|
Who is your favourite Killzone 1 hero? This poll is closed. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Templar |
|
7 | 3.24% |
| Rico |
|
14 | 6.48% |
| Luger |
|
23 | 10.65% |
| Hakha |
|
64 | 29.63% |
| Don't talk to me about Killzone 1 |
|
108 | 50.00% |
| Total: | 216 votes | ||
|
Lazy Bear posted:But seriously, I have a question... If this mineral is the power source for, as Evelyn said, half the universe, how do the Vektans not recognize it on sight? I always understood it as the actual energy generated on Helghan is exported. The rest of the galaxy probably doesn't care how it's been made, and probably assumes it's being done through traditional means, like damming, or burning coal, or nuclear power, or whatever. As long they can buy the power to make up for their shortfalls, whatever, right? Like how Canada is making literally billions by exporting surplus energy to the United States.
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 06:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 13:07 |
|
|
Lazy Bear posted:how do the Vektans not recognize it on sight? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 06:56
|
|
|
Blind Sally posted:I always understood it as the actual energy generated on Helghan is exported. The rest of the galaxy probably doesn't care how it's been made, and probably assumes it's being done through traditional means, like damming, or burning coal, or nuclear power, or whatever. As long they can buy the power to make up for their shortfalls, whatever, right? Like how Canada is making literally billions by exporting surplus energy to the United States. Out of curiousity, how do you imagine power is being transported between planets? Canada can export electricity to the United States because they are connected to the same electrical grid. How exactly is Helghan supposed to be getting the power they sell to other planets without sending them the source of the power? Gigantic shipments of batteries?
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 06:59
|
|
|
Crigit posted:Out of curiousity, how do you imagine power is being transported between planets? Canada can export electricity to the United States because they are connected to the same electrical grid. How exactly is Helghan supposed to be getting the power they sell to other planets without sending them the source of the power? Gigantic shipments of batteries? In all sincerity, probably yes. We saw in the Or so I figure, at least. EDIT: The Killzone Wiki also says this is the first time the ISA has encountered weaponized Petrusite as well. So that explains our "heroes"'s befuddlement over it in the game a little better too. E2: removed Wiki link because it accidentally contains spoilers. 
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Apr 25, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:03
|
|
|
Does the Killzone universe have Antimatter? Some kind of fuel cell maybe? Though to be honest I doubt the writers put that much thought into it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:04
|
|
|
Crigit posted:Gigantic shipments of batteries? That's what I always figured. I mean:  Later games represent them like this:  nine-gear crow posted:The various corporations on Helghan which still deal with the UCA probably package or incorporate Petrusite in some sort of propriety or otherwise specialized form or format. The stuff we're seeing on Helghan itself are probably Petrusite products stripped of all the features or blackboxes which the UCA or ISA or EarthGov demanded be attached to their versions. Relevant concept art:  Presumably this is more or less what it looks like when the ISA receive their energy shipments from the Helghast. Heck, that or the Helghast are offloading it directly from their ships. Bring their ships into low-orbit on Vekta, connect a few cables, and recharge the Vekta power plants.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:22
|
|
|
Blind Sally posted:Relevant concept art: Q: Is this a pokey stick If yes, Q: Can I jab people with the electric pokey stick If yes again, Q: Can I jab Natko and give him horrible ptsd flashbacks of the tesla rod thing that happened in the last video
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:23
|
|
|
CJacobs posted:Q: Is this a pokey stick It--I--the concept art states that the rod is 4 metres long. I'd imagine you'd need some sort of heavy machinery to even lift it.  That said, in Natko's PTSD flashbacks, he envisions himself as having a sweet beard: 
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:35
|
|
|
Aw dammit I missed that. Well poo poo, get the whole team to use it like a lightning battering ram then! Kill some bigass electric spiders with it because gently caress spiders!
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:37
|
|
|
Blind Sally posted:That said, in Natko's PTSD flashbacks, he envisions himself as having a sweet beard:
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:43
|
|
|
Shadow Fall does have the smaller Petrusite capacitors, which are actually storing the energy generated by Petrusite. There are some mini puzzles and objectives based around removing and inserting Petrusite capacitors to unlock doors and power machinery.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 07:51
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:Shadow Fall does have the smaller Petrusite capacitors, which are actually storing the energy generated by Petrusite. There are some mini puzzles and objectives based around removing and inserting Petrusite capacitors to unlock doors and power machinery. Can we use those to jab Natko and give him horrible PTSD flashbacks?
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 08:20
|
|
|
 This one is for you, CJacobs. And crow. And for everyone who said "gently caress spiders".
