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[Shifty]

Posting on behalf of Alexios :

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is releasing on September 10th, 2019

New Trailer


New Co-Op Gameplay


The full MechCon 2018 livestream is available on Piranha Games' Twitch archive

 

[Alexios]

My quote sucks, lol, I didn't think it'd be lifted for the thread. Thanks for the thread, game looks so promising. I'm hyped. But wary. But hyped! But wary! But hyped!

The most fun I've had with my flight stick is non-flight games like MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries and it's been way too long since another good one came along!

 

[Shifty]

While I'm bummed that the game isn't hitting its original December 2018 release, I like what I'm seeing. Since this is the first proper single-player MechWarrior campaign we've had in 16 years (!!) they need to nail it, so give 'em time.

Time to get stuck into this co-op footage.

My quote sucks, lol, I didn't think it'd be lifted for the thread. Thanks for the thread, game looks so promising. I'm hyped. But wary. But hyped! But wary! But hyped!

Heh, sorry- I've removed it. I didn't want to to lay claim to the thread with my own editorialization since it's your scoop, so I figured it'd do
If you want to write an OP intro, either post it or PM it over I'll be happy to edit it in!

 

[Alexios]

I can't bother, the videos are sufficient I think, lol

I hope there are more mecha-fans here to generate discussion, that's all

It's very positive they're showcasing it all with a hotas (like my baleeted quote said, it's primarily the relatively budget friendly Thrustmaster FCS hotas in the co-op footage).

I have the joystick of that hotas (actually the old green version, T16000M) and it's great, just lacks buttons (throttle and/or keyboard remedy that), I really hope they nail the feel like MW4 did.

 

[Shifty]

Fair enough!

I gave the co-op footage a watch, and it's definitely good to see the HOTAS. I've heard MechWarrior Online is best played with a mouse and keyboard, so it's nice to see it shown. I run the FCS HOTAS bolted to an office chair with a set of pedals, so coupled with a VR headset it should be pretty awesome if Elite Dangerous is anything to go by.

Stomping through buildings looks rad. We're finally at the point where the series doesn't need to compromise by having you either shoot or repeatedly ram a structure to get it to blow up and stop being an obstacle. The landscape stuff is pretty impressive in scale too, though UE4 has good landscape tech built in so that checks out.

I'm digging the music and voiced mission dialogue too. Some of it seems kind of cheesy, but I can enjoy that in the context of BattleTech. Clanner scum!

 

[Alexios]

Well, some things shouldn't be destroyable, there still needs to be actual level design so that not every skirmish ends in a flat field after a while. I didn't mind city levels in 4 guiding you down paths around buildings, although I suppose the smaller obstacles should definitely be overcome just by running into them, I think only trees and signs and such did so in MW4. Anyway yeah, footage looks great. Perhaps not quite top-of-the-line graphics-wise but then that should also mean it's easier to run in VR. Maybe. Hopefully. And it's not like we have alternatives, it's the best looking mech game of the sort still, haha. By far!

 

[Alexios]

Again, not the toppest top of the line graphics, but good enough for me if the gameplay is there! We're going there from this point too basically (my most recent MW4: Mercenaries screen - I don't play tps, just for the screen to look busier

 

[Alexios]

I'm hoping we get that combined arms feel like in MW4 too, skirmishes in the missions involved all kinds of things, not just mechs but also tanks with all kinds of weapons on them, ships and helicopters.

The new footage shows as much so that's good as long as it's not just the first easy levels giving you cannon fodder

 

[Makariel]

My wish would be a game where I can take some actual strategic decisions, but it's most likely having the focus on action again, and side-strafing around an enemy until all the bits fall off

My favourite MW is still Mechwarrior 2 - Mercenaries. The hours I spent on this game... and it had fully customizable controls which was good. MW3 onwards I could never quite get to work the way I wanted. Jump jets control in MW2 was amazing, everything after felt very clumsy in comparison. I loved to dart around the battlefield in a way too light mech for a mission and using mobility to my advantage.

Is there any word on VR support?

 

[Alexios]

They haven't shown it at all but in the initial announcements and stuff iirc they confirmed it's made to support VR.

