Support NeoGAF

[BigTnaples]

As someone who games on 50" and 65" screens, I'd have to strongly disagree. QB looks super soft and too often smeary. The ghosting and other artifacts also hamper the experience. It's still a great looking game, but the trade offs are too much imo. My preference in an alternative to 1080p is still 900p native.

Yeah I agree. Preordered for the PC version, but ended up finishing QB on the XBO.


Fantastic game, but the IQ was distractingly bad. The ghosting and noise was horrible, and the resolution made it almost impossible to make out details in textures and models, and made faces look like smeared blobs. Playing on a 65"4KTV. Also, I normally love all the post process most hate. Battlefield games covered with dirt and sun flares? The Orders film grain and black bars? Etc. love it.

This however. Was pretty bad.


Hoping they clean up the PC version to do it justice.

 

[reKon]

What were they saying they were going to do new with the gameplay? I was expecting to already see leaps in this department.

 

[shinobi602]

Alright, people are freaking out here lol.

Fairly certain this was from a pre-alpha build. A good journo friend of mine mentioned The Coalition showcasing the pre-alpha build to them last week, which I found curious since the beta is this week, but nonetheless...I'm pretty sure that's what this was.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Everyone says the same about Halo yet the series peaked in '07 and tanked when they tried to be "new".

Or maybe severing an IP from it's original developer and just assigning some other team to pump out sequels isn't the best way to go.

Now we have The Coalition just trying to retread all the things Epic did years ago. Leaving them with very little room for actual innovation or new ambitious ideas. People that didn't care about Gears in the past have zero reasons to start caring now. Catering to this ever-shrinking fanbase without trying to evolve the franchise past Epic's legacy is probably going to lead to the same kind of IP fatigue we've seen with Halo.

 

[Theorry]

Alright, people are freaking out here lol.

Fairly certain this was from a pre-alpha build. A good journo friend of mine mentioned The Coalition showcasing the pre-alpha build to them last week, which I found curious since the beta is this week, but nonetheless, 99% certain that's what this was.

 

[Calibos]

"What you're going to play is basically an alpha build of our multiplayer," he said. "That means there's going to be issues, but it's an actual beta. It's not a fake demo; it's not a highly polished thing in the sense that it's set up as a marketing demo. It's actually, 'Hey, we have brand new technology on our servers and we have brand new features on our client and we want that to be tested at scale and we want your help.'"

-Rod F.

Article: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gears-of-war-4-dev-talks-beta-split-screen-confirm/1100-6437723/


It's a true Beta...almost Alpha. Makes me feel better, but also makes me worry for the final release being only 6 months away...

 

[mickcenary]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature...has_verified=1&client=mv-google&layout=mobile

Here's actual beta footage


Shadows
Better blood effects on the screen
Better textures

Better, but still incredibly average looking by today's standards. Also serves to illustrate how good Gears 3 was for its time.

Having said that... It's Gears, yo. Gimme an MP suite and mechanics as polished as Gears 3 and you've got yourself another console sale, MS.

 

[Fotos]

Well, i think with or without the changes, Halo would have sold the same imo.

The shooter market is way too overcrowded as it is. People will be selective with their purchases of shooters because a lot of them play pretty much the same.

We'll see about the sales of the Gears franchise but right now, i'm not sure anymore. I mean the E3 2015 showing was already a bad start for the game and now this.

Overcrowding is exactly why true Halo would sell well now. It's unique. No sprint, ads, thrust pack, etc. halo used to be different now it just follows the pack. Halo if continued the same way from Halo 3 could have been the CounterStrike on Xbox. Extremely popular and virtually no competition because no other game plays like it. Halo 4 I know for sure sold the best at launch out of every Halo but completely dropped off after a couple weeks because everyone just left to other games.

Also this won't do anything for gears. Early alpha footage being release won't have anything to do with the masses. This will blow over in a week when the actual beta comes out.

 

[Altered Juice]

ITT: Gaf members criticizing WIP

but seriously get that blood splatter effect out of here.

 

[wapplew]

Change the title already, this obviously is pre-apha footage.

 

[FonkyByNature]

Or maybe severing an IP from it's original developer and just assigning some other team to pump out sequels isn't the best way to go.

