Brink video

[Herr Mafflard]

had a great match just now. you know you're doing great when people accuse you of haxxoring.

Bulpdaun smg with front grip and high capacity mag is just BEAST

[Shuri]

People fucking suck at this game, I feel like I'm playing with distinguished mentally-challenged bots and that I have to do everything myself... I'm done with this game until theres a patch.

[Stoney Mason]

Funny enough I should get this in on gamefly by Saturday or Monday.

Just wanted to give everyone an update on where we’re currently at with our upcoming game updates for Brink.
 
Xbox 360
 
We’ve been hard at work investigating the lag issues some players of the Xbox 360 version of Brink have reported. We’ve now completed modifications to improve network performance and will be rolling these out in a title update for the game.
 
This update has been submitted to Microsoft, and we expect it to be available next week.
 
This title update is also going to fix an isolated freezing issue reported by some German players who should no longer experience that problem once the update has been installed.
 
Details on PC and PS3 after the break…
 
PC
 
A game update for the PC version of Brink is in final testing and we’re planning to release it early next week. This update contains a host of fixes and improvements including the following:
 
We’ve identified the cause of sound dropping out on certain maps when playing networked games for a prolonged amount of time. This will no longer occur.
 
Graphical performance has been improved, especially when using Ambient Occlusion. We’ve worked closely with both AMD and NVIDIA, and you should see performance and stability improvements in future driver revisions from both parties.
 
The server browser is tweaked in this update, as well; among other things, a new filter allows you to display only servers with a certain number of players on them, and full servers will no longer be filtered out completely.
 
There are some smaller fixes for minor issues including your character’s voice occasionally resetting when deleting another character, and a memory leak when alt-tabbing out of the game.
 
Finally, the dedicated server is set to get an update at the same time as the main game, which will result in improved CPU performance. We’ve protected certain cvars that previously allowed server admins to accidentally break objectives involving NPCs.
 
The full changelog will be released alongside the update, so keep an eye out for that.
 
PlayStation 3
 
With PSN back online, we’re able to resume multiplayer testing on the PlayStation 3. We’re preparing to bring the changes in the upcoming Xbox 360 title update to the PlayStation 3 version of Brink quickly and we expect to have it out next week. Stay tuned!
 
In the Meantime…
 
Until these updates roll out, here’s what you can do to improve your multiplayer experience if you encounter problems:
 Check your opponent’s network connection / ping: One player with very low bandwidth connections can have a negative impact on the overall network performance of the game for the team.
 You are able to view other player’s connection quality easily by viewing the scoreboard and determining if this is the likely cause of lag.
 To view other player’s connection quality, press Start during a match and select the Scoreboard option to display all other players
 Other human player bandwidth values are shown on the right hand side of their name as a traffic light value. Anyone that is showing orange or red means they have a bad connection and could potentially be causing the match to become disrupted…
 

Note: You can also view the opposing team scoreboard since the problem may be with a player on the opposite team. To do this press R1 for PS3 or RB for XBOX 360 while on the scoreboard
 Should you see more players showing RED than GREEN on their status, you should exit this game, return to the main menu and join another game on a new connection.
 The matchmaking system will place you in a more suitable game
 
Finally, if you have the German Xbox 360 version of Brink and are experiencing freezing issues, you can use the following workaround until the title update is released:
 Turn the Dialogue Volume down completely. You can do this from the main menu or by pressing Start during a match and selecting: Optionen > Audio > Lautstärke der Dialoge
 Move the dialogue volume slider all the way to the left
 

That’s it for this blog update. More will be coming your way, and in the meantime, we’ll see you online!

[Stoney Mason]

Brink came in and I played it for about 2 or 3 hours.

I kinda dig it although with the caveat that it has some issues and I haven't even touched the multiplayer yet. I've just been playing the campaign co-op with a friend so all my impressions are based on that and may change against actual people (and crippling lag). Because of the horror stories I kinda don't want to even try multiplayer until the patch arrives this week.