I didn't like 3 either but imo 4 was spot-on. I only didn't like the way too convoluted set up for equipping things. I never quite knew if what I got was really better. Too much choice is a thing.

 

[Makariel]

VR would be great since that would work perfectly with it. The action is at a pace that shouldn't generate too much motion sickness.

I never got into MW4 since it came out when all I had to play on was a crappy old laptop that wouldn't run it, so I missed that particular boat.

MW Online was very promising at the start, but turned into a glorified mech-skin for a generic shooter. In earlier mechwarriors there was always the sense that the weapons are somehow crude but devastating, unlike the pinpoint precision achievable in MW:O. Also, that they removed the ability to knock over other mechs was a big loss. Desperate melee attacks were always a last resort in Battletech and should be part of any game. Except MW2: the Clans could get away with it, because Clans just dislike close combat.

 

[Alexios]

I'd still play MW2 if I could make it control like MW4 with my stick but it's so tricky to even get it running these days for me, never mind changing the controls and configuring it to my liking so MW4 it is

 

[Makariel]

My usual setup in MW2 was my old CH Flightstick pro & mouse & keyboard. Movement and targeting on flightstick with throttle, aiming and fire with mouse, everything else of course on the keyboard. I still have my flightstick but I don't have a port to connect it to anymore, and the cheap USB adapter I got some point didn't quite work (not all the buttons and functions registered).

 

[Hendrick's]

I don't trust PGS.

 

[Alexios]

Here's an interview with Russ Bullock and hands-on impressions from the same site.

We had various conversations over the years about how MechWarrior Online came first. Can you talk about the history of that and how the IP part of that may have come into play? How MechWarrior Online came first, it grew, and now you're finally able to do a story-based experience.

Russ: Pretty much out of necessity. Because like I said, if everything was all perfect and we could do anything we wanted, we never would have wanted to do it. We'd probably have made, like we would have made MechWarrior 5, first. We kind of tried that in 2009. We couldn't get it off the ground.

Totally answers my hopes for combined arms too, lol:

But there's also, for the first time now, we can finally see other vehicles, like tanks and helicopters. How many vehicles like that are there?

Russ: Certainly, the first time for us. You did see a bit of that in Mech 4-ish. But, yeah, that's great. I mean, because a lot of people were really Jones-ing, craving that, after all those years in MechWarrior Online. And just PVP. People are really, really looking forward to the PVE experience, like in past games. Also, they want that, you know, combined arms thing, feeling, where you're shooting not just other mechs.

Some nice mechanics mentioned like mech repairs taking time as well as money so if you have a mission too soon you may use a damaged mech or swap out for another but there's also an upkeep cost to consider with too many mechs in your base or whatever. It seems well thought out to provide a challenge in various ways, we'll see how it all turns out, there's not too much in-depth information and details.

 

[Inviusx]

Looks nominal as fuck.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

This is weird, I just finished Mechassault on the original Xbox a little over a week ago and was thinking how cool a modern BattleTech action game would be.

While I know Mechwarrior isn't as pure action as Mechassault, this is still exactly what I had mine, I am hyped.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

edit: double post.

 

[Rei dos Vermes]

Those screenshots look great! I'm glad the devs delayed the game by one year to make it right.

 

[ClanOfNone]

Wonder how much a Rift or Vive will be retailing for when this finally drops. A VR rig with a decent hotas setup seems like it would be absolutely amazing.

 

[WaterAstro]

It looks arcadey, but maybe because it's modernized now so things look faster and smoother than they did in two decades ago.

It also looks pretty much like they took MW Online and just used most of the same things. It's good enough, I guess.
I don't like Mercenaries though. I never find MW universe to be interesting until the clan invasions.

 

[Alexios]

I don't think it looks much different to MW4's arcade-ness or speed. Don't care for the lore myself, I'm glad it's a Mercs game to begin with so we can start with a shitty lance and make our fortune taking contracts where the money is rather than hope there's a good story somewhere in there. MW4 Vengeance's story campaign was eh but MW4 Mercs was ace, though definitely with room for improvement.

 

[Nikodemos]

I really wish the larger mechs felt more plodding and cumbersome in motion. Those things weigh up to 100 tons ffs! Mechwarrior 3 was the last on where the inertia of a large mech could be felt. From 4 onwards they're pretty floaty.