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 09:34
|
|
|
Blind Sally posted:
We're all gonna be okay 
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2015 10:50
|
|
|
  A few quick notes on this video, 1) I was sick with a sore throat at the time of this recording, so you might hear me coughing or clearing my throat a lot during it, or a few instances where I straight up mute my desk mic to cover up that stuff. I tried to cut as much of it out as I possibly could, though. And 2) I was (attempting) to upload another video at the time of this recording, which introduced about a five second delay between mine and Sally's audio over Skype. I've tried to edit that out in post, but if it sounds like we're talking over one another, we actually weren't. So this is the start of the third chapter of Killzone: Liberation, somewhat puzzlingly titled "Revenge of Metrac", because, well, Metrac doesn't show up in Chapter 3, nor does he really do anything worthy of being called "revenge." Cobar on the other hand, weeeeeeeell poo poo... Templar   STAGE 1: RECONNAISSANCE  Just as with Chapter 2, we begin Chapter 3 in an aquatic vehicle. So heeeeey, you remember that shittyass swamp level we randomly and kinda what-the-fuckedly grabbed DStecks to comment over? The one that broke the Killzone 1 LP into the shambling mess of hot garbage that I to this day remain surprised we actually finished?  Yeah... Well, at least we have a loving boat this time.  A boat with a rocket launcher!  Boom! Eat it Helgoons!  Though in the midst of all this excitement, we appear to have attracted the attention of Col. Cobar, who's just randomly there in the swamps, I guess...  Cobar has been set up as Liberation's Heavy, the big bad motherfucker who's there to put the hurt on our protagonists. And while he's not really going to get much of a chance to do that directly in this video, all signs point to a confrontation between him and Templar For now though, we're going to have to contend with his personal retinue of soldiers who are lying in wait to stop Templar  Luger radios in at the start of the first stage to let Jan know the status of the dropship. Its distress beacon has been activated, so there's hope that at least someone is still alive at the crash site. Though this means that if the ISA are picking up the beacon, then the Helghast almost certainly are too, so time is of the essence, and they're already well-entrenched in the swaps as it is.  We also get a little more plot intrigue happening. Metrac knew precise details about a supposedly secret meeting between key personnel in the Vekta's upper command and research echelons. All signs seem to be pointing to yet another mole Vekta's central command structure... But who could it be? Unlike in Killzone 1, where the game drat near comes out and plants a neon sign on the head of its turncoat, Liberation holds its traitor cards a little closer to its chest this time around. STAGE 2: AMBUSH  Well, when you title your level that...  After making it out of the swamp in one piece, Templar  This isn't looking good for Captain Hero and his faithful PTSD hallucination.   But wait! What's this!  Why it's everyone's  Jan quickly realizes, after being caught in one of Cobar's cunning traps, that they might just be walking into one of Cobar's cunning traps. I say "cunning" half-sarcastically, of course. There's very little cunning about Cobar. He's a blunt instrument, a thresher of human lives.   In a twisted sort of sense, Tendon Cobar is the Helghast's very own Rico Velasquez, two men of unnervingly similar talents, tactical persuasions, and political outlooks, only pointed in opposite directions. Both men are fervent patriots to their nations and the ideals they believe them to embody. If you asked either one of them what they were at their core, each would most likely tell you they were a Loyal Son of Vekta/Helghan. Cobar believes that Visari can do no wrong and any action the Helghast take in defense of their homeland is justified. Rico believes that the ISA can do no wrong and any action taken in the defense of Vekta against the Helghast is justified in the end, though his faith in his superiors has been shaken a little by the defection and fall of General Adams. Both men are skilled at doing really only one thing well: killing. Neither has time for subtleties like politics or diplomacy. Rico just wants to shoot Helghast with his big giant gun, and Cobar wants to crush the Vektans with Metrac's big giant army. And each man believes his opposing "species" is sub-human in a variety of ways, and thus is permitted to be slaughtered in ways that their own kind would never be. They each see their side in a position of racial privilege over the other. The only real difference between the two of them (outside of a troubled argument on the morality or lack thereof of each man) is where each man has ended up in their respective militaries. Both Rico and Cobar entered the army from positions of poverty, the difference between them being, however, that Cobar's skills were recognized and encouraged and he was promoted to an officer's position as a result, while Rico's skills were shunned and ignored and he has languished as a relatively low-ranked non-commissioned officer, in charge of only small platoons of men at the most rather than the entire army branch Cobar commands as head of the Colonial Guard and Metrac's second. This, of course, is a reflection of the ISA and Helghast's institutional moral philosophies in action. The ISA, holding itself up to be an alleged force for moral good in the universe, promotes men and women who share its publicly espoused values: honor, restraint, heroism, respect, all that jazz; qualities men like Jan Templar, a man on the cusp of a promotion into a command rank himself (seen in Killzone 2) embodies naturally. Templar is raised up, while Rico, a man with a hair trigger attitude, who often times has to be restrained by