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 Shadow Warrior 2 by Flying Wild Hog Studios (what the hell is it with Polish studios and stupidly good games?) is gratuitous, stupid fun. If you're unfamiliar with the series and have a lot of time to kill, I'd highly recommend checking out anilEhilated's LP of Shadow Warrior 2013, as that was what got me interested in the series in the first place. Shadow Warrior 2013, despite being a reboot of a mid 90's Duke-era FPS, actually managed to incorporate a surprisingly compelling story in what was ostensibly just a fast-paced arena shooter. The gameplay was decent, but I think it's fair to say that most fans of the series would say that the story outshone the action, thanks largely in part to some phenomenal voice work. SW2 is sort of the inverse - The graphics and gameplay are polished to a blinding, lightning-fast sheen, but it's fairly obvious that Flying Hog prioritized the engine and gameplay over the writing. For all the overall narrative's faults, the dialogue is sharp and funny (if you've got a 6th grade sense of humor), the voice work is great, and the action is some of the most intense gore-filled catharsis this side of DOOM. Gameplay Gameplay-wise SW2 is frenetic, smooth, and fun as all hell, but it's not without some flaws. When I first saw previews of the gameplay, I was turned off by the numbers leaping out of enemies in addition to the gore - the obvious comparison being it looked too much like Borderlands. Beneath that veneer though, the games are radically different! There are no levels in Shadow Warrior 2. Well, there ARE, but they're largely irrelevant. The first guns you pick up in the game will be just as effective, if not as unique, as the guns you pick up at the end, and actually seeing your damage output is absolutely necessary against late-game enemies. However, fine-tuning your weapons is a tremendous pain in the rear end. Shadow Warrior 2 has a shitload of weapons, and fifteen shitloads of power-ups that you can slot into them. The options available to players are staggering, and on my first playthrough I spent just as much time staring at the upgrade menu as I did actually killing stuff. Thankfully though, this is an LP, and editing is a thing that exists! I'll be swapping my loadouts and upgrades around as much as I can, but I'll always give a quick synopsis of what I'm packing and why, as well as quick overviews of most weapons as we find them, with the exception my favorites, since you'll be seeing plenty of those anyway. If you'd like to suggest a loadout that I should use, feel free. Plot There is a pretty substantial gulf between the overall quality of writing in SW2013 and SW2. I'm going to assume that you're unfamiliar with the former, so whenever I feel that there's something that's been glossed over, omitted, or references something from the previous game, I'll be inserting brief explanations in the form of the:  Whenever the story starts assuming that you know who the hell this person is, why they're here, what Wang did to piss them off and consequently why they're trying to kill him, I'll be there to fill in the blanks. Initially they'll be pretty bare bones to avoid spoiling anything further down the line, but as the plot thickens, so too will the explanations. Multiplayer Shadow Warrrior 2 supports 4 player co-op - sadly, I'm on the other side of the earth compared to most goons, but I'm not opposed to some co-op action if we get a few volunteers willing to play at unusual hours. If so, we'll figure out the logistics later. And lastly, NO SPOILERS - Anything that's been mentioned in the videos is fair game, and the same applies for anything that's already happened plot-wise in Shadow Warrior 2013, but please don't mention or refer to any of the future characters, weapons, or events of Shadow Warrior 2. There's a lot of overlap between the two games, so please err on the side of caution if you're not sure whether to bring something up. Episode List:             McKilligan fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Jan 12, 2017 |
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Dec 3, 2016 08:22
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  Episodes One and Two - One small thing, I forgot to turn subtitles on - that'll be fixed by Episode 3, so bear with me. McKilligan fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Dec 3, 2016 |
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Dec 3, 2016 08:22
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I'm glad you're doing this one. Every other LP I saw of this was loving terrible  I'm still on the fence whether to buy it or not. I loved SW1 and I liked Borderlands well enough, but I'm not sure I can take a sequel with a worse plot.
