You would have to either be new to the genre or really naive to think that there is any chance whatsoever that PlanetSide 2 will be any kind of "sandbox" MMOG. It would be great - as any good sandbox MMOG is better than any "good" non-sandbox MMOG. Unfortunately, there aren't any good MMOGs at all around right now - in fact, there are very few good games period, online or offline. On an additional note, as someone already mentioned in this thread, Planetside was a failure from beginning to end. Yes, it had a population that could sustain its continued development and profitability for a while, but it was by no means a success relative to to other online games. And there certainly was a reason for that: it was nothing special - it offered little to no additional gameplay for $10-15/month that you could not get out of a regular non-MMO FPS for free after initial purchase. I tried it during the final beta, I tried it during free trials. The combat mechanics (which are the core of a FPS game, unlike some other types of MMOGs) were absolutely attrocious. It felt like an arcade game with a bunch of puppets running around - none of the weapons felt real - everything felt fake. It doesn't matter how big the battles are if the core mechanics are boring garbage.
Some of you may or may not know that some of Planetside's original developers came from this game (they were transferred to Planetside development soon after SOE purchased the game):
Having played the game off and on over several years, I find it ironic that the sense of fierce combat in this old 2D game was far stronger than in Planetside. When there was an explosion, there was an EXPLOSION. When there was a bullet impact, there was a BULLET IMPACT. Battles felt like battles in that game. They completely ignored making the combat fun and immersive in Planetside. Instead, they just hoped a ton of people would be like, "big battles! lots of people - me like lots of people! me shoot everywhere!" Some people were like that - and that was Planetside's base population - which obviously was not too big. Of course, perhaps even the bad combat mechanics could have been ignored by a larger mainstream population if the game had significant persistent economic/social/political elements - but it had practically none.
P.S.
As someone else also already mentioned in this thread, World War 2 Online was way ahead of its time, was far superior to Planetside, and offered much more than a traditional non-MMO FPS. Unfortunately, it too was a failure due to the developers running out of money and rushing one of the buggiest and most disasterous launches in MMO history. It eventually became a fantastic game - but far too late to make a difference. And now it looks like the developers are permenantly stuck - unable to get funding for another new project, and due to that, forever unable to truly revamp the entire game or make anything new like it.
Comments
But is there anything else or just pvp? As in, player housing, open world pvp...or is it all hot combat zones?
Incognito
www.incognito-gaming.us
"You're either with us or against us"
Open world(s) full of hot combat zones.
It'll be Faction vs Faction vs Faction pvp mmofps, just like PS1
You would have to either be new to the genre or really naive to think that there is any chance whatsoever that PlanetSide 2 will be any kind of "sandbox" MMOG. It would be great - as any good sandbox MMOG is better than any "good" non-sandbox MMOG. Unfortunately, there aren't any good MMOGs at all around right now - in fact, there are very few good games period, online or offline. On an additional note, as someone already mentioned in this thread, Planetside was a failure from beginning to end. Yes, it had a population that could sustain its continued development and profitability for a while, but it was by no means a success relative to to other online games. And there certainly was a reason for that: it was nothing special - it offered little to no additional gameplay for $10-15/month that you could not get out of a regular non-MMO FPS for free after initial purchase. I tried it during the final beta, I tried it during free trials. The combat mechanics (which are the core of a FPS game, unlike some other types of MMOGs) were absolutely attrocious. It felt like an arcade game with a bunch of puppets running around - none of the weapons felt real - everything felt fake. It doesn't matter how big the battles are if the core mechanics are boring garbage.
Some of you may or may not know that some of Planetside's original developers came from this game (they were transferred to Planetside development soon after SOE purchased the game):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_(video_game)
Having played the game off and on over several years, I find it ironic that the sense of fierce combat in this old 2D game was far stronger than in Planetside. When there was an explosion, there was an EXPLOSION. When there was a bullet impact, there was a BULLET IMPACT. Battles felt like battles in that game. They completely ignored making the combat fun and immersive in Planetside. Instead, they just hoped a ton of people would be like, "big battles! lots of people - me like lots of people! me shoot everywhere!" Some people were like that - and that was Planetside's base population - which obviously was not too big. Of course, perhaps even the bad combat mechanics could have been ignored by a larger mainstream population if the game had significant persistent economic/social/political elements - but it had practically none.
P.S.
As someone else also already mentioned in this thread, World War 2 Online was way ahead of its time, was far superior to Planetside, and offered much more than a traditional non-MMO FPS. Unfortunately, it too was a failure due to the developers running out of money and rushing one of the buggiest and most disasterous launches in MMO history. It eventually became a fantastic game - but far too late to make a difference. And now it looks like the developers are permenantly stuck - unable to get funding for another new project, and due to that, forever unable to truly revamp the entire game or make anything new like it.