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Titanfall 2 game director on a slower-paced multiplayer

Oh yeah? By sliding?

It's actually bunny hopping but you're landing on a slide. It may actually be easier to teach new players this mechanic because you can understand that when you land on a slide you keep your momentum much more than when you hand directly on your feet. In some ways it might be a genius design decision. I've seen developers cut out movement features because it's hard to relate to new players and those new players would always play at a disadvantage for not being able to learn those systems effectively.
 
It's an interesting read. My impression back with the TF1 beta always was that this is cool, but how is the average player gonna enjoy this? I see people always struggle with verticality, no matter the game. And Titanfall didn't just stop there.

Sounds like they came to all the wrong conclusions though. I guess that happens in an industry, in which everything has to be AAA.
 
I feel like they could have just lifted out the gameplay directly from TF1, added more maps and guns around the balance of the first game, made a single-player campaign, and there would have been very little complaints. Especially considering this is the first time PS4 only players are getting to play. I don't think the vast majority of players would have felt short-changed.
 
To me the stuff about the maps is disheartening to read. Homestead is the exact opposite of what mad maps great in Titanfall 1. Just not enough opportunities to chain wall runs and carry some momentum. Some neat changes/improvements like how meatier the shooting felt or how nice the grappling hook is are all cool, but I like the flow of a Titanfall match. Titanfall 2 doesn't have that same flow.
 
The reason I don't like this statement is that it really reads like "we thought the game was too complex, so we dumbed it down" in the worst ways possible.
 
Damn what a shame, it sounds like they've done the same thing that Insomniac did with Fuse and focus test the game to death...

The removal of the features that made the 1st so refreshing is insanity.
 
I guess the next step is having a campaign that ends with the main character being killed by a nuke. Focus groups say people loved it.
 
This game will be easier to swallow of you've never played TF1 imo.
I played the tech test over the weekend as my first Titanfall experience and had a lot of fun.

That being said all the negatives brought up on Gaf and elsewhere by TF1 veterans has left me scratching my head.

Why are titans just COD kill streaks? (some matches I'll just end up with 1 titan drop!)
Why are AI bots restricted to one mode?
Why are the maps so fucking massive?
Why is parkour not applicable on said maps?(watched old TF1 videos and parkour seemed way more applicable)
Why is TTK so quick similar to COD's hyper active bs?

Even as Titanfall newbie whose still had tons of fun playing this game for the first time, these kind of design changes are baffling.
Went from possible day 1 buy to sitting on the fence.
 
OléGunner;214802949 said:
Why are titans just COD kill streaks? (some matches I'll just end up with 1 titan drop!)
Why are AI bots restricted to one mode?
Why are the maps so fucking massive?
Why is parkour not applicable on said maps?(watched old TF1 videos and parkour seemed way more applicable)
Why is TTK so quick similar to COD's hyper active bs?

.

* It's not a kill streak
* so far it's only one mode, they only showed 3 modes
* these maps are the same size or smaller than maps in titanfall 1
* parkour is applicable in these maps just as much as some of the same styled maps in titanfall 1
* ttk by bullet is about the same, some other factors have led to a faster TTK which hopefully they address
 
The more I read, the more depressed I get (as a huge fan of the original).
Seriously Respawn, what the fuck?
MatrixNotLikeThis.gif
 
* It's not a kill streak
* so far it's only one mode, they only showed 3 modes
* these maps are the same size or smaller than maps in titanfall 1
* parkour is applicable in these maps just as much as some of the same styled maps in titanfall 1
* ttk by bullet is about the same, some other factors have led to a faster TTK which hopefully they address

Thanks for correcting me on some parts, I was infusing what I've played with general criticisms dotted around gaf.

But Titans do feel like COD kill streaks. You need to keep killing to maintain momentum to get your titan faster.

Wasn't it on a timer before and kills would just quicken the timer? That needs to come back.
Oh yeah and I forgot to add the 1st person entry into a Titan was way cooler than the third person jittery transition we get now.
 
Does it matter if it pretty much achieves the same thing? You're just looking for something to get mad at now.

Yes, it matters. I don't think that something that seems to be an exploit should be seen as a valid alternative. It probably won't last. I doubt it is intentional. As if they reduced the effectiveness of bunny hopping only to make bouncing on your ass more effective.

Also, I want to hop from wall to wall, over rooftops and obstacles. I don't want to bounce around on my butt. It's dumb. Even if it stays in the game, it doesn't hold a candle to how it used to be.
 
Went back and played through the Gauntlet a ton and it cheered me up:
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/PrescientWolf/video/20855416

All is not woe, its still a damn fine game.
How dare you try and crush the narrative that they destroyed the movement of this game! You damn well know they just gave you this gauntlet to give you a taste of parkouring and speeds you'll never need because the 10+ maps will all be huge fields with some bushes to bounce over!

the nerve of this guy
 
OléGunner;214803270 said:
Thanks for correcting me on some parts, I was infusing what I've played with general criticisms dotted around gaf.

But Titans do feel like COD kill streaks. You need to keep killing to maintain momentum to get your titan faster.

Wasn't it on a timer before and kills would just quicken the timer? That needs to come back.
Oh yeah and I forgot to add the 1st person entry into a Titan was way cooler than the third person jittery transition we get now.
I doubt the meter will stay in it's current form and i can also see them changing third person back to first.

Yes, it matters. I don't think that something that seems to be an exploit should be seen as a valid alternative. It probably won't last. I doubt it is intentional. As if they reduced the effectiveness of bunny hopping only to make bouncing on your ass more effective.

Also, I want to hop from wall to wall, over rooftops and obstacles. I don't want to bounce around on my butt. It's dumb.
People thought the original bunnyhop was an exploit as well.

You can still hope from wall to wall, over rooftops and obstacles without ever sliding. DId you not see the video just posted above?


clever dog and yeah obviously the gauntlet is designed for parkour. i'm just saying they clearly intend to make maps suited for parkouring, it's ridiculous to assume they introduced a gauntlet just to then not showcase any maps well designed for parkouring .
 
People thought the original bunnyhop was an exploit as well.

You can still hope from wall to wall, over rooftops and obstacles without ever sliding. DId you not see the video just posted above?

But obviously bunny hopping is still part of Titanfall, unlike Titanfall 2.
 
Well, that's a shame. Being myself a fighting game player I really liked the arcade style and fast pace of the first one. It gave me the feeling that if I thinked and reacted fast I could be rewarded.
 
Sounds like steps backwards have been taken,such a shame,i was gonna get it on PC but shall definitely wait for more in depth views and reviews now
 
But obviously bunny hopping is still part of Titanfall, unlike Titanfall 2.

Slide hopping is an acceptable replacement though I'd prefer bunny-hopping restored. My only complaint with then actual movement right now is the reduced speed / lack of acceleration on wall runs. Maps are very important however, so hopefully the new map they introduce this weekend fares better.
 
Internally, we played the game and came out of the play session thinking, "That was super exhausting. That was super chaotic." Why is that? We struggled with trying to answer what it was. What it came down to was, it was difficult for players to have a predictably unpredictable kind of experience. It was difficult for players to say, "If I die here in this game mode, how do I get better?" Do I zig? Do I zag? What should I have done differently? It was hard for Titanfall players to answer that through their experience. So we went back to the drawing board so we could fix this.
Thi...deb....that is what made it so great! It called back to the olden days of fast paced FPS games! Why you think so many people started enjoying the shit out of the new DOOM as well?! It stood out! It was like a mix of the few things COD did actually well but also combined it will the aerial and fast paced play of games like Unreal Tournament or Quake!
 
This is flat out insane. I had pretty much penciled this in as my shooter for the holiday season, but now I may just stick with TLG and GT Sport. I'll also prolly get Madden on Black Friday.
 
