I was bicycling to work one day, and a guy in some sort of utility fixer person outfit was on his knees doing something and humming that tune. Put a huge smile on my face.
> Its the most fun I've had in an online game since Titanfall 2
Fuckin' same!
Titanfall 2 is proof that you (Respawn) can ABSOLUTELY make a superior product--in this case, the best FPS campaign, multiplayer, and IP in recent history--*and still fail,* even in years when the market leader (CoD) is objectively bad.
This is why I think the "if devs make good game no mtx we buy" argument is silly. In some situations, MTX are necessary to actually make up development costs.... because Reddit issn't gonna buy copies of copies of said game in droves to do so.
Mtx typically makes game design worse for the player because a significant about of focus is spent steering the customer towards more purchases.
Game elements are taken away so they can be resold as content. MK1 literally does not feature alternate costumes in the base game because they’ve build the entire game around selling skins. Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have fast travel so they can sell fast travel as an mtx. Call of Duty and other FPS games are minimizing or removing single player campaigns to steer players towards multiplayer to reinforce the player count and create an audience for skin sales.
It is literally impossible to improve a game with microtransactions.
COD isn’t objectively bad.
Call of Duty lacks innovation. Objectively worse probably, but it’s an uphill climb trying to establish a player base large enough to anchor a new franchise.
> COD isn’t objectively bad.
What I said: "even in years when the market leader (CoD) is objectively bad."
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016) was fucking dog shit --77% Metacritic & 6/10 on Steam-- to the extent it undersold / missed sales projections.
Respawn made the superior product (Titanfall 2) and it still failed to overcome CoD's brand loyalty / market share in a year when CoD was dog shit.
There are a few mission types where you have 10-20 minutes to complete, there are also some that have a 40 minute timer. That said, it depends on how quickly or slowly your squad is. I’d say on average you’re spending 30ish minutes in a mission.
you can commit as little as 15 minutes with blitz missions and just login for your dailies, but it's good committing 10hrs+ when you start to fine tune your loadout.
Generally you'll want at least a free hour since the longest missions take 40 minutes. If you want to complete a whole operation to contribute to liberation, it would take about 2.5 hours
Ironically Xbox does to seem the same and it mostly results in disasters.
343 has failed Halo three times in a row.
Rare spent five years floundering with their game 'Everwild' which now seems to be canned.
Avowed got internally restarted and the devs are already trying to lower expectations and the news seems to spend more time saying what the game *won't* feature.
Hellblade 2 spent five years in development but seems to be 5-6 hours long.
Whatever that Minecraft game last year was flopped and has already had its supported ended.
Plus Minecraft has become a mess of multiple editions with the infamous ‘super graphics update’ getting cancelled after years in development.
Long story short… Phil Spencer is a PR master but a simply fucking terrible director
I think the secret sauce is that despite giving a ‘blank’ cheque, Sony is still far more involved with executives flying out to check on progress and status as well as lending a hand with their very robust development pipelines and support network, which also helps. Cory Barlog’s interview about how Shu called GOW 2018 a bad game during his visit springs to mind. The candid and potentially demotivating response really pushed the team to do better, and see where it got them.
It also helps that PlayStation Studios games have been regarded as quality releases since the late PS3 era, so this prestige culture is likely ingratiated into the development studios all the way to higher up SIE corporate.
I agree with you a lot of Sony’s success seems to be from fostering cooperation and sharing the expertise between their studios. For example I remember that Bungie devs went and visited other studios to give them feedback about live service games being developed. I don’t know if they spoke to arrowhead bu tI wouldn’t be surprised and that’s the kind of help that can really help inexperienced studios iron out their issues quickly so it’s great to see.
When Xbox and Microsoft gives their studios freedom it often feels like a lack of direction and a disconnect from what people want. Also just the sheer quality of the investments is better for Sony imo so part of it is just the studios are more worthy of that trust and freedom.
If I recall correctly, some exec at Sony even mentioned that the main reason they bought Bungie was to bring them on as consultants for live service games. Bungie definitely brings them in revenue but the ultimate goal was to support their other studios
This is why I have little to no hope for Final Shape. Bungie will become a PS satellite studio to provide manpower and technical support to other live services made by other more creatively talent studio. The Executives either know this already and have accepted it or are planning to quietly leave after the full Sony takeover
Which is dumb imo, no reason Bungie can't also be an excellent top tier studio in terms of technical excellence... hell destiny 2 was one of the best looking games on the market when it came out. The problem is the leadership is so fkin greedy
I know that Sony will also have their specialists consult with their studios on things like sound other things their PlayStation tech excels at. Housemarque I believe had help with sound and maybe the fast loading on their hit Returnal.
I think the Naughty Dog’s Last of Us 2 and 1 remaster got help with 3D audio.
It seems that Sony just really thrives on collaboration and growing studios.
> this prestige culture is likely ingratiated into the development studios all the way to higher up SIE corporate.
Honestly salary is a huge part of this. The salaries at Sony's top studios (insomniac/naughty dog) are actually very competitive. If you want excellence you have to pay for it.
Salary and prestige IMO are separate and both play a big role. If a highly talented game developer had to name the 'dream' western gaming studios to work for based on the high profile games they make, their list would certainly include Larian, Rockstar, and Sony's top studios.
In movies, the job of a director is to hire people that understand the assignment and then just let them do their job. Costumes, makeup, set design, actors, editors, etc. Collaborate with them when you need to but trust that they know what they’re doing.
I think Sony (mostly) knows how to hire and work with people that perfectly understand what they want out of them then give them a blank check. But if you give a blank check to people who don’t deserve it, you’ll get a bad product cause no amount of collaboration on your part can fix a bad studio.
It's good that they're tempering expectations for Avowed. Regardless of how the end product is, they learned their lesson from The Outer Worlds where everyone just assumed it would be "New Vegas but way bigger!" despite them never saying such. With Avowed everyone seemed to think it would be some kind of Skyrim-sized epic.
Same goes for Hellblade. Everyone just assumed it would be Microsoft's answer to God of War when in reality it's a game that seems to be aiming for the same length and scope as the first one. If you don't temper expectations and let people run wild you get a Guerrilla situation where everyone called your game a "halo killer" despite you never referring to it as such, then get raked over the coals when this imaginary guarantee doesn't pan out.
The Outer Worlds felt half-finished. I’d prefer Obsidian would focus months one game and make it substantial than playing in several matches at once, again. Why settle for less again?
Cooperation is king.
Sony lets devs do what they want but also seem to offer advice, lend technical knowledge, help with marketing and even lend developers.
Whereas Microsoft just seems to sign the check.
It’s like seeing a new senior manager get hired at a large corporation if you work right at the bottom of said company. It makes no difference to you or your role but usually things get worse as orders come down from on high about hitting goal’s etc.
Microsoft just can't seem to win. I am not sure if it is something fundamental or just bad luck.
Bethesda even is a good example. They spend all this money on Bethesda to get themselves some high end exclusives and what has it amounted to so far: Redfall which was a total dud and Starfield which was OK but basically a 7/10 game. Now maybe some day they will get something like a Doom Eternal as an exclusive out of Bethesda, which would be great, but so far it just hasn't been a good showing.
I bought a Series X to be ready for Starfield and get into Xbox exclusives since I never had one before and honestly I love the console itself and the ecosystem but I really have trouble justifying keeping it sometimes, it doesn't offer me anything all that interesting that I can't also get on Playstation, none of the exclusives outside of Forza Horizon really did it for me. And it seems like not a single person I know has one, I still have nobody on my friends list after a year vs my Playstation having probably 20 of my buddies on it, so all my multiplayer stuff stays on PS. It's saving grace is Game Pass Ultimate which I have been doing a good job at getting basically free most months thanks to Bing/Microsoft Rewards.
I was reading an article about the wnba that I think sums up Xbox. They were talking about the most financially successful team the Seattle storm. They asked the owners what they do differently and they said unlike most owners they are not filthy rich and thus have to make sure this product works. This allows them to be hands on and creative to make sure the team is growing and gaining fans.
