Asia's (lack of) originality amuses me.

[Sirion]

This is a gameplay footage from Arctic Combat, from south korean Webzen.





Another one bites de_dust.

It reminds me of Final Combat, an obvious Team Fortress 2 rip-off (with Battlefield Heroes maps)
















(don't fire a clown, they'll take it literally)

[BumblebeeCody]

I've never understood this "lack of originality" with games. It's not easy coming up with original ideas anymore without them being compared to.
Remember Me, all the wanker comments are like: "A mix of Deus Ex, Assassins Creed and [insert other random game here]"

I honestly don't see what's wrong with the first video either of the game called Arctic Combat. It looks like Call of Duty and (seems) to operate exactly the same, with some different maps and a different GUI. If it functions and gives the players what they want (regardless whether you think it's a rip-off or not) then what's the issue? The (supposed) TF2 knock off looks like TF2 sure, but why is bad exactly? Battlefield Heroes can easily be claimed as a TF2 knock off, but because it's a western publisher, who cares right?

It's same with we get games like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow which feature 2(ish) bosses that are huge titans that you have to climb up in a very similar fashion and is slaughtered for being a Shadow of the Colossus rip-off. How many people play Cave Bullet Hell Shooters? Those are just different stages with different characters and themes. Heck, lets take in the amount of Minecraft clones we have today? The best selling Indie title is a Minecraft clone.

All I get from the reading the comments is that gamers today are dickheads who don't want "their sacred franchise" touched on.

[Ouberry_13]

(08-28-2012 04:31 AM)BumblebeeCody Wrote:  I've never understood this "lack of originality" with games. It's not easy coming up with original ideas anymore without them being compared to.
Remember Me, all the wanker comments are like: "A mix of Deus Ex, Assassins Creed and [insert other random game here]"

I honestly don't see what's wrong with the first video either of the game called Arctic Combat. It looks like Call of Duty and (seems) to operate exactly the same, with some different maps and a different GUI. If it functions and gives the players what they want (regardless whether you think it's a rip-off or not) then what's the issue? The (supposed) TF2 knock off looks like TF2 sure, but why is bad exactly? Battlefield Heroes can easily be claimed as a TF2 knock off, but because it's a western publisher, who cares right?

It's same with we get games like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow which feature 2(ish) bosses that are huge titans that you have to climb up in a very similar fashion and is slaughtered for being a Shadow of the Colossus rip-off. How many people play Cave Bullet Hell Shooters? Those are just different stages with different characters and themes. Heck, lets take in the amount of Minecraft clones we have today? The best selling Indie title is a Minecraft clone.

All I get from the reading the comments is that gamers today are dickheads who don't want "their sacred franchise" touched on.

Exactly what I was gonna say, especially that last part about dickhead gamers.

[Stan]

For me it seeemed more like a Call of Duty similarity rather than... ummm... the second game you showed.

[Arjahn]

Funny thing is, that chinese TF2 clone looks like it could be sort of fun if they just didn't copypasta everything.

[Nicknclank]

Also, with all the videogames in the world today, it would be REALLY hard to make a game that doesn't resemble an other type of game. If one of them is like that, it's called an indie game.

But I got to agree that a lot of japanese companies are using the same thing over and over again. Like Square Enix for example: I don't mind playing Final Fantasy, I love the franchise. But it's always the same RPG thing. There are always some small changes here and there, but it's always the same type of stuff.

Then again, I play CoD a lot and other games like Battlefield or Killzone! It's always the same type of game, but with some minor changes (yeah, I know, the graphics change a lot, but you get what I mean). So is there really a problem to NOT make something very original?

Even in the old days, when the Space Shooters genre came out, a lot of the games look exactly the same, but no one actually said it's a bad thing because they like playing the game, even thought they look like all the other ones.

So, in my opinion, even thought japanese companies "seem" to lose originality, if people still likes playing them, who cares? At least they're happy.

(Although they Final Combat DID copy Team Fortress a lot. That was a d**k move.)

[BumblebeeCody]

(08-28-2012 05:44 AM)Arjahn Wrote:  Funny thing is, that chinese TF2 clone looks like it could be sort of fun if they just didn't copypasta everything.

