Left 4 Dead

Jumpy · 13-11-2008 11:11am

I think torches should have limited battery.

thelordofcheese · 13-11-2008 11:16am

Bubs101 wrote: »

God damn this game is awesome. Nothing better than hanging back, waiting for the other guys to go ahead and then shooting the alarmed car. Super Fun

Every time someone does that, I run straight to the safe room and shut the door on them.
You wanted zombies? have fun.

Jumpy · 13-11-2008 11:19am

I am so hanging for Versus Mode.

There really should be a 64 player option with randomly selected survivors and the rest zombies. It would be awesome.

Maximilian · 13-11-2008 12:35pm

Jumpy wrote: »

I think torches should have limited battery.

No! I hate that in games. Ones where you can travel through Space and Time itself. Harness the power of anti-matter for explosive murder. Teleport to other dimensions. But somehow, we just can't get that darned torch to stay on for more than 30 seconds. Hey, scientist dude. Use a Duracell and no, its not a counter-pregnancy personal genital Shield mark II.

silvine · 13-11-2008 12:38pm

This is so much better on the PC Doubting whether to buy both copies of the game now..

Why is it better on PC??

Retr0gamer · 13-11-2008 1:21pm

I've an ancient archaic POS PC and it still runs this game super smoothly with everything on full other than trilinear filtering on and no AA at 1024x768. The xbox game is a bit chuggier and is upscaled rather than running at 720p. Also the poor connection problems and randomly getting kicked from xbox live kind of annoyed me every so often. Had some great lag free games last night with friends. It's just a smoother experience overall. Also keyboard and mouse are just so much better than a controller for these games. Lack of voice coms for most players is the only downer.

I'm getting a bit annoyed with idiots not turning off their flahslights!

thelordofcheese · 13-11-2008 1:32pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm getting a bit annoyed with idiots not turning off their flahslights!

Shoot them, they'll only get you all killed.

L31mr0d · 13-11-2008 1:46pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm getting a bit annoyed with idiots not turning off their flahslights!

they turn on automatically after you've fallen over and been healed. I guess they've done it to keep you on your toes. I'd say there should be an option in the full version to have them off by default.

The flashlights are rubbish anyway, I mean when you reload they point at the ceiling as they are attached to your gun

Retr0gamer · 13-11-2008 2:59pm

They should only really be used if you are looking for items in dark places or trying to herd a hoard of zombies. It's most annoying when there is a witch around and they don't bother or go crazy shooting zombies that should be avoided.

uberpixie · 13-11-2008 3:52pm

L31mr0d wrote: »

The flashlights are rubbish anyway, I mean when you reload they point at the ceiling as they are attached to your gun

Thought that was a nice touch tbh. The torch is mounted on the end of the gun after all......

L31mr0d · 13-11-2008 4:27pm

uberpixie wrote: »

Thought that was a nice touch tbh. The torch is mounted on the end of the gun after all......

Yeah, no I understand why they do it. But it just makes using it a pain, and there's no way to force it to stay off at the moment.

uglyjohn · 14-11-2008 11:57am

i kinda like the torch thing, plenty of times i've been shooting zombies in the dark and then had to reload, torch goes up, comes back down. just in time to shoot a zombie in the face.

sorry about that molatov last night

L31mr0d · 14-11-2008 12:56pm

uglyjohn wrote: »

sorry about that molatov last night

Yeah... its one thing getting hit accidentally by some shotgun fire, its another thing having a molotov thrown on me.

I think sometimes though, sacrificing a member is better than trying to save them, and then just resurrecting them at the next respawn point. A downed team member seems to act like a pipe bomb in that all the zombies will be attracted to them. Makes it perfect to just throw a molotov into the pack

Also, I think people with shotguns should always be in front, they are way to inaccurate at anything more than a few feet. The amount of times I've gotten sprayed by friendly shotgun fire is ridiculous. Also you can pretty much kiss the team goodbye if someone with a shotgun gets puked on by a boomer as they will be semi blinded and usually start unloading their shotgun in all directions as the zombies will be attracted to them.

protip: If you are puked on DON'T FIRE, back away from your team and melee attack anyone running at you.

protip2: If you have a shotgun DO NOT TRY AND SHOOT A HUNTER off a teammate, you will, without fail, end up shooting your teammate also. Its better to melee attack them and then shoot them. Alternatively use your pistol

uglyjohn · 14-11-2008 1:11pm

what i find very effective is using the uzi to rake them from the side when they are chasing someone who was puked on or swarming on someone on the ground. i wonder if bomer puke attracts extra zombies or just the ones who are around anyway. if its the ones around anyway that could be a good tactic to thin the horde....ie someone gets puked on deliberatly then runs past the other three who shoot the horde from the side as it streams by.

