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[Game On] Savage 2! This game has been out for a while apparently
Monoxide
Registered User, ClubPA
Registered User, ClubPA
Savage 2
Release date announced: January 16th
Instructions for beta signup:
CLICK HERE
Fill out all of the relevant information.
When it gets to payment option, choose "PAY LATER". This will flag your account as a demo account that's good for 5 hours of online play once the demo comes out.
All players (demo or paid) will get free beta access, on Christmas, as long as you log in and activate it any time on 12/25 EST.
We had a lot of fun with this back when Savage went into beta, and then again when it became free, so I hope all of you will jump on this and at least check it out.
For those that don't know what Savage is
tl;dr: It's like a fantasy version of Natural Selection. You have a commander, and two giant teams, and it plays out like an RTS match.
Screenshots! (Click for big)
Release date announced: January 16th
Instructions for beta signup:
CLICK HERE
Fill out all of the relevant information.
When it gets to payment option, choose "PAY LATER". This will flag your account as a demo account that's good for 5 hours of online play once the demo comes out.
All players (demo or paid) will get free beta access, on Christmas, as long as you log in and activate it any time on 12/25 EST.
The Savage website wrote:FREE Beta Access Activation On Christmas Day!
Happy Holidays Everyone. Whoever creates a demo or paid account on Tuesday, Dec 25, 2007 EST will be given access for the remainder of the beta. Spread the word.
All Exsiting Demo Accounts Can Gain Beta Access Too
If you already have an account, login using the form (on 12/25/2007 EST) at the top of the page and click the Activate Beta link in the Account Admin.
We had a lot of fun with this back when Savage went into beta, and then again when it became free, so I hope all of you will jump on this and at least check it out.
For those that don't know what Savage is
Savage 2: A Tortured Soul is a fast paced strategy shooter that takes team based game play to another level. Each match is a war for dominance where two teams of 5 to 32 players attempt to destroy each other. It will take more than guns to finish the job. Assume your position as a fighter, armed with swords, guns, and magic; or take the field as a support character that builds, heals, and resurrects fallen comrades. Feel like bringing out the big stick? Become a siege unit like the Behemoth (a huge animal biped descendant of elephants that takes down buildings using an uprooted tree) or the battering ram to destroy enemy buildings. Always thought you were a natural born leader? Take control as the leader of the action, the commander, who builds, researches, expands, and tactically strategizes your team's efforts.
tl;dr: It's like a fantasy version of Natural Selection. You have a commander, and two giant teams, and it plays out like an RTS match.
Screenshots! (Click for big)
Monoxide on
Posts
I am very much excited for this - I have many, many fond memories of the first Savage game.
I don't see any pay later option. Just paypal or credit card, both $30
Where to begin...
- No more AI miners
- You no longer "mine" a single resource for all it's worth. Instead you capture mines that slowly generate income. You simply build a mine on the building and the rest is automatic.
- It's class-based game. Each class has a fixed weapon setup and special abilities.
- Players can also construct things themselves, instead of the commander placing the building via "Builder" class
- Siege weapons are the only things that can damage buildings. You can no longer set the Stronghold on fire by swinging your sword.
- Persistent records and loot. Yes, loot, as in treasure you'll find by defeating mobs on the field and might give you something special to carry throughout the games.
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It's not like that at all. There is basically "character level", which resets every round, and account level. Account level simply shows how much you've played/how good you are. You don't exactly gain new abilities. But a guy who has been playing a bit longer will probably have some items over you.
http://savage2.s2games.com/gp_items.php
Also, forgot to add this to the list, but melee system has been revamped.
http://savage2.s2games.com/gp_melee.php
Your account will still give you the demo when it comes out in January, but that's five hours of free play versus two weeks.
This is a for sure buy. Although I don't like the idea of not being able to slash buildings or mine for those quick first levels of exp.
I never asked for this!
Only you would be dumb enough to not figure this out.
If you read the OP, it doesn't matter. You can either make one before the 25th, then log in on the 25th and activate your beta account, or you can make one on the 25th and it'll be activated for beta. Whichever.
edit: checked their site FAQ:
The units are pretty badass now and varied, unlike S1 where it was the same guy with more melee damage and HP. AI units are still around, but you can only have three at a time and the pathfinding AI sucks too much for them to be useful.
Commanders is the game's biggest downfall. In S1, the commander had a huge role in determining the team's fate, mainly done via researching technology. In S2, there is no researching technology. You just simply build a building and viola, instant unit with full powerups. To make matters worse, the tech tree is even linear. It's pretty much a straight line. The only somewhat interesting aspect of the commander is the buffs: You have a load of buffs and debuffs, plus a limited number of mana to use them. The commander seems to act more like a badass enchanter in S2 then a commander.
Officers get a new facelift with having real squads. He can order his squads to do stuff like move here, attack, and so forth. But what really separates them from the crowd is the ability to create spawn portals for his squad only.
Unfortunately, the lag and performance is really bad. You cannot play the game with more then 16 people without the game being all choppy and full of unplayable lag. Let's hope this is fixed within a few weeks before release.
However, I just finished a game with one of the developers, S2Malkien Or maybe S2Malekin. Point is: raging fucking douche. First thing he does? He complains about new players. Yeah, a developer complains about people new to the game not knowing how to play. I called him out on this, of course, at which point he told me I was "banned," and started flinging insults and taunting me with Arnold voice binds and - my favorite - a "MALIKEN RULZ" voice bind.
Not fucking joking. The developers put in voice binds for themselves to tell people that they RULZ.
Immature little twats.
