Author Topic: General smack talk  (Read 921 times)

gb_remake

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General smack talk
« on: October 06, 2011, 02:58:52 AM »
Talk about games you like, or post pics of your kids, pets, models (not the Cindy Crawford type), maps, and whatever else you want.

 ;D
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

gb_remake

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2011, 09:37:24 AM »
Almost done playing Stalker:SOC. I regret saying bad things about this earlier, it's actually a pretty cool game. Apart from the bugs.

I'm in the Pripyat level now, and it feels a bit too much like Call of Duty at times - it got a bit linear and reminescent of WW2 cliche, but we'll see. The middle portion of the game is pretty cool though, nice environments and OK story. I hooked up with Freedom and had to kill most of the Duty guys in the game as a result. Next time I might a) install some mods and b) either stay neutral or befriend Duty.

Looks like I'll replay it.

Many of the optional quests are pretty boring though - go there and get X, then come back. Hmm.
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

Chip

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2011, 03:40:33 PM »
I finished it a long time ago, after I played hours and hours of multiplayer. Multiplayer was fun.

mh

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2011, 08:32:39 PM »
11/11/11 - that insalubrious beat combo of some repute are playing in my city.

Yeah, I've been MIA for a while; RL sucks sometimes. :(
It would take an eternity to reach the earth and even when you reached the destination, you wouldn't actually hit the ground. You'd be going so fast you'd just go through and out the other side.

gb_remake

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2011, 01:18:02 AM »
RL doesn't stand a chance against you, MH ;-)
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

mh

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2011, 07:09:25 PM »
Doing a Doom 3 re-run at the mo, just getting stoked for the source release.

Interesting question - at some point did the game go downhill for anybody else, and - if so - what was that point?

I ask because right now I'm just starting Delta 2 and I'm beginning to feel it.  This is more or less hot on the heels of the amazing monorail setpiece, a lot of outdoor stuff, and the ultra-spooky first part of Delta 1 (no enemies, lots of atmosphere, disembodied voices - even if it's just "reactor core offline" or "video linkup requested", the cool texturing, etc).  The second part of Delta 1 however felt a little like it was "more of the same, seen it before, been there done that" corridor gunplay, and - while I'll probably continue anyway - I'm not really looking forward to the rest.  I know there are some awesome scenes later on in Delta - the Charles Manson corridors for example - and there's also the BFG, but rightabout now it feels like it's time for something with a bit more variety.
It would take an eternity to reach the earth and even when you reached the destination, you wouldn't actually hit the ground. You'd be going so fast you'd just go through and out the other side.

mh

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2011, 07:15:26 PM »
Woops!  The code is out! :)
It would take an eternity to reach the earth and even when you reached the destination, you wouldn't actually hit the ground. You'd be going so fast you'd just go through and out the other side.

gb_remake

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2011, 04:41:42 AM »
Woops!  The code is out! :)

Sooo, MH is going to lock himself in a closet with a computer and the DOOM3 source until Xmas.  8)

Think you can hack that Carmack's Reverse back in?  ::)
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

gb_remake

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2011, 04:49:44 AM »
Doing a Doom 3 re-run at the mo, just getting stoked for the source release.

Interesting question - at some point did the game go downhill for anybody else, and - if so - what was that point?

I ask because right now I'm just starting Delta 2 and I'm beginning to feel it.

Yeah, the second part of Delta 1 is the return of the predictable, at least after the no-combat opening. I think both Communications levels are a little lacking, actually, too. And in the monorail, you can't do much; it's like a really long elevator ride (horribly abused level design technique especially in Quake 4).

Personally I enjoy Delta 2 and 3, mainly for the atmosphere and the appearance of Archviles and chaingun commandos (I like both). The part with the offices is also pretty funny, lots of zombies there for chainsaw or shotgun fun. The pacing in Delta3 and the yellowish theme is pretty cool IMO (and the teleport effect + revenants etc. in teleporter rooms). I don't care for the hellknights at the portal (easy if you know how). Then the Hell level - it has its perks.

But yeah, both Alpha and Delta labs have their lengths.

Another point where it starts to drag for me is Site 3. However, the Cavern levels at the end I like a lot, they're long and brutal with many tough enemies around. And Wraiths - I like Wraiths for some reason.

Very long game, and slow movement speed (first thing that I'd mod). Yes, it's lengthy - it would have been better to have a shorter main game and add the rest as branches or something for optional exploration.

