First Impressions of FF

[Shadow_Echo]

This. Game. Is. Epic.

After an ENTIRE NIGHT of re-downloading HL2 at 20 kb/s, it was ready. 8:30 in the morning, I turned on Fortress Forever and joined a server at Crossover. I was surprised to see the debreif at the loading screen, giving me something to read. After a surprisingly short wait, I was in, and I picked Spy . Desperate to try out Cloak, I tapped some of the classic TFC buttons to try and bring up the special menu. I later realised I just had to right click. The circle-thing is a GREAT idea, makes it easy to get stuff done fast. I was also surprised to see TWO cloaking options, both of which were excellent.

Interested to see how cloaking was on a comp running DX7, I cloaked (whilst throwing a ragdoll at someone). Again, epic. It wasn't the active-camo effect I knew would slit my computer wrists, but instead a highly invisible texture overlay. Very nice. When standing still, I can't even see myself. It took me awhile to realize you can't jump while cloaked, which was all for the best. When a sentry killed me, I was surprised, then a helpful hint thing came up and told me I was retarded and sentries could see through cloaks >.<

End of Part 1... Expect Part 2: The Wonders of Sabatoge sometime within the next millenia!

Now, the computer hath cooled down again, back to FF!!!

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by Desyphur

It's there, it sounds like gear jumbling around.

It's all the shit you are carrying in your backpack rattling around, rather than leaping to take a constipated dump.

What backpack, you ask? The one you drop when someone frags you incompetant ass! SILLY!

[Blueiii]

Love it.
I find myself playing for 2-3 hours at a time, even with 10fps on some occasions, and no other HL2 mod has done that for me. Its TFC but with more speed . Of course there is always room for improvement. For example, the flag should get its glow back. I often find myself running past the flag or past the flag carrier and although the flag is brighter, its glow would make things better. Also the demo's nade launcher should get a boost in its launching power. They should be able to go a little further in my opinion. I havent really been paying much attention to the games flaws as the pros outweigh the cons, so that is all I could think of.
Thank you FF team for fulfilling my fortress needs!

[BobTheChainsaw]

jesus christ I love dustbowl valley so motherfucking much.

[vrtkolman123]

Played it for a few days and while I think the dev team did a good job, I doubt I'll continue playing.

I'm not gonna point out all the bugs and gameplay issues I have because those will most likely be worked in the upcoming weeks. I will point out the issues I have with the community though. TFC vets are still wearing their TFC clan and guild tags, which for a new game is pretty weak. Also, certain old TFC servers (Odin's Graveyard) are following suit and copying over their TFC league play rules to FF, which for a new game is also pretty weak (not to mention drives off new players to the game).

I like how the FF dev team is selling FF as a whole new game, and not just a TFC port. However, the community isn't exactly going along with this and once the initial release player-base goes down, the remaining players will have to deal with the "elite players" from TFC. I don't see a growing community coming from this.

[kevjones]

TF2 on monday!

[Ambex]

day 2 impressions:

the maps is cool yeah my favourite is well.

I don't like the rocket, nade delay.. my friend asked me if it was lagg i had to explain no it wasn't.

lol

and it's really wild.. really sick, sick , sick wild game.



YEA

[id_]

Originally Posted by vrtkolman123

Played it for a few days and while I think the dev team did a good job, I doubt I'll continue playing.

I'm not gonna point out all the bugs and gameplay issues I have because those will most likely be worked in the upcoming weeks. I will point out the issues I have with the community though. TFC vets are still wearing their TFC clan and guild tags, which for a new game is pretty weak. Also, certain old TFC servers (Odin's Graveyard) are following suit and copying over their TFC league play rules to FF, which for a new game is also pretty weak (not to mention drives off new players to the game).

I like how the FF dev team is selling FF as a whole new game, and not just a TFC port. However, the community isn't exactly going along with this and once the initial release player-base goes down, the remaining players will have to deal with the "elite players" from TFC. I don't see a growing community coming from this.

not every single FF server is a migration of a TFC server. the community dictates what is acceptable in game. It's absolutely no different from the limitation of purchasable weapons in CS from server to server, yet look how popular that mod remains to this day. i don't think it's unreasonable to expect players to maintain a sort of fortress "integrity" while in game. Most (not all) rules are in place to facilitate the inherent nature of the gameplay, and those who don't want to follow these rules are more than welcome to join another server full of nothing but yard HW and pyro's spamming the yard for 30 minutes.

[kevjones]

No CS is popular because it isnt in alpha stage

[s0undch4s3r]

The sniper can now kill an HWguy in one shot.

What is up with that? too much power.

SG needs more power. In dustbowl the SG is worthless.

[Da Spadger]

Well, I've played this game for two days now...


IT'S AWESOMELY AWESOME

Originally Posted by s0undch4s3r

The sniper can now kill an HWguy in one shot.

What is up with that? too much power.

SG needs more power. In dustbowl the SG is worthless.

I agree. If anything, the rifle should have been toned down, not up.


I am a long time hater of snipers though, so, eh.

[Sabre]

Originally Posted by vrtkolman123

Played it for a few days and while I think the dev team did a good job, I doubt I'll continue playing.

I'm not gonna point out all the bugs and gameplay issues I have because those will most likely be worked in the upcoming weeks. I will point out the issues I have with the community though. TFC vets are still wearing their TFC clan and guild tags, which for a new game is pretty weak. Also, certain old TFC servers (Odin's Graveyard) are following suit and copying over their TFC league play rules to FF, which for a new game is also pretty weak (not to mention drives off new players to the game).

