Let's Talk Battle Royale

[StormSurge]

I want see what everyone here thinks of the latest flavor of the month, battle royale games.

I get that they're not for everyone and I've tried many, but only like one. To me, as someone who enjoys shooters, it is the ideal game mode. Allow me to explain.

I suppose I've been playing multiplayer shooters since I first controlled a tank in Combat. However, I really came to enjoy that genre when my buddies turned me onto SOCOM on the PS2.

We'd play almost seven nights a week, logging on around 9 PM and via the magic of the internet, be in completely different states, yet playing the same game, with & against each other.

The matches were always a best of 7 games (or 9, I can't remember), with teams of 3 or 4 squaring off against the other. When you were killed, you had to wait until the round ended to start another one.

Since SOCOM, we've played countless shooters on the OG Xbox, Xbox 360 & now Xbox One. However, all of those games (Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon, every CoD game, Battlefield, etc.) had respawns. You'd jump into a game, run around, kill someone, get killed, wait 5 seconds and jump back in the game. The game continued until the timer ran out or the objective had been reached. Rinse, repeat.

I certainly had fun playing those games but I would inevitably become bored with them after a few months. Every now & then, we'd stumble across a game mode that didn't have respawns, but the games never clicked for whatever reason.

Then Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) came out.

I don't game on computers, just consoles. But I had heard about PUBG before it arrived on the Xbox. 100 players start a game in plane, jump out of the plane as it flies over the map and you and you land on the ground with just the clothes on your back. You have to search buildings to find weapons, ammo & armor. The game forces you to move to specific areas on the map and if you're outside the safe zone for too long, you'll take damage and die. The last player standing wins. I was intrigued!

Before PUBG hit, Fortnite was a free download. I heard it was the same style (battle royale!) as PUBG, so I gave it a shot. It was okay, but I found it too cartoony & Fortnite also has a building aspect to it. I had enough to deal with trying to stay alive than worrying about deconstructing & constructing.

So PUBG launches & my buddies try it. We play it for months. I become obsessed with it. Some of my buddies love it too, others find it too boring/difficult.

Here's what I LOVE about it.

• The strategy. To me, it's like a chess match. I like the slow build-up (it can be fast at times as well), figuring out how to work the map, listening for distant gunshots, remembering the flight path of the initial landing and trying to figure out where enemies are, etc.
• The game never plays the same way twice. There are four different maps now of varying sizes. The initial flight path is random, the initial safe zones are always different, sometimes other players land in the same area as you, sometimes you're alone. Do you engage those players, run away or try to find a vehicle and drive far away from the flight path? Some rounds you find great weapons. Other rounds are struggle to find good weapons.
• The game is not easy. You have a 99% chance of failure every game. There's no aim assist like a CoD game. The rare times I've ended up winning a match is almost euphoric. It feels like such an accomplishment to pull off a win. It's very rewarding.
• Every round teaches a lesson. I've been playing for over a year & I'm still learning different tactics to try to improve.
• It's flat out fun. Sure, it can be frustrating at times (VERY). But my buddies and I have had countless games that end in laughter because of something we did. For example, my buddy & I were playing Duos (50 teams of 2 players) and we landed next to another team. Neither of us had weapons, so instead of trying to punch each other out, we all sprinted to two different vehicles. The other team beat us to the vehicles, but we jumped in as passengers in each one. That had a hilarious ending. 😂

Anyway, those are some of the reasons why I love PUBG and battle royale games.

I mentioned I played Fortnite, the top-choice for the younger generation. I've also tried the recently released Apex Legends (free!) & while that had some unique features I hope make their way to PUBG, it didn't grab me the way PUBG has. 

I know many of you don't partake in modern gaming, but if anyone is interested in watching me play, I'm happy to stream our sessions one of these nights. (FYI, I play EVERY night. 😀) Fair warning, there may be a lot of NSFW language.

In the meantime, I'll be on the hunt for the ever elusive Chicken Dinner. (Photo from Saturday night, here's a replay of the round: Storm's Last Win on PUBG. This was only my 17th win in over 1,500 matches.)

Edited March 4, 2019 by StormSurge
typo

[RickR]

Awesome post.  I don't "modern game", but it would be interested to watch you play.  Heck, it may drive me to give something like this a try.  I do have a PS4 (my kids) upstairs unused. 

 

[StormSurge]

Thanks Rick!

It was just released on the PS4 fairly recently.

The post rambled a bit more than I had originally planned, but I think I covered most of what I was trying to convey.

One other point is that I have NEVER played a game that has caused such a visceral reaction like this one does.

When I'm in a building looking for loot and hear footsteps nearby that aren't mine or a teammate, my heart rate immediately picks up.

And when I happen to be one of the remaining 10 people left alive and the circle is shrinking, it's like I'm on a treadmill. 

I've been playing video games for almost 40 years now and no game has ever done that to me. 

