Codex Review RPG Codex Review: BATTLETECH

[I ASK INANE QUESTIONS]

How many game artists of today really understand how the shader pipeline works in the tools they work with every day? I can bet you, not many.

Not many.

Spoiler

Understanding shaders, and worse, being able to code them was always treated like some sort of weird black magic.
Right up until the moment we've got introduced to shader graphs, that is, because after that it all went about thataway:
Hey bruh, I just made this cool shader graph in UE, it perfectly blends three different tiling textures. And I even saved some memory, because most textures are completely parametrized and there's are almost no texture lookups!
Gaming industry: doing less with more.

But to be honest, technical competence is a side issue at this point, because a lot of artists are actually technically competent. Tech artists occupy a profitable and respectable niche, and a fair amount of competent people end up there.
Now if only they were any good at their actual job, that'd be great. Competence, tech knowledge, ability to work well with the constraints, know-how - none of these are a replacement for artistic skills that are usually defined in much more nebulous terms, but are absolutely essential for a good artist. But then again, it's not like the industry wants good artists.

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/CYbYvImd7Bw And that's just the concept art. If only you knew how bad things really are.

 

[J_C]

How many game artists of today really understand how the shader pipeline works in the tools they work with every day? I can bet you, not many.

Not many.

Spoiler

Understanding shaders, and worse, being able to code them was always treated like some sort of weird black magic.
Right up until the moment we've got introduced to shader graphs, that is, because after that it all went about thataway:
Hey bruh, I just made this cool shader graph in UE, it perfectly blends three different tiling textures. And I even saved some memory, because most textures are completely parametrized and there's are almost no texture lookups!
Gaming industry: doing less with more.

But to be honest, technical competence is a side issue at this point, because a lot of artists are actually technically competent. Tech artists occupy a profitable and respectable niche, and a fair amount of competent people end up there.
Now if only they were any good at their actual job, that'd be great. Competence, tech knowledge, ability to work well with the constraints, know-how - none of these are a replacement for artistic skills that are usually defined in much more nebulous terms, but are absolutely essential for a good artist. But then again, it's not like the industry wants good artists.

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/CYbYvImd7Bw And that's just the concept art. If only you knew how bad things really are.

I have to admit shaders are like black magic for me. :D I mean, even though I'm not a programmer, and only did a little bit a self taught coding, I can understand most coding languages (at least on the surface level). But I looked at even the most basic shaders, and I honestly have no clue about them.

 

[Bohr]

PDX forum responds to the review (after GarfunkeL linked it there):


https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/rpgcodex-review-of-battletech.1106118/

 

[Infinitron]

Those BATTLETECH typos are a good moron detector. Or at least uncool person detector.

 

[Cael]

PDX forum responds to the review (after GarfunkeL linked it there):


https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/rpgcodex-review-of-battletech.1106118/

Unfortunately, Kurnn is not wrong. The reviewer didn't have much good things to say about the game, but gave the game good marks and stated he looked forward to more stuff for it. That immediately rings alarm bells of the "paid shill" variety.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Well, later comments are more agreeable over at: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/rpgcodex-review-of-battletech.1106118/

Like the dude who says that the criticism towards the story is both warranted and more detailed than others have said.

 

[Bohr]

Well, later comments are more agreeable over at: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/rpgcodex-review-of-battletech.1106118/

Like the dude who says that the criticism towards the story is both warranted and more detailed than others have said.

"TheSheeep2"... sounds familiar somehow

 

[sser]

PDX forum responds to the review (after GarfunkeL linked it there):


https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/rpgcodex-review-of-battletech.1106118/

Unfortunately, Kurnn is not wrong. The reviewer didn't have much good things to say about the game, but gave the game good marks and stated he looked forward to more stuff for it. That immediately rings alarm bells of the "paid shill" variety.

Yes, when I think paid shill I think 7,000 word hyper-critical review with an optimistic one-liner closer. Civ4 at release was a pile of shit too but with BTS it is the best in the series. I've no qualms about looking forward if I see something good buried beneath the mess.


Posted from my iShill with crapatalk.

 

[Cael]

Yes, when I think paid shill I think 7,000 word hyper-critical review with an optimistic one-liner closer. Civ4 at release was a pile of shit too but with BTS it is the best in the series. I've no qualms about looking forward if I see something good buried beneath the mess.


Posted from my iShill with crapatalk.

Par for the course for lobbyists. No matter what they say or how much they hate something, they give it high marks in order to try and deceive people into buying what they are selling.

"That design is shit and no sane person would be seen wearing it, but I still give it a 10/10 and hope the designer comes up with more stuff along the same lines."

 

[sser]

I didn't even rate it what are you on about

 

[Darth Roxor]

the bribing of reviewers on rpgcodex knows no bounds

truly appalling

 

[Cael]

I didn't even rate it what are you on about

Ah. One of those "I pretend to not see my mistake so that the other guy will be forced to explain himself until he gives up" monkeys. Too bad that other people are not as stupid as you believe and can see through your lies and deception. The guy in the Paradox forums had you pegged, as did I in my very first comment on your review (in the other HBS game thread).

 

[GarfunkeL]

Dude, what the fuck are you going on about? It's very clearly a joke rating, since Codex reviews don't do ratings anyway. The positive "spin" there is the fact that HBS has a proven track record of improving their stuff iteration by iteration, so while BATTLETECH might be a disappointment at 1.0, patches and expansions and sequels will most likely massively improve it. Already the notes for patch 1.1 are promising.

 

[Bohr]

They're on to us

 

[thesheeep]

I heard the original review was written in High Valyrian.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Ekera.

 

[Cael]

Dude, what the fuck are you going on about? It's very clearly a joke rating,

 

[Trash]

Contracts are samey and the basic gameplay just isn't that much fun. Disappointed. Another game I'll check in a year or so, since the possibility of it being good is somewhere in there. As it is however, I'll pass.

 

[Country_Gravy]

I heard the original review was written in High Valyrian.

Esperanto. Shatner was the copy editor.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

maybe you guys indulge the freaks too much (freaks being the whole gaming community outside of here)

you review any game thinking it should be good for what it is. That has always been wrong.

every game should be as complex as U7, Deus ex or FO. if it offers that freedom, it's good, otherwise it's bad.

a simple scale of complexity, a quantity of brain energy usage. from 0 ampere or volts to, say, 50 is the brain energy of apes, from 51 above is for humans. to proove it to the world the site should hire an ape, and make a video of him/her playing the game

that might not help you if you MUST be loved by the community. But it will if you send whoever registers to the site a copy of the reviewed game. Along with a banana taped around the game box

 

[Blaine]

Those BATTLETECH typos are a good moron detector. Or at least uncool person detector.

They do indeed serve as a great moron detector, because the real and actual correct spelling is BattleTech.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

They do indeed serve as a great moron detector, because the real and actual correct spelling is BattleTech.

If George Lucas hadn't established a trademark on the term 'droids', the correct spelling would be BattleDroids.

 

[Blaine]

If George Lucas hadn't established a trademark on the term 'droids', the correct spelling would be BattleDroids.

And yet, it isn't. We don't go about calling the Quest for Glory series "Hero Quest," either, now do we?

 

[Kalin]

Glory Quest CRPG