Thrik

Just go here while Steam is open and you should be able to do it: http://steamcommunity.com/id/thrik

Yes, I think we definitely need some of that. I'd like to see a fist unlock that always crits if you're on fire.

Ace, Thunderpeel. All this talk puts me in the mood for an epic series replay before I get MGS4 (pending new TV room being sorted), even though I did so at the beginning of last year.

Could be a problem with tomorrow, actually. Turns out I agreed I'd go out with someone and forgot. I still do play pretty much every day though, so if anyone wants to play with me just add me on Steam. Ben and Huz usually show up too. ;

It'll have to be at least 7:30 — I don't get back from work until then.

Well Wednesday is fine too. Just throwing ideas out there.

Thursday (14th) then?

BTW, be sure to join the MixnMojo and Idle Thumbs Steam groups if you haven't already, and then add those who you recognise as friends so you receive the 'X is playing Team Fortress 2 now!' notifications. A bunch of us (mostly me, Benny, and Huz) play all the time — practically daily. There shouldn't be any shortage of finding at least one person to play with. We always play on Wireplay servers, so you tend to get familiar with the regulars there too. The whole 'playing with randomos' thing does tend to dissipate quite quickly if you play regularly.

I'm always up for TF2. ;

Yeah, I didn't really have a problem with the controls either. For the most part they're very similar to the controls of the preceding games, but with extra stuff jammed on. It wasn't much of a stretch to get to grips with. Really, I do think of MGS3 as absolutely fantastic in pretty much every way. Everything you just criticised doesn't really ring true with me in any way, so I guess all we can do is conclude it's just not your type of game. It happens!

Some iffy tags knocking around here. ;

Heh, yes. It's mental. You'd think of all of them, Nintendo would be the one pulling that bollocks.

Hee, God yes. Ever see the Xbox remake's take on that? ; http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0w5neFPat1w

Yeah, if you still can't manage you're just beyond help I think. I really didn't find the game too difficult at all after a few hours. Obviously I died a lot, but I took things carefully and strategically, and with a lot of patience (something the Commandos games taught me ). And if I do get spotted, I fight back. As I said, it's almost always possible to either escape or beat them — it's not like earlier games where there's a seemingly limitless number of enemies. You can go into Rambo mode and start taking them out from cover as they look for you (dropping off trees, dragging people behind logs and slashing their throats, smashing through windows and CQCing someone's face into the floor, etc). Some of my most memorable moments were while doing shit like this.

Pretty good. http://www.wegame.com/watch/Temp_Fortress_2/ There are plenty of humour (and voice acting) misses, but enough hits to be worth watching.

There are, yeah. There're videos that demonstrate each move somewhere in the menu, although I can't remember exactly where. Could be extras, which'd imply it's a Subsistence-only thing. Maybe it isn't, though! I remember only discovering them towards the end of the game, which is why I didn't discover CQC until then. I'd actually forgotten about them again until you just mentioned them. They are good, so definitely check those out if you're finding the moves/etc tricky.

My God, that LotL song. :~~~~~~~~

I love the ads that are designed to look like a proper dialogue box. The best part is how most of them still use the Windows 95 skin. I mean, did advertisers just buy 10-year advertising contracts during the dot com boom and we're still seeing them or what?

Teee. It must teach you at some point because there's no way I'd have found that by myself, but I can't remember where. I think it does the usual MGS trick of feeding hints subtly via codec, which you can obviously miss if you don't bother with the code chats beyond the mandatory ones (although usually the control teachings are mandatory convos). Still, yeah, you're right — MGS does have a huge assortment of controls and tricks. It makes it a real bitch to learn, although I do think it's ace once you understand them all and are rolling all sorts of intricate moves off like some kind of nutter.

Press down both analogue sticks together to stand on tip-toes. Works in grass too if I remember correctly (Although that'd be more of a push-up I guess!).

Yeah I can't actually imagine playing it without the fully rotatable Subsistence camera to be honest. The fixed camera is fine for the indoor parts, but some of the outdoor jungle bits are so big and have so many places for enemies to be you really need to be able to look around properly. Seems more immersive too. Not game-ruining of course, but I can see it making it just that bit more tricky. I'd imagine you just need to take it a bit more slowly and use the first-person view more to get a handle on your surroundings.

That clip is superb.

Yeah I will say that the healing stuff was a bit annoying, although it's definitely a good incentive to not get yourself hurt. There is a harsher learning curve with MGS3 than its predecessors (unless you played those on hard, which was quite seriously mental), but there're also many more ways to evade and dispatch enemies. Ideally you won't be spending too much time sorting yourself out in the menu. Often in MGS1 or MGS2 you'd be absolutely wrecked upon a full-blown alert, while in MGS3 you can actually fight or evade your way out if you go for it.

It does get better, as it sounds like all you've played so far is the prologue. There's plenty in the extensive remainder of the game that has more in common with past MGS games, including huge indoor/base areas that have no jungle elements whatsoever. Also, after the prologue you do get a variety of people to talk to via the radio which is effectively identical to the codec conversations of old (which I also love — they really build the atmosphere IMO). I'll agree that it's definitely a much more difficult game, although it's not too bad once you get the hang of using the various ways to disarm enemies (which is encouraged more this time). It sounds daft but it actually seems kind of easy once you master certain tricks for disabling people, which is why on my eventual third replay I'm definitely playing it on hard. One of the most critical things I hilariously didn't discover until towards the end of the game is that if you approach a guy and then hit circle plus a direction, you'll perform a CQC move on him that knocks him out instantly. You can even do this if he spots you, as long as you can run towards him quickly enough to pull it off before he shoots you or gets backup. I've had Rambo-like showdowns doing this before, ducking between cover and coming out of nowhere to knock a guy's face into the ground before vanishing as they focus their attention on where I was (there're some very big areas with very dense vegetation later on). One thing's for sure, don't give up on the game. Story- and character-wise you've only hit the tip of the iceberg in the prologue, and it does evolve into a very memorable experience. I don't think you've even encountered any bosses yet? It did take me a while before I thought "Fuck me, this might be my favourite MGS game yet". It sounds weird but I appreciated the earlier stuff more once I'd gotten further in, and when I replayed it the whole thing was much more fruitful because I knew all sorts of tricks and things I didn't know before. By the end of the game I found it hard to choose between it and MGS1 when specifying a favourite, and I still do.

Class action them.