I looks fun but I don't don't see any "copypasta of everything" aside from the graphic style and gameplay. The classes are in every shooter game and generally work the same (except for the CoD series in which you can run freely around with a sniper).

@Nicknclank
I'd agree with you if you didn't just pointlessly attack all of the Japanese gaming industry for a "TF2 knock-off" from CHINA. :/

It's also a point to bring up, that this is from China, so it's no wonder that they make their own games because of how "controlled" that country is.
"We can't give you TF2 so we'll have to make our own".
It's not like they've sold TF2 directly and called it a different name. The gameplay looks a lot like TF2 but again...why is that bad?

[Stan]

Well I don't see why everybody cares, really.
Because, anyways, asian gaming disconsiders western gaming, and vice versa.

[retrolinkx]

Games can be original, the only problem is that people don't want a different style of Gameplay.

Shemnue tried this, but it didn't take off, no other game is similar to this which is unfortunate, but the way it played and how it is, was just original, imagine a game like this again, it would be awesome.

Originality is hard to come across due to the fact that people don't want to see something different, your best bet of having a good start in the industry is with a Zombie game, everyone knows it and would accept it, ZombiU and The Last of Us shows this, both look good but are reusing this formula, and even though they look original, they really aren't that original in terms of gameplay.

The last fully original game I could think of is Portal, Assassin's Creed and possible Bioshock, I can't really think of anything else. (Sleeping Dogs, and Watchdogs look original though).

Still, as time goes on, people move on into the industry and give their own ideas into the mix, with smarter people you could get great games.

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH]

(08-28-2012 05:44 AM)Arjahn Wrote:  Funny thing is, that chinese TF2 clone looks like it could be sort of fun if they just didn't copypasta everything.

And a lot of the times, the games are so terrible that they turn out to be great fun

[Sirion]

Thing is, in the Arctic Combat gameplay, the map is almost an exact copy from de_dust 2 from Counter-Strike. The dimensions of some corridors and some box placements are different, but aside from that, all is the same, including choke points. I think it'd be enough for Valve to sue Webzen for copyrights infringement, although I don't think they'd really do it.

As for Final Combat, someone asked in the official game forums why they made it such an obvious TF2 rip-off. The guy not only didn't get a proper answer but was banned from the forums. The team working on the game said something like "how can you say that if you didn't even play it? Go play it and stop making accusations".

Also, I don't think China censors Steam or Steam games. I'm certain they can play Team Fortress 2, just like any other. If much, TF2 there is censored to the point of having robot parts replacing blood and gibs, like the german version of the game. I think they can't buy in-game items or things like that, though. Or, at least, I heard about a chinese guy who sold dota 2 keys for in-game Dota 2 items.

Final Combat isn't shy about ripping off every inch of Team Fortress 2, including the "meet the team" videos. There's a line between "inspiration" and "copy". The industry benefits from good ideas in a successful game that other developers may use to improve their games. By instance, all shooters benefited from the "headshot" feature when the original Counter-Strike launched. But Final Combat developers just "ctrl + V, ctrl + C" TF2 and Battlefield Heroes almost without worrying about giving it any real inspiration of any sort. And couldn't even keep loyal to its cartoon design, since it has realistical weapons and classes. From what I've read, Chinese games market is filled with games like that. Uninspired more-of-the-same games. If it works, good for them. But, really, I feel sorry for them.

[BumblebeeCody]

OK, I'll side with "it's a complete rip-off" then. So, if we clearly acknowledge that it's a clearly a rip-off in every area, why is that bad? If they are directly taking everything from TF2 with a few cosmetic differences and maps then what's all the fuss about? They are giving you EVERYTHING that TF2 brought to the table such as: all the mechnics that work, all the classes all and everything else. But for some reason that's bad...? There's no "copyright" law stating that ONLY VALVE are allowed to make trailers which introduces their classes, so no, Valve can't sue.
Artic Combat IS CounterStrike but that's bad? You can't satisfy gamers at all these days. Even if a company makes a game (like I said before with Remember Me) it gets compared to other games and called a rip-off. (I don't get it)