BfME2 round-up

[Saracen 16]

Since I'm not gonna write an essay about the whole game so far.....I'm gonna leave it to Sledgehammer70 at MEVault to give the specifics of the game.. this explains it all well enough and is an excellent read..

 

General:

 

* To build buildings, each side will have to use workers.

* Can build anywhere.

* Trolls act the same when dying.

* No indications of unit emotions.

* Ground can be light on fire where by it’ll spread and cause damage to units and buildings it consumes. Can be put out by Workers who’ll use water buckets.

* Foot steps will show up in snow.

* When you select a worker, what buildings they can build will appear on the right.

* After you build a building, your Worker disappears.

* Might include Voice over IP feature for multiplayer.

* Might allow you to play your own MP3 files.

* If there is fire on a map, and the map has rain; then the rain won’t extinguish the fire.

* Fog has been added

* Couple times a February release date was mentioned.

* If a Fortress is upgraded with flaming munitions, it'll allow for things like archer towers and catapults to use fire.

* Each faction has access to an ultimate upgrade for their Fortress Building.

* Heroes are created out of the Primary Fortree Building.

* 34 Hero units in total.

* 80 Regular units in total.

* The Argonath is what the Shell Map will be; the Shell Map is the main menu of the game. Barad-dûr was the Shell Map in the original game.

 

The Sides:

Elves

 

* Tough.

* Great Warriors.

* Limited it numbers.

* Expensive.

* They are both Mithlond and Mirkwood Elves united.

* Very weak siege, just like Rohan actually since they only have Ents.

* Elrond, Thranduil, and Glorfindel are some of the heroes.

* Elven Pasture is a building.

* Have an Elven Stables.

* All of the buildings texture work is done based on the Elven Barracks from the original game.

 

Dwarves

 

* The Dwarves are from all over Middle Earth.

* All Dwarves in the game are based on Gimli.

* Use Turtle Tactics.

* Are slow moving.

* Can take lots of damage.

* Best at taking down enemy structures.

* Has an Archery Range.

* Has a Hall of Warriors is where regular units are made. Units like Guardians, Phalanxes.

* Has a Mine Shaft that mines Mithril for credits.

* Has Forge Works.

* Axe Tower Extension for it’s fortress.

* Catapult Extension for it’s fortress.

* Fortress can get a Minda Catapult in front and back of fortress that can bombard long distances.

* Has a Catapult and Battering Ram called the Demolisher for siege weaponry.

* Dwarven Cavalry is a Battlewagon.

* Has king Dain as a hero.

 

Men of the West

 

* Has all heroes from Rohan and Gondor.

* Turtle and Defence are the main tactics.

* Have access to Dúnedain Rangers and Hobbit Shirriffs.

* Tom Bombadil is a hero and he sings.

* Ivory Tower is their ultimate Fortress upgrade, gives them a vision bonus.

 

Mordor

 

* All the old units, along with a few new ones.

* Aggressive tactics.

* Has Corsairs of Umbar who can climb walls.

* Mouth of Sauron is a new hero.

* Fortress has lava around it like a moat.

 

Isengard

 

* All the old units, along with a few new ones.

* Equipped with a weak wall.

* Has Wild Men as units, and their primary purpose is to steal money.

* Gríma Wormtongue is a new hero along with Sharkû.

* Fortress is like the Orthanc.

* Wildmen might be on Wargs.

 

Corrupted Wild (Goblins)

 

* Allied with many monsters from around Middle Earth.

* Many units can climb over walls.

* Will have Dragons, Fire Drakes, Mountain Giants, Worm, Marauders, Small Spiders, Spider Riders as units.

* Regular Goblin Archers can be upgraded with Fire Arrows.

* Most of the Goblin structures are tunnels down into the ground.

* Fortress can be upgraded with a Mountain Giant that’ll throw giant rocks down onto the enemy if they try to attack the fortress.

* Nest Dragons is the uber powerful fortress defence.

* Spider Rider can switch between being an Archer or to using a long pike.

* Gorkil the Goblin King as a hero, rides a Scorpion.

* Dragoth the Dragon Lord will play a part for the Goblins.

* Structures will be Goblin Cave, Goblin Pit, Goblin Tower.

 

Singleplayer:

 

* Same time as War of the Ring.

* Story starts when the Fellowship goes South after the council where the Fellowship is assembled.

