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The War Z AKA "28 Scandals Later" AKA "bury the ones we love and plagiarize the rest"

M

mik83kuu

Banned
Overall I have a positive vibe from the video, but if anyone here doesn't get the "let's fake a DayZ-type survival YouTube video for teh PR" feel from this, I say go check any DayZ co-op video and it's 100% what you see here. Also the dude playing sounds like he's acting.
 
Z

ZenVolta

Member
Cant tell if I like or hate how big those backpacks are. Pretty cool the zombies(and I guess players?) are going to have ragdoll physics.


Chinner said:
of course it's scripted.
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I dont understand why all the hate. Isnt this a normal game industry standard?
 
C

Chinner

Banned
i don't mean it in a bad way. im looking forward to this game. what i should have said is that for a live demonstration a scripted gameplay sequence is pretty normal and allows the developers to demonstrate the gameplay/mood they're trying to capture with their game. a live demonstration is nice, but its possible that in the 5 minutes they have to demo it would not allow them to show the people what their game is about effectively.
 
D

dubq

Member
TheNiX said:
I.. don't think I care about this game anymore. Between the weapon accessories, lack of zombies, guy running around without a care.. just doesn't feel right in comparison to DayZ.

They definitely shouldn't have labeled it as gameplay.
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While I agree that it would have been nice to see some more "zombie action" in this video, I don't think it's fair to write the game off just because there wasn't any shown.

Also, your comparison to the DayZ mod is a little off. I've run around quite a bit in that mod and have had large chunks of time without coming across any zombies or survivors (let alone items).
 
K

Kalnos

Banned
Doesn't look like there is ballistics system working with the bullets and it appears that weapons can be swapped instantaneously. I don't know how you will survive if someone gets the jump on you, no matter how far away they are.
 
D

dubq

Member
I was wondering about that too. Is it automatic or is it just something you can do if you want to..? Though I haven't seen any video of someone actually shooting in third person yet.
 
D

dubq

Member
Some new info regarding the non-quest system. Sounds pretty interesting. I'm starting to get hyped for this game. :D

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/24/the-war-z-makes-it-easy-to-tell-your-own-story/ said:
The War Z will not generate any quests for you. Any quests you wish to participate in will come directly from the community. Maybe somebody will need a bodyguard while they look to scrounge up supplies in a deadly metropolitan center. Maybe someone will pay you to fight to the death in their gladiator pit, set up on a remote farm. Maybe somebody just wants to pay you for a sniper rifle scope.

There are a lot of opportunities for players to come up with their own narrative in The War Z – and that's exactly what developer Hammerpoint Interactive hopes players will do.

The quest system itself is nothing more than a glorified message board, where players in need can put up a post and wait to see what happens. But with no governing body in the game, no system in place to protect you from your peers, the underlying danger of the survivors quickly becomes apparent. At any time, somebody can just kill you and steal your stuff.

I posited a scenario of my own to executive producer Sergey Titov: I was a devout priest before the zombie apocalypse, did what I could to survive for five years, but am finding it increasingly more difficult to go on, physically and mentally. I still believe, but every day my faith is being eroded by the events of the game. So I want someone to kill me – can't go to heaven if you kill yourself, of course. Can I create this quest? "Yep," Titov responds. It's just one example of what players can come up with in The War Z's sandbox.

There's currently an alpha beta going on right now and Titov was quick to share some anecdotes of other player's stories. In-game, you can rent your own server and you'll get a plot of land – it will cost between $2 and $5 a month, Titov explains. With this land, you can build your own structures and do what you want. Titov equates it to Minecraft, but on paper it sounds a lot more like renting land in Second Life to me.

Titov told me a story about a husband and wife duo who weren't interested in killing zombies or even exploring. Instead, they wanted to be farmers. The wife would stay on their land and tend to the crops, which the husband would then take into towns and trade with people. As you may have guessed, they both like FarmVille quite a bit.

