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Gears of War is such a tragic series

hello505

I'm likeable
As someone who loves the Gears franchise, I can't help but admit how bleak and grim the world of Sera especially if you dive into the lore.

Gears of War 1 starts with Marcus in prison, being left to die after everyone else has been evacuated because of a locust invasion, the bleakness in Gears 1 is probably the highest been it's for the series. Highlighted by the ruined but still grand and beautiful architecture. Pale monsters/demons (locust) roam the earth, executing everyone in sight. Horror is also a main element of the first, what with the kryll and berserkers. The art style goes well with the tone, being all desaturated and wet. Gears 2 and 3 has a bunch of character moments which highlight the world in chaos, stuff like Dom finding his captured wife and taking his own life. Color is also injected into the games but the bleakness remains. COG remains a fascist, ruthless government- operating rape camps, sacrificing civilians and building metropolis paradises for the smart and strong (leaving behind the weak).

Gears 4 and 5 are far less bleak, which has destroyed some of the atmosphere for me. I still like them but between the quips and PG cast, everything could use some down in the muck shitkicking. The environments are far more Uncharted like and not gears esquie. Marcus basically lost everything during the first three games. Hopefully Gears 6 is a return to these roots.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Yeah it's so bad what happened to the games and to the world in these games.
Gears 3 ended perfectly... then 4 opened it again but the fact that president was so stupid .... ugh.
Ad 5 was just trash.
The original trilogy is some of my fav series ever
 
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Goalus

Member
As someone who loves the Gears franchise, I can't help but admit how bleak and grim the world of Sera especially if you dive into the lore.

Gears of War 1 starts with Marcus in prison, being left to die after everyone else has been evacuated because of a locust invasion, the bleakness in Gears 1 is probably the highest been it's for the series. Highlighted by the ruined but still grand and beautiful architecture. Pale monsters/demons (locust) roam the earth, executing everyone in sight. Horror is also a main element of the first, what with the kryll and berserkers. The art style goes well with the tone, being all desaturated and wet. Gears 2 and 3 has a bunch of character moments which highlight the world in chaos, stuff like Dom finding his captured wife and taking his own life. Color is also injected into the games but the bleakness remains. COG remains a fascist, ruthless government- operating rape camps, sacrificing civilians and building metropolis paradises for the smart and strong (leaving behind the weak).

Gears 4 and 5 are far less bleak,
Which makes a lot of sense, because the locust have been defeated und the humans spent about 25 years rebuilding everything. I like that the world of Sera is constantly evolving unlike the mushroom kingdom in a Super Mario game.
which has destroyed some of the atmosphere for me. I still like them but between the quips and PG cast, everything could use some down in the muck shitkicking. The environments are far more Uncharted like and not gears esquie. Marcus basically lost everything during the first three games.
This is wrong because he lost his wife only during the preliminary events leading up to Gears 4 and potentially his son at the end of the 5th game. The COG is still a fascist government by the way and is expressively represented as such in Gears 4 and 5.
Hopefully Gears 6 is a return to these roots.
If it fits the lore, why not?
If doesn't though, I hope the developers stick to their vision of how the universe, story and characters should evolve.
Yeah it's so bad what happened to the games and to the world in these games.
A vivid, ever-evolving universe is bad?
Where time passes, characters grow older and new ones take over?
Well, I guess you can always play Super Mario if you don't like that.
Gears 3 ended perfectly... then 4 opened it again but the fact that president was so stupid .... ugh.
It was a great conclusion of the story arc, but left a lot of questions unanswered.
Ad 5 was just trash.
If you say that, you do not care about the lore at all. And consequently do not care about the Gears universe at all. Gears 5 is a dream come true for anyone hooked to the story and lore.
 
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anthony2690

Banned
Wasn't Gears' development heavily influenced by CliffyB's own life? He was going through divorce or something.