others rather than show restraint himself, an uncouth loudmouth who says things that would get him punched or shot by even the most level-headed of cohorts, who enjoys watching his enemies die by his actions, is held back and kept a faceless cog in its war machine. A vital part of the system, but not one worthy of public adulation or commanding authority over other people (in large numbers). Cobar, is the opposite case. Metrac recognized those same qualities, the lack of restraint and respect for others lives, the willingness to kill anyone he perceived to be wrong, a man with no filter between his twisted brain and his snarling mouth, the human bulldozer attitude and the religious devotion to Visari, and placed him a position of power and command over others where he could express these qualities more freely and subsequently influence others with these qualities, either to emulate them themselves, or to simply be crushed by them to make room for those who would emulate them better. It's such a shame Rico is such an un-self-reflexive character and that he never comes to the realization himself, because the irony is... He'd have made one drat good Helghast.  Oh, poo poo, what? The plot's still happening? Well then.  This leads us into the second stage, which is navigating the ravines and gulches to get to the crash site finally.  And as  Templar, I'll cover this part of the game in the Gameplay section further down.  Templar and co. eventually make it to the crash site, and well, it's a horror show.  drat, that is a lot of blood for a T-Rated game. Killzone: Liberation doesn't gently caress around, does it? Oh, and Stratson, Batton, and Milcher have been kidnapped again. Can I start calling Evelyn "Killzone's Princess Cisna" now? Because the number of times she is or will be kidnapped across various Killzone games is starting to creep into the territory of the LP Subform's resident holder of the "Most Times Kidnapped In A Single Video Game" Award, and if there's one thing we all know about Princess Cisna, it's that she will broker no rival.  Rico volunteers to look for some medicals supplies to stabilize the pilot while Jan radios in for a MEDEVAC for the MEDEVAC. Yo dawg...  So while Jan  To never be seen again until the Chapter 5 DLC, wherein I finally get to unveil this:  soon  And now: GAMEPLAY!  Stage 1 of Chapter 3 is a vehicle section, specifically a hovercraft vehicle section, which was teased to us at the end of Chapter 2. The game wastes little time in giving you full control over the ISA Hovercraft. The hovercraft controls exactly like the Helghast tank does, with the same features being split between players in co-op mode. The only difference being that the hovercraft has a little more play in its movement and tends to be a little harder to steer and stop thanks to its nature as a hovercraft. So good on Guerrilla for not making it a 1:1 clone of the tank with a different model. Being a hovercraft, it can, of course, maneuver through both land and water, though only along the set corridor of the level. Again, to Guerrilla's credit, they really tightened up the swamp level compared to the open, samey, mess it was in Killzone 1 where you could get lost in it very easily.  Throughout the level are pop up waterborne mines. These mines are heavily armored and will explode if the hovercraft gets within a certain distance of them doing major, possibly even catastrophic damage to the hovercraft. They take a fair amount of time to take down thanks to the low armor-piercing ability of the hovercraft's machine gun and slow reload rate of its rocket launcher. The mines themselves are no serious threat to you. Both the turrets have enough range to take them out safely. What they ARE, however, is obstacles meant to impede your progress and open you up to ambushes from Helghast troops positioned on the shores. The game tries to trick you into destroying the mines first when you should really be focusing on the rocket troopers who pop up to ambush you.  Which of course will lead to...  Yeah, we lose the hovercraft fairly early in Stage 1 and have to do the rest of the level on foot from there.  gently caress Jan, now I'm getting PTSD flashbacks. Only my PTSD ghost isn't taking the form of DStecks... Though one decent part about going through this level is that the mines are now 100% harmless to us unless you like literally bump into one, so they can be skirted around without missing a step now.  It's also time to show off some new-ish guns. First up is the M3 Revolver previously modeled by General Stratson, now getting a bit of gameplay feature time by me. I wasn't a big fan of the revolver, having essentially picked it up by accident and then, as you see in the video, hastily ditching it. It had decent attack power to it, but it's small clip and long reload time didn't do it for me, so I went back to the assault rifle in short order.  Sally, meanwhile, begins channeling his inner Note the Helgoon on the extreme right of the screenshot, hit by the arrow just shot from the crossbow.  Now note the huge gently caress off explosion where he was just standing (the even bigger explosion to the left was triggered by a grenade blowing up a gas drum, BTW). Yes, the crossbow fires explosive tipped arrows which can, if not instantly kill many Helghast, then definitely knock them down to critical health in one shot.    Stage 2 introduces something that's not seen all that often in the early Killzones, yet will start to become a little more popular in Killzone 2 and Killzone 3: infinitely spawning enemy scripts! Yes, I said this was gonna be a run-and-gun battle, and I meant it. The Helghast will send an infinite wave of soldiers down the side of the mountain, so trying to hold your position and kill all of them is suicide. What's more, they start coming in larger numbers the longer you hold out there to try and force you into retreating just in case you didn't get the message the first twenty times the game tries to tell you. The Helgoons are quite slow at descending the mountain behind you, so you can easily turn round and pick off the two or three troopers who manage to catch up with you to give you a little more breathing room to get further down the slope before more finally catch up with you.  