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Fuse (Insomniac's Overstrike) Trailer - March 2013 [Update: GTTV Episode]

8

8byte

Banned
Callibretto said:
if you ask me, the industry has changed, it's just that the publishers that are blind and keep chasing that crowd. seriously, how many recent shooter with this generic gritty artstyle actually sell? most of the time we heard news of bomba, you'd think those would serve as a warning sign for publishers to change things up.
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How many games actually sell? The high sellers last month were what, 200K? 400K before that? The industry is on a decline, and it'd wager it has more to do with high priced consoles and games and a shitty economy. People buy a few MP games a year and call it quits.

I agree things need to change, but I don't think it's on the end of developers. Publishers need to lower game prices and Sony/MS/Nintendo need to drop the price of their console hardware. Another high tech expensive generation will do a shit ton of damage to the industry.
 
A

AzureAngel27

Member
Well there went any interest I had in this game....seriously wtf was Insomniac thinking with this?

Everything about that trailer was terrible to me.

RIP Overstrike I barely knew ye.
 
C

Callibretto

Member
HYDE said:
I meant to say Insomniac have let themselves go.
So tired of the excuses. I remember being told All 4 One was going to be a AAA effort...yeah right. Full Frontal Assault is going to be just as terrible. And can't the company see the backlash from this trailer, fans aren't happy with what they're seeing. Get back to what worked for you guys, fresh ideas. Quit trying to mimic all the generic crap that's out there and stay original.
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I guess by this time, they're probably way to deep into development to change it back to original artstyle without throwing a lot of their work before.
 
N

nemesun

Member
Whoever was holding 'em ransom over the trailer should have just stuck it out so we would have took 8bytes' word for it and spared us all from the actual reveal.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Ugh. While I can appreciate the need for a bit more seriousness in art style due to marketing concerns and the bigger need for stuff that sells to a wider audience given growing budgets, mark me down for someone who really missed the "feel" of Overstrike.

I'm sure the humor will be there, but trying to mix Overstrike's brand of humor with the relatively much grittier style of Overstrike isn't going to mesh well at all. And if it's shifted to more of a dark style of humor to match the new style, well, that's been done before in several different ways.
 
scoobs

scoobs

Member
What happened to this game? The reveal trailer seemed totally different than what I am looking at in this video, and what I'm looking at is not appealing in the slightest IMO
 
B

Byakuya769

Member
8byte said:
You honestly don't have to convince me that you're a man-troll. I got that the minute I started lurking. You make a name for yourself shitting on things and joking on people. It's cool, I get it. Bravo.
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What is a man-troll? Go back to lurking. You're doing GAF wrong.

People can like or dislike whatever the hell they want. You have a problem, go petition a mod for a "positive posts go in this thread and negative ones go here" rule. Otherwise, dust yourself off and realize that everything you like doesn't define you, or cry yourself to sleep. I don't fucking care.
 
N

NullPointer

Member
I'm getting a bit of Resistance 2 co-op mode vibes, but not sure what the hook is here. And the art style doesn't set it apart.

R2 co-op had progression/unlocks and dynamic mission objectives over sprawling maps. Whats the pitch here?
 
E

ezekial45

Banned
scoobs said:
What happened to this game? The reveal trailer seemed totally different than what I am looking at in this video, and what I'm looking at is not appealing in the slightest IMO
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They felt the game's violence and action didn't mesh well with the art style. So they changed it.
 
A

Aaron

Member
Brawndo Addict said:
The difference is, with the original style they know they're going to fail and lose huge sums of money. With the new style, there's a tiny chance that maybe it becomes widely successful. A non-zero chance is always better than zero. It's the same strategy Hollywood uses with blockbuster movies. They make 10 movies with 200 million plus budgets. 8 of those 10 bomb horrifically, 1 breaks even, and the last one becomes a billion dollar franchise that recoups all the losses from the other films and results in a net profit.
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Gearbox changed the generic art style of Borderlands and ended up being the highest selling new IP of 2010. That's exactly what Fuse wants to be, so I wouldn't say the old style had zero chance. That's not even adding in the wildly successful TF2, or the other dude bro shooters that have failed to sell worth a damn lately.
 
J

jstevenson

Sailor Stevenson
NullPointer said:
I'm getting a bit of Resistance 2 co-op mode vibes, but not sure what the hook is here. And the art style doesn't set it apart.

