Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Gaph
May 15, 2007

Painkiller is so much fun, I can't believe I didn't buy it in 2004 when I played the demo. It seemed too simple to maintain fun but it's surprisingly layered. Turning into a demon every 66 souls, juggling ragdolls in the air for extra gold, gold that pays for your (everlasting) tarot cards that modify the game in a pseudo-RPG way, shooting a stake through a grenade. I love that you can have two weapons bound to switch, fire and switch back. So I can be using my shotgun and instantly use the painkiller or shoot a grenade without actually switching weapons. It's awesome to be so in control of all your weapons.

I could say a lot more but the sum of the parts here adds up to something wonderful.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Agreed posted:

Oh, poo poo, you keep tarot cards forever?

I said the same thing. Experience told me that bonus cards are one-time use, so when I found out that you get to keep the cards forever it blew my mind. Ever since unlocking the cards has been my primary aim. Second, it's finding all the secrets/artifacts and juggling enemies to make enough gold to actually play the card, besides just being a lot of fun. After you complete the level the entirety of it opens up so you can backtrack and explore at your leisure.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Following up on Painkiller, I just finished it. My enthusiasm was a bit drained towards the end. It kept putting out great levels with even harder secrets to find and new enemies to occupy them but I was getting annoyed with all the enemies that could shoot me. It just seemed better with melee-only enemies and a stakegun. For the most part the tarot cards were less interesting/useful/fun and I basically stuck with the same ones until the end. Plus I had so much gold I would never be unable to play any cards I wanted to. All the weapons rock but, once you get the rocket launcher/chaingun, though fun in it's utter destruction, made things too easy and kind of steals the thunder from your other weapons.

Still eager for more I started up Battle out of Hell, this time on Nightmare difficulty (second highest) and it has totally relit my fire. Besides being on a higher difficulty, in which you take more damage and receive less ammo, this expansion seems to address everything I could've hoped for. Mainly the new tarot cards are excellent and work with the game in such a way that you'll want to be swapping them out depending on the level. Which in turn gives the gold you collect some actual value. The requirements for unlocking the cards are also more challenging and fun.

The first card you can unlock is Weapon Modifier, which mimics the effects of the quad damage pickup. Every weapon is effected in some way, for instance stakes shoot in a straight line with no arc and they're always on fire, grenade explosions leave a circle of fire and the shotgun has practically zero spread making it powerful even at long ranges.

It's pure awesome, I can't believe some of the reviews this has gotten. Once I'm finished with Battle out of Hell I'll still not have seen everything so I'm going to gladly replay everything at Trauma difficulty.

Gaph fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Mar 26, 2009

Gaph
May 15, 2007

That's rough. I guess the only advantage GOG has is that it's region free, as in not restricted to North America only? Or has that changed on Steam?

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Yeah I'd rather get the games from GOG but it's still hard to argue with $9.99 for all that. I think GOG might have something up their sleeve though, something similar maybe. Landing Ubisoft was a big deal for them and it's their 100 game milestone.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Sombrerotron posted:

Also, I'm surprised these Deus Ex tracks haven't been linked yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaVUJpCl-Yc

Ah, DuClare Chateau, my favorite among a lot of great tracks. The remixed version from 'The Long Night' is good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kurrYPFRnE

Gaph
May 15, 2007

HitmanAndQuitIt posted:

Holllly poo poo. Getting this SO FAST.

I said the exact same thing. I'm more excited by the idea that it's so easily obtainable for people who've never played it. The cutscenes are beautiful and I still think it's the pinnacle use of sound in a game.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

I hope the non-human parts don't discourage new players. This is where you can freely hack-n-slash and blow up uglies without repercussion. It's a nice balance with the more pacifist human missions. So some general tips:

-BIND A KEY TO LEAN FORWARD, as long as you're hidden you can blackjack enemies head-on, even if they're searching for you

-Flash bombs damage/can kill the undead, more damage the closer they are to the detonation
-Unaware Burricks can be blackjacked/backstabbed/killed with a broadhead arrow to the head
-All arrows can be used to hit buttons from afar
-Aim for the midsection with holy water and fire arrows for the most damage
-Lean into doors to hear behind them

Unlucky7 posted:

- Does equipment/gold carry over between stages?
No, spend all your money before and use all your equipment during missions.

- Is there an easier way to traverse the Checked Stone Floors of gently caress You rather than crouch, hold down the slow down key, and pray?
You can tap forwards to avoid ever making a footfall. Moss arrows can be used later to dampen loud surfaces.

Gaph fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Feb 1, 2012

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Al! posted:

I think the biggest question is why Garrett has decided that tap shoes were the most appropriate for his profession.

I've got a game theory: loud shoes are the culmination of all the other sounds you'd be making sneaking around with all that equipment and loot. It would be interesting if loot had a noise value, preferring lightweight gems and rings over golden goblets and crowns, at the expense of jingling when you move. Being greedy would make it difficult to escape.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Rinkles posted:

Yeah, I really wanted to like Human Revolution, the art, the world, the character trees were all there but after reflecting on it, I realized I wasn't really having fun. I'm not even entirely sure why, but the game never grabbed me.

