Why doesn’t anyone talk about the story? (New player experience and review)

[(PSN)FirmBizkit]

So I’m relatively new, two (has it been three?) weeks in after trying to get into this game for the last however long it’s been on PlayStation. I’d played a bit of survival, I did the quests with Vor and got the Archwing, my impressions of the game were very mediocre. A F2P hallway shooter with mostly ugly ninja robots, virtually identical enemies and identical levels with no real direction.

Id accumulated about 500 free platinum and some weapons from PS+ bonuses I’d been collecting over the years “just in case I ever decide to play”.

With Destiny going down the drain and my PS+ sub running out I decided to log in to Warframe and bought some cool cosmetics. I made my way through the stat chart, I joined discord to get answers to a million different questions and I started playing the game - and god damn is it good. I don’t think I’ve played a game this good in the last 10 years. The new player experience does not in any way show what this game is and it’s unfortunate and likewise the community seems to never really talk about the game. 
 

All I ever really heard about Warframe was comparisons from players of “it’s better than Destiny”. First of all it’s nothing like Destiny (It’s more like Diablo) and second of all (to the crux of this post) why the hell has no one ever told me how EPIC the story is? I just finished ‘The New War’ and these quests have been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in gaming. It was amazing. I am absolutely hooked on the game. Metal Gear Solid levels of story telling. I loved it. 

It’s unfortunate that my early impressions were so poor and kept me away from the game. Honestly if it hadn’t been for my own situation and the free platinum I probably never would have even picked it up and gotten into it.

Edited October 13, 2023 by (PSN)FirmBizkit

[Packetdancer]

39 minutes ago, (PSN)FirmBizkit said:

and second of all (to the crux of this post) why the hell has no one ever told me how EPIC the story is? I just finished ‘The New War’ and these quests have been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in gaming. It was amazing. I am absolutely hooked on the game.

In all honesty, the community was very good about not spoiling the Second Dream and the War Within and the Sacrifice for years, trying to let new players have those big reveals for themselves. Which was a great thing! But keeping that secret does make it very hard to actually talk about Warframe's story in any concrete fashion other than some wild hand waving and "...it's really good! I just don't want to spoil it!"

[(PSN)FirmBizkit]

4 minutes ago, Packetdancer said:

In all honesty, the community was very good about not spoiling the Second Dream and the War Within and the Sacrifice for years, trying to let new players have those big reveals for themselves. Which was a great thing! But keeping that secret does make it very hard to actually talk about Warframe's story in any concrete fashion other than some wild hand waving and "...it's really good! I just don't want to spoil it!"

Maybe a bit too good 😂. Even if someone had just said “Warframes story is really good”. I just never heard anyone say anything. Literally all I’ve ever heard about WF is “it’s better than Destiny”.  To be honest until I started playing I didn’t even know WF really had a story. I was expecting something on the levels of Black Desert (meaningless filler) - story wise.
 

I am just awestruck how good it is. 

 

[Rawbeard]

not much to talk about and now nothing and everything is true and false, so there is no point to even try.

[Circle_of_Psi]

9 minutes ago, Rawbeard said:

not much to talk about and now nothing and everything is true and false, so there is no point to even try.

Pretty much

Also, I find it cute that people like to come back from another game and think Warframe is some Holy Grail

[(XBOX)Architect Prime]

Well it's simple. 

"Try warframe, it has all this cool stuff in it"

*person in question never gives it a chance. Instead plays destiny for sociological reasons*

Destiny is popular because it rides around on Halo/Bungie's coat tails. If anybody else made the same game, it would not have lasted longer than D1. The only things it does a good job of is its seasons. The game is soulless story and only a handful of missions to do repeatedly beyond that. And with very little incentive to do them. 

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

It can be a bit tricky for a few different reasons.

A. Spoiler issues. A lot of some Warframe players, want newer players to get to experience a lot of the story elements unspoiled, as they were.

B. A lot of players also just don't care about the story or lore at all. Warframe has a lot to it, it can create small diverse populations and groups, who may have some overlap, but often prioritise and emphasis one aspect over another. Like some people play it to collect and master items, some for the gameplay elements, some like testing out new gear, some like all the customisation and style and fashion, some prefer specific in game activities, like Eidolons, or Profit Taker and just doing them a lot, you have speed runners, then the more community minded people etc This forum tends to be a bit more gameplay orientated. 