* For the forces of light, they start in Rivendell and for the Forces of Darkness they start in Dol Guldur.

* Story will be told through cinematics.

 

Multiplayer:

 

* Tribute can be sent to your allies.

* Have more options for setting up a game.

* NAT and Firewall issues promised to be resolved.

 

Locations:

 

* Dol Guldur – Will be Sauron’s main base

* Redhorn Pass

* Snow Falls

* Fornost

* Laketown

* Mirkwood

* Hobbiton

* Grey Havens

* South Mirkwood

* Weathertop

* Erabore - Is an indoor map

* Minas Morgul

 

New Features:

Navy

 

* There is only going to be 4 ships total in the game. Both the Elves and Corsairs will have a transport and battleship.

* The boats can be garrisoned with fire archers to provide offence. But any other unit won’t do anything.

* Water effects are advanced, you can see the sun reflection for example.

* When a ship sinks, they just disappear under the water. No remnants remain.

* Can’t see any units on the boats.

* Can’t build an actual Dock, you need to capture a Neutral building.

 

New Powers

 

* Watcher in the Water

* Undermine – Dwarf

* Earthquake – Dwarf

* Rain of Fire

* Dragon Strike

* Flood – Elf

 

Terrain Based Resource Limiter

 

* When you build a resource building; like a farm for example, the further you build the farm from another resource building the more money you’ll get out of it. The closer to build, the less.

* Land around buildings will be transformed. If you have a Farm then around the Farm will be Farm land. If it’s a slaughter house than it’ll transform the land around it to be dark.

 

Active Buildings (Neutral)

 

* Capture the below buildings and you’d get a unique advantage:

o Inn – Recruit unique units (Dunedain, Corsair).

o Outpost – Increase income.

o Signal Fire – Timers for powers recharge quicker.

o Docks – Allows you to build ships.

 

War of the Ring

 

* Each turn has 6 phases, and they are:

o Phase 1: Build Units

o Phase 2: Build Structures in territories

o Phase 3: Choose destination territory for garrisoned armies

o Phase 4: Choose destination for Hero armies

o Phase 5: Fight battles for territory ownership

o Phase 6: Transfer choose destination territory for defeated armies

* You can only build 4 structures on the Living World, and they are:

o Barracks: Build Units.

o Farm: Increase Command Points.

o Armory: Extra Defense/Offensive bonus.

o Fort: Extra Defensive ability for region.

* Need to use hero army to attack another region.

* Heroes will never die; if they do they’ll just re-spawn.

* When are about you fight in a region; you have the option to either auto-resolve or fight battle yourself.

* If you fight battle yourself, then you can build a fortress when you get onto the map.

* The Ring doesn’t play a large role.

* War of the Ring can be played online.

 

One Ring Mode

 

* Gollum starts with the Ring

* You must fine Gollum, take the Ring from him and if you do, you can build a special hero. Sauron for the Forces of Darkness and Galadriel for the Forces of Light.

* You don’t have build your special hero, but if the Ring is stolen from you then the enemy could build their hero.

* If you do build your special hero and they are killed; then where they were killed is where the Ring would sit.

* When Sauron dies, he explodes like Gandalf’s Wizard Blast.

 

Tactical Fidelity

 

* Flanking now works so you can get a bonus when you attack units from the rear.

* When ordering your units to move you get a Formation Preview.

* You can change the Stance of your units. Where you can set units to either Hold Ground, Battle Stance, or Aggressive Stance.

* The melee interaction has been improved.

* If you take the high ground then you’ll benefit by being able to see further distances.

* Better Artillery.

* Planning Mode is an advanced waypoint creator.

 

Create a Hero

 

* 6 different classes: Archers, Dwarves, Men of the West, Sauron, Corrupt Men, Wizards.

* Each class has 4 different subclasses.

* You can name your hero.

* Can select it’s weapon/powers.

* Select it’s Hair and Armor color.

* The secondary color you select for your hero is what color your units would use.

* Trolls, Uruk, Goblin, Orc, Female MotW, Istari Wizard, Evil Wizard.

* Max powers your hero can have is 10.

* The more powers your hero has the more expensive they’d be to build.

* Stats will be kept for the hero; things like Wins, Losses, Kills.

* Awards can be won when your hero kills a Balrog or conquers Middle Earth without dying for a couple examples.

