MechWarrior Retrospective Part 5 - MechWarrior 3 (1999)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 พ.ย. 2024
- Proof of life. This one was fairly involved.
Video footage captured with AVerMedia GameBroadcaster HD. Games played on custom retro hardware, except MechWarrior 4 which was played on Windows 10 just for fun.
What's with you and Daikatana?
+Ben Bell It's the original Orange Box.
"The original Orange Box"? What does that mean? it only has one game as opposed to five, so why do you call it the "Original Orange Box"?
Ben Bell Cause the box is orange.
Oh... I can agree with you there, Daikatana is a terrible game, but at least the cover is cool.
The Examined Life (of Gaming) I thought the box was red.
I did play in a Tesla pod in Las Vegas in 1994 or 1995. The cockpit was very immersive, with over 100 controls to learn, although the basics of piloting and gunnery were simple enough. Some of the control features were only for the very advanced pilots, which I could not become in only two weeks. The screen graphics were similar to MW2, which is to say a bit dissapointing, IMO. The cost was more than a dollar per minute in ten minute blocks, and those were some of the most intense ten-minutes ever. I don't remember the controls having feedback functions, but the pods were close enough that you could yell to other players in the room. I spent over $500 in two weeks, during a USAF Green Flag exercise. Good times.
That's insanely awesome. Thanks for the story!
I wanna play scenery warrior.
this is an excellent video more mechwarrior/battletech fans need to see. I do actually have MechWarrior 3 running quite perfectly on my Windows 7 64bit, i7-5820k, GTX 1080 computer. Only thing I had to modify was capping FPS to 60. Other than that, no other tweaks were made and the game runs flawlessly despite a crash every now and then, but fortunately not often enough to be a terrible bother. I'm actually doing a lets play of it currently right now.
Windows 7 for life man.
dgVoodoo is such a godsend for running the old Mechwarrior games.
This is the game that made me fall in love with the Bushwhacker.
Everytime I play this game I always get a feeling of "loneliness", I can't describe it. Like "holy shit this game has aged so much". It's a feeling I never get while playing other older games like Mortal Kombat 1,2,3 or even Doom, for example. But it makes the game even more awesome to play for me.
I feel something similar when I play mechwarrior games. One strong quality these games have is ambience, most of the time you're alone walking through barren worlds and the soundtracks also reinforce this feeling. Yes it stands out more in MW3 with the grey skies and alien beaches. Also, I think it has a lot to do with how when I played these games I had a lot of family issues and spent most of my time isolated up to my late teens. Now I'm 33 and still remember being highly invested in these games.
Do you mean "aged so well?"
Thank you in 2023 my dude. The design and flow of this review is rare now a days. I bet it took weeks to edit each one of these and so much love and lore/ game knowledge its just incredible.
I agree! Shame he didn't get to MWO and MW5
I'm a pilot on the side of my main job and this is to answer your question about why the cockpit has so many screens and guages.
In Modern military jets and some newer private planes. They have HUDS on the glass or on your helmets glass, showing Nav Points, speed, altitude, targeting brackets, linked up friendlies and missile locks. The newer fighters can even project 360 panoramic camera views around the vehicle. Even thou these HUDS can be useful they are on there so the pilot can focus on the basic functions of flight or in combat or idle flying at the time.
You still need the rest of the cockpit guages and screens for startup, engine performance, radio UHF/VHF settings and basically a switch for every single function in the vehicle, down to a light panel.
That deadpan “mankind is at war? No way...” made my morning. So far watched like 3 or 4 of your retrospectives...great pieces as I’m trying to get back into MW.
None of the other mechwarrior games have such autocannon impact/recoil feel that mechwarrior 3 does.
I have been trying for years to figure out what game it was that I used to play all the time at CompUSA until they would kick me off the demo computer, and then you had the cover of MechCommander peek out at the beginning of this video so I Googled it, and that's the game! I'll have to track it down, I wanted that game so badly growing up!
