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Привет, товарищи! Welcome to  Metro: Last Light is the sequel to 2010' s Metro 2033. If you haven't played Metro 2033, you should check pannycakes's and ApocalypseToast's LP's. I'll be providing a short summary of the first game's events that should be enough to get you up to speed, but 2033 is a great game and you may miss out on some of the smaller details and returning characters, so I suggest you go watch them. I'll wait a bit. All Done? Wait, what do you mean  ? Argh, ok, let's ask Wikipedia:Previously, on Metro 2033 posted:Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter developed by 4A Games and published by THQ. The story is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel of the same name, and is set in the ruins of Moscow following a nuclear war, where the survivors are forced to live in underground metro tunnels. Players control Artyom, a man who must defeat an evil mutant race known as the Dark Ones. To be quite honest, I didn't like Metro 2033 when I first played it. It had a great premise and a fantastic moody setting, but the enemies were bullet spongy as hell and came in swarms, ammo was scarce and you were likely to end up using your Military-grade ammo (the game's currency) just to shoot monsters, which ended up screwing you in the long run. There was a stealth mechanic in place that helped you get through a lot of the human-populated levels, but since the game never told you you could just stealth sections, you ended up fighting your way out. A lot of people recommended playing it in Ranger Mode, because it made bullets waaaay more lethal, which ended up having the side effect of making the game easier since you ended up saving ammo. There was also a Karma system which influenced the game's ending, but it relied on stuff such as "play every balalaika and musical instrument in the game" asides from easier to spot decisions like not shooting the Dark One in the face, and it ended up having causing most people to miss out on the game's Good Ending, so much that the Ranger Ending -where you blow up the Dark Ones- is the canonical ending to 2033, since that's what most people got. The Karma system makes a return in Last Light, and we'll be aiming for the Good Ending. Please note I said "aiming for"; the karma system is a bit twitchy, but since I'm planning on showing off conversations and grabbing all the notes I'm fairly confident we'll get it. I'll be explaining how it works as we run into the positive and negative karma triggers. Depending on how much backtracking I have to do I may do a bonus video showing off the different results for the major decisions in the game, and the other ending. I got Last Light with a GFX card, installed it to give said card a test ride and ended up loving it. The game is more accessible, stealth is easier (a lot easier, bordering on cheap if you abuse it), and it looks and sounds amazing. So grab a drink, dim the lights, put on your headphones, and come explore post-nuclear Moscow with Artyom.  Why are you playing this and not Redux? Metro Redux is a remake of both 2033 and LL in a slightly modified LL engine. As such, there really isn't much difference between the base game and Redux; if you never played either game you'll want Redux, but if you already have a copy of LL you're set. 2033 gains the most from this remake, so if you tried 2033 and found it a bit janky or too difficult you may want to give 2033 Redux a try. I will be playing the DLC missions are on the Redux version of the game, since they're not available for purchase for the base game anymore. Update Schedule? I'll be aiming for updating twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays most likely. Jesus H. Christ you suck at FPSs. That's not a question. Also, yes. Spoilers? Discussing 2033's events is ok, but let's keep the thread spoiler-free regarding not only the story but setpieces and locations as well. Yes, that means not even in spoiler tags.                                         
Edmond Dantes fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Mar 29, 2017 |
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Sep 16, 2016 18:59
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                                                                                               And not a journal per se, but here's the map to Kshatriya: 
Edmond Dantes fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Mar 29, 2017 |
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Sep 16, 2016 18:59
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Nice seeing this. I liked 2033 well enough, but in the end, I liked the world of 2033 more than I liked playing it, so I didn't bother picking LL up. Also, you might want to check in with some mod to change the thread icon. 
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Sep 16, 2016 21:27
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So i hear I ruined a recording session, edmond. I might have to watch now  .
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Sep 16, 2016 21:41
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HardDisk posted:Nice seeing this. I liked 2033 well enough, but in the end, I liked the world of 2033 more than I liked playing it, so I didn't bother picking LL up. HardDisk posted:Also, you might want to check in with some mod to change the thread icon. Brownieftw posted:So i hear I ruined a recording session, edmond. I might have to watch now
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Sep 16, 2016 22:05
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Good to see a thread for this game. I finished it on Ranger difficulty recently and there's a few cool things about Ranger mode I'd like to point out when you get further into the game.
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Sep 16, 2016 22:09
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Great, now I have to reinstall the game and play it myself.  Nice work!