This area of the game also introduces the Helghast Pyro. You can't really see him because he's obscured in his own fireball and smoke cloud, though you should be able to make out his health bar over his head.  Like Sally points out in the video, Pyros in Liberation are more puzzles than they are enemies. They very rarely turn their flamethrowers on you directly, instead opting to ignite entire parts of the path ahead of you to block or divert your progress.  For your initial encounter with them, however, you're merely shown what their role in Liberation is, and you're given both ample room to outmaneuver them, and a clear shot at taking them down. When they start appearing later in the game, Guerrilla won't be as generous with your chances against them.  And finally, raising the bridge across the ravine halts the Infinite March of the Helgoon Horde. Now, all you have to worry about are the ones in front of you between you and the dropship. And that's it for gameplay for Chapter 3, Stages 1 & 2. There wasn't really that much new to cover here, but that's going to change in short order coming up in 3 & 4.    Crossbow A markedly antiquated weapon compared to the more refined projectile weaponry employed in the Second Extra-Solar War, but no less deadly than its "modern" descendants. Crossbows have found their way onto the battlefields of Southern Vekta thanks their versatility and low maintenance requirements. They can be fitted to fire anything from improved arrows to specifically manufactured bolts with explosive or incendiary tips and are by and large silent weapons, providing a decisive advantage for missions where stealth is a primary requirement.  VC1 Flamethrower Manufactured by the Visari Corporation, the VC1 Flamethrower (also called the VC-1) is the galaxy's paramount flamethrower of choice. When you want to ensure you enemies die a horrific, agonizing death and emit screams that will haunt you in the quiet hours of your life till your dying day, think Visari Corporation! The #1 name in horrific death by immolation! Wielded by Helghast pyro troopers, the VC1 is powered by a mixture of low-octane gasoline and an unidentified additive which the Killzone Wiki describes as being "native to Helghan." And no, before you say it, it's not Petrucite. The VC1 fires a liquified Napalm-like flaming substance outwards in an arc up to 30 feet away, allowing soldiers to light whole patches of ground or platoons of enemies aflame to bar enemy progress or quickly neutralize oncoming threats. It shares a real world inspiration from the German Maschinengewehr (MG) 42 machine gun chassis, and from the flamethrower wielded by the protagonist of Ridley Scott's Alien, Ellen Ripley, during the film's final act. Liberation's manual hilariously claims that the VC1 has a 200 Liter fuel tank on it to "retain portability". As former Killzone 1 guest commentator chitoryu12 points out, this right here is what an actual 200L fuel drum looks like:  "Portability" my rear end...  CONCEPT ART  Swamp docks, sketch  Swamp docks, final  Colonel Cobar, sketch nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 13:35 on Nov 10, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2015 08:38
|
|
|
CJacobs posted:gently caress spiders That said, when you're getting up in enemy faces with the knife faster than they can adequately react and they're all screaming and trying to get away from you, I think you're actually in spidervision rather than Rambovision. Blind Sally posted:As much as I dislike Natko, he is actually a pretty decent soldier, I'll come to bat for him on that. He's a part of Alpha Squad. nine-gear crow posted:Oh, pfft, stop defending him Blind Sally posted:Presumably this is more or less what it looks like when the ISA receive their energy shipments from the Helghast. Heck, that or the Helghast are offloading it directly from their ships. Bring their ships into low-orbit on Vekta, connect a few cables, and recharge the Vekta power plants. Blind Sally posted:It--I--the concept art states that the rod is 4 metres long. I'd imagine you'd need some sort of heavy machinery to even lift it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2015 10:53
|
|
|
Fish Noise posted:Nah, you use psychology. Put it on its side, tell Natko that the contacts are the controls he needs to operate to help Doctor ScienceLady with something, then stand back and wait for him to punch an electrode in frustration. This is why Natko disappears in Killzone 3, folks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2015 20:00
|
|
|
Fish Noise posted:I'm sure all issues with Natko could be resolved if Isaac 'The Roose Is Loose' Clarke would just stasis him. #teamnatko #hewasright #whatthefuckisashakespeare
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 06:25
|
|
|
nine-gear crow posted:Liberation's manual hilariously claims that the VC1 has a 200 Liter fuel tank on it to "retain portability". As former Killzone 1 guest commentator chitoryu12 points out, this right here is what an actual 200L fuel drum looks like: he's just so drat perplexed by that barrel. As if he too is following this LP and cannot believe that typo in the Killzone: Liberation manual.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 06:33
|
|
|
Now, I'm gonna out and say it's probably a typo because drat if that's not a lot of fuel. But, is it possible that the contents are very, very, very compressed? I mean, this is super-advanced space-technology and whatever. I mean, they're already bending the laws of physics(over their knee) with FTL travel, is it also possible they have some way of supercompressing liquids?
