Looking for Negative Opinions of Titanfall

There are parts of the game (that we've discussed here on the forums) that could maybe use some tweaking, but honestly that is about the worst criticism I can give the game at this point. None of the tweaks we've discussed are going to stop me from playing upon release.

I probably have more truly negative opinions regarding Respawn's methods of communication during the beta. They relied heavily on twitter for announcements and too often it was not through their official @titanfallgame or @respawn handles. That being said it was a beta, so communication issues are to be expected. I'm sure much of that will be resolved upon release where we won't need to have hourly updates on servers, key code emails and other statuses.


As for your AI concerns they are actually an important part of the game. While they are somewhat "dumb" they are a balancing element that prevents the pilots good at player v. player from completely stomping on everyone else. Someone not as good at player v. player or still learning the game can focus a bit more on killing AI. They will continue to contribute to the teams progress in the match and still feel like a bad-ass.


I realize I'm gushing a bit on a topic that wants negative responses, but...it is better than half the rumors that I can say for sure. I've had a REALLY hard time finding anything else to play in the mean time. I actually played some Civ 5 tonight because I just could not bring myself to play another shooter. /endgush

 

My biggest criticism of this game is that it costs as much as a game offering an online component and a single player campaign. Equally, games like Wolfenstein that offer no online and only single player have the same issue. I really think that if you are offering an online only game, albeit a very very very good one the games price should reflect that. Likewise with a single player campaign only.

Addendum-I am happy to pay the price, what I have said is an argument of principle largely. But hey, games are expensive and then added to DLC they become even more expensive. If you pay say $90 dollars for a FPS with a campaign and a online component. Then paying a bit less for an online only sorta makes sense.

In answer to your question, is this game worth making a purchase of an X1. At this stage yes, but this game is over hyped, everyone who plays it is suspending judgement because they really want to like it and be liked (reviewers mostly, any reviewer returning a negative preview of this game would be brave to say the least) for liking it. At the moment its is very difficult for people to be objectively critical of the game. Also many of the previews of this game are being couched in terms of CoD or Halo which does not offer the best context in which to judge this game. Additionally, it will take some time for the meta game to reveal itself to be an indicator of its longevity as a game to be played. How the game is able to be played and replayed will be curious to see.

But in my limited experience of this game having really put in on the beta, it is the MOST fun I have had on an FPS is a long long time.

Short answer-Buy it dude.

 

@Sgt_rawk you are right, gaming press are notorious for glossing over popular titles either because they want the hits or they want to protect their relationships with developers. It is a perverse and wholly different situation from other critically reviewed aspects of our lives (food, entertainment, etc.).


Our views on this forum will (for the most part) be somewhat biased. That being said there's been numerous detailed discussions regarding issues we've found with the game, imbalances, etc. I would entreat you to read over some of them and get a better idea of various pain points we've all felt with the game. These are probably things the general gaming press will not spend time reporting.

 

Well, the @respawn twitter is handled by one person, Abbie. She was bombarded there and at her personal twitter account and I think she did a commendable job. The server issues were hard to keep up on, because it was a stress test of the servers, and no one really knew answers to issues as they were learning as the beta went along. Slothy aka Jon Shiring was in Redmond at Xbox working hard to find fixes for all the server issues as they appeared.

Myself and the other moderators at the official Respawn forums worked hard keeping information current, the amount of traffic was overwhelming and it was hard to keep up with, but with Abbie's help, I think we did the best we could. I don't think any of us knew what to expect and often information was quickly buried or ignored by new threads being started.

The @Titanfallgame twitter is an EA run account, and it was EA who handled the distribution of beta codes.

 

I agree with this 100%. Respawn are a very new studio (I know they've been around for a couple years now) but this is their first release. Compared to going to events where you do a couple of pre-scheduled interviews here and there, doing this beta put them in a "live" environment. There is no preparing, to a certain extent, and you have to be able to address things on the fly. The team as a whole did an amazing job keeping things on track, and for a studio of about 80-90 people I'm incredibly happy with how things were handled during the beta. It leaves me with high hopes for full release.

To address the OP, I don't think there is one negative thing about the game right now. From the outside, you see people calling it just another Call of Duty, or a COD with mechs. The thing is, until you actually play the game yourself, you won't understand how the game flows and how vastly different it is from every other FPS out there. This is the most fun I've had with an FPS in about 5 years. Titanfall is going to be the best FPS on the market when March 11 rolls around.

 

It is not so much that I'm taking it as an insult, but rather I disagree. It could be I'm taking it a little personal though, so I'll just leave it at that.

 

I understand @Laddie13, I'm not saying that there wasn't communication because there certainly was. It is just that beta's are a hectic experience both for developers & testers alike. I had no doubt Respawn was inundated as it was a very visible and popular beta that people wanted to be a part of. The OP asked for pain points and that was what stuck out in mind from the beta experience.

The only reason it was really an issue for me is that I had to find out about a lot of things through secondary gaming sites, which aren't necessarily the most reliable and up to date source of information you know? Sometimes Vince Zampella would post to twitter, sometimes Respawn, other times EA.

