Duck and Cover

Blargh wrote:It's about fucking time.

Really? You liked the previous one? It felt so... bland?

no clearly i simply desire more of something i abhor

Seriously though, exactly how much of TNO did you manage to tolerate before arriving at that conclusion ?

Tangentially - I've only just got around to experiencing Kentucky Route Zero. It's so delightful that the fact that it is incomplete has spurred my hatred of the episodic format to A WHOLE NEW LEVEL.

Started playing terraria for PC and on console i've been grinding my way through The Evil Within love how unforgiving the game is.

I downloaded Risk of Rain or something the other week but only played it last night, it seems like something Blargh would have suggested anyway I like it but it is DIFICIL as the spanish say. But cute ^-^

http://riskofraingame.com/

Risk of Rain is pretty cool, it would be better if (when ?) they finally transfer it to a better, more stable engine than GameMaker, which suffers beneath the strain of so many murderous aliens and slightly haphazard code. Good fun in multiplayer, particularly when you engineer as many different circumstances to steal all the items.

Also, HOTLINE MIAMI 6.

OMG ROTFLINEMIAMO 2 IS HIAR! Aaaaaaaaaaaand it's stupidly hard. Dead Ahead just made me tell it to OH FUCK OFF YOU MISERABHARghsasdhalt+f4. Either that or my reflexes for it are shot to shit. Shot. Eh. Shooting is something we seem to be doing a lot in it, which I'm not a fan of since I STILL can't see the damn crosshair 90% of the time so I'm mostly going by where the character's facing. Characters! So many of them! Yet, so few masks. So many levels played as [character] and not as [1/30 masks] . So many "cutscenes" and so many plot strands within so many interludes. It's a bit Aliens to 1's Alien. Actually, that comparison's shit. It just adds and adds and doesn't make it any more interesting or engrossing; quite the contrary. So far, at any rate. OST's just as good. Sure by now 80's revival is 11's re-revival instead but when this went off I had to park Tony just to listen to it.

The real spark here is in the attention to detail. Clothes racks that go round when you touch them. String doors. Enemies idling by playing with their weapon. Stuff exploding. The fact that someone took the time to animate a character taking a polaroid. THAT FUCKING PAUSE SCREEN. Gah.

It certainly feels much more challenging than HM1. I'd go so far as to say it feels more linear on a tactical level - it may just be a failure of imagination on my part, but in conjunction with the less flexible character system, drastically higher ratio of windows/walking assault rifles, sparse randomised weapons/items, and the lower variety of weapons, certain scenarios seem to have only one viable path and approach - where even the slightest hesitation or deviation results in sudden death.

Even the closest map to HM2's window flanked killing field/mooks with guns design, Hot & Heavy, allowed a variety of tactics. However, the same probably cannot be said for Clean Hit.

I miss the fire axes, sledge hammers, pots of scalding water, pool cues, the Electric Drill . . . even the humble, harmless dart - all the incidental implements of carnage and the spontaneity they encouraged. Even when they fucked you over - i.e : one beer bottle versus three shotguns, a bat and a dog, ahahaha. While it's certainly cathartic to knock down and chainsaw someone in half, I quickly became somewhat weary of the stock knife/chain/assorted functionally identical bludgeons pool of mêlée weapons, and the tendency for levels to focus on gunplay <strike>and getting shot in the face from two screens away by someone you couldn't see even with the (currently very wonky) zoom function</strike>.

So far, the only bug I've encountered is a pathing issue where enemies sometimes get stuck in doorways, where they rotate at extreme speed, this somehow renders them blind and invincible until they manage to extricate themselves - naturally, this tends to ruin the flow of combos.

I also miss the split second unarmed throat ripping ambush move, and am bemused that executing enemies slumped against walls still causes you to drop your weapon. Also dismayed that weapon acquisition still defaults to empty gun/mêlée/loaded gun when you're standing over a pile. Why ?