Smellyirishman · 14-11-2008 1:49pm

L31mr0d wrote: »

protip2: If you have a shotgun DO NOT TRY AND SHOOT A HUNTER off a teammate, you will, without fail, end up shooting your teammate also. Its better to melee attack them and then shoot them. Alternatively use your pistol

(Click).

Of course, you can bring in the argument that multiple people trying to clear the hunter/smoker will lead to some FF.

Retr0gamer · 14-11-2008 3:09pm

uglyjohn wrote: »

what i find very effective is using the uzi to rake them from the side when they are chasing someone who was puked on or swarming on someone on the ground. i wonder if bomer puke attracts extra zombies or just the ones who are around anyway. if its the ones around anyway that could be a good tactic to thin the horde....ie someone gets puked on deliberatly then runs past the other three who shoot the horde from the side as it streams by.

Boomer puke attracts extra zombies. Getting hit is a very bad thing.

uglyjohn · 14-11-2008 3:13pm

right....well that answers my question.

i dont see why the full game is being released on tuesday, it would suit me so much better if it unlocked on sunday. icant wait to play the full campaign.....im getting sick of the same 2 maps constantly.

L31mr0d · 14-11-2008 3:20pm

Smellyirishman wrote: »

(Click).

Of course, you can bring in the argument that multiple people trying to clear the hunter/smoker will lead to some FF.

good to know cheers. Its good to know also about the smokers as I was always trying to be careful and aim for the smoker only.

EDIT: Also, you can pre-load the full version of L4D now

Fnz · 14-11-2008 3:23pm

L31mr0d wrote: »

good to know cheers. Its good to know also about the smokers as I was always trying to be careful and aim for the smoker only.

Not so fast... from a sticky on the same site:

"the only way to effectively combat some of the Boss-Infected without hurting your teammates is to melee them away before using the more deadly aspects of your chosen weapon."

(Click)

L31mr0d · 14-11-2008 3:34pm

Fnz wrote: »

Not so fast... from a sticky on the same site:

"the only way to effectively combat some of the Boss-Infected without hurting your teammates is to melee them away before using the more deadly aspects of your chosen weapon."

(Click)

That post looks old though. I think its been tested a lot since and proved that you receive no damage. However people get a little gungho and keep spraying the hunter even after its killed and end up hitting you when you are freed. Its still best practice to melee the hunter first as this will immediately knock them off and stop them from doing more damage.

Also, I'm preloading now at around 600KB/s

must be american servers or something (I've got a 2.2MB line)

uglyjohn · 14-11-2008 3:36pm

does anyone else love letting one run right up to you and then shoving it away and shooting it?

id say the preload will be pretty fast, you already have the engine, interface and most of the models/weapons. now its just the maps left and a few bits and pieces/updates.

BuddhaJoe · 14-11-2008 3:43pm

uglyjohn wrote: »

does anyone else love letting one run right up to you and then shoving it away and shooting it?

id say the preload will be pretty fast, you already have the engine, interface and most of the models/weapons. now its just the maps left and a few bits and pieces/updates.

Ive heard the full install is 10 gigs, so even reusing the 3 gigs downloaded for the demo there will still be another 7 gigs to download.

uglyjohn · 14-11-2008 3:48pm

seriously? at the risk of sounding stupid how can it be an extra seven? i think when i preloaded HL episode 2 it started at 70something% which i assumed was because of the other source games i had installed and common content.

was this a stupid assumption?

BuddhaJoe · 14-11-2008 3:52pm

uglyjohn wrote: »

seriously? at the risk of sounding stupid how can it be an extra seven? i think when i preloaded HL episode 2 it started at 70something% which i assumed was because of the other source games i had installed and common content.

was this a stupid assumption?

TBH I have no idea if the 10 gig figure is even correct, its just something I read somewhere.

pixelburp · 14-11-2008 4:39pm

Well the Steam store says you need 7.5Gig available:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/500/

L31mr0d · 14-11-2008 5:23pm

I finished downloading and it has a separate folder to the L4D demo. It's size is 4.41GB. Maybe that's its compressed size and it gets unpacked on the day of release.

bizmark · 15-11-2008 12:31am

my preload only came in at 1.5 gig

Stephen · 15-11-2008 3:38pm

I think they must be releasing the preload data in chunks. Mine finishd preloading yesterday at 1.62GB, now its started again today at 3%.

pixelburp · 16-11-2008 3:09pm

Finally downloaded the demo & played some single player. My first impressions (apart from "well t hat was brief") was that it is indeed a bit hectic & a bit of a clusterf*ck at times, but then ill play a bit more and see how it goes...

