Coh3 Feedback and Enjoyment

I do not play Coh3. So I am asking you players a question. Is Coh3 fun to play? If not, what makes it not fun?

I want to focus not on balance, leaderboards, skins, etc. but more on the tactile feedback people get from games.

Today I watched SturmTigerCobras Angry Birds video and I also saw a video on Reddit of an Su87(?) bomb wiping 4 squads. Both of these videos demonstrate a key ingredient that make games fun. Feedback in the form of graphics and sound.

When a firecracker pops, we all go "Ohhhh yeah babyyyy". There is some primal response triggered in our monkey brains that makes us happy.

ANGRY BIRDS
AB was game 52 from the company. Games 1 - 51 were meh flops. AB is basically a game no one has heard of that came free with Microsoft DOS5.0 QBasic (Gorillas 1990) where apes threw bananas at each other and destroyed buildings. But it ratcheted up the feedback you get with physics and sound. This update is what makes the translation from dots moving on the screen to an actual thing that is happening that you "feel" as you play it.

Game 53 was another physics type game but without the hard hitting smashing of stuff. That game flopped.

NUKE WIPING BOMBS
A video was posted of a slow moving turd like bomb slowly dropping on 4 squads and wiping them. The slow movement and the meh sound effect just does not resonate like a Coh2 Stuka bomb drop or the vCoh V1 KaFreaking Boooooom! strikes.

I Keep reading reviews where players are just apathetic about the game. They point to the weak sounds, etc.

THE QUESTION
Is this a problem with Coh3? The weak sounds, wacky moving planes, seizure jiggling vehicles, constant din of units screaming random stuff, etc etc. All of this could be called "immersion breaking". I also categorize it as breaking that hidden feedback we get that makes things feel real.

MY NON PLAYER VIEW
I have not played Coh3. I do not know if this the common experience. It just seems that way to me from reviews and watching streams. I also think some of it is just the game being different from what we are used to.

Duffman for example plays with the screaming units super loud because he does not want to miss important sound cues like "GRENAAAADEEEE!". Relic lets you separate the voices from the other sounds (great idea!). But having to have the voices loud enough to hear the important cues means hearing annoying voice lines being screamed in your ears all game long. And, more importantly, means the all important weapon sounds are being played too low for your monkey brain to get the feedback you enjoy. This equates to less fun.

I had great fun in the pre-release playtest, but yes, the audiovisuals are a weak spot of the game and a big downgrade, you're hitting the nail on the head here

Something I'll never forget is what it feels like when two SU85s in CoH2 hit a Teegor at the same time; that game could really sell the 'rammed by a freight train' vibes

Funny thing is, the sloppy audiovisuals actually complement the nice effort to drive the game to a slower ttk and less instawipe bullshit direction, but that ofc isn't an excuse

I actually enjoyed the sound part. Maybe it is a reason why I still playing CoH3.
Yeah, garand sounds like a peashooter in CoH3, but mp40 sounds like a real smg, and FG42 is scary as fuck. Enfield and Bren are better, BAR sounds better.
Ticking sound while capturing point is nice.
Voice action on some units could be less edgy and more informative: for example fallpios and falls scream "Shit!" and then "Grenade" or "Enemy infantry"
While contact with enemy infantry do not require immediate attention, grenade does. It is confusing and stressful in micro-management if you are fighting more than on 1 side of the map.

There is an issue with the quality of release games in recent years. Especially games that continue the frenchise like coh3 or AoE4 (good example as they are both made by Relic). Because of deadlines, because the goal is to get the refund of the costs of production asap - Developers try to release the game earlier than later.
On the same time the business model of existing games is that they should bring money longer by adding DLCs, big sales, free weekends, keeping and even increasing the playerbase.

What does it lead to? Older games are usually better. They have more stuff in it. Better balance, more content, more variety etc. It's not like the new game wont have it later. It probably will but need time.

