Lost Planet 3

[Ark22]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/04/10/first-lost-planet-3-trailer-promises-a-return-to-extreme-conditions/

Looks beast. It's the "first person" remark that is making me skeptical.

[BIG OLAF]

Yes.

YES.

HNNNNNGHYYYES.

I was scared that LP3 would never happen, since rumors ran rampant about Lost Planet being dropped indefinitely. But, I can rest somewhat easier now. I'll most certainly be pre-ordering it if the gameplay looks good (which it should).

[blace]

As long as it uses a similar system LP2 and introduces a system that allows players to drop in and drop out instead of waiting ungodly amounts of time to join, then I'm for it.

[NoiseHERO]

The voice on the radio "Gale" sounds like a voice I've heard in soooooo many old cartoons...

Can't be that one guy...

Also LP2 was fun.

[Akaimizu]

Well, there's one nice new Capcom announcement. Lost Planet was a nice idea. Kind of had a few vibes to the SNK Metal Slug in it, in terms of controlling a ground soldier through dangerous areas with funky but interesting vehicles for you to jump in and control. I was worried that the disappointing sales and such of LP2 would kill the series.

[Ark22]

http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2730174&postcount=13

Predicting the future...like a boss

[BIG OLAF]

Well, like I said, originally Lost Planet was a trilogy, but after Lost Planet 2 had 'questionable' sales, and all that other bullshit Capcom went through, they said Lost Planet 3 would be 'put on hold indefinitely', which in developer-language usually means "never gonna happen, folks."

So, when I saw this topic, my heart skipped a few beats (no, really. It does that sometimes).

[Ark22]

Well, like I said, originally Lost Planet was a trilogy, but after Lost Planet 2 had 'questionable' sales, and all that other bullshit Capcom went through, they said Lost Planet 3 would be 'put on hold indefinitely', which in developer-language usually means "never gonna happen, folks."

So, when I saw this topic, my heart skipped a few beats (no, really. It does that sometimes).

Glad I can make your heart skip beats =).

[BIG OLAF]

Glad I can make your heart skip beats =).

Trust me, it's not a good thing.

[Ark22]

Ah don't worry, I have a pleurisy (Inflaming of the lining in the chest walls and lungs), hurts to breath a lot but it comes and goes every 4 months =P. But yeah I am really excited I just really REALLY hope they don't turn this into a FPS.

[Kent]

First-person? Let's hope that's an ineptitude on part of the reporter, rather than accurate (if it is accurate: fuck).

Lost Planet 2 (never played the first one) is one of the best co-op experiences of this console generation. It's an amazing game, and got poor review scores due to a combination of using nonstandard third-person shooter mechanics (such as dodge-rolling having invincibility frames, and being crucial to survival) and the fact that the game was "too hard" simply by virtue of the fact that it expected you to learn from your mistakes and rewarded you for getting creative with the game mechanics, rather than being a whiny little absent-minded bitch about it.

Also: More games need to use the quick-turn function that LP2 used. Specifically mapping it to the right stick button, a la Gunvalkyrie. It worked way too well in that game to be dropped.

Edit: Fuck (http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/2012/04/10/lost-planet-3-ps3-preview-all-new-mech-flavored-fps-sections-and-dead-space-love-in/).

[Outrider]

So, uh... the developer of Lost Planet 3 doesn't have the best track record:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_Unlimited

[BIG OLAF]

>Lost Planet 3 is indeed an FPS

>Capcom is letting some scuzzy developer that's never done anything worthwhile handle LP3


Well, never mind. We had a good run, LP.

[blace]

How did they manage to keep themselves running in between the 4 year gaps?

[NoiseHERO]

Ugh, what the hell is wrong with Capcom... e_e

Scamming people with fighting games...

Killing Megaman...

Killing all the awesome stuff clover made...

Now Lost Planet 3 is an FPS? Seriously?

I remember when I used to be able to say Capcom was one of my favorite game companies...My favorite neighbor that had a bunch of hot daughters that I grew up with. Now it's like he's taking his hot daughters that I fell in love with, and punching them in the face until they're left a blood pulpy mess and shoving drugs all over their faces and whoring them out like cash cows. Then the rest are either dead or I can't bring myself to see them anyone...

[Outrider]

To be fair, the article that Kent posted makes it sound like only the mech battles in Lost Planet 3 feature FPS gameplay.

When it switches to on-foot gameplay, it's a Dead Space clone.

So, uh... it's not as bad as you guys think, maybe?

[NoiseHERO]

To be fair, the article that Kent posted makes it sound like only the mech battles in Lost Planet 3 feature FPS gameplay.

When it switches to on-foot gameplay, it's a Dead Space clone.

So, uh... it's not as bad as you guys think, maybe?

Mechs were the best part though... D:

[Heskett]

To be fair, the article that Kent posted makes it sound like only the mech battles in Lost Planet 3 feature FPS gameplay.

When it switches to on-foot gameplay, it's a Dead Space clone.

So, uh... it's not as bad as you guys think, maybe?

Seeing as though the developer has only made terrible games in the past, yes, it's as bad as we think.

[Ark22]

Fuck it.

[amtalx]

On one hand, the developer doesn't seem to be very talented. On the other, I've always found the Lost Planet franchise to be plagued with awful mechanics and any change is welcome. I'm not sure how to feel about this...

[Kent]

I've always found the Lost Planet franchise to be plagued with awful mechanics and any change is welcome.
Now you've got me curious, considering that at least Lost Planet 2 had a cohesive and well-designed set of mechanics behind it that not only worked very well, but was also incredibly fun to play as a result.

Opinions etc., but I think the game just gets a lot of unfair flak due to not adhering to standardized controls and mechanics, despite that they turned out just fine in practice.

[amtalx]

I don’t think unorthodox controls are bad, but they are certainly at the forefront of my issues with Lost Planet. Using a controller and seeing the result of your actions on screen is a basic input/output loop. If a player presses forward on the left analog stick (input), the game moves the avatar forward and communicates that back to the player by showing it on the screen (output). It's like speaking a digital language. Like any good language, its measure of efficiency is the ease with which a speaker can express their thoughts. Lost Planet fails with that efficiency. Capcom simply created a control scheme that makes it harder to do basic actions. There may be a steep learning curve, but the experience isn't any more nuanced.

[BIG OLAF]

I had zero issues with Lost Planet 2's control scheme. Like most other games, it was easy to get used to after 15 minutes of playing.

[Ark22]

unless you found how you had to hold R1 and press the Start button to use the ultra weapon.

[blace]

I had zero issues with Lost Planet 2's control scheme. Like most other games, it was easy to get used to after 15 minutes of playing.


unless you found how you had to hold R1 and press the Start button to use the ultra weapon.
Yeah some of the controls weren't even listed anywhere in the game or manual, and had to be searched for or some samaritan will drop in and tell you some of the secrets. They really need to make it user friendly instead of hiding a portion of the controls.

[Kent]

Lost Planet fails with that efficiency. Capcom simply created a control scheme that makes it harder to do basic actions. There may be a steep learning curve, but the experience isn't any more nuanced.
I experienced no such failure in that efficiency. Your argument sounds a whole lot like "it's bad because it's different" though, and I'm assuming that's not actually the case.

There are also other control schemes - I mentioned I don't use the default one (it doesn't make much sense to me), but rather, one of the others. Have you tried non-default control schemes?

[amtalx]

I experienced no such failure in that efficiency. Your argument sounds a whole lot like "it's bad because it's different" though, and I'm assuming that's not actually the case.

There are also other control schemes - I mentioned I don't use the default one (it doesn't make much sense to me), but rather, one of the others. Have you tried non-default control schemes?

Correct, I don't have an issue with non-conventional controls. However, if a developer breaks from the status quo, there should be a benefit. I didn't find that with Lost Planet. They were different simply for the sake of being different. From a gameplay perspective, Lost Planet is pretty standard fare and the new control scheme did nothing to add more complex mechanics. I see it as a more extreme form of the tank controls from RE, where not only do the controls obfuscate basic actions but are detrimental to the quality of the game.

[Akaimizu]

I guess it becomes a case of personal preference. Some people gel with the controls better than others. For me, I think I just locked into the controls in Lost Planet and they made perfect sense to me. Gunvalkyrie did the same to me, on Xbox. That game was different, but once I locked in, it made perfect sense and I was doing nigh perfect combos with that game in no time. (Heck, I even got to the point of being able to utilize precision and better platform jump combinations than I could ever pull off in the Metroid Prime series)

[Kent]

I loved Gunvalkyrie. In fact, the control scheme where you click the right stick while moving it to quick-turn? I loved that because it felt so much like playing Gunvalkyrie.

And more importantly, it was a graceful way to solve the issue common in shooters played on consoles, where in order to have a playable aiming sensitivity level, you have to sacrifice your ability to quickly turn around because of it. It was perfect.

Correct, I don't have an issue with non-conventional controls. However, if a developer breaks from the status quo, there should be a benefit. I didn't find that with Lost Planet. They were different simply for the sake of being different. From a gameplay perspective, Lost Planet is pretty standard fare and the new control scheme did nothing to add more complex mechanics. I see it as a more extreme form of the tank controls from RE, where not only do the controls obfuscate basic actions but are detrimental to the quality of the game.
So yeah, still waiting on examples of any actual "detrimental" qualities the control scheme had.

Because I've found zero, personally.

[Akaimizu]

Actually, Kent just described the benefit right there. The benefit of the click-turn controls is to remove the biggest advantage a Mouse and keyboard has over a dual stick controller. The ability for the dual stick controller to have precision-based aiming control AND the ability to quick turn. The Quick turn (90 degrees, 180, etc.) is actually reminiscent of Panzer Dragon Saga where the classic aspect of playing it is rotating in 90 degree aspects around the target(s). But in general, it solved the aspect of having both high speed turning-movement AND high precision at the same time.

[Kent]

It's something that I personally believe all shooters (at least on consoles) need to have.

Vanquish, for example, is easily the most solid third-person shooter in existance, but I have exactly two gripes about the control scheme: Boost on LB, RS used to zoom in with the sniper rifle (a weapon you will likely never use outside of a single segment of shooting out spotlights) and LS unused completely except in the two instances in the game where you have to detonate charges you've planted (which require you to press LS and RS at the same time). I'd personally change RS to quick-turn, LS to boost, and LB for toggling zoom and pressing it while holding something else (like Back, or LS when not moving) to detonate charges in those two isolated instances.

Of course, I also think all games should have completely-customizable controls. Programming that kind of thing is not hard.

[amtalx]

It's probably been a couple years since I've touched a Lost Planet game, so I can't give you particular gripes about the controls simply because I don't remember. I only remember my impressions. I certainly don't care about this enough to go back and play it, and you probably don't either. :P

It's odd that I agree about Vanquish. The controls in that game were brilliant. The only current gen games that fall in a similar league are Ninja Gaiden and Bayonetta when it comes to refined controls.

[Kent]

It's not odd to agree about Vanquish. It'd be more odd to not recognize how great it it really is.

Also, Lost Planet 2 is one of those games that I'm always up for playing, if anyone specifically wants to go about it. It's got that Diablo quality to it, in that regard.