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moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I'm mad that this is in the game. I completely loved HM1 but there's no way I can get behind supporting sexual violence, even if it's "simulated".

People will whine about slacktivism and boycotts and social justice whatevers, buy I'm just talking myself here. This is a game I was looking forward to that I'm now very uncomfortable with. It's a poo poo in the pool I wanted to swim in.

E supporting sexual violence in a game, obviously

moths fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Aug 15, 2013

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moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Babe Magnet posted:

You don't play the rape part. It's literally 10 seconds, maybe, of a non-interactive cutscene. Why does it being in a videogame matter?

It's like when you beat Bowzer and you Mario took over and saved the princess while you passively observed because you contributed in no way to this occurence.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I saw the prayer rugs and just kind of shrugged and shuddered simultaneously.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



So why aren't we playing this yet? I thought they were aiming to be out for PAX or E3 or whatever.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



It would be pretty cool if they went with non-verbal vocalizations, like Dirk from Dragon's Lair.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Where is this comic? I did a search on the Steam store and found nothing.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Can I buy either soundtrack digitally?

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Ok cool, and thanks also for the tip on finding the comics! I've never felt so old and bad at online purchases.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Wait did they seriously leave "PRESS A TO RAPE" in? I feel like you can't really act surprised when that has consequences.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Looking at it in .GIFs makes me wish there was a GBA port of HLM.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



laserghost posted:

https://www.gamersedition.com/product/hotline-miami

This looks nice, but the s/h costs to my place are nearly equal to the price, so won't buy it :(

Oh hey, something for the HLM fan who likes the game so much he'll wait a few months to actually play it.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



The best thing about these is the out-of-frame shotgun guys.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Jizz Festival posted:

Finally finished it, feels like I just got done with some big chore I had been putting off. Ugh.

I feel like I"m pushing through it just to see where the story goes and to read back on thread's spoiler blocks.

God, the last? stage with Tony was the most boring, tedious poo poo. I don't know how you can make a Tony level suck, but there it was. Run past a window, wait ten seconds for the mob to path around the office building, murder him. Repeat 10x. And if you try anything else, you just loving die and have to repeat it even more.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



The first part was awesome with the melee dudes, I'm talking about where you have to bait the gunmen.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



RBA Starblade posted:

The bar part is the first level with Richter right? That's one of the good ones.

This is a good example, because the very next level (17?) is some loving hilariously bad design. You can't see anything. It's black on black shadows. And it's not the first level that uses this innovative mechanic!

Stronghold was another level with legit bad design. Your horizontal shift-look is fine, but vertical shift-look only nudges the screen up an inch or two. And the map is oriented such that you need to advance upward into a no-look-zone. Why?

I made it to Jake's third floor, last guy, and then got taken out by the door boss.

I feel like there's a great sequel buried here, except it's buried under a lot of dumb poo poo they should have caught in beta. I cannot believe any outside party played an "adjust your monitor" blackout level and left encouraging feedback.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



TheJoker138 posted:

If your monitor is correctly calibrated you wouldn't need to adjust it in those levels.

I think you mean "correctly calibrated for HLM2" because this is the only thing I've had that problem with.

E: Also loving LOL at the "get gud" guy not actually being good. Never change, goons.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



TheJoker138 posted:

I ran the THX calibration tool the day I got this monitor and have had no issues in any games, including HM2.

Thanks for this tip, I'll check that out before I play again.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I finished this morning after going back and playing some HLM1. I didn't know what to expect, but that was not what I expected. One story question though - was the San Francisco bombing from the comics or something? I didn't see any reference to it in HLM2.

The similar character designs was really confusing - I thought Richter was the henchman for the longest time, and couldn't understand what was happening. I also thought Richter was "the Son" since his mom is a character. And then we met Pardo's "son" and I thought JESUS CHRIST I AM GOING TO PLAY AS THAT?! But no, that was probably too messed up. And then I realized who the Son actually was,, and it was just kinda "oh."

Looking back, I think most of the issues I had with the game could have been fixed by the camera zooming out, like in Teleglitch. One of the nicer things about pixel art is that zooming out makes it look better, and there's a just too much important information off-camera. Some FPS games use a subtle indicator of enemies that are in your LOS but off-camera - that would have made things a lot less frustrating. (Or just zooming out.)

Playing back through some HLM1 helped me figure out what I didn't like about the larger level design. In the first one, a whole "kill puzzle" typically fits on one screen. In 2, the screen only covers a fraction of what you need to know. It's effectively a blind jump problem in platformers.

I also felt like my options were crippled with regard to how I'd want to play a level. There's something magical about the first game's mask menu, and deciding which gimmick you want to employ. Choosing between Fans is probably the closest thing, and it's generally a non-choice after I the Swans finally clicked for me.