I like and respect Doom3, I just don't play it often anymore because of more open-world games like STALKER and Crysis. Compared to these, Doom3's age begins to show. Almost 30 levels of corridor crawling is a little much.
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

Spiney

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #9 on: November 26, 2011, 03:55:51 PM »
Everything felt a bit too heavy in D3... not enough room too move around, kinda sluggish movement, making it difficult to dodge attacks.
And being hit slows you down significantly because of the screen shakes and such. Weapons also lacked a certain punch.

IMO still the best Doom -- I do think D1 and 2 are viewed through rose tinted glasses a bit too much at times -- I played both after finishing D3.
Z-axis makes maps that much more interesting. I just wish the player was a bit more nimble and it wasn't so much claustrophobic corridors.

Also in terms of production value still very good game. Martian settlements feel like a breathing living world. The unified dynamic lighting also helps in that regard.

Quake 1 is still Id's best game in terms of combat and map feel. Q2 enemies lacked the inventiveness of Q1 and the weapons weren't as fun.
Q3 easily matches Q1 in those regards I think, but of course that's multiplayer.
Rage has great enemies and solid weapons, was a great step up from D3. Gameplay wise reminded me a little of HL2 at times. Animation is amazing.

Actually, I personally found the first maps of D3 to be much more of a drag than the second half of the game. The part where you enter delta and there isn't a living soul anywhere was a nice touch. Also the part where you move around a corner and there's an imp with a strong bright light behind him, just standing there... kind of a WTF moment, but it worked so well, a shame so much of D3 was just grinding through corridors. Also: too dark!

One thing that generally irks me about Id games is the weapon selection.
Super shotgun is essentially a better shotgun, minigun is a better assault rifle. In Quake it didn't really hurt, Q2 it was already annoying me, but in RAGE the AK feels so pointless once you get the Auth rifle, and D3 arsenal is generally identical to Q2. Just a case of the same weapon, just better. You could easily make it one weapon and use alternate firing modes like in Unreal. Or at least diversify the weapon properties a little. I did like the D3 plasma quite a lot though, was a little slow, but it felt powerful somehow.

Ramble ramble...

gb_remake

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #10 on: November 26, 2011, 06:31:32 PM »
Agreed about Doom3 production value. Game feels like quality work.

I got Stalker: Call of Pripyat recently - couldn't resist picking it up at the ridiculous bargain price it's going for. ShoC was such an uber-awesome game, I thought CoP couldn't be that much worse...

Turns out CoP is very different in some key aspects; everything to do with anomalies and artifacts is different. Actually I like it better - anomalies are now concentrated in unique "anomaly fields" and there are handheld detectors to locate artifacts. The other thing is that killing mutants is now completely pointless since they don't drop anything - not sure I like that. The default attitude of anyone (except mutants and Monolith!) is now Neutral - a bit weird that Bandits aren't "bad guys" anymore. It's more of an RPG in general, but at the same time combat got a lot tougher. Right now (2/3 of the way through) I like the game a lot, but I wonder how replayable it is since unlike ShoC you can't simply go on a killing spree and sell the loot - it is very quest-oriented (think "less random encounters") and the number of quests is finite. We'll see how much sense the freeplay makes.

Anyway, Stalker: Call of Pripyat is a worthy game, even though it can't top the first game in the series when it comes to story and immersion. In some ways, it is probably better even if it doesn't have that aura of utter exceptional awesomeness that ShoC had. It is good that the two games are rather different; this way it's a new experience instead of just a rehash and a good and worthy sequel.

Guess I'll have to buy "Clear Sky" as well then. I heard overwhelmingly negative things about that, but how bad can it be? It's a STALKER game.
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

Spiney

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #11 on: November 26, 2011, 07:51:11 PM »
I've played Shadows Of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat back to back. Started Clear Sky, but haven't played much since.
Not because it's bad, I'm only at the beginning, but had enough Stalker for a while at the moment.

Really magnificent, special games. I really enjoy the hunter-gatherer sandbox aspect of it. It's the kind of game I wish big studios would pay more attention to.
Make sure to instal the 'Stalker complete' mods, they improve the games on several aspects, also gets rid of a lot of bugs.

Might play through again when I get a new gpu sometime next year.
Engine performance is kind of sluggish on higher settings for me. I feel like it should run a bit more smoothly then it does.

gb_remake

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #12 on: November 27, 2011, 05:13:32 AM »
I run it on Static Lighting because of that. The levels are huge and detailed, so it's excused for running slow...

Special games, yeah. It's more open and more anarchistic than Crysis for example. More RPG, too.
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

gb_remake

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2011, 12:33:06 PM »
Any of you guys have farcebook?
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

ijed

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Re: General smack talk
« Reply #14 on: December 01, 2011, 12:36:05 PM »
Never!