Why did I start doign Games Computer Games ? I used to blog about gaming on Giantbomb, I wanted to reach a broader audience with Games Computer Games than I thought Giantbomb would allow me.
Where is Games Computer Games going now? Well to be honest I don't know, as an aging veteran gamer, I don't have the sort of gaming time I expected to have when I started Games Computer Games. In reality having two young children has somewhat hampered my time to write on Games Computer Games.
One thing I have decided is come what may, Games Computer Games will not be abandoned. Games Computer Games may become a refuge or otehr mid-thirties gamers who need somewhere to moan about how they don't have time to game any more.
Certainly I think the Left 4 Dead advice I've provided here on Games Computer Games is pretty good. I don't suppose Games Computer Games is a good name for a site if it's just about Left 4 Dead though?
I will broaden the horizon of Games Computer Games - Smokemare will ride again! I don't know what Christmas will bring - traditionally I get at least one game - even if I don't get time to play it. I still have to plough through LA Noire when I get time.... And that's from June!
The trouble is - as I've said before on Games Computer Games, I'm finding ahcievement hunting on Left 4 Dead games more fun... As I said in my Duke Nukem Games Computer Games post - volunteering for anaethetic-free pile surgery would probably be more fun than playing Duke Forever...
I still can't believe how it destroyed my joy of gaming!
My advice, the official 'Games Computer Games' advice for any long suffering wives out there who have lost their huspands to the XBOX - get him Duke Nukem Forever...
Friday, 25 November 2011
Friday, 18 November 2011
Left 4 Dead : What Are You Trying to Prove?
Well, I decided to take a break from Left 4 Dead 2, namely to go back and mop up some achievements on Left 4 Dead.
One which has been eluding me is 'What Are You Trying to Prove?' I got No Mercy a long long time ago - using the Jesus Room, then recently I mopped up the last few. The hardest one was Blood Harvest - in the end I had to resort to a trick.
For anyone stuck on this here are my tips.
General Tips:-
--------------
1. Find out all the tricks for the level you are trying to do - You Tube isn't a bad source. Try several of them.
2. If you aren't using a trick - closet camp for the horde, then rush out into the open for the tanks.
3. Try to have pipe bombs and molotovs spare for the dash to the rescue vehicle.
4. When going through the normal campaigns - have the person with an Auto Shotgun take out the witches - Expert dumps several of them right in your path. The trick is to not start shooting while she is invulnerable - then shoot as fast as possible point blank to the head as she becomes vulnerable. It's easy on easy, but witch killing on Expert takes some practice.
5. When dealing with tanks, campaign or finale, either kite or light - never both. The tank is faster when it's on fire - as is the witch. If you set him on fire you start to bleed his health and you don't need to shoot - you can run slightly faster running forwards if he's not on fire and you are healthy you should be able to kite him if you can dodge the thrown rocks.
6. Keep your bots alive - bots are very good at killing specials, if they DO get pounced - then rescue them straight away as on Expert the specials do incredible damage.
7. Save First Aid Kits - try to survive on pills, you should ideally only be using FA in safe rooms and at the finale.
8. The tricks:-
1. No Mercy [The Jesus Room].
On this one - in the centre of the roof top is a little square room with stairs going up to a door. It does NOT open in Survival Mode, ONLY campaign. (The door I mean) What you need to do is get on top above the door and survive until the infect break the door. Only infected can break the door - once it's broken - get inside and stand back from the door - make sure you don't go Idle.
When the chopper is ready - throw a pipe bomb and run.
2. Death Toll [The Jesus Rock].
Ideally have everyone grab sniper rifles or Assault Rifles. Try to have everyone grab a grenade of some sort - at least two of you should have a pipe bomb. There is no ammo on the jesus rock - so load up - try to have doubvle pistols and use them on the infected as much as possible.
Now leave the boathouse and walk along the shore past where you catch the boat - there is a little flat rock at the end of the beach. To get on take a running leap from about 2 metres aaway - and as you hit the rock hit jump again. Once four of you are up there - whoever is mos confident about getting up should go back and alert the hoarde, then try to rush back and jump on. Once all four of you are up there have two people use double pistols and melee to keep the infected from climbing onto the rock the same way you came - the other two should watch the water where most Smokers appear and can drag you off the rock. You can shoot the tank, save your rifle ammo for it - but be more concerned about shooting the rocks he throws at you. Be ready to get hunters off people.
When the boat turns up - throw your pipe bombs and run.
3. Dead Air. [The Jesus Plane]
I didn't use this - I had a good team, but I'll explain how it works in case you need it.
