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Forged Battalion

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Petroglyph seems to have joined up with Team17, another company which hasn't developed a proper title in many, many years.

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Guest Rabbit

The biggest thing that disappoints me about the previews for every Petroglyph game is the presentation.  It's like they assume that filling the screen with tracer rounds and explosions is the best way to get the point across that it's a good game, when all it does is leave me feeling confused and even uncertain if I want to play a game where I can't tell what is going on.

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While agreeing with Zee, I was hoping for a story or new feature(s) coming out from a game instead of looking at the gameplay.

Also this article: http://www.pcgamer.com/strategy-veterans-petroglyph-announce-forged-battalion-a-heavily-customisable-rts/

I guess Petroglyph/Team17 took a page again from C&C and this time took a page from WarZone 2100 with custom-creating units and now factions.

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4 hours ago, Zee Hypnotist said:

The biggest thing that disappoints me about the previews for every Petroglyph game is the presentation.  It's like they assume that filling the screen with tracer rounds and explosions is the best way to get the point across that it's a good game, when all it does is leave me feeling confused and even uncertain if I want to play a game where I can't tell what is going on.

I guess they don't want to tell you everything right away. You can with certainty tell that in this title:

  • there will be lots of action with various units (ground and air at least) in large numbers, and probably base building, and there's an overall futuristic theme
  • there will be some kind of unit customisation and branching tech/upgrade trees
  • there will be a soundtrack by Frank Klepacki

That's quite enough information to give a very preliminary judgement if this may interest further or not IMO.

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43 minutes ago, MrFlibble said:

there will be a soundtrack by Frank Klepacki

I actually don't think this is relevant to making a preliminary judgment at all, it is only a distraction.

Maybe this is just my opinion, but I've never seen a game where the soundtrack changed its worthiness. A terrible soundtrack on a great game can be muted. An awesome soundtrack on a Petroglyph er... lousy game cannot drag it out of the dung heap.

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50 minutes ago, MrFlibble said:

there will be lots of action with various units (ground and air at least) in large numbers,

The unit movement, and apparently the brainless spam, is the exact same as in 8-Bit Shit.

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Not sure what is more concerning, EA not getting back into the RTS pool or Petroglyph staying in the pool but they keep pissing in it.

At this time i don't have much faith in both companies.

And Honostly Petro needs to start distancing them self from the WestWood name/brand. The majority of the company isn't Westwood staff. Journalist need to stop dropping fanboy bait like that in their articles. It is just preying on the community nostalgia. 

Same with the Frank Klepacki thing. A score should be match made to the theme of the game, not vice versa. Frank K. did some good work obviously but his style isn't suited for every game or theme.

Well at least its not that 8bit cashgrab nonsense, i'll give it a fair try when it comes available next year. But i'm not awestruck atm. we'll see what gives.

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Shouldn't this be front page news?

I've always wanted a game like this so I'm positively intrigued.

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7 minutes ago, ApornasPlanet said:

Shouldn't this be front page news?

We only follow C&C news on the front page. This is not related in any way.

2 hours ago, Ravendark said:

Well at least its not that 8bit cashgrab nonsense


I believe it actually is, and the only thing that makes Forged Battalion "different" is this vaguely shown customization mechanic and the art style somewhat. Otherwise, the engine seems so identical that the units move in the same way and are massed in the same way.

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Well, in times like these when C&C news are scarce I believe you could post other stuff as well. But you are the boss

Edited by ApornasPlanet

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2 hours ago, Ravendark said:

And Honostly Petro needs to start distancing them self from the WestWood name/brand. The majority of the company isn't Westwood staff. Journalist need to stop dropping fanboy bait like that in their articles. It is just preying on the community nostalgia. 

Since Empire at War, I didn't touch any of their titles. I've heard that some former Westwood employees were among their staff, but I guess it's no longer true or at least their numbers decreased... Anyway, I don't think that association with Westwood Studios is relevant any longer. For some older gamers, it's still a thing but there is whole, an entire generation of new gamers who don't even know this brand. 

It's more like a ball and chain for them right now. They need a new audience but associating with Team17 (also dinosaur gaming era) won't help. 

 

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Just now, ApornasPlanet said:

Well, in times like these when C&C news are scarce I believe you could post other stuff as well.

We've always been a C&C-only fansite. Even if we expanded to RTS in general, I don't believe this would even be worthy of a single sentence.

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As much as this game does appeal to me on some levels, it looks like a more fleshed out version of 8-Bit Armies. It's unit movements and weapons remind me more of 8-Bit than a C&C game. As much as we are all looking for the next C&C like game and some look to Petro more than anything for that, they keep on failing to reach the mark, and sometimes not by that much.

With that said however, I am still looking forward to try this out and see what it has to offer.

