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Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Rick James on February 02, 2009, 07:30:07 pm

Title: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Rick James on February 02, 2009, 07:30:07 pm
Gather round, ye gamers, and hear a tale from the simpler days of gaming:

When I was five years old, I got the Battlepack version of Mechwarrior 2 for Windows. For the first three months I didn't understand much of the game, yet was absolutely blown away by the absolutely (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=-X3GD0UnBCk) beautiful (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=2YkfIJ8HUWs) cinematics (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=g7_rSyRD8XM). This, folks, is the game that taught me how to read, although learning the meaning of words like "Long-Range Missiles" was of dubious value to my parents. It was the first game in which I learned to appreciate the mystical, incorporeal fifth element of gaming called Story, and with good reason: I have seen no other simulation title which combines a sense of immediacy with such a varied background.

Eventually, of course, with the advent of 32-bit system hardware I along with the rest of the planet had to upgrade to Windows XP, and Mechwarrior 2 became a memory. Recently discovered a patch that enables the game to be played on 32-bit platforms, both XP and Vista.

Ah, to be able to run across a sunny mesa in my Firemoth once again...

Anyhoo, I was wondering how many other Mechwarrior 2 buffs are on the forum, and if any of them are still playing. No game can achieve what Mechwarrior 2 did in terms of atmosphere, and I want to hear the experiences of other players.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Inquisitor on February 02, 2009, 07:57:25 pm
Quote
When I was five years old, I got the Battlepack version of Mechwarrior 2 for Windows.

I hate you :)
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Scotty on February 02, 2009, 08:44:10 pm
All hail MechWarrior!

I can't get number 2 to work on my comp tho   :(
I do like to play number 3, because it has the best in game graphics IMHO, plus the briefing like cinematics and the whole "behind enemy lines with no real resupply" story.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Col. Fishguts on February 03, 2009, 07:46:29 am
I got MW2 bundled together with my Matrox Mystique back in 1997... it was one of those early titles with hardware acceleration that lacked even basic effects like bilinear filtered textures.
But goddamn, it was fully 3d, ran smooth as hell and you got to stomp around in giant PPC-LRM-death-spouting mechs.... it was glorious.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: phatosealpha on February 03, 2009, 08:15:28 am
I preferred Mercs myself. 
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Flaser on February 03, 2009, 08:19:27 am
Pats his Monster 3D Edition disc.
Got this baby working, even put up the necessary files to do so on VOGONS.
Hmm....maybe it IS time to replay it.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: General Battuta on February 03, 2009, 09:58:54 am
2 was the best, followed by 3. My first game. Fantastic on every level.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Mika on February 03, 2009, 02:34:15 pm
I played also through Mechwarrior 2, think I was 14 or 15. Unfortunately, I had the fortune of playing Falcon 3.0, F-15 Strike Eagle III and Red Baron before that, and as a result MW2 didn't really hit. I thought the combat was pretty shallow even at hardest difficulty setting, it was about firing long range missiles and simultaneously pulling back joystick to launch missiles in an upward arc over some obstruction or to get longer range. Rinse and repeat.

The less tonnage robots didn't have much chance in the later game stages. I don't remember getting into a desperate running and turning fight that often, where as in flight sims this occured more often (excluding F-15 SE3). And was pretty fun in the end.

Currently I don't remember if MW2 had wingmen in missions. If memory serves, it was about going in alone for most of the time. Besides Clan Jade Falcons was much harder faction than Clan Wolf for some reason. It was a bit of a let down after I completed the Jade Falcon campaign I nearly played through the Wolf campaign in a couple of days.

Otherwise, that game restarted the mech stuff, but I think the gameplay mechanics weren't that fantastical that a lot of reviewers said by that time. Though this doesn't mean it wasn't a good game. I just felt combat was better in games that were released in 1990 (Red Baron) - 1991 (Falcon 3.0).

