Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection (14th March 2024)

[Julius]

FREAKING FINALLY! 

I've waited so long for this 

Edited February 21 by Julius

[Julius]

Some more details on this release, which looks to be astronomically priced - I've seen £31.49 flying around? I mean I'm in at whatever price, but come on, that seems far steeper than it needs to be 

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Fight in iconic battles from across the STAR WARS™ galaxy

Play the classic STAR WARS Battlefront games, online and offline in this complete classic collection.

 

This Classic Collection includes:

STAR WARS Battlefront (Classic)

 

• Includes Bonus Map: Jabba's Palace

STAR WARS Battlefront II

 

• Includes Bonus Maps: Bespin: Cloud City, Rhen Var: Harbor, Rhen Var: Citadel, and Yavin 4: Arena
• Includes Bonus Heroes: Asajj Ventress & Kit Fisto

Key Features

Traverse the Galaxy in Campaign Mode & Galactic Conquest

 

• Galactic Conquest: Devise your strategy, recruit your troops, and execute your tactical vision for conquering the galaxy.
• STAR WARS™ Battlefront Campaign: Experience iconic battles from STAR WARS Episodes I-VI
• STAR WARS™ Battlefront II Campaign: Join the rise of Darth Vader's elite 501st Legion of Stormtroopers

Massive Locations with up to 64-player Online Support

• Fight on the ground: Wookiee Warriors, Jet Troopers, Droidekas and more in massive multiplayer action
• Drive iconic vehicles: Speeder Bikes, AT-STs, AT-RTs, and more in offensive and defensive battles
• Pilot legendary starships: TIE fighters, X-wings, and more in space and air dogfights

Expanded Hero Assault

Hero Assault is playable on all ground maps including: Death Star, Kashyyyk, Kamino, and Naboo for the first time ever

 

• Fight with heroes: Mace Windu, Yoda, Luke Skywalker, and many others!
• Battle with villains: Darth Maul, General Grievous, Darth Vader, and many others!

Adding (copying?) maps to Battlefront II is great, as is the inclusion of Kit Fisto and Ventress. Hero Assault on any ground map is awesome. 

So pumped for this 

[Julius]

@Hero-of-Time trophies confirmed on PlayStation  per the PS Blog: 

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Trophies are included! A personal favorite is Execute Order 66: Defeat a Jedi hero by knocking them off the map in Battlefront II

The Death Star map seems like the obvious choice for that one  I kind of want to see if I can get all the trophies in this just based on their descriptions  much as I love the game I hope they don't get too silly with, say, separate trophies for winning Galactic Conquest with each faction. 

Anyways, my pre-order is in (there's a 10% pre-order discount incentive), so roll on the 14th!

...after the 29th and Rebirth, of course 

[Hero-of-Time]

Got the platinums in both modern Battlefront games and will definitely try and add these to the collection.

[Hero-of-Time]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Trophies are up for this, @Julius.

https://www.exophase.com/game/star-wars-battlefront-classic-collection-psn/trophies/

You still picking it up?

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Fired the game up and played through a few matches before work. Man, what a nostalgia trip. It's great playing a basic multiplayer game again, where there's no need to faff on with loadouts, unlockables etc. You just spawn in and fight your way to victory. Love it. 

[Julius]

On 3/13/2024 at 2:03 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

Trophies are up for this, @Julius.

https://www.exophase.com/game/star-wars-battlefront-classic-collection-psn/trophies/

You still picking it up?

Of course! Going to take a quick nap (long day) and then fire it up for the first time  very excited to play through the single player campaigns, and those trophy lists look very doable while also forcing a bit of variety on you. Love it. 

Unfortunately, seems like Aspyr might've misfired in a few spots here, and pretty substantially on the multiplayer front...

...yikes.

Will of course be making up my own mind about it - and hang onto it regardless, because Aspyr seem to generally be okay at bringing things back up to par post-launch - but there's no way that they could've possibly lowballed the servers to the point of only having ~200 spots at launch for a Star Wars game people go out of their way to mod online support into. Insane. 

Also, the file sizes for these games are absolutely MONSTROUS for what they are. I'm not too shocked seeing as Aspyr seem to be really bad at cutting these down (I think when I installed KoToR a little while back it was 15 GB on Switch? Which is insane!), but damn, they need to get a better grip on this stuff. 

[Hero-of-Time]

I can't speak about the online functions as I've mainly been playing offline/campaign but yeah, the file size is ridiculous. No idea what's going on in the back end for it to be so bloated.

