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 Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is the latest, 2013 release in the Call of Juarez series. Like its predecessors, it’s a first person shooter developed by Polish developer Techland who you might also know from the Dead Island series and Dying Light. Gunslinger follows the story of bounty hunter Silas Greaves as he reminisces about a past where he shoots his way across the Wild West to settle an old score. The narration is done by the same Silas Greaves which sometimes means that Silas literally makes up a bunch of tall tales for us to play through. Why should you watch this? Well, there’s: The Good It’s a hella fine game. Great voice acting, good graphics, and just a load of gun-toting fun. Like in the previous games, the soundtrack is composed by Pawel Blaszczak who has also worked on music for other Techland games, as well as a few more peaceful soundtracks for the first The Witcher soundtrack, such as River of Life. Taking the narration from Bastion as an inspiration, Silas makes for a great, raspy, but sometimes unreliable narrator. It’s a fun, perhaps a bit short game, but that also means it doesn’t outlive its welcome. The Bonus There are ‘Nuggets of Truth’ hidden throughout the game; small snippets of interesting backstory on some of the legendary figures and historical events that the story touches upon. The ‘nuggets’ are worth reading so I hope to collect them without adding too much unnecessary exploring. And the Unnecessary Unless I show some particularly terrible skill, there shouldn’t be a lot of ugly present, but I’m not some FPS superstar so I can’t promise that I’ll always murder everyone with consummate proficiency. Finally, I enjoy digging around a bit so I'll probably end up adding trivia, concept art, and whatever else I can find. Index                
Fleve fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Dec 10, 2015 |
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Nov 23, 2015 18:02
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And we’re off. The game cuts the story into rather small, 10-15 minute parts. In case they’re really short I’ll string a few of them together. Additional Stuff The tale begins in 1910 Abilene, around the time when the Old West and frontier expansion was coming to an end. I think the car in the intro is a nice touch to signal that. During the intro you might’ve also seen a poster zip by very shortly, it’s around the 34 second mark and you can only see a large DON’T written on it. I’m not sure whether this is real, but there’s a better quality version going around on the internet which shows the full text; supposedly it’s from 1889 Hawkinsville which appears to be in Georgia, so that’s a bit off historically and geographically but eh, it looks nice. Nuggets of Truth  Patrick Floyd “Pat” Garrett was born on June 5, 1850 in Cusseta, Alabama and grew up on a prosperous Louisiana plantation located just below the Arkansas state line. He died on January 29, 1908, shot in uncertain circumstances on the road from Las Cruces, NM, by one Jesse Wayne Brazel. Pat was a cowboy, a buffalo hunter, a bartender, and a customs agent, but history remembers him as the sheriff who killed Billy the Kid. Garrett and Bonney met in a saloon and for a while they were fellow card players. When Garrett was made Sheriff of Lincoln County and Governor Wallace put a 500-dollar bounty on the Kid’s head, the newly minted lawman began a relentless pursuit. Despite numerous traps, Billy was able to escape the tightening noose. He could not run forever, though. On July 12, 1881, in Fort Sumner, Billy, most likely unarmed, entered a room where Pat Garrett was lying in wait, sitting in the darkness. Billy asked the question “¿quien es...?" (Who's there?) And Garrett answered with two shots from his revolver. One hit Billy in the heart, killing him on the spot. He was buried in the Fort Sumner cemetery, between the graves of two friends Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre. Many people later accused Garrett of killing the Kid in a dishonorable manner. The book he co-authored, "The Authentic life of Billy the Kid," in which Billy was portrayed as a degenerate murderer, did nothing to list that disreputable cloud. That image of the Kid, however, became part of his legend and remains so to this day.  Pat Garrett was relentless in his pursuit of Billy the Kid and his gang. Garrett and his posse tracked them to a deserted stone farmhouse in Stinking Springs and surrounded the building. Keeping Billy company was a colorful collection of desperados. Among them were Tom Picket, Billy Wilson, Charlie Bowdre, and "Dirty Dave" Rudabaugh. Rudabaugh crossed paths with such legends as Dave Mather, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holliday and died in a rather unsavory manner, as he was shot and then decapitated by a Mexican machete in 1886. Charlie Bowdre (who probably killed Buckshot Roberts in the Blazer's Mill Gunfight) did not survive the siege at Stinking Springs as a bullet hit him in the chest while he was passing a window. The others surrendered on the following day, December 23, 1880, after Dirty Dave hoisted a white flag. The captured criminals were transported to Santa Fe while Billy was taken to Mesilla where he was sentenced to death by hanging. He was then moved to Lincoln, NM to await execution. It never happened, however, as the Kid pulled off a spectacular jailbreak.  The Lincoln County War is often considered one of the most famous examples of a "range war" in the history of the west. Range wars were conflicts over the control of "open range" or rangeland freely used for cattle grazing. The disputes were usually over grazing or water rights, but in this case, the fight was over the control of the dry goods trade in Lincoln County. The quarrel arose around a conflict of interests between the Dolan-Murphy faction and a newly arrived Englishman, John Tunstall. At first, they tried to use the legal system to resolve their dispute, but soon the fight devolved into a conflict between armed gangs. Murphy and Dolan had ties to outlaws like John Kinney and his gang and Jesse Evans, whose outfit was known as The Boys. They were responsible for the death of Tunstall, which became the central catalyst of the conflict. The other side had The Regulators. William Bonney (a.k.a. Billy the Kid) rode with them, promising revenge on the men who murdered Tunstall. Both sides were sworn in by different officers of the law so technically they were all acting within the law. After The Regulators were defeated, some of their members became Fugitives and, just like Billy the Kid, met untimely and violent ends. Fleve fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Dec 11, 2015 |
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Nov 23, 2015 18:03
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As I said in the Sandcastle, super hyped for this; I'm really fond of unreliable narrators and this game plays with the concept really well. In addition to, you know, being an amazingly tightly designed and action-packed shooter.
