Titanfall Where did my Grunts go?

I dunno if Respawn's gonna actually see this, but I noticed something when I swapped from Titanfall 1 to 2.

We all know those little mooks that we passed occasionally in Titanfall 1, right? The guys in grimy green and tan, or pristine white and grey, depending on the RNG? We call 'em Grunts. The backbone of any army, the foot soldiers that get the job done. Not the job a Pilot does, but the job of providing support and, on occasion, distraction for that enemy Pilot you so happened to notice. Occasionally, they'll ground a Pilot. And that's cool. Good on them.

But you probably didn't hear them talking when you passed by them in 1. You were too busy rushing into the fray. Did you know those simple infantrymen idolize you? They want to be like you. Imagine the joy the feel when they pull the trigger, and drop an enemy Pilot. You ever wonder if they thought you were watching? What if a Pilot saw him take down that one? Would they put in a good word, you think? Maybe he'd be able to leave his low life expectancy and try out for a Titan. In the meantime, he'll just watch you. You're on a whole other level, you know. Having just one Pilot at their backs is enough to make a squad of Grunts feel like they could take the entire war on themselves.

And they even make that known. Pass by slower next time. Listen to that Grunt gush about what you can do.Take a moment to back in the light of a fading Titan core when the Grunts nearby realize you just rode on that Titan and killed it without so much as touching your Archer. Listen to them shout like it's the coolest thing they've ever seen. You're living superheroes, Pilots. You are the hope that these soldiers cling to, even as they're cut down by an Ogre wearing other colors.

But where are they in 2? I don't hear them chat among themselves when I pass them. No jokes about calling in Titans. Nothing about people being crushed by 40mm shells. Hell, I remember one IMC grunt in 1 mentioning that if they paid him per kill, he'd break the bank.

Respawn. You did something amazing with the Grunts in 1. Those semi-faceless soldiers had personality. They had life. They were people. Some Pilots, like myself, would find Grunts they liked and maybe use our Conscription burn card. We felt awesome when we saved a Grunt or two from a competent enemy Grunt. Some of us felt pride when we saw a most-likely terrified soldier take down a Spectre with a lucky shot. Seeing those same soldiers go down suddenly, cut short before they could truly shine, made us angry. We laughed with their jokes, fought alongside them, supported them as they supported us.

Truly, we were Brothers and Sisters forged in fire.

But where are our brothers now, Pilots? What happened to those we called Grunts? They are no longer here. They're drones now. Not just Spectres, but human drones. Background decoration to shoot at. They only have one stock line when you pass by. 'A Pilot! Now the odds are in our favor.' Aside from that, nothing. They've lost their jokes. They've lost their smiles.

They have lost their humanity.

Respawn, you made some strange steps in designing Titanfall 2. The maps seem... odd. Not fitting for the game we know and love. The Titans, despite being diverse in skillsets, are not our Titans. Our Titans play our way. We don't modify ourselves to our Titans, do we, Titanfall 1 Pilots? We picked what was comfortable for us. We didn't need gimmicks, like lock-on cannons and swords and incendiary devices. Or limited energy pools. We had Titans. We had weapons. We could use them both to destroy any obstruction on our path to true victory, to enlightenment as warriors, with armies at our backs!

But we have lost these things. We have lost the way. I know you've heard this too many times before, but Respawn. What your game had was humanity. We saw this with BT and Cooper. You haven't forgotten what it's like to make humans in stories. I know that multiplayer isn't a campaign, but each match in Titanfall 1 had a story to it, even if it was very brief. And you did this using the Grunts. And the Titans that we made ourselves, with love and consideration to how they were to be used.

What happened, Respawn? What happened to my Atlas? Where are my Grunts? Why don't the battlefields sound alive anymore?

Where is the humanity in this cold, heartless world full of machines?
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Whew. Alright, that was, uh... long. Just some things I noticed that took away from the experience of Titanfall 2, something more... uh. Lore-related rather than gameplay. Partially gameplay.

TL;DR - The battlefields aren't alive in Titanfall 2 and the preset Titan loadouts was a very questionable idea. Make The Grunts Great Again.

EDIT: I might have put this in the wrong section by accident. Hold on.

 

Well, they still chat, yeah. But it's always just... how do I put this? It's always just ABOUT the fight. Relaying orders and that. Trust me, I get it, they're soldiers and they do that. But they were soldiers in 1, and they still sounded human. They weren't all about that full-on military drone in 1.

That and I noticed the Titan HUDs look kinda the same. Not sure how I feel about that.

 

Thanks, ENSC. I didn't plan to write all that out, but it just kinda wrote itself as I went along. I was just the editor.

I think some maps are good for it, but they're no Angel City, or Dig Site. God, I love Dig Site. I've done some insane parkour in there. Eden, too, for T2, though I wish the camping-on-the-center-track would stop.

Ah, yes... that brings me to Angel City Elites. I knew Barker was a sarcastic little sh*t drunk, but Liam O'Brien did a wonderful job with him. He is the representation of every Pilot.

For instance, one of his 'Titanfall' quotes.

"Standby for Titanfall! I love sayin' that."

And his confusion when he thinks you lost, but you actually won. He's so full of personality. I love it. It's to the point that I don't wanna go through Regen so I don't have to leave Commander Barker.