Poll: Are you buying Left 4 Dead?

[Camarilla]

I wasn't going to buy this until I played the demo, now I have it pre-ordered from Amazon for £20. Been playing it with some of my old CS:S clan-mates on expert and the Director is one sadistic piece of work. It put the witch right inside the train you have to go through, then, just to be evil, it put the tank right in the last room. We didn't even get to the door button.

 

[GenHellspawn]

This really feels like a trap. I name a game that fills my cup of tea and then you go medieval on its big fat stripey thorax.

Well, first of all, if it's a game that's even remotely popular, he'll hate you for it, especially Gears of War or Halo 3, because they killed his dad or something. Nobody really knows.

Also, must you be that scared of people criticizing something as small as your taste in games? I mean, high school must've been hell for you!

Is it just the popular ones? He seems to like CoD4 and Fallout 3 (< Which both me and you dislike).

Well, even though CoD4 has a lot of things that make no sense/really tick me off, I still think it's a pretty good game.
But like I said before, they'll probably never make Stalingrad ever again. Maybe it was because I was 14 at the time, but CoD's singleplayer just down right blew me away.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Stalingrad? Is that a game or something?

I was referring to the Stalingrad level, the first level of the Russian campaign. The one where you get one ammo magazine and you have to find somebody with a rifle who can actually use it.

 

[GenHellspawn]

If not disregard that I....you know what? Just overlook this post.

Roger that.

Also, I was actually 14. Holy crap, I just caught that

 

[runtheplacered]

How can I compare it to HL2? Same developer, same engine, quite a few of the same sound effects, squad mechanics are nearly identical, zombies basically act like re-skinned Head Crab Zombies -- I could go on all day. It could easily be a Source mod that someone created in their spare time.

Same Developer, check
Same Engine, check
Same sound effects? You'll have to give me some specific examples, or I'll have to call you out on this one.
Squad mechanics? HL2 had squad mechanics? Unless you're talking about Alyx following you around for a bit, I'm not following you here.
Reskinned Zombies? Now you're stretching. They are not just reskinned. The fact that you had to go there tells me that you don't have a point.
"I could go on all day", then I guess you'll have to name some more. Because at the moment I'm seeing "same developer and same engine" and that's about it. Although one could argue the Source engine has received a massive face lift since it debuted in Half-life 2, but I'll still give you a point for effort.

And don't go pretending like this is something new and innovative that hasn't been done before. Squad mechanics, basic FPS gameplay, cooperative online play, zombies; it's all familiar ground, they've just put it all together into one game. The problem is they've done nothing to make the game anything more than the sum of its parts.

"new and innovative" - you

It is new. Hell, it's not even out yet. As for innovative? Do you understand what the word innovation means? Whether an innovation is radical or incremental, it's still an innovation nonetheless. And if you're not going to admit to even an ounce of innovation in this game, then you're apparently just in denial. Nobody's claiming this game is some wild new genre that Valve just made up.

"The problem is they've done nothing to make the game anything more than the sum of its parts." - you

That's a weird statement. What game isn't the sum of all its parts? How can it be anything else?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Oi, no derailing, back to the zombie killing.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Hell it works! I must have played those two levels likely 60 times with my friends and every time its highly entertaining so this game must be doing something very right.

So, not only do you go to impressive, maybe even pathetic lengths to defend a game made by people you don't know (that really couldn't care less about what you say anyways), you also consider yourself the pinnacle game player? Really? You love it, so everybody else must share your opinion or get a harsh verbal beating?

 

[runtheplacered]

So, not only do you go to impressive, maybe even pathetic lengths to defend a game made by people you don't know (that really couldn't care less about what you say anyways)

Who said he's defending the game in honor of the developers? Where did you pull that from?

You love it, so everybody else must share your opinion or get a harsh verbal beating?

What're you, drunk? Where's the harsh verbal beating? He's been expressing himself just fine.

 

[Blind0bserver]

Maybe if it didn't use the Source Engine or feel like a mod of HL2/Counterstrike/etc.

So, one of your main arguments for why you don't like the game is because it feels like a mod of Half-Life 2 just because they both used the same engine?

*sighs* okay, I'll play this game...

By that logic all of the following games are a mod of Gears of War, and thus are too similar to it to being anything new to the table, because they all use Unreal Engine 3:

Alpha Protocol, American McGee's Grimm, Army of Two, Brother's In Arms: Hell's Highway, Bioshock, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Legendary, Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge, The Agency, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, and Turok.

