Two videos on IGN.Com (spoilers)!

[starmark2k]

These Videos show what the graphics and gameplay will be like in space and on ground. They are both really cool, so if you didn't want the game already... you will now.

 

Videos

 

Enjoy, The force is strong with this one. Sorry I couldn't resist

[Cheech Marin]

HOLY ****!!!!! That first vid had Darth Vader in it....

[Hermie]

[lonepadawan]

Awsome vid. Only thing I didn't like was the fact that Vader could easily hack some tanks to bit with has saber, and simply walked letting a hail of blaster bolts hit him. He may be wearing armor, but he could at least deflect some.. especially since they've gone to the bother of...

 

MAKING JEDI DUEL... Vader dueling Kenobi was awsome!.. I wonder if there is any actual way of influencing these duels, or wether Vader will just kill everyone.

[BeBop]

They look very cool... but I'm still worried about the skybox. Not one shot of ground combat showed it.... I really hope they keep it in..

[Dagobahn Eagle]

The pros...

 

Break-up effects: Those look really good. I got a hefty Bridge Commander flash-back out of watching that poor Calamarian Cruiser blow up.

 

The lightsabre battle looked nice. They actually parried each others' sabres.

 

...and the many cons:

 

The music: With respect, I'm growing tired of the same soundtracks in every single game. Can't they make something new?

 

Scale: Hover tanks being deployed from Lambda shuttles?! With all due respect, those shuttles couldn't hold one of those tanks, let alone three!

 

Graphics: They look too blurry, to be honest, akin to how those in Battlefront were blurry. But that might be caused by the low quality of the movie itself.

 

Damage: First of all, tanks should chew up infantry, unlike how it apparently doesn't do much damage to them.

 

And TIE Fighters against a Calamarian Cruiser? That just makes zero sense whatsoever.

 

The Death Star: Come on, where's the fun in having such a tiny thing flying around? I'd have the Death Star attack be a separate battle if I was making the game.

 

Heroes: They'd better be either optional or non-existant in MP games. They were part of ruining Battlefront and they would not make a good addition to the on-line game.

 

The reinforcements: I almost got the impression you had an infinite supply of troops or something. I hope that isn't so.

 

I don't like that user interface either. It's better than the one in Force Commander that covered 33% of the screen, but what's that background supposed to be good for? Let us see the keys and the map and whatever needs to be shown - we don't need a background behind it to hide the action.

 

I say UIs should be as tiny as possible and obstruct a little as possible.

 

Some examples:

 

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World (OK, so there's background on this one, but you notice that there isn't one behind the keys, right?)

 

Ground Control:

 

How not to make a UI:

 

D.E.

 

PS: If you don't already have GC, download it from FilePlanet now

[lonepadawan]

Heroes: They'd better be either optional or non-existant in MP games. They were part of ruining Battlefront and they would not make a good addition to the on-line game.

 

Umm.. you are aware that Battlefront is a FPS and EAW is a RTS? Thus, the two aren't comparable in terms of balance?

 

Warcraft 3 is hailed as a brilliant strategy game and relies almost entirely on heroes.

[Jan Gaarni]

Originally posted by Dagobahn Eagle

 

Scale: Hover tanks being deployed from Lambda shuttles?! With all due respect, those shuttles couldn't hold one of those tanks, let alone three!

3? They were 4.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

Umm.. you are aware that Battlefront is a FPS and EAW is a RTS? Thus, the two aren't comparable in terms of balance?

I was not talking about balance alone. There's also the fun factor, tactics, and several other things.

 

Something that holds true in both FPS, RTS, and RTT games is that overpowered units are not fun.

 

And WarCraft 3's heroes are actually fairly balanced, contrary to the near-invincible super heroes in Battlefront (and, apparently, in EaW).

 

But by all means, if you want another RTS to compare things, I didn't like how Vader could destroy a rebel tank in Galactic Battlegrounds either.

 

3? They were 4:D.

How unjust of me to twist the matter in such a way. Forgive me:p.

[BeBop]

Homeworld2's UI was pretty good too. I loved being able to hide everything at anytime. I agree about those tanks. Come on, at least have them come down in a barge. And you can still see that they are inside each other until the shuttle launches. That's one thing I never liked in an RTS.

[Heavyarms]

they looked like SP missions, especially the deathstar. I don't think they could balance those. In terms of the other stuff... the UI I don't mind, as long as it is the same for everyone. I want usability rather than lack of features.

[BeBop]

Okay so I found this little video over at a site that normally covers BFME stuff. A recording of a little "commercial" ,as he called it, that is being run at E3. It's hosted on Fileplanet (....) in 2 sizes.

 

Large

Medium

 

Warning: its kind of bad quality since it from a camcorder. But it shows some never seen footage. (Like a rancor.)

 

UPDATE: So this site posted another video. It is more ingame footage than a trailer with some developers talking about the game. It seems that the ground battles are beginning to shape up.

 

Large version

Medium version

 

Note: The video is about 8 minutes long so it'll take a while to download.

 

UPDATE (again) : Okay yet again there is another video. The beginning of it is the exact same that I posted in my first Update. The rest is basically 3 demos being played over and over again by different people each time. So each time you get to see some different stuff. The three demos appear to be, Tatooine, Some more Earth looking planet, and a huge space battle above... somewhere. This one is apparently the long version of the one in the first update. 47 minutes... So you may want to download the Medium version to save space.

 

Large (694.9 MB)

Medium (181.3 MB)

 

Alot of good views of ships breaking apart in this one.

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

Now Now

 

The code shown @ E3 is still early and requires alot more polish. The Shuttle seen was probably a 'place holder' until they put in the correct drop ships.

 

You're looking at how the game plays here, plus how fighters and ships can target actual areas of an enemy ship.

 

I think from what we have seen, Empire At War will be the best Star Wars RTS by far and probably one of the best around. Theres a long way to go before release, so theres plenty of time.

 

DMUK

[FroZticles]

You've seen 4 minutes of footage and already shooting it down it is set for a 2006 release so it is a long way off from finished.

 

And change the Star Wars music? Would you rather they had a Britney Spears track going or something? The music is classic so I have no idea how a SW fan can dislike the music.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

You've seen 4 minutes of footage and already shooting it down (...) Would you rather they had a Britney Spears track going or something? The music is classic so I have no idea how a SW fan can dislike the music.

Sorry to say so, but one thing I hate is replies like these.

 

1. I'm not "shooting it down", I'm critizising it (as you, too, have done in the past). There's a thin line between "shooting a game down" and voicing my opinions about what I think should be made differently. I'll go as far as saying that I dislike how most previews go out of the way to hype the game up as much as possible without giving a word of critisism.

2. I never said anything about Britney Spears.

3. I never said I disliked the SW music.

 

I said I'm tired of hearing the same music in every single game. I said nothing about Britney Spears, and I said nothing about disliking the music.

 

Please stop, Frozticles:rolleyes:.

 

The code shown @ E3 is still early and requires alot more polish. The Shuttle seen was probably a 'place holder' until they put in the correct drop ships.

But that doesn't make that much sense, seeing they already have barges modelled. I have the same feeling, but it doesn't seem right somehow.

 

Remember how Empires: Dawn of the Modern World let you carry tanks in Higgins Boats? Or how Galactic Battlegrounds let you fit several AT-AT walkers inside a single Sentinel-class landing craft (the big shuttle)?

 

You may say what you want, and that it's a place-holder is my hope, too, but I have a sneaky feeling barges will be reserved for the really big vehicles like the walkers.

 

The circles around the tanks: Am I digging too deeply here, or do they have a function (as a control zone or something)? What do you think?

[BeBop]

Originally posted by Dagobahn Eagle

The circles around the tanks: Am I digging too deeply here, or do they have a function (as a control zone or something)? What do you think? [/b]

 

Your digging too deeply. To me they looks strikingly similar to the small circles that would appear around selected units in BFME. (merging with eachother and all.) It's just an effect I think.