R2 co-op had progression/unlocks and dynamic mission objectives over sprawling maps. Whats the pitch here?
Click to expand...

full progression for each character with a skill tree. Ability to leap between characters if you have less than four players. a full Insomniac story with exotic locations, character development, personality and humor
 
M

MitchDyer

Neo Member
Some story stuff, too, like the focus on Fuse as a story/primary gameplay element.

Beyond that, game the same as ever and totally hot.
 
8

8byte

Banned
NullPointer said:
I'm getting a bit of Resistance 2 co-op mode vibes, but not sure what the hook is here. And the art style doesn't set it apart.

R2 co-op had progression/unlocks and dynamic mission objectives over sprawling maps. Whats the pitch here?
Click to expand...

Progression / unlocks are here. Also, I put in almost 200 hours into R2 co-op...the dynamic mission objectives were not that dynamic. In fact, for the most part they were 90% identical time and time again with very minor details being mixed up.

This probably won't be as large map wise as R2, but the combat design was definitely more focused from what I played. R2 was "here's a bunch of enemies at a point, run to it and kill them". This is considerably more sandbox oriented, namely because the AI is far better than R2 was.
 
C

Cake Boss

Banned
NullPointer said:
I'm getting a bit of Resistance 2 co-op mode vibes, but not sure what the hook is here. And the art style doesn't set it apart.

R2 co-op had progression/unlocks and dynamic mission objectives over sprawling maps. Whats the pitch here?
Click to expand...

I think its explosions.... or it the weapons... but Resistance had that so I dont know anymore.
 
B

Brawndo Addict

Banned
I'm being overly dramatic. I don't mean literally zero percent chance of success, I just mean extremely low comparatively. It's a safer 'bet' to do it this way.

I would argue TF2 is the anomaly and has the Valve touch. The runaway success of one game does not mean it's a 'safe' genre to experiment with. Did Borderlands do well? Absolutely. Is it a blockbuster franchise like Asssassin's Creed? No way. It just hit 6 million LTD back in July, and that's over 3 years. Assassin's Creed 2 hit that in a few months.

The important point is the scale of success. Companies don't want moderate successes like Borderlands, they want runaway succeses. You hear all the time about how games selling 1-2 million isn't even good enough to break even anymore. I'd be very curious to see the budget of Borderlands 2 and the projected sales figured required to break even.
 
C

Callibretto

Member
NullPointer said:
I'm getting a bit of Resistance 2 co-op mode vibes, but not sure what the hook is here. And the art style doesn't set it apart.

R2 co-op had progression/unlocks and dynamic mission objectives over sprawling maps. Whats the pitch here?
Click to expand...

skill trees, areas are big, multi function tool and weapon, supposedly it create a very sandboxy gameplay where you can make your own strategy, using a specific weapon ability together with other player's ability etc. one character have cloak ability, other have health bomb that restore/revive downed character from far. the shield wall in the trailer can be used as melee or dropped on top of enemies, one character also have multiple gadget and tool, so it's not like one guy is the shield guy and that's it.

reading gameplay impression make the game seems really interesting.
 
A

Aaron

Member
Brawndo Addict said:
The important point is the scale of success. Companies don't want moderate successes like Borderlands, they want runaway succeses. You hear all the time about how games selling 1-2 million isn't even good enough to break even anymore. I'd be very curious to see the budget of Borderlands 2 and the projected sales figured required to break even.
Click to expand...
Borderlands 2 is the second highest pre-ordered game OF ALL TIME. So yeah I think it'll do pretty well. Comparing the original to the sales of the sequel to Assassin's Creed is crazy talk. The first AC did real well out of the gate too, but comparable to the original Borderlands.

A new IP is almost never a runaway success. Minecraft is the only one I can think of in the last few years, and that's a very special case. If companies are reaching for it, they are dumber than I thought.
 
N

NullPointer

Member
jstevenson said:
full progression for each character with a skill tree. Ability to leap between characters if you have less than four players. a full Insomniac story with exotic locations, character development, personality and humor
Click to expand...
Well, that's definitely a plus. As somebody who loves co-op gaming but can have a hard time getting everybody's schedules to match up, this is appreciated.

Are there strict character levels in this? I'm wondering if the progression is more like Borderlands where you want to keep everybody within a narrow range of levels, or if its more like R2 co-op, where it doesn't matter much for grouping.
 