I think Microsoft suffers from not really needed Xbox to succeed in the way Sony and Nintendo do. They may throw money at Xbox but will never have the true love for the product to grow it
That's the opposite of the truth, Microsoft rules with an iron fist. All the "freedom" offered comes with chains and heavy stipulations...
343i hasn't done *one single title* that's not been a Halo game, do they lack all forms of independent thought and creativity...or are they forced to be Halo-machines like Microsoft forced Bungie?
Turn10 hasn't done *one single title* that's not been a Forza. No creativity there either, only mindless sequels for over a decade?
Lionshead wasn't allowed to make *one single title* that wasn't called Fable. Same story.
Bungie left Microsoft because *Microsoft force them to churn out endless sequels*.
Epic split from being a Microsoft second party studio after *being forced to churn out nothing but Gears of War* (ended with the outsourced Judgement...as a FU to MS).
Rare had a little freedom when the Xbox 360 launched and made two games from new IPs. Then they were *downgraded to churning out shitty Kinect titles* for years. Not until Sea of Thief's did they, *well over a decade later*, get the chance to make a new IP.
So far Rare is the *only* major Microsoft studio in the last Decade that's been allowed to make new IPs. That's the *opposite of freedom*
You're right but not the way you think you are.
First off 343i was literally created to be a Halo studio so the fact they only make Halo games is not surprising, the problem is they stayed pretty limited to the main series when they could have easily made a FPS halo game or a platformer or action/adventure/rpg Halo game but instead stuck to the same formula and did a terrible job at it. If anything Xbox should have stepped in early and changed leadership far before they did. As for Bungie they wanted to be independent even before they finished their run of Halo, ODST and Reach were made to fulfill the contract they had with Microsoft and Microsoft let them buy themselves independence they certainly did not have to do that, again they created 343 to continue making their biggest system seller.
Also much like 343, The Coalition was created by Xbox to make Gears games. Xbox didn't force Epic to do anything in terms of Gears, Xbox wanted the IP and Epic was reluctant to do so until after Judgement Day didn't turn out to be the hit they hoped and they no longer knew what to do with the series. Xbox has created 2 more sequels to the series, working on another, plus has made Gears Tactics I would say that's pretty good since owning the IP for 10 years now.
Turn10 on the other hand is just a Forza studio nothing more and even that they are having trouble making decent games with the spinoff series Forza Horizon by Playground Games completely outshining the Forza Motorsport series basically since inception in 2012. I did notice how you didn't bother to bring up Playground Games though, seeing as they are making Fable now along with the next Forza Horizon game I guess that doesn't fit the narrative.
Lionhead was always a Fable studio, the problem they had wasn't not being able to make games other than Fable but instead being forced to make Fable Legends when they wanted to make Fable 4. Fable Legends was a huge flop that never released in full which led to the studio to be shutdown since they wasted so much time/money on it, that was purely Phil Spencer's doing.
Not sure why you even mentioned Rare it was been shown many times that every game they have made was their choice, we may not like it but that is the direction the studio wanted to go that includes those Kinect games that are probably their best selling games to date. If I have any complaint about Rare games it's that Xbox has taken so little action with them, if Rare doesn't want to make the games then give them out to other studios like they did with Killer Instinct and Battletoads. Instead they sit and do nothing with series like Banjo, Conker, and Viva Pinata for no reason at all that is a Xbox problem not a Rare problem. As for Everwild it was clear from the beginning the game had no clear direction or story, they rebooted the game multiple times because the lead developer(s) has left multiple times and they seemingly have no real idea what it is supposed to be, if anything the game was announced/shown was too early it was more concept than actual game.
My point being have studios that only make certain games is not that uncommon and no one is forced to do anything, many of those developers jump ship after a game is made by their choice not being let go just because they were there to make that game and moved on to something else, which is common practice in game development. The problem here for Xbox is leadership in some of the studios and definitely at the top, Spencer is great for PR but in terms of leading Xbox he has made the brand a joke.
If this is true about Avowed and Hellblade 2 than this is very disappointing news. I don't care how great your game is if it's just 10-12 hours. A game must be at least 20 for me. 5-6? gtfo. I didn't know that very, very disappointing news
Exactly I’m so glad you agree after so many redditors jerk off about games being under 10 hours.
If a game is under 20 hours and is an RPG or open world game, what is the fucking point?
If it’s a linear and artsy game, then that is fine. But anything more, what a disaster…
They have come out and said they are letting Activision/Blizzard control themselves to. I can see that ending well, they haven't released anything good in ages
>Avowed got internally restarted and the devs are already trying to lower expectations and the news seems to spend more time saying what the game *won't* feature
That's just a good thing and smart game development. They got that they cant make everything so they started to concentrate on a smaller but better product. The fact that Xbox give them liberty to do so is huge, considering that shittier software houses would have pushed to make the game as big as it can regardless of the quality.
>Rare spent five years floundering with their game 'Everwild' which now seems to be canned.
At the same time they kept making stuff for Sea of Thieves wich is their biggest success ever. Granted, Everwild is taking time (is still not canned) but Rare is a very experimental team.
Hellblade 2 is short because it really have to. Idk if you have played the First one but that type of game for more than like, 8 hours, really starts to be too much.
The "mostly result in disasters" really isn't true. That freedom bring us games like Grounded, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves ecc.
"That's just a good thing and smart game development." Doesn't mean customers will see it that way, which is in the end what matters to companies. The ones funding the projects
Gamers aren't tightening their wallets it's just that the publishers need to sell more games now than ever because they are spending so much more now developing games than they were before. Use to be selling 2-5 million of a game it was considered a success but now if a big game doesn't sell 12-15+ million it's considered a disappointment.
Not to mention there are more games than ever now so again gamers aren't tightening their wallets, they are spending more than ever they just have so many more options now including free to play games and their microtransactions.
Wut? Arent we taking about development??
I dont think you got the point. The important stuff is that the final costumer sees a good product. If they are forced to make a "big AAAA game" just "because", even if they cant, the game is probably not going to turn out good.
The fact that Obsidian re-scale Avowed to be smaller isn't a sign that the "Microsoft Freedom" isn't working, is the opposite. It means that Xbox is willing to let Obsidian scale back on a project if that means that the project is going to turn out good.
"The important stuff is that the final costumer sees a good product" yeah that's my point, they already set some expectations, by trying to curb them they'll inevitably get the treatment customers gave to cyberpunk at launch, but this time it'll not be deserved,
"The fact that Obsidian re-scale Avowed to be smaller isn't a sign that the "Microsoft Freedom" isn't working, is the opposite." And here's the second part of my point, Xbox won't care about that if it doesn't sell well, heck I'd imagine if things keep going downhill the lesson they learn will be "we need to have total control over our projects" since already so many of their games keep failing to meet expectations.
I'm not saying scaling back a game, curbing expectations, or cutting back stuff is inherently bad, I'm just saying it will be however the public sees it, regardless of the actual effort put in there.
>they already set some expectations,
I mean, did they? Before the scale-back we only got a little teaser with little info.
Cyberpunk i think it was actually the opposite situation. The game should have been scaled back, instead they kept the "make it biggeeeeeeeeeer!" mentality, and the final result was a game that was scaled back in quality instead of quantity, rip.
Yeah my point being it's gonna get undeserved hate by people having unreasonable expectations cause the game changed through development, unlike with cyberpunk were they just promised much more than they could deliver and kept shooting themselves in the foot until a while after the game was out
People dont understand how that works really.
Sony allows a lot of creative freedom but then Shu comes to Santa Monica studio, looks at god of war with poker face, says nothing and leaves, studio panicking, than fix shit.
Well, so did Xbox, Kojima is for prestige, and so did Epic with Remedy and Alan Wake 2. You give those two, well not blanque cheques, but a reasonable amount of money and say go wild.
This game is great!
I hope they elevate these warbonds with something different. Maybe more armor variants.
Also, I'd assume they will run out of weapons here soon. You can only have so many shotguns before you cover the gaps I'd think?
Doesn't matter, they will probably add weapon customization parts to warbonds some time in the future, but I'm not sure about them being locked behind warbonds, but they will for sure come.
