It seems like the game's story, along with all pretense of logic and meaningful design has gone out the window in favor of payed cosmetics, lazy design, and fragfest-style grinding. So what caused me to notice this? I just had a look around Esamir's new bases expecting to see proper outposts and nicely re-modeled bases that fit well into the setting and looked like something that would realistically be built in a wartime scenario. But what I saw was a bunch of preexisting assets thrown together without any regard for whether or not it made sense withing the game's world, gaping holes in defenses, and misaligned assets copy-pasted over and over again until I knew every model by heart. Not to mention the serious lack of logical design. Why would a landing pad be covered in supply boxes? Why would there be a wall just sitting there in the open with nothing around it? Why is a military base designed in such a way to funnel the attackers in to cover, and prevent those inside from shooting over the outer walls without exposing themselves? But base design isn't the only issue here. We've got a game that is trying very hard to be similar to Battlefield, yet it lacks all of the little things that made Battlefield (And many other FPSs) awesome. Things like: First-person legs Voice stab variety Fluid animation Great sound assets Unique gun assets Attention to detail and polish Etc. All of these things may seem trivial, but what is immersion if not all of the little things combining to help engage the player? Without these things you're left with a game that feels like a game. An "arcadey feel" if you will. Add to all this all the ridiculous-looking armor, the rainbow / MLG / Planetside decals, the cartoonish atmosphere, and the overall lack of polish and you get a very shallow and unimmersive experience that wears itself out extremely quickly. Now, I realize there are other issues to sort out, but it seems very strange that SOE has outright ignored these aspects and pushed on with a pre-planned roadmap that does not include any of the things that will save the games longevity, immersion, and atmosphere.
I'm guessing you're talking about the double tower base on Esamir when you brought up boxes on landing Platforms. If those boxes weren't there, there would be no way for the Attackers to advance, as there is no cover. Besides, you can just pretend the crates were left there in an emergency. Look on the bright side, those bases didn't have any walls in the first place. So it's already been made better. If you wanted something realistic, this isn't the game for you.
In general I agree with you that immersion and game world logic is not as strong as it should be. However, I respectfully disagree about the following points: Great Sound Assets I think the sound design in this game is fantastic, especially after the updates to the VS weapons. I have a high-end sound card and headphones and the audio in this game is almost over-the-top immersive in my option. Almost every friend I know who has played it initially remarks about how it feels like you have been dropped into the middle of a real war because of the sound. Unique gun assets For having to have as many weapons as the game does with 3 fully different factions plus NS weapons I think they do a great job with them. I think this is especially true for anything they have released or revamped since launch. lazy design As a designer myself, I don't think what is happening is laziness exactly. Instead what I think we are seeing is a design team that is being more reactionary to the players versus having a strong design direction within. On one hand this is good and I think it is really impressive how much they have tweaked and changed the game as a result of player feedback. This game plays nothing like what we had at launch and that is largely for the better. On the other hand, this can be bad because, as you have pointed out, the game feels more "gamey" and the world doesn't make as much sense. The problem is that realistic isn't always fun. It certainly isn't balanced. We only see what makes it to the live game so we can't say for certain that they didn't try things that made more sense (like shield gens behind the shields they power) and find out that they were frankly unfun. If it comes down to fun versus realism, when making a game fun will and should always win. But I'm with you that I wish the world made more sense, there was more story/meta, and I felt like a real person in this future world. So I will upvote your post and hope the devs take it into consideration.
Two things. 1) More unique assets would mean more things to load which in turn means worse performance. The more ways they can find to reuse assets the better our performance will be in the long run. It also severely cuts down on the number of man hours needed to create worthwhile continent. Even simple 3D models can take a very long time to produce and get right so throwing in unique ones for everything isn't terribly feasible. 2) Logical design does not mean good for gameplay. Why do the attackers get funneled into cover? So they're not running across a prepared, open field where they would get utterly and completely slaughtered. The game has to be fun for both sides so attacking and defending need to be more or less on even ground to make the game fun for everyone. If you want realism I strongly suggest you find a different game. Planetside is made to be fun and put a lot of people together on the same map. Minor details and realistic bases mean something else suffers and I'd rather have good gameplay and decent performance since to me those are the things that really make a game fun.
They could have done better with immersion and the overall aesthetics of the game, but that ship sailed long ago and I now accept this as an arcade shooter with rainbow decals and stupid hats.
Yep. Did I mention glowing trim and golden guns? This game is very, very close, if not as bad as TF2 when it comes to gaudy cosmetics.
Don't blur the lines. It's not as bad as TF2. If they add Santa hats, then I will agree, it's as bad as TF2.
I'm not here for a realistic, immersive shooter, I'm here for large fps battles with a sprinkling of tanks and aircraft.
the major immersion breaker is that game world is completely static This isn't 2000 anymore. There is technology like PhysX, and it's main purpose isn't to make fancy particles.
Ha! If you want to complain, start with factions themselves. I have never seen a less likable selection of sides. Or how about the continents, which are really moons, and all of which are perfectly square?