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Nov 23, 2015 18:41
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Yeah the narration is one of the high points of the game. I knew Silas was talking a lot but drat, actually LP'ing through it, it takes a bit of timing to find spots to throw in a sentence or two. But I quite like the high pace, and it's a refreshing change from the usual LP problem of running out of stuff to say.
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Nov 23, 2015 20:00
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It's a shame this game didn't get more attention (then again, it was somewhat to be expected after the horrid taste CoJ: The Cartel left on everyone's mouths). This is a very fun and charming game and easily worth your money, especially with the narration gimmick and how if affects the gameplay.
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Nov 23, 2015 20:20
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Looking forward to this. Gunslinger and Blood Dragon were pretty much my favourite games of 2013. I've always had a soft spot for the Call of Juarez games (barring Cartel) but this is definitely the one that put the biggest grin on my face and it stayed there all the way through.
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Nov 24, 2015 10:10
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Oh yeah, totally off topic, but I just finished the Dungeon Siege 3 I bought because of your LP and it's a great game so thanks for depriving me of hard-earned money. Anyway, yet another thing I really appreciated about this game were the Nuggets of Truth. For someone who was only exposed to this particular bit of history via spaghetti westerns there's a lot of interesting factoids to learn, including the coolest bandit of all time who I'll be sure to point out even if he didn't make it into the game. edit: Oh, yeah, another tidbit. Anyone here played Metal Gear Solid 2? Silas is Solidus and Ben is Campbell. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 11:40 on Nov 24, 2015 |
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Nov 24, 2015 11:37
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Hah, who did you end up playing, Reinhart? Next update will have a lot of text from the nuggets. I wish the forum format allowed for columns so I could put text next to images rather than under it, but oh well, large posts aren't a disaster either. I used to watch a lot of spaghetti westerns when I was a kid, back in Germany, of course horribly dubbed. During Christmas, you could bet your horse that they'd show multiple movies on TV starring Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer. Like My Name is Trinity, I'll never forget the intro of that movie. Heck, some of them even had music by Ennio Morricone, like My Name is Nobody.
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Nov 24, 2015 14:02
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Fleve posted:My Name is Nobody. I'm still not sure if that particular film is under-appreciated or not. It was just good, clean goofy fun when I watched it last. Special effects are laughable though.
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Nov 24, 2015 14:11
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Fleve posted:Hah, who did you end up playing, Reinhart? It does make some people wonder why I'm occassionally shouting GEOMETRY OF ANNIHILATION!, though. edit: Easily my favorite film of that subgenre was Cipolla Colt (translated as "Smell of Onion" here, no idea what the English title was). The translation to outright comedy was cheap at times but hey, a gunslinger's gotta have a gimmick. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Nov 24, 2015 |
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Nov 24, 2015 14:27
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Double-part this time, cause one episode took less than 10 minutes, that’d been a bit too short. If I remember correctly, this’ll be (sortof) the last we’ll see of Billy the Kid, so here’s some concept art thrown in to close that part of the story. I like how they designed his character, but the description is a tad bit edgy for my taste; some art decisions are better left unspoken. The nuggets are a fun read though, and you’ll get to find out what the real history was like without Silas shoehorning himself into it. Concept Art  Nuggets of Truth  William Henry McCarty, also known as William H. Bonney, Kid Antrim, or Billy the Kid, was probably born between 1859 and 1861. He died on July 14, 1881, shot by the sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, NM. To this day, he remains one of the Wild West's most recognizable outlaws. Billy stood approximately 5'8" tall and was of slender build, with blue eyes, blond hair, and a boyish charm. Many reliable sources can vouch for his sense of humor, generosity, and friendly nature. He was shrewd, relentless, and reckless and often put his own life in danger for those he cared about. He loved to sing and dance and could read and write. His handwriting was said to be extremely neat. Billy was very popular with the ladies although he never played favorites. Not one soul who knew him personally ever said he had an explosive temper or a propensity to kill at the slightest provocation. The Kid owes that image to his killer, Pat Garrett, who wrote a book embellishing his exploits two years after Billy's death. Hollywood then burnished that myth to a high shine. Contrary to popular belief, Billy was not a stone cold killer or even much of a criminal. He never lived an outlaw life of robbing banks, stagecoaches, or trains. Petty rustling and horse-thievery were the worst of his transgressions. Billy was credited with killing 21 people, but that number was inflated considerably. He definitely killed four men (two in self-defense, two during a jailbreak) and he participated in shootouts – during the Lincoln County War – which left another five people dead. But then again, they might or might not have been killed by the bullets of Billy the kid.  John Henry Holliday, better known as "Doc" due to his degree in dentistry, was born on August 14, 1851 and died of tuberculosis on November 8, 1887. He is best remembered as Wyatt Earp's friend. The famous sheriff wrote about Holliday in an 1896 article. "Doc was a dentist, not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler, a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit, a long, lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew." Doc Holliday fought in the famous "Gunfight at the UK Corral" at Wyatt's side. He received a flesh wound and, in return, filled Tom and Frank McLaury full of lead, killing at least the former of the two. No one ever expected that Holliday would die in bed with his boots off, least of all him. The tuberculosis that ravaged his body for most of his days finally took his life. On his deathbed, he asked his nurse for whiskey. When she refused him, he looked down at his bootless feet and uttered his last words. "drat, this is funy."  