Great video, brings back old times. Mech 3 DID have dynamic salvage. Yes, you got the same rewards from completing each mission, but in addition you also got mechs and mech components based on how you killed them. Legging was very powerful in the game, since it preserved most of the mech, and you only had to destroy one to bring it down. You couldn't put weapons in the legs like you could in Mech 2 either.
Mech 3 was odd in that not all mechs had torso twist, so for multiplayer many were not viable. The multiplayer was fun in it's heyday, but would be considered terrible now. It was peer to peer through MSN Gaming Zone. There were no servers, and latency played a huge role. The netcode wasn't very good, so you had to lead enemies based on their lag. Lag aiming was what separated the veterans from new players, and decided matches. Loadouts were largely governed by gentleman's agreement between pilots, and it could take multiple attempts to start a match due to the buggy hand-off from the MSN lobbies to the game. It's amazing that we put up with it, but it was incredible for its time.
+LeMonsMonty The ability to aim your arms in Mech 3 made the mechs a bit more versatile than in Mech 2. The Nova for example was close to useless in Mech 2 even with jump jets for fast turns.
+The Examined Life (of Gaming) Yeah, some folks used the Blackhawk in multiplayer and just put all the weapons in the arms, but the Shadowcat and Bushwacker were way more popular due to the torso twist and similar weight. You are spot on about the hard points system making for more diverse mech selection.
the only question is WHY that ability was removed from MW4
I just started the MW3 campaign today and it appears to have dynamic salvage.
With ya. I replayed mw3 with an ambidextrous stick in left hand between knees for lower torso and jets combined with mouse keyboard. the binding process was involved enough to include pages of diagrams and notes to complete my first video game note/art book. the anticipation grew as i tuned away and then it was "lets see what i'll salvage this time and can i keep all my MFBs together till the end".
This is why you should keep an old computer or two and ye ol'sticks tucked away in a closet. In my old age i feel like i earned my spoon-fed THRUSTMASTER 4 assisted PS4 pro Battle Zone VR setup one day but it looks like i'll have too do without terrain morphing and destructable props. Interesting how my species and its v-games can evolve and de-evolve simultaneously.
"Immerson isn't only the games responsibility. It's yours, too"
Desslock - Alternate Lives
(PC Gamer magazine)
"MechWarrior 3 is glorious."
Such true words. I remember being surprised by all the brand names in the intro as well, but I simply figured games were getting just that complex! I'm surprised you didn't really say much on just how buggy the AI is in this game! It's the game's biggest weakness, I think.
But I did really like the slow pace and strategic possibilities. It felt more realistic and helped push that scary, separated feel. In fact, I love how this is a story where things feel like constant struggle, pushing ahead through small victories. I mean things go wrong before the game even starts, and such a "twist" or disappointment happens at least once again, and the expectations with Keith Andrew is almost funny in retrospect.
The com chatter is great (evil villain voices not so much), the visuals are top notch, the story is interesting, the weapons and mechs feel awesome, SFX is great, it feels like such a polished game, marred by the constantly horrible AI.
BTW, haven't you seen pictures of neuro-helmets? it does NOT cover the whole head, there is no beaming into retinas - for Inner Sphere at least. You're thinking Clan neurohelmets, which probably explains why MW2 gets that wireframe Enhanced Imaging. IS has to deal with real eyes and projected HUDs.
I think I like MW3 the most out of all of the classic MW titles. Sure the loadout system could be abused, but I feel like the in-game presentation and mechanics were at their best. MW4 was still a great game (and probably did customization the best out of all the old games), but in some ways, it felt like a step back.
Still, MW4 (especially Mercenaries) is a legendary game regardless. I can't help thinking George Ledoux's Duncan Fisher plays a big part of that :D
LOVED this game. It was the first video game I played with a story that sucked me in. I still remember actually FEELING something when the HQ congratulated me at the end of a mission. It was also the first online multiplayer experience of my life. Coincidentally, I ended up playing SOCOM on PS2 (also developed by zipper interactive) and am still hoping for a true SOCOM successor to this day.