I like how the FF dev team is selling FF as a whole new game, and not just a TFC port. However, the community isn't exactly going along with this and once the initial release player-base goes down, the remaining players will have to deal with the "elite players" from TFC. I don't see a growing community coming from this.

If you like the game play it, don't let other people put you off it thats just .... pretty weak.

[Jetpac]

Absolutly love this game.
great job!

From my point of view:

I think the HWG needs a little bit of a nerf, not much just a little tone down.
Spy seems very powerful. its a good thing that hes more useful, but maybe a bit too powerful i dunno.

Map issues:
Well - Main doors the bug out. and does anyone else find it tricky to get out of the water in the yard easily?

[Bubbles]

Spy is mad fun though there would appear to be ways to improve cloakdetection by console commands.

[puppychow]

Originally Posted by s0undch4s3r

The sniper can now kill an HWguy in one shot.

yo, rookie, the sniper has always been able to insta kill a HW in tfc, maybe you just wernt a good enough of a shot

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by s0undch4s3r

The sniper can now kill an HWguy in one shot.

What is up with that? too much power.

SG needs more power. In dustbowl the SG is worthless.

If you couldn't kill a HW in TFC in one shot, you need aiming lessons!

[Type6]

Generally my main fear was that the dynamics and feel of the game would just not be right (as with most source games so far). That fear was unjustified.

Movement and game dynamics:
The game feels great, movement is smooth, and I like the way the speed cap gradually kicks in when you go to fast after a boost. Bhop feels a little different and a bit slow even, but that's just something to get used to.

Some of the classes can now preform all kinds of movement tricks. The engie's rail gun provides speed boosts and some height if need be. The pyro gains more height with an IC jump then before. The ability to boost or manouver yourself with the flamethrower is great to. Not to mention the IC+napalm gren jump which gives MASSIVE air (if done right)at virtually no armor and health cost (hope they don't nerf that one ). The conc jumps feel good to, takes a little getting used to but it's just as good as before.

New features:
All of the new class features seem great so far. They are well balanced and useful and suit the game well! A lot of stuff that we had before is now automated and better. The radial menus are great. Other things like SG placement make life much easier to!
I especially like the customizable crosshairs, which not only looks great but is extremely functional to.

Weapons:
All the weapons feel right. It takes a few minutes to adjust and get used to the way rockets and the IC cannon shoot now, but once that happens using them comes naturally. The faster rate of fire for the RL makes for a more tactical gamepaly as a solder.

Models:
Some posters pointed out that the models are plain and uninspired. I would agree with that. They simply don't have enough personality to them. They suit their purpose well though and some of the details on them are really actually pretty neat. In my opinion, the models are not of prime importance and don't effect the game at all so that's not a main factor to consider when rating the game.

Maps:
The maps are done well to. There's a few glitches in some of them, but that's to be expected and doesn't bother me personally at all. Some of the maps play almost the same (like shutdown), yet others have a completely different feel to them (crossover for example). Which is excellent as it provides a new rhythm and play style but still keeps the general layout of the maps we all knew and loved before.

Balance:
This is something I have issues with. I know the game is not meant to be a direct port of TFC, but certain things need to be reworked. Mainly 2: the AC cannon. Loosing the spin up delay was a big mistake in my opinion, it was cruicial. Instead we get an overheat feature which doesn't - if used properly (how convenient). Yes clicking the button a bit might mess with the persons aim, but once you get used to it it's no problem. As a soldier in TFC I beat HWs in most situations without difficulty. Here I stand little to no chance against a HW unless I play very defensively and the terrain is just right (especially because the AC shoots instantly).
The AR. In my opinion the AR is simply overpowered. Yes you get reduced accuracy at longer ranges, but that doesn't make up for the increased damage.
The balance issues will eventually be tweaked as the devs get more and more
feedback so that's not a long term concern for me personally.

Polish and bugs:
As is to be expected there are a few bugs some are more annoying then others. Some players also experience crashes (me to). But all of that is to be expected and will be fixed over time, so again it's not a minus for the game in my book. After all the mod is free and from that point of view it plays excellent. On par or even better then a lot of retail FPSs.

Community and players:
A lot of people mentioned negative experiences they had with some players and servers. I had my share of those to after playing for 2 days. There would be the arrogant veterans. And the "CS" noobs. The first lot parade around servers as though they own the place and instead of helping new players they insult and look down on them. The others complain about nade and rocket? spam and "camping near your turrets" on push type maps.
In my opinion the player base will soon be filtered out and this won't be a problem. At the end of the day this is not as annoying as it is amusing. Simply sit back, play and listen to people argue and complain in a less then mature fassion.

Overall:
Overall I think the game turned out great. It feels well and plays right. There are a few bugs, balance issues and lack of polish, but that is pretty much standard as with most new games, and will be fixed over time. The Devs did a great job. The mod turned out excellent!


Woo long post. Sorry people. I usually don't write much, but I've been playing this game since the Quake days and simply love it.

Ever since I saw what TF2 will become (which took a completely different direction from other TF game, and was highly dissapointing for me) I held my breath for FF and hoped that the project will be pulled through.
I was very excited when FF was finally released and I needed to put my thoughts and feelings about it on paper.

GG!

[Deadly Furby]

Well thought out post, you get an A+ in todays class!!

[Type6]

\o/