Now we have The Coalition just trying to retread all the things Epic did years ago. Leaving them with very little room for actual innovation or new ambitious ideas. People that didn't care about Gears in the past have zero reasons to start caring now. Catering to this ever-shrinking fanbase without trying to evolve the franchise past Epic's legacy is probably going to lead to the same kind of IP fatigue we've seen with Halo.

I agree.

 

[nOoblet16]

This is honestly still hideous for a 2016 game. But xb1, 1080p native, 60fps UE4. Everything has to give apparently.


Honestly, I thought it would at least look like Gears 3. obmb, nice shadows and assets @ 60fps. Do you know if Paragon PS4 has obmb?


I imagine the lack of graphical effects (hopefully) comes down to this being a real beta. But at the same time, I do not hold my hopes up: UE4 60fps sounds like a rough proposition for xb1... it is even for PS4.

haven't played paragon yet have it downloaded though so I'll check today.

As for Gears 3, if you remember it didn't quite do real time shadows. It did something similar to what RE5 did where there are shadow maps for environment but nost of them are baked it, but when a character passes through these baked shadows then they get real time shadows only on the characters. Can't really explain it properly but imagine a shadow from a tree which is baked inz usually if a character passed through them it just switches between a lit an ultit model. With this you have the baked shadows but the character and only the character receives real time shadows from the tree.

 

[FonkyByNature]

Overcrowding is exactly why true Halo would sell well now. It's unique. No sprint, ads, thrust pack, etc. halo used to be different now it just follows the pack. Halo if continued the same way from Halo 3 could have been the CounterStrike on Xbox. Extremely popular and virtually no competition because no other game plays like it. Halo 4 I know for sure sold the best at launch out of every Halo but completely dropped off after a couple weeks because everyone just left to other games.

Also this won't do anything for gears. Early alpha footage being release won't have anything to do with the masses. This will blow over in a week when the actual beta comes out.

I can't wait to play the beat next week and make my own opinion on it.

 

[Fotos]

Or maybe severing an IP from it's original developer and just assigning some other team to pump out sequels isn't the best way to go.

Now we have The Coalition just trying to retread all the things Epic did years ago. Leaving them with very little room for actual innovation or new ambitious ideas. People that didn't care about Gears in the past have zero reasons to start caring now. Catering to this ever-shrinking fanbase without trying to evolve the franchise past Epic's legacy is probably going to lead to the same kind of IP fatigue we've seen with Halo.

But they're taking two separate paths. Halo tried to appeal to the masses with "call of dutyish" multiplayer and crashed hard. Now gears is staying true to the series and you're saying it will have the same problem as Halo?

I always come back to CounterStrike when talking about this. How is it that CS, a game who's been pretty much the same for over 10 years, is doing extremely well despite never changing the core gameplay.

 

[sixteen-bit]

That looks like Gears.

good to hear

 

[Doug Heffernan]

I'm disappointed.
It feels like they just added new skins and maps to the Ultimate Edition multiplayer.
Where's the innovation?

 

[Courage]

Where's the innovation?

Not in the fourth (fifth?) installment in Microsoft's blockbuster franchise.

 

[HawksWinStanley]

This.
Honestly, I was expecting something on a whole different level.

After seeing how cartoony Uncharted 4's beta looked compared to its ridiculous campaign visuals I wasn't expecting much for Gears either.

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

I'm disappointed.
It feels like they just added new skins and maps to the Ultimate Edition multiplayer.
Where's the innovation?

Coalition is responsible for the UE and Gears 4, correct? Seems like they sought an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. Hopefully the campaign is a different story.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

TL;DR

The video in op is early internal alpha footage with no shadows and low textures. Everyone freaked out thinking it was the actual beta.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature...has_verified=1&client=mv-google&layout=mobile

Here is real footage from the actual beta

That looks much more in line with what I was expecting.

 

[Hoo-doo]

But they're taking two separate paths. Halo tried to appeal to the masses with "call of dutyish" multiplayer and crashed hard. Now gears is staying true to the series and you're saying it will have the same problem as Halo?

Yes, because I think a super conservative way of 'staying true to the series' is a really good way to get a franchise to stagnate completely. Coalition has to make it their own, not tip-toe around, scared to death to offend the vocal fanbase that wants to keep everything the same.