Mika
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Roanoke on February 03, 2009, 03:13:39 pm
I had it on Playstation.  :)
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Angelus on February 03, 2009, 03:36:02 pm
Quote from: Mika on February 03, 2009, 02:34:15 pm
Currently I don't remember if MW2 had wingmen in missions. If memory serves, it was about going in alone for most of the time.

Depends on the mission, in some missions you're on your own, in other you can play with an entire Star.
I mostly played alone, because it was more intense and you get a better rating if you kill all the enemys yourself.

IIRC, there are only 2 or 3 missions per campaign where teammates come handy...as cannon fodder. :drevil:
There is a patch for XP users for the Win 95 edition, never tried it though.

Mechwarrior 3 is better then MW2 ( not only because of the graphics ) and by far better then MW4 and MW4 Mercs, imo.
M$ managed to turn a awesome simulation ( where you had the feel steering a 75ton  heavy mech ) into a
game that resembles a FPS. Seriously. WTF?


It's sad you can't use jumpjets in MW3 under XP, also trying to play the campaign or some of the standalone missions in Pirates Moon is impossible because without jumpjets you can't cross the canyon in mission 2.
I wonder if anyone ever released a patch for that.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Nuke on February 03, 2009, 08:32:51 pm
the patch is pretty good and even works in vista 32. ive yet to get it to work on a 64 bit os. ive been able to play it with a full set of ch controlers, and my track ir (through freetrack & ppjoy), which is pretty 1337. mw2 is the only mechwrrior game that actually feels like a sim. mw3 and 4 have ****ty input code. mw3 is unstable as hell on os ive tried, so ive not really played it that much. 4 runs well most of the time, but doesnt feel as much like a simulator. mw2 had the best immersion. the graphics were kinda sucks and the collision detection was horrible, but i still think its the most fun mechwarrior game ive played.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: IceFire on February 03, 2009, 11:11:59 pm
I used to play MW2: Mercenaries.  Good fun...but I played it through and then that was it.  Never went much further with it.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: NGTM-1R on February 04, 2009, 04:01:18 am
I still have MW2: Mercs installed. It still works. Unfortunately, 3 doesn't.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: redsniper on February 05, 2009, 02:02:41 pm
Heh, I was six when I got MW2, I had great fun with it. MW3 is my favorite though, since it had rivers and lakes, deformable terrain, and the whole one lance vs whole planet feel. Plus you get to be a dirty freeborn Inner Sphere boy rather than some snobby Clanner. :p
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: SadisticSid on February 05, 2009, 03:30:10 pm
The gameplay mechanics of the MW2 series were fantastic, if a bit ridiculous. I remember one mission in Mercs where you're supposed to escape from an icy plateau to a rendezvous with a dropship 2-3 klicks away. I just hopped in a the lightest mech I had available (a Jenner IIRC), stuffed it with jump jets and flew all the way to the rendezvous. One could do this because MW2 had directional jumpjet control...  accelerate to maximum forward velocity with the Home key then apply vertical thrust with J. As long as you didn't touch the ground, you didn't decellerate. :p
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: redsniper on February 05, 2009, 06:20:02 pm
Well, it would work on any of the airless worlds you visit. :nervous:
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Nuke on February 05, 2009, 08:24:26 pm
i played mw2 with lasers and jump jets, but mw4 i mostly avoided jump jets and used ammo weapons mainly. i usually prefer lighter mechs too.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Rick James on February 05, 2009, 11:10:42 pm
One thing that always confused me in Mechwarrior 2 is the bizarre rift between the Wolf and Jade Falcon cutscenes in terms of quality. The Wolves seem to be more well-written. From the Clan Wolf ending (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s1FNOc9LV4):

Spoiler:
This verse has ended.

Our destiny is sealed to a once unthinkable fate. We have found new allies in an ancient foe--and enemies in our siblings. The honor of the Warden way, like a pyre in the blackness of space, has guided us to our home on Terra!

