Company of Heroes 3 - Available now

Destraex · March 04, 2023, 07:37:54 AM

Still really enjoying this game but only two other friends have it atm. Very expensive game. Also the interface is still very buggy and a lot of things are very lazy, such as german icons being used with stukas depicted for allied air strikes and so forth. Some icons are still black in the after battle report. Sometimes things get stuck in the terrain. But generally it's a breath of fresh air. I really enjoy it. I watched an official video today to see if their was an easy way to retreat my men while also having vehicles which use the same hotkey for retreat. Nope, but I did get a young guy saying "you can turn on auto reinforce, but it will take resources off you without your permission" or something similar. I really wanted to reply saying, if I switched auto reinforce on, I kinda gave it permission to spend my resources. I mean I know what he meant, but does nobody speak clearly and concisely anymore in a way that literally anybody would have a hard time misunderstanding? I mean that's the aim of communication right? Schools must really be at an all time low these days when it comes to teaching best practice. I know, I know, I am just being an old man that shouts at the sky right? ;)

Enjoy the screenshots. P.S. The below shots with the bridges are from a mod map we played. Their are already a fare few of those. Still 14,000 people playing coh3 when we played as well. Not bad for an RTS that seems to be garnering a fair amount of negative attention.

fran · April 14, 2023, 10:56:26 PM

I cannot get excited about this title. I have the others and placed multiplayer and mods.

But just feels like the same game 😞 over again.

Destraex · April 15, 2023, 12:29:30 AM

Fair enough. I love the game because it's like coh1 with modern graphics.
I just like the game in general because it's one that has a good variety of tactics and the atm atmosphere with all the voice overs reminds me of that old game Z. It's just a really immersive game series in so many ways.
Basically over the years I have gone back to COH titles with friends and never really stopped playing them. They have always been viable games and a favourite of my friends. So coh3 was a no brainer. However I do have friends that think as you do and would simply prefer to play the older titles. For me a game series I play so much and is so enjoyable is worth every penny even if it is mostly the same.

fran · April 15, 2023, 01:31:43 AM

Quote from: Destraex on April 15, 2023, 12:29:30 AMFair enough. I love the game because it's like coh1 with modern graphics.
I just like the game in general because it's one that has a good variety of tactics and the atm atmosphere with all the voice overs reminds me of that old game Z. It's just a really immersive game series in so many ways.
Basically over the years I have gone back to COH titles with friends and never really stopped playing them. They have always been viable games and a favourite of my friends. So coh3 was a no brainer. However I do have friends that think as you do and would simply prefer to play the older titles. For me a game series I play so much and is so enjoyable is worth every penny even if it is mostly the same.

I can understand it, same with Civilization games, and few others for me. If you've put a lot of hours in you would want to play the latest and greatest.

Destraex · May 19, 2023, 09:26:31 PM

Well COH3's path has certainly been rocky and reviews are mostly negative now. I am still enjoying it but am not a fan of the direction they are heading. That is to say making sounds more hollywood, take a look at this dev video at timestamp 28:38. Listen to the before and after .30 cal and tell me what you think. I mean sounds for weapons sound different depending on environment, quality of recording instruments, distance from gun you are etc etc. But it's hard to compare the .30 to the .50 when the .30 sounds this beefy?

I think I will be playing this for a long time yet and have an inkling that over time it will become coh2, what I mean by that is that coh2 took years to stabalise and then the community became fairly robust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFEPmlOhG3M

Destraex · May 24, 2023, 05:22:14 AM

They have 300+ employees and just lost 121
Half the staff gone
So even though they deny it I think it will affect COH3. I am hoping even though it sounds horrible that most of the staff made redundant were marketting and other interfering managerial style support staff
https://twitter.com/relicgames/status/1661060864651452416

Destraex · June 03, 2023, 05:05:39 AM

I found the console release video very entertaining. I enjoy Al Murray's comedy on occasion. Plus he has a podcast that covers ww2 and thus has some interest in the subject at least. He kind of looks like Churchill now that I think about it.

Destraex · June 17, 2023, 09:02:36 PM

Disclaimer: They did say they were joking and not to panic but...

This is a trend I suspected was in the game industry for a while now. Marketting departments having barely any interest in what they were supposed to be promoting and that could extend to the core game dev team. Well established franchises next big title being constructed by people that it's just a job for before they move on to the next thing. Mercenaries. In this case it's professional community managers, remember when they were chosen from super fans of the game? The community managers in this video seem like very nice people though, so there is hope for coh3's future. But I get the impression they are more caretakers than super invested.

Listening to a few of the community managers own wishes for skins with cat ears or gaudy colored skins which sounded horrible and more like an anime show. Some of my fears about the dev team and them not really being interested in their games historical setting have become clear. If they ever do non historically inspired skins I hope they give the community a way to filter them OFF. Having said this I would hate the devs to squander time on such a divisive thing. Keep in mind the devs did say skins are not the focus and will stay historically inspired "for now". But that these are the community managers tastes and it kind of disappoints but does not surprise me.

Hopefully they were just joking. But that would be a pretty silly thing to do given the state of the community.

Like I said these are just them playing around I think. Timestamp 9:52.

al_infierno · June 18, 2023, 01:41:08 AM

JasonPratt · June 26, 2023, 10:53:53 AM

I think goofy skins were pretty late in CoH2, but I know some players enjoy them; they're totally optional, and intended for skirmishing/mp.

Considering their CoH2 popularity, I'm not surprised if they're implemented sooner rather than later in CoH3.

Destraex · July 01, 2023, 08:27:34 AM

They are not optional if one plays multiplayer and has to see them...
I don't remember any really goofy skins but mainly played coop. I remember some though that were mods rather than official skins though.

JasonPratt · July 03, 2023, 08:13:52 AM

Oh, that's a good point: I'm not sure if players have the option not to see other players' custom skins per se. (I only played with friends, none of whom had custom skins.)

Destraex · July 04, 2023, 06:56:14 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on July 03, 2023, 08:13:52 AMOh, that's a good point: I'm not sure if players have the option not to see other players' custom skins per se. (I only played with friends, none of whom had custom skins.)

Yeah, COH is really great fun coop with friends. But do play multiplayer vs occasionally.
Just the other day my friend who was the group leader accidentally took us into a VS match instead of coop. A rude shock as we then had to come to full attention and concentrate. We did win that one surprisingly.

Back to the point though. I want to see all the historical skins or at least historically inspired ones. Having ridiculous willy wonker and the chocolate factory land skins would just turn the game from gritty to anime for me. Unfortunately relic are kinda part the way their with thier choice of interface and team colours. No idea why these days people don't appreciate good old solid colours. I prefered coh when the team colours were a little more muted.

Destraex · July 26, 2023, 01:22:19 AM

New COH3 patch and two new maps and some really basic stats profile page. I was hoping for a few avatar changes and some new skins or battlegroups. I've played this game to death already. Love it.

Also a plethora of gameplay changes and fixes.. really underwhelming. But I guess the game will be more enjoyable to play?

al_infierno · September 12, 2023, 11:02:58 PM

So Destraex... what's the verdict here? Is COH3 worth picking up, on sale or otherwise?

I have to admit I've inexplicably found myself in hot, passionate need of a good World War 2 RTS. Something that's not quite as heady as Combat Mission, not as old as COH2 or the 2D Close Combat games, and not as awful as Close Combat: The Bloody First.