If you'd really want a game that's true to the series you could have just remastered one of the past games, and they did. However, that approach is not going to revitalize the IP or grow the fanbase long-term.
For Gears to put itself back on the map again they need to go big. New cast, new planets, new engine, new factions, new features, new mechanics, brand new story, gameplay expanded and in some parts completely overhauled. They need to push boundaries the way Gears 1 did on the Xbox 360 by blowing everyone away. That's what would make people take notice even if they haven't given a shit about Gears before.

Just creating another one of these games surely will please people that loved Gears in the past. But I figure that group is going to keep shrinking in the years to come. Shame that it'll likely take the Gears IP with it.

Here's hoping the campaign does something interesting, at least.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

Not in the fourth (fifth?) installment in Microsoft's blockbuster franchise.

Huh? This isn't on Microsoft. Halo has always innovated with every single installment. That is why I expected something more from a new Gears. I'm assuming they put most of the effort in campaign and horde, we'll see.

 

[Theorry]

I'm disappointed.
It feels like they just added new skins and maps to the Ultimate Edition multiplayer.
Where's the innovation?

Not in the MP. People want Gears 3 with 60fps and dedi servers.

 

[SenseiAsad]

Yes, because I think a super conservative way of 'staying true to the series' is a really good way to get a franchise to stagnate completely. Coalition has to make it their own, not tip-toe around, scared to death to offend the vocal fanbase that wants to keep everything the same.

If you'd really want a game that's true to the series you could have just remastered one of the past games, and they did. However, that approach is not going to revitalize the IP or grow the fanbase long-term.
For Gears to put itself back on the map again they need to go big. New cast, new planets, new engine, new factions, new features, new mechanics, brand new story, gameplay expanded and in some parts completely overhauled. They need to push boundaries the way Gears 1 did on the Xbox 360 by blowing everyone away. That's what would make people take notice even if they haven't given a shit about Gears before.

Just creating another one of these games surely will please people that loved Gears in the past. But I figure that group is going to keep shrinking in the years to come. Shame that it'll likely take the Gears IP with it.

Here's hoping the campaign does something interesting, at least.

PvP's a tough one, Gears is far too difficult for your average console player, so they'll keep it tailored to the (admittedly small) core playerbase. I think the way to expand is probably with the Horde (or whatever PvE will be this time round) mode, which has always appealed to a greater amount of people. Similar to Halo 5's Warzone, I think we'll see a big focus on PvE, I'm just hoping they've had the resources to make this feel like a true successor to Gears 3 though (Horde expansion would probably require a good amount of time/money), rather than having to wait until Gears 5.

 

[D4Danger]

Yes, because I think a super conservative way of 'staying true to the series' is a really good way to get a franchise to stagnate completely. Coalition has to make it their own, not tip-toe around, scared to death to offend the vocal fanbase that wants to keep everything the same.

If you'd really want a game that's true to the series you could have just remastered one of the past games, and they did. However, that approach is not going to revitalize the IP or grow the fanbase long-term.
For Gears to put itself back on the map again they need to go big. New cast, new planets, new engine, new factions, new features, new mechanics, brand new story, gameplay expanded and in some parts completely overhauled. They need to push boundaries the way Gears 1 did on the Xbox 360 by blowing everyone away. That's what would make people take notice even if they haven't given a shit about Gears before.

Just creating another one of these games surely will please people that loved Gears in the past. But I figure that group is going to keep shrinking in the years to come. Shame that it'll likely take the Gears IP with it.

Here's hoping the campaign does something interesting, at least.

I have to admit I was really disappointed in Judgment but it might actually be the most important game in the series because it's the one we can all point to and go "don't make that shit again"

Gears is Gears. There's a ton little things between the first three games that make it better and there's been a few things they've already mentioned for Gears 4 that sound like improvements on the formula. The idea of everything has to be new new new to appeal to people who don't want Gears anyway is ridiculous. Go play something else.

 

[Strootman]

If you stay true to the original series, there will be people compaining about "no innovation"

If you innovate the game by adding/changing mechanics, there will be people complaining about "not staying true to the original series"

You can't please everyone.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

Not in the MP. People want Gears 3 with 60fps and dedi servers.

Would Gears fans really be that upset if they added something like destructible cover?

 

[Theorry]

I have to admit I was really disappointed in Judgment but it might actually be the most important game in the series because it's the one we can all point and go "don't make that shit again"

Jup every serie had that game. For Halo that was 4. It sucks but like you said it is also good most of the time.

 

[JayWood2010]

Would Gears fans really be that upset if they added something like destructible cover?