But seriously, complaining when people pick up your game for the first time is probably one of the stupidiest things you could possibly do. I wish I had the presence of mind to tell him to make a tutorial that isn't shit, then.
Don't worry, he probably won't have too many new players to complain about come release. I played the beta a few times, and each time there were only two half-full servers. There were one or two near empty ones following, the rest completely empty. The website says there are 78 players playing now. At times it goes down as low as nine.
I honestly don't see many people picking this up, mostly because the PR has been non-existent. And because it's just not fun. I loved Savage 1, but this sequel has really let me down.
What's funny is the fact there is a forum topic on the S2 boards about how marketing was a complete failure in S1. The developers posted saying they spent a lot of money on marketing for S1.
Right...because we all know S1 was a huge success. I can see why S2games isn't as big as they should: Their egos are holding them back.
The only thing that could probably save them is if they use Steam, but I doubt that will ever, ever happen. They are going for online-only purchase, but won't use Steam? Mistake.
Marky, your impression of the beta is the most informative I've read yet (most others in the special Christmas forum said it just sucked or was okay, not a lot of detail flyin garound).
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So much for their PR.
As far as the game goes... I'm greatly enjoying it. I wasn't a huge fan of Savage 1; I just felt too large a disconnect between my actions and their results. I think Savage 2 is a great overhaul, making combat better defined and understandable, as well as simplifing other aspects (commander's duties, resources).
So far I don't have any major complaints about the stripped-down tech tree. Yes it's linear and yes there are no chosable technologies, but maybe that's not for Savage. What I've experienced, playing as both a soldier and a commander, is that the game moves very quickly, and essentially comes down to individual combat, which I think is the whole point of Savage. The commander has enough to do trying to micromanage, casting buffs/debuffs, heals/ressurects, in addition to controlling economy through expansions and monitoring the entire battlefield. He also plays the role of tactical overseer, assigning move and attack orders and trying to coordinate the entire team.
Lag is there, obviously, it's a beta. It's also better on some servers than on others. I've played in 25 player games without any detrimental lag, while I've also played in 5 player games with unmanageable delay. Then there are the times I can't even play because it crashes to desktop three times in a row. It's a beta.
I do have many gripes with the game, one being the difficulties of melee combat. I feel like I'm gambling whenever I take someone on one-on-one. I said earlier combat is more solid, which is true- I think damage dealt is higher, so it's much easier to feel like connected hits are making an impact. However, the problem lies in connecting. Blocking is completely inconsistent in my experience. I'll be hit clear through a block, I'll hit someone from the side if they're blocking, it's too unpredictable in practice to tell when a hit will be blocked or not. The ability to move and block only adds to this issue, as direction and orientation become a tangled mess, clouded with the uncertainty of beta lag (and maybe poor network coding? I don't know, I'm not a scientist), which creates some very frustrating moments.
There is a rather nice blocking mechanic which I can't remember if it was in Savage 1 or not. You can only hold a block for up to (roughly) 2 seconds, then you drop your guard and can be hit. This prevents people from turtling, as well as provides skilled players to time their attacks as soon as the block is dropped.
In response to the douchebag developer, that's a shame... It makes me worry that if he doesn't care about new players, he won't care to listen to requests/suggestions of elder players.
;tldr; SO. As far as the beta goes: it's a beta. Don't complain about beta related issues.
As far as the game goes: I'm greatly enjoying it. It's a lot of fun, and if you're interested I'd recommend waiting for the 5 hour demo (good move by s2games!).
Oh yeah, and Steam? Brilliant. As someone who wants this game to succeed so there will be more players, I deeply hope this will be on Steam, yet I also realize that most likely won't happen.
SteamID: FronWewq
3DS Friend Code: 1289-9498-5797
I haven't played Commander, but I do think that making the tech tree linear was the best idea. Frankly, the tech tree in Savage 1 was also linear: you always got the Armory, then the Magnetic Workshop or whatever, or you were an omgawd noob and shouldn't be commanding, clearly. And besides, building things is boring, so the Commander's job is to get involved in combat, which is fun. It just makes more sense.
The most annoying thing about the game I've found is the constant memory-related crashes. I just assume there's some absurd memory leak somewhere, because it will ALWAYS crash, eventually, and give a "memory allocation failed" message.
I love playing Chaplain at the moment. Probably one of the easier ways to rack up money if you have a good fighting force since you get money and exp by healing.
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
I'm making a free account now and going to try it out. Looks really interesting and could be crazy fun with some good organization. What's the PA playerbase on this like? We got a server up?
Personally I think the game's great. More balanced and not so full of exploits like the first game. That said, I'm ranked 10 right now (was 3 earlier before I was forced to play on the vet servers) so perhaps I'm biased.
Also, there are bugs. Some crashes (mostly in Tutorial/Practice I've heard), and occasionally I've had some bad rubberbanding in-game. But the devs have patched the game something like 6 times in the past 48 hours (5 of the patches were going from 0.9.x to 1.0.0, and then it's now up to 1.0.1), and any bugs reported on the forums get worked on pretty much immediately.
I'm Dracil in-game.
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
PA Lets Play Archive - Twitter - Blog
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
BTW, since I'm Level 9 on persistent stats I can't play on the newbie servers so you may not see me or any other long-term PAers around.
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
Hopefully private servers will be free of such nonsense.
PA Lets Play Archive - Twitter - Blog
The point of the noob servers is so new players don't get raped by vets. You can play on the non-noob servers as soon as you're level 3 anyhow, which could be as few as 3 games.
MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide