The era of remasters wouldn't be complete without this. We got AoE (huge success) and WC3 (huge flop) remasters. Now it's time for C&C.
They are remastering Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert, along with 3 expansions (Covert Operations, Counterstrike, Aftermath).
Features: - new graphics with up to 4k (and ability to switch between legacy and new on the fly) - remastered music - upscaled and remastered videos - included secret missions from consoles and other misc stuff - overhauled UI and controls (you can re-define all hotkeys from the menu) - rebuilt multiplayer (elo matchmaking, in-game leaderboard, observer mode etc.)
They've been working with the community to create this so I'm hopeful. AoE 2 is currently my favourite RTS to play and if they do this right, it can turn into another amazing trip down memory lane.
On March 12 2020 19:54 Manit0u wrote: Why are people only talking about pre-orders here? I only mentioned them in an informative way and wasn't encouraging anyone to do it.
I'd be more interested as to what your general thoughts are about the project, do you like the new graphics etc.
It is more about the general trend of the gaming industry where preorders shafted the players with the exceptions of a few rare cases.
Thoughts on the project?
It looks decent in the trailers, some of the old developers are back, communications between the developers and community (mostly on reddit commmandandconquer) is good. Reddit is very very high on the game
The lack of information on gameplay improvements, UI changes, ladders is worrying. When the trailer's focus is mostly on NEW REMASTERED music and the real life switch between classic and remastered gfx while gaming, I worry a little. It doesnt matter if we can play a visually superior game but being filled with bugs like WC3:RF
The new game must be good. If not, why should the fans pay so much to support it? When the older version is f2p online and I've been burned with C&C: The First Decade
Less than a month away until this is released (June 5). Man, I really want it to be a good successful remaster. If they pull it off it will be good for the RTS genre as a whole I think.
When it comes to remasters, Blizzard has set the bar so unbelievably low, that I am actually willing to believe, even EA, EVEN EA can't do any worse...then again, EA has so often shown me depths of sucking I didn't knew existed before. I am excited no matter which direction this takes!
On May 09 2020 20:51 naughtDE wrote: When it comes to remasters, Blizzard has set the bar so unbelievably low, that I am actually willing to believe, even EA, EVEN EA can't do any worse...then again, EA has so often shown me depths of sucking I didn't knew existed before. I am excited no matter which direction this takes!
When it comes to remasters Blizzard has shown us the lows (SCR, WC3R) and Forgotten Realms have shown us the highs (AoE).
On May 09 2020 20:51 naughtDE wrote: When it comes to remasters, Blizzard has set the bar so unbelievably low, that I am actually willing to believe, even EA, EVEN EA can't do any worse...then again, EA has so often shown me depths of sucking I didn't knew existed before. I am excited no matter which direction this takes!
When it comes to remasters Blizzard has shown us the lows (SCR, WC3R) and Forgotten Realms have shown us the highs (AoE).
SCR is a low? WC3R is definitely, but apart from a couple of missing features (2v2 ladder mostly) SCR is basically the perfect remaster, hell, they even respected extended features like EUD trigger maps.
On May 09 2020 20:51 naughtDE wrote: When it comes to remasters, Blizzard has set the bar so unbelievably low, that I am actually willing to believe, even EA, EVEN EA can't do any worse...then again, EA has so often shown me depths of sucking I didn't knew existed before. I am excited no matter which direction this takes!
To be fair, this C&C Remaster is being developed by Petroglyph Games rather than by one of EA's internal studios. EA is just publishing. Even though Petroglyph hasn't done any remarkable games recently imo, they have enough key ex-Westwood devs on their staff to be the logical choice for this remaster.
On May 09 2020 20:51 naughtDE wrote: When it comes to remasters, Blizzard has set the bar so unbelievably low, that I am actually willing to believe, even EA, EVEN EA can't do any worse...then again, EA has so often shown me depths of sucking I didn't knew existed before. I am excited no matter which direction this takes!
To be fair, this C&C Remaster is being developed by Petroglyph Games rather than by one of EA's internal studios. EA is just publishing. Even though Petroglyph hasn't done any remarkable games recently imo, they have enough key ex-Westwood devs on their staff to be the logical choice for this remaster.
My favourite C&C was Tiberian Sun, still done by original westwood with EA as a publisher and after playing it for a couple thousands of hours, I thought how I would improve that game and came to the conclusion that adding the ability to costumize the starting units instead of randomizing them would have made a great game even better. Later I read in an interview that was one of the features cut because EA pressured to release early hard. So I am sure they will manage to make Petroglyph trip up aswell, EA has the skills to ruin everything.
On May 09 2020 20:51 naughtDE wrote: When it comes to remasters, Blizzard has set the bar so unbelievably low, that I am actually willing to believe, even EA, EVEN EA can't do any worse...then again, EA has so often shown me depths of sucking I didn't knew existed before. I am excited no matter which direction this takes!
When it comes to remasters Blizzard has shown us the lows (SCR, WC3R) and Forgotten Realms have shown us the highs (AoE).