This video triggered lots of great nostalgia. You may have made this 7 years ago, but it was well done and I appreciate the content.
I'll be honest, i've been looking forward for this part for about a year, Thank you so much for taking your time to craft this!
i could honestly listen to you talk about Winback for an hour and still be happy!
Hopefully you'll continue to indulge Mech nerds like me.
You’re a great writer and presenter! Seriously! I’ve watched a lot of these style videos and yours sit with some of the best.
I miss those old video game boxes. You got so much cool stuff in them, even if most of it was just advertising, the manuals were undeniably awesome. These days you don't even get a manual at all, just a small plastic half-sheet advertising the day 1 DLC and maybe a code for some in game content if you pre-ordered. But even pre-ordered content isn't exclusive any more since all you have to do is just pick up any Deluxe Edition copy of the game to get that "exclusive" content.
HOLY SHIT RECOIL. I think I had a demo disc with that on it and played the crap out of it as a kid. I completely forgot about that game until now.
The MFB guy's name is Sorenson. It's revealed in Mw3: Pirate's Moon. Also this game does have dynamic salvage when it comes to mechs. If you head shot a mech, you have a 100% salvage chance. You have a 50% chance to salvage if you blow off a leg.
Seriously, you are the most entertaining "game retrospective" channel I have come across. Maybe I am biased with the Battletech stuff, but you are a natural at this and you need to expand and grow your channel. The editing is on point, the commentary is informative and entertaining. Great work!
I discovered this channel over the winter (due to the Marathon retrospective) and I've been eagerly waiting a new video. Finally! Keep up the great work.
12:39 Dude. I put Jump Jets in a Daishi. How's THAT for customization getting out of hand?
Dire Wolf
@@DeltaAssaultGaming begone tube warrior
I actually have the gold edition of mech3, my dad gave it to me when I asked if I could have it as he didn't play it anymore, and it was the first real video game I played. He got it when it came out while I was about 5 years old. I hate myself for how I treated that box when I was younger, however I still have all the papers and the box is still in one piece, just heavily scratched and worn.
This was a great trip down memory lane, I played the hell out of MW 2 & 3 as a kid but for some reason I only remembered #2 until I saw this review. MW3 was great fun and it forced you to be tactical and adapt and had what felt like a more consistent story than 2, every mission began where the previous one left off and you didn't get free ammo or mechs. Your review was great and uber technical!
You're missing a couple of details which I think would put more emphasis on how MechWarrior 3 was the pinnacle of Mech simulation. The dynamic recoil of battlistic weapons(ppcs included). If you had 1 PPC on your right arm your mech would recoil rightwards. However If you had them on both arms the recoil would cancel out. Your mech could topple over if taken more than 40 damage instantaneously. Crouching was added. Also the militarized theme of the game entirely, especially the first mission intro.
I hope to see your take on the new Mechwarrior 5.
Excellent video otherwise.
Imagine a mechwarrior game with the strategic layout of falcon 4... damn...
So, a full blown mech sim... Your terms are acceptable. :3
I absolutely love this game. The delivery of the story (operation market garden reference was spot on) through cutscenes and mission briefings was so immersive. One of the best joystick games of all time for me.
My childhood! Thank you for posting this lol.. blast from the past
Mw3 is definitely a great entry among the mechwarrior games. I also want to mention that some guides for getting it running on modern hardware seem to be more prevalent now. I had success with the additional help of dgvoodoo which seems to translate modern graphics drivers to better work with games that were expecting the quirks of their contemporary graphics cards.
Michael Mancuso is a baller. I didn't much care for MW3, but hearing his voice before each mission made it all worth it.
I appreciate seeing these MechWarrior pieces; my favourite series of all time. In many ways, it's one of the richest fictional intellectual properties there is. I think that between the novels, field manuals, technical readouts, and all the other tidbits that it eclipses even more 'famous' franchises in depth and believability. I've never seen a fictitious universe with just so much... stuff. The games really complimented that very well.