C. The time factor may be an issue as well. Warframe didn't start off as a heavily story or plot focused game. A lot of that was added later, and when I mean later, sometimes we are talking about multiple years. For some, when the story is that spaced out, it can still be good, but maybe not as impressive to someone who gets to experience a lot of it flowing on, as someone in 2023. If that makes sense? When I started, I was likewise impressed, and I personally really do like the story, plot, lore, characters and world building, but I game into the game sort of in the middle, and then when I caught up, I wanted more, but the paced was a bit slower, since I now had to wait for updates... For many who have been here from the start, such an effect may be even greater. Not to try to suppress any hype or enjoyment you might be having, just an explanation. It actually makes me happy to hear someone enjoying the story, lore and characters. We have a few more interesting story quests coming soon as well to look forward to (though I assume you are still catching up on a lot). 

My other advice, would be, once you are caught up a lot, check out Youtube, there are some great Warframe lore channels that explore that side a lot more. Also remember that a lot of Warframes story is in weird places, like Codex, scanning objects, in certain locations in certain hubs. Again, once caught up, searching around online can help you find ways to find info you may have overlooked. 

All the best! Glad you are enjoying the game. 

[1up20xdey6]

In all honesty: I think they should take past events and make them into story quests as I feel a lot of the lore is locked behind those. (i.e. Tubemen of Regor, Shadow Debt, etc.)

[Voltage]

2 hours ago, Circle_of_Psi said:

Pretty much

Also, I find it cute that people like to come back from another game and think Warframe is some Holy Grail

It was between 2015 and 2018 in terms of grabbing attention to the game's story. The Second Dream and War Within set up Warframe for some grand finale, but everything has fizzled out, and the direction of the story has made it fallen into obscurity like a Nightwave Season.

Edited October 13, 2023 by Voltage

[(XBOX)Hellsteeth30]

Too spread out.

From the prologue bit there could be god knows how many hours before you even get to know what a Warframe is.

When I started we still had the Operator/Drifter start, the latter not being relevant for many hours.

New War was a middle of a story that never really started.  

I knew going in it was a large scale ME 3 MP, that'll do me.

Consult YT if you want some lore and some reason behind what you're doing.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

6 hours ago, (PSN)FirmBizkit said:

why the hell has no one ever told me how EPIC the story is? I just finished ‘The New War’ and these quests have been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in gaming. It was amazing. I am absolutely hooked on the game. Metal Gear Solid levels of story telling. I loved it. 

I mean.. I'm glad YOU like it, but I wouldn't go THAT far, especially with New War (i you had been around for as long as the hype, you'd have been disappointed, like myself and a many others were), but  Second Dream was a major WTF moment and the Sacrifice is a very emotional quest.. I only hope the upcoming Whispers in the Wall quest is going to be  as good as it looks. for me though, warframe's strength was always more in it's gameplay rather than the narrative, so I'm kind of biased I guess, take my statement with a grain of salt.

the other problem is that due to some reworks of tilesets and their corresponding events, not everything is in chronological order now, but there's plenty of people you can ask if you aren't sure about something lore-related and they'll let you know what really happened. I'm not an expert but anything from about 2015 onwards I know something about, since that's when I started playing, and even when you aren't *looking* for story, you end up playing event missions so much that ti gets drilled into your brain. it's how I know Tyl Regor called Alad V a jellyfish, and many players will not know that, but it happened. several times. on loop for me. 

you are joining us at a very interesting time though; it seems we're close to some big reveals with the next major updates and there's no shortage of content to go through to get to the point where myself and a few others are at.. if you happen to be a completionist and actively hunt for Lore, you could be here a while... unless you just look up a guide, but either way, there's some good stuff to read through. I highly recommend the Leverian entries, which should be accessible, via the Codex and contain stories about some specific warframes, and do a good job of reminding us what life was like during the Empire. 