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Sep 17, 2016 00:53
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I thought that the bad ending was canon because that's how the book ended. Anyway, since I took Russian back in college, I can't help but go, "that's not how 'Sparta' should be spelled." I have to wonder why they made that decision. I'm also wondering what the in-game reason is for stuff being written in both Russian and English (the big map, signs, etc.). Well, I'm looking forward to more. I watched a bit of a play-through a while back, but I never got through the end.
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Sep 17, 2016 02:31
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With your FPS skills, Artyom's survival chances look as bleak as the wasteland you'll be playing in. Should be a fun ride!
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Sep 17, 2016 02:37
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TomViolence posted:Great, now I have to reinstall the game and play it myself.  Apep727 posted:I thought that the bad ending was canon because that's how the book ended. Apep727 posted:Anyway, since I took Russian back in college, I can't help but go, "that's not how 'Sparta' should be spelled." I have to wonder why they made that decision. I'm also wondering what the in-game reason is for stuff being written in both Russian and English (the big map, signs, etc.). SardonicTyrant posted:Good to see a thread for this game. I finished it on Ranger difficulty recently and there's a few cool things about Ranger mode I'd like to point out when you get further into the game. Ragequit posted:With your FPS skills, Artyom's survival chances look as bleak as the wasteland you'll be playing in. Should be a fun ride!
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Sep 17, 2016 02:51
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Apep727 posted:Anyway, since I took Russian back in college, I can't help but go, "that's not how 'Sparta' should be spelled." Yeah, that particular bit sticks out like the sorest of thumbs, and it really bugs me too. Particularly since they spell the rest of it with Cyrillic letters. It's a really odd decision, and I have a hard time figuring out any reason why they chose to do it like that. For those who don't know, "S" in Cyrillic looks like the Latin "C"
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Sep 17, 2016 23:18
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I always thought the "canon" ending leading to this game is a mix of the two endings, in which Artyom blows up the dark ones, but gets their message just before they die; I have no idea if that's co-aligning with the book. It would certainly explain the dreams. But yeah, I played through these games once, and again when the remastered versions came out. All in all I preferred the controls for the second over the first as I had more fun with it. But it's a really great series I find, with a really juicy, well done atmosphere... Playing videogames, I've never felt quite so al;one in a world that hates me as when the good old Russians were at the helm!
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Sep 18, 2016 01:23
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I want to bring up something about the mechanics of the first game: the bullet sponge issue with the enemies. It has to do with the way Metro 2033 calculated damage. In that game, all articles of clothing and each individual piece of armor contributed to an enemy's defense. Fortunately for the developers, the mechanic worked. Unfortunately for the developers, the mechanic really worked. More likely than not, the enemy would be wearing helmets, and those blocked a lot of headshot damage. In fact, you'd be more lethal if you aimed for the neck, inside of stealth or in open firefights, because no one has armored collars. Necks are really small targets, by the way. One of the best (overall) improvements Redux adds is the overall removal of the armor mechanic, allowing enemies to not be bullet sponges. I'm going to just throw this out there and admit I liked the armor system in vanilla 2033. Less so when I hosed up stealth kills by missing a dude's neck with my throwing knife, but it was interesting to me.