D

Duffyside

Banned
ezekial45 said:
They felt the game's violence and action didn't mesh well with the art style. So they changed it.
Click to expand...

Did they only feel this way because no other studios seem to have the guts to make a game with lots of action and violence with anything other than this shitty art style we're all so tired of? If some other developers had had the courage to make the leap first, and been successful, would they still have changed it?

I still think this is a direct result of EA's involvement.
 
J

jstevenson

Sailor Stevenson
NullPointer said:
Well, that's definitely a plus. As somebody who loves co-op gaming but can have a hard time getting everybody's schedules to match up, this is appreciated.

Are there strict character levels in this? I'm wondering if the progression is more like Borderlands where you want to keep everybody within a narrow range of levels, or if its more like R2 co-op, where it doesn't matter much for grouping.
Click to expand...


still figuring out the balancing, but right now it seems like you can mix with anyone and it should be ok
 
Z

zulux21

Member
DTKT said:
I guess I just don't think that having a unique art style automatically creates a zero chance of success. In fact, I don't understand that reasoning at all. If it ends being the same core game mechanics with a "gray-brown" art-style over it, what kind of difference is that going to make? Are we saying that the "core-bro" audience is automatically put off by colors and pixar-esque designs?

Ugh, freeze me up and let me wake up in 50 years when the industry has changed.

:|
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*looks at borderlands 2 and it's preorder numbers* yup it's a shame that unique art styles for shooters instantly mean that it won't sell more than a few 100k.... it's not like it's possible for a shooter with a unique style to actually be a company like 2k's most preordered game ever.... oh wait :p

Really at this point a generic gritty style will likely move less games than a unique style. I know I personally push any gritty realistic looking shooters to the don't care about pile and if they turn out to be any good I just pick them up as bargain bin games. Gritty and realistic at this point will just get you a sea of Gears of War or COD clone comments and a lot of people will just ignore the game (pretty much anyone on my friends list that I know including people who play BF3 and COD)
 
E

ezekial45

Banned
Duffyside said:
Did they only feel this way because no other studios seem to have the guts to make a game with lots of action and violence with anything other than this shitty art style we're all so tired of? If some other developers had had the courage to make the leap first, and been successful, would they still have changed it?

I still think this is a direct result of EA's involvement.
Click to expand...

I believe Price said that it was their idea to do so, but I wouldn't doubt at all if EA nudged them into that direction.

The game looks pretty generic compared to the original look.
 
8

8byte

Banned
NullPointer said:
Well, that's definitely a plus. As somebody who loves co-op gaming but can have a hard time getting everybody's schedules to match up, this is appreciated.

Are there strict character levels in this? I'm wondering if the progression is more like Borderlands where you want to keep everybody within a narrow range of levels, or if its more like R2 co-op, where it doesn't matter much for grouping.
Click to expand...

You earn points as you play and spend them on skill tree's, so I don't think there's levels as there were in Resistance 2.

Also, I think I remember Ted Price saying the progression was persistent across all game types, so I don't think it matters (ala R2).
 
I

i-Lo

Member
VanWinkle said:
Army of Two x Two
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Pretty much this. So far, they showcased some pretty neat mechanics but even though there's nothing new under the sun, I've come away feeling underwhelmed. Perhaps future gameplay scoops will throw back to vacillation and even perhaps to positivity.
 
C

Cake Boss

Banned
Brawndo Addict said:
I'm being overly dramatic. I don't mean literally zero percent chance of success, I just mean extremely low comparatively. It's a safer 'bet' to do it this way.

I would argue TF2 is the anomaly and has the Valve touch. The runaway success of one game does not mean it's a 'safe' genre to experiment with. Did Borderlands do well? Absolutely. Is it a blockbuster franchise like Asssassin's Creed? No way. It just hit 6 million LTD back in July, and that's over 3 years. Assassin's Creed 2 hit that in a few months.

The important point is the scale of success. Companies don't want moderate successes like Borderlands, they want runaway succeses. You hear all the time about how games selling 1-2 million isn't even good enough to break even anymore. I'd be very curious to see the budget of Borderlands 2 and the projected sales figured required to break even.
Click to expand...

Umm most of the companies are looking for a quick buck. Try an easy cheap way to capture a percentage of that COD market. Most of them know they arent going to be mult million sellers.
 