[lonepadawan]

Somthing no-ones commented on..

 

That camera mode, where it changes from the top down to another camera move? .. is that specially for these vids or is it an actual feature? Because it was awsome in the seccond vid, with the space battle, but seemed silly on the ground. If it is a feature I hope it's a button you can press or somthing, rather than being random as it seems to be here.

 

Looks awsome in space though, following a fighter through the battle is really cool!

[Dagobahn Eagle]

I hope the camera is easy to use and that you can freely move and turn it... In any direction whatsoever.

 

There's something called keyboard shortcuts, you know. They could've used those to move the camera around.

 

I just noticed that that's a Sentinel class landing craft deploying the tanks, not a Lambda. But it's still much too small.

[FroZticles]

Ok here we go again....

 

The music: With respect, I'm growing tired of the same soundtracks in every single game. Can't they make something new?

 

Already explained why you don't like SW music in SW games makes 0 sense.

 

Scale: Hover tanks being deployed from Lambda shuttles?! With all due respect, those shuttles couldn't hold one of those tanks, let alone three!

 

Watch the trailer again and you will see that it was sort of modified and more bulky to hold 4 tanks.

 

Damage: First of all, tanks should chew up infantry, unlike how it apparently doesn't do much damage to them.

 

That leads to people massing tanks only giving infantry what purpose in the game?

 

 

Heroes: They'd better be either optional or non-existant in MP games. They were part of ruining Battlefront and they would not make a good addition to the on-line game.

 

By the looks of things heroes are gained through battle instead of being built at there base which is alot better.

 

Also BFME crappy gameplay and getting rushed to release was more of its demise then the heroes ever were.

 

My rants...

 

Interface looks kind of basic nothing to flash.

 

Vader should be deflected alot more then just walking around getting laser holes blown into him.

 

Light sabers could be a little brighter they looked a bit dim could be vid quality though.

 

Heroes are good hope to see some more in there. Wonder if Obi-Wan will be apart of the Rebellion on multiplayer...

 

My wowzers...

 

The battles look very epic scale especially the space battles. Have not seen much ground battles in the videos.

 

Watching Jawas get killed.

 

Seeing the Imperials dominating.

 

Great Graphics even though vid quality did limit the wow factor.

[lonepadawan]

Seeing the Imperials dominating.

 

Oh. Yay. So a good game is one where the Imperials are insanely powerful?

 

Also BFME crappy gameplay and getting rushed to release was more of its demise then the heroes ever were.

 

He said Battlefront. Not BFME. And heroes don't dominate in BFME, Isengard has the least heroes and has the highest win percentage online.

 

 

Well duh. I was talking about when it followed a unit through the fray. Can't really do that from a top down view with camera controls can you?

[Dagobahn Eagle]

More things:

• Pro: A good tool-tip system.
  
• Pro: Anti-tank rocket infantry. Apparently.
  
• Con: Cartoonish explosions.

 

I was talking about when it followed a unit through the fray. Can't really do that from a top down view with camera controls can you?

Yes, you can, if there's a shortcut key called "Camera: Follow selected unit", like the "/" key in Empires, for example:).

 

Oh. Yay. So a good game is one where the Imperials are insanely powerful?

I'm 99% sure the one with Vader was a campaign mission as you were to kill the Jawas and wreck the sand crawler (which happened in Episode IV). There's quite a bit of "artistic license" going on if that's the case, though.

 

Watch the trailer again and you will see that it was sort of modified and more bulky to hold 4 tanks.

I already said that I was wrong about that.

 

And there's no way a Sentinel-class landing craft could hold 4 tanks either. Maybe one, though I doubt it. Four? No way.

 

Already explained why you don't like SW music in SW games makes 0 sense.

Fine. Let's agree to disagree.