One quest involved a man's invitation to his "pit of death," which is less a pit and more of a gladiatorial combat zone. This man invites people to come and compete in his ring, awarding the winners cash prizes. Spectators may also join and watch the fights, but they must pay – a bottle of clean drinking water or maybe some canned goods. This is an honest-to-god enterprise existing within the framework of a zombie MMO, and completely fascinating.

Titov also told me about a kind of non-violent hippy commune being run by other players, what he called "a glorified 3D chat room" where people could come and hang out. At night, the folks go out and place lanterns to light up the area and treat the place like home. Of course, nothing's stopping some evil person from mowing everyone down with an assault rifle.

And that's the ever-existing danger: other people. You could die at any time, by anyone's hands. Titov told me a story about an angry player who sent an email to the team complaining about a man who killed him. This man had posted a quest looking for a bodyguard, but was very specific about what the bodyguard had to bring: a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, a pistol, bandages and painkillers and all that jazz. The man posting the quest only had a hatchet.

So the two head off into the woods together and only one man returned. The guy who posted the quest had killed the quest-taker with his hatchet and stolen all of his gear. On one hand, it's a complete back-stabbing (perhaps literally, in this case) but on the other hand, you have to give it up to hatchet guy. That's a smart play and if somebody is gullible enough to fall for it, there are no laws or police to protect them in The War Z.

There's also a very interesting notes system built into The War Z. At any time you can leave custom messages in the environment, which stay there on the server for all the players on the same map to see. Hypothetically you could lead survivors on a goose chase or even create a complex quest line or story like in-game fan fiction. Or you could use the notes to lead a player to a particular cave so you can kill and rob them, or you could warn of a potential ne'er-do-well in the vicinity. That's a very powerful and interesting tool.

A morality system will play into The War Z, though it's only cosmetic for the most part. If you kill bad people, your profile in The War Z will increase and you'll be seen as a more favorable, moral person; killing nice people has the opposite effect. And if you're extremely evil, the game will eventually generate a bounty for your head. Or maybe just another player who was slighted will create a quest asking someone else to kill you.

I really like that idea of repercussions for your actions and affecting a game world on a deeper, player-centric level. It sounds like you'll be able to develop a reputation in The War Z and in a world that has collapsed under the gnashing teeth and guttural moans of the undead, all we have is our word. And maybe a dead fool's sniper rifle.

The War Z launches on Windows PC later this year.
Click to expand...
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
This guy made Big Rigs? Welp. Not that i'm going to hold that against him, but that's a pretty nasty title to have on your resume.

It's too bad that the entire game looks like it's assembled from stolen parts of other more popular games. Can't say i'm really impressed.
 
D

dubq

Member
FPSGeneral interviews Sergey Titov

We got a chance to chat with Sergey Titov about what to expect in The War Z. Stick around to the end of the video for a couple of important announcements. More exclusive alpha gameplay of The War Z's multiplayer coming every day this week! Subscribe for more War Z footage and gameplay.

Don't forget, as gorgeous as this gameplay is, The War Z is still in alpha testing so this footage may not be representative of the final game! Some of the sounds and animations are incomplete.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vgZkIqMxt0
 
H

H3xum

Member
I'll check out the beta

I like this, there is a lot of room in the zombie genre as 95% of it out there is in the vein of a l4d or dead island.

Quite a bit of exploration can still be done in the more "realistic" Day Z type game. More survival less machetes to domes
 
E

elseanio

Member
dubq said:
HDDrew: ALPHA & BETA Access Update! + NEW Sounds & Animations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4HWa4W4If0
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Early access to our most dedicated fans!
who pay $49.99

rPtvw.jpg

 
M

Mafro

Member
Got an email this morning about the different tiers for alpha/bet access

$49.99 - Alpha access on October 15th, $30 of in-game currency, 6 months of server hosting and 3 guest keys

$29.99 - Alpha access on October 15th, $15 of in-game currency, 1 month of server hosting and 3 guest keys

$19.99 - Beta access on October 31st.
 
E

ekim

Member
I will definitely wait for reviews on this one. The whole history of the game's development makes me sceptical.
 
