The Gamer's Quarter

[Dracko]

Yeah, my mistake. I meant Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Though Bad Company looks neat, but that is a console exclusive, yeah.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[dhex]

oddly enough i finished that yesterday.

what it's missing, frankly, is the sense of being totally helpless in the middle of a giant battle.

on the other hand that whole execution thing was *great*.

here's a wish - games that end with player failure no matter what. that's kind of a neat narrative trick.
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[Dracko]

That's an interesting take. It's true that in certain regards the standard difficulty doesn't replicate that sentiment entirely, but on the other hand, the alternative is hard as nails.

What you're asking for, though, yet again oddly enough, is part of what I dreamed up. You could only get away with that with a short title, I think. It's hard to say how popular it would kick off with a major audience. It's the sort of thing I'd see going down well with a European audience, honestly.

What did you make of the gunship session? Or the end of the first act? Or even the map/briefing narrative/loading tricks?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[dhex]

i was very impressed with all of those elements. the gunship mission in particular was one of the more subversive moments in a while.

and the load screens fuck yes. so much better than staring at a bunch of painted backdrops or whatever.
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[Shapermc]

[kirkjerk]

I guess it wore off, eventually, but somehow "connect two discontinuous areas of a map" still strikes me as a great mine melter, much more so than a typical "puzzle game", even one that has a good object gimmick to play with.

Admittedly I got that more in Narbacular Drop, and familiarity bred content in Portal. But more so than the writing, scenario, puzzle design, etc--- it was this one amazing what-if.
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=/ \(<D)_/
==/\/ >_ kirkjerk.com

[boojiboy7]

[Shapermc]

My net connection is so awful though ;_;
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[The Great Unwashed]

I couldn't be bothered getting on the defending-Portal-bandwagon which everyone was doing so well, but Call of Duty 4, there's something to talk about! I really enjoyed the CoD4 that I've played - the single player was incredibly well done and compelling for the three missions I played. The multiplayer too (when on team modes), was some great squad-based action, almost as enjoyable if not more so than F.E.A.R. Combat (I tried it on free-for-all though, and it sucked balls). Especially that time I unloaded the rocket launcher into my poor, reloading friend at point blank range.

My only real beef with CoD4 is that if you're new and playing against somebody who's been playing forever, their account has unlocked a hundred stupid abilities that can be used to totally beat your face into the ground six ways to Thursday, and there is literally nothing you can do about it.

Oh, and knives are stupidly powerful. What is it with FPS' and making melee weapons so horrendously overpowered to compensate for the fact you have to get close to use them. Gah.
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[boojiboy7]

[Shapermc]

[bleak]

[The Great Unwashed]

[boojiboy7]

[bleak]

[boojiboy7]

that sounds like you have a (or are saying the poster you were referencing does) problem with the damage scaling.

of course, I have never seen a 3 hit headshot in CoD, but whatever.

[bleak]

Well yeah I was saying that I sure don't, so that only leaves one option.

In any case, I've been informed that the pistol headshot magic number is 2, which is generally still 1 more than it takes to kill a person. In any case, it don't matter much.
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[Dracko]

You'd be surprised how those melons react to small calibre fire. Or heavy, for that matter: There's a reason snipers are trained to aim for the heart rather than the head.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[boojiboy7]

I wonder how people know it is 2 to get a pistol headshot kill. The reason I ask it that the guns in the game all have slight inaccuracies (similar to a normal gun) and the game gives you a specific sound when you get a head shot. In other words, I am picturing a lot of people who think they got headshots but didn't complaining about how they think the game cheated them.

[Shapermc]

[Dracko]

Centre mass is a general rule for all firing because it's the more prominent target. However, when you're a long-range sniper who's under considerably less stress and can more or less take his time making a shot, a bullet to the heart will pretty much turn it to mash and then your target is utterly fucked.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Harveyjames]

I can't decide if this thread is more or less geeky than the BAM-like thread.

[boojiboy7]

[Ketch]

it is this years SOTC

[Redeye]

[Ketch]

The idea of an apocalyptic multiplayer zombie game is one that both fascinates and appals me with its godless depressing nihilism. take the atmosphere of STALKER, the weapons of Dead Rising and the rage virus of 28 days later.

[Dracko]

God, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is an ugly experience. Utterly worthwhile, though, if you can get through it.

There are a number of arcade games were you fail no matter what. I'm thinking Cyber Lip, with its twist ending, but there was another weird shooter title whose name I can't recollect wherein you played the last surviving family on Earth, after evil aliens had reversed the spin of the planet and invaded time. As I remember, once you completed the game, you had wiped out this invading force, but it was all in vain, as you were still alone and your player character turned evil regardless, slaughtering his family.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

I remember playing this game on the Amiga where you're in a helicopter and side-scroll along, killing things. The final boss is some giant... hell, I can't remember, but I remember everything blowing up and the end screen says you died with it and says this little thing about people dying for peace and some crap like that.

I was about 7 years old, and this INFURIATED me.
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[simplicio]

After not paying attention to any Portal talk for the past few months, I finally played it for the first time today. I just "finished" the course a little bit ago.