Regardless, I am having a blast - the soundtrack is, at the risk of understatement, wonderful, though I'm surprised at the absence of Power Glove, Lazerhawk and/or Dance with the Dead - and even with my misgivings regarding the adjustments to gameplay, it still feels fantastic when you reach that claret soaked Zen moment as it clicks and you smash through a stage with a 20+ combo. That said, I truly wish engaging in an execution (which have all been normalised to take exactly the same amount of time) maintained your combo, it's irritating to be punished for using doors/thrown weapons to knock opponents over.

You're certainly right about attention to detail, Yvette - it's clear that much more effort was spent on world design, and both the quality and variety of the animations (not that I, personally, thought there was anything wrong with the work in HM1). A stand out moment on this front would be discovering that severed heads can be kicked around, an amusing reminder of Blood.

The plot ? An acid fuelled dream of a film that may not be real, probably ? I think it's weaker than it's predecessor, less of a relentless mindfuck (disjointed timeline aside, the writing is fairly straightforward), less personal, but the narrative isn't really the draw for these games, is it ? That said, I enjoyed the lack of hand holding and greater emphasis on world building that the various playable characters allowed, further, it was interesting to sort out the exact chronology and interplay of events/perspectives. Also, a starkly divisive ending. Lovely.

RICHARD (?) SAID THAT WE WOULDN'T LIKE THE TWIST. Ahahaha.

In regard to the ending, the boss gauntlet was great, very atmospheric.

I suspect a number of scenarios were cut/reworked/reordered, I believe the narrative would have been stronger if there had been more time spent on characterisation of essentially every playable character, with the possible exception of Jake, as in their current incarnation, his maps are little more than schadenfreude, some background on 50 Blessings/the Colonel's post war motivations/objective of MAD, and the opportunity to unlock a rather cool secret level. Jake's near irrelevancy and the entirely off screen coup d'état may well have been intentional, of course. And then there's his third mask, all the redemption he needs, bloody hysterical. As it is, it all feels somewhat disjointed, and not in the sense of it being a deliberate stylistic choice by the creators. Though there's clearly plenty of that, too. Pity.

I was surprised to find the <strike>slayer of guns</strike> writer and his quirk as entertaining as I did, less-than-lethal in Hotline Miami, mind boggling. I was mildly disappointed to find that the son's options (while thematically linked to his father and his father's bodyguard) were simply mimicry of the fans. Wish they could have found something distinctive for his levels.

Writing of the son, I'm curious if his confrontation(s) with the other fans were as one sided as his roof top run in with the twins.

The twins ! Delightful gameplay conceit, at least when the gunner wasn't lagging behind the exterior wall . . .

Found the Hawaii levels to be a bit of a chore until I unlocked the sniper rifle/MOTHERFUCKING FLAMETHROWER (:aiee:), mainly due to ammunition scarcity. Perplexingly arbitrary that you can't make use of the weapons of your foes, merely frustrating that the ammo crates grant only a handful of bullets each.

RANDOM MUSINGS, HO :

The detective - is he simply the façade of a spectacularly narcissistic serial killer (his suggestions of topic to the writer, his response to the surviving fan<strike>s</strike> potentially stealing focus from his actions, the film star dream sequence, his disdain for the media while courting their attention, his unique approach to his work as a detective), <strike>or is he a cop trying to garner a promotion via manufacturing and then solving such a case</strike> ? <strike>Probably</strike> Definitely the former, <strike>I suppose</strike> it seems. Is he even consciously aware of his actions as the Miami Mutilator (hell, he even suggested that moniker to the writer) ? Also, the detective - always check the boot of the car. Always. Also also, the detective - the cargo ship, a maddening clusterfuck.

Ahahaha, the skateboard execution. Wow.

Not sure how exactly Richter (who developed into a vaguely sympathetic character, wow) survived HM1. When in doubt, remember : Jacket be crazy.

Who did the Biker encounter in the desert ? Richard ?

I wonder if there's any significance to every playable character, other than the writer, having green eyes ?

The fucking dark levels full of bloody dogs can get fucked through a hedge backwards, though. Eye strain and carpal tunnel ? Ehue.

Now for Hard Mode.