The Wild West was often a lawless place, but with the influx of farmers, ranchers, miners, store keeps and the "civilization" that came along with them, more and more appeals for law and order could be heard. There was a need for lawmen and so Sheriffs were elected, Deputy U.S. Marshals were appointed, and Texas Rangers were hired to keep the peace. There were many heroic figures in the ranks of law enforcement. Some of the best known were Wild Bill Hickok, Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, Seth Bullock, and Bat Masterson. But not all of them had such spotless reputations. Many of them worked both sides of the law, going from outlaw to lawman and from sheriff back to bandit; like Henry Plummer, secretly commanding the hundred man gang known as The Innocents. Then there was the brutal Bob Ollinger and the corrupt Johnny Behan, who supported the nefarious outlaw gang known as The Cowboys. The Dalton brothers famously abandoned their tin stars to pursue more lucrative careers as bank robbers. That proved to be a poor idea as most of those brothers ended up dead in the dusty main street of Coffeyville, Kansas, after they made the роог decision to rob two banks at the same time.  Newman Haynes Clanton, also known as "Old Man" Clanton, was born circa 1816 and lived until his violent death on August 13, 1881. It is believed that the "Old Man" was stealing cattle from Mexican rancheros and selling them in the United States. He was the alleged leader of "The Cowboys," a loose gang of outlaws, gunmen, rustlers, and cutthroats. In July of 1879, "The Cowboys", among them Johnny Ringo, "Curly Bill” Brocius, Frank and Tom McLaury, and Ike and Billy Clanton – led by the Old Man - executed the leader of a squad of Mexican Rurales. The Mexicans had illegally crossed the border in pursuit of murderers who had robbed a rancho in Sonora, Mexico. Two years later, in July 1881, "The Cowboys" massacred and robbed nineteen Mexican smugglers transporting silver through Skeleton Canyon. Only weeks after that event, the Old Man, with several of his men, were herding stolen cattle through Guadalupe Canyon near the border. At dawn, the Rurales had their revenge. Most of the cowboys accompanying Clanton died that day. Old Man Clanton himself was shot while preparing his breakfast, falling face first into the cooking fire.  Guardia Rural, commonly called the Rurales, was a mounted Mexican force tasked with policing bandits on Mexican soil. It existed between 1861 and 1914, and over time grew from a force of a few hundred to four thousand. Heavily armed with sabers, rifles and pistols, wearing characteristic silver-lined uniforms, wide-brimmed sombreros and red or black ties, the Rurales were probably the most flamboyant police force in the world, next to the Vatican guard. On August 3, 1881 in Guadalupe Canyon on the Arizona/New Mexico border, a group of vengeful Rurales (possibly under the command of Capitan Alfredo Carrillo who had barely escaped alive from a previous encounter with bandits) surprised Old Man Clanton and six members of his outlaw gang, The Cowboys. Two weeks earlier Clanton and The Cowboys had massacred Mexican smugglers transporting silver across the border. Two years before that incident, the Cowboys had ambushed and murdered a squad of Rurales who had crossed the border into Arizona. At Guadalupe Canyon, Clanton's luck finally ran out. Five Cowboys including the Old Man himself died in the Rurales' ambush. Operating on US territory, the Rurales acted without approval from any local authority. Thus, their act of vengeance on Clanton was no different than what Clanton had perpetrated two years earlier.  One of the most spectacular jailbreaks in the history of the Wild West took place on April 28, 1881. Four months after his apprehension at Stinking Springs, Billy the Kid was sentenced to death by hanging. His execution was to take place exactly one month later, on May 13. Until then McCarty was to be held in Lincoln. On the second floor of the city courthouse, Billy was guarded by two of Pat Garrett's deputies. Jim Bell and Bob Ollinger. The specific details of the events that took place on April 28th are sketchy, but it is suspected that a friend of Billy's left a revolver hidden in the privy. Another version of the tale has McCarty taking a gun from Bell by force during a struggle on the stairs. We'll probably never know the truth. One thing is certain. Billy shot Jim Bell and he was dead before he finished falling down the stairs. The other guard, Ollinger, heard the shots and ran towards the courthouse. Billy was armed with Ollinger's 10-gauge double-barreled shotgun and was waiting by the window for its owner. When Ollinger appeared, he heard "Hello Bob" seconds before the Kid shot him with his own weapon. It took Billy an hour to remove his leg irons using a pickaxe. Then he mounted a horse and rode away at a leisurely pace, singing happily, if the stories are to be believed.  Before the automobile, the horse was the primary means of transport in the Old West and having one often meant the difference between life and death for settlers living in the mountains or the endless prairies of the western United States. Without a horse, there was no way to work the land or herd cattle or get to the mine or fetch a town doctor in time to save whoever had fallen ill or been injured. In fact, without a horse, it was mighty hard to survive at all. No wonder that horse thieves were treated as the scum of the Earth and were usually lynched without a trial. A gallows was a common sight in the Wild West and many men met their demise at the end of a rope because they stole an animal that didn't belong to them. Fleve fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Dec 11, 2015 |
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Nov 24, 2015 18:10
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I wondered for a long time why the hell no one had ever put this through the LP wringer. It's a fan-loving-tastic game from start to finish and absolutely worth everyone's time to play through. Looking forward to watching some videos after work!