 

[Makariel]

Jesus Christ on a bike, I just realised the Living Legends mod is back from the dead!
https://mechlivinglegends.net/

I thought that was "asked" to discontinue by PBG? Good to have it back among the living.

 

[Alexios]

I really wish the larger mechs felt more plodding and cumbersome in motion. Those things weigh up to 100 tons ffs! Mechwarrior 3 was the last on where the inertia of a large mech could be felt. From 4 onwards they're pretty floaty.

Didn't like MW3 cos it favored using a mouse over a joystick greatly with all the guns being aimable with the free-floating aiming cursor, none were fixed center fire. That alone makes MW4 (and 2) win for me.

 

[Alexios]

Was hoping we'd get some more coverage but I guess not. Journalists aren't interested in mechcon and it's just for fans I suppose. Weird that Piranha's twitter and the like isn't flooded with bits from the con outside the live stream and the main events either however. I wish we got some more and better footage of the MW5 demo, more information about where it is in development % what features they've implemented and what features they're eager to get to, what other differences there are compared to previous games in the series and so on. I want more mech stuff

 

[Makariel]

Aye, mech fans are unfortunately a minority and mecha related games aren't the type of indie darlings game journalists would flock to.

 

[Alexios]

I wouldn't even say I was a mech fan, I just loved the gameplay they offered when they're utilized in a manner like this (vs just making them like regular ol FPS characters with a few gimmicks like some other shooters with mechs tried). After playing the MechWarrior games I also searched for anything that resembled that gameplay, I thought tank games would be a sure bet given their independent body vs turret movement deal being pretty similar to a mech (I guess that's what inspired mechs like that to begin with, being walking tanks) but I couldn't find any modern ones with joystick support of this sort, they're either too arcadey and best played with a gamepad or mouse and keyboard or too simy and don't allow such control because you're basicaly ordering your driver/gunner/whatever around rather than manually do everything with instant inputs.

Maybe I'm too picky myself, the way I set up MW games is to have all the various misc functions (as well as thrust, I don't have a throttle or anything yet) on the keyboard and on my twist-capable joystick I set it so the twist is the turret rotation while tilting the stick left/right turns the legs and up/down is the turret pitch. The main joystick buttons are whatever weapon systems, the hat switch is for targeting purposes. In MW4 it just feels so solid and fluid like that. I'm sure I'd get a similar setup going even if I had a full hotas, just more comfortable with better laid out functions (like say, put the turret twist on pedals instead of use a tilt stick, I dunno).

Then again I also enjoy old console mech games like gungriffon on Saturn which don't employ such elaborate systems (obviously the Saturn pad has pretty limited inputs and that transfers to the gameplay) so I guess in the end it comes down to the feel of the mechs being plausible yet cool and different to the normal shooter's gameplay yet effective while also giving you with whatever limited means the given game may have the impression that you're really piloting such a metal beast.

Of course I can enjoy games that just use mechs as a theme and visual style if they're good games on their own, I just wouldn't put them in the same category or genre as games like MW at all.

 

[Ishma3L]

Update:

Release date moved back and now an Epic Games Store exclusive title:

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Now an Epic Game Store Exclusive (PCGAMER)

 

[ipukespiders]

Jesus fucking christ!

 

[newtypepilot]

shocked pikachu face /s

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

What are the chances this gets a console port?

 

[manfestival]

 

[llien]

No problem with that.
Valve is a lazy monopolist.

 

[Makariel]

I can't even get angry anymore. I'm just sad.

 

[Alexios]

I just hope they won't be fucking it up like MWO, as promising as it looked previously. So the extra year wait for it to get on a decent store might let them fix up initial launch issues at least. Hopefully. And get VR support in a good state.

 

[Hudo]

It's a timed exclusive, right? Well, hopefully it will get a GoG release down the line. EGS and Steam are equally terrible. But in the end, I am just happy that there's a new MechWarrior game. MechWarrior 4 is still something I play regularly (Catapult ftw).

 

[Lanrutcon]

This isn't going to sell well, I reckon. Sigh.