If it is drastic changes yes. YOu dont know Gears fans. We want balanced gameplay, good servers, more interesting weapons, and good maps. There is nothing quite like Gears of War, and most fans dont want it to drastically change. Minor changes and improvements is ok.

 

[Sintoid]

It's a beta
Looks like a beta

 

[creatchee]

Would Gears fans really be that upset if they added something like destructible cover?

There was destructible cover to a point in previous games, but more like couches that disintegrated after a few shots and the like. I'm not even sure if they prevented damage tbh.

 

[Warxard]

Would Gears fans really be that upset if they added something like destructible cover?

Gears 3 had destructible cover lol

 

[Doug Heffernan]

Gears 3 had destructible cover lol

Yes, in a limited fashion. I was thinking more along the lines of what we saw in the CGI trailer, shooting down a tree to create cover.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Yes, in a limited fashion. I was thinking more along the lines of what we saw in the CGI trailer, shooting down a tree to create cover.

of you can shoot the tree down what good would it be for cover?

 

[SenseiAsad]

of you can shoot the tree down what good would it be for cover?

Horizontal instead of vertical? Probably need to duck a bit more to get behind it fully though lol.

 

[VincentMatts]

So wait, all this graphics reaction is based on that 10 second video?

 

[Vire]

So wait, all this graphics reaction is based on that 10 second video?

No it was based on the ten minute video that the OP linked and labeled as beta footage when it was actually old internal alpha footage.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Concern out in force today.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Considering the speed they're doing this game, looks fine to me.

 

[twobear]

obviously it has a long way to go but i am not really seeing a huge upgrade over gears 3

 

[bumpkin]

obviously it has a long way to go but i am not really seeing a huge upgrade over gears 3

This was my takeaway after seeing that short dropshot clip. I guess it goes to show how good Gears 3 looked for its time (as others have said). There really isn't a whole heck of a lot of room for improvement. That's why I feel like a stable framerate is an absolute must.

 

[BuggeryBugz]

Holy shit this alpha from who knows when looks disgusting. Is that how you do it?

Anyway, excited to play the beta and I'm sure the campaign will be pretty good graphically.

 

[JumPeRJumPzZ]

People who say that the 10 seconds clip looked better hopefully noticed that this are two different maps...

 

[VincentMatts]

No it was based on the ten minute video that the OP linked and labeled as beta footage when it was actually old internal alpha footage.

Well after playing Judgement yesterday, i have no doubt that this game will be visually stunning.

 

[mcrommert]

People who say that the 10 seconds clip looked better hopefully noticed that this are two different maps...

And the fact there are actually shadows...but keep going down this road man

 

[Hoo-doo]

This was my takeaway after seeing that short dropshot clip. I guess it goes to show how good Gears 3 looked for its time (as others have said). There really isn't a whole heck of a lot of room for improvement. That's why I feel like a stable framerate is an absolute must.

Say what now?

 

[brawly]

Any mirrors? It's private

 

[HD Duck Pics]

Or maybe severing an IP from it's original developer and just assigning some other team to pump out sequels isn't the best way to go.

Now we have The Coalition just trying to retread all the things Epic did years ago. Leaving them with very little room for actual innovation or new ambitious ideas. People that didn't care about Gears in the past have zero reasons to start caring now. Catering to this ever-shrinking fanbase without trying to evolve the franchise past Epic's legacy is probably going to lead to the same kind of IP fatigue we've seen with Halo.

Except with Judgment Epic tried to broaden the playerbase and it was the least successful Gears game yet.

Halo 4 similarily tried to attract new players and instead only angered the old players.

Halo 5 is the most "esports"/hardcore/whatever Halo game and I love it. The most recent Halo tournament had 90-100k viewers on Twitch. I'm sure the 1m prize helped with that, but still, people really like Halo 5.

I have no doubt that a more classic Gears game (which Gears 4 appears to be) will sell infinitely better than Judgment ever did.

 

[Insane Metal]

Next week everyone will be playing the beta, so we will have a better idea on what to expect. Calm down people.

 

[Future PhaZe]

Looks like Gears 3 which was the best mechanically but I'm just not all that hyped about going back to.

I would have gone with 30 FPS too. Gears is not a twitch shooter. It's spectacle as a graphical showcase has always been a big draw and the games played perfectly well at 30 fps competitively.