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Nov 24, 2015 19:45
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Ciaphas posted:I wondered for a long time why the hell no one had ever put this through the LP wringer. It's a fan-loving-tastic game from start to finish and absolutely worth everyone's time to play through. Techland kinda lost a lot of respect from me for The Cartel (which was just such a waste of a concept) and Dead Island. Billy's description is nowhere near as owtheedge compared to the poo poo in Dead Island and whatnot. I imagine that's why people weren't so stoked about it.
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Nov 24, 2015 20:31
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This game is a joy to play, with drat good history to boot. I'm not much of a wild West historian, most of my knowledge of 19th century U.S. comes from the civil war. But I've always had a soft spot for spaghetti Westerns too. Everyone knows the Dollars trilogy, but another good, unapologetically anarchical one is 'A Bullet for the General'.
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Nov 24, 2015 20:38
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SSNeoman posted:Techland kinda lost a lot of respect from me for The Cartel (which was just such a waste of a concept) and Dead Island. Billy's description is nowhere near as owtheedge compared to the poo poo in Dead Island and whatnot. I imagine that's why people weren't so stoked about it. Yeah I actually played the two Dead Island games a few weeks ago while testing them as potential LP games, which is when I decided that they'd make poo poo LP's, or at least not something I'm good at. Probably best played with a bunch of friends, but...that's not necessarily making the game any better. Cause goddamn is the dialogue hot garbage, especially when it's among the group of playable survivors. Murdering zombies was fun at least, if not a bit of a grind sometimes. Samovar posted:This game is a joy to play, with drat good history to boot. I'm not much of a wild West historian, most of my knowledge of 19th century U.S. comes from the civil war. But I've always had a soft spot for spaghetti Westerns too. Everyone knows the Dollars trilogy, but another good, unapologetically anarchical one is 'A Bullet for the General'. I enjoy reading it all again while OCR'ing the text. I'm a medieval historian and the one course I had on American history kinda skipped the whole early part. Techland has a very nice video online where their American writer talks about the story development of the game; it's a bit spoilery though so I'll postpone it for later in the LP.
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Nov 24, 2015 21:38
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Aw man I only just played through this for the first time. Honestly one of my favourite games ever. Looking forward to revisiting it!
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Nov 25, 2015 01:28
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I just love that Bob Ollinger's mean-rear end Shotgun gets its own title card like every important character does. Unfortunately for it, I preferred the Rifle instead. Also, I like this style for showing the Nuggets of Truth better than the original method from the first post, I think it will work going forward.
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Nov 25, 2015 01:35
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While the shotgun is decidedly 'meh' when you start the game, by the time you've snagged some perks in the 'Trapper' selection, it suddenly goes from 'mediocre' to 'fire-breathing death'. I've actually found that one weapon combination with certain perks allow you to lay waste to entire screenfuls of enemies with unending buckshot, but we'll get to that point eventually, I believe.
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Nov 25, 2015 02:35
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Sadly that requires you to max out the mostly useless Trapper skill tree. I never really was too fond of shotguns in this game, double pistols do pretty much everything they do better.
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Nov 25, 2015 08:24
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I'm much more of a rifles fan in this game. The extra damage means you that a hit to the chest is almost as good as a headshot and for some reason I found it easier to aim with rifles than with pistols.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:48
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The rifle is probably the best gun in the game. Pair it with quickshooters and you can blaze through just about everything the Wild West throws at you.
