Left 4 Thumbs

[Wrestlevania]

If it's any consolation, castorp, the two times I got to be the Tank this time were easily both my most successful. And even then I had a pretty shit run outside the factory, bashing the forklift around at you guys. That's the first time I've ever been able to use an object well as the Tank, too.

Still, even though you fairly trounced us overall, I had great fun in the finale. Repeatedly respawning as the Boomer - my favourite special - and sneaking right up to the truck and then leaping on top of you. Ace! Finishing you off as the Tank shortly after was great fun too, though I wasn't very sporting.

[James]

I love how you've all figured out the mechanics, basically playing a decompiled version of the game, only giving the exact input needed to adjust the game variables in your favor.

Hahahahaha. I think you might be overestimating the amount of analysis that's going on. It's more a matter of playing the game and inevitably noticing some stuff that works and some stuff that doesn't.

Still, even though you fairly trounced us overall, I had great fun in the finale. Repeatedly respawning as the Boomer - my favourite special - and sneaking right up to the truck and then leaping on top of you. Ace! Finishing you off as the Tank shortly after was great fun too, though I wasn't very sporting.

Yeah, we decided that the truck was probably better against the AI than humans.

[castorp]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to internalize them to the point of automat-like perfection until next Sunday.

On a side note: playing Versus as infected with strangers doesn't seem to be that much fun when you are not that good/giving the exact input needed to adjust the game variables in [your teams] favour. I got kicked out of nice games without even knowing what I did to offend the fuckers. A friend who plays a little more regularly suggested that there are people that get irritated when one doesn't vomit on all four survivors, or stands at that one good spot for an ambush. Fuckers.

[toblix]

On a side note: playing Versus as infected with strangers doesn't seem to be that much fun when you are not that good/giving the exact input needed to adjust the game variables in [your teams] favour. I got kicked out of nice games without even knowing what I did to offend the fuckers. A friend who plays a little more regularly suggested that there are people that get irritated when one doesn't vomit on all four survivors, or stands at that one good spot for an ambush. Fuckers.

It's when this starts happening I stop playing a game. That is, when you stop playing the game and start explicitly optimizing everything towards the maximum success probability. It was the same in WoW, where it went from being awesome and fun, running around doing quests and getting fancy equipment to everyone doing the optimal sequence of raids, specing their character for optimal DPM, etc. I'm not saying this is the wrong way to play it, but it doesn't appeal to me at all.

[DanJW]

Yes, I rarely join random games of L4D now. Our own Tom Armitage nailed it perfectly in this article (hence my previous comment about a perfect game being a boring game).

[Grippage]

When you "guys" are done whining about how much you suck at this game, listen to me.

I'm here to tell you that Left 4 Dead 2 is gonna kick buttz, and it's released merely a week after my return from Oz.

Are you with me on the 17th, or are you ladies boycotting?

[DanJW]

I may have to wait for the inevitable half-price sale.

[Scratch]

I am certain nobody here is boycotting L4D2 completely.

As for me, I am going to get it on the day it releases. But whether we switch to playing L4D2 on our Sundays is completely upto how many of us have the game at that point.

[James]

Are you with me on the 17th

a) Totally

To the max

[Wrestlevania]

Quaintly enough, I was just checking release dates and adding them to my phone's calendar. I was tapping L4D2 in when I thought to check in on Thumbs.

I'm planning to get it because the more I hear about the mechanics, the more satisfying and balanced it sounds. I have just a couple of real irks with L4D's gameplay at the moment, but these are solved with the new Specials - and greater weapon variety - in the sequel.

However, I'll have to see how my ever-strained bank account's fairing around mid-November. Like Dan, I may well wait for the sale--though Valve may be more coy about doing one this time. They've got a mountain of interest this time around, making the first game's hype look like a blip by comparison.