Once you mentioned Gundam, I talked to my friend once how it would be awesome to have a Gundam game with similar gameplay mechanics like MechWarrior 3 and 4 and Heavy Gear 2.
Jovan Mitrić Indeed, it's a real missed opportunity that most Gundam games play liked 1 on 1 fighting games. Just doesn't make sense.
They made that game. Side Story 0079: Rise From the Ashes for the Sega Dreamcast plays A LOT like Mechwarrior 3. The console game doesn't feature as much customization, but its gameplay is amazingly similar to MW3.
I love this video; I'm subscribing!
You brought up a lot of really good points re: the mech customization, too. Also, it only took me sixteen years (and viewing this video) to figure out that the salvage wasn't dynamic in the missions. Gah, that was a LOT of wasted time.
By the way, the multiplayer on this game was as jumbled as the development process was. It was essentially peer-to-peer multiplayer, and you could only access it via MSN's Gaming Zone service. That being said, when I played online (circa 2000-2001) the servers weren't super crowded, since there were no servers to speak of. Organizing matches was sometimes a headache, but I do remember the multiplayer being quite a lot of fun. That was probably due to the maps, and the control interface, though. Using the mouse for fine-grained control blew my high school mind, and I really liked the feel of being in a mech, cockpit and all.
The game flow in multiplayer wasn't nearly as impressive as the single player, though. I don't think I would have stuck with the multiplayer the way people have stuck with Quake and Quake III, as the mechanics of multiplayer mechwarrior matches almost always feel really samey-- a bunch of people firing LRMs and then closing in as quickly as possible, ending with duels composed solely of two people walking around in circles, trying and failing to outmaneuver each other, and shooting each other in the legs. Yawn. That probably had something to do with the relatively small number of players that p2p matchmaking and hosts could handle. [I was stuck on 56k and was running everything on software, too, so that took its toll]
This game was awesome on a force feedback. Every gun that wasn't a laser had recoil. Every time you shot a PPC, you sure felt it. It made every big gun just feel so powerful.
There was a FASA center here in NYC in late 90s until the very early 00s before the Towers went down. The Tesla pods were awesome, was just terribly expensive for a session. The regulars were a cast of unique characters too. Good times.
I'm watching through this series because I'm an absolute MechWarrior addict, and I'm really glad that I did. My uncle showed me G-Nome at the same time that he showed me MechWarrior, but for the life of me I could never remember the name of that game. Probably because I only saw it once, and he let me play MechWarrior several times. (I've only been able to play it, myself, since College in 2007. My parents didn't like computer/video games, especially not violent ones).
first mechwarrior game ive ever played, still my favourite.
Weird detail, but one thing I really liked about that mechwarrior 3 was that the radio chatter would overlap. It didn't occur to me until the voices in MechWarrior 4 would patiently wait for each other to finish before they took their turn.
I wanted to let you know that the Tesla Pods are absolutely amazing, you have full on MFDs displaying everything on your 'mech and it felt so nice. I have to give thanks to the Fallout Shelter Arcade in Minneapolis for having these.
***** There's a place in Washington State I can make a (long but manageable) pilgrimage to.
I loved this game so much, playing in online matches, looking for the best setup, and playing with my clan, iirc I favoured the shadowcat with overrated engine 2x jump jets, 2x AC2 and medium laser and just circle strafe everything you come across wtfpwning them, me and 3 other clan mates hunting in a pack. and ofc using the Microsoft forcefeedback joystick which would thump back and forth in your hand as you walked and would become heavy if your legs got damaged. awesome times.
Very informative and entertaining, thank you for all your hard work!
Thank you for doing these videos. I've been a huge fan of MechWarrior 3 and 4 since I was a small child, thanks to my father introducing me to them. Now that MechWarrior: Online is a thing, I feel that the older (and in my opinion, far superior) titles of the franchise have largely been forgotten or abandoned to gather dust by the majority of todays gamer community.
It's nice to see someone revisiting them and really giving the franchise some much deserved attention.