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I wonder if they'd appeal to more players if they just went back to making cheesy campaign videos.  a little bit of effort like that can make the whole game seem like it's higher quality

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Team 17 has actually been doing alright these past few years and have begun to publish games as well as develop in-house (they still make Worms :)). They recently published Yooka-Laylee, which was a cool platformer by some of the guys who made Banjo Kazooie. The long and the sort of it is that they aren't the worst company to team up with. They are also one of the longest surviving indie studios around, which speaks volumes.

Whilst Petroglyph haven't made a GOOD RTS since Grey Goo (yes that game was good), 8-Bit Armies wasn't necessarily a BAD game. It missed the mark by subtly promising C&C-style gameplay and not delivering; but despite it's flaws it was still a fairly fun game with good intentions (even if base expansion was horrific and unit micromanagement was a pain). The console version of that game is interesting though. The unit build and selection controls are quite unique to the genre.

I'm really eager to see what Petroglyph do with this new game. There's less than a handful of veteran strategy studios around that are willing to make a C&C-styled RTS these days, so I'm just glad that Petroglyph still backs the sub-genre with games. Let's not be hasty and rule the game out for it's bad trailer until we've played it. Early access is next year, so you never know, it might actually be good. :) 

Edited by One Winged Angel

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9 hours ago, One Winged Angel said:

as well as develop in-house (they still make Worms :)).

All of which presented either stagnation or downfall compared to Armageddon. They recycle failed experiments (Open Warfare - Xbox Arcade titles - Reloaded, Revolution & Clan Wars...).

9 hours ago, One Winged Angel said:

It missed the mark by subtly promising C&C-style gameplay and not delivering; but despite it's flaws it was still a fairly fun game with good intentions

Not sure if making a more basic game than a 1992 title for a quick buck from gullible WW/Petro fanboys counts as good intentions.

9 hours ago, One Winged Angel said:

There's less than a handful of veteran strategy studios around that are willing to make a C&C-styled RTS these days

Here's the problem, though - there's nobody making an actual, proper RTS of any description, C&C or otherwise. Blizzard is resting on their laurels after Legacy of the Void shipped, Relic never got the memo that taking cues from MOBAs doesn't cut it with the core RTS playerbase, and indie devs really don't understand what made RTS games successful and keep making bland bullshit over and over as if they never actually played a game in the genre (or really any game at all, considering how soulless they are).

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On 27/10/2017 at 10:48 AM, Plokite_Wolf said:

All of which presented either stagnation or downfall compared to Armageddon. They recycle failed experiments (Open Warfare - Xbox Arcade titles - Reloaded, Revolution & Clan Wars...).

That's totally your opinion. Personally I think that Reloaded is better than Armageddon (basically because Armageddon hasn't aged as well as it could of and Reloaded has a ton more options and customisation to play around with).

On 27/10/2017 at 10:48 AM, Plokite_Wolf said:

Not sure if making a more basic game than a 1992 title for a quick buck from gullible WW/Petro fanboys counts as good intentions.

I personally found the game quite fun. I mean the campaign wasn't great, the movement was a bit janky, expanding across the map was painful and the units didn't have much depth to them as the could have, but they did fairly well to command my attention for as long as they did and I think that it's a good game to introduce people to the RTS genre with. The C&C references in the names of the enemy generals were a nice touch too.

I mean again you're entitled to your opinion, but I think that they did ok, just not great.

On 27/10/2017 at 10:48 AM, Plokite_Wolf said:

Here's the problem, though - there's nobody making an actual, proper RTS of any description, C&C or otherwise. Blizzard is resting on their laurels after Legacy of the Void shipped, Relic never got the memo that taking cues from MOBAs doesn't cut it with the core RTS playerbase, and indie devs really don't understand what made RTS games successful and keep making bland bullshit over and over as if they never actually played a game in the genre (or really any game at all, considering how soulless they are).

 

I depends what you define as a "proper RTS" I suppose. Have you tried Halo Wars 2? It's actually a good attempt at an old skool RTS (even if it is exclusively on Windows Store). Also, if you liked "The Settlers" try Northgard. It's fantastic. Personally though, my hopes are hinged on Iron Harvest for the title of "next great RTS".

I'd love to round up a band of the C&C community old guard and make something cool in unity, but at the end of the day I don't have the time. I'd love it if someone else could get it right though. there's definitely a market for a fun RTS to slot into the C&C shaped hole that's currently present in the RTS genre.

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4 hours ago, One Winged Angel said:

That's totally your opinion. Personally I think that Reloaded is better than Armageddon (basically because Armageddon hasn't aged as well as it could of and Reloaded has a ton more options and customisation to play around with).

Not just mine, none of the games post-Armageddon had any players for long. And Armageddon itself can only thank two fans who make T17-authorized patches (v3.x.x.x) that improved compatibility and gameplay.

Reloaded was essentially a PC port of the handheld-adapted Open Warfare 1 and 2, with a maximum of 4 worms, virtually no terrain corrosion, stiff movement and simply dull gameplay.