He really put his (broken) heart into it.
Oh man, anyone that had gears collector's edition, will see it was about:

Cliffy B gets dumped.
Drives Tim Sweeney's car
Shows off dancing Brumak in gears pc version.
Makes a successful game
Wins girlfriend/wife back
The end.

Was pretty strange, wonder if it is uploaded online for everyone to watch.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Gears 4 nd 5 are great...hivebusters was brilliant too...I'd play a gears 4 or 5 over uncharted 4 any day of week but then I'm glad we got lost legacy.

There's some weird extreme reaches. Gears game play is top tier. To this day.

Looking forward to Gears 6 a lot.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Prove me wrong.
gears-of-war-4-pc-xbox-one-xbox-series-x-s-pc-xbox-one-xbox-series-x-s-game-microsoft-store-europe-cover.jpg


2b28ba846eae8a43.jpg


MV5BMTk5NzM1ODgyN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzA5MjAzMw@@._V1_.jpg
Season 5 Episode 20 GIF by The Simpsons
 

Goalus

Member
Gears of War ended after the original trilogy was completed.

Halo also ended after the original trilogy was completed.

There are no Terminator movies after Terminator 2.

Prove me wrong.
Super Mario ended after the princess was saved.
Doom ended after the spider mastermind was defeated.
Diablo ended after Diablo was slain.
When the humans were victorious over the orcs in the original Warcraft game, the series was done.

Prove me wrong.
 

Sybrix

Member
The problem was that the big Xbox flagship games like Halo and Gears just didn't migrate well to the following generation.

We all agree that Gears 1-3 and Halo 1-3 are some of the best games ever made.

Gears 4-5 and Halo 4-5 were meh at best, they didnt have the appeal they had on Xbox 360, there wasnt anything new or unique in these games that surpassed their predecessors.
 

yamaci17

Member
Yeah it's so bad what happened to the games and to the world in these games.
Gears 3 ended perfectly... then 4 opened it again but the fact that president was so stupid .... ugh.
Ad 5 was just trash.
The original trilogy is some of my fav series ever
wow this is one topic i heavily agree with you
damn right walter white GIF by Breaking Bad


some people "like" or somehow think "5" did better things than the first 3 lol. 2 and 3 is irreplacable. these new 4 and 5 games are so bad that they cant even hold a candle to 2 and 3. and imagine, me, playing these games for the 1st time in 2020-2021. its not even nostalgia factor. as a matter of fact i experienced gears 2 and 3 on an emulator with shoddy performance and 4/5 at 4k/60 fps. all those frame drops, 720p, shoddy stability did not stop me from enjoying 2 and 3 more than 4 and 5

it was an eye opening experience. goes to show how they killed the essence of the series with their direction

3 was a perfect ending. they should've left it there... and chase different IPs.
 

Goalus

Member
wow this is one topic i heavily agree with you

some people "like" or somehow think "5" did better things than the first 3 lol. 2 and 3 is irreplacable. these new 4 and 5 games are so bad that they cant even hold a candle to 2 and 3.
wow this is one topic i heavily disagree with you

some people "like" or somehow think "1-3" did better things than the last 2 lol. 4 and 5 is irreplacable. these new 4 and 5 games are so good that they feel like a natural evolution of 2 and 3, masterfully completing those story bits that were left open in 2 and 3.
 
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yamaci17

Member
wow this is one topic i heavily disagree with you

some people "like" or somehow think "1-3" did better things than the last 2 lol. 4 and 5 is irreplacable. these new 4 and 5 games are so good that they feel like a natural evolution of 2 and 3, masterfully completing those story bits that were left open in 2 and 3.
i dont have anything towards the things they try to convey, explain and tell
i hate the execution. i loved the idea as a whole, but the fact that they scrapped JD tells that story lost its direction. changing horses midway is not a good sign. planning should've been more careful
 

Sybrix

Member
People like what they like and some don't, facts of life.

