Is it okay to be cynical?

A cold world...

So I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel this way with the battlefront reveal, but this video really motivated me to talk about it. Yeah I know I seem to usually refer to jimquisition, but its not even my favorite youtuber, its just that he's a great reference point for some of my discussions. In this case he helped me wonder more about how cynicism helps or hurts the industry, and on the heels of the MKX controversy, but during the same happy 'ol 2015 year its a perfect time to discuss it. Oh and E3 still to show.

Simply put I think it comes down to basic capitalism principles, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me talk a bit about my own feelings on battlefront... I don't care for it. Oh, not the entire series; I grew up loving and playing the heck out of older battlefront games. However I loved them because of that primitive sense of comradery and war tactics that was so unique to it for its time. I loved wide open battlefields full of soldiers fighting for land, and bumping into idle friendlies and commanding them into charges as though I were running a 3rd person tactical RTS, and sometimes making up my own little stories in the process. I would command a medic, and a sniper, and charge across an empty field on Hoth (or dodge through the tunnel system, loved that little area) with my sniper friend picking off distant targets, my medic supporting me, and when we got to the thick of the battle I'd dismiss them and let chaos sweep us away and enjoy the crossfire for as long as I could stand. If I survived and got bored of the battlefront (pun not intended) I would run around to desolate and empty command posts and repair their droids, preparing the world for the fact that at some point enemies would be there, and we would be geared up and ready. Modern day shooters shatter every piece of that and then some. So when Dice and EA were the chosen successors to the long dormant series, well after I felt done and sick of their current handling of Battlefield, you can imagine my lack of enthusiasm knowing the series would be resurrected by the guys that basically give you more work to do in a $60 retail game than a Free2play title.

Gotta catch 'em all!

I will say this to EA's credit. I'm not trying to come off as too ungrateful for the work on this game. It still takes effort (mostly from Dice just to be clear), it still is going to entertain people, and its still a good thing that this game series is being picked up on somewhere by someone who knows how to make a team based shooter. Likewise to those truly hopeful with less picky expectations, well I hope you enjoy the product and I don't want my nagging to get you down. As long as this game isn't damaging to anything else (and it probably wont be), its a good thing and I'm grateful that its a new release coming out. The battlefront series I love is still here in my very house and that's not going anywhere, so I'm not exactly losing anything. Of course I still want my idea of Battlefront 3 which simply improves over what was brilliant before, probably the one Free Radical was doing before it was shut down, but at least the gaming industry is getting something out of the series once more. Its just that I'm not in any way interested or trusting that they'll produce something I like. So I will still occasionally add some reasonable skepticism into everyone's hype (because I still think constructive feedback is better than google eyed cheers), and I will say that I for one do not trust this game is worth my money. Overall though its a good thing that this game exists though, and I hope it makes people happy if its a quality product.

Back to my main message though and where I get darker in my ramblings, I picture it as this... Regenerating health, over-complicated classes running off of perks and 15 guns + attachments, no bots, and an obvious change-up or lack of modes (already confirmed that space battles are gone). Some of these are assumptions and I welcome the ability to be proven wrong, but so far these are very likely cases looking at the modern gaming field and team in question. Of course that was even before I also realized there would be aggressive DLC, it was going to be pushed with the upcoming movie stuff, and it was confirmed that my favorite side of the Star Wars universe and all their related battles that I loved to watch as a kid would be gone. On the bright side though, I was actually wrong to assume bots wouldn't be here, but they could be using weasel words at this point by putting them under a "missions" co-op sounding mode, which is nothing like what I'm asking for. If real bots are involved "instant action" style, this is instantly a thing I need to buy eventually but I'm still not quite happy with what it will probably become. Of course that's not even taking into account how damn weird they're being with the reveal trailer revealing absolutely nothing but how much they love in-engine cut-scenes and pass it off as sorta like the real thing. Oh and lovely, they're begging you pre-orders at the very end before showing you the actual product you're being asked to buy. I actually only noticed that after watching The Jimquisition video because my mind just censors and blocks out the commercialized ending of videos like this, that aren't effectively selling me because they're so robotic and unrealistic to the actual product. When my only "on the bright side" note to the pre-order is that "well at least they didn't also advertise a season pass", something is just wrong because that should really be a given.