Also, THANK YOU FOR SAYING IT. I've been so sick of people hating on the hard-point system of MW4 for being too restrictive. There's no point in having 50+ mechs if they all can fit the same friggin' weapons loadouts.
God damn it, that damn ad for the joystick with feedback, gave me a small Nostalgia orgasm
Played both mechworier 3 and 4, on my uncles pc using one XD. And now thankfully found my way to battletech. Still Id die to get these games operating on a PC, because I never truly experienced the games campaign.
Also love how 3 really puts battletech weapons into perspective, of why they function as they do in the tabletop. In a 3d perspective, other then flamers XD
Bitchin Betty was at her peak in MW3, as well as the other cockpit warnings and sounds. The beep and then the buzz of a missile lock still sends a shot of dopamine coursing through my brain.
As a kid I never went for minmax builds, just enhanced the stock configs a little, and preferred quick mechs, as I made a lot of use of the side windows and the ability to aim the arm mounted weapons on that side.
I especially miss MFB guys voice and briefings, as they felt "real" in a way that other games couldn't match. There was a lack of over-the-top acting, and an abundance of professionalism that came with hearing someone who spoke like an actual officer throughout the campaign. Same goes for the advice mentioned Betty, and I've not seen the likes of such delivery since the Homeworld series, where the units, fleet intelligence, and fleet command, sounded not like voice actors, but people trained to be professionals in extreme circumstances, with their humanity showing through the cracks.
I really hope that we'll get a MW6 that does more of all this. Maybe even expands on the simulation with combined arms. If you can have your lancemates controlled by your friends in co-op, how cool would it be if you could have the 5th, 6th, etc players command non-mech units in an RTS view! Damn, I hope that becomes a thing at one point!
16:15 - Oh wow. I have that joystick and never even knew where it came from. I have fond memories of playing Mechwarrior 3 with that joystick.
Oh god the nostalgia. I first played this in 2000. I was like 5 years old.
I grew up on MechWarrior 3 and always used a joystick. Maybe it's just me but although it adds some difficulty, it's far easier than trying to control your for with a moose while simultaneously controlling your movement and torso twist on your keyboard. It's consolidated into one piece and had the necessary buttons for zoom, speed control, select for groups, jump jets, aloha strike, etc
Thanks for releasing this, I love watchign your mechwarrior game reviews.
I'm firmly with you on the hardpoint > unlimited customization. No point in the variety of chassis types and appearances if the end result is just you picking whatever you think looks the coolest.
EXCELENT review. I didn't think I would be finding what I was looking for so quick :D
Subscribed!
Hey, came here after the release of MechWarrior 5 and it's awesome DLC that completely returned the game to form for me.
And I want to say that your rant about mech customization in old games (2,3) vs new ones (4,5) is frighteningly on point, because that's one of the major criticisms leveled on the game, and gratifyingly accurate because your position is absolutely true and I completely concur with it - never liked that ambiguous customization that lead to monstrous minmaxing, it's one of the reasons I never got into any old MW game even if I love old games in general - my mech game was MechCommander 2. In MW5 all mechs have their own personality and uses, even the variants of the same mech, because the different slots make them suited for other purposes.
I kinda wish that you would return to this retrospective to make a new vid on MW5. I really enjoy your insight, even after all these years, even if you're still a small channel after all this time - but with such personality and delivery X)
Years late, but they had those pods in Dave And Busters back in the day. Yes, they WERE fun.
"MFB dude" does have a name but i think its only said like, once or twice by your lancemates in end mission screens. that being said I dont remember it either... >.>
EDIT: Also, mechwarrior 3 has a "semi dynamic" salvage system. Legging or cockpit killing mechs lends a higher chance to save the chassis, and get most if not all of its loadout while coring mechs will often save you very little (though arm weapons are often saved, if you dont blow them off. A nice touch.) The dynamic salvage system doesnt completely disappear until the pirate missions in the expansion, where your given very specific bits to work with. You probably just didnt notice salvage changing much because judging from your gameplay footage you ALWAYS go for the leg kill when possible. Cant wait to see how you react when that tactic in general is nerfed in MW4, as I only just tonight found your channel and this series and am binge watching it (and so far am enjoying it).
