So what's the point of having UT4

[Median12]

UT3 menu system was understandable but I don't know if it was based for console players.

Playing *any* UT game on a console is impossible with a controller.

I reverted back to UT2004 for the editor am am still stuck there as I was many years ago.

Consoles are taking over, laptops are vaguely taking over and us Old-School Desktop PC owners have to take a backseat (try buying a new PC version of a game in a high-street nowdays..).. It's all Xbox or PS "stuff"....

I only bought the PS4 for the racing games and NEVER for FPS as they are impossible (look up)

UT4 is still a fetus, eventually it will grow..... we all have to wait.

 

[Admiral Lilwall]

I want bot customizing to be much much much more similiar to UT99. And I don't just mean various skins and lots of face options for each skin.

I mean I want to change their alertness, their strafing, their accuracy, their voices, favorite weapons, etc etc. That was far better than anything else they've done since. Don't care for added amor bits and so forth, but multiple faces/heads and skins per model are extremely important imo.

 

[Jefe]

I want bot customizing to be much much much more similiar to UT99. And I don't just mean various skins and lots of face options for each skin.

I mean I want to change their alertness, their strafing, their accuracy, their voices, favorite weapons, etc etc. That was far better than anything else they've done since. Don't care for added amor bits and so forth, but multiple faces/heads and skins per model are extremely important imo.

2k4 has all the same options for bots, but they are somewhat hidden. (You have to set the bot mode for a gametype to "use bot roster," and on the bot config page, click the "Edit" button below a portrait to configure the bot however you want. And they stay applied in any Instant Action mode, no matter if you are using preconfigured teams or not.) Dunno if UT3 has them too, I really haven't played it much over the years. The main thing I like about UT3's character system is that you can add armor and accessories to your character to customize them further. But yeah, I hope customization in UT4 will be as comprehensive as 99 and 2k4.

 

[oldkawman]

I just installed the alpha Saturday. From the time I downloaded it, took less than 15 min to get online and play with humans. I just played on the Mothership. Full server, lots of players! That's why we need the new UT!

 

[Carbon]

If you don't see the point in the new UT then there isn't one. But one could ask the same question of any iterated game and what with the serious lack of new ideas in gaming, the industry would all but dry up without them.

 

[Godfrey.Payans]

I remember one problem with UT3 according to the internet was that people couldn't run it very well on the same machines where they managed to run UT2k4.

With UT4 I'm hoping for Linux, current generation graphics, and easier/more stable server setup.

 

[Carbon]

Yes, there is always the contingent who cannot seem to correlate new software needing stronger hardware. We have already seen this crowd with the new UT as well. UT3 looked far better than 2K4 and the new UT again is leaps above UT3.

UT - any iteration - is its own point.

 

[ambershee]

The problem with UT3 was that the hardware required to run it well wasn't commonly adopted when it released. The 8800GT came out on the 29th October 2007. UT3 arrived November 19th - not exactly much time to get that much needed upgrade.

Most people, myself included, were still running on 6800s, which barely cut it .

 

[Hunter]

With UT4 I'm hoping for Linux, current generation graphics, and easier/more stable server setup.

I think this will be a big focus for a lot of people, I see UT (4? really we're doing this?) as a way for Epic to show off the engine and what it can do even though it is now free to a point and that they haven't lost it when it comes to Game Engines as I'm sure they will have see a bit of drop off from small developers using Unity (for example). With Source offering Linux out of the box now I think UEngine will have to do the same.

In terms of hardware a lot of speeds, etc have stabilised with new chips being marketed by there nanometers not clock speeds. Same for GPUs which are now putting more GDDR on a board than making massive leaps in GPU power, yes they happen but I don't think we will find ourselves in the UT3 position.

 

[leilei]

UT4 really shines when your other free options are:

- A sluggish team game with a materialistic and critical damage gimmick
- A fast team game with a Pay2win gimmick baitnswitch after glowing reviews have been published
- A unity game in a flat colored big room of no tactical thought
- A jumpy aircontrol game with no textures and no appeal keeping it dead to elites with no self-awareness on why no one wants to play with them
- A stripped 1999 non-U game only for Windows with old art and sound on old technology
- A fully featured Windows/Linux/Mac 1999 non-U game, with bad art and sound on slightly dolled technology
- A CTF race game that allegedly has other game types, and the greatest graphics so much it is the reason why other games are 'pointless'
- A Battlezone clone
- A Ubisoft game ('nuff said)


Unreleased "changing arena fps forever!" games need not apply to this list.

 

[Median12]

I cannot wait for a UT4, UT3 wasn't that good but as said above the Graphics were better.

No-one seemed to be releasing custom maps with UT3.
I released a couple but only a couple.. then reverted back to UT2004..)

I think UT4 will not hardly be UT territory like 99 etc but I still cannot wait. I bought UnreadEd 4.0 a few months ago and its easy to use and some of the staggering things you can do with it are remarkable. It's next Gen software. Frostbite will have to watch out!

 

[ambershee]

INo-one seemed to be releasing custom maps with UT3

What? I had something like 20GB of custom maps for UT3! There are hundreds of them out there.

 

[Carbon]

I have 135GB of UT3 maps alone. There was no lack of content; it was markedly less in number than other games in the UT series for sure, but still significant.