[Hero-of-Time]

@Julius I would avoid updating the game if you haven't already. Apparently it's corrupting people's saves. I know there was an update for the game when I got in from work yesterday evening but I cancelled the download as I wasn't sure what it was for. 

[Julius]

On 3/15/2024 at 7:24 AM, Hero-of-Time said:

@Julius I would avoid updating the game if you haven't already. Apparently it's corrupting people's saves. I know there was an update for the game when I got in from work yesterday evening but I cancelled the download as I wasn't sure what it was for. 

Ah dang, thanks for the heads-up, I think mine automatically updated  no problems so far though, so hopefully I don't get impacted!

Going to round off II's campaign today I think and then just get stuck into Galactic Conquest as much as is humanly possible.

Definitely noticing some technical quirks and bugs from time to time, not to mention the menu fonts generally being gross and low effort, and the default control scheme/being in first-person on first boot just ain't it. This is also the first game since I got my PS5 where I've found myself turning down the adaptive trigger strength to Weak because it feels absolutely disgusting having that on for a game from close to 20 years ago.

Anyways, there's a lot to fix here but I'm not sure how much Aspyr will actually bother to take another look at just considering the state it launched in...but, to be honest, so far, it's hard for me to complain. I do wish the monkey paw would stop curling when I get these collections that I ask for (FF Pixel Remasters and then this just seemingly fulfilling their minimum obligation to justify a repackaging and not being as reverent as perhaps they could and should be to the originals), but it's Battlefront on modern consoles, and - so far - it's worked just fine, which is enough for me. 

Oh, also, I haven't seen a trophy guide go up for the game yet from the usual sources, so thought I'd share this Steam achievement guide I found for the Collection, which has everything you need to know. I was a bit confused by some of the trophy descriptions not listing the game it was referring to, so it was nice to track down some clarification 

[Julius]

Battlefront II campaign complete, always a great time. 

Naboo was the map with the most bugs from what I found, with the balastrades missing from a bunch of balconies meaning there were just floating flowers around  there was also one occasion where I spawned in on a fenced off balcony above a commando post which I couldn't escape from. I played the original BFII a lot, and had NEVER had that happen before. 

The AI was fairly temperamental in the original game, but it seems ramped up here, with it feeling a bit more extreme and ranging from a bunch of guys gorming out and watching on as their friends die or 5+ guys executing you Order 66 style. I don't mind it at all, but yeah, just seemed even more aggressive and temperamental than the original game. 

Some movie cutscenes are missing sound, there's no time to read the text which pops up before a mission because of how fast load times are (seriously, what gives with collections doing this? If you have info on loading screens which go too fast now that it's on a modern console, just make it so I need to manually progress from that screen?), and the camera awkwardly swings in between the load screen and spawning in, as well as during some respawns. Also! The Duel of the Fates victory theme in this sounds SO flat compared to the original, which has irked me a little bit ever since my first victory in this Collection. 

The Collection aspect of this isn't great, that's for sure, but the game itself still holds up amazingly. I'm having a blast. Jedi and Sith feel as stupidly OP and fun as they should be, it's the right balance of arcadey and skill (and a bit of stupidity with how funny some showdowns become, your guys running in the way of your shots or getting surrounded and savagely ripped to shreds by half a dozen Wookiee Warriors), and vehicles feel so rewarding to play in and extremely punishing to facing off against. 

Not really sure where I'll go from here, think at least one go through in Galactic Conquest with every faction is a must, but getting all of the awards to legendary is looking like it's going to be a fairly serious grind, so I might get those GC campaigns out of way and play through every map at least once in Instant Action before seeing where I'm up to; if I'm not far off then I'll probably power through, but if there's still a bit to go after that, I might come to it as a relaxing game between other things or switch over to the first Battlefront for some variety. 

Edited March 16 by Julius

[Julius]

Played a fair bit over the weekend, completing the Sovereignty of the Republic in Galactic Conquest, and then played through all the ground maps in Instant Action. While going through these I took note of the maps I performed best at for War Hero and then played through those a few times, and that's now the only medal left to get to Legendary for the Infantry Class; this normally takes getting to 36 points in one life, but as I'm up to Elite for it I now only need 27 points per life, and I'm averaging 28 points, so it shouldn't take too long! Also maxed out rank to General: 

After I get War Hero to Legendary it's then a case of moving onto the other classes, and I've already got a few maps in mind for certain medals. While going through what I have so far, though, and just considering the fact these are related to trophies, I'm a bit let down that medals weren't tweaked to be stackable, as I had a few 100+ point lives which only nabbed me one medal, so I would've been better off getting myself killed or respawning to speed it up? But that's not how I feel anyone should really be playing the game if they're genuinely enjoying it  also a bit surprised at the lack of trophies relating to environmental hazards in II, like getting eaten by the Rancor at Jabba's Palace seemed like a natural trophy to have, but oh well. 