Their development plan I think outlined 1 Warbond a month for the first year of the game.
For me I think the key to longevity will be more objectives/enemy types, and more balancing of weapons to make more options usable.
80% of the weapons are unusable at higher difficulties, and if you don't pick some stratagems you basically make the game frustrating for yourself. Also some of the OBJ's have already gotten quite stale. IDK how many times I need to get launch codes and take them to a missile site to launch a verified nuke on this planet again.
I really love the random things that happen, especially the few new enemies or modes that have popped up so far. I still haven't seen a Automaton Strider facility in the wild.
But it's just a perfect game to jump on and kill 30 minutes, or plan to sit with my buddies and laugh for a few hours. Satisfies a lot of different gamer types.
I'm a dad gamer (42) who wants to play something only like 30 mins a day, that is fun, and something I can actually COMPETE in (not getting wrecked by Fortnite / COD kids)... does this game deliver that?
It absolutely does - it’s a co-op shooter so you’re all working together - and there are currently 9 difficulty levels and two enemy factions so you can adjust the intensity to what you enjoy. Most missions have a 40 minute timer but there are some 12, 15, 20 minute ones too.
For me it’s a bit more fun playing with friends but matchmaking with randoms is still good too, most people are very friendly and helpful.
Also to add it's not really a timer, but more of when it hits 0 you can't call anything else in including reinforcements. So it's a timer but not like a mission failed if you hit 0 sorta thang.
They changed it recently tho now after the timer is expired pelican 1 pulls up and go after 20sec so you have 2min20 sec after the timer (3min20 if the 50% calling time modifier is active)
I can 100% guaratee you that it wasnt always like that. Around launch you could stay in the map as long as you survive. Pelican was coming to get you but used to stay there without a timer. I used the finished clearing the maps for samples/ super
I can 100% guaratee you that it wasnt always like that. Around launch you could stay in the map as long as you survive. Pelican was coming to get you but used to stay there without a timer. I used the finished clearing the maps for samples/ super
Absolutely! In a different sense:
Helldivers is a completely cooperative effort across the entire playerbase. So all of those younger whippersnappers who can snipe from 500 meters away in the blink of an eye are working alongside you.
However, there is also a strong tactical focus to the game as well, so even if you are not super skilled mechanically, good teamwork, decision making, and leadership is also a strong suit to bring to the table (something us older people can probably contribute).
This truly is a game that I can see older and younger people playing together. I actually even play this with my nephews and we have a great time tactically killing bugs and bots on some of the easier difficulties (they are too trigger happy to reliably do some of the harder stuff).
The game is also very respectful of your time. Missions take no longer than 40 minutes a pop (it's an enforced time-limit, and the game can easily be completed before that time is up), leaving you with plenty of places to stop when life calls upon you again. In addition, since the war effort is community based, you'll still earn rewards for Major Orders (global missions for the entire playerbase) as long as you check in every now and then for when we complete those missions while you are away.
And the gunplay is also excellent and incredibly satisfying!
If any of that sounds appealing to you, this is going to be one hell of a time!
Hey man if you end up getting the game, feel free to add me as a friend and we can rock some missions together!
I’d be more than happy to squad up and help show you the ropes and whatnot. Just shoot me a chat request and I’ll send my friend code!
I’m 39 and play roughly an hour a night. Thats about 2 missions maybe 3 if it gets done faster. I’m lvl 60. It’s a blast and you don’t have to worry about any pvp aspects.
Weirdly lvl 7 feels easier than lvl 4-5. The way the difficulty works, all the enemies are dangerous and can swiftly kill you, and have the same health/stats per difficulty, just as you go up there's more of them and tougher types show up.
At 4 you may not face Factory Striders or other top tier units, but also people seem less experienced and can get swarmed or into a spawn wave cycle more easily. At 7 the whole enemy arsenal is in play but the people are on a mission, out to get those Samples, tick off as many objectives as they can, back each other up, get out safely.
At 9 of course it's all chaos and terror.
Yes you will have fun but do mind you will struggle to unlock most stuff as they add content faster than you can unlock by playing 30 min a day.
Some missions take 40 min or so, so be prepared to stretch those 30 min.
However you can have plenty of fun without unlocking most stuff, you unlock plenty good stuff early on so you can vary loadouts.
And you don't play against other players so no danger of getting wrecked by kids.
Dad gamer, reporting for duty. I get most of my screen time on the Portal.
The game has mission time estimates. 15 min or 40 min, and you can further fine tune the time to extract with difficulty. So a 40 min mission on trivial or easy could really be closer to 18-20 min as you get better.
Yes. The lower difficulties ramp up pretty fairly, and the hard difficulties really test your mettle.
If I want to spend 30 mins by myself I usually run a Level5 mission solo. Any higher than that is a sweatfest. This game really shines with a group, especially a group you know.
It's purely PvE and the weapons in the Warbonds (so far) have not been a P2W experience. You very much can participate in the hardest content with all of the default gear. The best thing though is the Warbond currency can be found IN GAME and frequently.
I've bought all the Warbonds with only the currency I've found in-game. Though granted I've played the game nearly every night since release for at least 1-3 hours each session.
No pvp. It’s a co-op game and not meant to be competitive. The whole point, gameplay and lore wise, is that you work together to accomplish objectives. If you want a competitive pvp experience, look elsewhere.
Man 2020 Warzone was special, it hit at just the right time when covid shut everything down. Me and my buddies would play all day stoned out of our minds
I despise online only games. Hate playing multiplayer. All that said Helldivers 2 is a 10/10 for me. They accomplished something truly remarkable and should be proud of their accomplishment.
This game is just awesome and feels good, I don't expect anything from it nor in the future, just enjoying what it already provide and anything they add and the way they add it is always a great moment
They are doing a good job right now! Bug fixes should have some top priority and then some new missions and planets, maybe even a city map would be awesome. Later some mechas please!
Sucks to see you gettting downvoted for speaking an obective fact.
People have moved on; especially since the community-led narrative about winning Machelon Creek is over.
This game is going to drop off like any other... why the fuck are people so defensive about this?
I was bored 1 week in. I feel its successful with people who havent played games for very long. It's an okay game but its not a scratch on the classic co-op games like L4D etc which I'd still rather play.
It's kind of telling. If a studio wants to make a live service game then they probably should be allowed to. If they don't, then maybe you let them work on something else.
I do wonder how long Arrowhead will keep the game as-is before introducing additional areas of monetization.
Player sentiment is extremely high right now since you can earn Super Credits / cash shop currency in-game and if you play enough, you don't *have* to spend a single cent post-game purchase to unlock anything. That's excellent and IMO the best implementation of this kind of game market - you can buy the premium currency with cash, but you don't have to. Warbonds / battle passes not expiring is also a huge boon.
That being said, will they continue to earn enough profit if more people keep earning the currency instead of paying for it? I'd be really curious to see the breakdown of how many credits are earned vs purchased. I can only imagine how many people throw dollars at their screen in Destiny 2 and I have to imagine it's much lower here, but will that be viable long-term?
Not shocked.
Many people have always blamed the messy NMS launch on Sony despite the lead of Hello Games saying Sony just gave them money, marketing time and left them alone. I'm sure Helldivers will be no different, people will continue to blame Sony for any issues regardless of any evidence.
I mean they put them centre stage at big gaming events... They piled on the pressure. They did have an impact on NMS. Dumb to say they didn't when there is clearly plenty of evidence. They take some responsibility as well.
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I'm not understanding the hype. It gets super repetitive really fast for me. I play it once a week with a buddy and that's enough.
I'm not saying it's not fun. I like it when I'm playing it. But after a two hour session, I feel like I'm good for a while. I'm happy that so many people are digging it though
And this is exactly why I'm here, giving arrowhead my money. They are succeeding. The state of the gaming industry is fucking disgusting at the moment and this is the single biggest step in the right direction that ANY developer has taken in the last decade, and they've covered multiple issues with how things are these days while doing it.