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 09:17
|
|
|
Lazy Bear posted:Now, I'm gonna out and say it's probably a typo because drat if that's not a lot of fuel. Possibly, but we all know where that leads... So let's hope not... 
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 09:50
|
|
|
Save yourself from spiders.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 09:57
|
|
|
JamieTheD posted:Possibly, but we all know where that leads... So let's hope not... The spider dimension?!
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2015 16:22
|
|
|
Looking at the way chapter 2 and 3 of Liberation start, and with your analysis in mind, it really does feel like a long drive on a boat or hovercraft provide some relief for Templar, but the instant the explosions and death start, look who materializes on the side of his path, it's his old buddy Col. Gregor Hakha, showing up wherever he's needed! Better pull over that hovercraft and give him a lift! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2015 22:00
|
|
|
JamieTheD posted:Possibly, but we all know where that leads... So let's hope not...
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 06:23
|
|
|
Kerris posted:What's that? The FTL engine from Event Horizon.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 06:25
|
|
|
So back in the day (read: 2011-2012) I was very heavily invested in amateur action film makers on YouTube like Freddie Wong, Corridor Digital, and Pwnisher. I just remembered that Pwnisher actually made a Killzone 2 fan film! Here it is, in all its shakycam glory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ4FGm9Fwvg
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 06:09
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:So back in the day (read: 2011-2012) I was very heavily invested in amateur action film makers on YouTube like Freddie Wong, Corridor Digital, and Pwnisher. I just remembered that Pwnisher actually made a Killzone 2 fan film! Here it is, in all its shakycam glory. That's pretty cool, but they lose points for using the O instead of 0 with the Capture It font to get the proper Killzone title typeface. Accuracy people, Jesus.   ^^^^ Those ain't no loving O's mate.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 06:44
|
|
|
You think Radec executes people for typeface violations too?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 09:10
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:So back in the day (read: 2011-2012) I was very heavily invested in amateur action film makers on YouTube like Freddie Wong, Corridor Digital, and Pwnisher. I just remembered that Pwnisher actually made a Killzone 2 fan film! Here it is, in all its shakycam glory. Oh man, I remember this! This was awsome! Though looking back on it now, it doesn't look like they use Nixon watches  Fish Noise posted:You think Radec executes people for typeface violations too? Without a doubt. Yes.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 16:34
|
|
|
I was reminded of the Killzone live-action trailers: This one is for Shadow Fall, and shows off what the modern ISA looks like. (Or specifically, the VSA (the "V" is for "Vektan" (they're going all out with their branding by this point, perhaps to disassociate themselves from other ISA (I wonder if that was their choice or if they were forced to)))). Shows off some combat and the VSA Shadow Marshall graduation ceremony. Notable for having a bit where the guy talks about the "sanctity of life" voiced over a scene of him breaking someone's neck. I love it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS994jmWeEQ This is the one for Mercenary. I like it because it's probably the most honest a Killzone trailer ever gets. No Helghast claiming to be righteous, no ISA claiming to be the good guys, just a bunch of mercenaries saying "yeah, we're only in it for the money, so what?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W38ycjEvZQw Also, I like the idea of Rico drinking beers in the same room as a bunch of Helghast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_fPtazfALA
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 16:58
|
|
|
Also on the fan film front, we have Killzone Intercept from InfectiousDesigner. This one takes place during Killzone 3, so it'll include spoilers for 2 if you're interested in avoiding those. I'll repost it in the Killzone 3 thread if/when it gets put up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp9SQduS_r0
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 20:38
|
|
|
Holy lol I lost it at the medtool.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2015 21:48
|
|
|
So at some point in KZ2 we're going to get a lightning gun, right? They can't just shoot lightning and keep it out of the protagonist's hands, right?
