The Missing Magic in MechWarrior 5 | MW5: Mercenaries (lack of) Direction

It’s over 9000!! Great video, seems like we are both on the same wavelength about the lack of imagination, depth & substance in this game.

I need to correct myself: HBS's BattleTech (2018) did NOT include procedural generation. They curated handmade maps of massive scales, and then allowed the game to take smaller squares of that map while generating contracts.

I wish the license for Mechwarrior video games would move from Piranha Games Inc to someone who is more competent. It never ceases to amaze me how passionate modders put companies like PGI to shame when they make improvements that should have been there from the start. The systems that existed in previous Mechwarrior games, the developer can't just skip implementing them. People remember.

I have mixed feelings about Mechwarrior 5. The primary stompy shooty is fun, but everything else is distinctly lacking. On nearly every aspect outside of the mission gameplay I feel HBS BT did far better. This game has alot of "it would be cool if they just" [blank], alot of missed potential. I do absolutely feel that there are people within PGI who are passionate and talented with their craft, it just often feels watered down. It feels like a group project where 20 percent of the people involved are passionate and have a vision, and the other 80 are just 'there', and due to poor synergy between the 20 and 80 the overall package ends up bland or unpolished. The sad thing is, it's still tons of fun at times. Some of the handcrafted missions at the end of HOTIS chains are legit sick that actually require some unique lance building and strategy. And you still manage to feel like a badass when you manage to jump jet and axe a VTOL. It's fun enough to warrant multiple passion-project videos from me. It is clear that PGI is TRYING (or at least someone within the company is) it just feels that poor management or budgetary constraints weigh it down. I want to play and enjoy it but it's hard to justify at times I will say that PGI has at least been treating modders a bit better with the Call to Arms DLC, they gave modders access to the new modding tools about a week before the launch so that they have time to fix anything that breaks, I just can't tell if that was a company decision or one guy fighting for the ability to do so.

An hour long PGI hitpiece is exactly what I needed today, after my friend and I found out how bad the co-op system in this game is. Why do co-op games that don't allow both players to progress through the campaign in unison even exist?

PGI announced "MechWarrior 5: Clans" some time ago with a clear focus on nostalgia for the second part with the basis of the narrative about Clan Invasion, as well as with the available description on the project's website: "meticulously designed maps and missions deliver immersive and intracate tactical gameplay and combat experiences.", to which after repeated a recent attempt at vanilla MW5:M there are only doubts about the success of the implementation of such statements. The video is still more than relevant, to our sadness and regret. Thank you for your hard work and we are waiting for the next one.

My introduction to the mechwarrior universe was mechassault 2. I didn't really find out about the mechwarrior series until a few years ago. Mechwarrior online was my first entry into that series. I played at launch, back in 2013, and it didn't really click with me. Fast forward to MW5's release and I was hooked. After a few hundred hours, when it got boring, I role-played to the best of my ability- using only light mechs to assassinate a target and get out with no collateral damage, cheating and making a souped up atlas to defend a base alone as a one man army, the list goes on. Yet no matter how many mods I add, how many roles I assume, It feels empty. I never noticed the lack of story until you pointed it out, because I didn't really even notice the story. I've never played Battletech or an XCOM-like game, but it looks much more enticing now that you've shown off clips. I hope that if there's another entry in this series it's an upgrade, because by god, who doesn't love giant robots? Awesome work again BT, can't wait for the next one!

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries turned me off right away with the idea that I'd be playing a Mercenaries game with the bland-boy motivation of avenging my father. Avenging? What happened to the bright side, where I get to keep all the money?

Years ago when PGI was still making a half baked effort with Mechwarrior Online, Russ Bullok coined a phrase... "minimally viable product"... and that's what Mechwarrior 5 seemed to me like it was when it got dumped on epic games store as an exclusive. A lot of original founders from MWO got used to be filled with disappointment at PGI's "talent". It seems 3 years later it really hasn't passed the point of being a minimally viable product... something that the hardcore fans that are the battletech fan base keeps trying to polish and improve but in the end they are just polishing a turd. Honestly PGI could of done a simple graphical remake of Mechwarrior 4 Mercs and added in a coop game mode and would of had a much much better product. Such a shame cause I loved the Mechwarrior series... and what's sad is it's likely we'll not get another attempt at a Mechwarrior game for another 17 years now. I'm glad that I have a working copy of MekTeks version of Mechwarrior 4 Mercs on my computer and we have HBS Battletech on steam... Shame HBS seems hell bent against making money and refuses to come out with more content for their great game.

Fun fact about the cockpit displays in MechWarrior online. The displays inside used to actually display all of the critical components in your Mech and whether or not they were destroyed! This feature was removed from the game a few years after launch for no discernible reason, possibly to improve performance? It's why a lot of the next that we're around from launch have a lot more cockpit displays than the newer ones.

I agree with every point you made. I end up just replaying MW4+Mercs every so often because of the great amount of joy it brings, but whenever I play MW5 I just feel...so disappointed.

Great review! I never played MW5, only watched vids of it, and yeah that all sounds about right. Paints a really grim picture of this game, quite sad that MW5 is such a linear experience when other games offer so much. When I heard you talking about all the options you have in BattleTech, as well as the implementation of consequences in MW4, I couldn't help but shutter that we got cheated out of such a great experience. It also really makes me sad knowing PGI has exausted probably all the effort they have for this game and after all that still failed to make any substantial improvements. So depressing seeing the IP in the hands of such an inept company. RIP

Great video as always. I'm glad you mentioned how mods have tried desperately to save this hollow game. I've tried to like this game time and time again, but every time I end up disappointed. I was really looking forward to a 4 player coop campaign, but its impossible to recommend 3 other people buy this mess. This video has convinced me to check out Battletech again though.

Fun fact on MW4 animations: Purportedly, a certain set of animations that exist on the Nova Cat, Thanatos and other similar bird leg mechs has an upper cap to the speed they can run at or the legs bug out and fly apart.

Meanwhile im just glad to have a fucking mechwarrior game after almost 2 decades. You do of course raise alot of valid points dont get me wrong here.

oh right i had forgotten till you mentioned i really wish trees wouldnt straight up nullify every weapon in the game ok sure, i can see it blocking a small to medium laser but it shouldnt just rob all kinetic energy from a gauss or AC20

Totally agree with your opinions on the mods. I have played probably 200 hours of MW5 and purchased it on launch. It's a love/hate relationship for me. Love the overall experience of gunplay and visuals etc. But the lack of depth and variety (although has been improved) has me yearning for the older titles still. It can be enjoyable. but sometimes that enjoyment feels to be had 'in spite' of the game mechanics rather than 'because' of them.

Thanks for the reminder you made this video with mods in mind. Ya the biggest problems are those patches that destroy mod compatibility. I never understood that when games kinda turn dependant on mods to survive why they do not have a better communication to their modders. Making lists of changes specifically to modders. Give big mods the possibility to request features they have problems implementing via mods or are impossible.

Great video as always. Its heartbreaking to see the community desperately trying to fix a sinking ship. Theres so much love for this universe, hopefully one day the right company will come along and make the sim we all want.

After watching your MWO video, I was waiting for this one. Hit the nail on the head.