Kerensky foretold us of this Eden with the promise of deliverance.

We will defend it to our deaths. Let the next verse begin.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Nuke on February 06, 2009, 12:49:48 am
so how did the clans ever manage to get their asses kicked? they saeemed like a bunch of badasses, how did they get defeated by a bunch of freebirths?
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Grizzly on February 06, 2009, 02:42:39 am
Quote from: Nuke on February 06, 2009, 12:49:48 am
so how did the clans ever manage to get their asses kicked? they saeemed like a bunch of badasses, how did they get defeated by a bunch of freebirths?

Because the Freeborn use Freeborn tactics, and the Clanners used honorouble tactics (Except Clan Wolf, since they knew about Freeborn Tactics thanks to Wolf's Dragoons).
Quote from: Rick James on February 05, 2009, 11:10:42 pm
One thing that always confused me in Mechwarrior 2 is the bizarre rift between the Wolf and Jade Falcon cutscenes in terms of quality. The Wolves seem to be more well-written. From the Clan Wolf ending (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s1FNOc9LV4):

Spoiler:
This verse has ended.

Our destiny is sealed to a once unthinkable fate. We have found new allies in an ancient foe--and enemies in our siblings. The honor of the Warden way, like a pyre in the blackness of space, has guided us to our home on Terra!

Kerensky foretold us of this Eden with the promise of deliverance.

We will defend it to our deaths. Let the next verse begin.

Clan Wolf is much cooler then Jade Falcon, so they get much cooler text :P. It is also the only campaign I finished in MW2. Never got around to finish the Jade Falcon one, really.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: General Battuta on February 06, 2009, 10:12:07 am
Quote from: Nuke on February 06, 2009, 12:49:48 am
so how did the clans ever manage to get their asses kicked? they saeemed like a bunch of badasses, how did they get defeated by a bunch of freebirths?

Basically, ComStar had a large military and a large fleet in mothballs. And they used Clan traditions (trials) against them in order to hinge the whole invasion on Tukayyid.

And Tukayyid was an epic ****hole for the Clan keshiks.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: nvsblmnc on February 06, 2009, 12:47:09 pm
Quote from: General Battuta on February 03, 2009, 09:58:54 am
2 was the best, followed by 3. My first game. Fantastic on every level.
I've always liked MW3 - except Pirate's Moon spoiled things a bit.

Never got MW2 working... must try again somewhen.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Roanoke on February 06, 2009, 04:07:56 pm
Quote from: -Joshua- on February 06, 2009, 02:42:39 am
Quote from: Nuke on February 06, 2009, 12:49:48 am
so how did the clans ever manage to get their asses kicked? they saeemed like a bunch of badasses, how did they get defeated by a bunch of freebirths?

Because the Freeborn use Freeborn tactics, and the Clanners used honorouble tactics (Except Clan Wolf, since they knew about Freeborn Tactics thanks to Wolf's Dragoons).
Quote from: Rick James on February 05, 2009, 11:10:42 pm
One thing that always confused me in Mechwarrior 2 is the bizarre rift between the Wolf and Jade Falcon cutscenes in terms of quality. The Wolves seem to be more well-written. From the Clan Wolf ending (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s1FNOc9LV4):

Spoiler:
This verse has ended.

Our destiny is sealed to a once unthinkable fate. We have found new allies in an ancient foe--and enemies in our siblings. The honor of the Warden way, like a pyre in the blackness of space, has guided us to our home on Terra!

Kerensky foretold us of this Eden with the promise of deliverance.

We will defend it to our deaths. Let the next verse begin.

Clan Wolf is much cooler then Jade Falcon, so they get much cooler text :P. It is also the only campaign I finished in MW2. Never got around to finish the Jade Falcon one, really.

I can remember prefering the Wlove's final movie (on the PS release) but the final trial was much much harder.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: phatosealpha on February 07, 2009, 12:10:37 am
They should be more interesting - wolf has a much more interesting story then jade falcon does.