Cuddlesworth · 16-11-2008 4:06pm

After playing through the Demo twice Online on Expert straight away and completing it, its now boring. I wonder how the full game will deal with this.

PogMoThoin · 16-11-2008 4:17pm

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

After playing through the Demo twice Online on Expert straight away and completing it, its now boring. I wonder how the full game will deal with this.

20 more maps, 10 more weapons and a modding community

Retr0gamer · 16-11-2008 4:46pm

I'm just wondering how tough expert is going to be in the final release. If the demo is only 1.5 levels and I've never finished that level without everyone in an absolute jock then I think I won't be beating it any time soon

Cunny-Funt · 16-11-2008 9:03pm

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

After playing through the Demo twice Online on Expert straight away and completing it, its now boring. I wonder how the full game will deal with this.

Were you playing online or single player? If single player, no wonder..

If online, were you playing with your mates or random net people?

For me 60% of the fun is having 3 close friends screaming "TAAAAANK" down their mics as we're all running away shooting over our shoulders as the big scary tank chucks boulders at us from a far.

This game needs to be played with your friends , with mics on, to really experience it fully.

Cravez · 16-11-2008 9:32pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm just wondering how tough expert is going to be in the final release. If the demo is only 1.5 levels and I've never finished that level without everyone in an absolute jock then I think I won't be beating it any time soon

Haha agreed! Normal difficulty is do-able with a few cuts and bruises but as soon as you knock it up to expert it took me and a few peeps EIGHT re-tries to get to the end. Literally if you don't know what your doing, run ahead of the others thinking your John Rambo or just in general few sambo's short of a picnic basket your gonna die VERY quickly on expert.

pixelburp · 16-11-2008 10:23pm

Played it a bit more & it's not growing on me I'm afraid. I know it's only a demo & there's more maps to come, but I can't see how they're going to differ from "get from A to B without dying". Multiplayer always make a game more interesting, but it didn't change the experience all that much (if anything, it became that bit more frustrating when something goes wrong).

The AI director is smart & you get some real nice peaks and troughs of action, but to be honest it feels more like a mod than a full game (as in, I wouldn't pay for this). The gunplay feels nice & meety though.

Retr0gamer · 17-11-2008 2:08am

It really is a different experience with people you know with voice coms, have you tried that?

pixelburp · 17-11-2008 2:48am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It really is a different experience with people you know with voice coms, have you tried that?

I don't have a mic unfortunately, but even so it's the limited nature of the game that leaves me cold. A2B, bang bang bang. Most games are more fun with people you know anyway, so I just don't see what'll separate Left 4 Dead from the rest. It doesn't seem worth paying for; maybe 6 months down the line if Valve pull a TF2 and update the game to the same extent i might rethink it though.

Cunny-Funt · 17-11-2008 5:12am

I know 4 real life mates who are deffo buying this game, and then another two who are a good possibility. (need new pc's but may be getting them soon)

My intention is to buy it almost solely to play with them when they can go online and try and beat it with them. (over the course of a few gaming sessions etc)

I probably wont even play it unless a mate or two are online.

Sure online games are always better when playing with your mates, but this is almost fully indented to be played with your mates... if you get me.

Thats the genius of co-op 4 player.

OctavarIan · 17-11-2008 8:51am

pixelburp wrote: »

I don't have a mic unfortunately, but even so it's the limited nature of the game that leaves me cold. A2B, bang bang bang. Most games are more fun with people you know anyway, so I just don't see what'll separate Left 4 Dead from the rest. It doesn't seem worth paying for; maybe 6 months down the line if Valve pull a TF2 and update the game to the same extent i might rethink it though.

On the surface it's just A2B bang bang bang yeah, but the journey is just so much fun.

pixelburp · 17-11-2008 11:50am

OctavarIan wrote: »

On the surface it's just A2B bang bang bang yeah, but the journey is just so much fun.

True perhaps; maybe I'm just looking for a good excuse to avoid shelling out more money for a new "hype" game. It is getting too expensive to buy stuff willy nilly.