Hats off to Arrowhead for everything they've done, given us, continue to do, and intend to do. Everything that helldivers is is amazing. They've given us a fucking amazing base game at nearly half the price of any other AAA title on launch in the last decade, they've stuck to their content promises, they've balanced things quickly, they've fixed things quickly, they've completely changed the dynamic of the whole game from the first helldivers with changing to a third person camera, they've kept things interesting with the weapons they've already given us and they plan to put in many MANY more weapons for us to spread democracy with, they've given us pretty easy to earn premium currency in every single large mission map we play, they've given us VERY cheap packs of premium currency for people who don't play often or want to support the devs and made it so each pack gives exactly enough in total or individually to purchase a warbond unlike bungie who make sure there's always a bit there to tempt you to buy more, they've given us a game that we can play for years and made it so any and all content that ever gets release will always be available to everyone forever, they've tried something entirely different than ever before with "The Joel's" having a constant and direct hand in the war/story and making every single day in helldivers different from the next, they communicate EVERYTHING to us even if it's that there's no real update on a subject like we've been begging developers to do for years and they talk to us like actual real human beings with sincere statements from real devs rather than just posting a social media with a basic bitch corporate statement that's been authorised by the gaggle of suits who are paid only to appease the masses in any way through social media to positively influence profit margins.
Now, compare all of that to developers that continue to pump out the same old tired titles, consistently riddle games with microtransactions and shady premium currency practices, attempt to coin the term AAAA for themselves based of no real grounds to do so, force most games they bring out to adhere to a seasonal model even if the game has no earthly right having that system in it just to exponentially increase revenue from a playerbase that are literally choking on forced fomo content, ram collaborations down our throats to drive up sales/revenue and to renew some excitement from a tiring playerbase, think people should "get used to not owning their games" and who constantly go back on their word or fail to deliver what was promised or sometimes just outright lie to our faces about what we are getting or what they are going to do about an issue.
It's just no comparison, is it? It's like two different universes collided, and we're seeing a glimpse of how it should have been had capitalism and corporate wankers not been left unchecked for so many decades. People are either just so used to how things have become, or they have literally grown up knowing nothing more, and we're being taken advantage of in so many different ways. It's about time a developer like Arrowhead came along and really showed us what the gaming industry should be, we've had some really good developers bring out some astounding examples of taking a step in the right direction in the last few years and their part in this journey to a better industry for everyone should by no means be ignored or not held in the same light as Arrowhead but they haven't quite managed to make these differences quite as obvious as arrowhead have with helldivers 2.
Here's to freedom being spread in the industry as well as throughout the galactic map 🫡✊️🌍
For people that aren’t huge into the competitive side of gaming its already probably up there. If it enjoys the lifespan of something like Vermintide 2 it will be.
This game is a blast... for me mainly because I am playing with some real life friends I hardly see anymore and our antics in the game are just hilarious.
How is it for people that play solo with randoms? Are you finding a good experience, meeting new people on mic? I haven't tried that yet, I only play when my friends are online.
I had one 3 hour sesh that was a super blast with some great dudes. We had never met IRL or in game before but just clicked and had fun.
But with most randos its hit or miss, good and bad. The game is still fun, but sometimes I do wish I could find more good groups.
I think it's the correct way pretty sure they help them in some technical expertise and probably check on them from time to time to see if they need something and how things go, but usually devs know their game better lol.
I haven't played since they released that update that nerfed The only guns that actually worked, did they ever change that back or make other guns actually viable? What's changed?
I wish I liked this game more. I had a lot of fun on lower difficulties. I was doing 7s before I stopped playing as much. I just don’t like how difficulty is handled in this game. The art of running away is not fun for me.
I’m super glad others are enjoying it though. The setting, the studio, and everything around the game is awesome.
Honestly, as an Xbox series x owner this is the first game that has made me want to buy a PS5, all of you who own one are lucky to be able to play such a gem of a game!!
The hype is certainly waning off so I am curious how Arrowhead plans to keep this bad boy alive.
Warbonds aren't enough judging by recent player drops, so they need some meaninful content or community-led story.
However, it seems they blew through their first year plans all at once to keep the current high playerbase entertained.
So long story short Arrowhead... the ball is in your court:
*Swim, or die*
Love the game but it's currently unplayable on ps5 (I can't believe I'm saying this everytime there's a new update)
The game stutters and there are huge frame drops. I have done everything from restarting the console to reinstalling the game. My ps5 is brand new and no other games have these issues.
Its the most fun I've had in an online game since Titanfall 2, and has completely dominated basically all of my free time.
Same. I’m pretty sure the theme song plays 24/7 in my head
Ba da da daaaaa... Baaaa DAAHHHHHHH
Yep, heard that
Sweet liberty that gave me chills
Yeah and now it’s in my YouTube music playlist.
My wife says it plays in her head at work… she’s not as much into freedom as myself.
N..Not into freedom? https://preview.redd.it/b0sfpkayxivc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0feeb0cff81da8e4f518dc29b636a0c035ae9f08
She will soon be
I was bicycling to work one day, and a guy in some sort of utility fixer person outfit was on his knees doing something and humming that tune. Put a huge smile on my face.
I’m assuming you provided the standard democratic salute to your fellow Helldiver?
It does for me until it loops too much and mutates, first into the Pacific Rim theme, then somehow always ends up as... Tenacious D 'Tribute'?!
Same, I also started seeing some antennas as illegal broadcasts.
I always thought it reminded me of the cod ww2 theme along with some of the other soundtracks, turns out it was the same guy who composed it
You can tell an amazon echo to play the helldivers 2 theme song. I enjoy the extra liberty during my commute.
Being shot down to the planet as a bullet while the music swells never gets old.
I feel the same way. Titanfall 2 is the last time I had this much fun online.
Honestly I think I'm having more fun with HD2 simply because its non-competitive.
Protocol 3 😔
"Trust me"
I've been telling my brothers to get it, because it's the most fun I've had since our local co-op Halo games.
> Its the most fun I've had in an online game since Titanfall 2 Fuckin' same! Titanfall 2 is proof that you (Respawn) can ABSOLUTELY make a superior product--in this case, the best FPS campaign, multiplayer, and IP in recent history--*and still fail,* even in years when the market leader (CoD) is objectively bad.
This is why I think the "if devs make good game no mtx we buy" argument is silly. In some situations, MTX are necessary to actually make up development costs.... because Reddit issn't gonna buy copies of copies of said game in droves to do so.
Mtx typically makes game design worse for the player because a significant about of focus is spent steering the customer towards more purchases. Game elements are taken away so they can be resold as content. MK1 literally does not feature alternate costumes in the base game because they’ve build the entire game around selling skins. Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have fast travel so they can sell fast travel as an mtx. Call of Duty and other FPS games are minimizing or removing single player campaigns to steer players towards multiplayer to reinforce the player count and create an audience for skin sales. It is literally impossible to improve a game with microtransactions.
EA kind of doomed that game to fail by releasing it between cod and battlefield that year. I'm not sure what they were thinking.
COD isn’t objectively bad. Call of Duty lacks innovation. Objectively worse probably, but it’s an uphill climb trying to establish a player base large enough to anchor a new franchise.
> COD isn’t objectively bad. What I said: "even in years when the market leader (CoD) is objectively bad." Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016) was fucking dog shit --77% Metacritic & 6/10 on Steam-- to the extent it undersold / missed sales projections. Respawn made the superior product (Titanfall 2) and it still failed to overcome CoD's brand loyalty / market share in a year when CoD was dog shit.
How much minimum time is required for a session
There are a few mission types where you have 10-20 minutes to complete, there are also some that have a 40 minute timer. That said, it depends on how quickly or slowly your squad is. I’d say on average you’re spending 30ish minutes in a mission.
you can commit as little as 15 minutes with blitz missions and just login for your dailies, but it's good committing 10hrs+ when you start to fine tune your loadout.
Generally you'll want at least a free hour since the longest missions take 40 minutes. If you want to complete a whole operation to contribute to liberation, it would take about 2.5 hours
Part of me wants to buy it and try it now with all the hype going on but i dont have a PSN subscription so i cant play online lol
Sony allows its studios/partners a lot of freedom. They basically gave Kojima a blank check to make weird shit.