AoE4 was playable after year where AoE2 is having right now his golden age. The difference is unmeasurable. Even more the new DLCs for AoE2 offers more content new civs, new campaigns for single and multiplayer whereas in AoE4 you get only new civs for multi.
Same with Coh3. Game misses the basic stuff that make it hard to play. Coh2 has it pros and cons but overall is just better now. Looks and sound better for now. You can choose maps to play, you can text to people at the end of match, you can spectate the game.

I like playing coh3 and i did like AoE4 but the older games have the quality to enjoy it more. If i have to recommend anyone playing it - i would simply say: yes, you should try it but wait a year.

As a person that's been playing CoH since 2006 I enjoy the game purely out of a mechanical gameplay aspect of the factions and units being similar to the original game, while also adding in some new features like auto-vaulting, towing, tank riding and so forth.

Balance-wise, campaign-design wise, graphics and audio among others however are not to my liking, but still, you asked, I tried to answer my reasoning and opinion although lately I've been a bit de-motivated to play the game seeing as where they're going with it's monetization and so forth instead of going into the direction of actually fixing and improving the game first.

since you already own the game, why not, you know, just play the game yourself and form a more comprehensive opinion on it?

you certainly care enough to be on this forum pretty much everyday

since you already own the game, why not, you know, just play the game yourself and form a more comprehensive opinion on it?

Because my experience is just one data point. My goal is to get a feel for the community in general.

My personal opinion is meaningless. Just like when I complain about Relic management.

The feedback I am discussing is not usually intuitive to many players. They just like the game. They cant say why.

So I am trying to raise awareness and ask the community as a whole. This is done in an attempt to maybe help Relic down the line get the game to a better spot.

lately I've been a bit de-motivated to play the game seeing as where they're going with it's monetization and so forth

In general you are saying you have been happy with the sound effects and graphics and how they impact your enjoyment. Thank you for posting.

I do not play Coh3. So I am asking you players a question. Is Coh3 fun to play? If not, what makes it not fun?

I want to focus not on balance, leaderboards, skins, etc. but more on the tactile feedback people get from games.

I thought that CoH 3 was fun to play in the multiplayer tech test. I played USF pretty much exclusively, and I really enjoyed figuring out ways I could use my battlegroups to supplement the HQ support center, and the other way around.

My friends were constantly complaining about the audio and visuals, but myself, giving Relic the benefit of the doubt, assumed it would be fixed by launch. This is what allowed me to really get into CoH 3, and honestly, I always told my friends that there was a good game below the shitty facade.

There is soul to the game, but it's buried beneath all the shitty soulless corporate artwork and audiovisual design.

You know what, I'll come out and say that the soul I think I was feeling was likely from the input of the community that Relic touted. I think they did a good job in making an interesting game to play...

The issue is how quickly the meta turned to shit, and became a slog to play, and then the fact there were only 2 4v4 maps grated on me more and more.

tl;dr - I honestly really liked the gameplay of CoH 3, but it's like the skeleton of a great and magnificent animal being forced to wear the trappings of already-been-used toilet paper, like the world's shittiest mummy, literally.

For tactile feedback, I think CoH 3 is the worst, though. There are some cool effects, but nothing has weight or punch. Explosions seem to happen in slow mo, the way that squads can kind of just tank a nade right up their ass, the way tanks are so tanky, ironically. It all feels pretty bad.

In general you are saying you have been happy with the sound effects and graphics and how they impact your enjoyment. Thank you for posting.

No, it's the opposite.

I find enjoyment out of the gameplay mechanics because of the design of the factions and units like I said since they're similar to the original game's ones, but then again that might be just nostalgia speaking. However even then, I still like the new features, but definitely not the direction they're going in with the graphics, effects, audio and DLC store like I already mentioned.

it's like the skeleton of a great and magnificent animal being forced to wear the trappings of already-been-used toilet paper, like the world's shittiest mummy, literally.

There are some cool effects, but nothing has weight or punch. Explosions seem to happen in slow mo

I showed my wife the falling turd bomb and she felt Relic was trying to make it easier for players to see and understand what is happening. As opposed to a Coh2 Stuka bomb drop where there is just an enormous splash and stuff is gone from the map. Which makes the Stuka feel so much more real and impactful. The confusion created may also add to the experience by creating short term panic.