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Nov 25, 2015 10:39
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I don't know how they achieved it but the rifle makes for some of the smoothest shooting I've ever had in a game, especially during concentration/bullet time. Perhaps it's the re-cocking animation that forces you into pacing your shots just long enough to aim for the next target. Back when I first got the game I did a lot of arcade runs and it's some of the most amazing high adrenaline shooting I've ever done. Maintaining a single combo-counter to 50+ in a 2-4 minute run is obviously not suitable for when you're trying to tell a story, but goddamn is it fun. Once we're through with the story I might try to get a few arcade single-combo runs recorded. I'll also try to get higher combos into the main story cause they're fun to watch, but while recording the next part I've noticed that when you're going too quickly, you trigger new lines and previous narrations get cut off prematurely. That's obviously not what we want. So if you sometimes see me staring at scenery in the future, that's both because 'oh look at the nice level design', as well as me waiting for some lines to run their course.
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Nov 25, 2015 12:02
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I'm a sucker for meaty-sounding gunfire and this game is delivering in spades so far.
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Nov 25, 2015 12:04
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In which I talk almost as much as Silas. Hah, no. But at least he is giving me more room to chat a bit myself. If you’re confused what the ‘Vendetta Ride’ and the O.K. Corral is all about in Silas’ conversation with the other saloon patrons, the nuggets have that covered quite nicely. Finally, I found the blog of one of the artists who worked on the game (Wojciech Ostrycharz) and he had a pretty large amount of concept art posted way back in the day. A lot is for areas we haven’t yet been to, I’ll post those when appropriate, but it’s neat to see a rough version of our fellow saloon-goers. The other one, I believe, belongs to our Lincoln escape. Concept Art   Nuggets of Truth  On October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, a town in the Arizona Territory, an incident known today as the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" took place. It was a clash between two warring factions: an outlaw gang known as "The Cowboys" and the lawmen who wanted those criminals to give up their guns. The first group included Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne, who escaped, unarmed and unharmed. Their companions, brothers Tom and Frank McLaury, did not survive the fight. They second group consisted of Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp. They were joined by a hastily sworn in deputy, the notorious gambler and gunslinger, Doc Holliday. An attempt to disarm "The Cowboys" quickly turned into a brief but intense gunfight at close range. Virgil Earp yelled for them to "Throw up your hands, I want your guns!" Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton reached for their revolvers and cocked them, clearly not intending to surrender. Virgil shouted, "Hold! I don't mean that!" Moments later shots were fired and when the smoke had cleared, three Cowboys were dead, riddled with bullets and buckshot. The dead ended up at the local Boot Hill, a name used in the Wild West for graveyards where gunslingers and troublemakers were buried...as they commonly died with their boots on and not in bed like respectable citizens. Before the town of Tombstone was founded, a scout named Ed Schieffelin was looking for ore samples in a very inhospitable area. A friendly soul told him, "The only rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone.” When Ed finally managed to find a valuable silver vein, he couldn’t help but name his mining operation Tombstone.  Born in Illinois on March 19, 1848, he lived a long and storied life, finally passing away in Los Angeles, California on January 13, 1929. At one time or another he was a farmer, bouncer, saloonkeeper, dealer, prospector, boxing referee, teamster, buffalo hunter, entrepreneur, and – most famously – a sheriff. He is celebrated mainly for his role in the Wild West's most famous shootout. The Gunfight at the OK Corral. That fight lasted all of 30 seconds and those seconds defined him for the rest of his days. That fracas led to what became known as the "Vendetta Ride." Wyatt Еагр, Doc Holliday, and a few other compadres exacted violent revenge on the men they believed responsible for the wounding Virgil Earp and the murder of younger brother, Morgan. The vendetta ended with Wyatt personally shooting the then leader of "The Cowboys," "Curly Bill" Brocius. Or at least that's the legend. Tall for his time, stocky, and clearly fearless, he often dealt with outlaws without ever drawing his revolver. He claims to have never been shot and if that's true that's an amazing feat, considering all the hot lead that flew by him in his lifetime. It's not surprising that he became an icon, sparking the imaginations of countless filmmakers, biographers and writers. His name is instantly recognizable even to those who don't know much about the history of the American West.  William "Curly Bill" Brocius was born around 1845, and died – probably by Wyatt Earp's hand – on March 24, 1882. He was a saddle tramp, a gunfighter, a rustler, and a member of the outlaw gang known as "The Cowboys." After Old Man Clanton's death, Curly Bill became the informal leader of "The Cowboys". He was described as tall and stocky with a head full of thick curly hair. By all accounts, he was considered an excellent shot. Brocius liked to drink however, and, under the influence of alcohol, his sense of humor could become deadly for those around him. Once, he made a preacher "dance" during a church service by shooting at his feet. On another occasion, he ordered several Mexican peasants to strip naked and dance for his amusement. Apparently, when intoxicated, Brocius enjoyed watching naked people jump at his command. Brocius probably had a hand in the murder of Morgan Earp, Wyatt's younger brother. This was in revenge for the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral and the death of Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers. Wyatt Earp would avenge Morgan by killing Curly Bill at Iron Springs, in a shootout between Earp’s posse and “The Cowboys”.  John Peters Ringo was born on the May 3, 1850, and ended his life of violence 32 years later. History remembers him as an outlaw and a gunfighter who was associated with "The Cowboys" gang in his final years. In 1874-76, Ringo earned his reputation as a dangerous desperado while fighting in the Mason County War. His deeds during that conflict cost him almost two years in jail before the charges were finally dismissed. Soon after arriving in Arizona, an inebriated Ringo shot and wounded a man in a saloon for preferring to drink his beer instead of the whiskey Ringo bought for him. It is no surprise that around Tombstone, Ringo's reputation was that of an ill-mannered, ill-tempered, violence-prone saddle tramp, especially when drunk. On the other hand, who knows what his reputation would have been if the fight at the OK Corral had gone differently. History is written by the victors and Wyatt Earp and his brothers not only won the actual fight, but the PR battle as well. On the 13th of July 1882, Johnny Ringo was found dead with a gunshot wound in his head and a revolver in his hand. He was sitting under a tree, barefoot. His horse was found two weeks later, his boots tied to the saddle as cowboys often do to keep the scorpions out. His death was officially ruled a suicide, but we still don't know whether the "King of the Cowboys" was killed (by Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday) or if he simply shot himself because he felt his life was no longer worth living. Fleve fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Dec 11, 2015 |
