toblix

I take it you didn't see the video, then.

Summary: I hate this game and have stopped playing it. Full post: Not to bump an old thread just to complain, but I just ejected MGS4 and put it back in its case. The game was still running as the disc came out of the tray, and it went on for what seems like a second or two, as if it didn't realize I was not going to play any more. What a fucking piece of shit this game is. Oh, it has style, flair and polish. This is a triple-A game all right. It has tons of shit everywhere. But it's insides are so rotten there's no actual fun or enjoyment to be had! After being spotted by PMC guards or whatever for the hundredth time, thus having to walk into the street and stand around waiting for them to kill me properly so I can reload and try again, I had this brief moment of clarity where I saw the game, the real game, and it's a joke and a scam. I'm just being told it's a great game, both by its reputation and by the game itself as I'm playing it. It has all this expensive polish, and feels like a big budget movie. It's weird with all its pervy crap and its love for the scatological, and it mixes in live action video and lets me control a robot to pick up power-ups and switch cameras and maximize windows, all while trying to watch a cut-scene, and it's all just a ruse. Oh, this game experience is so special because I don't understand why they made it this way, why everyone speaks so slowly and grunt all the time, why they have a black man and a monkey selling guns, why they keep installing the game while I'm playing it (while giving me tips on when and where to smoke), and why they have a five minute sequence about a hidden man shitting diarrhea inside a barrel. Jesus, if this crap had happened in a game with less hype and a smaller budget for superfluous stuff like sound, graphics and music I would discard it as a joke. This game is the very manifestation of polishing a turd, and I'm happy to be free of its spell. Actually, I think it was my non-enjoyment of my Shadow Complex 100% achievement gathering sessions that pushed me over the edge. I keep getting hung up on having these huge projects that I tell myself I have to complete, and whenever I do something else I get all stressed about not instead chipping away at this meaningless backlog of unimportant shit. This is the second time I've done this (the first being with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition), and I hope it's not the last. This time it was certainly easier. edit: Just wanted to add that this was written one minute after ejecting the game in anger, and is therefore much too angry and hateful. A more diplomatic review would be "It's a great game, but not for me".

Just finished the game with 100%. The bit where I spent hours getting all the final suit pieces and more hours looking for the final four upgrades sort of spoiled the game for me a bit. I think it's unfair to have the whole system of question marks indicating where all the items are, even revealing all of them when you reach level 20, and then "hide" two items on the same screen, so that if you pick up one you won't see the second one indicated anywhere. Not to mention sticking items in save rooms, in which they are not indicated either. Basically, unless you're super thorough (and lucky) you just know that one of the save rooms or "item found" rooms contain an item you missed. I don't know if they're living up to some heritage or whatever, but to me that's just bad design. If it wasn't obvious that they did it on purpose I'd call it a bug. Maybe they were aiming for a meta-game in which you google forums endlessly for other people missing the same items you are. Of course, it's my own fault. I should know better than to go for these completionist achievements. Every time I end up hating the game and myself. I still loved the game, of course, and I'm already looking forward to the inevitable sequel. I remember the Crusader games fondly, and I think I know what you're referring to. Although I can't put my finger on it, there was something about those games too, where seemingly simplistic gameplay felt very rewarding. Maybe it's the level of polish of controls and game feedback.

Well, that was awesome. If we remember one thing from tonight's game, let it be that I beat everyone at fire truck racing. I beat you all to a pulp! Also, lots of awesome GTA racing, road blocks and shooting, and bonus: no boring prison sniperfest. Hope you got some nice clips, n0wak.

You should heed the Trials HD, uh, demo.

Quickly going from "Movie tie-in game, probably crap" to "OMFG I MUST HAVE THIS!"

I guess it depends on which algorithm(s) you're using to do the GI. I'm not an expert on this, but I think a plain radiosity solution will not give you caustics, while photon mapping will. Of course, I have no doubt that, in a couple of years, games will have awesomely quick fake caustics that will look almost real at 60fps.

I don't even play this, so I don't know what's going on gameplay wise, but I find it interesting that they have been doing some gradual graphics improvements since they first released the game. Apparently they've improved rendering distance, added some better shadows, and in Cataclysm they finally have a better-looking water. They can keep doing this indefinitely, of course, but does anyone know if they're also updating more work-intensive stuff like graphics assets? They've played it pretty safe with the intentionally blocky style, but will things like texture and animation resolution, sound and whatever become so outdated at one point that they'll be forced to revamp the huge amount of assets they have amassed so far?

But I'm like a child with a machine gun. I have the words, but I don't know what to do with them. Also, didn't think of the free one. The priced app is NOK 6, here, which is very little. I imagine it's $0.99 or something. Totally worth it.

I guess because they're both great looking post apocalyptic wasteland shooters people will imagine some connection beyond that. I always think of the Post Apocalyptic Wasteland setting as some tired old game cliché, but when I try to think of all the games set in such a world I fail to come up with more than the Fallout games. Oh, and also that game Quarantine.

Here's how you do real-time GI: http://www.crytek.com/fileadmin/user_upload/inside/presentations/2009/Light_Propagation_Volumes.pdf. Apparently you just do a bunch of maths really fast.

What?

