolf said:
This is 2011. The alternative is having the game turn into a campout so people can protect their precious K/D.

It sounds like you've never actually played a Tribes game before. The primary game mode is CTF, so defense will obviously consist of camping the flag. Conversely, if you want to actually win, you have to capture the flag and that requires offense. This isn't TDM.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Jerykk said:
It sounds like you've never actually played a Tribes game before. The primary game mode is CTF, so defense will obviously consist of camping the flag. Conversely, if you want to actually win, you have to capture the flag and that requires offense. This isn't TDM.
That's one of the modes, but I'm just going by my recent online experiences in nearly every modern FPS. Everyone is either camping, whining, or both. Regardless of the victory conditions.
 

DKo5

Respawn Entertainment
Two flag caps in my first match and I'm back in. It's got some changes, but Tribes is BACK. I can't wait to play more tomorrow.
 

Jerykk

Banned
SapientWolf said:
That's one of the modes, but I'm just going by my recent online experiences in nearly every modern FPS. Everyone is either camping, whining, or both. Regardless of the victory conditions.

Tribes was not like modern FPSes. It was all about CTF and camping isn't really cheap when you're defending your flag, nor is it a viable tactic for an entire team to camp when they need to capture the enemy flag in order to win.

Even if T:A has an arena mode, camping would only be made easier by regenerating health. The campers would automatically replenish all their health after battle so other players wouldn't be able to whittle them down over time. They'd have full health at the start of every fight and would never have to leave their camping spot.
 

Tworak

Member
changed my mind from wtf to buy buy buy buy sorely due to that video in #4.

yay excited. tribes! fuck yeah!
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Tworak said:
changed my mind from wtf to buy buy buy buy sorely due to that video in #3.

yay excited. tribes! fuck yeah!

Buy buy buy? It's free to play.

I'd gladly drop $50 on it if it had a true Tribes mode where you guy to customize your load out. The current system of having premade load out sucks and being nickel and dimed for them is even worse.

Custom classes is one of the cornerstones of what Tribes is and they've removed that. Now I'm all depressed about this shit again. Thanks Hi-Rez you lame asses.
 

Tworak

Member
Sinatar said:
Buy buy buy? It's free to play.
buy buy buy!
Sinatar said:
I'd gladly drop $50 on it if it had a true Tribes mode where you guy to customize your load out. The current system of having premade load out sucks and being nickel and dimed for them is even worse.

Custom classes is one of the cornerstones of what Tribes is and they've removed that. Now I'm all depressed about this shit again. Thanks Hi-Rez you lame asses.
ohh. damn. right. that's certainly a few steps backwards.
 

Meeru

Banned
Driving home from day 2. Talked with Gavin who works for Hi-Rez studios and also recorded two 720p vids. will update.
 

Meeru

Banned
Sinatar said:
Buy buy buy? It's free to play.

I'd gladly drop $50 on it if it had a true Tribes mode where you guy to customize your load out. The current system of having premade load out sucks and being nickel and dimed for them is even worse.

Custom classes is one of the cornerstones of what Tribes is and they've removed that. Now I'm all depressed about this shit again. Thanks Hi-Rez you lame asses.
Gavin mentioned that you will be able to purchase individual weapons.. If that means customizable loadouts..
 
"Gavin mentioned that you will be able to purchase individual weapons.. If that means customizable loadouts.."


Please be true. This loadout stuff is bunk. I don't even care if I need to buy a few custom loadout slots or something.
 

Meeru

Banned
I'm doubting customizable loadouts..if they are bringing out class loadouts as one of their main microtransactions, there is really no reason for customizable weapons. Honestly, having class loadouts with specific weapons is not a bad idea. It gives the class a very unique sense in itself. Anyways uploading the videos now.
 
The weapons look...off. Skiing looks true to T1, which is great. Not sure if I like the regenerating health.

Oh, and jesus christ, just get rid of all vehicles. They have only ever created a game on top of a game, and will ruin pubs.
 

derFeef

Member
dollartaco said:
The weapons look...off. Skiing looks true to T1, which is great. Not sure if I like the regenerating health.

Oh, and jesus christ, just get rid of all vehicles. They have only ever created a game on top of a game, and will ruin pubs.
What, don't take away my bomber :(
 

Meeru

Banned
--------Day 2 of Tribes: Ascend at Quakecon 2011

-They do not have one at the moment, but there will be a chat functionality/lobby for players to hang around in. I asked if you will be able to message individual players, he didn't really give a solid answer. I told him that including community like features is essential to keeping a game alive, to which he understands.

-There will be a ranking/level up system, one will be related with how many games you played, general stuff. The other leveling up will be related with how many kills you have, deaths, etc.

-I asked about the reloading animations and how some players dislike it because it takes up too much of the viewing space/takes too long. He mentioned that in this day and age, you kindof need to have that kind of realism in there. It may piss competitive players off, but they will just have to get used to it.

-They're against paying money to get an advantage in games. Microtransactions will mainly be for cosmetic stuff and being able to purchase weapons in case you do not want to earn it through their ingame currency. He did mention there may be an item that will help you level up faster..my guess is that levels will be related with unlocking class loadouts..because no one would want to buy that leveling up faster item if levels have no significance to them.

I still like soldier class the best as they have the regular spinfusor. MAs are really hard..maybe the fact its only my second day but I only got like 2 MAs in my 2 days of playtesting. I consider myself a casual hardcore player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq5a_2UKW2w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zudE8oeOAw

The videos just posted now will require some processing to have 720p.

The vehicles are really nice, plus you have to earn credits to buy them. Earn credits by killing enemies, destroying generators, repairing generators/turrets, getting flag, returning your flag..

Oh yeah players who get the highest score gets a Tribes Ascend tshirt
 

sk3tch

Member
Meeru said:
not even funny

Oh c'mon. I bought that beast for Glide games like Tribes 1, specifically. If the Voodoo series of cards doesn't scream Tribes nostalgia I don't know what does.
 
Holy crap looks so fun, what's the max players?

So glad it's F2P too. F2P PC gaming has taken up like 90% of my game time the past several months... so many good games. LoL, Spiral Knights, Dragon Nest, now Tribes.
 

derFeef

Member
Kotaku being classy...

I think Quakecon fits the game pretty well, but the game has no buzz at all. Hope this changes because it looks damn good.
 
There are a few things I noticed that differ greatly from Tribes 1 and 2.

  • Two weapon system only. Lights, Assault, and Heavy classes all have two weapons. So other than armor and having "heavy weapons" the heavies don't carry as much of an advantage as they used to. T2 heavies were able to hold 5 weapons... which was pretty awesome. Though with all that firepower, you were still vulnerable due to lack of mobility.
  • No Shocklance (so far). That's disheartening for me. I was a pro with that. Taking out shrikes and havoc's were so fun.
  • Shrike lasers are now explosive. I'll say that's a good thing. Trying to hit guys with the Shrike lasers in Tribes 2 was a pain.
  • Less focus on bases. I kinda don't like it. It might be just the maps we've seen, but we saw "Broadside" and this map. And both those maps have a few inventory stations and a generator a few turns in. Now, compare that to the T1/2 Broadside, and it took a minute to get to the gens. Of course, the old Broadside map was crappy IMO, but I'd still like to see a defensive line played in the game, instead of everyone being offensive.
  • No deployable stations?

That's all I can think of right now, I have a headache. One thing I do really hope is that they add Siege mode. Probably my favorite game mode in Tribes 2.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Thanks for the coverage Meeru!

So how is this looking to those of you who are Tribes vets? I haven't had a PC gaming rig in 10 years, but this fall I'm jumping back in.
 
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