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Nov 25, 2015 18:16
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I love how some of Silas' banter here really only starts making sense when you've already played through the game. The man foreshadows extremely well. Congrats for getting a log kill, by the way; I find it really hard to shoot the things when there's actually someone under them. edit: It's amazing how they manage to pull off challenging boss fights in an otherwise fairly realistic game with few gimmicks; apart from the horrible quickdraw duels, the bossfights you get in "normal" gameplay are all really fun. Actually, if I remember correctly, my favorite boss fight in the game is going to be in the next video. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Nov 25, 2015 |
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Nov 25, 2015 18:23
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When I began restarting this mission a few times to improve the first encounter, one thing led to another and I ended up making way too many retakes. The logs get a lot easier when you anticipate them. The boss at the end is really fun to toy around with because of all the cover. You can actually fairly decently flank him, and he tries to do the same. Like when I caught him running past and behind me, but his footsteps gave him away. I wanted to get a combo going to give a taste of what the arcade missions are like, but it's not really possible to re-create that in story mode right now. It's probably better to just show the arcade itself instead. The main story is amazing, but drat, the arcade pieces quite literally get my adrenaline pumping. I might add one of my better Lincoln arcade shotgun runs to the end of next episode, perhaps with some explanation added. Without explaining things a bit, all you'll see is a storm of death run past 47 people who explode in a mist of blood in 1 minute 42 seconds.
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Nov 25, 2015 19:05
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That's actually pretty drat impressive. I was only ever able to get decent scores in arcade using the gunslinger build; consider me super interested in a shotgun hurricane video.
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Nov 25, 2015 19:07
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Fleve posted:Yeah I actually played the two Dead Island games a few weeks ago while testing them as potential LP games, which is when I decided that they'd make poo poo LP's, or at least not something I'm good at. Probably best played with a bunch of friends, but...that's not necessarily making the game any better. Cause goddamn is the dialogue hot garbage, especially when it's among the group of playable survivors. Murdering zombies was fun at least, if not a bit of a grind sometimes. I'm actually playing Dead Island right now with a group of 4 and yeah ... I would not want to play this game solo and I agree they'd be tough to LP - exactly for the reasons you listed. At least in a group the plot is irrelevant, you just run around hitting things with wrenches and telling bad jokes. Also it's pretty fun to watch someone hit rage mode and just obliterate a thug or whatever. Fun to do it, too, but this way I get to see it happen far more often!
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Nov 25, 2015 19:20
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This was a wonderful gem and I definitely think more people should try it. I was hesitant at release due to the price (as well as The Cartel being the previous title), but loved it to death  It's also on sale for $7.49 at the moment! Geop fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Nov 25, 2015 |
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Nov 25, 2015 19:43
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agreed but i do like the art design alot. It hits the penny dreadful/dime novel feel that the game parodies/emulates pretty well. the gameplay is solid though i can feel a tad tankey at times(to be fare all the call of Juarez games have that issue) the story is great and the unreliable narrator stuff is well done, especially latter on in the game. over all its a great game. Dapper_Swindler fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Nov 25, 2015 |
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Nov 25, 2015 20:25
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Geop posted:This was a wonderful gem and I definitely think more people should try it. I was hesitant at release due to the price (as well as The Cartel being the previous title), but loved it to death Oh drat, that's a great deal. In case anyone doesn't have Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon either, Gunslinger and Blood Dragon are some of the most fun FPS I've played in years. anilEhilated posted:That's actually pretty drat impressive. I was only ever able to get decent scores in arcade using the gunslinger build; consider me super interested in a shotgun hurricane video. Aight I'll add some arcade to the end of next episode. Shotgun feels almost like a cheat now that I've gotten used to it. The ranger-style (rifle and revolver) that I love for the story mode, I just can't get a hang of in Lincoln arcade, not enough range on that map I think. Gunslinger works well, but shotgun feels like I have a boomstick that I only need to point at the correct hemisphere and death follows. Dapper_Swindler posted:agreed but i do like the art design alot. It hits the penny dreadful/dime novel feel that the game parodies/emulates pretty well. the gameplay is solid though i can feel a tad tankey at times(to be fare all the call of Juarez games have that issue) the story is great and the unreliable narrator stuff is well done, especially latter on in the game. over all its a great game. I think you meant the piece where I commented on the Billy the Kid design? Yeah the whole larger-than-life thing was something they aimed for in designing the characters. In one of their dev videos they talk about a line from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, that "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." They worked that idea into the whole game pretty well. Fleve fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Nov 27, 2015 |
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Nov 25, 2015 21:02
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Fleve posted:I think you meant the piece where I commented on the Billy the Kid design? Yeah the whole larger-than-life thing was something they aimed for in designing the characters. In one of their dev videos they talk about a line from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, that "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." They worked that idea into the whole game pretty well. I love unreliable narrators and Silas is as unreliable as they come. What we know of that historical period is all mired in questionable witnesses and hearsay and penny dreadful novels; Silas is in a way an embodiment of his era. What can cowboys tell us about the nature of truth? Goddamnit I love this game. edit: Er, one can probably tell I was thinking of LPing this. I'm glad you beat me to it though; you're doing an amazing job so far. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Nov 25, 2015 |
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Nov 25, 2015 21:21
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I noticed that the six-shooter is single-action. When we're double-action revolvers widely in use?