The maps brought over from the first game have been fun, as has playing as Kit Fisto and Asajj (previously Xbox exclusive). However, a lot has been made of this considering that a fan mod just got dropped in, flaws and all, to do so:

Definitely calls into question Aspyr's originally planned source for the modded content being added to KOTOR II and if they had any plans to give credit to them, before it got cancelled. Considering how this has been handled I'd imagine not? 

Back to the game, though, Aayla Secura has probably been the highlight hero character for me this time around, and I said it last time, but playing as a hero or villain is just so gloriously broken if you're smart about it. I love grabbing all command posts but one on maps with tight corridors and then just hiding around a corner from the command posts to take out 5+ guys with a single lightsaber throw  doing so with Vader on Hoth felt real good. 

Still having such a blast with this, kind of getting me in the Star Wars mood. I know, I don't really have those that often, do I?  

Edited March 18 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

Do or do not. There is no try.

It was a fun time but sadly I was hit with the save corruption bug when I updated the game.

Luckily, I had yet to put much time into Battlefront II and so I didn't lose that much progress. Still annoying that it can happen though.

It's shame that the medal requirements are only available once per life. Having to die or respawn on purpose in order to get one to count was a little annoying, especially when I was doing well. There was only the Demolition one that required farming, the rest came through natural play. I will say that the Marksman medal was a pain to get purely because of the AI. The amount of times Rebels would walk into my shots was ridiculous. So many friendly fire kills...many bothans died to bring me my medals.

Having now played them both, I don't recall much of Battlefront II at all. It was Battlefront I that I played the Hell out of back in the day and I actually prefer that one over the sequel. Sure, the sequel is more polished and fleshed out but I prefer the simplicity of the original game. Capturing the outposts style gameplay makes for some great tug of war matches. So many times this would happen.

[Hero-of-Time]

The next patch is due to be released soon and here's what will be fixed.

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Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection - Update 1
 

Multiplayer

[BF2] Fixed a crash related to client message sends.
[BF2] Fixed the launch prompt to be present after timing out or selecting cancel while joining a server.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed password-locked games to no longer appear via the Quick Match option.

Control Schemes

[BF1] Fixed a crash when entering the split screen menu in BF1 where Player 1 would incorrectly be assigned to Player 2.
[BF2] Fixed a crash that would occur when attempting to build fleets while using Mouse and Keyboard in Galactic Conquest on BF2.
[BF2] Fixed bonuses to be able to be highlighted in the Bonus Selection screen in Galactic Conquest.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed Invert Y-Axis option to be visible.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed the options for Flip X-Axis and Swap LS and RS to be unhidden
[BF1][BF2] Fixed split screen games to be able to be started when only one controller is connected.

Visuals

[BF1] Fixed an issue where the 'L' button prompt would overlap the top arrow on the Instant Action menu.
[BF1] Fixed an issue in multiplayer mode where AI units would slide when not in direct sight of a human player.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where the zoom-in scope crosshair image would not appropriately fit widescreen displays.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where hit VFX and hit character animations could not be seen by clients in Hero Assault mode. (long range).
[BF2] Fixed textures on Utapau map.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Kamino map in BF2 where the lights and bloom VFX within were not displaying properly.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Endor: Bunker map in BF2 where a tree was clipping up through the middle of a walkway.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where a seam in the skybox was visible on some maps in Battlefront 2.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Naboo map in BF2 where the railing texture was missing.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on Space maps in BF2 where a small white cube was present at the base of all openable doors on Republic, CIS, and Rebel capital ships.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Galactic Conquest screen in BF2 where a player’s name and their credit count would be overlapped by bonus boxes on the Bonus tab.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where the ESC menu would stay on the screen if it was opened at the end of a match.
[BF2] Fixed an issue in Galactic Conquest where the hilt from the lightsaber icon would not show the Leader bonus.
[BF2] Fixed units sliding after respawn on XL maps.
[BF2] Fixed the jetpack gauge to correctly align.
[BF2][Split screen] Fixed the ammo counter reticle to fit inside the aiming reticle.
[BF1][BF2] The colorblind mode selection screen no longer overlaps with the text at the bottom of the screen.
Fixed the Quit and Register Your Game buttons to align correctly.

