Thrik

Here're the last three news posts before the page's removal (as well as the majority of the website's content): This could of course just be some classic Consolevania mind games. Or it could just as easily not be.

A bleak day.

While we're on the subject of OCD-like organisation, clearly we should also have a place where we can enjoy all the old threads kind of like what you see at the bottom of here and here.

I think the intention is that it's literally only used for sharing various types of details with each other, and not for actually discussing online games — as Dan said, networking. Seems like a good idea to me, because as time goes on I'm sure there'll be more 'Share Battlefield IDs!', 'Share Spore IDs!', etc kind of threads. I think it'd be good on the front page because if someone's trying to arrange a TF2 game or something for that evening, people are more likely to notice it.

Agreed on both.

Ace. I approve of having decent blogs to waste time reading at work. I've just updated my own blog's links. If any Thumbs regulars are not on there, it's because I either don't know about your blog or I can't tie the blog to its owner. Pls supply urls thx. ;

The general feel, story, and atmosphere of MGS3 is definitely the odd one out in the series, although I do still love it. I'd imagine people will be drawn to one or the other as a result, and I myself do prefer the modern era MGS feel. I think you're likely to prefer MGS4 going off what you've said, as it's definitely more in the vein of MGS2 with regards to its storytelling, bosses, etc. In fact, going off your apparent love for MGS2 I think you're going to appreciate a lot of things in MGS4. On that note, I now have more respect for what MGS2 was having now finished MGS4. I never thought MGS2's story was bad, but there were definitely lots of areas that needed elaboration and development. In that respect, MGS4 makes MGS2 slot into the series much better IMO and I find it easier to swallow its ultra-plot.

I'm surprised I haven't looked into this before seeing as I love Metal Gear Solid and I love multiplayer games, but Metal Gear Online sounds really good. The Wikipedia page gives the impression it actually incorporates a hell of a lot of the MGS experience, right down to one mode which lets one player play as Snake while the rest are patrolling a map for him — Snake has to CQC and steal the dogtags from three of them. Adding to the awesomeness is that one of the five stock maps is MGS3's Gronznyj Grad. :tup: I'll give it a go this weekend I think. The only offputting thing is that you have to buy expansions, the first of which comes with three new maps and some new characters. I'm not sure how much they cost though, so if it's affordable I guess it's not bad if you play it to death.

You tend to be able to find certain guns in certain neighbourhoods, being carried by certain guys and lying in certain spots. If you memorise where your favourites are it's fairly trivial to get a taxi to that spot and stock yourself up, assuming of course you haven't got Jacob on hand. The gun shop is OK, too.

Teee, I'm loving this 'toblix complains' tag. :~ But yeah, it is something you can get used to . I never noticed it before, actually.

Just finished it. God damn, that's one hell of a game. A most worthy end to the Snake story for sure. :tup: I'm looking forward to playing it through on the hardest mode so I'm forced into using stealth a bit more, although that won't be until I've done a complete series replay at some point — on hard in each of those too, of course. Seems like the full two-disc soundtrack is nigh on impossible to get hold of outside of Japan, so I'm grabbing that bastard from Play Asia just in case it never sees a Euro release.

I'm a real twat, so in the name of further procrastination I just couldn't resist playing a bit more. (Act 5 spoilers) All I'll say is that anyone who liked MGS1 but hasn't progressed beyond it really ought to get themselves the whole series. MGS4 is a great game on its own merits, but the ridiculous levels of references and nostalgia takes the experience to a whole different level. It's kind of weird in that respect, because it totally alienates those who might be new to the series or who missed earlier games. Act 3 must be rubbish for those who didn't play MGS2 and MGS3 and don't recognise the returning characters. At this point I can very easily see me rating MGS4 overall on the same level as MGS3, which I still cannot say is better or worse than MGS1 — both are masterpieces of their time. MGS2 is the odd one out in a way, although I still love it only slightly less.

I think it's easy to be worried after Fahrenheit. I enjoyed that game too despite its shortcomings, but I couldn't possibly sit here and say the Dance Dance Revolution action sequences were good or fun. In all honesty I'd rather have just sat there and watched the cutscene.

