Report: Mirror's Edge 2 Open World and Combat Details Jump Out

[lacktheknack]

I'm not "disinterested", but DICE clearly not knowing how to do the combat last time around (I literally avoided all of it, and completely successfully minus two encounters) and the always-online persistent world have majorly narrowed the line the game has to balance on.

Mirror's Edge remains the best game I've ever played, so I'm going to end up with the new one no matter what, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous as hell.

That said, "treating it as a racing game" with exploratory open world components is absolutely the correct thing to do.

 

[Metalrocks]

not happy with the always online part. but as long i can move around by my self and play as faith without interacting with other players, then i might love it as well. till this day i still love the first game and i so hope that part 2 will not suck.

even if this info is not yet confirmed, it does not really sound amazing to me but i rather wait until official infos are out before i jump to any conclusion.

 

[shrekfan246]

I want to know if the 'always-online' means you have to be connected to the internet to play the game at all, because they're talking it up like it's an optional extra rather than a requirement, but this is still EA.

I mean, come on EA, I want a sequel as much as this guy

Snip.

but I don't know what my situation is going to be like two years from now, and I trust EA's servers even less than I do Blizzard's. Don't duff this one up by pulling another Darkspore or SimCity. Please? For Mirror's Edge?

 

[Mister Chippy]

OH FUCK GODDAMMIT NO WAY IN HELL.

I was excited for this game, but now it's gonna be more of this "open world always online" bullshit? No fucking thank you. I'd be fine with open world, but the thought of having to share my freerunning paradise with other people (and being unable to play offline) is not something I want to have to deal with. This was gonna be the game that was finally gonna end my EA games boycott. Lol, looks like they'll never learn. Oh well, at least I get the enjoyment of watching them fail to secure enough servers for the fourth time in a row, or however they're gonna fuck this one up.

Still I'm really fucking pissed about that always online bullshit. I just won't put up with that in a game and so now I can't get this one. I might, might, still get it if I can choose to play by myself, but if not EA can kiss my $60 goodbye.

 

[Zhukov]

Oh my.

I think they said just about everything I wanted to hear.

As in, fucking everything. Every one of my worries, concern and hopes was addressed in there.

- Full on reboot. Awesome. The original had some vaguely cool ideas, but the execution was pretty horrible. I'd rather they just wipe the slate rather than trying to wrangle a sequential sequel out of it.

- Open world. FOr once, I approve. I don't like the way open world turns everything into a commute between the interesting bits. But the mechanics of Mirror's Edge are about getting from Point A to Point B. Being able to pick you path between the two would be a huge improvement.

- Faith doesn't use guns. Sweeeeeet. Was worried they'd turn it into a shooter.

- I see a bunch of people getting preemptively sore about the online stuff. But they're comparing it to the Journey approach, which is something I'd love to see more of. Curious about how it'll turn out.

- Treating it as a racing game at heart rather than a brawler. Perfect.

- Stuff about combat sounds good, but I'd have to see it in action to judge. Love the idea of being able to knock enemies into the environment though, so long as they give the physics some weight. Which, if the teaser trailer (apparently made of actual game footage) is any indication, they have. Reminds me of how in Dishonored sometimes killing a guard with a sword would knock them backwards. It was always immensely satisfying when it sent them tumbling over a railed or crashing into a glass cabinet. Would freaking love to see a game really do that properly. Fingers crossed indeed.

...

Not gonna lie, I'm... I'm a little turned on right now.

 

[shrekfan246]

- I see a bunch of people getting preemptively sore about the online stuff. But they're comparing it to the Journey approach, which is something I'd love to see more of. Curious about how it'll turn out.

I'm a bit anxious to hear more about what they really mean on that end.

On the one hand, Journey never forced an online connection on the player, so if they take that to heart then it'd be interesting to see what they can do with it.

On the other hand, EA doesn't let the word "subtle" enter into their dictionary. Ever. So I feel like there's a greater chance for them to miss the point completely and just slap an online requirement onto the game rather than letting the players choose whether they enter into this online community or not.

I'm not making my final judgement on my purchasing decision simply based on this information, but it's leaning me more and more towards being wary than I'd like for another Mirror's Edge game.