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Dec 3, 2016 09:11
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Mustn't watch, mustn't spoil myself, mustn'twatchmustn'tspoilmyself, mustn... Oh, what the hell.
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Dec 3, 2016 10:02
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SSNeoman posted:I'm glad you're doing this one. Every other LP I saw of this was loving terrible You're better off playing Doom '16,honestly. McKilligan suffers so you don't have to.
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Dec 3, 2016 10:26
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*Checks Youtube* Wow, has it really been two years already since the Bureau LP? I really need to check that out again. Shadow Warrior 2 is definitely a flawed gem in my eyes- I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't released so close to the new Doom, which does a lot of the same things but a little better. It's a worthy sequel, but a little bit of a narrative letdown.
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Dec 3, 2016 15:47
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I think that there was only one thing I REALLY disliked about Shadow Warrior 2, and it was how many of the levels they recycled. The mod-swapping, etc. also needed to be seriously streamlined, with the game just TELLING me if I had a mod of the same type, with the same effect, but BETTER, rather than forcing me to page through all my mods, including ones already slotted into other weapons, to compare them. The writing's a bit hit and miss, sometimes a bit too juveline, sometimes a bit too serious, but sometimes it hits a really sweet spot between Wang's absolutely zero fucks given and how much everyone else cares and it's actually funny.
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Dec 3, 2016 18:28
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GoneRampant posted:*Checks Youtube* I've actually spread word of McKilligan's LP around on other forums too whenever XCOM was as much as whispered, especially during the pre-release waiting days. It's amazing to see how peoples' perceptions turned around on the game people only heard terrible news about or didn't want to spend money on because it was a so-so squad-based shooter. I loving loved the LP and how McKilligan covered it. So I'm actually very pleased to see him covering Shadow Warrior 2. Looking forward to checking that, proper.
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Dec 3, 2016 22:15
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Dinictus posted:I've actually spread word of McKilligan's LP around on other forums too whenever XCOM was as much as whispered, especially during the pre-release waiting days. It's amazing to see how peoples' perceptions turned around on the game people only heard terrible news about or didn't want to spend money on because it was a so-so squad-based shooter. I loving loved the LP and how McKilligan covered it. So I'm actually very pleased to see him covering Shadow Warrior 2. Yeah, that LP was fantastic. I've mentioned it here and there on other places whenever the Bureau comes up, usually in the guise of "I'd recommend this LP of The Bureau from Something Awful- not only does it make the game look pretty good, but the guy doing it got one of the people who made the game to come in and explain the behind the scenes process." I actually got a few people to rethink their opinion on the game as a result. But I'm guessing that the two year absence means that the Hanger 6 R&D LP fell through. Not that I mean to pry, or anything, I was really looking forward to seeing what went on with that DLC.
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Dec 4, 2016 02:20
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Gosh darn it I was waiting for the Xmas sale to pick this up on the cheap but I need to watch this.
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Dec 4, 2016 02:42
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GoneRampant posted:Yeah, that LP was fantastic. I've mentioned it here and there on other places whenever the Bureau comes up, usually in the guise of "I'd recommend this LP of The Bureau from Something Awful- not only does it make the game look pretty good, but the guy doing it got one of the people who made the game to come in and explain the behind the scenes process." I actually got a few people to rethink their opinion on the game as a result. I'll get around to it one of these days! Maybe even simultaneously if I get a good work flow going. I'm sure SilentW is lurking around here somewhere, I'll see if I can wrangle him. I tried recording some footage of hangar 6 a while ago but couldn't get it to look decent, but I've since upgraded my PC. McKilligan fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Dec 4, 2016 |
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Dec 4, 2016 03:23
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Just this morning I was wondering what had become of McKilligan, and lo and behold, here he is with a new LP! And with a game I wanted to see LP'd no less! Basically I'm psychic and y'all should thank me for my impressive powers of prestidigitation, and wotnot.