Internally, we played the game and came out of the play session thinking, "That was super exhausting. That was super chaotic." Why is that? We struggled with trying to answer what it was. What it came down to was, it was difficult for players to have a predictably unpredictable kind of experience. It was difficult for players to say, "If I die here in this game mode, how do I get better?" Do I zig? Do I zag? What should I have done differently? It was hard for Titanfall players to answer that through their experience. So we went back to the drawing board so we could fix this.

Though I think Titanfall 2 is pretty much a total mess, I actually think they're asking the right question and getting the wrong answer. My primary issue with Call of Duty, especially the more recent games, is that you are rarely at fault for your deaths. Being killed in completely unavoidable ways is what those games are all about, and one has to assume that the various developers have tuned things that way because one player dying unavoidably means another player is getting easy kills. Those games are all about cycling through kills and deaths as quickly as possible. Sometimes you get a few kills in a row, sometimes a few deaths in a row, and, if you get lucky and work up to a killstreak reward, you might get a really good streak going... but on the whole against equal opposition it's a totally hectic cycle of trading kills for deaths and deaths for kills.

Unfortunately, Titanfall 2 is no different. The time to kill is too low to achieve a game where the first person to see isn't the first person to kill, and the maps are too complex to allow people to have any real certainty about where their next enemy is coming from. It sounds like, to some degree, the original Titanfall solved this by allowing you to move so quickly that gunfights ended up taking much longer: faster moving targets being much harder to hit and shooting while moving quickly being far trickier. All the same, if they want to slow the game down, they're going to have to radically alter their map design philosophy or hugely ramp up the time to kill.
 
Though I think Titanfall 2 is pretty much a total mess, I actually think they're asking the right question and getting the wrong answer. My primary issue with Call of Duty, especially the more recent games, is that you are rarely at fault for your deaths. Being killed in completely unavoidable ways is what those games are all about, and one has to assume that the various developers have tuned things that way because one player dying unavoidably means another player is getting easy kills. Those games are all about cycling through kills and deaths as quickly as possible. Sometimes you get a few kills in a row, sometimes a few deaths in a row, and, if you get lucky and work up to a killstreak reward, you might get a really good streak going... but on the whole against equal opposition it's a totally hectic cycle of trading kills for deaths and deaths for kills.

Unfortunately, Titanfall 2 is no different. The time to kill is too low to achieve a game where the first person to see isn't the first person to kill, and the maps are too complex to allow people to have any real certainty about where their next enemy is coming from. It sounds like, to some degree, the original Titanfall solved this by allowing you to move so quickly that gunfights ended up taking much longer: faster moving targets being much harder to hit and shooting while moving quickly being far trickier. All the same, if they want to slow the game down, they're going to have to radically alter their map design philosophy or hugely ramp up the time to kill.

Quality first paragraph and you nail it. Exactly the reason why i don't like COD either. However, you're misguided on some of the second part. Though, TTK does seem a bit too low right now, the movement itself once mastered will still allow you to have a greater advantage over your opponents. Also, the sentiment is that the maps got easier with clear and defined routes, not more complex. But yeah, i think the TTK solution is simple and easily achievable without any major changes to what they've created here.
 
Those comments sound awful. Lanes are for MOBAs.
Maps get super repetitive if when they reduce down to taking some lane to an objective with limited angles of attack. It usually ends up with a few great spots and chokepoints and lots of bitching about how the map is biased towards one side.

I prefer the chaos of constantly having to think about where you are and where enemies might be, and having those things constantly change throughout a match.
 
Always a sad thing when devs dumb down games for the masses - especially multiplayer games. You're only killing the depth, skill ceiling, and longevity.
 
Speed isn't that bad, you can still somewhat conserve momentum, but I don't like that thing about maps. Also, TTK is too low.
 
These quotes are straight from the 2013 MS playbook. A complete misunderstanding of the audiences needs/desires. Thankfully MS finally righted ship. Hopefully Respawn do the same without having to endure TF2 tanking to do it.
 