And this is what I keep saying about Coh3, I think their are some good ideas behind the changes we are seeing. As older version players it feels disconnected to us. If they had a stream where they talked in detail about some of the changes and why, people my be more accepting of the changes. Maybe they are relying on Tightrope and AE to fulfill these roles with comparison videos.

But without an explanation we just see it as a failure.

I still like the new features, but definitely not the direction they're going in with the graphics, effects, audio and DLC store like I already mentioned.

I generally enjoy the gameplay of the game. It's nothing ground breaking, but there's a lot of 'different' units to play around with and the factions feel somewhat unique. That being said there are a lot of things that have made me get bored of the game real fast. Some stuff doesn't really bother me like wacky moving planes or jiggling vehicles and balance is always going to be an eternal battle, but stuff like the icons really bugs me. Why are they using old CoH2 icons because I feel like that's the easiest part to do for the UI. Then there are the maps. As an avid 3v3 and 4v4 player there are literally less maps than I have fingers on my hand, I can only have so much fun on 4 maps.

IMO one big thing I think the game lacks is on the audio. Whilst it isn't bad and its certainly better than the test versions, it definitely feels like a regression from CoH2. CoH2's audio for me was so clear, I could probably have an idea as to what was going on just by audio alone. I knew there was a JadgTiger on the field and roughly where it was before I could see it. I don't think I appreciated CoH2's audio until Coh3. In Coh3, with the exception of the firearms, it all sounds the same (I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure some vehicles use the same engine sounds from opposing factions). There is some of the audio I really like, for example the 17pdr and Sherman 76 sounds really satisfying, a lot more of the audio just sounds bad, like I genuinely don't like using riflemen because the Garand sounds so awful.

Why are they using old CoH2 icons because I feel like that's the easiest part to do for the UI.

I think I recall Relic answering this question before, and basically it was "Because we want the icons to look familiar if players are coming from CoH2, so they immediately get a feeling about what those abilities are doing".

Too bad when there is abilities in CoH3 that drastically slow down your vehicles but use the Blitzkrieg icon

Too bad when there is abilities in CoH3 that drastically slow down your vehicles but use the Blitzkrieg icon

I hope so much that they actually said this. As if using a bunch of old icons used for completely different abilities wouldn't be confusing for returning players and ultimately just come off as them being really cheap. Haha.

I think I recall Relic answering this question before, and basically it was "Because we want the icons to look familiar if players are coming from CoH2, so they immediately get a feeling about what those abilities are doing".

Too bad when there is abilities in CoH3 that drastically slow down your vehicles but use the Blitzkrieg icon

Literally, there's an unused upgrade in the files for the M8 Greyhound that gives it sandbags but it has the icon of a Tiger getting bombed or something similar to the mine-laying one.

Too bad when there is abilities in CoH3 that drastically slow down your vehicles but use the Blitzkrieg icon

For sure the first time I clicked that button and my vehicles went slower I was like WTF

I do not play Coh3. So I am asking you players a question. Is Coh3 fun to play? If not, what makes it not fun?

Just a heads up:
After CoH3 hustle, Sega is pretty much done milking RTS fans. They got bigger fish to fry.
Next victim> Console, Epic Games Store for zoomer marketing and then mobile cash grab.

Big Gaming/Big Tech 2.0:
Riding into the sunset towards latest trends and Operation: We Love Washing Money;


New gaming consultants to non-regulated gambling practices; The Army of Marty Byrde;


For crying out loud, even CoH2 game director Quinn Duffy told everyone that there would be some "changes" as CoH IP expand beyond PC;

Company of Heroes dev reckons it's solved the RTS on console problem, 2 Jun 2014:
https://www.eurogamer.net/company-of-heroes-dev-reckons-its-solved-the-rts-on-console-problem

"There would need to be some changes. But I think it's possible. You need to stretch the boundaries a little bit."

Epic Games Store release date anyone?