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Dec 4, 2016 19:52
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The little character drawings are killing me. Please post them all when youre done
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Dec 5, 2016 11:05
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 Update time! Time to check out the game's hub area, Dragon Mountain. Annoyingly, the game prompts you to start a lot of in-mission dialogues by holding the 'E' button, rather than just playing automatically. I do my best to get all of them, but I'm often distracted by onscreen carnage, so occasionally they slip through the cracks. Anyway, here's the two from the mission that I missed: Hot Blooded - Kamiko 4 Hot Blooded - Kamiko 6
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Dec 5, 2016 11:51
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This latest mission feels Borderlands 2 as Hell with the random weapon affixes and damage types/resistances.
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Dec 5, 2016 18:11
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Goddamn those dual blades are sick. This game needs to hurry up and be on sale
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Dec 7, 2016 09:34
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SSNeoman posted:Goddamn those dual blades are sick. This game needs to hurry up and be on sale It's 25% off right now on GOG.
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Dec 7, 2016 16:01
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I am too poor to buy games right now. This will do as a proper substitute! Really psyched to see the game and see you present it.
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Dec 8, 2016 02:21
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Shadow Warrior 2 reminds me of MGSV. Great gameplay mechanics with a barely present story.
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Dec 8, 2016 23:13
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 In this episode, we visit a girl's bedroom,  WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION, so watch at your own discretion! Despite being a pretty early mission, this is actually one of the longer ones in the game, so it's been edited down pretty heavily. Hope you like jump cuts! In other news, the first free DLC pack just dropped on Thursday, The Way of the Wang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymNewPny5x4&t=4s I've only put a few hours into it so far, but the challenges are seriously, er, challenging. There's a few new weapons, and the several new arenas that unlock new upgrades for your weapons really push even high-level characters to their limit, so if you ever wanted to get in on some SW2 action, now is a pretty good time. McKilligan fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Dec 10, 2016 |
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Dec 10, 2016 02:17
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One of the things I loved about Shadow Warrior was how enemies would cower and try to run away from you. It helped humanize them a bit. Does that still happen in 2?
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Dec 10, 2016 20:46
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Sadly, no. It's the reverse, actually. You'll often find yakuza thugs with a 6 inch hole clear through their chest still coming at you with a vengeance. Everything in the game is hyper-aggressive, though there are one or two enemies with slightly different AI.
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Dec 11, 2016 05:24
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The little waifu on the monitor was another callback to the original Shadow Warrior. She was one of the weeping girls mourning the murder of Lo Wang's Master.
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Dec 11, 2016 23:31
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A small-ish update here, along with a few minor technical hiccups. In this episode, I learn to love the revolver and ripper all over again. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might have figured out why the Rippers are putting out so much damage - as near as I can tell, every weapon in the game has a 5% chance to get a critical hit. The Stinger attack on the ripper already strikes an enemy several times, so it has more chances to get a critical hit in. However, when the game is splitting the damage 70/30 between electricity and normal, it splits those damages into ANOTHER two separate attacks. So by having having a weapon that isn't purely one element, you're doubling your chances of scoring big on a critical hit, since each separate damage output has a chance to become a critical (granted, the critical multiplier will be reduced as the damage comes from being split, but it's still a significant boost to a regular attack). Also, if anyone here is interested in recording some co-op, I'm on Seoul time, but my typical availability would be Saturday Morning for me, which is Friday evening for most of the US. If anyone is interested, feel free to shoot me an e-mail and we'll schedule a session. This might not happen for a while, but let's see who's interested.
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Dec 13, 2016 16:15
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Man that was just a streak of bad luck there wasn't it? Getting sandwiched by enemies, a swift bunny lord and so on
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Dec 13, 2016 21:47
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A really nice detail is the barrel of the shotgun glowing red after prolonged use. This game just looks so amazing!
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Dec 13, 2016 23:03
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SSNeoman posted:Man that was just a streak of bad luck there wasn't it? Getting sandwiched by enemies, a swift bunny lord and so on Yup. Probably the only good aspect of that part was that once you die, dying again doesn't hurt so bad since you don't have any xp to lose. (There may have been another death or two edited out for brevity's sake...) I swear I'm actually pretty decent at this game!