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Sep 18, 2016 03:27
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There's going to be bit of Russian thrown around when we meet a new character in Episode 03, so feel free to explain what the hell he's saying when we get to that point.bman in 2288 posted:I'm going to just throw this out there and admit I liked the armor system in vanilla 2033. Less so when I hosed up stealth kills by missing a dude's neck with my throwing knife, but it was interesting to me. I don't think I ever made it to human enemies in the original 2033. I remember scrambling for ammo during the first big fight against a group of Nosalis on the bridge and having a hell of a time when you need to hold your ground with Bourbon at the entrance to Market because the bloody things just wouldn't die. Knives in Last Light are... Well, let's just say we'll be seeing them in action in episode 3; I don't want to spoil the surprise. resurgam40 posted:But yeah, I played through these games once, and again when the remastered versions came out. All in all I preferred the controls for the second over the first as I had more fun with it. But it's a really great series I find, with a really juicy, well done atmosphere... Playing videogames, I've never felt quite so al;one in a world that hates me as when the good old Russians were at the helm! I played a bit of the original 2033 but never finished it, watched an LP, loved Last Light which led me to getting 2033 Redux. I liked Redux much better than base 2033, I think the changes going into LL (which went "back" to 2033 Redux) made the game much more accesible. Edmond Dantes fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Sep 18, 2016 |
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Sep 18, 2016 03:44
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I believe the original Metro shared a problem with STALKER (which makes sense, since the two games were mostly made by the same people): enemies get more and more bullet spongy the lower the difficulty is. So... you select your guns and use them in the firing range without
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Sep 18, 2016 06:46
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If this were an LP of Metro 2033, I'd help out with language, but I haven't beaten that one myself yet, and don't want to spoil it for myself, so, unfortunately, WELP
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Sep 18, 2016 16:27
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The forums getting ddos'd gave me an excuse to play some more, so it's  Update time! Where we take a walk through Moscow with Anna and observe the local fauna. Journal entries for this update: Xander77 posted:I believe the original Metro shared a problem with STALKER (which makes sense, since the two games were mostly made by the same people): enemies get more and more bullet spongy the lower the difficulty is. I didn't comment on the guns since there was already the Quartermaster's explanation going on and on-screen text saying... pretty much what I would have said since they're standard fare FPS weapons (for now). I try to avoid putting subtitles when there's already text being displayed; I have a bit more leeway when it's subtitles or when there's background dialogue but I still don't like doing it. I do comment on guns as I use them, so you'll see a bit of that in this episode. Alexeythegreat posted:If this were an LP of Metro 2033, I'd help out with language, but I haven't beaten that one myself yet, and don't want to spoil it for myself, so, unfortunately, WELP 
Edmond Dantes fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Sep 26, 2016 |
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Sep 18, 2016 20:01
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I love how the designers got around the issues of conveying certain information without using a hud. How much ammo do you have? Just look at your magazine. How much time do you have on your gas mask filter? Check your watch. What's your objective, and where is it? Pull out your notebook. I also love some of the minor mechanics they included, like charging your flashlight or wiping crud off your mask. They're not really important, gameplay-wise, but I think it shows how much the designers cared about making the game as realistic as possible. Also, what's up with the "rabbit" thing? Is it a Russian thing, a ranger thing, what?
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Sep 19, 2016 00:58
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Anna is mocking him for being a quiet, little creature that runs around a lot and seems generally harmless. We know Artyom isn't harmless, but she hasn't seen him in action yet. And he basically got fast-tracked into bring a Spartan instead of spending grueling years training for it, so a lot of people believe that he might not have what it takes.
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Sep 19, 2016 01:43
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Now that the LP is underway, I'd like to take the time to mention some changes in Ranger Mode. Ranger Mode is a special difficulty that is available as DLC in both Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light. There are two versions of Ranger: Ranger Easy and Ranger Hardcore. I'll focus on Ranger Hardcore, as that's the one I finished. - Almost the entire HUD is removed. This includes ammo count, crosshairs, the visual cue over stuff to pick up/use, tutorial prompts, etc. This isn't as bad as it sounds, because as was previously said the game is pretty good at using other visual cues to convey information (like the watch or the magazine clip). If you want a count of your supplies, though, bringing up the journal now shows everything you're carrying. The only real downside is that, since there are no longer any prompts, you can sometimes miss ammo pickups, currency, a boss QTE  , and so on.- You can only carry two weapons, not three. - The amount of ammo you can carry is halved. Combined with fewer pickups and some areas can become almost impossible because you don't have enough ammo to win. I'll try pointing those moments when we get there. -Enemies take more damage and go down in a few hits. -There is a Ranger mode only weapon, the AKS-74U, that's available in the first level and later on. It's not as good as the regular AK though, so I'm guessing it's included as more of a challenge. There's a few other changes in Ranger Mode, but I'll wait until the next level before discussing them.
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Sep 20, 2016 00:08
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SardonicTyrant posted:Ranger Mode is a special difficulty that is available as DLC in both Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light. While they're both DLC, Ranger Mode for 2033 was released for free on Steam (it was paid on the 360), but actually cost $5 for Last Light. You could get it "for free" if you got the Special Edition but, needless to say, a lot of people got angry at this, especially considering the developers went on record [citation needed] somewhere saying that Ranger Mode was "the way the game was meant to be played". SardonicTyrant posted:The only real downside is that, since there are no longer any prompts, you can sometimes miss ammo pickups, currency, a boss QTE You know, I'm still not sure if instead of actually deciding and programming which prompts should stay on-screen and which should be hidden, they just disabled the whole overlay for Hardcore and called it a day. It would certainly explain things like the spoiler you mention, which would be a staggeringly dumb design decision otherwise -even considering the "immersive" nature of Ranger Hardcore- and It would also explain why even though Metro: Last Light itself has been delisted (you can only get the Redux editions now), you can still get the rest of its DLC on Steam... but not Ranger Mode. Trying to access the store through the game menu just redirects you to Steam's main store page. Next update will be up sometime on Wednesday; the game's chapters are fairly similar in length at around 20-25 mins, so after getting more comfortable with the whole LP process and having something that kinda resembles a workflow I'm fairly confident I can update twice a week.