SCR is a low? WC3R is definitely, but apart from a couple of missing features (2v2 ladder mostly) SCR is basically the perfect remaster, hell, they even respected extended features like EUD trigger maps.
My gripe with SCR was the forced global ladder and the purposely worsened original graphics (different renderer) ... image they pulled that with WC3R which didn't offer an acceptable alternative, kinda SCRs saving grace. Forgotten Realms did a good job with AoE2 DE, however they brought us AoE DE and AoE2 HD before that, it took them many years to get it kinda right (did they actually ever fix the game refusing to load into ram (only uses virtual memory) or the memory leak on 4k graphics)?
Edit: They also released AoE2 DE in a state that I considered end of alpha, right before beta. The first 2month I mostly spend working as a slave (without payment), wait, i acutally paid microsoft to beta test and every ladder session was followed by writing a page long report of bugs, which they eventually fixed the most annoying/gamebreaking of, that was the release version of the game, not early access. That left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to AoE2 DE's release. I don't know how it is right now, but 5 month after release it was finally in a decent state. So if forgotten Realms is the high, EA could surpass them easily, that high is not a very high high.
RA1 was a freaking classic. I remember going to my friends house after school everyday to play it on the PS1 and we had a mouse connected to it. Massing Mammoth tanks and “Ooing” and “Ahhing” when the Tesla defenses zapped enemy infantry.
I don’t expect a lot from a remaster but I’ll probably get it just for nostalgic’s sake
On May 11 2020 10:13 GGzerG wrote: Why are people saying not to Pre Order? I guess there is no reason to as everything will be digital but meh why not?
On May 11 2020 10:13 GGzerG wrote: Why are people saying not to Pre Order? I guess there is no reason to as everything will be digital but meh why not?
Warcraft 3 Reforged
Oh lol duh, I think this will be better taken care of with Petroglyph monitoring it.
On May 09 2020 20:51 naughtDE wrote: When it comes to remasters, Blizzard has set the bar so unbelievably low, that I am actually willing to believe, even EA, EVEN EA can't do any worse...then again, EA has so often shown me depths of sucking I didn't knew existed before. I am excited no matter which direction this takes!
When it comes to remasters Blizzard has shown us the lows (SCR, WC3R) and Forgotten Realms have shown us the highs (AoE).
SCR is a low? WC3R is definitely, but apart from a couple of missing features (2v2 ladder mostly) SCR is basically the perfect remaster, hell, they even respected extended features like EUD trigger maps.
I mean, for a true remaster they could've at least put minimal effort to add proper reverse (nw/se) ramps graphics instead of this jumbled pieces of crap.
On June 07 2020 02:18 GGzerG wrote: About to get this, stoked for the multiplayer.
Only one of these I played in multiplayer was C&C (first one) on LAN. The unit AI was so bad that I won the game by getting around the cliffs with the units while my opponent didn't. We weren't great...
On June 07 2020 02:18 GGzerG wrote: About to get this, stoked for the multiplayer.
Only one of these I played in multiplayer was C&C (first one) on LAN. The unit AI was so bad that I won the game by getting around the cliffs with the units while my opponent didn't. We weren't great...
Yea meh... I hope they have Tiberian Sun remastered one day, that was my favorite
On June 07 2020 06:47 EchelonTee wrote: are these fun if I only played RA2, RA3, and Tiberian Sun?
I really loved those games but it's been a while since I went back
I'd say faction, unit, and mission designs were much better in those later games. The first generation of C&C games were rather simplistic in comparison, so your enjoyment will depend on whether you can like that generation of vintage RTS games like Warcraft 2 or Age of Empires 1. The presentation and world-building for the campaigns is pretty top-notch though.
On June 08 2020 00:09 grack-fields-420 wrote: Didn't feel any nostalgia watching the trailer, I think I started with Red Alert 2 and later played Generals...
Generals was the last title in C&C that I played. Did play all of them up until then. Might have missed some mission CD for a game here or there but got most of those as well. Don't want to play it again, the AI was so utterly broken in the games that I wouldn't enjoy it.
I've bought it. It was the first game i really loved and the remaster is nice, but its probably only good if you remember it. Those cutscenes are hilarious but i imagine most people seeing them for the first time now would be like wtf
On June 08 2020 06:32 Jockmcplop wrote: I've bought it. It was the first game i really loved and the remaster is nice, but its probably only good if you remember it. Those cutscenes are hilarious but i imagine most people seeing them for the first time now would be like wtf
RA3 was such a wierd game, the gameplay basics and basebuilding were good, but the campaign was CO-OP and it had a wierd philosophy that every unit in the game HAD to have a microable ability...
To be honest I didn't post this video because RA3 was a great game, but just to showcase the power of real actors having fun in the cutscenes while also being an awesome remix of the original RA theme.