L31mr0d · 17-11-2008 12:12pm

pixelburp wrote: »

I don't have a mic unfortunately, but even so it's the limited nature of the game that leaves me cold. A2B, bang bang bang. Most games are more fun with people you know anyway, so I just don't see what'll separate Left 4 Dead from the rest. It doesn't seem worth paying for; maybe 6 months down the line if Valve pull a TF2 and update the game to the same extent i might rethink it though.

On expert it's pretty simple to complete the demo on your own. I found the NPC's made good fodder to distract the zombies. I could pretty much just run through the level leaving them behind and resurrecting them at the next spawn point... I completed it but it wasn't fun. What makes it fun, is the unpredictability of the game, you need to couple this with the unpredictability of real people.

The difference with this coop game compared to others I've played is that there is no real strategy, you can't predict where a witch will be or when a tank will appear in your path... this randomness to the games leads to random reactions from people on your team, which leads to some great lol moments.

I've experienced too many to list. needless to say this will be the game I'll be putting in the most time with over the next couple of weeks.

Call Me Jimmy · 17-11-2008 1:22pm

maybe it's just me, but if you try to take this game seriously as simply a shooter, you will be disappointed because as the guy above said, there are no ways to plan ahead or to have any over-arching strategy, there's no l33tness about it. It would need to be played with mics with friends or people you know for it to reach its full potential.

Retr0gamer · 17-11-2008 1:50pm

The voice coms add a lot, most of the best moments was the banter from other players.

Stephen · 17-11-2008 2:21pm

God dammit, this is the time my PC chooses to die on me

/waits for new CPU and motherboard to arrive

pixelburp · 17-11-2008 2:25pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The voice coms add a lot, most of the best moments was the banter from other players.

Hmm perhaps, I was playing without it (and there was none coming from the other players). What's the decent mics to get these days anyway?

Fanny Cradock · 17-11-2008 2:55pm

Anyone know the returns policy from Steam?

One week and 5 patches later I've not been able to play the demo on-line once. This doesn't fill me with any confidence for the game. In fact, if they are still making radical changes to the demo so close to the official release of the game you could imagine that all is not yet well with the full game.

pixelburp · 17-11-2008 3:01pm

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Anyone know the returns policy from Steam?

One week and 5 patches later I've not been able to play the demo on-line once. This doesn't fill me with any confidence for the game. In fact, if they are still making radical changes to the demo so close to the official release of the game you could imagine that all is not yet well with the full game.

It's the way Valve operate & I like their style; at least Valve actively tend to their products post-launch. I take it you have never played TF2 much? That game (until L4D came close to release) was getting an update / patch every few weeks. Did you try doing a search on the official forums to pinpoint your problem

Fanny Cradock · 17-11-2008 3:25pm

I have indeed and it appears that other people are experiencing the same "connection failed after 10 attempts" problem. In my case (again, like others), no servers are being displayed at all via 'openserverbrowser'. (This is not a firewall or router issue.) I've also sent Steam support an email outlining my problems, but there has been no reply.

In the last week they have released 5 updates. Yes, fair play, but this has done nothing to address my issue. To me this suggests that there are some rather large problems still outstanding with the game. In fact, if there wasn't only a day till release I wouldn't be surprised if the put the release back.

Now, I don't mind waiting a week or two for them to solve any issues that prevent me and others from connecting, but only if I know that they will definitely be resolved. This seems like a more than reasonable position for me to take.

What I am going to do is send Steam an email signalling my intention of getting a refund should the game release (give or take a week) not solve my issues. Although it might seem like jumping the gun, I worried that my chances of getting a refund are decreased if I don't make some sort of noise before the release of the game. To this end, I's appreciate hearing from anyone else who has had any experience with refunds from Steam?

Retr0gamer · 17-11-2008 3:32pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Hmm perhaps, I was playing without it (and there was none coming from the other players). What's the decent mics to get these days anyway?

I'm just using an old crap one that I got years ago with my first PC, a gateway P100, forgot I had it but set it up for this game. Have to put it down my shirt to use it

It's not as much fun with annoying americans but having Azza call you a 'f*cking coward' when I closed the safehouse door and left him to die was pretty funny. Also when we were sarcastically saying that valve made the game too easy after our 20th attempt at the subway level only to get mauled by smoker, boomer and a tank within the space of 10 seconds. My reply, 'minor setback lads'. Doesn't work as well with random annoying americans.

Can't wait for tuesday evening when I finally get to play the full game after guitar lessons.

17-11-2008 3:34pm

isn't this out tonight in america 12:00 am and out tomoro here at 10 am on steam?? just bought it there gonna preload now.

Left 4 Dead

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