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PaperclipPerfector  21hr ago (text post)   698 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 9, 2025

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There is a new Mechwarrior 5 expansion! This time we got a full campaign focusing on the Ghost Bears. Which is a huge callback to the Ghost Bear's Legacy expansion for Mechwarrior 2. Some people have fond memories of that I guess. I mostly just remember a bunch of broken missions that frustrated me to death, even attempting to cheat through them when I was 12. Like the super buggy underwater level. The MW2 engine was just not up to the challenge that the mission designers threw at it.

Anyways, I'm told this DLC is 12 missions, I've complete 3, I'm super into it. Story is good so far, none of the characters annoy me, and the Rifleman IIC with a targeting computer replacing the small laser, and some extra armor instead of jump jets is awesome. Just a really solid sniper mech. Haven't unlocked the Kodiak yet though, so we'll see.

I think the difficulty starts a little higher than the base game, which is to be expected. The first mission was a bit of a wake up call for me, and I had to knock the rust off real quick. Especially since you don't get to change your loadout or get a sense of your unit's strengths or weaknesses. After that I felt better. I noticed only two or three of your pilots have the evasion skill, and I don't see reduced armor damage on the research panel. Either because they removed it, or the game was balanced around it being maxed out from the jump. I kind of appreciate this because evasion and reduced armor damage were OP paths that the original campaign was balanced around you maxing out ASAP. I literally saw the CEO of the studio saying certain missions were effectively gated behind you having maxed those out by then. Kind of bullshit IMHO to softlock you in a campaign because you researched the wrong tech. Then again, this was in 1.0 of the game, and I know they rebalanced a lot of the missions people felt were just way too fucking hard since then. What I'm trying to say is, early signs indicate the balance in this expansion is more promising.

So I take it this game got good eventually? Is it worth playing without DLC? I got it when it was new and I had a worthless radar that only let me see things in front of me with a clear line of sight, my lancemates were total bumblefucks who tended to shoot each other, enemies were appearing out of thin air, etc.

So, I think so. I too played it on release, preordered it even for a sweet chest of MWO bonuses. I was profoundly underwhelmed, and I don't think I played more than 5 hours for all the reasons you mentioned. Radar was LOS only, enemies constantly spawned out of thin air right on top of you, frequently 100 ft behind you where you just walked because your radar didn't cover that.

I'm not sure all the things that changed, but I wasn't losing my fucking shit over that happening anymore. I played probably half my most recent playthrough with a Better Spawns mod, and half without. Honestly I couldn't tell much difference.

Also, after all the DLC, the Inner Sphere is positively teeming with life. Mercenary companies are operating scattered about, and will hot drop into your missions to help or hinder you. There are wacky televised mech duel contracts on most industrial worlds. There are several mini campaigns that cover most of the major events of the IS pre-Clan Invasion. I honestly can't imagine what more people might want from it. They even finally added melee! It's the game people have been begging for since Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, and it's frequently all on sale for about $50-ish. Still, haters gonna hate, and CGL has enormously poisoned the well with their shenanigans. But IMHO, it's the best MW game we've ever gotten, or are likely to get.

A lot of people though MW5: Clans was underwhelming compared to MW5: Mercs. It's a linear scripted story with lots of story and cutscenes. But once again, this is the game everyone wanted since Mechwarrior 2, and it's better than ever. I get that it's less replayable than MW5: Mercs and it's career mode, but it's still damned good, and thus far the Ghost Bear expansion is fantastic too.

CGL has enormously poisoned the well with their shenanigans.

What has Catalyst done? I don't really keep up with the tabletop side, I basically bought a starter box and never played. I'm not surprised they have been up to shenanigans after how badly they botched Shadowrun 6e, but I'm not familiar with it either.

They fired one of their longest running and best IMHO authors because he was conservative. Then they stepped in and broke the "no real world politics" rules the assorted communities have and made celbrating pride month mandatory.

Ugh, that's really shitty. That's a bummer. :/

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