The real R6 feeling! | Forums

[DreamMarine]

I think one important point about R6 which got a raw deal up to now is the question:

<span class="ev_code_RED">How do you feel about R6?</span>

I am sure that this emotional perspective is among the most important points we could express to UBI.


I am a big big fan of books and movies about elite troups... dressed in black battle dresses... masks... They are a kind of "cavalry" of our modern times. They are the good one who save the weak and defenseless. They are scary, highly professional and heroical at the same time. They suddenly appear in a blending flash from nowhere and pour death on those who deserve it in seconds. Then they disappear... leaving behind some shocked and deeply grateful hostages who will never forget about them.

They are the good ones! They win by teamwork, professionalism and courage. They are called when nobody else has the heart to do the job... or simply is not distantly capable to do the job. Human lves lie in their hands... men, women, children who they are the last chance for life to... who pray for the help of these ghostly fighters.

It's about training and planning! It's about responsibility! Sometimes it's about stealth... other times about lightspeed with shock and awe. And it's about teamwork! Ah well... and it's about HEROS!


Ok, i admit, that this is a bit much solemn. But actually that's the way I feel about this theme. And that's the way I feel (or WANT to feel) about Rainbow Six!

A game is about fun and phantasy. About emotions! And I believe that R6 should deliver exactly this kind of emotions to its fans! (At least in SP)

Actually, I don't know many genres or games that are able to raise this kind of deep feelings. Maybe a kind of Top Gun simulator or some RPG. But most games are "only" about fun. Fun often gets lost after a while. But it's different with deep feelings about a game: They might last a lifetime!

Of course, it must be still fun, since after all it's a GAME. Training must be fun! Planning must be fun! Several tries to find the best way to free the hostages must be fun! So R6 should not try to be the real thing. BUT it should give me the FEELING that I am a part of the REAL THING!!!

I am sure that this is exactly one reason why R6 fans all around the world were so deeply disgusted about Lockdown. LD destroyed this feeling of immersion and heroic and professional phantasies. I mean: Show me a little boy or even a "big boy" who does not dream about beeing a fireman, a pilot or a R6 member!


But now it's your turn! How do YOU feel about Rainbow Six?


DreamMarine

[Defuser]

One of the things I find fascinating about special forces is that they are a world away from my own life. I could never pick up a gun and shoot someone, and I'm fairly confident that all the training in the world wouldn't make a difference to that fact. Instead, I admire the special forces not for their capacity to kill but instead their professionalism and military detachment from an emotive situation.

It takes a greater man than I to subject themselves to hours upon hours of rigorous physical and mental training. It takes a greater man than I to get down to a fine art room clearing and putting a couple of bullets within a 2 inch hole in a target's forehead. They're heroes alright, but they don't milk it, and the majority of them go without recognition. They do their work for the love of the service and the knowledge that they are the best of best.

To see black-clad operators moving out in figures four is a sight to behold - the tight grip on their movements, every step and every gesture performed with razor-sharp precision from hours and hours of drills and practice. It is this devotion to professionalism that I find so impressive and, at the same time, frightening about special forces. Special forces, contrary to popular opinion, are not 6'7" hulking man beasts - they are the grey men, fit, but not overly musclebound. They're the quiet amiable blokes that do not make an effort to show you they're the best until when it counts. They're frightening because they are utter professionals, but also admirable for that very same trait. It's a paradox, one I find endlessly fascinating.

The world of tactics and their practical application fascinates me just as much. There are well-versed techniques on display when a counter-terrorist team moves in - strategies proven time and time again to be effective and instrumental in the victory of the operators. The capacity for the special forces to enact these plans with deadly efficiency, and the strategic thought processes and challenges presented by a hostage situation are what I find provides the Rainbow Six feeling I believe you are trying to capture.

Rainbow Six, for me, is being a part of the perfect plan and executing it with perfect efficiency. You cannot seperate the tactics and strategy from the shooting because they are interdependent. It is the mixture of the two that makes R6, for me, what it is.

[Malleus.]

[DreamMarine]

Well spoken, Defuser, well spoken!

[KungFu_CIA]

I already answered this question on the Vegas forums, but I'll do it here and add to what I already posted:

1) The big thing the R6 games do right and why I prefer them to most other games is they have the ability to actually make the player fear for his/her virtual life at certain times.

This is done through the less forgiving damage model and other things we associate with R6, so I am not going to go into detail about those.

I will say, however, R6 is the only series in my personal opinion to give me a genuine fear and adrenaline rush whenever I play it. Not even horror survival games like Silent Hill, or Doom-type games give me this kind of feeling and I think this is one aspect which is VERY important and defines R6 because most other games do not emphasize this because of the kinds of games they are.

In other games, there is no sense of fear because you know you can take 50 hits and still move on and because you also know where the enemy is 90% of the time and it is just a matter of taking them out before they take you out. In R6, in SP, there is a sense of unpredictability because even if you do extensive planning, something always goes wrong and the fact planning is only in the general sense as you know where hostages are being held -- but not exactly -- And there may be Tangos in this section of the building -- But not how many, or how they will react. It is this tension and unpredicable gameply most arcade games forego in favor of a shoot'em up fest ala Lockdown which gets boring and repetitive after a while...

Unlike R6 which is always unpredictable, even in SP, because of randomized Tango spawns and other elements the series helped pioneer long before most recent games started to use these techniques as well.

The MP portion, both adverserial and CO-OP is the same way... But even better because there is even more a sense of reality and satisfaction when you do well in a round-based/one life per round setting against other live human beings as opposed to a constant instantaneous respawn enviroment where once again, all fear and even unpredictability is taken away in favor of "faster" or "more balanced" gameplay.

2) Speaking about R6 from a purely psychological point of view...