From the nose of the rescue plane there is a truck straight ahead, facing the truck, to the right of the truck is luggage trolley. Get gas cans or petrol cans and go behind the luggage trolley - then throw them at it and run into them - you are trying to knock it over! Eventually it'll go and you can push it so it's in between the truck and the nose of the plane. Then keep moving it a bit - then trying it - it's a tricky jump - has to be done like the Jesus Rock jump, but you jump off the truck onto the luggage trolley, then off the trolley onto the nose of the plane. Once you are all up - let the most confident jumper go alert the hoarde. Then crouch in the centre between the wings and melee each other (Smokers can get you - this provides protection) When the ramp opens - throw your pipe bombs, drop down and rush in.
Alternatively you can hold up on the hill - you have to be able to defend against the horde here - but tanks are easy, they tend to get stuck behind the plane and you can shoot their legs underneath. If this happens rush close to the plane so he can't find a way around.
4. Blood Harvest.
Easily the hardest finale, if you get to the farmhouse intact - load up on pipe bombs, molotovs, weapons, first aid and ammo. If you have a decent team and want to play it straight then either hold up in the barn, or the upstairs washroom. When the tank comes - get out in the open and kite him around the house.
If you need to use the trick , follow the fence outside the front of the house to the left. Eventually you find a broken up bit that is impassible with corrugated iron and barbed wire, and a couple of tree stumps. This is where the secret invisible walkway is. You jump as high as you can - not as if you are trying to land on the closest stump - but BEFORE the stup - you should end up suspended in the air. Then walk parallel to the fence towards the bankside and jump to get up. Once up, follow the ledge around to the lone tree on the edge of the map. Crouch, don't go idle - and send the most confident one to alert the hoarde.
When the vehicle arrives, throw your bombs and leg it towards the barn. Be aware a hunter and smoker might be waiting for you.
So what next?
My final achievements are all doable on easy - safety first, nothing special and untouchables. So I'll be taking a break from Expert mode - which I'll miss, it forces you to play in a different way - it's very unforgiving, but it's also very exciting.
After I've S-ranked Left 4 Dead I'm going to Left 4 Dead 2 to mop up some of those. The last one I got was ' The Real Deal ' but I still need to get 'Still got something top prove?' and some of the other little ones. I also need the zombie genocide achievement and red mist, but I'll get those just by playing.
After that I guess I'll play multiplayer exclusively apart from helping others. The campaigns are great - but they take a while and it's good to have a goal in mind when you are working through them.
Reflections and shout outs.
Playing Left 4 Dead and the sequel, on Expert for quite a while now has given me a new appreciation for the game. I have to give credit for an XBOX Live player - Unworthy Leopard who helped me with Blood Harvest immensely and sacrificed himself to the waiting Hunter so I could escape. Originally I was going to try to do ' The Real Deal ' with my wifes cousings teenage daughter Heather Harding and my Gaming Journalist estranged buddy Neil Ginx who is a presenter for a video gaming tv channel called Ginx.
But the thing is, no disrespect - Heather and Neil aren't really playing at the same level. To that end they are playing the same game. In Neil's case it's probably down to the fact that he's got to play the latest releases so he can talk about them - he isn't going to be able to spend time playing an ancient game even if he wanted to - his very spread out 36,000 gamer points are good indicator of his playing habits.
In Heather's case, she just isn't really a game, a paltry 3000 gamer points, fairly spread out... I don't think she's playing anything at the moment. At the time they just happened to be the only two people on my friends list who had Left 4 Dead 2.
You can have a lot of fun playing a game like Left 4 Dead, most people probably finish the campaigns on normal, get some achievements, play a smattering of multiplayer - then move on. But in some respects these people are missing out. The dynamics and inticacies of the game change as you get past the casual player barrier.
In many respects, playing either game on Expert, particularly Expert Realism on part 2 is NOT fun, it is incredibly challenging. I'd put it up there with all any gaming challenge to get 'The Real Deal'. 'You got something to prove' is though - only 3% of Giantbombs 17000 players who own the game have it. The equivalent in the sequel is even less got - only 2%. The Real Deal only involves one campaign - but less than 3.5% have it?
Changing from Normal to Expert Realism is like changing games, it forces you to change the way you play. On Normal, the horde are a bit of a hinderance that tries to wear you down or pin you while a special gets on top of you. In Expert they are a serious threat. A Normal infected does 1% of damage per hit, so 5 infected charging up and whacking you drops you to 95% from healthy? An Expert infected deals 20% with a hit to the front or 10% to the back - so the same 5 running up and hitting you in the face will incap you. Suddenly stopping the infected getting a hit in is critical - whereas before it didn't really matter.
They are also far harder to kill. A shot with any gun anywhere on a normal infected will probably drop it - most guns take several hits on Expert, on Realism, the hits should really be to the head for them to be effective. Tanks, incap in one hit from 100% health too - and kill in about three... The witch insta-kills. If you are on Realism there are no hero closets, you only respawn at the next safe room.
The general picture is that the game can quickly become frustratingly difficult, the slightest thing going wrong at the wrong time can ruin it for even an excellent team.
It can be very frustrating... But very exciting too!