 

You don't mind hearing the same music in every single game. I like fresh, original soundtracks. Fine. That's a matter of taste, so I'll stop trying to convince you.

 

That leads to people massing tanks only giving infantry what purpose in the game?

That's a pretty big generalization, there. No, having tanks be a lot more powerful than infantry doesn't necessarily make people mass tanks. It's like how in several RTS games fighters can only be targetted by certain AA units without it resulting in aircraft being massed instead of ground units.

 

I've played multiple games where tanks aren't wiped out by infantry. In most of them, players did not mass tanks. Two examples are Ground Control and Sudden Strike.

 

There are two things that need to be done to prevent massing of a certain unit or unit category:

 

1. Don't make it over-powered. Make sure it has counter-units.

2. Make the alternatives appealing.

 

For example, in Ground Control and its powerful heavy tanks, there'd always be infantry, artillery, air force, and everything else present - because every unit had its own advantage. Infantry could be easily hidden and came in greater numbers, for example (and they could be equipped with rocket launchers with a limited amount of HEAT rockets as secondary weapons), making them ideal for scout missions. Light tanks could deploy stationary weapons like automatized rocket launchers. And so on.

 

Tanks are supposed to be powerful. Watching a tank need several shot to kill a soldier is like watching the Death Star have to fire multiple times to blow up Alderaan:rolleyes:.

 

By the looks of things heroes are gained through battle instead of being built at there base which is alot better.

I think those heroes are brought down from orbit, actually. Most likely you have to have them before-hand, but only so many can be brought down at a time (perhaps depending on how many drop vehicles you have - in an earlier screen shot I saw several barges and shuttles land at the same time).

 

It does look like you have an infinity of units, but I'm sure that's specific for that campaign mission. How would you win against a human player in a standard MP game if each of you had an infinity of units?

 

Interface looks kind of basic nothing to flash.

That's not bad - it's good. I hate too flashy UIs, like Battlefront's menu systems. Give me an orderly and unobtrusive UI any day.

 

Vader should be deflected alot more then just walking around getting laser holes blown into him.

Agreed. And tanks should have a chance against him.

 

The battles look very epic scale especially the space battles.

Yup.

 

Great Graphics even though vid quality did limit the wow factor.

Graphics aren't essential to fun, but they sure look good. Agreed:cool:.

[StormHammer]

I'll just chip in and say that I wasn't really very interested in this game prior to E3. However, I managed to catch the Gamespot live feed where they had a demo running, and the dev was talking through it - and the game is now definitely on my wish list.

 

I'll have to dl and watch the IGN vids to see how they compare, but on the whole I've not been impressed by IGN's coverage of the event.

 

I won't go into much depth, but the space battles looked good, and the ground battles looked good. Grabbing other planets to give you resources, rather than chopping down trees makes sense to me. Hopefully the depth of gameplay will match or exceed the nice graphics.

 

And D.E....you need to practice on making long posts, because that one was short.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

And D.E....you need to practice on making long posts, because that one was short.

But long compared to the other posts here.

 

I've been known to make far longer posts than this one, don't worry:p.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

Downloading. Comments "shooting down the game" will follow shortly:p.

 

OK, it's awesome, but there are dubious things here, too. Comments, large and small and tiny, by occurence in movie clip:

 

Beginning - Those cinematics are awesome!

:47 - Nice rocket tanks.

:52 - Tow cables? Again?! No offence, but does that feature have to be in every single game?! Gawd, how tired I am of it. Having tow cables in every single SW game is like having those socks filled with explosives and dipped in tar from Saving Private Ryan in every single WW II game and movie.

:52 - The Rancor I dislike strongly, especially if the Rebels get it as a recruitable/playable unit.

1:00 - Y-Wings don't drop bombs more than light sabres fire blaster bolts. Common knowledge if you've watched A new hope.

 

Those break-up effects still look awesome, though:cool:.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

As for "getting units while fighting", watch the GameSpot coverage linked to in another thread here. You of course have a finite force that you build yourself.