 

[Shifty]

Update:

Release date moved back and now an Epic Games Store exclusive title:

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Now an Epic Game Store Exclusive (PCGAMER)

Fuckin' w o w.

Zero shame whatsoever, not like we've already been waiting a couple years for this or anything.

our goal was to deliver to fans a MechWarrior: Mercenaries experience with true freedom of choice and to be able to share that experience in a coop setting

Quite, freedom of choice to purchase only from our lord and saviour The Sween

 

[newtypepilot]

the shadiest part is that they knew they were going Epic exclusive while still taking in preorders, and kept quiet about that fact because $$$.

 

[Stuart360]

So nice of Epic Store users to beta test the game and ready it for its future Steam release. Such good guys.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Valve is a lazy monopolist.

So many people confused about what constitutes a monopoly. Is particularly confusing when it is Epic attempting to secure the same situation for themselves, by paying for exclusives.

Hope the MW devs got a huge bailout---cough---I mean payment for exclusivity, they'll need it.

 

[llien]

So many people confused about what constitutes a monopoly.

Ironic.

Valve is a player with google levels of market dominance.
"Oh, but there is duckduckgo.com, so google is not a monopolist", yay, fantastic reasoning.

 

[Alexios]

Ironic.

Valve is a player with google levels of market dominance.
"Oh, but there is duckduckgo.com, so google is not a monopolist", yay, fantastic reasoning.

But even Tim Sweeney has conceded there's no actual Steam monopoly, what are you talking about?


Of course he wants to imply he had a hand in that when it was already a fact long before EGS but still.

Might as well start claiming Unreal Engine has an effective monopoly on game engines and should be taken down when it's just its quality and features and costs that make it so popular and not any brute force underhanded methods against the competition, just like Steam is in its own field.

Or that the PC platform itself should somehow get neutered just because by its open nature it's the most fertile ground for indies that don't need to spend a dime or acquire any special dev kits or authorization to develop for the platform compared to consoles. It's just how it is by its very nature.

An argument against EGS is an argument against EGS, not an argument against multiple storefronts. It's just a shit store and service and that's all people are against after growing used to alternatives like Battle.net, gog, Origin and Uplay just fine after they got to a decent far beyond EGS state.

EGS is lumped alongside the likes of GFWL, Windows Store, Bethesda's launcher and other such awful experiences for being what it is. How come it was fine and the media and developers and everyone agreed with gamers on those but now somehow claims gamers suck over judging EGS?

Oh, right, Fortnite money going around, heh.

 

[Tesseract]

OH HELL YEAH

day 1

 

[sol_bad]

the shadiest part is that they knew they were going Epic exclusive while still taking in preorders, and kept quiet about that fact because $$$.

Epic probably have it in their contract that they can't announce the exclusivity until a certain point before release. I mean ... it's obvious, pretty much every game that was coming to Steam and then all of a sudden exclusive to Epic was announced within 2-6 weeks of release.

 

[llien]

But even Tim Sweeney has conceded there's no actual Steam monopoly, what are you talking about?

What an argument.
"Even Tim Sweeney" uses an opportunity to ride existing waves for marketing purposes, a far shot from assessing what Steam is and isn't, let alone the silly "important guys said so" in the context where he has no expertise (basic economy).

 

[zcaa0g]

Valve is a lazy monopolist.

That word you keep using. I don't think it means what you think it means.

And Valve is not the one bribing publishers to not have their products on competing storefronts.

 

[llien]

That word you keep using. I don't think it means what you think it means.

L:et's argue about semantics, shall we...

And Valve is not the one bribing publishers to not have their products on competing storefronts.

Valve is not indeed, also, the sun is hot and water is wet.

 

[Makariel]

Ironic.

Valve is a player with google levels of market dominance.
"Oh, but there is duckduckgo.com, so google is not a monopolist", yay, fantastic reasoning.

At the moment Epic seems to have the monopoly on Mechwarrior 5

Google controls about 60% of global internet ad revenue. Does Valve control over 60% of global gaming revenue? It's actually quite simple: if Steam/Valve would be a monopoly, Epic would not have such an easy time gathering exclusives left and right. Then there's plenty other launchers that have exclusive content that's not on Steam, forcing you to install them if you want to access them.