What can't be ignored however is how troublesome the Gears series is in, if Gears 4 & 5 were on par with the predecessors, we would be on the cusp of the next iteration, we're not. It doesn't have a clear direction on what the next Gears games should be and this is as due to the fact that the direction Gears 4 & 5 went in just wasn't very good.
 
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yamaci17

Member
People like what they like and some don't, facts of life.

What can't be ignored however is how troublesome the Gears series is in, if Gears 4 & 5 were on par with the predecessors, we would be on the cusp of the next iteration, we're not. It doesn't have a clear direction on what the next Gears games should be and this is as due to the fact that the direction Gears 4 & 5 went in just wasn't very good.
yup, gears 5 sits at 82-84 metacritic.
gears 3 was a game that won tons of goty wards and sit firmsly at one of the all time greats at 91 metacritic score

saying gears 5 is better than gears 3 is a kin to saying ac valhalla is better than ac 2 bcoz it have better graphics gameplay or whatsoever. ac2 was a goty winner 90-91 metacritic game whereas valhalla sits firmly at 82-84. oh, just like gears 3 and gears 5. how surprising.
 

GametimeUK

Member
Gears 4 and 5 are absolutely fantastic games in their own right. I had a blast playing through them along with Hivebusters. Yes, the series peaked with the original trilogy, but I still enjoy 4 and 5 for what they are. It's not the first series that isn't as good as it used to be and it won't be the last.

Yes OP the game was super bleak. I think the world and characters had a surprising amount of depth for what on the surface seems like a typical adrenaline fuelled shooter.
 
yup, gears 5 sits at 82-84 metacritic.
gears 3 was a game that won tons of goty wards and sit firmsly at one of the all time greats at 91 metacritic score

saying gears 5 is better than gears 3 is a kin to saying ac valhalla is better than ac 2 bcoz it have better graphics gameplay or whatsoever. ac2 was a goty winner 90-91 metacritic game whereas valhalla sits firmly at 82-84. oh, just like gears 3 and gears 5. how surprising.

3 and 5 both are great. It doesn't have to be one or another.

It's low metascore is due to GAAS nature. Day 1 scores are worthless with such games.
 

Fredrik

Member
yup, gears 5 sits at 82-84 metacritic.
gears 3 was a game that won tons of goty wards and sit firmsly at one of the all time greats at 91 metacritic score

saying gears 5 is better than gears 3 is a kin to saying ac valhalla is better than ac 2 bcoz it have better graphics gameplay or whatsoever. ac2 was a goty winner 90-91 metacritic game whereas valhalla sits firmly at 82-84. oh, just like gears 3 and gears 5. how surprising.
I think parts of Gears 5 was absolutely brilliant, only topped by Gears 1. Like the below the ice lab, the atmosphere there was off the charts. And the action became more strategic with Jack’s abilities and enemies using defence drones. I liked the matriarch boss fighting too. And the warden was cool as well.

But I also think parts of Gears 5 are total snoozefests, the map is too big and empty. and I don’t understand what they were thinking with the choice ending that’ll only make it more difficult making more games unless they choose to just piss off half of the fan base.
 

Ceadeus

Member
Do we even know what the locust want from the human or the earth? They want precious materials or something ? Gasoline? Gold? Idk
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
The original trilogy era was really bleak.

But then I remember that im also into Warhammer 40K.
Gad damn Id rather be taking a vacation on Sera shortly after the Hammer strikes than be in the Warhammer 40K universe.





I actually like that Gears 4 is kinda like giving us a shortly after E-Day vibe, we never got to actually play much of what happened right after E-Day or even post Hammer Strike.
Gears Tactics fills in alot of the blanks but its not quite the same as playing through it.
So im in.
Its also great that the way Gears Tactics ends is reversed in Gears 5.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
I think Gears needs a new engine/reboot to bring a new life into it in terms of gameplay/animations. That might be the case with the new UE5 but they could as well migrate what they already done on UE4 there.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Do we even know what the locust want from the human or the earth? They want precious materials or something ? Gasoline? Gold? Idk
To live.

