Well, having argued with the multiplayer lads, my first few hours with the game went exactly as I feared they would. My very first impression of the game-

Nah, just kidding, my first hour of the game was trying to get the god damn anti-cheat to let me play my game in singleplayer.

So already I've got issues from the multiplayer community screwing up what I actually want from the game. Eventually got it fixed, waited through the unskippable intros, and headed straight for what was once my favourite part of the game, skirmish:

What a gongshow. There's things locked unless you do ranked play. There's basically no customization at all left. There's no progression left. There's no consequences for doing well or doing poorly.

Annoyed, I moved to campaign. This might be the only area worth a look later. It's hard to say, because I only had a few hours before I had to leave for work, and the damn thing locked up and crashed before the last mission, so I had to redo it. Maybe the more open-ended campaigns will be fun, but so far, this is looking like a massive step down from the previous game for anyone who isn't a l33t multiplyr gamr.

Hope you get it sorted out buddy. Sofar i really enjoy the game. And im gonna be a dedicated multi player for this game cause alot of my worries for the most part. Have been dealt with.

look at the tyranid campaign description. there seems to be some light 4X elements on the campaign map.

I agree, its a real shame that the progression element and individual ship customisation options have been removed from skirmish. I'm all for having the option to straight out deploy big fleets with all the ships availible as an option, but also want the customisation of specific ships and development of my fleet through progression that the old skirmish mode offered - it brought a sense of achievement, and ownership of my fleet.

The consequence of loosing a ship for the next round was the only reason to warp out!

if you just want to do pve
start in offline mode
it unlocks all in skirmish im pretty sure

@ashardalon said in First Impression:

if you just want to do pve
start in offline mode
it unlocks all in skirmish im pretty sure

Can confirm, offline mode unlocks everything and sets your level to 99

@canned_f3tus said in First Impression:

Hope you get it sorted out buddy. Sofar i really enjoy the game. And im gonna be a dedicated multi player for this game cause alot of my worries for the most part. Have been dealt with.

Short of a massive redesign or surprise "we made a grand campaign for everyone" announcement, I've got a sneaking suspicion this is going to be a refund at release for me. I feel like I'm playing a rough draft of the first game, not an improvement. I'm sincerely happy that it's a good game for your playstyle.

@fosil said in First Impression:

look at the tyranid campaign description. there seems to be some light 4X elements on the campaign map.

Alright, will give that a shot after work. I guess that will make the Tyranid campaign fun, but so far, my beloved Tau are basically worthless outside of trying a couple times. There's no campaign for them, and they start out fully unlocked in skirmish, so I can't even really have fun unlocking things as I go along.

@ashardalon said in First Impression:

if you just want to do pve
start in offline mode
it unlocks all in skirmish im pretty sure

Appreciate the advice (And thank you @CALiGeR_Reborn for confirming), guess that solves one issue, though it still means no progression system like the first game...

I just can't believe how far my excitement has fallen since the game was first announced. A sequel to BFG:A should've been a slam dunk - I thought the first game was legitimately one of the best strategy games I'd played that year, all I needed was more of that. This one currently feels worse basically across the board, with the sole exception of having more races.

@romeo If you’re a fan of 4x strategy, you’ll like the campaigns. And if the rumblings about more races getting DLC Campaigns are true, there will be no shortage of good SP content.

It’s just a totally different animal from the first, like I mentioned earlier, a true sequel and not an expansion of the first. The focus is on proving a sandbox and better balance for MP, while simulataniously injecting more variety and strategic depth to SP with multiple versions of 4x in campaigns.

The only issue now is that I think the prologue may be broken. If it is, I’ll post the workaround tomorrow if Focus don’t so you get to try it. It’s really not fair to put this game down without trying what (I feel) is it’s flagship feature.

does time spent in the beta drain your refund window?

@imptastic No. You have a week after release.

@caliger_reborn tnx ill have to load it up then

my first impression is that it feels slow... and bland. the take and hold style makes for extra tedious macro game play that takes away from the thrill that the first one had. May as well be playing dawn of war at least there the pace is better.

@caliger_reborn said in First Impression:

@romeo If you’re a fan of 4x strategy, you’ll like the campaigns. And if the rumblings about more races getting DLC Campaigns are true, there will be no shortage of good SP content.

It’s just a totally different animal from the first, like I mentioned earlier, a true sequel and not an expansion of the first. The focus is on proving a sandbox and better balance for MP, while simulataniously injecting more variety and strategic depth to SP with multiple versions of 4x in campaigns.

The only issue now is that I think the prologue may be broken. If it is, I’ll post the workaround tomorrow if Focus don’t so you get to try it. It’s really not fair to put this game down without trying what (I feel) is it’s flagship feature.

I am legitimately glad to hear that, I assume that means it'll play akin to the campaign from the first game? And I'd really love for DLC campaigns for everyone, but I'm not sure I want to tie up my money on the possibility of something being fixed later on. Especially given how Tindalos handled the first game in that respect.

I don't necessarily agree with you on the singleplayer focus in this: I'd actually argue there's a good step back in strategic depth so far. In removing any kind of upgrade/large-scale decision making, it feels quite a bit more shallow. One of the skirmishes I set up involved me being the Necrons vs a Medium Imperial fleet. I put my two Cairns and one other ship in to a gas cloud, before thinking I'd paused the game. Turns out I hadn't, though I did come back to the sight of the Imperium being down to its last ship. I proceeded to eat my microwave burrito while I watched my fleet win without literally any intervention on my part.

Is the Prologue broken in the same way it was for me: A hangup right before the last mission that causes it to crash?

@imptastic said in First Impression:

does time spent in the beta drain your refund window?

Trust me, that was the first thing I looked up as well. lol

Game is great. I love progress it made since the first one. Cutscenes are epic, music is much more pompatic, great narration, great everything. I hope there will be a chance to challenge and destroy Vengeful Spirit (in custom game of course) good job guys

@romeo buy it later, if they add the SP content you can have fun with. according to the stream, the campaign has no detailed ship-customisation system, because you have to manage several fleets at the same time.

it only seems to have some 4X elements: conquering systems, building/buying ships and system defenses, some income system, maybe a tech-tree. personally I would totally dig Total War: Battlefleet Gothic, but thats not what you liked about the first game.

@fosil You got Planet Management, Renown upgrades, XP modifiers and various other customisation options that can be unlocked by capturing and developing specific locations (like Global armour buffs, or better boarding ect). You also have to manage fleet upkeep vs overall income. It's just an overall very different experience.

@romeo Yes, I believe the Prologue is bugged, I'll release the workaround separately. Well nvm, I guess the Campaign just isn't up in this build of the Beta. I tried.

Campaign missions is pure awesomeness, face animation looks wierd, interface is terrible, multiplayer frankly raw and the less we talk about customisation, the better.

@caliger_reborn does the campaign use the same battle type system as scrim? like take and hold and the general pace are they the same?

@imptastic For most battles, yes, although there are special missions and more environmental features (like asteroids randomly falling through the map, doing massive damage if you are under them, Plasma storms, and Augar interference)