I wonder how many people play, how many games past the 'casual point' ? I know I enjoyed Gears of War 1 & 2 but I never played them to death, I enjoyed the story more than the game mechanics... I played Street Fighter 2 to a silly level past Casual... Some games are meant to be played until they've run dry... And some games just don't have that level of play within them... I'm talkig about the Super Mario ' Lost Levels' Level, the bit that isn't really designed for the casual player. It strikes me that the developers who write in the 'challenge' level of gameplay must be very optimistic about the popularity of their title.
I don't think it's good commercial sense either. People pay £40 for a game, if that game suddenly absorbs a player completely and they don't bother buying or playing anything else - then that's one down for the gaming market? I think the high challenge sections of games are written in by developers because they know games, they love games and they write them not for profit - but to create something, to create an experience that the people love and hate to drag themselves away from. They want to create difficult challenges that people want to attempt to beat, because they enjoy the challenge.
I suppose a casual gamer probably can't understand this - getting wiped within 10 seconds of stating a campaign isn't fun... But for some of us, we recognise that it can be done - and as soon as we do, we have to do it, we have to find out how we can do it... And we do it..
One which has been eluding me is 'What Are You Trying to Prove?' I got No Mercy a long long time ago - using the Jesus Room, then recently I mopped up the last few. The hardest one was Blood Harvest - in the end I had to resort to a trick.
For anyone stuck on this here are my tips.
General Tips:-
--------------
1. Find out all the tricks for the level you are trying to do - You Tube isn't a bad source. Try several of them.
2. If you aren't using a trick - closet camp for the horde, then rush out into the open for the tanks.
3. Try to have pipe bombs and molotovs spare for the dash to the rescue vehicle.
4. When going through the normal campaigns - have the person with an Auto Shotgun take out the witches - Expert dumps several of them right in your path. The trick is to not start shooting while she is invulnerable - then shoot as fast as possible point blank to the head as she becomes vulnerable. It's easy on easy, but witch killing on Expert takes some practice.
5. When dealing with tanks, campaign or finale, either kite or light - never both. The tank is faster when it's on fire - as is the witch. If you set him on fire you start to bleed his health and you don't need to shoot - you can run slightly faster running forwards if he's not on fire and you are healthy you should be able to kite him if you can dodge the thrown rocks.
6. Keep your bots alive - bots are very good at killing specials, if they DO get pounced - then rescue them straight away as on Expert the specials do incredible damage.
7. Save First Aid Kits - try to survive on pills, you should ideally only be using FA in safe rooms and at the finale.
8. The tricks:-
1. No Mercy [The Jesus Room].
On this one - in the centre of the roof top is a little square room with stairs going up to a door. It does NOT open in Survival Mode, ONLY campaign. (The door I mean) What you need to do is get on top above the door and survive until the infect break the door. Only infected can break the door - once it's broken - get inside and stand back from the door - make sure you don't go Idle.
When the chopper is ready - throw a pipe bomb and run.
2. Death Toll [The Jesus Rock].
Ideally have everyone grab sniper rifles or Assault Rifles. Try to have everyone grab a grenade of some sort - at least two of you should have a pipe bomb. There is no ammo on the jesus rock - so load up - try to have doubvle pistols and use them on the infected as much as possible.
Now leave the boathouse and walk along the shore past where you catch the boat - there is a little flat rock at the end of the beach. To get on take a running leap from about 2 metres aaway - and as you hit the rock hit jump again. Once four of you are up there - whoever is mos confident about getting up should go back and alert the hoarde, then try to rush back and jump on. Once all four of you are up there have two people use double pistols and melee to keep the infected from climbing onto the rock the same way you came - the other two should watch the water where most Smokers appear and can drag you off the rock. You can shoot the tank, save your rifle ammo for it - but be more concerned about shooting the rocks he throws at you. Be ready to get hunters off people.
When the boat turns up - throw your pipe bombs and run.
3. Dead Air. [The Jesus Plane]
I didn't use this - I had a good team, but I'll explain how it works in case you need it.
From the nose of the rescue plane there is a truck straight ahead, facing the truck, to the right of the truck is luggage trolley. Get gas cans or petrol cans and go behind the luggage trolley - then throw them at it and run into them - you are trying to knock it over! Eventually it'll go and you can push it so it's in between the truck and the nose of the plane. Then keep moving it a bit - then trying it - it's a tricky jump - has to be done like the Jesus Rock jump, but you jump off the truck onto the luggage trolley, then off the trolley onto the nose of the plane. Once you are all up - let the most confident jumper go alert the hoarde. Then crouch in the centre between the wings and melee each other (Smokers can get you - this provides protection) When the ramp opens - throw your pipe bombs, drop down and rush in.
Alternatively you can hold up on the hill - you have to be able to defend against the horde here - but tanks are easy, they tend to get stuck behind the plane and you can shoot their legs underneath. If this happens rush close to the plane so he can't find a way around.