* When you start a campaign, you select a basic hero and upgrade them while you go.

* For multiplayer you bring in a hero you’ve already created.

* In multiplayer you’ll have an option to turn off My Heroes.

* EA is thinking about doing a My Fellowship where you create your own team of heroes to be like the Fellowship.

 

Mods:

 

* EA wants:

o People to create legendary mods.

o People to create hundreds of mods.

* EA will release:

o An extractor

o W3D Viewer

o BIG Decompressor

o Mod launcher

o SDK Tools with the goal of:

+ Getting people create original content

+ Helping to implement new features

 

Worldbuilder:

 

* Release Worldbuilder documentation.

* Release Raw assets of maps including:

o Scripted Singleplayer map.

o War of the Ring mode.

* Object properties have a Logical and Sound pre-scripted to them.

* Search feature implemented for scripts.

 

What we think:

Nick

Well now it’s time to give my opinion on the game, and chances are I may surprise a few of you with what I’m about to say.

 

Battle for Middle Earth II is from what I’ve seen so far a game that’ll fall in the same footsteps as its predecessor. Why is that? Well all the while I was at EALA, it was all talk with nothing really substantial; and anything that was done seemed plain. What did this seem like? Well the last time I visited EALA is what, as we were promised the World, just like we were again with B4ME2. Sure Multiplayer seems pretty nailed down; I could give a wooden nickel about that aspect. With that said, concentrating on Multiplayer makes sense especially since EA is concentrating on so called losercor… *cough* “hardcore” gamers. Multiplayer doesn’t sell games, but rather a strong Singleplayer does.

 

For those of you yelling at your screen telling me that I’m wrong, let me tell you some facts. Right now while I’m typing this on August 7th, the original B4ME is currently placed at 261 for CDROM and 842 for DVD sales on Amazon.com; while Rome Total War is ranked 35. Now B4ME was released in December and Rome Total War in September, so why is there such an extreme gap between them? Especially since Rome Total War has been out for a few months longer than B4ME1 has.

 

The main reason is that Rome Total War is a pure offline game, it does have multiplayer but it is of extremely poor quality; while B4ME is primarily online with a ****ty offline. To me this suggests that Singleplayer is what sells games, and continues to sell them long after the game has been out. Not to mention that since B4ME sold over a million copies, and that most times not even a hundred people are seen online at one time tells me that people bought the first B4ME wanting Singleplayer otherwise we’d see thousands online.

 

The reason I said all that, is because EA is working on the thought of Multiplayer first and Singleplayer second. I think we all know what happened with the original game being as most missions were simply multiplayer maps. Yes, EA has told me that the Singleplayer missions will all be unique sort of like the Ithilien mission from the original game. However, we’ve been promised things like this before; and EA’s never lived up to its promises.

 

I mean excuse me if I’m being cynical, but after going through the promise and then let down phase of the previous Battle for Middle Earth I’m going to stay skeptical of everything EA is saying until we start seeing some tangible proof that proves otherwise. Sure EA is going to do a beta, but it’ll probably be a multiplayer beta and again we won’t see what the game will truly be like.

 

Continuing on, before I got to see Custom Heroes for myself in person, I was expecting something along the lines of the Sims. But what we are getting is basically 24 pre-set heroes that’ll all look the same (minus hair color) so really after the game has been out for an hour how unique will your hero be? I want my hero to represent just me, not some other guy’s hero. I don’t care if you can’t tell the difference in game, there are still going to be fully rendered versions of custom heroes that people can post online; where you’ll be able to see all your hard work making a unique character get noticed.

 

Naval warfare was another great feature that I know we were all looking forward to. Well why will we only have access to a total of 2 Battleships and 2 Transport ships? There are 6 unique sides; yet only 4 ships total to build? This won’t allow for very extreme naval battles, not to mention that to be able to build ships you need to capture a neutral building. It seems like this feature would have been great, but for some odd reason not much thought has been put into making it great.

 

Now War of the Ring mode from the sounds of it was going to be similar to what Rome Total War had. The one cool thing that EA has in their design compared to Rome Total War is that they’ve implemented phases for each turn. To me I really love this idea, but that is where my enthusiasm stops. It doesn’t make sense that you can build a base and an army during a battle; the armies you attack with or buildings and units you already have in the region should be what you use. And on the actual map what is up with only being able to build 4 structures? In the end War of the Ring mode seems like naval warfare as it would be cool if done right; but it doesn’t seem that EA is concentrating enough on it. So really in the end it is simply like the campaign battles in the original, just with a couple more features added to it.

