In the grim future of the 41st millenium there is only war

[mattman1991]

Does anyone else think that this Dawn of War is alot, darker. Maybe it was the rain and the brutal beat down of an Ork, but to me it really seems that this will be a portal to the 40k universe and be something whcih has never been seen before.

[Panama]

Well, it does seem a lot darker, but having a warhammer 40k game without a dark atmosphere just wouldn't be right. Maybe it's because games technologies have moved on since the first DoW game that now environments and such can be made darker and because of lighting effects and that kind of thing, this game can look how the orginal always should have looked..... not that I don't think the original doesn't still look really cool

[Versian]

a warhammer 40k game without a dark atmosphere just wouldn't be right.

DoW wasn't very dark, yet it still felt... 40k-ish. Very 40k-ish. The main thing about 40k is that it is kick-ass, awesome. Darkness comes in second.

Also, the screenshots showed some sort of Imperial Urban Area. Considering how most Imperial Urban Areas are I'm not surprised it was quite dark. I don't think it'll be universal. Only specific maps will be "dark".

Or maybe the skirmish happened at night, possibly a new option in DoW2.

[Flonky]

In DoW2 there is going to be weather.

Maybe it was a during a storm? Err...before the rain.

[Win_Imperial]

I think it certainly does. A major turn off from DoW has been for me that it just looks to damn cartooney and the graphics look chalky.

[Flonky]

I think the voice acting needs to be much improved on to make the game "darker". The guardsmen need to cry in pain as in the have actually lost a leg or something.

An interesting project for the sound recorders, me thinkz.

[Versian]

I already thought the Guard suffered a lot in DoW1. I seriously find it disturbing to see so many people suffering at the same time.

[Escushion]

Not from a Chaos point of view. :P

[CoatedTrout]

Well yes, I've noticed this too.

In my mind it seems that the new base colour is black, where in DOW it was brown.

This not only makes it darker ( :rolleyes: ) but also makes all the other colours richer, and stand out more.

[Ice_JT]

The first dawn of war campaing with Gabriel really captures the mood of warhammer 40k for me, the spaceports and cities were what made me want to play. This Imperial city setting is really doing it for me.

[Flonky]

The gothic architecture tends to convey a dark and grim atmosphere.

[Shuma]

Can't wait to see Eldar in a dark gritty jungle in DoW 2. Or Necrons coming out from the ground, Chaos marching to battle in a demonic plain...

*drools*

[Flonky]

*drools*Did you make those orks in the screenshots shine like that?

Anyway, I think mud and blood on troops armour would add to to nitty gritty warfare that makes up 40k.

[DoW2]

Yeah, some nice grit on units would be awesome. A blood soaked ASM after chopping up an Ork with a chainblade.

Also some persistent and localized damage on vehicles/ buildings. It'd be cool seeing a nice scar on the side of a Predator after being hit by a rocket or something.

As for the sound, I REALLY don't think an IG would survive being impaled by a Necron Lord. So to me, the whole screaming and writhing in agony seemed very out of place. I can almost understand Eldar doing it, and it probably wouldn't be so out of place with Space Marines and Orkz, but Tau and IG should just die.

I think with the new campaign there's more of a focus in squad recognition, so maybe a lot more audio and other bits to get to know them.

[Flonky]

Eldar die as easily as humans, they don't have toughened hides or anything. And also people don't always just die suddenly when stabbed. People generally squirm when they have been stabbed - because of the pain. Trust me.

Even if they do die they would still "flap about" as the muscles would still be spazzing after the person/alien had died.

[Warp Holder]

It is OK to make night missions (if any, but that wouldn't be bad) "dark", but not "Doom 3 dark".

[cannonfodder]

Ever played Alien Swarm (award winning UT2k4 strategy mod thingy)?

Night mission in that style would be really nice.

[Flonky]

Night fighting missions (as in really dark) would be awesome. Perhaps in these missions you only see enemies on the minimap if they made a sound or you saw them (because they had torches (IG) or were firing madly into the air (Orks)). Maybe strategic points could have floodlights on them? Make them more useful.

[Versian]

Flonky, that idea is full of win.

[DoW2]

Really, I know people don't always die when stabbed... By a knife. We're talking a blade bigger than someones head, thrust through your torso with the brute force of a killing machine.

So no... For most of the races, the animations in DoW should not occur. "Spazzing out" from muscles would be nigh-unnoticeable in an RTS field, especially when being swung around on a stick. What they do in DoW is completely different.

[Flonky]

Flonky, that idea is full of winYAY! :jig:

Really, I know people don't always die when stabbed... By a knife. We're talking a blade bigger than someones head, thrust through your torso with the brute force of a killing machine. My point still stands.

[Dyntheos]

one of the points i made in a recent GD thread on game cliches is that you always play the good guy. This can also translate into the fact that most gameplay enviro's are pretty stale and clean.

I like what I see here in that the grit and brutal nature of the universe seems to be coming out.

[CommodoreKitty]

You know, I don't hink that the grittines of the images we saw were the result of the urban map being played, at least not that much. I think that the images reflect the style Relic might have gone on for this game, a darker one. Personally, if the whole game looked as dark as those images were, I would be pretty happy.

[Warp Holder]

you always play the good guy

In the WH40K universe, good guys are very scarce...

Perhaps in these missions you only see enemies on the minimap if they made a sound or you saw them
That sounds good, but it would break stealthy races, like Eldar.

[Versian]

except that you can't possibly look at the minimap all the time. I'm sure that if you're equipping a Squad with heavy weapons you are not looking at it. The problem is that this will hog the player's attention to the minimap = bad idea.