4 hours ago, One Winged Angel said:

Also, if you liked "The Settlers" try Northgard.

I occasionally play The Settlers III until I get fed up of how overstretched it is, and how you can sometimes simply lose if you take too long. In the class of kingdom building, the original Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader beat it hands down.

4 hours ago, One Winged Angel said:

I depends what you define as a "proper RTS" I suppose.

A proper RTS would be something along the lines of C&C/Dune, WarCraft/StarCraft, Total Annihilation, and Age of Empires/Mythology, of course. For many years, companies tried to mimic one of these four types until some fans went loose in the WarCraft 3 editor and birthed MOBAs, and now the few people who make RTSes take inspiration from them instead of actual RTSes. You may notice I don't include you CA folks in these posts because I consider Total War a RTS/TBS hybrid, but for the love of all that is good in gaming, don't fall into the MOBA shithole yourselves, there's a reason many people still play RTS instead of MOBAs.

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7 hours ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

Not just mine, none of the games post-Armageddon had any players for long. And Armageddon itself can only thank two fans who make T17-authorized patches (v3.x.x.x) that improved compatibility and gameplay.

Reloaded was essentially a PC port of the handheld-adapted Open Warfare 1 and 2, with a maximum of 4 worms, virtually no terrain corrosion, stiff movement and simply dull gameplay.

 

That's fair I guess. I had a lot of fun playing Reloaded on the sofa with friends and customising hilarious armies to fight each other with. It was quite enjoyable. :)

7 hours ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

I occasionally play The Settlers III until I get fed up of how overstretched it is, and how you can sometimes simply lose if you take too long. In the class of kingdom building, the original Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader beat it hands down.

Northgard is definitely worth a look in that case then. It's a pretty good looking game and plays pretty well whilst taking inspiration from it's contemporaries.

7 hours ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

A proper RTS would be something along the lines of C&C/Dune, WarCraft/StarCraft, Total Annihilation, and Age of Empires/Mythology, of course. For many years, companies tried to mimic one of these four types until some fans went loose in the WarCraft 3 editor and birthed MOBAs, and now the few people who make RTSes take inspiration from them instead of actual RTSes. You may notice I don't include you CA folks in these posts because I consider Total War a RTS/TBS hybrid, but for the love of all that is good in gaming, don't fall into the MOBA shithole yourselves, there's a reason many people still play RTS instead of MOBAs.

That's fair. It seems like we haven't had one of those in a while (apart from Halo Wars 2 and a load of indie projects that consistently miss the mark).

I wouldn't consider Total War a hybrid of RTS and TBS, but rather a hybrid of RTT and TBS. Because you're given a set amount of units with no base building or resource gathering, I feel that Total War's battle mode is a Real Time tactics game rather than a clear-cut RTS. TW is a PC juggernaut of strategy in general these days and the large audience it commands does give me hope that there's still some killer games left to come along within the genre and blow our minds. The question is who will be making them.

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RTS games are more fun if there is a story (as the same as saying single-player campaign) to go along in addition to any gameplay mechanics. Anything with a game genre hybrid, I am okay with it as long as there's a story to be mentioned. Most games with MOBA, MMORTS or MMORPG don't carry much of a story.

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Early Access scheduled for January 16th. I'mma prepare popcorn.

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Wow Petroglyph must be the Logan Paul of game companies. Because they keep getting away with shit that would get others shut down.

Like stealing..uh i mean being inspired by other peoples models/concept art. The apc looking vehicle at 5:32 seen that floating on the web for years, not sure if its part of the early c&c4 concept art. The Avatar(James Cameron not c&c3) mechs- wel ok i'll let mech thing slide, anyone who ever tried modeling a mech knows it comes out looking like something that prob exists all ready or something from the Mechwarrior universe, its the curse of mech design....the other models tho like the scout vehicles and tanks, it feels like they just browsed deviant art for those ones.

Look its a upgrade tree...filled with mostly shitty % upgrades. Nothing against "retro" rts but how about not using the most shitty "retro" concept almost everybody disliked in the history of gaming : Empty % upgrade systems.

So much diversity in unit design tho...all those weapons..that sound, look and feel alike for the most part. all those different units moving like a  fucking blob and thrown against a opposing blob of units. I really like how most rts dev these days understand that "s" in RT-S stands for Shitloads and not strategy. More isn't always better.

Even the title sounds like they stole it from 2 different games and glued them together to prey on nostalgia or "retro" memories.

I so wanted to give this game the benefit of the doubt. I really liked the warzone, eart21xx games. But this game seems to fall short of the quality and thought that whent into previous titles.

Not all the 21xx games were jewels, but they tried alot harder then this polished(well spitshined, i doubt they will try to polish it alot more) turd from Petroglyph..again.

 

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The over-saturated cartoony style graphics seem to have been "inspired" from RA3 too.

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