Really, the entire story from the first clan/IS engagements to clan wolf's exile after the refusal was is essentially the story of clan wolf trying very hard to save the crusader clans from themselves.  They fail, ending up cast out, but they also succeed, keeping the crusaders from annihilating the IS.  They're the only clan who show any level of proper respect to comstar - the others go in with haughty arrogance, and pay the price.  Especially the smoke jags.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: NGTM-1R on February 07, 2009, 05:56:00 am
Quote from: Nuke on February 06, 2009, 12:49:48 am
so how did the clans ever manage to get their asses kicked? they saeemed like a bunch of badasses, how did they get defeated by a bunch of freebirths?

There aren't that many of them. The Clans live and breath lightning war because they do not have the depth of personnel and logistics to fight in another fashion. Lost Destiny had Phelan Kell describe it to the Khans as "It would be the battle of the knife against the grindstone. Yes, we would get sharper, we would win great victories, but in the end we would be ground down to nothing." The Clan effort at Tukkayid was halted on the battlefield by the efforts of the Com Guards, but it foundered on such mundane things as running out of ammunition and being unable to keep 'Mechs repaired.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Rick James on February 07, 2009, 10:50:19 am
Note also that the Clans invaded from the interstellar north of the Inner Sphere, principally attacking and annihilating the Free Rasalhague Republic. The FRR, being a relatively new successor state as of the clan invasion, did not have as strong a military as those of the Great Houses, which have withstood war after war, one century after another. If, by some miracle of fate, the Clans had been able to move past Terra into House Marik or House Davion space, they would have been slapped silly by the sheer numbers arrayed against them.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Grizzly on February 08, 2009, 10:51:30 am
Also, the Federated Commonwealth (Steiner-Davion) started supporting the also-under-attack Draconis Combine (House Kurita). Which was very suprising, since they were about to start a fifth succession war, and it was also very shocking for the clans, who where suddenly facing a bit more opposition.

 Although I am not sure Wolf's Dragoons released the information or not (they did release that they were clanners). they did knew about Clan Tactics (Clan Tactics sucked anyway), and the Clans (Except Wolf) did not know about the IS tactics (involving ambushes, Scorched Earth, and all those other things that are very dishonourable). This portrays another difficulty with the clans: they were bound by Honour, and they were not as 'smart' as the IS tacticians were.

(Also, Alpha 1's mercenary nephew was there :P).
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Turambar on February 08, 2009, 07:25:04 pm
I really wish i could play some Mechwarrior 3, but I'm running on Vista 64, so i can't :-(

Mech 3 was great, there needs to be a modern mech game that doesnt suck
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Scooby_Doo on February 08, 2009, 07:55:46 pm
Quote from: Col. Fishguts on February 03, 2009, 07:46:29 am
I got MW2 bundled together with my Matrox Mystique back in 1997... it was one of those early titles with hardware acceleration that lacked even basic effects like bilinear filtered textures.
But goddamn, it was fully 3d, ran smooth as hell and you got to stomp around in giant PPC-LRM-death-spouting mechs.... it was glorious.

Yup I had the Mystique too... too bad it never had any real support beyond Mech.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Cobra on February 08, 2009, 11:20:53 pm
Quote from: Turambar on February 08, 2009, 07:25:04 pm
I really wish i could play some Mechwarrior 3, but I'm running on Vista 64, so i can't :-(

Mech 3 was great, there needs to be a modern mech game that doesnt suck

Uh, I've installed MW3 on a Vista 64 computer... hell, I've got MW2 working on this computer, and IT'S 64-bit. ;)

I've loved the Mechwarrior games. Though in MW2 I've just now started actually reading the texts. Good stuff in there.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Turambar on February 09, 2009, 12:40:49 am
it won't even install for me, something about the installer being 16-bit and unable to be emulated on my system.

copying all the files doesnt work either, it keeps checking for my version of windows and keeps saying it's incompatible, even when run in compatibility mode.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: NGTM-1R on February 09, 2009, 01:41:13 am
MW3 crashes out in the start of the second series of campaign missions on this one, in addition to something being seriously wrong with the physics engine on occassion.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Angelus on February 09, 2009, 10:43:43 am
Quote from: NGTM-1R on February 09, 2009, 01:41:13 am
MW3 crashes out in the start of the second series of campaign missions on this one, in addition to something being seriously wrong with the physics engine on occassion.

