Gears of War 3

[Gwardinen]

So Gears 3 was released today, and I know that it has a bit of a dudebro reputation around here, but it is a genuinely enjoyable game to play and the story isn't terrible either. I happened to have a preorder of it from a while back, so my copy arrived today and I'm looking for cool dudes to play with. It has a coop campaign and two other coop modes, Horde mode and Beast mode (which looks gorram fun, wave-based survival mode where you're the monsters!) as well as traditional adversarial multiplayer.

My Xbox Live username is Lord Tydeus, but you can throw me a message on here or on Steam as Gwardinen if I'm not on Live.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Gwardinen

[toblix]

If there's going to be Thumbs multiplayer, I'm ordering this right now.

Though I guess I should maybe play them all, then, since I like doing that. Are the two predecessors worthy single player games as well?

edit: I just ordered all three games, so I guess I'm up for some dudebroing.

[Gwardinen]

Yeah, the first two actually have surprisingly enjoyable campaigns, and both can be played cooperatively. Gears 1 & 2 do two player co-op campaigns, with Gears 2 having a four (or five, I forget) player co-op Horde mode as well, and Gears 3 does four player co-op campaign, and four (or five) player co-op in Horde and Beast modes too.

[Gwardinen]

By god, just after posting that last message I made the mistake of actually trying to play the game and my 360 instantly red ringed. I think this is my 6th or 7th Xbox that has had an RROD.

[Sno]

I would be up for Gears MP, i'm going to go pick up my copy later today, I'll probably solo through it first though.

They are definitely great games, especially for co-op campaign. (Competitively, it's a little foggier, the second game was kind of a trainwreck in adversarial modes.)

The new horde mode looks pretty great, the thumbs should get together for some of that.

By god, just after posting that last message I made the mistake of actually trying to play the game and my 360 instantly red ringed. I think this is my 6th or 7th Xbox that has had an RROD.

I'm on my fifth or sixth 360 myself, i know this pain.

On the topic of 360 exclusives, anybody play much Halo?

[twmac]

Not really the place for it, but I find it weird how accustomed we have become to this scenario. Personally I have had one X360 die on me (after using it for 4 years) but if I was on my 6th or 7th I would have stopped buying the things.

Sorry, that was completely off topic.

[Sno]

Not really the place for it, but I find it weird how accustomed we have become to this scenario. Personally I have had one X360 die on me (after using it for 4 years) but if I was on my 6th or 7th I would have stopped buying the things.

Sorry, that was completely off topic.

Well i certainly wasn't buying them, Microsoft was replacing them under warranty in a relatively painless way, and no, i was never happy about it.

For me, it just comes down to liking the 360 and what it offers enough that the hardware problems haven't soured me on the system. It's also not the first console that has failed on me multiple times, and definitely won't be the last.

[Gwardinen]

For now, I've performed the infamous towel trick and it appears to be working. Tomorrow I'm going to take it to the guy who fixed it for me last time, as I got a six month warranty from him and it was five months ago. So, hopefully, consider me still operational.

[Sno]

Have you ever read up on what causes the RROD?

Just prior to the 360 launching, there was a ban on lead solder. So the 360 was revised last-second with a lead-free solder that doesn't deal with heat as well and becomes brittle. So the system cooks itself and connections break.

It's crazy that it's such a simple, dumb issue.

It seems like the slims don't have the problem anymore, and even prior to that, running changes were making the 360 increasingly reliable. (My current 360, an elite, has almost outlasted all of my other 360's combined.)

The best thing you can do for your 360 though, is keep it in a well ventilated space. The hotter it runs, the faster it'll die. Even if the "towel trick" seems like it's working, covering up all the vents on your 360 is just going to make the problem worse.

[Gwardinen]

I'm aware, Sno, but since I'm going to have it fixed tomorrow and potentially replaced thereafter, I don't care too much about potential damage to this particular console. I also don't care too much about the consoles in general at this point since so many have failed for me, and yes they've all been in well ventilated areas and so on.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Best thing is to just never turn them on.

Are they still replacing RRoD'd machines? I thought I heard they'd stopped that years ago? Glad to hear about it if they haven't!

[Sno]

Best thing is to just never turn them on.

Are they still replacing RRoD'd machines? I thought I heard they'd stopped that years ago? Glad to hear about it if they haven't!

I haven't had to deal with it in the last couple years, i honestly don't know.

I would be surprised if it has changed.

It used to be like 3 years for the RROD problem and 1 year for everything else.

[Gwardinen]

It used to be like 3 years for the RROD problem and 1 year for everything else.

