Darth Sinical Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 I was just curious what everyone thought, if Battlefront was dying, or if it never did enjoy huge numbers of players. I'm a recent addition, having only had the game for a week or so. I have played Battlefield:1942 and Battlefield:Vietnam for years, and thought Battlefront looked like a good addition to my games library. I enjoy it quite well (when I'm not being kicked out of a server for no reason, or lagging and seeing speeders skip across the sky) but one thing that I found immediately distressing is the lack of servers. I like playing against people, so I typically filter out servers with less than 10 players. That leaves me with sometimes one, sometimes three or four servers to choose from. That's appalling. So I did a quick check. Sure it's a Sunday night, but I'm sure the proportions remain roughly the same. Battlefront had 85 servers running with a total of 221 players. Battlefield:Vietnam (an old game) has 6993 players on 1769 servers, a mere 32 times more players. And Battlefield:1942, a game which I've been playing for two years but is older than that, has 9592 players on 3992 servers, 43 times more people than Battlefront! That's alarming, to say the very least. Heck, the Galactic Conquest mod for Battlefield:1942 has 128 players on 37 servers! Now I like Battlefront. It has it's problems, which are to me lack of a buddy list to show in game buddies on the map while playing a game, hitting Tab locks the game up instead of bringing up a semi-transparent screen to show you both armies side by side, vehicles and stationary emplacements can be and are used to spawn camp like nobody's business, even cheaters can't be voted out usually with the interface the game has, and last but not least, the game needs the multiplayer patch that is being worked on now in the worst possible way. Nothing says, "This game sucks" like being kicked from a server for no reason other than it's your turn to get booted. But has the game always had low player volume, or is it on the decline? And do you think the upcoming fix to multiplayer code will do much to rejuvenate the game and bring people back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stryker412 Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Is it really necessary to post the same thing on here and LA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rends Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Well last sat 500 people played on 150+ Server and SWBF rank at place 25-30 at gamespystats since months. There are a few less servers out now but the rest seams to be stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sinical Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 Yes, it was necessary to post here and on Lucas Arts. The boards here don't see heavy volumes of use it seems, and while the class of post here is certainly leaps and bounds better than some of the lower-case no-punctuation rambles on LA, I'm sure there are people who look here but not there, or read there but not here. And what is the 150+ server? There were 500 people on one server, playing the same map? How is that even possible? I only ever see a few servers with more than 10 people on them. Usually two, sometimes three, on the weekends it might jump to four. What is this 150+ server you mentioned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rends Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 lol no what i mean was that there are was more than 150 servers running the game last sat with about 500 player. If you see only a handfull server you should change that to show all servers in your online options. You also can check gamespy stats: http://archive.gamespy.com/stats/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sinical Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 I'm just dumb I guess. After re-reading your post, I see what you were saying. I must have mentally put the word "the" in front of "150+ Server" and got all excited! Yes, I admit, my little test was done Sunday night, not Saturday. But I'm sure the almost 10,000 Battlefield:1942 servers on Sunday would have gone up on Saturday as well. The point is probably still valid, that at least 20 to 30 times more people are playing each Battlefield than Battlefront. It's a shame, as it's a good game. But no one's really answered my question at the end. Do you think that the revamp that Pandemic is doing of the multiplayer code, if it fixes multiplayer disconnects and lag, would rejuvenate the player base? It would warm my heart one day to filter out all servers with less than 10 players and instead of seeing two I would see 159. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rends Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 i don´t think that numbers of onlineplayer will grow significant after a MP patch. What i remember is that bf42 sold several million copies in the last years but i don´t think that SWBF will ever come close to it. And i also remember that we discussed this several times here in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agentj64 Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 A few words: If you consider this a troll then delete this post, but please don't be offended, Pandemic did an ok job considering the time and movie pressures. Personally the game could have waited.. It's ok BF and HL and all those other games exist for one reason: mods. Well they do now at least Mods add ability to play different forms and have fun with it. Also add in: Bf1942 has a great multiplayer system - them releasing a test version before the actual game came out allowed them to hammer a TON of detials down and get it right before releasing the game publically. Personally I think its one of the best mp games out there but thats just me :X BF is dieing I think - there is rarely new talk of mods, the servers and maps can get kind of boring - and theres just so many limiting factors to the game that bother me and a few friends i know who play it. Like HOTH could be so much more, but it isnt. Its a good level yes, but the snower speeders could have more players, the camera angles could be opted (BF's camera system is beautiful) - the actual enviroments could use a touch up of detials. Sound and Music are great, but visually its ok. Im not trying to insult the guys at pandemic, but imjust saying the game could be a lot more o_o, espicially with a nicer mod system but thats just me heh.. replay value. its what matters really, you sell a game en mass if you have good replay value because you keep attracting newer customers. HalfLife is certainly a great examplke, as is quake, ut, ut2003, ut2004.. BF also survives by adding in new content every so often. That's always cool So who knwos ^_^ I stil play battlefront tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurntHostage Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 http://csports.net/TopGames.aspx?Matrix=0&Mod=0 were # 33... not dead, but this is ALL PANDEMIC'S FAULT FOR RELEAS...yada yada... said this plenny o times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sinical Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 This might have been discussed already. In fact, I'd be surprised if most games don't have someone post a discussion just like this about a week after release. I just hadn't seen one on this forum and thought I'd ask the question. If it was already discussed, I didn't see the thread, and apologize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-8252 Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 It'll die quickly because most of the devs have cleaned out their locker and gone home, despite how blantantly unpolished this game is. There's just a few left desperately trying to clean up the horrible mess they call the full game, by coming back and rewriting the MP code months after the game's been released. If only they had actually released an SDK for modding and coding, not half-assed mapping tools, maybe the modding community could have helped