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Sep 20, 2016 01:54
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Update time! Where we lose our quarry, but gain a comrade. Journal entries for this update: And here's a bit of dialogue that    
Edmond Dantes fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jan 8, 2017 |
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Sep 21, 2016 17:46
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SardonicTyrant posted:Now that the LP is underway, I'd like to take the time to mention some changes in Ranger Mode. You get to recover the weapons you took from the Sparta armory at the end of Pavel (next to the gate that leads to the Nazi rally) You also sell all weapons for a lot less than you do in any other mode. In other news, knives are a one-hit kill against unaware mutant enemies as well.  Pavel actually has a speech about how Xander77 fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Sep 21, 2016 |
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Sep 21, 2016 17:52
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When you keep touching those giant burning bulbs with your bare hands... 
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Sep 21, 2016 18:31
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Xander77 posted:You get to recover the weapons you took from the Sparta armory at the end of Pavel (next to the gate that leads to the Nazi rally)  And here are a couple medkits I missed on the left side:  Also yeah, knives are OP as hell; I was gonna mention it works on mutants after killing one from halfway across a level. Xander77 posted:Pavel actually has a speech about how Here's the full thing (I included it on the update post as well): Dooky Dingo posted:When you keep touching those giant burning bulbs with your bare hands... 
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Sep 21, 2016 18:40
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Edmond Dantes posted:I had a hell of a time trying to capture that dialogue, it would only trigger when I neared the gate, and then would immediately get cut off by Pavel telling me about the gate controls.
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Sep 21, 2016 18:52
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Ah, Last Light. I really liked the aesthetics of these games, but I have to confess, this one left me a bit cold. It was... too polished - like it was Metro 2033 done by Hollywood - case in point; the Shambler now acting like a proper semi-auto shotgun instead of having to juggle shells in the mechanism to get it fully-loaded. Also, the representation of women in the game was pretty uncool, too. Edit: What is Khan talking to Alex about in the first video, before you interrupt them? Samovar fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Sep 21, 2016 |
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Sep 21, 2016 19:32
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Xander77 posted:Yeah, that's a bit more approving in the Russian version. Samovar posted:Edit: What is Khan talking to Alex about in the first video, before you interrupt them? The soldier doesn't actually have lines at this point, if you walk up to them you get that bit with Uhlman going "Pay no attention to this clown, Alex. Open the gates!" you saw on the video. Regarding women in the game... I'm not gonna argue with you there. While some things do make a certain sense in-universe (which we'll see in a few videos), some other stuff could definitely have been handled better.
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Sep 21, 2016 21:51
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I love the metro games and I actually prefer Last Light if only because of the neat things it does/introduces over the first. The first was a bit better in terms of atmosphere simply because buddy sections are way more common in this game. (And horror is always dampened by having buddies.)Edmond Dantes posted:Regarding women in the game... I'm not gonna argue with you there. While some things do make a certain sense in-universe (which we'll see in a few videos), some other stuff could definitely have been handled better.
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Sep 21, 2016 23:03
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Xander77 posted:Too late: Xander77 posted:In other news, knives are a one-hit kill against unaware mutant enemies as well. Oh, but that reminds me of another "no hud" problem: Ranger Hardcore removes the subweapon menu, so the only way to tell if you're switching from, say, knives to grenades is by the (very) faint sound each subweapon makes when selected. No, this never got me killed multiple times, why do you ask?
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Sep 23, 2016 14:09
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SardonicTyrant posted:Oh, but that reminds me of another "no hud" problem: Ranger Hardcore removes the subweapon menu, so the only way to tell if you're switching from, say, knives to grenades is by the (very) faint sound each subweapon makes when selected.