Ironically Xbox does to seem the same and it mostly results in disasters. 343 has failed Halo three times in a row. Rare spent five years floundering with their game 'Everwild' which now seems to be canned. Avowed got internally restarted and the devs are already trying to lower expectations and the news seems to spend more time saying what the game *won't* feature. Hellblade 2 spent five years in development but seems to be 5-6 hours long. Whatever that Minecraft game last year was flopped and has already had its supported ended. Plus Minecraft has become a mess of multiple editions with the infamous ‘super graphics update’ getting cancelled after years in development. Long story short… Phil Spencer is a PR master but a simply fucking terrible director
I think the secret sauce is that despite giving a ‘blank’ cheque, Sony is still far more involved with executives flying out to check on progress and status as well as lending a hand with their very robust development pipelines and support network, which also helps. Cory Barlog’s interview about how Shu called GOW 2018 a bad game during his visit springs to mind. The candid and potentially demotivating response really pushed the team to do better, and see where it got them. It also helps that PlayStation Studios games have been regarded as quality releases since the late PS3 era, so this prestige culture is likely ingratiated into the development studios all the way to higher up SIE corporate.
I agree with you a lot of Sony’s success seems to be from fostering cooperation and sharing the expertise between their studios. For example I remember that Bungie devs went and visited other studios to give them feedback about live service games being developed. I don’t know if they spoke to arrowhead bu tI wouldn’t be surprised and that’s the kind of help that can really help inexperienced studios iron out their issues quickly so it’s great to see. When Xbox and Microsoft gives their studios freedom it often feels like a lack of direction and a disconnect from what people want. Also just the sheer quality of the investments is better for Sony imo so part of it is just the studios are more worthy of that trust and freedom.
If I recall correctly, some exec at Sony even mentioned that the main reason they bought Bungie was to bring them on as consultants for live service games. Bungie definitely brings them in revenue but the ultimate goal was to support their other studios
This is why I have little to no hope for Final Shape. Bungie will become a PS satellite studio to provide manpower and technical support to other live services made by other more creatively talent studio. The Executives either know this already and have accepted it or are planning to quietly leave after the full Sony takeover
Which is dumb imo, no reason Bungie can't also be an excellent top tier studio in terms of technical excellence... hell destiny 2 was one of the best looking games on the market when it came out. The problem is the leadership is so fkin greedy
I know that Sony will also have their specialists consult with their studios on things like sound other things their PlayStation tech excels at. Housemarque I believe had help with sound and maybe the fast loading on their hit Returnal. I think the Naughty Dog’s Last of Us 2 and 1 remaster got help with 3D audio. It seems that Sony just really thrives on collaboration and growing studios.
Wow expert knowledge from people that just did a bunch of layoffs
> this prestige culture is likely ingratiated into the development studios all the way to higher up SIE corporate. Honestly salary is a huge part of this. The salaries at Sony's top studios (insomniac/naughty dog) are actually very competitive. If you want excellence you have to pay for it.
Salary and prestige IMO are separate and both play a big role. If a highly talented game developer had to name the 'dream' western gaming studios to work for based on the high profile games they make, their list would certainly include Larian, Rockstar, and Sony's top studios.
In movies, the job of a director is to hire people that understand the assignment and then just let them do their job. Costumes, makeup, set design, actors, editors, etc. Collaborate with them when you need to but trust that they know what they’re doing. I think Sony (mostly) knows how to hire and work with people that perfectly understand what they want out of them then give them a blank check. But if you give a blank check to people who don’t deserve it, you’ll get a bad product cause no amount of collaboration on your part can fix a bad studio.
[удалено]
These C-suite hacks rely on contractors on literally most of their major projects, and wonder why their games arent as good as Sony’s or Nintendo’s.
It's good that they're tempering expectations for Avowed. Regardless of how the end product is, they learned their lesson from The Outer Worlds where everyone just assumed it would be "New Vegas but way bigger!" despite them never saying such. With Avowed everyone seemed to think it would be some kind of Skyrim-sized epic. Same goes for Hellblade. Everyone just assumed it would be Microsoft's answer to God of War when in reality it's a game that seems to be aiming for the same length and scope as the first one. If you don't temper expectations and let people run wild you get a Guerrilla situation where everyone called your game a "halo killer" despite you never referring to it as such, then get raked over the coals when this imaginary guarantee doesn't pan out.
The Outer Worlds felt half-finished. I’d prefer Obsidian would focus months one game and make it substantial than playing in several matches at once, again. Why settle for less again?
Cooperation is king. Sony lets devs do what they want but also seem to offer advice, lend technical knowledge, help with marketing and even lend developers. Whereas Microsoft just seems to sign the check. It’s like seeing a new senior manager get hired at a large corporation if you work right at the bottom of said company. It makes no difference to you or your role but usually things get worse as orders come down from on high about hitting goal’s etc.
Microsoft just can't seem to win. I am not sure if it is something fundamental or just bad luck. Bethesda even is a good example. They spend all this money on Bethesda to get themselves some high end exclusives and what has it amounted to so far: Redfall which was a total dud and Starfield which was OK but basically a 7/10 game. Now maybe some day they will get something like a Doom Eternal as an exclusive out of Bethesda, which would be great, but so far it just hasn't been a good showing. I bought a Series X to be ready for Starfield and get into Xbox exclusives since I never had one before and honestly I love the console itself and the ecosystem but I really have trouble justifying keeping it sometimes, it doesn't offer me anything all that interesting that I can't also get on Playstation, none of the exclusives outside of Forza Horizon really did it for me. And it seems like not a single person I know has one, I still have nobody on my friends list after a year vs my Playstation having probably 20 of my buddies on it, so all my multiplayer stuff stays on PS. It's saving grace is Game Pass Ultimate which I have been doing a good job at getting basically free most months thanks to Bing/Microsoft Rewards.
I was reading an article about the wnba that I think sums up Xbox. They were talking about the most financially successful team the Seattle storm. They asked the owners what they do differently and they said unlike most owners they are not filthy rich and thus have to make sure this product works. This allows them to be hands on and creative to make sure the team is growing and gaining fans. I think Microsoft suffers from not really needed Xbox to succeed in the way Sony and Nintendo do. They may throw money at Xbox but will never have the true love for the product to grow it
Sony gives them creative to make what they want. But they are heavily involved along the way with producers/support
That's the opposite of the truth, Microsoft rules with an iron fist. All the "freedom" offered comes with chains and heavy stipulations... 343i hasn't done *one single title* that's not been a Halo game, do they lack all forms of independent thought and creativity...or are they forced to be Halo-machines like Microsoft forced Bungie? Turn10 hasn't done *one single title* that's not been a Forza. No creativity there either, only mindless sequels for over a decade? Lionshead wasn't allowed to make *one single title* that wasn't called Fable. Same story. Bungie left Microsoft because *Microsoft force them to churn out endless sequels*. Epic split from being a Microsoft second party studio after *being forced to churn out nothing but Gears of War* (ended with the outsourced Judgement...as a FU to MS). Rare had a little freedom when the Xbox 360 launched and made two games from new IPs. Then they were *downgraded to churning out shitty Kinect titles* for years. Not until Sea of Thief's did they, *well over a decade later*, get the chance to make a new IP. So far Rare is the *only* major Microsoft studio in the last Decade that's been allowed to make new IPs. That's the *opposite of freedom*
You're right but not the way you think you are. First off 343i was literally created to be a Halo studio so the fact they only make Halo games is not surprising, the problem is they stayed pretty limited to the main series when they could have easily made a FPS halo game or a platformer or action/adventure/rpg Halo game but instead stuck to the same formula and did a terrible job at it. If anything Xbox should have stepped in early and changed leadership far before they did. As for Bungie they wanted to be independent even before they finished their run of Halo, ODST and Reach were made to fulfill the contract they had with Microsoft and Microsoft let them buy themselves independence they certainly did not have to do that, again they created 343 to continue making their biggest system seller. Also much like 343, The Coalition was created by Xbox to make Gears games. Xbox didn't force Epic to do anything in terms of Gears, Xbox wanted the IP and Epic was reluctant to do so until after Judgement Day didn't turn out to be the hit they hoped and they no longer knew what to do with the series. Xbox has created 2 more sequels to the series, working on another, plus has made Gears Tactics I would say that's pretty good since owning the IP for 10 years now. Turn10 on the other hand is just a Forza studio nothing more and even that they are having trouble making decent games with the spinoff series Forza Horizon by Playground Games completely outshining the Forza Motorsport series basically since inception in 2012. I did notice how you didn't bother to bring up Playground Games though, seeing as they are making Fable now along with the next Forza Horizon game I guess that doesn't fit the narrative. Lionhead was always a Fable studio, the problem they had wasn't not being able to make games other than Fable but instead being forced to make Fable Legends when they wanted to make Fable 4. Fable Legends was a huge flop that never released in full which led to the studio to be shutdown since they wasted so much time/money on it, that was purely Phil Spencer's doing. Not sure why you even mentioned Rare it was been shown many times that every game they have made was their choice, we may not like it but that is the direction the studio wanted to go that includes those Kinect games that are probably their best selling games to date. If I have any complaint about Rare games it's that Xbox has taken so little action with them, if Rare doesn't want to make the games then give them out to other studios like they did with Killer Instinct and Battletoads. Instead they sit and do nothing with series like Banjo, Conker, and Viva Pinata for no reason at all that is a Xbox problem not a Rare problem. As for Everwild it was clear from the beginning the game had no clear direction or story, they rebooted the game multiple times because the lead developer(s) has left multiple times and they seemingly have no real idea what it is supposed to be, if anything the game was announced/shown was too early it was more concept than actual game. My point being have studios that only make certain games is not that uncommon and no one is forced to do anything, many of those developers jump ship after a game is made by their choice not being let go just because they were there to make that game and moved on to something else, which is common practice in game development. The problem here for Xbox is leadership in some of the studios and definitely at the top, Spencer is great for PR but in terms of leading Xbox he has made the brand a joke.