That map design comment....
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such a shame, tf1 maps are fantastic. although we only seen 2 maps and a video of the 3rd (which looks kinda open too) it dont instil much confidence with the maps to come.
 
That map design comment..

Welp, there goes the little hope I had left for the remainder of the maps being somewhat decent.
 
I haven't seen so many people miss the point of a game since R6 Siege's first betas.

I mean, some people like it, some don't. Ive been kneedeep in Overwatch recently. Been dying to get back to R6Siege.

I played the hell outta TF1. A dev was kind enough to give me early access to the TF2 alpha before the weekend and the "storm" started. I went in clean... and I hated it. It wasnt Titanfall, but the even more deadly sin was that it wasn't fun. To me. The changes have been well documented at this point, and I agree that they were all terrible choices. If you played it and liked/loved it, then enjoy! Its not bad, its just not the game I wanted, and even then, I didnt enjoy. And hearing what the developers are saying, this is a hard pass for me. Biggest disappointment in gaming since the sequel to MechAssault 2 (not a mech guy, sheer chance that they are both mech games).

But if you get "the point", no hate... enjoy it! Im sure theres a quality game there, just not one Im interested in.
 
I mean, some people like it, some don't. Ive been kneedeep in Overwatch recently. Been dying to get back to R6Siege.

I played the hell outta TF1. A dev was kind enough to give me early access to the TF2 alpha before the weekend and the "storm" started. I went in clean... and I hated it. It wasnt Titanfall, but the even more deadly sin was that it wasn't fun. To me. The changes have been well documented at this point, and I agree that they were all terrible choices. If you played it and liked/loved it, then enjoy! Its not bad, its just not the game I wanted, and even then, I didnt enjoy. And hearing what the developers are saying, this is a hard pass for me. Biggest disappointment in gaming since the sequel to MechAssault 2 (not a mech guy, sheer chance that they are both mech games).

But if you get "the point", no hate... enjoy it! Im sure theres a quality game there, just not one Im interested in.

Why does it have to be compared to TF1? I get this is a sequel but didn't Respawn say something about treating the game as a new IP? The objective of the game feels different than in TF1 so the changes seem intentional.
 
* It's not a kill streak
* so far it's only one mode, they only showed 3 modes
* these maps are the same size or smaller than maps in titanfall 1
* parkour is applicable in these maps just as much as some of the same styled maps in titanfall 1
* ttk by bullet is about the same, some other factors have led to a faster TTK which hopefully they address

Re-installed TF1 and I really can't agree with the bolded. As always, could be wrong, but it really seemed like Pilots withstood more.
 
Re-installed TF1 and I really can't agree with the bolded. As always, could be wrong, but it really seemed like Pilots withstood more.

I think that's because of the map design. In TF1 you were faster and the map design allowed you to break line of sight much easier/quicker giving you the illusion of slower TTK. In Titanfall 2 if someone starts shooting at you, you're pretty much dead.
 
Why does it have to be compared to TF1? I get this is a sequel but didn't Respawn say something about treating the game as a new IP? The objective of the game feels different than in TF1 so the changes seem intentional.

Well it's pretty natural to compare a sequel to the game it's a sequel of. I mean, most people are probably excited about TF2 because they liked TF1.
 
The beautiful thing about Titanfall was that the devs who pioneered COD and turned it into the mega hit that it is took the standard formula and did something different with it by making it a fast paced shooter with great mech combat. Now it seems they're too scared to make things different again and they're falling backwards trying to undo the good they provided in Titanfall. It's a shame.
 
It's really amazing that they dropped the ball on this. All they had to do was take TF1, add a single player and more content. That's all anybody really complained about on TF1. Just lack of content.
 
Well it's pretty natural to compare a sequel to the game it's a sequel of. I mean, most people are probably excited about TF2 because they liked TF1.

Pretty much this. They decided to go in a new direction obviously. And thats fine, Im sure itll have its fans. I didnt care for it at all and with OW and R6Siege taking up all my gaming time, and BF1 coming down the pike... Im good.
 
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