 

Another one of the only good things EA seems to be doing is involving what they call Tactical Fidelity. This is where they’ve finally made flanking possible; allow you to order your units into different stance modes; improved melee interaction; and added an advanced Planning Mode. The problem is, the other two major features like Formation Preview and High Ground are rather plain. Formation Preview for example, you only have one formation available; and if you want others you have to manually move your guys. As for High Ground, the only bonus you get is being able to see further; what about allowing my Archers to shoot further or give my cavalry a speed bonus for running down the hill, thus a damage bonus? Come to think of it, why couldn’t flanking and better melee interaction not be included in a patch for the original?

 

Another thing that would be great but seems rather odd; is that EA wants to help modders out in creating great mods. They’ll release all these tools and what not, but the thing is; while telling us what tools will be included they didn’t know what tools we already had. It’s great that EA wants to give us more tools, but it doesn’t seem like they know what we need as they don’t know what we have. Not to mention, that apparently there are numerous obstacles standing in the way of releasing what they want to. Thus they don’t even know if the tools will be released with the game or included in a sort of patch. If it is to be included with a patch, I personally wouldn’t hold my breath on seeing anything come out.

 

Then comes the Worldbuilder, a tool that came with the original that I know many people have looked at but then immediately dropped. The reason for most people dropping it is because it is to over complicated. From what we’ve seen and heard so far with the Worldbuilder, they are adding new features to it; but not making it any easier for people to use. EA can give us all the documentation they want, but in the end the tool should be easy enough for 13 year-olds to make maps; while advanced enough for experienced people to make tremendous maps.

 

You know after running Middle Earth MW and now the Middle Earth Vault; I really do feel accountable for your enjoyment. If I convinced you to buy the original, then I want you to enjoy it; and if you don’t I feel like I failed. I don’t want to have this happen again, so for right now I am not at all looking forward to the upcoming sequel. I need to see evidence of change, than just more talk.

 

Finally thanks for the trip EA it was swell but you really do need to re-look at your target audience; but especially your business practices.

Sledgehammer

As most of you know on August 3rd-5th Nick and I were invited to see the “Lord of The Rings The Battle For Middle Earth 2”. We were able to converse with the developers and Apoc the community manager! We than were able to have an opportunity to play with the Men of the West and build our own custom castle’s. We were also given presentations from select members of the development team, Executives, Producers, Artist’s, FX Artists, Mappers, and miscellaneous others. Each presentation covering most of the different aspects of the game. With that said below I will now give you my thoughts of the game and how I believe EA is taking this game to the top.

 

First off EA has expanded BFME2 to 6 factions including Men of the West, Dwarfs, Goblins, Elves, Mordor, and Isengard. The factions in total will include 84 military units, 34 new heroes, and some great powers to add to it, this game is screaming with action pack adventures. With Isengard and Mordor most likely take on an image we see now in how they play, but with a few more units and add heroes. Men of the West will be a nice mixture of Rohan and Gondor. And the Elves will just be kick butt. And of course the mining abilities of the Dwarf’s and the wall climbing abilities of the Goblins, EA has really made this game more than just send your armies out to fight whatever they come across. It is truly a Tolkin experience. Did I mention there was going Dragons? Oh there so awesome!

 

Allot of player were worried about the new Naval aspect that is now included in BFME2, with comments like “Not all the factions had boats”, or “Trolls weren’t rowing boats across middle earth!” Well there is nothing to worry about as EA has tied in the naval side perfectly to middle earth. As in the books you have transport ships and a few mentions of real naval boats for the FOD and the FOL, So Ea made naval units a Neutral building on the map. I think of it more of a map control “perk”, If you are FOD “Isengard, Mordor, or Goblins” you will be able to build Corsairs, and being the FOL “M.O.T.W, Elves, or Dwarfs” you will be able to jump into some nice hefty Eleven ships. Also the war fair is very realistic, with being able to garrison archers in the boats they can take units on the shore and other boats down with ezz. “Good Job EA”

 

As for the Multiplayer aspect of the game EA has also put some thought into this! They have added a feature known as “War of the Ring” this will take shape much like Rome Total War. You will be able to capture regions of middle earth, with heroes and large armies. You will battle like RTW with options of Auto resolve or fight to the finish in game. In my opinion this feature is a game within itself. Offering tons of awesome battles, that takes place in Middle Earth. One aspect to keep you busy in the actual game play is on each turn you will have 6 things you will have to do or control! But to that note I don’t want to spoil all the fun! So you have to wait to see the rest of the great features included in this.

