Battlefield 4??

son_of_montfort · October 24, 2013, 10:06:39 AM

Well, this one releases just around this weekend. I am sorely tempted by the Greenmangaming 25% off coupon (which will make it a much more "normal" price rather than a premium "holy crap" price). I usually enjoy the BF games, but I am worried that my rather substantial gaming system does not actually fulfill the "Recommended System Requirements" for the game (I do have the Required System Reqs)!

Anyone play the beta? What is the deal with this one (looks a little futuristic)? Any takers?

Jarhead0331 · October 24, 2013, 10:30:03 AM

Where is the coupon code for this. I don't see one for BF4?

Grimnirsson · October 24, 2013, 12:57:57 PM

I played the Beta on the Xbox 360...some things are better than in BF3, but so far it's not the big step in innovation, but I wasn't expecting that anyway. The gfx on the 360 just SUCK, so I'll get this for the PS4 which I'll get some time next year.

Yskonyn · October 24, 2013, 01:13:07 PM

I played the beta. If your rig ran BF3 well, then BF4 will be no problem either, provided you might have to run at high instead of ultra.
I did experience stuttering, but DICE claims this is because there is all kinds of debugging running real time in the beta. And to be honest, I did have this issue with the beta of BF3 as well. Live game ran smooth as silk on Ultra, so I am not worried about BF4.

For your info my specs are as follows;
Win 7 64bit
8GB RAM
non-SSD harddisk
Nvidia GTX580 with 1.5GB VRAM
Intel Core 4 Quad Q9400, 2.7Ghz

One thing that is pretty weird though, is that running BF4 in Windows 8 gains you 10-20 FPS with the same graphics hardware and settings vs Windows 7.
I have no idea wether this will be the case for the live game as well.
Does make me think about wether or not I should make the jump, though. That's a lot of FPS. Allegedly this is because of some fancy DirectX 11 functions being natively supported in Win 8 which the game utilizes.
Still, I am not at all comfortable to swap my stable Win 7 to something I have no clue about concerning the state of stability and hardware compatibility. For example; getting my Soundblaster X-Fi to run properly in Win7 has been a downright pain in the arse, I doubt it will work in Win 8 without giving up a good fight either... Not looking forward to that at all.

But still... 10 to 20 FPS. ;) Makes you insecure, eh?

Anyway, the game seems to be great! It revisits some classic features like the Commander Mode. Spotting and giving orders has been streamlined and work much better, as well as relative spotting.
Destruction engine has the next version for more awesomeness and many other things are just there you would expect from the next version of the franchise.
It's still very much Battlefield. Just more awesome and frankly; what BF3 was expected to be for the PC crowd after such a long wait after 2.

Arctic Blast · October 24, 2013, 01:22:50 PM

Quote from: son_of_montfort on October 24, 2013, 10:06:39 AM
Well, this one releases just around this weekend. I am sorely tempted by the Greenmangaming 25% off coupon (which will make it a much more "normal" price rather than a premium "holy crap" price). I usually enjoy the BF games, but I am worried that my rather substantial gaming system does not actually fulfill the "Recommended System Requirements" for the game (I do have the Required System Reqs)!

Anyone play the beta? What is the deal with this one (looks a little futuristic)? Any takers?

Just tested it...the 25% off coupon does not work with BF4.

I'm likely to preorder. I enjoyed the third game, so the fourth seems like kind of a 'no brainer' purchase for me.

W8taminute · October 24, 2013, 02:18:09 PM

I actually really liked BF3. It was one of two, no three, FPS games I've played that I performed well in. I would get BF4 but I'm with Grim in that I will wait until next year to get the game on a PS4. Plus I suck very badly at any COD game so I'll need an alternative anyway.

son_of_montfort · October 24, 2013, 02:32:02 PM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 24, 2013, 10:30:03 AM
Where is the coupon code for this. I don't see one for BF4?

Well crap, I was hoping the one that they had up on the side, but Artic says it does not work. I'm not sure I can swing it for full price.

Ysk, you and I have pretty similar specs, so that makes me feel better. If you think it is fun, then that is a big endorsement for me!

vyshka · October 24, 2013, 02:32:36 PM

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 24, 2013, 01:13:07 PM
I played the beta. If your rig ran BF3 well, then BF4 will be no problem either, provided you might have to run at high instead of ultra.
I did experience stuttering, but DICE claims this is because there is all kinds of debugging running real time in the beta. And to be honest, I did have this issue with the beta of BF3 as well. Live game ran smooth as silk on Ultra, so I am not worried about BF4.