Maybe I'll stream on a Wednesday during the chat session. 🤔

[StormSurge]

I saw this thread on Reddit & thought it was relevant to my comments.

I'm not the only one, although my heart races a lot earlier than the Top 2. 😬

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Well, I wasn't much into online gaming because of the fear of running into those sort of gamers that like to ruin it for everyone else.  Strange turn of events, once I met my wife I got to know her brother from afar.  I've never met the man in person but because of him I got introduced to online gaming.  We'd play 360 in co-op mode on lots of games like Saints Row, Crackdown, Halo (his favorite), racing games (I'd always win  ), Fable, anything that XBOX Live would give us that we could play together we enjoyed.  We also picked up a few like Minecraft, Terraria, CoD Ghosts, Black Ops II, Battlefield 3, and the Borderland series to name a few.

If you have family or trusted friends playing online with them on computer or modern console can be lots of fun.  Even if it is a game you are unfamiliar with chances are one of your online members can and might take the time to show you the ropes.  Some of today's games really show how advanced games have come.  And I believe that XBOX is the only company trying to bring all gamers together regardless of what system they are playing together on.  Now if only Sony would jump on that ship.  

Edited March 8, 2019 by kamakazi20012

[StormSurge]

Awesome kazi!

I still have my 360 hooked up too, with a plethora of games in my backlog. 

If ever want to give PUBG a shot, let me know. I’d be happy to play with you. 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I've got to get Gold first and a headset  

[StormSurge]

A headset is necessary but I may have some Gold trial codes laying around for you. 

Edited March 8, 2019 by StormSurge
Typo

[StormSurge]

I'm going to start streaming my evening rounds.

We usually play around 8:30 PM to 11:00 PM, Eastern time.

https://mixer.com/StormSurge

You may only hear myself talking, as I think my buddies will have to authorize their voice to be streamed as well and I'm sure they won't want to have to deal with that. 🙄

Tune in if you can & I'll be happy to answer any questions here while I play (action on screen permitting).

[Atari 5200 Guy]

1 hour ago, StormSurge said:

I'm going to start streaming my evening rounds.

We usually play around 8:30 PM to 11:00 PM, Eastern time.

https://mixer.com/StormSurge

You may only hear myself talking, as I think my buddies will have to authorize their voice to be streamed as well and I'm sure they won't want to have to deal with that. 🙄

Tune in if you can & I'll be happy to answer any questions here while I play (action on screen permitting).

New follower.  Not sure what my evening is going to have happen but I will attempt to watch.  That's usually my dinner time so I can hopefully watch it.  I haven't tried to stream anything yet but I do believe I have a few clips on my XBOX profile.

[StormSurge]

Thanks kazi!

No worries if you can’t make it tonight. We play at a minimum, six nights a week. 🤪

[jmjustin6]

I tried fortnite for a while because a friend of mine kept asking me to join (hes pit in over 1000 hours in the game) I just couldnt get into it really and I ahvent played another battle royal game. Well except tetris 99 (if that counts as a battle royal) and I freaking love me some tetris 99. 

[StormSurge]

I finally secured another victory Saturday night!

It had been a few weeks since I was able to win a game. Granted, it's very difficult (this was my 18th win in 1,700+ matches) but I have been playing much better lately, but that hasn't translated into victories.

So many things have to go right in order to win. Finding good loot, being close to the circle, having an advantageous route to the circle (not having to face enemies from multiple directions) & just plain old good luck (which I sorely lack).

In this instance, my buddy & landed in a fairly large city (lots of loot) by ourselves. We didn't have to deal with anyone for at least 10 minutes. We were right in the middle of the first safe circle (the first safe circle is always large & it continually shrinks until it disappears. If you're outside that safe zone, you'll take damage & eventually die. The damage becomes more severe the longer the match goes on) and the next one as well.

The city we landed at was on the west coast of the map, so we knew with pretty high certainty that we wouldn't have any enemies approaching us from the west side.

Yadda, yadda, yadda, we were in the top 10 (us & 8 others). As that circle continuously shrinks, we hear more & more gunfire. My buddy got taken out & eventually it was just me & one other person. The pressure that comes from being in the top 10 is ridiculous & when it's down to me & one others, it's almost unbearable. (This is the one of the main reasons I can't get enough of this game, because of that feeling.) We had a great round & I did NOT want to blow it for us.

Thankfully, I knew where that last person was. I was in an advantageous position where I was safe while the circle collapsed, while he had to move towards me.

In this video, you'll see me watching his location (he's behind the shed) & me taking some extra health before the inevitable firefight.

It's not long & certainly doesn't capture those last few hectic minutes faithfully, but it shows the win, which I am very happy we obtained.

Thanks for reading my rambling thoughts on this Monday morning!

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by StormSurge
Clarity

[Atari 5200 Guy]

My wife and I are Borderlands people.  Anxiously waiting for 3 to come out.  They also reworked the original.