 

I want to now comment on the people who are claiming BFME2 will just be a graphical make over of BFME 1, Well I’m going to say now that is not true what so ever. As EA did make allot of huge Graphical changes to the game. The game will not be pure graphics, as it does look freaking sweet. They also included a new lighting engine that reflects and refracts, that also looks beyond bitchen. They also now have Night and day maps with snow maps “The snow maps look even cooler with the new lighting” also the snow maps will leave foot prints, like real life. “Note we were shown and played BFME 2 on 7800GTX GPU’s and it looked better than any game I have seen ever” the 6800 and 7800 are great pieces of hardware and I highly recommend it to anyone.”

 

Now onto the Single Player, as they didn’t cover any real aspect of the single player they did hint to us what they were kind of looking to do! And I have to say from the sounds of it, I know it will bring us into middle earth. Also I believe each side will have 15 maps to go along with them, making 30 total. I feel this single player will be 100 times better. But I will leave this section mostly uncovered for now as we really have no idea of what it will be like.

 

Create Your Own Hero! Okay this I thought was going to be one of the coolest features or BFME2 as it was still really in early development, I was a little disappointed. Now I am a big critic and I was hoping for something allot more! As you are limited to 6 different pre-selected heroes types and within each type there will be 4 classes of heroes only making there 24 different characters. I was looking for an engine like Tiger Woods Golf where you can make a hero that represents you or even make a really cool kick butt hero that looks like your personal hero. We suggested this to EA and they kind of agreed But we have no idea if it will sink in and become a reality. One thing about the Custom hero is that you will be prompted to build him right off the bat for your single player campaign and will fight with him through middle earth, Now if you don’t want a hero that looks like you than this just might be the coolest thing about the game for you, As you will be able to post you hero on a EA site for all to see his specs, awards, units killed etc… although the idea is there, and it is a good one at that, I just would have to say it is a bit under developed, from what we saw! This feature can change for the better or the worse by the time the game is released.

 

Beta! What you say a Beta???? Yes EA announced they will be releasing a beta for this game so they can get feedback on how people feel about the game, and catch the annoying errors before the game goes Gold! So that I think will be the true test for BFME1 doubters. I know I can’t wait.

 

World Builder! This will very much stay the same! They did make improvements on the setup and condensed things down, but it will still be the WB we know today.

 

Okay EA has focused on allot of things and I believe these are all important to point out so here is a small list I want to add to this review

 

Flanking – Thank God!!!! I know everyone wanted this to be included in the first one. And in BFME2 it will be a key strategy

 

Stance – No more hey I have units getting killed because they just stand there! BFME2 will now give you 3 options when placing your units, 1 - stand there like a moron and do nothing…. 2 – if an archer is poking at you go kill him! 3 – If you see something you better be killing it or chasing it away! I for one am very excited about this.

 

High Ground - In BFME2 having the High ground will allow your archers to see further or even attack further… But this will only effect major elevation changes! We don’t think it will give you any further attack bonuses.

 

Better Artillery – Need I say more! They looking freaking awesome in game

 

Planning Mode - You know how you send your troops off to go kill something and then you go fight over there and than you forget where those guys went! Well no more…. As you will now be able to tell squads to go attack certain thing in a order that you choose! You set a path for them! This path will be viewable on the mini map as long as there alive.

 

Fire – EA has now added fire to our BFME world, if you have fire archers or fore treb’s you can hit building and stat them ablaze, and get this the fire will spread! Over grass, trees, buildings etc! It is a really cool life like feature! So for all you mappers out there you now have another thing to add to your maps.

 

World Builder 2.0 – has been updated and is now much easier to work with! As this feature isn’t my strong point I can’t say to much.

 

Map Placement - As most of you know we can build wherever we want now! Well on al the flat areas! So expansion is awesome.