8

8byte

Banned
zulux21 said:
*looks at borderlands 2 and it's preorder numbers* yup it's a shame that unique art styles for shooters instantly mean that it won't sell more than a few 100k.... it's not like it's possible for a shooter with a unique style to actually be a company like 2k's most preordered game ever.... oh wait :p

Really at this point a generic gritty style will likely move less games than a unique style. I know I personally push any gritty realistic looking shooters to the don't care about pile and if they turn out to be any good I just pick them up as bargain bin games. Gritty and realistic at this point will just get you a sea of Gears of War or COD clone comments and a lot of people will just ignore the game (pretty much anyone on my friends list that I know including people who play BF3 and COD)
Click to expand...

The tricky part is determining whether Borderlands is the exception, or the norm. If other studios try to follow suit, will the by ensured success? Or will they fall short? How significant is art style to the success of a franchise? I'd argue that Halo has some of the most bland sci-fi art in existence, but its console exclusivity and extremely fantastic gameplay mechanics more than made up for it, and set the world on fire.

CoD has terrible art, but the technical performance of the engine and positive feedback loop that keeps players coming back for a reward driven gameplay experience set that off substantially.

I'm not saying Fuse will be a success, just questioning the train of thought that it would be more successful if it had stayed the same, or that it will be less because of the change.
 
C

Callibretto

Member
Brawndo Addict said:
I'm being overly dramatic. I don't mean literally zero percent chance of success, I just mean extremely low comparatively. It's a safer 'bet' to do it this way.

I would argue TF2 is the anomaly and has the Valve touch. The runaway success of one game does not mean it's a 'safe' genre to experiment with. Did Borderlands do well? Absolutely. Is it a blockbuster franchise like Asssassin's Creed? No way. It just hit 6 million LTD back in July, and that's over 3 years. Assassin's Creed 2 hit that in a few months.

The important point is the scale of success. Companies don't want moderate successes like Borderlands, they want runaway succeses. You hear all the time about how games selling 1-2 million isn't even good enough to break even anymore. I'd be very curious to see the budget of Borderlands 2 and the projected sales figured required to break even.
Click to expand...

how many games that are runaway success begin as a generic looking games? Assassin creed become a runaway success because it's actually pretty original game with interesting setting when it first out, AC1 is not even perfect, it has glaring flaws like being repetitive etc, but being original, interesting setting, coupled with great trailer and marketing. it sold really well.
 
T

Tagg9

Member
For all you guys saying EA pushed them in this direction... I don't buy it. Insomniac was adamant that they owned the IP, and so they clearly thought this was the better route for commercializing the game.

Just out of curiosity, is this game targeting a T or M rating?
 
N

NullPointer

Member
jstevenson said:
still figuring out the balancing, but right now it seems like you can mix with anyone and it should be ok
Click to expand...
That alone would get me to give this a whirl, as strict level based games make it even harder to maintain continuity with a team of players who have schedules and lives and wives and kids, etc. I just want to blow stuff up with my buddies, not synchronize calendars or have the attain the discipline or organization of a gaming clan.

I can't stand levels - its honestly my pet peeve ;P Thanks for the answers - I'll keep a close eye on this one.

8byte said:
You earn points as you play and spend them on skill tree's, so I don't think there's levels as there were in Resistance 2.

Also, I think I remember Ted Price saying the progression was persistent across all game types, so I don't think it matters (ala R2).
Click to expand...
Sounds good to me. And my only problem with R2 co-op was that it was balanced for 3+ minimum, but I had only one regular PS3 co-op partner. Having AI and swappability between characters feels like it fixes that particular problem.
 
A

Always-honest

Banned
Reminds me of Resistance 2 coop. And that was fantastic. I do think that when the people of insomniac go wild with fresh ideas, there is 1 guy at insomniac (or Mofo EA) who is afraid to make games unique though. Who wants to play safe all the time. Am i right in this? Cause it DOES look a bit generic in certain aspects. I wish you all the best in this. I loved the resistance games, especially 1 and 3 and looooved the coop in 2. I also think you guys make some the best weapons in the industry.
 
B

Brawndo Addict

Banned
Aaron said:
Borderlands 2 is the second highest pre-ordered game OF ALL TIME. So yeah I think it'll do pretty well. Comparing the original to the sales of the sequel to Assassin's Creed is crazy talk. The first AC did real well out of the gate too, but comparable to the original Borderlands.