[James]

So Danny Boy and I gathered a couple of you forumites (ysbreker and DanJW*) and beat another Expert campaign on Saturday, and I finally got around to uploading the video of the finale:

sXeoXqS7pK4

It's slightly less of a cheat than what we did for No Mercy, but still a bit cheap. Still, we got there through entirely legitimate means, and it took us a few goes, so I think we achieved something.

* Sorry is 5Shilling is not DanJW. I get confused with all these names.

[DanJW]

I am indeed him, and he is me (and we are all together)

edit: I really thought Danny Boy was a goner at the end there. I was so pleased we managed to save him.

Also; ahhhhhhg my own voice. Actually not as bad as I remember it being in the past.

Edited August 20, 2009 by DanJW

[James]

I should probably be hesitant about posting other people's voices all over the Internet willy-nilly, but apparently I'm not. Well I am, but it's only a very brief hesitation. For what it's worth, I tried to set things up so that none of the voice is recorded, but Left 4 Dead doesn't seem to pay any attention to what voice-out device I've selected. It may be to do with the recording software. I'll look into it when I remember to.

Anyway, we had to go back for Dan, as he was probably doing a lot of the work in the first place. In fact, it would be pretty mean to leave anyone behind, what with the amount of time we all put into it. NO MAN LEFT BEHIND.

[Wrestlevania]

Bumping this thread, as I'll be on tonight from 9pm BST and hope to see some of you reg'lars there too.

Are we going to attempt the user-created Death Aboard campaign this time, or did I miss that last week? I have it installed now if anyone fancies it (again).

[George B]

I may have to wait for the inevitable half-price sale.

me too... I waited and waited for L4D to go on 50% sale, I gave in and bought it full price and then that same weekend it went on sale... never again!

is there any chance l4d2 is released at a reduced price point, something in-between an expansion pack and full game release price?

[James]

me too... I waited and waited for L4D to go on 50% sale, I gave in and bought it full price and then that same weekend it went on sale... never again!

A friend of mine did the exact same thing.

[Wrestlevania]

Is there any chance l4d2 is released at a reduced price point, something in-between an expansion pack and full game release price?

Anything's possible at this point I suppose. It would be just like Valve to fight it's corner (re. "it's a full game not an expansion") and then jovially announce that anyone with L4D1 can buy L4D2 for xx% off that opening week(end) on Steam.

So... dunno.

[SuspectKitten]

Horay! I finally found where you are all lurking, thanks to @Wrestle.

I am going to probably wait until the weekend it's released and then see if Steam are doing any offers, and compare with gamecrawler.co.uk and amazon.

I am assuming we're switching to L4D2 on Sundays at that stage...? Or would this then require ANOTHER NIGHT OF L4D? =D

[toblix]

Additional alert: Crash Course is coming out next week, which I assume means we'll be playing that next Sunday.

[Wrestlevania]

I am assuming we're switching to L4D2 on Sundays at that stage...? Or would this then require ANOTHER NIGHT OF L4D? =D

Could well be quite slow to move over, especially as the L4D1 map community is starting to take off. And Crash Course might well liven things up, too.

[SuspectKitten]

Ok, cool, so in theory I might get some practice time in mwahahaha.

Toblix, I saw your sig and thought you *were kidding* until I saw Wrestle's post. HMMMMMM.

[Scratch]

I assume we are still doing "Death Aboard" this Sunday though? I want to give that map another try, after having played versus on it for the first time.

[Wrestlevania]

I assume we are still doing "Death Aboard" this Sunday though? I want to give that map another try, after having played versus on it for the first time.

Specifically regarding Death Aboard, I think it's probably only worth playing with a full contingent of human players. The AI couldn't seem to cope with the unusual architecture, bless it.

[James]

I'd quite like to play it co-op sometime so that we actually complete all the rounds. That needn't be a Thumbs game, of course, particularly considering the usually high turnout.

[SuspectKitten]

I've just installed Coal'd Blood (v13) as well for the lolz. Anyone else got it and fancy a boogie through it sometime? It's really good fun, dark n dingy.