4. Blood Harvest.
Easily the hardest finale, if you get to the farmhouse intact - load up on pipe bombs, molotovs, weapons, first aid and ammo. If you have a decent team and want to play it straight then either hold up in the barn, or the upstairs washroom. When the tank comes - get out in the open and kite him around the house.
If you need to use the trick , follow the fence outside the front of the house to the left. Eventually you find a broken up bit that is impassible with corrugated iron and barbed wire, and a couple of tree stumps. This is where the secret invisible walkway is. You jump as high as you can - not as if you are trying to land on the closest stump - but BEFORE the stup - you should end up suspended in the air. Then walk parallel to the fence towards the bankside and jump to get up. Once up, follow the ledge around to the lone tree on the edge of the map. Crouch, don't go idle - and send the most confident one to alert the hoarde.
When the vehicle arrives, throw your bombs and leg it towards the barn. Be aware a hunter and smoker might be waiting for you.
So what next?
My final achievements are all doable on easy - safety first, nothing special and untouchables. So I'll be taking a break from Expert mode - which I'll miss, it forces you to play in a different way - it's very unforgiving, but it's also very exciting.
After I've S-ranked Left 4 Dead I'm going to Left 4 Dead 2 to mop up some of those. The last one I got was ' The Real Deal ' but I still need to get 'Still got something top prove?' and some of the other little ones. I also need the zombie genocide achievement and red mist, but I'll get those just by playing.
After that I guess I'll play multiplayer exclusively apart from helping others. The campaigns are great - but they take a while and it's good to have a goal in mind when you are working through them.
Reflections and shout outs.
Playing Left 4 Dead and the sequel, on Expert for quite a while now has given me a new appreciation for the game. I have to give credit for an XBOX Live player - Unworthy Leopard who helped me with Blood Harvest immensely and sacrificed himself to the waiting Hunter so I could escape. Originally I was going to try to do ' The Real Deal ' with my wifes cousings teenage daughter Heather Harding and my Gaming Journalist estranged buddy Neil Ginx who is a presenter for a video gaming tv channel called Ginx.
But the thing is, no disrespect - Heather and Neil aren't really playing at the same level. To that end they are playing the same game. In Neil's case it's probably down to the fact that he's got to play the latest releases so he can talk about them - he isn't going to be able to spend time playing an ancient game even if he wanted to - his very spread out 36,000 gamer points are good indicator of his playing habits.
In Heather's case, she just isn't really a game, a paltry 3000 gamer points, fairly spread out... I don't think she's playing anything at the moment. At the time they just happened to be the only two people on my friends list who had Left 4 Dead 2.
You can have a lot of fun playing a game like Left 4 Dead, most people probably finish the campaigns on normal, get some achievements, play a smattering of multiplayer - then move on. But in some respects these people are missing out. The dynamics and inticacies of the game change as you get past the casual player barrier.
In many respects, playing either game on Expert, particularly Expert Realism on part 2 is NOT fun, it is incredibly challenging. I'd put it up there with all any gaming challenge to get 'The Real Deal'. 'You got something to prove' is though - only 3% of Giantbombs 17000 players who own the game have it. The equivalent in the sequel is even less got - only 2%. The Real Deal only involves one campaign - but less than 3.5% have it?
Changing from Normal to Expert Realism is like changing games, it forces you to change the way you play. On Normal, the horde are a bit of a hinderance that tries to wear you down or pin you while a special gets on top of you. In Expert they are a serious threat. A Normal infected does 1% of damage per hit, so 5 infected charging up and whacking you drops you to 95% from healthy? An Expert infected deals 20% with a hit to the front or 10% to the back - so the same 5 running up and hitting you in the face will incap you. Suddenly stopping the infected getting a hit in is critical - whereas before it didn't really matter.
They are also far harder to kill. A shot with any gun anywhere on a normal infected will probably drop it - most guns take several hits on Expert, on Realism, the hits should really be to the head for them to be effective. Tanks, incap in one hit from 100% health too - and kill in about three... The witch insta-kills. If you are on Realism there are no hero closets, you only respawn at the next safe room.
The general picture is that the game can quickly become frustratingly difficult, the slightest thing going wrong at the wrong time can ruin it for even an excellent team.
It can be very frustrating... But very exciting too!
I wonder how many people play, how many games past the 'casual point' ? I know I enjoyed Gears of War 1 & 2 but I never played them to death, I enjoyed the story more than the game mechanics... I played Street Fighter 2 to a silly level past Casual... Some games are meant to be played until they've run dry... And some games just don't have that level of play within them... I'm talkig about the Super Mario ' Lost Levels' Level, the bit that isn't really designed for the casual player. It strikes me that the developers who write in the 'challenge' level of gameplay must be very optimistic about the popularity of their title.