Could someone who's finished MGS4 tell me roughly how far through I am? I'm not going to be playing for a while as I have some other stuff to do so it'd be nice to know if I've got plenty of playtime to come back to. Incidentally, I really am very impressed by this game. The most impressive thing is the depth of the gameplay, with lots of areas you can very easily skip but are full of additional enemy encounters and goodies. It's kind of like MGS3 in that respect, which had a number of places you could run straight past but provided some superb gameplay — especially if you got noticed by enemies. MGS4 seems to have more such areas, and they're also more detailed. On the first play you don't feel too motivated to check the other routes out, but it's awesome for replaying as you can really challenge yourself. The little collectables everywhere are a great incentive to explore (and get yourself in unnecessary trouble) too, although I've been preoccupied with following the story this time and will probably have a better look when I replay. The things I like finding most are the iPod tracks: podcasts, music, etc from/about the whole Metal Gear series. Seem to be loads. Clearly there's a lot more replayability value here than previous games, particularly because you can also pump up the difficulty to dramatically change the whole experience. I don't normally find the prospect of replaying a game with added difficulty too interesting, but I've always enjoyed it in MGS because of how differently you're forced to play. The enemies become much sharper with their senses, and there're more of them. I remember spending well over a bloody hour trying to get past the first area (ie: before you even get to the heliport) with Twin Snakes' hardest difficulty level, even though I could do it with my eyes closed on the easier levels.

... bloody hell, the boss battles in MGS4 are mental. At least, the first one is. I think I've come out of that with mild psychological disturbance!

Yeah, pretty much. It also has a clear deathmatch leaning though, and I suepct a lot of people will be more preoccupied with hunting and killing the other team than anything else. Probably won't play it too much, but I do like the new style a lot. Hopefully we'll see CP/Payload maps with that soon!

Kind of. MGS4 has improved the MGS3 formula somewhat, trying to make you rely on your senses but also giving you a bit more of a hand (this is pretty much vital as the maps are so much bigger and full of enemies who can spot you from quite far away). It's not as generous as what we got in MGS1 and MGS2, though. There're two main mechanisms. One is the Solid Eye System, which gives you a life-detecting radar (so can pick up the odd squirrel and such like in MGS3, leading to amusing results). This is pretty useful as it also highlights enemies in your main view with a subtle square if you look in their direction, providing some basic statistics such as whose side they're on. This is powered by batteries, but like in MGS3 you can basically leave it on permanently once you find a few. The Solid Eye System doesn't show where enemies are looking, whether or not they're alert, etc. It's also not very effective during an alert because the life pulses on the radar are far bigger when people are stressed, including Snake himself. The whole radar just ends up as a mess of life pulses. The other system is the awareness ring, which really surprised me with its efficacy when I first used it. Basically, if you stay still or move really slowly you get a subtle ring that appears around Snake. If there's an enemy in any given direction, that part of the ring will form a wave. The wave will grow higher as the enemy gets closer, ultimately resulting in it turning red and the enemy almost certainly spotting you. It's a bit tricky to explain but it is totally intuitive. I think it's fair to say MGS4 has gotten the play formula as perfect as it's gotten yet. And best of all, environments from all three predecessors are combined with some whole new ones (such as the open battlefields we heard so much about). I'm still in some place that plays a hell of a lot like MGS3, which is just downright ace.

Finally got MGS4 this weekend. Fuck me this game is good. I've seen two completely different types of environment so far that feel so full of energy and unlike anything seen in MGS before. The visual and audio design in this game is incredible — without a doubt the best I've seen yet this generation. And that's not even the cut-scenes I'm talking about. I noticed the term 'fan service' used in a number of reviews, and I see exactly what they mean now. The game is pretty much crammed full of stuff that'll twig nostalgia, etc. I had to break into a smile when at a certain point you enter a (fucking huge) area that reeks of MGS3, and one of the MGS3 music cues is even worked into the music to subtle effect. Gameplay-wise this is definitely the best yet. They've done a fantastic job of fine-tuning and reworking the MGS3 standard of play, but without the repetitive annoyances such as healing and hunting. I think MGS4 has kind of done what MGS3 did, in that it refines practically every element of the game to be more enjoyable. It really is at a high here, combining the absolute best of both the stealth and combat from all three predecessors — and giving both much more depth to boot. It's a shame the thick story that's definitely dependent on the previous games' completion to really get immersed in will prohibit a lot of people from experiencing this.

I think the most intriguing part of this image isn't the weapon itself, but the background. It looks like we might finally be seeing a departure from the usual TF2 map theme, which while great was beginning to grate a little. Looks like cliffs 'n' forestation to me. Valve blogged about doing such a thing a couple of weeks ago, so it seems likely the second new map (which I'm speculating is one map split into five) will feature both a new game mode and a new map theme.

I think it depends on the class. I quite dislike the choke points when I play Spy, but love them as Demoman, Soldier, and Pyro. I think this new map is definitely going to give different classes a better chance to shine. Goldrush is easily my favourite TF2 map, so I'm hoping Valve is on some sort of run and this'll also rock. Incidentally, I may be alone on this but the new map reminds me of TFC's Warpath. I'll be interested to see if there's the same kind of layout parallels Goldrush has to Dustbowl — or if it's just all in my head.

Heh, yes sorry about that. :~

Dunno about an epic tourney, but me, Norfolk, Vimes, and bgbennyboy were all playing on the server mentioned earlier (courtesy of Steam friends).

Also: Ace.

Turns out I'm actually in now.