The News Grandmaster 4000

Apex Legends currently has 240k viewers on Twitch, to Fortnite’s 100k. Seems to be going very well, notwithstanding what everybody here thought.

I think this might leave fortnite as the kids’ BR but coexist as the adult BR? PubG was always a bit jank but there were some remainers there who just didn’t like the aesthetic of Fortnite, who will probably move to this.

Blackout already solved the “what if PUBG wasn’t jank” collective yearning, so I guess this game’s pull is the diet sci-fi / no CoD stigma / free aspects.

This game… it’s fine, but everything I could talk about that makes it somewhat different isn’t really interesting. Like, it forces you to play in a squad of three, which is cool, and it has an incredibly detailed ping system including both incoming text-to-speech AND speech-to-text (I’m sure some deaf gamers will really appreciate that if it works), and the map looks like a radioactive dump to me with no places I want to live in (every BR map ultimately disappoints me for this reason) BUT it has an interesting emphasis on chokepoints afforded by impassable canyon cliffsides so it sorta avoids the lorem ipsum hills and trees other BR maps have going on, and there’s weapons you’ve used before and hero abilities you’ve used before and…

It just has no vision, really.

edit: Another neat thing is that you have a 90 second window to respawn dead teammates if you carry their dog tags to a Respawn Beacon, which emphasizes teamwork and makes it so dead teammates are emotionally engaged (i.e. not alt-tabbing and waiting for the last dude to die already), which is neat but again not really all that different or interesting enough to justify a new boots-on-the-ground battle royale game.

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The short rounds make it pretty addictive. One round of PUBG and I feel exhausted, but here the games are 20 minutes at most. People got better and I stopped winning too, which makes me engage more with the abilities of the heroes. They’re largely pretty neat!

But yeah, there’s nothing ground breaking here. The dozens of quality of life upgrades it has over other BRs culminate into something slightly impressive, but it’s not going to turn anyone around on BRs in general.

I still want to play more, but that might just mean solid mechanics and refinement are enough for me.

The difference is PubG has vehicles, so the map is huge and there’s tons of dead time.

every battle royale game relies too heavily on this interchangeable, artless, tediously literal map screen presentation that sucks the joy out of exploration.

except for CS:GO which has this diegetic gem that doubles as an airdrop buy menu and really they’re on some whole other shit with that mode and I should play it more. tiny map tho.

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Here’s the nuclear olde sb take: battle royale is an inherently terrible game format and literally cannot be made good except by going all the way back to Day Z and focusing on fragility, neutral enemies and the vagaries of IFF and fluid factionalism

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But that takes a long time and I might not even get to experience all of those things.

What’s IFF

Intensely Fluffy Furries.

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In philosophy papers it means “if and only if”.

I’m sure there are many official expansions of IFF, but basically Identification of Friend or Foe

Instead of seeing red pips on your screen over BAD DUDES you need to figure out, in game, who to shoot at. Who you want to shoot at could change over time.

I think that’s what he’s talking about, anyway

yah

It’s such a huge expanse of pacing variety and it brings with it terror, traversal, sightseeing, boredom – all aspects I’m hugely happy to see in multiplayer shooters. After that ground was so barren for 15 years I think the kids today have it pretty good.

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It sucks

Well I don’t like how restricted the emotional and pacing landscape is in typical competitive shooters! Frantic all the time gets old

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nah

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Blood potion for that notion.

Battle Royale is a good format and I’m too old to play it - I will literally have a heart attack next time I’m in the top 10 in PUBG

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If you die in real life you die in the game

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A while back I tried Fortnite’s casual mode (or whatever it’s called) to get a feel for the controls and try to wrap my head around the building stuff.

The game dropped me with two other kids, who went off on their own, making friends with one another. Cute stuff! Until they remembered I was also in the game, and they decided to switch teams so they could hunt me down.

What I’m getting at is - hunkering down in a fortified trailer as two little kids start ripping down the buildings around you, their voices and footsteps getting louder, announcing they’re gonna kill you. It’s a trip.

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