I don't think it's good commercial sense either. People pay £40 for a game, if that game suddenly absorbs a player completely and they don't bother buying or playing anything else - then that's one down for the gaming market? I think the high challenge sections of games are written in by developers because they know games, they love games and they write them not for profit - but to create something, to create an experience that the people love and hate to drag themselves away from. They want to create difficult challenges that people want to attempt to beat, because they enjoy the challenge.
I suppose a casual gamer probably can't understand this - getting wiped within 10 seconds of stating a campaign isn't fun... But for some of us, we recognise that it can be done - and as soon as we do, we have to do it, we have to find out how we can do it... And we do it..
Monday, 14 November 2011
Left 4 Dead 3 : The Griefer Solution.
Okay,
So I was trying to finally finish 'You got something to prove?' on Left 4 Dead last night, on the XBOX360. Everything was going okay, I only had a reasonably good team - and with dropouts there tended to always be one bot on side.
We got through though... Until the final part, the bit with the finale in. Now one of our team had had to leave, two folks joined... And proceeded to kill the survivors. Not cool - unusually they were seperate XBOX Live accounts - not two griefers on split-screen on one XBOX.
This persisted for quite some time, in the end I ran out of time and couldn't finish the level. It posed something of a problem - originally I thought the solution to the griefer situation was to only allow one vote per XBOX, so two split screen players would only get one vote.
In this case that would NOT have worked.
I was thinking about an alternative, and I think it could be weight of vote. The way this works is it rewards good play with weight of vote, and griefing with a reduction in weight of vote.
So I would suggest a system something like:-
1. Started the lobby : + 300 weight of vote.
2. Joined at the lobby stage : + 200 weight of vote.
3. Completed the a section part of a campaign : + (100 x Sections have completed) WOV. So it you if go from lobby to end of section 2, you got 100 WOV for the first part, then 200 for the second part - total 300 WOV. If you joined in the second but stay until the end you get 100 WOV. If you joined in the first then stay to the last part you get 100 + 200 + 300 + 400 WOV (1100 total) This represents an investment you made in the play session.
4. Damaged the tank : + (damage dealt to tank/100)
5. Damaged the witch : + (damage dealt to witch/100)
6. Killed an infect : + 1 WOV
7. Healed a survivor : + 10 WOV
8. Revived a survivor : + 5 WOV
9. Gave pills to a survivor : + 2 WOV
10. Dealt friendly fire : - 100 WOV per incident.
11. Incapped a survivor : - 1000 WOV per incident.
12. Killed a survivor : - 1000 WOV per incident.
13. Got kicked from this session : - 1000 WOV.
So what does this do? It means anyone griefing basically has to do it in the first couple of sections of a campaign - and if you play well, they'll struggle to do this. Say you and a friend make it to part 3 of a campaign. You might acrue the following:-
You:-
-------
1. Started the lobby : + 300 weight of vote.
2. Completed one section : + 100 WOV
3. Complete the second section : + 200 WOV
4. Killed 120 infected : + 120 WOV
5. Dealt 2100 Damage to the tank : + 210 WOV
6. Revived 4 survivors: + 20 WOV
7. Gave pills once : + 2 WOV
Total = 952 WOV.
Your friend:-
1. Joined at the lobby stage : + 200 weight of vote.
2. Completed one section : + 100 WOV
3. Complete the second section : + 200 WOV
4. Killed 117 infected : + 117 WOV
5. Dealt 1150 Damage to the tank : + 115 WOV
6. Revived 2 survivors: + 10 WOV
7. Gave pills twice : + 4 WOV
Total = 746 WOV.
Now Johhny griefer and his friend join the game, play through one campaign section and then proceed to start griefing.
They might get 100 for the camapaign section they do, and maybe 100 infected and 100 tank dam WOV each. Maybe a bit more? That means they will acquire 400 or so WOV each if they play properly and help out a bit - 0r 800 in total?
Now as it stands you and your buddy have much more time invested in the game, so it's right that you should be able to vote them off. Which you could do as you would have at least another 400 WOV at the the of that campaign section each.
At the same time, so long as they're half decent, they'd be be better than bots? So you let them stay! Now they decide to grief you - one of them shoots you, incaps you and kills you - straight away they are in the negative, they can be voted off immediately.
They come back? Well they need to find another game, because you can vote them straight off again!
Now if the reverse happened and the two who joined first were griefers, yes they could vote joiners out easily - but then the joiners can start their own campaign and have the protection that gives them. If the griefers decide to start killing the joiners - then very quickly the joiners will usurp them as the ones with the authority over the campaign as they are playing the game as intended.
I think a system like this would not only be beneficial, but is needed - if it can't be patched into Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, then it should be in Left 4 Dead 3. In extreme scenarios - as the system is now, you can be 90% through a campaign, have some assholes join and grief so much your buddy gets frustrated and leaves, then vote you out and quit - losing all your time invested with very little defence about it apart from the rather limited XBX Live Feedback system.