 

Resources - This will very much be the same! Blacksmiths and Farms and I don’t know if they kept slaughter houses and furnaces for the other side! But instead of just building 100 of these and getting mad resources you need to give each farm room! They will each have a blue area that they will need to have available to be able to get 100% resources. the closer they are built to each other the less they produce! So this forces you to expand as much as possible.

 

Buildings – Buildings will now also transform the area around them! So if you have a farm it will make the ground look weathered and worked upon! Pretty much if you come across someone’s base you will know what race they are by how there buildings adapt the ground. I believe this is another awesome detail EA has added to the game.

 

Environments – EA has also included Night / Day, Sun, Snow etc. and with there new light engine things reflect and refract the sky, and give you total eye candy! Also there shadows are in real time and look as if they should have been there all along. It is a very nice touch.

 

Now you guys are wondering how EA was going to make map control important! Well neutral units is the way of course! And this is where your boats come into play also! As each faction will not be able to build its own dock, they can take over a neutral dock on the map! Same with what they are calling signal fires “which make you power timers speed up, the more you control the faster those powers will come around” Outposts “which provide income” and a Inn where you can recruit adventures to aid you in battle. So with all that said I believe EA has a great game on there hands. They have taken our opinions and truly applied them to the game. Making it a more enjoyable RTS game.

 

More info will be coming soon towards the game at http://mevault.ign.com

[Koen 2]

Whoa. That was quite a read. Overall, I'm really neutral towards BFME2. I never finished part 1, somewhere in January I just stopped in the middle of the campaign, and I have felt no need to return to it. I can't get excited about new sides or new characters from LoTR. I want Mammoth tanks! It's been 6 years since TS and now I am fed up. I want a real C&C. RA2 was a real C&C... but it's been 4 years since RA2! :?

Why do we have to wait so long? I want a good RTS with tanks, ships and aircraft, and it should play like RA1. That means I want to have gap generators, spy satellites, Iron Curtain, Tesla coils, Chrono everything, and of course DOGS! but no freakin' mind control.

 

I think the remarks about single-player are 100% right, in the last 9 (?) years that I've played C&C (and Generals), the number of online games is < 25.

 

Since the game apparently is slated for a February release, it's going heads-on with Empire At War. I'll just have to wait until then for a final decision.

[Sonic 296]

What a about a poll option for "we don't don't give a flying **** about BfME 2?"

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Good idea. Added that.

[Guest MadBadger]

add WE WANT RA3 GOD DAMN IT NO MORE LONG EARED IDIOTS WE WANT TANKS N PLANES N NUKES N SUBS... to the we dont give a flyin **** option.

 

I am never gona buy BFME ever. I loved the books the films r good but to me this just sounds like a cheep tard 'game of the film' thingy that is supost to fill the grwoing void for a GOOD cnc game (RA is a GOOD CnC game)

[Saracen 16]

**Considers Deleting all BfME2 Info out of his report**

 

I'm sorry, but I cannot understand the mentality here?? :?

 

You wanna know what went on at the community summit yet you don't care about BfME 2 at all??

 

I was at least expecting some interesting and constructive comments here... I can understand we all want a C&C, but surely we must be interested in other RTS games while the 2nd RTS development team at EALA works on the next C&C...

 

All that the rest of my report consists of is my trips to and around LA, having a laugh and a drink at a few bars... The main body of my report was on BfME and it's potential towards the next C&C, but if you have no major interst in BfME 2, it defeats the purpose of myself releasing this report.

 

I'm am somewhat quite disappointed

[Guest MadBadger]

well i supose a look at the engine see how a future CnC would look like :lol:

[Cygnus X-1 12]

I have itnterest in BfME 2 (kinda, never played one)

 

the engine looks great, and if it any indication of future prospects....

[Guest MadBadger]

pffft i trust you about as far as i can throw you Cygnus... then again i only know you from here so if i printed out your profile n threw it i supose i trust you alot :S

[Saracen 16]

I would just like to know who here has played BfME? I hadn't up to a week ago, and I was skeptical, but there doesn't seem to be any major justification going on here? How can people heavily criticise a game they haven't played, that's what I don't understand.

 

BfME is a truly great, atmospheric, and solid RTS... in comparison it makes Generals look pants in terms of the work gone into it, and it proves that EA can make good a quality RTS title...

 

With all the added features above, this may just prove that since the C&C behind closed doors has had more development time, it could have all the makings of the Best C&C since the early Westwood RTS days...