I'm just thankful to Mechwarrior 2's engine for the existence of Interstate 76, which also features equipment salvaging and possibly the best driving physics in a game ever.
Plus, Wine + DxWnd rocks !
Man, this made my day. Thanks Roland.
Same here, actually. The weapons in Mech3 are all so fun that I want to have a few of each type on a mech. Mech 4 RUINED pulse lasers, machine guns, SRMS, and even Ultra AC.
But when I'm really going for broke, yeah it's MLAS/LRM all the way.
Mechwarrior 3 and mech commander 1 where my introductions to battletech after i picked up the card game.
I enjoyed the heck out of MW3 , with a K6-III and only on-board graphics, which ran fine until reaching a crawl in later missions, and could not handle Pirate's Moon, so I never played that. I was just not yet hip to GPUs. Still have both CD's. They weren't big-box versions though, they were jewel case with tiny manuals. I liked the Commander's voice in MW3, felt like your personal Mechwarrior coach. Good times. MW3 and Baldur's Gate.
idk which one it was, but i remember my dad and i playing this game with a really awesome joystick. it had about 10 buttons and twisted along with many other features... it was the better thing to use against anything else and feels authentic like an actual mech.
The MFB guy also did briefings in the video game Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy.
MechWarrior 3 was the second game I ever bought in my life, only preceded by Unreal. Looking back, it's really impressive, especially with things like the reticle zoom, which is the sort of thing we'd only see more broadly once we got dynamic rendering/shader pipelines with DX9 and OpenGL3. And being able to order teammates around I didn't even know back in the day. I mostly just put lasers on every available hardpoint and bundled them all up in one weapon group to oneshot other mechs, hoping I'd find some water to cool my frankenstein creation down enough to not constantly go into shutdown because of overheating. Good times. :3
I believe it's considered the last true mech sim mostly because of the game feel. The fact you control the arms instead of it being bound to mouse look like an fps. A scope instead of zoom, and the camera makes the mechs feel larger than life. The smaller details add up. Microprose knew how to capture ths sensation of controlling a war machine. It didn't feel like an arcade game like the modern entries.
My dad got Mech2 with the Sidewinder joystick. It was definitely an experience using that thing; but I'm not sure I'd call them good joysticks for anything other than Mech2. They had an articulation point to twist the handle, for torso-twisting, which wasn't used in any other game and in some cases wound up keybound...awkwardly, in other games.
Lots of buttons on it. Sidewinders felt like a joystick made just for Mechwarrior 2/GBL/Mercenaries. Mech3, I had more success doing a hybrid keyboard/mouse setup.
In the end all I want out of a joystick is something I can use to play Freespace 2, which the Sidewinder most definitely was bad for (The torso-twist actually caused Freespace 2's camera to go _insane_ and made the game unplayable)
looking forward to the next episode and, finally, Mech 4 (which I liked for much of the same reasons as you did)
This game got me to buy the whole Twilight of the Clans series and a bunch of other Battletech books. Wish I had the ability to buy more.
When I finally had the chance to play this awesome game, the only mech I ran was the Nova with 12 Mediums switching between ER and IS mediums depending on the Situation with a Targeting Computer. My reason being that I couldn't hit shit using the joystick and with the nova not being able to turn its torso it made it easy for me to just run up and pop the legs off. I literally spent the whole game shooting legs off and powering down. Salvage was never a problem for me. Lol
I hope you cover mech 5 someday, after having played and enjoyed myself. Feels like a remake of mech 1 with mech 3 controls and a mix of mech 2 and 4 customization
I am glad to see you back with the Mech Warrior Retrospective. Keep it coming Mech 3 was my Fave :D
I had the Gold package. Bought it on my Senior trip in California in 2003.
I played the shit out of this back in the late 90's. I remembered that I had a joystick with a twist function on the stick that I used for the arm movements.