They were created by experimentation while researching how to cure or make people immune to rustlung(basically miners lung), then relegated to the underground when shit got wild, then it got wild for them in the underground, so they wanted the surface.
Their queen was born with natural immunity to rustlung....which is why she looks human, for all intents and purposes she is.
Her DNA or whatever was implanted in sires which evolved into the locust we know now.

They were engineered to survive, which is how they "survived" Gears 3 ending.

P.S Thats not Earth.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I think Gears needs a new engine/reboot to bring a new life into it in terms of gameplay/animations. That might be the case with the new UE5 but they could as well migrate what they already done on UE4 there.
It doesnt need any of that.
A new Engine isnt going to change the core of a game.


Hivebusters is hands down the best Gears has ever been.
With all the positive feedback they got from Hivebusters they have got to be thinking of one upping Hivebusters for Gears 6.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
It doesnt need any of that.
A new Engine isnt going to change the core of a game.


Hivebusters is hands down the best Gears has ever been.
With all the positive feedback they got from Hivebusters they have got to be thinking of one upping Hivebusters for Gears 6.

I don't think it's as agile and fun as Rage 2 or Doom gameplay. That what I was mostly suggesting. From all of what I've seen the core gameplay hasn't changed much and seems a bit low-paced compared to other shooter games.
 

Kikorin

Member
Yes, the original trilogy is still great (2-1-3 in order of greatness), but 4 and 5 are a huge step back. The tone has changed too much, the new cast of characters is bland, the world uninteresting for the biggest part, enemies are not memorable and so on.

I always seen the original GoW trilogy as a videogame adaptation of 80s testosterone action movies, that never take them too seriously. They basically set their own world, characters and started a trend in the TPS panorama. The new trilogy tried to innovate in the wrong ways, becoming a mixture of Uncharted and Tomb Raider Reboot. Are still good games bacause the gunplay just works well as always, but really feels outdated after all these years.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I don't think it's as agile and fun as Rage 2 or Doom gameplay. That what I was mostly suggesting. From all of what I've seen the core gameplay hasn't changed much and seems a bit low-paced compared to other shooter games.
I take it youve never played Gears then?


Literally first MP clip I could find since it was community sub last week.
play muted.....but if Gears 5 isnt agile or fun maybe you just arent playing it right, or it simply isnt for you.
Both of which are allowed.
 

Duchess

Member
The same thing happened with Killzone 3. Killzone 2 was quite a bleak game, which is something I felt worked for the series:

According to Guerrilla Games, Killzone 3's story is more light-hearted compared to its predecessor, which Guerrilla felt suffered from an overly serious and dark story which was one of the major complaints of the original, though they mentioned that it would not be too light-hearted as it is still a war.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Hivebusters was the best Gears thing The Coalition has done. I thought 4 and 5 were awfully dumb games. People complain about Ubi games, but damn if Gears aren’t the most brain dead AAA games around.
Even then it’s a stretch to pretend Hivebusters does anything unique in its 3hr campaign. It’s just the environments and no robot pet to upgrade.

I remember hearing how The Coalition was focusing on fans with Gears 4, and then Gears 5 would be a departure. Never happened. All they’ve done is play it safe.

If they were going to go back to drab grays and browns of the first game, then they’re going to need some better art direction. And get some new armor so everyone doesn’t look like a Rob Liefeld drawing.
 
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Bo_Hazem

Banned
The same thing happened with Killzone 3. Killzone 2 was quite a bleak game, which is something I felt worked for the series:



WTF is this bullshit? So why not make Elden Ring 2 "a bit light-hearted" then as souls games have always been gloom and bleak? Not every criticism is viable, devs should fucking know that.
 

Fredrik

Member
To live.

They were created by experimentation while researching how to cure or make people immune to rustlung(basically miners lung), then relegated to the underground when shit got wild, then it got wild for them in the underground, so they wanted the surface.
Their queen was born with natural immunity to rustlung....which is why she looks human, for all intents and purposes she is.
Her DNA or whatever was implanted in sires which evolved into the locust we know now.