However it also kind of pains me to discuss this stuff with enthusiastic people (some of which even believe the in-game is true, which will probably lead to this ridiculous situation again, but again Dice is free to prove me wrong if they really can pull the reveal visuals off), because I really hate being that guy in the room that sits there preaching doomsday while foaming at the mouth. I'm not like that, and I hate it when others are. That's not to say I'm always an uplifiting person, people who read this blog commonly may know better, but when I fight for something I'm usually doing it with because there is even something positive underlying my anger. Like for example the recent instance where I'm fussing about Uncharted's Nathan Drake being called out as a killer; I sound livid and pissed off but that's because I'm defensive about a fun thing and I'm shouting at those who are turning gaming into this hyper progressive "lets be dark, edgy, and real and not have anything fun". I'm fussy and mad about issues like that because I'm making a point that gaming is a good and fun thing, and there are other people out there pushing political lead agendas to demonize entertainment and sub-cultures. In general I still look at life, entertainment, culture, and the very matter of existence to be something awesome, and a lot of my anger comes from passionately defending those in some form. However with this case in battlefront, standing against a wave of unconditional excitement, and telling you all that I just know this game is going to be run-of-the-mill military shooter schlock with premium fees attached that I'm tired of, I'm just being a cynical guy no matter how you spin it and that pains me to say that. Sure I'm kind of fighting against bad practices, but the fact of the matter is I've experienced this part of society so much that I'm actually predicting them on it and dismissing the hope already. That's cynicism at its very core, and I know it so well that its a constant guilt trip whenever I hear the name "battlefront" brought up. I don't want to be this way, but its been trained into me by the very games people have hope for. I'm not the only one with this mind-set either, parts of gaming have sort of earned it from people who are just able to put basic logic together. So... is it okay to kind of be a cynic at this point?

Though the thing is, is that I'm not a total cynic. Sure I am on battlefront, and for that matter any FPS Dice gets their hand on around this current time of events, but I'm not a general cynic and that's why it feels so wrong against my usual habit to be this way about battlefront. Its not normal for me. I still appreciate a lot within the medium of gaming. I'm still excited for much of the upcoming stuff. As a matter of fact two of my most anticipated games, Ratchet & Clank, and Doom 4 have absolutely no footage of gameplay or even a screenshot. They're absolutely mythical aside from their name and some details, yet I just have so much excitement built up for what little I do know. Oh and another anticipated title, Metal Gear Solid 5, is just something I'm ignoring the hype on. I trust them so much that I think the fun of their game and being surprised is outweighing that of the possibility of them going horribly wrong. Of course like Battlefront, I'm open to the idea that they can prove me wrong and be something entirely different from what I've come to expect. I'm cautiously optimistic. That's because of reputations. Some games, teams, or ideas have earned their place. EA and Dice have earned a reputation and place of not desiring their shooters, while Bethesda have proven themselves capable of putting out the exact opposite and get me excited for an older ID themed shooter. After all this is right after the year in which Wolfenstein tied with Far Cry 4 as my Game of The Year. Oh yeah and I still love a few games from ubisoft, if I can manage that I'm fairly sure you can see I still have some strong sense of enthusiasm left, it just depends on the area.

So is it okay to be cynical? In general, I'd say no, but like all things its a case by case scenario. With gaming, that case by case deal works like the very common fundamental idea of capitalism. If you put out a good product, work hard to sell it, and have put smiles on many faces, then you earn all the trust and care you get. If you exploit people for money, and try to take them for fools, or simply make a product they don't like, then you have earned people who look in on your work and tear you to pieces and they may not need anything more than an educated guess. You make a good product, and you keep people happy. EA and Dice haven't been able to do that for me. Their record and history, as well as how it compares to similar situations, has made me doubtful. They've made it so that even if I see an upcoming brand that I've been asking for across many years, and something that has kept my childhood entertained for months, I still don't trust them to make me happy enough that it is worth the value they put on it. That doesn't mean I hate or distrust everything though, it just means there are people working harder than others for what I want out of gaming. There are people who have products far more valuable to me, and to them I say good job and here's some cash I've been saving for you. Please don't let me down.

I know ratchet, I'm excited to.