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Sep 23, 2016 15:04
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SardonicTyrant posted:Oh, but that reminds me of another "no hud" problem: Ranger Hardcore removes the subweapon menu, so the only way to tell if you're switching from, say, knives to grenades is by the (very) faint sound each subweapon makes when selected. So it actually brings up the menu but you can't see it? This reinforces my "they just disabled the whole HUD" theory, that's beyond dumb.  Xander77 posted:I don't think the game even tells you how to use the subweapon menu on regular mode, so good luck if your first playthrough is in Ranger Hardcore. The weird part is that the original Metro 2033 was a lot smarter about that - you just pressed different buttons to switch to knives / grenades etc, and the switch was visible. Removed in Metro 2033 Redux, because the developers don't really give a poo poo about obvious playerbase consensus. You get a lonely "Press TAB to switch secondary weapons" when you pick up your first grenade in chapter... 6 or 7, but that's about it. What's super lovely is that there's no way of switching throwables outside of said menu so I'll have to get creative during firefights, become a Master of Editing, or hope the game remembers which subweapon I had selected when I entered a checkpoint. 
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Sep 23, 2016 15:39
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Well, I really like Pavel; though I do wish I knew the exact translations for his little exclamations. But that does lead me to what I find... not so great about this game. Now, I don't want to sound like a whiner - this is a pretty good game, but one thing that really stuck for me was the English V.A.s; besides from Pavel, there all very... well, not very good - they don't feel natural, they don't convey the feeling of resigned dread that they conveyed in the first game. Also, the watch and the stealth mechanic. I don't like the digital display - it feels too high-tech. In the first game it was a wind-up mechanism which felt really slap-dash, and thus appropriate for the setting. Also, while the stealth mechanics are much more streamlined, I do feel they were simplified way too much in this game. I didn't feel that stealthy and non-violent was 'hard'. Also, the knives are stupidly over-powered. Finally, it's obvious why Anna calls you rabbit; she's seen your avatar.
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Sep 23, 2016 18:12
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Edmond Dantes posted:What's super lovely is that there's no way of switching throwables outside of said menu so I'll have to get creative during firefights, become a Master of Editing, or hope the game remembers which subweapon I had selected when I entered a checkpoint.
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Sep 23, 2016 18:50
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Samovar posted:Well, I really like Pavel; though I do wish I knew the exact translations for his little exclamations. But that does lead me to what I find... not so great about this game. Same happens in LL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pyw2CTc22I Xander77 posted:I... don't quite follow.
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Sep 23, 2016 19:16
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Compile the occasional video full of unsubbed Russian dialog, and we'll be happy to translate. Alternately, learn to speak quote:Oh, that wasn't a complaint against the game -though they could have bound that to the mousewheel- but rather fretting about my options for handling it in the LP: I'd rather not bring up the menu in the videos other than to explain it when the game mentions it since it breaks the flow something awful (even worse in the middle of a firefight), so I either not switch throwables mid-video, or find a way to edit the menu out when doing so.
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Sep 23, 2016 19:19
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Something I just noticed in the Pavel video. It doesn't seem like you looted the ammo from enemy guns, just their bodies. You can swipe the ammo from guns without picking them up.
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Sep 23, 2016 19:43
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Mein Gott, looks like it's Update time! Where we mingle with the locals and partake in a bit of exercise. Journal entries for this update: This is (quite) a short update to tide us over until next one is up. After this I will be trying to stick to twice-a-week a schedule, which will probably be Mondays and Fridays. SardonicTyrant posted:Something I just noticed in the Pavel video. It doesn't seem like you looted the ammo from enemy guns, just their bodies. You can swipe the ammo from guns without picking them up.  Xander77 posted:Alternately, learn to speak Episodes 06-08 will feature Pavel calling us all kinds of words in Russian, so you guys will get a chance to make the rest of us feel not so left out. Edmond Dantes fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Jan 8, 2017 |
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Sep 23, 2016 23:38
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Ye gods, I'd forgotten how much Pavel kicked rear end in this section of the game; annoying as they are, I did like the pulse-pounding action set-pieces that both this and the last game had (I think around this time, too...), they tend to liven things up. I too would like to ask id Pave;]s little Russian sprinkles mean anything or are just some kind of auditory personality flair or verbal emphasis, like de gozaru is in Japanese. Also, wow, good job Spartans, keeping your secrets intact, as one of the biggest and scariest factions in the Metro found out about it and have already started hypothesizing about what's in there. Someone ought to be fired.
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Sep 24, 2016 00:10
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I want to point something out, and this is probably the best chance to do it - the insignia for the Reich (the stylized R) is different from what it was in the first game (the C symbol, which you can see on the flags during the big speech). I have to wonder why it got changed, both in-game and out-of-game.
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Sep 24, 2016 01:30
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