Firefall - Red 5

[Nonentity]

So, this is what Red 5 has been up to.

http://www.firefallthegame.com/

Beta signups on the site.

EDIT:

What we know - free to play, microtransaction-based. Jetpacks, power armor, vehicles. How MMO is it exactly? Unknown. No information on competitive stuff.

[Hawkbit]

Looks cool.  One part Borderlands, one part Tabula Rasa, two parts Global Agenda.  I really like the thumper part of the gameplay video, not to mention it looks like the AI faction attacked their city.  Don't see that in games often. 

[jakonovski]

The world looks great, gameplay not so much. Also pet peeve number one: why are scifi guns always so shit? A mob called "Titan" shoots a huge energy ball at mudbrick houses, a tiny explosion happens and nobody's impressed. Have some ambition people, that thing is less powerful than a 17th century mortar.

Fake edit: What's with the Starcraft font anyway?

[Nonentity]

Not sure how much 'MMO' is gonna be in this one - it's a persistent shooter with no monthly fee. It sounds like Borderlands with a more MMO slant.

[Mrbloodworth]

One part Borderlands, one part Tabula Rasa, two parts Global Agenda.

+ Starship troopers.

[Hawkbit]

Fake edit: What's with the Starcraft font anyway?

Yeah, that needs a changeup. 

[Trippy]

The co-founders are all ex-Blizzard.

[SnakeCharmer]

Looks like fun

[Merusk]

The world looks great, gameplay not so much. Also pet peeve number one: why are scifi guns always so shit? A mob called "Titan" shoots a huge energy ball at mudbrick houses, a tiny explosion happens and nobody's impressed. Have some ambition people, that thing is less powerful than a 17th century mortar.

Also lacking friendly fire from the bit of gameplay I watched at the end.  Gun games without FF always lose my interest.

[Stormwaltz]

Starship Troopers + HL2 antlions or ME1 rachni. Meh. Zero points for story originality.

Very nice landscape art. To my eye, though, the character art doesn't match it. People are noticeably more "drawn" looking than the environment. No, it's not just the artificial black outlining that makes me saythat.

Monster town invasions are fun.

Mouse-based shooter gameplay trumps keyboard-based DIKU gameplay.

Yeah, I'd try this.

EDIT: I think the most impressive thing about the landscape is the extraordinary richness of the color palatte. Even relatively monochromatic areas are interesting to look at.

[jakonovski]

The world also uses all three dimensions, which is pretty much a first. What makes it all come together is that it's seamless. Loading screens between zones are of the devil, and horribly lazy game design.   

[Jobu]

EDIT: I think the most impressive thing about the landscape is the extraordinary richness of the color palatte. Even relatively monochromatic areas are interesting to look at.

They somehow got their heightfields to make overhangs. That's pretty damn awesome.

[Shatter]

Oh hell yeah!! 

[Soln]

wow

[LK]

I haven't seen much of it at PAX but what immediately struck me is how much it looked like a fusion between StarCraft and Phantasy Star in style. Logo screams StarCraft styling.

[Lounge]

Gameplay video looks pretty great...

Also not noted anywhere on this thread is that this is going to be a free to play game.

Firefall will feature a free-to-play model that allows players to experience every detail of the vibrant world without having to pay a penny. Updates to the game, dynamic world events, and other content will also be offered without a price tag, while a marketplace will allow fans to purchase optional enhancements.

http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews/Red-5-finally-announces-their-first-game---Firefall---now-taking-beta-pplications/Item19442.aspx

[DayDream]

I love power armor to an unhealthy degree.  I hope this game is worth a shit.  Seamless world looks cool, reminds me of planetside a little.  F2P, well guess we'll see how it gets put in.

[Threash]

The world looks great, gameplay not so much. Also pet peeve number one: why are scifi guns always so shit? A mob called "Titan" shoots a huge energy ball at mudbrick houses, a tiny explosion happens and nobody's impressed. Have some ambition people, that thing is less powerful than a 17th century mortar.

Also lacking friendly fire from the bit of gameplay I watched at the end.  Gun games without FF always lose my interest.

We can't have nice things.  Online game + friendly fire = massive griefing.

[Mrbloodworth]

I also saw a multi-user air ship (that I suspect wasn't 100% done as there was an inside but they did not climb in) and some motorbikes of some sort. That's just ...  

I wonder in what ways it will be MMGish.

We can't have nice things.  Online game + friendly fire = massive griefing.

Weapon lock system from PS was a good way of dealing with it I thought.

[Sheepherder]

They somehow got their heightfields to make overhangs. That's pretty damn awesome.

Large static meshes?

[Ratman_tf]

I also saw a multi-user air ship (that I suspect wasn't 100% done as there was an inside but they did not climb in) and some motorbikes of some sort. That's just ...  

I wonder in what ways it will be MMGish.

We can't have nice things.  Online game + friendly fire = massive griefing.

Weapon lock system from PS was a good way of dealing with it I thought.

I wouldn't say good. It became acceptable. But still in any video game system with FF, you're going to have goony situations crop up. Speedbump players running in front of tanks, people in squads still blasting each other out of boredom. Etc.

Oh, the game? Hell, I'll try it. Looks interesting enough.

[Jamiko]

The current, not so obvious to find,  FAQ:

What is Firefall?

Firefall is a team-based action shooter combining deep character progression with an open-world cooperative campaign that can be shared with hundreds of other players. Firefall will also have a rich competitive multiplayer component incorporating built-in features such as clan support, ladders, tournaments and stats.