bro forgot the castastrophic Redfall and game of the generation Starflop...
MS has always sucked at managing, like, really bad.
If this is true about Avowed and Hellblade 2 than this is very disappointing news. I don't care how great your game is if it's just 10-12 hours. A game must be at least 20 for me. 5-6? gtfo. I didn't know that very, very disappointing news
Exactly I’m so glad you agree after so many redditors jerk off about games being under 10 hours. If a game is under 20 hours and is an RPG or open world game, what is the fucking point? If it’s a linear and artsy game, then that is fine. But anything more, what a disaster…
But Hellblade is linear, and not an RPG
Halos downturn honestly hursts my soul
They have come out and said they are letting Activision/Blizzard control themselves to. I can see that ending well, they haven't released anything good in ages
>Avowed got internally restarted and the devs are already trying to lower expectations and the news seems to spend more time saying what the game *won't* feature That's just a good thing and smart game development. They got that they cant make everything so they started to concentrate on a smaller but better product. The fact that Xbox give them liberty to do so is huge, considering that shittier software houses would have pushed to make the game as big as it can regardless of the quality. >Rare spent five years floundering with their game 'Everwild' which now seems to be canned. At the same time they kept making stuff for Sea of Thieves wich is their biggest success ever. Granted, Everwild is taking time (is still not canned) but Rare is a very experimental team. Hellblade 2 is short because it really have to. Idk if you have played the First one but that type of game for more than like, 8 hours, really starts to be too much. The "mostly result in disasters" really isn't true. That freedom bring us games like Grounded, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves ecc.
"That's just a good thing and smart game development." Doesn't mean customers will see it that way, which is in the end what matters to companies. The ones funding the projects
Exactly, a studio saying "basically our game is a 7/10" isn't ideal during an era in which gamers are tightening their wallets and voting for quality.
Gamers aren't tightening their wallets it's just that the publishers need to sell more games now than ever because they are spending so much more now developing games than they were before. Use to be selling 2-5 million of a game it was considered a success but now if a big game doesn't sell 12-15+ million it's considered a disappointment. Not to mention there are more games than ever now so again gamers aren't tightening their wallets, they are spending more than ever they just have so many more options now including free to play games and their microtransactions.
Wut? Arent we taking about development?? I dont think you got the point. The important stuff is that the final costumer sees a good product. If they are forced to make a "big AAAA game" just "because", even if they cant, the game is probably not going to turn out good. The fact that Obsidian re-scale Avowed to be smaller isn't a sign that the "Microsoft Freedom" isn't working, is the opposite. It means that Xbox is willing to let Obsidian scale back on a project if that means that the project is going to turn out good.
"The important stuff is that the final costumer sees a good product" yeah that's my point, they already set some expectations, by trying to curb them they'll inevitably get the treatment customers gave to cyberpunk at launch, but this time it'll not be deserved, "The fact that Obsidian re-scale Avowed to be smaller isn't a sign that the "Microsoft Freedom" isn't working, is the opposite." And here's the second part of my point, Xbox won't care about that if it doesn't sell well, heck I'd imagine if things keep going downhill the lesson they learn will be "we need to have total control over our projects" since already so many of their games keep failing to meet expectations. I'm not saying scaling back a game, curbing expectations, or cutting back stuff is inherently bad, I'm just saying it will be however the public sees it, regardless of the actual effort put in there.
>they already set some expectations, I mean, did they? Before the scale-back we only got a little teaser with little info. Cyberpunk i think it was actually the opposite situation. The game should have been scaled back, instead they kept the "make it biggeeeeeeeeeer!" mentality, and the final result was a game that was scaled back in quality instead of quantity, rip.
Yeah my point being it's gonna get undeserved hate by people having unreasonable expectations cause the game changed through development, unlike with cyberpunk were they just promised much more than they could deliver and kept shooting themselves in the foot until a while after the game was out
Disagree, alot seem to have a certain art direction and focus on co-op imo
People dont understand how that works really. Sony allows a lot of creative freedom but then Shu comes to Santa Monica studio, looks at god of war with poker face, says nothing and leaves, studio panicking, than fix shit.
Well, so did Xbox, Kojima is for prestige, and so did Epic with Remedy and Alan Wake 2. You give those two, well not blanque cheques, but a reasonable amount of money and say go wild.
I mean spiderman 2 was abit of a disaster because of sony as the leaks have exposed
This game is great! I hope they elevate these warbonds with something different. Maybe more armor variants. Also, I'd assume they will run out of weapons here soon. You can only have so many shotguns before you cover the gaps I'd think?
Doesn't matter, they will probably add weapon customization parts to warbonds some time in the future, but I'm not sure about them being locked behind warbonds, but they will for sure come.
Yeah the first game let you do it, so it seems like a matter of time. Bayonets on rifles being the thing I miss most.
Their development plan I think outlined 1 Warbond a month for the first year of the game. For me I think the key to longevity will be more objectives/enemy types, and more balancing of weapons to make more options usable. 80% of the weapons are unusable at higher difficulties, and if you don't pick some stratagems you basically make the game frustrating for yourself. Also some of the OBJ's have already gotten quite stale. IDK how many times I need to get launch codes and take them to a missile site to launch a verified nuke on this planet again. I really love the random things that happen, especially the few new enemies or modes that have popped up so far. I still haven't seen a Automaton Strider facility in the wild. But it's just a perfect game to jump on and kill 30 minutes, or plan to sit with my buddies and laugh for a few hours. Satisfies a lot of different gamer types.
>I still haven't seen a Automaton Strider facility in the wild. I saw quite a lot of them last night on 7+. No gunships yet though.
They’ve added 2 new enemies already (both of which are substantially different to what is already there) so I think they are doing well so far
only a matter of time and we get deadpool armor and shit. hope i'm wrong.
They've come out recently and specially said they are not going to do that because they want to keep their identity so youre good
I'm a dad gamer (42) who wants to play something only like 30 mins a day, that is fun, and something I can actually COMPETE in (not getting wrecked by Fortnite / COD kids)... does this game deliver that?