I believe that's still the way things are. Unfortunately this is a second hand console and I believe it's out of warranty even for RROD. Eventually (particularly if this fix doesn't help) I may end up ponying up the cash for one of the new models. Right now, though, it's only been a week since I spent all my available money on a new computer (that I'm still looking forward to receiving).

I played some Beast mode, Horde mode and a little Wingman and Team Deathmatch with a friend just now. It was all pretty great. Basically everything about the multiplayer has been improved.

[Noyb]

I vaguely remember GoW2 had this weird matchmaking system where you either had to wait forever for a match, or get into matches where autobalance usually made sure you weren't on the same team as the friends in your party?

Is that still around for this iteration or am I remembering things wrong?

[Gwardinen]

I honestly didn't play a huge amount of adversarial multiplayer in GoW2, not due to the game but due to my group of friends at the time only really being interested in the cooperative modes. I've only played a few matches of it in the third game so far, but I've not had much trouble getting into games* and I've always been in the same team so far.

It would surprise me if the game put people from the same party in opposite teams much, since the party system is so fundamental to the framework of the game now. You're literally in a party from the main menu, and even if you play the campaign alone you're still in a party, it's just a one man party.

*Except Horde and Beast mode games, actually. Whether this is because most people create private matches for cooperative modes or because in the first days of a new release people are more interested in traditional multiplayer than non-campaign coop I don't know.

[twmac]

Sorry for derailing the thread a little.

I am actually really excited about getting on some games of Gears 3 (I have had 4 different people at work ask me whether I have picked it up yet).

If anyone sets a specific day of the week I would be keen on trying some of the Co-Op modes. There is a bar near where I live that has free Wi-Fi and allows you to hook your console up to a Hi def TV. I live in Montreal so I don't know how that works for everyone else.

[Gwardinen]

There is a bar near where I live that has free Wi-Fi and allows you to hook your console up to a Hi def TV. I live in Montreal so I don't know how that works for everyone else.

I suddenly wish I lived in Montreal.

I'm around a fair amount but not necessarily signed in to Live, so with warning I may be able to make a group session.

[Sno]

I wouldn't mind getting a horde match going, how about something this weekend?

I'll go and add some gamer tags, i guess.

[James]

I would definitely like to try Horde mode with three or more players. I didn't get to play it much in GoW2, but it seemed pretty fun, and the changes they've made sound like they're Good Things. I would also be curious to try four-player co-op, although my primary story experiences will probably be solo and two-player with an actual real-life friend/cohort.

Broblix, whilst I enjoyed both the previous Gears games, I would caution against storming through them all in quick succession. There's a pretty basic core formula which, when combined with the saturation of loud noises and testosterone, could become quite draining. Your mileage may vary, of course, but for me they're the sort of games where after I'm done with them I want to move on to something else. Then again, I did play each both solo and co-op in fairly quick succession, so there is that.

I don't know, it's up to you of course. The story's nothing amazing, but I understand wanting to experience it all.

[Gwardinen]

Yeah, I might suggest that you slowly play through the campaigns while using GoW3 as your multiplayer game. Play multiplayer, Horde and Beast on GoW3 because it's the best complete package, and just play the campaigns at your own pace.

[Sno]

According to an in-game clock, i have spent eighteen hours playing through Gears 3 on hardcore. Some of that was probably the game idling, but that is still a very long campaign.

Yeah, I might suggest that you slowly play through the campaigns while using GoW3 as your multiplayer game. Play multiplayer, Horde and Beast on GoW3 because it's the best complete package, and just play the campaigns at your own pace.

I would agree with this, the first two games still have really entertaining campaigns and co-op, but their competitive multiplayer offerings were always plagued by a host of balance exploits and pretty severe technical problems. I'm not entirely convinced that Gears 3 multiplayer won't end up the same way, but if nothing else, it's a new game people are still figuring out. (How to break.)

I also played some of the revised horde mode and the new beast mode, both are pretty cool. Horde now has you earning currency from your kills to build defenses, it's basically stealing back a few ideas from various games that have iterated on the horde/survival concept. Beast mode is really interesting though, it's kind of the inverse of horde, with you playing as the Locust beasts trying to break through defenses to a bunch of entrenched human AI's within a time limit.

We should get a group together for this stuff.

[twmac]

I could be around to play this on Saturday afternoon Eastern time and probably some of Tuesday afternoon too. If you guys fix a time I will be there.

Sunday and Monday evenings are being dedicated to Campaign playthrough.

[Sno]

So Saturday, then?

Anybody have a preference for time of day?

[JonCole]

I'm good for Saturday afternoon if we can get a group together. If nobody else wants to call it, I'll go ahead and say around 3 PM EST? Either way, I'll try to be on around then for a couple hours if anyone wants to jump in. Up for Competitive or Horde/Beast.

[Sno]

So who all is game for some matches, then?