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Nov 25, 2015 21:39
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Samovar posted:I noticed that the six-shooter is single-action. When we're double-action revolvers widely in use? There's a total of three revolvers in the game, they're all single action. From what I gather from the internet, double-action revolvers were already around in mid-19th century but more common to Europe, and they only gained ground in the US at the end of the 19th century with the Colt M1889. Silas' tale begins around 1880 so double-action would've been somewhat unusual it seems. And, well, in terms of realism, I'd assume we'd also have to eject the casings which seem to go up in thin air instead. The devs argued that, while the guns are based on real life weapons, their handling and mechanics are closer to Silas' embellished version of the Wild West. For more on the weapons in the game, the internet already had me covered there with the Internet Movie Firearm Database. I didn't know this was a thing.
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Nov 25, 2015 22:11
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I only came around to this game well after it was released, and I absolutely loved it. This is one of the finest arcadey shooters of all time, and the story is akin to the most delicious cherry on a sundae. Everyone should play this game 
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Nov 26, 2015 03:12
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I've known about this game but never bothered playing it. Not sure I will, but this LP seems like the next best thing. Your commentary and voice fit well with the rest of the game.
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Nov 26, 2015 10:42
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RealSovietBear posted:I've known about this game but never bothered playing it. Not sure I will, but this LP seems like the next best thing. Your commentary and voice fit well with the rest of the game. You should play it it's hella fun.
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Nov 26, 2015 11:12
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And now for some arcade talk. I’ve included only my best shotgun run at the end of the current video, but having recordings from a lot of arcade attempts gives me a nice retrospective to the learning curve and change in style and strategy. First I thought the shotgun needed to be aimed, using ironsights. That turned out to be far too slow. The shotgun is more like a brush that you sweep lightly past your enemies. Something I didn’t mention in the video but should be clear by now: you get additional points for every ‘special’ shot you combo, and you need to hit or kill something every 4 seconds to maintain the combo. With the shotgun the best you can aim for is Full Blast (point-blank shots), coupled with Headshots, and when you do that in concentration mode you’ll also get a bonus called Eyeblink. If you’re lucky you can stack a few more things on there, like Last Breath for kills when you’re close to death yourself, or Penetration, Dynamite, etc. Some of those combinations are…unintended. For example, you can go into concentration, then jump, and when you kill someone while in the air, the game counts that as ‘Falling’ and gives a bonus. That sounds kinda dumb and I’d rather not, but that seems to be something the top highscores rely on. And I just need to say this but I love the little enemy soundbites in the arcade mode. “Why won’t he die?!”, and “He’s a psycho!” are great, but the line “This ain’t right!” perfectly encapsulates the murder-storm you can achieve. You’re a lot tankier in arcade; usually 2-3 bullets are enough on hard difficulty story-mode to put you in serious trouble. The story needs pacing though, so you’re more vulnerable and hit-and-run tactics are better. The arcade is all about action, it’d be bothersome if you’d die too easily while being awesome. Concept Art   This is a link instead cause even the timg breaks format like a motherfucker Nuggets of Truth  In the Wild West, where the law either didn't exist or was represented by corrupt authorities, groups of citizens called vigilante committees often took the law into their own hands. These citizens acted as judge, juгу, and executioner, often hanging the accused from the closest tree. Their guilt was often anything but assured. Some of these vigilantes became local folk heroes and often gained considerable influence. Such was the case with the Montana Vigilantes, responsible for hanging Henry Plummer and twenty-one other suspects. (Ironically, they accused these men of belonging to a mysterious gang called The Innocents.) The last of those unfortunate souls was hung for merely voicing doubts in regards to the guilt of his friends. What was even more suspicious was that after Plummer and the rest of those suspects were hung, the gold robberies continued unabated. Some say that the Montana Vigilantes were the true bandits. Many of the early stories that pointed the finger of guilt at The Innocents were written by a member of the Vigilantes, the editor of the Montana Post.  