I'm surprised that was an official promo haha. I thought it was a fan made remix at first. I think it's a pretty cool advertising idea, shows a certain amount of self deprecation and self awareness
decided to bite the bullet and buy the game, pretty fun so far. It's definitely showing it's age but it's still a fun romp so far
On June 09 2020 03:36 Manit0u wrote: To be honest I didn't post this video because RA3 was a great game, but just to showcase the power of real actors having fun in the cutscenes while also being an awesome remix of the original RA theme.
Tim Curry and "SPACE" will always be a legendary moment in video games.
I ended up buying as well. Only had time to play a few missions of Tiberium Dawn, but I'm loving it so far. It didn't change much, but the things that changes were all fantastic:
1. The Tiberian Dawn menu is actually usable now. Honestly I had a really hard time doing anything with that game because it was just such a pain to get through such small details. 2. A hotkey to swap graphics - love it. Can't say it isn't addicting to just press that button a bunch to enjoy the overhaul that much more. TD just didn't age well graphically, even relative to every other game including Red Alert 1. 3. Being able to backtrack and select other paths on the map. I always worried that in doing what I did, I'd miss a level. It was of course the case. Now I can do it right. 4. Being able to queue multiple units in the same command.
If Tiberian Dawn is that much more playable, I have no doubt that Red Alert, a much better and more polished game, will be at least as good. And maybe multiplayer will be good as a cherry on top. I'm pleased with what I got - definitely received my $20 worth of game out of this.
If I had to nitpick the Red Alert remaster, I'd say that the remastered sounds don't hit as hard as the original ones, though that may be because I've got too much nostalgia intertwined with those old sounds. Thankfully, there is an option to switch between the two. Also, the FMVs in Red Alert don't look as good with the AI upscaling, but that may be due to the camera being pulled farther back to accommodate more characters on the screen. Tiberian Dawn's FMVs were usually closeups of talking heads, so those looked better upscaled.
Just got through the GDI commando mission. Same as it always was, but the “optional” follow-up mission made for a pretty interesting story on the mission select window. Apparently it expects you not to blow up the airfield, so even if you do you’ll unlock the mission where you didn’t destroy the airfield in the “mission select” menu. The next mission won’t unlock, even though you can skip right to it, until you beat that commando follow-up one. I also found out how brutally difficult that one is if you don’t destroy the Hand of Nod with the commando, lol.
I’m enjoying going through each potential map choice in the campaign. Feels much less disjointed than what I remember without knowing what the other mission was. Glad they dropped the whole branching mission idea in later games.
I definitely remember that, even though it was a worse game overall by a longshot, TD did have the better music. The remastered version has a great soundtrack and the new songs are cool too. I guess I’ll see what RA is like when I get to it.
Anyone still playing this? Got back into it after a five month hiatus, with the goal of getting the "complete all TD missions on hardest difficulty" award. Without sandbags as well since that's just lame.
As of now, finished all permutations of all GDI and Nod campaign missions, and the GDI half of Covert Ops. That leaves Nod Covert Ops (moderately difficult), console (easy), and funpark (never played; people say it's difficult). Nod is largely easier because flame tanks and obelisks provide offensive and defensive power that GDI can't really match. And although this isn't new to the remaster, I have to say that the difficulty in this game at the hard level isn't a "fun" difficult, it's just mean-spirited. AI cheats so hard that you have little chance of winning in a straight fight. The fact that this game still retains some of the crash-prone nature of the original is annoying too (I can lose my save files to the game randomly deciding to die on certain levels).
What ends up happening is every level you have to find some way to cheese it. What convoluted path you can take an APC on to do an engineer rush and disable their production, where the harvesters are badly enough defended that you can just snipe them all, when their base has a narrow choke that you can just wait until it causes a traffic jam (harvesters can't get in, units can't get out), and so on. Try to play it straight and they get some absurd multiplier of cash on every harvester load, units are super beefy, base defenses rebuild instantly in places where they shouldn't be able to build units, etc. Different paths on any given mission make the mission either a lot harder or easier based on whether or not it does give you a golden opportunity for cheesing like this.
This mission, the last GDI Covert Ops one, is the one that takes the cake so far, though. Couldn't beat it without using speedrun strats on corner MCVs:
I also recall that was my experience of the game when I played it while young. The maps are puzzles where you have to reload to find the solution, more than tests of skills. Though the clearest memory is playing multiplayer and the map being so badly designed that the person that realised you had to micro the harvester manually won.
Well, after finishing Covert Ops, it didn't take much more effort to finish up the game, and finally get the achievement for having done so:
Funpark was... not that hard, even though I've never played it back in the day. After you figured out how to lure velociraptors and that every other unit is too slow to matter, there wasn't much challenge to it. The last mission, where you play as the dinosaurs, was fun though. Without the dinosaurs having any production it didn't take much to just bleed them dry and win with macro. Overall the Red Alert ant missions provide a much more meaningful challenge.
All 81 Tiberian Dawn missions down on hardest difficulty. Will probably burn through the Red Alert campaign too, but by virtue of being better designed that game is a lot easier to beat (fewer dumb things / game crashes means there's a much cleaner path to victory). This one took some doing.