[L4D2] Tuesday 14th December

[Evilgaz]

Yo - my weekly RPG has been postponed from tomorrow night to (maybe) Thursday depending on snow.

Wondering if anyone is up for playing Tuesday night around 8.30pm? Was thinking we could do some Scavenge or Survival challenges. They're more competative and shorter burst so we can get through more and don't have to worry about people not knowing the maps.

Who's in?

[ncmreynolds]

I might be up for this, but I really need to try the game first. Since downloading it I've been out lots.

[mr toad]

I can make Tuesday night!

Toad

[Pete]

Dang, can't make this one.

Toad, shoot Gaz in the head for me, thanks.

Cheers
Pete

[Evilgaz]

Toad, shoot Gaz in the head for me, thanks.

lol - you've more chance of asking DPM to walk straight.

[ncmreynolds]

Well I had a go on single player and it was pretty much how I was expecting. Played it on easy for about an hour and a half, but haven't really got the hang of using items much I've just been blasting away with whatever gun came to hand.

I'll have to see if I can get my headset working.

[ncmreynolds]

Well that was made of fail, I just kept getting left behind then mobbed.

When we changed maps I couldn't seem to join and by the time I did it was only Kai left and it was some kind of stupid timed thing so I bailed.

[Evilgaz]

Well that was made of fail, I just kept getting left behind then mobbed.

ROFL. Every time I turned round you were looking in a corner or chatting to a xomboi

You've got to keep pushing forward in those games, and don't forget your right click to push away baddies and give you a bit of breathing room. Picking up a melee weapon really helps when you're surrounded and need to mow down a lot of baddies. If you don't push zombies off, they end up pinning you and you can get stuck.

Don't worry dude it takes a bit of getting used to and then you'll be at least as good as DPM!

[w00hoo]

I was about to tag an unrelated bit on the end of this post and realised I should put it up here if there's a chance anyone will read it... Gaz, I should have mentioned it there and then, but your mic was seriously distorted last night, don't know if you'd changed the position, or turned it up to Max when playing with l33t k1dd13s but it was quite tough to make out what you were saying through the fuzz. The Sponge was coming through fine though.

Well that was made of fail, I just kept getting left behind then mobbed.

I tried to make a point of hanging back with you, being caught on your own by one of the special infected is generally deadly, most (all?) of them have some way of incapacitating you so you need help if they hit you. Hey, I even jumped out of the helicopter and sacrificed myself trying to save you in the end

As with all games difference in playing style can be a problem, I like to 'plod through and clear all the threats' in these type of games, rather than dash for the 'end it now' button and press it as quickly as possible. That's not as fun for other people, and from playing Duke Nukem 3d & Doom II back in the day I know how dull it can be for people that play it a lot and know where everything is to hang back while other people pick through stuff carefully and check out dead ends.

It's been mentioned that there are a shed load of add ons, one option might be to look for new stuff that everyone could hit fresh out of the box? At home we have a 'rule' with driving games, we only play them together, that way we're both on the same learning curve, racing against someone who has mad skillz with the car is never fun while you slide off of the track all over the place being lapped (then again we also go for the most inappropriate cars and turn off all of the driving aids, so possibly not a great example.)

One thing the Spawn was trying last night was 'Realism' mode which means you don't get handy tags over your fellow survivors and there's no hint where they have gone when they run off. It seems to mean that it's more important to stick together as a group. I don't know if anyone would be interested in plodding through the campaign in that mode?

I'm happy to run around behind the sprinters and ruin the grade curve, but I'd probably get more out of the game (although probably die even more often) if we were playing it with a bit more 'caution'.

[ncmreynolds]

I'm happy to run around behind the sprinters and ruin the grade curve, but I'd probably get more out of the game (although probably die even more often) if we were playing it with a bit more 'caution'.

Yeah I thought it was going to be a bit more 'real' i.e. you're playing like you can actually get hurt and do tire as opposed to the usual 'run as fast as you can grabbing stuff on the way to the exit/goal you already know is there' FPS thing. Which drove me away from them years ago.

I suspect I'd kind of like an FPS where you're fragile, do tire and run out of ammo easily, forcing you to be cautious. I doubt it would sell. L4D2 has a nod to this in that injured players move more slowly but that's about it.

[Evilgaz]

Don't know what was off with the mic. If its playing up next time text a message to screen and I'll fiddle with it and see if I can work out how to make it better. I find incomprehensible chatter as annoying as the next man.

Key thing with L4D is keep moving. If you're trying to clear out every single zombie you're screwed. Checking out every possible room has got to be balanced against the ticking clock. e.g. if you hang about for too long not only do Special infected respawn, but the AI gets bored and sends a Horde in to spice things up. The more time you spend fannying around and looking in cupboards the more baddies you'll have to fight and the more beat up you'll get - plus, crucially, you'll run out of ammo for your main weapon.

I think that's where more of the realism comes into with lack of ammo - if you're too slow you're going to run out.

Also, Toad set up the game on Easy - this meant there were less baddies about, but also that there was tons of stuff lying round so it probably didn't feel "realistic" because there's big caches of stuff everywhere.

You're not particularly fragile though, unless you get isolated and a special infected gets you, then you're toast.

I was probably guilty of running off a bit, but that was to try and keep things moving in the right direction. If you stand around it never gets any better no matter how tooled up you get, your health gets chipped away and the ammo runs low. Woohoo is generally very good at following the leader and providing cover = Good Thing.

While I understand there's a learning curve its best to just go with the flow. On the other side of the coin its just as frustrating trying to run through treacle, dragging stragglers behind, as it is for someone new struggling to keep up as some monkey keep zipping off into the distance!

Survival mode is harsh. At least with the halos I we can see where isolated people are (in front or behind), if you've haven't got that people will die a lot more.

[w00hoo]

Also, Toad set up the game on Easy - this meant there were less baddies about, but also that there was tons of stuff lying round so it probably didn't feel "realistic" because there's big caches of stuff everywhere.

That was probably counter productive as it means you tend to hang about where the caches are rather than move on (unless you realise there is probably another cache round the next corner) I'd not seen the difficulty so it didn't mean anything to me.

I've played through all of 1 but very little of 2 (just the first 'film') but should complete it during January which will at least mean I have an idea of where I'm supposed to be going.

I think in my head there was going to be more during game banter (I know Toad having to type doesn't help that) but at the end of the day, still a lot of fun and I'm hoping I'll have enough Christmas chores out of the way on Thursday to do some more...

[mr toad]

Dudes!

Don't feel down, L4D is meant to make you feel 'I haven't got a clue what's going on?'
Gaz is right, you can't kill every zombie that wanders along, there are too many of them...in fact apart from the other 3 survivors possibly a whole freaky world of them.

Keep moving, watch each others back, pick your fights and yell if you need help.

It's a tough learning curve and it's meant to be.

I slapped it on easy to help...in hind sight that probably was a mistake.

And Nick I thought you did very well considering you haven't played it hardly at all. The real noobs are the ones putting the rest of the survivors in danger through their actions. At least you died quietly.

Toad