I'll start off with the stuff I don't care about. The graphics. They are fuzzy and jaggy and there is still a good deal of pop-in even with that original supposed patch. It's not the worst looking game in the world but its definitely in the very average category. It's saved a little bit by the art design which is very good. None of that really bothers me except the fuzziness which hampers gameplay a bit since you are trying to pick out people at distance.

I had heard terrible things about the gunplay and the base mechanics but honestly I don't have any real significant issues there. I mean its not COD level of gun play but for a game of this type the gun play seems fine and comparable to the other shooters on the market. I switched the controls to the call of duty preset and I was good to go. Game even has completely customizable controls which every console game should have.

Game seems very smg driven which seems like it could be balanced a bit more with the AR's but honestly most of the combat is very short range so weapons like smg's are going to dominate anyway. Another thing I heard people bitching about was the weakness of the grenades but I think they are perfectly fine being weak. Not every game needs to copy the grenade model of Halo or COD. And to be honest I prefer weaker grenades.

The battles definitely have this very choke-point war of attrition feel to them. Especially because of the smallish style maps and because of the nature of the gameplay. I'm not sure if this is a legit complaint to level at the game or just a design choice. There is certainly a repitiveness that can set in with two teams are battling on just one objective for many mintues at a time. But there is also an undeniable joy when you actually break through and achieve the goal. I think what it requires is constant balancing and tuning to really keep the experience balanced. Because currently some objectives seem incredibly easy and some seem down right impossible. But I kinda think that's more a solvable balance issue rather than just a failure. Like currently the operatives can hack very slowly but the other team can undo the hack extremely quickly. Things like that need to be tuned and fixed for a better balance. Things like that.

The movement stuff is actually really great. For me COD is my favorite shooter on consoles because it feels so responsive and right. And while this has a different feel to it this is also responive and right simply because of the smart stuff. Stripping away all the hyperbole what you have here is simply an auto-mantle but that small change is a really big deal. I feel very in control of the character and able to get where I want quickly and precisely. It doesn't animate particularly well when you watch your teammates doing it but it feels just fine which is the important part. I only wish the level design took better advantage of it. But even without that its good stuff and sliding into somebody and tripping them is such a cool thing.

I'm kinda surprised how much I like it. The caveat being that I haven't tried multiplayer so a completely broken experience there with no party system, no lobby, lag, etc obviously brings down the game. I was really angry at splash damage before I got the game and still am for some of their piss poor decisions but now I just feel kinda depressed after playing the game because maybe it could have been a big deal if they had polished and better designed the game from an infrastructure standpoint. I just kinda feel with how they put it out there its been sent to die now which is unfortunate because it deserved better.

I'll post some thoughts purely on the multiplayer when I try it later in the week.

[TEEEPO]

i'd just like to chime in and say i love the game on the pc side of things. it worked great for me during launch but the quick patches have added more annoyances than fix anything, so i'm sitting this game out till the patch rolls out later this week. can't imagine this game being any good on the consoles. it's too demanding and intricate for the median gamer, which luckily pc gamers are a notch or two above. i don't think i've seen a more fully utilized class system in any game ever before where each class is entirely dependent on the other. on one of the last games i played, i literally change the tide of a battle just by switching to an engineer and buffing everyones weapon and placing turrents/mines, given that there was not a single person playing the class on my team. though the game needs a few patches or two before i can call it great and the smart system is a tad glitchy but that could be more of the fault of the player, but it still could respond better. buy it if you liked any of the enemy territory games before this or love gun porn.

[TEEEPO]

I'm kinda surprised how much I like it. The caveat being that I haven't tried multiplayer so a completely broken experience there with no party system, no lobby, lag, etc obviously brings down the game. I was really angry at splash damage before I got the game and still am for some of their piss poor decisions but now I just feel kinda depressed after playing the game because maybe it could have been a big deal if they had polished and better designed the game from an infrastructure standpoint. I just kinda feel with how they put it out there its been sent to die now which is unfortunate because it deserved better.

if they take a tf2 approach, match the retail price with its demand, offer free maps and weapons as well as a store to buy exclusive gear then i can see the game stay very active with the pc community. though i doubt they will since not many are as smart or good as valve but they do have a lot of the groundwork setup with the crazy customization.

