they both restrict you in different ways (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Wednesday, December 07, 2016, 17:21 (3000 days ago) @ Korny

I agree with this assessment. In fact, I'll argue it's even worse that that.

Go back to Titanfall 1. The default Assault Rifle that you start with at level 1 is, by far, the best weapon in the game. There is no question whatsoever about that. Add a silencer and scope and you're deadly at every range (hip-fire accuracy was tops in close range), high ammo capacity, quick reload, snappy handling. So why even have the other guns? They were all specialized for specific roles that they excelled in. SMG for run and gun, but you sacrifice accuracy and range. LMG for suppressive fire, sniper for sniping, and so forth. If you wanted to play a specific, dedicated role, those were better guns for those roles than the jack of all trades AR you started with. Even so, why would you do that? Well, if you wanted to regenerate (prestige, basically), you had to reach certain levels of mastery with each gun - so there you have it. The extra guns were essentially challenge modes.

Now let's look at Titanfall 2. The guns are far more effective, generally, than in TF1. The "challenge mode" aspect is now really relegated to specific oddball and gimmick weapons like - as you called it - the softball. And the result is that weapons within the same class all feel very, very similar. Sure, the Hemlock is burst fire and the Devotion ramps up over time, but they still generally feel like the other guns in their category. There isn't a clear winner. So you're really talking about 4 or 5 categories of weapon when it comes to specific playstyle, and then small tweaks within those categories. Anti-Titan weapons are all unique and very different, but also are task-specific for killing titans, so they aren't as important to the overall gunplay discussion. Generally in TF2 you can play with any gun in a given category and it'll be well suited to that role.

If that were the whole game, it would be kind of boring, but because you mix that twitch shooter play with the strategy of the titan play, the game paces out very, very well. Which reminds me: Every titan feels and plays completely differently. They are an additional layer of weapon choice and complexity (class, really) and they deliver a feel that Destiny and CoD's classes also deliver, while retaining the general play of "all pilots are basically the same."