A new IP is almost never a runaway success. Minecraft is the only one I can think of in the last few years, and that's a very special case. If companies are reaching for it, they are dumber than I thought.
Click to expand...

Is that second highest pre-ordered game of all time or just for 2k as a company? Either way, dumb comparison in retrospect. Sequel to sequel as you say, and if you're correct on preorders it's looking like it may be that runaway blockbuster that everyone wants. That may be enough convince companies to be more experimental in art style, but I'd still argue that it's an inherently risky move compared to the industry standard.

I don't want it to be that way. I'd love to be wrong. But you'd think if Borderlands proved such a conclusion wrong they wouldn't have drastically changed the art style in the first place.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
8byte said:
The tricky part is determining whether Borderlands is the exception, or the norm. If other studios try to follow suit, will the by ensured success? Or will they fall short? How significant is art style to the success of a franchise? I'd argue that Halo has some of the most bland sci-fi art in existence, but its console exclusivity and extremely fantastic gameplay mechanics more than made up for it, and set the world on fire.

CoD has terrible art, but the technical performance of the engine and positive feedback loop that keeps players coming back for a reward driven gameplay experience set that off substantially.

I'm not saying Fuse will be a success, just questioning the train of thought that it would be more successful if it had stayed the same, or that it will be less because of the change.
Click to expand...

To put it simply heres how I feel.

I saw borderlands and wanted it.

I was this trailer and will give it a pass based off of the current released media.

No bullshit here.
 
D

dmr87

Member
Went from a colorful and witty Overstrike trailer to a generic brown dude-bro trailer with bad music. I'm so out.
 
C

Callibretto

Member
Tagg9 said:
For all you guys saying EA pushed them in this direction... I don't buy it. Insomniac was adamant that they owned the IP, and so they clearly thought this was the better route for commercializing the game.

Just out of curiosity, is this game targeting a T or M rating?
Click to expand...

Overstrike might be T, but Fuse is definitely hard M (probably trying too hard too)
 
A

Atruvius

Member
I think that actually looks pretty good. Seems like an evolution of Resistance 2's coop.

When are we getting real gameplay, with HUDs and all?

edit. what song was that? Sounded really familiar.
 
A

Aaron

Member
Brawndo Addict said:
I don't want it to be that way. I'd love to be wrong. But you'd think if Borderlands proved such a conclusion wrong they wouldn't have drastically changed the art style in the first place.
Click to expand...
No. I think EA can't see beyond their own COD-block. That's why they're rushing out another Battlefield, looking identical to the last, making Army of Two more gritty, and taking even more of the horror out of Dead Space. People might say this is Insomniac's decision, but it's consistent with EA's direction lately, and I don't think it'll be ultimately successful.

I guess we'll find out in six months.
 
N

nemesun

Member
Tagg9 said:
For all you guys saying EA pushed them in this direction... I don't buy it. Insomniac was adamant that they owned the IP, and so they clearly thought this was the better route for commercializing the game.

Just out of curiosity, is this game targeting a T or M rating?
Click to expand...
Logically, they made the sound decision; put Overstrike's reveal trailer in front of any focus group and they will pack your arse back to the drawing board. But artistically, it looks like any other half-arsed shooter out there and if EA decides to put some marketing behind it, I reckon it will do some decent numbers for 'em in today's gaming climate.
 
8

8byte

Banned
Parakeetman said:
To put it simply heres how I feel.

I saw borderlands and wanted it.

I was this trailer and will give it a pass based off of the current released media.

No bullshit here.
Click to expand...

Huh.

I've never felt like that. I've seen and played too many games that turned to shit* to really behave like that. I need more substance and info with regards to mechanics, etc. Seems really silly to me to decide on a purchase w/out playing it, or at least gaining a fundamental understanding of how the mechanics work. I mean, Brink looked fantastic in preview videos, but ultimately was just a mess, technically and mechanically.

*I'm not saying Borderlands is or can turn to shit, simply speaking to past experience with titles.
 
C

Callibretto

Member
Aaron said:
No. I think EA can't see beyond their own COD-block. That's why they're rushing out another Battlefield, looking identical to the last, making Army of Two more gritty, and taking even more of the horror out of Dead Space. People might say this is Insomniac's decision, but it's consistent with EA's direction lately, and I don't think it'll be ultimately successful.

I guess we'll find out in six months.
Click to expand...

yeah I also think this is EA's influence... at least, I think insomniac is better than this.
 
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