This is amazing. It just really encapsulates all my thoughts and feelings of Battletech and the Mechwarrior series. You really *get* it, what makes Mechwarrior 2 so special, what makes MWO such dreck, a real level of understanding and depth of knowledge that is sorely lacking in the 'I play this game STUFF GO BOOM ha ha what are the controls' TH-cam world. I really appreciate this. Dare I say, it was treat, an experience... No, an honor to watch this video. Quiaff?
L-1011 Widebody Aff.
I played through MW3 last year with my Win98 SE PC (1.4ghz PIII, 512 megs RAM, Geforce 3, Voodoo2 SLI, Soundblaster Live) and it crashed after each mission. Luckily it saved my progress after each mission so I could continue on after a restart of the game.
Mech 3 runs flawlessly on Windows 11 for me, granted you need a graphics wrapper and frame limiter for it to be stable but that's maybe 10 minutes work. I have the original metal boxed copy which came with pirates moon and mech commander gold, one of my prized childhood items, one of those games that really defines your taste.
I'm loving these videos! Great work. :)
I wish i had bought this when i saw the game in the store all those years ago. It would have been one of the first pc games i owned after Flight Simulator 98. Instead, i haven't played it to this day. :(
I miss the this game, playing on the zone, "Ice City/UA/UAC20 only"
I played the multiplayer briefly when it was still active on MSN Gaming Zone circa 2000 or 2001 or 2002 (? not sure really). Every match was just a bunch of Daishis with four Ultra AC/20s. I finally got fed up with that, so I made a Daishi with four Gauss Rifles and sniped them before they got in range. I remember really pissing one guy off in particular who thought I was being cheap, which was ironic. The good ol' days of text trash talk in online games.
That said, I do seem to remember some weapon codes that players would agree upon before starting, like "C1" and "T2". I think the former meant lasers only, but I don't recall what the latter stood for.
Great video and a classic game! Thanks for this. Subscribed.
As for the customization aspect, I think the ability to put 4 M.Guns and 4 L Pulse Lasers with crap tons of ammo on a Daishi is really fun. Nothing better than BS’ing an Orion with a CQC mech
Speaking of Falcon 4.0. I'd highly recommend grabbing it on GOG and downloading the Falcon BMS project with it. Excellent flightsim.
It always annoyed me that the best use for Jump Jets was pulled out of MW3. In MW2 you used them for 'Bat-Turns" I just loved making a 90 degree turn at 250 KPH to dodge some missiles or a PPC.
I miss those days.
spectre111 That was my favorite too, since that's actually one of the intended uses in the tabletop game (turning normally costs movement points, but while you're jumping, turning is free), although I felt like jump jets were just hilariously good in MW2 to the point where it felt like you were playing Armored Core sometimes. It seems like an under-discussed topic, but you can actually jump-jet forward in MW2, which heavily reminds me of the dashing in AC, not to mention you could use them for way too long.
Ugh, this again just makes me think of how good many of the mechanics are in MWO (this is one of the things they brought back), too bad the complete package has to be just so mediocre. Such a shame.
Your whole spiel on 'mech customization was spot on and I love you for saying it. MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries is my favorite game of all time, but as much as I love the freedom of customization, it needed to go. Unfortunately it still doesn't stop people from min-maxing in these games, and it's particularly annoying in MWO, which is why I got out of that so quickly. Fucking stellar video.
Nice video, look forward to the next one on Mechwarrior 4 !
i love mechcommander. still play to this day
My first online game which I played back on GameSpy. MW3 was a masterpiece. The campaign was perfect. The only thing I did not like was playing as the filthy Inner Sphere ;). I used soundbytes from the game in TS3 when I played MWO and it fit in sweetly.
"Mechwarrior 3 is the only game you can't play on the same machine you're watching this video on."
He doesn't know about Mechwarrior 3 running on my other monitor as we speak.