I can play MW3 on XP mostly without problems.
The only thing that doesn't work on XP are the jumpjets, and sometimes in the second mission where you have to destroy the 2 missile launchers and capture the base, either one of these two launchers disappears, or if you succeed to destroy both in time , the "base captured" event doesn't trigger.

That's why i have a earlier savegame with mission two completed, and i start there if i play the campaign again.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Nuke on February 11, 2009, 08:35:34 pm
i managed to get mw2 to run on xp64 but i cant use my trackir (thanks to ppjoy not supporting win64). anyway what you have to do is install the game in win32, apply the patch, and put the whole game in an archive (that way you can just extract and play), or just copy it over the network, burn it to a cd, dualbootot whatever to get it on to your win64 machine. then just mount the disc image (or use the cd) and run mw2win or whatever in win95 compatability mode and in d3d. i couldnt seem to get the damn glide wrapper to work, if you can, you get slightly better gfx.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Turambar on February 12, 2009, 11:15:13 am
too bad we can't just extract all the assets, gameplay, mission terrain maps, models, everything, and plop it all into CryEngine.

That'd be nice.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: gevatter Lars on February 12, 2009, 11:25:01 am
There is a Crysis MW Mod.
Don't know how good it is and how close it is to the original ruleset. I think I have seen some variants of Mechs I never seen before. On the other hand I am not that up to date ^_^
http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Grizzly on February 12, 2009, 11:54:03 am
Quote from: gevatter Lars on February 12, 2009, 11:25:01 am
There is a Crysis MW Mod.
Don't know how good it is and how close it is to the original ruleset. I think I have seen some variants of Mechs I never seen before. On the other hand I am not that up to date ^_^
http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

It is not only a mech mod, it is also a tank, soldier, and I think aerotech mod too. So yeah, it is more battletech then Mechwarrior was :P.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: kalnaren on February 12, 2009, 03:27:55 pm
MW2 was my first intro to the MW series.. I loved it. Haven't played it in a while. I'd toss up between 2 and 3 for which one I like better. Both are better than 4. The one thing 3 had that none of the others did was the ability to move the mech's arms around..that was really cool.
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: G0atmaster on February 13, 2009, 03:11:17 am
MW4 has a mercs campaign.  I loved all of them.  MW2 was the first Playstation game I ever rented, and I spent hours on it in those 5 days.  I loved it when enemies would use jumpjets, and I'd blow off one of their legs, and they'd be stuck upon landing.  MW 3 and 4 taught me how to guess at an acronym's meaning based on context (LRM, MRM, SRM, PPC, ER Large Laser, etc.)
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Grizzly on February 15, 2009, 02:12:33 am
Quote from: kalnaren on February 12, 2009, 03:27:55 pm
MW2 was my first intro to the MW series.. I loved it. Haven't played it in a while. I'd toss up between 2 and 3 for which one I like better. Both are better than 4. The one thing 3 had that none of the others did was the ability to move the mech's arms around..that was really cool.

What? The coolest feature in MW3 was that you could shoot down Gulls! :P,
Title: Re: Mechwarrior 2: A Reminiscence
Post by: Roanoke on February 15, 2009, 06:20:22 am
I can still recall seeing MW2 in Game, back when it was new. Some kind of bigbox twin 1&2 affair, when PCs where a total unknown to me.