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Dec 13, 2016 23:34
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I think Bunny Lords were probably the scariest enemy in the game for me. They could usually mess me up way faster than any of the game's other enemies.
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Dec 13, 2016 23:37
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I've just been playing on Normal so far (figured I'd build up an arsenal before tackling the higher difficulties), but Bunny Lords have only been half as dangerous to me as their ordinary-sized counterparts from the first game. There's been a couple of really good times when my until recently preferred main melee weapon, which can turn enemies into bunnies, was also able to take out Bunny Lords in seconds.
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Dec 14, 2016 01:16
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PurpleXVI posted:I think Bunny Lords were probably the scariest enemy in the game for me. They could usually mess me up way faster than any of the game's other enemies. Bunny Lords aren't really so scary, but swift bunny lords are terrors from beyond time. There's been a lot of times when I was in the thick of a bunch of enemies and some AOE splattered a bunny without my noticing, so all of a sudden I was just wondering why rock music was playing. If I'd reloaded my shotgun before tackling that drat rabbit, I might have taken it down. A lesson for next time, I guess!
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Dec 14, 2016 02:44
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The best Bunny Lord spawns are the ones that spawn every other minute. Have fun tangoing with 3 Bunny lords in a row
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Dec 14, 2016 03:24
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McKilligan posted:Sadly, no. It's the reverse, actually. You'll often find yakuza thugs with a 6 inch hole clear through their chest still coming at you with a vengeance. Everything in the game is hyper-aggressive, though there are one or two enemies with slightly different AI. Actually I was referring to the demons (but saying they were demonized by their behavior doesn't have the same connotation). I remember the human enemies of 1 being just as suicidally determined. I think it was tied to the dismemberment system, since humans tend not to survive having limbs cut off they can't have the reactions the demons do. Judging by the latest video it looks like demonic enemies are now just as suicidally focused.
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Dec 14, 2016 04:59
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Well, you could handwave that by saying that all the humans you fight in 1 past the prologue are possessed by demons, scary glowy eyes and all.
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Dec 14, 2016 20:55
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anilEhilated posted:Well, you could handwave that by saying that all the humans you fight in 1 past the prologue are possessed by demons, scary glowy eyes and all. I suppose so, but it doesn't feel right. Whatever. It's doesn't ruin the game at all, it's just a detail I liked about the first game. The contrast between all of the mutilated bodies the demons leave around and their personal behavior, such as sitting in hot tubs and running away when they're dying gave them more depth than the typical enemies you fight in an FPS, human or otherwise.
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Dec 15, 2016 01:54
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 I spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to come up with a good dick pun for the title before realizing that going literal was the richest vein of comedy gold. Anyway, this kicks off one of the more interesting bits of lore, the Nobitsura Kage. Tweets from Flying Wild Hog have teased that there's a way to unlock it soon, but it'll most likely be a non-canonical sword skin. In other news, we're also going to see a christmas update soon!. No word on what it will entail, but ever since santa hats appeared on my mechs in Heavy Gear II I've been all about holiday themes in games. Personally, I'm hoping for tinsel and decoration-themed viscera. McKilligan fucked around with this message at 10:44 on Dec 16, 2016 |
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Dec 16, 2016 09:25
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the episode is private
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Dec 16, 2016 09:40
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fadderman posted:the episode is private Whoops. It says public, but I just made double sure so give it another try.
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Dec 16, 2016 10:45
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fixed now 
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Dec 16, 2016 12:41
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Have you tried the co-op?
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Dec 16, 2016 13:03
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I sure hope it unlocks. The Nobitsura Kage was fun as gently caress in SW1. The grenades have a similar problem with other Flying Wild Hog games: their explosions have a bigger area of effect than your dash. They also obscure your vision for a second which makes it hard to accurately hit an enemy. It's kinda really annoying!
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Dec 16, 2016 20:01
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