Wrapped it up just now, myself. I'm cool with the ending. Insofar as making you aware, the structure has to be a lot more cohesive and better at pointing out the whos and whats if it's going to be this Magnolia-ish, rather than just giving out interspersed dates that through an average 4-5 day playing period are going to be lost like tears in the radioactive rain anyway. Setting us up the bomb feels perfectly justified in such a case and if the previous game is any indication (and suffice to say that if the sequel delivers in all other aspects it should deliver on this also) there'll be many a pretty penny for the plot spelunker to find, at any rate. It didn't quite grab me, frankly. Having found out about a related comic (? it's existenz, merely, no clue what it actually contains) it's no surprise. I'm not a fan of works being dependent on other material over other mediums rather than being self-contained, with the obvious exception of sequels- and not all of them, at that. Have to thumbs up the decision to nip the monster in the nads and say- That's that, no more HL. Tonally, this never touches the highs (hue) of the first up until the very end -which is why I liked it- but even better knowing there isn't going to be any more conspira-cockamamie to it all.

Assorted-

What a -great- fucking finale.

Loved Richter's levels. Seemed a deliberate call back to 1. With the mobster levels that followed, the game seemed to make a lot more sense (again?). It remains to be said that having Dead Ahead and Death Wish (cargo ship and hawaii power plant) smacked in the middle of the game is retarded. Actually, scratch that. Both levels are shit, period, wherever they may otherwise have been. Also didn't like the one where the fans make their way up to the roof. Weird to find you praising the sniper (didn't use the flamer yet), all it did for me was signal HEY I'M HERE EVERYONE and proceed make me do the dodging bullet mambo while I waited for it to reload. Big machinegun all the way.

Disappointed Jacket was still alive. IIRC either Jacket or the Biker's version of events ended with the other dying. Now they're both alive? Also, what's this biker in the desert thing? I think I missed that.

Said it before, I'll say it again- Geese (swans, whatever; fake ducks) are a bloody find. Maybe because it's the one time where the game feels like it gives you adequate tools to counter the baddies. Kamikaze-ing holding both mousebuttons is unquestionably one of the high points of it all.

Mildly curious as to what parts of the story were always supposed to have been this way from the get go and how much was just random meaningless threads that the devs left lying around and then connected when writing 2. Jacket discarding the photo at the end, for one. Maybe all of it? If 1 was inspired by Drive, 2 certainly seems inspired by The Guest. Maybe that's why there's so many fucking guns.

Also, if anyone's interested in the sounds and not so much the sights-

https://mega.co.nz/#F!Cl1S0ayJ!wL1ttbRVpFAF2xWELZPnuA

Yay, unlucky Swellguy Douche Fa99ot! Never making another post!

Inscrutable Spatula goes to Hollywood wrote:comic

Hey, at least they haven't started with licensed books/animes.

They haven't done that, have they ?

Inscrutable Spatula goes to Hollywood wrote:finale.

YES. Definitely.

Inscrutable Spatula goes to Hollywood wrote:sniper

Past a certain range, it's silent to whichever unlucky twit you're aming for, or anyone near them. Typically I'd prioritise the fatties and use the sound of the report to lure anyone nearby into machete range.

The flamethrower is a glorious thing, particularly when you realise that it can bypass windows if you stand close enough.

Inscrutable Spatula goes to Hollywood wrote:events

In HM1, everything up to Trauma is a blurry melange of fever dream, distorted, out of sequence memories and outright hallucinations.

What went down, in my opinion :

Jacket fucks up the Biker's eye with a lucky swing, the Biker responds with a boot to the head and leaves <strike>Jacket for dead</strike> Jacket to be picked up by some paramedics/the fuzz. This suggests that Richter probably only shot Jacket's lady friend at the flat, which, in conjunction with Richter's survival of the events of Assault, implies that Jacket didn't care for her much at all.

Regarding Richter, I'm glad they kept him around, as his levels are awesome.

Inscrutable Spatula goes to Hollywood wrote:desert

Step by step ? Avert your eyes if you want to experience THE THRILL OF DISCOVERY for yourself :

During the intro to the writer's second scene, Subway, check the answering machine before leaving his house. Then, complete Subway.

Did you spot the the Twins/the Biker outside the courthouse ?

