WWE 2K19

[Owen]

16 minutes ago, Busch Luck Fale said:

Confirmed that there are no unlockables for completing Towers mode at all.  So it’s effectively pointless.

Weird. You'd think they'd make some meaningless thing as an unlockable just for the sake of it, like how they did with the slobberknocker mode in Shut Your Mouth where you'd unlock a 'divas movie'... which would be a questionable unlockable nowadays but just if they gave us something, I'd be fine with it. To be honest, I'm going to play it anyway, but a reward would be nice. Maybe they give you VC points or whatever they're called?

[KingofHarts_OH]

There was a movie you unlocked with Slobberknocker? I don't remember that.

[Owen]

4 minutes ago, KingofHarts_OH said:

There was a movie you unlocked with Slobberknocker? I don't remember that.

If you get 100 knockouts, apparently, yeah. I mean I'm not entirely sure on this, but it's what the cheat sites are telling me.

[apsham]

You unlocked costumes in MKX from doing the towers, and there were also events where there were secret fights to unlock based on different tower performance variables. So it wasn't pointless. They evolved the concept further with the Injustice 2 towers as well. There was some actual effort put forth instead of "need a new mode, make them do a few matches in a row... because".

Pushing forward with damage incurred was already available in tournaments.

[KingofHarts_OH]

I guess my memory is not as good as I thought about either game...🤔

[The Buscher]

38 minutes ago, Owen said:

Weird. You'd think they'd make some meaningless thing as an unlockable just for the sake of it, like how they did with the slobberknocker mode in Shut Your Mouth where you'd unlock a 'divas movie'... which would be a questionable unlockable nowadays but just if they gave us something, I'd be fine with it. To be honest, I'm going to play it anyway, but a reward would be nice. Maybe they give you VC points or whatever they're called?

You do earn VC, but no more than you would for any other match.  And apparently much like last year you earn VC at a glacial pace.

[Skummy]

5 hours ago, Apsham said:

I just don't see how it happens from a programming perspective. You have the ability to determine between male and female wrestlers - so in theory it should be as simple as saying "if wrestler is a female, use the her soundclip" and I don't really know how that could get messed up. 

It's literally "IF THEN ELSE", about as simplistic as programming gets. There's no excuse.

[Noah]

http://www.ringsidenews.com/2018/09/22/wwe-2k19-producer-evolution-games/

[apsham]

That's a pretty good confirmation of the way that the status quo runs with these kinds of things I guess. You get to work on one major thing a year, and since "render engine" isn't all that sexy of a selling point, you've got to come up with something that doesn't fix issues that are currently in the game - you have to try to jazz things up with something else and hope that's enough to be a heavy marketing point.

I don't put any of the blame on the devs either - I've been there a few times before, knowing about something that I could fix if given enough time and being told that the time and money isn't there.

[KingofHarts_OH]

6 minutes ago, Apsham said:

That's a pretty good confirmation of the way that the status quo runs with these kinds of things I guess. You get to work on one major thing a year, and since "render engine" isn't all that sexy of a selling point, you've got to come up with something that doesn't fix issues that are currently in the game - you have to try to jazz things up with something else and hope that's enough to be a heavy marketing point.

I don't put any of the blame on the devs either - I've been there a few times before, knowing about something that I could fix if given enough time and being told that the time and money isn't there.

That is why I wouldn't mind WWE making a deal sorta like the CoD series has. Where different companies work on a wrestling game and have time to flesh it out and whatnot. So Yukes can work on WWE 2k21 while another company works on WWE 2k22. Skip 2k20 so they have enough time. Unfortunately that is impossible dur to the ever changing roster. Ah well.

[Gabriel]

18 minutes ago, KingofHarts_OH said:

That is why I wouldn't mind WWE making a deal sorta like the CoD series has. Where different companies work on a wrestling game and have time to flesh it out and whatnot. So Yukes can work on WWE 2k21 while another company works on WWE 2k22. Skip 2k20 so they have enough time. Unfortunately that is impossible dur to the ever changing roster. Ah well.

Not really. I mean, they love DLC money. If they have, say, two developers working on different styled WWE games... so, WWE 2K comes out every two years, and a more arcade style game comes out every other year. In the in-between year, 2K could release new superstars as DLC. 3 per pack, $10. If a customer gets 8 packs over the course of the two year life-span, they've essentially paid twice for the game. They don't even have to be digitally scanned. Just make them as best as you can (which is near perfect anyways) in the CAW suite, add in their entrance video and music, any new moves that are required can be included in the DLC pack, and voila.

Not to mention, they could probably even get away with adding new attires/moves/entrance themes/etc for existing superstars as DLC, so long as the value is there.

It's doable, but it's out of the box thinking, and this is WWE we're talking about.

[TCO]

It's doable but if it's not profitable then they won't do it. Sure, you'll get a much better product but the additional customers gained by putting out that product is unlikely to account for the lost revenue in their guaranteed customer base on a yearly basis. 

There'll be no marginal profit gain to 2K to do a model like this, so it simply won't happen. Putting out a broken game with a lick of paint every year is the money move so it'll keep happening. That's the joy of having such an established brand like WWE. It comes with a rabid fan base who'll buy it regardless of what the product is. The only power the customer has is their wallet and they rarely vote using it.