He was born William Henry Handy Plummer in Addison, Maine in 1832. At the age of 13, he headed west for the gold fields of California. By all accounts, Plummer cut a handsome figure and was quite handy with a Colt. Within two years, he owned a mine, a ranch, and a bakery in Nevada City. In 1856, he was elected Sheriff and City Manager, but that next year Plummer killed John Vedder, the husband of the woman he had been seeing on the side. Sentenced to ten years in San Quentin, the governor subsequently pardoned Plummer as he was suffering from tuberculosis. Plummer's trail eventually led him to the gold fields of Bannack, Montana where he was promptly elected Sherriff. Crime was on the rise in Bannack as a gang of bandits known as the Innocents were attacking miners and hijacking gold shipments. The locals organized a group known as the Vigilantes to go after them, and the leader of the Innocents was discovered to be the Sheriff himself, Henry Plummer. The Vigilantes hung twenty-two men, including the Sheriff, but before they stretched his neck, some say he made them an offer. "Give me two hours and a horse and I will bring back my weight in gold." Could he have said such a thing? Who's to say? Some historians believe that Plummer may have been an innocent victim of the Montana Vigilantes. Some even say the Innocents never existed at all and that the Vigilantes were the actual bandits. We'll probably never know the truth as to whether Plummer was a hero or a killer.  Currently, a well-preserved ghost town in Beaver County, it's famous for what happened from 1863 to 1864, when the local sheriff, Henry Plummer, was accused of being the ringleader of a mysterious gang known as "The Innocents". Some believe they were responsible for nearly one hundred murders. A citizen's group known as the "Montana Vigilantes" summarily hanged 22 people for those crimes, including Henry Plummer himself. Bannack, founded in 1862, was named after the native Bannock tribe. In 1864, it briefly served as the capital city of the Montana Territory. It remained a mining town until it was deserted by its last residents in 1970. During its prime, Bannack boasted a population of over ten thousand residents. There were three hotels, three bakeries, three smithies, two stables, two meat markets, a grocery store, a restaurant, a brewery, a billiard hall, and four saloons.  Gold rushes, typical of the nineteenth century, were large scale, sudden migrations to often remote locations where gold-bearing deposits were discovered. The largest and most famous was the California gold rush of 1848. John W. Marshall found a gold nugget at John Sutter's sawmill in Coloma, California. News of the discovery spread quickly and people flocked to California from all over the world for a chance to get rich quick. Logging camps and military forts emptied out. Sailors jumped ship. Farms and businesses were abandoned. Over 300,000 people came to California. These "Forty-Niners" traveled west overland on the California and Gila River trail or by sea around Cape Horn at the far southern tip of South America. Most who made their fortune did not discover gold, but preyed upon those who came west hoping to strike it rich. The history of the Wild West is rife with similar gold rushes. One of the largest was The Pike's Peak Gold Rush. An estimated 100,000 prospectors flooded into the Rocky Mountains between 1858 and 1861, when the Colorado Territory was established. Another famous example was The Black Hills Gold Rush of the late 1870s. Thousands of prospectors followed the Custer Expedition deep into Indian Territory. The city of Deadwood, South Dakota was established nearby and to this day is a busy tourist town, complete with saloons and casinos. It is famous for the fact that one of the frontier's greatest gunslingers, Wild Bill Hickok, died there in a saloon, shot in the back of the head while playing poker. Fleve fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Dec 11, 2015 |
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Nov 27, 2015 17:11
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Holy poo poo that arcade run. I would've sworn you were dead about three times, you didn't even trigger the onetime evasion. Turns out kamikaze was a viable strategy in the Old West. Anyway, Plummer: he's my favorite boss fight in the game not only because he's not quickdraw (gently caress quickdraw) but because it's actually pretty involved. For one, you really want to watch out for that dynamite because it can one-shot you; you want to shoot it out of the air but for that you need to know where Plummer is hiding, not always the easiest task. If you don't kill his reinforcements the moment they come in, you're stuck behind one of three pieces of cover, occassionally poking your head out and praying you spot them faster than they shoot you; thankfully, there is a *lot* of dynamite in those crates. Oh, yeah, one little thing you missed: if you use dynamite in this level (not sure if anywhere or just in the spot before you enter the little maze where all the gunpowder barrels are), Silas will follow the bit about Colt up with something along the lines of "Of course, if my dad had known about Nobel's invention, he'd tell old Samuel to stuff it". edit: Hell, I ran the game to see if I didn't imagine it, the quote is even better: "If Daddy lived to see Alfred Nobel's explosive invention, my guess is he'd tell Samuel Colt to kiss his rear end." anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Nov 27, 2015 |
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Nov 27, 2015 19:24
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I like how the outlaws have normal photographs in the nuggets of truth, but outrageous outfits in the game. Really hammers home how you're fighting the Tall Tales versions of these characters.
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Nov 27, 2015 19:42
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