[Stoney Mason]

My take is that if you build a good game people will come and play whatever the platform. You aren't going to get call of duty numbers but you will get a solid group of people.  The inherent problem being that you actually have to build an infratstructure that works.

These people don't play console games and it comes across in so many decisions in the multiplayer. First off don't call your multiplayer "free play". That's dumb.

The playlists are hidden in  a sub menu under match settings.  And the stop watch mode is hidden under a different sub menu under game mode. Don't fucking hide your playlists. It's also not obvious how to play without bots in the mp game.  

The community is split between the campaign which you can play multiplayer and the actual multiplayer so the division is bizzare. Don't split your community in this confusing manner or at least give some numbers so a person can figure out where the majority of people are playing and how to get into full games.

Have an actual party system like every other game on the planet. Have a pre game and post game lobby like every other game on the planet. Actually migrate the host when he has a poor connection like every other game on the planet. Also don't ship with crippling lag.

This is without me even having tried the multiplayer. It's just obvious things I noticed looking through the menu. All anyone has to do is look at the strucutre and playlist and menu stuff for Call of Duty or Halo. Those games get it right. You don't have to copy the gameplay of those games. But you damn well better sure copy the infrastructure stuff because it makes sense and its a huge reason those games are popular. 

[Shuri]

I'm sure that working on this game must had been a horrible nightmare.. ugh!

[Stoney Mason]

I was bored today so I played a little mp even though I knew it has issues.

Verdict: It has issues.


Its the same as what everybody says. Its really fun when it works but the percentage of it "working" is relatively low.

I had one lag free game that was awesome. I had a full team and everybody on my team was doing what they were supposed to be doing. We were holding down an area and buffing and reviving etc. Really fun although as I kind of thought I think the defense has too much of an advantage on some objectives which needs to be balanced. I accidentally backed out of the game because of a confusing menu layout and boy was that a  mistake. When you get into a good game on this stay there and hang in for dear life because you never know when you are going to get into another.

I tried to play about 6 or 7 other games after that and they were all either filled with lag or had few human players in them.

That's because all of the playlists except one (competition which is 5 on 5 and also doesn't allow bots thank god) only require one human before it starts. It doesn't gather people like Halo or COD in a pregame lobby in any of the playlists and wait for a reasonable number of people before it starts from what I saw. It just fills them with bots. And people may or may not eventually join your game. Nobody wants to play with fucking buts in this game. They are terrible.

And the lag. My god. It's not the usual lag you find in other games which have occasional lag spikes and hiccups. This is utterly unplayable, can't move an inch because you get reset lag, that lasts the entire rest of the match.

Even if they fix it to some degree I still hate the fact that you play with bots in the game so much. Who likes bots? Outside of a training mode who would ever want to play with bots in a game.

edit: Got into a few more non-lag games in the competition playlist. When it works its a pretty amazing game. I just wish it worked more.  :'(

And any objective involving an operative hacking something is bullshit. Way too hard and slow to do and easy for the other team to camp out the objective and reverse any hacking done. Needs major tuning on that.

edit 2:Also AR's need a boost on the ammo. They have almost none.

[Herr Mafflard]

edit 2:Also AR's need a boost on the ammo. They have almost none.

Have you done any of the challenges yet?

You can unlock the high-capacity magazine attachment on Tower Defence Lvl2, I believe. You're right, most guns - especially ARs - have pretty dreadful stock ammo.

I wanna get back on this but Witcher 2 and LA Noire. I think I'll jump on again when the patch hits.

[Stoney Mason]

edit 2:Also AR's need a boost on the ammo. They have almost none.

Have you done any of the challenges yet?