Writing of cameos :



If it were almost any other game, I'd dismiss it as asset recycling . . .

So, Hard Mode . . .

It mirrors the map layouts, it increases the prevalence of interior glass, it significantly boosts enemy reaction time and changes the position and composition of enemy forces, frequently in ways that leave the game with the feeling of a romhack. Kaizo Maimi.

It's an amplifier, the sweetest moments where skill and uncanny luck coincide, the most frustrating bollocks imaginable, it leaves nothing untouched.

It rewards/demands extreme aggression, because if you don't move at a frantic pace, you will die, again and again and -

It condenses workable approaches, whether for a simple completion, or the highest possible kill streak, to a minimum in most instances.

For instance, there's an enterprising fellow with a chainsaw who appears during Subway. He can only be dealt with if you cause the writer to snap and start killing, because nothing but bullets will suffice.

Also, it reverses your controls during Apocalypse. Ahahaha.

Additionally, the tendency for enemy starting positions to be subject to limited randomisation means that you will frequently die almost immediately upon entry to certain maps.

Then, there's this :



As can be seen, it permits exactly one approach. But, if, when you finally succeed, you will feel great as you head upstairs and get shot in the face by a goon with a silenced pistol. And then, after a few more deaths, you'll finally get to introduce the venerable fire axe to numerous playmates before you're cut down by another goon and his Hanzo steel. So it goes.

Hard Mode - potentially rewarding, likely intensely aggravating.

Looking forward to the map tools. Wish there was a score attack mode that allowed one to skip all the cutscenes/dialogue, ideally with a way to play any map as any character. Still, all in all, a fucking brilliant game.

Right now I'm playing Uncharted 3 on the PS3 and it seems good so far, probably not as good as 2 was though. I bought the PS3 about a year ago for the biggest reason to finally play MGS4 but then I got Last of Us bundled with it and it was great, probably like it better than MGS4. I also got the Uncharted games for cheap and even though I didn't like the 1st one and ended up skipping it because the combat got too lame, the 2nd one made up for it quite a bit. Buying the PS3 at the end of it's life was well worth it, the games I like for it I liked more than the Xbox360 ones.

I will be getting Battlefield hardline to play with my friends and then after that I will get Pillars of Eternity which I backed on kickstarter. So far I'm having a fun time with gaming but that usually ends pretty quickly.

I will get Battlefield Hardline

What game is that? It looks fun.

Besieged. Great stuff.

But why balloons?

D5it-m38 wrote:balloons

For because.

Madness. How can I ever hope to match such a marvel?

You can but try.

Also, for the first time I have encountered a face-cam that didn't* make me wish for an extinction event.

*IT WAS A LIE.

HOLY FUCK OUTLAWS IS ON GOG

That fucking chapter 6 opener on hard. You know the one. Mob boss, dance club? That one? With all the bullet dodging samurai? And the invisible dogs? And the dual negros? And the screen that keeps going between "I can't see shit" and "Still can't see shit but now it's all red"??? Fuck. That. Shit. Wait no, fuck all of them.

Pray tell, why? Why? And why do I keep going back? Why do I keep telling myself "this one won't take half an hour like the last one"? Hold me, Blimunda.

Punch, die, punch, die, punch while dying. Into The Future, forever and ever punching and dying for one hundred years. In my mind, it's the practically invisible, teleporting dogs that make that level such a maddeningly stressful experience. My blood pressure is spiking just by recalling it, bah.

As for the honurabu sword fetishists, tell me why there is no ability to AIM SLIGHTLY DOWNWARD, relative to the perspective of the character, so as to SHOOT THEIR STUPID, STATIONARY, SMUG FUCKING FACES WITH ALL THE BULLETS ? What would they do when confronted with this bold and visionary technique, crouch through the bloody floor ? Just picturing how the whole 'Oh, he ducked. Guess I'll just keep shooting over his head while he sits there licking his sword . . .' situation would look to a bystander. As hilarious as it is absurd.

I wish there was a Tripping All The Balls mode of play. Something that awesome should be available for more than just the final sequence.

PILLARS OF ETERNITY