keep the game alive since the devs aren't putting fourth much effort. We got very few mappers in the SWBF community, who are making mediocre (no offense if any mappers are reading this, just my opinion) maps that lack the depth and sophistication of the maps the devs made. A lack of dev and community advancement will surely lead SWBF to an early grave. Me, I'm playing Republic Commando. With the UT engine it will surely make for some good modding material in MP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murf Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Darth Sinical, I'm glad you posted here because I don't read the LA forum - just this one. I was wondering the same thing. Yes, the game has a few problems. I read some so-so reviews so I didn't pay full price - I bought it on Ebay for $26. I think it was well worth that. I really like the game and don't understand why it is not more popular. The only thing I can figure is compared to UT and other games there is nothing really new or fantastic. However, IF you are a Star Wars fan then that is where it is exciting because you can play as the characters you like from the movies. If you are not a Star Wars fan then I could see where the game might not be that exciting. I started to worry about it before I bought it. I kept checking the LA-BF web site and it said "PC Demo coming soon". I wanted to download it so I kept checking, but then one day the message was gone - so I guess they canceled the demo. I hope the game continues to have fans. Do you think they will come out with a Star Wars Battlefront 2 and do "Something" that will draw a bigger crowd? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Originally posted by BurntHostage http://csports.net/TopGames.aspx?Matrix=0&Mod=0 were # 33... And well below Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. But how many people are actually playing those games is up for debate... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whoopknacker Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 They are working on another patch. They likely want this game in tip top shape for EPIII. Likely more people will buy it then. Yes it was released too soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey McDope Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Heh. I too am a battlefield guy, both nam and '42. I played this game for a month after I bought it, but find myself going back to the BF games. Why? Vehicle spawn rape, though present in both games, is a lot easier dealt with in BF. I hate getting lagged while invincible by blaster cannons so that I cant move at all, just wait the invincible timer then die. Also is flying the starfighters, in this game it's childs play. Auto bank, auto level, noob planes. I prefer flying in BF because it takes way more skill and kills are that much more rewarding. Oh, and there does not exist a cheese class with insta-kill rockets and proximity bomb traps that are permanent until set off. At least a minelayer in BF needs to have a vehicle run over it, and the mines will dissapear shortly after the owner is killed. The BF Galactic Conquest mod is way better than this game will ever be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rends Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Muhaha, this thread goes the way like every other dying thread. And it was only a matter of time until a GC guy jumped in. And i can see where this thread end sooner or later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clonearcman Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Looking at a lot of reviews of BF, they say that the game is for people that like the war games and starwars freaks. I am both and I don't really play multiplayer. I talk to friends about the game and ask if they know something about it and they have no clue. I think that the game has always suffered in # of players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INFERNOJHC Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Originally posted by Darth Sinical ... I enjoy it quite well (when I'm not being kicked out of a server for no reason ... Well, I'm not sure if you really got kicked by the server on purpose, it's probably a bug, Happens all the time to me and others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sinical Posted March 13, 2005 Author Share Posted March 13, 2005 It happens to you too? I get kicked from servers due to lost connection, even though my internet connection is pretty fast (3 MB download). In a four hour game session, I probably get booted six or eight times. I have a suspicion that it only happens on larger servers (the more people the more kicks, but I have yet to really test this out). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Preacher Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 ok first i will point you to Scans From PCzone Magazine. http://usera.imagecave.com/gonzoxl5/BF%2DGalactic%2DConquest/gcpczreviewopt.jpg Carefully Note the 85% mark, and the PC Zone Essential Award. i will then like to draw your attention to here PC Zone Star Wars Battlefront Review (Click here) Note the 78% mark, a Lack of an essential award, and that it is a WHOLE 7% LOWER than the Galactic Conquest mod Thankyou for your time p.s. a couple screenies. http://usera.imagecave.com/gonzoxl5/BF%2DGalactic%2DConquest/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rends Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 I applause to the GC modders. they did a fine job with V5. But biggest problem for GC5 is that the models look like Starwars but the gamengine never make you feel that you are playing StarWars. It still look and play like bf42 at carneval. And the images you linked to shows also how outdated the bf42 grafikengine is compared to SWBF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sinical Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 Rends is right. For a free mod to a couple-year-old game (which is still one of my favorites) GC is a must-have. But it just doesn't compete with Battlefront for immersion. It's just a shame. When I first loaded Battlefront, I expected to see thousands of servers running, with several thousand players. To only have half a dozen (at most) servers with more than 10 people on them is a severe let down. It's like going to Disney World and they only have one ride open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murf Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 It seems to me the best play value would be to buy the game that was designed to play what you want instead of slapping a MOD on another game to convert (when there is a game available for the subject). I couldn't care less about WWII era guns, armor, etc. I like the modern stuff so I play Black Hawk Down and Joint Ops - as opposed to buying BF42 and slapping a mod on it so I can play with modern weapons. Just my opinion on how I look at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Preacher Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 normally you would be right, but in this case the Actual Game available is WORSe than the mod. (as indicated by professional journalists in my above posts) so why torture yourself for a Retail game, when you can have a mod for free, that is rated better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alegis Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Games are rated by comparison with other games and so are mods. Mods aren't rated by comparing them to games. The results from that post mean conquest did better in the pool of mods than battlefront in the pool of retail games. Note; it's an essential if you own a copy of 1942. Originally posted by TK-8252 It'll die quickly because most of the devs have cleaned out their locker and gone home, despite how blantantly unpolished this game is. There's just a few left desperately trying to clean up the horrible mess they call the full game, by coming back and rewriting the MP code months after the game's been released. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.