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2015 15:58
|
|
|
At this point, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of personal lightning guns in the Killzone universe.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2015 03:21
|
|
|
 We arrive at last to the big plot twist chapter in Killzone: Liberation's plot. Many shocking (or not-so-shocking, if you've been watching the Killzone 2 videos concurrent with these ones) developments await us in the very near future. STAGE 3: CATASTROPHE Well, when you call it that...  We begin Stage 3 right from where we left off from Stage 2, with Templar  But this being Killzone shenanigans begin to unfurl themselves, and it looks like we've got another bunker miniboss section on our hands simmilar to the Helghast frigate from the end of chapter 2. So now we need to defend the pilot and the dropship for a set time limit until Rico returns with--  CRIKEY! ...Oooor Jan will just let the guy get sniped like that. Nice job, Jan!   Well, at least we don't have to defend his stupid rear end any more. All we need to do is hold out long enough for Rico to get--  Uhh...   You know what? gently caress it! You can have the drat dropship. I don't want it any more. gently caress Rico, I'm going home!  Um, yeah, Luger, I hate to break this to you, but that's not a dropship any more. That's 5,000 new soda cans in waiting once a scrapper comes by here and hauls this thing away to a recycling yard.  Templar At the end of the stage, however, we get  MAJOR PLOT DEVELOPMENTS!!! If you don't want to be spoiled on anything, it's best to watch the video first before continuing.Okay, here we go...  Eventually, Templar   We also meet Cobar. Though we've seen him a few times in the LP so far, this is his and Templar's first face-to-face meeting. Cobar takes the opportunity to get in a little evil gloating and smug jackassery on Templar, because he won't have many more chances to do so in the near future, if you catch my drift. And, really, if you've played The Last Story or watched DaVinci's Demons for any reasonable length of time, you should know that no one does "smug jackassery" quite like Blake Ritson.  So after Cobar tortured Milcher to death, Vektan high command acquiesced to Metrac's heretofore unknown (to us grunts on the ground, anyway) demands, which of course were...  Exactly. So for now the ISA has halted their advance on Metrac's remaining Southern Vektan strongholds in a bid to buy time to work out another means of rescuing the two (allegedly) surviving hostages, Dr. Batton and General Stratson alive. Because given what we know about Cobar already, if he's sadistic enough to torture Milcher to death just to send a message to the Vektan government, he doesn't need much prompting or a reason to kill Batton or Stratson either.  So we appear to have reached an impasse, as Metrac is banking on Jan being the Honourable Hero and abiding by the terms of this new deal worked out in some committee room somewhere beyond his purview.  And just to show off what an Evil Monster Cobar is, he kicks Milcher's corpse over the embankment so it lands at Templar's feet, as if to say "this is your fault, Jan, not mine. Heff Milcher died because you couldn't leave well enough alone."  JAN SMASH!  ...Oh. Okay.  Yeeeeeah. Keep this line in mind. You're gonna find it will have an unspoken resonance across literally the rest of the Killzone franchise right up to Shadow Fall. In the here-and-now, however, it gives us another peek into Cobar's twisted mindframe. Cobar has little concern for politics, culture, or image. Metrac knows full well that given Templar's status as a modern day Vektan folk hero, killing him will almost certainly cost him what's left of this invasion, and could very well spur the Vektans to launch a counter attack on Helghan out of revenge, or at least launch one faster than they would have otherwise. A dead Templar would become a symbol, a rallying cry around which the ISA could shore up flagging support and a political weapon that could be used against the Helghast to great effect. A cursory look at modern day military and cultural martyrs and the causes they've inspired can show you how powerfully the voice of a dead, silenced, or infringed person can echo; Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, Pat Tillman, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Malala Yousafzai, Benazir Bhutto, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and sadly many many more like them, they have become symbols which are now indellible parts of a boarder culture thanks to their deaths, imprisonment, or persecution. Cobar understands this in concept, but willfully ignores it in favor of following his more primal, immediate, and destructive urges. If he kills Templar, then Templar is no longer a problem for him... it's just that now he's a problem for every single Helghan citizen. STAGE 4: PURSUIT  That said, Metrac apparently underestimated Templar's tenacity and his need to be a villain-vanquishing hero, so Cobar is eventually cornered at an ISA bunker in the Dedavni Plains.  Which means, of course, it's boss fight time!  ...Wait, didn't Cobar have a giant walking tank with him the last we we--   OHFUCKOHSHITOHGOD "Tank wins, every time!" - Troy Baker, Saints Row The Third  We also learn what has befallen Rico in the half hour since we sent him out to find a medpack you should literally be able to trip over thanks to their ubiquity on Helghast-dominated battlefields and now. He's been capture by Metrac as well.  So now Metrac is holding Batton, Stratson, and Rico hostage, and if Cobar gets away from this encounter, you can be drat well sure Rico is going to be the first one he tortures to death given both his relative expandability and his closeness to Templar, Hakha, and Luger. Oh no, not Rico! We can't let him kill our  Luckily, we won't be fighting Cobar alone this time, as the ISA Airforce shows up with it's one heavy assault dropship to put the hurt on Cobar's Spider Tank.  