So I was trying to finally finish 'You got something to prove?' on Left 4 Dead last night, on the XBOX360. Everything was going okay, I only had a reasonably good team - and with dropouts there tended to always be one bot on side.
We got through though... Until the final part, the bit with the finale in. Now one of our team had had to leave, two folks joined... And proceeded to kill the survivors. Not cool - unusually they were seperate XBOX Live accounts - not two griefers on split-screen on one XBOX.
This persisted for quite some time, in the end I ran out of time and couldn't finish the level. It posed something of a problem - originally I thought the solution to the griefer situation was to only allow one vote per XBOX, so two split screen players would only get one vote.
In this case that would NOT have worked.
I was thinking about an alternative, and I think it could be weight of vote. The way this works is it rewards good play with weight of vote, and griefing with a reduction in weight of vote.
So I would suggest a system something like:-
1. Started the lobby : + 300 weight of vote.
2. Joined at the lobby stage : + 200 weight of vote.
3. Completed the a section part of a campaign : + (100 x Sections have completed) WOV. So it you if go from lobby to end of section 2, you got 100 WOV for the first part, then 200 for the second part - total 300 WOV. If you joined in the second but stay until the end you get 100 WOV. If you joined in the first then stay to the last part you get 100 + 200 + 300 + 400 WOV (1100 total) This represents an investment you made in the play session.
4. Damaged the tank : + (damage dealt to tank/100)
5. Damaged the witch : + (damage dealt to witch/100)
6. Killed an infect : + 1 WOV
7. Healed a survivor : + 10 WOV
8. Revived a survivor : + 5 WOV
9. Gave pills to a survivor : + 2 WOV
10. Dealt friendly fire : - 100 WOV per incident.
11. Incapped a survivor : - 1000 WOV per incident.
12. Killed a survivor : - 1000 WOV per incident.
13. Got kicked from this session : - 1000 WOV.
So what does this do? It means anyone griefing basically has to do it in the first couple of sections of a campaign - and if you play well, they'll struggle to do this. Say you and a friend make it to part 3 of a campaign. You might acrue the following:-
You:-
-------
1. Started the lobby : + 300 weight of vote.
2. Completed one section : + 100 WOV
3. Complete the second section : + 200 WOV
4. Killed 120 infected : + 120 WOV
5. Dealt 2100 Damage to the tank : + 210 WOV
6. Revived 4 survivors: + 20 WOV
7. Gave pills once : + 2 WOV
Total = 952 WOV.
Your friend:-
1. Joined at the lobby stage : + 200 weight of vote.
2. Completed one section : + 100 WOV
3. Complete the second section : + 200 WOV
4. Killed 117 infected : + 117 WOV
5. Dealt 1150 Damage to the tank : + 115 WOV
6. Revived 2 survivors: + 10 WOV
7. Gave pills twice : + 4 WOV
Total = 746 WOV.
Now Johhny griefer and his friend join the game, play through one campaign section and then proceed to start griefing.
They might get 100 for the camapaign section they do, and maybe 100 infected and 100 tank dam WOV each. Maybe a bit more? That means they will acquire 400 or so WOV each if they play properly and help out a bit - 0r 800 in total?
Now as it stands you and your buddy have much more time invested in the game, so it's right that you should be able to vote them off. Which you could do as you would have at least another 400 WOV at the the of that campaign section each.
At the same time, so long as they're half decent, they'd be be better than bots? So you let them stay! Now they decide to grief you - one of them shoots you, incaps you and kills you - straight away they are in the negative, they can be voted off immediately.
They come back? Well they need to find another game, because you can vote them straight off again!
Now if the reverse happened and the two who joined first were griefers, yes they could vote joiners out easily - but then the joiners can start their own campaign and have the protection that gives them. If the griefers decide to start killing the joiners - then very quickly the joiners will usurp them as the ones with the authority over the campaign as they are playing the game as intended.
I think a system like this would not only be beneficial, but is needed - if it can't be patched into Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, then it should be in Left 4 Dead 3. In extreme scenarios - as the system is now, you can be 90% through a campaign, have some assholes join and grief so much your buddy gets frustrated and leaves, then vote you out and quit - losing all your time invested with very little defence about it apart from the rather limited XBX Live Feedback system.
Friday, 21 October 2011
A Continued disillusionment with games...
I was really, really excited about Batman: Arkham City. I loved the Arkham Asylum game and used to consider it not only the best Batman game of all time but possibly the best super hero game too.
Since having my soul destroyed by playing Duke Nukem Forever, I've found it increasingly difficult to garner any enthusiasm for games. Admittedly part of this might be that I just don't have the personal time required to get into games in the way that I used to - spending 36 hours over a weekend, surviving on crisps, chocolate bars, pop and beer is not an option now I have a wife, and a family - yet I do long for days like that again, there's something magical about getting completely absorbed in a game so that your eyes are bleeding, your brain is melting and you feel like you are really, really there...