You can unlock the high-capacity magazine attachment on Tower Defence Lvl2, I believe. You're right, most guns - especially ARs - have pretty dreadful stock ammo.

Yeah I did the challenges. The weird thing is that supposedly the higher level you are the harder the challenges are. They are supposedly easier when you are low level. But yeah its weird that the AR's default have so low ammo since they tend to have a lot of recoil and most of the shooting in this game is of the spray variety so you chew threw ammo quickly.

I'm hoping the 360 update improves things on the lag side because despite all of the issues it can be pretty awesome when it works.

[TEEEPO]

uh, soldiers restock your ammo?

as well as command posts?

[Stoney Mason]

uh, soldiers restock your ammo?

as well as command posts?

yeah I know but what I'm saying is I don't understand why AR's would have such a severe clip ammo penalty. They already seem at a disadvantage to smg's in a lot of cases based on how the game plays. Adding a heavy ammo penalty seems excessive.

[TEEEPO]

well, since were applying real world logic to a video game, we might want to take into account that the magazines for an assault rifle are going to be substantially larger and heavier than the pistol size cartridges found in a smg.

command posts and soldiers are there for a reason.

[Stoney Mason]

For me I'm strictly talking game balance perspective. Of course I'm new to the game but it seems like 90% of people are using smg's. So I tried the AR's since that's normally what I use in games but it seems like the Smg's are more useful. I didn't get the advantage of using the AR's although I didn't try all of them. They had crazy low ammo. The recoil seemed significant. They do slightly more damage I think seems to be the tradeoff for them but it didn't seem worth it. Maybe as I put in more time they will seem more worthwhile. What is a good AR to use?

[TEEEPO]

lately it seems that players who have become acquainted with using the AR's are killing me in one or two hits. the game defiantly caters more to using SMG', especially when fighting multiple enemies at once but it's beginning to seem that its really dependent on which map you're playing on and exactly which phase of the game you're at. as well as play style. i wouldn't rule AR's as being useless just yet.

i play as a light body type so i wouldn't know which one is good.

[Shuri]

The mission with a robot that you must escort that starts on a dock is hilariously one-sided. I dont think I have ever seen a team managing to escort it out. The other team just camps and slaughters people who try to use the ramps And the other mission where you have to escort a guy takes forever to do and leads to hilariously dumb choke points.

i really tried to like this game.

[Stoney Mason]

I just got sent this message over Xbox Live after a game where we just raped the other team and wouldn't let them leave their spawn. 

BREAKING NEWS TO ALL BRINK PLAYERS! If you use the Carb or Kross SMGs then you are a Big Fat Pussy. Congrats on simply being One out of a Million! Have Pride knowing you are as unique as Dog Shit.

[Vizzys]

some smgs will be nerfed eventually

[TEEEPO]

 

[Stoney Mason]

Today we’ve got some exciting news to share about two big Brink updates in the works.
 
First up, the statistics site will be going live next Tuesday for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players. PC players can look forward to it going up very soon. This site, located at brinkthegame.com, will be your hub for in-depth stats, including data on matches, players and the overall progress in the weekly Battle for the Ark. Check out the screenshot above for a sneak peek and dig up that VIP code as you’ll need it to register once the stats page is live.
 
On top of that, the Agents of Change DLC is just on the horizon, slated for release in June. The pack will bring new maps, abilities, character customization options and weapon attachments to Brink, while also raising the level cap to 24. Here’s a full list of the DLC content:
 
New Maps
 Founders’ Tower – The revolution finally reaches the island’s iconic spire and takes the battle for the Ark to dizzying heights.
 Labs – Venture into the depths of the Ark’s original research and development laboratories, a submerged high-tech facility so far untouched by the civil war.
 