The issue for me with UT4 will be the filesizes! I will have to get another multi-TB HDD for all the stuff that will come out. That the engine and editor is free will make a frenzy of content. There is already a lot out there but once this game goes full-on live, it will get really insane.

The thing to remember with UT4 is the reason it is around at all. We can believe that it was first and foremost a gesture to the community, but that would be disingenuous. First, it is a marketing tool for Epic, UE4 and the company in general. That isn't a bad thing at all, but that is the truth. Second, it is an experiment in collaborative development with a community. Third, it is an experiment in financial viability in the new age of software and finally, it is a game, one that Epic not all that long ago said would never be made.

For these reasons I think the 'point' of UT4 is very clear and there is a lot - I mean a LOT - riding on its success. To be honest, if this development drags out too long, I wouldn't be surprised to see Epic put the whole darn team on it to get it done faster (many reasons why I think this: to get a major UE4 title in the wild for gamers and potential devs as a flagship [they do want open maps with vistas for a reason: UE4 is not just a corridor/map shooter-maker], community development will certainly slow down over time, Epic will want to get the thing out the door just to 'get the thing done already!', and to maybe get some monetary benefit from the marketplace, fans will get tired of following the minute changes in the alpha and eventually reach the 'call me when its done' stage, etc...) .

One thing that I can't help but think is that Epic should (have) get behind the remake of Unreal. "Remake" has so much connotation, but Unreal could be "re-imagined" even; a proper sequel. It has much more potential in showing what UE4 can do, would bring a great single player experience back to the Unreal series and would without a doubt be well-received across the board and maybe have more overall appeal than another UT will to gamers in a general sense. UT4 could be like botpack was to be; arena modes released after the fact and maybe even solely community-driven. I may now be rambling, but to me re-making Unreal with 'botpack' development as a sub-goal just seems like a better overall decision. Yes, nonsense, I know, but interesting to consider.

 

[Selerox]

Having played UT4 now, first impressions aren't great. It feels like UT's speed combined with UT200x's utter inaccessibility. All the complexity, none of the ease of use. I can see this game suffering from all of the problems UT200x had. The movement system just doesn't feel right. I know this isn't exactly a detailed description, but there's something badly wrong with the movement and I just can't put my finger on what it is.

I know it's an Alpha, and I know things will change. But right now the weapon balance seems way off. When I'm seeing the Bio Rifle being used more than the Flak, something's gone badly, badly wrong. DM is an unending round of getting killed by Bio spam on spawns or being killed before you can get to - or even find - a weapon.

I expected different, I expected to have to adapt. But there just feels like there's something fundamentally "wrong" with UT4.

I'll come back in a month or two and try it again.

 

[ambershee]

This is what games are like early in development - they can change dramatically over the course of development and will be very different initially to what they finally become.

UT4's movement is certainly not right though. I can see what they were going for (non-linear movement - produces non-linear learning curves; if you've played Tribes you'll understand this) - but the implementation just feels terrible. I don't like the sprinting, jumping feels largely pointless (you can't even jump uphill, it doesn't work), and the dodging feels pretty awkward. It's got a long way to go.

 

[Selerox]

If they want to make UT4 a success, using Tribes as a model of usability is a bad idea (as intentional as it might be). As much as I love Tribes, a learning curve that steep is a death sentence for a game, especially for a game series that needs to pull old fans back to it. It's UT200x all over again, but worse. Adding complexity where complexity isn't needed and isn't wanted isn't going to help this game.

 

[ambershee]

I think you've missed the point. It's nothing to do with the difficulty in the learning curve, it's to do with how you learn to play it.

In UT you either know how to do something (e.g. ramp dodging), or you don't - it's linear. The learning curve is largely based around learning how to play against other people. In Tribes the movement is organic - you continue learning how to better navigate the environment for quite some time after beginning to play - it doesn't mean you can't meaningfully contribute to a game, it's just a skill you can continue to improve almost indefinitely.

As for the steepness of the learning curve, all multiplayer PC shooters are a death sentence. There are a considerable number of people who have been playing these games for over 20 years, and as a result whenever you play online as a new player, you're always going to be outlcassed to the point of absurdity.

 

[Rambowjo]

I think you've missed the point. It's nothing to do with the difficulty in the learning curve, it's to do with how you learn to play it.

In UT you either know how to do something (e.g. ramp dodging), or you don't - it's linear. The learning curve is largely based around learning how to play against other people. In Tribes the movement is organic - you continue learning how to better navigate the environment for quite some time after beginning to play - it doesn't mean you can't meaningfully contribute to a game, it's just a skill you can continue to improve almost indefinitely.

As for the steepness of the learning curve, all multiplayer PC shooters are a death sentence. There are a considerable number of people who have been playing these games for over 20 years, and as a result whenever you play online as a new player, you're always going to be outlcassed to the point of absurdity.

The same can be said for almost any game. That's why we have match making. DotA back in Warcraft III days was fucking awful, because the skill difference was so vast that single people could carry entire teams.

 

[Arnox]

Also, Jedi Academy. You play a saber-only duel against some of the pros that have been there for a while, you're going to lose. And if you're a newb, you're going to lose MISERABLY. The game doesn't really have a skill ceiling in terms of saber combat and even force combat so it gets kind of absurd what the higher levels players can do to you.

 

[Psychomorph]

So what is your oldschool hardcore UT players opinion on UT4? Does it head the right way? Does it have a chance to be good?