Gormongous

Holy (Hell)Diver - Now Coming to PC!

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Helldiver: the video game that presupposes that in the future Donald Trump has the same trajectory as Richard Nixon in Futurama.

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If you can get past the fact that I didn't realize it had recorded such low resolution, and the fact that it got all the audio except my mic, here is a video of us futzing around killing bugs.

 

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If you can get past the fact that I didn't realize it had recorded such low resolution, and the fact that it got all the audio except my mic, here is a video of us futzing around killing bugs.

 

I'm glad that you captured what was possibly our worst helldive. An entire objective destroyed by a stray recoilless rifle round and deaths in the double digits... So much fun!

 

Playing alone a bit later to unlock some more of the basic stratagems like the Resupply Pack, I discovered that the Cyborgs are extremely difficult, almost impossible, to solo thanks to the dogs. They acquire you beyond the visible range of the camera and charge straight at you, so you have to kill at least two before they close with you, else you get stuck knocked over and bit to death. I got through the mission, but it was frustrating. I don't think I'll be playing the Cyborgs again without a team to back me up...

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I'm glad that you captured what was possibly our worst helldive. An entire objective destroyed by a stray recoilless rifle round and deaths in the double digits... So much fun!

 

Playing alone a bit later to unlock some more of the basic stratagems like the Resupply Pack, I discovered that the Cyborgs are extremely difficult, almost impossible, to solo thanks to the dogs. They acquire you beyond the visible range of the camera and charge straight at you, so you have to kill at least two before they close with you, else you get stuck knocked over and bit to death. I got through the mission, but it was frustrating. I don't think I'll be playing the Cyborgs again without a team to back me up...

 

Those dogs are hard to deal with solo.  While I think it's too underpowered to be useful on a regular basis, the assault drone helps a bit when playing alone because you at least have something to sort of watch your back.  I did a couple sample runs myself and the motorcycle is less useful than I was hoping for just getting around quickly.  That thing is basically worthless beyond comedic value.

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I'm glad that you captured what was possibly our worst helldive. An entire objective destroyed by a stray recoilless rifle round and deaths in the double digits... So much fun!

 

Playing alone a bit later to unlock some more of the basic stratagems like the Resupply Pack, I discovered that the Cyborgs are extremely difficult, almost impossible, to solo thanks to the dogs. They acquire you beyond the visible range of the camera and charge straight at you, so you have to kill at least two before they close with you, else you get stuck knocked over and bit to death. I got through the mission, but it was frustrating. I don't think I'll be playing the Cyborgs again without a team to back me up...

 

Yep, I'm also glad. That was the one to get. A see-saw of highs and lows is what makes the game fun. A really clean, easy run is probably more fulfilling to play, but less interesting to watch.

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Yep, I'm also glad. That was the one to get. A see-saw of highs and lows is what makes the game fun. A really clean, easy run is probably more fulfilling to play, but less interesting to watch.

 

Honestly, I tend to feel a little let down when a combination of good tactical movement and strategic awareness makes the wait for extraction too quiet. Sure, it never lasts, because enemies all over the map are drawn towards Helldiver beacons, but there's always a bit of a sigh when the crescendos of expected and actual action don't match up.

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Honestly, I tend to feel a little let down when a combination of good tactical movement and strategic awareness makes the wait for extraction too quiet. Sure, it never lasts, because enemies all over the map are drawn towards Helldiver beacons, but there's always a bit of a sigh when the crescendos of expected and actual action don't match up.

 

It reminds me of when we robbed banks in Payday.  If you stealth it properly, then you're just sitting around waiting for a drill to finish with nothing to do.  If you screw it up, you're probably not finishing the mission.  They're each satisfying in their own way but one definitely gives a bigger rush than the other.

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It reminds me of when we robbed banks in Payday.  If you stealth it properly, then you're just sitting around waiting for a drill to finish with nothing to do.  If you screw it up, you're probably not finishing the mission.  They're each satisfying in their own way but one definitely gives a bigger rush than the other.

 

And also like Monaco! A well-played game of Monaco is slow, methodical, and uneventful. That game's at its most fun when there's one or two talented players carrying a bunch of newbies who keep fucking stuff up, but that's hard to arrange.

 

What I like about Helldivers is that the twin-stick controls and the general chaos of the game makes it very hard to arrange truly perfectly play. One bad (or ricocheted) shot kills a teammate and things easily disintegrate from there.