Well, that ain't going anywhere now, AND we've got the dropship hovering overhead to lay down close air support cover fire against the Spider Tank to ensure this fight goes--  Nah, I'm loving with you, Cobar shoots it down in retaliation. God, it is just NOT a good day to be an ISA dropship pilot today. For more on the Spider Tank boss fight, check out the Gameplay section further down.  Despite the odds, Templar   However, the good colonel is still raring to go for another round, despite surviving a series of internal explosions that would have most assuredly killed a lesser man.  Jan realizes that Cobar's in no condition to put up any kind of fight any more, so he moves right on to the battlefield interrogation, demanding to know where Rico, Evelyn, and Stratson are being held. After all, he's Captain Hero, and he's gonna try to mount a rescue of them one way or another, ISA-brokered cease-fire be damned.    AGAIN?! Are you making GBS threads ME?! What the hell is it with the ISA and getting betrayed from within. I think CTU on 24 has more loyal operatives than the ISA does at this point.But anyway, Cobar drops the Second Traitor bomb on Templar, even though the player has known about it since late Chapter 2 thanks to Metrac's monologing. And once again, there is no strategy involved here, he's not thinking of the intelligence consequences of revealing this kind of information, he's simply trying to wound Templar emotionally and demoralize him. This is a man operating purely on a volatile mix of adrenaline and spite. Who knows that else he'll let slip now.  So of course, Jan's interested in keeping him alive and keeping him talking, as, from an actionable intelligence standpoint, Tendon Cobar just made himself the most important man on Vekta by shooting his big modulated mouth off.  Oh, and the hits keep coming. Though we don't learn the full context of this slip till later, Cobar also just revealed that the Helghast now have Batton's Red Dust bomb too. A few more minor details need to fall into place yet, but as of right now, the stage for everything that happens in Killzone 2 is pretty much 100% set. Though as you can tell by the big red blood spurt emanating out of his chest and the fact that his last line ends on an emdash, Cobar just got capped from behind before he could elaborate on either of the revelations he just dropped on Templar And just who shot him?  Why it's General Stratson, alive and well and conveniently not kidnapped any more!  Yes, by killing him before he can name names and detail details. Thank you for your highly convenient action in silencing a potential source of intel on who within the ISA military command has betrayed Vekta to Visari.  We here in the ISA prefer to kill our enemies the old fashioned way: from behind at a distance while they're monologing.  Jan, however, takes Stratson conveniently freeing himself, finding a weapon, and executing a man who just proved himself a vital source of revelatory tactical information completely in stride. All in a day's work for Jan Templar. Jesus Jan, open your eyes! This is like Leonard-level "missing critical, obvious details to your detriment" stuff.  And then the chapter ends with yet another ISA dropship swooping in to take Templar and Stratson out of the combat zone. ...You know, given the track record these things have had lately for staying in the air, I think I'm just gonna walk back to base, if that's alright with you guys.  For Stage 3, we get our first real obvious departure in the level design over Killzone 1. We're now in a more arboreal area and hopping between rocky outcroppings between steep chasms. This, of course, is all set up for, wait for it...  JETPACKS!  Yes, yes indeed, we now have (temporary) access to the most badass and not-at-all-potentially-horrifically-leathal form of powered transportation in the known universe. I mean, there is nothing that could possibly go wrong with a jetpack, right?  Image c/o: Rigged Death Trap To get through this level, you need to equip an utilize a Helghast SL-06 Personal Jet Propulsion Pack, the precursor to the jetpack that will be appearing later down the road in Killzone 3. The jetpack controls similarly to the one from Shadows of the Empire, it has ostensibly infinite fuel, when it's resting however. When in flight, you've got about a ten to fifteen second window of thrust which you have to maintain by holding down the X button. The jetpack's fuel is denoted by the yellow bar that appears over your health bar for the duration of your time equipped with it. While not in use, the jetpack will quickly recharge itself back to full power. While in flight, you can propel yourself in any direction you want by using the analog thumbstick. The jetpack will also overwrite whatever weapon you have equipped when you acquire it, and the only way to de-equip it is to either swap it out for another weapon in a supply crate or end the level with it equipped (it will be forcibly removed by the game at the start of Stage 4). That said, the jetpack has its own built in weapons system which you can use while you have it equipped. It comes equipped with a modified StA-3 Stova Light Machine Gun with infinite ammo, meaning the jetpack is OP as gently caress and it's incredibly obvious now why you only get it for one quarter of one chapter of a five chapter video game.  Stage 4 sees up back on solid ground and going through a forested area in our pursuit of Cobar and his walking tankzilla.  