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by (PSN)robotwars7

[trst]

It's never talked about because there's almost a taboo around potentially spoiling the game. Especially considering the Second Dream, which is really where the story kicks off, being considered the biggest 'thing' to spoil but most of the story following is hard to explain while avoiding that topic.

Plus for all the other side characters and side stories you can't really explain any of them without giving the full context of their backstory. Which just makes any discussion about it a rabbit hole of rambling off miscellaneous details or something that makes no sense lacking the context.

[Alguien]

4 minutes ago, trst said:

It's never talked about because there's almost a taboo around potentially spoiling the game. Especially considering the Second Dream, which is really where the story kicks off, being considered the biggest 'thing' to spoil but most of the story following is hard to explain while avoiding that topic.

And ironically DE kinda torpedo the taboo and the surprise with new players being able to start with Duviri, sadly.

[SirPaladin555]

7 hours ago, (PSN)FirmBizkit said:

So I’m relatively new, two (has it been three?) weeks in after trying to get into this game for the last however long it’s been on PlayStation. I’d played a bit of survival, I did the quests with Vor and got the Archwing, my impressions of the game were very mediocre. A F2P hallway shooter with mostly ugly ninja robots, virtually identical enemies and identical levels with no real direction.

Id accumulated about 500 free platinum and some weapons from PS+ bonuses I’d been collecting over the years “just in case I ever decide to play”.

With Destiny going down the drain and my PS+ sub running out I decided to log in to Warframe and bought some cool cosmetics. I made my way through the stat chart, I joined discord to get answers to a million different questions and I started playing the game - and god damn is it good. I don’t think I’ve played a game this good in the last 10 years. The new player experience does not in any way show what this game is and it’s unfortunate and likewise the community seems to never really talk about the game. 
 

All I ever really heard about Warframe was comparisons from players of “it’s better than Destiny”. First of all it’s nothing like Destiny (It’s more like Diablo) and second of all (to the crux of this post) why the hell has no one ever told me how EPIC the story is? I just finished ‘The New War’ and these quests have been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in gaming. It was amazing. I am absolutely hooked on the game. Metal Gear Solid levels of story telling. I loved it. 

It’s unfortunate that my early impressions were so poor and kept me away from the game. Honestly if it hadn’t been for my own situation and the free platinum I probably never would have even picked it up and gotten 

The game has been being built apon for like 10 years with its story being added too over those years through constant updates,  however when the game first released it resembled the early game with minimal story and the only thing holding it up was exceptional and unique gameplay for the time. So in a since the story didn't get good until later updates leaving the early game fairly barren in the story department.

And as another commenter mentioned the Warframe community tends to not spoil the quests for new players which means players tend to talk about them less at least publicly

That said I'm glad you enjoyed the story and stuck through the early game, however I wouldn't blame you in the slightest if you dropped the game early on. Although fair warning their isn't much story after veilbreaker. While their is story updates planned they won't be out for abit. So if you were only playing for the story and not too interested in the general gameplay than just be warned 90% of the game is just grinding.

[trst]

1 hour ago, Alguien said:

And ironically DE kinda torpedo the taboo and the surprise with new players being able to start with Duviri, sadly.

Well DE started doing that since they began using Operators in update promo images and ads (which iirc began with the Lunaro update). But none of that has ever stopped players from avoiding the subject. Plus those and even Duviri's opening don't really give you any of the context as to what exactly the Drifter/Operators are nor what exactly a frame is in relation.

[(XBOX)Mastermitchel89]

9 hours ago, (PSN)FirmBizkit said:

So I’m relatively new, two (has it been three?) weeks in after trying to get into this game for the last however long it’s been on PlayStation. I’d played a bit of survival, I did the quests with Vor and got the Archwing, my impressions of the game were very mediocre. A F2P hallway shooter with mostly ugly ninja robots, virtually identical enemies and identical levels with no real direction.

Id accumulated about 500 free platinum and some weapons from PS+ bonuses I’d been collecting over the years “just in case I ever decide to play”.

With Destiny going down the drain and my PS+ sub running out I decided to log in to Warframe and bought some cool cosmetics. I made my way through the stat chart, I joined discord to get answers to a million different questions and I started playing the game - and god damn is it good. I don’t think I’ve played a game this good in the last 10 years. The new player experience does not in any way show what this game is and it’s unfortunate and likewise the community seems to never really talk about the game. 
 