I can keep going on, but there isn't any real need. The point is that just because a game shares the same engine (and, by extension, some resources) that doesn't act as enough grounds for comparison for the game's actual content. If you can look past how the sound of the minigun in TF2 just happens to sound just like the mounted machine gun at the end of the demo as well as stop trying to compare this game to others who's only similarity is that there's zombies in it, then hopefully you'll find something that you'll enjoy. Hopefully you'll begin to like it. If not, well, I'm sorry to hear that, and I wish you the best of luck. Just try not to ruin this for the rest of us.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Me, Decoy Doctorpus, Stompy, and Richie spent last night getting our asses handed to us by expert. The game does do a good job of keeping you involved and on the edge. I STILLL have niggling doubts about it's longevity, i'll prolly hold fof till I have a new PC/a modding community springs up. Can't wait to see what a modding community does to it.

PS: Don't feed the Gene-Troll, he's just a failboy*.

*Failboy: adj; One who insists contrary to any evidence or logical thinking that a product is inferior for any number of personal reasons, including: A desire to appear witty and cool by going against trend, a personal distaste for a genre and/or it's production company, a general lack of intelligence, not hugged by mommy enough etc etc...

The opposite of "Fanboy", see page 56

 

[GenHellspawn]

So, not only do you go to impressive, maybe even pathetic lengths to defend a game made by people you don't know (that really couldn't care less about what you say anyways)

Who said he's defending the game in honor of the developers? Where did you pull that from?

You love it, so everybody else must share your opinion or get a harsh verbal beating?

What're you, drunk? Where's the harsh verbal beating? He's been expressing himself just fine.

I'm not trying to imply that the only reason he's stating his opinion is to make Valve smile, I'm just saying that he's tried to prove almost everybody wrong that doesn't like the game, and he's doing so as if everybody who criticizes the game is insulting his mother or something.

 

[stompy]

Funny enough, we were playing on Advanced. Is there some kind of massive jump between the two difficulties?

Well the dual pistols are still good for picking off the zombies at range one at a time. They are pretty usless for the zombie horde though, you may kill a couple of them even aiming for the head then your going to get swarmed and eaten.

Funny enough, we were playing on Advanced. Is there some kind of massive jump between the two difficulties?

There is a pretty huge jump. Tanks appear quite a lot more on expert, as well as more frequent horde rushes and boss zombies. At the end of map 2, I was on the minigun. Someone flicked the switch and before I could get a single fucking shot off, a smoker grabbed me and a hunter jumped on me within a second. They were probably there before the switch went off, but it was still a real dick move.

Both of you guys are correct. I played 4-player co-op on Expert yesterday, and it was much harder than playing it on Advanced. Duel pistols, while great, are kinda weak for hordes. However, I still feel that the pistols need to be nerfed. I was under the impression that pistols are a last-ditch weapon... it's hard, but they take away that sense of desperation when you're blasting away with two pistols. Perhaps restrict it to one pistol?

Also, after playing a bit more, I find that I'm definitely staying away from the shotgun. I hit team mates too much with that thing...

 

[GenHellspawn]

Me, Decoy Doctorpus, Stompy, and Richie spent last night getting our asses handed to us by expert. The game does do a good job of keeping you involved and on the edge. I STILLL have niggling doubts about it's longevity, i'll prolly hold fof till I have a new PC/a modding community springs up. Can't wait to see what a modding community does to it.

PS: Don't feed the Gene-Troll, he's just a failboy*.

*Failboy: adj; One who insists contrary to any evidence or logical thinking that a product is inferior for any number of personal reasons, including: A desire to appear witty and cool by going against trend, a personal distaste for a genre and/or it's production company, a general lack of intelligence, not hugged by mommy enough etc etc...

I don't consider myself anything more than a gamer that enjoys quality games. Sorry to twist the blade but i'm also not a cheater and a thief.

So this is how we roll? I'm the troll, despite Codgo ignoring my many posts where I said how I got banned, and since I liked the game I reversed my opinion on downloading it illegally? Despite the fact that I liked the game but when I point out things that I don't like my opinion is artificial flamebait?

 

[runtheplacered]

I'm not trying to imply that the only reason he's stating his opinion is to make Valve smile, I'm just saying that he's tried to prove almost everybody wrong that doesn't like the game, and he's doing so as if everybody who criticizes the game is insulting his mother or something.

I think the reason I can understand his plight is because he obviously enjoys the game, then somebody comes in and says "It's a bad game because it uses the HL 2 engine." It's got to be real hard to hold back from exclaiming, "What the F*** does that have to do with anything?" Now that he's replied a few times, he's now become the defacto representative for all things good in L4D. I really don't see where he's preaching down anybody's throat, though or even acting that insulted.

This is something I brought up in another thread, but I generally find the attitudes in The Escapist to be fairly mild and civil (in comparison to other popular forums). Then, somebody (in this case, you) comes in and pokes it with a stick to try to get some feathers ruffled. People are just discussing their opinions, and generally that means at some point, someone will have to disagree. And that's O.K.

In the words of The Big Lebowski, "Nothing is fucked, Dude".