Just wanted to recommend Words with Friends, which is an awesome asynchronous Scrabble clone. You have to buy the app, but it's practically free, after which you can just immediately start a bunch of games by entering someone else's nick (mine's toblix, and I know Tonsko is also playing). Now you can just check in now and then (or get email notifications (or SMS if you're with AT&T)), and play at your own pace. It's really cool. If you get it, I'd love you play with you.

Ahem, I actually bought Elastomania back in the day. Also, I completed all th levels and made some sweet ones myself. I really don't get the similarity between that and Trials, though. I, too, thought they were the same back when that first Flash game (just Trials, I think it was called) made the rounds, but it appeared quite quickly that they are only similar in that they are games about riding a motorcycle, and that they are controlled mostly the same. Trials, and the parts of Trials HD I've played are a linear race from left to right, and is about judging jumps and more actual trial biking stuff. Across (and Elastomania) is not that at all. It's more of a puzzle game where you use those same controls to navigate around completely abstract, often non-linear levels, having to get all the apples before being able to complete by touching the exit.

Whatever you do, here's a tip: Don't record the chat.

I don't know, do you like to have a good time?

Okay, that makes sense. I read somewhere (I forget) about your new build setup where one of the features was adjustable sound compression for the various builds. I also didn't notice any sound issues at all with Ch 1 (or, to be precise, I noticed that there was no hissing), which, in retrospect, should indicate this last thing was indeed a bug. Anyway, good job. Now you can go back to making awesome podcasts and scene transitions. Have you done any camera or character animations in the game other than scene transitions?

That's great. Do you know if there was some special "thing" this time around, or have you permanently adjusted the sound quality?

Awesome, obviously. But, one thing, why is the camera so low when driving? I find myself constantly adjusting it a bit upwards so I can see where I'm going. Do you get used to the camera or what?

Pyro Studios has apparently said they'll be making a fourth Commandos game. One of my absolute favorite games is Commandos 2, which I've played through a bunch of times. The third game was absolute bullshit, with a fast paced actiony approach rather than the slow, tactical approach of the two first games. Luckily they've realized that direction was a horrible mistake. I'm very afraid that they'll go the real-time 3D route, but we'll see. This is excellent news!

A general hint would be that there being a question mark in a room doesn't necessarily mean you'll get at it from that room. I guess you already knew that, but if not, there's your hint.

I just saw these, and I'm betting the whole thing is way more "rubber stringy" than they're making it out to be. When he's at gunpoint he says "Sacre bleu! I was luckee! I could hef died!", but at the end he says the shop owner can die and the player can get hurt. I'm thinking you end up with the shoe box no matter what. With the level of production quality in this game, it's obvious that they can't just make a ton of different paths, and they'll have to focus on a couple of alternatives for each scene (do nothing, fight, talk, basically the classic gameplay variants). God, I feel like such a dick for trying to "figure it all out" before I actually play the game (which, by the way, I totally will). During the first playthrough the illusion of "free will" will likely be very good, since you're never exposed to the alternative paths and outcomes, and they're doing the whole "no game over" thing. So it seems they're aiming for the player to do at least a couple of replays, which I think is where their main challenge lies. For each playthrough the player does the illusion will have to be pretty damn strong for it to not become silly in a hurry. The shop scene can't just be a string of various events that all end up with him leaving with the shoebox.

That's awesome. It's like Groundhog 5-Year Period.

Yeah, I deliberately chose the lamest shot I could find. I remember it feeling less "precise" (visibility, positioning) and more sluggish than Desperados, though. Not sluggish as in "my Riva TNT can't handle this crazy bump mapping!", but as if the scripts running behind the scenes were running too slow. Also, graphics are (as always...) a huge reason why I love these games. Just look at this: http://chq.gamemod.net/Images/Screenshots/commandos2_14.jpg Every map looks this good, and it's rendered from four angles. Look at the detail! There's nothing like it! I'd say the most impressive level is the Castle Colditz one, but I can't find a large screenshot of it anywhere. It's basically an entire huge-ass castle with the surrounding town, a factory, a church and a bunch of crap, in just amazing detail. Oh, and of course the interiors of every single building (including the huge castle) is also modeled, though in real-time 3d. You start in a yard on the outskirts of town, near a greenhouse and some bales of hay, and by the end there's just hundreds of bound-up Germans everywhere on the map. And what amazed me the most is that, even though it's prerendered 3D, all the geometry is still in the game, both to determine visibility and where the thief can vault over shit and climb all the walls and in and out of windows and Jesus Christ why am I not playing this game right now!!!! edit: Oh, and this: http://chq.gamemod.net/Images/Screenshots/commandos2_41.jpg http://chq.gamemod.net/Images/Screenshots/commandos2_53.jpg I could stare at these images for hours. In fact I will.

Yeah, the last levels were typical bullshit where they "mix it up" and instead just smear shit over everything. The level I remember best is the bank robbery one, and the one with the train tracks. Oh, and the prison. Of course, an interesting parallel to the whole Commandos turning to shit thing, and an important lesson for everyone who wants to spruce up their series, is that instead of making an awesome Desperados sequel, they went ahead and made that Robin Hood game, which was all actiony, but also sucked. But then it seems they made Desperados 2. I wonder why I nev-- Oh, right.