Hero Assault

Re-Balanced Asajj Ventress' abilities
Fixed Kit Fisto lightsaber to animate.
Fixed Kit Fisto's Force power to no longer remain stuck to the client in multiplayer.

Audio

[BF1][Audio] Fixed the Battlefront 1 loading screen sounds.
[BF2] Fixed a crash that occurred when an audio output device was disconnected.
[BF2] Fixed the music to play on several maps in the Hero Assault mode.
[BF2] Fixed blaster SFX for certain Hero characters' weapons to play at the correct volume.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed an issue where the audio outputs would reverse.

Other Notable Bug Fixes

[BF1] Fixed the soft locks upon finishing the game at the Victory screen.
[BF1] Fixed a bridge in Bespin: Cloud City to allow a Droideka to roll on it.
[BF2] Fixed Naboo Area 3’s respawn blocker.
[BF2] Fixed collision issues affecting multiple maps.
[BF2] Fixed the Assault gamemode to be present in the Mode section of the Pick Search Options menu.
[BF2] Fixed the reinforcements to correctly deduct 1 reinforcement when the Republic or Rebels die on Death Star.
[BF2] Fixed the Map and Mode settings reset button.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed the "Load Fail" error that occurred when loading a profile.

I'm sorry but if you need this many fixes so soon after launching the game then the game shouldn't have been released in the first place. It's crazy that this is where we are at now with a lot of game releases. 

[Julius]

On 3/20/2024 at 7:44 AM, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm sorry but if you need this many fixes so soon after launching the game then the game shouldn't have been released in the first place. It's crazy that this is where we are at now with a lot of game releases. 

100% agree. In a case where it's a game collection, it seems especially disrespectful to fans and the original developers too, and that's without even having the conversation about the price they landed on for the game 

Anecdotally, I've just decided to put a hold on my grind in Battlefront II for now, because I've been keeping an eye on the trophy tracking/progression and it's just not keeping pace with my in-game stats anymore, whereas it worked perfectly before. Not sure if it was the latest update or something else, but might just start cracking away at the first game's campaigns and couple of trophies. 

sigh

Edited March 23 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

I ended up playing through the PS4 version and finished it off today. It had to be done to get a second platinum.

 

[Julius]

4 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I ended up playing through the PS4 version and finished it off today. It had to be done to get a second platinum.

[Julius]

Figured out the issue I was having, turns out the trophy progress relates directly to in-game stats and mine had bugged out so that I was reading as, for example, 32 Regulator medals vs the 46 Regulator medals I had showing on trophy progression; once I caught up in-game to the number showing at a system level, it was all good. 

Still loving my time with it, especially being forced to use other classes in chasing the Plat (99% of my time growing up playing the game was spent as Infantry units), hopefully I'll round it off this week so that I can dive into a fresh experience over the long weekend 

[Hero-of-Time]

31 minutes ago, Julius said:

Still loving my time with it, especially being forced to use other classes in chasing the Plat (99% of my time growing up playing the game was spent as Infantry units), hopefully I'll round it off this week so that I can dive into a fresh experience over the long weekend 

This was the same for me. It was a nice change of pace running around as the different classes. Still think the Demolition medal is a pain in the butt though. There aren't that many opportunities in regular play to obtain it and so farming was the only timely way to go about it.

[Julius]

Just had the same thing happen again and lost most of my progress on the Marksman medal. 

Think I've figured out what did it, though - I went to go hit Respawn as I selected a villain just rushing through the menus to get back into the fight, and accidentally hit Restart. Did some digging and it seems like not finishing a battle in particular is what causes the issue. 

Yeah, my Platinum run is being put on hold indefinitely, might come back to it at some point but I think I'm in the mood to play something else with the long weekend here, so that'll be when I'm burning to play the game again and it'll probably be a bit more natural than just grinding it out. It's mildly frustrating but, worse than the feeling of just having wasted a bit of time for the game to bug out again, it's the first time I've ever felt soured on spending time with Battlefront II, and that for me is the unforgivable part. The monkey's paw really curled on me with this one 

I was holding out on completing the original Battlefront campaigns as my last trophies for the Plat to see if I could get a nice screenshot for it (in hindsight, probably should've done this with the BFII campaign) but I think I'll play through those today before I call the curtain on my time with the collection and uninstall. 

Aspyr. Suck eggs. Seriously. 

[Josh64]

The patch is now on Switch

https://www.n-europe.com/news/star-wars-battlefront-classic-collection-update-1-available-now/