1. The writing is fun, with consistently demented AI, very much in holding with that brand of gonzo scientist present throughout the Half Life world (these are, as we've seen, people who turn their test subjects into pets and such). I like the turrets best.
2. I appreciate the use of "off course" areas, starting with just a couple glimpses of non-functional spaces to add depth to the course setting, which in turn alter the entire sense of play once you're actually behind the scenes.
3. Like kirkjerk mentioned, the central mechanic is wonderfully bewildering. This is no typical amplification/modification of normal physical law; it's something entirely new that the mind's just unprepared for, much like the time control of Sands of Time, or the gravity in Prey (portals there too, though never used to their potential in that environment).
4. But the brevity is what keeps that fresh. From what I'm hearing here, it sounds like there are challenges after the main game or something, which I may well never play. I'm enjoying the thrill of jumping off a cliff to catapult myself out of a wall and over a chasm here, and I'm not sure I want to turn that exhilaration into a practiced technical maneuver.
5. So far, I'm not sure why people are complaining about the PS3 Orange Box, but that's working in my favor as I just bought my rental copy for cheap!
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"Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919

[simplicio]

Upon finishing:

6. The final battle's fine by me, insofar as it's not really a battle but more an extension of previous concepts. The structure is pretty boring and thoroughly played out, sure, but I thought it did a good job of applying Portal's model and aesthetic sense to the "Half Life final battle" scenario. Plus the addition of weapon partially under your control was a nice touch and helped to bridge the gap between puzzle game and action game. I quickly figured out it was best to face the portal, use the turret's sight as my own, and rely on sound to get myself out of the way.

7. The graffiti road signs were a bit much, though. Who's supposed to have gone before you here?

8. Pretty good, as a whole. Lots of nice elements that the portal mechanic allowed, and a good aesthetic throughout. The fight actually gave me hope for the mechanic's ability to hold up in an action setting; and I'd love to see it further utilized. Am I silly to hope it might make an appearance in Episode 3?

9. But as I thought, I've got no desire to go back and do the challenges. Count my steps? No thanks.
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"Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919

[helicopterp]

Simplicio, you're many things, but never silly.




I'm in the Citadel in HL2: Episode 1 right now, and I can't help but wish this sterile (if volatile) environment would open up to the aperture science repertoire.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[Ketch]

[Scratchmonkey]

[Dracko]

Where are you hearing it from?

I really hope it doesn't. They'd have to work especially hard to make it sensible and contextual without seeming restrictive. It would be a very tough sale.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[simplicio]

Isn't that what we love Valve for though? Working especially hard?

I trust them more than anyone else to make it work sensibly, I guess.
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"Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919

[Dracko]

This is certainly true! It's just that trying to employ the Portal gun in a setting mostly recognised for its real-world sensibility and credibility, even once you hit the Citadel, would be very difficult to pull off if you didn't want to undermine the player's sense of freedom.

Unless they set events involving the gun in a setting similar to the experiment labs of Portal, but again, this is problematic if it doesn't want to appear convoluted.

That said, a Citadel setting might work, but how do you go about justifying obstacles in an otherwise fairly wide and sparse place?

Well, it this is the case, we'll just have to see, I suppose. I'd be glad to hear any details for Episode Three at this point. If they set it at sea, aboard the ship, it would be neat if they added the flare gun like planned in the original game.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[dessgeega]

i'd be surprised if "portal technology" doesn't make an appearance in half-life 2-3, but i doubt it'll be as free to use as the "make a portal anywhere you can see" gun in portal. not just because it would be difficult to constrain gameplay around it, but because it would be a nightmare to make enemy pathfinding work with it.
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[Dracko]

I think they should save it for the inevitable Half-Life 3, really. Too risky a potential inconsistency with the episodes. But that's a long way ahead either way.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Harveyjames]

[Dracko]

Or maybe it was just funny?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

So funny that I forgot to laugh!
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[D-A-I-S]

[Harveyjames]

[Dracko]

cycle you have butt cancer probably
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Harveyjames]

I read:

[Cycle]

I visisted Harveyjams last weekend!

lol c wut i did thar
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[Harveyjames]

Have you ever tried kissing a girl against her will? Like pushing her into a back room at a party and holding her down and kissing her. It's kind of neat. I mean, don't do it to nice girls, just the ones who are asking for it obviously. They really enjoy it!

...

Before I typed that out I thought 'oh-oh, what would Dess say'

[Redeye]

Stealing Kisses.

Social Gamesmanship.

Never did figure that shit out beyond the theory phase.



As for Portal:

Maybe they'll just have Passwall Mines.

Maybe even throwable.

Limit the number of mines, places you can use them, and take them away occaisionally.

I hate that last bit, oh I hate it when they do that.
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I felt sheer anarchic joy when I ran over my first pedestrian.

[kirkjerk]

[Harveyjames]

It also kind of reminded me of the Masters of The Universe film where you wait until after the credits and Skeletor's head pops out of the lava and says 'I'll be back!'