All I ever really heard about Warframe was comparisons from players of “it’s better than Destiny”. First of all it’s nothing like Destiny (It’s more like Diablo) and second of all (to the crux of this post) why the hell has no one ever told me how EPIC the story is? I just finished ‘The New War’ and these quests have been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in gaming. It was amazing. I am absolutely hooked on the game. Metal Gear Solid levels of story telling. I loved it. 

It’s unfortunate that my early impressions were so poor and kept me away from the game. Honestly if it hadn’t been for my own situation and the free platinum I probably never would have even picked it up and gotten into it.

Well i'll start with

The Starting Story is you tenno a Warframe kicking butt and tennoing all over the place

The Operator story Spoilers starts to move away from The Warframe and more into the factions the tenno face

The Drifter Story is finding the ultimate threat and slowly chipping them out of existence

That was short wasn't it, well it is when you consider only story and no inbetweens 12%

 

Now i'll end with

Warframe Needs story missions unaffected by stats and bars, these missions Need to be Fun, Need to be free of gamepausing cutscenes and press x to skip, Need to involve the player like a puzzle, thus Replayable.     Khal and Veso's introductions were a good start, but khal got turned into a farm minigame and Veko died

Most quests are just quests, a one done make a new account to play again deal

Edited October 14, 2023 by (XBOX)Mastermitchel89

[Packetdancer]

3 hours ago, Alguien said:

And ironically DE kinda torpedo the taboo and the surprise with new players being able to start with Duviri, sadly.

They actually declared that a failed experiment; you can no longer start in Duviri as a new player.

[(PSN)Joylesstuna]

11 hours ago, Rawbeard said:

not much to talk about and now nothing and everything is true and false, so there is no point to even try.

Amen. Parallel universes (eternalism in disguise) is a lazy cope out to tie everything together and allow anything to connect.

[Qriist]

2 hours ago, Packetdancer said:

They actually declared that a failed experiment; you can no longer start in Duviri as a new player.

I have a friend who started playing with the Duviri.

We eventually came to the conclusion that Duviri was an amazing addition for veteran players and a godawful place for newbies to start. (Or rather, he came to agree with my confirmed bias.)

[Packetdancer]

6 minutes ago, Qriist said:

I have a friend who started playing with the Duviri.

We eventually came to the conclusion that Duviri was an amazing addition for veteran players and a godawful place for newbies to start. (Or rather, he came to agree with my confirmed bias.)

I don't know anyone who started with Duviri while it was an option, but I will admit that was pretty much my own gut reaction to it.

I get what they were going for, and I actually like that they're willing to experiment! But... yeah.

[(PSN)FirmBizkit]

6 hours ago, SirPaladin555 said:

The game has been being built apon for like 10 years with its story being added too over those years through constant updates,  however when the game first released it resembled the early game with minimal story and the only thing holding it up was exceptional and unique gameplay for the time. So in a since the story didn't get good until later updates leaving the early game fairly barren in the story department.

And as another commenter mentioned the Warframe community tends to not spoil the quests for new players which means players tend to talk about them less at least publicly

That said I'm glad you enjoyed the story and stuck through the early game, however I wouldn't blame you in the slightest if you dropped the game early on. Although fair warning their isn't much story after veilbreaker. While their is story updates planned they won't be out for abit. So if you were only playing for the story and not too interested in the general gameplay than just be warned 90% of the game is just grinding.

Oh I’m definitely not just playing for the story. I love the game. There’s a few very minor issues but it has everything I’ve been looking for. About the only thing I haven’t really liked a ton is a lot of boss design with invulnerability, it’s made it really hard to figure out what to do, mostly because accuracy in general seems to be kinda difficult with so many effects on screen
 

I’ve been on this weird kind of quest for grinding games for a while and (even though I made the comparison) never really got into Diablo heavily because I hate it’s seasons structure. I played a bunch of Black Desert and PSO2 but they were both lacking. 
 