Firefall takes place on Earth, but it is an Earth transformed. The year is 2233. A highly efficient form of energy was discovered by utilizing the resource Crystite. The overuse of Crystite led to the disastrous arrival of the Melding, an energy storm that has engulfed the majority of the planet. You play as a surviving human in the eye of the Melding storm.

Recently, humanity has been fighting for survival against a race calling themselves the Chosen. They emerged from the Melding with only one known goal, the destruction of the human race.

When does the game come out?

We are planning to release Firefall at the end of 2011.

Is Firefall an MMO?

No. Firefall is first and foremost an action shooter. We incorporated a lot of elements that you might find in various genres, including MMOs, but it is not an MMO in the traditional sense.

How much will Firefall cost to play?

We are so excited about Firefall that we want to make sure everyone can play it and join their friends in the game. When Firefall releases, it will be available online for download and play for absolutely free.

Will there be a subscription fee?

Absolutely not. We do not feel that a subscription fee best suits the style of game we are creating.

How do you plan to make money?

We plan to offer a marketplace for Firefall that will offer players items to enhance their gaming experience. We are adamantly against selling anything that might compromise the skill-based aspect of the game.

What are you showing at PAX?

We are demoing a portion of the open-world experience. You can check out the same demonstration (minus the awesome experience of meeting the dev team) by checking out the movies on http://www.firefallthegame.com

Are there any additional details regarding the competitive multiplayer?

For now, we are only discussing the open-world co-op experience. You can expect to see a lot more about the muliplayer experience at a later date.

What are battleframes?

Battleframes are sets of armor and weapons that denote your class in Firefall. You will customize these pieces of armor and weapons through modules and upgrades to create your own unique style of play. Battleframes can be switched out during gameplay at a battleframe station, giving you the option to change tactics on-the-fly.

How many battleframes will there be at launch?

For PAX, we are only talking about the Assault and Medic battleframes. Additional details will be released later.

[Pringles]

That video was awesome, especially the city fight.

I can't wait to try it out.

[Ratman_tf]

We are so excited about Firefall that we want to make sure everyone can play it and join their friends in the game. When Firefall releases, it will be available online for download and play for absolutely free.

Will there be a subscription fee?

Absolutely not. We do not feel that a subscription fee best suits the style of game we are creating.

How do you plan to make money?

We plan to offer a marketplace for Firefall that will offer players items to enhance their gaming experience. We are adamantly against selling anything that might compromise the skill-based aspect of the game.

My interest just went down a notch.

[UnSub]

The Melding is one of the worst villain names I've seen.

Are we also going to have an argument over the practicality of that armour? 

Looks good enough to give a shot.

[NiX]

My interest just went down a notch.

Why exactly? Assuming they follow through with not letting the items ruin the skill based part of the game, I don't see an issue.

[Merusk]

The Melding is one of the worst villain names I've seen.

Are we also going to have an argument over the practicality of that armour? 

That was my first grouse but I let it go because it was obvious that the intent was "Looks cool" not "looks probable."  Arm-mounted gun    Lights all over your armor so you're a well-illuminated target.    Stilly bits that pop-up and move for no apparent reason.. 

On the FF, yeah I realize there's issues but as I said without it my interest always goes down.  Particularly in squad or team-based games because it just leads to more morons running in front and bunny hoppying all over like twits.  Then again my favorite multi-player shooter is still America's Army for it's one-hit kills, FF and severe penalties to jump & gun. 

[stu]

assless power armor

[Ratman_tf]

My interest just went down a notch.

Why exactly? Assuming they follow through with not letting the items ruin the skill based part of the game, I don't see an issue.

Considering their only income is going to be through the microtrans, I'm a little worried that they won't be willing or maybe even able to stick to that goal.

And partly, I do like to play dressup in RPGs. Often they save the really neat looking shit for paid points, and I'm an onery old coot who doesn't like fiddling with points and crap. Especially when I want one or two specific items, and it takes a lump sum to get the one purple bowtie or whateverthefuck I've got my eye one.

[DayDream]

All hail the glory of impractical power armor!


I agree though, F2P does make me antsy.  I'd rather have a small sub fee, that gets everything as long as you're subscribed with a small points stipend, and the option to play it F2P.  We'll see if their content/gameplay could support that though, they may not have enough to do to legitimately support that sort of business model.

I think in my head this game is like planetside with PvE, because that's what I want.  I don't think that's going to happen though.

[Tearofsoul]

This is not an MMO, right?

[schild]

Your sig is too big, fix it.

[Stormwaltz]

This is not an MMO, right?

It was originally intended to be. After Red 5 was bought out by a Chinese investor (The9, the guys Blizzard fired for mismanaging WoW China), it appears to have morphed into some smaller breed on online multiplayer game.

[Kageru]

The combat reminds me a lot of borderlands, as does the cell shaded art style. The idea of having a dynamic battlefield with objectives and an active enemy was probably the best part of Tabula Rasa but it wasn't integrated all that well. Having a small town rather than TR's fortified bases does make that a bit more free flowing... though in TR you could lose bases. The backpack could do with being toned down to something global agenda size but at least the armor has personality.

That said, I expect they'll run US servers and it will be ping dependant and thus unplayable for Australian gamers. Like APB ... except I might actually care if the game is good.

[Margalis]

I really like the graphics for the effects.

On the other hand the aiming seems weird. When you aren't zoomed in using sights it's really hard to see what the player is aiming at.