New Player Abilities
 UAV – This stealthy and lethal device allows Operatives to automatically mark nearby enemies on their radar. For more explosive fun, they can even take direct control of the UAV and detonate it near unsuspecting foes.
 Napalm Grenade – Soldiers can use this new grenade to cover an area in a sea of deadly flames.
 Pyro Mine – Engineers can plant these mines and leave enemies in the epicenter of a massive napalm explosion.
Field Regen Unit – Medics can deploy these units to increase the health regeneration of any nearby teammates.
 Tactical Scanner – This universal ability allows players to reveal the active buffs of their opponents, allowing them to pick off enemies more strategically.
 
New Weapon Attachments
 Bayonets – Gain the edge in melee combat and cause extra damage with these deadly blades.
 Weapon Shields – Take cover from enemy fire and prevent headshot bonus damage behind riot-style shields.
 
New Character Outfits
 The Sad Punk – Add a touch of Steampunk to your Resistance character.
 The Limey – Bring order to the Ark with this outfit inspired by traditional European police.
 
In addition to these updates, we’re happy to let you know that the updates we described last week will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this weekend.

http://bethblog.com/index.php/2011/05/27/brink-dlc-details-and-stats-site-update/

[TEEEPO]

 

[Stoney Mason]

I like the support I must admit. After the lag they still need to fix a good number of things though on console.

1.) Weapons need rebalancing. Supposedly some designer from splash damage was posting on somethingawful and it seems like they understand what is being over-used (Carb 9) and what isn't (everything else) so that should help.
2.) The game needs longer spawn timers on some maps on the defending side because the defense has way too much of an advantage on a lot of maps. Especially as the maps push forward and the objective is right near the defense spawn.
3.) Operatives currently seem useless and the hacking takes too long and is too easy to defuse.
4.) Change the minimum number of players it needs to start a game to be much higher so the majority of the team isn't bots. Better yet remove all bots from multiplayer play period because they are awful.
5). Actually balance teams with humans so its not constantly 7 on 1 or some such stupid number.

They do all of that and you have something.

[Great Rumbler]

If they keep supporting it with new maps/modes/weapons/ect. and patches, I think it'll take a lot of the edge off the poor quality of the initial release.

[Stoney Mason]

Update is out for the 360 and the PS3.


Just as a quick test I quickly entered and exited 5 games. It was pretty good. The connections were decent in all the games I entered which almost never would have happened pre-patch.

Game still has all the other issues I mentioned above (including a sometimes sketchy frame rate and games filled with more bots than humans) but the lag situation seems to have been improved on my end by the update. I'll play more this evening to test it out.

[Stoney Mason]

So I played for 2 or 3 hours this evening. While I wouldn't say the lag is perfect or anything its now at least mostly acceptable. I was able to get into plenty of games tonight and I never had to leave one. There is an annoying thing that will occasionally happen which is a host migration which sets you back to the beginning of a phase instead of starting up right where the game left off like how COD and Halo handle it.

I'll be honest. I think the game is kind of a hidden gem and that's with all the acknowledged issues I've spoke about and many more I haven't even bothered to speak on. When it all works its a damn fun multiplayer team based title. It still needs a ton of work and I know for a fact that a lot of that work will never be done to make this game what it could and should have been. You have to overlook a lot of incredibly stupid decisions big and small. And the small maps and choke point type of gameplay have to be your thing. But it can be really fun when your team works together to accomplish a goal. I would say in those instances it really does kinda feel like no other shooter out there. I love being a medic. I love that my killing skills are actually secondary to my skills as a medic. I love all the neat little abilities that the classes have and I love all the buffing which makes the game uniquely team based.

It's not for everybody. And I can certainly see why some people would actively hate it, but I really do dig it at the moment.


edit: Played a bit more this weekend and while the lag is improved its still worse than most other games on Xbox Live in that regard at least if you go 8 on 8. 5 on 5 seems to be the sweet spot for less lag on consoles The game will never be all that it could have been because splash damage fucked up on so many things. It's like game design 101 on how to do so much of this stuff and they blew so much of it. And it wasn't like the game was so rushed so it makes no sense. It's my most love/hate game I think I've played in years. I continually bounce back between thinking its amazing and being pissed off and frustrated at some dumb thing that stops me from enjoying it.