Dunno if anyone else has said this yet, but I played MW4 back when its online was in full swing. The online gameplay of MW4 can be summed up as, "I hope you picked an Assault 'Mech. Oh, you didn't? Guess you're a fucking scrub." unless you managed to join a CTF server which added some much needed tactical depth to the game. In fact, there was a popular meta-gametype created by the community called "David and Goliath" where one player would be on his own team with a 100-ton 'Mech, and any amount of players upwards of 3 would all be stacked against him on the same team, restricted to using only light 'Mechs. It's a very different picture from something like Classic BattleTech where the 100-ton 'Mech would get outmaneuvered and ammo-critted within a few seconds. That's not to say it was overall /bad/ per se... but it was definitely a big dogs' playing field, yet I feel like the game really shined in objective-based game types where lighter 'Mechs got to play a real part.
The multiplayer part of the game was designed so that there just wasn't any real reason to use anything but the 'Mech with the most firepower and armor available, thanks to the removal of things like ammo criticals -- or really, critical hits in general, aside from blowing off limbs. This is one of the things that MWO does right, unfortunately I feel like that game has gone in the opposite direction that MW2 and 3 went -- it has too FEW 'Mech choices, aside from other parts of the game. Hopefully Piranha Games will stick with it long enough for it to mature into a really fleshed-out game. I've heard that the majority of bad decisions can be attributed to a shitty publisher that has since been bucked... but I feel like the game's development is just progressing too slowly.
Forcefeedback is really good but sadly its notadded in Joysticks anmore. Having the Stick rumble when you fire your guns or your rockets is really satisfying
From the future here. My favorite explanation for the Omni Mech (that's what being able to put anything anywhere is) nonsense is from Tex; "Clan Coyote Space Magic".
So far the only mechwarrior game that utilizes the mouse to move your gun pods around the screen.
While I miss the aiming system and cockpit from 3... The real dealbreaker was the new mechlab in 4 and mercenaries. My favourite MW would be: The setting of MW2, the gameplay of 3, the mechlab of 4. Of course all with the mercenaries benefits.
Loved this for single player but heavy gear 2 online was bloody awesome
I agree with the assessment about weapon hard points and limited customization 250%! I remember arguing with my buddies as a teenager about mechs being built with a design purpose (Like the catapult)
And if you ever play multiplayer against an inveterate min-maxer you have to lay some ground rules! Either we ALL cheat and put guns in the legs, or we try to make it a bit realistic.
@@TheExaminedLifeofGaming Tell that to the 'I don't want to be restricted!' crowd of MW5 or MWO..
People seem to love min-maxing so much. I can't understand that crap. Maybe there's more bragging rights in extremes? Social media might play a role, well, the internet in general.
Oh yeah, and I agree with the hardpoints thing. Contrary to popular belief, restrictions and limits are GOOD. That's why games have rules in the first place..
I'm sure you've already heard this by now but at least in the patched versions later on, the salvage is not predetermined, it's DEFINITELY dependent upon your kills and damage dealt to CT/LT/RT.
Also, I grew up with MW4: Vengeance, and even today I still love it. But there are a lot of reasons that it isn't considered a true MechWarrior game, one of which is that it watered down a lot of things and made it feel like more of an arcade game than a sim. But I love the voice acting and live action cutscenes, I don't get why people think they're cringey.
my first game in the series, great memories
This is the only review of this game on TH-cam. Why is that? This game is amazing
Ohhh yes, this is gonna be good. I had to play this on my XP computer this year. It was awkward tabbing between the main computer here and my laptop sitting behind me. I didn't want to use my own methods of getting it to work because the WineD3D one broke on me out of no where and I was too lazy to set up the dgVoodoo method every time I wanted to play.
I've been playing old games on Wine and a tool called DxWnd helps me a lot when the default D3D render can't. Just be sure to enable "Expert Mode" to see all options. It can hook DirectX/OpenGL/GDI/Glide and it also features a timing system for limiting framerate and solving physics issues.
I do remember playing this one and while it was great and I loved playing it I was disappointed in the loss of economy. I wanted to keep all the money.