T

TheSpoiler

Member
Did nobody read the part about players ruling the game?

Does that not sound a bit...I dunno, shitty?

Think about it.

I could put a quest for a guy to go gather some stuff for me, and then kill him when he arrives with the items. Maybe I'll stab him from behind, or shoot him in a camped area. What's stopping me from doing that?

Day Z has kinda of turned into a deathmatch, so I'm curious to see what's going to happen here when gamers have no restrictions.
 
E

EVIL

Member
TheSpoiler said:
Did nobody read the part about players ruling the game?

Does that not sound a bit...I dunno, shitty?

Think about it.

I could put a quest for a guy to go gather some stuff for me, and then kill him when he arrives with the items. Maybe I'll stab him from behind, or shoot him in a camped area. What's stopping me from doing that?

Day Z has kinda of turned into a deathmatch, so I'm curious to see what's going to happen here when gamers have no restrictions.
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maybe the guy hired another guy who is watching from far with a sniper rifle to cover his back. I mean you cant put limits on emergent game-play. one of the big draws for these type of games is that anything is possible. if you dont want stuff like that to happen then this is not the game for you, nor is dayz
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
dubq said:
Some new info regarding the non-quest system. Sounds pretty interesting. I'm starting to get hyped for this game. :D
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Ok that sounds unbelievably fucking awesome. I'm ultra hyped for this now. I don't care how janky the interface is, as long as it is DayZ without the damn hacking I'm in, anything else is a bonus.
 
T

TheSpoiler

Member
EVIL said:
maybe the guy hired another guy who is watching from far with a sniper rifle to cover his back. I mean you cant put limits on emergent game-play. one of the big draws for these type of games is that anything is possible. if you dont want stuff like that to happen then this is not the game for you, nor is dayz
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Or maybe doesn't. Or maybe he tried that and got shot and looted anyway. What's to keep griefers from being assholes?

Without some sort of bounderies, people will just take the easy route.
 
indigo-cyclops

indigo-cyclops

Member
Hmm, I'm not sure what to make of this. That night-time gameplay looks pretty good. The game looks to run really well too. For $30, I'm willing to give it a shot, as I like the idea of the quest system. It's a lot like EVE and the contract system. I still feel a bit strange as it so closely resembles DayZ...
 
H

harrytang

Member
i swear they said this was in development before Day-Z, maybe not int he same form orginially and now with the end result slightly shaped by Day-Z, but still. Not a straight copy-cat "let me make money before Day-Z stand alone ships" project. At least imo.
 
indigo-cyclops

indigo-cyclops

Member
harrytang said:
i swear they said this was in development before Day-Z, maybe not int he same form orginially and now with the end result slightly shaped by Day-Z, but still. Not a straight copy-cat "let me make money before Day-Z stand alone ships" project. At least imo.
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Yea I read that too, it is just very similar it's crazy. However, the videos seem to show a pretty polished game; I'm definitely intrigued by the community-quest system.
 
L

Longshot

Member
Kalnos said:
Doesn't look like there is ballistics system working with the bullets and it appears that weapons can be swapped instantaneously. I don't know how you will survive if someone gets the jump on you, no matter how far away they are.
Click to expand...
This sort of worries me too, the ArmA II engine might be clunky as hell but it still offers what most commercial engines won't due to focusing on simulation - real-time A.I, a ballistics system, day/night cycles, lots of weapons and vehicles that can be piloted and a huge game world with a dedicated mod community. It'll be really interesting to see where DayZ goes when a sequel is announced.

Really can't believe people are dropping coin on WarZ yet, unbelievable.
 
D

dubq

Member
TheSpoiler said:
Or maybe doesn't. Or maybe he tried that and got shot and looted anyway. What's to keep griefers from being assholes?

Without some sort of bounderies, people will just take the easy route.
Click to expand...

In one of the interviews with Titov or another designer, I think he touches on the fact that there will be consequences via the karma system. People will know you're a "bandit" based on that and thus will be less likely to trust you and probably either steer clear or engage you in combat from the get go.
 
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