The things I liked about Batman was the polished feel of the game, the creativity you could express in defeating the enemies - there was always so many ways you could choose to tackle a situation. I liked the huge cast of super villains, the dark setting of Arkham Asylum and the wierd dream sequences...
I suppose part of me would love to get into Arkham City, but maybe part of me wants to hate it because I know I won't have the time to invest to get the most out of it.
Another game I was really excited about - and might have even pre-ordered was Gears of War 3. Gears of War 1 & 2 were really my introduction to the XBOX 360, and my introduction to the concept of 'cover shooters' I loved the stories, the settings, the combat - although it took me a while to get my head around 'how to succeed' I still think Gears is a hard game, at least on above normal difficulty setting.
Yet here we are, it's on the shelf and I don't bother picking it up - why? Because I won't get time to play it, it'll just mean more and more frustration as I want to put more hours into it which I simply don't have. I'll probably pick it up used around christmas time and hop I can snatch a few hours here and there... Instead I'm putting all my gaming time into S-ranking Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, sad porbably but I can't motivate myself into playing anything else - apart from a bit of Rome: Total War when the mood takes me...
Sometimes I envy the guys over at the video games tv channel afterall - I have to divide my time work / jobs at home / Open University / Family / Wife / Kids / Games. A huge portion of that time - 8 hours a day is dedicated to work! If I could incorporate some games playing into that time, it would be easier to fit everything in - but it's hard to get paid to play games. Not many jobs pay you to effectively have fun.
I suppose the unfortunate reality is that sometimes you probably have to play games you don't want to play and you then have to spend time writing script about games you didn't like - that sound remotely positive, because otherwise the publishers won't send you more games and the games are your content. That could be soul destroying at times too.
I mean if there was a programme based on my gaming habits over the last month it would be pretty damn boring - just me carrying on about Left 4 Dead 2 and not much else... No - in some respects I think Gaming is a nice thing to keep as a hobby, it's just a pity I can't spend more time on it.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Left 4 Dead 2 : Achievement Hunting
I have recently decided to start mopping up achievements since I claimed 'The Real Deal' my overall goal is to 100% or S-rank Left 4 Dead 2, then I might even go back and do the same for Left 4 Dead!
The thing is, there are ways to make this incredible easy at times - elusive achievements can become very easy and quick to get. How? Easy, look at the weekly Mutation and look at your list of ' still working on ' and see if there's anything that the mutation will make super easy. An example - this week (20/10/2011) we are on Gib Fest, the unlimited M60 game mode. Which makes not only the campaign super easy - but the achievement, 'Till it goes click' super easy too. Normally you have to play 'The Passing' to get the M60 and even, there's no guaruntee it will spawn, if it does spawn you need to throw a bile bomb ideally when there's a hoarde rush and get the other survivors to hold off.
In 'Gib Fest' you just run around with your finger held down on the trigger - the infinite ammo deals with the rest.
Another example - 'Tank Burger' getting a group together who are happy to try for this can be tricky. However - if the mutation becomes 'Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse' then you are easily going to get it.
There are various other easy tactics for getting achievements - watch this space I'll be reporting on them soon.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Bridge over Trebled Slaughter
Well, I managed to bag another achievement today which had been eluding me.
It's not an easy one to get - perhaps one that you would think would be easy - however it's worth 30 points, and for a reason.
However if you're pretty good at the game - I think I can give you a few tips to get you this one fairly easily. First of all the rules - the timer starts when the bridge goes down, I'm 99% sure of this. It certainly does NOT start until the saferoom door has opened.
Now some other points about this one:-
1. You can get it on easy mode.
2. You can't rely on the computer - it will hang around fighting the tank while you are trying for a quick time.
3. You can't rely on other people - they'll probably slow you down or aren't trying for the achievement.
So what do you do about this?
Firstly - use single player - you can skip to the Bridge and there's no chance of griefers spoiling it for you.
Second - start on Expert - kill all the other survivors - this sounds counter-intuitive, you can leave one alive if you like - but it's probably safer to wipe them out.
Now once they're dead grab a melee weapon, and the combat shotgun, if that's not there get an assault rifle - the magnum would be good if it was there too. Also grab a pipebomb.
Now go through the saferoom door - and get the bridge going down. Once it's down, don't head down the centre as you usually do - hug the left hand edge of the bridge and run like mad - eventually you'll get infected charging you - run and shoot don't stop. The computer tends to throw a lot of infected at you near the start - doing this you'll probably bypass them.
As you get near to the bit where you climb up to the second level where the hummer and the supplies are - use your shot, grab another shot from the jeep - if there isn't one - there will be one in the lorries - keep running and shooting, when you're not shooting make sure you are loading.
As you get near the tank part - keep running, don't fight the tank, run around him. As you are about to clear the lopsided bit and make the final run for the chopper - throw your pipebomb and use the next shot - you can get specials attack you near the end or a second tank - so be on your guard, it's not easy - but that's the easiest way of doing it.