[chronovore]

It was probably rushed at the very end. They had plenty of time to do the bulk of it, but when it gets down to the marketing dollars and sales plans, it is pretty common to hear, "No, we've got the magazine cover in May, the advertising dollars are spent for May, ship the damned thing."

[Stoney Mason]

To put a capper on this thread I eventually bought the game. Found a good deal on it. Figure I'll keep it until the fall. If they fix it bonus, if they don't I'll just trade it towards one of the new shooters this fall.

Everything I've said pretty much still holds. A very niche fps with a lot of barriers to entry both on the technical side and the gameplay side. I think the competition playlist currently is the best way to play the game on consoles.

[Great Rumbler]

It was probably rushed at the very end. They had plenty of time to do the bulk of it, but when it gets down to the marketing dollars and sales plans, it is pretty common to hear, "No, we've got the magazine cover in May, the advertising dollars are spent for May, ship the damned thing."

It had already been delayed a whole year past the original release date.

[chronovore]

And it sounds like it could have used another couple months, so the only reason I can think of them not just waiting is because the advertising had been scheduled, the money spent.

[Stoney Mason]

I think there may have been some of that but the real issue is that this team just isn't quite ready yet to make a triple AAA title. Whether it was rushed or not, there are simply a lot of bad design decisions in the title. Extra time wouldn't have fixed those. Only experience and talent could. And this comes from someone who actively likes the game.

[TEEEPO]

i blame the console ports :barf

[Stoney Mason]

I blame their poor skills, poor decisions, and bad design.

[chronovore]

So, this is super cheap all over. I am, against all better judgment, tempted.

Did it ever get patched, or did the developer vanish in a puddle of its own incompetence?

[demi]

Game is awful. Ignore it

[FatalT]

So, this is super cheap all over. I am, against all better judgment, tempted.

Did it ever get patched, or did the developer vanish in a puddle of its own incompetence?

I got this for free and I still hated it. Pass.

[chronovore]

For free and it still sucked? Really?

[fistfulofmetal]

yeah. it was out for a free weekend some time ago on steam. was really bad.

[Joe Molotov]

The community's dead, dev support is probably dead (last patch was in July, then some garbage DLC in August), and the game just isn't good. All their talk about dynamic objectives basically boils down to "run to the first choke point, shoot, run to the next choke point, shoot" because the bonus objectives are worthless and the maps are generally so small and tight that they have chokepoints out the wazoo. Their parkour-style movement system that they were hyping is generally worthless. Oh wow, I can hold the movement button and have my guy automatically jump over this potted plant when I get close to it instead of hitting the jump button, woah!! The only thing interesting it has going is the customization, but most features are locked from the beginning and good luck caring about the game long enough to unlock shit. Just play Team Fortress 2 and idle for hats instead.

[Great Rumbler]

Not worth it at any price. Even free.

[Stoney Mason]

So, this is super cheap all over. I am, against all better judgment, tempted.

Did it ever get patched, or did the developer vanish in a puddle of its own incompetence?

Maybe on the PC at a stupid cheap price but I have a feeling the community at this point is so insider-ish they would seem cult like.

I can definitively say don't touch the console versions of the game. Even with the patches it had a shitload of issues. The population is dead on the game on the MP side. And the single player was never worth touching.

[pilonv1]

Played it on the free Steam weekend, it wasn't even worth that. You spend more time finding objectives than doing anything. The weapons are all the same. It just sucks, as Joe said play TF2 instead

[FatalT]

For free and it still sucked? Really?

Yeah retail employees get Bethesda games for free on PC. I got Brink for free and just now RAGE. When Skyrim comes out we'll get that for free on PC too. I actually got a download code for Fallout: New Vegas on 360 and Hunted: Demon Forge on Direct2Drive on there as well.

[chronovore]

OK, thanks guys. I'll avoid and never look back. Sad that it showed so much promise.