Just so many things. The grinding, the horde modes, the gameplay, gathering, quests, the character customization, the story, mechs, flight suits, space ships. Railjack and Necramech is fun as hell. I actually almost even kind of enjoy the trading aspect - it’s a pain in the ass but reminiscent of old MMOs. I’ve also really been enjoying the sound design and music and the 1999 trailer was hype AF with Nine Inch Nails

 

Ive also really been enjoying the ‘demonic/angelic’ aesthetic of the Warframes and later game zones. That’s another thing that I found was a lot like Diablo.

Edited October 14, 2023 by (PSN)FirmBizkit

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

15 hours ago, Voltage said:

It was between 2015 and 2018 in terms of grabbing attention to the game's story. The Second Dream and War Within set up Warframe for some grand finale, but everything has fizzled out, and the direction of the story has made it fallen into obscurity like a Nightwave Season.

Nah, I really liked new war.

 

The only real downside was that they didn't make Murex a permanent tileset around all the planets because now Narmer (which is still supposed to be this big entity) is shoehorned into open worlds and Veilbreaker/Archon hunts which makes it feel like a small portion of the actual factions.

 

And no, I don't think having to "liberate all of the star chart" would have been a good idea, since we all had to do it once for steel path, and doing it again would have been boring after the first planet, but maybe they could have added permanent "Narmer nodes" (maybe even make them rotate around each day like nightmare missions or Kuva siphon).

The only thing about the quest itself that I could think of would be the Ballas boss fight, but the idea was supposed to be that he became stronger than even Warframes (hence his invulnerability), and the only thing they could have done that wouldn't have you one shot him would have been severe health gating, several mid fight cutscenes (which we had), or something like us "sword fighting" him with only the paracesis when trying to dodge all of his attacks like it's a bullet hell segment.

Edited October 14, 2023 by (XBOX)Upl0rdYT

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

5 hours ago, Packetdancer said:

I don't know anyone who started with Duviri while it was an option, but I will admit that was pretty much my own gut reaction to it.

I get what they were going for, and I actually like that they're willing to experiment! But... yeah.

The only good thing really was the weapons, mods, and Warframes new players got.

 

In exchange you basically spoil the second dream and war within...

12 hours ago, Alguien said:

And ironically DE kinda torpedo the taboo and the surprise with new players being able to start with Duviri, sadly.

That and the new war teaser when new war was released which has that "Nova dying" scene and everything that followed.

[Corvid]

Everyone here's saying that Duviri spoils the Second Dream, meanwhile I still remember the fact that the first quest to imply that Warframes are remote controlled was Vor's Prize, AKA the first permanent quest ever added to the game.

Granted, when that quest first came out most people took it to mean that Tenno were energy beings that hopped from body to body (despite DE explicitly stating that said interpretation was wrong, something they rarely do when it comes to lore mysteries), but it's not like the game tries particularly hard to hide the truth about Transference.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Corvid

[SirPaladin555]

11 hours ago, (PSN)FirmBizkit said:

Oh I’m definitely not just playing for the story. I love the game. There’s a few very minor issues but it has everything I’ve been looking for. About the only thing I haven’t really liked a ton is a lot of boss design with invulnerability, it’s made it really hard to figure out what to do, mostly because accuracy in general seems to be kinda difficult with so many effects on screen
 

I’ve been on this weird kind of quest for grinding games for a while and (even though I made the comparison) never really got into Diablo heavily because I hate it’s seasons structure. I played a bunch of Black Desert and PSO2 but they were both lacking. 
 

Just so many things. The grinding, the horde modes, the gameplay, gathering, quests, the character customization, the story, mechs, flight suits, space ships. Railjack and Necramech is fun as hell. I actually almost even kind of enjoy the trading aspect - it’s a pain in the ass but reminiscent of old MMOs. I’ve also really been enjoying the sound design and music and the 1999 trailer was hype AF with Nine Inch Nails

 

Ive also really been enjoying the ‘demonic/angelic’ aesthetic of the Warframes and later game zones. That’s another thing that I found was a lot like Diablo.

Yeah I agree the boss design isn't the greatest , but the general combat is fun ^^ 

Im glad your sticking around for awhile , the game is a blast if you don't mind grinding ^^