 

[lacktheknack]

snip

Your optimism is greatly appreciated. I needed some at this point.

If it does turn out to be a Journey-style online component, that would be tolerable. Heck, everyone seems to love the idea for "Star Citizen", so I'm going to happy-face it and hope.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Always online complaints are justifiable. But complaining about it being open world? Wasn't one of the major criticism of the first game that it was too linear? That a more open world would only benefit the game?

Seriously, everyone is creating biased opinions on a game that has TWO WHOLE YEARS before you need to completely worry about that stuff. How about you fucking wait a little bit.

 

[Dominic Crossman]

...the title's open world environment will be a persistent "always online" component--

...aaaaand I'm out.

This exactly
Btw, why in the world is this a reboot, it's not like the original was story intensive.
The only good(ish) news is that of improved combat, not because I want combat but when I needed it in a emergency I couldn't do it because... well I forget because it's been so long since I played it, but combat equalled death for me.

 

[tdylan]

Oh my.

I think they said just about everything I wanted to hear.

-snip-

That's precisely my problem with this: they're simply telling us, fans of the original, what we want to hear. Based on the previous comment:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125341-Mirrors-Edge-2-Was-Always-Going-To-Happen

the notion of constantly running away wasn't maybe greatly perceived... What I can say is we're taking more of an action adventure approach on it than maybe before.

I'm on edge, no pun intended, that the people they're listening to and wanting to attract are not those that understood "Faith is fragile, (pardon the play on words) and combat must be avoided if at all possible, but those that played it and felt "What do you mean she has to run away all the time? That's stupid. This sucks."

- DICE has taken on a lot of feedback from Mirror's Edge in shaping the combat system for Mirror's Edge 2. Heavy revisions have shaped the combat away from useless gunplay and one button combats (like the nut-punch) to a deeper system that emphasises speed and fluidity.

I'd bet that "deeper system" is one that allows Faith to go toe to toe with foes, rather than trying to evade them. The gunplay in the original was "useless" by design. The point was to make it so cumbersome that evasion was your first, second and third choice.

- DICE wishes to seamlessly integrate encounters and the combat system into the feeling of speed and parkour mastery, so players even while fighting are still on the move, making progress, and interacting with their environment..

Did anyone not already get this feeling in the original, after you learned the paths and the enemy locations? To me this reads like "we want you to stop and kick ass, but look so cool doing it that you don't feel the 'break in flow' the way you did in the original." IMO, those "breaks in flow" made the game feel more realistic and more tense. They let me know that I screwed up. Yes, it was pretty unforgiving in areas, but that's what I played the game for. I'm all for Faith being able to mantle over a table, slide across it, kick some guy in the chest and keep running. What I'm not looking forward is to Faith realizing that she's in the matrix, kicks off a wall, takes a guy down with a hurracanrana, lands on her feet, vaults over a charging guard in order to crush another with a double knee drop, and then backward roll to sweep the legs of the guard that she vaulted over.

 

[QuicklyAcross]

Mmmm oh how i love spoonfed always online shoehorned multiplayer components in sequels for titles that were originally singleplayer. EA just getting this down to a science now, how to ruin game franchises.

Press X to parkour!
Shoehorned military wanking combat sequences!

The gift that keeps on giving

 

[Ticklefist]

Pumped. Excellent news. I've gone from buying hundreds of games a year to FOUR games a year. The longevity issues being addressed mean I can keep this game on my radar.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Despite the first game's riddling with faults, annoying features, and lack of good features, along with suprisingly realistic combat that was about as fun as falling off of the buildings with headphones (most terrifying thing in any first person game that you can do by pressing the wrong button at... any time) it was just a frustrating, weird little game with a bad story.

And it was pretty awesome.

Not because it was good, but because it was different. It was a slipery slope of fesces for 8 hours, but one that entertained me. I'm excited for 2, but just as scared that EA will fuck it up and shut down the franchise.

 

[Zhukov]

Oh my.

I think they said just about everything I wanted to hear.

-snip-

That's precisely my problem with this: they're simply telling us, fans of the original, what we want to hear.

Except this isn't EA or Dice saying it.

It's from a gaming site that somehow got to see some gameplay.