It's not an easy one to get - perhaps one that you would think would be easy - however it's worth 30 points, and for a reason.
However if you're pretty good at the game - I think I can give you a few tips to get you this one fairly easily. First of all the rules - the timer starts when the bridge goes down, I'm 99% sure of this. It certainly does NOT start until the saferoom door has opened.
Now some other points about this one:-
1. You can get it on easy mode.
2. You can't rely on the computer - it will hang around fighting the tank while you are trying for a quick time.
3. You can't rely on other people - they'll probably slow you down or aren't trying for the achievement.
So what do you do about this?
Firstly - use single player - you can skip to the Bridge and there's no chance of griefers spoiling it for you.
Second - start on Expert - kill all the other survivors - this sounds counter-intuitive, you can leave one alive if you like - but it's probably safer to wipe them out.
Now once they're dead grab a melee weapon, and the combat shotgun, if that's not there get an assault rifle - the magnum would be good if it was there too. Also grab a pipebomb.
Now go through the saferoom door - and get the bridge going down. Once it's down, don't head down the centre as you usually do - hug the left hand edge of the bridge and run like mad - eventually you'll get infected charging you - run and shoot don't stop. The computer tends to throw a lot of infected at you near the start - doing this you'll probably bypass them.
As you get near to the bit where you climb up to the second level where the hummer and the supplies are - use your shot, grab another shot from the jeep - if there isn't one - there will be one in the lorries - keep running and shooting, when you're not shooting make sure you are loading.
As you get near the tank part - keep running, don't fight the tank, run around him. As you are about to clear the lopsided bit and make the final run for the chopper - throw your pipebomb and use the next shot - you can get specials attack you near the end or a second tank - so be on your guard, it's not easy - but that's the easiest way of doing it.
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Expert Realism Defeated : 'The Read Deal' Achievement claimed.
Well, I did it, I finally managed to scrap my way through Left 4 Dead 2 on Expert Difficulty, Realism mode - earning the achievement. A rare achievement actually - according the Giantbomb's stats page only 3.3% of the 12,000 odd players of Left 4 Dead 2 or about 360 players.
Now first of all - I have to say, the success was down to getting into a really good team. Normally when I play - I'm pretty strong, I tend to feel like I'm usually at least equal strongest in the team. I'm often the guy handing out pills, helping people up and limping to the safe room when everyone else bitten the bullet...
However in this particular team, I was more the dude bringing up the rear, watching peoples backs and being helped up and given pills! The honour roll of the folk I did it with:-
ALEX DE RUE
Rabbid Sloth
Le Picard
If anyone wants to do Expert Realism, hit these guys up for a game, considering so many others I've been teamed up with - have failed so often - we made it look pretty easy - nobody got killed, there were very few incaps and rarely were all the first aid kits in the safe room actually used.
I did make another observation about Dead Center which makes it a particuarly easy campaign to beat - it's the haz-mat guys. Every time you kill one there's a chance they will drop a boomer bile jar. These are incredibly useful and when there are a lot of zombies piling in - with the haz-mat guys - you can sometimes end up with an almost endless supply.
So apart from that - what's the secret to beating Expert Realism?
Okay here's my quick list for how to do it.
1. Be good, be VERY good, you should be able to clear the first part of Dead Center with the crappy computer AI only for help.
2. Choose Dead Center - for loads of reasons it's an easier campaign.
3. Be in as good a team as you can - if there's one idiot, or person who isn't very good - then you may as well play Scavenge and try another time.
4. Save your pipe bombs and boomer biles for hoard rushes.
5. Take extreme care not to hit each other with friendly fire - but never avoid taking a shot, the damage you deal with a firearm is less then the infected.
6. If a hunter, charger or smoker grabs someone - save them quick, there's no time to pause.
7. If you meet a tank heal or take pills - yo need to be able to manouvre.
8. If a witch blocks your path - use the combat shotgun, disturb her when your gun is full and don't start shooting until she is vulnerable - go for the head at point blank range.
9. Try to keep the whole team healthy and alive. If you get to the safe room and everyone is limping along in the red - the healthiest person should kill the others before you close the door- that way everyone gets 50% health
10. Remember the choke points and pick your spots to hold out, be patient, but move quickly when you're not fighting.
Finally - make sure you check every spot where health and weapons spawn - to keep yourself healthy and well armed.
Weapons wise - at the gun store get the Magnum and put your laser sight on the magnum, it's a must gun for Expert Realism, infinite ammo and one shot will more or less stop a zombie almost anywhere you hit it. Well, that's not strictly true - go for the head of course, or a limb - particularly if you're on the floor shoot at the legs. It will blow the arms off infected but that won't stop them - taking the legs out will!
Don't forget to take your time, the best strategy is to be patient, fight hard and move fast when you are moving.
All in all, if everyone plays a good game, it can be easier than you think, certainly eaiser than 99% of people who attempt it make it.
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