Definitely got my $17 worth.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Something I noticed about the twins - one of the best things is doing a chainsaw execution while the other provides covering fire. You get to directly control her aim, it's fantastic! Everything about the twins is the best thing about the twins.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I hope that the editor lets people bring back the claustrophobia of the first one. (And playable jacket with his mask arsenal...)

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I don't think anyone sincerely hates the game, it's just got some lovely level design. And having so many characters restricts gameplay more than opening it up.

E: By "lovely" I specifically mean that they rely too much on the player having memorized off-screen information. (The same way as blind jumps in platformers.)

And huge levels actually discourage frenetic gameplay because there's fewer checkpoints.

moths fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Mar 18, 2015

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I asked before, but is the San Francisco bombing from the comics or something? I saw absolutely no reference to it in the game.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Geight posted:

And you watch it happen while you are playing HLM2. You walk outside of the store as Beard and get loving nuked. How could people miss that? It doesn't just get referenced, it's something you directly witness!

Storytelling so good that it's easy and a common to miss a nuclear bomb. Probably because the effect they used for it gets lost in all the other weird dying / psychotic break / brain damage / etc transitions HLM uses in its narration.

I never found a newspaper, either. I didn't know we were supposed to be pixelbitching for them.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Improbable Lobster posted:

Yeah, it's not like there was a montage of nuclear killing the various characters or anything

That's at the end of the game though?

E:

Beard's happens way before that, he might be having a stroke or not-Nam flashback for all you know unless you read the wiki.

moths fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Mar 18, 2015

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Quote isn't edit

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



It's just stupid to manifests a major story element as an Easter egg and a single screen transition.

Mark buying a pizza gets more screen time.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



The newspaper (?) you have to click is the Easter egg. This is some a meta joke where you're feigning being dense to imply I am, isn't it?

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Ok Beard was Soldier, right? And this happens right after you flee the exploding nuclear plant in Hawaii? I think I might have read that scene as a moment-before-dying fantasy.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Ddraig posted:

He actually mentions that the thing he wants to do when he goes home from the War is to take things easy and run a store.

Yeah, so if he dies in the power plant explosion you get an Incident at Owl Creek Bridge scenario. Jacket's post-Trauma brain puts him in SF but he never really got there.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.




Huh. You know, that cutscene has the same red digital clock from the exploding nuclear power plant. Does that show up anywhere else? Because otherwise that really implies an Owl Creek Bridge scenario.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



It just seems weird that the LT put so much emphasis on how the mission was doomed and the only way anyone was making it home was in a body bag. Plus they played the "one last mission" card, the nuke is the same effect that gets you if he doesn't escape the plant (because your monitor settings made it impossible:argh:), and the scene ends with a nuclear reactor seconds away from going critical in Hawaii. But Beard suddenly finds himself living his dream, no nuclear holocaust takes him out, and everything is too good to be true, except oops no maybe that was a lie because the imminent thing from the previous scene happens in this one.

You have to ignore more cues that the SF sequence never happens than that it did. But IDK, as much as I think that was my initial take on it - this is a game where a principal character is an omniscient evil rooster man. So yeah that probably happened. The narrative is an off-screen guy with a shotgun behind a window. Mash R.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I kept waiting for the new Russian drug to be made out of (chemically dissolved) people and it never happened. :(

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



It gets repetitive, but I could listen to Java all day long.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Sleeveless posted:

Man Who Built Career On Inability To Complete FPS Tutorial Baffled By Game

Where can I read more about this?

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



It seems like a really big jump, given that Jacket's defining feature is a highschool letterman jacket. I figured from that and his bachelor pad that he was late teens, not a grizzled Hawaiian war vet from an elite commando strike force.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



When we first meet Jake, he's shaving his blonde hair off. There's no other blonde characters, so we have to assume that he's the skinny blonde actress in a fat suit.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:

How in gods name are you supposed to do the third screen of The Abyss without using guns?

The worst is the one guy halfway through the third screen who doesn't care that you just hit him with a thrown weapon. And if you get too close, he blasts you. It's 50/50 whether running into his aggro range will instantly kill you or let you kite him back around the corner. RNG to pass the level. It's bad.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Tulip posted:

I think i'm giving up on trying to get the Jake secret, having to reclear two floors for each attempt is getting way too frustrating.

On the ground floor, run around outside breaking windows to lure guys outside for easy murdering.

moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



Yeah I'd probably pick this up if they minused the $30 I already spent on two games they want to sell me again.

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moths
Aug 25, 2004

I would also still appreciate some danger.



I feel like there aren't even $60 worth of extras, though. You don't even get a full OST, just a tape.

Had this been available at launch, yeah the +$40 for a physical version and stuff would have been absolutely awesome sign me up. But after a month double-dipping the CE just feels like milking it, especially without a proper art book, bonus tracks, statue, action figure, or any of the other stuff that's industry standard in a collector's box these days.

I mean, the horror version of Loot Crate gave people a latex Eddie (from Iron Maiden) mask. Packing the whole thing in a Richard head is not impossible, and would make this a loving insta-buy.

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