I'm on edge, no pun intended, that the people they're listening to and wanting to attract are not those that understood "Faith is fragile, (pardon the play on words) and combat must be avoided if at all possible, but those that played it and felt "What do you mean she has to run away all the time? That's stupid. This sucks."

I'd bet that "deeper system" is one that allows Faith to go toe to toe with foes, rather than trying to evade them. The gunplay in the original was "useless" by design. The point was to make it so cumbersome that evasion was your first, second and third choice.

You are remembering the original game wrong. Very wrong.

Faith wasn't fragile. She could take bullets and keep right on trucking, and regenerate in a jiffy.

The guns weren't useless. They were OP as shit. Killed to one or two shots, maybe four shots for the SWAT guys. Disarm one dude, any dude, and you can effortlessly gun down the next 3-4, then take their guns to deal with any stragglers.

You always could go toe-to-toe. Charge up to any guy, press right click (use slow mo if you have trouble with the timing) for auto-disarm-and-KO and now you've got a gun and the fight is as good as finished.

Yes, the game can be completed without firing a single shot, in fact that's my preferred way to play it, but that wasn't the first, second and third choice. In fact, it was the last choice, since it required the player to actively handicap themselves.

Having the player fight dudes isn't some dastardly betrayal of the holy writ of the original game. The original forced you to do that too. There are several encounters where the game locks you in an area with several enemies and makes it impossible to leave before you've taken them down. Making it so the player can't use guns at all (assuming that's actually the case) is a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Coreless]

Oh my.

I think they said just about everything I wanted to hear.

As in, fucking everything. Every one of my worries, concern and hopes was addressed in there.

- Full on reboot. Awesome. The original had some vaguely cool ideas, but the execution was pretty horrible. I'd rather they just wipe the slate rather than trying to wrangle a sequential sequel out of it.

- Open world. FOr once, I approve. I don't like the way open world turns everything into a commute between the interesting bits. But the mechanics of Mirror's Edge are about getting from Point A to Point B. Being able to pick you path between the two would be a huge improvement.

- Faith doesn't use guns. Sweeeeeet. Was worried they'd turn it into a shooter.

- I see a bunch of people getting preemptively sore about the online stuff. But they're comparing it to the Journey approach, which is something I'd love to see more of. Curious about how it'll turn out.

- Treating it as a racing game at heart rather than a brawler. Perfect.

- Stuff about combat sounds good, but I'd have to see it in action to judge. Love the idea of being able to knock enemies into the environment though, so long as they give the physics some weight. Which, if the teaser trailer (apparently made of actual game footage) is any indication, they have. Reminds me of how in Dishonored sometimes killing a guard with a sword would knock them backwards. It was always immensely satisfying when it sent them tumbling over a railed or crashing into a glass cabinet. Would freaking love to see a game really do that properly. Fingers crossed indeed.

...

Not gonna lie, I'm... I'm a little turned on right now.

I feel you bro, I have the biggest smile on my face after reading the info and will be extremely disheartened if it all turns out to be just a rumor. This is absolutely everything I would have wanted from the sequel and after seeing that reveal at E3 it is easily my most anticipated game right now.

 

[Chrozi]

I'm going to defend this a bit.

If the online stuff works a lot like Journey then I'm OK with it. I think you should be able to pop in and out of peoples games at random times, but not MMO crazy with a thousand people popping around the rooftops.

It should have the same kind of dreamy empty feel, but other random players could cross your path and challenge you to a race or follow-the-leader.

It would be your choice on how to interact with the other players, if at all.

"Faith does not have guns" YAY! The original game set you up to think you don't use guns at all, but then forces them on you and suddenly someone dumped a glass of Battlefield on my running game.

I also like the stronger focus on navigating and manipulating the environment, this was Mirrors Edge's strongest component.

"DICE does not consider Mirror's Edge 2 as a brawler, but instead a racing game at heart."
"creating a game all about parkour: speed, fluidity, and mastery of your environment."
"DICE wishes to seamlessly integrate encounters and the combat system into the feeling of speed and parkour mastery,"

^^ gives me hope (Hope?), I feel like all this is them listening to what the fans want. I'm in.