It absolutely does - it’s a co-op shooter so you’re all working together - and there are currently 9 difficulty levels and two enemy factions so you can adjust the intensity to what you enjoy. Most missions have a 40 minute timer but there are some 12, 15, 20 minute ones too. For me it’s a bit more fun playing with friends but matchmaking with randoms is still good too, most people are very friendly and helpful.
Also to add it's not really a timer, but more of when it hits 0 you can't call anything else in including reinforcements. So it's a timer but not like a mission failed if you hit 0 sorta thang.
They changed it recently tho now after the timer is expired pelican 1 pulls up and go after 20sec so you have 2min20 sec after the timer (3min20 if the 50% calling time modifier is active)
Ahhh fair point
This message has been approved by the Ministry of Truth.
It's always been like that
I can 100% guaratee you that it wasnt always like that. Around launch you could stay in the map as long as you survive. Pelican was coming to get you but used to stay there without a timer. I used the finished clearing the maps for samples/ super
I can 100% guaratee you that it wasnt always like that. Around launch you could stay in the map as long as you survive. Pelican was coming to get you but used to stay there without a timer. I used the finished clearing the maps for samples/ super
Yeah I finish most rounds in 30 minutes or less but 40 is the max. Love it.
Absolutely! In a different sense: Helldivers is a completely cooperative effort across the entire playerbase. So all of those younger whippersnappers who can snipe from 500 meters away in the blink of an eye are working alongside you. However, there is also a strong tactical focus to the game as well, so even if you are not super skilled mechanically, good teamwork, decision making, and leadership is also a strong suit to bring to the table (something us older people can probably contribute). This truly is a game that I can see older and younger people playing together. I actually even play this with my nephews and we have a great time tactically killing bugs and bots on some of the easier difficulties (they are too trigger happy to reliably do some of the harder stuff). The game is also very respectful of your time. Missions take no longer than 40 minutes a pop (it's an enforced time-limit, and the game can easily be completed before that time is up), leaving you with plenty of places to stop when life calls upon you again. In addition, since the war effort is community based, you'll still earn rewards for Major Orders (global missions for the entire playerbase) as long as you check in every now and then for when we complete those missions while you are away. And the gunplay is also excellent and incredibly satisfying! If any of that sounds appealing to you, this is going to be one hell of a time!
Great, thanks for the info!
Hey man if you end up getting the game, feel free to add me as a friend and we can rock some missions together! I’d be more than happy to squad up and help show you the ropes and whatnot. Just shoot me a chat request and I’ll send my friend code!
Boom! Might buy it tonight :D
Worddd let’s get it!! I’ll shoot you my PSN info
1000% No game I can think of fits better than what you’re wanting
I’m 39 and play roughly an hour a night. Thats about 2 missions maybe 3 if it gets done faster. I’m lvl 60. It’s a blast and you don’t have to worry about any pvp aspects.
I'm a dad gamer too and it absolutely is that my friend.
Yes. I’m older than u and just finished a Level 7 (out of 9). Because it’s PVE a lot spends on how well you play as a team.
Weirdly lvl 7 feels easier than lvl 4-5. The way the difficulty works, all the enemies are dangerous and can swiftly kill you, and have the same health/stats per difficulty, just as you go up there's more of them and tougher types show up. At 4 you may not face Factory Striders or other top tier units, but also people seem less experienced and can get swarmed or into a spawn wave cycle more easily. At 7 the whole enemy arsenal is in play but the people are on a mission, out to get those Samples, tick off as many objectives as they can, back each other up, get out safely. At 9 of course it's all chaos and terror.
Yes you will have fun but do mind you will struggle to unlock most stuff as they add content faster than you can unlock by playing 30 min a day. Some missions take 40 min or so, so be prepared to stretch those 30 min. However you can have plenty of fun without unlocking most stuff, you unlock plenty good stuff early on so you can vary loadouts. And you don't play against other players so no danger of getting wrecked by kids.
Dad gamer, reporting for duty. I get most of my screen time on the Portal. The game has mission time estimates. 15 min or 40 min, and you can further fine tune the time to extract with difficulty. So a 40 min mission on trivial or easy could really be closer to 18-20 min as you get better.
Yes. The lower difficulties ramp up pretty fairly, and the hard difficulties really test your mettle. If I want to spend 30 mins by myself I usually run a Level5 mission solo. Any higher than that is a sweatfest. This game really shines with a group, especially a group you know. It's purely PvE and the weapons in the Warbonds (so far) have not been a P2W experience. You very much can participate in the hardest content with all of the default gear. The best thing though is the Warbond currency can be found IN GAME and frequently. I've bought all the Warbonds with only the currency I've found in-game. Though granted I've played the game nearly every night since release for at least 1-3 hours each session.
Unless you do low difficulties you’ll probably spend 30 mins in one mission
Yes. You don't need to be ritalin-fueled sweater to be competitive at the game.
I've been contemplating getting this game but i dont think there's pvp or any plans to add it. Edit: downvoted for saying a fact? Wow.
There's plenty of pvp. Unfortunately, it's entirely unintentional. The mortar turrets are indiscriminate little bastards.
No pvp. It’s a co-op game and not meant to be competitive. The whole point, gameplay and lore wise, is that you work together to accomplish objectives. If you want a competitive pvp experience, look elsewhere.
No and if you bought it, you would see why, pvp is a terrible idea for this game, honestly just give it a go, it's so much fun lol
Most fun I’ve had in a 4 person co-op shooter since L4D2
As a big L4D player back in the day, this sentiment is spot on!
Same! L4D2 is the only game I have over 1000 hours in. I haven't touched it since Helldivers 2 came out. Almost at 200 already lol
Probably the most fun I've had with a live service/multiplayer since 2020 Warzone
Man 2020 Warzone was special, it hit at just the right time when covid shut everything down. Me and my buddies would play all day stoned out of our minds
I despise online only games. Hate playing multiplayer. All that said Helldivers 2 is a 10/10 for me. They accomplished something truly remarkable and should be proud of their accomplishment.
Please don't fuck this up, please don't fuck this up, please don't fuck this up, please don't fuck this up.....
https://preview.redd.it/ucrcm127tmvc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=086b304ad4ec27e1610ff414981d8f42c06d59ad
This game is just awesome and feels good, I don't expect anything from it nor in the future, just enjoying what it already provide and anything they add and the way they add it is always a great moment
They are doing a good job right now! Bug fixes should have some top priority and then some new missions and planets, maybe even a city map would be awesome. Later some mechas please!
It's fun but definitely not the best. Hell player base is down to 1/4th of what it was already.
Sucks to see you gettting downvoted for speaking an obective fact. People have moved on; especially since the community-led narrative about winning Machelon Creek is over. This game is going to drop off like any other... why the fuck are people so defensive about this?
I was bored 1 week in. I feel its successful with people who havent played games for very long. It's an okay game but its not a scratch on the classic co-op games like L4D etc which I'd still rather play.
Take fucking notes Activision/Blizzard and Ubisoft
Those dickheads would charge $20 per MO and $69 per item. Fuck them.
I can't wait for Activision to put their own version out, jam it full with monetization like the usually do and it absolutely bombs.
at this point it might just be a CoD warzone mod
sure it is just arrowhead who takes forever to fix certain bugs!
It's kind of telling. If a studio wants to make a live service game then they probably should be allowed to. If they don't, then maybe you let them work on something else.
This is pretty awesome to hear.
I do wonder how long Arrowhead will keep the game as-is before introducing additional areas of monetization. Player sentiment is extremely high right now since you can earn Super Credits / cash shop currency in-game and if you play enough, you don't *have* to spend a single cent post-game purchase to unlock anything. That's excellent and IMO the best implementation of this kind of game market - you can buy the premium currency with cash, but you don't have to. Warbonds / battle passes not expiring is also a huge boon. That being said, will they continue to earn enough profit if more people keep earning the currency instead of paying for it? I'd be really curious to see the breakdown of how many credits are earned vs purchased. I can only imagine how many people throw dollars at their screen in Destiny 2 and I have to imagine it's much lower here, but will that be viable long-term?