They were engineered to survive, which is how they "survived" Gears 3 ending.

P.S Thats not Earth.
Yeah the story is actually great and well thought out and there are still lots of stories to tell through Sera’s history.
I want more Gears games in other genres. Would love a RPG. A top down twin stick shooter RPG like The Ascent would be perfection. And more Gears Tactics.
 

Urban

Member
They did the same mistake with Halo. They didnt refresh the franchise and kept the generation leap going. The guys who loved GoW grow old and the new generation doesn't have a connection to it.

Same with Halo
 

Shut0wen

Member
As someone who loves the Gears franchise, I can't help but admit how bleak and grim the world of Sera especially if you dive into the lore.

Gears of War 1 starts with Marcus in prison, being left to die after everyone else has been evacuated because of a locust invasion, the bleakness in Gears 1 is probably the highest been it's for the series. Highlighted by the ruined but still grand and beautiful architecture. Pale monsters/demons (locust) roam the earth, executing everyone in sight. Horror is also a main element of the first, what with the kryll and berserkers. The art style goes well with the tone, being all desaturated and wet. Gears 2 and 3 has a bunch of character moments which highlight the world in chaos, stuff like Dom finding his captured wife and taking his own life. Color is also injected into the games but the bleakness remains. COG remains a fascist, ruthless government- operating rape camps, sacrificing civilians and building metropolis paradises for the smart and strong (leaving behind the weak).

Gears 4 and 5 are far less bleak, which has destroyed some of the atmosphere for me. I still like them but between the quips and PG cast, everything could use some down in the muck shitkicking. The environments are far more Uncharted like and not gears esquie. Marcus basically lost everything during the first three games. Hopefully Gears 6 is a return to these roots.
As someone who thinks gears has the best lore in any game i have to sort of agree with what youve said about gesrs 4 and 5 but ending of 5 is pretty bleak which should definitely lead 6 to its bleakest, probs wont but the new books are still awesome
 

Dane

Member
Gears 3 was too conclusive, but 4 was a project started at Epic before Microsoft bought the IP and transferred to The Coalition, that game had like a one page plot while Gears 5 actually answers stuff back from Gears 2 such as why there was a human scientist testing with Locusts in a lab.
 

Himuro

Member
I take it youve never played Gears then?


Literally first MP clip I could find since it was community sub last week.
play muted.....but if Gears 5 isnt agile or fun maybe you just arent playing it right, or it simply isnt for you.
Both of which are allowed.

Friend, when people say an FPS (like say, Halo) or TPS (in this case Gears) is too slow they generally mean the single player. Not multi. Which is of course bizarre. It's like Doom fans complaining about Halo single player.
 
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Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Instead of in the disappointing and tedious direction the last games headed I wish it kinda went further down the horror genre instead. It's a series that deserved to be dark and scary.
They could still make a Gears Darktimes game that is fully horror set right after the Hammer Strikes and you are separated from your squad and basically have to survive and figure out how to get out of town, find a vehicle to make it to Jacinto.

The whole reason they shortened things to Gears(whatever) is so they could use the universe for other genres.
Gears Tactics was amazing.
A horror game in the same universe would also be great.
But the core Gears games need to stay the core Gears games.
 

Himuro

Member
I'm really having trouble getting into Gears of War. Playing 1 and the enemies are bullet sponges even if shot in the head. I'm playing on hardcore and it's the antithesis of fun. I played this game when it first came out and felt the same way. Enemies shred through your defenses like butter, friendly AI is dumb and regularly eschews being under cover, I'm hiding under cover half the time. I really don't get it. It's like they took the Halo formula and made it bad and slow. Even throwing a grenade is slow. It sucks balls. What am I doing wrong?

It's a shame because I love the story, characters, tone, and atmosphere and always have but the game part.

Fuck it. Put it on casual. This is terrible.
 
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