The only notable thing to highlight in this section is the return of our favorite Liberation baddie, the Helghast Pyro. Now featuring: and actually visible Helghast Pyro. Pyros don't show up in Liberation all too often, but when they do they're easily denoted by their bright yellow fuel tanks on their back, the long barrel of their flamethrowers and THE FACT THAT EVERYTHING AROUND THEM IS ON FIRE AAAAAAAAAAA   This jackass is a de facto puzzle miniboss to keep us from entering the base. As we cover in the video, he will light every possible entry gap into the base on fire to bar your path until you manage to kill him. He's also twice as fast you are, so trying to out flank him by making a run for a far off, unlit gap before he can get to it is literally impossible. Watch the video. We try it. This guy is like Sonic the Hedgehog. It's unnatural. And then, just to make sure you come away from this encounter despising Helghast Pyros, the game throws a second identical puzzle trap at you in the base's inner garrison, though thankfully the inner Pyro is easier to defeat than the one guarding the outer garrison.  Beyond that, the main objective of Stage 4 is to sabotage the two Helghast Chimera AA guns preventing the ISA air forces from landing and retaking the facility. Blowing both of them up with C4 will open up the boss arena where you then have to fight Cobar's Spider Tank.  And oh god, His Tank Is Fight! Despite being crippled by the ISA heavy weapons dropship in the cinematic, Cobar is still able to force the tank to limp around the battlefield on its crippled leg. At the very least, it's still capable of turning along a 180° arc to try and hit you wherever you run or hide in the arena. It also has its share of heavy weaponry which it will cycle through, including its forward-mounted chain gun, rocket-propelled grenade launcher, missile launcher, and multi-grenade mortars. To make matters worse, much of the cover in the arena is destroyable, and the Spider Tank has enough firepower to eventually winnow away every last bit of cover between you and it if you drag the fight out for too long. The only saving grace of the matter is that each bit of cover will have a health or ammo power up inside it which is released when the cover is destroyed.  The key to winning this fight is to take out each of the tank's weapons systems. And to do that, there are Rocket Launchers littered around the arena (if you have the Chapter 5 DLC, at least, and seeing as how it's free, why wouldn't you?). Once you destroy the weapons, you then need to take out the tank's chasis, but by that point it's almost totally defenseless.  I say "almost", of course, because it also can spawn Spider Mines, and unlike the ones that show up normally in Liberation, these ones don't have any enemies around them to accidentally home in on and have a shorter trigger timer, so they will mess you up almost guaranteed. But enough of that, let's get to the post-script!   RIP in peace Fat Drew Carey. I always liked you better than Thin Drew Carey. Give Jirall my regards when you meet him in Hell, fuckface!   Air Trooper Spotted very briefly in Liberation Helghast air troopers provide top cover for regular infantry soldiers thanks to their specially equipped personal jet propulsion systems. After witnessing the dismal failure of the Sentry Bot in General Lente's campaign, Armin Metrac opted to use good old fashioned manned air support to cover his troops instead. He brought with him numerous Stahl Arms SL-06 test type jetpacks, as well as specially trained soldiers to operate them. Though as you can see in the picture, the air troopers themselves are very lightly armored and go down with minimal effort when met head-on in the air.  Helghast Spider Tank A combination tank and walker mobile weapons platform. The Spider Tank is a small scale cousin to the gargantuan MAWLR mobile weapons platform manufactured by Stahl Arms. It has an entire suite of heavy weaponry equipped on it including a swivel-mounted chain gun, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, missile launchers, and frag grenade mortars. Colonel Tendon Cobar chose one such tank to be his personal armored transport vehicle for the duration of his operations on Vekta. No other information on this vehicle type exists, unfortunately. Spider Tank concept art c/o Miguel Angel Martinez:  Official artwork of Tendon Cobar:   gently caress literature CONCEPT ART  Tendon Cobar, the "White Death"  Cliffside hanger  "The General doesn't like making martyrs. I'm not so fussy." - Templar confronts Cobar  Cobar's Spider Tank, sketch  Spider Tank, final  ISA VTOL under construction PROPAGANDA  "Liberty in your hands... OR THEIRS?" (ISA POV)  "Heroic Helghast rescue survivors from crashed Vektan dropship" (Helghast POV) - It's neat to see that the Helghast have their own FOX News able to comically spin events in a pro-Helghast fashion.  "Vekta Today" (ISA POV) - There's a lot of neat little details to unpack in this one, notably how people don't think the betrayal of a general like Stuart Adams will ever happen a second time in a row, and how--OH NO! Poor Milcher! He was about to retire too!  COBAAAAAAAAAAR!!!Also the "Combat Helmets - Are they really necessary?" headline is a recurring cameo in in-universe Killzone published material. It appears as a bullet point on the ticker underneath the broadcast of Visari's address in the opening of Killzone 2. WALLPAPER  Dr. Batton is kidnapped nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Nov 27, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 5, 2015 08:10
|
|
|
RIP dropship pilots 1 & 2. Does the Spider Tank make a return in other Killzone games?
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2015 16:42
|
|
|
Kerris posted:RIP dropship pilots 1 & 2. Sadly, no. Though something relatively similar to it called the MAWLR shows up in Killzone 3.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2015 19:59
|
|
|
So I heard you talking about a Stargate video game.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 09:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 13:07 |
|
|
Shei-kun posted:So I heard you talking about a Stargate video game. Reviewing is a precise science.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 09:21
|
|