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Honestly, I tend to feel a little let down when a combination of good tactical movement and strategic awareness makes the wait for extraction too quiet. Sure, it never lasts, because enemies all over the map are drawn towards Helldiver beacons, but there's always a bit of a sigh when the crescendos of expected and actual action don't match up.

 

Yeah, this game is definitely making me appreciate how brilliant the L4D games' AI director is. So good at ramping up tension and excitement.

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I will say, after my experience tonight, that this game does have some of the densest pubs I have ever met in an online game. Maybe I just have been very good about curating my multiplayer experiences over the past half-decade or so, but jeez! Five times in a row I dropped into games with multiple guys just standing in the middle of the map, calling in mech after mech to fight off the neverending waves of enemies, and then they'd explicitly kick me for "not helping" by bring stratagems other than a mech. In the second-to-last one, the host wondered openly why the mission hadn't ended, even though he'd completed all the objectives. He hadn't completed all of the objectives and was nowhere near the extraction point anyway. Christ...

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Btw are any of your guys playing this on a lower end system?

 

it looks it would perfectly fit a particular group of friends of mine but one of them has a bog standard laptop and refuses to think about ever getting a dedicated gaming pc. SO i'd be curious to know how well it scales its aesthetics and performance

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I will say, after my experience tonight, that this game does have some of the densest pubs I have ever met in an online game. Maybe I just have been very good about curating my multiplayer experiences over the past half-decade or so, but jeez! Five times in a row I dropped into games with multiple guys just standing in the middle of the map, calling in mech after mech to fight off the neverending waves of enemies, and then they'd explicitly kick me for "not helping" by bring stratagems other than a mech. In the second-to-last one, the host wondered openly why the mission hadn't ended, even though he'd completed all the objectives. He hadn't completed all of the objectives and was nowhere near the extraction point anyway. Christ...

 

Yeah, my experience playing with randoms has not been great either. It has been the opposite problem a game like DOTA has though where people overcommunicate and flame each other constantly. In Helldivers I've found people generally uncommunicative via voice chat or text so people idle around too long getting into protracted fights that serve no strategic purpose.

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That's nothing an errant grenade or misplaced strategem can't fix!

 

I have sort of the opposite problem. I'd like to try doing level 8+ missions, but no one seems to have an open game I can join and I'm reluctant to start one on my own. We can do that ourselves, but the random spark when no one is around is sort of a let down.

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I will say, after my experience tonight, that this game does have some of the densest pubs I have ever met in an online game. Maybe I just have been very good about curating my multiplayer experiences over the past half-decade or so, but jeez! Five times in a row I dropped into games with multiple guys just standing in the middle of the map, calling in mech after mech to fight off the neverending waves of enemies, and then they'd explicitly kick me for "not helping" by bring stratagems other than a mech. In the second-to-last one, the host wondered openly why the mission hadn't ended, even though he'd completed all the objectives. He hadn't completed all of the objectives and was nowhere near the extraction point anyway. Christ...

 

It's slightly comforting to know that this sort of thing wasn't just happening to me. I got kicked from a couple games for almost the same reason. People trying to kill all of a neverending wave of enemies and then getting mad that I don't want to stand around in their friendly-fire circlejerk.

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That's nothing an errant grenade or misplaced strategem can't fix!

 

I have sort of the opposite problem. I'd like to try doing level 8+ missions, but no one seems to have an open game I can join and I'm reluctant to start one on my own. We can do that ourselves, but the random spark when no one is around is sort of a let down.

 

Well, I was also kicked from a couple of difficulty 9 games last night, one for my level being below eighteen and another for dropping in with a laser weapon. People are just shit sometimes, maybe we can try it tonight!

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I would love to do a higher level mission with some people who aren't going to be complete* assholes.  Right now I'm missing the HAV, the Tesla tower, and some offensive strat I can't remember.  Getting those would be excellent.

 

*notice how I used the qualifier "complete", some level of assholery is expected

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Btw are any of your guys playing this on a lower end system?

 

it looks it would perfectly fit a particular group of friends of mine but one of them has a bog standard laptop and refuses to think about ever getting a dedicated gaming pc. SO i'd be curious to know how well it scales its aesthetics and performance

not great. aside from resolution changes (which seem to shrink the screen even in fullscreen) theres only options for shadow quality and anti aliasing

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not great. aside from resolution changes (which seem to shrink the screen even in fullscreen) theres only options for shadow quality and anti aliasing

 

I will say, however, that it runs flawlessly and my six-year-old computer handles it with absolutely no strain whatsoever.

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