I agree with Defuser that Special Forces Counter-Terrorism operatives are like modern day mideval "Knights of the Round Table" with this heir of both mystery and danger about them that is very attractive for the layman -- myself included.

Like some, I have only fired various weapons on a firing range which is vastly diffrent from a live operation where people are shooting back at you with the intent to kill you. I can't imagine being in this situation and while we all like to think we'd "rise to the occassion", more often than not a lot of us would be that character in most war movies who freezes under fire and cowers in a fox hole as rounds whiz all around him, ala Private Uppman in "Saving Private Ryan"...

But as Defuser said, this is the whole point of why we play games: Wish and Fantasy Fullfillment. To be able to do things we never could, or even want to do (in the strictest sense) in real life.

I also think R6 should is the most relatable franchise of all the realism based games simply because of 9/11, and the state the real world is in with the threat of global terrorism now a widespread and open threat -- As opposed to mostly lurking in the shadows before and never striking blows as large as 9/11, the Madrid train bombings and 7/7, in London.

As corny and cliche as this sounds, the post-Cold War era has spawned a new enemy... And this new enemy isn't like previous enemies where we know exactly where they are and can just go drop a bomb on them like in WWII and past global conflicts. This new enemy is literally all over the world and operates almost anywhere and anytime and then just disappears into the shadows. This enemy includes all kinds of terrorism like domestic Militia groups (U.S.) religious cults, and rogue persons like Timothy McVeigh and not just Muslim and Islamic extremists and the big factor which should make all of this more relevant to R6 is R6's emphasis on CQB as this is how we are fighting this new enemy (versus large scale military operations like Iraqi Freedom) because this is the enviroment this new enemy operates under, primarily.

Terrorists aren't going to amass a huge army and start paradropping out of the sky like Hollywood would have you believe. They may be living next door and it is the highly trained Special Forces and SWAT Operators whose job it is to go into an urban situation like this, take out the bad guys and minimize any loss of life to the surrounding civilian population and then disappear into their own shadows to continue the fight.

Basically, if the Army and Marines are considered the sledge hammer of the military world... Rainbow and the Special Forces of the world should be considered the finely tuned scalpel which is often needed more these days because of the factors stated above about how and where this new enemy operates.

[d_gunz]

for me this game was always about the thrill of victory, even more in multiplayer when it was agains real live thinking enemy...

[Yen Lo]

I agree KF. The only dangerous terrorist is the one living "down the street" from you right now( aka Arlington Road).
R6 will live forever on my HD's, whether Ubi can ever bring itself to make another one anyone wants to play or not. Some, like me, still come here because I loved the OG R6's that much.

[Kaggis]

I agree with the first and second post on this topic, thats how I also feel about R6. Also, if it has not been mentioned, the soldiers of r6 team should not have personal feelings when on a mission.I mean:"this time its personal", quoted from Lockdown..It cant get further away from what ppl feel about R6 then that.A proffesional operative like the ones in R6 never lets it get personal.Its never about "me", its about "us"-the team working together and get the job done as professional as possible.When on a mission, the persons(operatives) does not exist as individuals.They are only tools used together to complete a mission.They dont have time for feelings, or the time to let things get personal.They dont even think about why they got this and that mission (politics).They do as told in a best manner as humanly possible.Only strategy and teamwork ocupies theire minds when on a mission.Go in, neutralize, rescue, get out...Only a few ppl really knows about the R6 team true identity.For them, its an important job, and honour to be a part of. But they never question theyre orders, and never ever let things get "personal".

[KungFu_CIA]

Originally posted by Kaggis:
I agree with the first and second post on this topic, thats how I also feel about R6. Also, if it has not been mentioned, the soldiers of r6 team should not have personal feelings when on a mission.I mean:"this time its personal", quoted from Lockdown..It cant get further away from what ppl feel about R6 then that.A proffesional operative like the ones in R6 never lets it get personal.Its never about "me", its about "us"-the team working together and get the job done as professional as possible.When on a mission, the persons(operatives) does not exist as individuals.They are only tools used together to complete a mission.They dont have time for feelings, or the time to let things get personal.They dont even think about why they got this and that mission (politics).They do as told in a best manner as humanly possible.Only strategy and teamwork ocupies theire minds when on a mission.Go in, neutralize, rescue, get out...Only a few ppl really knows about the R6 team true identity.For them, its an important job, and honour to be a part of. But they never question theyre orders, and never ever let things get "personal".

Unfortunately, this is why I think UBI is so determined to make the series "more appealing" by adding "characterization" to R6 because to the uneducated masses, soldiers are nothing more than cliched stereotypes from bad Hollywood movies like The quiet, religious guy; the class-clown/joker; the gun-nut; The Good'ol Boy from the south; The oversexed ladies man; The coward/nerd who is only there because he has no choice; etc, etc.

Basically, take every cliched archetype from every movie about a platoon of soliders like Saving Private Ryan, or Tears of the Sun and this is what most people's impression of a "Special Forces" soldier is unless they know someone who is actually in the SF, or have been one themselves.

The sad truth is most mainstream audiences who UBI is trying to appeal to don't want a realistic portrayl. They want a Hollywood, cliched portrayl because this is what they have been conditioned to like and expect out of games like R6 which feature elite special forces.

[javen712]

Well put, everyone. I too feel that the R6 series as of late has not portrayed these men as accurately as they should have been (or deserve to have been). I also feel that the R6 series as of late has gone toward portraying CT/SF units as nothing more than overglorified SWAT teams (which is not in any way a slight to SWAT offficers). And, unfortunately, most people don't think much more of CT units. The reality is, though, that these men are trained and ready to fight anywhere at anytime - be it in a city, on a ship, anywhere - they will fight, and even if odds are against them, they will succeed.