For your info my specs are as follows;
Win 7 64bit
8GB RAM
non-SSD harddisk
Nvidia GTX580 with 1.5GB VRAM
Intel Core 4 Quad Q9400, 2.7Ghz

One thing that is pretty weird though, is that running BF4 in Windows 8 gains you 10-20 FPS with the same graphics hardware and settings vs Windows 7.
I have no idea wether this will be the case for the live game as well.
Does make me think about wether or not I should make the jump, though. That's a lot of FPS. Allegedly this is because of some fancy DirectX 11 functions being natively supported in Win 8 which the game utilizes.
Still, I am not at all comfortable to swap my stable Win 7 to something I have no clue about concerning the state of stability and hardware compatibility. For example; getting my Soundblaster X-Fi to run properly in Win7 has been a downright pain in the arse, I doubt it will work in Win 8 without giving up a good fight either... Not looking forward to that at all.

But still... 10 to 20 FPS. ;) Makes you insecure, eh?

Anyway, the game seems to be great! It revisits some classic features like the Commander Mode. Spotting and giving orders has been streamlined and work much better, as well as relative spotting.
Destruction engine has the next version for more awesomeness and many other things are just there you would expect from the next version of the franchise.
It's still very much Battlefield. Just more awesome and frankly; what BF3 was expected to be for the PC crowd after such a long wait after 2.

There are improvements to DirectX 11.1 in Windows 8 which result in less overhead for the same graphics calls.

RooksBailey · October 25, 2013, 12:05:06 AM

Quote from: Grimnirsson on October 24, 2013, 12:57:57 PM
I played the Beta on the Xbox 360...some things are better than in BF3, but so far it's not the big step in innovation, but I wasn't expecting that anyway.

I think I was more hyped for BF4 BEFORE I played in the open beta. :) Don't get me wrong: I know it is only a matter of time before I get the game, but I am comfortable with waiting a bit before jumping in. From what I experienced in the open beta, BF4 just confirms what I suspected all along: it is more BF3.5 than a true 4.0. Some nice tweaks, but that is about it. This is why I actually am more impressed by the new CoD Ghosts. That new Squads system is something different and could lead to a whole, new metagame (but even here I am going to wait until IW patches in a FOV slider - what a silly oversight).

I was also disappointed in the one map we got to try. I just didn't think that Singapore map was very good. It seemed to swallow up all the players, leading to very haphazard skirmishing that really didn't capture the high intensity, combined arms warfare that is at the heart of the series. I really hope the other maps are better.

Then there was that stuttering. DICE did say it had to do something with Punkbuster, but I am worried that it involves something else seeing how they never fixed it during the open beta.

Long short, this is a launch I am willing to sit out for a few weeks while all the bugs are squished, etc. :)

son_of_montfort · October 25, 2013, 06:56:08 AM

But if I never played BF3, would you say it is worth doing a first-day buy?

Yskonyn · October 25, 2013, 09:35:46 AM

If you have not played BF3 but are interested in the gameplay I'd say BF4 will be a great starting point! All the cool toys and gameplay elements in the latest version as well. :)

The Shanghai map of the beta is just one of the many. No reason to judge the game based on one map. There will be more open maps where combined arms is more viable.
The Shanghai map is just used as its a great showcase for their new Destruction engine.

As said before; performance is likely much better in the final game.

RooksBailey · October 25, 2013, 04:00:51 PM

Quote from: son_of_montfort on October 25, 2013, 06:56:08 AM
But if I never played BF3, would you say it is worth doing a first-day buy?

With a Battlefield game, a first-day buy is never a good idea. ;D I would wait at least a week. IIRC, BF3 really didn't get going until a few months post release! It usually has the typical mega-game release headaches.

Unless you are really keen for the pre-order bonus, I think BF4 is a definite wait and see.

Jarhead0331 · October 25, 2013, 04:36:33 PM

I dunno...while BF4 looks like its just more of the same, COD: Ghosts looks like its at least trying to incorporate some fresh ideas...hello...Zero G map! K-9 units, etc. etc.

Skoop · October 25, 2013, 04:57:49 PM

One good thing about day one gameplay, might be easier to rank up when everyone is in the same boat.

son_of_montfort · October 25, 2013, 10:08:31 PM

Pre-order also gets you some extra goodies, which interests me.

I've just never been one for the CoD series. I loved BF in the past (the first modern one with tanks and in the Middle East, in particular). I think I'll bite.