[Gabriel]

2K makes money on the DLC. If they have a two year development cycle, they get extra time to work on the next game AND two years of DLC money. If they release enough packs over the course of those two years, with enough new roster members, alternate outfits that don't take CAW slots for existing roster members, new venues, etc, etc... then they should be able to come close to, if not equal the numbers they get from their release every year and more limited DLC.

That's the idea, in theory. I mean, how often do new people debut? Or people change up their attire, entrance music, add new moves or change gimmicks completely? The die-hards that they rely on to buy their game every year will probably spend more money if optioned with more and more relevant DLC to extend the life of the game they're playing, knowing that the next version is getting extra polish as well.

If they release a new pack of characters every month at $10, adding three wrestlers each time... let's say that's 22 months of DLC support. They'd probably cut a bit early for the next iteration of the game. That's $220 worth of DLC, just for in-game characters, that most of us would probably buy. Because let's face it, $10 a month has been proven to be a price-point that we like when we see value in the product we get. We're all nerds. NEW WRESTLERS-- get your Matt Riddle in NXT Pack 1 with Tommaso Ciampa and Nikki Cross! Just $10! We're all there.

Now add in new venues on top of that for the super die-hards. I feel like this type of model is almost perfect for pro wrestling games. People will still buy the new one, right? I mean, new modes and gameplay fixes, new commentary that isn't annoying yet. Plus, all the people who wanted in too late and would rather spend $80 to get the wrestlers that are current to the company, new venues, belts, shows, etc.

[Tkasto]

 

[The Buscher]

“Unable to come to terms on a deal”, aka “we don’t know why they’re not in so we’re just making shit up.”

[FLiam]

The more I read and see about this, the better it sounds. 

The gameplay does look better, it looks faster and more crisp than last years version. Leaning more toward arcade style action.

I still doubt I’ll buy it, but may be tempted when it eventually goes on sale.

[apsham]

I'm having an internal struggle over whether the game plays faster or not. I mean - it kind of seems like it does in some of the videos that I've been watching, but then it also seems to slow down when certain animations start to fire off. A return to speed is one of the biggest things I want to see out of the gameplay... but I don't really have any real confirmation on that.

EDIT: Interesting, I looked it up and saw this quote;

Quote

In an interview with Hardcore Gamer, WWE 2K creative director Lionel Jenkins stated that WWE 2K19 would be moving away from the simulation-styled gameplay of the last four WWE games in favor of a faster and more fluid gameplay, saying "They kind of got turned off by the product we were giving them and we had to think outside the box and they never thought that we’d do it. The core was simulation, and people got turned off by that and we were hearing loud and clear that they weren’t buying it anymore and that was the driving force behind all of that." He added "We were hearing from the fanbase that it was too slow, too sluggish and it wasn’t any fun anymore."

 

[FLiam]

That’s exactly what the last few games have been, slow and sluggish. 

I played WWE ‘12 the other day with my nephew and it was far more enjoyable purely because the pace was a lot quicker. I think that with the current mechanics they have, it’s much more suited to a faster pace. I’ve mentioned it before as well, but it would be good to have varied animations for certain moves as well, as opposed to seeing the same one over and over again. I’m no programmer and imagine it may be difficult but other combat style games manage it as far as I’m aware.

[apsham]

I never saw that they were actually going to address that. The move towards simulation versus arcade style has been the biggest complaint about the games that I've had for a long while.

[Gabriel]

New Details on Universe mode sound promising. I'm still going to wait to see what people think and for a sale price, but I like what I'm reading. See below.

 

PART TWO: UNIVERSE MODE

You may have seen videos on YouTube of some of the changes coming to Universe Mode. We wanted to round this information up with additional details so that Universe fans can have everything in one place:

• The championship system has been expanded to allow six championships per show – compared to the previous limit of four.
• New customization options make it possible to assign multiple women’s titles or tag titles to a show.
• Money in the Bank briefcases, now fully customizable, will take a championship slot.
• New Championship Divisions can determine which titles specific groups of Superstars will pursue. Championships can also now be vacated.
• The new Superstar Save Profiles system lets players save changes to Superstar settings across MyWWE and multiple Universe saves at the same time. This includes Attributes, Skills, Abilities, Payback, Entrances, and Move Sets.
• Custom Match Tables let users customize the types of matches used on each show and Pay-Per-View. Using sliders, you can determine the frequency for various match types in storylines and rivalries.
• Managers are now available to assign to Superstars. In fact, you can assign up to three of them for any given Superstar. Managers will appear alongside the Superstars in One on One and normal Tag Team matches.
• Promos now incorporate recent events. A former champion will talk about losing the title and ask for a rematch. Rivals will talk about wins and losses, interferences or blindside attacks that happened last week. Many new promo animations have been added. While every Superstar comes with a pre-set “Promo Attitude,” you can customize any of them so that they behave the way you want.
• Last but not least, you can go through matchups in your Universe and decide the winners and losers of the matches without having to play the match yourself or rely on a random result!