 

All I can say is that BfME has been an excellent platform in which C&C will be built on, to shun this ggame is to shun the next C&C which probably will not be as good or refined if it wasn't for the BfME franchise... of course time will tell on this matter..

 

I'm not a big fan of the knights, orcs, fantasy RTS, but this is something different in comparison to any C&C since Tiberian Sun... My opinion of course, and those who have played it are welcome to debate that fact...

 

It just down heartens me when I've gone into a Franchise to research why BfME was announced over C&C. I come out to find out that really, the BfME RTS franchise has actually got as much going for it as C&C... I respect EA for releasing this before C&C. Not because of the fact that I now do have alot of interest in BfME, but for the fact, as I've said above, it's refining the future of C&C.

 

If you'd prefer a rushed, unfinished, unpolished C&C, that's fine by me... just don't complain when it's too much like Generals....

[Guest MadBadger]

question. Does it provide a good navy, land and airforce?

[Saracen 16]

Ground from what I did see has improved quite alot, and so have the superweapons, the scope for the ground armies is something quite amazing since you'll be able to control Sauron himself at some point in the game if you play the evil side...

 

Naval combat appears to have good balance, you wanna navy, you have to earn it and take over a neutral dock.. this is a good idea in my eyes, ince you do not have the opportunity to build massive fleets in your base, it also opens up huge tactical opportunities which would allow multiplayer especially to be quite a challenger...

 

I have to say, there will be an air force type feature in the form of dragons... you'll have fireball bombers and dragons will possibly even fight in the air... it'd be interesting to see how they impliment it.

[Guest MadBadger]

ok how about this if EA dont release any CnC news before the BFME2 is released ill get it and you can laff at me and call me stupid for doubting you.

[Saracen 16]

EA probably won't until about March/April 2006 time now, maybe later. The fact is though, us guys get invited over, EA find it a great value for money thing to do since we've put alot of feedback in to BfME2.. and after 14,000 miles of travelling and a lot of jet lag in under a week.. I see this as the result of my enthusiasm for an EA RTS!!

 

I'm supporting this game cos I like it, and I love the idea of the EA summits.. next one could be a C&C summit, and I'd give a limb to be on a plane to see the next C&C in action...

 

I just don't find the negative attitude agreeable... that's all.

[Luk3us 63]

What a about a poll option for "we don't don't give a flying **** about BfME 2?"

 

Yea go Sonic! :wink:

[Sonic 296]

C&C King, why should we as a C&C site post detailed info about BfME2? It simply doesn't make sense. You of all people should know how I feel towards these BfME games and the way EA have force feed the BfME stuff to the C&C Community.

 

Its upto you if decide to post a report or not, and how much of it should be covering the BfME2 details you have seen. What ever you post (or don't post) is cool with me.

[Koen 2]

Okay C&C King, you do have a point. I did have fun during the ~40 hours that I did play BfME. Just reading about BfME2 made me jealous because all that should have been in the original one.

My post may have been overly negative. My only defense is a severe lack of sleep. Portrait of the sleep deprived. And maybe that I am way behind in making editors... the last 'finished' editor was for Yuri's Revenge. Generals, Zero Hour and BfME are nowhere near completion yet.

[Saracen 16]

When I went to the summit I was just keeping an open mind on the game.. The past has gone, EALA's 2 RTS teams just make the games. It comes down at the end of the day to Louis Castle, Neil Young, and the marketing team to when the next C&C is announced.

 

The decision that came to deciding C&C or BfME was partly based on how much the official sites were used in terms of their communities.. BfME's official site won that easily, since the Generals/Zero Hour sites are pretty much dead. It has also got alot to do with the way the community reacts towards EA and their games...

 

The main reason though is that EA have bought all the rights to the books as well as the movies now. So the whole of the Lord Of The Rings is up for their full attention.

 

C&C 10 has possibly accelerated the need for another C&C game. But I picked out a few words from Aaron's e-mail and from words that had been going round at the summit, and even though I do not expect an announcement until next year, there may just be some official words on the cards before the year is out.

[Koen 2]

It has also got alot to do with the way the community reacts towards EA and their games...

 

Oh yeah. So true. Politeness is a lost cause. How do you get invited to such a summit anyway? :roll:

[Cygnus X-1 12]

Webmaster of an active Community site. I think.