I think Respawn did a pretty commendable job considering the scope, but maybe just some work between Respawn + EA communication could use some work? I guess maybe that's what I'm kind of getting at.

 

The Respawn Forums are filled with negative opinions about things the minority of players didn't like or opinions of what should or should not be included. I'll summarise the majority of their raging debates for you.

1. AI - Specifically the grunts & spectres. A minority of players don't want them in game at all (despite their importance to gameplay).
2. Titans - People just want Pilot v Pilot gameplay. (Completely defeats the purpose of "Titan fall" imo)
3. 6v6 Gameplay - This connects with the first point where people want the AI removed and than increase the player cap from 6v6, to 8v8 or 12v12 etc... (The issues with doing this are well documented by Respawn)
4. Customised Servers - Once again a minority of players want to play the game differently than intended. (Think "Sniper Only" servers, "No Titan servers", "Quick Titan drop servers" etc)
5. Not "Competitive" enough/Should be an "E-Sports" - I got no idea what people want with this point.
6. Server Browser & No Lobbies - One valid criticism in this point is that the lobby matchmaking needs to be improved. Personally I never felt this game needs a Server Browser if Respawn stick to their guns. Otherwise if Customized servers are introduced, a browser will need to be introduced.

The thing I identified about most of the above opinions are they aren't exactly negative opinions about the game, but more personal preference requests. Some gamers have a real hard time adjusting to something that's a bit different & will try their hardest to bring it back to something that's familiar.

 

My one complaint is the Longbow DMR is hitscan and the bullet magnetism on it is way too stronk. I don't know if you guys have used it but it's very CODesque in it's ability to hit enemies you aren't actually aiming at.

 

Purchasing new games is always a gamble. I'm confident you will enjoy Titanfall if you're a fan of FPS's.

 

The jetpack is just is a high jump really, it's not like you float.
My main fear is the shotgun range which is pretty OP, and the smart pistol is annoying buy not OP.

 

Ill be honest and say I had my reservations about Titanfall before the beta, but I have absolutely no concerns now , my experience of it was just a lot of fun with no bugs or glitches I saw.
I'm sure you'll be happy with your purchase after the research you've done prior to it.

 

I'll start by saying, my opinion on the game is causing me to buy it across all 3 systems that it's available on...also bought the XB1 specifically so I could play the Titanfall beta....if that tells you anything of where my head is at.

I echo the guy above saying that the "worst" part of Titanfall is that people keep trying to poke holes in why it's amazing. I'd also argue that someone saying "communication was poor." must not have read that over two million people played the beta. If that's what bad communication is for Respawn....whoooooooooo boy, I can't wait to see when you consider them to have great communication.

When people complain about 6v6 or pilots only...then they either haven't played the game (which is frenetic as is and ...yes, no Titans defeats the point) or they're just used to seeing the same old thing year after year and want something safe and familiar. This is fresh take. I get where folks are coming from...but innovation needs to happen at some point. Nice to see Respawn picking up this ball.

The reason I feel so confident in this team and in this game is that the beta played better than the current, patched, FINAL version of Battlefield 4. I'm still kicking myself over that purchase. And to date, I've now put more hours into Titanfall BETA than I have BF4.

Just like the 6v6 complaint....if you're complaining about AI, then you haven't played the game nor are you playing it correctly. The AI is such a cool part of the game...it's really unfortunate people are missing the point on that. There aren't lulls in the game. Have you ever seen an action movie with Sylvester Stalone or Arnold Schwarzenegger? Ever notice how the main character is going after the bad guy, but 20 henchmen appear out of nowhere and start shooting? They don't always have the best aim, rarely hit our hero, and really...they're there just to be taken out. Bullets flying everywhere. Respawn makes you Rambo. If I'm running a route to the B flag, I go in through a blown out wall and there are 3 to 5 grunts waiting for me. I've gotta shoot my way through two, snap another's neck, kick one back out the door and THEN run down the stairs into two pilots...we wall run and deke around each other, shooting wildly. After I take them out, I realize I've been holding my breath for about 40 seconds. People who rather go back to being mowed down by an AI Battle Hind or COMPLETELY OVERPOWERED BULLET PROOF SUPER DOG....great. Stick to that.

I agree with the guy above who said they're less complaints and more "personal preference requests." So the problem with Titanfall? The real problem...is that people will tell you it's just like CoD and then ask for Respawn to make it just like CoD.

I'm exceptionally proud of their team and what they've accomplished thus far. This is the first company to make me this excited about a video game since I was given the original Legend of Zelda for Christmas when I was 9.

My only issue with the game is that I'm not playing it right now.

 

Great post above

 

You should look more into the game. While it's not a "single player campaign" as you've known them, there are not one but TWO campaign modes....where you will get to see the story from the perspective of both the IMC and the Militia. There's potentially between 50 and 200 hours of content there mixed with multiplayer and depending on what DLC they invent. I personally put about 200+ hours into CoD games and did about 210 for Skyrim.

You pay $10 to $15 for a movie these days. And that's two hours and 20 minutes WITH commercials. With Titanfall, you're getting, at the VERY least 15 to 30 hours....if not 50 to 200 hours of game play. ...for $60 bucks.

Come onnn. If that's not bang for your buck...