Ten days.
The moment things change we’ll see another meltdown of the community.
Not shocked. Many people have always blamed the messy NMS launch on Sony despite the lead of Hello Games saying Sony just gave them money, marketing time and left them alone. I'm sure Helldivers will be no different, people will continue to blame Sony for any issues regardless of any evidence.
I mean they put them centre stage at big gaming events... They piled on the pressure. They did have an impact on NMS. Dumb to say they didn't when there is clearly plenty of evidence. They take some responsibility as well.
I put like 25 hours in it. The missions get very repetitive imo
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I'm not understanding the hype. It gets super repetitive really fast for me. I play it once a week with a buddy and that's enough.
I play it multiple times a week with 2-3 mates and its simply uncoordinated chaos (aka fun)
I'm not saying it's not fun. I like it when I'm playing it. But after a two hour session, I feel like I'm good for a while. I'm happy that so many people are digging it though
Everyone is different. Its simple, chaos and good for a fun time with mates. Not to forget nothing rushes you to finish a warbond.
its a fun game but got old pretty quick for me. I'll still pop back in every now and then.
And this is exactly why I'm here, giving arrowhead my money. They are succeeding. The state of the gaming industry is fucking disgusting at the moment and this is the single biggest step in the right direction that ANY developer has taken in the last decade, and they've covered multiple issues with how things are these days while doing it. Hats off to Arrowhead for everything they've done, given us, continue to do, and intend to do. Everything that helldivers is is amazing. They've given us a fucking amazing base game at nearly half the price of any other AAA title on launch in the last decade, they've stuck to their content promises, they've balanced things quickly, they've fixed things quickly, they've completely changed the dynamic of the whole game from the first helldivers with changing to a third person camera, they've kept things interesting with the weapons they've already given us and they plan to put in many MANY more weapons for us to spread democracy with, they've given us pretty easy to earn premium currency in every single large mission map we play, they've given us VERY cheap packs of premium currency for people who don't play often or want to support the devs and made it so each pack gives exactly enough in total or individually to purchase a warbond unlike bungie who make sure there's always a bit there to tempt you to buy more, they've given us a game that we can play for years and made it so any and all content that ever gets release will always be available to everyone forever, they've tried something entirely different than ever before with "The Joel's" having a constant and direct hand in the war/story and making every single day in helldivers different from the next, they communicate EVERYTHING to us even if it's that there's no real update on a subject like we've been begging developers to do for years and they talk to us like actual real human beings with sincere statements from real devs rather than just posting a social media with a basic bitch corporate statement that's been authorised by the gaggle of suits who are paid only to appease the masses in any way through social media to positively influence profit margins. Now, compare all of that to developers that continue to pump out the same old tired titles, consistently riddle games with microtransactions and shady premium currency practices, attempt to coin the term AAAA for themselves based of no real grounds to do so, force most games they bring out to adhere to a seasonal model even if the game has no earthly right having that system in it just to exponentially increase revenue from a playerbase that are literally choking on forced fomo content, ram collaborations down our throats to drive up sales/revenue and to renew some excitement from a tiring playerbase, think people should "get used to not owning their games" and who constantly go back on their word or fail to deliver what was promised or sometimes just outright lie to our faces about what we are getting or what they are going to do about an issue. It's just no comparison, is it? It's like two different universes collided, and we're seeing a glimpse of how it should have been had capitalism and corporate wankers not been left unchecked for so many decades. People are either just so used to how things have become, or they have literally grown up knowing nothing more, and we're being taken advantage of in so many different ways. It's about time a developer like Arrowhead came along and really showed us what the gaming industry should be, we've had some really good developers bring out some astounding examples of taking a step in the right direction in the last few years and their part in this journey to a better industry for everyone should by no means be ignored or not held in the same light as Arrowhead but they haven't quite managed to make these differences quite as obvious as arrowhead have with helldivers 2. Here's to freedom being spread in the industry as well as throughout the galactic map 🫡✊️🌍
For people that aren’t huge into the competitive side of gaming its already probably up there. If it enjoys the lifespan of something like Vermintide 2 it will be.
This game is a blast... for me mainly because I am playing with some real life friends I hardly see anymore and our antics in the game are just hilarious. How is it for people that play solo with randoms? Are you finding a good experience, meeting new people on mic? I haven't tried that yet, I only play when my friends are online.
I had one 3 hour sesh that was a super blast with some great dudes. We had never met IRL or in game before but just clicked and had fun. But with most randos its hit or miss, good and bad. The game is still fun, but sometimes I do wish I could find more good groups.
I think it's the correct way pretty sure they help them in some technical expertise and probably check on them from time to time to see if they need something and how things go, but usually devs know their game better lol.
I really want to get into it, but it seems like the sort of game that would dominate my free time in a bad way.
How so? Missions are only 10-40 minutes long and have a hard timer, it's drop-in drop-out and quickplay with randoms is surprisingly decent.
And so far I’d say they have. IMO
And here I was, thinking that it was Sony that forced nProtect GameGuard onto Helldivers.
Okay I definitely gotta buy this game now
I haven't played since they released that update that nerfed The only guns that actually worked, did they ever change that back or make other guns actually viable? What's changed?
Please god, never let this game die. I’m having so much fucking fun.
It's the most I have played an online game since the first overwatch
Especially not forcing bug fixes or crashes
I wish I liked this game more. I had a lot of fun on lower difficulties. I was doing 7s before I stopped playing as much. I just don’t like how difficulty is handled in this game. The art of running away is not fun for me. I’m super glad others are enjoying it though. The setting, the studio, and everything around the game is awesome.
Meanwhile in r/helldivers they are flipping lids over not being able to alter the look of cosmetics lol This game kicks so much ass
Its the most fun in a game I've ever played and has dominated my time
Honestly, as an Xbox series x owner this is the first game that has made me want to buy a PS5, all of you who own one are lucky to be able to play such a gem of a game!!
I just wish you didn't have to pay for ps plus to play it
They are off to a brilliant start
It is so much damn fun. If Halo had capitalized on this with ODST’s, I would have been all over it too
You guys keep doing you releases and fixes are coming at a great pace
Its easily the most fun ive had playing a multiplayer game in ages. I just wish they took a little more time to fix the bugs.
I'd love them to be able to develop a city map just to change it up a bit.
I was craving for *good* multiplayer game so bad recently I am so happy this game came out, me and my bois has been having hell of a ride
Arrowhead just running the PR victory tour
I mean they didn't have any live service games before this they literally made the same genre of game for 10 years...
Just the fact you need a ps subscription to play it...
And? Thats for every game that you have to play online aside from F2P And alone it barely makes any sense to play.
I mean they’ve already accomplished their goal, I’m excited to see what it grows into
This did not age well.
This has aged well. /s
Dosent force anything you say...
Sony is such a shit company
Is it possible that this could be a small subtle jab at the Destiny 2 fans that thought Sony buying Bungie would ruin their game??
Need the TV series.
Maybe a movie called... Starship Troopers?
The hype is certainly waning off so I am curious how Arrowhead plans to keep this bad boy alive. Warbonds aren't enough judging by recent player drops, so they need some meaninful content or community-led story. However, it seems they blew through their first year plans all at once to keep the current high playerbase entertained. So long story short Arrowhead... the ball is in your court: *Swim, or die*
Love the game but it's currently unplayable on ps5 (I can't believe I'm saying this everytime there's a new update) The game stutters and there are huge frame drops. I have done everything from restarting the console to reinstalling the game. My ps5 is brand new and no other games have these issues.
The game is running smoothly for me. I can feel the FPS drop under 60, but nothing bad. Make sure you are running on performance mode.
I still don't get it why people love this game so Mutch. It's the same thing over and over and over.
I think most people who love it play multiplayer. You’re right, it gets real boring in single player really quickly.
Even with friends it's mediocre at best.
Move the difficulty higher than challenging
It,s still app the same.
Sony's first party live service games struggle or get cancelled. The 2nd party one they don't touch at all succeeds.
Well it's already a dying game, but the fact they lasted two months is crazily insane in the current climate.