For me it didn't join the ranks of Deus Ex or System Shock 2. A high quality game but it's not a modern immersive sim. Though that's a term that is hard to define, even harder to design.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

ToxicFrog posted:

Con:
- has some of the worst Thief missions, like Precious Cargo and Kidnap
- robots

People liked Shipping... And Receiving? Ugh it's too big.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Dominic White posted:

Oh yeah, for those who are using Tafferpatch for Thief 2, check out the DDFix.ini file after install. You might want to turn down the bloom amount (128 is fine - 255 is way excessive), but also turn on the Dynamic Gamma option, which gives Garrett convincing night-vision. No longer will you wander into a dark room and be completely blind, as he'll gain cat-like sight in a few seconds.

It also affects the bloom, so you'll only see 'glaring' brightness if it's a single light in an otherwise dark scene. In a well-lit room, lights will appear normal. It works pretty great.

Loving the dynamic gamma. After a little tweaking it's pretty perfect, getting a consistent level of visibility from complete darkness to bright lit rooms and the effect is seamless. Now you can always see but without looking washed out.

Increased the decay so things brighten up faster and also scaled down the health icons and stealth gem so there's less glare from them. Just less visual fatigue from all that high contrast. Still seems like a modern game.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Galaga Galaxian posted:

I take it dynamic Gamma is Thief 2 only? Not present in Thief 1?

Check the DDFix.ini in your Thief folder. Turn on postprocessing and tweak dynamic gamma if needed. Not sure though.

e: Looks like those features were added in ddfix 1.5.11. I have to try this with SS2.

Gaph fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Feb 11, 2012

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Flying blackjacks can be especially useful around loud surfaces. With timing you can knockout a guard before your feet hit the floor, ninja style. Hold down attack to prime the blackjack, get a running jump/fall and then release in mid-air when close enough.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Finished 'Shipping... And Receiving' last night, took 1 hour 51 minutes. I don't get to say immersive very often anymore but Thief is crazy immersive. It's cool just how involving each mission becomes, the gameplay has you intensely focused the entire time. Missions start as big unknowns that you slowly piece together as you explore. By the end you've gotten intimately familiar with the place. Each mission stands as it's own experience and you can probably only stomach one session at a time without a break in between. Technically I guess that means it has terrible pacing and the intensity should be carefully dosed throughout the entire game but instead Thief gives you one concentrated experience after another and you set the pace. Just something you don't see anymore.

Gaph fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Feb 13, 2012

Gaph
May 15, 2007

http://freetexthost.com/a14mlgf1kt

There's mine. Got everything I need close by. You can open the .BND files with notepad to edit them, they are in the SAVES folders.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+End = autowin, skip to the next mission.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Red Mundus posted:

*edit* Had to skip over "escape!" too. This game kinda....poo poo itself near the end didn't it?

No matter, still one of the best games I've played. Just kind of wished "all monster, all the time" wasn't the game design philosophy near the end.

I knew you were going to skip that one too! I just remember being trapped below ground with ratmen and spiders for an eternity. Escape! makes the other monster missions seem like pure gold. In fact the Bonehoard and Lost City are gems IMO. Mantling and rope arrows; it's like Tomb Raider and it works. Even the zombies and burricks are welcome cohabitants in a harmless "that's cute" sort of way, they're just curiosities in between you and your loot.

Gaph
May 15, 2007

Thief 2 has been a great game to do a mission a night. It's easy to drop for a few days and pick right back up. Here's your briefing video, objectives and loadout, have fun. Nice the way it's divided into 1-2 hour chunks. Just finished up First City Bank & Trust and loved it, it was huge! Reminded me of the goon who said that the devs built the levels first and then fit objectives in, seemed like learning your way around comes easier than Thief 1. Blackmail is next and that's where I stopped playing last time, mission bugged and couldn't complete it.

Gaph fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Feb 18, 2012

Gaph
May 15, 2007

I'll go off on a crazy limb and say that getting an hour or two of gameplay from a mission that is loaded just once, no transitions, is incredibly important to what makes Thief. From wandering around looking for a way in at the beginning of a mission to snagging the last of the gold on your way out, all happens (not counting quickloads) in one seamless go. Imagine pausing for even a second or two to load the next part would kinda really suck some life out of the game. Dividing a level also tends to isolate gameplay, e.g. any game where you can lose your pursuers by reaching the nearest level transition. Emergent gameplay is possible when all the "actors" are on the same stage at once and can interact with one another. You poo poo a brick when you hear the crescendo of footsteps and doors being thrown open when the guard normally stuck talking to himself on perimeter patrol storms inside looking for blood because you unwittingly alerted him with a careless step on tile floor when he just happened to be within earshot.

:shepface:

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Gaph
May 15, 2007

GoldenNugget posted:

Sweet picked up IWD1 and 2 with TOEE. Let's see if I ever touch them...

I have a terrible habit of starting infinity engine/D&D games and then never finishing them.

I mainly kill games like these during the trial-and-error, reroll cause putting points into that was stupid, k I'm sick of this loving starting area. By the time I'm relatively sure my character isn't gimped I'm just over it.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply